Dragon Dictate for Mac

In sampling speech-recognition and voice-command software, I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences with Nuance's Dragon family of products. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium for Windows ($199.99, 4.5 stars) impressed me like none other, enough to be named an Editors' Choice. I've also been extremely pleased with the smartphone apps Dragon Go! for search and other Web functions, as well Dragon Dictation for transcribing. Having set high expectations for Dragon Dictate for Mac ($199.99 boxed software including headset; $179.99 digital download), I can't say, after testing, that it hits quite the same marks as the Windows' version of the product, although it is still rather good at what it does. Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Dragon Dictate for Mac are as different as their names, which I did not expect. Dragon for Mac is a more rigid than the highly flexible and intuitive NaturallySpeaking Premium, even though their price tags are the same. I was also surprised to find the Mac app's interface looks radically different than that of its Windows counterpart.?

In core functionality, however, the two programs are similar. With both Dragon Dictate and NaturallySpeaking, you can control many applications and functions on your computer using just your voice, as well as dictating speech-to-text in word processing and note-taking applications. You can also dictate to Dragon's own note pad app, which comes with the software. Speak it, and it shall be?but only after you've mastered Dragon's vocabulary on the Mac. Part of what makes NaturallySpeaking for Windows such a wonderful tool is that the software understands multiple variations on commands. For example, "scratch that" accomplishes the same things as "delete" and "undo." The Mac software, on the other hand, doesn't accommodate variations, so you have to train yourself to speak Dragon's language while you're also training Dragon to understand your voice.?

Set Up and Training
I installed Dragon Dictate for Mac on an iMac running Mac OS X Lion (more on the system requirements below). The installation took a minute or two, and the additional set-up, which involves acclimating Dragon to your voice and accent, took less than ten minutes.

One small difference that made setting up Dragon Dictate for Mac better than setting up NaturallySpeaking for PC is in the script you have to read to help Dragon learn to understand you. In the PC version, you can choose to read a political speech, a few paragraphs about computers by humorist Dave Barry, or a few other options. In the Mac app, you don't have a choice, but the dialogue provided is an overview of how speech-recognition software works, so you're effectively learning about the program while giving the software information, too. It's a minor difference, but you'll definitely have a better experience with any voice-control software if you learn how it works at the most basic level.

To further help Dragon understand your vocabulary choices and things you say frequently, you can have the program read files from your computer or email program. It will learn proper names and other specialized vocabulary that it might not have stored in its database. You can do this step at any time; it's not restricted to the set-up process. You can also select your accent from a range of choices, such as American, Southern American, British, Indian, Latino, and so on.

Dragon in Action
When I fired up Dragon Dictate for Mac for the first time, I relied a little on my experiences with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium for PC, a slight mistake because, as noted earlier, it's a far different program. The interface looks different. The commands are slightly different, more specific in the Mac version whereas the PC version accepts more variations, making for a more intuitive experience.

I started by firing up the dictation function and composing a script for a webcast I had to record later. Script-writing couldn't benefit more from an application like Dragon Dictate. You can just speak the lines naturally and have them jotted down word-for-word, automatically, no typing necessary. I ran into some difficulties editing, but generally caught on to the commands, like "end of line," and "new line" pretty quickly.

In Dragon Dictate for Mac, you can manually switch between "dictation" and "command" modes?it's one of the most obvious buttons on the controls?although it confused me a little because I thought the software would distinguish commands from text to transcribe automatically. With some commands, like "end of line" and "new line," it does, but to use Dragon Dictate to operate your computer, you have to switch to command mode.

Other visual cues that are front and center include the microphone going into sleep mode (a picture of stars and a moon) and turning the microphone off (red circle).

