Code Factory surprised many at CSUN by announcing the development of a version of the ETI Eloquence speech synthesizer for Android. We checked in with Code Factory Sales Director Melanie Endres for a live demo and to learn of what else the company is up to in this podcast. Blind Bargains audio coverage of CSUN 2014 is generously sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind.
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Now, here's J.J. Meddaugh.
J.J. Meddaugh: We're here at CSUN14 with Melanie Endres. She's the sales director for Code Factory, and we had an announcement that just came out yesterday that kind of surprised a lot of us: Eloquence on an Android phone. Melanie, welcome back to the podcast.
Melanie Endres: Hello — hello, everyone. Hello, J.J.
JM: So what — show us what — let's hear this. Show us what you have here.
(A phone begins speaking with the Eloquence engine, making the usual Android navigation sounds.)
JM: ETI Eloquence. Wow.
ME: Yes.
JM: On an — and you're running that on an Android device?
ME: On an Android device, yes. It's 100 percent compatible with TalkBack, obviously also with our own Android screen reader solution, Mobile Accessibility.
JM: Okay. Do you know which version of Android you have to have? Does it — does it matter, or — probably anything current, right?
ME: All — Ice Cream Sandwich and above, so —
JM: Ice Cream Sandwich and above. I think some people might be interested — let's — to see how fast this voice can go.
ME: Should we —
JM: Let's see how fast we can make it.
(Melanie adjusts the speech rate.)
ME: Okay.
JM: Fastest.
ME: Fastest. There you go.
(The phone begins speaking much more rapidly than before.)
JM: Whoa.
ME: Pretty fast, I can say — you can say.
JM: That's better — well, that's been — that's been one of the complaints, I — I know, for both Android or iPhone, that the — the voices just don't go fast enough for people, and that's — that's our Eloquence that we've known for — for years and years.
ME: Yes. And that was the huge motivation behind that product. We had so many people coming up to us — I mean, the — by now, the Android user base is —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — it's — it's a huge community. And we also had them come back and say, "Okay, what about a great voice? We want our Eloquence voice back."
JM: How did you do — because it's been pretty much widely assumed that Eloquence is dead, and, you know, Nuance didn't want to do anything with Eloquence anymore. So you — how — you just talked them into it somehow, I guess; right?
ME: (Laughs) Well, since we brought out together Mobile Accessibility for Android — that's a joint product of Code Factory and Nuance —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — using, actually, the Vocalizer TTS —
JM: Right.
ME: — we've seen — there was such a huge success we had on that product, and so many people just come back to us, like, "Please, can we not have our voice back?"
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: I think — it's just something we also owe to the people. That's something we've done in the past and had a huge success, and we got people — let's call it addicted to it.
JM: Right.
ME: We want to give it back to them. So we've made the effort together with Nuance to bring out the product —
JM: Okay.
ME: — to bring out the product on the Android platform.
JM: Does it support other languages?
ME: It does support the most common ones.
JM: Okay.
ME: EFIX: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.
JM: Okay.
ME: And you have the U.S., obviously, and the U.K. English.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME, Also, Canadians might be happy to know we have Canadian French and the regular French.
JM: Oh, good.
ME: And of course, also Mexican Spanish.
JM: All right. So this is a beta right now, or when do you expect this to be released?
ME: I would say the latest should be two months.
JM: Okay. And have you guys settled on a cost for this yet, or —
ME: Around $20.
JM: Okay. Would that give you all the different voices and different languages —
ME: Yes. It's a whole installer packet, and you get all the voices.
JM: Okay. So of course, anybody who's using TalkBack or whatever screen reader would be able to download it from Google Play, and —
ME: Yes, exactly.
JM: — and — and use this. Okay. That's awesome, and there really isn't much of a demo needed here; I mean, it's — it's — it seemed very responsive and fast' and definitely, we'll look forward to following that. Code Factory in general — of course, you were — you guys did Mobile Speak for many years, and, you know, of course, those phones have died off. And you've dabbled with Android — Mobile Accessibility — and Windows Phone, but a lot of software now is being built into the phone. So what — what does that do for the future of Code Factory; and besides Eloquence, what else — other plans do you guys — what are you getting into now?
ME: Well, we're working a lot now — now we're accessibility consulting.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: Accessibility consulting for us means we really need to educate and fix — let application developers have accessibility in their minds when they do an application. Because, as you said before, J.J., now all platforms are basically, more or less, accessible.
JM: Mm-hmm. In varying degrees, yeah. For sure.
ME: Yes. And then —
JM: So what — what — are there specific app companies that you've worked with before in the past, or any examples that you can give, or — what type of consulting do you do the most?
