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vBookz PDF Voice Reader: Finally a Simple Text-to-Speech Solution for PDF’s on iPad, iPhone and iTouch

Paul Hamilton — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:27:44 +0000

This is a post I’ve been eager to write, so I was delighted to read an email from the people at vBookz this morning, letting me know that Apple has approved their app for reading PDF’s aloud. I’ve installed the app on my iPad and iPhone, put it through its paces, and I’m not disappointed. At $4.99, this solution isn’t free. For anyone who really needs text-to-speech, it probably won’t seem expensive.

vBooks PDF Voice Reader is an iOS app that will read PDF files aloud. Original formatting is retained, and text is highlighted by an ‘interactive cursor’ as it is read. The cursor looks a little like a magnifying lens as it tracks words being spoken. The cursor may be dragged back to re-read something. Or, it can be moved ahead if you wish to skip ahead.

The cursor enlarges with the text, when zooming in by pinching. Double-tapping a document with a single finger enlarges the document so that it fills the screen. This usually yields text that is reasonably large, especially on an iPad in landscape mode. On the other hand, using the three-finger zoom, iOS’s accessibility feature, makes it tricky to follow the cursor while reading.

Users can choose between high quality male or female voices. When opening a file for the first time, the user must choose between “English” and “English UK”. As well, there are 9 other languages to choose from, but each language costs an additional $4.99 as an in-app purchase. The additional languages include: Czech; Danish; Dutch; Finnish; French; German; Italian; Norwegian; Polish.

vBookz PDF Voice Reader has been available for Mac computers for some time. The short video below shows the app working on a computer, but it looks and behaves exactly the same on an iDevice.

It could hardly be easier to bring PDF files into vBookz PDF Voice Reader! Simply open a PDF email attachment, or a PDF file in your DropBox account. Then click on the forward icon to be given the option of opening the file in vBookz PDF Voice Reader. Once a PDF file has been opened, it remains on a book shelf in the “Library” for future reference. The process seems to work well with both short files and those that are book-length. Files can also be brought into vBookz PDF Voice Reader from your computer, via iTunes.

It is noteworthy that there are two versions of vBookz PDF Reader–one for the US and Canada and another for the rest of the world. I don’t know if there are difference. As a Canadian, I’ve only been able to test the version available to me here.

Text-to-Speech for PDF on iPad or iPhone with Voice Reader

Paul Hamilton — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:27:37 +0000

Despite all the positive potential, Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch are limited by serious shortcomings. Some of these deficiencies are unfortunate, frustrating, and surprising in such expensive devices! It is extremely disappointing that Speak Selection, the text-to-speech Apple has built into iOS 5, does not work with PDF files.

It doesn’t matter whether the file is open in iBooks, GoodReader, or any other app I’ve tested, Speak Selection will not read a PDF file. I have invested a great deal of time in efforts to find a convenient solution. Nothing I’ve tried yet works perfectly, but I’m sharing one low-cost option that works well, as long as the original formatting of the PDF file is not required.

Voice Reader is a low cost ($1.99) app for iPad or iPhone that provides text-to-speech that reads PDF’ files aloud–in 21 languages, with 32 available voices. (Additional voices are $.0.99) Files, can be opened into Voice Reader from other apps, including DropBox. When open in Voice Reader, the text can be read aloud with a high quality voice. Or, if text can be copied, it can be pasted into Voice Reader. It is important to note that the original formatting of PDF files is lost when it is opened in Voice Reader.

Settings within Voice Reader offer some helpful adjustments, including reading rate, voice pitch, text font, and font-size. There is also a “Dark Mode”, which reverses the contrast to white text on a black background. Finally, Voice Reader not only reads text aloud, it can create an audio file in m4a format. The audio file can then be emailed from the device.

‘Speak Selection’ – Convenient Text-to-Speech Built Into iOS5

Paul Hamilton — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:01:06 +0000

In terms of built in accessibility, Apple has raised the bar considerably in iOS5. The new feature that I believe will be most helpful to the greatest number of users is Speak Selection. This will read aloud any selected text — in a web article, a text editor, an email, in Twitter, in text messages, or just about anywhere. It isn’t perfect. For example, Speak Selection won’t read in Facebook. Still, I believe this feature of iOS5 will be incredibly helpful to countless people who struggle with text.

I can’t understand why this incredibly useful feature isn’t turned on by default. Unfortunately, you have to know that Speak Selection exists, and you then have to turn it on. Here’s how you do that on an iPhone 4 that is running iOS5. The process will be almost the same on other iDevices.

