James Whatley, the head of social media for UK voice to text service SpinVox is believed to have quit the company following local media raising questions about Spinvox’s technology.

The news was originally posted to TechCrunch UK by Milo Yiannopoulos, but subsequently deleted. According to the site, Yiannopoulos was visiting SpinVox today to ask questions about the negative coverage the company has received.

The deleted post said in part:

SpinVox has been accused of exaggerating the capabilities of its speech-to-text technology and not paying its bills. It has also been under pressure to explain messages apparently originating from foreign call center employees who are disgruntled with working conditions and who claim to have gone unpaid for some time…

Whatley’s departure shouldn’t come as a surprise: it’s been increasingly obvious from recent tweets and blog posts that his heart isn’t in it any more. (Whatley himself doesn’t say anything of the kind explicitly, of course.)

TechCrunch UK also said that they believe “SpinVox could be a sinking ship.”

Given the negative press coverage and serious questions around SpinVox’s technology, I don’t necessarily disagree with TechCrunch’s assessment, however it is a little strange that they published then pulled the post. Maybe Whatley is still there and it was a case of premature publication? We’ll soon find out either way.

Update: TechCrunch UK is now saying that the report is not confirmed….but also are not saying that it’s not true.

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This year, members of the LBGT community will not just take the streets to show their pride, but is also expected to take it to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networks. SpinVox, a service that captures spoken words and feeds them out as a text content, offers the following five ways to express gay pride via social networking sites:

• Add gay pride “Flair” to your Facebook page. A new SpinVox button is available through the Pieces of Flair application by searching for “SpinVox Coming Out.
• Add Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” to your MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, imeem, Hi5, iLike, and other social network pages.
• Start or join a gay pride network online. Many niche gay and lesbian audiences still need forums to call their own.
• Become a fan of Ellen, Liz Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, Bette Midler and Cher on your Facebook page.
• Declare your support by promoting gay friendly sites to your blogroll.

 
“With SpinVox you can update your entire social network in your own voice while you’re celebrating National Coming Out Day,” said Christina Domecq, SpinVox co-founder and CEO. “Our mission is to help everyone speak freely and we support those who want to share how they feel ‘in the moment’ with their friends and family.”

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