Though Nuance’s PC and Mac speech recognition programs are relatively expensive, the company provides several free mobile apps that allow users to leverage the power of voice recognition. The company’s latest release, PaperPort Notes for the iPad may be useful to students and for those who want to use their iOS device for notetaking and annotating documents.

Main Features

PaperPort Notes is very similar to many other iPad note apps. It allows you to make typed and free handwritten notes using a stylus or your finger, make audio recordings, change fonts and font sizes, and much more.

But of course because this is a Nuance app, it includes a voice recognition feature that allows you to dictate your thoughts or what you read from existing text. PaperPort seems to be the only app of its type to feature text dictation.

PaperPort also includes a search feature, copying and pasting, bookmarking the pages, and the ability to capture and import selected content from the web, or entire documents from Dropbox and other sources.

Handwriting & Audio Recordings

There are a slew of free handwriting notebook apps, like Noteshelf, Penultimate, and Bamboo Paper that provide near real-life pen and paper quality when using a stylus pen.

While it’s great to see this feature in PaperPort, the digital results (see screenshot above) from handwriting are not as good and smooth as when compared to other notebook apps (see Noteshelf screenshot below).

The audio recording feature of PaperPort, however, does work very well. It will be useful for recording lectures while taking notes, or simply recording your thoughts verbally.

Audio recordings are affixed to a single page, so if you add a new page while a recording is active, PaperPort will automatically stop the recording for the previous page and start a new recording for the current one. Each individual page can be labeled and deleted, and all are kept organized in a drop-down box.

Voice-Recognition Feature

Probably the most inviting reason to download PaperPort is to use its voice recognition feature. Similar to other Nuance mobile apps you can dictate your thoughts or read them from existing text, and PaperPort will process and type out what you dictate.

The feature works fairly well (see unedited dictated note above); however, the biggest drawback is that you cannot see the results of your dictation until after you tap the Finished button. In the desktop versions of Nuance’s voice recognition programs, you see the results of your dictation nearly immediately after you pause after dictating a phrase or sentence. So as with the other mobile dictation programs, you will probably not use this feature for long extended pieces of writing.

You can use the voice recognition program in any page or document you import into PaperPort. You simply tap the Text box icon in the menu bar, and then touch-and-drag across an area on the page to either make typed notes or to start dictation by tapping the Tap & Speak button above the software keyboard.

You can edit dictated notes and add more dictations within the same note. The voice program provides the best capture when using a headphone mic or the mic installed on the iPad. It will not do a good job of recognizing and typing lectures given by someone standing in a room.

PaperPort also allows you to change the font style and size of text, as well as the type of background for added notes. You can select to have text-only, border, sticky style note, or custom image background.

Other Features

A few other advanced features in PaperPort include the ability to add various styles of paper, e.g. white or yellow lined, or graphing paper.

You can also import existing documents from Dropbox, Box.net, or from your PaperPort Anywhere account—annotate them and add written or dictated notes and recordings.

In addition, PaperPort includes a feature for capturing content from its built-in Web browser and other imported documents. You can select both text and images to add to the clipboard and paste them into any document or note page.

And finally, notes and imported documents in PaperPort can be exported in PDF format (with password protection) via e-mail, Google Docs, Dropbox, direct printing, etc.

PaperPort Notes for the iPad requires iOS 4.2 or later and is available for free in the iTunes App Store. Let us know what you think of it.

This extension removes many of Siri’s limitations and allows you to do things you never imagined possible. As I said before, Siri is awesome, but like so many other things on the iPhone, it is arbitrarily limited. Thankfully, jailbreaks allow you to remove many of these limitations. It took almost no time after the iPhone 4S was jailbroken for the community to release an amazing Cydia tweak that extends Siri’s core functionality now, and opens a whole slew of options for the future.

Installation

Assistant Extensions is available in the BigBoss repository, which is one of the default Cydia repositories. Simply search Cydia for Assistant Extensions, click on it and click “Install” on the top right corner of the screen. You can also check out their official website. When finished, Cydia will prompt you to respring your phone.

Once it is finished respringing, you will be ready to take Siri to a new level.

