Text to Speech App VozMe - Convert Any Text To MP3

Some interesting info from Gina at lifehacker on a text-to-speech app called VozMe:

There's still no getting around the fact that text-to-speech conversion doesn't sound quite, well, human. VozMe, a free text-to-speech web app, sounds better than you'd expect for a free web service, and is pretty convenient to use. Simply paste text into a web form from any source, hit the "Create MP3" button, and you can then listen through a Flash-based player or download an MP3 for later listening. VozMe can also be embedded in web sites or used through an iGoogle gadget, and while you still won't mistake VozMe for a friendly voice, it gets the job done with decent pronunciation, and without any two-program hacks.

Read more here: http://lifehacker.com/349585/convert-any-text-to-mp3s-with-vozme

After reviewing the comments following the post, this app might not be the best tool. There are other suggestions but most require download and even those tools sounded less than perfect. If you have any solid text-to-speech converson tools/apps to suggest or recommend - leave a comment.

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Update Twitter, Facebook & other status messages simultaneously

Another informative tech & internet post: Good Tips: Update Twitter, Facebook &and other status messages simultaneously

HelloTxt makes it easy to make sure all of your friends know what you’re up to all the time, no matter what social networking services they use. Actually, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but HelloTxt does let you post messages simultaneously to a whole slew of social networking sites that allow you to frequently update your status. You don’t need to register for an account to use HelloTxt, but as you’ve probably guessed, you do need to enter your login information for your various social networking sites. If you do register for an account, you only have to enter this data once, and then you can broadcast your updates to your hearts content. Registered users can also see a timeline with your latest updates and responses from their friends.

Read more here: http://wholeenchilada.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/good-tips-update-twitter-facebook-and-other-status-messages-simultaneously/

Related links:

• Social Networks: Update Your Status Across Social Networks with …
• HelloTxt - Making Microblogging Quicker And Easier
• HelloTxt Sends Messages to Twitter and the Rest
• HelloTXT: Post to Twitter, Pownce, Facebook … Simultaneously …
• HelloTxt: Centralize Your Microblogging Services - Rev2.org
• Update all microblogs once with HelloTxt
• HelloTxt is like Meebo for Microblogging

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Tech Tip: Burn An MP3 CD with folders

From the post Cool iTunes Tip: Burn A MP3 CD with folders comes this info:

If your car CD player or media center can play and navigate MP3 CDs by folder, using iTunes you can burn your tracks in album-specific folders automatically. (MP3 CDs have the songs burned on them as files, not audio, and as such can fit a whole lot more music than a regular audio CD.) The Internet Duct Tape blog explains the iTunes tip: the trick is to sort the playlist by album first before you burn.

Read more here: http://wholeenchilada.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/cool-itunes-tip-burn-a-mp3-cd-with-folders/

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Good list: Top 10 FREE Download Managers

Looking for a great, free tool or application for downloading your audio/video/software? Here's some good info on the Top 10 FREE Download Managers:

Whether you do your downloading via BitTorrent, FTP, or plain old HTTP, efficiently sucking files down from the cloud onto your hard drive takes the right tools. Whether you're a web video addict, constant software downloader, MP3 freak, or BitTorrent junkie, we've got some power downloading tools for you. Step inside for our picks of the best free download managers that get you the files you want fast and easy

From the post, here's the list of Top Ten FREE Download Managers:

10. UnPlug (Firefox extension)
09. Miro (Podcatcher, BitTorrent downloader and more)
08. Ares Tube / TubeTV (Web video to iPod downloaders and converters)
07. Wget (Command line download manager)
06. Filezilla (Cross-platform FTP client)
05. InstallPad / AppSnap (Software update downloaders, Windows only)
04. Transmission (Mac BitTorrent client)
03. uTorrent (Windows BitTorrent client)
02. Ted / TVShows (Television episode BitTorrent downloader)
01. DownThemAll! (Firefox extension)


Read more about these great apps and utilities: http://lifehacker.com/347827/top-10-free-download-managers

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Meaningful URL - Generate Short URLs with Meaning

If you're a fan of Tiny URL - "Making long URLs usable! More than 62 million of them. Over 1.6 billion hits/month!" - you might want to check out a similar app with a neat twist. From a post at downloadsquad:

Meaningful URL is a website designed under the same general principle of popular website Tiny URL. While Tiny URL just allows you to take a long URL and turn it into a short one, Meaningful URL takes the idea one step further and allows you to turn any URL into a short AND meaningful one. Meaningful URL has a variety of tags to choose from for your URL with options ranging from "say.iloveyou.to" to "vote.to." After your tag selection you can put your recipients name or any other text you choose to personalize and finish your URL. Free Meaningful URLs expire 5 days after they are created with premium URLs available for $2-$3 a month.

Read more of the post: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/02/05/give-your-urls-meaning-with-meaningful-url/

Read more about Meaningful URL: http://www.meaningfulurl.com/index.php

Read more about TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/

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Free App: Software Tool Strips Windows Vista To Bare Bones

Tired of dealing with Microsoft Vista's bloatware, junk apps, poor performance and the like? Check out this post from slashdot: Software Tool Strips Windows Vista To Bare Bones. I have yet to try it out, but the brief clip certainly has me interested:

A free download that can cut Windows Vista's gargantuan footprint by half or more is developing a big following on the Internet. vLite is a configuration tool that lets users automatically delete a lot of unnecessary Vista components — such as Windows Media Player and MSN installer — to pare the OS down to a reasonable size. The software is catching on. An InformationWeek story notes that a forum that asks users to suggest new features has drawn nearly 50,000 page views.

Read more here: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/28/1514212&from=rss

If anyone has any info on this tool, especially users!!, please leave a comment and let us know what you think. Is the free tool worth it? Once you use the tool, does the bare bones version operate as expected? Any hiccups ? Is there a better tool, free or not? let us know!

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