I don't know for sure how to do it, guess you would need to set up scripts using Automator or Apple Script. Since the VoiceOver keys are Control/Alt, you probably would want to use something else. Command and Alt live together. If you could press a three key combo and have a Voice Command spoken, there are at least 26 easy options. I haven't used the speech recognition in a long time. Once I realized how poorly it worked, I turned it back off. My hit rate was probably less than 50%. I sort of mumble. My built-in microphone works fine. When I played with the "Robbie The Robot" program, my hit rate was more like 33%. It was fun though.
Almost all of my vision is blurry. I use the speech to proofread more than anything. I do get lazy and let Alex read long articles to me.
Have you ever noticed Alex will occasionally put an A sound in front of a word. Makes me think he is Canadian.
I don't know for sure how to do it, guess you would need to set up scripts using Automator or Apple Script. Since the VoiceOver keys are Control/Alt, you probably would want to use something else. Command and Alt live together. If you could press a three key combo and have a Voice Command spoken, there are at least 26 easy options. I haven't used the speech recognition in a long time. Once I realized how poorly it worked, I turned it back off. My hit rate was probably less than 50%. I sort of mumble. My built-in microphone works fine. When I played with the "Robbie The Robot" program, my hit rate was more like 33%. It was fun though.
Almost all of my vision is blurry. I use the speech to proofread more than anything. I do get lazy and let Alex read long articles to me.
Have you ever noticed Alex will occasionally put an A sound in front of a word. Makes me think he is Canadian.
OK, what you meant was not 'Alt' but the Mac 'Option' key. So, on Speech Recognition, you hit rate was less than 50%, and that is definitely inadequate. Getting an external microphone probably is not going to help much. To me, the flaw in the Mac Speech Recognition is that the title of the 'Speakable Item' is treated as the sound pattern to match a person's spoken command against. Note my previous discussion about how great is would to be able to record your own sound pattern for a spoken command, and then have the Mac OS compare against that. And yes, you would have had to learn some programming skills, and maybe you just want to be a 'power user'.
It is my understanding that the 'Alex' voice is much larger, in terms of file size, than previous voices. The 'Alex' voice is tailored to speak more rapidly than previous voices. No doubt a lot of hard work went into enhancing a voice to the quality of 'Alex'. Sure, it is imperfect, but then again, it is state of the art for its time.
Be sure to follow up on this link on Appleinsider about the iPad making use of the VGA protocol. Then you can tell me your opinion about it.
I have a bluetooth keyboard. Doesn't have a 10 keypad and resembles a MacBook keyboard. You are right. The key is labeled Option, but also Alt. My boo boo. If you listen really closely, Alex actually breathes. I run Alex in the default speed for Speech.
You might be surprised to know just how fast some blind people run their screen readers. Alex has to be able to talk quickly.
I am not exactly impressed with the VGA output on the iPad. I consider the iPad as either an iPod Touch on steroids, or an Apple TV with a battery. I was able to watch the keynote on my iMac, and the iPad looked great on the huge monitor. Guess VGA is more common on presentation displays, but that never stopped Apple before. The original iMac went totally USB way ahead of time.
For the iPad to be an Apple TV with mobility, they will have to go HDMI and 16:9 wide screen. Why purchase or rent HD movies on iTunes and be forced to watch them in "as old as the hills" 4:3 TV mode?
Steve refuses things in this area. No Blu-Ray either. Why create such an amazing screen for the new iMacs and not allow for 1080p? He does have a 50 billion dollar company. Who am I to tell Steve I don't agree.
I am not exactly impressed with the VGA output on the iPad?
For the iPad to be an Apple TV with mobility, they will have to go HDMI and 16:9 wide screen. Why purchase or rent HD movies on iTunes and be forced to watch them in "as old as the hills" 4:3 TV mode?
Steve refuses things in this area. No Blu-Ray either. Why create such an amazing screen for the new iMacs and not allow for 1080p? He does have a 50 billion dollar company. Who am I to tell Steve I don't agree.
I read through the thread. I figured out that 1366 x 768 is WXGA and is analog. That the ePubs standard is about wrap-round text, and that I need to study up on that standard. That my iMac 7,1 does not have a mini Display Port.
I am beginning to think part of the problem of connecting from the iMac to a TV via HDMI is contractual ? meaning that it would violate legal restrictions regarding the distribution of video content. Am I wrong about that?
?If you listen really closely, Alex actually breathes?
LOL
More than that, Alex can do narration as well.
There is an Automator action called Text to Audio File. You can use it to tell Alex what his lines are in a set of short audio files. Then drag those short audio files into a GarageBand podcast along a timeline. For example, one audio file per 10 seconds for each slide in a iDVD slideshow.
Once the podcast is ready and saved, you can drop that podcast as a song into the iDVD slideshow. Every 10 seconds, Alex will speak.
