Tablet PC Buzz
Site Tools

Join Our Newsletter
Email:
Compare Prices on 1000's of products. Save money on your online shopping today!



Add Tablet PC Buzz headlines to your desktop. Stay up-to-date on the latest Tablet PC news and information.
Add Tablet PC headlines to your desktop.
TabletPCBuzz.com
Newsletter Archive

Untitled Document
TabletPCBuzz.com Weekly Newsletter
For the week of July 5th, 2003

Improve Tablet PC Handwriting Recognition with AbletWordMgr
By Bill Mann

Your Tablet PC can recognize handwriting. But its recognition accuracy goes way down when it needs to recognize words that are unfamiliar to it. If a word isn't in one of the dictionaries the recognition engine is using, chances are good it won't be recognized. And if you're writing words from a specialized vocabulary (medical terms, for example) or a different language than Windows is running (writing in Turkish on a Tablet running the English version of XP, for example) the chances of proper recognition plummet.

Windows XP Tablet PC edition includes three dictionaries of words that the recognition engine consults whenever it tries to recognize a word. The system dictionary contains all the commonly-written words for the language Windows is using. The application dictionary is a custom dictionary that provides a list of words that are likely to be used in the current application. Each application can have its own application dictionary.

The third type of dictionary is the user dictionary. The user dictionary is a list of words that you add to your Tablet PC to increase the recognition of word you use frequently.

You can manually add words to the user dictionary, but it is a slow process and you can only add one word at a time. Populating the user dictionary with the words you write is a surefire way to improve your Tablet PC's recognition accuracy, but it tends to be too much work and is impractical when you have a lot of words to add.

To address these problems, the team at the abletFactory (that is not a typo, it's 'ablet' instead of 'Tablet') has just released abletWordMgr, a solution for managing your Tablet PC's user dictionary.

abletWordMgr provides an easy interface for adding individual words to the user dictionary or removing them from it. But where it really shines is any situation where you have lots of words to add or remove. abletWordMgr supports its own specialized dictionaries (called SPIDs) each of which contains thousands of words. Some SPIDs represent specialized vocabularies such as medical terms or the names of rock groups. Other SPIDs contain words from languages such as Chinese, Norwegian, or Turkish.

abletWordMgr can also add words to your user dictionary by importing Microsoft Word dictionaries being used by the Office spelling checker. If you use Word regularly, and you've been updating the spelling checker's dictionary, this is a great way to get the words you use most frequently into the user dictionary.

In recent tests the use of abletWordMgr increased recognition accuracy to 94%, compared to 65% when abletWordMgr was not used. Beta testers in the medical and legal fields report that abletWordMgr increases recognition and improves the usability of their Tablets.

I haven't been able to conduct any formal tests, but I have noticed that recognition accuracy does improve significantly when I write words that I've added to the user dictionary with abletWordMgr.

While abletWordMgr is indeed a great way to increase your Tablet's handwriting recognition accuracy by updating and managing the user dictionary, it isn't perfect. The user interface is a bit unusual, and takes some getting used to. For example, I found I needed to do a little poking around before I figured out how to see the list of available SPIDs. That said, the program isn't hard to use, and you should be able to figure things out in a few moments.

abletWordMgr is available from the abletFactory website (www.abletfactory.com). Site or corporate licenses are $1500. Individual licenses run $250. Both types of license include all SPIDs.

An academic version of the product is also available. Called abletWordPak, it comes with a limited number of SPIDs covering subjects like Music and Jargon.

You can view an interactive demo of abletWordMgr on the abletFactory site.

Want to know how to do everything with your Tablet PC? Here's the book that shows you how.

Tablet PC Buzz Poll
Q: What Tablet PC application do you use the most?
A:
Windows Journal:
51%
TabletPlanner:
16%
OneNote Beta: 17%
Alias Sketchbook: 5%
MindManager 2002: 3%
ritePen: 4%
Other: 4%
Total Votes: 166

This week's poll question:
How pleased are you with your Tablet PC?
Vote now at http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com!


Top News Story of the Week
San Angelo Standard Times: Tablet PCs chasing paper
By Spencer Goad

Interesting article here on the possibilities of Tablet PCs in an elementary education enviorment. The article is specifically written with the San Angelo, TX schools in mind, but has some good general thoughts as well.

Tablet PCs (personal computers) are wireless notebooks with endless sheets of paper, where handwriting is the principle means of expression. San Angelo Independent School District technology director Cameron Evans wants the district to buy into the Tablet PC idea. He says risk management far outweighs the cost. Evans identified risk factors - such as older siblings taking the PCs with them to college.

The SAISD is set to participate in a case study with the technology provider CDW-G in the fall. Evans said software exists to track tablets and function essentially like a car alarm. "If you go anywhere between here and Europe, I'm going to know about it, and I know exactly where you are, and the authorities will come and tell you to bring back SAISD's Tablet PC." Tablets are advantageous at the elementary level because learning to write is more important than learning to type, Evans said. (Link)


Weekly Tablet PC News Headlines
Jul 04 2003 - Happy Independence Day!
Jul 03 2003 - Ink AniEd and Magic-eye editor
Jul 03 2003 - Microsoft announces summer eBook promotion
Jul 02 2003 - Apple Tablet PC rumors... again
Jul 02 2003 - Inc.com: Things I can't live without
Jul 02 2003 - Microsoft releases Reader security update
Jul 02 2003 - TabletPCTalk: Tablet PC Summit 2003 Report
Jul 01 2003 - WhatIsNew.com: Setting up your Tablet PC
Jul 01 2003 - Sidebar ads
Jun 30 2003 - abletWordMgr released by abletFactory
Jun 30 2003 - San Angelo Standard Times: Tablet PCs chasing paper

If you wish to unsubscribe, visit TabletPCBuzz.com and use the newsletter signup box on the left side of the page.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you feel might be interested in its content.

This newsletter, its content, and design are
Copyright ©2003 Spencer Goad and TabletPCBuzz.com
All Rights Reserved

 


Newsletter Archive Home

Back to the home page Go To Top Of Page