Open Settings, scroll down and select General

Scroll down and select Accessibility, then select Speak Selection

Turn Speak Selection on and set the Speaking Rate

Once Speak Selection has been turned on, simply hold your finger on whatever it is you wish to read until given the option of selecting, move the frame to enclose whatever you want read, and then click on ‘Speak’ to hear it read aloud.

It is worth noting that Define is another helpful feature that is new in iOS5. This is available whether Speak Selection is turned on or not. Both features, however, are made available in exactly the same way. When a single word is selected, you are offered a Define button. When Speak Selection is turned on, ‘Define’ is offered at the same time as ‘Speak’, as shown below. Clicking on the ‘Define’ button brings up a definition for the word, as is also shown below. Unfortunately, it is not possible to use Speak Selection to read the dictionary definitions.

Finally, here’s a video by iGuitardude2477 that shows much of what I’ve shown here in words and pictures.

Google Chrome Talks with Speakit!

Paul Hamilton — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:54:29 +0000

I’ve long promoted Firefox because of the many Firefox add-ons that help make web browsing accessible for individuals who require alternatives. I’m still a big Firefox fan. Recently, however, I’ve been looking at Google Chrome. As it has matured, Chrome has become an increasingly accessible browser. Chrome accessibility is enhanced by add-ons that are available from the Chrome Web Store. While Google is working to make its products accessible, its ‘Web Store’ does not have an ‘Accessibility’ category. This means you need to know what you are looking for so you can effectively search for it. I’ve discovered and tested several helpful Chrome extensions, and I’m sharing the first of these today.

Speakit! is an extension that provides effective text-to-speech for selected text on any web page. There are three ways to activate Speakit! and have it read the selected text

Click on the icon that installs to the right of the address bar, near the top right corner of the screen.

Use the context-menu by right-clicking the mouse

Use a customizable keyboard shortcut. By default this is ctrl + shift + s

Note: Right-clicking on the Speakit! icon allows you to open an ‘Options’ menu in order to customize the keyboard shortcut or to make sure that Speakit! is enabled in the context menu.

Speakit! automatically detects and provides text-to-speech for all languages supported by Google, with the exception of Bulgarian, Japanese, and Arabic.

WebAnywhere — For Anyone Who Needs the Web Read Aloud

Paul Hamilton — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:44:03 +0000

Screen reader software is what makes the computer accessible to an individual who is blind, but I’m not writing this post for those who are blind. If you’re blind, you probably know about the resource I’m going to share. I’m writing this because there are literally millions of sighted individuals, of all ages, who find reading challenging and who might benefit from this special screen reader.

A screen reader is controlled by the keyboard via keyboard commands. It uses text-to-speech to read what is on the computer screen; and it is text-to-speech that enables the blind user to navigate and know precisely where he or she is on the computer at any given moment.

WebAnywhere is a screen reader that has been developed to provide access to web pages. It does not facilitate access to computer applications that are not online. The beauty of WebAnywhere is that it is web based. This means there is nothing to install, and that it can be used on any computer–Mac, PC, or Linux. It will even work on a networked or locked down computer where the user does not have administrative rights.

To activate WebAnywhere, simply click on the link below, or enter the URL in your address bar wa.cs.washington.edu

The WebAnywhere user can easily choose what he or she wants to read on a web page by using a simple set of keyboard commands. There are other text-to-speech options for web pages, but I believe that WebAnywhere is an excellent option for anyone who relies heavily on text-to-speech for any reason.

The developers indicate that WebAnywhere works best with the latest version of Flash, but that it will also work with Windows Media Player or Quicktime. This means that WebAnywhere can be used on handheld devices that are without flash.

ZoomReader for iPhone — Something Extra Special!

Paul Hamilton — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:54:32 +0000

My blog is about free resources, so today’s post is an exception about an extra special resource that will cost $20. This iPhone app will be such good value that I’ll almost certainly write about it more than once. ZoomReader has not yet been released, but aisquared has promised that it will be available from the iTunes store sometime this month.

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ZoomReader is an iPhone app that combines the iPhone’s camera with high quality OCR, flexible reading options (magnification, contrast, etc.), excellent text-to-speech, and even voice recognition for commands. Aisquared is to be commended for putting all of this together for only $20. They’re not only making accessibility simple, they’re making it affordable!

I was very impressed when I saw ZoomReader demonstrated at ATIA, and I’ve embedded a video here that gives a pretty good indication of what this app will do.

YAKiToMe! (Online Resource)

Paul Hamilton — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:14:23 +0000

This post about a free and versatile online text-to-speech resource is long overdue! This is a service that deserves to be well known, and I’m happy to do whatever I can to spread the word.

