Latest GhostReader Release

GhostReader is a text to audio utility for Mac, available at
http://www.nextup.com/mac.html

msterdam - 14 May 2008 - ConvenienceWare(TM) / AssistiveWare(R) today announced the release of GhostReader(TM) 1.5, which adds new voices, enhanced iPhone/iPod export, a pronunciation editor and much more. GhostReader is a powerful, yet easy to use multilingual text-to-speech solution for Mac OS X that reads aloud PDF, Word and other documents as well as selected text in any application. It can also convert any text to audio files, MP3s, or bookmarkable audiobooks for playback on iPhone and iPod. Sit back and relax while GhostReader reads for you!

GhostReader 1.5 is a major update with the following new features and enhancements:

- Adds new natural sounding voices for Czech, Polish, Swedish and Finnish while existing voices have been enhanced.

- Adds a pronunciation editor, which can be used to modify the way a word is pronounced or to add new abbreviations.

- Adds direct export to iTunes of documents and selected text for playback on iPhone or iPod.

- Adds user-selectable encoding for export to iTunes (AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless).

- In Leopard now also reads DOCX and ODT documents.

- Export to iTunes now runs in the background.

- Enhanced responsiveness when speaking selected text or text below the cursor.

- Speaking selected text now also works in floating windows such as those of the Leopard Help Viewer.

- Speak Text Below the Cursor now speaks the alt. tags for images and buttons in web pages, Mail and widgets.

- Speak Text Below the Cursor now also speaks just the paragraph below the cursor in Mail, TextEdit and Pages 2008.

- Many other enhancements and fixes.

GhostReader can be used by anyone who prefers to listen to text rather then read it. Many professionals, writers, educators and students use it on a daily basis to save time, to proof read their own writing or to learn the pronunciation of foreign languages or to improve their reading and listening comprehension.

GhostReader 1.5 is a free update for existing users. It is a Universal Binary requiring Mac OS X 10.4 or later and provides full Leopard compatibility. Voices are currently available for the following languages: American English, British English, Czech, Finnish, French, Canadian French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, American Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Norwegian, Turkish and Swedish. GhostReader itself is localized in English, French and German.

Pricing for GhostReader starts at 39.95 Euro/USD excluding VAT for a single-user monolingual version (includes all voices for a language of choice). Multilingual licenses, household licenses, classroom licenses and school licenses are also available. GhostReader is also available as a bundle with Infovox iVox for system-wide high quality voices that can be used with practically all Speech Manager compatible Mac OS X applications. Pricing for this bundle starts at 109 Euro/USD excluding VAT for a single user license.

A boxed edition of GhostReader is distributed in Europe through Application Systems Heidelberg and available in selected European countries from Apple Stores, FNAC, Amazon and many Apple Resellers throughout the continent.

For more information, a fully-functional downloadable demo and to listen to samples of the voices please consult the product page:

GhostReader: http://www.convenienceware.com/ghostreader.php

Listen to samples: http://www.convenienceware.com/voices.php

AssistiveWare (http://www.assistiveware.com/) is the worldwide leader in innovative assistive technology software for Mac OS X that gives people back their lives. This includes award-winning KeyStrokes(R) and TouchStrokes(R) virtual keyboards, SwitchXS(R) scanning on-screen keyboard, LayoutKitchen(R) panel editor, and Proloquo(R) multi-purpose speech solution. The ConvenienceWare product line (http://www.convenienceware.com) makes the advanced technologies developed by AssistiveWare available in cool and convenient applications that can make the life of Mac users easier.

AssistiveWare and ConvenienceWare are trade names and trademarks or registered trademarks of Niemeijer Consult. VisioVoice, SwitchXS, KeyStrokes, TouchStrokes, LayoutKitchen, GhostReader and Proloquo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Niemeijer Consult. Infovox iVox is a trademark of Acapela Group. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

Textbook extinction.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/1386424/are_textbooks_becoming_extinct_welcome_to_the_age_of_the/

Are Textbooks Becoming Extinct?

Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 03:00 CDT

The wikitext has the potential to become an integrating force that merges Web 2.0 tools for the betterment of education. By embedding audio, video, interactive tutorials, simulations, and edu- games, the students will have almost limitless depth on curriculum topics.

IMAGINE

if textbooks were alive ... living, changing, evolving, and improving ... never out-of-date!

a textbook that would give students images, videos, and interactive tutorials about a subject, a vocabulary word, or a topic.

a digital textbook that would be student-driven, a model for differentiated learning, and geared toward helping all students learn through visualization, interaction, and simulation.

In the age of Web 2.0, all this and much more is possible. And it's all at our students' fingertips with just a click of a button. Welcome to the "Age of the Wikitext!"