Because English has a flexible grammar. you can re-word Alex's lines to make the speech by Alex sound as natural as possible.
Santa ... I have tried that. Too much of a Tinker Bell kind of thing.
BertP ... I don't look at HDMI for any other reason than the idea of keeping a 720 or 1080 constant as the vertical resolution. TV only has three resolutions: 480, 720, and 1080. Computer monitors consistently grow in vertical resolution as the get bigger. When text is big, it is handy to let it expand horizontally. It has to go somewhere.
As of today, we have three aspect ratios in computer monitors. I suspect all CRTs are 4:3. Early LCD screens were too. More recently, wide screen LCDs were 16:10. Your iMac, mine too, are 16:10. Only the new LED iMacs are 16:9. That is the standard for HD TV.
I suspect hooking a Mac to a smaller 720 resolution TV in analog VGA would be fine. Maybe 1080 as well. Never tried it. I can't imagine any legal issues. HDMI is growing on the PC side.
Ages ago, I found a small freeware program that would convert text to speech on the Mac. I tried the text to speech feature in Automator, when screen-less switchers profiled it. For some reason, it failed. You are right though. That is why I would love to have a girl voice.
Back in the OS 9 days on my iMac G3, Victoria was amazing. She sounded a touch British. To this day, she pretty much equals any other synthesis out there. I have heard many synthesized voices, and feel Apple's Alex is closest to a human sound. Give him a word like "wind" or "live" and he stands a 50/50 of getting it wrong. Oh well, all speech does.
There is no readme file. To activate, double-click on the iCursor app in the iCursor folder.
To customize or quit, again, double-click on the iCursor app in the iCursor folder to make it the front app. Note that iCursor will appear in the menu bar at the top of the desktop. From the iCursor menu, you can customize or quit the app.
I followed Santa's suggestion and was able to get the shimmer effect he described. It works in conjunction with Zoom, white-on-black, increased size of mouse pointer. However, I see that I'll have to play with the parameters to get an effect that is suitable for myself.
I moved the iCursor folder to /User/Library/ where 'User' is the name of the home account. I avoided putting it into the system Library folder.
But, but?I went to System Preferences > Speech, clicked for the Text to Speech pane to appear, went to 'System Voice', and found Victoria! Selected Victoria as the system voice, opened TextEdit, typed in 'Hello, Bert. I am talking to you.' So, she will talk to me and not to you? Maybe because she prefers Snow Leopard guys?
Hey Bert. Don't go messing with my girl. Yes, she is still a part of Mac OS. My point is, she has been around for a while. Not sure when the Mac became auditory. Might go back to the likes of OS 7. For the record, she's everybody's girl. She will say anything your little heart desires. Just remember, I saw her first.
Yes, I've seen mention of Cepstral and tried the demos in the past. Actually, I don't use Text to Speech that often, except for those occasions that I would find it useful. I would guess that eventually Apple could come out with a new improved Alex, maybe Alexandra?.
Text to Speech is quite a technology. Did you know that there are embedded speech commands?
As mentioned before, I've used Alex as a narrator. So, I was looking for tips on improving the narration. I tried a few experimental embedded commands, but found it easier just to re-word the sentences. If you want to emphasize a term, put it in quotes or double quotes, and the voices will adjust their speech pattern. Need a pause? Start a new paragraph. So, I would go into TextEdit and play the lines (start speaking) over and over until I was satisfied with the voice delivery.
I have an Automator application called 'TextEdit to Speech'. Basically, it has these actions:
Launch Application (TextEdit)
Get Contents of TextEdit Document (Alex's lines)
Text to Audio File (the sound bite)
Quit Application (TextEdit)
Then, drop those sound bites onto a GarageBand podcast timeline. There you can add supporting jingles, background music, etc. Guess what? Alex does better narration than I can. I've tried recording my own voice in a podcast, but it was inferior to Alex's narration. And, you can be quite precise on the timeline with the exact words at the right time with no flubs.
My speech isn't all that bad. I have heard better voices than my own though. Because of visual processing issues, I jumble words. Narration would be frightfully time consuming. I would have to record very short segments. It would result in a possibly choppy sound. So yes, Alex has a leg up on both of us. You might have better results getting Alex to speak to you via VoiceOver. I think you would have more flexibility there. You could use a program like Audio Hijack Pro to record the speech.
I think you will find that all screen readers are riddled with imperfections. I had to laugh when people started to complain about mistakes when the iPod Shuffle started to speak. Like Duh!
If you want a good laugh, take Alex to a web site loaded with wine titles.
My speech isn't all that bad. I have heard better voices than my own though. Because of visual processing issues, I jumble words. Narration would be frightfully time consuming. I would have to record very short segments. It would result in a possibly choppy sound. So yes, Alex has a leg up on both of us. You might have better results getting Alex to speak to you via VoiceOver. I think you would have more flexibility there. You could use a program like Audio Hijack Pro to record the speech.
