Speak will make your computer even more helpful and entertaining than ever. Speak will use Microsoft Agent Animated Characters to read your text for you. You can tell Genie (as an example) to read your documents, emails, web pages or any text in the clipboard. Just keep the cool animated character on top of your desktop and click on him whenever you want him to read for you. Control the speed and pitch and enjoy many characters with different expressions and animations. Speak supports voice recognition. Speak can run your applications by voice commands you provide. Speak will also remind you of your appointments with Speak Reminders.
1.2 - Key Features
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- Copy any text from any application and Speak will read the clipboard's contents.
- Speak will read the contents of any text document.
- Supports many languages.
- Voice recognition: You can let Speak run your applications just by saying in your microphone the application's name.
- Run speak at windows startup and the character will greet you and inform you of the time and date, or just ask the character about the time and date and it will respond.
- Add quick notes and Speak will read them for you when asked, or remind you at a set time. - Adjust reading speed, in words per minute for your comfort.
- Adjust the pitch to whatever you feel is suitable and comfortable to hear.
- You will gain access to Speak Members page where you can get the latest news and updates.
- Unlimited Support
1.3 - System Requirements
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- Windows 95/98 (Speak does not run under Windows NT)
- Internet Explorer version 3.02 or later
- A Pentium 100 MHz PC (or faster)
- At least 16MB of RAM.
- A Windows-compatible sound card.
- Microsoft Agent 2.0
1.4 - Installing Agent
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Speak now comes with Agent 2.0 and the TruVoice Text-To-Speech Engine which gives the voice output. Both those file are included in the setup. When Speak is run for the first time, and you do now have Agent installed, they will be automatically installed. However, if you face some problems, you can install them manually by going to your:
- Start Menu
- Programs
- Speak
and then selecting:
- Install Microsoft Agent 2.0
- Install L & H TruVoice Engine
This should make Speak functional for reading. An optional component which you might want to install is the Speech Recognition Engine. That is used only for speech recognition (like understanding commands you speak out). If you are going to use this feature, then download the Microsoft Speech Recognition 4.0 from http://www.shadisoft.com/agent. If you are not going to use this feature, then you do not need to download this file.
For more information, please go to: http://www.shadisoft.com/agent.
1.5 - Getting more Characters
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You can get additional characters to use with Speak. Speak uses certain animations that not all characters may have. However, if the character does not have the animation required, it will not cause a problem or an error. The following characters are recommended for the use with Speak:
- Peedy
- Genie
- Merlin
- Robby
- Claude
Once you get the character, double click on it, and then run Speak and go to File/Character Gallery and select the new character by clicking on Next until it's displayed.
To get more characters, go to: http://www.shadisoft.com/speak/characters.html
1.6 - Speak & Other Languages
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Go to: http://www.shadisoft.com/agent/index.html#Languages to check for information on other languages. We do not give technical support for other languages. You can find out more about Microsoft Agent and other languages from:
Click on "File/Read Text File". This will allow you to select any text file and Speak will read it for you. You cannot read Microsoft Word or WordPerfect Documents. The files must be ASCII Files. To read something from Microsoft Word or WordPerfect or any other application, use the 'Clipboard' command explained below.
2.2 - Reading From Clip Board:
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If you are in your email client, web browser or reading a Microsoft Word document, you can select any area and copy it to the clipboard (By going to Edit/Copy). Once the text has been copied to the clipboard, you can click on the 'Clipboard' button in Speak, or click the right mouse button on the character and choosing 'Read From Clipboard'. Speak will then read the clipboard contents for you.
Hint: You could just load Speak, and minimize it to the system tray, and with a simple click on the Character of your choosing, Speak will read the text available in the clipboard. To enable this feature, click on Options and go to to the Character Tab, and check 'Read from clip board on character left click'.
2.3 - Voice Activated Applications:
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Here you can add your favorite programs and speak will run them just by saying their name in your microphone. To setup up voice activated applications, go to Speak/Voice Activated Applications.
Under Application Title, enter the application name as you want it in the Character menu.
Under Voice Activated Command, enter the voice command which will activate the application.
Under Application Path, enter the path for the executable file, or click the '..' to browse.
2.4 - Other Voice Commands:
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Speak has some other voice commands for the following:
Read From Clipboard
Notes & Reminders
What is the time?
What is the date?
Restart Windows
Shut Down
Close Speak
To setup those commands, go to Options, and click on the 'Commands' tab. This will let you change the default voice command for each function. You can also disable some if you choose, go to options, then go to the 'Voice Input' tab.
2.5 - Adding Notes and Reminders:
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Click on Speak/Notes & Reminders. You can set Reminders that will popup at a set time and remind you of a certain task.