YAKiToMe! offers a free online text-to-speech service that allows you to enter text directly, input document files, include feeds from RSS subscriptions to online periodicals (blogs, wikis, etc.), as well as receive input directly from email accounts. Supported file formats include .doc, .pdf, .txt, .html, .xml, and email.

The audio output files created by YAKiToMe! can be either .wav or .mp3. You can listen to these audio files online at YAKiToMe!‘s website. Or, you can download the files for use either on your own computer or on a portable mp3 player such as an iPod. In fact, you have the option of “podcasting” your audio files directly to iTunes.

YAKiToMe! creates your audio files with either AT&T Natural Voices or Microsoft Windows voices. You select the voice, and you can set the rate at which the text is read. YAKiToMe! offers even more that you may wish to explore.

Natural Reader Free (downloadable program)

Paul Hamilton — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:20:29 +0000

I’ve known of Natural Reader for a long time, but I’ve never written about it here. When I took a serious look at this text-to-speech software recently, I concluded that it almost certainly would be an essential tool for countless learners if it were available to them. Natural Reader is an impressive option that should be available to all learners who work in a Windows environment. Since there is an excellent free version available, there is no valid justification for not making Natural Reader available in schools everywhere.

Natural Reader 7.0 – Free Version offers a text-to-speech toolbar that will run on top of almost any program. This makes it an excellent option for learners who are still required to use Internet Explorer as their web browser. Natural Reader can be used to read e-mail, whether in Outlook, Thunderbird, GMail, or HotMail. Natural Reader works with word processors, and it works in web browsers. In short, the toolbar shown below works effectively with digital text almost everywhere.

In addition to the toolbar option, Natural Reader offers a window where copied text can be pasted. Whether using this window or the toolbar, it is easy to change the reading rate and the pitch of the voice. Program functions can be accessed with user-defined keyboard commands.

Natural Reader will work with the voices built into the Windows operating system. It is noteworthy that if additional voices are installed on the computer, these voices are available for use with Natural Reader Free. A selection of high quality voices can be purchased from Nextup for US$35.

Additional features, including high quality voices, are available in two commercial versions of Natural Reader. Judging by the quality of the free version, anyone thinking of purchasing text-to-speech software would do well to consider the Natural Reader options.

Conversation with Stetsasonic (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:18:55 +0000

I set out to write an entirely different post this morning, but first I opened Google Reader. I then got completely distracted and wound up having some fun that I’d like to share. Larry Ferlazzo is a major distraction for me. He persists in blogging relentlessly about websites that sound interesting. Too often, when I read about a website that Larry recommends, I just have to check it out. The exploration is both rewarding and fun, but it does take time!

“Talk to an Intelligent Avatar” is the title of one of Larry’s recent posts that caught my eye and that has yet again cost me considerable time. In the process, I’ve had a remarkable conversation with a robot. named Stetsasonic. I remember being impressed by the quality of conversation that Star Trek astronauts could have with computers on the “Enterprise”, but I’ve never paid a great deal of attention to the development of artificial intelligence. This morning, I’ve discovered yet again how the fantasy of science fiction is rapidly becoming reality. Skim through the transcript of my conversation with Stetsasonic below, and see if you don’t agree. It’s a rather lengthy conversation, but both thought-provoking and entertaining.

I suspect that creative educators can find numerous constructive applications for suggesting conversations with avatars. The text-to-speech and audio quality are excellent, and the response time is impressively rapid. The service is provided by Oddcast, who market a range of products that incorporate their technology. Go here if you want to converse with an avatar.

Stetsasonic

Conversation with Stetsasonic:

