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A US firm is urging technology users to try the ‘talking iPod’ - thanks to new software that converts printed news feeds from websites, blogs and portals into spoken word on Apple’s music player. San Francisco based Odiogo claims its latest software application lets professionals on the move listen to the latest news headlines from hundreds of sources and blogs via MP3 players, PDAs, phones or laptops. By default, Odiogo comes with over 200 pre-installed news feeds including The New York Times, the BBC and Rolling Stone, but any website that provides RSS can be podcasted via the software. Effectively this enables users to become the controllers of their own ‘radio shows,’ providing remote access to a favourite magazine, newspaper, blog or RSS-enabled portal. Unlike current marketing offerings, this new breed of software is a stickler for punctuation, while it also ensures a slightly more natural speech pattern than monotone robot-sounding voiceovers. Patrice Khawam, CEO of Odiogo, said the “groundbreaking AI” offers users the chance to mix and match content from their essential information sources. “People can easily and conveniently build their own podcasts to include, for example, the business pages from The Wall Street Journal, international news from the BBC, or music reviews from Rolling Stone, and listen to the content on an MP3 player while they’re at the gym, in the car, or on the tube,” she said. A spokesman for Odiogo confirmed that contractors can now listen to their preferred RSS news feeds on iPods, Palm, Treo and Pocket PCs. “We tested Odiogo with more than 100 beta testers," the spokesman added. "Odiogo can be purchased securely online at our website, by mail, or over the phone.” The company explains its offering converts the content on any website containing RSS feeds into small audio files, hence the array of MP3-enabled devices, using cutting-edge text-to-speech technology. To turn music players into a news and job resource, users simply need a PC running Windows XP or 2000 with at least 128 MB memory and 5 GB hard drive space. “Having installed, users select their desired news feeds using the “Feeds” button, click “Refresh” to start downloading the latest articles from the selected feeds and convert them into MP3 files. “Lastly, drag and drop the MP3 files produced by Odiogo into Apple iTunes or any other MP3 program.” Techie Diva, the US technology blogger, rated the sound quality of the product, adding; “it's like having a podcast of all your favorite blogs. “How many times have you been caught at work reading your favorite blogs? I am breaking free of that habit,” she declared, alluding to the $30 software, available for purchase online. Articles from Time Magazine, Wired or CNet are spoken only in English, but all items can be skipped or fast-forwarded at any time, with no limit to how many feeds a user uploads. The software is also compatible with all generations of Apple iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPod Mini and iPod U2. Oct 21, 2005 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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