4 ms·

You use this in an API or just personally? Is it possible to use these voices over an API (for non-commercial use)?

wallflower 18y ago
I don't use their API. I just use the TextAloud program to occasionally read websites and documentation to me. (Don't do this at home folks - let's you surf the web without 'reading' it - it obviously is not at the 'generate your own audiobook level' [1] - however it's way beyond E.T. and that speech synthesizer) API product page (iPhone version available now too!): http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-multimedia-8-speech-solutions.html http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-multimedia-8-speech-sol... [1] That would require bridging the gap from 'Dry eyes. dry eyes' monotone to an actor doing a dramatic script reading. Vocal variety, appropriate pauses, inflections, tone - wow - a lot of things. Possible startup opportunity here? As an aside, it takes much longer to listen than to read (I'm thinking 10x for some material).
- markessien 18y ago
  I don't see an iphone version there.
  - wallflower 18y ago
    From parent link. http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-for-iphone-26-speech-solutions.html http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-for-iphone-26-speech-so...
- jacquesm 18y ago
  Voice recognition and speech synthesis will only really come in to play once - if - we get some kind of a.i. going. for the longest time I used to think that the next real breakthrough in computers would be proper speech recognition and text-to-speech conversion, but once I clued in to how slow the audio channel is I let go of that. It seems such a natural, but language is so full of formal 'fluff' that you'd have to have a pretty good a.i. on the other side of the speech link to get any net improvement as compared to traditional input methods. The ideal secretary would be able to interpret 'send an email to John regarding the outstanding invoices' and be done with it, before you've got a computer at that level we'll be writing 2020 or later.
  - markessien 18y ago
    I know of a possible solution for the problem. I'm going to publish a paper in a couple of months that will include my ideas on this.
    - jacquesm 18y ago
      will you please post it here ? or mail me a link ? j@ww.com I'd be very (very!) happy to read it.
      - markessien 18y ago
        Will do.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  My possible startup idea on the web/speech was to have a bookmarklet that would send the URL of the page you are on to my service, it would check for recordings of that page, and if any were found embed a flash player in the page so you could hear the text. If not, you could record something and send it in. It would be a web2 site in the sense that other people would do most of the work ;) However, I forsee more problems than really useful features, including: checking for accuracy and verbal abuse hidden in submitted recordings, the sheer amount of stuff on the internet making it unlikely that you'd find what you're looking for, and the fact that really (near)blind people would already have screen readers and embedded flash wont help too much, and comments on blogs wouldn't be a good fit for it.

I don't use their API. I just use the TextAloud program to occasionally read websites and documentation to me. (Don't do this at home folks - let's you surf the web without 'reading' it - it obviously is not at the 'generate your own audiobook level' [1] - however it's way beyond E.T. and that speech synthesizer) API product page (iPhone version available now too!): http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-multimedia-8-speech-solutions.html http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-multimedia-8-speech-sol... [1] That would require bridging the gap from 'Dry eyes. dry eyes' monotone to an actor doing a dramatic script reading. Vocal variety, appropriate pauses, inflections, tone - wow - a lot of things. Possible startup opportunity here? As an aside, it takes much longer to listen than to read (I'm thinking 10x for some material).

markessien 18y ago
I don't see an iphone version there.
- wallflower 18y ago
  From parent link. http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-for-iphone-26-speech-solutions.html http://www.acapela-group.com/acapela-for-iphone-26-speech-so...
jacquesm 18y ago
Voice recognition and speech synthesis will only really come in to play once - if - we get some kind of a.i. going. for the longest time I used to think that the next real breakthrough in computers would be proper speech recognition and text-to-speech conversion, but once I clued in to how slow the audio channel is I let go of that. It seems such a natural, but language is so full of formal 'fluff' that you'd have to have a pretty good a.i. on the other side of the speech link to get any net improvement as compared to traditional input methods. The ideal secretary would be able to interpret 'send an email to John regarding the outstanding invoices' and be done with it, before you've got a computer at that level we'll be writing 2020 or later.
- markessien 18y ago
  I know of a possible solution for the problem. I'm going to publish a paper in a couple of months that will include my ideas on this.
  - jacquesm 18y ago
    will you please post it here ? or mail me a link ? j@ww.com I'd be very (very!) happy to read it.
    - markessien 18y ago
      Will do.
jodrellblank 18y ago
My possible startup idea on the web/speech was to have a bookmarklet that would send the URL of the page you are on to my service, it would check for recordings of that page, and if any were found embed a flash player in the page so you could hear the text. If not, you could record something and send it in. It would be a web2 site in the sense that other people would do most of the work ;) However, I forsee more problems than really useful features, including: checking for accuracy and verbal abuse hidden in submitted recordings, the sheer amount of stuff on the internet making it unlikely that you'd find what you're looking for, and the fact that really (near)blind people would already have screen readers and embedded flash wont help too much, and comments on blogs wouldn't be a good fit for it.