I'm with applenut here, my gut feeling (and knowledge of photoshop) says this is fake... I would love for it to be real, but my feeling is it's just a good fake...
it would definatly be a good marketing gimick for Apple, in conjuntion with an iBook or powerbook...maybe apple plans on releasing a .book reader digital hub hardware style device.
maybe its to be an apple PDA that doubles as a book reader?
<strong>Just wanna add some additional speculation to this thread...
Could someone please refresh my memory? Didn't Steve Jobs make a comment about 'text to speech' at one of the Apple events this year?
MWSF? WWDC? xServe? MWNY?
I can't remember where it was said but I sure remember it happening... I think it was a Q&A style event where someone asked about TTS and it's current quality and Steve said something like 'we are looking for better voices as we speak... Apple is hiring.
Okay that might not have been exactly what was said but that is how I remember it...
I think it was at WWDC that Steve said that Apple was in the market for better text to speech. I assumed this meant they were looking at AT&T Natural Voices.
Apple's current strategy seems to be about building on standards.
Mail has .mbox, iTunes has mp3, AddressBook = vCard, iDisk = WebDAV, iCal = .ical. Then there's unix, posix, bsd, java, pdf, rendezvous, usb, firewire, 802.11/airport etc. etc.
Therefore, if Apple was going to do this then they would be building on an accepted standard or would have submitted their own standard for acceptance by the relevent content producers.
The rumor suggests .ibook but this could just be a wrapper for a current standard. Is there any relevant standard out there with these capabilities, preferably with content available?
Something tells me this is real...if you look at the dock you will see an application with an ant eater (an animal) as the icon. That is the icon for Apple's bug writing software (I will not say what it is called for security reasons)
I think it was at WWDC that Steve said that Apple was in the market for better text to speech. I assumed this meant they were looking at AT&T Natural Voices.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yep... I found one of the quotes... Not the one I remember reading but this was from MacNN right after the WWDC.
"# Universal Access improvements includes full zoom support, offering users the ability to zoom into any part of the screen with support for rollovers and transparency as well as full motion DVD video. A new Screen Reader preference (in the Speech Control Panel) allows the computer to speak any text the mouse rolls over for improved navigation access. Jaguar will also include new visual notifications. All of these will have Developer APIs, allowing new applications to take advantage of Universal Access improvements. Jobs light-heartedly remarked that Apple was "in the market for" improved text-to-speech technology, after the Victoria voice was used to speak text for the Screen Reader technology demonstration."
I seriously dislike e-books. They're fine as a research tool - indexed, searchable documents are great, but for actual reading, you can't beat ink on paper.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
i agree with belle. ebooks are wonderful for textbooks and similar types of works, but for leisure reading? at the seybold boston 2000 conference, ebooks were the new "big thing" and at the keynote, only one guy had the guts to say that he preferred to read a paperback. the average consumer does not like reading text on a screen for long hours, no matter how many technological advantages are present in the new device. personally, if i'm going off to the beach or park, do i want to take my precious laptop or some paperback i got at the library for leisure reading? paperback all the way. print will never die!
The interesting thing is that there were ever a market for low-cost, lightweight, tough tablet PCs, the education market is there. It's just not cost-effective at this point. That's why Apple is developing InkWell and dipping their toes into eBooks* and so forth. It's coming... just not yet.
With their struggle in the edu market, it wouldn't at all surprise me to see an iApp geared more toward students and education. Looks potentially very neat.
(* People who hate the very idea of electronic books have to remember there's a difference between leisure and work reading. Electronic textbooks are fantastically useful -- 1000% lighter, easy to have a nearly unlimited number w/ you on one computer, and the ability to print out to paper chapters as one wishes. Also critical is the cost savings to schools and universities. Paper isn't going away, and defending eBooks is *not* about replacing all paper versions of "The Goblet of Fire" with electronic fascimiles.)
Paper isn't going away, and defending eBooks is *not* about replacing all paper versions of "The Goblet of Fire" with electronic fascimiles.<hr></blockquote>
That is SO true. I own a rather big library and am really fond of books, but I also use my Palm as an eBook reader, just because it is practical. It would be a dream come true to have an iPod style device with a larger color screen, PIM functionality and eBook capabilities. Oh, and multimedia of course - that new Archos Jukebox is really cool.
As a librarian, I have more than enough contact with this to know how impossible licensing with online publishers is. You think music is bad, you have seen nothing. There is a lot of drama between publishers, librarians and authors right now. From proprietary formats to constricting license agreements, online publishing is in a horribly inaccessable place, even for a major library with massive funding like the one I work in. It is nothing less than a ****ing mess.
In other words, as cool as an idea as it is, there is no way that it is possible.
Well it's *officialy fake now ... Apple legal would have pulled it by now. Based on that little "page turn" in the bottom rightcorner ... the artist could learn a thing or two about light direction.
As a librarian, I have more than enough contact with this to know how impossible licensing with online publishers is. You think music is bad, you have seen nothing. There is a lot of drama between publishers, librarians and authors right now. From proprietary formats to constricting license agreements, online publishing is in a horribly inaccessable place, even for a major library with massive funding like the one I work in. It is nothing less than a ****ing mess.
In other words, as cool as an idea as it is, there is no way that it is possible.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Comments
<strong>Steve is not going to get me pay for that
I've stop reading books since I graduated...
i only read comics and magazines now
I can see that. You sound like the Hulk.
-Idea isnt bad at all
-Interface is quite nice
But I seriously wonder if this a fake. I am no "Know it all" when it comes to these rumors but something about this makes me think it is a pure fake.
The name is not very apple. What the hell is iBrary? iLibrary sounds just fine.
My .02
[ 10-27-2002: Message edited by: New ]</p>
Would this iApp also let you create your own books and then publish them to .Mac?
maybe its to be an apple PDA that doubles as a book reader?
