NonSociety – Live Differently. Meghan Asha Tech Addict

To beat the cold weather blues, last night I hosted a little clothing swap soiree. I think the culinary spread that my neighbor Amanda (pictured above) made was even more exciting than the actual clothing swap itself. Amanda prepared the most delectable deviled eggs by using beet juice to make the whites turn a lovely shade of pink.

A Clothing Clattered - Very Chaotic - Event!

Twenty 20-something women came over to my apartment with the hopes of swapping out our their old duds for something new. How did it go? Well, I think it’s safe to say that only the most aggressive gatherers survived.

Here’s a little explanation from Jordan’s Lifecast on exactly what we did:

1. First, we had an “ugliest clothing” contest (we all voted on which item of clothing was the ugliest). I won with a brown velour (I think) baby-doll dress bedecked with flowers. (My prize: a gift certificate to Dashing Divas.)

2. Every person in the room got a number (we just counted off in a circle).

3. We spent a few minutes perusing the wares, and then each person went in turn and picked their top item. (It was incredible: literally everyone had their eye on something totally different, and it seemed to me that everyone got their top pick.)

4. Then we went around the room again, this time in reverse order (so the people with the lowest numbers didn’t get the short end of the stick).

5. After a few rounds of this, we declared a free-for-all.

Each of the girls found some stellar pieces at last night’s clothing swap event.

Sarah and I had our own fun putting together the most fashionable outfits of the evening.

Aren’t our model poses undeniably…err…sexy?

TALK THE TYPE!

After an agonizing hour or so, I finally was able to use my new MacSpeech Dictate software. A tip for all of you looking to use this application: make sure the microphone is plugged in tightly and your sound settings are queued so that the input adequately captures your voice.

The setup and voice training only took a couple of minutes, and soon I was well on my way to dictating this blog post. To show the accuracy of this dictating software, I’m keeping in all the mistakes it makes. No editing or changes will be made, so you can see how well MacSpeech Dictate performs. I’ve done a ton of due diligence on dictation software, one of the reviews even went as far as to dictate the technical specifications. I’m still learning how to use this system, so I won’t be dictating anything harder than a simple passage from one of the news sites I read every morning:

“Business spending on technology goods and services is returning as the economy men’s, pumping new life into suppliers such as Cisco’s systems Inc., though it has been slower to reach other sectors.” (WSJ)

Here’s the direct passage from the Wall Street journal (without using MacSpeech dictate):

“Business spending on technology goods and services is returning as the economy mends, pumping new life into suppliers such as Cisco Systems Inc., though it has been slower to reach other sectors.” (WSJ)

As you can see, MacSpeech Dictate software is pretty accurate. There’s a learning curve required when switching from typing to dictation. I’m still learning all the common voice commands, hence why there may be some punctuation mistakes.

As an application goes, MacSpeech dictate software is incredibly nimble. It gives you the ability to dictate anywhere and through any other applications you’d like to use. You can dictate e-mails, on Word documents, and over the web.  In short, this is a fantastic software addition for writers, bloggers, or those of us who are just sick of typing. The software costs $200 online or at the Apple store.

Testing out MacSpeech Dictate software, I’ll be using this application to write (speak) a review to see how it turns spoken words into text. More to come…

Pushing to bring TV to the Internet

“A small start-up, Move Networks, is trying to do what many in Hollywood and Silicon Valley have so far been unable to do: take Internet video from its YouTube origins to a full-fledged television service with dozens of channels.  Move Networks has raised more than $67 million from some prominent backers that include MSFT, CMCSA and DIS’ venture-capital arm. But like past efforts by larger companies, including MSFT and MOT to offer Internet-delivered television, it faces obstacles, not least of which is getting content owners to sign on.”

(via WSJ)

It’s Social Media Week in NYC this week. Bravo to all my friends involved making Manhattan a hub for discussing these issues in media and technology.