In dictating, every utterance appeared before my eyes with only a little lag. If you pause or slow down between clauses, you might find a more natural rhythm to dictating, and you'll see better results with Dragon, too. I tested the software using both a headset microphone and the built-in microphone on my iMac with remarkable differences. When you set up the software, the dialog boxes tell you multiple times that you'll get the best results with a microphone, and it's no joke. Using a USB microphone, Dragon nailed nearly every word I said. Without it, words were wrong, off, or missing in every other sentence. You need a microphone to use Dragon Dictate for Mac. A good one is included with the shrink-wrapped software, but if you buy the digital download, you'll have to buy a mic separately.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/s2suHY4pNr0/0,2817,2398446,00.asp

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Gene Mutation Linked to Chemo-Resistant Colon Cancer (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Some people with advanced colorectal cancer are resistant to some types of chemotherapy, and a mutation in the so-called TFAP2E gene may play a part in that resistance, German researchers report.

Knowing which patients carry the mutation might help doctors tailor treatments or develop new targets for therapy, the researchers said.

"In our study, we identified a gene which is frequently altered in colorectal cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Matthias P.A. Ebert, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Magdeburg. "This genetic alteration is associated with increased resistance to chemotherapy and radiation in colorectal cancers."

The findings appear in the Jan. 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the study, Ebert's team analyzed how the TFAP2E gene functioned in colorectal cancer tumors.

Overall, they looked at more than 200 patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Among the first group of 74 patients, 38 had a mutation in this gene, the researchers found.

Mutated tumor cells in these and other patients made the cells resistant to fluorouracil, a widely used type of chemotherapy. However, the mutation did not make the tumor resistant to irinotecan or oxaliplatin, two other chemotherapy drugs, the researchers found.

In the rest of the patients after the first group, the researchers found a similar association between the TFAP2E gene mutation and tumors not responding to chemotherapy with fluorouracil.

"Chemotherapy and radiation is very helpful in the majority of patients with colon cancer and rectal cancers, respectively," Ebert said.

"If our studies are confirmed in prospective trials and by other groups, alteration of the TFAP2E gene could help identify subgroups of patients with colorectal cancer that would show good response to chemotherapy or radiation," he said.

Dr. Durado Brooks, director of the prostate and colorectal cancer division at the American Cancer Society, said "this is one more brick in the wall that is slowly helping us build our knowledge and understanding of how to attack cancer in new and different ways."

"If the findings are corroborated by other investigators, it could lead to testing of tumors to find if those tumors are likely to be resistant to fluorouracil-based chemotherapy," Brooks said.

It could also help identify new targets for treatment, he said.

Brooks thinks other gene mutations also affect how well chemotherapy works. Some genetic testing is done now for this purpose, he said; however, it's too soon to tell whether TFAP2E may be added to those tested, he said.

"This is a long way from moving into clinical practice," Brooks said.

"We need to know a lot more of how this impacts actual patients; all this data is based on looking at things under a microscope as opposed to investigating the impact of treatment in patients, which may turn out to be a little different," he said. "It's not ready to move from the lab bench to the bedside yet."

More information

To learn about colon cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120105/hl_hsn/genemutationlinkedtochemoresistantcoloncancer

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Ford says opens new India showroom every 10 days

A Ford logo reflects a car dealership in Manassas, Virginia, August 3, 2009. ? Reuters pic

NEW DELHI, Jan 5 ? US car giant Ford said yesterday it was opening a new dealership in India every 10 days to feed demand in a market it expects to be the third-biggest worldwide by the end of the decade.

The group has tripled its sales in India over the last three years to about 96,000 units in 2011, up from 29,000 in 2009, largely due to the success of its Figo small car.

Despite the strong growth, Ford remains one of the smaller players in a country dominated by Indian-Japanese manufacturer Maruti Suzuki, Mumbai-based Tata Motors and the South Korean auto giant Hyundai.

Ford has ambitious plans for expansion, however, and in September it began building a US$1 billion (RM3.1 billion) second production plant in the western state of Gujarat, adding to its existing factory in the southern port of Chennai.

?Every 10 days we?ve launched a new dealer in India since June last year,? Michael Boneham, head of Ford?s India operations, told reporters in New Delhi ahead of the start of the India Auto Expo on Thursday.

?That to us is a single vote of confidence in our brand,? he added, saying there were now 220 Ford outlets country-wide.

The number of dealers in the capital alone has more than doubled to 11 in the last 15 months.

Ford is in the midst of a huge investment programme in the Asia-Pacific region as it bets on the future growth of car markets in the booming economies of the east, led by China, India and other regional economies.

