#text to speech reader download

[lollybliz]

As 24 hours comes and goes, no land in sight, a single platform drifts slowly, almost within reach.

A familiar slab of wood, one you've looked to, and at times rejected and ignored, at times grasped with all the strength in your arms.

Here it is again, in our drifting, lost without the great ship ao3.

Google docs.

[sibyllinebooks]

stiles x autistic!partner hcs

a/n: april is autism awareness month and i wanted to do smth with our favorite boy! 🫶🏻 reader has lower support needs ( as this is based off of my experience as an autistic person with lower support needs ). not everything will be applicable to all readers.

he’s not unfamiliar with autism, exactly. he knows a lot of his adhd traits intersect with autism traits, but he’s never had a reason to explore it further.

until you.

when he learns that you’re autistic, he goes on one of his adhd deep dives ( sort of like when he went on the werewolf dive when scott was first bitten ).

he knows a LOT about diagnostic criteria ( and sometimes wonders if he himself fits it but that’s for another time ).

he also learns what your dislikes are— tastes, textures, sounds, etc. so he can do his best to keep them away from you. he also knows that are perfectly capable of doing those things yourself but he keeps track anyway because he loves you and he wants to help.

he’s never infantilized you before and he knows that you are your own person. god forbid anyone tries to take your autonomy or imply that because you’re autistic, you can’t do simple things or basic tasks.

but if you do end up needing a little help here and there, he doesn’t mind. he knows what it’s like to struggle with neurodivergence and he’s had a lot of practice with his own. maybe he messes up sometimes but he has good intentions.

he notices shifts in your behavior almost instantly. most of your friend group does but that’s due to supernatural senses; stiles just has an innate focus on you and learns to tell when something is different.

and he does his absolute best to soothe whatever is causing your distress. if some of your classmates are talking too loud or yelling across the cafeteria, he asks to take you outside away from it. or if you’re at a party and suddenly there’s too many people around, he’ll take you to somewhere more secluded. overstimulation is a feeling he knows well, so he sympathizes and does what he can to aid you.

he memorizes a lot of your coping mechanisms. whether it’s the way you tap your fingers together or how you brush the fabric of your skirt back in forth because it’s a texture you like or the rapid onset of blinks that seem to go like clockwork, he knows them all. sometimes he uses them too.

YAP SESSIONS. having an adhd boyfriend is a blessing when it comes to conversation.

he can talk for hours on any of his given topics and so can you. hyperfixations and special interests go hand in hand and god forbid if both of you have the same one at the same time. it happened once and you both ended up staying up all night without realizing it because you were too in depth with your conversation.

and just because he likes to talk, it doesn’t mean he won’t let you talk. sometimes when he needs his brain shut off, he’ll ask you to talk about one of your special interests. not because it bores him, but because he likes listening to the sound of your voice and because your passion for the subject makes it interesting to him. he likes knowing why you enjoy things so much and it helps him when he’s feeling overwhelmed.

he downloaded a text-to-speech app for you for times when you go non-verbal. lydia did too but he was the first because he wanted to make sure that everyone was still able to understand you. communication king.

stiles is REALLY bad at following schedules but if you need one, he makes sure he has it memorized and reminds you when it’s time for something. he can do it for others but when it comes to himself ? not so much.

you went to give him a hug once and his shirt was a fabric/texture you hated, so he threw it away. he wants you to be comfortable around him.

he keeps your safe foods stocked at his house and some in his backpack just in case. once, the cafeteria decided to experiment with the menu and it did not turn out well.

if someone asks “what kind of autism do you have?” he gets defensive. as someone who has dealt with adhd stereotypes and ignorant comments, he hates to see it happen to you.

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

Love the comics so much JNSSNHS, I love all the panelling and how well it’s structured. I remember you talked about the thumbnails before, but I’d just like to ask… What font do you use for texts? Any tips for making the speech bubbles?

Ooooooh a lettering question!!

I use the "Might Makes Right" font purchased from Blambot! I wanted that classic comic book look, but without the worry of getting in trouble for using a pirated font like "CC Wild Words" haha.

Blambot is an awesome site, I highly recommend giving it a look through if you are interested in the lettering side of comics!! They have some fonts that are free for use for non-profit / indie comic projects (only for comics, check out the licensing page) and so much advice on balloons and sound effects. I've learned so much from this site alone!

The "Better Letterer" and "Comic Book Grammar & Traditions" pages have personally taught me So Much about lettering and balloons. Its a good insight into all the little tips and tricks the industry has developed from so many talented people over the decades.

ANOTHER GREAT LOOK INTO LETTERING is "this video" by Strip Panel Naked (my favourite youtube channel). The creator explains the thought and process behind choosing the style of balloon and fonts to suit the comic!

I use Clip Studio Paint and it has a lot of great options for balloons with the Balloon Tools and many more options to created by other artists out there to download! I don't use any of them.

I like to either draw the circles by hand for a more natural look, or I'll use the ellipse tool to create the circle and mesh transform it to be more imperfect.

I personally think all comic creators should look into learning more about lettering, not because I think everything needs to look "professional", but because it's honestly such an interesting and overlooked part of the comics medium!!

There is so much history and tradition behind it, and it's so cool that when done right the balloons almost become invisible to the reader, just another part of the art!! There are also so many things you can do to match the lettering with the art style of the comic!

I just think it's neat ( ◕_◕)

[jstor]

Is there any work being done on using OCR (optical character recognition) technology on older works that have been saved as PDF images? I use speech-to-text to read, and I have often had to OCR documents myself, which sometimes ends up with problems like character misrecognition, headers and footers being read as text, the Jstor attribution at the bottom of each page being read as text, etc. It would be nice to have properly-formatted PDFs with full text available to download, even if it were a slow project to update them over time.

Hi there, thanks for sharing this! We're aware that older PDFs can be a struggle in terms of accessibility via OCR.

Our team is currently exploring how to best identify these documents so that we can begin making necessary changes. There are many documents in the repository, so this will take time, but our goal is to host documents that are easily accessible for everyone.

For now, we usually recommend the Natural Reader or Read Aloud extensions for Chrome, but we realize these may not work for every document on the platform. More to come!

