#Google chrome dictation for mac for mac#
#Google chrome dictation for mac software#

All of which plays into the fantasy that in order to afford a stenographer-either in software or human form-you need a corner office, or at least an office with a shuttable door.ĭragon lists Indian as one of the accents that it understands. You would have to whisper for fear of disturbing your colleagues, which would defeat the purpose. If you sit in a cubicle surrounded by other people, it seems kind of strange to be dictating into your computer. The other issue has to do with your office environment. Saving your manuscript often is a requirement. Which is to say that this software that encourages you to dictate ends up dictating the terms of engagement. Just when you are riding high on the wave of words springing out of your mouth and magically transforming into script on your computer, the software crashes like a kid after a sugar high, leaving you, much like the kid, irritated, frustrated and near tears. The software forces you to enunciate clearly, which in turn requires that you crystallize your sentences into well-articulated paragraphs without the customary hemming and hawing that we all do. Everyone who fears carpal tunnel syndrome ought to give this a try.

If you are of that ilk who can collect your thoughts into coherent sentences, this software will, if not change your life, at least improve it measurably. Once you get over the self-consciousness of dictating loudly to your computer, the whole thing works quite magically. It is supposed to work with multiple applications, but it does best with Microsoft Word.

#Google chrome dictation for mac for mac#

You want a mute admiring slave.ĭragon Dictate Professional Individual for Mac claims to transfer dictated words into prose on your computer. You don’t want a dragon as your stenographer. Well, Dragon Dictate is a voice recognition software that aims to offer that service: a stenographer and a transcriber rolled into one. You know the type? A lady called Nancy, clad in a tight grey skirt or sari, silently entering the inner sanctum of the office, carefully recording every pearl of wisdom that emerges from the boss’s mouth, then typing it for posterity. A third category aspires to be the stenographer-that endangered species who we see in old movies or photos of our grandfather’s office. Others like Skedool become time and appointment managers. An app called Accompany pretends to be the handler that whispers key information in your ear before a meeting.

Or perhaps it is simply a ruse by product companies-who after all, make money by creating products and apps that we may or may not need. This infantile desire converges with the need to be all grown up like our fathers: have an office, a secretary, or at least a digital one. We want someone to answer emails, type out memos and compose text. Perhaps it is also because of an infantile desire for someone to “look after' our chores-which, in this age, are largely digital. Perhaps it has to do with power-we all want someone who will hang on to our every word.

There is a reason why virtual assistants are a virtual reality these days. This entire article has been dictated using Dragon Dictate software. It has customized versions for lawyers, doctors and regular folks. Of the lot, Dragon is the most advanced with respect to transcribing. Siri, Amazon Echo and Microsoft Cortana all transcribe voices into words on mobile devices. Google Chrome offers voice recognition, activated by pressing the function key twice-to a slightly better degree. They all succeed to varying capacities.Īpple has its own inbuilt voice recognition software, which, frankly, sucks. The second, more practical service that these products offer is the freedom from typing on the keyboard. All voice recognition software-and there are many of them-cater to one crying need: a human being’s unslaked craving to be heard and understood.