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A new Toggle App has emerged, ToggleSub. Being deaf I'm always looking for subtitles to grasp what anybody is saying, in the room or on TV, video, podcasts or live streaming in browser. Sometimes there is already a button for realtime subs but hard to read.

But also for the hearing, with the below mentioned loopback driver, you can watch video's in the middle of the night without any sound but reading the subs :)))

This ToggleSub app can be switch on and off with a hotkey sequence and relies on Apples Speech Services. Having said that, the quality of the subs can never be better than Apple can provide next to the quality of the input of course. If you just mumble a bit in the microphone, getting a good result is unlikely. Also, large languages like English, Spanish and Chinese give better results than the smaller ones like Dutch. The reason behind that is that for large languages more training is put in the transcribing machines. The good news is that the results for any language will improve over time because especially since the launch of the modern AI's, speech is on top of the agenda again.

This first release has still some limitations for instance with the number of languages you can choose to transcribe. We'll see if in future this can be expanded without making the app less user friendly for the majority of users.

The usefulness of the app can be tremendously improved with the help of an audio loopback driver. Such a driver can rerout the system audio output back to the input so you are not dependent anymore of physical sound routing via the speaker back to the microphone with all the additional noise trouble that get along.

There are many loopback drivers on the market, sometimes hidden in various audio apps. Our personal preference is BlackHole (https://existential.audio/blackhole/). A driver only which creates virtual audio output and input devices you can select in you standard macOS System Settings in the sound section. It can hardly get more easy than that. On their website you'll find the downloads and install instructions. Don't forget to donate if you are happy with it. By the way, we have no affiliation with them. We just like the driver and as far as we know, it's safe but for the people who want to check out their sources to be sure it contains no malware: https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole. Experienced users can compile the driver themselves with Xcode and install it manually.

For more information and help, please visit the User Manual and the Q&A.

And oh yeah, of course it's free :)

New version 2 is ready and available. What's new?

- Toggle monitors individually

- Toggle all to mirror the main screen

- Toggle all off or on

- Autostart at login setting in preferences

The app passed the Apple's review procedure. Available in the Apple Mac Store !

As you might know, I'm deaf. Which means that communication is at least troublesome. But you know, it's not a punishment to be in the neighbourhood of good friends at a diner table with a good glass of wine and laughing people around you. The alternative is that you stay at home, alone. Bad idea. Nevertheless, I can still talk so I can tell my stories but friends want to tell me their stories too. Sign language is not for everybody that easy so an iPad with an app like Notes is a convenient alternative. But, a group chat with multiple iPads could be even better. 1.3 M apps in the AppStore should deliver a cool solution but actually it did not. Full of ads, too small characters, clumsy user interface with up and down bouncing keyboards. So, time to brew my own ! :)

I decided to go for Objective-C this time leaving Ruby at home for a change. I've never done anything with a C-like language. No Java, no C#, no C++. Wow, it's like Cyrillic. You think you can read it coz you recognise a lot of characters but you actually can't. Anyway, with a few nights of sweating, internetting and cursing, I've managed to come up with a simple app for my friends and me at a diner table. Or in a pub, a classroom, bbq, or even at home be lazy enough to stay put while other ppl are somewhere around the house :).

It will probable take a week or two to have the AppStore people look at it and get it in the store. I'm sure it will need some attempts. They are not easy to satisfy so it might take a few months if not forever. Meanwhile my friends and me are chatting with the "test-version" around the diner table :)