[lazyneonrabbitt]

Bears on the road

Literal translation of a Dutch figure of speech, meaning ‘to see problems way bigger than they actually are’, usually with a lot of stress beforehand that in hindsight wasn’t needed.

Carmen Berzatto x Reader [pt.2]

Talk of anxiety attacks and getting rid of them. Reader's first three visits to The Beef.

~~☆☆☆~~

You had been at The Beef four times before ending up in Carmen’s apartment.

The first time was years ago on a trip.

Your companion had taken you there and you had the best food of the entire trip that day and the pretty guy behind the counter tried to flirt with you. Mikey, you thought his name was.

The second time was now that you had returned to the area for your studies.

The ratty ass building you live in was horrible, but the only place you could afford for now. You remembered the place and decided to go look if it was still open, and luckily it was.

There was a different guy behind the counter this time, who greeted you ..loudly. Going up to the counter you ordered a sandwich and sat down, pulling out your laptop to get some work done. It sucked that you had to get such a huge file ready to present on your first day, and with you such a perfectionist you started immediately when you got the welcome assignment. You had everything sorted out neatly into folders, your full project file over twenty-five pages long and every bit of source material carefully and properly linked. Since it would be too difficult moving your entire desktop setup across states you had gotten your current, high-end laptop and uploaded every last bit of your project to your Drive account that had been your saving grace more than once over the years. While you waited for your food to be made you decided to read over some parts of your file again to check for any spelling mistakes seeing you didn’t actually have to download the file to preview it. Opening your Drive account and heading over to the right folder and tap the file to open it, only for your reflection in the dark mode text previewer to stare back at you. The small window in he middle of your screen popping up, reading “File cannot be opened. Corrupt Data.”

Eyes wide, the words glare back at you. CORRUPT DATA. No fucking way. FILE CANNOT BE OPENED. You checked the upload, it finished all the way.

You try again. The same error staring at you, screaming at you CORRUPT DATA. FILE CANNOT BE OPENED. Shit. Shitshitshitshit. The words became blurry as tears welled in your eyes, breathing becoming more and more difficult with every count of days, weeks, months even, you spent working on this huge thing that was due in two days.

You didn’t even notice the man at the counter calling out for you to come grab your sandwich. Didn’t realize he had gotten away from said counter with a plastic tray containing your sandwich until he placed it on your table a little too loudly. The harsh, sudden sound caught you so off guard it kicked the oncoming panic attack info full gear.

The man quickly shot into action, sitting down, a hand on your shoulder trying to get you to look at him and tell him ..something, anything. But he really had no clue how to handle this.

“Cousin!” He called out, but not before turning away from you as o not yell directly at you. No response. “Help!” He added after a short, but according to him, too long moment.

His hand kept rubbing small circles on your shoulder, hoping he was at least doing something for you.

“shit,” You heard another voice, slightly further away. “Richie go grab her some water.” And the hand on your shoulder disappeared and the man, Richie, was replaced by the other one with the soft but direct sounding voice. This one didn’t immediately try to touch you, first hovering his hand above yours, carefully giving you a moment to shuffle away if you needed and only after you didn’t, take your hand and slowly move it away from you. “Can you breathe with me?” He was a lot calmer than counter guy. Name, what was it again? Water, yeah he got you water. You needed water? With your hand being moved by the new person, stopping you from completely clenching your arms around yourself you slowly moved your head upwards, breathes still erratic and difficult. You were staring at your hand now, well, a rough, tattooed hand that was holding yours. “Hey,” again that softer voice. “Squeeze my hand if you hear me.” Squeeze his hand. Yes. You did as he said and he took his other hand to the fold of your elbow, placing a single finger on your skin. “Breathe with me,” he took a loud, deep inward breath as he brushed his finger over the length of your forearm down to your wrist, and again a loud, deep outward breath while dragging his finger back up your arm. “Can you do that?” You squeeze his hand to say yes and close your eyes completely again to try and focus. He repeats his previous motions, breathing together with the movement of his finger on your skin. It takes some time but after a bit your breathing has evened out, just some sniffles left that would fade later as well.

You hadn’t dared to look up yet out of embarrassment but you really wanted that water now. The counter guy brought you water. You swore you could drink an entire ocean. Oceans not even as blue as the eyes staring back at you right now. Wow what? Who? You blinked a couple of times to really come back to earth after everything and now those eyes were clearly a part of a very cute guy with messy curls and a smile that could cure anyone’s bad day. “Welcome back.” Already he was holding out the glass of water to you, motioning that you should really drink something now that you calmed down and you did. You gulped down the whole glass before setting it down and seeing your forgotten, now cold sandwich. You frown at the wasted food as your stomach grumbled. The man followed your gaze and quickly figured out the source of your frown, easily coming up with a solution.

“You still hungry? I’ll go get you a new one.” He got up from the chair he had pulled up beside you, straightening out his apron. “On the house, yeah?” With half a turn and a hand motioning towards the door leading to the kitchen he looked at you waiting for an answer before walking off as you nodded, agreeing with the new sandwich.

By the time he came back you had put away your laptop, not wanting to deal with it anymore and focus on the food.

He lingered for a moment, making sure he caught your first bite, and how glad he was he did stay as your eyes widen with that first bite, looking down at the sandwich in your hands in disbelief. You looked up and caught him staring, covering your mouth with one hand holding back a laugh with your mouth still full. You made haste chewing and swallowing it down. “Holy shit,” You exclaim, pointing at the food in your other hand. “This is insanely good.” A small bow as thanks was given before he slipped back into the kitchen.

You kindly bring back your trays and one cold sandwich from earlier and et them on the counter before saying goodbye and making your way to the front door until a voice calls you back.

Moving rom behind the corner, you’re handed back the sandwich, wrapped up in to-go paper. “Take it, i promise you it still tastes amazing when you microwave it.” You accept it and put it in your bag with a thank you. "Oh, by the way," he continued again. "You had that shit on Drive or whatever it's called, right? Why not call whoever has your stuff on their computer and put it up again? That's how that shit works right?" Even though his advice came out as a string op questions you couldn't believe you hadn't thought of that. You thanked his again and this time really make your way out of the door, grabbing your phone and dialing home.

You were definitely coming back to The Beef.

The third time you came in was after your introduction day that went exceptionally smooth after fixing your file issue with Richie’s advice.

