Geoff from geoffmobile.com shows his process for making his phone read books (ebooks and other text such as web pages, blogs, emails, etc.) aloud using Text to Speech (TTS) on Android.

Yes, you can make your phone read a book to you, using your headphones, or even in the car. And what’s more, you can create the book yourself using text from any web page.

Here’s the process, using an Android smart-phone and a PC or Mac desktop:

1. On your desktop, find the article you want the phone to read. Save it as a HTML file from the web site, or as a RTF file.

2. Install Calibre, a free ebook creator software. You can get it from: calibre-ebook.com/
It works on both Mac and PC.

3. Using Calibre, open the HTML or RTF file you saved, and select the “Convert” option to convert it to EPUB format.

4. Put the EPUB file you created on your Android phone. You can do this by emailing it to yourself (and then use the Opera mobile browser on your phone to download from your email to your phone), or you can connect the phone to your computer using the USB cable, and then transfer the EPUB file by copying it to the phone).

5. Install the free Android application called “FBReader” as well as the “FBReader TTS Plugin”. You will need both of these applications for it to work. You can get them from the Android Market (Google Play store) or from their website: www.fbreader.org/

6. Using FBReader on your phone, open your EPUB file. View the page of the book you want to start reading, and then go to the menu and choose “Speak”.

7. That’s it! Also note that if you go into the Accessibility settings on your phone, you can change the voice and language to other options such as British English, French, German, etc.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Have fun and please let me know your comments!

p.s. the article that my phone was reading is: “Lockdown – The coming war on general-purpose computing” by Cory Doctorow, posted January 2012. A great article, I highly recommend it. Article link: boingboing.net/2012/01/10/lockdown.html

Cheers,
Geoff
geoffmobile.com

Technical notes:

Camera : Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9V (manual white balance)
Audio: Zoom H1 connected to lapel mic under my shirt
Audio processed with Audacity (I used the SC4 compressor and Amplify effects).
Video edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 on a Windows 7 Dell PC (Intel i7 and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow). Audio synced with video using Pluraleyes from Singular Software.

A Birds in the House Production
birdsinthehouse.com

Speech #6: Vocal Variety, Best Run Toastmasters, Vancouver BC Canada
by: Geoff Peters geoffmobile.com
March 22nd 2012

Title: The Changing Face of Celebrity

Synopsis: Geoff talks about the historical exclusiveness of the “celebrity class” of people, introduces the idea of “micro celebrity”, and talks about how anyone can become a celebrity in their own way.

Speech Summary:
Around 10 years ago, I had my first celebrity crush. I won’t go into details of which celebrity it was, but let me tell you that I had all the physiological symptoms of being in love: my heart rate increased, I felt giddy and light headed, I bumped into things, and I couldn’t think about anyone else. Yes, I was in “love” with a celebrity, as much as a 20 year old can be.
Fortunately, a few weeks passed, and the burning object of my desire faded away into the normality of every day life. I hoped that one day I would find my cupid’s arrow pointing at a real human being, and around five years later this happened. Love. Of the one-on-one variety. But I digress. As a logical and inquisitive person, and having first experienced a “celebrity crush” I was suddenly fascinated by the whole concept of a “celebrity” and the whole enterprise: what would it feel like to be a celebrity, would it be normal?

But in today’s talk I am not going to explore the topic of what it might be like to be Justin Bieber or Britney Spears. After all, the private lives and behind the scenes have been covered extensively in documentaries and “made for MTV” specials. Today I am going to talk about what I call the “changing face of celebrity” or more specifically, how it is possible for common people to become their own “micro -celebrities” and how being a celebrity is no longer such an exclusive club.

1. What is a celebrity? Celebrities are admired, have a personality and a “story”, and have influence. Example: Carmageddon. Lady Gaga
Ashton Kutcher: 9.8 million followers: LAPD askd me 2tweet: 405fwy btwn 10 & 101 will b closed July16-17. In xchange I would like a free pass on that stoplight tickt IT WAS YELLOW

2. What is changing about celebrity? Youtube is allowing ordinary people to become “micro celebrities” in their own way. (a matter of scale, spheres of influence, tribe, shift from (pro to masses), to (creators to smaller audiences) Examples :Justin Bieber 18 million followers (rose to fame from a Youtube channel), Cooking with Dog (200,000 subscribers) Geoffmobile (146 subscribers)

3. Advice for budding celebrities? Use the power for good, be true to yourself (consider editing/revising). Help the world: focus locally: volunteer, support the arts, environment, spread goodwill. Can have political influence: David Suzuki, Wind mobile, tuition fees, Occupy. True to yourself: be who you want to be, and then allow people to become your fans, rather than trying to be what other want to be.

