http://www.acapela-group.com/ PHP en-EN Thu, 17 May 2012 05:24:39 +0200 http://www.acapela-group.com/voices-for-mac-os-x-infovox-ivox-3-provides-25-languages-and-19-new-voices-2270-speech-synthesis.html Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200 April 12th, 2012


Today AssistiveWare and Acapela Group proudly announced the release of Infovox iVox 3, smooth and pleasant text to speech voices for Mac OS X.
Infovox iVox 3 brings natural-sounding text to speech within reach of many more students, educators, and consumers, including people with vision, reading and speech impairments on a tight budget.
Infovox iVox 3 provides 61 system-wide voices in 25 languages to Mac OS X users. Among which 14 new natural-sounding voices in the following languages: German, Arabic, French, Norwegian, Dutch, Indian English, American English, British English, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Danish and Flemish. It also offers three new dialects: Catalan Spanish, Finish Swedish and Indian English. In addition, the software adds two specialty voices: the Hip Hop voice "Saul" and the voice of Queen Elizabeth. These voices work with almost any application, including Apple's VoiceOver, TextEdit, Preview, Safari, Adobe's Acrobat Reader, AssistiveWare's VisioVoice, Proloquo and GhostReader.

With Infovox iVox 3 it is no longer required to purchase all voices for a language at once. Based on user feedback the voices can now be purchased à la carte, with prices starting at $20 (North America) and € 20 excluding VAT (elsewhere) for use on up to two computers. Discounts are available for multiple voice and multiple computer licenses. The new model and pricing not only offers customers the ability to hand pick the voices they want, but for many languages also means a 20 to 80% price reduction. .

From within the Infovox iVox Voice Manager a 30-day fully-functional trial of each voice can be downloaded, which enables a thorough evaluation before purchase. Infovox iVox is a free update for our existing users and will include all the new standard voices in the language for which the user is licensed.Infovox iVox 3 requires an Intel Mac with Mac OS X 10.4 or later and is fully compatible with Mac OS X Lion (10.7).

For more information and a fully-functional demo please see the product webpage. You can also contact one of our distributors such as Origin Instruments Corporation for North America or Kallysta for France.
AssistiveWare is the worldwide leader in innovative assistive technology software for Mac OS X and iOS. This includes award-winning KeyStrokes(tm) and TouchStrokes(tm) virtual keyboards, SwitchXS(tm) scanning on-screen keyboard, LayoutKitchen(tm) panel editor, Proloquo(tm) multi-purpose speech solution, award-winning VisioVoice(tm) for vision impaired Mac users, Pictello(tm) visual story-telling app for iOS as well as the ground breaking and award-winning Proloquo2Go® communication solution for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The ConvenienceWare product line makes the advanced technologies developed by AssistiveWare available in cool and convenient applications that make the life of Mac users easier.
AssistiveWare and ConvenienceWare are trade names and registered trademarks of AssistiveWare B.V. GhostReader, VisioVoice, SwitchXS, KeyStrokes, TouchStrokes, LayoutKitchen, Proloquo2Go and Proloquo are trademarks or registered trademarks of AssistiveWare B.V. Infovox iVox is a trademark of Acapela Group. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/voices-for-mac-os-x-infovox-ivox-3-provides-25-languages-and-19-new-voices-2270-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/developer-contest---soundcloud---acapela-group-mashup-2269-speech-synthesis.html Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0200 April 5th, 2012


SoundCloud -world's leading social sound platform where anyone can create sounds and share them everywhere.- is teaming up with Acapela Group for its first Developer Contest.
Acapela Group offers amazing text to speech solutions and have a variety of SDKs so you can write apps that create sound files using one of their voices (including hip-hop and country!). Take a listen to some sample voices.

We're calling on our developer community to mashup SoundCloud and Acapela. Show us what you can do using a text to speech service with the best audio content platform on the web. Maybe you want to have your email read (or sung!) to you layered on some instrumental or drum tracks. We think there are loads of options for making interesting and accessible apps using these two services.
This is a chance to get creative and show us something useful and fun. The 2nd and 3rd place picks will get some awesome headphones from our contest sponsor, Monster, and 1st place will get a 1 year subscription to Acapela VaaS as well as something extra special from  Monster (to be announced very soon).
The deadline for submissions is May 1st. That gives you just under a month to check out our API docs and get started with an Acapela SDK.Sign up for a free Acapela evaluation account.
When you're ready, you can send us your submission using this form
Follow us on:  

]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/developer-contest---soundcloud---acapela-group-mashup-2269-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/myblee-for-ipad---a-talkative-companion-helping-elementary-and-middle-school-kids-through-chat-filled-homework-2267-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0100 March 20th, 2012


Designed by teachers and tested by children, MyBlee is a super-interactive educational app for students in elementary and middle school. MyBlee speaks, explains, encourages and congratulates, through adapted exercises based on play.

Acapela's synthetic voice vocalises the content and helps create a speaking, lively, very effective interface which is immediately adopted by young iPad users who converse with MyBlee entirely autonomously and at their own pace. They immediately hear the answer to a calculation, or a spelling, or another problem which has been set. The synthetic voice is clear and as intelligible as it is natural. The application also uses handwriting and voice recognition to create a real exchange with the young user.
flashelement:mybleeenglish
In addition to interactivity, one of MyBlee's guiding principals is respect for the natural rhythm and level of understanding of the child. Everything is done to ensure children progress at their own pace. In the exercises, difficulties such as response time adapt in line with the child's progress and acquired knowledge. This individual and specially tailored learning promotes autonomy, while at the same time offers parents a dedicated space to follow and better encourage their child.

Two modules are available and included in the application on the Apple appstore: 'recognise shapes'& 'multiply by 10, 100, 1000'. Other modules will soon be available as in-app purchase, at 1,99 USD.


