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Viral marketing: Advertising agency Forsman & Bodenfors chooses Acapela to create helium voices from Popular TV commercial.

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

March 3rd, 2010

Record your voicemail message with helium voices known from Swedish TV commercial.
There are probably not many Swedes who have missed the TV commercial for Triss, the most popular instant win game in the country, where a company receptionist, a lady of a certain age, suddenly one day starts speaking to everybody with a very strange squeaky voice (by inhaling helium gas from a balloon). This campaign for Svenska Spel, the largest gaming operator in Sweden, and the Triss lottery, known as 'Imagine having work a bit more like a hobby', was created by the agency Forsman & Bodenfors.
In the follow-up web campaign on the same theme, web visitors are invited to record their voicemail messages with helium voices and in that way try by themselves to imagine work a bit more like a hobby. In a flash-based application (banner) connected to Acapela's online service for text-to-speech conversion, the user types in his/her reply message, selects a male or a female voice and listens to the result. When satisfied, he/she looks up the recording mode for the voicemail on the mobile phone and holds it against the computer's speakers. The reply message is recorded.
The web application is developed by the digital production agency Rebenga and the campaign is launched through web site banner advertising.
Have a look at the application and try it for yourself on:
https://svenskaspel.se/p4.aspx?pageid=1025#pinfo=140
Forsman & Bodenfors chose Acapela to help them implement the text-to-speech part of the campaign. By manipulating the pitch and speed of Acapela standard voices they managed to create voices similar to so-called helium voices.
Acapela Voice as a Service
This is just one example among many illustrating how Acapela's text-to-speech, through Acapela Voice as a Service, is being used by leading advertising agencies in web-based campaigns. Clients who have benefitted from Voice as a Service include easyJet, Nestlé, Lacoste, Mac Donalds and IT Resurs. Thanks in large part to the viral effect, these campaigns have generally been very successful and attracted a lot of attention.
Acapela Voice as a Service is an online text-to-speech cloud that allows you to easily speech-enable any web application. Whenever your application needs to talk, connect to our VaaS server, send the text and let VaaS do the talking. 25 languages and up to 50 voices at your disposal, 24/7. Whether you use Flash, or any other language that can communicate over HTTP (PHP, ASP, JSP, Java, or .Net) our API lets you access all the possibilities of Voice as a Service.
To get more information and sign up for an evaluation account, check out the Acapela Voice as a Service dedicated website: http://www.acapela-vaas.com.To see examples of creative solutions illustrating how to combine text-to-speech and online applications, visit www.acapela.tv
About Forsman & Bodenfors: www.fb.se
About Rebenga: www.rebenga.se

Voice as a Service: Acapela gives a voice to nationwide ad campaign for Swedish bank SEB.

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

February 15th, 2010

Advertising agencies Storåkers and MRM Starsky have created an advertising campaign on behalf of the Swedish bank SEB. Called 'Simplify your everyday life', the campaign promotes the bank's main services. It has been launched widely through different media such as direct marketing, billboards, web advertising and radio spots. A dedicated website created by MRM Starsky, www.seb.se/enkla, is the focus of the campaign.

Acapela's voices feature in one of this website's applications, "Easy refunding". The home page of the site, looking like a bulletin board with a number of Post-it notes, presents various services and packages offered by the bank but also other things that can help simplify the daily life of its new and old customers. By clicking on the Post-it note "Simple refunding - Help to get back small loans " the visitor has the opportunity to use Acapela's voices to remind a friend to repay what they owe. In other words, the bank is now offering a creative and amusing way to recover small loans from friends, a situation which can sometimes be awkward.
Easy refunding
On entering the application "Easy refunding" you first choose whether you wish to send the reminder via Facebook or by e-mail. Then you select the type of expense concerned, such as lunch, gift, or badminton game, and the amount your friend owes (up to 200 SEK). Finally, you choose which of Acapela's three Swedish voices, Elin, Emma or Erik, will read out the message to the recipient. The selected options are then inserted into a predetermined standard phrase. After you have tested it and agreed, the message is sent to your friend. When he or she gets the e-mail, or the post on Facebook, the message is read out loud: "Hello John Smith, I'm missing 39 kronor from the badminton game the other day. Is this something to do with you?"
"The Acapela text to speech function is an excellent tool, giving extra spice to the campaign site. The quality of the reading of the text, chosen by the visitor, comes as a surprise to many people and encourages them to recommend the application to their friends, which is brilliant," says Markus Thirl, project manager at MRM Starsky.
"We are really happy to contribute to this highly creative campaign. The growing use of text to speech in interactive web campaigns makes more and more people aware that the speech synthesis we can offer today is of very good quality", comments Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
This is just one example among many illustrating how Acapela's text-to-speech, through Acapela Voice as a Service, is being used by leading advertising agencies in web-based campaigns. Clients who have benefitted from Voice as a Service include easyJet, Nestlé, Lacoste, Mac Donalds and IT Resurs. Thanks in large part to the viral effect, these campaigns have generally been very successful and attracted a lot of attention.
Acapela Voice as a Service is an online Text to Speech cloud that allows you to easily speech enable any web application. Whenever your application needs to talk, connect to our VaaS server, send the text and let VaaS do the talking. 25 languages and up to 50 voices at your disposal, 24/7. Whether you use Flash, or any other language that can communicate over HTTP - PHP, ASP, JSP, Java, or .Net - our API lets you access all the possibilities of Voice as a Service.
To get more information and sign up for an evaluation account, check out the Acapela Voice as a Service dedicated website: http://www.acapela-vaas.com.To see examples of creative solutions illustrating how to combine text to speech and online applications, visit www.acapela.tv

Easy talking online mobile apps: Acapela Group provides online speech synthesis capability for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. .