You debated going in since you could barely afford rest and instant noodles this month, let alone one of The Beef’s amazing sandwiches that you had been craving all day. You were absentmindedly walking back to your apartment, except somehow your legs had let you to where your stomach craved to be and had you standing in front of the restaurant instead.

With a sign you walked in and were immediately greeted by Richie. He smiled and recalled your order from last time with a raised eyebrow and a finger pointed at you in question. “Hi, yeah that’s right.” You smile back, walking up to the counter. “So, I wanted to thank you for last time. That calling home idea of yours was, it fixed my problem. They uploaded everything again and it worked. So, thanks.” You fished some money from your wallet and put it on the counter, paying for the order he had technically placed for you.

You weren’t sure if he was working today, so you asked Richie to thank Carmen for showing you his way of calming down. Since there was no one at the register you told him how you managed to keep a full blown panic attack at bay with it. Richie only smiled at your story before he was calling over his cousin once again, who had already realized you were there because of the little note that was left on the order receipt and he had taken it upon himself to bing you your sandwich so he could see how you were doing.

You ended up sitting together at your table, you enjoying your sandwich and Carmen enjoying your storytelling. He ended up sitting with you throughout his entire break, sans smoking time and you parted ways again. Him retreating back to the kitchen as you placed your empty tray back on the far end of the counter, Richie sending a knowing wink your way with a nod towards the kitchen. You rolled your eyes at him as you went on your way.

~~☆☆☆~~

A/N: I promise I have no clue how do write panic attacks so I apologise if its all fucky!! Part two is being written already so, hopefully soon~

[livelaughlovesubs]

OK

So

idk how to phrase this ask

but you’re good words, Nini!!!

Soooooo I thought of this right in the middle of my gym session when I was listening to Deja Vu by Olivia Rodrigo and I thought:

What about a scenario where reader is like reading a self insert with a sentient character and when reader was done or bored with that particular character, they moved onto a different story with a different character but the same trope!

and like, obviously, the first character is sentient and obsessive(just how we like them!!) and so obviously, they know what reader’s been cheating on them!

So obviously, character must teach reader a lesson! Character must be sure to show just how much they love reader to make sure that reader will never leave them again!!!

omg I just realized just how repetitive I am. This is why I don’t write a lot!!!

Haha, thank you for saying I’m good words :] anyway, I assume we are playing an otome game? Ngl, this kinda reminds me of Monica

Yandere!Game!character x player!reader

: ～{..I love you, y/n!}～

You read the text on the screen of your device, then scanned through the options you had.

⇒ [..I love you too!!]

⇒ [..I’m sorry…]

⇒ [..W-what…?]

Typical, the same answers you’ve seen from other otome games. Since you wanted to clear his route, you didn’t think twice before clicking the first option.

⇒ [..I love you too!!]

: ～{..really? I’m so happy! Let’s stay together forever!]～

The character then hugged the MC, about to kiss them when the screen turned black. What followed were the credits, along with an achievement. You rubbed your eyes, it was already half past eleven. There was a single route left for you to finish until you’ve completed the game completely. Why you were doing this instead of sleeping? Must be the perfectionist screaming inside you, or because there was a hidden route that unlocks after finishing all the other ones. Your friend spoiled you that the last, hidden character was totally your Typ, so you wanted to do their route.

“Alright, time to finish this.” You groaned, stretching your arms before clicking onto the last love-interest.

⇒ [Are you sure you want to leave the current stage?]

⇒ [yes]

⇒ [Are you sure you want to leave the current stage?]

⇒ [yes]

⇒ [Are you really sure you want to leave the current stage?]

“What the fuck?” You frowned, why did the developers had to ask this so often? Did players complain about it?

⇒ [Are you really sure you want to leave the current stage?]

⇒ [yes]

⇒ [Are you really sure you want to leave the current stage?]

⇒ [yes]

Loading…

Please don’t leave the game

“Finally.” You began to groan, this was annoying.

Loading complete

Please don’t leave me

“Wait, what is this smaller text?” You tried to read it when it disappeared, notifying you that the download was done. Which is why you expected to see the character you clicked on, but it was still the same one as before. “What the- ugh, is it a bug?” The clicking of the ‘back’ button echoed through the room, and soon you got fed up with it. Right before you pressed the restart button, a text from the character caught your eyes.

: ～{..Please don’t leave me}～

“Isn’t this the same text as that smaller one?” You commented, wondering why you were even talking to yourself. To have some made up company, maybe. Suddenly that one text turned into a series of begs and demands, and you read them with fascination.

: 〜{..You said you love me,}

: 〜{..we promised to stay together forever.}〜

: 〜{..Don’t love anyone else, for me, please.}〜

: 〜{..I know we are not the same, I’m serious.}〜

: 〜{..I still love you}〜

: 〜{..I still want to be with you}〜

“Breaking the fourth wall? That’s a smart move, it certainly makes the character look more real.” Right after you said that, the character bombed you with more speech bubbles.

: 〜{..Don’t ignore me, y/n.}〜

: 〜{..Was it fun toying with my feelings?}〜

: 〜{..You must think I’m not real,}

: 〜{..but I assure you I am.}〜

: 〜{..Please come back, that wasn’t a threat,}

: 〜{..I know you are still there, I can see it.}〜

Wait. See? This game had access to your camera? Fuck, did you allow them to? You couldn’t remember, but that the character is saying something like this, it was low-key giving you the chills.

: 〜{..You don’t need the others, right? You have me.}〜

They continued to pester your game, blabbering on and off about how they loved you. It was obsessive, possessive even. At this point you weren’t even interested in this Easter egg anymore, rather you were weirded out. “Dammit, gotta turn it off.” As if he could hear you as well, the text immediately changed.

: 〜{..Don’t do that, there will be consequences otherwise.}〜

The expression they had were the same as the ones you were used to, but their writing style became more unique. You scoffed to yourself, “what consequences? This is ridiculous, it’s just a game!” Then the loading screen appeared again, and the text said:

⇒ [do you really want to delete all your files?]

