What you need to know
- Read Aloud is rolling out to Microsoft Edge on Mac.
- The feature allows users to listen to text using Neural Text to Speech voice.
- The feature improves the browser's accessibility.
Microsoft Edge for Mac can now read text aloud to users. The feature improves accessibility and also gives users another option for consumer content.
Microsoft Edge is in the process of switching into a Chromium-based browser on all platforms. The developer and canary channels of Microsoft Edge are Chromium based on both Windows 10 and Mac.
The Read Aloud feature allows users to browse the web who are visually impaired or would like to have text read to them for any other reason. It's also a nice tool for proofreading documents.
NEW! The free Edge browser on Mac now supports Read Aloud 🔊 This also includes the high-quality Neural Text to Speech voice. Sample 📽 below
Get the latest Edge Mac builds from https://t.co/dKSTq0B6s5#edtech#dyslexia#accessibility#MIEExpertpic.twitter.com/HRK2FapZKB
The following instructions are for MacOS Sierra (10.12.16). You can activate Read Aloud (or Text to Speech) on your Mac so that it reads documents (word, pdf, etc.) or websites when you select certain keys. Apple Icon System Preferences Accessibility Speech Speak Selected Text When the Key is Pressed You can. Natural Reader is a free text to speech tool that can be used in a couple of ways. The first option is to load documents into its library and have them read aloud from there. .Offer starts on Jan 8, 2020 and expires on Sept 30, 2020. Offer available worldwide. Get Adobe Acrobat PDF Pack at the reduced monthly subscription price of US$9.99 /mo (plus applicable taxes/VAT/GST) through the Adobe Store. At the end of your monthly term, you will be automatically renewed at the promotional monthly subscription rate until the end of the promo period, unless you elect to. Some documents require the reading out loud so as to obtain the possible mechanism of editing them. Reading out loud makes it easy to know the content of the PDF, and it is an added advantage to those who have impaired voices. PDF can be edited more easily yet not losing the layout and track through the read aloud programs. To turn off this feature, deselect the “Speak selected text when the key is pressed” checkbox. You can also use VoiceOver, the spoken interface for macOS, to hear descriptions of every item on the screen and to control your Mac using the keyboard. NaturalReader Software Read many formats, all in one place. NaturalReader is a downloadable text-to-speech desktop software for personal use. This easy-to-use software with natural-sounding voices can read to you any text such as Microsoft Word files, webpages, PDF files, and E-mails.
— Mike Tholfsen (@mtholfsen) July 29, 2019Microsoft Edge blends the design of Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 and Mac. It fits in well on Mac devices while still looking familiar to Windows 10 users. You can sign up to test the browser on Microsoft's website.
Microsoft Edge for Mac
Microsoft's browser from Windows 10 is now available for testers on Mac, bringing familiar features and design choices.
Portable (and affordable) power accessories we love
Each and every one of these charging gadgets will keep your favorite gear and gadgets going for longer, and none of them costs more than $30.
VisionTek 8,000 mAh micro-USB power bank($13 at Dell)
This compact dual-output powerbank can speedily recharge any and all your devices, thanks to a two-amp 'fast charge feature,' using its micro-USB out port. Its simple design includes an LED indicator, and it costs about as much as a single ticket to the movies.
Panasonic eneloop AA batteries(From $13 at Dell)
Panasonic's rechargeable batteries are among the best available, and just a couple of them will keep your favorite remote, mice or other peripherals powered up when you need them. They're also eco. And the company's affordable charger fits and charges both AA and AAA batteries at the same time.
Belkin Qi Wireless Charging Pad($30 at Dell)
This unobtrusive Qi wireless charging pad looks good (and kind of like a UFO …) and easily charges all your Qi-compatible device up to 5W. Its LED indicator lights up when you're charging. And it costs just $30.
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Read Out Loud Software
ReadAloud is a handy Windows 10 app that converts web pages, news articles, documents, books and other electronic documentation into speech. The free app is currently available for Windows 10 PC, and a Windows 10 Mobile version is in the works.
ReadAloud has logged more than 150,000 downloads and can be a useful app to have when reading an electronic document isn't ideal. ReadAloud has support for multiple file formats, highlights sentences being read and allows you to create your own content to be read aloud.
