Claiming a Voice: Instant messaging speaks to blind-Sighted, as well as visually impaired, find talking software useful

Sighted, as well as visually impaired, find talking software useful

INSTANT MESSAGING has gained a voice.

At the prodding of a partially sighted friend, Pleasanton software developer Craig J. Stadler has produced a tool that turns Instant Messaging text into an automated voice, giving the visually impaired access to the popular messaging vehicle.

By Francine Brevetti – BUSINESS WRITER

IM Speak is one of only several Internet tools developed and marketed by Stadler under his company name, East Bay Technologies http://www.eastbaytech.com

The inspiration for IM Speak came from a partially sighted friend in Florida.

"He used the Windows mode for the disabled with larger fonts," Stadler said. "He was using Instant Messaging, and he told me it would be a good idea if I could make (it audible) for him and the blind community."

Stadler procured software programs from Microsoft and Lernout & Hauspie, developers of automatic speech. Together, these products offer a variety of voices so the user can chose a specific one for a specific correspondent. He even has his choice of accents.

Besides the legally blind, the sighted have found it useful as well, he said.

For those who use IM frequently, they can walk away from the computer while waiting for a correspondent to become active on Instant Messaging. When a voice emerges from the PC, the user knows to return to the workstation, he explained. The product was recently upgraded to be compatible with the latest versions of MSN and AOL.

Among Stadler’s several creations is one that brings you face to face with the many live Web cams in the world. Another will search diverse kinds of media by the media type rather than by the URL. Also available is a browser to navigate Usenet groups easily, as well as software that brings thousands of live radio stations and streaming media files to a monitor within seconds, according to Stadler.

But he said that 80 percent of his profits come from CTube — a tool that gives entree to almost 700 television channels worldwide that have been rebroadcast over the Internet.

"If you have CTube and broadband, you can watch the same TV as in Japan," Stadler said. "CTube finds stations from Brazil, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Malta. Ninety percent of other countries do this — but not the U.S."

U.S. law forbids the rebroadcasting of network or cable television on the Internet, according to the National Association of Broadcasters.

But this is not so in many other countries that rebroadcast online the same programs airing from land-based stations.

Stadler is also proud of MediaGrab. When a Web surfer employs this product, he can search PDF files, video clips and audio files as well as word documents.

"We have a spider (search technology) that goes through tons of pages and puts them into a database," he said. "You search for the media specifically, whether it’s a photo or an interview, or a song."

A video search of the word "Marx" produced the unlikely video clip of a French deodorant company’s advertising.

Now 33, Stadler has been programming since he was 10.

He came West seeking high-tech action when he landed in Pleasanton in 1998.

He snagged a job and started developing his software at night.

After a year, he quit to spend the next two years "doing massive amounts of development" to refine his products for release.

Even now, "I probably work about 14 hours a day," he said. But he lightens the load by outsourcing routine coding.

His Web site was built by programmers in the Ukraine.

He first distributed his software through shareware sites.

Profitability came after the first two years of operation.

Then East Bay Technology’s sales trebled when Quent Casperson, working from Utah, came on to head sales and marketing.

Today they are approaching large software retailers such as esellerate.com, Fry’s Electronics and BestBuy.com.

Francine Brevetti can be reached at (510) 208-6416 and [email protected] .

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