Can Rev turn text to speech and record it?

[Kay C Lan]

On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 1:51 AM, Richard Miller <wow at together.net> wrote:

> I'd appreciate any comments regarding the issue of keeping Skype running in
> the background (on a MacMini) and periodically (could be several hundred
> times per day) using Applescript to generate a wav file, then directing
> Skype to call the vendor and play the file. Do you think this can all happen
> fairly quietly in the background while Rev is handling numerous cgi scripts
> as the server's main task?
>

Couple of thoughts.

Firstly, if you are worried about cpu cycles, what about handling them as a
batch process - depending on how time critical these calls are. Create the
wav files as the orders are created and store them in a specific folder.
Every half hour get AppleScript to start up Skype, process all the files,
then shut Skype down.

Secondly, as far as the possibility of having people trying to Skype you,
I'm assuming this is a MacMini server that doesn't do anything else so it's
address book is not a necessary app. Set up a new Skype account, set it's
Privacy preferences so that only people in your Contact List can Call and
Chat. If your address book is empty, and you don't add any Contacts then you
should have zero web presence. I believe you don't need the phone numbers
you'll be dialling to be in your Contact List, you can do that all with
AppleScript. One other thing to look into is you can manually set yourself
to be 'Not Available', 'Do Not Disturb' or 'Invisible' so it might be
possible to do this via AppleScript, further ensuring limited net presence.

I guess a check of Activity Monitor will give you some clue as well. Whilst
I had my setting as 'Do Not Disturb' my AM showed CPU at a steady 0.1% for
Skype. When I changed the setting to 'On Line' it popped up to 3% before
dropping back to 0.1% with a very occassional spike at 1.6%

HTH