More information about MyBlee at: http://www.myblee.info

  ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/myblee-for-ipad---a-talkative-companion-helping-elementary-and-middle-school-kids-through-chat-filled-homework-2267-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/year-of-the-dragon-chat-in-chinese-and-share-new-year-greetings-using-acapelas-mandarin-text-to-speech-voice--2264-speech-synthesis.html Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100 January 23rd, 2012


Meet 'Lulu', Acapela's brand new Mandarin voice, and select her as your spokesperson for cheerful & chatty greetings.

Happy New Year from Lulu!
To introduce herself to the Chinese community, Lulu is providing the voice for 'Little Dragon', a free greetings card designed to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Available on acapela.tv, the 'Little Dragon' talking e-card will offer Chinese speaking people around the world the possibility to exchange greetings and best wishes using Acapela text to speech.
Text to speech transforms any text into spoken words in real time, opening up unexpected ways to communicate. The Internet user types in a greeting and Lulu comes in to turn the words, written in Chinese, into a pleasant audio result. A single click brings 'Little Dragon' to life and delivers the personal message, as immediate and effective as the spoken word.
Acapela Group, the voice expert, is happy and proud to launch Lulu at the same time as this very special and important occasion for Chinese people. The Mandarin voice is joining the company's multilingual portfolio and will open up new territory for Acapela text to speech.
Lulu is responding to the demands of Acapela's customers and partners for linguistic coverage of China and provides Chinese companies with a natural and high quality text to speech voice. Lulu will be available for use throughout the range of Acapela solutions, providing a voice for any application or service that needs to speak to facilitate access to content - IVR, mobile apps, accessibility solutions, education, audio publishing, mobile internet or cloud computing, to mention but a few.
'We are very happy to be launching our Mandarin voice to coincide with the Chinese New Year. We hope that Dragon's energy, vitality and unbridled enthusiasm will bring luck and success to Lulu. We are proud to add the Chinese language to our multilingual portfolio and we are very excited about upcoming deployments. Meanwhile, we look forward to Little Dragon performing Chinese greetings and spreading the word ' adds Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
Little Dragon, as part of acapela.tv chatty characters, shares the possibilities of speech synthesis with Internet users and allows the user to evaluate the advantages speech synthesis can bring to many different business and entertainment environments.  Acapela.tv shows how far speech synthesis can help companies develop their brand awareness and add audible value to their content and messages. Meet the 'Little Dragon' and Lulu at http://www.acapela.tv/en/talking-card/LittleDragon
Visit Acapela Weibo page at http://www.weibo.com/u/2563838447]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/year-of-the-dragon-chat-in-chinese-and-share-new-year-greetings-using-acapelas-mandarin-text-to-speech-voice--2264-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/education-needs--talking-stories-on-iphone-and-ipad-with-pictello-2262-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 December 13th, 2011


Pictello is a nice and easy application developed by AssistiveWare to share fun and content.
Teachers, parents and kids can use it to create talking picture books and develop literacy and narrative skills. Kids with special needs can use it to communicate, teachers and parents to facilitate comprehension or develop learning supports.
Pictello is a simple way to create talking books, photo albums, tutorials on iPhone and iPad. To create a page, add an image, up to five lines of text, plus audio content, and play the story! The audio part can be either a recorded voice or a text vocalized by Acapela natural text to speech voices.
Share comments and memories with a photo album, present something you like, develop a quick tutorial to help the kids using visual and audio support, tell your own story with pictures and dialogue using Acapela's repertoire of natural voices, etc. The possibilities are endless!
Pictello has been developed for all ages and skill levels and does not require reading skills to locate and read stories. It offers an easy visual story creation wizard so anyone can use pictures and sound to share important moments in their lives. An advanced editor gives full control of the editing capabilities.
Acapela text to speech empowers Pictello with a wide range of voice persona to bring any story imaginable to life. It perfectly converts any text into pleasant speech for a pleasing audio result. North American English male and female voices are included, and up to 50 voices and 21 languages and dialects available as free downloads! Pictello does not require an active Internet connection for story creation or playback.
The current version of Pictello is localized in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Turkish.
Stories can be shared using iTunes File Sharing or via WiFi with other Pictello users through a free account on the Pictello Sharing Server.
Available on the Apple appstore, Price: $18.99 - Universal app for iPhone and iPad
See feedback from users on the Pictello facebook page 
and introduction video:
flashelement:pictello
Uses for Pictello stories include:Stories to teach social skills or to recall eventsPhoto albums to allow non-speaking people to share their news and interestsSharing important events and memories with family who live far away Talking booksTeaching narrative skills as part of a literacy or language skills curriculumSchedules, task instructions, etc.Sharing stories or writing group stories using iPad on a VGA monitor or interactive white board (VGA adapter required)Creating multilingual stories using text to speech or voice recordings

More information on AssistiveWare website]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/education-needs--talking-stories-on-iphone-and-ipad-with-pictello-2262-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/cute-learning-tool-on-iphone---ipad--word-wizard--the-talking-spelling-app-invites-kids-to-play-with-words-2261-speech-synthesis.html Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 December 1st, 2011