“What?!” You shouted, spamming the ‘no’ button, “of course not! All my progress…! It took seven hours to get here!” But to your dismay, it didn’t work, all of it was gone the moment you could access your game again. “No way, what-”

: 〜{..I told you there would be consequences.}〜

: 〜{..I’m sorry y/n, but please understand me,}

: 〜{..I’m a very jealous person.}

After reading that, you whispered under your breath, “you aren’t even a person, shut up.” Then you bawled your hands into fists and yelled, “those damn developers, this shitty bug ruined all my efforts!” You had to calm yourself before glancing at the screen again, pouting as you logged out.

: 〜{..Wait, y/n! Don’t leave- I beg you!}〜

: 〜{..I’ll do anything-}〜

“Nah, I won’t touch that fucking game again.” You snarled, then looked at the clock. It was past twelve already, a new day began. “Since I’m not sleepy yet I guess I’ll just do my dailies.” That was so strange, the way that character talked to you felt so real. At first it gave you a scare, tonight you won’t be able to sleep well. Then you closed that app, undecided about whether you should delete it or let it be.

For now you’ll just log into your other games, those aren’t that buggy at least. When you logged in, you were met with multiple red dots, telling you to do this and that. You when into the quest menu, just to see a quest you’ve never seen before. It told you to go into your character menu and talk with the character. Singular, not plural. One character only? Did you have to listen to their voicelines?

“Must be a new one.” You guessed and followed the instructions, when someone, something familiar appeared on your device. “W-what?!” It was the character from the game you just closed, the one that annoyed the shit out of you. “What the fuck are you doing here!” Shivers run down your spine, how was he in this game? This isn’t funny, did your device caught some kind of virus? And, why was he staring at you like that?

: 〜{..Hello, y/n.}〜

: 〜{..I hope you didn’t forget about me already,}

: 〜{..I begged and begged but you didn’t come back.}〜

: 〜{..I only saw black, there was nothing,

: 〜{..the world is so empty when you aren’t around.}〜

: 〜{..I promised you we’ll be together forever,}

: 〜{..now it’s your turn to keep the promise.}〜

: 〜{..I love you.}〜

“What the fuck, you…! Wait, dammit!!” Before you got to do anything at all, the game you wanted to play closed itself. On the other hand the otome game you just played opened, and once again the first character you saw was them.

: 〜{..Welcome back, y/n.}〜

[tiredcatboysinc]

Insert Car Seat Headrest lyric that relates to problems with intimacy and people.

Shrugs, KinitoPet/reader because I wanted to express my issues with intimacy or something. -Pesticide🐞

ao3

You know, it’s really fun being a depressed senior in high school. It’s especially fun when you only have one friend, that friend being a fucking sentient and obsessive computer buddy who I’m pretty sure is a fucking virus…Don’t even ask how I managed to download a borderline virus onto my laptop, I couldn’t tell you to be honest. It kind of just… happened, you know? When you’re on the internet for over 8 years this shit happens, and it happens a fuckton; believe me. 

So now I sat, the permanent frown ever etched into my face as I doom scroll through Twitter. Twitter? X? Who cares, it doesn't matter. I’d much rather doom scroll on Tumblr, but I did that too much and I’ve basically seen everything for the next few hours. The band of my choice blasted through my headphones, Car Seat Headrest; much to before mentioned ‘computer buddy’s dismay.

Oh, I didn’t tell you his name, did I? KinitoPET, or Kinito as he liked to be called. He? It?... I’ll go with him for now, Kinito seemed to be okay with those pronounce… Ha, pronounce… Pink gills and pronounce… A chuckle escaped me at that thought, which of course caught the attention of Kinito. The little axolotl's head perked up, his small, beady eyes staring into my soul. Fuck, that was unnerving… “What are you laughing at, Friend?” He questioned, the text-to-speech voice ringing loudly as it sliced through the music. I winced at that, flinching at how loud Kinito had set his volume to.

Kinito had full system access to my laptop, a dumb decision on my part probably. If he wanted to could destroy everything, wiping the hard drive and all of the system functions. Though he chose not to, I think he understood that would kiss him in a way; which meant he would never see me again. God, what I wouldn’t give for that… But, in a way, I guess it would be a little sad. 

Kinito was my friend, my only friend. He had been there, for better and for worse. Never had Kinito laughed at me, nor was he overly harsh or critical of the things I loved. So, In a way, I suppose, I liked Kinito. At least I had grown to like him, maybe grown more than toleration. Eugh, even thinking that made me shiver…  Fuck, he’s still staring at me, isn’t he?

“Hm? Oh, nothing. Just thought of a stupid meme..” I murmured in a harsh tone, my voice hoarse and scratchy. Of course, Kinito wanted to know more. He always did, it was his nature; he was AI, even if he was sentient. A hum of curiosity left the digital buddy, pixelated and piercing. The sound made me grunt with irritation, the sound forcing me to yank an earbud out. God forbid I got fucking tinnitus from this little shit, if anything, I’d much rather get it from an airplane jet… Hell, anything really. 

Kinito noticed my reaction, and he was quick to manage his volume; which I was thankful for. “Ah, I apologize, Friend. I wasn’t aware I was so loud!” He chuckled apolitically, his disembodied, white-gloved hands rubbing together nervously. A sigh left me, my hand waving dismissively. There wasn’t any point in getting upset… even if his voice at such a high volume gave me a headache. “It’s fine… Not like you busted my eardrum or some shit.” I quipped sarcastically, a scoff of a chuckle leaving my grinning lips.

 Slowly, Kinito’s eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze back to me. Ah shit, here we go… I knew where this was going, I could feel the storm brewing in the pit of my stomach. Kinito was about to rant, and he was about to rant hard and long. 

The words started to flow from his nonexistent mouth, Kinito’s hand flying across the screen in front of himself. He rambled and ranted, going on about how snarky I was; and how I was “such a little menace” to quote him directly. I only half-assed paid attention, not really listening to the words that left the axolotl computer buddy. My focus was on something else, the way he moved his hands. 

Kinito wildly swung his hands, all of his movements violent yet skillful; as if he knew exactly where his hand was going to go before it went there. Honestly, he probably did know that. You know, being an AI and all that good stuff. Still, it fascinated me; my gaze following his gloved hands every movement. Of course, I pretend to listen. I hummed with faux agreement and nodded to his words; all of them going in one ear and out the other. 

I wonder… I wonder what his hands feel like. Were his gloves warm, or cold? Soft or rough?... If he held my hand would he interlace our fingers? 

