Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium

Various permutations of Dragon

NaturallySpeaking have been around

since the late 1990s, but only recently has

the technology underlying the product

advanced to the point where we could

say this about the newest version: This is

awesome. It works. You want it.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium

gives you complete control of your Windows

computer and of the apps that run on it.

Sure, you can dictate text—and Dragon will,

after some minimal training, convert that

dictation almost flawlessly, entering it into

just about any app.

But the newest version of Dragon also

makes it easy to control the applications and

even Windows itself: Want to change the

spelling of “Windows” in a document to

“Windoze”? Say, “Select Windows.” Dragon

selects every instance of “Windows” and

numbers them; then say “Spell that,” and

the program lets you change the spelling

of any or all instances. Looking for info on

blade servers? Just say, “Search the Web [or

a specific search engine] for blade servers.”

Dragon will open your browser (if necessary)
and enter your search term.
Of course, none of this clever functionality
would do you a whole lot of good
if the system did not accurately recognize
your speech. But it does. It’s eerily accurate,
in fact, and with only about five minutes’
training (compared to the 15 minutes
required by earlier versions). And if you’re
using a voice recorder while away from your
PC, no problem: Dragon lets you create
and export multiple voice profiles for use
with approved recording devices or multiple
computers, or if multiple people will be
dictating into one PC.
If you have occasion to dictate documents,
emails, memos, and the like,
you won’t be disappointed; Dragon
NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium is worth
its premium price.

$199.99
Nuance
www.nuance.com