Seven new Ford production facilities are under construction in Asia, said Joe Hinrichs, the company?s president for Asia-Pacific and Africa.

India is expected to be the third-biggest national market in the world by 2020 after China and the United States, he added.

There were 1.87 million vehicles sold in India in 2010. ? Reuters

Source: http://business.rss.themalaysianinsider.com/c/33362/f/567636/s/1b886860/l/0L0Sthemalaysianinsider0N0Cbusiness0Carticle0Cford0Esays0Eopens0Enew0Eindia0Eshowroom0Eevery0E10A0Edays0C/story01.htm

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Scientists Make Supersoldier Ants

News | More Science

The finding could help to solve a mystery of the origin of such ants, and other ancestral throwbacks such as human tails

By Wynne Parry and LiveScience ?| January 5, 2012

Soldiers and supersoldiers from the ant genus Pheidole. Supersoldiers have a body size as much as twice as large as soldiers' and heads that as much as three times larger than soldiers'. Image: Photo courtesy of Alex Wild

When eight bizarrely big-headed soldier ants turned up in a wild colony collected from Long Island, N.Y., scientists knew they had found something interesting.

This discovery of these oversized versions of soldier ants, whose job is to defend the nest, led researchers to create their own supersoldier ants in the lab with the help of a hormone, and, by doing so, offer an explanation for how ants, and possibly other social insects, take on specific forms with dedicated jobs within their colonies.

It turns out these abnormal soldier ants were throwbacks to an ancestral state, one that no longer shows up within their species except, apparently, by accident. This phenomenon occasionally pops up elsewhere, in the form of whales bearing limbs their ancestors lost, chickens with teeth or humans with tails. [10 Vestigial Limbs & Organs]

"It's been known for a long time that these kinds of slips occur, and they are viewed as the Barnum and Bailey of evolution," said the study's senior researcher Ehad Abouheif, Canada research chair in evolutionary developmental biology at McGill University. "What we are showing for the first time is there is this ancestral potential sitting there, and when poked by the environment it can really unleash this potential that can power evolution."

Meet the supersoldiers
The species collected in New York, Pheidole morrisi, normally has two types of worker ants, according to Abouheif: minor workers, which are responsible for foraging, nursing, feeding eggs and larvae, and taking care of the queen; and soldier ants, which defend the nest and use their big mandibles to crack seeds harvested by the minor workers.

This species doesn't have supersoldiers, but the big-headed critters resembled the supersoldier ants occurring among eight species of ants found in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. All nine species belong to the genus Pheidole, which contains about 1,100 species.

So it made sense that the out-of-place supersoldiers could reveal something about the origin of supersoldiers among the eight other species.

Making a supersoldier
To find out, the researchers, led by Rajendhran Rajakumar, a doctoral student in Abouheif's lab, watched the development of supersoldier larvae from two of the eight species that normally produce them. (The researchers wanted to study the behavior of the P. morrisi they had collected, but they were killed in the lab by other ants.)

An ant's caste, or role in the colony, is determined by environmental switches, or periods during its larval development when it is receptive to certain environmental cues. Adult ants in the colony can manipulate these switches by, for instance, applying certain hormones called pheromones to the larvae.

In the first period of development, this switch determines whether the egg will become a queen or a worker and then another switch second determines whether the larva will become a soldier or a minor worker.

Just before the second switch, they applied a chemical that acts like juvenile hormone to the larvae of three species that do not produce supersoldiers. Juvenile hormone is involved in translating environmental cues, such as nutrition, into the identity of the larvae. By applying it artificially, the researchers not only pushed the larvae past the threshold at which they would normally become regular soldiers, but past a second threshold, one that is normally hidden, creating supersoldiers.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=95e41e03c549a1667c9814cebd09cbb9

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CloudOn Brings Microsoft Office to iPad

Probably the biggest thing stopping many users from switching to the iPad full time is the lack of Microsoft Office on the tablet. It might be a bloated, slow, convoluted mess that makes you want to toss your computer out the window whenever you use it, but Office–and particularly Word– are pretty much mandatory for [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/3jKj5YwtP4U/

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No more prefect teams in NBA as Heat, Thunder lose for first time this season

MIAMI - Joe Johnson scored 21 points, Tracy McGrady hit a pair of big three-pointers in the fourth quarter and the Atlanta Hawks ended Miami's perfect start by beating the Heat 100-92 on Monday night.

