Accoona's Talking Search Bar

[Tami]

ACCOONA LAUNCHES THE FIRST "TALKING SEARCH BAR" TO HELP INTERNET USERS LEARN

Jersey City, N.J. - Accoona Corp., the artificial intelligence-based online search engine, today launched revolutionary text-to-speech technology that will enable online users to highlight
English-language text on the Internet to be read aloud in English. The "Accoona Talking Search Bar" is available starting today and can be installed by accessing www.acccona.com. The Talking Search Bar technology is the first such application tied directly to an Internet search engine.

Accoona designed the feature for global Internet users who want to learn and pronounce English or enhance their English-language skills as a second language. The application also can used by U.S. and U.K.
pre-schoolers, elementary-school students and others first learning to read English, such as English as a second language or adult literacy students.

The China Daily Information Company, the largest English-language web and media destination in China, today separately launched the technology for Chinese Internet users through its exclusive partnership with Accoona.

Accoona's Talking Search Bar provides a human-quality, natural voice, combining search technology with an easy-to-use text-to-speech feature. The technology can convert any Web page text into speech. Users simply select the content they want to read - from headlines and news articles to weather reports and stock quotes - and the Talking Search Bar's text-to-speech technology will transform it. The Talking Search Bar's voice is as smooth and natural sounding as the human voice. After installing the Talking Search Bar, users choose between a male or female voice that will read highlighted text, complete with proper inflection points.

"The Talking Search Bar is the next step in the fast-accelerating evolution of Accoona as one of the Web's premier search engines," said Accoona CEO Stuart Kauder. "With each step in Accoona's development, which started with the introduction of our artificial intelligence-based search technology, we're striving to enhance the Web experience for Accoona's users. Now, Internet browsers worldwide will be able to 'read' English through the Accoona Talking Search Bar. The utility of the technology is virtually limitless - for everyone from toddlers and school-age children in the U.S. just learning to read, to Web browsers in France and China who want to read and learn English."

The benefits of the technology include extending English-language learning skills to a global audience, providing hands-free information from favorite Web sites and enabling "proofreading" of personally created Web pages. Kauder also noted the Talking Search Bar's simplicity as there is no need to copy and paste text into a separate window. Kauder said the Talking Search Bar eventually will enable users to read and
listen to their emails. Accoona also expects to extend the reading functionality to multiple languages this year as part of Accoona's technology roll-out.

About Accoona Corp.
Based in Jersey City, N.J., Accoona (www.accoona.com) is dedicated to
enhancing the quality of online search by creating new technologies that
provide users with a richer and highly relevant search experience. The
company has more than $100 million in financial backing from private
investment funds and strategic business agreements with Dun & Bradstreet,
Euro News, FAST Search and Transfer, GuruNet, Moreover and Yahoo!. The
company's chairman is Eckerd Pfeifer, the former president of Compaq.