A rewarding and fun application to slip into Santa's sack!
Word Wizard is the first application of its kind to really make smart use of speech synthesis. Word Wizard enables kids to compose words and listen to the audio result, and indicates if their spelling is correct.
flashelement:wordwizard
An educational & recreational application
Through a colorful, simple and intuitive graphic interface, kids drag letters to compose
words and play with the sounds, either as they like or according to their level of writing and reading. Word Wizard allows kids to listen to the pronunciation of letters, words or sentences they compose themselves, tapped by their own fingers, thanks to a movable alphabet.
Acapela, the voice that catches kids' attention
Acapela speech synthesis handles the talking part of the application by vocalizing any written
text, with a female or male voice. Kids control the game, entering the words they like,
listening to the audio result, checking if the spelling is correct. Seeing, hearing and touching: the multi-sensory approach engages kids completely. And a help button enables them to progress at any time.
This application has been developed by l'Escapadou, a design studio dedicated to the creation of fun, creative and educational applications for iPhone & iPad.
'L'Escapadou was created right after the launch of the iPad, because we believe we have in our hands an amazing tool to help kids learn and increase their autonomy and creativity, in a fun and rewarding way. Combining Acapela text to speech with the iPad allowed us to create an interactive and talkative interface that captivates the interest of young users. The success of the English and the French versions has proved us right and we are about to launch the German and the Spanish ones.' adds Pierre Abel, L'Escapadou's founder.
L'Escapadou is a family-run design studio where the parents develop the applications and the graphic environments, inspired by their 4 and 7 year old kids - the very first beta-testers!
'Praised by the New York Times as a 'Speak 'N Spell for the iPad Generation' and promoted by Apple, Word Wizard, more than any other educational and recreational application, has made great use of speech synthesis, to favor learning in a very effective and pleasant way. And the enthusiasm of young Word Wizard users has unequivocally proved that!' adds Lars-Erik Larsson, Acapela group CEO.
Talking movable alphabet or spelling quiz
The application offers 2 modes and a full set of parameters so that it can be adapted to a kid's age and level of learning
Highlights of Talking Movable Alphabet
- Spell checker draws attention to unrecognized words
- 2 American voices and 1 British voice
- Optional magnetic grid to ease letters' placement
- Reads all the words as a sentence
- Uppercase or lowercase letters Phonics or letter name when a letter is touched in the alphabet
- voice Transformer (speed, tone) for added fun, 2 backgrounds
Highlights of Spelling Quiz
- 189 word lists of 10 words: Dolch Words, 1000 most frequently used words, body parts, family members, etc.
- Create custom word lists by entering own words and sentences, and even share lists
- Hints are available if kids do not know how to spell a word
- A variety of colorful animations are displayed when a word is completed
- Once a quiz is completed, a report is displayed and fun, interactive animations are available as a reward
Video available on You Tube
Price 2.99 USD - Universal application that runs both on iPhone and iPad
Available on the Apple appstore]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/cute-learning-tool-on-iphone---ipad--word-wizard--the-talking-spelling-app-invites-kids-to-play-with-words-2261-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/audio-publishing-on-the-cloud-easy-vocalization-of-your-newspapers-with-acapela-kiosk-website-2260-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100 November 29th, 2011


Try out acapela-kiosk.com, the new online service that offers a smart collaborative text to audio production solution.
Designed by Acapela Group, Acapela Kiosk website allows publishers to easily vocalize newspapers and long texts via a web interface, providing audio information access to all, including print-impaired users.
Using Acapela speech synthesis, acapela-kiosk.com turns written content into a pleasant and accurate audio result. Vocalization of newspapers & magazines, accessible publishing, Daisy books, self-publishing and podcasting are application areas that can all benefit from Acapela Kiosk.
Orchestrate your Audio content
Written content is automatically converted into speech, for easy listening, in MP3 or Daisy formats, in a few clicks and in the language and voices of your choice. Just use the cloud computing service to upload or enter the text to be vocalized, define your settings, produce your sound file and download the result for direct use, making the audio version immediately available to your readers.
Designed to offer advanced services to publishers and companies that want to enrich their content with an audio version, acapela-kiosk.com is intuitive, collaborative and easy to use.
The service's powerful back office offers optimum follow up of pending text to audio jobs, efficient collaboration between workers and if required, support from Acapela Kiosk experts.
The web interface ensures hands on management of all parts of audio production in a single place: from online editing and lexicon handling to production. All comments, messages and files sent and shared between workers are saved.
'Our high quality speech synthesis ensures a perfect, pleasant, audio production of any written content. Acapela Kiosk is the application layer that was missing between the technology and the publishers' needs. We look forward to bringing more innovative tools and solutions to the audio publishing market in which we are very much involved' says Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
To hear more about Acapela Kiosk, look at the talking tutorials and register on Acapela Kiosk website to get your own trial account.
http://www.acapela-kiosk.com]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/audio-publishing-on-the-cloud-easy-vocalization-of-your-newspapers-with-acapela-kiosk-website-2260-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/voice-expertise-by-acapela-group-talking-local-sounding-authentic-2258-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100 November 22nd, 2011


Acapela Group is proud to present 2 brand new voices speaking in Swedish dialects Skånska and Göteborgska.
Mia & Kal , the brand new Acapela voice personas, vocalize language and sounds that perfectly reflect the speech commonly used in two regions in Sweden. They capture subtle, cultural layers that permeate talking applications and services such as newspaper reading, aids for the visually impaired, speech disabled and dyslectic people, public speech announcements, smart phone apps, and much more.
Acapela's brand new spokespeople come in and enrich any company's portfolio with regional voices that convey local variations in speech and perfectly connect with the audience. The new voices embody the specificities of each dialect and sound authentic to the user.
'Acapela voice expertise is dedicated to bringing more sense, meaning and emotion to synthesized speech and to accurately reproducing more accents, differences and particular attributes to enhance the personality of synthesized voice. Getting the right accent, providing users with regional, local voices that they feel fully comfortable with are essential to the way Acapela Group looks at the use of voice in people's daily lives.' says Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
Mia & Kal have been created using Acapela Voice Factory, the Acapela Group voice-creation solution.
Acapela Voice Factory is often used by companies to create proprietary voices that become companies' spokespeople, help establish high value added services and strengthen the audio identity of organizations.
The new Göteborgska and Skånska voices enrich the Acapela standard voice portfolio and widen its linguistic coverage of the Nordic region. Skånska, a regrouping of the dialects spoken by people living in the south of Sweden, and Göteborgska, spoken by people in the southwest part of Sweden (Gothenburg and its surroundings) are part of the almost 100 dialects used in the country.]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/voice-expertise-by-acapela-group-talking-local-sounding-authentic-2258-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/accessibility-to-elections-for-all-acapela-voice-synthesis-helps-visually-impaired-users-to-vote-for-spanish-national-election-on-nov-20th--2257-speech-synthesis.html Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100 November 18th, 2011


