General Information: Talking Tool: Awesome Talkster

http://www.awesomelibrary.org/Awesome_Talking_Library.html Awesome Talking Library

According to their Web page, Awesome Talkster combines a browser, directory, search engine, and text-to-voice technology. This allows you to select online text and have it read to you. Children can have the Web pages read to them slowly, but adults can have pages read at normal speed. Click Here for a Free Copy No Ads, No Spyware, No Trial Period. This is "Freeware," courtesy of Code-it. Keeping in mind the adage that there is no such thing as a free lunch, I downloaded a copy of Talkster after first running a spyware check on my computer, and then running the same spyware check after installation and use. I did not get any indication of problem. Disadvantages: it is a large program that takes a long time to download. If that is a problem, you can order a CD of the program for $10.00. Browse in Spanish, French, German, Russian, Dutch,Arabic, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. It works on PCs (not Macs) from Windows 95 to XP.

Awesome Talkster can also make the Web more accessible to persons with impaired vision or persons with impaired ability to navigate a page with a mouse. It can be navigated with keystrokes. Awesome Talkster is very fast and has the largest screen area of any known browser.

Developed by Evaluation and Development Institute, Microsoft, Lernout and Hauspie, and Code-It, and Dr. Jerry Adams.