Re: voices on os x
Hi, On Aug 19, 2009, at 7:52 PM, Krister Ekstrom wrote: > Yeah, but the acapela voices currently don't work with the next big > cat, and there's an Ivox in beta. Let's hope they don't take long to > release new Ivox voices that work with Snow leopard. Rest assured we are working hard on having iVox 2.0 ready for Snow Leopard in time. However, it required a complete overhaul of the core engine to make the voices 64 bit compatible (a requirement for Snow Leopard). Work started on this long ago but it is a far from easy job. We are currently working with a team of VoiceOver users on beta testing the new version to assure it works well under heavy duty use. Before anyone asks, we do not currently need additional testers. There are already a number of additional people who have requested to be included in further tests and adding even more testers will slow down testing (and thus release). If you rely on the iVox voices (because you need another language than English) you should not upgrade to Snow Leopard before installing iVox 2.0 as iVox 1.3 (which it is 32 bit only) will not work with Snow Leopard. Cheers, david --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
James, On Aug 19, 2009, at 8:41 PM, James & Nash wrote: > That's great to hear that you are continuing to develop such as great > product. Will there be a cost involved in upgrading to 2.0 for those > of us > who bought 1.0+ release? I have recommended there should be no upgrade fee, but I cannot guarantee. In the end it is Acapela Group's decision. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
Hank, On Aug 20, 2009, at 9:59 AM, hank smith wrote: > > if I purchase the us voices will I get uk voices? no. > if so what ones? > if I purchase uk voices what us one will I get? you will get all UK voices plus Heather. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
On Aug 21, 2009, at 2:31 AM, hank smith wrote: > will the latest voices work on the 32 bit mac > meaning the new voices that you are working on for snow leapard are > they backwards conpatible with 10.5? Yes, most are. Only the older HD voices had to be dropped. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Infovox iVox voices and Snow Leopard
Hi, Infovox iVox 1.3 will not work on Snow Leopard. Infovox iVox 2.0 will be required. This will be a free update. As iVox 2.0 required a major rewrite for compatibility with Snow Leopard and Apple has released Snow Leopard earlier than they had said previously we do not have a final release for iVox 2.0 ready yet. Instead, if our current tests are positive we will make iVox 2.0 available as a public beta by Friday, 28 August. If you rely on Infovox iVox do not upgrade to Snow Leopard until you have upgraded to iVox 2.0. Note that if you rely on the older HD voices (which do not sound as good as the more recent HQ voices) you should not upgrade to Snow Leopard as the change to support 64 bit technology made it impossible to retain the HD voices in Infovox iVox 2.0. For most languages HQ voices are available (several new ones are included in Infovox iVox 2.0). Only Icelandic had to be completely dropped in Infovox iVox 2.0 because there are no HQ voices for that language. With best wishes, david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
Hi, On Aug 24, 2009, at 6:52 PM, Koumanova Rostislava wrote: > > hellow david , > i am using the italian voice , can i upgrade to snow ? not yet. Wait for iVox 2.0. see my other message today for more info. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: Infovox iVox voices and Snow Leopard
Will, On Aug 24, 2009, at 7:02 PM, william lomas wrote: > which new voices are included? > just curious? Just wait a few more days and you will see what new languages and voices are available... Patience is supposed to be a virtue :-) david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
Hi, I notice a lot people are complaining that Apple did not include the voices they now include with the iPhone 3Gs also in Snow Leopard. There may be a lot of reasons why they have not done that. I am not sure it is fair to say it is ridiculous of Apple without knowing the reasons behind it. Maybe the company they are licensing those voice from for the iPhone 3Gs is asking a ridiculously high amount per copy of Snow Leopard Apple will sell. Snow Leopard is sold much cheaper than most updates yet has been worked on for two years by a large team of engineers. I think that is nothing to sneeze at. Also, while people accept the lower quality of those voices for a mobile device, would the majority of Mac users accept it for Mac OS X on a desktop machine? Furthermore, do those voices support all the features needed for Speech Manager compatibility, or would that first require years of work? And, what about the third party voices? For Mac OS X there are multiple third party voices available for a wide range of languages. Should Apple just kill that business and possibly stifle innovation on the Mac platform in the voice area because voices in multiple languages already come free with the OS. For third parties it is hard to compete with free stuff, even if the third party stuff is of better quality. I know it would be bad for our business, but in the long run, it might actually also be bad for end-users. Things are not simply black or white. Anyway, I think there may be plenty of reasons for Apple's decision that we as outsiders do not know about. Some of those reasons you and I might consider good others we might consider bad, but I personally do not think we know enough about the issues involved to call it ridiculous, especially after all Apple has been doing these last couple of years in the accessibility area. Cheers, david. On Aug 24, 2009, at 9:04 PM, James & Nash wrote: > The voices from Acapella are great but it's rediculous that Apple keep > avoiding the answer on whether or not they will ever include other > language > voices as they do in the IPhone. If they can do it in the IPhone > they can do > so in Mac OS X 10.6 +. This is especiallly true considering that > they are > based in California whre are large percentage of the population are > Spanish > speaking. The same is true for Braille. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
On Aug 25, 2009, at 12:39 AM, James & Nash wrote: > use those than the voices I've heard on the IPhone. However, the > reason I > mention the IPhone voices is that if Voice Over continues as it has in > Leopard - only speaking in English - then non-native English > speakers who do > not feel comfortable enough with English to install or work with > their OS in > may not be able to afford the superb quality of DAvid's voices for > some > time. That was my only point, although I did not express it clearly > enough Ok, I think we agree. Yes, I agree that for non-English speakers it would be practical if Mac OS X included voices for their own language by default. However, as Scott pointed out, space on the DVD alone would already preclude all such voices to be high quality. All Infovox iVox voices together already pretty much fill up a dual layer DVD so there would be little space left for the OS :-) I also want to take this opportunity to point out that Apple does work with us and Acapela to ensure good compatibility of VoiceOver with the Infovox iVox voices (and visa versa) and foreign languages so Apple certainly cares about giving non-English users access to a good VO experience. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
