4 ms·

Im going to try to not be overly negative here... but arent there numerous other forms of media that already do this in a pretty crowded market? NPR, radio, po

Im going to try to not be overly negative here... but arent there numerous other forms of media that already do this in a pretty crowded market? NPR, radio, podcasts, etc? I guess I dont really get why I would use this in that the audio forms of news that I have to choose from are pretty vast and high quality.

HorizonXP 14y ago
The idea is that they're curating content from across the web, and reading actual articles to you. Podcasts and the like have a different style of delivery. Think of this as text-to-speech for articles you would normally read, except done by an actual human so it doesn't sound off-putting. I think it's a fantastic idea, but its success will be determined by the team's ability to scale across a wider gamut of content.
- moocow01 14y ago
  But isn't this essentially what the radio/podcast form of news essentially is? Each station/organization curates information (in a similar way web-based reporters do) and then reports as much of it as their resources allow via someone reading/talking? I'm not trying to beat up on their idea but I dont understand their competitive angle or what would cause me to use it over the huge amount of content out there.
  - HorizonXP 14y ago
    There are similarities, but there are differences too. Podcasts/radio will usually deliver the content more succinctly. Written articles tend to be more in-depth. Pros and cons to both. Moreover, there is simply more written content than there are podcasts or radio. This can help bridge the gap.
    - jlees 14y ago
      I've never been a big fan of podcasts. Some have done a good job of mixing current topics with in-depth dives into specific areas and a dash of humour/personality (boagworld, for example), but most of the others I've tried out are either long rambles on very specialised topics or ego-stroking interviews. There's also production time delays/weekly (or longer) release cycles. Radio news... I haven't really looked into this since moving to the US, but in the UK, no radio news channel covered technology well and it's difficult, given a finite amount of time, to use that time to listen to exactly what you want. e.g. tuning into the World Service here, I get some very random content which is sometimes interesting, sometimes not. Perhaps NPR is different. I feel Umano addresses both of these - topic freshness/specialisation and good use of finite time - in different ways.
      - morsch 14y ago
        I listen to a lot of news radio programs as podcasts. I love that I don't have fit my schedule around the program, and I love that I'm not tied to a specific program but can listen to the most interesting stuff from various stations. Including a few that aren't even in my country, such as This American Life. I've also got a few things subscribed that are "genuine" podcasts. My observations mirror your own (a few good ones/almost all are terrible). But if it works, it works really well, I've had podcasts that went on about a topic for 3 hours without getting boring. But almost none of the stuff I get this way deals with technology per se. It's mostly politics, science, sociology, history -- anything but pure tech.
- pierrebouchet 14y ago
  This reminds me of VoiceBunny. For short texts you can get a voiceover within minutes, and their API allows you to automate the whole process. See API flowchart: http://voicebunny.com/developers/get_read http://voicebunny.com/developers/get_read

HorizonXP 14y ago

The idea is that they're curating content from across the web, and reading actual articles to you. Podcasts and the like have a different style of delivery. Think of this as text-to-speech for articles you would normally read, except done by an actual human so it doesn't sound off-putting. I think it's a fantastic idea, but its success will be determined by the team's ability to scale across a wider gamut of content.

moocow01 14y ago
But isn't this essentially what the radio/podcast form of news essentially is? Each station/organization curates information (in a similar way web-based reporters do) and then reports as much of it as their resources allow via someone reading/talking? I'm not trying to beat up on their idea but I dont understand their competitive angle or what would cause me to use it over the huge amount of content out there.
- HorizonXP 14y ago
  There are similarities, but there are differences too. Podcasts/radio will usually deliver the content more succinctly. Written articles tend to be more in-depth. Pros and cons to both. Moreover, there is simply more written content than there are podcasts or radio. This can help bridge the gap.
  - jlees 14y ago
    I've never been a big fan of podcasts. Some have done a good job of mixing current topics with in-depth dives into specific areas and a dash of humour/personality (boagworld, for example), but most of the others I've tried out are either long rambles on very specialised topics or ego-stroking interviews. There's also production time delays/weekly (or longer) release cycles. Radio news... I haven't really looked into this since moving to the US, but in the UK, no radio news channel covered technology well and it's difficult, given a finite amount of time, to use that time to listen to exactly what you want. e.g. tuning into the World Service here, I get some very random content which is sometimes interesting, sometimes not. Perhaps NPR is different. I feel Umano addresses both of these - topic freshness/specialisation and good use of finite time - in different ways.
    - morsch 14y ago
      I listen to a lot of news radio programs as podcasts. I love that I don't have fit my schedule around the program, and I love that I'm not tied to a specific program but can listen to the most interesting stuff from various stations. Including a few that aren't even in my country, such as This American Life. I've also got a few things subscribed that are "genuine" podcasts. My observations mirror your own (a few good ones/almost all are terrible). But if it works, it works really well, I've had podcasts that went on about a topic for 3 hours without getting boring. But almost none of the stuff I get this way deals with technology per se. It's mostly politics, science, sociology, history -- anything but pure tech.
pierrebouchet 14y ago
This reminds me of VoiceBunny. For short texts you can get a voiceover within minutes, and their API allows you to automate the whole process. See API flowchart: http://voicebunny.com/developers/get_read http://voicebunny.com/developers/get_read