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

February 9th, 2010

To be unveiled at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Barcelona
VISIT Acapela booth to try out our talking demos, live!
Acapela Group, expert and inventor of innovative vocal solutions,will be announcing the availability of its cloud computing service to mobile developers, for easy talking apps deployment to speech empower iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms, at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Acapela aims to create a vocal world accessible to anyone, whatever the size of their project, and to promote and open the use of speech to all developers. As such the company fully supports the increasing demand for online resources and is enhancing its cloud computing service by providing cross-platform access which meets the demands of the mobile market.
iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile or Symbian developers will all benefit from Acapela's on-line service, to easily add the ability to talk to their app, temporarily use text to speech resources to vocalize interactive campaigns, mobile advertising, games or e-learning, or introduce speech capability for the first time.
Acapela's online text to speech grants mobile developers full access to all its highest quality voices and languages, at a controlled and low cost, free from any footprint issues.
Acapela VaaS for Mobile is an invitation to all developers to easily experience speech synthesis for the first time. They then choose the voice interface best adapted to their project: connect the app online, use sound files or integrate the speech engine. Acapela offers the full range of speech options, to shape and meet all vocalization needs.
Acapela VaaS will be available for iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian Smart phones, in 25 languages and 50 voices.
Check out http://www.acapela-vaas.com and apply for your free test account.
Acapela VaaS for Mobile will be unveiled during the Mobile World Congress - further information will be available on the acapela-vaas website from Feb 15th.
Hear more about Acapea VaaS and meet the Acapela Team during the GSMA Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, booth 2E59
http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/exhibition/whos_exhibiting.htm

Audio Guides for iPhone: Hiking and tourist trails - just follow the guide with Geolives-M!.

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

February 2nd, 2010

Geolives, editor of maps & GPS solutions for outdoor activities, has launched Geolives-M, an iPhone application designed to search and share audio guides, vocalized with Acapela voices, in more than 20 languages and a wide choice of voices.
Wherever you are in the world, visiting a capital city or hiking off the beaten track, Geolives-M allows you to select routes sorted by activity around your GPS location.
Follow the guide!
Find your way with only an iPhone, without the need for a bulky book or printed map.Throughout your itinerary, and according to your GPS positioning, you automatically access images, youTube videos and written information read out loud by a synthesized voice. You also get acquainted with Wikipedia geo-localized articles (already more than 80000 articles available in 13 languages) which are read to you, on the spot, by highly natural voices from Acapela.
20 languages and a wide choice of voices to show you the way
Acapela speech synthesis is your perfect guide, reliably turning written information into speech, reading proper names, dates and figures with precision. Choose among Geolives-M's repertory of voices the one, female or male, which will be your companion throughout your route.
'Geolives-M must provide high quality and fast to download audio guides. Acapela voices allow us to perfectly vocalize information from any text format, with an excellent audio result in many languages. It was the right choice for our application which offers to the end user a cheerful talking interface which fully meets their needs' said Yves Peeters, Geolives General Manager.
Community websites allow users to make the most of their experiences with additional features and to share their favorite trails and itineraries on line. Geolives.com enables the selection of specific topographic maps for a range of European countries and routeyou.com paves the way to over 180 000 hikes and outdoor activities the world over.
Geolives-M - Features
flashelement:geolives
- Access to maps from Google Maps worldwide and possibility to order topographic maps (offline) for some European countries
- Search feature for places or sights
- Search for trails by criteria: type of activity, nearness, duration, etc.
- POI associated with downloaded routes are highlighted (by pins)
- Record and classify trails by activity, save and send to e-mail or Geolives account
- Unit display in miles/feet or km/m
- Real time trail information (distance, time, etc.)

Sold at 4.99 €, the Geolives-M application is provided with one synthesized voice from Acapela.
Additional voices can be acquired for 1.99 €/voice.

Available languages : Czech, Dutch NL, Dutch BE, English UK, English US, Danish, Finnish, French, French Canadian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish .

About Geolives
Geolives has been offering geo-localized audio guide solutions to community websites (B2C) and professionals (B2B) since January 2010. Geolives aims to provide content editors working in tourism and tourist offices complete solutions to create and distribute guides for the GPS Smartphone consumer market.
For more information contact@geolives.com
www.geolives-media.com and www.geolives.com

New uses for Text to Speech: Acapela Group changes the image of Voice.

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

January 27th, 2010

Hear more about Acapela Group new positioning and check out the new website!
Acapela Group, expert and inventor of innovative vocal solutions, is creating a vocal world accessible to anyone, whatever the size of their project, in all fields, and positions itself as a key partner, giving its customers a powerful voice, helping them successfully take the floor.
Acapela is continuously reinforcing its strong commitment to the market while introducing numerous innovations to promote the use of text to speech for offline and online solutions, aimed at both professional developers and a wider public.
Owner of its technology, offering bespoke solutions, chosen by over a thousand customers and adopted by millions of users throughout the world, Acapela has considerably evolved since its creation in 2004. Acapela has harnessed its know how as a technology provider to become a Voice expert, ideally placed to answer all vocalization needs, at all levels.
New vocal developments
With over 50 million talking e-cards sent around the world since its creation in November 2008, the success of acapela.tv - Acapela's online sparkling laboratory- confirms the enormous interest of a non-specialist audience. Acapela VaaS, the online voice generation cloud computing service, Acapela TTS for iPhone, in the highly creative appstore world, Acapela Kiosk, which allows the easy vocalization of newspapers or the upcoming Acapela Box, for online and on demand voice file production, are the latest developments demonstrating Acapela's determination to provide efficient and simple solutions, across a wide range of environments and uses.
'Acapela is dedicated to improving the quality of voice synthesis through R&D and creates new opportunities for its use, inventing new vocal solutions and business models to provide highly natural voices to all users' says Lars-Erik Larsson, Acapela Group CEO.
New uses are being introduced offering solutions which open the vocal universe to a wider public. To help guide everyone, Acapela has grouped its products and services into four main families, featured on the new corporate website (www.acapela-group.com):
- Integration and development of text to speech engines, which remains its core activity,
- Production of sound files, to allow easy generation of files from any computer, without the need for any technical knowledge,
- Accessibility solutions to answer specific user groups needs, for whom text to speech is essential to gain in autonomy and access information,
- Tailor-made voice creation, to meet a growing trend for the use of personalized voices in corporate marketing activities, helping create a company or brand audio strategy.
The growing speed with which companies are adopting 'tailored-made' voices thanks to 'Acapela Voice Factory' is another strong market signal validating Acapela expertise and capacity to help its customers with their audio marketing strategy. Developed on behalf of prestigious customers such as Accor or Banverket, exclusive voices created by Acapela shape the customer's charter and enrich its image with a full vocal dimension. The Voice becomes one of the company's spokespeople, delivering and promoting a consistent and identifiable voice to distinguish the application or service.
25 languages and 50 voices are already available in the Acapela repertory. New ones are under development. Acapela vocalizes many services and applications throughout the world and is at present particularly talkative in e-ducation, books, mobile internet and cloud computing to keep facilitating content access for all. R&D teams are actively working on new and upcoming innovations, to create and produce more emotions, reflect all accents and come ever closer to the natural voice.