I think you will find that all screen readers are riddled with imperfections. I had to laugh when people started to complain about mistakes when the iPod Shuffle started to speak. Like Duh!
If you want a good laugh, take Alex to a web site loaded with wine titles.
The basic reason I use Zoom is because I can, and I can avoid that extra level of abstraction involved in using VoiceOver. Yes, I agree that screen readers contain flaws.
I first checked out VoiceOver and Zoom via my sister's and brother-in-law's iMac. I knew that Mac OS X was a Unix derivative, so I tried to protect them from my experimentation by having them create a separate user account without administrative authority. They didn't get it. Then, I experimented on VoiceOver 1.0! Did all sorts of radical stuff?. That was OK until they established, without my knowledge, 'fast user switching' between their account and mine.
VoiceOver 1.0 could not handle fast switching, and so, inadvertently, a fast switch cause their account to lose their mouse pointer! Panic! Hysterics! Call AppleCare! 1st level ? "no known issue as you describe it". 2nd level - "no known issue as you describe it". 3rd level ? "ah, yes! Please perform the following procedure to get your mouse pointer back". You can believe I was proud of what happened, and explained that the fix would be in VoiceOver 1.1! Then I advised them how to delete permanently my corrupted account (which I had destroyed via VoiceOver).
When I studied up on AppleScript, I went through a book section called 'GUI Scripting', whereby you can navigate through the desktop menu bar using AppleScript. You had to reference an internal OS application called 'System Events'. Then the book said that VoiceOver did the same, and that it was possible to include in your AppleScript some of the more advanced navigation techniques used by the screen reader. So that is how VoiceOver is an integral part of the OS! An enormous technical achievement?an alternative user interface to the usual one utilizing the power of object-orientated programming. By the way, if a third-party program is based on the Cocoa frameworks, it is basically 'VoiceOver enabled' with maybe a few touch ups here and there.
As I understand it, VoiceOver has had problems surfing the web outside of the confines of the desktop. A lot of the web is 'non-standard', and Apple software engineers have participated in the WebKit rendering engine project to help iron out some of the web navigation problems.
I've only scratched the surface with VoiceOver. My prior experience with Jaws and Window Eyes goes back a long ways as well. If I could not see my screen at all, the Mac would be my only choice. VoiceOver felt very natural. I think anyone who was going to use VoiceOver would learn it quickly. The learning curve would be Mac OS X, for the newbie. The people at Screenless Switchers feel the same way, overall.
While I know you are a happy camper with Mac OS X, here is what you are missing over on the dark side:
I am using my Windows 7 RC right now. It is so much easier on my eyes. Sadly, I may be forced to return. Not because I enjoy Windows better, but because I can see it so much better. But now I have to proof this without Alex. The program I use includes Microsoft Anna. Yukkers.
I've only scratched the surface with VoiceOver. My prior experience with Jaws and Window Eyes goes back a long ways as well. If I could not see my screen at all, the Mac would be my only choice. VoiceOver felt very natural. I think anyone who was going to use VoiceOver would learn it quickly. The learning curve would be Mac OS X, for the newbie. The people at Screenless Switchers feel the same way, overall.
While I know you are a happy camper with Mac OS X, here is what you are missing over on the dark side:
I am using my Windows 7 RC right now. It is so much easier on my eyes. Sadly, I may be forced to return. Not because I enjoy Windows better, but because I can see it so much better. But now I have to proof this without Alex. The program I use includes Microsoft Anna. Yukkers.
This is Low Vision Awareness month!
Thanks for your link regarding ZoomText, and I saved it for my reference. I looked at the video and this is what I got out of it:
magnify screen with clarity intact
loupe tools
color adaptions
mouse pointer tools
focus tools
text to speech
I can see that ZoomText would in fact work for me as well. The product is aimed for those with some vision. It is not widely understood that legal blindness (as defined in the U.S.) is not the same as total blindness, and that about 90$ of the legally blind have some form of severe visual impairment.
No doubt, the Mac OS does not offer loupe and color adaptions, and has yet to get resolution independence going. I wouldn't consider myself a 'happy camper', except I have a workable solution on an OS platform that I prefer. I hate to get into the OS wars because it generates so much heat and not light. Admittedly, I prefer a multi-user OS that assumes security built-in down to it's foundations, that never allows third parties to mess around with the kernel, but requires use of kernel extensions and use of the provided APis. This is an OS architectural point of view that I have as an acknowledged prejudice. Apple did not have that before Mac OS X. Linux has it. Enough said.
Right now, my project for 2010 is to learn Ruby really well. I do plan to check out Ubuntu in the future. My iMac works fine with some graphic driver glitches, and I hope it will last 5 years (to 2012). I'm also following with interest the enhancement progress of the Mac OS with regard to OpenGL 3.0, and later.