The Problem

By 2008, most school librarians have become aware of Web 2.0. Some of us have more experience than others, but we all know that we are several years into the age of the Read/Write Web (aka the Participatory Web). Unfortunately, the majority of us are digital immigrants, so our depth of knowledge on Web 2.0 technology and social software is rather superficial.

One thing that is consistent for all educators is the proverbial tightening of the belts. As school systems' budgets shrink, there have been a growing number of teacher layoffs. School systems in my state have slowly begun to integrate and mainstream all the students with learning disabilities, eliminating some special education teachers and maxing-out class size caps. This has had a domino effect.

With the increase of heterogeneous grouping, the skill level among students in the same class has grown wider and wider. This has cascaded into a major problem for subject-specific teachers. In order for them to be able to reach, and teach, students of all levels, they have had to differentiate their instruction. One of the positives to come with all this change has been its confluence with Web 2.0 and the tools of the participatory web.

Training teachers in differentiated learning-also called differentiated instruction-has helped alleviate some of the issues, but the educational community then found another major obstacle to instruction. The lessons in schools had changed, but the textbooks they used had not.

Textbooks have been another casualty of budget cuts. Many schools are being told, "Don't even consider ordering new textbooks for next year-the funds just aren't there." If only there was a cost- effective supplement. Hmm ...

Some Perspective

Now let's get some perspective. Let's say you were in college in 1978. When you received an assignment, you would use reference books and journals in the library to do your research. You would then handwrite your notes and use a typewriter for your final draft. You used a slide rule to work on your discrete math homework. Sometimes you called your parents from a telephone booth to beg them to mail you pizza (aka beer) money. Not to mention that your biology textbook was a 6-pound, 700-page tome that took 3 years to get published and was already out-of-date.

Now, 30 years later, your son is entering his second year in college. He takes class notes on a laptop and does his research with online databases and (of course) Google while using a free Wi-Fi hotspot at Starbucks. He gets help with his math homework by contacting classmates through Facebook, and he forgets to call you from his cell phone because he doesn't need money for pizza-he just uses his credit card.

But you don't worry about him too much. His phone is practically a part of his body, so you subscribe to an online service that uses the GPS locator to sync it up with Google Earth, so at least you can see exactly where he is at all times.

Only one thing hasn't radically changed-his biology text, which has now grown into a 12-pound, 1,000-page mammoth of a book that still takes 2 years to get published and is already out-of-date. What's wrong with this picture?

"Textbooks have yet to respond to changes in technology, teaching philosophy, and student life," says Paul Bierman, a professor at the University of Vermont. He made this statement at a workshop he initiated of 54 leading scientists, educators, and technology experts at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. They met under the theme "Reconsidering the Textbook."

"There was broad agreement at the workshop that the role of the textbook is going to change," Bierman says. "They are going to be the integrating force between all these different digital technologies and show you where to go for more depth."

The Solution

This led to my thoughts on how to best address this problem. If textbooks are static and unchangeable, how can I, as internet librarian at Middletown High School in Rhode Island, help? Could this be the age of the wikitext?

My idea to build and create a wikitext gradually came into focus after attending a presentation by Will Richardson during the Internet@Schools conference in 2005. We've all gone to presentations where we have heard our peers speak about the benefits of Web 2.0 in education. It's also become painfully obvious that our students, across nearly all grades, have become well-versed with Web 2.0 tools, so it's not a passing fad.

Richardson once blogged that "Teaching is a collective effort, not an individual accomplishment." This resonates with those of us teaching toward the future. Student input is imperative! If we are to prepare young minds for the creative thinking their futures will certainly require, then it is our obligation to use every tool in our toolbox to effectively impart that knowledge.

In the modern-day working world, quick answers are at our fingertips. Students don't need teachers to give them the information. Anyone can type in a search on their smartphones, send it to Yahoo! or Ask.com, and get an immediate answer sent back to them.

But they do need teachers to give them the skills to evaluate, organize, and apply that information-that's information literacy. Imagine moving from the traditional teacher-directed model of instruction to a student-centered model. Together, both the teacher and the students can use the group's collective intelligence to collaboratively build a wikitext.

The wikitext has the potential to become an integrating force that merges Web 2.0 tools for the betterment of education. By embedding audio, video, interactive tutorials, simulations, and edu- games, the students will have almost limitless depth on curriculum topics. If you add screencasts, podcasts, and text-to-speech widgets, you'll have the potential to differentiate instruction to reach every student across the entire intellectual spectrum.

Collective Intelligence: Wnen tne Wnole Exceeds tne Sum of Its Parts

Let us start by clarifying the meaning of "collective intelligence." There are many variations on the definition, but essentially, collective intelligence is defined as the capacity of human communities to cooperate intellectually in creation, innovation, and invention.

In the Information Age, our society has become more and more knowledge-dependent-knowledge plus information equals power plus influence. It is therefore imperative that we understand (among other things) how collective intelligence processes can be encouraged and expanded in classrooms through the use of Web 2.0 tools such as the wiki. Harnessing a group's collective intelligence is one of the keys to success for modern societies. It is a tool and skill that the students of today will need to be the successful employees of tomorrow.