Happy 2010: easyJet invites its customers to share talking e-cards..

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

January 14th, 2010

Happy 2010: easyJet invites existing and future customers in Europe to share talking e-cards with their contacts. A successful collaboration in 4 languages between 1000mercis, producing the viral campaign, and Acapela, providing the voice.
Talking e-greetings cards in several languages
easyJet is demonstrating its dynamism and capacity to surprise in four countries where it operates; France, Italy, Germany and Denmark; by sending innovative greetings with talking e-cards. This campaign, conceived by easyJet and produced by 1000mercis, running from 8 December 2009 to 8 February 2010, functions in the four languages of the countries concerned and is addressed to three million internet users.
Each e-card, sent by e-mail, starts with a short message from easyJet to the recipient: 'easyJet has many New Year's resolutions for 2010. And you, what are your New Year's resolutions?':
http://www.bonnes-resolutions-easyjet.com (France) http://www.buoni-propositi-easyjet.com (Italy) www.neujahrsvorsaetze-easyjet.com(Germany) www.gode-beslutninger-easyJet.com(Denmark)
What about Your New Year's resolutions?
easyJet allows each internet user to create their own e-card by choosing a theme, either « for celebrations », « for my friends », « for my colleagues », « for my sweetheart » or « for travel », enabling them to adapt their greeting depending on the recipient or event. The sender types their message and can listen to it before sending to one or several friends.

Advanced technology that makes the difference
The words typed by each internet user are instantly transformed into a vocal message thanks to Acapela's synthetic voice technology, which transforms any text, in real time, into a very natural sounding human voice, using male or female voices, in a total of 25 languages and 50 voices.
Acapela, which benefits from 20 years of expertise and owns its technology, was created in 2003. Acapela's voice synthesis technology has already been used in a number of campaigns, notably to provide a voice for T mobile, Nestlé and Lacoste.
'We wanted to reach all our existing and prospective customers in Europe' said François BACCHETTA, Director General of easyJet for France and south Europe, 'this effective collaboration between 1000mercis and Acapela enabled us to overcome the language barrier, make personal contact with all our customers and follow up on each one'.
'For a while now we have collaborated very successfully with easyJet' said Yseulys COSTES, Co-Founding President of 1000mercis 'We have created numerous campaigns with easyJet across all media, such as the Web, Mobiles, Facebook, etc. and we are preparing to launch an impressive project for easyJet by the end of the first quarter.'
About easyjet:
http://www.easyjet.com
Press contact, Thomas Meister, thomas.meister@easyJet.com
+44 1582 525252
About 1000Mercis:
http://www.1000mercis.co.uk
Press Contact: Dorothée Lacroix, dorothee.lacroix@millemercis.com

Operation Save the Forest: Makro Cash & Carry chooses Acapela to talk about the environment with Mr Owl.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

November 17th, 2009

Makro Cash & Carry Belgium, part of Metro Cash & Carry, used a synthetic voice created by Acapela, for a big environmental awareness campaign, orchestrated by LBi, an international interactive marketing and technology agency.
From 1st July to 31st August 2009, Makro launched an innovative green initiative, unique in large-scale retailing, a sector which traditionally uses a large quantity of paper to print brochures.
'We have been working with Makro Belgium since the creation of their website in 2003. With the campaign 'Save the Forest ', we aimed to encourage clients to switch completely to using on-line tools. We suggested to Makro that they should capitalise on the lovable, well-known owl from the children's TV programme 'Petit écho de la forêt', to create a viral, talking campaign which was also broadcast in-store' explained Nathalie Dumont, consultant at LBi.
It's therefore Mr Owl, spokesperson at Makro for this project, who invited clients to 'Save the Forest' and spread the word. A playful, talkative card which passed on Makro's environmental message was sent to all clients. Mr Owl spoke directly to the clients inviting them to support the initiative by signing-up and suggested that they spread the idea by sending the card on to their contacts - the card could be made extra special by adding a personal message. Thanks to Acapela's speech synthesis all this was read to the recipient in a clear and distinct voice which immediately caught the attention and created an impression, guaranteeing Makro's message was listened to.
In this way, each Makro client was invited to choose between the paper or on-line editions. As an incentive, in addition to the reduced consumption of paper, Makro undertook to plant one tree for every 5 people choosing the on-line version.
The campaign took place between 1st July and 31st August. 94% signed-up on line and 6% via Makro shops. Nearly 171,000 individual's visited http://www.sauvezlaforet.be and http://www.redhetbos.be and 6522 personalised messages from Mr Owl were sent throughout the summer.
A total of 30 000 registrations were recorded, meaning 6000 trees will be planted across Belgium. This first campaign will enable a saving of 177 tonnes of paper.
'The very good impact of this campaign, which was entertaining and at the same time conveyed an important message, reinforces our commitment to our environmental initiative. Many clients already had the habit of consulting catalogues on-line and had asked us to stop sending the paper editions. Mr Owl was an excellent spokesperson. His characteristics - viral, talkative and capable of personalisation - have no doubt contributed to making our message heard, in the full sense of the word, in a very effective and memorable way. For Makro it's the first step in this project which aims to increasingly reduce the amount of paper consumed and the signing-up of more than 30 000 clients is definitely encouraging us to continue this way' said Vincent Nolf, Customer Management Director at Makro Belgium.
About Metro Cash & Carry
Metro Cash&Carry is a division of the Metro Group.Based in Düsseldorf, Metro AG is a retail group, which specialises in wholesale trade to professionals. It is present in 31 countries in Europe, Asia and North Africa, including nearly 2200 sales outlets. The group has more than 280 000 employees coming from more than 150 countries.
About LBi
LBi Belgium, created from the merger of DAD, Winsome and OX2, is the largest European web agency in Belgium. LBi has been active on the Belgian market since 1995 and is a recognised expert in interactive marketing and digital technologies. LBi operates in Belgium through its offices in Brussels and Ghent. It is part of the LBi Group which includes nearly 1,600 employees throughout the world. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, LBi develops innovative multi-channel solutions, for domestic and international clients. http://www.lbi.com

