Add Quick Text-to-Speech Button to Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word has a hidden text-to-speech button built in. To access add the text-to-speech button to the quick access tool bar click on the down arrow in the top left corner of the screen. Next click on more commands and then click on all commands from the drop down menu. Finally click on speak from the list and then press add. To use the text-to-speech feature select the text you wish to have read and click on the text-to-speech button you just added to the top left corner of the screen. The text will be read allowed instantly. Click the button again to stop the text-to-speech. Watch the video above to learn more. Click read more below for step by step instructions.

Ginger Corrects Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

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Ginger is an automatic spelling and grammar tool that corrects mistakes at the touch of a button. Ginger also has other features that Microsoft Word spell check does not. People who have dyslexia, are learning English or need documents with correct spelling and grammar can benefit from Ginger. Ginger corrects mistakes that spell check does not such as homophones. Ginger also makes context based corrections. For example if you write "Their is a big house" Ginger would corrected the sentence to "there is a big house." When editing a document press F2 to get corrections from Ginger. Ginger includes a text-to-speech option that speaks the input and output text aloud. The text-to-speech function can also read documents, web page and emails aloud. For users that wish to improve their grammar and spelling, Ginger offers informative lessons and quizzes. In order to use all of the features of Ginger you must have an Internet connection. The cost rages from $4.90 a month to $89 for a one time payment depending on the features you want. The premium version cost $89 and comes with text-to-speech, lessons to learn from your mistakes and spelling and grammar check. For $29 you get contextual grammar and spelling check. For a monthly payment of $4.90 you also get contextual grammar and spelling check. Ginger is only available for PCs. To test out Ginger type a sentence into the graphic above and press "Ginger It." Visit gingersoftware.com for more information.

New iBooks Read-Aloud Feature

Apple recently released an update to their iBooks app. The new version has a new feature called read aloud. At the moment the feature is only compatible with select children's books. In a compatible book there is a speaker in the top right corner. When the speaker button is pressed a menu appears with an option to read the book aloud. The read aloud feature highlights the words being read aloud so you can follow along. The voice that is used to read the text is a human voice, which is much better than a computerized voice. In all, the new feature in iBooks is great but is currently only for picture books.