News
LG selects NowSpeak TTS for HBM-570 headset
January 2010
"The innovative LG HBM-570 headset gives users a clear and consistent communication experience boasting unique features like Name Alert™ which clearly announces incoming callers so users will always know who is calling them without having to look at their cell phone."
Jabra selects NowSpeak TTS for latest wireless speakerphone
January 2010
"The Jabra CRUISER includes features that keep users informed of incoming calls, battery level, and connectivity status – all without the touch of a finger. The device features caller ID in the form of voice announcements, which intelligently accesses a paired phone’s address book to announce the name of an incoming caller."
Polish language added to NowSpeak TTS solution for Bluetooth
December 2009
As part of NowSpeak Technologies commitment to its world leading multi-lingual text-to-speech solution for Bluetooth it has today announced the addition of a Polish female voice. This takes to 11, the number of languages supported by NowSpeak TTS.
The high quality multi-lingual voices have a small memory fooprint allowing multiple languages in bluetooth headsets and handsfree car kits. NowSpeak provides the 11 languages in the following regional language packs: Americas, Western European, Eastern European, Asian and World.
Motorola selects NowSpeak TTS for T325 in-car speakerphone
November 2009
"Maximize your drive time with Motorola T325 In-Car Speakerphone, featuring high-end capabilities at an affordable price. Powerful dual speakers, an automated car entry on /off function and a favorites contact list are just a few features to keep you focused on the road, and connected to your calls. Simply clip T325 to your sun visor and you’ll have hands-free convenience always there for you."
NowSpeak releases new version of TTS for Bluetooth solution
July 2009
NowSpeak Technologies has announced the latest release of their world leading TTS for Bluetooth solution. The main feature of the new multi-lingual TTS release are higher quality voices and more natural sounding speech in 10 major languages.
NowSpeak TTS solution, which has been selected by leading Bluetooth brands such Motorola, Jabra and Supertooth, is used to speak caller's name, phone names, digit strings such as phone numbers and device status phrases.
Jabra selects NowSpeak TTS for SP700 speakerphone
May 2009
"Fitting neatly on to a car visor, the Jabra SP700 speakerphone allows Mum/Dad to make calls safely and legally at the wheel. What’s more, hands-free conversation can continue in the kitchen and around the house as they use their hands for other things whilst continuing their chat."
Phone name speaking feature added to NowSpeak Bluetooth TTS solution
November 2008
NowSpeaks multi-lingual TTS for Bluetooth solution, which speaks callers name, now provides support for speaking Bluetooth phone names. Most phones come with a default name, usually based on manufacturers name and phone model with many owners renaming their phone to something more personal.
One of the benefits of having phone name spoken is when the user has more than one mobile, maybe a work phone and a personal one. Multipoint Bluetooth allows a headset or handsfree car kit device to establish multiple connections, at the same time, to their phones. When a call comes in NowSpeak TTS can be used to speak the name of the phone.
NowSpeak caller anouncement for Bluetooth devices in 10 languages
April 2008
This month NowSpeak Technologies announced that its world leading TTS solution for Bluetooth devices now supports ten major languages. For devices that traditionally have only been able to give feedback to the user by flashing LED's or tones, the use of TTS to tell the user who is calling is a significant benefit. In addition to caller announcement NowSpeak TTS is able to speak device status such as "low battery, please recharge" and provide guidance for device setup.
A key feature of NowSpeak TTS solution is that it produces high quality speech with a small memory footprint. This means that a bluetooth device can have multiple languages and to support this NowSpeak provides the 10 languages in the following regional language packs: Americas, Western European, Eastern European, Asian and World.
Motorola selects NowSpeak TTS for MOTOROKR™ T505
October 2007
"The T505 also features StationFinder™, a breakthrough technology that announces where the best FM connection can be found on the user’s car radio. When calls come in, the T505 automatically mutes the music and audibly announces the Caller-ID, so drivers can keep their eyes on the road. Cutting-edge echo and noise reduction technology and a built-in microphone and 2-watt speaker also ensure that drivers have outstanding sound and zero static throughout their ride."
NowSpeak Technologies has added FM frequency speaking to its popular TTS for BlueCore solution
September 2007
An exciting new feature of the latest after-market bluetooth handsfree car kit is the addition of an FM transmitter. This allows drivers to listen to phone calls and music from their phone in high quality through the car sound system. To support this feature and make it as easy to use as possible NowSpeak Technologies have added FM frequency speaking to its TTS for BlueCore solution.
The handsfree car kit scans for a free FM channel and using NowSpeak TTS speaks frequency such as "ninety six point four". The user can tune their car stereo to this frequency to hear phone calls and music from phone.
NowSpeak Technologies is based in the UK and is the world leading supplier of TTS technology for Bluetooth devices. It provides a high quality multi-lingual text-to-speech solution for CSR's BlueCore single chip bluetooth platform.
