Monday 24 June 2024

Spacebar.fm offers 200 minutes of recording, transcription, summarization, and illustration

I discover new Speech to text  platforms every week. https://spacebar.fm/app offers all this and a limited number of AI interactions.



Spacebar.fm Overview

Spacebar.fm is a versatile speech-to-text platform offering 200 minutes of free recording and transcription services, alongside a limited number of AI interactions. The service can be accessed via web browsers on computers, Android and iOS platforms with a mobile app on iOS platforms.

Features and Capabilities

1.    Transcription and Editing:

    • Recording: Users can record audio and receive transcriptions.
    • Summarization: Spacebar.fm provides summaries of the recorded content.
    • Illustrations: The platform suggests possible illustrations for stories.

2.    Analysis and Statistics:

    • Analyses speech, providing statistics such as word count, speaking speed (words per minute), and other conversational metrics.

3.    Interactivity:

    • Users can request:
      1. Corrected versions of transcripts.
      2. AI-powered enhancements, including generating more coherent versions of text for language learners.
    • The app also offers sharing options, including QR codes.

4.    Device and Platform Compatibility:

    • Web (PC): Features like recording recovery, speed adjustment, editing, and copying of transcripts.
    • Android: Similar functionality to the PC version, with error correction and transcript playback.
    • iOS: While it doesn’t allow editing of transcripts directly, it supports copying and requesting AI-generated corrections.

5.    Usage Tracking:

    • Tracks the minutes used even without signing in.

Practical Application and User Experience

Logging in on Browser Experience:

  1. Imposes a 10-minute limit per recording session.
  2. Allows correction of transcription and noticing automatic corrections during playback.
  3. Allows limited access to AI using spacebar.fm
  4. Suitable for language learners with tools to make text more coherent.
  5. Enables copying and pasting of transcripts to other platforms like Padlet and GenAI.
  6. Offers sharing with other users via QR codes and other methods.
  7. Users can save and download audio files.
  8. Users can listen to the transcript read aloud if using Edge browser.
  9. Keeps recording , transcripts and summaries (Only if you log in)

Browser experience without logging in:

  • 1 – 8 of when logging in
  • Maintains usage tracking without requiring an account so if you finally log in it recovers your recordings, transcriptions, etc.

iOS app Experience:

  • Requires iOS version 13.4 or higher.
  • Extends the time limit to 90 minutes
  • Doesn’t allow correction of transcription and noticing automatic corrections during playback.
  • Allows more access to AI using spacebar.fm
  • Suitable for language learners with tools to make text more coherent.
  • Enables copying and pasting of transcripts to other platforms like Padlet and GenAI.
  • Offers sharing options via QR codes and other methods.
  • Users can save and download audio files.
  • Keeps recording , transcripts and summaries

Age Requirements

Users under the age of majority must have parental or guardian consent to use the service. Parents or guardians are responsible for their children's activities on the platform. But spacebar.fm can also be used in a browser without logging in.

Conclusion

Spacebar.fm is a robust tool for speech-to-text needs, offering various functionalities across multiple devices. Whether for personal use, educational purposes, or language learning, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools for recording, transcribing, editing, and enhancing transcribed content.

(This is a heavily edited version of ChatGPT's attempts to make sense of my notes.)

Wednesday 12 June 2024

Asking ChatGPT to use strikethrough to mark errors

 Can you correct the errors and mark the corrections in bold and show the mistakes before the corrections marked with strikethrough ? In ChatGPT

Why didn't I think of asking it to use strikethrough before?




Does it work with Copilot, Gemini and Claude, too?



Monday 10 June 2024

Problem: Speech to text apps are too good and correct lots of mistakes that learners would do well to notice

 

Solution: Students should listen to themselves while following the transcript to notice the corrections

Most speech to text apps or webpages correct many of the errors students make. So, I suggest students should listen to themselves while following the transcript to notice the corrections, before copying and pasting it into their favourite GenAI and asking for corrections. At the same time, they should correct any mistranscriptions like writing 'hungry' when the student meant to say 'angry'.

I like ChatGPT or Copilot as with either of them students can ask for them to display the original and the corrected versions in two columns of a table marking the errors and the corrections in bold. If students want to listen to it, they need to get it to display just the corrected version. If they do this using the microphone/headset they can hear it as it appears, or they can wait and touch the speaker icon.

If learners use their voice to ask for a more coherent version suitable for a learner at level B1 on the CEFR, for example, they can read and listen to it at the same time All this will help to make your students' repetition of the speaking task even better than it would be after simply doing the same thing again.

Here are three demonstrations of this technique using Soundtype.ai notta.ai & turboscribe.ai