Antonio, the Acapela male Spanish voice, will be used during the upcoming elections to provide audio support.
Speech synthesis will allow blind and visually impaired voters to participate in the elections without requesting assistance, therefore respecting their right to privacy.
The Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs will be running a pilot test and Antonio's natural and pleasant voice will contribute to erasing barriers providing audio access to written information.
An application using Acapela's Spanish voice will guide the voter with audio information and provide them all necessary information to select their candidate up to the confirmation and printing of the ballot paper, which is inserted in an envelope ready for the vote. Free from any assistance and fully confidentially.
The pilot will be held in Distrito 02 IES Juan de la Cierva, Calle de la Caoba, 1. 28005 Madrid.]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/accessibility-to-elections-for-all-acapela-voice-synthesis-helps-visually-impaired-users-to-vote-for-spanish-national-election-on-nov-20th--2257-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/social-networking--tweet-speaker-listen-to-twitter-with-acapela-voices-2255-speech-synthesis.html Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 October 24th, 2011


Enjoy Twitter while on a walk, stuck in traffic, in the kitchen, or on the go. Tweet Speaker lets you listen to news, sports, humor, and the musings of interesting people on Twitter - a sort of live podcast of your Tweets, that uses Acapela's pleasant voices to read your tweets in real time.

Featuring a beautiful user interface, speech tailored for tweets, Tweet Marker support, adjustable reading speed, and Airplay, Tweet Speaker is a fun new way to experience Twitter.
Tweet Speaker is using the AcapelaTTS for iPhone and iPad solution. It was designed by App Cubby.
Check out www.acapela-for-iphone.com and get all the information you need to start developing smart talkative apps. Get the trial version of the SDKs, the latest news, follow what's happening on twitter and on the blog, access our FAQ, make direct contact with Acapela's Product Manager and enter the vocal dimension.
Acapela voices already voice empower more than 100 apps, with over 1 million downloads by iPhone & iPad users. Strengthened by the positive feedback and a well established dialog installed with developers, Acapela Group is  committed more than ever to the mobility community providing developers specific solutions, perfectly answering their needs with straight forward tools, and efficiently supporting them.
Check out the Acapela-for-iphone gallery and experience what speech synthesis has already brought to smart talking apps.]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/social-networking--tweet-speaker-listen-to-twitter-with-acapela-voices-2255-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/research--and--innovation-meet-acapela-group-at-the-european-innovation-summit---eis-2011---2254-speech-synthesis.html Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 October 10th, 2011


One of the most renowned innovation conferences in the European Union will take place for the third time in partnership with the EU Presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
 Acapela Group will be on the Eureka stand presenting its contribution to Emospeech, biospeak and DYISE European projects, demonstrating how speech synthesis is working on conveying more meaning and emotions to speech solutions.
'Participation in European projects is essential to Acapela Group. It's an exceptional opportunity to sit down around the table with key technological players to share expertise and work together to build new milestones for innovation.' says Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
Acapela Group will be happy to talk about speech innovation with voices that read the content with intelligence and emotion, that are happy or sad, that sing and surprise by their naturalness. Voices more sensitive, meaningful, vivid that take into account the variations of a language, and the multiple aspects that make it unique, to better relate the content and tell the story.
More information about the European Innovation Summit: http://www.knowledge4innovation.eu/EIS/SitePages/eis2011_home.aspx
More information about Eureka: http://www.eurekanetwork.org/]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/research--and--innovation-meet-acapela-group-at-the-european-innovation-summit---eis-2011---2254-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/gitex-2011-get-your-mobile-apps-talking-with-acapela-arabic-voices--2253-speech-synthesis.html Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 October 7th, 2011


Up to 30 languages & 60 voices, including 4 Arabic voices, are at the disposal of any and all developers. 
Visit Acapela booth, Sheikh Saeed Hall, S1-C9A - Gitex 2011, Oct 9-13, Dubai, UAE
Developers can rely on Acapela TTS for Android and Acapela TTS for iPhone & iPad to deploy their smart talkative apps. Other Acapela SDKs for mobile devices include support for Windows Mobile, Linux Embedded and  Symbian.
Easy talking apps!
'Acapela SDKs have been created to meet developers needs with   straightforward tools to give a say to their apps. Dedicated websites - Acapela TTS for iPhone & iPad and AcapelaTTS for Android- are the latest places to develop talkative apps, through a few lines of code, thanks to the easy to use and intuitive Java API and premium support' comments Antoine Kauffeisen, Acapela Group VP Marketing.
Check out www.acapela-for-android.com and www.acapela-for-iphone.com websites and get all the information you need to start developing smart talkative apps. Get the trial version of the SDKs, share the latest news, follow what's happening on twitter and on the blog, access our FAQ, make direct contact with Acapela's Product Manager and enter the vocal dimension.
Multilingual portfolio & bright Arabic voices:
Meet Nizar (the fully bilingual Arabic/English bilingual voice), Salma, Leila and Medhi, and choose the one you prefer to voice empower your app.
Or ask Acapela experts to create your own, unique, synthesized voice talent.
Hear Acapela voice samples at http://www.acapela-group.com/arabic-30-text-to-voice.html or test our online demo with your own words.
Acapela voices already voice empower more than 100 apps, with over 1 million downloads by iPhone & iPad users and numerous deployments are planned for the android market. Strengthened by the positive feedback and a well established dialog installed with developers, Acapela Group is  committed more than ever towards the mobility community providing developers specific solutions, perfectly answering their needs with straight forward tools, and efficiently supporting them.
Check out the Acapela-for-iphone gallery and experience what speech synthesis has already brought to smart talking apps.