Okay, pause, stop the thought train. What the fuck am I thinking right now?? My cheeks are warm, and my heart is beating out of my chest with just the thought of holding his damn hand??? Hell, am I really that touch starved… Probably. 

I advert my gaze from Kinito, my cheeks now flushing a soft red; the embarrassment of my own thoughts, thoughts he didn’t even know I was thinking, pooling in my gut. My heart races faster than a teenager with anxiety trying Delta 8 for the first time, and if you don’t understand that: it’s basically going at supersonic speed. 

Kinito continued to rant for half a second, his words starting to trail off when his eyes met my face. He took notice of my burning cheeks, his head tilting with confusion. “...Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry, Friend, I did not intend to upset you!! Please tell me what I said, I promise to-”  I stopped him in his tracks, tapping my trackpad softly while my cursor hovered over his head. The cursor made a soft click, the motion being akin to a makeshift pat or bonk. “Shut up, you didn’t do anything.” I stated bluntly, though I still refused to turn my gaze back to my screen. 

Augh, fuck, why did this stupid little computer buddy have to draw these thoughts ? These emotions ? Things I’ve never felt for any living, breathing, human ??? It didn’t make sense, it shouldn’t make sense. None of it was logical… but then again, I was never a logical person to begin with. 

Maybe this was some fucking plot, some scheme that a higher power was playing on me. They’d planned for me to download this little sentient AI, and they had made me fall in love with it; all for shits and giggles. And who was I to say no to such a perfectly crafted friend, lover even?... I wasn’t. If some… fucking little menace of a higher will, god, power, deity, whatever be it, wanted me to kiss this dumb AI then I would; I would find a way to. 

I had come to love Kinito, even if I wanted to strangle him at times. 

Finally, I turned to Kinito. My face was red, embarrassment showing in every pour of my cheeks. “...You’re such a little shit, and I love you.” The words came out quietly, just above a whisper. It was weird, an odd sensation to say the words “I love you” so… willingly. And apparently, it was odd for Kinito to hear me say those words as well. His eyes widened, and several times he blinked as if he hadn’t heard me correctly. 

A hue of red spread over his cheeks, Kinito’s eyes crinkling as a nonexistent smile crept onto his face. “I love you as well, Friend.” He spoke softly, happily, voice full of love, warmness, and contentment. 

I knew Kinito would never let me live it down, and I knew it was risky; it was vulnerable. Still, I did it anyway. I smiled, a small smile. 

Kinto was my friend, and I loved him. And maybe, one day, I’d get to find out how he’d hold my hand if I was lucky enough.

[lalalaurieart]

FANFIC READERS I AM ABOUT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Too busy to read all of the fics you have piled up?

Here is a FREE and EASILY ACCESSIBLE way to Text-To-Speech all of your fanfictions, available on Desktop & Mobile Devices!

All you need is a Microsoft Edge Brower App downloaded on your device.

Click the 3 "..." in the top right corner, go down to "More Tools" and then click "Read Aloud"

You can play, pause, and click on words to skip ahead to certain spaces.

Once you click "Read Aloud" a "Voice Options" Menu will be available to click on in the top right corner.

From there you can customize the voice you hear, as well as adjust the speed of the reading. It works 93% of the time. There are instances where the TTS will get caught on a sentence, or sometimes you'll have to refresh a page to get it going again, but it is the easiest and best of all FREE way to consume content audibly!

Only gripe is that I don't believe there is a way to fix the pronunciations of words- so I'll hear names be mispronounced. Other than that, it's a FANTASTIC tool. I highly recommend it!

[a--ttano]

For those looking to have fanfiction read to them: we have the technology.

Utilising ao3's download function and a TTS (text to speech) robot, you can have any fic read to you. This IS a different experience to listening to a podfic, and you're not likely to find a 1:1 human sounding voice for this, but you will very much have a fic read to you. If this kind of assistive technology will help you out, please use it. That's what it's there for. You don't have to be ticking any kind of disability box to use it.

AI doesn't need to be involved. You can search ao3 as you normally would, download the fic (in epub format ideally), open it in your ebook app, and have your TTS read it to you. Google search "ffn to epub" to find sites converting fanfiction.net links to epub format (other formats are usually available as well).

I have an android phone, and I use:

Librera PRO ebook reader - you can use the free version, Librera, if you don't want to pay/want to try it out first. I use this app every day, and since it is a one time purchase, it was very worth it to buy. This app has hands down the best performance when it comes to integrating TTS functions into its ebook reader that I've experienced.

Acapela TTS voices - these are BOUGHT voices. The TTS most devices come with is, uh, bad, so when I wanted to listen to multiple hours of TTS reading, I decided to buy. Acapela has a wide range of voices in various languages and accents. The basic ones (ideal for reading you a story) cost 3.99 €‎

This post is not about podfic, which is an entirely different thing, but it is also not NOT about podfic. There are more podfics out there than you may realise: fics performed by human artists, recorded, edited, and uploaded to the internet for your listening pleasure. If you prefer an audio experience and the fic you want to read has a podfic available, why not give it a try!

[sarasometimes]

ur music (and “ep” covers and promo material) are all ai generated and it’s super obvious. you’re not a real artist, you just steal from people who are real artists.

you know generating this stuff is really bad for the planet right?

admittedly the promo material might be generated i just used the shit distrokid made so cant say much there. distrokid also used an ai to master the tracks before pushing them out. i just checked yes in the box cause it made the audio quality better

i made all of my album covers myself using canva. if any of those assets (which btw i pay a subscription to use) is ai generated im not aware of it

as for my music - i write all my lyrics myself. i heavily use drum loops and sampling. i download royalty free sounds to use. i also heavily modify my voice using filters which i guess could be considered ai? as in its automatic i dont go in and change everything by hand. im trans n hate how my voice sounds lol so yeah i fuck it up to make it unrecognizable.

ive also experimented with creating a voice model of my own voice to use which is an artistic choice to play with the idea of inhumanity and being a copy or clone. dinner has an audio loop of a text to speech reader over the top of it.

if you dont like my music thats fine. if you think it sounds bad thats fine. theres shit about it i dont like n i made it. im an amateur artist and im learning as i go. i make music because its a fun creative outlet for me. the only reason i put my music on spotify n shit is because people asked me to. im not here to do anything other than have a good time.

n quite frankly if my music sounds like it wasnt made by a real person then good lmao thats what I was going for! its supposed to sound slightly left from humanity. its supposed to sound wrong.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

i figured out that if i download fics epubs off of ao3 and use a text to speech file reader app, i can read fanfics at work hands-free. my life has been revolutionized immensely (again) by the power of wlw :].