Bert ... I am familiar with some of the labels blind people use on themselves. There are totals, those with no eyesight. Then there are low partials and high partials. The primary difference, as I've been told, is high partials are legally blind but may not need a white cane, dog, or assistive tools. I also understand there are two measurements to qualify for being legally blind. A visual acuity of less than 10% (I think) and vision that is worse than 20/200. I also know how that measurement translates.
Don't believe you ever told me any specifics to your vision. I do understand there are a lot of legally blind people with some sort of vision, and not totally without site.
By happy camper, I feel as if you get along with Mac OS enough to stay with it. I tried Zoom Text ages ago and it works very well. I have also used MAGic from Freedom Scientific. While it too was ages ago, I didn't care for it as much as Zoom Text.
To be honest, I am not sure why I switched to Apple in November of 2007. Guess I just wanted a change. Windows can be a nightmare sometimes, and Mac OS X seemed very solid. My experience with Windows 7 Beta, the Release Candidate (RC) has changed my mind. Sure, it is still Windows, and not a Unix based OS, but it works for me, and rather nicely.
Sounds like our Macs are from the same year. I have the late 2007 Aluminum version. Believe it or not, you can still purchase (sometimes) an old iMac G3. Unless something bad happens, 5 years should be an easy task. I don't think 10.7 will force you to change. Look how long Apple went before pulling the plug on PPCs.
My previous PC was an HP Vectra Pentium 2 @ 266MHz. I ran it with Windows 98 until the middle of 2006! It was manufactured in 1997, and shipped with Windows 95 Rev. A. Granted, it was a business model, and not a consumer box. I had 384 megs of Ram. While it choked on MP3 encoders, it would run speech software.
?A visual acuity of less than 10% (I think) and vision that is worse than 20/200. I also know how that measurement translates.
Don't believe you ever told me any specifics to your vision
Well, I have tunnel vision, with the focal vision having deteriorated over the years. Plus a moderately profound hearing loss (very well corrected by good hearing aids). Only in the last 5 years have I used a cane. So, the other condition to qualify is actually having less than 10% peripheral vision.
By the way, I had trouble getting a fix on your blurry vision situation. And I know that you are in the best position to know what solutions work for you.
Yes, you have the 20 inch and I have the 24 inch mid-2007 iMacs. I'm not worried about the machines lasting 5 or more years, and supporting Mac OS X 10.7. Yes, I know by repute, that Windows 7 has been an excellent release. Microsoft employees must have worked incredibly hard to get to that level of quality.
I do visit web sites that are both Microsoft and IT orientated, so I read about the so-called 'dark side' as well. Let me say that the technical people working at large computer firms are much better informed and savvy than many of the technical writers on various computer web sites. There is a wide range of skill levels for posters on AppleInsider, but there is a hard core of very knowledgeable posters.
There isn't anything I can really do for the blurry vision. I simply have to try different things to see what happens. Thank you for helping. It sort of sounds like you might have RP. I thought it was 10%. Just had the wrong word.
My first iMac, the G3, used a 15 inch CRT screen. When I first got it, 800 x 600 was okay. Later, had to switch to 640 x 480. My HP Vectra also had a 15 inch screen and I had to run it the same way. Truth be told, I miss the hell out of DOS. It was so much easier to see.
My vision is allegedly stable. The aging process alone (52 now) takes its toll. There is nothing I can do to compensate for the blurry vision. Only tinker with various tools.
Windows, for me, has more tools. It is impossible to match the speech from Alex. On the other hand, if I can actually get a PC - TV configuration to work the way I want, I won't need the speech so much.
One problem I find with the zoom feature of a web browser, is the settings go back to normal when I load a new page.
Using a computer should be fun. It isn't. If I sound angry, could very well be. I am very frustrated. You seem to understand more than anyone I've met here. Thanks!
?It sort of sounds like you might have RP. I thought it was 10%. Just had the wrong word?
Close, but not quite. There is a hearing loss as well, right? With all due respect, I am conscious we are on a public forum, so let's cool it with personal details. I got the part where you are tinkering and looking for that better solution.
Try going through this Apple discussion group on the Mac Mini and displays:
I don't think it is inappropriate to discuss reasons for vision and/or hearing loss. Sorry if that is offensive. It is not uncommon for men to have a hearing loss associated with Retinitis Pigmentosa. The very first person I met with a white cane has RP. She was a charming lady friend. In an attempt to understand, I did some homework. I have talked about my vision so openly for so long, I no longer think twice about it.
I have been to the Mac mini and display forum. It was many months ago. That is where I found out the mini will work with a TV ... maybe. Thanks for the link!
