This article was taken from the March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
https://www.wired.co.uk/topic/amazonYour computer has a voice: both Windows and Macs have built in text-to-speech functions for the visually impaired. Using these, you can make the machine recite anything you type, Stephen Hawking-style. After all, it's good to talk.
Windows
Open the notepad and write in this code: Dim message, sapi message=InputBox("X""Y")Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")sapi.Speak message "X" will be the text displayed within the dialogue box (eg "What shall I say?"), "Y" will be the title of the window (eg "Computer, speak"). Save the file with the extension .vbs. Run the file, type what you like in the textbox and click "OK".
Mac OS
Open Terminal (in Applications > Utilities) from the Finder.
Type "say" and then hit return. Now type whatever you want your Mac to say and hit return again.
Open System Preferences > Speech > Text Speech to adjust the system voice and the speaking rate. You'll need to restart Terminal to hear the new voice.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
