Nuance Dragon Dictation app removes contact upload requirement
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[/dtse]Nuance has reacted quickly to the initial negative response towards the required upload of a user's contact names to their servers, releasing a 1.1 update to their Dragon Dictation app today that makes the upload optional, and allows existing users to remove their existing data from Nuance's servers if they had already opted in. The data upload is intended to improve the recognition of contact names by the speech to text algorithms, however the previous requirement of this upload of personal data was a frequent topic of concern in initial reviews of the app.
See my original review of the app here.
Dragon Dictation iPhone app review
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[/dtse]Solely responsible for the now near ubiquity of the colloquial term 'app', the iPhone app store has received vast amounts of both praise and criticism for what it does well and what it fails to do, respectively. As an iPhone app developer myself, I am accutely aware of the pitfalls of the app store from a content creater perspective. However, on a day to day basis, I am more aware of the pitfalls as a user consuming apps from the app store, and the largest issue by far is a severe lack of useful apps. In my glances through the app store several times per week, it is growing increasingly rare that I look at an app and say, "yes...THAT is an app I need." Some blame it on the app store interface itself, some on the content creators, some on the restrictions in the API from Apple. Whatever the case, the app store has a very well earned reputation of content bloat.
Bucking that trend of repititive or marginally useful apps comes an elegantly simple yet profoundly useful app from Nuance. Best known as the company behind the well-known Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software, they have released the first version of what could potentially be the next killer productivity app for mobile devices, Dragon Dictation.


