Have you ever wanted to make phone calls on the net using a synthetic computer generated voice? If you're an AAC user, then this is a great way to communicate with people remotely. This article will show you how to set up Wiretap Anywhere to send your speech voice to Skype's internet phone system. Almost the same method will also work with other voice chat programs like iChat, Gizmo, and iSoftPhone.

You'll need the Wiretap Anywhere and Skype software to start with. The default service that comes with free Skype software only allows computer to computer connections so if you want to call cellphones and landlines you will have to fund an account with Skype. Skype calls these funds SkypeOut - you can see the SkypeOut panel by clicking on the "€" symbol on the top right hand side of the Skype window:

Here's what happens when you click on it:

Now you can visit the account page to put funds into your SkypeOut account if you want to make calls to regular phones.

Configuring the Wiretap Anywhere software to pick up your system audio is absurdly simple. Open the "System Preferences" panel from the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen:

Now click on the "Wiretap Anywhere" logo to open that preference pane:

You want to create a new device, so press the handy "plus" button at the lower left of the pane:

Your new device will be called "Untitled 1". You can rename it if you want - I've called mine "AAC Telephone" here:

You should immediately see audio levels on the Wiretap Anywhere indicators
showing any audio activity in your computer, such as iTunes playing or system/third party voices speaking.

Now go into Skype and open the Preferences via the "Skype" menu. Click on the speaker icon at the top of the pane - where the top red circle is in this picture - and then select your Wiretap device as the "Audio Input" device - that's the lower red circle:

Your first call should be to Skype's built in "test call" service to confirm that skype is receiving your synthetic voice audio. The Skype name to call is "echo123" and it gives you a chance to talk and then plays back to you what it heard.

That's all! You're now ready to make phone calls on the net using a synthetic computer generated voice. Congratulations!

- Ricky Buchanan and NewJack Rasputin

If you use Skype and [msd] I've found a way to make hands-free phone calls with a little help from AppleScript.

MacSpeech Dictate has a built in AppleScript editor. To use it click on the "Tools" menu and select "Commands". Make sure you set the type of command you want to create to "Globals" on the left-hand side of the window that has the "+" button to create a new command. Then click on the "Type" drop-down menu and select "AppleScript". Then give your command (where it says "Command") a name like "call mom" for example. This is what you'll actually say to activate the command. You can write a description of what the command is supposed to do in the "Description" field. Finally, you need to put the AppleScript code down in the "Source" field. And here is the code you will need to use.

tell application "Skype"
	send command "CALL +12125555555" script name "My Script"
end tell

The easiest thing to do is just cut and paste the AppleScript above into the "Source" field. Where it says "CALL +12125555555" simply change the number to whatever phone number you want the command to call. Any number must be preceded by +1 in the United States (Then the area code and number just like above). When finished hit the "Compile" button.

You can create as many commands as you like. One for all your friends and every member of your family and it works quite well! But there is one issue. The AppleScript is supposed to launch Skype and make the call to whatever person you specified. However, once Skype opens a dialog window pops up asking for permission to use an AppleScript with Skype. Even though you can select "Always Allow" that window still pops up every time you make an AppleScript initiated call. Obviously that kind of defeats the purpose of making a completely hands-free phone call and I haven't figured out how to disable that dialog box. However, if you simply leave Skype running in the background (like most people do anyways) that dialog window won't pop up when you make an AppleScript-initiated call.

So with Skype running in the background simply leave MacSpeech Dictate in "Sleep" mode then when you're anywhere in the vicinity of your computer simply say "wake up" to activate MacSpeech Dictate then say one of your AppleScript calling commands (like "call mom") to initiate a call to somebody. It's that simple!

- Paul Natsch

[Ed: [msddisclaim] - Ricky]

[msdbanner]

Lon has a great new article about some of the issues around remote service delivery and telepractice for special education providers. Using some of the features built into OS X Leopard - iChat's new screen sharing as well as the video conferencing - on broadband internet connections means the up-front costs of providing remote services are greatly reduced. A quote from one of their specialists:

We are using new Macs and iChat to share the desktop with some of our long-distant students remotely to do speech services.

The article discusses telepractice in terms of issues rather than the technological side, but it's good to see that people understand the advantages of using Mac computers for this!

- Ricky Buchanan

Lioncourt.com reported a few days ago:

Microsoft released Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0, the latest version of their popular instant messaging client for the Live Messenger and Office Communications services. Unfortunately, Microsoft apparently paid little or no attention to accessibility.

I haven't tested this myself, but it seems that making Messenger accessible to VoiceOver users would have been very little work for the Microsoft programmers. It's sad that they didn't bother to follow the programming guidelines for writing accessible programs.

I suggest that those needing an accessible program try the excellent Adium client for MSN/Live messenger chatting. Unfortunately there's no accessible replacement if you need to use Microsoft Office Communications. For those who need that functionality, I can only reiterate Josh's suggestion to contact Microsoft through their accessibility site and request that they remedy this.

Website: Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0 Released without Accessibility

- Ricky Buchanan

I have recently been asked what IRC programs can be recommended for VoiceOver users. There are some options, but the news is not as good as it could be at the moment.

For those who haven't used IRC before, it's a text-based group chat program that has been around since the early 1990s. I remember using it when I was at Uni in 1993 and it was already about 5 years old then!

The only standard graphical OS X IRC client that's accessible for VoiceOver users is XChat Aqua. It's a free program, but it hasn't been updated for 18 months or so. There's nobody in charge of programming at the moment so I wouldn't suggest expecting any updates in the near future. As far as I can tell, it still works fine under both Tiger and Leopard at the moment though.

If you're geeky enough to be comfortable with command line programs in Terminal, there are a bunch of different IRC programs you can choose from - anything that is OK with standard Unix will work under OS X. Unfortunately you'll have to compile your own and doing this is way outside the scope of an article here, but if anybody does it and documents what they do I'd be pleased to link to the article so others can follow in your pioneering footsteps!

- Ricky Buchanan