What Can It Do?

Out of the box, the app can do many awesome things. Using this tweak, you will be able to compose a new tweet with Siri. Simply say “tweet” and the text of the tweet, and Siri will compose and send your tweet for you. If you want to see your tweet before it is sent, then you will need to say, “show tweet” and then the text of the tweet. This will open a box with the tweet, so you can make sure Siri got it right before sending.

I cannot really understand why Siri cannot tweet out of the box, but with Assistant Extensions, she can.

Using Assistant Extensions, Siri can launch applications. Both regular and jailbreak apps can be launched using Siri. Simply say “Launch” or “Open” and the name of the app, and Siri will quickly launch that app for you.

You can also use Siri in conjunction with SbSettings. You can toggle on and off various system options using this awesome app. You can say, “Turn on Bluetooth,” for example, which obviously turns Bluetooth on. For a complete list of available toggles say “List toggles” to Siri, and she will happily tell you everything she can turn on and off and their current status.

If you are feeling bored you can also say, “Should I…” and something you would like to do. Who knew Siri could also be a magic 8-ball? You can also just make Siri say stuff. Just tell her, “say…” and what you want her to say. It is somewhat useless, but fun nonetheless.

Are you lonely? Well, why not have a conversation with Siri? Simply say “let’s chat” and wait a few moments for Siri to load herself into chat mode. Once she says she is ready, you can chat about pretty much anything. Now, this is important, when you are done talking with Siri make sure to say “goodbye” because when she is in chat mode she will not do any of her normal functions. Saying “goodbye” gets her back to regular Siri mode.

The Future

What makes this application stand out above the rest is the fact that people can create their own extensions for Siri, as long as they know how to program (which I don’t). This opens up the application to endless possibilities of what people can make Siri do. As an example, the developer included a tweak that allows you to search YouTube from Siri. Simply say, “search……on YouTube” and Siri will pop up a list of matching results.

The developer of the app put a list of ideas for things that Siri could do, and I must say that any of these would be awesome, and I am sure creative-minded members of the jailbreak community will come up with some even better ones. Check out his list of ideas:

• Complete social network integration (what’s new on Facebook, post on Facebook….)
• Chat bots.
• Completing original Apple intentions like local search for countries where it is not yet available.
• Search for known sites like IMDB, eBay….
• Remote controllers – control your Mac/Apple TV with Siri.
• Translators (it was made already; check out Lingual on Cydia now).

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. It has already done some pretty amazing things, and as more and more developers start implementing their own take, this could become one of the best Cydia tweaks ever made.

The key to using your iPhone while driving is to reduce the number of steps it takes to make a call, send a text message, or check driving directions.

The iPhone includes a few built-in features and apps that might be useful while driving, and there a few third-party apps that can help keep your eyes on the road.

Voice Activation

The Siri app available in iPhone 4S includes the most advanced voice activation features for making phone calls, sending text messages, playing songs, and much more. Using it while driving can enable you to keep your eyes on the road, instead of trying to type a phone number or send a text message, which you should never try to do while driving.

If you don’t have iPhone 4S, no problem, because the iPhone 3G, 3GS, and and 4G also feature enough voice control features that come in handy while driving. See my article, “Stop Tapping & Start Talking: Voice Control Your iPhone.”

Pasties

I never attempt to type a text message while driving, but I do use an app called Pasties ($1.99 or Free Lite version) to send preset, commonly used messages to my wife and a few other designated people. With Pasties, you set up individual common messages (e.g., “I’m on my way.” “I’ll be late.” “Call me later.”) you want to text or send via email.

Pasties can also save you a few more taps because it allows you to set a  message to a specific person in your Address Book.  When you tap on the message it will paste it in a new SMS addressed to the assigned person, and then you simply tap again to send it. It would be great if the message were sent with only one tap, but at least it keeps you from typing messages while driving.

Face Dialers

I’ve never liked the Favorites list in the Phone app of the iPhone. It requires 2-3 taps to access, and if you have more than a few people on the list, it can be difficult to read and navigate especially while driving. So this is where an app like Face Dialer (.99 cents) comes in handy. It allows you create photo icons of people you call, text, email frequently, and initiate contact with a single tap.

