Would Voice Typing Suit You?
March 13, 2007
Would Voice Typing Suit You?
While reading a post at IP Democracy about whether to callcertain devices phones or not, because of all the other functions theycan perform, I recalled something a blogger friend told me on theweekend. He’s recently been using Dragon Naturally Speaking to composehis blog posts. Normally, he says, he only types about 90 wpm (wordsper minute), so using Dragon to generate 130 wpm is a bonus, despitethe steep price.
It then occurred to me that future "phone"devices that are multi-function (cell phone, VoIP phone, PDA, paymentkey, mobile TV viewer, MP3 player, GPS device, etc.), might also havevoice-to-text services. With advances in storage through thin film, and more powerful mobile processor chips, PCDs (personal communication devices), we will have powerful computing in our hands. (Well, more powerful than we have now.)
Butfor those of you that do a fair bit of talking, say using Skype,SightSpeed, Gizmo Project, or one of the other soft clients, would youwant to voice-to-textblogging features? I’ve previously thought it’d be cool. Though nowthat I think about, I’m not so sure. I have enough trouble talking tovoicemail systems (I despise voicemail and end up rambling).
Thereare a lot of technical issues that I won’t get into here, but havingseen some of the output of Dragon, I think I’d rather type. And withthe amount of blogging I do daily, I think my throat would be soreconstantly if I switched to voice-to-text blogging. The other issuethat stands out for me is that I work with multiple editor panes opensimultaneously so that I can take notes for up to 10 stories at a timewhile I browse web feeds. I’d have to train voice-to-text software to handle transitions properly.
Onthe other hand, I might use it as a supplement to typing, especially ifI’m focused on one document. As part of a PCD, I can see using voicecommands to perform a function. For example, instead of getting an RFID implant,I’d be happy to have a PCD with hybrid RFID and voice biometricstechnology that would open the front door for me when my arms areloaded with shopping bags. Though the system would have to also knowthat the cats aren’t waiting on the other side of the door, ready tospring out into the Spring air. (It’s asking a lot of a mobile handset,I know.)