Will, On Aug 25, 2009, at 8:36 AM, william lomas wrote: > hi all i just hope then that voices from i vox are now available for > previously unsupported languages like japanese, chinese, etc Making a new voice is many months of work, making a voice for a new language easily takes a year. So before someone says that it is ridiculous that there are no Infovox iVox yet for Asian languages (yes, I know, you did not say that), I thought I would make you aware of the fact that new voices and new languages take a lot of time. While iVox 2.0 will include new languages and voices it does not include Asian languages yet. david --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: voices on os x
Will, On Aug 25, 2009, at 9:38 AM, william lomas wrote: > are chinese voices do you know beeing worked on? i am learning chinese > so would like a voice to help me read articles etc Is there any language you are not learning :-) I cannot provide information on Acapela Group's unannounced voices or products. Most company consider the future products they are working on as confidential business information. david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Seeking VoiceOver users to test Infovox iVox voices in foreign languages
Hi, As you may have read we will release Infovox iVox 2.0 for Snow Leopard compatibility as public beta later this week. Not all languages will be available at once as we do want to make sure that each language receives basic testing before it is made available as part of the public beta. If there are major issues with a particular language we would like those issues to be discovered before the language is put in public beta so that it will not affect a large number of users. If you are interested in contributing to these "private" tests please contact me off-list. We need at most 2 testers per language (on first come-first serve basis). There is no remuneration for this testing. We expect you to do serious stress testing of the voices with VoiceOver. We are looking for people who already own an Infovox iVox license (i.e. know the product well), who know the Mac and VoiceOver well, who read and write English well and who enjoy testing new things. Only for Arabic, which is a completely new language with iVox 2.0 you do not need to already own an iVox license. Finally, we need feedback within 24-48 hours of you receiving access to the voices. Testing should take place on Leopard and if you have access to it also on Snow Leopard. To express your interest send an email to supp...@assistiveware.com with the subject "iVox 2 testing" and in the contents mention at the very least the language(s) you want to test, your current Infovox iVox activation code(s), your mother tongue, the Mac OS X versions you plan to test on and your computer model. We are looking for two testers for each of the following languages: American Spanish Canadian French French German Italian Dutch Flemish Spanish Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese Danish Norwegian Finnish Swedish Arabic Turkish Czech Greek Russian Polish Final note, I may not be able to get back to you immediately as we will first focus on the most used languages and then move to the less common languages. Thanks, david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Snow Leopard compatible Infovox iVox voices now in public beta
Hi Everyone, Acapela Group and AssistiveWare today announced a public beta of Infovox iVox 2.0. Infovox iVox 2.0 brings Snow Leopard compatibility, significantly improves performance and responsiveness and adds a number of new voices for the following languages: Arabic, French, German, Flemish, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Turkish. These voices work with virtually any Speech Manager compliant Mac OS X application, including VoiceOver, Preview, TextEdit, AssistiveWare VisioVoice, ConvenienceWare GhostReader, and Adobe Acrobat. Today's press release: http://www.assistiveware.com/pr.php#PR280809 Infovox iVox 1.3, the currently shipping version, is not compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard". A complete rewrite of the core iVox speech engine was necessary to make Infovox iVox 64-bit compatible and ready for Snow Leopard. Despite the major engineering efforts, Infovox iVox 2.0 is offered as a free update in order to facilitate the migration to Snow Leopard for those people who rely on these natural sounding voices to use their computer. Because of the large number of languages available in Infovox iVox, not all languages will be available immediately as part of the public beta. The first languages to be released will be American English, British English, French, German, Italian, Canadian French, Spanish, American Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian. This was done about an hour ago. More languages will follow in the coming weeks. Languages are made available in public beta step by step to allow for basic internal tests before a language is made available as part of the public beta. We want to take this occasion to thank the beta testers for their excellent feedback. We are currently seeking testers (max 2 per language) for the following languages that are not yet in public beta: Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Turkish, Arabic. In order to be accepted as a tester (first come first serve basis) you need to be an experienced VoiceOver users and native speaker of the language and also be able to read and write in English. You also need to be familiar with Infovox iVox (have at least used the demo in the past) but do not necessarily need to own a license. There is no remuneration for testing, but if you provide good feedback we may provide you with a free license for a language of choice. Cheers, david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Infovox iVox voices in foreign languages testers needed
Hi, We now have quite a number of voices in the Infovox iVox 2 public beta. In addition to the languages made available when the public beta was announced we have now also added Dutch, Flemish/Belgian Dutch and Danish. We could still use some pre-pubic beta testers for the following languages: Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese Finnish Arabic Turkish Czech Greek Russian Polish If you are interested in contributing to these "private" tests ahead of the public beta for the above languages please contact me off-list. We need at most 2 testers per language (on first come-first serve basis). There is no remuneration for this testing. We expect you to do serious stress testing of the voices with VoiceOver. To express your interest send an email to supp...@assistiveware.com with the subject "iVox 2 testing" and in the contents mention at the very least the language(s) you want to test, your current Infovox iVox activation code(s) if any, your mother tongue, the Mac OS X versions you plan to test on and your computer model. Thanks, david. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
