Speechify is an extension for Google Chrome which allows audio input for search boxes. The audio support provided by the extension allows the user to say what they want to search for. This extension is compatible with the recently released Google Chrome Beta 11. With this free add on the user can input speech in a number of websites. Google Voice Search already allowed speech input but this add on allows the same thing for other sites too. The user will no longer be needed to type his or her query. Instead he can just say it out loud and results will be returned. The add on basically converts speech to text and then searches for the text as usual.
Features Of Speechify
- This add on is compatible with Google Chrome Beta 11 only. With the other versions of Chrome the user will have to make do with Google Voice Search.
- If you required version of Google Chrome you can easily add this free extension.
- The add on uses HTML5 to convert speech to text allowing audio input to search boxes.
- The extension is extremely light weight and has a size of 251 kilo byte only.
- The Operating Systems with which Speechify is compatible with are: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000 and Windows 7.
- Speechify can be used in Google, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, Bing and Twitter search boxes. The developers are trying to add Facebook and Unibar to the already long list of websites.
- The latest version of Speechify, the Chrome add on is Speechify 1.3.
- The efficient extension fixes bugs unlike the previous versions.
- The earlier version did not include Twitter support. Speechify 1.3 allows the user to input the search topic as an audio input.
- The new icon of Speechify 1.3 is found beside the search boxes for most of the websites.
- The user can use this smart extension along with Google Instant for best results. This will enable him or her to search for queries without even hitting the enter button.
- The conversion from speech to text does not happen locally. The audio snippet gets transferred to Google Cloud which does the conversion and returns the text. Then Google returns the results for the text.
Interface And Working Of The Extension
Once the user has installed the Speechify extension he or she will find a grey microphone icon to the left of most search bars. The grey colour indicates that the microphone is inactive. When one clicks on the icon it turns brown indicating that it is now active. The activation can take time if your server speed is low. Next it shows a message that says “Speak Now” and you have to speak out the input. You can cancel it if you want. You have to press enter if Google Instant is not activated for the results.
One should not expect absolute accuracy. In fact the accuracy of Speechify partially depends on the user’s mic and his or her ability to speak clearly. Still accuracy is one of Speechify’s major defects. The developers will surely look into this as this extension is still in the beta stage. It also does not work with Quora though the icon is present.
Downloading The Chrome Add On
The extension is obviously available in the Google Chrome Web store. Apart from that you will also find the download link on numerous websites across the internet. Installing the extension to your Chrome browser takes a few seconds only.
Final Verdict
Though the developers have not yet perfected the speech recognition part, Speechify is one exciting application. This extension will definitely be used and exploited by a lot of sites and Android applications in future.
