[MacSpeech-Announce] MacSpeech August Newsletter

[macspeech-announce at lists.macspeech.com]

Greetings!

You are receiving this email because you are a member of the  
MacSpeech Announce List. This is a private email intended solely for  
the recipient. MacSpeech does not share its email list with anyone,  
so you can be assured this communication is coming directly from us.  
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to your inbox as few as possible we are going to limit these to no  
more than once a month unless we have an important update  
announcement between newsletters. You can unsubscribe at <http:// 
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Our last email to the Announce List was way back in June to announce  
iListen 1.7. If you haven't upgraded yet, now is the time! And if you  
purchased iListen on or after April 1, 2006 REMEMBER! - you are  
entitled to a free upgrade. If this applies to you, please email  
<questions at macspeech.com> to find out how to get your free upgrade.  
BUT YOU MUST HURRY! Our free upgrade offer will expire in early  
September! After that, everyone pays.

We are also offering a special bundle of the update with our popular  
"Watch and Learn" video training and a Plantronics DSP 200 USB Stereo  
Headset microphone, regularly priced at $138.90, for a limited time  
you can purchase this bundle for only $99.00! For more details see  
the following page on our web site:

http://www.macspeech.com/product_info.php?products_id=437

Here are the highlights of the 1.7 update. It is now Universal Binary  
(which means it will work natively on both Intel and PowerPC Macs).  
It also has many new features, including:

	- faster training
	- enhanced accuracy
	- support for multiple users
	- improved voice commands
	- many bug fixes and other minor enhancements

During the beta process, a Charles Moore of AppleLinks.com said 1.70  
rocks!" Last month, New York Times columnist mentioned that he was  
able to get 96% accuracy from iListen after doing working with it for  
only about 30 minutes! Find out what they are talking about by  
ordering your update today! Here are some of the details:

- Faster training: the first training story now is only 6 panels  
(instead of 27).

- Enhanced Accuracy: our beta testers reported nothing short of  
"phenomenal" improvements in accuracy.

- Voice Profiles are now stored outside of the iListen Application  
Package itself, making it possible for iListen to now work properly  
on Mac OS X computers with multiple users.

- Backup packages can now be renamed.

- New Voice Package files can be moved from one computer to another,  
taking all profiles it contains with them.

- You can have multiple Voice Package files on the same computer.

- All of the command sets have been completely gone over and changes  
made to facilitate additional functionality and enhanced recognition.

- It is now possible to include a number as a variable in a command  
name. So, for instance, you could say "Move Up <n> Lines" where <n>  
is any number between 1 and 100.

- TypeKey Helper now built-in. There is a TypeKey button in the  
command editor window that brings up a dialog box for entering  
keyboard shortcuts.

- "Add Phonetic" now says "Add Word" if you are entering a new word.

- There have been minor modifications to update instructional text on  
some panels.


That's a brief list. There were numerous other bug fixes made to make  
the product more stable on a wider range of Macintosh computers, and,  
of course, it is now Universal Binary, meaning it works natively on  
both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

If you purchased iListen on or before April 1, 2006 you are entitled  
to a free upgrade (contact <questions at macspeech.com> for more  
information). Those who have version 1.5 or 1.6 can upgrade for  
$39.95, and those who have a version prior to version 1.5 can upgrade  
for $69.95.

We are excited about this important new release of iListen, and we  
think you will be, too. If you have any problems or questions, please  
email us at <questions at macspeech.com>.


NEW TRANSCRIPTIONPAK COMING
==============================
Later this month we will unveil our new TranscriptionPak for iListen  
1.7. This new optional add-on brings back the popular transcription  
capability for those users who would like it. The TranscriptionPak  
includes new, completely rewritten documentation and additional  
software to allow you to work with recordings from additional  
sources. Keep an eye on our web site for the availability of the  
TranscriptionPak.


NEW SCRIPTPAKS COMING
=======================
Now that the dust has settled around the release of iListen 1.7 we  
are hard at work on new ScriptPaks. Plan on seeing ScriptPaks for  
GarageBand and Mariner Software's Montage soon, as well as a  
ScriptPak for MacJournal 4 and Daylite 3 from MarketCircle.


WWDC - LEOPARD!
================
Our development team is at WWDC this week and we are as excited as  
anyone by the announcements made by Apple regarding Leopard. As  
always, MacSpeech is committed to doing whatever is necessary to make  
sure iListen remains compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 upon its release  
next year, and will also add features to iListen to support the new  
technologies that it makes sense for us to support.


ON THE ROAD AGAIN
==================
If you live in Chicago or Tennessee, come check out our presentations  
at the following locations:

August 31 - September 5: Chicago Area Apple stores (see our web site  
for locations and times)
September 6: Rest of Us User's Group, Chicago

September 19: AppleCORE User Group, Memphis, TN
September 20: Apple Retail Store, Saddle Creek Shopping Center,  
Germantown, TN (tentative)
September 21: Apple Retail Store, Green Hills Shopping Center,  
Nashville, TN (tentative)
September 22: Apple Retail Store, West Town Mall, Knoxville, TN  
(tentative)


Best Regards,

Chuck Rogers, Chief Evangelist
MacSpeech, Inc.
>