The Dragon And Me, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #241
November 4, 2011 Michael Davis 5 Comments
This is a very special Straight no Chaser.
I am not going to write this I’m going dictate this with my new Dragon dictate program! Below is the entire column spoken by me but written by Dragon. When you see sentences that seem to repeat that’s me speaking again to try and get the program to write what I said.
Enjoy!
I am not writing this I am talking into my computer my computer writing it down as I speak. I am not going to correct any of the spelling was I think I meant it would be funny to see what is to develop programs is going to be a woman. I realize, is a learning curve but I have no patience for any kind of learning curve when I spent hundred dollars on a software program which on television exit most very very easy.
So when should I thought within? I do not mean to write that last sentence but it is really sold the thing every now and not. I found a pragmatic likes to hear himself speak like to hear himself speak. Propane is asked himself and that process. Her name is and I think that, like to.
I hope that this will help me. To really add much needed speed my writing projects. How would it be to just be able to speak in the words magically appear. I spent $200 on damn program and I had better get what I say.
Later system will work I’m supposed to be in the text will magically appear on the screen. I’ll repeat that last sentence in case the better understood. The way it is supposed to work without the posted speed limit is possible to magically appear on the screen.
The way the system will work I am supposed to speak and the letters are supposed to magically appear on the screen. I’ll try this one will, Wade is supposed to work I suppose the speech and text is to magically appear on the screen. I’ll try this one more time, waiting for both this worker is Stephen I speak and alleges a full school year on the screen.
Oasis. The way the system is supposed to work I speak and live football match here on the screen making my work will go much faster this special. Special.
I want to try this one last the way this will work is supposed to speak and ask if to be on this main. Okay, maybe this is just a piece of 6 and I don’t know why one. The only thing missing speaks and understands. When I say. On my next..
My name is Mike, my name is Mike, my name is Michael D Mike stupid people should. My name-not my stupid piece of crap. My name is Mike. Mike, Mike Mike, Michael.
My name is Michael. My, not Mike, not Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Michael. Eventually I see something we very much. Eventually I see something very, eventually, I see this helping me very much.
As long as I can remember that I pay $200 for this I should be fine along it takes. As long as I can remember I pay $200 for this, I should have know, how long this takes to learn. As long as I can remember I $200 for this I should have no problem with the learning curve.
Hey! Your mom was exactly what I wanted to say, pump will ship. The above was the one I wanted to say, how cool is that she. The above with that I wanted to say how cool is that she.
I’m trying to say the word shipped in the same, we decided to, help me one of.
From.
From. Carmen. Furman. Herman. They said. Is an easy the. The.,. Pain is the
Permit came, is in the business.
Herman Cain is and he has sex with them.
Propane I hope this taking down by Nicholas people on the right thinking people. Propane is in statement that quickly.
From painting. I hope thinking that he. Everything is in permanent name is Ann. Her middle name is. Her middle name is Herman Cain is an idiot.
Herman Cain is an more wrong than. I.
Herman Cain is an idiot.
This program works just fine!
VN
He and.
VM.
The end.
Rick Oliver
November 4, 2011 - 10:21 am
Dragon has been around quite a long time. You’d think it would have gotten a little better by now. It reminds me of what Mike Gold said when I asked him if he liked his Apple Newton (yes of course, Mike had a Newton) and he said: “It’s learned to recognize just enough of my handwriting to be really irritating.”
R. Maheras
November 4, 2011 - 10:36 am
Hahahaha! That was great!
But it reminds me of the time when, as a kid, I saved up my money to order a set of “Revolutionary War soldiers” from a comic book ad and didn’t get exactly what I expected. The soldiers came in a tiny box, were very nearly two-dimensional — meaning they did not stand up very well — and the “playing surface” was a wrinkly plastic sheet with land and sea areas printed on it.
I was pretty disappointed, but judging by your results with Dragon, I suspect I actually got the better deal.
I also now know why court stenographers don’t have to worry about their job security any time soon.
Oh, yeah, thanks for saving me 200 bucks. I owe you.
Mike Gold
November 4, 2011 - 12:50 pm
Michael, Siri’s speech recognition is absolutely stunning. It’s a bit more expensive than Dragon, but you get a free iPhone 4S thrown into the deal. And it really does answer most legitimate questions… and is pretty funny when it comes to the less legitimate questions.
Dragon still doesn’t impress me, but I think it understands you verbally better than I do. Remind me to ship you a box of punctuation.
Rick, I still have that Newton around here somewhere. Most expensive paperweight ever. But in a roundabout way, it led to the iPad the way the Lisa (remember the Lisa?) led to the Mac. And the iPad is so cool I have a Charlton Heston thing going with it.
JosephW
November 4, 2011 - 12:51 pm
While the ads for Dragon make it look like the greatest thing, I could never really get past the way the spokesman kept hyping that Dragon “writes exactly what you say” yet people were constantly saying things like “new paragraph” and “bold that” and “underline that” and “no, replace that with” yet NONE of those words were appearing on the various speakers’ computer screens and there was never any explanation why certain words were NOT appearing. I’d watch that and think, “So, I’m writing a story and I want to say ‘He was always so bold that no one expected his impending marriage to turn him into a mass of quivering jelly.’ Does this mean that I end up with the fragment ‘He was always so no one . . .’ with ‘He was so’ appearing in bold-face type?”