So in conclusion, a celebrity is admired, has a personality, story and influence. Ordinary people can “put themselves out there” and become mini-celebrities in their own way. And if you’re an aspiring celebrity, be true to yourself, and use your influence to impact the world in a positive way.

Thanks for watching. For more videos from Geoff, please rate, comment, and subscribe!
Geoff has more videos on his website at geoffmobile.com

Have a great day!
Cheers,
Geoff

For more information about Best Run Toastmasters club in Yaletown, Vancouver BC Canada, and how you can join us, please email Geoff at geoff.peters@gmail.com

Technical notes:
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V
Audio recorded on a Zoom H1 and processed in Audacity.
Video edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 on a Windows 7 Dell PC (Intel i7 and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow).

Closing and opening music by Laundryman (the Vancouver electronic band). Visit them on facebook at:
www.facebook.com/pages/Laundryman/332946393418686

Geoff from geoffmobile.com reviews the 2009 movie “New Moon”, starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

Thanks for watching! Please rate, comment and subscribe.

Cheers,
Geoff

geoffmobile.com

Technical notes:
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V set to Tungsten white balance.
Audio: Sony ICD-SX712 with lapel mic attached, processed with Audacity.
Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 on a Windows 7 Dell PC (Intel i7 and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow).
Audio was synced with video using Pluraleyes from Singular Software. (All software is legally licensed).

Geoff Peters from Vancouver BC Canada talks about his system for organizing his activities outside work, achieving his personal goals, and getting things done.

Geoff’s blog

geoffmobile.com

Toodledo web site that Geoff uses:

toodledo.com

Getting Things Done (GTD):

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

www.davidco.com/

www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280

Technical notes:
Recorded on a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V.

A vignette and color correction were applied in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

Audio was recorded from a Lapel mic directly into Audacity via the mic-in port on my Dell Windows PC running Windows 7 (Intel i7 processor and USB 3.0 for a faster workflow). The audio was adjusted using the Compressor and Hard Limiter tools in Audacity, and synchronized with the video using the software Pluraleyes by Singular Software.

Due to the vignette, RGB Curves, and Fast color corrector, this video took 4 hours to render (normally a video of this length would take 20 minutes or less to render).

a review of my Mandarin lessons up to lesson 4 or so.

(this video is more for my own purposes so I can review what I studied, but I posted it here in case anyone else is interested.)

Thanks for watching!

Recorded with a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX7V and edited with Adobe Premiere CS5.5 on a Windows 7 Dell Computer (Intel i7 processor).

Geoff Peters gpeters.com performs a solo piano version of Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham.

Jazz piano, recorded July 10th 2011, Vancouver BC Canada.

Please support live music in your community!

With much love,
Geoff

a free MP3 download of my performance in this video is available at:

www.gpeters.com/tracks/youtube8

—
Technical notes:
Camera – Sony DSC-HX7V Cybershot, Tungsten White Balance
Audio – Sony ECM-MS907 Stereo Condenser Microphone
recorded into a Sony Minidisc MZ-NH700
Audio processed in the free program Audacity on PC.
Audio was synced with video and titles added using the free program Windows Live Movie Maker (WLMM) in Windows Vista.

www.geoffmobile.com

The Korg MS2000b is a really fun synth to play with since all the controls are easily accessible on the surface, and it’s a great instrument to play live and jam with other musicians.

I play around, solo and improv on the Korg MS2000 for about 15 minutes, and create a bunch of sounds and ideas.

For a free MP3 download of the audio in this video, please visit:

www.gpeters.com/tracks/youtube7

I also play in a jazz band www.gpeters.com

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. (The audio and video is royalty free for non commercial or commercial use provided credit is given to the creator, Geoff Peters and a link is provided to www.gpeters.com

Official License info:
Synth Improv Practice by Geoff Peters gpeters.com Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″ creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

have fun!

cheers,
Geoff

www.geoffmobile.com

Check out Geoff and Tony’s entry to the Daiya Foods “Get Cooking” video contest! This is the ultimate grilled cheese!

Tony’s web site:

www.realmeneatgreen.com

Submit your video today for you chance to win an Apple ipad! visit wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/107913 for more information on the contest.

If you think Geoff and Tony should win share there video with your friends and family now!

Here’s the latest joke of the day as well as a jazz improv by Jason (acoustic bass) and Geoff (piano).

My entry in the Vancouver Sun contest to meet Justin Bieber and win tickets to his concert.

www.geoffmobile.com