VoiceSee is a ground-breaking, patented technology that enables your smartphone to follow spoken commands to search the web, organize the results and read aloud the passages you choose.

VoiceSee is ideal for those who are visually impaired or have other physical disabilities, have difficulty reading or just prefer the spoken to the written word. It’s the perfect solution when typing or touching on a smartphone or tablet and reading the screen are not doable.

Hi Kickstarter! My name is Daniel Ben-Ezri, founder and chief innovator at YiZRi LLC, based in Burlington Vermont. I am passionate about engineering solutions that make a difference in people’s lives. After a successful career with IBM as a software engineer, I’ve spent the last few years working with various voice technologies to create what I consider to be game-changing applications for smartphones and tablets.

THOSE WHO TRY IT, LOVE IT

Here is what Dr. Stanley Greenberg, a former director for the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired says about VoiceSee:

"I would love to have this application. . . . It would make the internet much easier to navigate considering how many websites are marginally accessible and some are not accessible at all."

Danielle Gould from Food+Tech Connect writes:

"...Culinary Pal - recently caught my attention... highlight digital home cooking tool trends worth keeping an eye on."

And Christopher McMillan from CEEK Technology says:

"I love seeing innovative products like this for the Blind and Visually impaired. The Federal Government will be very interested in this for its work force in time and also our disabled veterans!"

To read about what the media say about VoiceSee, go to USA Today, The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch, Science 2.0 or just Google "The World's First Hands-free and Eyes-free Web Navigation Platform".

WHY YOUR BACKING IS SO IMPORTANT

So far, we have beta versions of three apps for android smartphones:

• Culinary Pal, which searches for recipes on m.allrecipes.com, lets you choose the one you like, lists the ingredients and reads the preparation and cooking or baking instructions.
• News Pal, which searches the digital versions of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and then, following your spoken commands, reads the articles you choose.
• Wiki Pal, which searches for Wikipedia entries and reads the results.

The funds raised on Kickstarter will enable us to:

• Complete beta testing of the first three apps and expand their capabilities.
• Develop next generation mobile apps.
• Bring VoiceSee to market by the end of the year.
• Create versions of all apps for iPhones and iPads.

TRY VOICESEE FOR YOURSELF

If you have an android smartphone, you can download the beta versions of Culinary Pal, News Pal and Wiki Pal from the following sites:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yizri.voculinary
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yizri.vonews
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yizri.vowiki

HERE’S HOW VOICESEE WORKS

We’ve chosen Culinary Pal to demonstrate how VoiceSee works.

All recipe instructions are delivered to you handsfree and eyesfree via voice responses.

Sadie, the voice of VoiceSee, will guide you through the preparation process so you don’t have to touch the smartphone with your hands… that may have just touched raw chicken or been through the flour dredge process.

Today I want to make Chicken Parmigiana. Here is what to do:

• I open my Culinary Pal app and verbally request Chicken Parmigiana recipes.
• Culinary Pal tells me there are 805 recipes on AllRecipes.com and gives me the top 10 most highly rated.
• Once I’ve selected the recipe I want, I ask Culinary Pal to tell me the prep time, cook time and other information about my recipe.
• When prompted for the Ingredients list, I just say "Yes" and step through each ingredient at my own pace by saying "Go". VoiceSee automatically enters "Sesame mode" which ignores any noise or command (other than "Go"), until commanded "Open Sesame":
• Now that my ingredients are ready, I will do the same ("Yes", "Go", "Open Sesame") for the preparation directions. If I'm going to make some noise while VoiceSee is waiting for my command, I just say: "Please wait". VoiceSee will start listening again when I say "Open Sesame".

Culinary Pal is simple to use and because the recipes are read to you at your own pace, it lets you focus on the joy of cooking and your phone or tablet stays clean.

BUSINESS MODEL

VoiceSee and its apps will be available to the public through affordable membership subscription, not sale. We chose this model because of the dynamic nature of VoiceSee’s technology and services. A subscription-based revenue stream will best ensure our ability to provide 24/7 maintenance for VoiceSee users and to constantly monitor the ever-evolving changes in the websites we feature.

In addition, we offer our services to companies, educational institutions and other website owners who want to improve their site's accessibility to all throughout the day, thereby increasing the number of visitors and visits to their website. We can deliver this in two forms, per our client's preference: A plugin to one of our existing app -- or an independent app. The independent app option lets our client choose whether to offer it for free (possibly inserting ads, like being done in radio stations) or follow our membership model.

We also plan to release an SDK with a well documented API, licensed at an affordable cost for developers who are interested in helping accelerate optimized web coverage. VoiceSee already has a fallback mode for any website, but the true VoiceSee power and usefulness is fully realized with our patent-pending plugin.

VOICESEE’S BRIGHT FUTURE

We plan to introduce the following new functions, enhancements and products:

• iPhone/iPad app
• Windows version
• Sadie override. The ability to interrupt Sadie's speech and jump directly to your desired option
• Improved pronunciation
• Support for multiple languages
• Greater flexibility for user preferences and customization
• Power user mode (shorter prompts)
• The ability to function seamlessly even when Internet connection is briefly disrupted.
• Support for online learning classrooms (e.g. sites based on blackboard or moodle)
• Many more supported websites (yes, this includes Facebook!)
• Lots & lots of improvements and new features based on your feedback.