This vision is also supported by several decades of educational research and a growing body of teaching approaches-sometimes called constructivist or inquirybased learning-where instruction is driven by students' own questions. It adapts to their various learning styles and levels of understanding.

Another approach is called "Backwards Design," where the goals of what should be learned are established first and then the tools- such as digital resources or interactive tutorials-are selected to meet those goals. For example, a teacher can now begin by posing an open-ended problem such as "Explore the origins of the solar system," and give the students a WebQuest of online resources so they may find their own answers. Studentswith strong guidance from the teacher-could then use wiki software to compile their answers. They would embed different resources that they have found to help convey the concepts to their peers from their perspective. Students often learn more quickly from a peer than from a teacher. Most educators can recall a moment in class where a child doesn't fully comprehend a concept from our explanation, but then something amazing happens: A neighbor leans over and whispers a few words and you can see the light bulb go on above the student's head.

The students' additions will become a new chapter in the wikitext. Through student and teacher input, this chapter will perpetually evolve. This living, breathing document will constantly change, grow, and improve-with each and every edit-continuously benefiting from the insights, perspectives, and collective intelligence of the group.Now, this isn't meant to replace the classroom text completely. As long as the digital divide separates students from accessing the internet at home, a wikitext will probably remain a supplement rather than the primary text. But the potential and the benefit to instruction are undeniable. The traditional strengths of the textbook remain: They gather an established body of knowledge within a discipline, present a consensus overview, and filter information through peer review. However, this can also be the downfall of traditional textbooks. The very qualities that give them their weight and authority are often their biggest flaw. Your students are not the peers in "peer review." The peer reviewer-discipline specialists have perspectives that are usually light-years removed from the frame of reference of a 21st-century student. This flaw is compounded by the economics of the publishing industry. The generalized market that publishers seek to tap makes the text barren of any local detail, current relevance, or context from the students' lives. If, through the use of "place- based curriculum," these wiki texts were personalized for a school, and if they were constantly updated through the input of both the faculty and the students, then the benefits would be astounding!

During the past year I have been instructing teachers from different school districts on how to get started creating a wiki text. Getting new projects off the ground is the most challenging part, but they soon snowball and begin to take on a life of their own. After the staff has been trained, they quickly become vested in the project. Soon after that, parents get involved (more so at the elementary level) and these projects grow even faster. It takes a lot of hours and a big commitment by the administration for training, but feedback from students, parents, and teachers has shown that it is worth it. Most wikitext projects may take up to a full school year to get developed, so Fm looking forward to seeing some of these finished projects this summer. I'll report back soon ...

---

Dow Jones Talks

http://visualvoicemail.tmcnet.com/speech-technologies/articles/22267-new-text-to-speech-capability-turns-written-news.htm

New Text-to-Speech Capability Turns Written News into Spoken News

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

Dow Jones & Company has introduced a new capability to enable users to listen to the news that drives their business. This new “text-to-speech” capability in Dow Jones Factiva needs only one click to allow users to listen to a news article rather than read it.

The “Listen to Article” link is currently available in beta format and the link appears at the top of any full-text article with fewer than 4,000 words. Listeners can select English, French, German, Italian and Spanish languages and the application can automatically default to reading in the interface language previously selected.

To test the Dow Jones Factiva listen capability and hear this press release, click here.

“Dow Jones Factiva continues to set itself apart from the competition by being the first to offer text-to-speech technology in the current awareness, news and research market,” said Dennis Cahill, senior vice president and chief product officer of the Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group, in a Wednesday statement.

“This new capability builds on our commitment to provide customers with relevant news when, where and how they need it and to reinforce our No. 1 position in the marketplace.”

Provided by VoiceCorp, the listen capability is a Web-based service that converts text into speech on the fly. It is available to users wherever full-text articles are found, including alerts, search results and newsletters. Once the link is clicked, the listen capability uses a Flash player to read the article.

The addition of text-to-speech is meant to further build on Dow Jones’s goal of integrating various forms of multimedia content into Dow Jones Factiva.

In our multi-tasking society, we are constantly on the look-out for solutions that can make our day a little less hectic by combining tasks. Why not try out a solution that reads an article to you so you can catch the important news, while also skimming e-mails, looking at reports, or finishing that paperwork?

While multi-tasking may not be the end goal, this solution can provide a great tool for those individuals who are concerned with the issues, yet lack the time to sit down and reach about them. Such a solution can also have even broader applications and could find another niche in which to market the solution.

TTS helping homeless

Google Pushes GrandCentral to Help the Homeless

Google announced that it is offering its GrandCentral service to homeless people as a means of helping them get their lives back in order. A good number of homeless Americans (those not suffering from mental illness) are just in need of assistance getting their lives back in order, a difficult prospect when a possible employer can’t even call you, because you don’t have a house to have a phone in.

