Hasta La Gadget!

Nuance has pushed out a new version of Dragon Dictate for Mac, its OS X voice dictation package, taking on Apple’s own Mountain Lion speech recognition and throwing in smartphone microphone support too. Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 promises a 15-percent accuracy increase versus the previous version, along with the ability to transcribe audio files; meanwhile, if you have an iPhone or Android device, you can use that as a wireless microphone.

Apple obviously brought its own challenge to speech recognition systems in the latest OS X release, with Mountain Lion supporting native transcription. However, Apple’s implementation is server-based, and so Macs require a data connection in order to process voice commands and dictation.

In contrast, Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 is self-contained, as well as including support throughout Mountain Lion, so there’s no need to be online. There’s integrated commands for Notes and Reminders, along with better understanding of formatting such as abbreviations and numbers; Nuance has also tweaked the way corrections are made, so as to streamline the process and take less time away from actual dictation.

If you’re working from a recorded audio file, meanwhile, you can load a .wav, .m4a, .m4v, .mp4, .aif, or .aiff recording and – as long as it’s a single person speaking – have it automatically transcribed. There’s also support for 16kHz wideband Bluetooth microphones for improved wireless recordings, and which – when automatically recognized by the app – bypasses the initial voice training program altogether. If you have either an iOS device or an Android phone, you can now use the Nuance Remote Microphone App too.

Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 is up for preorder now, priced at $199.99. Those already using Macspeech Dictate or Dragon Dictate can save $50 as an upgrade; there’ll also be bundles with a compatible Bluetooth headset. Digital deliveries are expected to begin September 13, with in-store shipments from September 24.

Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 boosts accuracy and adds Android mic support is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve been using the Tweetbot for Mac alpha for several weeks now. It’s about time that a more polished beta version arrive, we’d say — and the new 0.8 revision does its best to justify moving one letter up the alphabet. Most of the upgrade focuses on improved multi-column and keyboard support, along with a heap of bug fixes. The real story, though, may be what Tweetbot can’t do. Twitter’s tough new API limits put a sharp curb on the number of new users that a third-party developer like Tapbots can bring into the fold. To maximize the number of customers buying the finished version, the company is limiting beta access solely to those who’ve already linked their Twitter accounts to the alpha; if you aren’t already part of the secret club, you’re not getting in today. We’re still looking forward to the completed Tweetbot release, but the hoop-jumping required to keep the app commercially viable doesn’t bode well for any future competition with the official Twitter clients.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Tweetbot for Mac hits beta, runs headlong into new Twitter API limits originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shortly after letting the 10.8.1 Mountain Lion out of the bag, Cupertino’s now released the next dotted version of its feline OS X to members of the developer community. According to the seed note, this early release will be focusing on a slew of social areas as well as other handy applications, including Facebook, Messages, Game Center, Reminders and, of course, the company’s own web browser, Safari. As is usually the case with these young builds, Apple suggests you install it on a machine “you are prepared to erase if necessary,” though something tells us you were already well aware of that. But in case you do want to install v10.8.2, you’ll find the rest of the deets at the Apple Developer site linked below.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Apple releases Mountain Lion 10.8.2 build to devs, focuses on Facebook, iMessage and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Users of Apple’s newest operating system OS X Mountain Lion are finding a brand new software update ready for them this week containing upgrades for both iMessage and Migration Assistant as well as bug fixes galore. This update will bring users up to version 10.8.1 and is a completely free download. If you’d like to grab this download, head to the Apple symbol in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, click, and find the “Software Update” menu option.

Once you do upgrade, you’ll find that you’re running just a bit quicker and that several bugs you may or may not have noticed recently are completely fixed up. Apple’s upgrade list includes several small fixes as well as an “unexpected quit” error appearing in Migration Assistant more often than the software and hardware company was comfortable with. Per Apple, their upgrade list reads as follows.

• Resolve an issue that may cause Migration Assistant to unexpectedly quit
• Improve compatibility when connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server in Mail
• Address an issue playing audio through a Thunderbolt display
• Resolve an issue that could prevent iMessages from being sent
• Address an issue that could cause the system to become unresponsive when using Pinyin input
• Resolve an issue when connecting to SMB servers with long names
• Address a issue that may prevent Safari from launching when using a Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) file
• Improve 802.1X authentication with Active Directory credentials.

NOTE: Check out our full OS X Mountain Lion review if you’ve not already downloaded the software yourself – it’s a winner!

For a full list of upgrades, you can head to Apple’s full upgrade page at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5418, and note that Apple suggests that you do a full back up of your system before you initiate this upgrade as well. Selecting your Apple Menu and Software Update will also reveal any other software updates available to you via Apple’s own server.

Software updates for 3rd party applications can be found in your Apple App Store application – Software Update works specifically with Apple-loaded software. If you’re uncomfortable with the Software Update process, you can also use Apple’s Manual Update software to make it all smooth.

[via Apple]

OS X Mountain Lion update brings 10.8.1 software fixes is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There’s a special moment in every operating system’s life when it loses its innocent .0 status and grows up. It’s OS X Mountain Lion’s turn to mature, as Apple has just pushed out the 10.8.1 update for early adopters. Most of the fixes are for issues that plague specific use cases, such as audio output from a Thunderbolt Display or crashes in Migration Assistant. There are a few remedies that a wider audience might appreciate — a fix for iMessages that don’t send and an improvement to Exchange compatibility in Mail, for example. We don’t yet know of any surprises lurking underneath, but it can’t hurt to have a smoother-running Mac while we investigate.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Software

Apple posts OS X 10.8.1 update, mends your Mountain Lion originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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