

Umano wants to tell you the news, literally - antonl
http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/21/umano-wants-to-tell-you-the-news-literally/

======
moocow01
Im going to try to not be overly negative here... but arent there numerous
other forms of media that already do this in a pretty crowded market? NPR,
radio, podcasts, etc? I guess I dont really get why I would use this in that
the audio forms of news that I have to choose from are pretty vast and high
quality.

~~~
HorizonXP
The idea is that they're curating content from across the web, and reading
actual articles to you. Podcasts and the like have a different style of
delivery.

Think of this as text-to-speech for articles you would normally read, except
done by an actual human so it doesn't sound off-putting.

I think it's a fantastic idea, but its success will be determined by the
team's ability to scale across a wider gamut of content.

~~~
moocow01
But isn't this essentially what the radio/podcast form of news essentially is?

Each station/organization curates information (in a similar way web-based
reporters do) and then reports as much of it as their resources allow via
someone reading/talking?

I'm not trying to beat up on their idea but I dont understand their
competitive angle or what would cause me to use it over the huge amount of
content out there.

~~~
HorizonXP
There are similarities, but there are differences too. Podcasts/radio will
usually deliver the content more succinctly. Written articles tend to be more
in-depth. Pros and cons to both.

Moreover, there is simply more written content than there are podcasts or
radio. This can help bridge the gap.

~~~
jlees
I've never been a big fan of podcasts. Some have done a good job of mixing
current topics with in-depth dives into specific areas and a dash of
humour/personality (boagworld, for example), but most of the others I've tried
out are either long rambles on very specialised topics or ego-stroking
interviews. There's also production time delays/weekly (or longer) release
cycles.

Radio news... I haven't really looked into this since moving to the US, but in
the UK, no radio news channel covered technology well and it's difficult,
given a finite amount of time, to use that time to listen to exactly what you
want. e.g. tuning into the World Service here, I get some very random content
which is sometimes interesting, sometimes not. Perhaps NPR is different.

I feel Umano addresses both of these - topic freshness/specialisation and good
use of finite time - in different ways.

~~~
morsch
I listen to a lot of news radio programs as podcasts. I love that I don't have
fit my schedule around the program, and I love that I'm not tied to a specific
program but can listen to the most interesting stuff from various stations.
Including a few that aren't even in my country, such as This American Life.

I've also got a few things subscribed that are "genuine" podcasts. My
observations mirror your own (a few good ones/almost all are terrible). But if
it works, it works really well, I've had podcasts that went on about a topic
for 3 hours without getting boring.

But almost none of the stuff I get this way deals with technology per se. It's
mostly politics, science, sociology, history -- anything but pure tech.

------
adanto6840
Definitely will be checking it out.

I've got to guess that the "125k people in the US commute to work" is a typo?

Edit for clarity - 125k seems very low to me.

~~~
HorizonXP
I saw this too. Jumped out to me. (Apparently it's 125 million.)

Edit: From the comments "Just a quick editorial note, there are close to 125MM
commuters per week. Most of those are by car. A smaller percentage take public
transportation or walk. As for digital voices vs. human voices and reading of
content, we at iHear Network believe that TTS technology will continue to
improve and provides a much more robust means of tackling the amount of text
created daily online. "

------
acgourley
Does anyone else care if they are ex-googlers or not? Seems completely
irrelevant.

~~~
mhaymo
It caught my eye, but I'm shallow.

------
TommyDANGerous
About a month ago I was thinking about having an app that would read stuff
from your phone to you so that you wouldn't have to look at it while driving
or doing something else. Glad they already came up with it.

~~~
deepgill
Thanks! Let me know if there are any other features you would like to see in
the app.

------
doodyhead
Strange that a company founded by 3 ex-Googlers would bring out an iPhone app
first and there's no sign of an Android version: <http://umanoapp.com/>

~~~
apoorvamehta
In my opinion, this is a great strategic decision. IPhone users are more
likely to be early adopters as well as become paying users (that's if the guys
want to start charging for usage). Most YC companies focusing on mobile start
with this as well.

------
MichaelApproved
Copyright violation lawsuits will soon follow. I don't think you can just read
someone else's articles without getting prior approval first.

It's hard enough producing the audio for this but having to get copyright
permission for each article is going to make this a tough project to get off
the ground.

------
euskode
You really need to get the app to see how big a difference professional voice
actors make. Imagine if this became ubiquitous, and we could click on a Umano
button right from our favorite outlet's site, switch tabs and listen to the
article as you code away!

------
sashazvea
Great quality! Articles are read by professional voice actors, so none of that
Siri stuff.

------
n00b101
Yeah, it's called radio news.

------
danso
Ignoring scaling issues, I don't see how they could compete with radio, in
terms of informational and artistic value. If their premise is that radio is
simply content read out loud, then that is a vast underestimation of the
polish and narrative structure that radio producers add to a broadcast.

Most radio anchors ARE qualified to be professional voice actors. But a great
radio report is not just great writing, but a different form of writing.

~~~
weisser
Have you tried the app? It is so different from radio content that I am a bit
confused when people say that radio will be their competition.

I have two types of commutes with two very different sets of problems. I drive
a car and ride the T (subway) in and around Boston/Cambridge.

When driving I (obviously) can't read. When riding the T it is usually a pain
to read because there is no reception so the content must be preloaded and on
top of that there are often no seats. It is not fun trying to operate an
iPad[1] with one hand while holding onto a bar for dear life with the other.

Umano solves the car problem by having real humans reading to me and giving me
the ability to queue multiple articles in advance. Once the app allows users
to preload content it will solve all of my T pain points because I will be
able get my news fix aurally without any reception needed. I would gladly pay
for that.

Also, as others have mentioned, I see this as much more than an app for
commuters. This seems perfect for the gym.

[1] I don't enjoy reading on the iPhone if I can help it because of the need
to constantly scroll.

~~~
deepgill
@weisser. Yes we imagine Umano being used in many more cases than just
commuting including the gym, cooking in the kitchen, walking your dog, etc.
Basically anytime you could be listening to music.

In terms of preloading content, it will be in our next release ;). Already
implemented. Just waiting on Apple.

Please let us know at support@sothree.com any pain points you have in the app
or anything else you would like to see.

~~~
danso
> _Basically anytime you could be listening to music._

That will be one of your core existential challenges, though...right? Almost
everyone prefers listening to music...the average person bases a significant
amount of their time acquiring and idolizing music...and so you don't have
much time to work with. After my commute is over, I will be at a computer
screen listening to spotify as I either work or read websites...there is no
way I can be listening to written material.

I'm being overly negative here...it's not that the execution is poor, it's
that I think you underestimate the immense behavioral patterns that you have
to upend for this app to be as integral to a person's lifestyle as Spotify or
the radio

~~~
weisser
I think we are quickly moving away from decades where people spent significant
time acquiring music. My 2 terabyte music library was rendered mostly
pointless after I got Spotify premium (I say mostly because some is not
available on the service). The entire purpose of collecting all that music was
not because I listened to many of the tracks frequently but because I wanted
them playable with a click of a button if I ever desired to give them a
listen. Now people can skip the collection building phase and also access
their (Spotify's) entire collection anywhere and on many devices.

I don't think people that want to listen to music are going to listen to
anything else. I DO believe that people who want to listen to news articles
may settle for listening to music if the methods for accessing what they
desire are not convienient.

------
lanap68
I'm a big fan of the app. Highly recommend to ALL not just commuter.

