London, UK, 7 August, 2008 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech solutions, today unveiled Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® 10, a breakthrough new release of the world’s best-selling speech recognition software. With Dragon, people can write documents and emails, search the Web, and even control their PC entirely by voice, saving time and boosting productivity. Because most people speak at least three times faster than they type, Dragon makes it possible to get things done more quickly by voice than by relying on keyboards and mice alone. Dragon 10 is nearly twice as fast as the previous release and can deliver accuracy up to 99 percent, while never making a spelling mistake.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking software from Nuance is used by millions of people – in the office, at home, at school, on the road, even in the operating room – to get more done faster by voice. The new release of Dragon delivers what matters most in speech recognition – superior levels of accuracy, seamless integration with the most popular PC applications, and unrivalled ease of use – and introduces new features that promise to help anyone get more done, faster:
- Get it right the first time – For over a year, Nuance has hosted a typing test on its Web site to highlight the increased speed and accuracy that is delivered by Dragon (try it yourself at www.nuance.com/talk). After testing 35,000 people, Nuance found that the average typing speed was 35 words per minutes (WPM), down from previous estimates of 40 WPM. Even more significant, the data showed that the average accuracy was only 58 percent. Dragon’s near-perfect accuracy means less time spent pecking away at the keyboard and more time actually getting things done – at speeds of up to 160 WPM. Significant improvements to the Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognition system have yielded an accuracy improvement of more than 20 per cent over the previous release, resulting in speech recognition accuracy levels as high as 99 per cent. In fact, the product actually learns from corrections over time, making speech a more natural and satisfying experience. And, perhaps best of all, Dragon will never misspell a word.
- Dragon Voice Shortcuts – New Dragon Voice Shortcuts collapse common multi-step tasks into direct voice commands. Now you can send emails and schedule meetings, search the Web for information, products, news and more, or search your desktop faster than ever by saying what you want. For example:
- “Send email to Peter Mahoney and Steve Chambers,” – Dragon opens the user’s email program, creates a new email and puts the appropriate contact names into the “to:” box.
- “Search maps for Italian restaurants on Oxford Street, London,” or “Search the Web for Hannah Montana concert schedule,” – Dragon will open the default search engine and Web browser to enter the spoken words in the search field and return the results. Users can also search specific sites by voice including Google, Yahoo, eBay, Wikipedia and YouTube.
- Quick Voice Formatting – Quick Voice Formatting commands allow users to issue a single voice command, such as “Bold Quick Voice Formatting,” to make formatting text faster than ever. In addition, an extensive set of natural language commands means users don't have to memorise complex instructions. In Microsoft Word, for example, a user can say "make that bigger," and the font size increases instantly.
- Type as fast as you talk – With Dragon, spoken words appear on the screen almost instantly, making speech a faster, more natural approach to connect with your PC. Most people speak about 120 words per minute, but type fewer than 40 words a minute. Dragon NaturallySpeaking lets users create documents and emails about three times faster than typing.
- Cut the cord from the PC – For the first time ever, Nuance is offering a special Dragon NaturallySpeaking edition bundled with a Bluetooth headset to deliver a truly hands-free, untethered experience. With the accompanying Plantronics Bluetooth Calisto headset in certain bundles, people can move up to 30 feet away from their computer while dictating. In addition, because Dragon works with many digital voice recorders and personal digital assistants (PDAs), people can get more done while they are on the go, reclaiming lost time.
- Talk to your favourite applications – Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 lets people speak their minds quickly with today’s most popular applications, including Microsoft Word and Outlook, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and popular instant message clients such as AOL Instant Messenger.
Changing Lives, One Voice at a Time
Dragon NaturallySpeaking gives people an easy way to get more done in less time – whether it is sending an email, writing a report, capturing an old family recipe or updating a blog. The best way to appreciate the power and flexibility of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 is to see how people in all walks of life are putting the software to work to make it easier for them to speak their minds.
“Speech technology has reached a critical turning point where it is now fundamentally changing the way that we interact with the world around us,” said Steve Chambers, president of the Mobile and Consumer division of Nuance. “What was once a ‘Star Trek’ dream is now a reality – on our mobile phones, in our cars, on our navigation devices, and now on the desktop with Dragon. With its near-perfect accuracy and easy-to-use interface, Dragon has touched millions of people by creating a more productive and natural experience at the desktop. There’s no need to take time to train the software or learn arcane steps or commands anymore – people can simply start talking and see their ideas flow directly onto the page. It really is incredible to see.”
The latest release of Dragon NaturallySpeaking comes from the world’s expert in speech recognition – Nuance. Nuance speech technology touches millions of people every day as they interact with their bank or airline reservation system by voice, dial by voice from their cell phone, or interact with their car’s navigation system.
Availability
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard, Preferred, Preferred Wireless & Mobile and Professional are available in the UK mid-August through Nuance’s Web site as well as its global network of reseller partners, software retailers and professional sales organisations. For additional information on features, pricing and volume licensing programs, please visit www.nuance.co.uk/NaturallySpeaking.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard is £79.99 inc. VAT; Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred is £149.99 inc. VAT; Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Professional is £645.08 ex VAT.
