Gates on Speech and Touch Screens

Tina in VA sent me this link. Check this one out...

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080222/gates_goodbye_keyboards.html?.v=2

In light of this, you may want to read my blog on touch screens.

http://www.karlbarksdale.com/2007/08/multi-touch-screens-latest-input.html


Also, the tips for Vista users may be helpful.

http://www.karlbarksdale.com/2007/10/ten-essential-tips-for-windows-vista.html


Karl

Google Apps for Dummies

If you've been wondering why I've been a bit lax on updating my blog in the past few weeks (okay, months), it's because I've been very much involved in school and writing a little book called "Google Apps for Dummies" with my good friend Ryan Teeter. Ryan has emerged as the key authority on this subject, and worked for me at Google, creating their first formal training materials for Google Apps.

So, to quote Ryan, “ I'll blame my complete lack of blog updates to the overwhelming detail and humor that have gone into creating this amazing tome.

“Now, mind you, this book is chock full of random and amazing stuff that will take you cleverly through the epic journey of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs (word processing, spreadsheet and presentations apps), and Google Talk and help you make the most of these amazing tools. I'm not too biased, of course, having worked as a trainer at Google, so you can expect only the best information and goodness. And if that weren't enough, we even cover the brand new Google Apps Team Edition, which lets you get going right away with Google Apps using your existing company or school email account.

“Don't trust me, though. It's on Amazon.com so it has to be real, right? Expect to see all of the black-and-yellow goodness at your local bookstore this April!”

With Microsoft offering 44 Billion for Yahoo!, something is going on online that we need to pay attention to. Mainly, we need to question the long-term usefullness of the personal computer as technologies, like the iPhone, move these tools to the phone and handheld computers. When this decade-long change takes place, all data and applications will come from an online source – it has to happen that way. So, Google and Yahoo! are on the long-term correct path and Microsoft has to use its wealth to get into the game that will be the reality a decade from now.

Anyway, that’s why I would hope you would take the time to investigate Google Apps. It’s a peek into our future as Business Educators.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Singledocumindedness

I’m teaching at an early college high school on the Utah Valley University campus. In my preparations, I have found Docs & Spreadsheets an essential tool, making my job a lot easier. The starting point for the suite is called the Docs Home that makes it easy to keep all the documents organized for my three classes. Docs & Spreadsheets is an online office productivity suite that includes:

A) Docs. An online word processing software app
B) Spreadsheets. An online spreadsheet app.
C) Presentations. A PowerPoint-like presentations app.

Advantages of Docs & Spreadsheets

For starters, I have access to my documents online anytime I need them from any computer. In fact, multiple users also have access to the same documents simultaneously, making sharing and collaboration a snap. There are other advantages:

1) Never misplace a document: Google’s sophisticated search tools to find any document on any topic in your personal Docs library quickly, no matter how many documents or folders you have generated

2) Singledocumindedness for sharing, collaboration and version control: Singledocumindedness means that you don’t need to keep multiple versions of any document ever again -- not for yourself and not for your collaborators. A single copy will do because changes are cataloged and maintained within a single master document in your Docs Home. Google Docs will allow you to revert back to any at any point during the creation process at any time.

Singledocumindedness beats the alternative, multidocumindedness; saving multiple copies of the same document in multiple folders, on multiple drives.

3) Multi-folder support: Stop making a zillion new folders! Don’t save copies of the same document in multiple folders or on multiple drives. Instead, any number of folder names can be attached to a file as a label so the document will appear, like magic, in any folder you assign.

4) Platform independence: Docs & Spreadsheets do not care if you’re an Apple OSX user, a Linux user, a Windows XP user, or a Windows Vista user. All it needs is a web browser like Internet Explorer, FireFox, or Safari on any platform and it’s all good.

Regardless of platform, multiple users can edit the same document alongside a Windows Vista user in real time without a problem.

Is there any downside to Google Docs & Spreadsheets?

Yes. If you must be online to use Docs & Spreadsheets. If you need to work offline, you'll need to export your document from the Docs Home to your hard drive into a file format your desktop software will understand.

Ten Essential Tips for Windows Vista Speech Recognition (aka, Going from Dragon to Windows Vista Voice Recognition)

These questions came from the most experienced Dragon user I know. I hope you find them helpful. (Also, I believe the new book on Microsoft Windows Vista Speech & Handwriting Recognition with the medical and legal activities will be ready starting November 6, 2007 from South-Western / Cengage. (Info at: www.karlbarksdale.com/books.html) The beginning lessons are also found in the DigiTools second edition book.

1. How do you start a new user or are all profiles lumped together?
When you set up a new user in Windows, they receive their own personal copy. In other words, when you create a New User in the Control Panel, that person gets their own copy. This is a lot less hassle than Dragon because students can't accidentally pick the wrong one. They must login with their own username and password to get into Windows, and then they get their own copy.

2. When I say "New Paragraph," it goes to the next line as it does when I say "New Line." What do I do?
This is Word dependent. Depending on your settings in Office Word 2007, there is no difference between the NEW LINE and the NEW PARAGRAPH commands. That is determined by your settings in Microsoft Word. (For example, if you're using Word's default settings you get .10 spacing regardless.)

3. When I selected a phrase that I just wanted to edit, I could not just speak over it. When I would select and speak over it, the new phrase I said came up in the correction box and I had to select it. Is that the only way you can edit by selecting and speaking over?
That is correct. Any correction will appear in the Alternates Panel (correction box) first so you can make sure it is accurate before you paste over a selection of text. This may seem cumbersome to experienced Dragon users, but after you get used to it you find that you make a lot less mistakes and things are fixed more precisely. I don't think you really lose any time doing it this way and it is certainly a lot less frustrating than trying to correct the same mistake multiple times.

4. Is there a toggle key to turn microphone on and off?
There is no toggle key to turn the microphone on or off. Instead, you must say STOP LISTENING or you must click the microphone with your mouse.

5. Is there a way to type in a corrected word that is not in the correction box?
No. You must spell it out letter-by-letter.

6. Can you format by voice such as bold, italicize and underline, change font size and color, etc. without going through the commands to open the font menu, etc.?
Absolutely. In fact, never go through the font menu. Using the SHOW NUMBERS command and choosing the number "#" followed by "OK" will do it. Also, when you use the SHOW NUMBERS command, the actual voice command will appear in the user interface (where it usually says LISTENING). From that point on you can just say that command (for instance, bold, italic, strikethrough). But remember you must always wait until the spinning busy icon stops. If it is a recent action, you may still need to pick the numbers for the Undo and Redo commands or for different alternatives you have chosen, so keep your eye out for the numbers.

7. How do I say a command word?
Don't forget about the INSERT command. Visit an older blog on this subject at http://www.karlbarksdale.com/2007/07/windows-vista-sr-tip-1-insert.html for a lesson about this one. If you don't use the INSERT command, Vista voice recognition can get a bit frustrating.

8. What do I do when Vista speech learns spelling errors?
The other thing you must remember is that Microsoft's speech dynamically learns words in your document - including spelling errors. The only way to get them out is to copy and paste them into the feature that blocks words from being dictated. (SHOW SPEECH OPTIONS, OPEN THE SPEECH DICTIONARY, PREVENT A WORD FROM BEING DICTATED.) You can delete these errors from the dictionary later if you like, but you must prevent them from being dictated first. It is a two-step process.

9. Can I dictate into my web browser?
I have trouble dictating into Firefox, but no problem dictating into my Gmail or Google Docs using Internet Explorer.

10. What do I do if numbers suddenly appear out of nowhere?
Don't forget the CANCEL command. If numbers appear for some reason, to say CANCEL and move on.