Read Out Loud App
The user interface isn't overly complicated and has plenty of options to customize ReadAloud to better fit your needs (font size, color schemes, auto-scrolling, etc.). If you are in the market for a text-to-speech converter, ReadAloud is well worth a try.
ReadAloud's main screen is designed with simplicity in mind and has start options to create a custom document, import a web page or open a document file from your local drive. The main screen also displays the most-recently listened-to documents and a menu button sits in the left corner of the screen to open up ReadAloud's menu options. These options include a Home Button to return you to the app's primary screen, view any pinned documents, access the app's settings, visit the app's Store, view the About page and access the Help Section.
Settings include options to set the number of articles in the Recent List, turn on/off the Tip of the Day, turn on/off the Clipboard Monitor that checks for items sent to the Windows 10 clipboard, select your Share options, and a pronunciation editor.
While ReadAloud is a free Windows 10 app, the free version does have limitations on the number of pages you can convert to speech, the number of pages listed in your Recent List, the number of pronunciation edits, and the number of pinned articles. The free version is also ad supported. ReadAloud offers three in-app purchase options to lift these restrictions and remove the ad support. These options include a 3-month plan for $1.99, a 12-month plan for $3.99 and a Lifetime plan for $7.99.
To begin listening to content with ReadAloud, just choose one of the three options from the main screen. Choosing the Blank option sends you to a word processing feature where you can create your own document, the Web option lets you enter a web page URL to have that site read aloud, and the File option allows selection of a locally- or OneDrive-stored document. ReadAloud supports .pdf, .epub or .txt file formats. Additionally, when you copy text to your Windows 10 clipboard, ReadAloud triggers a notification offering to import that text and read it aloud. If this feature becomes annoying, simply turn off the Clipboard Monitor in the app's settings.
When it comes to web pages, ReadAloud extracts only the useful content from the web pages to read out loud. We tried out ReadAloud on websites like Tesla Central, Fox News and ESPN, and found that it did a good job isolating just on the text of the articles and ignoring the scaffolding around the body text. However, if a web article contained a heavy concentration of images, ReadAloud seemed to focus more on the headlines and ignored the body of the article. As for importing .pdf, .epub and .txt files, there were some hits and misses (the app didn't do well with complicated documents like legal briefs), but for the most part, ReadAloud did a good job of things.
The reading screen has a series of playback and customization options running across the top of the screen. These tools include a button to edit the text, one to pin the article to the Start Screen, and options for selecting voices and language, font size, highlight color, and volume. And, of course, back, pause/play, and forward controls.
Audio playback was accurate with very few pronunciation issues, and ReadAloud responded to punctuations equally as nice (e.g. pausing after a coma). The text being read is highlighted to make it easier to follow along and the document auto-scrolls as ReadAloud progresses through the document. Should there be a need to exit the app in the middle of a document, ReadAloud remembers where you last stopped playback and resumes there.
ReadAloud does have support for sharing documents by using the native Windows 10 Share feature and choosing ReadAloud from the list of options. While the interface with ReadAloud isn't very difficult to pick up, there is a tutorial document in your Recent List that covers the basics rather nicely.
ReadAloud's greatest strengths come in its ease of use and wide document format support. It could use a little fine tuning to broaden its conversion process to better handle web pages with a lot of images or documents with strange formatting (e.g. those legal briefs).
I can see ReadAloud being a useful app for anytime it is easier to listen to documents than reading them. With the text being highlighted as it is read, ReadAloud could help improve reading speeds and comprehension. ReadAloud can also be beneficial for those who are visually impaired. Once a Windows 10 Mobile version of ReadAloud becomes available, the app should be a good option for mobile situations such as running or driving. Until then, it wouldn't be too crazy to use a Surface tablet as you jog around the neighborhood? Right? Okay, maybe not a great plan...
If you are in the market for a text-to-speech conversion app, ReadAloud should be on your short list. It's free to use with optional paid upgrades, it's easy to grasp, and it just plain works well.
Text To Speech
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Software That Read Out Loud Pdf In Mac Os X
A number of high profile Twitter accounts have sent scam-related tweets encouraging users to send Bitcoin to an unknown account.