RSSpeaker : iPhone Application
Altum Design Studios launched a new app RSSpeaker which combines the technology of custom RSS feeds and using the software from Acapela translates text to speech. This results in your iPhone or iPod touch into a personal news anchor. The RSSpeaker’s interface is very simple. You have a list and you just need to tab the plus button to add feeds. Adding feeds from the New York Times, CNN, and The Daily Beast were easy but SFGate and The Washington Post were unverifiable.
When you save the feeds all you have to do is press play to convert it to speech from text. The RSSpeaker picks only the head lines and short blurbs that can be found on the sites homepage. You can read faster that one paragraph description than listen to it. This app can be made to use while you are driving or your eyes are engaged somewhere. But then you don’t get the full stories on RSSpeaker which is a major flaw. Then the pleasant female voice sounds bit robotic even if you can speed up her so that she matches the cadence of a regular person. She may sometime sound like a monotone NPR broadcaster reading hard news.