Sandra Vogel

Contributing Writer

Sandra is a freelance IT writer with extensive experience across both business and consumer audience. She is equally at home writing a smartphone review as a research report for an international telecoms company.

Latest from Sandra Vogel

Screenshots: MindManager 2012

MindManager 2012 for Windows allows users to share and collaborate on 'mind maps', and provides tools to help ensure that brainstorming sessions are productive.

September 12, 2011 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Premium

The latest version of Nuance's speech-to-text application is as accurate as ever, but adds the ability to use your iPhone as a microphone and allows you to dictate posts to Facebook and Twitter, among other new features.

August 22, 2011 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

MindManager 9

MindManager 9 is a sophisticated mind-mapping application that could revolutionise your methodology for organising and accessing information. It works well for individuals, but delivers most value if adopted by the entire organisation.

September 21, 2010 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium

Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Premium is a significant improvement on its predecessor: speech recognition is more accurate out of the box, and the user interface is generally slicker. The new command reference sidebar needs attention, though.

August 25, 2010 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred

<p> Speech-to-text software is an acquired taste, but in our view it should be much more widely used than it is. The best software is easy to use and, in our experience, can be a lot faster than typing — even for accomplished touch typists. The best products are adept at a lot more than simply getting words into your favourite word processor: you can control a wide variety of applications too. Nuance has recently released the latest version of its market-leading Dragon NaturallySpeaking (DNS) product, which it claims is more accurate and faster than ever. </p>

August 26, 2008 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

CoPilot integrates Microsoft Live Search

ALK has recently added a new feature to its CoPilot navigation software — Microsoft’s Live Search.

March 4, 2008 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

MindManager X5 Pro

Mindmapping is an activity that its users swear by and the uninitiated treat quizzically. Mindmapping software lends itself particularly to Tablet PCs, whose pen-based input makes it far easier and more intuitive to produce mindmaps than traditional mouse-driven computing. Pocket PCs can be handy for mindmapping too — again because of their touch-sensitive screens. <a href="http://www.mindjet.com/uk/">Mindjet</a> produces mindmapping software for both platforms, which can share and synchronise mindmaps. MindManager X5 Pro is not inexpensive at £233 (inc. VAT), but according to Mindjet it 'transforms brainstorming ideas, strategic thinking, and business information into blueprints for action, enabling teams and organizations to work faster, smarter, and with greater coordination'. </p>

May 31, 2006 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

AutoRoute 2006 with GPS locator

With handheld and smartphone-based navigation software sharing the limelight with standalone solutions, it's easy to forget that GPS-based navigation used to be the domain of notebook computers. There are still a number of such solutions available, and Microsoft's AutoRoute is an example. The new 2006 edition comes in two versions: with a GPS receiver for £149.99 (inc. VAT) and software-only for £44.99 (inc. VAT).

December 19, 2005 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

CiceroPhone for Windows Mobile Pocket PC

The thing about Voice over IP (VoIP) is that once you’ve got it, you really don’t want to use GSM or a landline unless you have to. In offices with IP-based phone systems, VoIP has the added advantage of making people contactable anywhere -- a definite advantage in many circumstances. Handhelds with Wi-Fi and the ability to accommodate SIM cards are ideally placed to offer convenient support for both VoIP and GSM communications, and <a href="http://www.ciceronetworks.com/">Cicero Networks </a>has launched a ‘converged softphone’ that provides this via a single user interface. We tested CiceroPhone with an <a href="http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/handhelds/0,39023880,39165698,00.htm">HP iPAQ h6340</a> -- there is also a Windows Mobile smartphone version, which we will be examining in due course.

November 25, 2005 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

Zetadocs PDF

Adobe's PDF (Portable Document Format) is pretty much ubiquitous these days, its main advantage being that PDFs are hard for users to edit, which provides a measure of control over distributed information. PDF also copes well with graphics-rich material, locking it into a layout that reproduces accurately on a wide range of platforms. Finally, Adobe's PDF reader is free, so there's no cost barrier to access (you can download Adobe Reader <a href="http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,39025607,1,00.htm?query=Adobe+Reader">here</a>).

September 16, 2005 by Sandra Vogel in Developer

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