Startups

These sexy British voices will read you the morning news so you won’t crash your car

Hear Your News is a new iOS app dreamt up by local entrepreneur Francisco Martin-Rayo.

Hear Your News is an app for users who want to stay informed without being visually distracted. (Courtesy photo)

Last year, Francisco Martin-Rayo got into a gentleman’s accident.
He nearly crashed his car while reading The New York Times, he confessed in an email.
“After almost careening into a ditch, I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an App that would read me my favorite newspaper articles?'”

Francisco Martin-Rayo.

Francisco Martin-Rayo.


So, earlier this month, Martin-Rayo, who is based in D.C., and his two remote cofounders, CTO Ankit Mishra and design lead Jay Goggin, launched Hear Your News.
The free iOS app allows users to pick any article they want — at this point, the app is plugged in to all Associated Press content, but it will expand to more publications soon — and have the story read out loud to them.
Download for iOS
Hear Your News debuted with two British voices, Hugh and Bridget.
“They’ve been very successful with our audiences, who’ve compared them to BBC anchors and/or simply thought they sounded sexy,” said Martin-Rayo.
After the company begins advertising, it plans to send 75 percent of profits to the news companies.
“We fervently believe that journalism is the lifeblood of American democracy,” said Martin-Rayo.
Good lad.

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