Dell has a mini look-a-like. Uses processors from AMD. Graphics too. Built-in HDMI. Not sure if a company like Best Buy would let me hook one up to a TV. If not, no sale. I would not want to purchase a mini, only to find it won't work, and have to pay the Apple Store a restocking fee. Same goes for any computer.
I could purchase just about any notebook with Windows 7, bump up the DPI to 125%, and I'm good to go. Can't with Apple, or I'd be using a late model 2007 MacBook. I got my iMac from an official Apple Store. First sales dude was a waste of good skin. Next guy was amazing. Didn't show me VoiceOver, but did demonstrate all the features of Universal Access. No go on the MacBook. Actually, no go on the iMac.
I could see the screen okay on the iMac 20. Text on the 24 was nearly identical. So the 24 was just more expensive.
Comments
Almost all of my vision is blurry. I use the speech to proofread more than anything. I do get lazy and let Alex read long articles to me.
Have you ever noticed Alex will occasionally put an A sound in front of a word. Makes me think he is Canadian.
I don't know for sure how to do it, guess you would need to set up scripts using Automator or Apple Script. Since the VoiceOver keys are Control/Alt, you probably would want to use something else. Command and Alt live together. If you could press a three key combo and have a Voice Command spoken, there are at least 26 easy options. I haven't used the speech recognition in a long time. Once I realized how poorly it worked, I turned it back off. My hit rate was probably less than 50%. I sort of mumble. My built-in microphone works fine. When I played with the "Robbie The Robot" program, my hit rate was more like 33%. It was fun though.
Almost all of my vision is blurry. I use the speech to proofread more than anything. I do get lazy and let Alex read long articles to me.
Have you ever noticed Alex will occasionally put an A sound in front of a word. Makes me think he is Canadian.
OK, what you meant was not 'Alt' but the Mac 'Option' key. So, on Speech Recognition, you hit rate was less than 50%, and that is definitely inadequate. Getting an external microphone probably is not going to help much. To me, the flaw in the Mac Speech Recognition is that the title of the 'Speakable Item' is treated as the sound pattern to match a person's spoken command against. Note my previous discussion about how great is would to be able to record your own sound pattern for a spoken command, and then have the Mac OS compare against that. And yes, you would have had to learn some programming skills, and maybe you just want to be a 'power user'.
It is my understanding that the 'Alex' voice is much larger, in terms of file size, than previous voices. The 'Alex' voice is tailored to speak more rapidly than previous voices. No doubt a lot of hard work went into enhancing a voice to the quality of 'Alex'. Sure, it is imperfect, but then again, it is state of the art for its time.
Be sure to follow up on this link on Appleinsider about the iPad making use of the VGA protocol. Then you can tell me your opinion about it.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...eo_output.html
You might be surprised to know just how fast some blind people run their screen readers. Alex has to be able to talk quickly.
I am not exactly impressed with the VGA output on the iPad. I consider the iPad as either an iPod Touch on steroids, or an Apple TV with a battery. I was able to watch the keynote on my iMac, and the iPad looked great on the huge monitor. Guess VGA is more common on presentation displays, but that never stopped Apple before. The original iMac went totally USB way ahead of time.
For the iPad to be an Apple TV with mobility, they will have to go HDMI and 16:9 wide screen. Why purchase or rent HD movies on iTunes and be forced to watch them in "as old as the hills" 4:3 TV mode?
Steve refuses things in this area. No Blu-Ray either. Why create such an amazing screen for the new iMacs and not allow for 1080p? He does have a 50 billion dollar company. Who am I to tell Steve I don't agree.
I am not exactly impressed with the VGA output on the iPad?
For the iPad to be an Apple TV with mobility, they will have to go HDMI and 16:9 wide screen. Why purchase or rent HD movies on iTunes and be forced to watch them in "as old as the hills" 4:3 TV mode?
Steve refuses things in this area. No Blu-Ray either. Why create such an amazing screen for the new iMacs and not allow for 1080p? He does have a 50 billion dollar company. Who am I to tell Steve I don't agree.
I read through the thread. I figured out that 1366 x 768 is WXGA and is analog. That the ePubs standard is about wrap-round text, and that I need to study up on that standard. That my iMac 7,1 does not have a mini Display Port.
I am beginning to think part of the problem of connecting from the iMac to a TV via HDMI is contractual ? meaning that it would violate legal restrictions regarding the distribution of video content. Am I wrong about that?
?If you listen really closely, Alex actually breathes?
LOL
More than that, Alex can do narration as well.
There is an Automator action called Text to Audio File. You can use it to tell Alex what his lines are in a set of short audio files. Then drag those short audio files into a GarageBand podcast along a timeline. For example, one audio file per 10 seconds for each slide in a iDVD slideshow.
Once the podcast is ready and saved, you can drop that podcast as a song into the iDVD slideshow. Every 10 seconds, Alex will speak.