ME: Well, I mean, what's really important is, like, a company, for example. We have a huge Spanish customer, which is a Spanish bank.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: I mean, they bring out applications to avoid the hassle of having to go down to your local bank store.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: So why not make this accessible to all your customers? How can a bank bring out an application that's not accessible to their blind and visually impaired customers?
JM: Okay. Do you —
ME. So —
JM: Do you focus on Android, or do you do this for any mobile platform?
ME: No, any — any platform.
JM: So whether it's iOS or Windows Phone or whatever —
ME: Or Blackberry or —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — any platform, yes. I think it's just, like, we use, in our experience, what we've been running into the past couple years when we always had this problem: our customers calling us up and saying, "My screen reader doesn't work with the latest version of Skype or" —
JM: Right.
ME: "Facebook or WhatsApp. Help us." And we really had to explain again and again —
JM: Right.
ME: — it's not our fault; it's not the screen reader's fault. It's the application's fault.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: So we think it's really important for all developers to be a bit more educated in this field.
JM: Okay. That's great. So — so companies would come to you, or — obviously, do you have — you have some sort of a — do you guys do user testing, or what — what types of consulting do you do? Do you — are you just providing general guidance as far as how to make an app the most accessible, or —
ME: No, we're actually offering a very customized service.
JM: Okay.
ME: Depending on what stage the application is —
JM: Sure.
ME: — we need to focus in one way or another.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: The — the most common at the moment is still "Oh, we have an application, and we have a lot of customer complaints. It's not accessible with a screen" —
JM: "And we don't know what to do."
ME: Exactly.
JM: Right.
ME: So we do testing — I mean, we still have a huge group of beta testers from our days of developing all our screen readers all over different platforms that are very helpful as well when it comes to evaluating applications.
JM: Okay.
ME: We give the company a report back, telling them what they need to fix and how to fix it, or they can get us to fix it for them.
JM: Are you currently seeking more user testers for that, or are you pretty well set right now?
ME: Well, I think we can say, you never have too many — many testers —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — that are willing to help us to improve accessibility on mobile devices, so if someone is interested, they can always —
JM. Sure.
ME: — feel free to — to contact us —
JM: Okay. Okay.
ME: — and we'll be happy to count them.
JM: So back to Mobile Accessibility for a — a quick moment. What — what — how do you see the future of that, especially for Android? Is that still going to be a relevant product, or is eventually TalkBack going to get good enough to where it won't be needed anymore, or —
ME: I mean, it's very important, let's say, for those users that really are using our product within the accessibility suite.
JM: Okay.
ME: It's for them — they're not so advanced users on the Android platform —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — that just really feel safe within the suite of applications.
JM: Right.
ME: So we have thousands and thousands of users in the U.S. It has been a really huge success, this product.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: I think we can say —
JM: Yeah, you're partnered with most of the major —
ME: Yes.
JM: — cell phone providers.
ME: That helped. (Laughs)
JM: Right. Well, sure.
ME: And —
JM: And obviously, they're happy with — well, they've continued to partner with you.
ME: Oh, yes, definitely. So —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — we keep on developing this. And then — Mobile Accessibility in the U.S., it's not that much of a problem, but it is a huge issue in other countries because the Android platform doesn't really come with any usable voices.
JM: Right.
ME: So you have the main EFIX once again.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: Those voices are basically covered —
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: — with the Pico voices from — from Android, but when it comes outside those five, six main languages , it's —
JM: Right.
ME: Russia, for example. There's no Russian voice available on Android. So on Mobile Accessibility, that comes in different languages, with already the voices. It's very important that we keep on doing that product for those countries.
JM: Have you done more work with Microsoft as far as — are they doing their own built-in accessibility for Windows Phone now? I know there was a first version, but it was still, you know, missing, you know, a little bit of functionality as far as Windows Phone access.
ME: I think that will be your next stop; you have them just right behind you. Microsoft booth.
JM: Okay. Right.
ME: So — I mean, well, we did — we did the Mobile Accessibility suite.
JM: Mm-hmm.
ME: It was asked for by Microsoft, and that's where our collaboration for now with Microsoft finishes.
JM: Okay, awesome. Well, great. Well, if — if people want to learn more about Eloquence or the consulting or anything else, what's the best way to get in contact with you guys?
ME: I think it's always good to first check out our website where you have all the current information available. It's www.codefactory.es
JM:
Mm-hmm.
ME: If not, they can always drop us an email at sales@codefactory.es, and we will get back to them with all the information they need.
JM: Great. Melanie, always a pleasure.
ME: Thank you.
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
