Webstream Radio

The problem: Develop a way to absorb all the news feeds you want without having to read it all in text. The solution: Audible translation. Call it "Webstream Radio." In 1991 I posted this idea on the Denise Caruso forum on AOL, and I'm still waiting for it to happen. What if we could turn text feeds into audible news that rivals radio in production quality.

Do you listen to radio "in the background"? Is news radio part of your ambient listening environment?

Picture this: You subscribe to several news feeds (weblogs) on the Web, and channel them through your software Radio. This application, running in the background, reads the news bits to you while you use your eyes and the greater portion of your mind for other productive work.

Newscaster preferences are used to choose the qualities of synthetic voice(s) used to deliver your news streams. Male, female, lively, sedate, high, low, smooth, choppy, rythmic, singsong, perky, dull... each particular quality of voice controlled with a slider in order to develop the aesthetics most suitable to your ambient listening.

Have a group of synthetic hosts be your news readers, each one focusing on different types of news. Intersperse with a music feed under similar preferences controls. (NPR is my favorite model. Could we synthesize an idealized Bob Edwards for audio-blogging in Webstream Radio?) And once your preferred settings are configured, all the incoming news blogs play audibly in the background as you go about your normal routine of work. (Part of your daily routine is to contribute items to the flow.)

Last update: 1/23/02; 8:13:45 AM.