I love Portal probably as much as anyone in the world but, wow, people are really running the cake jokes into the ground. They got the opportunity to do so today when several websites covered a sweet downloadable GLaDOS voice for the Garmin Nuvi.
The person behind this great creation is Ryan VanMiddlesworth and you can visit his GLaGPS page, where the familiar voice is available for download. Just be aware that this is not true text-to-speech. You will get directions but GLaGPS will not voice street names.
There is apparently quite the market in geeky voices for the GPS crowd. For example, I found this page, which offers free Vader and Yoda voices for the TomTom (I can’t vouch for the safety or efficacy of the downloads). A company called Navtones is selling TomTom voices, such as, um…Mr.T and Count Whackula. Okay.
I found this Knight Rider GPS to be the most interesting, because it’s not just a downloadable voice but a whole K.I.T.T. GPS set-up, complete with the classic red LED’s and 80’s style look. You do get the famed K.I.T.T. voice as well, of course. The website provides links to some Knight Rider fansites, and I was amazed at all the K.I.T.T. and K.A.R.R. replicas that are out on the roads. By the way, it’s been a long time so I had to look up K.A.R.R. on Wikipedia. It’s the evil version of K.I.T.T., or at least misunderstood.
Speaking of Knight Rider, the new television series is launching September 28th and they showed their new ”Attack K.I.T.T.” at Comic-Con. I was surprised to read that (at least according to Time.com) it beat out the Night Owl from Watchmen as best Comic-Con vehicle because that thing looked insane. Hmm, how did I get from Portal to Watchmen again?
Loading ...
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
The voices on Navtones are the real celebrity voices and that is what makes them so great. They are the people who are providing the voice of K.I.T.T. to Mio for the Knight Rider GPS, so you know it will be good and real.
What day were you at Comic-con? I went too and I personally need to see a bit more of the new “Attack K.I.T.T. to know what I think.
Thanks
I never actually made it out there. I just saw videos of the Night Owl on G4TV’s coverage of the convention and on YouTube. I really do hope to make it next year though - that’s a major goal for me.
You gotta probbum wit Mistah T, fool? Was the A-Team too real for you or something? Honestly, I’ve never heard of a geek not into campy 80’s action shows.
Hmm…campy 80’s action shows. Well, I’m a Saved by the Bell fanatic and that started in ‘89. And there was plenty of action - the wrestling matches against Nedick and the rest of the Valley louts, the volleyball game at the Malibu Sands. Um…did I just type that out loud. There goes my internet street cred.
Sure I liked the A-Team. I don’t feel particulary nostalgic for Mr.T, I think because he’s hung around on the periphery of pop culture year after year. But I loved what he could do with a van, some tools and a bunch of random sheet metal.
Now, you might be able to sell me on an A-Team GPS that utilized each character’s voice to break up the monotony. Hannibal could say, “I love it when a plan comes together… and the plan is for you to make a right at the next stoplight.” and Murdoch could say something zany and Face could talk about being handsome or whatever.
As for other 80’s action shows, let’s see: I loved Misfits of Science…kinda liked Airwolf…Automan was pretty hilarious. Oh, Magnum PI, TJ Hooker and the Fall Guy were good. Great American Hero - was that 80’s? Believe it or not, I’m walking on air…
@Aggro Me -
You should have a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXGHwdJUjdI
Mr. T navigating Batman, The dark Knight. Navtones.com have made a few smash up videos using some of the real celebrity voice they have for download. Mr. T navigates Mario Kart, Herbie, Mr. Bean. Gary Busey gets a ride with a friend… Their youtube page is: youtube.com/navtonesgps and from there you can see all the clips.
Mr. T is the man!
Leave a Comment