Tailor-made voice synthesis: Acapela Voice Factory used by 3999.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

November 5th, 2009

The first French free information service offering multi-theme search available through the internet and different communication devices, provides information thanks to Colette, a tailor-made synthesized voice created by Acapela Group exclusively for 3999.
Launched on October 13, the information service, unique in France, provides a free service to users through its website, the telephone, SMS and a dedicated iPhone application.
Professionals, the cinema, the stock exchange and weather forecasts are among the first research categories available.
Entirely based on the use of vocal solutions, 3999 offers a carefully designed vocal interface, which allows the caller to easily navigate through the services and information provided. Automatic Speech Recognition, registered voice samples and advanced speech synthesis are smartly combined to create an intuitive and natural dialog interface.

Putting its faith in Acapela Voice Factory, 3999 has chosen to go for its own exclusive Acapela voice, giving a unique voice persona to the service and offering to end users the highest quality speech synthesis available. The information, vocalized in real time by the Acapela voice, perfectly matches with voice recorded audio files to offer an exceptional, advanced and easy to listen audio result.

'The voice developed by Acapela exclusively for 3999 is a key element in our service approach. The quality and voice persona must be perfect because Colette will be acting as spokesperson. She will be identified as the voice of the service and deliver the information the caller is looking for. Acapela Voice Factory was the solution to create our own unique, high quality voice' says Stéphane Médioni, General Manager of 3999.
3999's synthetic voice provides real time weather forecasts, reads film summaries and details of shows and helps the caller find the right professional among the 4 000 000 companies already registered.

'3999 trusts Acapela Voice Factory to bring to the company quality and a perfectly conceived and created voice persona . Audio identity is strategically important to our customers in the deployment of their services and several Acapela Voice Factory voices are already being used. We are very confident about the future of Acapela Voice Factory, our voices allow companies to develop a unique voice identity, build an audio image and increase public awareness' adds Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
For more information visit http://www.3999.com

A Voice in the cloud: Acapela Group speech empowers any application online, with its innovative 'Voice as a Service''.

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

October 27th, 2009

Acapela Group, the European leader in speech synthesis, is launching Voice as a Service (VaaS), an online, cost effective, very easy to use, straight talking solution that gives any content a natural voice and enables customers to profit from the power of the spoken word.
Online service
With Acapela VaaS, speech empowering an application is simple: connect to Acapela VaaS server, send the text and let VaaS do the talking. An appropriate connector (Flash or http) gives life to the application. 25 languages and up to 50 voices are available, 24/7, to make the cloud talk.

'Acapela VaaS is a major new step in Acapela's strategy, designed to offer a vocal solution for all needs. Acapela VaaS has already voice empowered prestigious campaigns and programs and actively promotes the use of speech in new fields, demonstrating how far Acapela speech solutions can help bring content to life. Vaas is also efficient - there are no integration or development issues, a wide range of languages and a large choice of voices' says Lars Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.

Simple API and customizable voice parameters
Using Flash, or any other language that can communicate over HTTP, our customers can access all the possibilities of Voice as a Service with the Acapela VaaS API.

Speech capability is very easy to integrate in the application and voice generation can be fully controlled using various features, parameters, settings and effects; to synchronize the animation and the generated sound.

Free evaluation account
Test Acapela VaaS free for 30 days with up to 100 messages a day. All features, languages and voices are available.

Subscription options
Yearly or Peak Subscription plans are available depending on your needs.
Our cloud has already handled more than 100 million transactions and can speak volumes.

Already using Acapela Vaas :
Major companies such as 1000 mercis, Canal J, Dassault Interactive, Ecards & more, Kärnhuset, Grouek, LBI, Refleximmo, Reverso, Saatchi & Saatchi and SNCF have already used Acapela VaaS for very different applications.

The online service has already successfully provided speech animation for creative characters, voice-enriched real estate video ads, speech empowered online translation tools and vocalized real time information for public address systems.

Easyjet, EMI Music, Grazia, IT-Resurs, Lacoste, McDonald's, Makro, Milka, Nestlé and T-Mobile are among the prestigious names which have already chosen Acapela to voice empower their marketing campaigns, to make themselves heard in the cloud, and ensure people remember and talk about them.

acapela.tv, the sparkling laboratory peopled by online chatty characters helping create talkative ideas, is also using Acapela Vaas. Launched by Acapela Group to demonstrate how far speech synthesis can help companies to add audible value to their content and messages, Acapela talking e-cards and talkative games are sent the world over for free by thousands of users, from Greenland to Chile. Over 31 million talkative messages have been shared around the planet with Acapela voices.

To get more information and sign up for an evaluation account, check out the Acapela Voice as a Service dedicated website: http://www.acapela-vaas.com.

Meet IbnSina and and talk with the world's first Arabic speaking android at Gitex!.

