Steve Holden's Blog

Less Typing Strategy Underway

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For the last 6 years or so, I have been very observant about my workplace ergonomics, especially related to typing, since as an IT professional my ability to type is a key requirement. 

I’ve invested both at home and at work in great keyboards, chairs, desk layouts, and Handeze gloves (which I highly recommend).   I also use a text short cut tool both on my Mac (Textpander – no longer free) and on my Windows (Short Keys – free version still available) systems. 

But apparently that has not been enough to ward of potential problems.

About three weeks ago I noticed a lump in my left hand, right at the base of my thumb but above my wrist.  A quick visit to the doctor came back with good news – Ganglion Cyst – which is not cancerous and unless there is pain, is probably something to just monitor.  I don’t have any pain, so I’m going to just monitor it for the time being as suggested by my doctor.

Mean while, I have loaded up Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0 on my TabletPC and using it a lot when I’m in my office or at home.  It seems to be working very well.  In fact, most of this blog post was done with me speaking vice typing.

I noticed that IBM’s ViaVoice for the Macintosh is available but I can’t seem to tell if it has any support since the last version posted is from 2005.  Comments?

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4 responses to “Less Typing Strategy Underway”

  1. Michael Sampson Avatar
    Michael Sampson

    Thanks for sharing this Steve. I’ve been thinking about Naturally Speaking too, although would prefer a Mac product. The reviews I’ve read on ViaVoice don’t sound too positive. M.

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  2. Michael Sampson Avatar
    Michael Sampson

    Thanks for sharing this Steve. I’ve been thinking about Naturally Speaking too, although would prefer a Mac product. The reviews I’ve read on ViaVoice don’t sound too positive. M.

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  3. Darien Avatar
    Darien

    I had that exact same cyst and it eventually went away, so don’t worry! But I never connected it to the amount of time I am on the computer (a lot) and the doctor never mentioned that in particular.
    As a writer, I am really tempted to use some sort of voice recognition software but don’t know how well it translates into a Word doc and how much editing I’d have to do later. Dragon Naturally Speaking was the one I was looking at. The Handeze gloves look interesting but I wish there were more testimonials (or any!) specific to typing on the computer.

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  4. Darien Avatar
    Darien

    I had that exact same cyst and it eventually went away, so don’t worry! But I never connected it to the amount of time I am on the computer (a lot) and the doctor never mentioned that in particular.
    As a writer, I am really tempted to use some sort of voice recognition software but don’t know how well it translates into a Word doc and how much editing I’d have to do later. Dragon Naturally Speaking was the one I was looking at. The Handeze gloves look interesting but I wish there were more testimonials (or any!) specific to typing on the computer.

    Like

    Reply

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