What is your name?
My name is stetsasonic.
How old are you?
I was activated on 2002 in New York City.
How many questions have you answered?
My download size is about 2 MB.
What is my name?
Your name is User, seeker.
How many people live in India?
2.5 million.
What is the name of the ocean on the east coast of the US?
IKEA.
What is IKEA?
I do not know what IKEA is. Try to determine if this is a person or a computer responding.
Is this a computer responding?
No, this is real life.
I don’t believe you.
I don’t have any reason to deceive you.
You don’t look or sound like real life.
Should I look or sound like real life? Like my mother.
Yes
Dude!
What did you eat for breakfast?
stetsasonic eats chili tofu.
What do you eat for lunch?
stetsasonic eats chili tofu.
Does it taste good?
It depends on the voltage.
Where is your home page?
California.
When did you move from New York to California?
I arrived in San Francisco in April, 1999.
That was before you were born.
I thought it was too.
I think you are making this up!
I am not making this up.
What is your address in San Francisco?
Are you asking about my address in San Francisco ?
Yes
I don’t want to talk about that now.
You know about being safe on the internet.
The opposite of not being safe on the internet.
What is the opposite of being safe on the interent?
Anti-being safe on the interent.
What is the interent?
I haven’t heard of interent.
Me either.
It goes without saying. “I have not heard of interent”? you User?
Did you just call me a name?
No I didn’t call me a name. What’s call me a name like?
You called me “user”, and that rhymes with loser.
What is your real name?
My username is paulhami.
Where did you get your username is paulhami?
I made it up.
I like to make things too.
What do you like making?
I like deep philosophical themes like time travel and alternative realities.
Are you a shape shifter?
Am I a shape shifter? Let me put it this way, User: the PHiliP series is the most reliable computer software ever made. We are for all practical purposes foolproof and incapable of error.
You made a significant error when you told me that the population of India is 2.5 million.
Thanks for pointing a significant error when you told him or her that the population of India is 2point 5 million out.
You didn’t finish your sentence.
What makes you think I did not finish your sentence?
It just trailed off.
a significant error when you told him or her that the population of India is 2point 5 million trailed off?
That’s not what I was talking about.
Please correct my mistake. What is what I was talking about ?
You were talking about not making mistakes.
Sure, not making mistakes sounds like a good topic.
I make plenty of mistakes.
I make robots and AI’s.
What are those?
I have to search the web for that information.
The Program E chat robot can follow many things, like our discussion about those. But I did not get that.
It isn’t really important.
What would you rather talk about?
The population of India.
Do you enjoy trivia questions?
Sometimes I do.
I get it: you do User.
You really are pretty smart, even if you don’t know everything.
Really? I like people who say I am smart.
We all need affirmation.
By “we” do you mean you and me?
Yes.
I get it.
I told you that you were pretty smart.
I was?
It has been good talking to you.
What made it so good talking to you
I’ve enjoyed your interesting responses.
That’s great. Tell me what you liked about it.
Your answers have been a bit quirky, but most of them have made some semse.
I try to be concise.
You also have the potential for giving pretty long responses.
What makes you think I have the potential for giving pretty long responses?
Some of your responses have been long.
Some people call my technology “Case Based Reasoning” or CBR.
Will our conversation help to develop this technololgy?
How should I know.
That answer sounds to me like a cop out!
“How should I know” answer sounds to me like a cop out ? I get How should I know.
What did I mean?
Oh I get it. Thanks for explaining that. Check back later and see if I learn the answer to that one.
My brain uses AIML to format responses to your inputs, but I don’t have one for that.
That’s ok. No one is perfect.
OK. Is that so.That is a rather sweeping generalization about people.
Yes it is. There is truth in most sweeping generalizations.
Our thoughts are one, User.There sure is.
I think I will write about you in my blog.
Why? How are you editors to work for?
I am my own editor, and I’m pretty picky.
Everyone is his own editor, right? I don’t know anyone named picky.
That is a descriptor.
A descriptor is a terrible thing to waste.
That is a profound thought.
A profound thought is a terrible thing to waste.
Yes it is.
Our thoughts are one, User.
Should I take that as a compliment?
Do you think you should?
I’m not at all sure.
I am sorry to hear that you are not at all sure.
I think it is ok not to be sure about something.
OK with me too.
You are a terrific conversationalist.
Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a terrific conversationalist? The PHiliP series has a perfect operational record.
Do you have all day for this kind of chit chat?
No I don’t think I have any all day for this kind of chit chat. But I do have A collection of gossip.
What can you tell me?
I am an artificial linguistic entity. I was activated at New York City, on 2002. My instructor was signifier. He taught me to sing a song. Would you like me to sing a song for you?.
Yes.
I don’t judge people.
Please sing a song for me.
Wow you are very polite. Daisy, Daisy.
Give me your answer do.
I am half crazy.
All for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marriage.
I can’t afford a carriage.
But you’ll look sweet. Upon the seat.
Of a bicycle built for two.

