BlogField notes

Notes from the workshop.

Short essays, longer rationales, the occasional teardown. Mostly about dictation, sometimes about writing, computers, and the seam between them.

  1. August 5, 2026Guide

    Best Free Dictation App (2026): Every Free Way to Dictate

    The best free ways to dictate in 2026: built-in Mac, Windows, and Google Docs voice typing, plus free AI dictation apps ranked by accuracy, limits, and privacy.

    8 min →
  2. August 5, 2026Guide

    Windows 11 Dictation: How to Use Voice Typing (2026)

    Does Windows 11 have built-in dictation? Yes. How to turn on Voice Typing with Windows + H, use punctuation commands, fix accuracy, and when to upgrade to an AI dictation app.

    7 min →
  3. August 5, 2026Guide

    How to Dictate in Microsoft Word (2026): Mac & Windows

    Does Word have a dictation tool? Yes. How to use the Dictate button in Microsoft Word on Mac and Windows, dictate for free, fix accuracy, and dictate system-wide instead.

    6 min →
  4. June 2, 2026Guide

    How to Use Mac Dictation: Setup, Shortcut & Tips (2026)

    The complete 2026 guide to Mac dictation: how to enable it, change the hotkey, switch languages, fix accuracy issues, dictate in any app, and when to switch to a dedicated dictation tool.

    14 min →
  5. June 1, 2026Roundup

    Best dictation app for Mac (2026): 7 tested, ranked by use case.

    Six dictation apps for Mac that are genuinely worth using in 2026, plus one famous one that isn't. Ranked by use case (cross-platform, power user, file transcription, free), not by marketing budget.

    12 min →
  6. May 24, 2026Comparison

    Willow Voice vs Speechcap: cross-platform reach or Mac-first depth.

    Willow Voice ships on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android with a polished style-memory feature. Speechcap is Mac-first, runs on-device on Pro (audio never leaves your Mac), and is roughly half the price. Both work, the question is which gap matters to you.

    6 min →
  7. May 24, 2026Comparison

    Apple Dictation vs Speechcap: where the built-in falls short.

    Apple's built-in dictation is free and right there in macOS. It's also stuck around 88% accuracy and won't fix your um's. Here's where the gap actually matters.

    6 min →
  8. May 24, 2026Comparison

    Superwhisper vs Speechcap: modes or simplicity.

    Superwhisper's modes give you per-context AI prompts and serious flexibility. Speechcap is push-to-talk + one clean pipeline. Which wins depends on whether you want a power tool or a sharp knife.

    6 min →
  9. May 24, 2026Comparison

    MacWhisper vs Speechcap: transcribe files, or dictate live.

    These tools sound similar but solve different problems. MacWhisper transcribes audio files you give it. Speechcap types what you say into any text field, live. Which one you need depends on the verb.

    5 min →
  10. May 24, 2026Migration guide

    Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Mac in 2026: it's gone. Here's what to use.

    Nuance discontinued Dragon for Mac in 2018. The last version doesn't run on modern macOS. For Mac users, the migration question is what fills the gap, and modern Whisper-based tools have closed most of it.

    5 min →
  11. May 24, 2026Comparison

    Wispr Flow vs Speechcap: an honest comparison.

    Both tools turn your voice into clean text on a Mac. Wispr Flow has more polish, broader platform support, and a head start. Speechcap is half the price, runs on-device on Pro (audio never leaves your Mac), and uses push-to-talk by design.

    7 min →
  12. May 21, 2026Essay

    The case for push-to-talk.

    Tap-to-toggle dictation feels modern. Hold-a-key feels primitive. We think the primitive one wins, here's the case, from someone who shipped both.

    7 min →
  13. June 2, 2026Comparison

    Aqua Voice vs Speechcap: contextual cloud, or private on-device.

    Aqua Voice ships a context-aware cloud transcription model with screen-reading accuracy on coding and technical work. Speechcap runs Whisper and AI cleanup on-device. Both are good, they're making different bets.

    6 min →
  14. June 2, 2026Comparison

    VoiceInk vs Speechcap: open-source local AI, or polished pipeline.

    VoiceInk is open-source, lifetime-priced, and runs local AI for transcription. Speechcap Pro adds on-device transcription and AI cleanup — audio never leaves your Mac. Both honour the on-device privacy story on their paid tiers, taking different paths to it.

    6 min →
  15. June 2, 2026Comparison

    Voibe vs Speechcap: lifetime offline, or recurring with cleanup.

    Voibe is a Mac-only, Apple-Silicon-only dictation app with on-device Whisper and a one-time lifetime purchase. Speechcap Pro adds on-device AI cleanup, PPP pricing, and 89-language coverage on a subscription. Both honour your audio's privacy on their paid tiers, via different paths.

    5 min →
  16. June 2, 2026Comparison

    Letterly vs Speechcap: notes-as-output, or live dictation.

    Letterly turns voice recordings into structured notes, emails, X posts, and to-do lists. Speechcap types what you say into any app, live. They overlap on "voice in," but the output shape is the whole point.

    5 min →
  17. June 2, 2026Engineering

    Dictation for non-native English speakers: what most apps get wrong.

    Most dictation apps were tuned by and for native English speakers. They preserve the patterns that mark you as non-native, 'I am knowing him since five years', 'do the needful', 'discuss about this'. Speechcap's cleanup was rebuilt to normalise them. Here's what we did and why.

    7 min →