As I am sitting here, writing this, we are experiencing record-breaking high temperatures. Yesterday, on my way back from client, I caught my dashboard thermometer displaying 37°C, which is equivalent to 98.6°F. I was extremely grateful for the air-conditioning in my car! However, neither my office, nor my home office are fitted with proper climate […]
Who is listening in on your dictation?
How secure are speech recognition applications? A couple of months ago I read an article in the Dutch media about Alexa, Amazon’s smart home assistant, sending a random conversation from someone in the USA to a random person in the owner’s contacts list. I found an article in English covering the same story at the […]
Microphone not recognised by Dragon?
If you suddenly find that Dragon does not recognise your microphone any more, even though Windows sees it, the below video might be the solution. Apparently the latest large windows update (1803) changes something in the security settings of Windows. This video shows you how to check for the settings and make sure that your […]
Dragon stinks! Right??!
Dragon stinks! Some time ago someone enquired in a forum after speech recognition software. But only a program that actually works! “Not Dragon, Dragon stinks!” When I hear someone say that, I usually wonder what went wrong in the relationship between that person and their Dragon. Didn’t they ever hit it off? Did they fall […]
Was it Yanny or Laurel? Ask the Dragon!
I had a fun experiment with Dragon: Recently there was a bit to do about a digitised sound sample saying either “Yanny” or “Laurel”. Watch this video to see how Dragon transcribes that particular sound sample and how Dragon transcribes a regular human voice.
Freedom: walking around while dictating
Dragon allows you to get a bit of freedom of movement. There is absulutely no need to be virtually chained to the keyboard and mouse, since you can do so much by voice. Even with a wired headset you can lean back in your chair, while being productive. And a wireless microphone allows you even […]
Is Dragon speech recognition a good choice for me?
If you’re considering Dragon speech recognition, you want to be as sure as possible beforehand that it will actually benefit you, right? Unlike some resellers and trainers, I’ll be the last person to tell you that speech recognition is the perfect solution for everyone. It really isn’t. So how to find out if it will […]
Dragon 15 and Firefox
Sometime last year it became impossible to properly work in Firefox with Dragon. The existing plug-in/extension stopped working. Apparently Mozilla decided to change something essential in an update to Firefox, causing the Dragon extension to become inoperable. A great disappointment, since for many people Firefox is the preferred Internet browser. With the advent of the […]
Dragon 15.3 Update (for PC)
Nuance has come out with a free update to version 15.3 which offers a solution for several excruciating bugs in Dragon Professional Individual and Microsoft Office. Why you need this update These were the issues experienced many people running Dragon Professional Individual 15 in combination with Word and Outlook on Windows. It was impossible to correctly position the […]
What do I need to successfully use Dragon?
Dragon may seem a wonderful solution on first sight. And in most cases it can certainly be absolutely great. But there are several considerations to keep in mind. What do you need to successfully use Dragon? Important success factors include yourself as the end user of the software, your computer and the microphone. You: the end user […]
Can I use Dragon if I have (almost) no computer experience?
It seems so convenient: just talk to your computer and it will do what you say. Much easier than use the keyboard and mouse, right? Perhaps you’re a bit older and never learned how to work with a computer. Or perhaps you have serious physical issues preventing you to be able to use a mouse […]
The ultimate guide to Dragon NaturallySpeaking?
Is there such a thing as an Ultimate guide to Dragon NaturallySpeaking? Let me explain how I came to this question: If you have read my bio, you know that I have been a trainer for speech recognition software for almost 20 years now. However, I have a confession to make: running an international online branche […]
Happy New Year
Musical Christmas greetings from the Dragon
I’ve had incredible fun singing a Christmas song to the Dragon 🙂 . It’s amazing what you can make the speech recognition do if you have a bit of patience. Click video below: Merry Christmas to you!
Can I install Dragon on multiple computers?
Do your own more than one computer? If you do, you are probably interested to know whether you can install Dragon on both your laptop and your desktop computer. I frequently get asked if it is allowed to install Dragon speech recognition on multiple computers. When can I install Dragon on multiple computers? Much depends […]
The single most important factor for success with Dragon
Recently I got this question: “What is the single most important factor for success with Dragon speech recognition?” All right, that is a question that’s really hard to answer. In my opinion it is simply not possible to indicate a single success factor. What is the most important factor? Without a computer, you cannot use […]
What does DPI stand for?
Can I still use Dragon when I have a cold?
It is a question that I get regularly: “What if I get a cold? Can I still dictate and use speech commands in Dragon? Will Dragon understand you? Obviously, if your voice is really hoarse or you’ve lost your voice completely, Dragon won’t work anymore. But even if circumstances are less dire, Dragon speech recognition […]
Can I use the built-in mic of my laptop for Dragon?
Dragon on World Emoji Day
Workld Emoji Day; I didn’t know it was a ‘thing’, but I’m happy to show how I dictate emoji’s in Dragon speech recognition software.
Speech recognition for the entrepreneur
I am an entrepreneur: I run a speech recognition training and consulting business in the Netherlands and have been self-employed for over 7 years now. Like many enterpreneurs and emplyees alike, I am fairly busy most of the time and sometimes I am BUSY. Perhaps you know what I mean :-). Are you busy too? […]
What is Dragon speech recogntion?
Generally speaking, the term ‘speech recognition’ in technology describes the capability of an electronic device to respond to words spoken by humans. Nowadays there is speech recognition for Windows and Mac computers, smartphones, GPS navigation systems and much more. At Learn Dragon Online, I teach people to work with Dragon Professional Individual. This is a […]
Dragon NaturallySpeaking celebrates 20th anniversary
This month it is 20 years ago that Dragon NaturallySpeaking by – then – Dragon Systems was ‘born’. It was the first speech recognition product that allowed you to dictate continuously. Its predecessor DragonDictate required you to speak word-for-word. A much slower process where every word was analysed and recognised separately. Not until Dragon had finished […]
Happy Easter
About Learn Dragon Online
I created Learn Dragon Online to help people get the most out of Dragon speech recognition software. Why a course on Dragon? While speech recognition software is not rocket science, it still can be tricky to get Dragon to do what you want. I find that many people struggle to get adequate use out of […]
About Janneke
Update: This blogpost was first written when I started my site and didn’t have a proper ‘About me’ page in place. I now have one, and you can find it here. About Janneke den Draak This is the first time that I have created an international website and most probably you’ve have never heard of […]
