MyCaption – Speak Your Emails!

Ever wanted to see what your BlackBerry is able to accomplish with a single application? No, I’m not talking world domination or even taking the trash out. I mean being able to respond to emails and send notes to yourself all with your voice and the occasional click of a button. Imagine the busy working mom who cannot stand still long enough to type out an important sales meeting reminder to her team. Or the college student with hands so full of books that he cannot type a response to his college professor about the Pythagorean theorem.

Well here comes the one application that everyone needs to try out. MyCaption for BlackBerry allows users to respond and compose emails with 2 clicks of a button. You can also send yourself important reminders so you don’t forget your anniversary again. Or that gallon of milk. MyCaption is a learning program so all you have to do to make it even more accurate (it’s very accurate as it is) is to continuously use it.

From the MyCaption website:

“Reliable: Hearing, like speaking, is a natural skill that no computer can mimic, so we accurately get what you’re talking about.
Confidential: You and your contacts stay anonymous, and messages are deleted as soon as they are processed, unless you want us to store them.
Integrated: This is a business tool, fully integrated into the Blackberry email client, and compatible with Blackberry Enterprise Server. Works with multiple email accounts.
Useful: A simple, spoken word interface means you can communicate whenever you can talk, whether for work or play.
Customized: This is a service that grows with you, offering additional conveniences, such as message text review, and the ability to ‘learn’ your industry-specific phrases and acronyms.
Expandable: Stay tuned for integration with other enterprise business applications.”

MyCaption is really easy to use. Click on “Reply (MyCaption)” to respond to an email or “Reply To All (MyCaption)” to respond to all email recipients. Then just start speaking. MyCaption will record your message, and once you’re done, just click on “Stop” and your words will be transcribed into text. (MyCaption also has a place in your Ringer Profile for a ringer or song or some sort of sound so you know when the transcription has been completed.) Then you can review the email for accuracy and send it off.

If you want to use the “Compose (MyCaption)”, all you have to do is say “Send to Bob”, “Subject Sales Meeting” “Message Tuesday is our weekly sales meeting. It will be at 10 am and will be held at Connor Hall”. Then click “Done” and it will be transcribed (log into the MyCaption website and enter email addresses of people you email into your account address book for easier sending.) You can also manually enter the receipient name and subject and then click “Dictate” and MyCaption will then record your message and transcribe it for you. Another good use is to compose notes to yourself. Just go to the “Compose (MyCaption)” and speak “Note to Self, Subject: Tim’s Birthday Party, Message: August 14th 2:00 pm”.

MyCaption has 2 types of services. The Standard Service which is a $9.99 monthly subscription that allows free short message transcriptions of 15 seconds or less and $.50 per message for 16 seconds to 3 minutes. The Flex Plan does not offer free short message transcriptions but offers message transcription of up to 3 minutes for $1 per message. MyCaption can be downloaded to your BlackBerry from MyCaption.com and you can sign up for a free 10-message trial.

MyCaption is very easy to use and is also very accurate out of the (proverbial) box. I recommend this to anyone who puts off responding to emails just because they’re a tad too busy! Now you don’t have an excuse as to why you didn’t respond to Aunt Magnus’ Sunday BBQ e-vite!