News Pal™ (voice browser)

4.0
30 reviews
5K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

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PLEASE NOTE: THIS APP WAS INITIALLY RELEASED IN MAY 2012 AS PROOF-OF-CONCEPT TO PROVIDE A GLIMPSE INTO YIZRI'S VISION OF NAVIGATING THE WEB AND ANY WEBSITE HANDS-FREE & EYES-FREE, BACKED BY 3 PATENTS (USPTO 8423365, 8918323, 9196251). SINCE THEN, GOOGLE APPEARS TO HAVE CHANGED ITS SPEECH RECOGNITION SERVICE IN A WAY THAT INTERFERES WITH THE ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATION. WE ARE WORKING ON A NEW DESIGN & MUCH MORE. UNTIL THEN, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS APP EXPERIMENTAL. THANK YOU.
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Utilizing the latest state of the art text-to-speech and speech recognition technologies, VoiceSee™ News Pal is the world's first hands-free *and* eyes-free newspaper web browser for your Android mobile phone or tablet.
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Imagine…
* Reading your favorite newspaper while commuting to work or... on the beach, in that beautiful sunny day.
* listening to online digital media, enjoying a calm and relaxed breakfast instead of fast and furious headline scanning.
* Having the opportunity to take your daily power walk while listening to the latest news

News Pal gives you more choices to enjoy the things you routinely strive for in your life.

Use your voice to tell The New York Times which section to read. Speak to navigate through the previews, articles and sections via voice only – no need to use your eyes either, because Sadie (the voice of VoiceSee) will be reading you, the entry's content. All you have to do is listen.

Enjoy access to Internet - ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. This is unlike anything you have seen before: No assistant currently reads you websites. VoiceSee does! Screen readers don't listen. VoiceSee does!

As an added bonus, you can say: “Google!” and you will hear News Pal prompting you for the search term. You can visit any website using News Pal, just like any web browser.

Tips:

There are also usage FAQs at:
+ http://www.yizri.com/how-it-works/usage-faq-and-tips/
+ http://www.yizri.com/how-it-works/news-pal-faq/

1. When prompted to speak, always wait one or two seconds after the low tone double-beep.
2. Sometimes, you may need to repeat the answer in order to be heard.
3. To interrupt Sadie in the middle of a paragraph, touch the Search button.
4. To interrupt Sadie at the end of paragraphs, talk as soon as you hear the double-beep: "stop!" or "pause!"
5. To continue from the next paragraph, say: "continue!".
6. To disable scrolling & link opening via touch, say: "Disable Touch!". To re-enable, say: "Enable Touch!"
7. To skip directly to an NYT section, just its name. e.g. "Business!", "Technology!", etc.
8. To go The Wall Street Journal, say: “The Journal!”
9. To make Sadie speak faster (or slower) say: "Speak faster!" (or "Speak more slowly!").
10. To reset to default speech rate say: "Speak normal!"
11. To accurately spell a search term or phrase, enter SPELL mode by saying: "Let me spell it for you!" (or just "Let me spell!"). Then, spell each letter only after Sadie has acknowledged the recognition of the previous letter.
12. To exit SPELL mode, say: "finish spelling", "end spelling" or "spelling complete".
13. To skip 1-9 paragraphs when reading an article, just say the number (e.g. "one!", "three!", etc.)
14. If you're not sure what to say, just say: “Help!”
15. Shake your phone to wake up listening if stuck (acknowledged by Sadie saying "Ouch!")

To use a headset with PAUSE/PLAY, NEXT & PREV buttons, press:
1. PAUSE/PLAY (middle) to pause. Press it again to continue.
2. NEXT (bottom) to immediately skip to the next item in the list.
3. PREV (top) to immediately go back to the previous item in the list.
*Pressing headset buttons while NOT reading an item or an article may produce erratic results. Use this feature only when Sadie reads an item from a list.

Note: although you can visit any website using News Pal, it is currently optimized for the following sites only: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Onion. Please tell us which additional ones you want to access via News Pal.
Updated on
Apr 20, 2023

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
No data collected
Learn more about how developers declare collection

Ratings and reviews

4.0
28 reviews
A Google user
January 6, 2014
try this to help people like my self
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A Google user
April 11, 2014
Good idea though
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YiZRi
January 19, 2015
Apologies for the frustrating user experience. It appears that Google speech recognition servers can no longer be relied on by our apps. We are taking down this app until we find a more reliable solution. Thanks for your feedback.
A Google user
September 1, 2013
Number one app super good work add night mode
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What's new

NewsPal revival in progress... (version 0.88.230420)
(see tips on how to use in the 'About this app' section below)