|
Cool Mac Gear• iPod Video • iPod nano • iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Garageband |
MacSpeech, Inc. has released an update for iListen for OS X to version 1.6.2. This is an incremental upgrade, details of which are listed below. The updater is a free download for registered iListen 1.6 users, about 7 MB. While it’s not included in the official list of improvements, version 1.6.2 seems maybe a wee bit faster to me, and I expect that there are sundry minor optimizations and bugfixes incorporated. It’s great that development of iListen is proceeding at an impressive pace, especially since IBM seems to have lost interest in ViaVoice for Mac OS X, with only one update patch released since the program was launched back in 2001, and with sales and support now farmed out to a third party. iListen has had several updates, including three major ones, in the same period. With iListen you can dictate into virtually any Macintosh application using MacSpeech’s TalkAnywhere technology, as well as control the Macintosh interface and many Macintosh applications, as well as type up to 32,000 characters of text by speaking simple voice commands. New Features in iListen 1.6.2 compared with 1.6.1: With iListen you can dictate into virtually any Macintosh application. If a program has an area into which you would normally type, you will probably be able to speak and iListen will type for you. Note that some applications will accept dictation better than others. Features: - Since iListen is designed to operate in the background while you dictate into your favorite applications, it is sometimes easy for it to seem hidden in the background. You can tell if iListen is running if you see the Feedback Palette on your screen. If at any time you want to make iListen the front most application, simply click the button on the Feedback Palette with the MacSpeech logo on it. - iListen depends on a quality audio stream for high recognition rates. MacSpeech recommends that you use a quality speech recognition headset/microphone that has been tested and approved for use with iListen by MacSpeech. You can find these listed on the MacSpeech Website (URL below). I’ve used a number of mics with iListen, and find that the Andrea USB headset that ships with ViaVoice works fine for me, although it is NOT recommended by iListen. MacSpeech also recommends going through the Set Up My Microphone routine at least once a week to maintain top audio quality. Another issue is that putting your computer to sleep while iListen is running may cause unpredictable results when you wake it up. MacSpeech recommends quitting iListen before putting your computer to sleep, however, I sleep and wake up my iBook usually half a dozen times a day, so just leave iListen open. Occasionaly it will quit working after wakeup, but usually not. If it fails to respond, I just restart the program. System requirements: You can download the iListen 1.6.2 updater here: For more information, visit: More Thoughts on Partitioning From David Chilstrom Thanks for your kind comments on my remarks regarding not partitioning a disk. I’m mainly concerned that non-power users don’t overly complicate things for themselves. As for 15GB for a startup disk being plenty, you’d be surprised how fast that goes when you develop a sudden yen for iMovie and digital video. Two fairly small movies on my brother in-law’s G4 devour 8 GB of space! On that same computer, which had about 700 MB of free space or so, my sister ran into an out of disk space message when working with a not terribly large Photoshop document of a 100 MB in size. My guess is that a large swap file had been created for Classic (her Photoshop isn’t native), plus Photoshop has its own scratch disk file and there likely was a temp file created as well. She tried restarting the computer and opening the document again to no avail. Yikes! So, for their situation I came up with the simplistic formula of leaving about 1 GB free on their 20 GB drive to insure more than enough free space. I’m sure they can squeak by with a fair amount less than that, but as they are novices I’m giving them a lot of extra slack to play with. Regards, Hi David; Thanks for the discussion. There’s no categorical right or wrong on this partitioning issue. As I said, different strokes for different users, needs and work/play habits. Your sister and BiL need a bigger hard drive! I know from experience that letting free space drop below a gig really begins to slow OS X down as those swap files accumulate. Incidentally, all of the swap files on my iBook are 76.2 MB. Graphics applications to tend to create some humongous temporary files. I expect this would happen with OS X native Photoshop as well. You’re rignt about the size of movie files, but they (unlike applications) don’t need to be stored on the boot volume. Charles
The OS X Odyssey archives may be accessed here: Note: Letters to Moore's Mailbag may or may not be published at the editor's discretion. Correspondents' email addresses will NOT be published unless the correspondent specifically requests publication. Letters may be edited for length and/or context. Opinions expressed in postings to Moore's MailBag are those of the respective correspondents and not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Editor and/or Applelinks management. If you would prefer that your message not appear in Moore's Mailbag, we would still like to hear from you. Just clearly mark your message "NOT FOR PUBLICATION," and it will not be published. CM
Page: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 |
| ||||
|
| ||||||
