Voiceover Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Kindle iOS app adds new features for visually impaired

by Steven Sande (May 1st, 2013)

The Kindle iOS app (free) was updated to version 3.7 today, bringing with it a handful of new features to make life easier for blind and visually impaired customers and to anyone who wants to review a book or read recommendations for similar books. To help the visually impaired navigate their ...

German court issues stay in Samsung's VoiceOver suit against Apple

by Randy Nelson (Feb 22nd, 2013)

Hello there, it's Friday and time for your regularly scheduled update on the continuing courtroom hijinks between Samsung and Apple! Today we bring word via FOSS Patents that a German court has stayed one of the approximately 200 million cases (give or take a few) brought by the former against ...

Mountain Lion 101: Updated high-quality voice synthesis

by Michael Rose (Jul 28th, 2012)

Most of the speech hubbub around Mountain Lion has centered on the OS's marquee Dictation feature, which happily accepts your spoken words as a substitute for typing them in. Dictation works in almost any text entry field, and it's surprisingly effective; Steve even dictated his entire post about ...

The man who provided Siri's voice in the UK

by Steven Sande (Nov 10th, 2011)

Despite Apple's request that he remain anonymous, British voiceover artist Jon Briggs revealed to The Telegraph that he is the voice of Siri in the UK. Briggs received a call from an Apple PR representative last month after the iPhone 4S was launched, and was told that he should not talk ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: My iPhone won't stop talking to me

by Erica Sadun (Oct 23rd, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, While playing around with his new iPhone 4S Monday evening, Tim's phone started responding to every touch to the screen -- identifying vocally everything he touched and giving instructions about what to do there. He can't figure out how he turned the function on -- and he ...

Mac OS X Lion offers high-quality, multilingual voices

by Matt Tinsley (Mar 2nd, 2011)

Since the developer preview release of Mac OS X Lion, we've been able to see in action some of the exciting new features to expect from Apple's new, forthcoming operating system. Today, we've got even more exciting news to share. AppleInsider is reporting that Mac OS X Lion will feature 53 new ...

Blind user explains why he loves the iPhone

by Mike Schramm (Sep 20th, 2010)

Here's a wild little story that made its way around the blogonets this past weekend -- it was originally posted in June, but it got recirculated on Twitter, and we first heard it from Steve Troughton-Smith. Austin Seraphin is a blind person, and he says that getting an iPhone changed his life ...

The Mac-cessability Network: resources for Apple accessibility

by Steven Sande (Aug 18th, 2009)

Touting another blog or website isn't an everyday occurrence here at TUAW, but a recent press release got our notice. A site called The Mac-cessibility Network is the work of six dedicated individiduals, all of whom are visually impaired, who provide the Apple community with a source of information ...

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out on iPhone

by Mike Schramm (Jul 23rd, 2009)

That was fast -- LucasArts has released the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition out to the iPhone, and it's available on the App Store right now for the low price of $7.99. I say low because even though that's higher than many games for the platform, this one is not only one of the best-loved ...

New shuffle gets an update

by Michael Rose (Apr 11th, 2009)

Got a new iPod shuffle? Hook up to iTunes and check Software Update, because there's a holiday surprise waiting there for you. The revised VoiceOver Kit 1.0.1 corrects artist name pronunciations and includes a few other fixes. If you've downloaded the update let us know how it's working for you. ...

New iPod shuffle features VoiceOver

by Michael Rose (Mar 11th, 2009)

The store is back, and the rapid rumor ramp-up is vindicated: Apple introduced a new iPod shuffle this morning, billed as 'the first music player that talks to you' -- it features a VoiceOver interface that announces artists, songs and playlists on demand (the iPod nano features spoken menus as ...

iTunes 8.0.2 now available, adds VoiceOver capabilities

by Cory Bohon (Nov 20th, 2008)

Apple just released an update to iTunes. Version 8.0.2 "...improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes." They note that this update adds VoiceOver capabilities for both iTunes and iTunes U. VoiceOver is the built-in screen reader utility for Mac OS X that helps ...

New nanos to get spoken menus

by Mat Lu (Sep 10th, 2008)

One of the interesting minor details on the iPod nanos released today is the inclusion of some new accessibility features. There's even an Accessibility section on the spec page, which notes the addition of spoken menus and an alternative larger font. The spoken menus "allow listeners to hear many ...

Apple updates Braille support in Leopard

by Cory Bohon (Feb 5th, 2008)

Today, Apple released the Braille Display Update 1.0 for VoiceOver in Leopard. VoiceOver, part of the Universal Access family of accessibility tech, allows blind or visually impaired users to hear what's on the screen. Via the new update, when you connect a compatible Braille display, "VoiceOver ...

Simple voice-over narration with Ishmael

by Brian Liloia (Feb 6th, 2007)

Ishmael is a basic application for easily creating voice-over narration for still photos and images, and then exporting your final product as a QuickTime video. So if you need to whip up a quick presentation, or want to make up a little story about a recent trip this is the app for you. Ishmael ...