Google is encouraging the homeless to use GrandCentral and enabling them to get into the sorta-private beta. Even without a computer or phone, the homeless person will be able to have a phone number that always works and never changes (as opposed to handing out payphone numbers) and receive voicemail they can listen to whenever they get to a phone. The GrandCentral number, with its local area codes and permanent status, won’t carry the stigma associated with pooled 800 numbers with temporary access codes.

It’s good of Google to see the potential in GrandCentral to help fix a few lives. The next step: Letting GrandCentral users receive email messages in their voicemail, so the homeless can hand out a Gmail address and listen to a text-to-speech system read them their emails over the phone.
(via DVICE)

Good Daisy description

What is a DAISY Digital Talking Book?

Today, I have just googled the web and found some useful information for getting stated about DAISY Digital Talking Book from Tim Evans & Andrew Furlong. This document was written in year 2005 which is almost 3 years from now but it is still valid. Let’s see why DAISY is make sense? In this post you will found some abbreviations, but don’t worry I will explain some of them later in this blog.

Cheers,
Tanakom.

DAISY makes sense!

Presentation

Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities
2005 National Conference
Introduction

This presentation will inform you of the features and benefits of DAISY, and will focus on four main advantages.

1. Portability
2. Accessibility
3. Useability
4. Compatibility

What is DAISY?

DAISY is the acronym for Digital Accessible Information System.

The DAISY System is transforming the reading and learning experiences of people who have a print disability in over 30 countries around the world.

There are currently more than 125,000 DAISY books already produced worldwide.

Limitations of Audio Books today

Typical audio talking books do not allow the reader to move through the book easily. You can listen from beginning to end, but not much more, resulting in frustration and wasted time.

What is a DAISY Digital Talking Book?

A traditional talking book is an analog version of a print publication. A DAISY Digital Talking Book (DTB) is a multimedia version of a print publication. In both instances the rendering of the audio is usually in human voice.

During the development of the DAISY standard, talking book readers from around the world were consulted regarding their reading requirements and needs for a fully accessible audio book. It was very clear that analog recordings did not meet their reading and information needs.

Access to places within the book, difficulties using the medium itself, quality, preservation of content and numerous other issues indicated that producers of talking books had to begin the move to a digital platform. However, a digitally recorded human voice in itself would not resolve all of the issues, particularly the issues of accessibility and navigation from point to point within the book.

DAISY DTB’s do meet talking book reader requirements by providing access to the talking book that has never before been possible, giving the talking book reader instant access to any part of the book, including chapters, and pages.

Why Choose DAISY?

The DAISY standard provides flexibility and options never before possible. You can listen to a DAISY book on a desktop computer or laptop, or you can listen to a DAISY audio book with a portable hardware player at home or when travelling.

1. Portability

The average book is contained on 10 cassettes or 12 CD’s. DAISY is a compressed format that can be put on a single CD and easily used.

Up to 50 hours of audio may be contained on one DAISY CD - the equivalent of more than 30 standard cassettes. It is also possible to place more than one book on a CD.

2. Accessibility

DAISY allows the reader to navigate around the book in the same way they would access a print book, if not better.

The book has a structure that allows the reader to easily navigate around the book to locate specific content.

Typically, the structure would be headings like chapters and subchapters, footnotes and announcements, as well as page numbers.

The navigation of the book starts with the reader understanding the structure of the book, usually by reading the table of contents. This is the same way we would use a print book.

3. Useability

Using a portable hardware player as an example, it is possible to go directly to the table of contents. Once a heading is found, it is possible to go directly to the corresponding page, the same page as in the print book.

The player has all the usual features such as play/stop, volume, tone and speed controls.

Other useful features include a “bookmark” feature, with the ability to place multiple bookmarks, a “where am I?” button to find your location in the book,

I can also find out information about the book – how many pages it has, how long it is, and how long I may have to go before the end of the book – it may be the difference between going to sleep now, or listening to the climax.

All functions of the player are self voicing.

A DAISY player is also a fully accessible CD player. It will also play music CD’s and commercial audio books on CD. While it does not allow me to navigate around the book like a DAISY book, I can at least listen to it with all the features of a standard CD player.

The DAISY player remembers where it was previously stopped, whether it is a DAISY or not.

DAISY playback software has the same functionality as the portable player, with some additional functionality.

If the book contains text or pictures, this is displayed on the screen. This is very useful for people with some sight, who are able to follow the text in large print, while listening to the audio. It also allows advanced word searching.

4. Compatibility

DTB’s produced to the DAISY standard are independent of the distribution medium and fits current as well as future distribution models, whether that be CD, flash memory or even the internet. More importantly, as technology advances and digital distribution methods evolve, these same books can be distributed via the newly developed media or system.