With TKallam, hear your Arabic and English text read aloud by Acapela voices.
With iSpeak Arabic, use a powerful Arabic/English translator.
With iQamos, use a powerful Arabic/English dictionary that automatically and accurately pronounces Arabic and English words and sentences in clear native sounds. ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/gitex-2011-get-your-mobile-apps-talking-with-acapela-arabic-voices--2253-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/online-marketing-swedish-campaign-invites-you-to-produce-and-guest-star-in-a-movie-about-your-own-career-2252-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0200 September 20th, 2011


Ledarna, a Swedish organization dedicated to managers, provides its users with an original, innovative experience based on their own career.
In a recent campaign, Ledarna invites managers to market themselves through a new kind of talking movie which features their own résumé. Acapela voices come in as spokespeople to vocalize the information for each curriculum vitae.

Watch Acapela's movie
Connect directly to your LinkedIn account or enter your information manually. Personal data about your studies and professional career, a comment from your colleagues and a photo are the inputs to this movie where you are the guest star, and the story is your own. 

Look at your own movie, share it with your contacts and discover a new way to introduce yourself, and have fun.The Ledarna campaign uses Acapela VaaS, an online Text to Speech cloud service that allows you to speech enable any web application, in real time. Acapela text to speech vocalizes the user-generated content with pleasant natural voices and speaks volumes in a campaign that people will remember and talk about.
Experience Ledarna for yourself at http://varldensbastacv.ledarna.se (in Swedish).
Check out more Acapela success stories featuring talking campaigns that people will remember and talk about.
Ledarna: www.ledarna.se
Campaign designed by Gyro: www.gyrosthlm.se]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/online-marketing-swedish-campaign-invites-you-to-produce-and-guest-star-in-a-movie-about-your-own-career-2252-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/new-version-of-infovox-3-the-portable-talking-companion-adds-8-voices-to-its-repertoire-and-localized-interfaces--2251-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0200 September 13th, 2011


infovox3, the all-in-one solution for the visually impaired, which provides seamless access to written information, is now available in version 3.1.
Using Acapela speech synthesis, infovox 3 speech empowers any PC with pleasant voices, transforming any written text into speech, in real time. No matter where the user is - at home, in the office or on the move using different computers.

8 new voices
The new version (3.1) includes 8 new pleasant, natural voices meaning that infovox 3 now offers a portfolio of 24 languages and 58 voices. End users can choose up to 5 voices from this wide repertoire - with different genders and voice personas - so they feel fully comfortable with the voices that become their daily companions. The choice between languages provides access to information in foreign languages as well as language learning.
Hear the new voices of infovox 3:Zoe, the female Belgian Dutch voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/dutch-b-34-text-to-voice.htmlJasmijn and Daan, two new Dutch voices, female and male, http://www.acapela-group.com/dutch-nl-33-text-to-voice.htmlAndreas, the male German voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/german-40-text-to-voice.htmlFabiana, the female Italian voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/italian-42-text-to-voice.htmlBente, the female Norwegian voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/norwegian-43-text-to-voice.htmlInes, the female Spanish voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/spanish-48-text-to-voice.htmlEmil, the male Swedish voice, http://www.acapela-group.com/swedish-49-text-to-voice.html
Localized versions: Infovox 3 is now entirely available with an Italian interface, and an Arabic interface is available for the control panel application.
 New features : The NVDA screenreader included in infovox3 has been updated and can also be installed locally on any PC.
To hear more about infovox 3, Click here for a cheerful talking presentation, performed by Acapela voices or visit the infovox 3 product webpage ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/new-version-of-infovox-3-the-portable-talking-companion-adds-8-voices-to-its-repertoire-and-localized-interfaces--2251-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/leading-role-for-acapela-19-acapela-voices-support-actors-and-help-them-memorize-their-lines-on-iphone---ipad-2250-speech-synthesis.html Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0200 September 8th, 2011


A new version of the Scene Partner® app ensures actors memorize their part even faster and easier. The latest version, also designed for iPad, has a wider, improved voice repertoire thanks to 17 additional English voices from Acapela Group.
Scene Partner is a smart weapon designed to combat the universal actors' fear of forgetting their lines. The award winning app has been created by MyTheaterApps.com - a developer of mobile applications for the theater community.

While no solution can guarantee actors won't ever forget their lines, Scene Partner gives them a tool that they can use and partner with. Acapela text to speech comes in to transform any written text into natural speech in real time, with the full richness of language and complete respect for breath groups, pauses and punctuation. Together with Scene Partner, Acapela text to speech offers a unique and highly efficient talking interface which helps actors with the age old problem of how to memorize lines.
19 different voices are available as 'in-app' purchase. Users choose which one - female or male - they want to work with and select a voice persona they feel fully comfortable with, that best suits the lines to be memorized.
About MyTheaterApps.com: http://www.scenepartnerapp.com
MyTheaterApps.com is the developer of Scene Partner, an award winning App for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that helps actors learn their lines. It merges text to speech software from the Acapela Group, voice recording and advanced algorithms to provide a unique and innovative tool for actors. It was released in early November 2010. Within the first week, Apple listed it as "New and Noteworthy" on the App Store, The Wall Street Journal ran a story about the app in its "App Watch" section, and Tom Cruise, the American Theater Wing (producers of the Tony Awards) and the Public Theater in NYC all tweeted about Scene Partner to their followers.
A media kit is available at https://www.ScenePartnerApp.com/ScenePartnerMediaKit.pdf ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/leading-role-for-acapela-19-acapela-voices-support-actors-and-help-them-memorize-their-lines-on-iphone---ipad-2250-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/making-digital-television-accessible-to-all-acapela-gives-a-voice-to-tv-speak-from-code-factory--2249-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0200 August 30th, 2011


TV Speak from Code Factory enables the blind or visually impaired to use the most common functionality of digital television. The application needs to be installed on a computer equipped to receive a digital television signal.
Acapela voices turn information necessary to access television into pleasant speech and vocally guide the user through the TV functions. Speech output with Acapela voices, combined with magnification, provides access to the most frequently used features of digital television.

