Quick Pitch: Control and dictate to your Mac computer using your voice.
Genius Idea: Vocal responds to commands on Mac computers just like Siri does on the iPhone 4S.
Most people expect their Mac computers to do exactly what they want with just the click of a mouse, but a new iPhone app is taking a different approach.
Vocal, an app powered by a platform-agnostic commands engine, lets users control and dictate their Mac computers using their voice. You can use the app to dictate commands straight from your iPhone 4S.
The $1.99 app comes in two parts -- commands and dictation. Similar to the iPhone 4S's personal assistant Siri, commands lets you control your Mac by voicing commands such as play songs, open apps, search the web and compose new emails. Using Vocal to say commands such as "search Google" or "compose a new email" does exactly that, ensuring that Mac computers do exactly what you ask it to.
The second part, dictation, allows users to write text in an email or document using their voice. The text is automatically inserted into the user's document as they speak the words. Users can even use Vocal to format text by saying "bold," "italics" or "underline".
To begin vocally controlling your Mac, download the Vocal app onto your iPhone 4S and download the companion app onto your Mac computer. Once the downloads are complete, you can begin dictating and commanding your Mac to do exactly what you want.
Vocal users can even add their own commands -- just open the "custom bookmarks" menu in the Mac app, set the preferences for your favorite websites and add actions that you want Vocal to perform.
Advanced users can even write their own custom commands using URL schemes or dictate text with HTML tags by enabling HTML formatting in the "Advanced Menu."
"Vocal uses the iPhone 4S to make using your Mac faster than ever before," says Matthew Roberts, CEO of Vocal. "The Mac computer is just the start because Vocal's platform makes it easy for the app to be available on other platforms that users may want."
Air Dictate, a speech recognition app also available for the iPhone 4S, is similar to Vocal because it also enables users to enter text on their Mac's by speaking into their iPhone 4S. Unlike Air Dictate however, Vocal does not require an iPhone 4S. The app provides a text box on the Mac computer which users can type their commands into using their keyboard.
Roberts is currently rewriting the application to use true natural language processing to ensure the app translates exactly what the user says. The new version is expected to be available in a few weeks.
Image courtesy of Vocal, Vocal
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