There are over 125,000 DAISY books now available wordwide, growing daily.

Some of the major English speaking organisations that have adopted DAISY include: CNIB, RNIB, RNZFB, RFB&D, the Library of Congress in the US, and NILS.

Many non-English speaking organisations in our community have adopted DAISY including Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Japan, Spain, and many others throughout Europe and Asia.

Associated with the development of DAISY are some major commercial enterprises including: Microsoft, Telex, Visuaide, Plextor, Dolphin, Duxbury and many others.

Costs of DAISY players are falling, and there is now a range of players to suit every user.

About the DAISY Consortium

The DAISY Consortium was formed in May, 1996 by leading talking book libraries to begin the worldwide transition from analog to Digital Talking Books.

The Consortium’s vision is that all published information be available to people with print disabilities, “at the same time and at no greater cost, in an accessible, feature-rich, navigable format.”

There are more than 70 members and friends of the DAISY Consortium.

Technically speaking

The first DAISY standard was proprietary, originating in 1994. The idea was to use digital recording and introduce some document structuring that would allow easy navigation by the user. In its short history, the DAISY specification has evolved considerably.

In 1997, the DAISY Consortium decided to adopt open standards based on file formats being developed for the Internet (HTML, SMIL, etc). The DAISY 2.0 specification was released in 1998, and the 2.02 specification 2001. DAISY 3, the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 standard was made official in 2002, and production tools for this new standard are being developed now.

A DAISY book contains a set of digital files that includes:

• One or more digital audio (WAV) files containing a human narration of part or all of the source text.
• A marked-up (HTML/XML) file containing some or all of the text.
• A synchronization (SMIL) file to relate places in the text file with corresponding time points in the audio file, and
• A navigation control (NCC) file that enables the user to move smoothly around the book while synchronization between text and audio is maintained.

The DAISY standard allows the producer full flexibility regarding the mix of text and audio ranging from audio-only, to full text and audio, to text-only.

DAISY is a better way to read books.

Please contact NILS or visit the DAISY Web site for more information: www.daisy.org

Tim Evans & Andrew Furlong
4 May, 2005

Australian Entrepreneur Ends Headaches with TextAloud

Clemmons, NC and Newcastle, Australia (PRWEB) February 26, 2008 -- As a successful 42-year-old Australian builder, pilot, and entrepreneur, Alistair Mills has accomplished remarkable things -- in spite of the visual impairment that led to lifelong difficulties in reading. However, with a successful (and correctable) diagnosis of Dual Astigmatism at age 21, and Text to Speech tools like the TextAloud software program from NextUp Technologies (http://www.Nextup.com), Mills quickly found an enjoyable and alternative way to listen to his reading material, and to do so without the eyestrain, eye fatigue and headaches he experienced by reading visually.

"I was dismissed as a poor reader and student until the age of 21," comments Mills, "when a doctor discovered that I suffered from Dual Astigmatism and Dual Misalignment. I was physically unable to read, because my eyes were not able to track words sequentially." Instead, his eyes 'machine-gunned' parts of words, guessing at most of them yet only getting about three letters of any one word at a time. "My condition also meant that, if I tried to read for any length of time, I would suffer excruciating headaches and extreme eye fatigue," he adds. Luckily, TextAloud provided Mills with the perfect solution: Mills could now read for study, entertainment, and more, by listening to text converted into spoken audio (for use on a PC, laptop or other mobile device) and by an easy PC program that installed in minutes.

Mills immediately began using TextAloud for his business studies and courses. "When taking a course, I would take my laptop computer with me, and whenever possible, would get the course syllabus on disk. Using TextAloud, my grades went from barely passing to average 95%!" Soon, Mills was using the program for all his reading. "Professionally, I need to read copious amounts of highly technical text, so for the last five years now, I'll buy two copies of the book I want to read, cut the spine off one, and scan it into my computer. I process it with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, save it as a PDF, import it into Microsoft Word, then drop it into TextAloud. Working this way allows me to read whole books in just a couple of sessions." On one recent evening, using TextAloud, Mills was able to listen to over sixty (60) pages of highly complex information in a single session, and he has had many sessions where he was routinely able to listen to as many as 240 pages, as well. "My favorite aspects of TextAloud include the user friendliness of its software interface, the program's flexibility, as well as its easy compatibility with other software outputs," he comments. Mills uses the program with Acapela (R) Premium Voices, and especially enjoys any of the voices in 22 kHz.

Since he began using TextAloud, Mills has found "a significant increase not only in comprehension and productivity, but also in the quality of my concentration." He adds, "It's easy to enter what I call 'The Zone' where you are powering easily through work for significant periods of time. I love getting that feeling of higher concentration with no noticeable increase in effort when I'm using TextAloud, and you're in that zone before you even realize it." Mills also likes the fact that, in order to utilize the software efficiently, "you have to address and file your documents accurately, which promotes good 'housekeeping' on your PC." As the head of his own Investment Business, on any given day there are always an unlimited number of reports Mills may need to read, as well as newspaper financial sections, industry articles, and more.