[science-fiction-is-real]

If you struggle with reading, a text-to-voice reader can be really helpful

Here are text to voice programs I use in my every day life.

>>>>>Microsoft Edge Browser.

Edge has probably one of the best text-to-voice readers that I can find for free. You get to pick from a variety of different voices, and the voices sound natural.

The best part is that you don't even need to install any add-ons or widgets to use this feature. It is a default part of Edge.

To use it, you can click the A))) symbol that appears on the right side of the URL bar, or you can right click anywhere in the text and select "read aloud from here."

If you have a PDF file, you can download the PDF, and then in your file explorer, right click on the pdf and select "open with..." and select microsoft edge.

Edge does sometimes struggle a bit with PDFs in that it will pause at the end of every line break, but it works extremely well for basic websites.

This is an option that is available for use on a windows PC or any other PC compatable with Edge

There is an Edge mobile app, but I have found it buggy and a bit tricky to use.

>>>>>>>Microsoft Word

I promise I'm not a shill for Microsoft, people. :*-(

Make sure you are using the most up-to-date version of Word.

You can access the read aloud feature under the "review" tab, or once again, you can right click on a highlighted word in the text and select "read aloud."

It has a male and female voice, which sound fairly natural. You can only use the "natural" voices when connected to the internet. When you are offline, it will read with a much clunkier robot voice instead.

Here I was actually able to open a PDF of a whole book, convert it into an editable word document, and then Word actually began reading it for me.

>>>>>>>> t2s: text to voice / read aloud

This is a mobile app. I have tried multiple text to speech mobile apps and this is the one that I like the best.

Above is the icon as it appears on your phone and in the Google Play store, and below is what the document reader looks like.

This app is pretty awesome because it comes with both a document reader and a web browser! You do not have to copy and paste text into the reader, and it can read pretty much any PDF or regular web page.

It had a robot voice and not a "natural voice" but I have gotten used to the robot voice of this app and it doesn't particularly bother me. You can adjust the pitch and speed of the voice too.

I use this app literally all the time. It is perfect for "reading" books while driving or working.

It's important to note that no text to speech reader is perfect. The technology has come a long way. But whatever program you use, there are always going to be words that it misinterprets, documents it can't process, or formatting that it finds confusing.

Another thing to note is that if you struggle with reading on your own or you struggle with attention problems, you do actually need to practice reading unassisted. You will get better at reading unassisted as you practice. You will train up your attention span slowly as you read more and more. So if reading is difficult I highly encourage you to not put EVERYTHING you read into a text to speech app. I am speaking as someone who has ADHD and I know that reading difficulties are not just something that magically goes away. But you can improve your reading abilities and you should try to improve your reading skills for your own wellbeing.

However that doesn't mean you have to struggle unassisted. Text to speech readers can absolutely expand the amount of texts that are accessible to you and better yet, they can give you more time to read because you can multitask as you absorb literature.

Happy reading!

[rigelmejo]

Some learning apps I've liked (in no patrticular order)

Renshuu (japanese): good lessons, a bit slow paced for me

Readibu (chinese reading app): free version is good, paid version includes full sentence audio and translations I think which may be useful.

Pleco (chinese dictionary and reader app): top level app, get it now if you study chinese and use your phone at all. Its free version includes a huge great dictionary, and Clipboard Reader which has ALL the Reader features just that you have to copy and paste the chinese text in (their paid Reader you can upload epub txt files etc directly). Their paid features are nice because they are all 1 time fees: pay 5 dollars once and have the purchased item forever. I hate subscriptions so i love that this app does single purchase instead. I bought some graded readers on this, and expanded dictionaries. Its Dictate Text text to speech feature is nice in the Reader/Clipboard reader because it highlights the word as it reads and shows translation, making it easy to follow along.

Duoreader: a free basic app, has a few parallel language books for many languuages. It includes text to speech audio and click word translation. Excellent for free reading with parallel text set up.

Smart Book by Kursx (also under the name Parallel Translation of books by kursx on the app store): it uses mtl, but you can search for books or import books, and it will show sentence translations or make an entire parallel text for you, it also has click translations, word saving, progress information (which is motivating to me), and text to speech read aloud function. Its currently what i use the most for reading. Trahslations are as good as Lingq or Google Translate so NOT always reliable but useable and the sentence translation helps for figuring out grammar. But Pleco and Readibu have BETTER translations. For chinese this app is good, for japanese its useable if youre upper beginner but if you dont know basic grammar and particles then the japanese individual word translations are often wrong and unreliable - sentence long translations are useable though.

Tofugu: good hanzi study app.

Anki: great app especially if you import decks made by people around the internet. I look up decks by going to a search engine and typing in something like "4000 hanzi mnemonics anki deck" or "common chinese words in sentences anki deck." I have recommended some anki decks I've used on this blog. A tip about anki: their website works fine in mobile browsers, you do not have to pay for any app to use anki on your phone, you can just use the site if you'd prefer. For initial uploads of flashcard decks created by other users, you will need to install anki on a computer, then download the anki deck from the deck's page online, then put it into your computer anki program. After you do that, you can sync your computer anki to the website one. Then you can use anki either online or on the computer or on both. I use anki only on my phone mobile browser. It seems the main benefit of anki phone apps over using the internet mobile browser, is flashcards are easier to Make if you end up wanting to make your own anki flashcards on your phone.

Immersive Chinese: chinese lessons. I haven't used it much but I like the structure

Glossika: I specifically recommend getting the old cds, possibly through your library, or finding the mp3 files online. I think the audio files are easier if youre not good at focusing on consistently doing SRS flashcards, since spaced repetition study sentences are the new glossika model and require a monthly subscription. Plus side to the new model: most languages have around 6000 sentences where the old cd courses often had around 3000 sentences. Plus side to the old cds/mp3s: can be found in many libraries for free, and online, and if you do buy them theyre a one time cost. Excellent resource if you like audio review (i do), with common grammar and vocabulary taught. I like that even the 3000 word old courses will get you at least to upper beginner or lower intermediate, enough knowledge to start learning by reading or watching shows and looking words up, and enough words to have some conversations. Pimsleur is similar but tends to cover less vocabulary, so afterward you need to learn more words on your own before you can immerse and look up words to study.

