Ananova
Encyclopedia
Ananova was a Web-oriented news service that originally featured a computer-simulated
newscaster as an embodied agent named Ananova programmed to read newscasts to Web users. Ananova is now a subsidiary of mobile telecommunication operator Orange SA
. Orange bought Ananova in 2000 from the Press Association
(PA) in a £95m deal, and has now merged the site into its main news site.
While the Ananova website was still operational and providing written news items until 2009, the animated Ananova character was unavailable from 2004. The website had claimed since that time that the software was under development and would be available again "soon."http://www.ananova.com/video/
The Ananova news service was well known for its collection of unusual news stories, which it features in its Quirkies section, a section which now appears on Orange's news website.
used by Ananova was developed using patented methods that applied human inflections to extend the rVoice solution from Rhetorical Systems (now Nuance Communications
).http://business.scotsman.com/technology.cfm?id=601302003
Computer simulation
A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
newscaster as an embodied agent named Ananova programmed to read newscasts to Web users. Ananova is now a subsidiary of mobile telecommunication operator Orange SA
Orange SA
Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. It is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world, with 210 million customers . The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was...
. Orange bought Ananova in 2000 from the Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...
(PA) in a £95m deal, and has now merged the site into its main news site.
While the Ananova website was still operational and providing written news items until 2009, the animated Ananova character was unavailable from 2004. The website had claimed since that time that the software was under development and would be available again "soon."http://www.ananova.com/video/
The Ananova news service was well known for its collection of unusual news stories, which it features in its Quirkies section, a section which now appears on Orange's news website.
Speech synthesis
The speech synthesisSpeech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
used by Ananova was developed using patented methods that applied human inflections to extend the rVoice solution from Rhetorical Systems (now Nuance Communications
Nuance Communications
Nuance Communications is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA, that provides speech and imaging applications...
).http://business.scotsman.com/technology.cfm?id=601302003
Ananova name scrapped
In April 2010 the owners of the Ananova domain Orange decided to scrap the name Ananova. Users entering the site are now redirected to the Orange news website.External links
- Ananova.com
- Cyberbabe to read the news - BBC news website Monday, 17 January 2000
- Ananova makes her debut - BBC news website Wednesday, 19 April 2000
- Ananova, the world's first virtual newscaster - YouTube