Dragon Speech Application for Mac OS X Taps New Dragon 11 Engine, Allows Mac Users to Create Content and Interact with Their Favorite Applications by Voice
BURLINGTON, Mass., Sep 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nuance Communications, Inc. (NUAN 14.88, -0.31, -2.04%) , a leading provider of speech solutions, today unveiled Dragon Dictate for Mac version 2.0, the newest addition to the Dragon family of speech recognition products which includes Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the PC and Dragon Mobile Apps. Dragon Dictate for Mac -- the first major desktop product for Mac OS X from the Dragon family following Nuance's acquisition of MacSpeech earlier this year -- makes it easier than ever to create documents and emails, search the web, navigate the Mac desktop, and interact with popular Mac applications -- all by voice.
Dragon Dictate for Mac, version 2.0, improves on the accuracy and performance of MacSpeech Dictate 1.5, leveraging the new Dragon 11 engine, which also powers the recently-announced Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 for the PC. Dictate 2.0 offers a more streamlined set-up, revamped Mac user interface, and dynamic new voice commands for dictation, editing, navigation and proofreading. Dragon Dictate for Mac also "learns" better than any previous version of Dictate, responds faster to spoken commands and supports Dragon Voice Shortcuts(TM) for searching the web, email and Mac desktop by voice.
"Recognizing the important opportunity within the Mac community, we set out earlier this year to bring Dragon to the Mac, working closely with our experts from the MacSpeech team, and drawing on our history and proven success with Dragon," said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager for Dragon at Nuance. "We've maintained the elements of Dictate that are most important to our Mac customers, such as the native Mac interface, and integrated many features of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 to bring improved accuracy as well as smarter command and control capabilities to this discerning audience of new Dragon customers."
Dragon for PC, Mobile, and now the Mac
For years, people from all walks of life have used Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the PC to be more productive, save time and capture their ideas at the speed of thought -- at home, in the office, the courtroom, the classroom, the exam room, or even on the road. Most recently, with Nuance's Dragon Mobile Apps on the BlackBerry, Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, millions of people now communicate quickly and easily on their mobile devices, simply using speech recognition. Dragon Dictate for Mac is the first Mac member of the Dragon desktop family, allowing Mac users to speak their minds to:
- Turn talk into text -- Dragon Dictate for Mac lets users simply speak to produce text. Speak thoughts and watch the words appear on screen, inside almost any Mac application -- up to three times faster than typing -- with an astounding recognition accuracy rate of up to 99 percent, right out of the box.
- Unlock creativity -- Transform ideas into text at the speed of thought with Dragon Dictate for Mac. Users can let their creativity flow from brain to voice to produce emails, blog posts, essays, and more.
- Work comfortably -- With Dragon Dictate for Mac, control the Mac in a relaxed, hands-free manner without being tethered to the keyboard. Instead of using a mouse, just speak commands to launch and control applications. Move the cursor or click anywhere on screen, simply by voice.
- Multi-task -- Dragon Dictate for Mac allows users to tell the Mac what to do, with commands like "Reply To This Message" or "Open Microsoft Word" or "Search Google for Italian restaurants" to work faster and smarter. In addition, it's easy to create custom voice commands that automate complex workflows on the Mac.
- Work your way -- Dragon Dictate for Mac can be customized with a personal vocabulary and voice commands that reflect an individual's work style.
In addition to the powerful voice commands that MacSpeech Dictate 1.5 already offers for controlling popular Mac applications such as Safari, Mail, iCal and iChat, the new Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0 adds more ways to interact with the Mac by voice:
- Dragon Voice Shortcuts(TM) for Search -- Offers an easy way to search for information, files and content anywhere on your Mac or on the Web by using single voice commands. For example:
- "Search Google for hula dancing lessons"
- "Search Bing for wedding dress repair"
- "Search Yahoo for gondola rentals"
- "Search Mail for RSVP"
- "Search Mac for history term paper"
- New Editing Commands -- A new suite of commands in Dragon Dictate for Mac makes it easy to edit documents. With commands that are designed to simplify editing, users can select and delete text, insert new text, capitalize text, and more.
- Proofreading -- The new Proofreading commands in Dragon Dictate for Mac take advantage of the powerful Text-to-Speech capabilities built into Mac OS X. Simply dictate text, and ask Dragon Dictate for Mac to read it back.
- Surrounding Punctuation -- New commands in Dragon Dictate for Mac enable users to put punctuation around certain words or groups of words, using a simple command, such as:
- "Put Quotes Around "
- "Put Parentheses Around "
- "Put Brackets Around "
- Voice Navigation -- Dragon Dictate for Mac lets users control the Mac's cursor and mouse actions by voice, giving new options for interacting with their desktop and precise handling of mouse pointer-based tasks. New features include:
- MouseGrid: Placement of the cursor can be accomplished with MouseGrid commands
- Mouse Click: Speak a command, with optional that designate one or more keys such as Command, Option, Shift or Caps Lock
- Mouse Movement: New commands move the mouse pointer by voice
- Flexible Microphones -- Dragon Dictate for Mac users who have multiple microphones, such as a wired and wireless headset, can easily switch between microphones within the same voice profile.
Pricing, Availability & System Requirements
Dragon Dictate for Mac is available immediately starting at $199.99 through Nuance's Web site as well as its global network of reseller partners, software retailers and professional sales organizations. Existing MacSpeech Dictate customers and Dragon NaturallySpeaking customers can purchase Dragon Dictate for Mac starting at $49.99 and $99.99 respectively for a limited time. For additional information on features, editions, pricing and volume licensing programs, please visit www.nuance.com/dragon/mac.
Dragon Dictate for Mac requires an Intel-based Mac, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or greater, 3GB of available hard drive space, 2GB of RAM recommended and an Internet connection for product registration. Dragon Dictate for Mac comes complete with a Nuance-approved USB microphone headset.
Trademark reference: Nuance, Dragon, Dragon Voice Shortcuts, Dragon Dictate, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be the property of their respective owners.
About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech, imaging and customer interaction solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit: www.nuance.com.
SOURCE: Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. Erica Hill, 781-565-5218 erica.hill@nuance.com Twitter : @DragonTweets, @macspeech http://www.facebook.com/dragonnaturallyspeakingor InkHouse for Nuance Communications, Inc. Lisa Mokaba, 781-791-4570 nuance@inkhouse.net
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