You can put all your photo contacts in one folder, or put the icon of the person you call the most on your homepage. By using this app you don’t have to hunt for a contact’s name in your Address Book or your Favorites list.

The ad supported Tatap Call free is another option that enables you set up phone icons for the people you call regularly. You can double-tap on an icon to make the call directly, or  a single tap will display menu for calling, texting, and emailing the selected contact. The add-free version is .99 cents.

iPhone Earphones

Also, don’t forget that the earphones that come with the iPhone are also useful while driving. If you must talk on the phone while in route, the earphones allow you to both answer a phone call and talk to someone using the mic button on the cord.

You press the button once to receive a call and press it again to end it. If you receive a call while talking someone else, you again press the button once to switch over to the new call, and press again to end it and return to the original call.

Voice Search

It’s not uncommon to need to search for an address or directions while driving, but again it can be a big distraction to do so especially if you’re trying to manually type a message. If you must do a search while driving, two handy apps, Google search app and Dragon Go come in handy.

Both of these apps have really good voice to text recognition features. And most often when you get search results, you can simply tap on the phone listing to make a call, or the listed address to open it in Map application or to get directions.

See my article Dragon’s free mobile apps to find more tips about voice to text recognition for the iPhone.

Let us know about the apps you find handy for safer driving while using the iPhone.

But you may not know that your iPhone has a few built-in voice control features that can save you the trouble of typing keystrokes. This feature indicates that we can expect even more and similar voice command technology in future releases of the iPhone.

Let’s explore this potentially powerful iPhone voice control feature further here in this article.

Making Phone Calls

The most useful voice command feature of the iPhone is the ability to make phone calls, particularly to contacts in your Address Book. This especially comes in handy when you must make a call while driving, or when you simply should not be distracted by having to look at the keyboard on your phone.

To make a voice command call, simply press and hold the home button of your iPhone. A blue Voice Control screen will appear followed by a short beep.

At that point, you simply say, “Call/”dial” [contacts name].” You will receive a verification of your command. If your contact has more than one number, the iPhone will by default dial the main number.

You will get better results if you know the precise name of your contact, and which number you want to call. So for example, if you say “Call Apple Computer > Tech Support,” the iPhone will identify that number and call it.

You may also use commands like, “Call Peter > work,” or “mobile.” And of course you can simply have the iPhone call a dictated number, such as, “Call (or Dial) 555-1212.”

Nicknames

If you have contacts whose names are difficult to pronounce, you can actually create a nickname, useful for making voice control commands. To do this, launch your Phone app and select a contact for whom you want to set a nickname.

Tap the Edit button and scroll down to “add field.” In the next window, select “Nickname,” and type it. Now all you have to do is use that nickname when sending the voice command.

Multiple Matches

If you use a voice command for a contact who shares the name of another contact, the iPhone will say, “multiple matches found.” From there, you choose and say the one you want to call.

When making voice commands, you will also want reduce any ambient noise so the phone can clearly hear your command. In my use of this feature, I have found nearly 100% accuracy in making the correct call.

Music Commands

The voice control features of the iPhone are not just limited to making phone calls. You can also send commands for navigating the iPod app of your phone. You can initiate music commands from within any application by simply, again, pressing and holding the home key on your phone.

The only slight challenge with these commands is that you need to know the name of a specific artist, album, title, song, or playlist that you want the iPhone to select and play in your music library.

Taken from a Voice Control Cheat Sheet, this is a list of music commands:

“Play”/“Play music”.
“Play playlist” plus playlist name. “Play playlist gym songs.”
“Play album” plus artist name. “Play artist Pink Floyd.”
“Pause”/Pause music.”
“Previous song.”
“Shuffle.”
“Genius”/Play more like this”/Play more songs like this.”
“What’s playing?” (general information)
“What song is this?”, “Who sings this song”, or “Who is this song by?” (specific information)

There a dozens of other voice commands Apple could include in the iPhone to really enhance this feature; such as commands for launching apps, switching apps, activating Bluetooth, and controlling the volume on the device. This technology is already present in Mac OS X, so it shouldn’t be too hard to add to the iOS.

