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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Find your way home with Homer
When driving on the roads, a sat nav is, some would say, a vital part of modern in-car equipment, making sure we reach the destination without consulting a map or asking directions. The only problem is the typical default voice...which is normally mechanical, plain and has about as much personality as a plank of wood.
Fortunately, personalising your sat nav is now an option and with a wide variety of voices to choose from, it was only a matter of time before one voice reigned supreme.
Homer Simpson, star of The Simpsons, has been officially recognised by the Guinness World Records as the most downloaded sat nav voice, beating off competition from Darth Vader, Ali G and Brian Blessed.
The voice, provided by Simpsons actor Dan Castellaneta, has been downloaded thousands of times, with the US accounting for more than 40% of the sales.
Developed by Locutio Voice Technologies in partnership with the Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products (FCP), the voice has outsold competitors by nearly three to one.
Locutio Voice Technologies chief executive Chris Hilton said the success of Homer Simpson has encouraged them to bring more Simpsons characters to satellite navigation systems.
“Homer was the breakthrough GPS voice that firmly established the category. It has been a real pleasure working with the Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division and FCP to bring the original voice of Homer to GPS devices for fans of The Simpsons to enjoy on their journeys.”
As Mr Burns would say: Excellent...
Photo © Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Fortunately, personalising your sat nav is now an option and with a wide variety of voices to choose from, it was only a matter of time before one voice reigned supreme.Homer Simpson, star of The Simpsons, has been officially recognised by the Guinness World Records as the most downloaded sat nav voice, beating off competition from Darth Vader, Ali G and Brian Blessed.
The voice, provided by Simpsons actor Dan Castellaneta, has been downloaded thousands of times, with the US accounting for more than 40% of the sales.
Developed by Locutio Voice Technologies in partnership with the Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products (FCP), the voice has outsold competitors by nearly three to one.
Locutio Voice Technologies chief executive Chris Hilton said the success of Homer Simpson has encouraged them to bring more Simpsons characters to satellite navigation systems.
“Homer was the breakthrough GPS voice that firmly established the category. It has been a real pleasure working with the Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division and FCP to bring the original voice of Homer to GPS devices for fans of The Simpsons to enjoy on their journeys.”
As Mr Burns would say: Excellent...
Photo © Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: Dan Castellaneta, GPS, Homer Simpson, sat nav, The Simpsons
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Directions by Jeremy Clarkson
Driving can be stressful, so what you don’t need is a sat nav which gives you instructions in Jeremy Clarkson’s voice.
If you choose to use this new voice, being released by TomTom in October, your GPS navigation system will order you – amongst other panic inducing phrases – to “Turn right. Turn RIGHT. You missed it! For the love of . . . !”
“It’s not a gentle sat nav voice, put it like that,” stated Mr Clarkson.
Road users who are easily panicked by the tone of voice used by the famous Top Gear presenter may wish to switch to the new Stig sat nav voice.
Jeremy Clarkson explains, “You can put it in Stig mode, apparently, which is when nothing happens. It doesn’t speak to you at all.
“So you can either have Stig or me and personally I would use the Stig most.”
There are reports that TomTom has been in contact with Jeremy’s co-presenters, in a bid to add their voices to its sat nav instruction repertoire, however Mr Clarkson doesn’t seem to think they’d work very well.
“Hammond, well that wouldn’t work because he hasn’t got the patience.
“James May genuinely doesn’t have a sense of direction.”
We love getting new voices on our sat navs and we’ll try any voice at least once. Let’s see how long we last when getting ordered about by infamous Clarkson.
If you choose to use this new voice, being released by TomTom in October, your GPS navigation system will order you – amongst other panic inducing phrases – to “Turn right. Turn RIGHT. You missed it! For the love of . . . !” “It’s not a gentle sat nav voice, put it like that,” stated Mr Clarkson.
Road users who are easily panicked by the tone of voice used by the famous Top Gear presenter may wish to switch to the new Stig sat nav voice.
Jeremy Clarkson explains, “You can put it in Stig mode, apparently, which is when nothing happens. It doesn’t speak to you at all.
“So you can either have Stig or me and personally I would use the Stig most.”
There are reports that TomTom has been in contact with Jeremy’s co-presenters, in a bid to add their voices to its sat nav instruction repertoire, however Mr Clarkson doesn’t seem to think they’d work very well.
“Hammond, well that wouldn’t work because he hasn’t got the patience.
“James May genuinely doesn’t have a sense of direction.”
We love getting new voices on our sat navs and we’ll try any voice at least once. Let’s see how long we last when getting ordered about by infamous Clarkson.
Image © HamsterRun via photobucket
Labels: driving, GPS, Jeremy Clarkson, sat nav, Stig, TomTom