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

October 19th, 2009

Gitex 2009 - Booth Acapela Group (B2-1)
Acapela Group and the IRML from UAE University demonstrates world's first Arabic conversational humanoid robot, speech empowered by the Acapela brand new bilingual voice Nizar.
Acapela Group, the Vocal solution expert, is welcoming the Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML) of the United Arab Emirates University to jointly demonstrate IbnSina during Gitex, unveiling to the IT community new breaking research achievements associating robot and social communication.

Robotics will soon start to change our daily life tremendously, in multiple different ways. However, in most existing conversational robots, the interest of users seems to curb after a while due to a lack of novelty, personalization and character in their dialogues and encounters.
'At the IRML, a major development is taking place: robots that can have shared memories and shared friends with humans are being created; promising more interesting encounters, and a sustainable and long-lasting friendly relationship between Humans and Robots!' says Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis, Director of the IRML.
Created by the IRML, Ibn Sina, the world's first Arabic-speaking humanlike humanoid robot, is part of a new family of robots which aims to move a step forward in the way robots interact with humans - by using novel face recognition, vision, speech solutions and other advanced technologies, and also by using and publishing online social information - available on FaceBook, towards better relationships with humans.
Acapela speech solutions come in to voice empower Ibn Sina allowing him to voice-interact and communicate with its environment. The robot is using both ASR and TTS technologies from Acapela to set up a full dialogue and add a natural Arabic voice to Ibn Sina persona. The information is vocalised using Nizar, the brand new voice from Acapela, super natural and fully Arabic/English bilingual.

'A central modality for interaction with IRML's novel robots is Natural Spoken Language: and this is exactly where Acapela's strengths really catalyze the future. For example, IbnSina is using Acapela text-to-speech as well as Acapela speech recognition - enabling it to carry out fluid conversations in Arabic, speaking about himself and his story. And Facebots-tech enables also speaking about previous encounters with the human the robot is conversing with and his friends, and about online news and facebook minifeeds!' comments Nikolaos Mavridis.
'We are very happy to contribute to the IRML Robots projects. Acapela is by nature always working on innovations and use in Robotics is obviously a hot topics. The Group participates to different initiatives and programmes around the world. Ibn Sina is a major step forward in the way we consider robotics interaction in our daily lives. Adding memory and social dimension to a robot will dramatically change the way bots may help to achieve daily tasks for us. Speech is of course such a strategic issue and we are very proud to take part of this approach, supporting the IRML prestigious laboratory with Acapela voice expertise' adds Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
Listen to Acapela brand new Arabic voice Nizar samples:
http://www.acapela-group.com/Upload/Nizar-salma_dialogue.mp3
http://www.acapela-group.com/Upload/nizar.mp3

About the IRML:
The IRML laboratory, is home to Ibn Sina as well as to the Microsoft distinguished award winning 'FaceBots' social robots project - where the idea of robots utilizing and publishing social information was first proposed. The director of IRML, Dr. Nikolaos Mavridis, a PhD graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had also created Ripley, a conversational robot with sensorymotor-and-linguistic abilities comparable to those required for passing the 'Token Test', a psychological test for 3-year olds. IRML is also currently developing numerous other related technologies, including interactive theatres, virtual museums, robotic embodied tele-presence, and even brain-computer interfacing towards robots controlled... by your thoughts!
IRML website

Word of mouth & Fashion: Grazia.fr invites Internet users to spread the word with Acapela.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

October 13th, 2009

Grazia.fr is the online version of the printed magazine launched on August 29th by Mondadori France, subsidiary of the Italian Group and third editor of magazines in France with 43 publications.
Since its launch, Grazia.fr invites Internet users to surprise their social network by using an original and unusual communication tool. By choosing among 5 'emotional cards' (from the grazia.fr 'Play' rubric), the visitors send to their contacts talkative cards which will read out the 100% personal typed in message, using Acapela voices.
'Speech synthesis is an amazing tool which create powerful buzz around Grazia.fr. The emotional cards campaign offers the possibility to each woman to create its own content, Grazia-like, and share info with her network. One month only after the launch of Grazia.fr, emotional e-cards are already traveling over the networks to convey the Grazia spirit' comments Nathie Nakarat, Marketing Manager of Grazia.fr.
Acapela speech synthesis allows Grazia's trendy online characters to spread the word about 'must-to' topics, and gives to Grazia.fr a vocal tone.
Discover the Grazia emotional cards and hear how Acapela speech synthesis can contribute to give the say to a company or a brand and speech empower a marketing campaign.

Nizar, the brand new Arabic voice synthesis by Acapela Group, will speak volume at Gitex.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

October 12th, 2009

Acapela confirms its leading position in the MEA market with the launch of a new super natural & fully bilingual Arabic/English voice, available for all platforms.
Acapela Group, the vocal solutions expert, confirms its leading position in the Middle East countries.
Bespoke player in speech synthesis with a high quality multilingual offer including Arabic, Acapela Group enriches its voice portfolio with the venue of Nizar, a brand new Arabic voice which sounds super natural and perfectly speaks English.
Nizar joins Salma and Youssef voices to give the say to any application or service, using different Arabic voices and choosing between female and male tones.
Acapela exclusive: a pleasant Arabic voice which perfectly speaks English
"Text-to-Speech" also known as speech synthesis, transforms in real time any written text into words which are read out loud in a very natural manner. Text-to-speech speaks several languages, even with accents, and modulates the speed, pauses and tones of the spoken word, with male, female or children's voices.
To create high end voices and reproduce each language naturally, Acapela selects a speaker, professional and native, to record a script which contains all possible sounds of the language. The speaker reads the sentences from the script.
In the case of Nizar, in addition to the Arabic corpus, an English one has been elaborated to make it read perfectly any content in English, from single words to whole texts, with the same voice, which is a real guarantee of comfort and easy listening for the end user and a significant advantage and differentiator.
Leaning upon extensive language expertise
The team of Acapela specialists has acquired since several years cutting edge knowledge in the Arabic language. The Acapela team has created a process to turn the Arabic language into a vowel transcription thus allowing the speech synthesis to turn the written Arabic content into natural speech.
Arabic natural voice available for all platforms
Nizar will be ready to vocalize any content, whatever the targeted platform or the service: servers, Macs and PCs, mobile devices including the iPhone or web services. Software Development toolkits and API will be packed to perfectly suit to the vocalization demand.
Acapela's international team of experts is fully dedicated to developing the best voice solutions, adapted to its particular project and market specificities. Over 850 companies around the world have already adopted Acapela high quality voices to voice-empower their products and services, in very different markets.
Major players in Middle East have already chosen Acapela to give the Say to their services and applications: Medialog, Nattiq Technologies, VoiceMpower, FDS are already using the Acapela Arabic voices to speech enable their world.
Listen to Nizar MP3 samples:
http://www.acapela-group.com/Upload/Nizar-salma_dialogue.mp3
http://www.acapela-group.com/Upload/nizar.mp3
Meet the Acapela Team and hear more about Nizar during the Gitex show - oct 18-22- in Dubai, Booth B2-1.

