Today, Nuance released Dragon Express for the Mac. Dragon Express allows users to preform key functions solely with the sound of their voice. The app is available here on the Mac app store for $49. Dragon Express can send emails, search with spotlight, post Twitter and Facebook updates, search the web and more. Dragon Express is an introductory product designed for people who are new to voice recognition. Dragon Express lacks many key features of the more expensive Dragon Dictate. See the comparison chart below to see the difference between Dragon Express and Dragon Dictate.

Today, Apple announced the iPhone 4S. The new iPhone will be available to buy in stores on October 14th. Along with the new iPhone, Apple announced that iOS 5 will be released as a free update on October 12th. iOS 5 includes many accessibility features that will help people with disabilities. To read about iOS 5's accessibility features click here. The iPhone 4s includes a couple of exclusive features that will benefit people with disabilities.

The iPhone 4S has a faster processor which allows it to preform tasks more quickly then the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S also has an improved camera that will work much better with OCR apps as well as object recognition apps such as Looktel's money reader and VizWiz. As a result of the faster processor the iPhone 4S is also able to preform advanced speech recognition.

The speech recognition feature dubbed Siri is like a personal assistant built right into the phone. It works solely off the sound of the users voice. Apple describes Siri as,

"Now you can use your voice to use your iPhone. Just talk to Siri as you would to a person: “Do I need an umbrella?” or “Any great burgers around here?” or “Where’s the closest ATM?” Siri not only understands what you say, it knows what you mean.¹ It figures out the right apps to use to find the right answer. Then, just like a personal assistant, it answers you. Siri makes phone calls, sends messages, schedules meetings, sets reminders, and more. How much more? Just ask, and Siri tells you that, too."

To learn more about Siri watch the video below. Another exclusive feature to the iPhone 4S is dictation. Dictation allows users to input any text using the sound of their voice. To activate dictation simply tap on the microphone in the bottom left of the keyboard and speak your text. Dictation is a great for users that cannot see the keyboard, people who struggle to spell or people with physical disabilities. Below is Apple's description about dictation,

"Here’s another amazing way to get things done: just use your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard. Then say what you want to say and iPhone listens. Tap Done, and iPhone converts your words into text. Use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web, and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write and send Instagrams." 

Click read more to see more pictures, watch videos and read a press release about the iPhone 4S.

Mock up of possible iPhone 5 design

Apple's next iPhone is rumored to be announced in a couple of weeks. What will the new iPhone mean for assistive technology? The iPhone is a powerful tool for people with a variety of disabilities. It has built in text-to-speech, support for braille displays and much more. How will Apple's announcement effect you? Read on to find out.

At the event Apple will most likely unveil at least one iPhone with a faster processor, more RAM and a better camera. Apple may surprise us with more features as well, but we'll focus on those three. A faster processor means that apps will run faster enabling apps such as Read2Go and ZoomReader to work better and faster. The faster processor will also open the door to exiciting new assistive technology apps. A better camera will benefit people using OCR apps, magnification apps, money reader apps and much more. The new camera will be able to recognize text more accurately and magnify printed text with higher resolution. The new iPhone will run iOS 5 which includes many new accessibility features.

iOS is the most accessible mobile operating system to date and with iOS 5 it will get even better. iOS 5 will run on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Apple has said that iOS 5 will available in the fall. iOS 5 will include many new accessibility features to help make the device easier to use. Hearing aid compatibility will be built into the iPhone allowing people to hear the iPhone better. Another new feature allows users to select text and then have it read back to you using a built in text-to-speech voice. Another rumored feature will convert a users voice into text for easier text input. iOS 5 will also be able to use the iPhone flash as an indicator light which will be helpful to deaf users. Custom vibrations will allow users to set their own vibration patterns to quick identify who is calling. Yet another cool feature called assistive touch will help users with low motor still access their iOS device. To learn more about assistive touch click here. There are even more accessibility features coming in iOS 5. iOS 5 will include a feature for every type of user and will be a free upgrade. To learn more about iOS click here, here and here.

