> The Last Word in Dictation. Period.
> 
> January 24, 2002 
> 
> By DAVID POGUE
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IN my younger days as a personal personal-computer trainer,
> my clients sometimes included the rich and famous. "So what
> are they like?" my star-struck friends often asked. I
> always gave them the same answer: "Their computers have the
> same kinds of glitches ours do," I'd say. "It just happens
> in much nicer apartments."
> 
> But there was one aspect of being rich that really appealed
> to me: the personal assistants. Real luxury, I thought, was
> having someone on hand to cut red tape for you, manage your
> schedule and sweat life's administrative details (not to
> mention come to your home and teach you the computer).
> 
> That's clearly the vision behind Copytalk, a weird and
> exciting new service from Norman Worthington, the man who
> brought you Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and the Miracle
> Piano Teaching System. His three inventions aren't as
> dissimilar as they may seem: all employ clever software to
> simulate your having an entourage of upbeat personal
> assistants at your command.
> 
> Copytalk is a glorified dictation service. From any phone,
> you dial Copytalk's toll-free number. At the tone, you
> dictate, for example, an e-mail message. Between 3 and 20
> minutes later, the message you dictated is sent on its
> merry way across the Internet (with or without your review,
> at your option), looking exactly as if it came from your
> desktop PC. 
> 
> The system relies on the world's most sophisticated
> speech-recognition system: a person wearing headphones.
> Because you're simply leaving a message for a
> transcriptionist, the results are far more accurate, and
> the system far more flexible, than you would get using
> speech-recognition software like NaturallySpeaking.
> 
> You might say, for example: "O.K., this e-mail's going out
> to Bill G., that's B-I-L-L G, at Microsoft.com. The subject
> is Windows XP, and the body is, let's see: `Dear Bill,
> Thanks for Windows XP.' No wait, make that, `Thanks a bunch
> for Windows XP.' Then, going on: `It's incompatible with my
> virus software, my printer and my wife. Can you fix it?
> Sincerely, Frank.' Oh, and also CC it to Steve B. at
> Microsoft.com. And I'd like to review it before you send
> it." 
> 
> In other words, you dictate precisely as you would to a
> personal assistant. Copytalk says that its
> transcriptionists even try to correct spelling, grammar and
> muddled ZIP codes, which they check against the city
> information in addresses that you dictate.
> 
> If you have a Palm-based organizer, Copytalk gets even more
> interesting. You can dictate anything you can store on your
> organizer: datebook appointments, to-do items, memos,
> expense-report items, addresses and phone numbers and so
> on. In the process you can exploit the full range of Palm
> software features. You might say, for example, "I want a
> new appointment, called `Gadget-obsession therapy,'
> repeating every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 2:30
> p.m., through May 30. Give me an alarm 20 minutes in
> advance. Oh, and attach a note to this appointment that has
> the phone number: Technophiles Anonymous, (212) 555-4433."
> 
> A Palm-savvy transcriptionist at Copytalk takes all of
> this down. The next time you sync your organizer with your
> Windows PC, the Copytalk software connects to the Internet
> and downloads the freshly transcribed material. A minute
> later the new appointment appears on the appropriate days,
> as though you had scratched it in yourself.
> 
> If your cellphone is your organizer (because it's a hybrid
> from Samsung, Handspring or Kyocera), or if you have
> equipped your organizer with some kind of modem and Palm's
> Mobile Internet Kit, life is even better: the new entries
> are entered into its calendar, address book, to-do list and
> so on, computerlessly.
> 
> If you're calling from a number that the service doesn't
> recognize or from an office whose phone system uses
> extension numbers, you have to plug in your phone number
> and password to prove that you're you.
> 
> But when you dial the service from your cellphone or home,
> the service immediately recognizes you and prompts you to
> begin dictating. That's when Copytalk begins to take on a
> life of its own, turning your phone into something like a
> magic voice recorder. You press Copytalk's speed-dial
> number on your phone, the call is answered before even one
> ring, and you're ready to dictate - all within five
> seconds. 
> 
> On your cab ride back from a conference, for example, you
> can rattle off the contact info from the business cards
> that rained on you - and then throw them away. Recording
> business-travel expenses is another big payoff: it's hard
> to forget to bill your boss for some expenditure if you
> record it by voice while you're still expending.
> 
> As for accuracy, you might assume that Copytalk would give
> the old game of Telephone a whole new meaning. But in fact,
> transcription errors are surprisingly rare. When, feeling
> particularly cruel, I deliberately dictated, "Make
> reservations at La Crémerie" without spelling it, I got
> "Make reservations at La Cremerie " on my Palm. (I felt
> like writing the transcriptionists back to reassure them
> that theirs was very close.)
> 
> Even so, a message at the bottom of each outgoing e-mail
> message warns the recipient: "This message was transcribed
> from dictation and sent by Copytalk. Please confirm
> critical details."
> 
> Along the way you enjoy a number of software niceties. For
> example, you can check the status of your latest utterances
> by consulting Copytalk's Web site, its Windows desktop
> program or the little program it installs on your palmtop.
> For both convenience and security, you can address e-mail
> using names from your Palm address book instead of having
> to spell out the e-mail address.
> 
> To enjoy the services of Copytalk's anonymous personal
> assistants, you pay $10, $20 or $50 per month. That money
> buys you 20, 45 or 120 Palm entries and e-mail messages.
> (If the body of an e-mail message or memo exceeds 450
> characters, each additional 450-character blob of text or
> portion thereof counts as another entry.) If you go over
> the monthly limit on entries, you pay about 50 cents per
> additional item. 
> 
> So how does that compare with, for example, professional
> medical transcriptionists, who charge about $20 an hour and
> generally aren't as handy with the Palm operating system?
> It's hard to say. You'd probably get more typing per dollar
> out of them, but they might not appreciate your chopping
> their working hours into two-minute chunks spread out over
> a month, an arrangement the Copytalk team cheerfully
> offers. Note, however, that Copytalk provides no means of
> seeing how much you've used up this month - a serious
> shortcoming. 
> 
> If there's an obstacle to Copytalk's eventual success, it's
> overcoming what the company calls phone fright. Especially
> at the beginning, you're painfully aware that somebody is
> listening to every word you say, possibly doubled over with
> laughter. Never mind that, according to the company, the
> transcriptionists never see your personal information as
> they work - and that they work in India. In one extreme
> test, I sent an e-mail message of mushy sweet nothings to
> my wife. I couldn't have felt more self-conscious if I were
> naked in front of a school assembly.
> 
> On the other hand, you'd have the same problem if you had
> hired an actual assistant to take dictation - a worse
> problem, in fact, because you'd have to face (or avoid
> facing) that person day after day.
> 
> If you can get past phone fright, Copytalk fulfills its
> promise: It lets you milk a few drops of extra productivity
> from between-appointment travel time, helps you capture
> ideas before you forget them and obviates mastering the
> Palm's Graffiti handwriting-recognition alphabet.
> 
> Now all you need is a nicer apartment.
> 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/24/technology/circuits/24STAT.html?ex=101291164
> 9&ei=1&en=adf1ee4d9e4fa806
> 
> 
> 
> HOW TO ADVERTISE
> ---------------------------------
> For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters
> or other creative advertising opportunities with The
> New York Times on the Web, please contact Alyson
> Racer at [log in to unmask] or visit our online media
> kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo
> 
> For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company