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##UPDATE## 20th September, 2012

Apologies, due to huge demand we have sold out of all our promo Olympus AS-7000 kits so have to cut this September offer short. Keep an eye on our blog, Facebook page or twitter feed for more great offers.

This month we are running a special for the Virtual Assistants lurking in suburbs all over Australia. $100 off our price (that's $200 off the RRP) of the very latest Olympus Pro digital transcription kit the Olympus AS-7000 transcription kit. Just think, no more drama with .ds2 audio files !! 

Included in the bundle is:

• The latest RS-31 digital transcription USB foot pedal from Olympus, now with 4 fully configurable foot switches.
• Olympus E-62 transcription headset.
• ODMS (Olympus Dictation Management System) version 6 Transcription Module software - the latest Pro transcription software from Olympus, fully Windows 7 compatible (32bit and 64bit). The way transcription should be done, auto receive and load your audio direct from your email, shared network drive (even across VPN), DropBox or good old fashioned FTP server.

Finally after years of waiting Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 will be able to transcribe recorded audio files, a feature that has been available for years in Nuance's Windows voice recognition software, NaturallySpeaking. This has been a common theme to many of the phone callsand emails we receive in the office from the growing number of Mac converts embracing voice recognition technology.

In a press release yesterday from the Nuance head office in the US the usual spiel was made about the software being faster and more accurate, something that is rolled out with every Dragon release, Windows and Mac. Not to be sneezed at, this is key at making voice recognition software more user friendly and adds to the acceptance of this kind of technology.

Expected to be released in Australia in October 2012, there will be a paid upgrade path for those of you with existing licenced copies of Dragon Dictate.

For more details on the press release head over to our main blog - click here.

 

Something new from Dictate Australia Pty Ltd, from the 1st July 2012 for a one year trial we will be trying to make a difference to someone somewhere in the world. For every Olympus DS-7000 professional digital dictaphone we sell we will make a US$25 loan through Kiva.org

Kiva is a non-profit organisation that works with micro-finance organisations to provide small loans to people in poorer countries to allow them to develop their own business and hopefully build a better life for them and their families. 

If you buy a DS-7000 from us and have a preference as to where we make your loan then please let us know. Do you prefer Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico? Want to loan to a farmer, seamstress, coffee grower? Conversely, if you would like to know the details of the loan we have made thanks to your purchase we will be happy to pass that information on also.

So far I have made a couple of personal loans, I am a huge coffee lover so my loans have been aimed at coffee farmers around the world. I look forward to allocating more funds from the sale of the amazing Olympus DS-7000 this financial year.

Dave Holmes

Director

Dictate Australia Pty Ltd

Want to give it a try and make a loan for free? Kiva are giving away free US$25 loans referred by people like me who are already making a difference. To make your free loan click here.

Olympus Dictation Management System - ODMS - is that latest release of dictation module and transcription module software from Olympus and replaces DSS Player Pro R5. ODMS is included with the Olympus DS-7000 and DS-3500 Professional digital dictaphones and with the Olympus AS-7000 Professional digital transcription kit.

ODMS is available as a free trial to download and try out, both dictation and transcription modules. The trial version is fully featured and will let you use the software for 60 days before requiring a valid licence key. This is perfect if;

• you are considering moving to Olympus equipment for your dictation and transcription
• you want to try the software with older digital voice recorders (e.g. DS-5000)
• you want to see how well ODMS interfaces with Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Professional or Legal only)
• you have .ds2 audio files that you want to convert to .dss (yes you can do this in the dictation module)

After 60 days you will have the option to uninstall the software or enter a valid dictation module or transcription module licence key. The licence key details are:

• AS-7001 - ODMS Dictation module licence key and software - $129 incl. GST delivered
• AS-7002 - ODMS Transcription module licence key and software - $199 incl. GST delivered

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the 2012 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) by opening the event with a signature keynote speech outlining a glimpse of new hardware, software and features we can expect in the near future from Apple. However it fell to Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi to run through the new features in the next release of OS X for the Mac - 10.8 Mountain Lion. Of particular interest to us was the unveiling of Dictation.

Dictation brings voice recognition to the Mac at the operating system level. In it's early form Dictation will be restricted to converting speech to text only in the places where you can type. Facebook status updates, tweets, dictating emails into Mail or writing an essay in Microsoft Word or Pages.

Dictation on the Mac will use a similar looking icon to Siri, those of you with an iPhone 4S will be used to this and like the iPhone Dictation will use the in-built microphone in your MacBook Pro or iMac. 

Click here for more details on Mountain Lions Dictation, the audio of the announcement and our thoughts on where this will lead on our main blog.

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be available in July 2012 for AU$20.99.

Olympus have pushed out a tweak to the DSS Player Pro R5 software which covers both dictation and transcription module on Windows taking the current version to R5.0.13. There are significant changes in here if, like many, you plan to add more digital dictaphones to your dictation fleet, namely the new Olympus DS-7000 (replacement for the DS-5000) and the Olympus DS-3500 (replacement for the DS-3400).

The DS-7000/DS-3500 have the ability to encrypt digital dictation in 256bit, previous digital voice recorders such as the DS-5000/DS-3400 could only encrypt in 128bit. This update will not only allow the encrypt/decrypt of 256bit but will also incorporate support for the DS-7000/DS-3500 in the R5 Olympus software.

The official release note is as follows:

The Olympus DS-5000 Pro digital dictaphone was the flagship dictaphone for the last few years until it was revamped by the Olympus DS-7000 in April 2012. 

We now only have one, brand new, covered by Australian warranty DS-5000 in stock. If you would like it give us a call on 1300 787 092 or email dave@dictate.com.au - they are $499 each incl. GST delivered.

The DS-5000 is fully compatible with new AS-7000 transcription kit so you can mix and match your recorders and obviously works with the AS-5000 and the AS-4000 (when in classic mode). The DS-5000 and DS-7000 are very similar in spec, for the full rundown of the differences have a look at our earlier blog post Olympus DS-5000 vs DS-7000 how do they compare

Olympus have released an update to their DSS Player Plus software for Mac, this upgrade takes DSS Player to version 7.3.0 from 7.2.8.

This small release brings compatibility with the new professional digital dictaphones just released in Australia (DS-7000,DS-3500,DS-2500) and for the more patient Mac user compatibility with the DirectRec II range of USB handheld microphones. The DirectRec II series allows for direct record dictation to your Mac.

The official list of updates in release 7.3.0 are as follows:

• DSS Pro files that were encrypted in High Encryption mode (using 256-bit encryption keys) can now be decrypted and played back. (They cannot be encrypted.)
• Downloading and playback of WAV files is supported. Index marks and comments can now be acquired and edited. 
• MP3 index marks are supported. MP3 index marks can now be acquired and edited. 
• The new foot switch RS-31 and also DR-1200/DR-2100/DR-2200/DR-2300 are supported. N.B. DR-1200 is not available in Australia