Speegle Search Engine Talks to You

You know, of all the search engine innovations I dream of at night having search results read back to me in a Scots accent was right up there. Okay, no it wasn't. But what an interesting idea. Speegle ( http://www.speegle.co.uk ) is worth a visit just for the novelty. And while I didn't find the Web search especially useful, there's another feature I liked very much.

Go to Speegle, run a search. You may specify if the search results should be read to you in a male or female voice (the male voice is very Scots), and how much verbosity you want (title, title/description, URL/description, etc.) Scot Annie Lennox is turning 50 next month (you GO Annie) so I searched for her.

There is no result count (rrgh) and the search results start right up vocally (if they don't, check and make sure your ActiveX isn't blocked by your firewall.) For the most part pronunciation is good though there are a couple of bumps ("verticalbar verticalbar") and once the Speegle skipped reading a page title ("ARISTA RECORDS" -- was it because it was in all caps?).

The talking search function was cute, but there was another use for this technology I found more interesting. Go to the front page of Speegle and click on News. This is not news about Speegle, which I thought it was, but a list of feeds (a very small list of feeds.) Pick one and Speegle will read you the latest news summaries. Now this, this I like. This I could use. If I could choose the feeds I wanted to read I would be doing the happy dance.

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