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Ask HN: Review my app: tweetrad.io

tweetrad.io

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Re: Ask HN: Review my app: tweetrad.io

#2

Post by brk »

I like the concept, seems best suited for low-volume stuff. it would get annoying listening to updates at the normal frequency of stuff on Twitter.

I didn't look too deeply at it, would be very very good to be able to filter out dupes (ie: exclude any RT's).

Re: Ask HN: Review my app: tweetrad.io

#3

Post by wsbail29 »

Tweetrad.io is a fun little side project that converts twitter feeds into audio using text to speech.

We use a distributed network of converter bots to handle the work queue. Jobs are placed on the queue via api calls from the javascript client that interacts with twitter's search api directly in order to avoid rate limiting of a centralized search server. Our app server is a lightweight Sinatra service that handles job queueing. We stream the audio directly from our nginx web server as they become available via the conversion process.

We are trying to decide if this app has a real use case or if it's just a fun thing. One of the ideas we are thinking about is an iphone app for keeping up with your tweet stream on the go. We would love to hear your feedback.

Re: Ask HN: Review my app: tweetrad.io

#7

Post by dtf »

wsbail29 wrote: post #3

Tweetrad.io is a fun little side project that converts twitter feeds into audio using text to speech. We use a distributed network of converter bots to handle the work queue. Jobs are placed on the queue via api calls from the javascript client that interacts with twitter's search api directly in order to avoid rate limiting of a centralized search server. Our app server is a lightweight Sinatra service that handles…

It's certainly fun. Love the little touch of the white noise when tuning between tweets.

Re: Ask HN: Review my app: tweetrad.io

#8

Post by mp3jeep01 »

I like the concept!

I assume the "music" in between readings is supposed to sound like the radio is tuning for a new station? If this is the case, it's a neat idea, but it was a little frustrating because you want to hear the music, but it's not clear - although I'm not sure on any better suggestion (i.e. elevator music, muzak..lol).

brk 23 has a good point about filters, that would definitely make it more usable.

Nice work! Haven't seen any other fun web integration of text-speech like this (I definitely don't count dictionary.com pronouncing words for me as fun!)

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