Because English has a flexible grammar. you can re-word Alex's lines to make the speech by Alex sound as natural as possible.
I posted this on the other thread, then read this one, so I'll re-post.
Have you tried a cursor enhancer (for want of a better word).
I've got iCursor 1.4
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/iCursor.shtml
and with the Circle option picked in the Lighter mode, I have created a shimmering Circle of red and yellow at the bottom right of my cursor.
It's free, and operates as an Application.
My settings are:
System Name : Lighter
Total particles 100
Duration 2
Particle Size 15
Texture Circle
Cursor offset X 20
Cursor offset Y 80
Acceleration X : 0
Acceleration Y : 0
Direction X :1
Direction Y :0
BertP ... I don't look at HDMI for any other reason than the idea of keeping a 720 or 1080 constant as the vertical resolution. TV only has three resolutions: 480, 720, and 1080. Computer monitors consistently grow in vertical resolution as the get bigger. When text is big, it is handy to let it expand horizontally. It has to go somewhere.
As of today, we have three aspect ratios in computer monitors. I suspect all CRTs are 4:3. Early LCD screens were too. More recently, wide screen LCDs were 16:10. Your iMac, mine too, are 16:10. Only the new LED iMacs are 16:9. That is the standard for HD TV.
I suspect hooking a Mac to a smaller 720 resolution TV in analog VGA would be fine. Maybe 1080 as well. Never tried it. I can't imagine any legal issues. HDMI is growing on the PC side.
Ages ago, I found a small freeware program that would convert text to speech on the Mac. I tried the text to speech feature in Automator, when screen-less switchers profiled it. For some reason, it failed. You are right though. That is why I would love to have a girl voice.
Back in the OS 9 days on my iMac G3, Victoria was amazing. She sounded a touch British. To this day, she pretty much equals any other synthesis out there. I have heard many synthesized voices, and feel Apple's Alex is closest to a human sound. Give him a word like "wind" or "live" and he stands a 50/50 of getting it wrong. Oh well, all speech does.
EDIT: Here is the program:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...verbalize.html
The version on Apple's download site is 6.0. After doing the install, you can update to 6.1.
?I've got iCursor 1.4?
iCursor 1.4 observations:
There is no readme file. To activate, double-click on the iCursor app in the iCursor folder.
To customize or quit, again, double-click on the iCursor app in the iCursor folder to make it the front app. Note that iCursor will appear in the menu bar at the top of the desktop. From the iCursor menu, you can customize or quit the app.
I followed Santa's suggestion and was able to get the shimmer effect he described. It works in conjunction with Zoom, white-on-black, increased size of mouse pointer. However, I see that I'll have to play with the parameters to get an effect that is suitable for myself.
I moved the iCursor folder to /User/Library/ where 'User' is the name of the home account. I avoided putting it into the system Library folder.
Thanks for your contribution.
?Victoria was amazing?
But, but?I went to System Preferences > Speech, clicked for the Text to Speech pane to appear, went to 'System Voice', and found Victoria! Selected Victoria as the system voice, opened TextEdit, typed in 'Hello, Bert. I am talking to you.' So, she will talk to me and not to you? Maybe because she prefers Snow Leopard guys?
You can snag demos of other voices here:
https://www.cepstral.com/demos/
I still don't think any are better than Alex.
Now for something completely different:
http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/st...y/dectalkf.asp
Take care,
Jim aka WPLJ42
?I still don't think any are better than Alex.
Yes, I've seen mention of Cepstral and tried the demos in the past. Actually, I don't use Text to Speech that often, except for those occasions that I would find it useful. I would guess that eventually Apple could come out with a new improved Alex, maybe Alexandra?.
Text to Speech is quite a technology. Did you know that there are embedded speech commands?
http://developer.apple.com/mac/libra...004365-CH3-SW5
As mentioned before, I've used Alex as a narrator. So, I was looking for tips on improving the narration. I tried a few experimental embedded commands, but found it easier just to re-word the sentences. If you want to emphasize a term, put it in quotes or double quotes, and the voices will adjust their speech pattern. Need a pause? Start a new paragraph. So, I would go into TextEdit and play the lines (start speaking) over and over until I was satisfied with the voice delivery.
I have an Automator application called 'TextEdit to Speech'. Basically, it has these actions:
- Launch Application (TextEdit)
- Get Contents of TextEdit Document (Alex's lines)
- Text to Audio File (the sound bite)
- Quit Application (TextEdit)
Then, drop those sound bites onto a GarageBand podcast timeline. There you can add supporting jingles, background music, etc. Guess what? Alex does better narration than I can. I've tried recording my own voice in a podcast, but it was inferior to Alex's narration. And, you can be quite precise on the timeline with the exact words at the right time with no flubs.I think you will find that all screen readers are riddled with imperfections. I had to laugh when people started to complain about mistakes when the iPod Shuffle started to speak. Like Duh!