"I never get tired of using TextAloud," says Mills, "and it gives me a blast when I see how much work I've been able to achieve. My reading study is now headache-free. I enjoy reading by listening now. My productivity is high. And my business and my profitability are all increasing, and that's partly due to the increased capacity I've uncovered via TextAloud."

About TextAloud

Highly useful for students, scientists, writers, business people, students and people from all walks of life -- TextAloud has been featured in The New York Times, PC Magazine, Writer's Digest, on CNN, and more. Hailed by critics and users alike, TextAloud is priced from $29.95, and is compatible with systems using Windows (R) 98, NT, 2000, XP and Vista. The program is available for fast, safe and secure purchase via http://www.NextUp.com.

State Employees CU upgrades ATM network for visually impaired

http://www.finextra.com/fullpr.asp?id=19939

I've got a friend who manages one of these branches.

State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) announces the completion of an upgrade to their Cash Points Automated Teller Machine (ATM) network with Voice Guidance technology to benefit its visually impaired members.

The upgrade, which was completed in mid-January, makes SECU the first major deployer of ATMs to convert all machines on its network - a total of 975 no-surcharge ATMs throughout North Carolina - with the "Text to Speech" technology. This technology provides a "talking" ATM, allowing SECU members to plug in their headphones and listen to step-by-step instructions for conducting transactions at any Cash Points ATM.

James Benton, Sr., Community Employment Specialist for the Division of Services for the Blind Serving the Governor Morehead School Transition Program states, "State Employees' Credit Union's Cash Points ATMs offer a great voice guidance system that is very simple to use. The technology provides visually impaired members complete and private access to account information without the assistance of a third party, which is extremely important. Having this system available through a statewide network is tremendously beneficial. There are many advocates who are blind or visually impaired who have led the way and worked tirelessly with State Employees' Credit Union to make such a network available, and their hard work is richly appreciated."

Leanne Phelps, Senior Vice-President of SECU's Card and Record Services department comments, "Since State Employees' Credit Union always strives to make services convenient for all members, the voice guidance ATMs were a logical solution. We are proud to add this service to our list of other special needs benefits, including Braille and large print statements, TDD services (a telecommunication device for the hearing impaired), web accessibility and mobility accessible vehicle loans. And, with 975 no-surcharge ATMs in North Carolina, SECU is not only providing access to all North Carolinians, but also helping the citizens of North Carolina keep money in their pockets!"

AT&T Small Biz Site using TTS

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2008/02/18/daily23.html

AT&T Inc. is beefing up its free online small-business portal to include more resources to assist owners and executives.

First launched last February, San Antonio-based AT&T's (NYSE: T) Onward Small Business Web site (www.att.com/OnwardSmallBiz) has been upgraded to allow for greater feedback from the business community.

The main enhancement is that AT&T's site is now giving visitors the ability to listen to content via text-to-speech technology, including news information, customer stories and case studies.

The upgraded site also is giving small-business owners the ability to rate, share and tag articles in the news and insights section, recommend customer stories and case studies to include on the site, grade Web-based courses offered through the site, suggest topics for new online courses and receive customized content.

AT&T provides IP-based business communications services, wireless, high-speed Internet, voice services and directory publishing and advertising services. The company also is a growing provider of digital television entertainment through its U-verse TV service.

Web site: www.att.com/OnwardSmallBiz

I tried to go verify and checkout what they were doing, but the site was almost completely unresponsive.

Who doesn’t like being read to?

From
http://amperzen.com/blog/?p=92

I review books. I, therefore, read a lot of books. That means taking time to hold a book in my hands, turning pages, and reading. I prefer reading paper to reading on screen because, well, I don’t care to sit at my desk with my laptop for hours and hours — I do enough of that with writing, email, blogs, etc. And, no one has seen fit yet to let me have a Kindle or other handheld book reader to review … yet … I live for hope.

Anyway, some of the publishers have been asking about sending pdf files rather than the book for review. I certainly understand that need — it saves a trees. Since I live on five wooded acres and garden in my few spots of sunshine, I’m concerned with the environment. But most of the other reviewers on the pubs aren’t keen on reading full books on screen anymore than I am. But, it’s these little challenges that spur Google searches — and Tor is giving away pdfs of books — so a couple of items came together and I found TextAloud.

I downloaded the demo version and got it installed. Downloaded the first Tor book Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. The installation of TextAloud went very smoothly. Then because, after all, why would I read directions, I found that it can’t read a pdf directly, you have to open it with the TextAloud program — minor inconvenience. Then the demo has a voice called Sam. Sam is like being read to by the computer in the film War Games or Stephen Hawkings. So then I downloaded a demo voice from Cepstral called Lawrence. Lawrence is British and reads with a bit more inflection than Sam but he nags you to buy him every few sentences.

