OS X ships with a fantastic command line utility called say.

This utility can be used in many ways, for good or evil. For Example:

ssh into your servers and say oooooh i'm a ghost Scare your friends Combine with a webcam to create a low-tech burglar alarm Add it to your build integration process Add it to your continuous integration server Try it with toast You can even cut a tin can with it (but you wouldn't want to)

Unfortunately, this utility is not available on many systems (basically every system that isn't a mac). However, thanks to the powers of THE INTERNETS and nodejs Conf, it is! Simply point your browser to {URL}, type in a phrase, optionally select a voice and hit enter. The node.js server will run the command, output a file, and then return a file descriptor to the browser (which will then embed an

usage:

node server.js

Will listen on port 3000, and provide a fairly simple interface to the say command.