If you want a good laugh, take Alex to a web site loaded with wine titles.
My speech isn't all that bad. I have heard better voices than my own though. Because of visual processing issues, I jumble words. Narration would be frightfully time consuming. I would have to record very short segments. It would result in a possibly choppy sound. So yes, Alex has a leg up on both of us. You might have better results getting Alex to speak to you via VoiceOver. I think you would have more flexibility there. You could use a program like Audio Hijack Pro to record the speech.
I think you will find that all screen readers are riddled with imperfections. I had to laugh when people started to complain about mistakes when the iPod Shuffle started to speak. Like Duh!
If you want a good laugh, take Alex to a web site loaded with wine titles.
The basic reason I use Zoom is because I can, and I can avoid that extra level of abstraction involved in using VoiceOver. Yes, I agree that screen readers contain flaws.
I first checked out VoiceOver and Zoom via my sister's and brother-in-law's iMac. I knew that Mac OS X was a Unix derivative, so I tried to protect them from my experimentation by having them create a separate user account without administrative authority. They didn't get it. Then, I experimented on VoiceOver 1.0! Did all sorts of radical stuff?. That was OK until they established, without my knowledge, 'fast user switching' between their account and mine.
VoiceOver 1.0 could not handle fast switching, and so, inadvertently, a fast switch cause their account to lose their mouse pointer! Panic! Hysterics! Call AppleCare! 1st level ? "no known issue as you describe it". 2nd level - "no known issue as you describe it". 3rd level ? "ah, yes! Please perform the following procedure to get your mouse pointer back". You can believe I was proud of what happened, and explained that the fix would be in VoiceOver 1.1! Then I advised them how to delete permanently my corrupted account (which I had destroyed via VoiceOver).
When I studied up on AppleScript, I went through a book section called 'GUI Scripting', whereby you can navigate through the desktop menu bar using AppleScript. You had to reference an internal OS application called 'System Events'. Then the book said that VoiceOver did the same, and that it was possible to include in your AppleScript some of the more advanced navigation techniques used by the screen reader. So that is how VoiceOver is an integral part of the OS! An enormous technical achievement?an alternative user interface to the usual one utilizing the power of object-orientated programming. By the way, if a third-party program is based on the Cocoa frameworks, it is basically 'VoiceOver enabled' with maybe a few touch ups here and there.
As I understand it, VoiceOver has had problems surfing the web outside of the confines of the desktop. A lot of the web is 'non-standard', and Apple software engineers have participated in the WebKit rendering engine project to help iron out some of the web navigation problems.
While I know you are a happy camper with Mac OS X, here is what you are missing over on the dark side:
http://www.aisquared.com/
I am using my Windows 7 RC right now. It is so much easier on my eyes. Sadly, I may be forced to return. Not because I enjoy Windows better, but because I can see it so much better. But now I have to proof this without Alex. The program I use includes Microsoft Anna. Yukkers.
This is Low Vision Awareness month!
I've only scratched the surface with VoiceOver. My prior experience with Jaws and Window Eyes goes back a long ways as well. If I could not see my screen at all, the Mac would be my only choice. VoiceOver felt very natural. I think anyone who was going to use VoiceOver would learn it quickly. The learning curve would be Mac OS X, for the newbie. The people at Screenless Switchers feel the same way, overall.
While I know you are a happy camper with Mac OS X, here is what you are missing over on the dark side:
http://www.aisquared.com/
I am using my Windows 7 RC right now. It is so much easier on my eyes. Sadly, I may be forced to return. Not because I enjoy Windows better, but because I can see it so much better. But now I have to proof this without Alex. The program I use includes Microsoft Anna. Yukkers.
This is Low Vision Awareness month!
Thanks for your link regarding ZoomText, and I saved it for my reference. I looked at the video and this is what I got out of it:
- magnify screen with clarity intact
- loupe tools
- color adaptions
- mouse pointer tools
- focus tools
- text to speech
I can see that ZoomText would in fact work for me as well. The product is aimed for those with some vision. It is not widely understood that legal blindness (as defined in the U.S.) is not the same as total blindness, and that about 90$ of the legally blind have some form of severe visual impairment.No doubt, the Mac OS does not offer loupe and color adaptions, and has yet to get resolution independence going. I wouldn't consider myself a 'happy camper', except I have a workable solution on an OS platform that I prefer. I hate to get into the OS wars because it generates so much heat and not light. Admittedly, I prefer a multi-user OS that assumes security built-in down to it's foundations, that never allows third parties to mess around with the kernel, but requires use of kernel extensions and use of the provided APis. This is an OS architectural point of view that I have as an acknowledged prejudice. Apple did not have that before Mac OS X. Linux has it. Enough said.
