A new utility program that allows you to "read aloud" RSS subscriptions and create your own "podcasts" of your blog is called Odiogo (alternately pronounced Oh-dee-oh-go and Odd-ee-oh-go). For a demonstration of the technology, check here: http://blog.odiogo.com/index.php/2008/07/07/how-to-demo-movie-deploying-odiogo-on-a-typepad-blog/.
I am actually quite impressed with the quality and realism of the read-back from this tool. The voice sounds very natural and the inflections and pronumciation are comfortable to listen to. Perhaps future incarnations of this program will allow you to assign male and female voices, upper and lower register adjustments and maybe a five band equalizer or such, to allow closer simulation of the voice of the person posting the blog, the RSS feed, etc. To assign these settings ahead of time wouldn't be that difficult and would certainly be the next logical step in the advancement of this technology. Besides, variety really is the spice of life, is it not?
The company's demo of this tool was having an issue or two when I was there, but this could have been because my browser was having an issue or two of its own. I never got to listen to the demo from their site, but having already heard it in a podcast I had downloaded, I was shocked to find that the podcast was actually an RSS feed that was being read by the software program. I knew then and there that I had to investigate this further and share the information.
http://www.odiogo.com/demo.php
This is a great technology that I suspect is going to be gaining a lot of popularity as more people find out about it. And maybe a lot more competitors, as well, trying to make those advancements that I suggested and more. This can only be good for us all, as competition usually leads to overall improvement of the technology as a whole.
On trying to install it on this blog, I was defeated for some reason, but that isn't going to keep me from determining the reason and trying again, as I know that some blog hosts are a bit more temperamental about changes to their templates and installation of "foreign" widgets, etc. Also, other things I may have installed--firewalls, anti-viral and anti-trojan-ware--could be at the root of the issue.
Should you want to sign up for this innovative tool, go to this link and have a go at it. I would be interested in your experience, so come back and post a comment, if you will. We all learn by sharing knowledge. Thanks.
http://www.odiogo.com/
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