Apple's announcement will be many new exciting bring new assitive technology features to users. Click read more below to see a video about iOS 5. Stay tuned for more information about iOS 5 and the new iPhone.

SpeakIt! is an extension for Google chrome that can read the web to you. The extension is a free download from the Chrome Web store. SpeakIt! reads selected text aloud. To activate the speech highlight text that you wish to read, press the SpeakIt! logo in the top right and click the play button. To pause the play back press the pause button in the top right. SpeakIt! is a very simple text to speech converter. SpeakIt! is only available for Google Chrome Users.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista come with free speech recognition software. The software is able to input text into any text field. The software is also able to open programs, browse the web and format documents all with your voice. Windows speech recognition is also a great tool for people with disabilities that are unable to use the key board or mouse. To find the software simply search for "speech recognition" in the start menu. I found the speech recognition to be very accurate after a couple of training sessions.

Since connecting with my colleague and friend Karen Janowski, I have had a chance to revisit Jott and look at all of the new features. I know that a lot has been written about Jott in the last couple of weeks, but the more I use the more applications I see both for myself and for students that struggle putting pen to paper. If you are new to Jott it is easy to set up a free account and get started dictating your messages using your cell phone. It is easy to Jott- simply call a toll free number, state who you want to Jott and within minutes your voice message is transcribed and emailed to your account. I have done several demonstrations for my graduate students and the speech to text transcription is quite good. Once the text is emailed to you- it is easy to copy and paste it into a word processor. Imagine student who has trouble writing being able to call Jott and answer their Social Studies homework questions simply by talking into a phone. You can also create what Jott calls Lists- which are handy ways to organize your messages. Likewise you can also set up Lists, which allow you to specify which contacts yu would like to get your email messages. This featre is very cool. With Jott you can also post messages directly to you blog and add events to your Google Calendar. If you want to see speech to text in action then give Jott a try.

One of the areas which Windows based computers really excelled was in speech recognition- but that could all be changing with the soon to be released Mac product called Dictate. MacSpeech and Nuance Communications, the developers of Dragon Naturally Speaking have teamed up to bring Dictate to the Mac with a whole new rewrite of the underlying speech engine. Dictate requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher, and requires Intel-based Macintosh hardware. Coming with your choice of headsets, Dictate will be priced starting at $199 and is expected to ship by February 15, 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 15, 2008 - Macworld Conference and Expo 2008, Booth #607 – MacSpeech, Inc., the leading provider of speech recognition solutions for the Mac, and Nuance Communications (Nasdaq: NUAN), developers of Dragon® NaturallySpeaking®, today announced an agreement to bring the world's best speech recognition solution to Mac users worldwide.

MacSpeech, Inc. has licensed underlying dictation technology from Nuance Communications, Inc. for its new MacSpeech Dictate™ product (see today's related announcement).

"MacSpeech, Inc. is the authority on speech recognition for the Macintosh," explained Andrew Taylor, president and CEO of MacSpeech, Inc. "Nuance provides an exceptional dictation technology engine that lets us focus on what we do best, which is to provide the user experience Macintosh users expect. Nuance is a class organization with a best of breed technology, and frankly we're thrilled to work with them to bring great speech recognition software to the Mac."

"We are pleased to help MacSpeech provide a dictation solution, powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking technology, to users that require a native Macintosh dictation application," explained Peter Mahoney, vice president and general manager of the desktop dictation business unit for Nuance Communications. "MacSpeech has intimate knowledge of the Macintosh platform and deep understanding of Macintosh users. This collaboration brings an unparalleled opportunity to provide the world's best dictation technology in a solution that is 100 percent Mac."

For the first time, MacSpeech, Inc. today began conducting live demonstrations of its upcoming MacSpeech Dictate product, powered by dictation technology from Nuance Communications, in Booth #607 on the Macworld Conference and Expo 2008 show floor.