We worried that we were setting the bar too high for our first Weekly App Hack, asking for new or updated apps that made interesting or novel use of text-to-speech capability in just a week. Well, not only were we pleasantly surprised by the number of responses, but we were really touched by the impact that the winning entry made.

It wasn’t easy to choose, but we are excited to present to you the winner of the Weekly App Hack, along with four honorable mentions!

WINNER – Say This! By Scott Chapman
 
Say This! Is a great app with a great story behind it, which we just had to share with you:
 

This was very timely because just a couple of weeks ago I wanted to write this app.  I was in ICU with my 82-year-old father-in-law, who was awake and trying to communicate with us, but he couldnt because he was on a ventilator. I had no way of doing text-to-speech, so while it was a great idea, I didnt think it would go anywhere anytime soon.

When the App Hack Challenge came out, I had a thought about another app that would be fun to do.  But as my wife was leaving to go back to her fathers side in ICU, I realized I was working on the wrong app, and immediately jumped over to working on Say This!

Today when my wife was visiting, she pulled out the Touchpad and the app was quite a hit. He had never seen the Touchpad before, but he took to it immediately and started tapping the words, moving between word lists with the big arrows, and then even started typing.  It was the most engaged and communicative hes been in the last 4 weeks. Everybody present was reportedly very happy.

Scott goes on to say:

This [is what has always] attracted me to programming: if I see a problem, I can create something to solve it.  The brilliant thing about webOS has always been that its so accessible in terms of programming…  Were talking about truly ubiquitous computing that almost anybody that is at all technical can hack on.  Think of the apps that would be possible with a platform like that and the ways we could change all of our lives.

Congratulations Scott, you get a TouchPad, and now have the most sought-after title of App Hack Ninja!

HONORABLE MENTION – Translator HD by Janni Kovacs of MojoJungle

Translator HD

Translator HD makes use of Google Translate services in a terrific webOS native interface. Janni has enhanced the app with text-to-speech to bring translations to life.

HONORABLE MENTION –  Eliza: Talking Bot by Henk Jonas

Eliza

We had a lot of fun testing this one. Eliza is a talking bot that’s always ready for a chat. You have to type to her, but she’ll talk back to you in her own robot voice. Careful though, because when you take advantage of webOSs multitasking abilities to go to another card, Eliza will make her displeasure known!

HONORABLE MENTION – ABC  by Rowan Wagstaff

ABC

This great little app helps children learn the pronunciations of the alphabet.  When the child taps a letter, ABC uses the text-to-speech technology to say the letter, the sound the letter makes, and a sample word beginning with that letter.

HONORABLE MENTION – Math with Robbie! by Mark Pavlov of forwebOS.com

This beautiful app is a fun way to test your math skills. Now Robbie the Robot is Robbie the Talking Robot for added sensory feedback!

Math with Robbie!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first App Hack! We hope to see all of these apps make their way to the App Catalog for your enjoyment soon!

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