<strong>Just wanna add some additional speculation to this thread...
Could someone please refresh my memory? Didn't Steve Jobs make a comment about 'text to speech' at one of the Apple events this year?
MWSF? WWDC? xServe? MWNY?
I can't remember where it was said but I sure remember it happening... I think it was a Q&A style event where someone asked about TTS and it's current quality and Steve said something like 'we are looking for better voices as we speak... Apple is hiring.
Okay that might not have been exactly what was said but that is how I remember it...
Anyone else remember this?
Dave
[ 10-27-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think it was at WWDC that Steve said that Apple was in the market for better text to speech. I assumed this meant they were looking at AT&T Natural Voices.
Mail has .mbox, iTunes has mp3, AddressBook = vCard, iDisk = WebDAV, iCal = .ical. Then there's unix, posix, bsd, java, pdf, rendezvous, usb, firewire, 802.11/airport etc. etc.
Therefore, if Apple was going to do this then they would be building on an accepted standard or would have submitted their own standard for acceptance by the relevent content producers.
The rumor suggests .ibook but this could just be a wrapper for a current standard. Is there any relevant standard out there with these capabilities, preferably with content available?
<strong>maybe its to be an apple PDA that doubles as a book reader?</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
<strong>
I think it was at WWDC that Steve said that Apple was in the market for better text to speech. I assumed this meant they were looking at AT&T Natural Voices.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yep... I found one of the quotes... Not the one I remember reading but this was from MacNN right after the WWDC.
"# Universal Access improvements includes full zoom support, offering users the ability to zoom into any part of the screen with support for rollovers and transparency as well as full motion DVD video. A new Screen Reader preference (in the Speech Control Panel) allows the computer to speak any text the mouse rolls over for improved navigation access. Jaguar will also include new visual notifications. All of these will have Developer APIs, allowing new applications to take advantage of Universal Access improvements. Jobs light-heartedly remarked that Apple was "in the market for" improved text-to-speech technology, after the Victoria voice was used to speak text for the Screen Reader technology demonstration."
Dave
[ 10-28-2002: Message edited by: DaveGee ]</p>
<strong>
I seriously dislike e-books. They're fine as a research tool - indexed, searchable documents are great, but for actual reading, you can't beat ink on paper.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
i agree with belle. ebooks are wonderful for textbooks and similar types of works, but for leisure reading? at the seybold boston 2000 conference, ebooks were the new "big thing" and at the keynote, only one guy had the guts to say that he preferred to read a paperback. the average consumer does not like reading text on a screen for long hours, no matter how many technological advantages are present in the new device. personally, if i'm going off to the beach or park, do i want to take my precious laptop or some paperback i got at the library for leisure reading? paperback all the way. print will never die!
With their struggle in the edu market, it wouldn't at all surprise me to see an iApp geared more toward students and education. Looks potentially very neat.
(* People who hate the very idea of electronic books have to remember there's a difference between leisure and work reading. Electronic textbooks are fantastically useful -- 1000% lighter, easy to have a nearly unlimited number w/ you on one computer, and the ability to print out to paper chapters as one wishes. Also critical is the cost savings to schools and universities. Paper isn't going away, and defending eBooks is *not* about replacing all paper versions of "The Goblet of Fire" with electronic fascimiles.)
[ 10-28-2002: Message edited by: Hobbes ]</p>
Paper isn't going away, and defending eBooks is *not* about replacing all paper versions of "The Goblet of Fire" with electronic fascimiles.<hr></blockquote>
That is SO true. I own a rather big library and am really fond of books, but I also use my Palm as an eBook reader, just because it is practical. It would be a dream come true to have an iPod style device with a larger color screen, PIM functionality and eBook capabilities. Oh, and multimedia of course - that new Archos Jukebox is really cool.
Patently fake, IMO. the Times font in the bottom is just not an Apple looking thing.
<strong>note PB and IB in the dock.
Patently fake, IMO. the Times font in the bottom is just not an Apple looking thing.</strong><hr></blockquote>
But also look at the 'anteater' icon... That isn't something most of the public has on their machine.
I read that it was an internal apple bug-reporter.
Dave
As a librarian, I have more than enough contact with this to know how impossible licensing with online publishers is. You think music is bad, you have seen nothing. There is a lot of drama between publishers, librarians and authors right now. From proprietary formats to constricting license agreements, online publishing is in a horribly inaccessable place, even for a major library with massive funding like the one I work in. It is nothing less than a ****ing mess.
In other words, as cool as an idea as it is, there is no way that it is possible.
<strong>
But also look at the 'anteater' icon... That isn't something most of the public has on their machine.
I read that it was an internal apple bug-reporter.
Dave</strong><hr></blockquote>
Are you saying this based on what I had said six replies up?
<strong>
Are you saying this based on what I had said six replies up?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well yes... and no... I have some insight into internal apple stuff as well...
Dave
P.S. MASH was a great show wasn't it?
<strong>This is fake
As a librarian, I have more than enough contact with this to know how impossible licensing with online publishers is. You think music is bad, you have seen nothing. There is a lot of drama between publishers, librarians and authors right now. From proprietary formats to constricting license agreements, online publishing is in a horribly inaccessable place, even for a major library with massive funding like the one I work in. It is nothing less than a ****ing mess.
In other words, as cool as an idea as it is, there is no way that it is possible.</strong><hr></blockquote>
As a librarian you know about this then right?
eBrary: <a href="http://shop.ebrary.com/Top?layout=search&frm=smp.x&p00=&brw.x=23&brw.y=8"; target="_blank">http://shop.ebrary.com/Top?layout=search&frm=smp.x&p00=&brw.x=23&brw.y=8</a>;
Dave