Talk:Speak & Spell (toy)

Questions
Is the Speak & Spell computer capable of saying what you typed in, or does it just have a small database of words it knows? At least the simulators you find in the Internet just use pre-recorded sounds and therefore can't read what you typed in (like cuss words etc.). --Abdull 21:09, 18 October 2005 (UTC)


 * If I recall correctly, it had a predefined library of words, as well as each letter. It could not say arbitrary words that weren't in its library. Pimlottc 22:58, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * And another question: what's that other computer voice you hear on so many electronica tracks, as for example "Cylob - Rewind"? --Abdull 21:16, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

Colo(u)r
I seem to recall the TV ads in Ireland (and presumably the UK) had the machine asking for the spelling of the word "COLOUR" [sic]; presumably to reassure potential customers that the American voice did not entail American spellings. jnestorius(talk) 12:14, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Did it really have an American voice? I remember it speaking normally, but my memory may be hazy... — Chameleon 02:41, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Secret word
I know the code71.155.241.73

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
I'm surprised the article makes no mention of this toy's appearance in the movie E.T.; it was an integral component to one of the movie's major plot points.65.14.2.104 11:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Possessed?
When I was young, I had a Speak & Spell with some sort of glitch that caused it to continue speaking even when it was unplugged, and with no batteries inside. It wouldn't speak actual words -- it would say "Now spell (assorted gibberish)" -- which led me to believe that it really *was* possessed. Did anyone else have similar issues with the toy? --Procrastinatrix 18:53, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Dictionary used?
Does anyone know how many words it used, which dictionary was chosen, and what words were stored? I'd like to recreate it for the OLPC if possible....--Tomhannen (talk) 00:31, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Toy Story 2
Buzz Lightyear used a Speak N Spell to identify the words "Al's Toy Barn" from a license plate in Toy Story 2. This ought to be mentioned in the pop culture reference section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.41.156.213 (talk) 13:38, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Different word lists
The Newer membrane version has less words than the raised button. Specifically Marriage, Boulder, egg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.230.113.13 (talk) 16:31, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Recent rework
I just added a bunch of material and am trying to improve this article I'm not finished yet, but I have to stop temporarily because I will be quite busy off-wiki for the next few days. Please post suggested improvements here. -Thibbs (talk) 09:18, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I have just re-inserted all of the references to the programs played on these systems as games. From what I have gathered during our heated discussion at Talk:Handheld game console the editor who made this removal doesn't believe educational games to be games, however this is what they are called in the Speak & Spell manual and based on the arguments regarding fidelity to the manufacturer's characterizations I am confident that the sources I have provided are strong enough to support my returning of the term "program" to the word "game" as used in the Speak & Spell instruction manual among other places. As far as the argument that the Speak & Spell is not a handheld game console is concerned, I have come to understand through our discussions that the editor who made the reversions here has a different definition of "handheld game console" than the plain meaning. As such I will hold off on returning references to the game as a console until that matter is ironed out on the handheld game console article. The one exception I made was to reinsert the link to dedicated console as applied to the word "dedicated" in the entry on the Touch & Talkies. The reason I have done this is not to imply that the Touch & Talkies is a console, but rather to explain what is meant by the term "dedicated." To prevent confusion I have changed the word "console" from "dedicated console" to the word "handheld" as the game was clearly designed to be held in the hands. Thus the entry now refers to teh Touch & Talkies as a "dedicated handheld." I hope this satisfies all parties. Please leave a note in talk from now on when making large-scale reverts like this. It's not mandatory, but I think it would be courteous. -Thibbs (talk) 02:25, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * As a quick update, I should mention that I have retained a single reference to the system as a "handheld video game" as this is the expression used by the Australian government in their recent (Feb 2009) Game On (exhibition). For reasons of consistency with the "handheld game console" article, I have restricted use of the term in this article to this one mention and I have sourced it. -Thibbs (talk) 13:20, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:Hexstatic Listen&Learn albumcover.jpg
The image File:Hexstatic Listen&Learn albumcover.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --01:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * ✅ Issue addressed. -Thibbs (talk) 17:34, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Other
This lady help developed the S&S from an envelope sketch - I'll let someone else decide if this is notable! - --Grazer (talk) 23:15, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Partial list of circuitbenders
There are issues of sourcing and notability with the partial list of circuitbenders that is given in this article. I wish to leave every opportunity for the editors who added the information to correct these issues so I am not going to delete entries that fail either of the policies just mentioned, however if these problems cannot be corrected then the deficient entries will likely be deleted.

Although I am not going to remove any content, I have decided to rearrange the list however. To briefly explain my rationale, I have decided to arrange these names alphabetically within each of 4 groups: (1)notable and sourced entries, (2)sourced but potentially non-notable entries, (3)notable but non-sourced entries, and (4)non-sourced and potentially non-notable entires.

This ordering is intended to highlight those entries that are notable and sourced, and to relegate those entries that are lacking to the back of the list. If the problems can be cleared up for any entries then these should be moved forward to the appropriate alphabetical position. -Thibbs (talk) 13:20, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Italian name detail
Just a note, I don't know if this is worth being in the article, but the italian brand name "grillo parlante" is inspired by the Collodi's character with the same name in the pinocchio novel, and they also used this character in the TV spot for the toy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.74.176.55 (talk) 12:33, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Interesting quirk of 1978 model Speak and Spells
A friend of mine had one of the early Speak and Spells (the earliest one I ever saw -- If I remember correctly, he got it for Christmas in 1978) with the non-membrane keyboard, and it had a peculiar quirk that I found while fiddling around with it. If you pressed the module select key with no module installed (I think this was before there were any modules available, or at least his one didn't have a module installed), the unit would malfunction. It would play the games somewhat normally, but the words it would ask you to spell were gibberish, just a random hash of phonemes. I'm assuming that this quirk was corrected on later models, as his Speak and Spell was the only one I could ever get to do this. Does anyone else remember this?--Voodude (talk) 17:50, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Emulation
"... onlined and as phone apps in recent years..." I will make the change after some time passes. 68.106.86.206 (talk) 15:41, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

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Hawking
Does anyone know whether Stephen Hawking (the late physicist) had a device that incorporated the same TI chip as the speak & spell? I believe it sounds rather similar...134.247.251.245 (talk) 14:24, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Audio Needed
how is it possible that there is not a single recording of this on commons? if you have a speak and spell, please upload an audio sample!135.180.194.177 (talk) 03:05, 23 November 2022 (UTC)