Robert, Translation, or rather native speaking for a foreign language menu, wouldn't be that much of a stretch. If the menu was written in Italian for example, we could use an Italian voice to render the speech. Right now, it lets you choose Female, Male, or a fun Robot voice. We could easily add other voices/languages.
Some of you already have my other apps, like AutoRingtone or Ringtones Uncensored. Those provide custom Talking Caller ID using dozens of text-to-speech voices. I also have Ringtones EURO, Asian Ringtones, Arabic Ringtones and more. So it wouldn't be too hard to add more languages. We'll add it to the list (Android, Point of Sale integration for electronic ordering, etc.) and I'll report back on our priorities. It probably will need to wait until our menu provider offers more coverage of other countries. ---todd On Thursday, May 30, 2013 11:36:48 AM UTC-4, Robert Fenton wrote: > > Hello Todd: > > Let me start by thanking you for providing an update so quickly to > incorporate our feedback. I can't wait to try out the new version. > > In your note, you also asked for additional feature suggestions for the > app moving forward. I have one for you but I suspect it will take a lot of > work to implement. The suggestion expands upon your current functionality > to have the phone speak an order to service staff if the user of the > product is deaf. > > Many of us travel to foreign countries for business or pleasure. In many > cases, I am not conversant enough in the local language to order food and > such. Could a translation feature be built into this app both to allow us > to read the menus and to voice our order in several languages to be heard > by the service staff? > > Thank you for considering this request. I certainly understand if this > goes beyond your vision of the product. > > Bob Fenton > > Sent from my iPhone > > On 2013-05-29, at 7:51 PM, Todd Bernhard > <to...@toddbernhard.com<javascript:>> > wrote: > > Thank you everyone for the great, constructive feedback. We've learned a > lot and I wanted to give you an update. I just submitted an update to > Apple based on all the comments received so far! >> >> > First, I've built over 80 apps, for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Mac OS > and even Samsung Bada. This is the most complex one I've ever built. In > addition the emphasis on voiceover, the app is also meant for the Deaf, > Non-Verbal and Non-English-speaking audience, as it can speak the order to > the waitstaff, independently of voiceover. The app is accessing four > different servers from three different companies. One server, in > Switzerland, is for the logo scanning, one in Rochester, NY (soon to > migrate to Amazon's cloud servers) is our own with our internal database > with photos and premium customer info, another in Las Vegas is for the > text-to-speech hints (which you do not need if you are using voiceover) and > the last one, in San Francisco, is for the restaurant/business/menu > database. That service and server is provided by Locu.com. > > That last one is where we have the following issues. First, thanks to the > popularity of the app, we went over their previously undisclosed limit of > 1,000 requests per day, around 8am Pacific time. That is why some of you > saw the app crashing. Since that provider doesn't open until 9am, I had to > keep calling until they answered to get our limit raised. (I asked for > 100,000!) It was raised and I've made an edit to the app (for the next > update) that will display a message instead of crashing if that ever > happens again! > > Next, is the issue of no menus. That was probably because their server > offers info for more than just restaurants. For example, they have hair > salons, spas, etc. I'm changing the app to just show restaurants, by > default, and we may re-enable other businesses in a future update, but > because it was causing confusion, I don't think it should default to "all > businesses". That other info is valuable, but the confusion seems to be > the bigger problem. > > Regarding stale data, I have noticed this and complained about it, too. I > think the provider's emphasis, understandably, is on growing their database > and there is less focus on pruning out old info. They are a startup, too, > and I can relate to prioritizing resources. But I think we will create a > button that lets you report old data and then we can blacklist it from the > app, even if it hasn't been removed from that provider's database. To be > honest, it's quite remarkable that they've built this menu system, without > requiring restaurants to do anything. They search for websites, and even > scan paper menus and have over one million such menus now. They have > signed deals with GoDaddy and Yelp so we're in good company. And they are > excited to be part of this accessible effort. > > Re voiceover and accessibility. The specific feedback was great, and I > believe I've made all of the changes. I've used the app repeatedly in > voiceover mode and I think I've eliminated everything people were running > into. For the technically inclined, you might be interested to know that > there are at least 109 specific accessibility commands in the app source > code. The problem wasn't really the lack of voiceover commands but that we > were layering views on top of previous ones, and that meant in some views, > if there wasn't another accessible element displayed, the ones below it > would "peak through." That has been fixed. > > I will change how you edit settings, like manual address versus GPS, as > this was confusing even to sighted folks! > > Regarding finding the app, I sent the initial email shortly after Apple > notified us it was approved, and it takes some time for apps to show up, > especially worldwide. Nobody should have a problem finding it now, either > by searching for all access or search for blind menus or use this link: > http://bit.ly/AllAccessMenus > > For a restaurant to be included in the app, or to update their existing > info, they can either contact us directly, which is preferred, or they can > contact Locu.com who is the menu database provider. There is no charge > to be listed and no charge to have a menu included. Both Locu and our > firm, All Access, offer premium features where we plan to earn revenue. > Locu charges restaurants to upload their own photos, whereas our focus is > on letting users upload their photos, via a scavenger hunt style contest, > in exchange for gift cards from the restaurant. We also charge for the > Logo Launcher scanning feature, and for the ability to add custom deals > (like groupons) and other custom buttons. > > Lastly, the app is for more than menus. The app will provide a link to > directions via Apple Maps, twitter, facebook, weather, and more. Are there > other items you would like to have? > > Thanks again, and please send feedback. It's probably easiest to use the > feedback button in the app. I'll let you know when the update is approved. > I hope you'll give that version a chance. > > Todd@ToddBernhard > Cofounder, AllAccessMenus.com > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" > Google Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to vip...@googlegroups.com <javascript:> > . > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+u...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+u...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. 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