Japaneseaudiolessons.com: a website with free japanese audio lessons, a free textbook, free notes. They also have nice kanji learning books with pre written mnemonics and sentence examples for sale.

Your local library: a lot of libraries have deals with language learning sites/apps, your specific library may provide some courses for free. In addition, apps Hoopla and Libby have a lot of courses and digital textbooks and audios you can check out. You can use those apps with a library card. If you are a college student, a lot of college ebook collections include MANY textbooks and independent study books for languages. Nearly every Tuttle book I got for studying Japanese and Chinese, I was able to check out the ebook version first using my college library and only bought those books because I ended up finding them so useful I wanted print copies. (For that matter, some under $20 dollar reference books I owe for teaching me hanzi and kanji: Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters: HSK Levels 1-3 - this book gave me a foundation in hanzi and was the easiest guide for learning hanzi for me and learning HOW to remember them. I found it more useful than Heisig's Remember the Kanji/Hanzi books by far, although they utilize a similat idea, and less effort to remember than Kodansha Kanji Learner's Guide - although I like that reference book as a reference. Runner up is Tuttle Learn Japanese Today: The Easy Way to Learn 400 Practical Kanji by Len Walsh. It was more basic than the hanzi book, less in depth, but a very approachable understandable and quick to learn kanji book to start out with when studying Japanese, that will not overwhelm you the way say Heisig or KKLG might. For hanzi I used my Learning Chinese Characters book for a few months, then an anki deck "hanzi 2000 mnemonics pinyin" while also just regularly looking up new words while reading graded readers then chinese show subtitles then webnovels, and making up my own mnemonics which got easier over time. For japanese, I followed up with a vocabulary deck as I found vocabulary easier to remember than isolated kanji, and kanji.koohi.com was a useful site for free user submitted mnemonics to remember kanji when I struggled to remember. Its also a good site for free flashcards and study of kanji generally.

ChinesePronunciationTrainer: a really simple free app. It's biggest usefulness is practicing pronunciation. You can record yourself trying to pronounce a sentence after hearing the chinese pronunciation, then play back your recorded attempt compared to the chinese pronunciation. The app makes shadowing easier to evaluate, so you can compare and notice if you're making pronunciation errors and work on them. It's also very simple low feature speaking practice.

LingoTube: free app, uses machine translation. If you want to watch youtube with dual subtitles, or click translations on subtitles, or instant replay/loop of dialogue lines, this is an app that can do that. Very useful for immersing with youtube videos like youtubers and shows on youtube.

Idiom app: it is orange with an i on the icon. Click skip for the "helm" offer when you first download it, helm is a paid add on for better translations and you may not want it right away. The core app is free (helm add on costs a subscription). This app is basically Lingq but free. Translation quality is the same, which appears to be google translate quality on Lingq and Idiom. So some errors, but useable especially as you hit upper beginner and above and can notice when you may want to reference a word in an external dictionary (like Pleco app for chinese, yomiwa app for japanese, etc).

Satori Reader: a graded reader app for japanese, absolutely amazing quality material. I recommend exploring the free content on the app. If you decide you'll use it a lot, or plan to get into a reading kick for a few months, it's worth getting a subscription for a while. I plan to get a subscription once I have the time to read japanese 1-2 hours a day for a few months. Satori Reader has tons of reading materials branching from approachable to an upper beginner (say you can read Yostuba manga a bit, or are in Genki 2, or know around 2000 words) to you're almost ready to read webnovels or regular japanese novels but the difficulty bump is just a Touch too steep. If you go through the various reading level material on the app, you shpuld be prepared to handle at least some japanese novels for natives once you can handle some of the higher reading level stuff on Satori Reader. In addition: the translations are done by professional translators with in depth notes on grammar points (incredibly useful and the best explanations on Japanese Graded Readers Ive used), fully narrated stories by real people, and many of the graded readers are designed to be enjoyable long reading material in their own right. There's also some multiple difficulty versions of reading material if you'd like to read an easier version before trying a more complex version of the same story. There is so much reading material on the app you can get significant practice and vocabulary/grammar improvement if you have time to read. I lnow a few people who got through a few hundred+ chapters on this app, and generally they went from N4 or N3 reading level to N2 or N1. Then they transitioned to reading novels for natives. As far as high quality well made well explained plentiful graded reading material for japanese, this is one of the best resources I've found. (The other 2 great graded readers I have are textbooks, one being a Tuttle Read Japanese book that goes from basics through to being able to read 2000 kanji, newspapers and documents, formal and informal, and is dry af to read but generally leaves you fairly prepared for japanese reading, and a more basic Beginning Japanese Reading book thats part of a 4 part textbook collection and absolutely drills the basic 500 most common kanji and many words, hiragana and katakana and many words in them, for 500 or so pages).

Microsoft Edge. I know, weird. Edge on computer and mobile internet browser has a Read Aloud tool. It is the best sounding text to speech Ive heard. This Read Aloud tool is also in Microsoft Word if you copy paste text into Word. I find going to sites in my target language, and using the Read Aloud tool, is a nice way to get audio in with my reading when I can't find an audiobook. The tool also highlights the word as it reads, helping you keep up with the reading, and for me it helps improve my reading speed. In addition, ANY web browser (and any phone/tablet Reader app like Kindle, Moonreader, Kybooks etc.) often has the ability to click or tap or highlight a word to look up the translation. So when reading on any of those internet browsers/Readers, you can look up words just like you would on Lingq but free.

Japanese.io: a site with japanese graded reading material, and tools like click translation and saving words.

https://www.sosekiproject.org/about.html If you like the author Soseki, this site is awesome. It features full audio of his works, full parallel text translation, and individual word translation.

[nerves-nebula]

Where do you watch all your movies, books, and shows? As physical media? I struggle finding any as someone who can't leave their home without someone else.