However, while I haven’t really run the program through to many paces yet — I’m seriously considering shelling out for the full version of TextAloud. I mean if the book is a file and TextAloud can read it to me — I can knit or spin while listening to a book — multi-tasking is a good thing. Besides, I love being read to and if I can choose accents well that just adds to the pleasure. Check it out yourself, it seems a really decent program.

Cellphone can read to you from pictures it takes

The Nokia N82 with knfbReader Mobile lets you take a picture of a page, then hear the printed words.
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The Nokia N82 with knfbReader Mobile lets you take a picture of a page, then hear the printed words.

THE BOTTOM LINE

knfbReader Mobile (installed on Nokia N82)

Site: www.knfbreader.com

Price: $1,595 for software; "unlocked" Nokia phone costs $500 to $600.

Pro: Reads text aloud from pictures of items you have taken with pocket-size camera phone, including pages from books, menus, forms, letters and business cards. Can figure out denominations of U.S. currency.

Con: Expensive. Accuracy is good but not perfect.

READ ALL ABOUT IT, FOR FREE

A blind person might use the knfbReader Mobile software to have newspaper articles read to them on a Nokia N82 cellphone. But because of the different way papers are laid out, it may not be the best solution.

Instead, they can use the Nokia or any other telephone to call the NFB-Newsline. The service free to anyone who cannot read papers due to blindness, dyslexia or other physical disabilities can read daily articles over the phone from more than 250 newspapers.

Participating national and local publications include USA TODAY, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The New Yorker and AARP The Magazine.

When someone first calls, they'll be asked to enter an ID number and security code; they won't have to re-enter those codes if they continue to call from the same phone. They then navigate through a touch-tone menu with prompts to pick the articles they want to hear.

Go to www.nfb.org or call 866-504-7300 for more information.

By Edward C. Baig


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Even those of us who don't gab on cellphones appreciate having one for an emergency. For a blind or visually impaired person, the Nokia N82 promises much more: It's a liberating day-to-day tool that grants access to printed materials not otherwise easily available.

A sightless person can use the phone to snap a picture of a menu, book, printed receipt or business card. Software on the phone processes the words on those items and reads the text aloud in a synthesized voice. The device can even let a blind person know if paper currency is a $5 or a $20 bill.

TALKING TECH: Baig and Graham shows off cool gadgets from recent trade shows

As you might expect, the candy-bar-shaped Nokia houses an extremely capable digital camera — 5 megapixels, auto-focusing, high-intensity flash. But it's the character-recognition and text-to-speech software from KNFB Reading Technology that makes it so powerful. KNFB is a joint venture of the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil Technologies.

A brief history: In the 1970s, noted inventor Ray Kurzweil developed a machine that could scan text, convert it to audio and effectively read ordinary books out loud to a blind person. It was the size of a washing machine. By 2006, the technology harnessed a digital camera and could fit into a commercially available $3,500 personal digital assistant. The PDA was portable but not pocket-size like a cellphone.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Graham | Braille | Preparing | National Federation | Ray Kurzweil | Kurzweil Technologies

Late last month, the knfbReader Mobile was launched with the N82. It's currently the only cellphone to work with KNFB's software.

The cellphone reader is less expensive than the PDA version. But the software alone will still set you back $1,595, and the Nokia phone an additional $500 or so. (You'll also need thin, plastic filters, or polarizers, that reduce glare on the phone.) You can find a dealer at www.knfbreader.com.

There are other potential constraints beyond the size of your wallet. The list of items the Reader can't decipher includes handwritten text, street signs, vending machine buttons and scrolling text or text wrapped around soup cans or medicine bottles.

Moreover, surface glare, wrinkles and creases, shadows and ambient lighting can affect its accuracy, though it is very good.

It's hard not to come away impressed. While I cannot pretend to know what it is like to be blind, I'm convinced the phone can provide a huge benefit to those with poor vision. KNFB's vice president for business development, James Gashel, who is blind, says it can enhance a person's independence. Among the ways he uses his is to distinguish between the caffeinated and decaf packets of coffee in a hotel room. And Gashel says blind people learn to compensate for any of the Reader's shortcomings.

More about how the Reader works

Preparing to shoot.

There's a bit of a learning curve to figure out which of the Nokia's keys snaps a picture and performs other functions. Audio cues come in handy.

You may wonder how any blind person figures out where to aim the reader relative to the page or item they are taking a picture of.

Ideally, you want to place a book or the text on a flat surface in front of you and hold the phone in the middle, about 10 inches above. But how do you know where that is?

One way is to take advantage of something called a "field of view" report. Pressing the appropriate key triggers the flash as the camera determines the page alignment.

