Our newest favorite find: Voki = speaking avatars for your SNS page. NGT intern Marc test drives…
Get a Voki now!
For people who like to have their voice heard, Oddcast has brought to us Voki which allows you to create a personalized speaking avatar. Their interface is very intuitive and fun to go through.
First you create an avatar. For those of you who still don’t know what an avatar is…first of all, keep exploring the NGT site because you really need it; secondly, an avatar is a visual representation of yourself online. It comes from a Hindi word that has reference to the Hindu gods descending to earth in the form of a man. Think of an avatar as your descent into the world of geek chic.
Voki has a few different styles of avatar: Classic (trying to be realistic), Anime (trying to be Japanese–you know who you are), Oddball (think bobblehead), Edgy (you secretly want a tattoo), Random (Satan and Robots), Animals (to release the beast), and toon (as in car).
Next up, you customize your avatar. Change the color of its skin and eyes, stretch out the head, shrink the nose, give it a cool hairstyle, new bling, and pick out clothes. Options are slightly limited, but the avatars come out looking unique.
Now comes the cool part. You can record a message up to a minute long by typing it in, using a mike, or calling it in. If you choose to use your phone, you just type in your number and Voki will call you immediately and ask you to leave your message. The site is updated in real time. Press play and watch your digital self parrot back your own voice. 
You can also use one of their backgrounds or upload your own picture. They have a couple of different players to use as well (even one that has your avatar talking out of the fly of a pair of jeans).
So now what? You can send your avatar with a message to a friend, embed it into a blog, or just save it on the site for all to see. If you’re registered and your avatar is on a blog, you can update it on the Voki site, and it will automatically update it on your site as well.
The application reminds me of Snapvine, which allows you to leave voice comments for friends on their SNS or blog. It has a profile picture, but on the web, a moving avatar is worth a thousand words…
Gizmoz also has an application very similar to the Voki that launched in Beta on May 30. The biggest difference is that Gizmoz allows users to upload pictures of themselves for automatic conversion into avatars. You can record your voice, but only by microphone, not by phone. The site is also very particular about which pictures work, and frankly, even when it turns out, well, it’s kind of busted. Maybe it’s just us, but check out the picture to the left of one our coworkers (who has not been hit in the face with a frying pan, mind you). See if you can tell which one from our Behind NGT page.
I spent a while on the Voki site last night (it’s addicting–don’t judge me) making messages for my friends back home. If nothing else, it’s a great little surprise for them to open up in their e-mail (and it makes you seem ultra-cutting edge…)
- Marc
Note: if avatars are good for one thing, it’s delivering a punchline. On Voki’s blog check out Clinton and Chuck Norris delivering the some of “the worst messages you can hear from a Voki.” You can also make an intoxicated George W. flub the State of the Union in a wife beater and mohawk. And from someone who must have way too much time on his hands: Walken: Talkin on Web2.0.
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