Written on May 25, 2008 – 1:37 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Since everyone seems to be drowning in a flood of information, new start-ups emerge to throw us a lifebuoy. These entrepreneurs develop new ways for us to process information. The latest trend: converting text into speech.
The idea behind these kind of converters is that people can just walk away from the computer, but are still able to follow what’s happening on your favorite blog. So you can listen to the latest Next Web Blog posts while baking eggs or doing the dishes. A good time-saver, so several people have seized this opportunity to develop the next big thing. Here’s a short summary of the existing services. Please let me know if you have one to add.
When Boris and me crashed the parties of the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco last month, we bumped into the guys of Swiss start-up Dixero. Luca Mascaro and Dafne Gobbi have developed a service that transforms posts into audio by using different computer-generated voices. Shortly after I had published this post, Frederic Martin notified me that Dixero wasn’t the only text-to-speech service out there. He used French service Xfruits, which has a rich set of converting features including RSS to speech. Though it’s not just a European matter, as there’s also a San Francisco-based start-up transforming text into speech called Stitcher.
But a service from Israel takes the whole transforming thing to another level. Bnarrator uses actual human beings for the translating. It’s just a matter of installing a widget, which keeps Bnarrator up to date about new content. Then one of their narrators starts to read the post up loud. So instead of a metallic-sounding speech-robot, you’ll hear a friendly and natural voice telling you what your favorite blogger has written about. To turn it into a profitable business, Bnarrator first plays an advertisement. Yet they don’t keep it all the revenue, as 30 percent goes to the site owner and another 5 percent goes to charities for blind people. They don’t stop to amaze me.
Mashable has already installed the service and they now have 623 narrated posts. Like the service too? Anyone can sign up here. To sum it up: their service is as charming as the narrator in this video:
I hope you like that post!
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Written on February 16, 2008 – 1:08 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
After spending two days in the city of love and buying Valentine’s presents, the wildest ideas about love pop into your mind. At least in my experience they do… so here’s one! On my way to Paris I read an article in my favorite newspaper that said it started a dating service. Nothing special, since every newspaper in the Netherlands has its own dating service. They were just a little later.
Starting a dating service as a newspaper makes sense if you think about it. You choose a newspaper because you feel most comfortable with its political signature, tone of voice, cultural supplement and of course its brand experience. The newspaper I read for example is aimed at a young cosmopolitan audience, discusses broad themes instead of just the hottest news and highlights interesting and semi-intellectual stuff to do. If I were looking for a girlfriend, I would definitely want a girl who has the same ideas about what’s important in life and the world. So the perfect girl for me would probably read the same newspaper.
That’s where the dating service comes in. I could just browse through profiles of girls, without worrying whether she open for semi-intellectual stuff of not. Makes perfect sense to me. I mean, somebody who reads The New York Times would never date anyone who started the day with The New York Post. It goes for magazines too, a FHM man doesn’t want a high-brow New Yorker reader to spend his life with. Right?
If you think of it that way, blogs could easily start dating services as well. They discuss a specific hobby, passion, business or sports team etcetera and differentiate from each other by using a different tone of voice and design. If you’re an eligible bachelor in London, it mustn’t be that hard to meet an attractive tech-minded girl (correct me if I’m wrong guys), yet when you live in Liverpool you might need some help finding one. Wouldn’t it be great if a TechCrunch UK dating service came to the rescue?
Moreover, blogs have a big advantage compared to newspapers since they allow interaction between readers. You can judge on beforehand whether you like his or hers opinion on certain matters. Want some diversity? Check out an article that discusses an important topic and see if he or she has as totally different view on things.
One doubt about dating on blogs, I’m not sure about the man/woman ratio though as male readers are probably still a majority. Anyway, let me try to give you an idea what I’m talking about, here are some stereotype readers. Feel free to drop your experiences in the comments.
- TechCrunch Chick: she’s pretty straight-forward, would love to live in the Valley and is always looking for opportunities to come up with THE perfect business idea. And as no other, she knows money makes the world go round.
- VentureBeat Gentleman: killer-guy, working his ass off and likes to cut through the chase. One you thing must know ladies, he checks the business news every 15 minutes.
- Valleywag Queen: he/ she gossips the day round and has an radar for rumors. Great to drunk with, since he/she is a great story teller and knows how to crash a party. Don’t let your guard down though.
- Mashable Man: Girls, you sure gonna love his elegant and charismatic appearance. Yet after a while, you might feel a bit neglected since he’s always busy with meeting friends and keeping social contacts intact.
- ReadWriteWebWoman: Highly intelligent lady who likes to get to the bottom of things. Although her punctual and structured approach to life might start to get on you nerves.
- Loogic Guapa: For all of you who are looking for that Spanish temper, the Loogic guapa is your chick. If only all her friends wouldn’t speak Spanish all the time.
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
