Two of the biggest requests since MacSpeech Dictate has been released have been the ability to dictate with a Bluetooth headset, and to have voice control of the mouse. Today I’m pleased to bring you news of both!
Bluetooth
The MacSpeech team have now authorised – and are selling – the Calisto Bluetooth Headset for use with all versions of Dictate. This headset comes with its own Bluetooth dongle, pre-paired so you can use it immediately. I am unsure if this means you can’t use your Mac’s internal Bluetooth with the Calisto headset and have asked MacSpeech to clarify this; I’ll update the post when I have the information.
The Calisto Bluetooth Headset can be purchased as part of a Dictate bundle, or separately for US$149.
Speech-Controlled Mouse Movements
Voice control for the mouse has been a big issue for MacSpeech Dictate users from the start, especially those users with disabilities. Today I’ve got a comment from Philip that seems to offer promise. Philip wrote:
What features would you like to see in voice mouse control?
I have successfully created a prototype of MSD commands in applescript for incremental positioning of the mouse: mouse up 100, mouse left 100, etc. I can see expanding the commands to a full screen of 2000×1500 in 1000, 500, 100 increments and a set of close in adjustments of perhaps 10, 20, 50. That would require about 200 commands in the set including the standard mouse button actions. Once created they could be easily imported.
Would such a set be worthwhile?
That sounds like fantastic work Philip, and I think it would definitely be worthwhile. Readers, please feel free to leave a reply to Philip in the comments here – I’ll make sure he reads them, and will add my own comments also. This could be a huge help to tiding us over until MacSpeech incorporate their own native mouse movement into Dictate.
Coupons and Discounts
Last but not least, MacSpeech are offering 20% Off MacSpeech Dictate on USA Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday on MacSpeech.com orders! For international customers, this is the November 26-30th, 2009. When you’re checking out, use the coupon code MS2009 to get your discount. Users of MacSpeech.co.uk can save 10% on MacSpeech Dictate with Microphone when you use the coupon code MACSPEECHUK
.
Don’t forget to leave your comments for Philip about his voice control mouse scripts.
- Ricky Buchanan
If you are going to buy or upgrade any version of MacSpeech Dictate from the USA or UK.
stores, please consider using these links in this article. If you do, I'll get a commission - a small percentage of the sale price. It won't cost you anything and it will help to support me and ATMac.
atmacjournal October 20, 2009 at 3:40 pm
New ATMac post: Dictate News: Bluetooth, Mouse Control, and Discounts http://tinyurl.com/yjt5qjl
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Tony Schmiesing October 31, 2009 at 4:19 am
I must say, no mouse control has been one of the drags of using Mac speech dictate. As it is, it’s not truly hands-free. the mouse grid function on NaturallySpeaking is endlessly useful… would love to see something like that.
Andrew December 18, 2009 at 9:41 pm
As commented above, full mouse control by voice command is essential for many disabled users and it was a great dissapointment to find that Mac Speech Dictate, heralded as Naturally Speaking for the Mac is lacking in this area. I hope that there will also be a Mouse Grid feature to quickly home in on the target. While I have found that the speech recognition engine is certainly better in MacSpeech Dictate than in iListen, MacSpeech Dictate is still well behind Nuance Naturally Speaking in terms of ease of use eg direct voice control in accessing web pages etc even before we get on to the subject of no voice control of the mouse. The obvious work-around at present is to use Firefox and Mouseless Browsing but this is still far less convenient than using Nuance Naturally Speaking for web browsing. Isn’t it time MacSpeech Dicate properly caught up?
Tony Schmiesing December 20, 2009 at 4:57 am
Yes, it’s absolutely time that dictate do some catching up — the absence of this essential feature is perplexing. It pains me to have to use boot camp and Windows for all my writing when something as basic could be done on the Mac side. I’ve been a Mac user forever, use them for my graphic work, and I look forward to the day when I can let go of Windows entirely.
Nazareth December 30, 2009 at 7:15 am
Hi, I may have an answer for the mouse control issue. There is a site called schoolfreeware.com. It has all types of scripts for Safari, Firefox, and mouse control; not to mention additional freeware. Although they were written for use with the speech recognition system included with the Mac, I can see their use with MacSpeech Dictate. I hope this helps.
John Barbee January 13, 2010 at 8:03 am
I am visually impaired and have been looking fthrough a glass darkly) for ways
and means to use my Mac. I have upgraded to Snow Leopard and and discovered that Apple is selling the Magic Mouse. I tried it and found it very easy to use, intuitive and very helpful in enlarging text and working on the internet. So I bought one. Prices run from about $72 to 100. It is well worth it. It uses Bluetooth and installs itself very easily in the mouse window of System Preferences. Consider it the “Porshe” amoung mouse preferences for the Mac mini and other Mac desktops.
Ben Ogilvie January 31, 2010 at 5:23 pm
To Philip-
My father has recently become a quad due to a bicycling accident, and the mouse control scripts would be SUCH a great help!
Please let us know when they are finalized!
Thanks,
-Ben