McGrady and Al Horford each scored 16 for the Hawks (4-1), who opened the final period on a 15-3 run to take control. And McGrady made perhaps the two biggest plays of the night in the final minutes, first throwing a lob to Josh Smith for a dunk, then hitting a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks a 93-84 lead with 2:26 left.

LeBron James scored 28 points, Chris Bosh scored 19 and Dwyane Wade finished with 12 for Miami (5-1). The Heat led by as many as 10 in the early going and took a four-point lead into the final quarter before getting outscored 33-21.

Jeff Teague finished with 15 points for Atlanta.

MAVERICKS 100, THUNDER 87

DALLAS (AP) ? Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 26 points during the third quarter, sending the Dallas over Oklahoma City.

The Thunder, who topped Dallas on a buzzer-beater in Oklahoma City on Thursday, came in as one of only two unbeaten teams in the NBA at 5-0. Miami was the other but the Heat lost to Atlanta 100-92 earlier Monday night, also falling to 5-1.

Shawn Marion scored 17 points, Jason Terry 15 and Vince Carter a season-high 14 ? eight on free throws ? for Dallas. Jason Kidd didn't score but had a season-high nine assists.

Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant scored 27 points, but had only four during the third quarter.

RAPTORS 90, KNICKS 85

NEW YORK (AP) ? Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan each scored 21 points, and Toronto held on to a lead against New York after wasting one a night earlier.

Jose Calderon added nine points and 12 assists for the Raptors, who blew a 16-point lead Sunday in Orlando before losing 102-96. They opened a 17-point advantage at halftime in this one thanks to the Knicks' inept second quarter then held on to snap a three-game losing streak.

Carmelo Anthony had 35 points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks played their second straight game without Amare Stoudemire, who has a sprained left ankle.

Toney Douglas had 22 points for the Knicks, who made three baskets in the second quarter.

TIMBERWOLVES 106, SPURS 96

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? Kevin Love had 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead Minnesota over San Antonio, which lost star guard Manu Ginobili to a broken left hand.

Luke Ridnour had 19 points and nine assists, and Wes Johnson broke out of a shooting slump with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting for the Timberwolves, who snapped an 18-game losing streak with a win over Dallas on Sunday.

Ginobili injured his shooting hand in the second quarter. The two-time all-star will be examined in San Antonio on Tuesday.

Tim Duncan had 16 points and five assists and Richard Jefferson scored 16 for the Spurs.

SUNS 102, WARRIORS 91

PHOENIX (AP) ? Victoria's Steve Nash scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and rookie Markieff Morris added 16 points to lead Phoenix over Golden State.

Jared Dudley had 15 points, and Channing Frye and Shannon Brown added 10 each for the Suns, who have won two of three overall and six straight against the Warriors. Phoenix has not lost to Golden State at home since March 8, 2005 ? a 13-game stretch.

Monta Ellis had 18 points, Dominic McGuire scored 14 and Brandon Rush finished with 13 points for the Warriors, who lost their first road game after opening the season with four straight wins at home.

CELTICS 100, WIZARDS 92

BOSTON (AP) ? Ray Allen scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and Boston won for the second straight night over Washington.

Paul Pierce had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Celtics (3-3), who pulled to .500 after losing their first three games of the season. Rookie Greg Stiemsma, making his first start, had 13 points and seven rebounds, and reserve Brandon Bass scored 12.

Andray Blatche led Wizards (0-5) with 28 points and nine rebounds, JaVale McGee had 17 points and 14 boards, and John Wall had 11 points.

Boston beat the Wizards 94-86 in Washington on Sunday.

PISTONS 89, MAGIC 78

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) ? Ben Gordon scored 26 points, and Detroit overcame some early foul trouble in an impressive defensive effort against Dwight Howard and Orlando.

Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince scored 14 points apiece for the Pistons, who have won two in a row after losing their first three games of the season.

Howard had 19 points, seven rebounds and five steals before fouling out with 2:46 remaining on an illegal screen.

Orlando shot 44 per cent from the field and 8 of 22 from three-point range. Hedo Turkoglu and Ryan Anderson each scored 13 points for the Magic.

JAZZ 94, HORNETS 90

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? Al Jefferson scored 22 points and Devin Harris added 19, including a three-pointer and three free throws down the stretch, to lead Utah over New Orleans.

Reserve Josh Howard added 13 points, including six straight in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 80. C.J. Miles had 11 points and four rebounds for the Jazz, who have won two at home to offset three blowout losses on the road.

Jarrett Jack scored a season-high 27 points as New Orleans dropped its third straight.

Utah, which outscored the Hornets 50-32 in the paint, trailed by as many as seven points early but had a 32-point second-quarter to surge ahead.

NUGGETS 91, BUCKS 86

DENVER (AP) ? Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points, including a pair of free throws in the final seconds, to lead Denver over Milwaukee.

Al Harrington added 17 points and Ty Lawson 16 for the Nuggets, who were playing their third game in as many nights.

Stephen Jackson led Milwaukee with 17 points. Carlos Delfino added 14 for the Bucks, who were denied a bid third consecutive win ? a season best from last season.

The Nuggets were without centre-forward Nene, who sat out with a bruised left heel. Before the game, coach George Karl described Nene's status as day to day.

PACERS 108, NETS 94

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? Paul George scored 21 points and Indiana shot a season-best 52.6 per cent to beat skidding New Jersey.

Danny Granger added 15 points and David West scored 13 as the Pacers won for the fourth time in five games and sent the Nets to their fifth straight loss.

Deron Williams scored 22 points and rookie MarShon Brooks added 21 for the Brooklyn-bound Nets, who have not led for a second in their two losses at the Prudential Center in their final season in New Jersey. The Nets, who are already without centre Brook Lopez because of a broken foot, also played without power forward Kris Humphries because of a sore left shoulder.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5691767346

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Smoky pink core of Omega Nebula

ScienceDaily (Jan. 4, 2012) ? A new image of the Omega Nebula, captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), is one of the sharpest of this object ever taken from the ground. It shows the dusty, rose-coloured central parts of this famous stellar nursery and reveals extraordinary detail in the cosmic landscape of gas clouds, dust and newborn stars.

The colourful gas and dark dust in the Omega Nebula serve as the raw materials for creating the next generation of stars. In this particular section of the nebula, the newest stars on the scene -- dazzlingly bright and shining blue-white -- light up the whole ensemble. The nebula's smoky-looking ribbons of dust stand in silhouette against the glowing gas. The dominant reddish colours of this portion of the cloud-like expanse, arise from hydrogen gas, glowing under the influence of the intense ultraviolet rays from the hot young stars.

The Omega Nebula goes by many names, depending on who observed it when and what they thought they saw. These other titles include the Swan Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula and even the Lobster Nebula. The object has also been catalogued as Messier 17 (M17) and NGC 6618. The nebula is located about 6500 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). A popular target of astronomers, this illuminated gas and dust field ranks as one of the youngest and most active stellar nurseries for massive stars in the Milky Way.

The image was taken with the FORS (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph) instrument on Antu, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the VLT. In addition to the huge telescope, exceptionally steady air during the observations, despite some clouds, also helped make the crispness of this image possible [1]. As a result this new picture is among the sharpest of this part of the Omega Nebula ever taken from the ground.

This image is one of the first to have been produced as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme [2].

Notes

[1] The "seeing" -- a term astronomers use to measure the distorting effects of Earth's atmosphere -- on the night of the observations was very good. A common measure for seeing is the apparent diameter of a star when seen through a telescope. In this case, the measure of seeing was an extremely favourable 0.45 arcseconds meaning little blurring and twinkling of the object of interest.

[2] The ESO Cosmic Gems programme is an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of small amounts of observing time, combined with otherwise unused time on the telescopes' schedules so as to minimise the impact on science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO's science archive.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120104111900.htm

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