It doesn't matter whether a page is right side up or upside down. A few seconds later, the voice clues you in along these lines: "Bottom, left and top edges are visible; 9% filled, rotated 3 degrees counterclockwise."

The goal is to have all four edges visible and have at least 70% of an 8½-by-11-inch page filled. Some trial and error before coming up with an acceptable position is likely.

Not everyone will need the field of view report. People with limited vision or dyslexia can switch on the phone's view finder to see how much of a page fits the screen.

Taking a picture.

There's about a two-second lag between pressing the button to take a picture and the time it takes for the shutter to snap. If all went well, the phone will process the text and start reading aloud within about 20 seconds. The synthesized voice is robotic but generally clear. You can alter the volume and playback speed.

The phone can also highlight spoken text on its large screen, useful for those with limited sight or who are learning disabled.

You can save text once it has been processed. Stored pages can be transferred to computers or Braille note-takers.

I snapped pictures of insurance forms, art books (it reads around pictures), paperbacks and business cards. Occasionally, spoken words got clipped or mumbled because of the layout of a page or the position of the phone. But the overall accuracy was quite decent. I was impressed that the device was smart enough to read the words in one column before the text in another.

I wish the technology were cheaper and available in more than one cellphone model. But it's difficult to put a price on a product with the potential to improve your own life or that of a loved one.

E-mail: ebaig@usatoday.com

Apple seeks patent on "podmaps" concept

By Katie Marsal

Published: 01:00 PM EST

A new software concept proposed by Apple Inc. would merge visual maps and spoken driving directions into an advanced form of on-demand podcast known as a podmap, a recent company filing has revealed.

The software-driven concept would consist of four core components that would let users request directions from a starting location to a destination location and have the results of that request returned in the form of a podcast media file that includes visual maps and spoken step-by-step driving instructions.

The GPS alternative of sorts would function as such: users would request a set of driving directions, which would then be sent to a remote map server. In turn, the map server would return textual based directions and pass them through a text-to-speech conversion engine that would return audible equivalents.

According to Apple's filing, made January 2007 and published for the first time on Thursday, the textual and audio directions would then be sent to a "podmap creator" which would piece them together alongside visual media items (map images) into a video podcast file that would then be stored on an RSS server.

"In this regard, the application server can reply to the client program to notify the client that the requested podmap is now available from the podmap RSS server. The client program can then interact with the podmap RSS server to retrieve the requested podmap," Apple said.

"Furthermore, once the client program includes the requested podmap, the client program can transfer or copy the podmap to the portable media device," the company continued. "In any event, once the requested podmap is resident at the client or the portable media device, the podmap is able to be played on such devices. Due to their support of media playback, the client and the portable media device can also be referred to as media playback devices. When being played, the podmap presents to the user of the device the voice directions and the corresponding images so that the user is able to successfully navigate from the start location to the destination location. It is particularly useful to play on the portable media device because it can be easily carried or transferred by the user."

Each podmap, Apple adds, would likely be segmented into "episodes" or segments, where each step in a set of driving directions could be accessed separately, paused, played, or repeated.

The filing is credited to company employee Ellis Verosub of San Francisco, Calif.

The Rise of Speech-Based IVR

By Brian Solomon, TMCnet Web Editor

IVR systems vendors in the United States have been facing challenges in recent years stemming demand saturation in traditional end-user verticals such as telecommunications, financial services, insurance and travel. Vendors have been hard at work restructuring their product offerings to suit the changing preferences of customers. As a result, the bulk of sales has been in the form of replacements or upgrades, as the majority of enterprises are expected to step up the incorporation of speech-based IVR systems that are rapidly gaining in popularity. A recent report from Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) examined the current and future prospects of the U.S. IVR systems market by analyzing the significant challenges, drivers and restraints faced by participants. The advent of advanced speech technologies such as automatic speech recognition, 'text to speech', and speaker verification provides complete automation of customer-centric business processes and is gradually dispelling the apprehensions associated with the earlier IVR systems. Driven by these technological advancements, the IVR market has begun to live up to the initial expectations. "Speech-enabled IVR systems have a flat menu structure and callers are spared from the painful experience of traversing through hierarchical touchtone menus to access information," said a Frost & Sullivan analyst. "This has reduced the 'opt-outs' for a live agent during a caller-system interaction, while increasing overall enterprise productivity." In many cases, enterprises have managed to increase return on investment (ROI) and productivity within a year of deployment of speech-enabled IVR systems. This is mainly because of the fact that call centers could engage their agents in more meaningful functions. "The quickness of ROI has been directly proportional to the complexities of applications and it has been generally more in case of composite functions," said the analyst. "To put it in a nutshell, providing hosted IVR systems with speech functionality could prove to be decisive in increasing the revenue flow of IVR vendors." Brian Solomon is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Brian Solomon’s columnist page. Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.