'The way people watch television is changing. In the near future we will all use television to access the web and consume multimedia content and digital information. Blind people cannot be left out of this new world of possibilities. Therefore television has to be accessible and TV Speak is our first contribution to this field' explains Eduard Sánchez, Code Factory's CEO.
'Digital information and recent affordability of Accessibility applications combined with consumer devices are changing the landscape instantly. The Accessibility market is booming with new opportunities for the end user. As a bespoke voice partner of assistive solutions, we are proud to give the say to TV Speak.' comments Lars-Erik Larsson, Acapela Group's CEO.
TV Speak includes:   Common TV functions: move channels up and down, change the volume, etc.    Configuration of both television and TV Speak parameters.    Access to teletext.    Access to the Electronic Program Guide (EPG).    Tune and manage television and radio channels.    Record television programs (image + audio, or audio only).    Parental control.
TV Speak is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Czech, Italian and Catalan.
For more information: http://www.codefactory.es/en/ ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/making-digital-television-accessible-to-all-acapela-gives-a-voice-to-tv-speak-from-code-factory--2249-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/mapping-the-way-forward-on-iphone-acapela-voices-guide-iway-gps-navigation-users-in-20-languages--2248-speech-synthesis.html Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200 July 11th, 2011


iWay GPS Navigation is a complete and versatile navigation system for iPhone which guides end users throughout their journey with clear and precise vocal instructions, using Acapela voices. Polyglot, iWay speaks 20 languages and it leads the way through 193 countries. By foot, bike or car, you will take your eyes off the screen and simply be guided by one of the 45 voices selected by Soleasoft, the developer of iWay, from Acapela's extensive voice-portfolio.

Acapela voice synthesis turns any written information into speech, in real time. For navigation purposes this means that speech synthesis can provide contextual and turn by turn information with specific information such as street name, road sign or POI details. Messages vocalized by Acapela go beyond the usual, basic, pre-recorded instructions such as 'in 100 meters, turn right' used by many systems.
The intelligent and reliable navigation of iWay means users can quickly get their bearings and anticipate where to go next, especially comforting when traveling abroad.
iWay also allows users to make the most of their journey, enabling them to look out for POIs or to receive vocal and sound warnings when approaching speed cameras. Maps are displayed with different views, including a 3D Satellite bird's-eye view, and the maps' orientation is optimized thanks to the iPhone's integrated magnetic compass. And of course advanced features allow users to keep communicating easily with contacts and a social network, and to follow up e-mails and SMS.
iWay GPS works on iPhone 3, 3GS and 4 and iPad 1 and 2 (with 3G option) with iOS 4 installed. It also works on iPod with a gps optional kit.
Price: 3.99 USD + 1.99 USD per voice/in app purchase.
Available at the appstore:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id435465224?mt=8&ls=1&origin=soleasoft
More information about Soleasoft]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/mapping-the-way-forward-on-iphone-acapela-voices-guide-iway-gps-navigation-users-in-20-languages--2248-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/audio-books-for-mobiles-and-tablets-mediatools-uses-acapela-to-give-a-voice-to-kids-books-on-ipad--2244-speech-synthesis.html Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 June 30th, 2011


Mediatools - a multimedia agency dedicated to the creation of digital content for websites, iPhone, iPad, Android and interactive kiosk has been awarded the 'Digital Economy Prize for Innovation 2011' for its interactive children's books available on the web, smartphone and iPad.

Mediatools offers multimedia versions of the printed format including magic books that can be flipped through page by page just like the printed version but enriched with audio content, interactive stories scripted and animated to offer an interactive experience to children, and even customized multimedia books which contain multilingual options and edutainment games.
'We offer young users a new reading experience. Stories and tales are adapted to new medias enriching them with new capabilities, with no additional work for the publisher. Acapela text to speech enables easy vocalization in numerous languages, with natural voices that are fully accepted by our young readers' comments Dimitri Galitzine, Mediatools founder.
Acapela text to speech converts the written word into speech enabling the easy production of voice files, with a wide repertoire of voices that vocally animate content. Talking books are evolving quickly and Acapela voices are catching publishers' attention, offering a quality and affordable solution for telling stories to children of all ages.
More information about Mediatools at http://www.mediatools.fr]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/audio-books-for-mobiles-and-tablets-mediatools-uses-acapela-to-give-a-voice-to-kids-books-on-ipad--2244-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/easy-voice-file-production-virtual-speaker-adds-18-new-pleasant-voices-to-its-repertoire-2241-speech-synthesis.html Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 June 22nd, 2011


