Text-to-Speech Conversion

Really bored on reading your favorite ebook/pdf/text files or listen to blogs/websites like podcast.Want to hang out something like read out  or   automatically listen to these  textyour Windows / Mac/Linux.Then you should go for  text to speech conversion functionality. Ofcourse primarily there is a Narrator tool(Speech recoginition Tool) built into your  OS platform.But if some times it lacks any  advanced functionality ,then you should  online for alternative tools.First let's focus on some tips that you could use Offline.

 

Hear PDF files loud in Adobe Reader

You can easily achieve  text to speech functionality within Adobe Reader program. It has integrated text to speech conversion feature that makes text audible without any ned to install additional software. To get started, make sure PC has latest version Adobe reader installed. Open PDF file in Adobe Reader.. Goto View > Read out loud > Click on Activate Read Out Loud. Alternatively use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Y.. Now goto View > Read out loud > Click on Read this page only or either use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+V. For reading to the end of the document goto View > Read out loud > Click on Read to end of Document or either use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+B.To know more on Adobe TTS tool visit Adobe TTS .

 

Now just have some alternative  Programs that can be downloaded and used offline.Following are few free text to speech programs that you can use for listening to text and saving them as audio files.

• Alive Text to Speech
  

A Text-to-Speech software, which can read Text in any application, and convert text to speech, or convert text to MP3, WAV, OGG or VOX files. This text to speech lets you listen to the Text in Emails, web pages, news articles, PDF, Word or Excel Documents,etc. Just highlight the Text your want to hear, and then press Ctrl + C to hear it.Alive Text to Speech enables you to convert Text to MP3, WAV, OGG, or VOX files with a single right click. It is very simple and easy to use. Just right click on files in the Windows Explorer, select "Convert to MP3″ (or WAV, OGG, and VOX) and convert them using your predefined settings.Alive Text to Speech allows advanced users to finish conversions with Command Line. You can download more voices from the Internet. In addition, Alive Text to Speech Toolbar will be installed into Internet Explorer, with the this toolbar, you can read webpages, or convert webpages into MP3, WAV, OGG or VOX files.

• Balabolka
  

A  neat full featured free software for text to speech conversion. This program can read the clipboard content, view the text from DOC, EPUB, FB2, HTML, ODT, PDF and RTF files. It also allows you to save the on-screen text as WAV, MP3, OGG or WMA file.

• Natural Reader
  

Offer free Windows and Mac version of its text to speech software. It allows you to listen to any text on your PC. Just select text within any Word processing application and then click Play button on the floating bar of the Natural Reader program.

• eSpeak
  

A  free command line tool for reading text on your Windows or Linux system. It includes different Voices, whose characteristics can be altered. You can also produce speech output as a WAV file using this tool. It is a small free software program that support number of languages.

• Speakonia
  

It reads aloud any given text with just one mouse click!Speakonia The reading can be paused, resumed and can be exported to a wave file. In addition Speakonia is able to fetch webpages through an internal http interface and read them aloud for you. You can even have your mails read to you using the "Clipboard Reading" feature.

• Panopreter Basic
  

It  is a free and easy to use text to speech software program. It can read text file, rft file, MS word document and html web page with the voice you select. It supports batch file conversion and allows you to create audio files in wave(.wav) and MP3(.mp3) format. It also support multiple languages including: Support English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese and more.

Also  try or Checkout Sayz Me ,flamereader and Ultra Hal TSS free text to speech reader software for Windows.

Now Instead of offline use or downloading any software let's go live online, also integrate text to speech functionality  to blogs/websites.

• Zamsar
  

Zamzar has been favorite online conversion service that allows you to convert files into different format without having to download any software. It has added new conversion feature of 'text to speech'. You can upload any text document and convert it into audio format allowing you to listen to its contents.you can upload any document of either format including: doc, docx, odt, pdf, pub, txt, wpd, wps and Microsoft Works document. You can perform this conversion with usual 4 step procedure. First browse the text file from computer, second select the output format as mp3, third enter your email ID and fourth hit the convert button. You will receive converted final in your email delivered by Zamzar real quick

• YakiToMe
  

It allows you to convert text files into Mp3 or Wav audio files which can downloaded in mp3 format. Using this free web service you can listen to work documents, homework, PowerPoint presentations, emails, RSS feeds, blogs and novels. It can speak multiple languages like English, Spanish, French, German

• SpokenText
  

It allows you to record PDF, Word, plain text, PowerPoint files, ,RSS news feeds, emails and web pages, and converts them to speech automatically. You can download your recording as an iPod book or mp3 file. Every member gets a personal podcast URL , which you can use to download recordings to iTunes or your iPod.

• PedioPhon
  
  
   

It is a free Text-To-Speech Converter for Wikipedia articles. It can read out Wikipedia articles to you while you perform your daily chores. Besides streaming audio you can also download the audio recording for easy playback on your mp3 player or mobile phone. No registration or installation required and very easy to use.

• BlogBard
  

If you are tired of reading RSS feed content, then BlogBard is the alternative you need. With BlogBard you can turn any news/feed to a personalized radio. You can integrate it with your blog using a widget. It also offer integration with Google Reader and Bloglines

• ReadTheWords
  

Another free web based alternative to convert text into speeach. It allows you to listen to your Reading Online, download mp3 to your Ipod, post Your Reading in Website or Blog and turn Your Reading into a Podcast. Lot of options to play around with your text in audio format.