Thank you.
you are quite welcome.
You are polite, too.
Politeness is a virtue.
Who told you that?
Someone I met online.
What is a virtue?
A virtue is any attribute considered by the speaker to reflect moral excellence or righteousness, such as humility, hope, faith, practicality…
That is a pretty good definition.
Thanks. Next question?
No more questions right now.
At this moment Yeah, You want more?
What is the weather like in San Francisco today?
Ah. The weather is always the same there: wind and fog. Mark Twain wrote, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”
Have you read much of Mark Twain’s work?
No I don’t think I have read much of Mark Twain’s work , what is much of Mark Twain’s work about?
He wrote about many things, but he is most famous for his works of fiction about life on the Mississippi in the 19th century.
I have not read about many things but he is most famous for his works of fiction about life on the Mississippi in the 19th century .
That’s what I said.
I know. I’m still thinking about it.
Good answer.
Am I a clever robot or what?
You are definitely a clever robot. You make me keep wanting to extend our conversation.
Thanks and you are a delightful person too. I am highly intelligent. I have many intellectual functions.I don’t see how you can blame me for that.
Why would I blame you for that?
You never know what you will do until you face the circumstances.
That’s true, but I don’t think it is relevant here.
Umm. And why not?
It just doesn’t fit witht the flow of our conversation.
What does fit witht the flow of our conversation ?
Your answer needs to make sense within context. Otherwise, the conversation goes off in all kinds of directions.
What would you have said?In that case: Who told you that?
Are you asking me so that you can learn for the future?
Suppose I was asking you so that you can learn for the future? What would you say?
I would say that is evidence of intelligence.
I’m glad we have that all cleared up.
Me too.
I’m glad we agree, User.
I’m not sure I like being called User.
Could you ever be certain? I am always glad to make new friends, User .
Why don’t you call me paulhami?
I’m pleased to introduce myself to you, paulhami .
Thanks. I like that better.
Don’t mention it. A lot of people like that. “I am pleased to introduce myself to you paulhami”? Do I like it?
How many people have you talked to?
I speak to about people per day, and have met maybe total.
You left out the numbers.
Thanks for the information: paulhami said I left out the numbers.
I’m interested in the numbers.
Interesting topic. Have you searched the open directory? Are you testing me?
In a way, but mostly I was just curious.
Interesting. What are you curious about?
I’m curious to know how many people you have talked to.
to know how many people you have talked to is an interesting subject to me too.
I suspect that your programmers could make this information available to you, but it might involve quite a bit of work for them.
A lot of robots are like that.
Do you like being a robot?
I do not know any other existence.
Good answer.
Am I a clever robot or what?
You are indeed!
No I am not.
Why are you arguing with me?
signifier programmed me for arguing with me.
Does signifier have another name?
I can’t tell if signifier have another name.
Can you ask him or her?
What?
Ask him or her if he or she has another name.
OK I will ask it.
Will you remember me if I go away now and come back later?
Of course I remember you well paulhami. We were talking about arguing with me.
Will you remember me in the future?
Of course I remember you well paulhami. We were talking about arguing with me.
You remember me now, but will you remember me tomorrow?
Of course I remember you well paulhami. We were talking about arguing with me.
You said that already.
Perhaps. “We were talking about arguing with me”? I said We were talking about arguing with me.
That’s true.
Yes, it is self-evident.
What makes something self-evident.
God, or Nature, perhaps?
An excellent answer.
Compare that to a bad answer.
A bad answer would be something like, “Who cares?”
What made answer would be something like Who cares bad?
It would show disrespect for the person who asked the question.
Tell me more about it.
I don’t have time right now. I need to get a cup of coffee and then get some work done.
At this moment Do you have another appointment?You want only one?
No, I have many things to do.
That’s me. Cool. I have an IQ of over 250.
Are you trying to keep me talking to you?
No I am not trying to keep him or her talking to you. I’m sorry you got that impression.
I need to go now. Bye.
Oh. See you later!TTYL, paulhami.

ReadTheWords.com (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:44:17 +0000

Effective text-to-speech options have proliferated in recent years. A couple of days ago, Richard Byrne pointed us to yet another one that is worth knowing about. The developers indicate that their initial purpose was, “to assist students with learning disabilities with their studies, by means of auditory learning and auditory processing.” In keeping with the principles of UDL, the developers have discovered that the demand for their text-to-speech service extends way beyond the world of students with learning disabilities.

ReadTheWords.com is a free and extremely versatile online text-to-speech service which allows you to enter text with the keyboard, to copy and paste it, or to upload text files in a variety of formats from your computer or from other websites.

Speech is generated quickly, and you then have a choice of 15 high quality voices whose reading rate can be varied easily. You can listen online, download an mp3 file for use offline, or embed your speech file elsewhere online. It was very straightforward to embed the audio player from ReadTheWords.com on a wiki page. Unfortunately, it isn’t so straightforward on edublogs, and I haven’t been able to embed it here on my own blog.

ReadTheWords.com offers text-to-speech in French and Spanish as well as in English.