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Friday, February 20, 2009

Books Reading Out Loud

Posted by on Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 1:01 PM

The weirdest, potentially most interesting, and definitely most legally sticky part of the Kindle 2 release is the function that reads books aloud.

HarperStudio points to a concept device that would do the same for physical books. It's called the Voice Stick. You run the bar over text and a voice reads the text to you. It's intended to assist the blind; I really hope that something like this will happen.

e5b3/1235157848-voice_stick12.jpg

 

Comments (11) RSS

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1
what is with the grammatical and spelling errors?
Posted by FAIL! on February 20, 2009 at 1:22 PM
2
Is that picture calling a blind person "a blinder"??
Posted by @ on February 20, 2009 at 1:28 PM
3
We used to call that "unauthorized readings" in my day.
Posted by Will in Seattle on February 20, 2009 at 1:41 PM
4
Country code 82 is a Korean phone number. I imagine this was translated either by a translation program or by somebody non-bilingual with a Korean-English dictionary.
Posted by Christin on February 20, 2009 at 1:50 PM
5
Ray Kurzweil invented a device like this in the 70s. Actually, he invented flatbed scanners, optical character recognition, and text-to-speech. Later he got to team up with Stevie Wonder to create synthesizers (suck that, Jonas brothers).

Now he just writes boring books about how AI is going to take over the world, or something. Shame.
Posted by w7ngman on February 20, 2009 at 1:55 PM
6
Again, if copyright law suppresses technologies that assist the blind, like mechanical reading, then copyright law is in the wrong. Besides, how is this legally different from other text-to-speech computer programs?
Posted by Greg on February 20, 2009 at 1:57 PM
7
Also something similar: EVERY TEXT-TO-SPEECH PROGRAM THAT HAS BEEN ON EVERY MAJOR OS FOR THE LAST 10+ YEARS.
Posted by N on February 20, 2009 at 2:01 PM
8
Text-to-speech has been around FOREVER. What's the problem now? If I want to buy an audiobook with trained actors doing their craft, I'll do it. If I want to listen to a creepy voiceover done by computer, I'll do it. It should be my choice how to interpret the text. Fuck, I already paid you for your product. If I wipe my ass with it, put it in the microwave, and feed it to feral cats, what business is it of yours, dear publishers?
Posted by Blinder by the minute on February 20, 2009 at 2:31 PM
9
@5 for the informative win, followed up by all the Kindle users running like lemmings for the cliffs.
Posted by Will in Seattle on February 20, 2009 at 2:39 PM
10
@5: actually, Kurzweil is still pushing the envelope for assistive technology. http://www.knfbreader.com/
Posted by yawp on February 20, 2009 at 2:45 PM
11

More iPOD crap.
Posted by formanoreasta on February 20, 2009 at 3:36 PM

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