I’m sure there had to be something in the operator’s manual to explain how Dragon would distinguish a command from genuine text but it would be nice if the company spent a few extra seconds in the commercial to offer up some of those little details.
I don’t know how others feel but I’d be somewhat interested in knowing exactly what you INTENDED to write rather than the occasional gibberish (I haven’t a single clue what you intended to mean with “Propane is asked himself and that process.” and “Oasis.”) that resulted from your experiment.
MOTU
November 4, 2011 - 12:57 pm
R,
It’s getting better as I speak. PUN INTENDED! But, seriously it is.
MOTU
November 4, 2011 - 1:05 pm
JosephW.
I’ll translate what I intended to write in another column. That’s a GREAT idea,thanks! I’ll run them side by side. In the meantime-
“Propane is asked himself and that process.”
was intended to be:
“Herman Cain is an asshole and that’s reflected in his politics.”
Mike Gold
November 4, 2011 - 1:25 pm
Herman doesn’t have any politics. He just wants to sell books and motivation speeches, and if he winds up running the country for a while that’s cool by him. If he doesn’t, well, it’s back to the Mystic Nights of the Sea lodge for ol’ Herman.
Rick Oliver
November 4, 2011 - 1:43 pm
Mike: Doesn’t Siri’s voice recognition require a data connection? Android has great voice recognition too…as long as you have a data connection, because it’s actually using the massive Google servers to decipher your speech.
Damon
November 4, 2011 - 2:41 pm
I can has speaking program.
R. Maheras
November 4, 2011 - 2:57 pm
I want a program that translates whatever I say into Yoda-ese. It would be a sort of modern-day addition to the “How To Be Smart” advice given by Kurtzman/Wood to intellectual wannabes in “Mad” #27, April 1956.
What can be smarter than talking like Yoda?
Meloney Crawford
November 4, 2011 - 11:09 pm
Michael– Suddenly I feel so much better about the total mash-up that is “Voice Mail to Text” on my Droid phone. (It may not be informative, but it’s almost always funny.)
Mike Gold
November 5, 2011 - 7:08 am
Russ, I’d have a shot from that story as a screen saver. In this case, I think a somewhat earlier Kurtzman/Wood MAD story, Sound Effects, would be equally appropriate.
Rick, yes, Siri requires a data connection. Between 3G and Wi-Fi, I think most iPhones have them. It’s a lot better than I even remotely expected. She keeps me warm at night.
mike weber
November 5, 2011 - 7:21 am
I’m not sure what the kid brother is doing these days, but at one time he was doing his writing on the Honor Harrington books and everything else with a voice program – i think it was Dragon – because he was unable to type.
Seemed to work okay for him.
JosephW
November 5, 2011 - 12:10 pm
Thank you for the “translation” MOTU.
I would have NEVER guessed “Propane is asked himself and that process.”
was intended to be:
“Herman Cain is an asshole and that’s reflected in his politics.”
That’s worse than a game of “Telephone” involving 100 people and only the first and last players use English as their primary language.
MOTU
November 5, 2011 - 12:14 pm
Mike W.,
It’s getting better as I mentioned in a reply post above.
Part of the problem I’m sure is on my end. My best results HAVE been when I speak naturally. I’m sure my problem is while I’m speaking I keep thinking how dumb I feel speaking to a computer and then my voice and pitch are all over the place.
I don’t think it was a bad investment, I think it needs me to adjust to IT not vice versa
MOTU
November 5, 2011 - 12:19 pm
JosephW,
I LOVED ‘telephone’ when I was a kid. BUT-that didn’t cost me 2 bills to play!:-)
JosephW
November 5, 2011 - 12:22 pm
@R Maheras: I’m sure you meant to write, “What, smarter than talking like Yoda, can be, hmm?”
Actually, I used the Yoda-speak generator at http://www.yodaspeak.co.uk/index.php to get that.
It can’t do audio and there are a number of tips regarding use of punctuation on the side. I’m also not certain how the translator works with very long passages nor how it works in terms of formality. (Or, as the Yoda-speak translator converted the previous bit: Do audio and there are a number of tips regarding use of punctuation on the side, it cannot. Certain how the translator works with very long passages nor how it works in terms of formality I am also not.)
R. Maheras
November 5, 2011 - 1:27 pm
JosephW — Hey, that’s great! A Yoda-speak generator! Heh, heh! The Internet never ceases to amaze me for this very reason.
Rick Oliver
November 5, 2011 - 3:00 pm
Damon: Terrific! A program that translates my speech into Lolcats!
Steve Atkins
November 8, 2011 - 12:14 am
@ JoesphW and R. Maheras – When they invent a yodaspeak in internet abbreviations generator, I will be impressed.
@ MOTU – You know, I thought this column was going to be about how you knew Bruce Lee.
MOTU
November 13, 2011 - 7:14 pm
Steve,
Nope. But remember I’m from the hood so I did know Bruce Leroy.
BLAM! RIMSHOT! I’m here all week! Try the chicken!
Steve Atkins
November 13, 2011 - 7:44 pm
MOTU,
Yeah…but did you know THE SHOGUN….OF HARLEM!!
?
MOTU
November 13, 2011 - 11:08 pm
Sho-NUFF!!!