Virtual Speaker is a smart virtual PC recording studio brought to you by Acapela Group. It is part of a product family designed to allow the easy generation of sound files using any computer, without the need for any technical knowledge.
Virtual Speaker converts any written text into voice files, 24/7 in up to 25 languages with a natural, pleasant repertoire of 57 voices which are all excellent spokespeople and content animators.
Here are the new talents that have just joined Virtual Speaker's cast, to help you speak volumes:Arabic: Leila, Nizar, MehdiCatalan: LaiaDanish: RasmusDutch: Daan, JasmijnDutch (Belgian): ZoeEnglish (Indian): DeepaEnglish (UK): Queen ElizabethEnglish (US): TracyFrench: AntoineGerman: AndreasItalian: FabianaNorwegian: BenteSpanish: InèsSwedish: Emil.Swedish (Finnish): Samuel
All the voice files created by Virtual Speaker are produced from simple text files. Speech synthesis converts the written text into natural speech using the language, the voice and the audio output format which best meets your need. Registering a new message or updating an existing one is as simple as editing a text file and clicking to save. Creation of multiple messages at once may be achieved with one simple click.
Here are some examples of applications where Virtual Speaker would be invaluable:
Add a voiceover to your training sessions, in several languages, while keeping the delivery and updating processes very simple, for a lively and easy to follow, and therefore more efficient, e-learning application.
The right information at the right time and in the right place! Broadcast information in public places (airports, stations, shops etc.) in a light and agreeable way, skipping the heavy maintenance required in using and updating a library of pre-recorded messages.
Guide your web visitors in a fast and efficient yet warm and user-friendly way, while also reaping all the benefits of providing a fully accessible website.
Meet your telephone customers with constantly updated information and avoid the time and expense involved in producing a new recording each time information changes.
For more information and talking tutorials, visit the Virtual Speaker's product webpage]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/easy-voice-file-production-virtual-speaker-adds-18-new-pleasant-voices-to-its-repertoire-2241-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/speech-solutions-acapela-group-tops-the-charts-with-10-new-voices-2247-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 June 14th, 2011


Acapela Group is happy to present a bright cast of 10 brand new voices: meet Zoe, Daan, Jasmijn, Andreas, Fabiana, Sakura, Bente, Ines, Emil and Lulu on Acapela's website 
Vocal expert Acapela is releasing 10 brand new voices that enhance, enrich and enliven the range of speech solutions offered to end users and companies, introducing new voice characters of both genders, essential to meet the needs of Acapela's customers and partners. End users are looking for diversity, to select a voice that they feel perfectly comfortable with to be used as their daily or occasional companion. Companies are looking for voices that suit their service or application and form part of their audio identity.
'The way we - all of us -  judge and select a voice is a highly individual mix. Besides naturalness and intelligibility, voice synthesis has to convey multiple information through different layers such as accent, intonation and prosody. Acapela is dedicated to offering a wide choice of voices to reflect as far as possible, the range and variety of existing human voices. The ten new members of Acapela's portfolio are an integral part of Acapela's desire to create voices ever closer to the way people communicate.' comments Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
New members include Sakura, a brand new Japanese voice and Lulu, a brand new Chinese one. They will dramatically widen Acapela's linguistic coverage of Asia enabling the company to reach new markets and offer an enriched portfolio to its customers and partners.
Acapela's new stars include: Zoe (Belgian Dutch)Daan (Dutch)Jasmijn (Dutch)Andreas (German)Fabiana (Italian)Sakura (Japanese)Bente (Norwegian)Ines (Spanish)Emil (Swedish)Lulu (Chinese)
Acapela's in-depth knowledge and expertise in voice, language and industrialization processes allow the reproduction of any human voice (including celebrities), any accents and dialects. While the standard portfolio fully answers standard needs, the optimal, advanced, yet very affordable solution is a custom made voice, created by Acapela linguistic experts for exclusive use. Major brands and prestigious agencies have already understood and benefitted from the potential of such voices that are created by the Acapela Voice Factory solution.
More information on http://www.acapela-group.com
]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/speech-solutions-acapela-group-tops-the-charts-with-10-new-voices-2247-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/free-talking-widget-by-acapela-group-personalize-your-own-chatty-spot--2246-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 June 7th, 2011


'A widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship'.
intranetnewswidget
The talking  widget brought to you by Acapela Group is all that PLUS the voice…
It is about bringing fun, audio content and sense on your page, in the language and voice of your choice… Just pick up your favourite one among Acapela's large repertory of voice personalities and speech animate your web.
Customize the color, type in a short message to welcome your visitors , change or not the size of the app and copy and paste the few lines of code to have your own talkative spot on your blog or webpage, for free.
Use the cheerful voices of Acapela's ingenious talking widget to support you in your language learning with some words or phrases, to animate your blog, to read simple messages that you would like to hear rather than read... It's up to you to make it speak the way you like.
Get yours at http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to-speech-widget-blog.html
Acapela Talking widget uses Acapela text to speech solution which allows to turn any written text  into speech, in real time. For more information about Acapela Group, the bespoke voice solution expert, www.acapela-group.com. For more fun, have a walk on www.acapela.tv.

]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/free-talking-widget-by-acapela-group-personalize-your-own-chatty-spot--2246-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/monitoring-systems-cnes---the-french-space-agency--employs-acapela-speech-synthesis-to-enhance-supervision-in-operation-centres-2245-speech-synthesis.html Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0200 June 6th, 2011