SurfnSpeak, new talkative app on the iPhone!.

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0200

October 6th, 2009

Listen to you RSS feeds with Acapela voices
SurfnSpeak lets you listen to your favorite RSS feeds on the go using Acapela for iPhone.

If you are driving, riding the subway or just out for a walk, SurfnSpeak allows you to keep up-to-date by reading your favorite RSS feeds to you, using Acapela natural voices. Simply enter the website that contains the feed you're interested in and search for the RSS feeds on that page, or enter the exact URL of the feed you want. You can also choose from the list of preselected feeds.
Check out SurfnSpeak on the Apple App Store, and download it for free until October 12th!
More information about Acapela for iPhone

Acapela for iPhone gives the say to a world of smart applications .

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

September 30th, 2009

Already 10 iPhone applications available on the Apple App Store are vocalised by Acapela text to speech!
To read texts or news, translate and learn a new language, travel and move, hear the talking clock: Acapela pleasant voices give the say to all kind of applications, from gadget to advanced programmes. And a lot of new exciting ones are under development!
The keys of success: very natural voices, easy to integrate thanks to the software development toolkit dedicated to the iPhone, with a revenue model inspired from the Apple App Store approach.
Learn more about Acapela TTS for iPhone

New speaking app on the appstore: Klaus invites you to learn Real German language on your iPhone..

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

September 11th, 2009

Be ready to speak German as any German people will do with friends and acquaintances. Klaus will turn into usual and daily German words English input to let you improve your German skills and easily communicate with people around you.

Klaus invites you to progress in your language learning as no classrooms or textbook will do. More than 45 categories are already available including 6 travel sections, falling in and out of love, arguing, small talk and many others. 2600 phrases are ready to be vocalized by Acapela text to speech natural tones. You can add any topics, words and phrases to make Klaus your personal translation and language learning tool.

'The best way to learn to speak any language is to listen, hear and repeat speaking patters over and over again and by trying to use those patters with native speakers. Our approach is therefore to focus on helping users to develop a rich vocabulary and listening comprehension. Acapela natural voices perfectly fits with this philosophy to provide efficient and useful tool to acquire German colloquial and practical knowledge' says Robert G. Ellis CEO of Hanashite.com.

'Klaus is a new illustration on how speech synthesis can contribute to turn iPhone apps into friendly and efficient tools to communicate, share, progress. We are very happy to give the say to this appealing new application on the appstore' adds Antoine Kauffeisen, Marketing Director of Acapela Group.

Klaus has been developed by Hanashite.com, a US based company dedicated to providing practical talking phrase books and other product that are aimed at helping you to become fluent in speaking various languages. Klaus uses Acapela for iPhone, a SDK launched one year ago, which has been widely validated by the iPhone developer community. Dozens of apps are already available, with much more to come in the near future.
More information at http://www.hanashite.com
or Klaus directly on the Apple App store

Acapela Group acquires d-fabric to offer smart audio content production solutions to publishers.

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

September 8th, 2009

With automatic text-to-speech transcription from Acapela, publishers can easily vocalise their content in up to 25 languages and over 50 voices.
Acapela Group, the vocal solutions expert, is enriching its expertise and broadening its range of solutions with the acquisition of d-fabric, a Swedish company specialising in automatic text extraction and the processing and delivery of audio publishing. d-fabric brings to the Group an additional, complementary approach to Audio Content Management and widens the scope of services Acapela can offer to content aggregators and publishers.
Audio content production is becoming an important aspect of publishing by providing added value and increased financial returns for content. Acapela enables publishers to maximize this potential. Acapela is a key player in high quality content production - its powerful, multilingual, automatic text-to-speech transcription reads any written text in natural tones. Accessible publishing, Daisy books, vocalization of newspaper content, content aggregation, vocal access, self publishing, blogs and podcasting are application areas that will all benefit from turning written information into pleasant speech.
'Users are basically looking for the right information, in the right place at the right time. But what about the form? At Acapela we have decided to address this important issue and ease the life of publishers by allowing them to seamlessly turn their content into a pleasant and valuable audio version' says Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group. 'D-fabric's know-how and expertise in automatic retrieval, extraction, processing and delivery of data will enhance this service'.
'The integration of d-fabric in to the Acapela Group allows us to offer a smart solution which combines highly automatic text retrieval and audio content production. Our shared vision and combined experience create a perfect environment for developing automatic tools that will specifically serve our customers' needs and expand our presence in the publishing market' says Johan Isaksson, founder and CEO of d-fabric AB.
The combination of Acapela text-to-speech and d-fabric tools has already been successfully proven, with the audio production of the Swedish Parliament's newspaper, Riksdag & Department, and the vocalisation of Telefonavisa, a fully automated phone service deployed in Norway which allows blind and visually impaired people to access news gathered from 9 national newspapers and updated every 15 minutes, 24/7.
About Acapela Group: http://www.acapela-group.com
Acapela Group, the leading European voice expert, invents text-to- speech solutions to give your content a voice in up to 25 languages. We help you build your 'voice strategy', to enhance the promotion of your business to customers through the spoken word, and add audible value to your services and applications for improved market recognition and audio-brand visibility.
Our speech solutions allow you to turn any written text into natural speech files, using over 50 High Quality standard voices or your own synthesised voice talent. Acapela can answer all your text-to-speech needs and provide perfect vocalisation whether for voice integration and development, online & on demand use, audio files production, or ready to speak products for personal accessibility use.
Our international team of experts is fully dedicated to developing the best voice solutions, adapted to your particular project and market specificities. Over 850 companies around the world have already adopted Acapela high quality voices to voice-empower their products and services, in very different markets.

