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.

One app which definitely added color to my life is Blip.me. This cute little app turns your phone into a sort of mini walkie-talkie, or at least gives it push-to-talk capabilities, which can also be combined with text chatting. The great part about it is you can send messages to anyone, not only people with smartphones and who are using the app. The app itself is available for both Android and iOS, so you can enjoy voice and text chats using only your data plan with anyone who has an Android device or an iPhone.

Getting Started

As mentioned above, you don’t have to install Blip.me to receive voice messages from it, but it’s more fun if you have it installed. It also allows you to send voice messages yourself and engage in voice and text chats.

To start, download Blip.me for Android [2.2+] or iOS. Note that I tested the app only on Android, so do let us know how it fares on iOS. Once downloaded, the app will ask for your name and phone number. The app works with phone numbers, similar to WhatsApp, but still uses your data plan instead of your texts or calls plan.

Once you do that, the app will send you an access code via text. The text arrives within seconds, and if you have SMS popups, you don’t even have to leave the app. Enter your code and you’re on your way.

If you want, you can now share the app with some friends. It could be fun for your friends to have the app too, but they will get the chance to download it once they get the first voice message from you.

If you don’t want to share right now, tap on “Skip”. That’s it! You’re ready to start.

Sending & Receiving Messages

You can now browse your phone’s contacts and choose someone to send a voice message to. You can send a message to one person or to a group of people. Simple browse and tap the contacts of your choice.

Once you’ve chosen your contacts, the “Hold & Speak” button will appear. All you have to do now is press the button and hold it.

This nice graphic will pop up, and you can now speak directly into the “microphone” and the app will record the message.

The minute you let go of the button, your message will be sent. If your friend doesn’t have Blip.me installed, he will get a text message with a link to the voice message. The message can be played using any media player on the device, and also includes a link to download the app.

If your friend does have the app installed, you can now engage in a voice and text chat to your heart’s content. Switch between voice and text using the buttons on the top right. You can also turn the speaker on and off. When the speaker is off, you can listen to voice messages by holding the phone to your ear. Pretty useful if you’re on the bus or anywhere else where you don’t want other people to hear your messages.

The messages are received instantly, and the whole thing really does feel almost like a walkie-talkie. You push the button, speak, and then very quickly receive a reply which is auto-played if you’re on this screen. You can play messages over and over again by tapping the play button.

One major thing I found lacking in Blip.me is popups. When you already have the app installed, and get a new message, the phone plays a distinct tune, but there is no way that I could see to have it also display a popup. This means that if I miss the sound for some reason, I might miss the message entirely until I open Blip.me.

When you do hear the sound and want to listen to your new message, simply launch Blip.me and you will get to this screen.

These are all your recent chats. They are sorted by last message time, so the first one will be the one where you can find your new message.

Why Is This Better Than Simple Voice Mail & Texts?

True, you can always call someone and leave a message on their voicemail, but that uses your calling plan and is a much slower process for the receiving side, who has to call the service, dial in the code, and then listen to your message (something I rarely feel like doing).

It’s also nice to be able to combine voice and text in the same interface; some things work better with voice and others work better with text. You can also use Blip.me as a personal reminder app, by sending voice and text messages to yourself.

Above all, Blip.me provides a truly enjoyable way to interact with your friends, which is easy, quick, and beautifully designed.

Bottom Line

There are several things I would like to see added to Blip.me to make it perfect – said popups, a way to search through contacts, the ability to send messages to any phone number (not just those in my contact list), and the ability to add and delete contacts from an existing conversation.

These additions will make the app truly awesome, but even as it is, it’s a must-try app if you’ve ever wanted to get that walkie-talkie feel on your phone. Do you know of similar apps we should try? Share in the comments!

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.