Tiny Computer – Part 3

Monday I installed Dragon Naturally Speaking (word recognition and writing program) onto the tiny computer.  Yesterday I “trained” it and started to write my client notes by speaking into the computer.  So far, I guess, I haven’t trained it very well.  Although it is amazing when it gets things right, it is very frustrating when it does not understand me.  I think I have used the commands “scratch that,”  “correct that,” and “spell that” more than I have dictated text!!  I can see some progress, especially with the phrases I use often.  When we get to those, the machine is right on almost all the time and pretty rapid.   I am discovering that I don’t say the consonants F, B, H and N very clearly and I tend to let final consonants fade away (you realize that when the computer writes “ten” and you said “tent” or you say “had” and it writes “ad”.  Right now I could probably type in my notes faster than speaking them, but I will keep working on it, and, hopefully, I will soon be able to talk into the computer efficiently.  In the meantime, it is mostly fun, (especially when what the computer types sounds sort of like what you said but it isn’t quite right) with some frustration mixed in.

Tiny Computer – Part 2

The  tiny computer arrived on Wed night.  I lo-o-ve it!  I took it to my practicum the next day and it ran for about 5 hours on its battery.  I’ve never had a laptop or notebook that would go that long.  I took notes while my supervising MD saw patiients.  [several people stopped to ask about it because it is so cute.]  It seems to do everything I want it to.  The one annoying thing is that the right space key is out of place and I keep doing a ‘page up’ instead getting an upper case letter.  The screen  is clear and, even with my aging eyes, I can see the screen without having to lean closer.  Just found another annoyance — somehow when I type an upper case ‘I’ a piece of text is highlighted and disappears.  I think that the keys are very sensitive and I must brush over some other key that activates the delete stuff.  As long as I am careful whenever I type ‘I’ things go along okay.  It really is lightweight and easy to carry around, and the power cord (transformer) is much smaller and lighter than other regular size notebooks.  A friend came over this evening and set up wireless network for me, so I am good to go.  Next challenge is to “train” Dragon Naturally Speaking so that I can speak notes into it.   DNS is installed but not set up.  My project for the week.