CSR adds text-to-speech to its BlueCore5-Multimedia platform
eXtension partner NowSpeak develops Mobile TTS for BlueCore
December 2006
CSR (LSE: CSR.L) has further expanded the capabilities of its BlueCore5-Multimedia platform with the addition of NowSpeak Technologies to CSR’s eXtension Partner Programme. NowSpeak’s Mobile TTS software for BlueCore has been developed to run on CSR’s powerful Kalimba DSP, providing text-to-speech capabilities for Bluetooth headsets and in-car handsfree systems using CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia silicon.
NowSpeak Mobile TTS for BlueCore represents a big step towards a fully handsfree approach to communication. When a call is received on the user’s mobile phone, the name or phone number of the incoming caller is announced over the headset or car kit, allowing the user to decide whether or not they wish to accept the call. The TTS software automatically synthesises speech from the incoming text in real time, without the need to know the words in advance. This offers a significant advantage over pre-recorded speech systems which can only announce pre-defined words and phrases. Also, Mobile TTS technology offers voice prompts indicating the status of the Bluetooth device and instructions to improve usability.
“Our partnership with CSR is enabling us to move closer to our vision of putting Bluetooth devices at the centre of the user’s digital experience, allowing personalised voice-driven universal remote control,” explained Allan Davison, Commercial Director, NowSpeak Technologies Ltd. “We chose CSR’s BlueCore platform because it has been selected for more than 80% of all headset designs, opening a huge and growing potential market for our technology.”
BlueCore5-Multimedia is the only single-chip Bluetooth platform with a powerful 64 MIPS DSP and on-chip memory to support a host of third-party software for enhanced audio capability and expanded functionality to add increased value to mobile handsets, headsets and automotive handsfree systems.
The DSP-based platform also features enough power to support future software enhancements. Currently NowSpeak Mobile TTS for BlueCore offers caller ID, device status updates and an audio pairing guide in multiple languages including major European, North and South American and Mandarin. However, thanks to BlueCore5-Multimedia’s untapped processing power, NowSpeak expects to add support for additional languages, SMS and email reading as well as speech recognition for name dialling and music control and selection.
Richard Ord, SVP of CSR’s Wireless Audio strategic business unit (SBU) commented, “NowSpeak’s text-to-speech capability, running on our market-proven multimedia architecture offers a level of added value to our automotive, handset and headset customers that simply cannot be matched. Our decision to pursue a DSP-based architecture for wireless audio applications allows us to offer outstanding audio performance to our customers through our eXtension partnerships and encourage the mass market adoption of Bluetooth for wireless audio applications.”
NowSpeak appoints Excelpoint as distributor for Asia Pacific region
October 2006
NowSpeak Technologies, a leading supplier of speech solutions for mobile devices, announces that it is partnering with Excelpoint Systems who will distribute NowSpeak's Mobile TTS for BlueCore in the Asia Pacific region.
Excelpoint, who specialises in product realisation, providing time-to-market solutions and turnkey project management of electronic systems to box-build, will incorporate NowSpeak's TTS engine into their Bluetooth device reference designs.
"We are pleased to announce this partnership as Excelpoint has a proven track record in Bluetooth device development and production and it will enhance NowSpeak's presence in the region." said Allan Davison, Commercial Director of NowSpeak Technologies.
NowSpeak Mobile TTS for BlueCore is the world leading text to speech system for CSR's single chip Bluetooth solution. The TTS engine exploits the DSP capabilities of the BlueCore platform to enable to Bluetooth headsets and hands-free car kits to speak the name or number of the caller.
Mobile TTS for BlueCore solution available
May 2006
NowSpeak Technologies today announced the release its Mobile TTS engine for CSR's single chip Bluetooth solution, BlueCore™. This world leading TTS solution allows the significant enhancement of Bluetooth headsets and hands-free car kits enabling them to speak the name or number of the caller.
"The benefits to the busy user on the move cannot be underestimated. For the first time they will be able to hear the name of the caller and decide if they want to accept or reject a call." said Allan Davison, Commercial Director of NowSpeak Technologies.
In addition the user will also be able to hear devices status information such as "battery low" or "network coverage lost" warnings as well as receiving spoken guidance for activities such as pairing.
The NowSpeak TTS system provides a unique combination of natural sounding speech and small resource footprint which makes it ideal for mobile devices. It is a software only solution that exploits the power of the BlueCore DSP to synthesis speech from text in real time.
The TTS system is multilingual and supports the major European, North and South American and Mandarin languages. There are two versions of the system available one that speaks digit strings such as phone numbers and fixed phrase and second version that can speak callers name in addition to digit strings and fixed phrases.
Small-footprint text-to-speech engine now available
February 2006
NowSpeak Technologies have announced the release of their small-footprint text to speech engine for mobile devices that requires as little as 50K bytes. The new engine combines exceptional speech quality with low memory requirements.
The natural sounding text-to-speech system is available to license on the key mobile platforms with a range of languages and voices either on its own or in combination with our speaker independent speech recognition technology.
NowSpeak Dialler Voice Assistant released
December 2005
The latest release of the NowSpeak Dialler name dialling application has been further enhanced with a voice assistant that confirms the name and help you select the phone number to dial. Simply say the name and follow the voice prompts. No voice training required.