Have you ever wondered how text-to-speech voices are made? A recent post at The Assistive Technology Blog features a video from The Verge that discusses how text-to-speech videos are produced. One of the most well-known applications of text-to-speech is Apple’s Siri. In the video, you’ll meet the voice behind Siri. The video also features Nuance, the makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking.
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Manage Your Time with Timely Time Teller App for iOS
Timely Time Teller is a simple iOS app that gives users repeating alerts at specified intervals. When alerts are turned on, Timely verbally tells you the time at set intervals. The app is nicely described in the video below. Its very simplicity makes this an attractive and useful app for many reasons. It could be especially useful for those who have difficulties with executive functions.
Click here to view in the App Store.
Ruby Slippers Take You Wherever You Want to Go
In a recent post at one of my favorite library blogs iLibrarian, I read about some Ruby Slippers. I was amazed at what these oxfords, with bright red laces could do. According to Lambert Varias at Technobob:
These shoes won’t take you home when you click your heels, but they will help you get there. Made by British artist Dominic Wilcox, the No Place Like Home shoes points the wearer to the right way via the magic of GPS.
The shoes have a GPS receiver on the heel of the left shoe that can be used to punch in an address. Once the receiver knows where you want to go, LEDs on the left shoe indicate the direction to take, while a line of LEDs on the right shoe provides a rough estimate of proximity to the destination.
I couldn’t help but wonder if shoes such as these would be of benefit to individuals who are blind or visually impaired or the elderly who experience Alzheimer or dementia.
A little bit of research and I discovered this video which shows that GPS shoes are being used to give dementia sufferers freedom and allows caregivers to keep track of them.
WINAHEAD 