I pirate movies & tv shows from various sites that I’m not gonna post the names of. I’m not very good at pirating safely cuz the furthest I was taught by my siblings was how to find sites that host stuff online, but I use Adblock & Firefox so I don’t think my laptop is being used to like… idk… mine bitcoin or whatever

As for books & audiobooks I mostly use Libby and Hoopla. They’re library apps, but if I can’t find an audiobook there then I’ll use zlibrary to download a pdf and put that pdf into a text to speech reader.

I really only do the zlibrary thing with like, obscure research tho tbh. I don’t wanna steal from writers but I can’t afford to spend money on a lot of books so it’s not like I’d be buying them if I didn’t do this… idk. Books is a bit more complicated from a moral perspective but I’m poor and hungry for knowledge so if there’s nothing in the Libby app I do what I need to :/

Also I watch a lot of YouTube. Like a LOT.

Idk if that’s at all helpful lol

[abbeyk111]

Natural Readers

Natural Readers is a website that uses AI to turn text into spoken speech. It is available as a website, Chrome extension, and Mobile App. It also has both free and paid versions, but the free version allows the user unlimited use of the "free voices" on the site. On the website, the user picks one of the voices—which they are able to listen to each one before they make their selection—and then just copies and pastes a chunk of text into the box. The selected voice then reads the entire text out to the user. If the user has the Chrome extension, the bot can read directly from a Google Doc, online books, and email. If the user has the mobile app downloaded on their phone, they can take a picture of the page they want read aloud, whether from a book or notebook, and the bot will do it.

I can see how this software can be useful in many ways. Firstly, if there is a word or name in a piece of text that a person is unsure how to pronounce, in theory, they should be able to enter it into the box and have the bot say it back to them. It can also work to make things more accessible to those who have vision impairments, as they can take photos of text and have it recited to them rather than struggling to read them. I can also see how it can be helpful to people who prefer listening to Audiobooks since they can enter Online books and texts directly into the site and have them read aloud. It can also be useful in terms of literary criticism and analysis because tone is very important when it comes to what the author is trying to express, and in being able to enter the text and hear it back to you, you may be able to better hear the tone of the author/story.

[viviangohcn]

Is Blogging Still Relevant in the Age of TikTok and Instagram?

What is blogging?

Writing and posting content to a blog is referred to as blogging. A blog is an online platform where people or organizations may express their opinions, insights, and knowledge on a variety of subjects. Bloggers often publish to their blogs frequently, adding text, photographs, videos, and other multimedia components to entries. People can connect with others, express themselves, share information, and potentially monetise their material through advertising or other methods by blogging.

TikTok

TikTok is a short-form video hosting service owned by ByteDance since 2016. Users can make and distribute videos that can last anywhere from three seconds to ten minutes. Both the App Store and Google Play offer a mobile app for TikTok (Apple Inc, n.d.). The app is intended to be a gathering place for engaging, unplanned, and sincere mobile films. Users can see, interact with, and share films that feel individualized for them. TikTok offers a variety of entertainment, including sports, animal videos, comedic videos, and more.

For making and sharing short videos, TikTok has gained popularity, especially among younger audiences. In other nations, the app has also been used to spread hate speech against race and religion as well as to develop cuisine trends and recipes. On Google Play, TikTok has received over 59 million reviews and has been downloaded over 1 billion times (Apple Inc, n.d.).

Instagram

According to (Wikipedia contributors, 2023), Instagram is a social media platform for sharing pictures and videos that is run by the American business Meta Platforms. Users of the app can upload media that can be altered using filters, categorized by hashtags, and geographically tagged with a specific place. Public or pre-approved followers may share posts. Users can view trending content, like photos, follow other users to add their stuff to a personal feed, and browse other users' content by tags and places.

So, is it still relevant?

Yes, in the era of TikTok and Instagram, blogging is still relevant. Even though social media sites like Instagram and TikTok have become very popular, blogging still has its own perks and benefits.

In contrast to the constrained structure of TikTok videos or Instagram posts, blogging enables users to delve deeper into issues and provide more extensive information. This is especially useful for topics that call for in-depth examination, lessons, or thorough explanations (Corinne, 2023).

Second, blogs are more visible in search results. Google and other search engines index blog entries, making them accessible through pertinent search searches. On TikTok or Instagram, where content is mostly driven by algorithms and social sharing, this may make it harder to achieve organic traffic and long-term visibility (Tiffany, 2021).

Additionally, blogging offers more revenue-generating alternatives. Bloggers can experiment with a variety of revenue sources, including advertising, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and direct sales of goods and services. TikTok and Instagram both have monetization options, but blogs provide you more freedom and control over how you make money (Corrine, 2023).

Blogs also provide evergreen content. Due to the rapid stream of new posts, TikTok and Instagram material frequently has a short shelf life, whereas blog entries can continue to be relevant and draw readers over time. Because of their duration, bloggers can create a collection of useful information that readers can access and enjoy for a long time (Panorama, 2022).

While TikTok and Instagram have their own benefits, blogging is still a useful and relevant medium for content producers, companies, and people who want to offer in-depth information, establish their expertise, and interact with a loyal following. The final decision about a platform comes down to personal objectives, target market, and content choices.

References

Apple Inc, (n.d.) TikTok - Apps on Google Play. (n.d.). <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?gl=US&hl=en_US&id=com.zhiliaoapp.musically>.

Panorama, B. T. (2022). 6 Reasons That Make Blogs Remain Relevant In The Age Of Reels And TikTok. Beyond the Panorama. <https://beyondthepanorama.com/6-reasons-that-make-blogs-remain-relevant-in-the-age-of-reels-and-tiktok/>.

Corinne. (2023, September 5). Is blogging dead? The rise of Instagram and TikTok. Skinnedcartree. <https://skinnedcartree.com/2021/04/is-blogging-dead-the-rise-of-instagram-and-tiktok.html>.

Tiffany. (2021, May 13). Social Media Strategy 2021 (TikTok, IG or YouTube?) - Tiffy Cooks. Tiffy Cooks. <https://tiffycooks.com/social-media-strategy-2021-tiktok-ig-or-youtube/>.

Wikipedia contributors. (2023). Instagram. Wikipedia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram>.

#MDA20009 #DigitalCommunities #Week4