<img src='/images/misc/cupofcoffee.gif' style='float:right' vspace='8' hspace='8'> <b>If a picture is worth a thousand words, how valuable would it be if someone added a sound track? <br /> <br /> </b><br /><br />By Michael Singer <br /> Staff Writer, CNET News.com<br /> <br /> Published: November 17, 2005, 11:30 AM PST <br /> <br /> Italian start-up Zanetti Studio aims to find out. The Milan, Italy-based company is preparing a new photo printer, called Speekysmart, that imprints a magnetic strip to the side of a piece of paper or photograph. The recordable tape, which the company named Speakpaper, can capture a few seconds of conversation or music recorded at the moment the photo was taken. <br /> <br /> <br /><br /> <div class='newslinks'><img src='http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/style_images/1/cs_page.gif'> <b>Link: <a href='http://news.com.com/High-tech+photos+give+new+meaning+to+talking+pictures/2100-1041_3-5954367.html' target='_blank'><font color='red'>Complete article at c|net News.com</font></a><br />

Wow I think that could be great. Quick quoting to a pic: like anything from hi mom, a once in a lifetime photo. I think it could have alot of uses and potential., a UFO? , some quick labeling. Appreciate the post.

This would be awsome!

I could see it now, the picture of the family and in the sound you hear someone cut the cheese.

Yeah, but what would be used to play the audio? Would you have to feed the picture into some sort of reader, or scan the strip with something?

A reader/recorderdevice called Speakpaper

http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F...=1040&lop=nl.ex

Currently, the Speakpaper reader can scan a magnetic strip as long as the side of an 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper, so it can read or record four to five seconds of audio, Zanetti's company said. A version that can extend the recording to 15 seconds is being tested. The goal is to get the magnetic strip to hold up to three minutes of recording time. The Speakpaper technology also adjusts to the speed that the reader is swiped and can stop itself or resume without altering the message, according to company documents.

In its marketing material, Zanetti Studio also advocates the reader as a tool for the blind and vision impaired.

Speeky magnetic tape, reader and printer technologies have seven international patents and two more pending, the company said.