Let us know if you use voice control commands on your iPhone, and how successful you find it to be.

What is Tazti?

There are a number of MakeUseOf articles that have covered some of the speech-recognition advancements, such as voice integration into Google’s mobile iPhone by Jimmy, or this very thorough article by Saikat that mentions how you can use Microsoft’s Speech Recognition Engine to make use of voice activated menu commands.

Tazti is essentially a software application that not only opens and closes your applications or performs Internet searches by voice, but it also comes with integrated voice commands for your favorite music applications or social network websites like Facebook and MySpace. And if your not a computer programmer who can program the MS speech recognition engine into Visual Basic apps or into Word and Excel scripts, then Tazti allows you to create custom keyword or keyphrase control routines. And it’s all offered in one comprehensive package for absolutely free.

What Can Tazti Control?

Now, if you’re a gadget freak like me, you’ve probably attempted to use voice recognition software over the last few years.  And, like me, you probably threw the thing in the trash from sheer frustration.  There’s nothing worse than telling your phone to call Tom, and having your phone call your mom.  Screaming “yo fool, waazzzuuup!” at the top of your lungs when your mom is at the other end of the line is not a good thing.

So during this latest foray into the world of speech recognition technology, I didn’t have very high expectations. Needless to say, Tazti changed my mind quickly regarding the current state of this technology.

When you first install and run Tazti, you have to go through the “training” process. The software needs to learn how you say words, or parts of words.  To do this, you simply read text, and the software shows you whether or not it understood that particular word by highlighting it. As you read along, the highlighted text follows. It was actually kind of fun.

For the first training session, you read through a ten minute segment on how to use the software. I didn’t want the software to make any mistakes, so I decided to go through a second ten minute training segment by reading an excerpt from War of the Worlds.

Search the Web or Launch Applications

Upon first opening the software, I wasn’t at all impressed by presentation. The software has no pretty bells and whistles, just ten tabs filled with the keywords that you can use.

However, once I started testing the software, I realized that all of the bells and whistles are within the software itself. The first few tabs, as you can see above, have very basic commands and actions.
The controls under each tab are as follows.

• Basic: Control the Tazti software itself
• Stuff: Includes prebuilt commands to open specific websites.  For example, “get chili” opens up SkylineChili.com or “get pizza” takes you to Dominos.com
• Places: Allows you to open specific websites by voice, such as “go hotmail,” or “go ebay home”
• Fun: If you’re ever bored, this tab is entertaining just to see what the commands do. Saying “I’m bored,” takes you to the “best webcams on the net.”  Saying “kirk and spock,” takes you to Startrek.com
• Custom: Lets you create your own custom commands
• Music: You can control the iTunes application
• Bookmarks: Search through IE, Firefox, or Apple Safari bookmarks
• Search: Perform specific keyword searches on the search engine of your choice
• Social: Integrated control of Facebook or MySpace features
• Options: Customize how Tazti runs on your computer

While I was entertained by the software’s ability to open web pages or launch software, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Even basic programmers can write an application in a few minutes that can do stuff like that. However, the real heart of Tazti’s ability comes from its integrated features.

Integrated Application Control

Tazti designers took a gamble and integrated the software with some of the more popular applications. This could doom the application in time, but at the moment the software that it integrates with is very popular. In particular, Tazti can control Facebook, MySpace, iTunes, and three major web browsers, Firefox, IE and Safari.

The music controls allow you to perform specific functions on iTunes such as playing and pausing music, changing tracks, or performing searches.

For anyone who just wants to control the music player in the background with their voice, while doing other tasks on the computer, this feature is a real luxury.

The bookmarks feature allows you to say “search bookmarks,” and after the beep you say your search word or phrase.  Tazti sifts through bookmarks of your browsers and then reports back (in Internet Explorer) a list of all of the results.

You just click on the result you want and go to the website. In this case I searched for “analytics,” (a tough word to understand) and sure enough, Tazti found my Google Analytics bookmark.

