mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
I tend to be behind when it comes to technology. For this, I blame my parents, who, in 1985, were the absolute last ones in the neighborhood to get cable (anyone remember Prism?). Which is to say that my grandparent’s dog was watching HBO before I was.
Disclaimer on the table, I hope I’m ahead of the curve here by introducing you to OdioGo, the company pushing the technology that converts typed words on the Web to audio, either streaming through a flash-based plugin, or directly to you iPod/mp3 player.
Now, while I understand that there are, of course, many benefits to listening to your favorite sites (like the _floss, for instance) — especially for those with impaired vision – I, personally, prefer most of my online content text-based. That said, you simply must listen to this, if only for a good laugh. The excerpt on the play button below, spoken by Mr. Geekonastick (I presume), is from a story I “read” yesterday about a very interesting recent archeological find in Jerusalem. (Incidentally, when placing the plugin on your own Web site or blog, you can select the language Mr. Geekonastick reads in! They have everything from Arabic on up to Swedish there.)
So I ask: Is this the future? Do you want this man reading your content to you?
Check out all past Weekend Word Wraps>>
That’s exactly what it sounded like in my head when I read the article to myself yesterday.
posted by David H. on 1-18-2008 at 8:20 am
Although my boyfriend is a total computer geek, I’m not always on the up-and-up with new technology either. I just learned about text-to-speech about 3 days ago when, during a meeting of my online technical editing class, my prof suggested we use just such a technology for reading over papers we had written.
I suppose it makes sense, since hearing it points out the obvious grammar flaws in the writing. I, though, do prefer to do my own reading aloud, since I do have the ability. More power to the people who do use it–just call me weird. :-)
posted by nutmeag on 1-18-2008 at 8:35 am
That’s the worst Woody Allen impression ever. Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George fakes being blind to get books on tape but the guy’s voice sounds just like his.
I remember as a kid messing with the text-to-speech program that came with an old Sound Blaster card. BoomSHAkalaka always came out as boomshaKAlaka.
posted by Peter on 1-18-2008 at 10:11 am
I played with a program called Dr. SBAITSO (Sound Blaster Acting Intelligent Text to Speech Operator) for hours on end way back in the early nineties, and everything came out wrong. If you typed Say … it would “read” it aloud. I had to write my name as A Dree In and it still sounded funny. No matter what you tried, that guy couldn’t get it right.
The premise behind the program was that Dr. SBAITSO was a psychiatrist and you could tell him your problems, after which he would ask you completely non-relevant questions like “How do you think your childhood experiences effect this situation?” And then, if the program couldn’t understand what you were trying to say, Dr. SBAITSO would say something along the lines of “That’s your problem,” or “Big Deal.”
It was bizarre–I sincerely hope no one relied upon it for their sanity.
posted by adrienne on 1-18-2008 at 6:46 pm
I am very visual, and vastly prefer to read. I miss too much when listening.
posted by Barbara on 1-18-2008 at 9:41 pm
My parents still to this day do not have cable! My dad still has to go on the roof to adjust the rabbit ears from time to time.
posted by Alison on 1-18-2008 at 10:36 pm
Ok, the way that that was read sounded really freaky to me. The syntax was wrong or something, it was like there were times when it sounded normal, then it would be off. I’d rather have a real person saying it, or a voice that sounds completely robotic. I prefer to have it be absolutely natural sounding, or not at all.
posted by greenstrawberries on 1-26-2008 at 5:45 am