Nuance Communications today unveiled Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5, a new release of its speech recognition software, and a companion application, Nuance Remote Mic, a free application that turns an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch mobile device into a handheld wireless microphone for capturing dictations and controlling applications.
According to Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager of the Dragon product line at Nuance, the new features in Dragon 11.5 make it easier to create documents, send email, surf the Web, share social status, and interact with many PC applications. "Dragon 11 was already a big leap forward, and 11.5 has all the features and then some," he says.
New upgrades and features in Dragon 11.5 include the following:
- Enhanced Commands and Social Features: Dragon collapses common multi-step tasks on the PC into direct voice commands. Users can send email and schedule meetings, post updates to Facebook or Twitter, search the Web, quote or bracket text, search their desktops, and navigate between Windows, simply by speaking. Dragon 11.5 also includes commands to consolidate multiple mouse clicks and keystrokes into direct voice commands.
- Improved User Interface: The Dragon Sidebar helps users discover and remember common commands. Version 11.5 delivers additional application contexts to the Sidebar (including WordPad, Vocabulary Editor and Command Browser) and layout improvements to maximize content and readability.
- Smarter Formatting, Correcting, and Editing – Dragon users can issue simple voice commands to format text. In addition, Dragon can apply (and undo) correction, formatting, and editing to one or all instances of a word or group of words. The Dragon Correction Menu suggests more alternate recognitions by default and enables users to quickly add phrases to the vocabulary or to prevent an undesired word from being recognized. In Dragon 11.5, the Spelling Window (allowing users to type or spell out a word) is now resizable and delivers more readable options for alternate words and phrases, making it easier for users to modify or correct text.
- Enhancements to make getting started simpler. It's now much faster and easier to create a user profile, or to enhance existing profiles with the Enhanced Profile Upgrade Wizard.
- More Software Support: Adding to Dragon's existing software compatibility, including Microsoft Office 2010 applications and Full Text Control, Menu Tracking, and Natural Language Commands support for Word 2010, Outlook 2010, and Excel 2010, OpenOffice Writer, and updated user interfaces for netbooks, Dragon 11.5 adds support for Internet Explorer 9, Windows Live Mail 2011 (V15), OpenOffice Writer version 3.3, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
In addition, the Dragon Remote Mic app allows users to connect via WiFi to their PCs. "You talk into your phone and the words appear on your PC," Mahoney explains. "It's got very high accuracy, and because it's connected by WiFi, it's got very high audio quality."
Mahoney says social media is a big component of the new Dragon version. "Social media has been heavily requested by our customers," he states. "They have asked us to make the whole connection process faster and easier, and we've made that process quite a bit easier in the latest version of Dragon."
“As mobile devices and social networks have become a more important part of our customers’ lives, they have asked us for more flexibility in how they can use Dragon,” Mahoney said. “People who have never tried Dragon before will be genuinely impressed with all the ways it lets you interact with your digital world. Those who are already familiar with Dragon will see some exciting improvements that extend its use with social sharing, and add flexibility with microphones and recording devices.”
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Home and Premium are available immediately starting at $99.99 through Nuance's Web site as well as its global network of reseller partners, software retailers and professional sales organizations. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 is a free upgrade for current registered Dragon 11 users. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 11.5 and Legal 11.5 will be available in the coming weeks from Nuance and through Nuance's value-added resellers worldwide. The new Dragon Remote Mic App is available immediately as a free download in the Apple App Store. It requires Dragon Premium, Professional, or Legal Version 11.5.