speak

Bone conduction goggles let you ski and speak

There's nothing like hitting the ski lodge for a warm beverage after a few hours on the slopes, but trying to round up the troops can be a pain when you have to dig through your winter layers to find your cell phone and then shout instructions over all the swooshing and ambient noise around you.

If you're sick of dealing with this first-world problem, let us introduce you to the Buhel SpeakGoggle G33. These high-tech goggles connect to your cell phone or smartphone via Bluetooth and feature a bone conduction mic integrated into the frame that translates speech using the vibrations from your nose. The advantage of bone conduction technology is that it blocks outside noise, so you can have a clearer conversation with your friend. … Read more

How to listen to Web sites in Chrome

Text-to-speech can assist people with disabilities in using computers or read documents to people while their eyes' attention is needed elsewhere.

Chrome Speak, an extension available for Google Chrome, offers the ability to listen to text on any Web site. The extension doesn't require any Internet connection, making it a bit faster than many other TTS extensions. Here's how to get started with using it:

Step 1: Install Chrome Speak from the Google Chrome Web store.

Step 2: Right-click on the headphones icon to adjust the extensions settings. Here you can tinker with how … Read more

Five productivity-boosting iPad tips

The iPad is becoming an office worker's best friend. In terms of work time saved, your iPad will likely pay for itself in a matter of months if not weeks. But like any computer, you can't realize the iPad's full potential without tweaking the machine's default settings to suit your style.

Here are five ways to squeeze a little more productivity out of your iPad.

Lock the screen orientation. The iPad was made for sharing. Handing off a laptop is clumsy, but passing someone your iPad is as natural as shaking hands. The only problem is … Read more

TeamSpeak 3 app now available for iOS devices

TeamSpeak today unveiled an official app for iOS devices ($4.99) that delivers nearly the same functionality as the popular desktop client.

Utilized by millions of gamers around the world, TeamSpeak is a way for small or large groups of people to communicate without interruption. Long ago, when I played World of Warcraft, our guild's TS3 server would have 25 people on it as we worked together in a raid to defeat Illidan Stormrage. It was the perfect way for our guild to communicate during the complicated confrontation and it wouldn't be uncommon for all us to be on the server for hours as we trekked our way through the Black Temple.

While my MMORPG days are long gone, I still hop on TeamSpeak from time to time to catch up with my gaming buddies. After downloading TeamSpeak for iPhone, I logged in to my usual server and tested out the app, which supports multi-server connectivity. Incoming sound quality is comparable to the desktop experience, while my voice sounded crisp and clear to my friends. So far, so good.… Read more

Crave giveaway: Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5

This week's giveaway is really something to talk about. The winner will score Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Home Edition for Windows, an upgrade from Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.

Nuance promises that the software refresh, released last month, delivers faster, better speech recognition. In fact, the company says this version boasts 15 percent greater accuracy out of the box than Dragon 10, and can reduce recognition errors by up to 35 percent compared with Dragon 9.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Home Edition also features new voice commands that let you post to Facebook and Twitter (get ready to start talking in 140 characters), along with new formatting and editing commands and more shortcuts.

Normally, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 Home Edition for Windows would cost $99.99, but you have the chance to get it gratis. That's a great deal for anyone who suffers the perils of too much typing--or really, really likes to talk. … Read more

Don't send text; send a voice message.

There are plenty of apps to send text messages and photos to your friends, but what about voice messages? The idea with HeyTell is, instead of calling or sending a text message to a friend, you can send an instant voice mail--as long as your friend has HeyTell installed. Start by touching the green-on-white person-shaped icon to add people from your contact list. You also have the option to connect HeyTell to your Facebook account, but we wonder whether people really want everyone they've ever known sending them voice mails. When selecting friends from your iPhone contact list, HeyTell … Read more

Google, Twitter build Speak to Tweet for Egyptians

Google, in combination with Twitter and its recently acquired SayNow engineers, has released a service for tweeting without an Internet connection.

Designed specifically for those on the ground in Egypt unable to communicate via the Internet with the outside world, Speak to Tweet allows anyone with a voice connection to dial three international numbers and have their voice messages sent out as tweets with the #egypt hash tag added to those links. "We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time," wrote Ujjwal Singh, co-founder of SayNow … Read more

Crave giveaway: Nuance Dragon software package

OK, this week we're serving up a 2-for-1 software special here on Crave. Thanks to a donation from Nuance, we've got both a Windows version of the company's speech-recognition software--Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Version 11/Home edition)--as well as Dragon Dictate for Mac.

Both the Mac and Windows versions are powered by Nuance's "state-of-the-art" Dragon v11 speech-recognition engine, which Nuance says is much more accurate out of the box and responds faster to spoken commands (you can edit documents, compose e-mails, navigate applications, search the Web, and more). And because you don't have to … Read more

Mozilla develops social skills with F1

As Flock and RockMelt duked it out for social-networking addicts' attention, browser kingpin Mozilla quietly introduced last week a new add-on for Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail users. Called F1 (download) and created by Mozilla Messaging, the division of Mozilla that manages the e-mail client Thunderbird, the secure and unobtrusive add-on provides fast sharing of URLs via a dedicated navigation bar button. It mimics one of the best features found in social-networking browsers without having to deal with hassle of switching browsers, although the add-on is definitely still a bit rough.

Once installed, F1 will create a button on the right … Read more

Get your own assistant

Siri Assistant is a free app that uses impressively accurate voice recognition to help you complete a wide variety of tasks, from making dinner reservations to calling a taxi to sending yourself an e-mail reminder.

Despite the hard-core DARPA technology behind it, Siri Assistant has a disarmingly simple interface, which looks like a scrolling IM conversation that you're having with the app. The idea is that "Siri" is your assistant, who you speak to directly in the second person (or, less fun, by typing): "Where can I find a good dentist?" will pull up a … Read more