Tag Archives: release

ClaroSpeak iOS 3.0 Released

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Version 3 of our ClaroSpeak for iOS app was released towards the end of May 2018 and brought with it lots of great new features and improvements.  For a complete list of these changes, you can check the release notes here: ClaroSpeak 3.0 release notes.

One of the biggest changes gives everyone access to all of the iOS system voices, free of charge.  This means you can now choose male and female variants for different voice languages, as well as accessing higher-quality versions and the Siri voices.

Another change saw the font and colour options now being accessible from the keyboard:

font and colour button

font and colour button

This change not only lets you change these settings more quickly, but it also lets you see the changes as they are applied, so you can be sure to choose the right settings for you:

settings in real time

settings in real time

One of the best new features in V3 is the addition of the “Read with ClaroSpeak” web extension.  This lets you choose a webpage from Safari, or other browsers, and then have that web page read back to you with highlighting.  You can access this new extension from the Share menu in your browser app:

accessing "Read with ClaroSpeak" button

accessing “Read with ClaroSpeak” button

You can then tap on some text to set the start point and tap the play button and the text will be spoken back with highlighting so you can follow the text as it is being spoken:

speech with highlighting

speech with highlighting

Read more

 

Claro ScanPen V1.8 iOS Released

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Version 1.8 of our ScanPen apps for iOS have been released! This latest version introduces the powerful new document detection feature.

Using the new document detection feature allows you to detect and enhance only the documents in your camera feed. It will automatically search, take a photo, crop out any unwanted background space and then straighten the photo to give you the best possible scanning and text selection experience.

For example, these two screenshots compare the photos taken [1] without document detection and [2] with document detection.

[1] Without document detection

The document of interest is slightly skewed and there is a lot of background space that we are not interested in. It scans and reads OK, but it could be better.

[2] With document detection

This is a much better photo. The document is cropped to fit the entire image and it has been straightened up. This results in a much more accurate scanning and text speaking experience.

Along with the new document detection feature, V1.8 also introduces image filters to help you enhance your images. Here is an example of the greyscale filter that we have applied to the above document:

This increases the contrast between the text and the background, enhancing and improving the results of the OCR.

Another major new improvement to V1.8 is the addition of lots more iOS system voices. You can now access Siri voices, enhanced quality voices and male and female voices for many of the supported languages. These voices are all still freely available to use.

For the full release notes of V1.8 of Claro ScanPen, check here: Claro ScanPen V1.8 Release Notes.

View Claro ScanPen and Claro ScanPen Premium on the App Store now!

ClaroRead for Mac V6.1 Released

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ClaroRead for Mac has been updated to V6.1. Download ClaroUp to update your version 6.0. Read on for more details.

New: Mac USB Creator

You can now use your ClaroRead Windows or Mac key to download and make your own version of ClaroRead for Mac on a USB drive. This is a great way to transport ClaroRead around to use on shared computers which might not have it installed. See the ClaroRead USB page for more information.

Improved: Scan from Paper

Rather than launching Image Capture, Scan from Paper now launches a scanner window for you to complete your scan and converts the scanned image immediately into the format and location of your choice.
Select “Scan from Paper” on the toolbar:

Select your scanner and click the Scan button:

When the scan is complete, choose the name, location and file type of the result. ClaroRead will remember these for future use:

View the Scanning tutorial video to find out more:

More information

There are many more improvements and fixes. More information can be found in the ClaroRead for Mac V6.1 Release Notes.

Useful links