Check out http://www.acapela.tv - the sparkling laboratory of Acapela Group, for a fresh and exciting take on how speech synthesis can now be used: acapela.tv is a showcase and test playground that shares the possibilities of speech synthesis with Internet users, allowing them to discover innovative and attractive ways to make smart use of speech applications online.
About d-fabric: http://www.d-fabric.se
d-fabric offers effective services for information retrieval and processing of data from the internet and maintains technology and server platforms, called d fabric NextPhase® Server and d-fabric Taltidningssystemet. d-fabric delivers continuous and fully automatic information retrieval and voice production to its customers, so that they can get more efficient and save costs.

Accessibility: Meet TextScout, the Mobile reading assistant..

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200

August 27th, 2009

elumo, a developer of innovative aids for blind and visually impaired people, launches its first brand new product, TextScout, speech empowered with Acapela voices.

Designed to help visually impaired people to access written information of all types while on the go, TextScout turns a mobile phone into a mobile reading assistant.

The smart application uses the built-in camera of the mobile phone to capture the text, scan it and turn it into speech to read it to the user, giving him a precious hand to deal with pervasive written information. Acapela text to speech comes in to turn the scanned information into pleasant speech and providing to the end user the audio result of the information he needs.'TextScout recognizes all kinds of printed documents, whatever the text and the format are, including letters, price tags, shopping receipts, invoices, flyers, business cards, magazines, restaurant menus, etc. The end user listens to the vocalisation of the written information he needs easily, quickly and autonomously.

The high quality and naturalness of Acapela speech synthesis contributes significantly to make TextScout a daily companion that users will adopt and live with' says Christian Bott, managing director of elumo.Easy to use features such as the alignment assistant, anti-shake protection and image quality feedback help the user to obtain good reading results.

'We are very happy to give the say to TextScout which invents a new affordable and innovative way to ease the life of people living with visual difficulties. Acapela voices once again demonstrate how speech synthesis can contribute to speech animate Accessibility smart interfaces with natural and pleasant voices' says Lars-Erik Larsson, Acapela Group CEO.
TextScout is already available in German and English and new languages will be added soon.
For more information: http://www.elumo.net

acapela.tv Adobe's Site of the Day!.

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

July 31st, 2009

acapela.tv has been selected by Adobe and awarded Site of the Day!
'...with much more than just talking greeting cards, this site demonstrates the advantages speech synthesis can bring to various business and entertainment environments' says the quote.
Check out Adobe website and Adobe site of the Day gallery

Voice-Animated E-learning by Speech-Over: Boosting Presentation Impact with Acapela Voices..

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

June 29th, 2009

Speech-Over Studio, developed by Tuval Software, lets authors and course developers easily add compelling voice narration to presentations using Acapela text to speech, which transforms any narration text into natural and pleasant speech.

'Speech-Over Studio is intuitive, easy to edit and delivers professional sounding results. Because viewers retain more when they see AND hear it, Speech-Over allows increased learning efficiency while personalising the information, saving time and providing high flexibility. Acapela text to speech is the ultimate speech synthesis to perfectly voice animate a presentation with highly natural results." says Joel Harband, CEO, Tuval Software.

The unique Speech-Over software uses Voice Effect Marshalling to synchronize speech with visual animations without time-line editing. Updating of presentations is very easy to handle thanks to the text to speech option which frees course developers from recording sessions. Narration is saved to the web with popular PPT-to-Flash tools.

Acapela text to speech enriches presentations with a smooth and natural voice, in many languages. It brings voice animation to training sessions for a lively and easy-to-follow, and therefore more efficient, e-learning program. It actively contributes a new and stimulating way to use and benefit from an e-learning program.

More information http://www.speechover.com

DAISY Consortium: Acapela Group, new member and active campaigner for information access equality.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

June 16th, 2009

'The DAISY Consortium envisions a world where people with print disabilities have equal access to information and knowledge without delay or additional expense.
Acapela group, the European vocal solutions expert, with a long history and extensive experience of Accessibility issues, brings end users innovative talking solutions which simplify their daily lives, and is proud to join the Daisy Consortium.
The DAISY standard (Digital Accessible Information SYstem), has been designed to make printed information available to people living with reading disabilities and print impairments, at the same time and at no greater cost, in an accessible, feature-rich, navigable format, worldwide.
Using text to speech, DAISY Digital talking books meet reader requirements by providing a level of access that has never been possible before. The DAISY specifications are already transforming the reading and learning experiences of thousands of visually impaired people around the world.
'Acapela voices already speech-empower DAISY products. We have been supporting this initiative since its inception, and we are now very happy to officially and actively join the Consortium. Our dedication and commitment to the Accessibility community puts us in an excellent position to understand and work towards improving Accessibility for everyone. We bring to the DAISY Consortium our considerable experience in providing multilingual solutions to vocalise the printed word which will help promote the DAISY initiative worldwide' says Lars-Erik Larsson , CEO of Acapela Group.
Acapela Group is dedicated to the Accessibility field and works closely and in a committed way with the community to help make information accessible to everyone, whatever their disability.
More information on the Daisy Consortium can be found at website http://www.daisy.org

Accessibility: eROCCA confidence in Acapela renewed for echo 200, its new vocal communication aid.

