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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Kurzweil 3000 Overview

Watch this 52 minute video to learn all about Kurzweil 3000, or read the summary below:


Kurzweil 3000 is writing and reading software that has many great features. Kurzweil is available for both Mac and PC, but the PC version has more features then the Mac version.  Kurzweil has optical character recognition. (OCR) What this means is that a document that is scanned can be read back to you.  As the words are read aloud, they are highlighted.You can turn off the sound if you just need help with tracking and not decoding.  There is an option to speed up or slow down the voice, and the pace of highlighting according to your preference. Kurzweil comes with a few computerized voices, but more can be added.


Once the document is scanned it can also be annotated with text boxes, highlights and circles. This allows you to do anything you could do with hard copy print material. Kurzweil is great for completing worksheets, tests and quizzes. If a document contains many blank spaces Kurzweil has a feature to add a text box on each blank. This feature can be found under tools and then fill in the blanks.

 Kurzweil is also great for writing. It has spell check, word prediction and web layouts. One of the best parts of writing with Kurzweil is that the text is read back to you, which is a great editing tool. Kurzweil has a built in dictionary for quick reference. Another handy feature is "read the web" this feature allows a web page to be read aloud with out copying and pasting the text in to Kurzweil. With read the web a toolbar appears with a read button a the bottom of your browser. To read the web simply select the desired text and press the read button. Kurzweil is a great tool for reading and writing. To learn more about Kurzweil, click here visit the Kurzweil webpage. For a video about Kurzweil's virtual print click here. Stay tuned for more Kurzweil tips, tricks and videos.

7 comments:

  1. How would you compare Read and Write Gold to Kurzweil?

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    1. Great question. I'm currently looking into reviewing Read and Write Gold on the blog. Check back for that post soon.

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  2. My best understanding is that in order for this software to work, the text must be scanned into a computer first. Are you finding that more and more libraries and/or bookstores are carrying electronic books that are readable by this software? I as well understand that it can read websites too. However, I would like to know if anyone has experience with the availability of more books in formats that this software can read.

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    1. The text must be in a digital format to be read with Kurzweil. This could be from scanning the document or by downloading it from a website. You can be digital books from sources such as Bookshare that will be compatible with Kurzweil. Let me know if you have any other question. Thanks.

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  3. I love your blog! The info is wonderful, thank you! How would you compare Kurzwell to Dragon?

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    1. Hi,

      Thanks for the question. Kurzweil and Dragon are very different programs. Both can be extremely helpful.

      Kurzweil is a text-to-speech software that can detect scanned or electronic text. Kurzweil also has many other features such as word prediction and outlining.

      Dragon is a program that allows you to speak into your computer and have your speech turned into text. This is great for people who have trouble getting their ideas down on paper.

      I hope this helps. Please ask if you have any more questions.

      Thanks

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  4. How would you compare Kurzwell to Dragon?

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