Let Maya Speak For Herself

I agree 100%, and actually emailed Maya's parents with an idea of creating an Android Tablet App, and donate a Tablet to them to test/keep. Also created a thread looking for likeminded developers here that would want to help develop such an app: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4107019

If anyone is interested in hacking something cool together, send me an email: sam.granger@gmail.com

They received a few similar emails, and replied to me today. This part was regarding my idea on creating an Android App:

"App design, programming features, and all of the software-related stuff goes right over my head! I appreciate you offering your help---the best people to talk to about tech-related solutions would be the team at Speak for Yourself, who you can reach at this email address: info[@]speakforyourself.org There have been some other similar emails that have come my way, but I've just directed them all over to the SFY team. They would be the best people to ask about whether there are others to assemble."

I did send them an email, offering help, but I doubt they'd be interested since "patents" and a possible lawsuit is probably their current main concern.

To be honest, I don't think creating an app would be all that hard, and to avoid having to speak in thousands of words (which I'd consider to be the dullest part), you'd be able to generate the word sounds through Google's Text to Speech API.

At the end of the day, I hope the App gets accepted back into the store, only time will tell... In the meantime, something open source could be developed in no time.

Re: Let Maya Speak For Herself

#6

Post by wseymour » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 9:58 AM UTC

2689 votes at the time of writing. If everybody donated a dollar instead of a signature, there'd be an app available on another platform by now.

Re: Let Maya Speak For Herself

#7

Post by fpgeek » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 10:26 AM UTC

dutchbrit wrote: post #5

praptak wrote: post #4

Maybe someone is writing a similar app for a less totalitarian platform? I'd gladly support such effort by donating.

I agree 100%, and actually emailed Maya's parents with an idea of creating an Android Tablet App, and donate a Tablet to them to test/keep. Also created a thread looking for likeminded developers here that would want to help develop such an app: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4107019 If anyone is interested in hacking something cool together, send me an email: sam.granger@gmail.com They received a few similar em…

I did find this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalscr...

Does anyone know how it compares to Speak for Yourself?

Re: Let Maya Speak For Herself

#8

Post by ovi256 » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 10:32 AM UTC

praptak wrote: post #4

Maybe someone is writing a similar app for a less totalitarian platform? I'd gladly support such effort by donating.

You seem to think a SfY app on a different platform would not be taken down. Apple took the app down after a simple letter from the patent holder. The patent holder could have asked for relief in court, enumerating the infringing apps. IANAL, but that's a common request in patent cases, and usually granted by the court. All app stores would have to comply then, however free (or non-totalitarian), maybe even removing the already installed apps.

Re: Let Maya Speak For Herself

#9

Post by tintin » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 10:32 AM UTC

Maybe a stupid question: but do you need iTunes to install an .ipa file? I've seen some programs that can just install these files on any iDevice without the use of iTunes.

And isn't Xcode and an Apple acount enough to sign the app?

Re: Let Maya Speak For Herself

#10

Post by freyrs3 » Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 10:39 AM UTC

ovi256 wrote: post #8

praptak wrote: post #4

Maybe someone is writing a similar app for a less totalitarian platform? I'd gladly support such effort by donating.

You seem to think a SfY app on a different platform would not be taken down. Apple took the app down after a simple letter from the patent holder. The patent holder could have asked for relief in court, enumerating the infringing apps. IANAL, but that's a common request in patent cases, and usually granted by the court. All app stores would have to comply then, however free (or non-totalitarian), maybe even removing…

It could be taken off the Android market, but Google doesn't forbid alternative installation modes. It's not foolproof, but at least with Android you own the software and can install it without having to go through a corporate monolith like Google/Apple.