For all those who have problems with their vision or reading on the computer or who simply want to be read a text or article of an online newspaper, from the computer, they can make the PC speak . It is an Italian project promoted by the Majorana institute that meets the needs of the visually impaired but which, if you like a PC that speaks and reads, becomes a utility for anyone.
Vivo Next is a suite of programs that allows you to use all the main functions and operations of the computer, both for work and for fun, by letting you read what appears on the screen .
In short, Vivo which can be downloaded and used for free, includes:
- The Firefox browser to surf the internet and listen to the written words of favorite sites;
- Manage and hear by voice the content of Email or email;
- Chat on MSN Messenger, Facebook and all chats thanks to the support of the multichat Miranda.
- Work with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and the other programs of the free Openoffice suite.
In addition to the screen reading function, active for any PC window, including system ones and normal folders, there are also a lot of other useful tools for those who see us little and not at all.
For example, there are a highlighter that changes color on the lines of written texts, a magnifying glass, an enlarged cursor with a sound effect that signals its position and the use of enlarged characters on each window.
The Vivo Next Suite is based on open source programs and also the best synthesized voice used by the computer to speak is Silvia's free and Italian voice, already met in the article on how to convert written text into spoken voice.
In this case, all the texts will be read aloud from the computer and a talking pc will be obtained.
As it was designed, Vivo Next acts as a complete interface for using the PC, in the sense that, once this program has been started, you can do all the operations without using Windows windows or Start menus anymore.
For example, you can burn CDs, watch TV online, listen to music, watch movies, write documents, listen to the reading of texts, even on PDF files and so on.
Currently, Vivo Next cannot be downloaded because the developer's site is gone. .
On another page, however, there are two programs to convert written text into speech and make the computer read.
Websites can also be read and heard verbally using simple browser plugins.
