Comments on David Alison's Blog: Mac: Have you met Alex?

Text to speech is definitely good for editing one'...

2008-07-21T00:25:55.605-04:00

Text to speech is definitely good for editing one's work. :)

I am wondering if you could use this as a way to i...

2008-07-20T09:50:45.948-04:00

I am wondering if you could use this as a way to improve your writing skills? I entered in some text from on of my articles and listened to it. It's different to hear your words spoken.

on the other hand, if you are short of disk space ...

2008-04-14T03:29:06.962-04:00

on the other hand, if you are short of disk space and do not need Text to Speech, you can delete /System/Library/Speech/Voices/Alex.SpeechVoice
and save 700 MB!
(see http://www.jonathansaggau.com/blog/2007/10/yeah_it_breathes.html )

David: Contrary to everyone's first instincts, spe...

2008-04-13T17:37:57.020-04:00

David: Contrary to everyone's first instincts, speech recognition works best if you speak in a relaxed, casual voice. Yelling and enunciating REDUCES recognition accuracy.

@Peter: While you are stuck with an American accen...

2008-04-13T09:18:45.187-04:00

@Peter: While you are stuck with an American accent you can play with the pitch and speed to make Alex sound like he's gone on a bender the night before (or is currently in the process of one).

@Karl: The fact that I can have Bash shell scripts now speak to me opens up some possibilities. Thanks man! I can inspect exit codes for terminal based applications and say something colorful if it fails. I like it.

@Marco: That's a pretty cool usage. When my Mac Pro arrives at the end of the week I'll have some serious speakers behind the machine so it opens some interesting possibilities.

Yes, I love the Alex voice. I use this feature alm...

2008-04-12T23:43:33.512-04:00

Yes, I love the Alex voice. I use this feature almost everyday to read articles online without sitting at the computer. For instance when I am browsing the internet in the morning, I may find an interesting article, highlight the text, then press the keyboard shortcut i have mapped to have Alex read me the highlighted text while I make some coffee.

open terminal typesay no milk todayor typesay -v a...

2008-04-12T19:01:59.579-04:00

open terminal type
say no milk today
or type
say -v alex no milk yesterday either
or change alex to what ever voice you want to use from the library. :)

Thanks for the tip David. Finally found the speech...

2008-04-12T18:37:24.962-04:00

Thanks for the tip David. Finally found the speech shortcut option. Preferences>Speech> tick 'speak selected text when the key is pressed' and put in your key combo.

This should be useful - the new voice is much better. I'd like an English voice too though. Something like Stephen Fry.

@Eric: Very cool. Just finished playing with it, t...

2008-04-12T16:29:51.366-04:00

@Eric: Very cool. Just finished playing with it, though I don't see it being anything more than a curiosity right now. Partly because I feel like I have to yell and enunciate every word so carefully, partly because I feel like an idiot when I repeat over and over "Quit this application... Quit this application... Quit this application..." in different tones and inflections. Still, it is cool - thanks for the tip!

Speech to text recognition is just as cool!http://...

2008-04-12T15:01:11.416-04:00

Speech to text recognition is just as cool!

http://www.speakables.com/