Right now, my project for 2010 is to learn Ruby really well. I do plan to check out Ubuntu in the future. My iMac works fine with some graphic driver glitches, and I hope it will last 5 years (to 2012). I'm also following with interest the enhancement progress of the Mac OS with regard to OpenGL 3.0, and later.
Don't believe you ever told me any specifics to your vision. I do understand there are a lot of legally blind people with some sort of vision, and not totally without site.
By happy camper, I feel as if you get along with Mac OS enough to stay with it. I tried Zoom Text ages ago and it works very well. I have also used MAGic from Freedom Scientific. While it too was ages ago, I didn't care for it as much as Zoom Text.
To be honest, I am not sure why I switched to Apple in November of 2007. Guess I just wanted a change. Windows can be a nightmare sometimes, and Mac OS X seemed very solid. My experience with Windows 7 Beta, the Release Candidate (RC) has changed my mind. Sure, it is still Windows, and not a Unix based OS, but it works for me, and rather nicely.
Sounds like our Macs are from the same year. I have the late 2007 Aluminum version. Believe it or not, you can still purchase (sometimes) an old iMac G3. Unless something bad happens, 5 years should be an easy task. I don't think 10.7 will force you to change. Look how long Apple went before pulling the plug on PPCs.
My previous PC was an HP Vectra Pentium 2 @ 266MHz. I ran it with Windows 98 until the middle of 2006! It was manufactured in 1997, and shipped with Windows 95 Rev. A. Granted, it was a business model, and not a consumer box. I had 384 megs of Ram. While it choked on MP3 encoders, it would run speech software.
?A visual acuity of less than 10% (I think) and vision that is worse than 20/200. I also know how that measurement translates.
Don't believe you ever told me any specifics to your vision
Well, I have tunnel vision, with the focal vision having deteriorated over the years. Plus a moderately profound hearing loss (very well corrected by good hearing aids). Only in the last 5 years have I used a cane. So, the other condition to qualify is actually having less than 10% peripheral vision.
By the way, I had trouble getting a fix on your blurry vision situation. And I know that you are in the best position to know what solutions work for you.
Yes, you have the 20 inch and I have the 24 inch mid-2007 iMacs. I'm not worried about the machines lasting 5 or more years, and supporting Mac OS X 10.7. Yes, I know by repute, that Windows 7 has been an excellent release. Microsoft employees must have worked incredibly hard to get to that level of quality.
I do visit web sites that are both Microsoft and IT orientated, so I read about the so-called 'dark side' as well. Let me say that the technical people working at large computer firms are much better informed and savvy than many of the technical writers on various computer web sites. There is a wide range of skill levels for posters on AppleInsider, but there is a hard core of very knowledgeable posters.
My first iMac, the G3, used a 15 inch CRT screen. When I first got it, 800 x 600 was okay. Later, had to switch to 640 x 480. My HP Vectra also had a 15 inch screen and I had to run it the same way. Truth be told, I miss the hell out of DOS. It was so much easier to see.
My vision is allegedly stable. The aging process alone (52 now) takes its toll. There is nothing I can do to compensate for the blurry vision. Only tinker with various tools.
Windows, for me, has more tools. It is impossible to match the speech from Alex. On the other hand, if I can actually get a PC - TV configuration to work the way I want, I won't need the speech so much.
One problem I find with the zoom feature of a web browser, is the settings go back to normal when I load a new page.
Using a computer should be fun. It isn't. If I sound angry, could very well be. I am very frustrated. You seem to understand more than anyone I've met here. Thanks!
?It sort of sounds like you might have RP. I thought it was 10%. Just had the wrong word?
Close, but not quite. There is a hearing loss as well, right? With all due respect, I am conscious we are on a public forum, so let's cool it with personal details. I got the part where you are tinkering and looking for that better solution.
Try going through this Apple discussion group on the Mac Mini and displays:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=761
I have been to the Mac mini and display forum. It was many months ago. That is where I found out the mini will work with a TV ... maybe. Thanks for the link!
Dell has a mini look-a-like. Uses processors from AMD. Graphics too. Built-in HDMI. Not sure if a company like Best Buy would let me hook one up to a TV. If not, no sale. I would not want to purchase a mini, only to find it won't work, and have to pay the Apple Store a restocking fee. Same goes for any computer.
I could purchase just about any notebook with Windows 7, bump up the DPI to 125%, and I'm good to go. Can't with Apple, or I'd be using a late model 2007 MacBook. I got my iMac from an official Apple Store. First sales dude was a waste of good skin. Next guy was amazing. Didn't show me VoiceOver, but did demonstrate all the features of Universal Access. No go on the MacBook. Actually, no go on the iMac.
I could see the screen okay on the iMac 20. Text on the 24 was nearly identical. So the 24 was just more expensive.