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

June 11th, 2009

eROCCA, dedicated to the development and distribution of alternative communication aids, announces the availability of 'echo 200', an efficient, mobile and intuitive vocal communication aid, vocalised with Acapela text to speech.
echo 200 is a light and portable dedicated terminal that allows end users who are unable to speak to communicate with others by vocalising their written or icon messages. Because we also socialise using mobile phones, echo 200 also enables high quality phone conversation using GSM Bluetooth mobile phone.
Users just need to type on the echo 200 tactile display what they want to say and the written message is turned into voice in real time by Acapela text to speech. Very easy to use, echo 200 does not require any specific technical knowledge, so allows immediate and seamless use by anyone - young or old. Bilingual and trilingual voices can be personalised.
'The high quality of Acapela text to speech, together with a mobile device specifically designed for Accessibility use, is essential for successful social integration. We chose Acapela speech synthesis six years ago for its high quality and wide range of languages and voices. eROCCA end users, who are unable to use their voice, are extremely sensitive to these criteria. Whatever the pathology and its evolution, communication is essential and we must offer credible and accessible solutions to all' comments Fabrice Francioli, eROCCA CEO.
'The eROCCA team works closely with all specialists who help people who have lost the use of their voice. eROCCA supports each end user, carefully helps them to choose the best solution and then helps them validate that choice step by step, to ensure optimal use, fully adapted to their needs. Working with eROCCA is therefore for us a way to have very valuable feedback from end users, which is crucial in helping us to constantly improve the way we address the essential needs of the Accessibility community' adds Antoine Kauffeisen, Marketing Director of Acapela Group.
More information at http://www.erocca.com

Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch BE, German and Spanish: New pleasant voices available on Acapela online demo!.

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

June 8th, 2009

Meet Marcia (Brazilian Portuguese), Jeroen (Dutch BE), Julia (German) and Antonio (Spanish)!

Test Acapela lastest High Quality voices on line with your own words.

...And play around with the other Acapela voices available on the online demo to speech empower your services, applications or content in 25 languages and over 50 voices.

Multilingual content: meet Paul E.Glott, a talkative & polyglot super kid who lives on acapela.tv..

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

May 26th, 2009

Acapela.tv, the sparkling laboratory of Acapela Group - European vocal solutions expert - is pleased to present Paul E.Glott, a new friend for Internet users young and old, users of all kinds, who are looking for easy access to multilingual content.
The story goes that Paul was an ordinary kid until one day a pile of bilingual dictionaries fell on his head and from then on he became polyglot.
Hurry to meet this super smart boy and see how far you can master foreign languages in a click! With Paul, contents whatever the language become easy: understand an email in Russian, an article in Arabic, the content of a webpage in Greek and bounce from language to language: Paul can't stop playing with words.
Paul speaks 19 languages, some with accents (UK English, US English and French Canadian). He speaks thanks to Acapela High Quality speech synthesis and instantly vocalises translations provided by Google free translation online service, Google Translate.
To follow the spoken translation easily, the text is displayed and made bold word by word, karaoke- style. The widget allows Paul to be adopted and teleported into your world, you can add him to your website, blog, Facebook ….
With Paul E.Glott, acapela.tv continues to expand and enrich its universe. Following the great success of talking cards & games which are circulating around the world, familiarising millions of users with speech synthesis, acapela.tv invites its fans to share a new vocal experience. Paul E.Glott allows them to stroll through any of the 19 languages, understanding the content and hearing the audio result.
'The keen and ever growing interest of Internet users for speech synthesis shows no signs of abating. Acapela.tv, since it launch, has accelerated people's acquaintance with, and encouraged them to share the speech experience in an entertaining way and through spreading the word, showing what speech synthesis can achieve. With Paul E.Glott, we move beyond the amusing cards and talking games, allowing internet users to experience how speech synthesis can help them practically when dealing with content' underlines Lars-Erik Larsson, CEO of Acapela Group.
Meet Paul on acapela.tv
Acapela.tv demonstrates the amazing opportunities offered by speech solutions that are available to companies wanting to develop their brand awareness and add audio added value to their content and messages. Prestigious international advertising agencies have already adopted this innovative and powerful solution to give the say to their customers.
Over 24 million talking cards and games have been shared on acapela.tv since its creation in November 2008.

Almodovar's new film: Acapela lands first cinema role!.

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

May 20th, 2009

Acapela's speech synthesis has a talking part in the French version of Pedro Almodovar's new film.
Dubbing Brothers Group, market leaders in the dubbing industry, use Acapela's speech synthesis in a sequence of 'Etreintes Brisées', the French version of Pedro Almodovar's new film, 'Broken Embraces'.
The film tells the story of a Director who fourteen years earlier, following a serious road accident, lost his sight and the woman in his life, Lena.
Acapela Group has been lucky enough to land its first cinema role in the French version of the film - for 2 minutes Acapela vocalises the text read by a computer.
The role seems custom made for Acapela which naturally performs its part by transforming written text into voice for this man who can no longer read.It's a role that Acapela plays backstage on a daily basis for thousands of people who are blind and visually impaired.

New High Quality voices for Acapela Accessibility products.

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

May 19th, 2009

Infovox Desktop V.2.220 -the Straight Talking Interface for Windows- adds 4 new High quality new voices to its voicebook with: Jeroen (Belgian Dutch), Julia (German), Marcia (Portuguese Brazilian) and Antonio (Spanish).

Updates have been integrated for several voices: Sofie (Belgian Dutch), Klaus (German), Sarah (German), Olav (Norwegian), Celia (Portuguese), Maria (Spanish) and Elin (Swedish).
New! The 'All-voices pack' license includes all the voices available for Infovox Desktop and free upgrade for upcoming voices and languages
Infovox inKey v1.01 - designed to empower the end user with portable Accessibility - enriches its portfolio with 9 new acapela High Quality voices: Antonio (Spanish), Dimitris (Greek), Ipek (Turkish), Jeroen (Belgian Dutch), Julia (German), Marcia (Brazilian Portuguese), Olav (Norwegian), Rachel (UK English), Vittorio (Italian).
The following voices have been updated: Sofie (Beglian Dutch), Kari (Norwegian), Olav (Norwegian), Maria (Spanish) and Elin (Swedish).

More information on Infovox Dekstop and Infovox inKey product webpages.