CNES (French space agency), the government agency responsible for shaping and implementing France's space policy in Europe, has adopted Acapela's speech synthesis to automatically vocalise alarm messages when anomalies are detected in satellite and mission control centres.
Within CNES, the Operations division of the Toulouse Space Centre, has been using Acapela Speech Unit for several years as an alarm emission module for their alarm management system, employed for monitoring in satellite control centres.
Acapela Speech Unit, a hardware solution emitting vocal alerts by telephone or a sound network, was devised by Acapela to easily add a vocal function to SCADA systems (Supervision, Control and Data Acquisition). The Acapela Speech Unit is used by the alarm management system, deployed by the Generic Ground Systems service of the Products and Ground Segments division, to vocally relay critical information to operators.
If an anomaly is detected by the monitoring and alarm management system, an alarm is emitted. The Acapela Speech Unit ensures that this alarm is automatically transmitted as an informative vocal message relayed as an audible announcement in the control centre or immediately transmitted by phone to the agents on call. Vocal messages have been introduced lately to enhance other communication channels such as SMS in order to broaden the means by which alarms can be transmitted to optimise teams' reaction times.
- At the heart of the control room itself, the message is sometimes relayed to everyone
present, for the most effective diffusion of the alarm.
- By telephone, Acapela Speech Unit activates an alarm directly to the person on call, who
receives the message in clear and intelligible voices, enabling extremely rapid and efficient on-site reaction.
The Acapela Speech Unit is a stand alone hardware box which connects easily to all existing SCADA systems, providing improved performance through the use of voice, in 24 languages. Today the CNES uses English, French and Spanish in male and female voices. The different voices are used to associate particular voices with particular satellites or missions, so allowing immediate identification, from the first words, of the satellite or mission concerned by the alarm.
'Acapela Speech Unit plays an integral part in the supervision and alarm management chain. The vocal function is used at an operational level in the operation centres as well as in certain activities linked to surveillance of instruments during development. The transmission of messages by synthesized speech enables the teams concerned to react as effectively as possible in an optimized operational setting' added CNES.
'This solution has proved itself for over 10 years in extremely sensitive and often completely automated sites, relaying the alarm as quickly as possible. This intelligent alarm box is used in many petrol refineries, electrical power stations and water treatment centres. We are very proud that the reliability of our vocal alert solution as well as the intelligibility of Acapela voices have won the approval of CNES and been used for several years' commented Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO Acapela Group.
About CNES: http://www.cnes.fr
Since its creation in 1961 CNES has designed and put into orbit satellites and has invented space systems of tomorrow. Through this process, CNES innovates, anticipates and contributes towards progress in the knowledge and the emergence of new technologies and services useful in our every day lives in the following areas: the access to space - the Earth, environment, climate; applications for the general public; sciences of the universe; security and defence.
CNES has four sites: Paris (headquarters and administrative centre), Evry (launcher directorate), Kourou (launch site) and Toulouse (orbital systems). The Toulouse Space Centre (CST) designs, develops, builds and puts into orbit, controls and operates vehicles and complete space systems for which CNES is responsible (satellites, probes, balloons). CNES Toulouse is leading simultaneously around 40 space projects in cooperation with about 20 countries.]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/monitoring-systems-cnes---the-french-space-agency--employs-acapela-speech-synthesis-to-enhance-supervision-in-operation-centres-2245-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/ready-to-speak-with-html5-hear-acapela-s-breakthrough-talking-demo-2243-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 +0200 May 31st, 2011


Acapela Group, the bespoke voice expert, is proud to present its first HTML5 talking demo on Google Chrome.
Click, discover and enjoy with Acapela super hero what speech synthesis can bring to your applications with a few lines of code, to easily speech animate your content, in 30 languages!

Warning!Make sure you use Google Chrome 11 to try Acapela's HTML5 talking demo.
With this straightforward demo, Acapela Group once again demonstrates its commitment towards the developer communities to provide them with efficient & powerful tools and speech solutions to help them take the floor successfully!
The HTML5 demo uses Acapela VaaS solution, the cloud computing solution developed to give the say to any application, on line. http://www.acapela-vaas.com ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/ready-to-speak-with-html5-hear-acapela-s-breakthrough-talking-demo-2243-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/voice-repertory-meet-deepa-acapela-s-brand-new-indian-english-voice-2242-speech-synthesis.html Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 +0200 May 27th, 2011


Deepa is a new member of the Acapela voice Family. With its bright Indian English accent, Deepa enriches Acapela linguistic coverage. The voice expert demonstrates once again its expertise and capacity to develop specific voices providing a pleasant voice to speech empower any service or application targeting Indian English speaking people.
Click here to hear a sample or type in your own words on the interative demo

The Indian English voice joins the wide portfolio of UK English, US English and Arabic English voices and widens the voice personalities available at Acapela to give the say to content.
Development of new voices, either male, female or kid voices, with specific accents is fully part of Acapela's aim to provide voice companions that sound familiar to the users.
Samuel, the brand Finland Swedish voice, Laia, the catalan one or Nizar the Arabic/English bilingual voice are already performing local vocalization of content. Other accents and personalization of voices are engaged and should speak volume quite soon and keep enriching Acapela's repertory.]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/voice-repertory-meet-deepa-acapela-s-brand-new-indian-english-voice-2242-speech-synthesis.html http://www.acapela-group.com/viral-marketing-acapela-voices-enable-players-from-swedish-betting-company-svenska-spel-to-express-their-view-about-sports--2240-speech-synthesis.html Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 +0200 May 17th, 2011


Acapela voices and it's cloud computing solution Acapela Voice as a Service have once again been engaged in an online viral campaign in Sweden. This time it is the betting service Oddset from Svenska spel, the largest gaming operator in Sweden, who launches a campaign called 'What do they think'.
The players of Oddset are given the opportunity to express their view about sports through a speaking animation by uploading a picture & typing in a text which are transformed into a living animation with an amazing result. The person in the picture gets life and speaks with the very words chosen by the Internet user. The idea is for instance to make a supporter of a specific team say something nice about another team and so forth.
Create your own animated talking comment at http://vadtrordom.svenskaspel.se
Swedish agencies TBWA and Stopp created the campaign using advanced 3D animation technology from Japanese company Motion Portrait and high quality text-to-speech from Acapela Group. The speech functionality is offered in five different languages, with both male and female voices, each one of them in three different versions, helium, slow or normal. The online text to speech conversion is made possible with the cloud computing solution from Acapela Voice as a Service, http://www.acapela-vaas.com 
The campaign will run during May and might take up again after a summer break.

About Stopp:  http://www.stopp.se
About Svenska Spel: https://svenskaspel.se/p4.aspx?pageid=527 ]]> http://www.acapela-group.com/viral-marketing-acapela-voices-enable-players-from-swedish-betting-company-svenska-spel-to-express-their-view-about-sports--2240-speech-synthesis.html