Nuance Launches Dragon Express in the Mac App Store

Nuance Communications has announced Dragon Express, a new voice recognition app for Mac OS X. The app was designed to provide an easy and fun way to put words to work without the hassle of typing.

Available exclusively from Apple's Mac App Store, Dragon Express requires Lion, the latest version of Apple’s desktop operating system.

You use it to speak and get “amazingly accurate results” in the Dragon Express window.

According to the developers, you can dictate pretty much anything and the app will instantly jot down what you said, even words that wouldn't be found in dictionaries.

Surprised? Don’t be. Nuance makes a habit of developing software customized to recognize your voice and the words you use. You could say it’s not fond of the status quo, which inadvertently makes it a great addition to your Mac (wink).

"Dragon Express is a great app for those who are new to speech recognition or who are looking for an easy-to-use dictation tool that allows them to use their voice instead of typing," said Peter Mahoney, senior vice president and general manager, Dragon, Nuance.

"For those looking for a more full-featured speech recognition program, we recommend Dragon Dictate, which provides the full capabilities of advanced speech recognition technology."

The app can be conveniently accessed from the menu bar at any time. Unlike Siri, which relies on remote servers to decode speech, it also doesn’t require a network connection. The price is a bit steep though - $49.99. Also, it’s U.S. only.

Download Dragon Express for Mac OS X

Nuance used this opportunity to also announce that Dragon Dictate, the company’s flagship speech recognition software for Mac OS X, was recently updated to version 2.5.

New features include the ability to dictate directly into applications, open and close applications by voice, and even control the mouse by voice.