Finally, Tazti is well integrated with the two major social networking sites, Facebook and Myspace.  Under the “social” tab, you’ll find commands like “login to facebook,” or “go facebook inbox.”

You have to set up Tazti with your ID and Password information, but once you do you can log into any part of your account without having to click a single button.

Other Applications and Websites that You Like

While it’s nice to open applications and websites, or control music and access your Facebook profile with just your voice, everyone has specific websites that they like which won’t be included in the Tazti software. What do you do then? Luckily, Tazti has a built-in tool that allows you to customize new voice commands to open any application or web page that you want.

Without the ability to customize, Tazti would be pretty useless after a while. But this feature lets you incorporate your own interests and daily tasks into the sort of voice commands that you need, not only those that come with the application by default. This one tool is probably the most useful part of the software, because you no longer need to be a programmer to control your computer or to web surf with your voice. All you need to do is configure the new voice command in Tazti, and you’ve created your own customized voice-activated control.

Have you ever used voice-recognition software? What tools or features do you find useful? Share your experiences, positive or negative, in the comments section below.

Vlingo [iTunes Link] has all of the great features you would expect, but remains simple and easy to operate.  On top of that, the App allows you to choose which task you want to execute by voice (or by keystroke).

This is also the first app I’ve seen that lets you update Twitter and Facebook statuses by voice as well.

The core of Vlingo is the home screen. From here, you can actually use any of its main features directly.  For simplicity though, let’s break them down. At the bottom the app displays:

• Maps
• Search
• Phone
• Social

Each function has been cued to specific keywords that are easy to remember. If you want to run a web search, simply prepend your query with “search,” “Google,” or “Yahoo.” If you just go with “search,” it defaults to Yahoo, but you can change the default easily from either the search screen or the options.

Likewise, the mapping function only requires a “find” in the front and then a regular Google Maps search query. “Call” brings up the phonebook function and very reliably brings up hard to pronounce names. You can specify “mobile” or “home” if you wish. The first time you use the phonebook, you’ll need to submit your contacts to the Vlingo servers, but this only takes a minute.

The last function is the most innovative. There are two status update options. You can update your Twitter status or your Facebook status. What’s nice is that you can say “status update” if you want to choose the service manually, or you can say one or the other. For instance you can say “Twitter update: This movie is really boring” and it will figure the rest out.

The first time you use it, Vlingo prompts you for your log-in information. As an added advantage, you can view your Twitter feed directly inside the app without switching to Safari. It works the same way with Facebook, using the API. It too provides the mobile version of Facebook inside the app, so there is no need to open a browser window. Keep in mind that the Facebook API is a bit finicky (at least it was when I tried to connect), so a WiFi connection is optimal. Otherwise, it might just time-out on you.

I’m hoping that Vlingo will extend their interest in status update networks and add in more services. Personally, I’d like to see Plurk, FriendFeed, BrightKite, and Tumblr added to their list.

So, the biggest question with any voice recognition app is “how accurate is the recognition software?” Well I tested it a bit and it is one of the best I’ve ever tried on the iPhone. Most recognition programs have a minimum level of quality nowadays, but often get tripped up on funny names and words. While there are limits, I found that even the trickiest names in my contact list were no problem for Vlingo.

The web search was the only sticky point. The longer the query the worse my results seemed to be.  This might be because longer phrases are probably less well pronounced and harder to decode. Also there is more room for error. Fortunately, Vlingo has a built in function to list alternate possible phrases under the search box. For some reason, the status update function had fairly good recognition, but that is probably because the choice of words in a tweet is easier to parse (lots of short verbs and location nouns).

In comparison to Google’s new search app, the two fared about the same. I tried searching for my blog, “Mason Tech Beat,” and neither app did very well, no matter how well I pronounced it. Google probably still wins this one because they have the hands-free option (but Apple is letting them have special privileges so it’s a little unfair).

Overall, I was very impressed by the new direction Vlingo is taking their voice-driven iPhone app. The status updates, the high recognition quality, and the overall ease of use has really warmed me to this app. I’m definitely keeping this one around for when I get a little tired of typing everything out!