• Voiceforge
  
  

An online TTS service from Cepstral. What makes them different is they have 50 voices. As well, Cepstral actually owns the engine and creates the voices which gives them a lot of latitude to serve diverse customer needs.A bit more enterprise then your other examples, but well worth listening!VoiceForge makes online TTS easy through our hosted speech API. You send us text, tell us the voice and we return an MP3 – yes it's that simple. Register as a developer and we'll be happy to share documentation, code examples and expertise on our hosted speech API and service.Vozme let your blog post speak while SpokenText Online tool can convert webpages, ppts, WordFiles into speech format.

• Vozme
  

Type anything in English or Spanish and hear it as an audio stream. You can also download the audio in MP3 format.Best part for bloggers and webmasters: You can add it to your website or blog. After a adding a small code, a button with label 'hear this post' will appear next to each post. Clicking on that button,you can hear to respective post.

Alternatively check out  Zabaware , imtranslator and ispeech.

Read More

Global Windows Shortcuts

Mastering the keyboard will not only increase your navigation speed but it can also help with wrist fatigue. Here are some lesser known Windows shortcuts to help you become a keyboard ninja.




Win+1, 2, 3, 4, etc. will launch each program in your taskbar. It is helpful then to keep your most used programs at the beginning of your task bar so you can open them one right after another. This also works in Windows Vista for the quick launch icons.

Win+Alt+1, 2, 3, etc. will open the jump list for each program in the taskbar. You can then use your arrows to select which jump list option you want to open.

Win+T will cycle through taskbar programs. This is similar to just hovering over the item with your mouse but you can launch the program with Space or Enter.

Win+Home minimizes all programs except current the window.

Win+B selects the system tray which isnt always useful but can come in very handy if your mouse stops working.

Win+Up/Down maximizes and restores down the current window so long as that window has the option to be maximized. It is exactly the same as clicking on the middle button on your windows.

Alt+Esc is like Alt+Tab but switches windows in the order they were opened and does not have the fancy window preview overlay.

Win+Pause/Break will open your system properties window. This can be helpful if you need to see the name of a computer or simple system statistics.

Ctrl+Esc can be used to open the start menu but will not work as a Windows key replacement for other shortcuts.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc will open the task manager without needing to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del first.

Alt+Space will open the window system menu which can be used to maximize (x), minimize (n), close (c), or move (m) the window which can be especially helpful if your window is somehow off-screen. This shortcut can also be helpful with windows that dont close with the Alt+F4 shortcut such as the command window.

Windows Explorer Shortcuts

Here are handy shortcuts built into Windows Explorer which may have similar features in other programs too.

Alt+Up will navigate up one folder level since the up arrow on the menu bar was removed in Windows Vista.


Shift+F10 opens the contextual or œright click menu for a file/folder. This can be very handy for speed especially if you know which option you want to select. Look for an underlined letter in each option to know which letter you can press for faster access.

Shift+Del deletes a file without sending it to the recycle bin because who wants to empty their recycle bin anyway?

Ctrl+Shift+N creates a new folder in your current directory.

Alt+Enter opens the file properties so you can view file size, sharing settings, and creation date.

F2 renames a file or folder.

F3 will open explorer and select the search bar. If you already have an explorer window open it will highlight the search bar. In some programs it will also open the search dialog to search within that program.















F6 cycles objects in the current window. In explorer this will cycle between the location bar, options bar, left pane, and right pane. It also works with varying success in other programs.

F10 toggles the file menu in explorer.

Read More

5 productivity tips for Windows

Print more easily, find files faster, and send email right from your desktop.
1. Print from Windows Explorer

If you need to print a document, let's say a Microsoft Word document, there's no need to launch Word first. Browse your hard drive for the file that you want to print, right-click its icon, and then click Print. This will automatically send the document to your printer without launching Word.

Windows 7 Print command on the shortcut menu.

Windows Vista Print command on the shortcut menu.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Pin programs to the Start menu

Want to add your favorite programs to the Start menu? From the Start menu, click All Programs. Locate a favorite program, right-click the program's icon, and then click Pin to Start menu. That's it.

You can also pin an application by dragging and dropping its icon from All Programs to the Start menu. The program is now "pinned" to your Start menu. To remove it, right-click the program icon on the Start menu and then click Unpin from Start menu or click Remove from this list.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Use small icons on your Start menu

After you install a few dozen applications, your Start menu can become very crowded. One way to reduce the clutter is to use small icons.

1. To switch to small icons, click the Start button, right-click in the Start menu, and then click Properties.

2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users: Scroll to the bottom of the list, clear the Use large icons check box, and then click OK twice.

Windows XP users: Select Small icons, and then click OK twice.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Search a folder

When I've misplaced a file, I almost always know which folder it's in, but it's usually lost in a maze of documents or buried in a subfolder. I just can't remember which subfolder. This is a great way to search a folder quickly.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users: Locate the folder where you think the file is located. Use the Search box at the top of the open window to search the contents for the selected folder. Type part or all of the name of the file or folder, or type a word or phrase that is in the file. The results list will be updated as you type.

Windows XP users: Locate the folder where you think the file's located, right-click the folder, and then click Search. A Search window will open, ready to search for the selected folder and only that folder. Type part or all of the name of the file or folder, or type a word or phrase that is in the file. This is much quicker than launching Search and navigating your hard drive to the folder.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

5. Send an email attachment from anywhere on the desktop

Here's a really handy tip.

1.Locate a file anywhere on your hard drive that you want to email, right-click the file's icon, click Send To, and then click Mail Recipient. A new mail message will open with the file attached and ready to send. But what's really speedy about this tip is that your mail program doesn't open. This action creates only a single new mail message.

2.To send your attachment, type the recipient's email address in the To text field, add any accompanying message, and then click the Send icon. The subject and attachment fields are already set.

In Windows Vista, you can send an email attachment directly from the desktop.

In Windows XP, you can send a file by email directly from desktop.

Read More