March 06: Bonus Tech Update

Here’s just a Hodge Podge of stuff I had collecting dirt over the last week or so with more nuggets of CSUN joy thrown in to boot. We will just do this Lightning Round style as their isn’t enough to do a full on newsletter.

~ Let Their Be Linux

One of the things I specifically went looking for was Open Source alternatives for Screen Reading. Here’s some of the stuff shown at CSUN and their links.

Linux Screen Reader by IBM
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/lsr?open&S_TACT=105AGX59&S_CMP=GR&ca=dgr-lnxw03awlsr

Orca: Here’s the official Blog for the Orca Screen Reader project.
http://blogs.sun.com/wwalker

And this one is just for fun. The article below says that the “pony tail and sandals” appearance of the core Linux user puts off the rest of us from learning the program. Yeah right!
http://news.com.com/Sandal+and+ponytail+set+cramping+Linux+adoption/2100-7344_3-6054741.html

~ CSUN Bits

Here’s a good page for some of the key product announcements made at CSUN.
http://www.axistive.com/content.jsp?objectid=%09%09%0994&site=vision

Small Talk: Here the official page with the specs on that Small Talk hand held computer. Trey’Cool!

http://gwmicro.com/Small-Talk_Ultra/

Main Menu: Dolphin’s presentation from CSUN was carried this week at ACB Radio. You can catch it now on the Wednesday replay at:

http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=44&MMN_position=56:14

Icon: My friend Marci told me about the Icon. I didn’t see it but I have heard tons of people like it as much as I liked the Small Talk. Here’s the press release run down.

“Icon. The new symbol of freedom for the visually impaired. The ultimate all-in-one mobile manager. Now, one remarkable tool helps the visually impaired leap multiple barriers with incredible freedom. Experience the future. See the possibilities. The Icon from LevelStar.
Pocket-sized portability-
Its revolutionary two-part design means you can pocket the Icon and off you go.
Braille or qwerty docking-
It's a snap. Simply snap your Icon in to your Braille or qwerty docking station and it's a PDA/note taker. The Icon's amazing all-in-one capabilities make it the student's ultimate power tool! Remember, it's powerful! A whopping 20 GB hard drive means more power and memory for the money.

The Icon does it all.
WiFi
web browsing
Pod Cast
and e-mail provide a competitive advantage in the workplace. Music, talking books,personal calendar, address manager make it a multitalented everyday companion.

Icon from LevelStar
Want more information?
Visit us at
http://www.blogger.com/www.levelstar.com
or call toll- free 1.800.315.2305”

~ They Didn’t Know What To Call It So It Became Miscellaneous

Top Tech Tid Bits for March 23rd
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tid65.txt

ILA: A new voice activated answering machine? Where was this back in my little black book days!
http://www.pr.com/press-release/8457

Apple turns 30: Check out this really good and somewhat short history of Apple.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6055252.html

Videogames aid lazy eye
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4849244.stm

Video: Japan recently decided that analog video, the cable you have in the back of your TV or the little red, white and yellow plugs, will no longer be supported in the digital age. Hollywood loves this as they think that the slowest and lowest form of copying can be stopped. Learn more about the “Analog Hole” here.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=180

!! Vista Corner

You actually think I wouldn’t have any Vista news? Think again. Check out this Vista Blog with links to other Blogs.. about Vista!

http://www.vistabuzz.com/

The Super Site for Windows has updated the Vista Beta and release schedule:
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/vista.asp

Microsoft lost another lost suit over Internet Explorer. See the 60 day compliance memos and other stuff here.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1943847,00.asp

Windows Mail, Live Mail, Outlook Express and Outlook. All are email programs from Microsoft but some will pass beyond the rim when Vista comes out. See what I mean here.
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+bring+Hotmail+onto+the+desktop/2100-1032_3-6055708.html?tag=nefd.top


**
Sendero Press Release..
Over 6 years on the market and Sendero's GPS is better than ever.
After months of development and testing, Sendero GPS version 3.5 is about finished and available for advance orders. It will take us a couple weeks to have all the pieces of the package ready. You can purchase the electronic upgrade from 3.3 to 3.5 for $149. Come see
3.5 at CSUN at the LAX Marriott, March 22-25, including our GPS Limo Demos on the 24th, or in San Francisco March 30-31. Go to http://www.senderogroup.com/ for demonstration locations.
Here are some of the things you can look forward to in 3.5:
* We are launching a new web site, just for you. It is called MySendero.com and it allows registered customers to download the new maps and POIs as well as the free downloads already available. This will facilitate more frequent and less expensive data updates. DVD copies of the maps can be ordered for an additional $50.
* Version 3.5 offers new maps and POIs in the U.S., UK and Canada.
Other country maps will be added shortly. You can now load the entire U.S. at once. Plan a trip from San Francisco to New York.
* There are a host of new route features like automatic off-route warning, estimated time of arrival, percentage of trip traveled, wrong direction alert at the beginning of a route, indication of the destination side of the street and more.
* New multiple repeat and stationary announcements. Users told us it was inconvenient to stop in the middle of the block to press a GPS command. Wouldn't it be nice if Sendero's GPS could anticipate what command you wanted so you didn't have to take your hand off the dog harness or cane handle? You can now have messages of your choice automatically trigger when you stop moving. Or, you can have the commands repeat every number of seconds.
* Append individual or multiple items to the BrailleNote clipboard.
This will enable you for example to copy all turns in a route to the clipboard and then you can print or emboss that information or save it to a file.
* There are under-the-hood items in 3.5 for an even more stable GPS version as well as more Braille display flexibility.
Sendero GPS has double the features and 10 times the number of users compared with any other accessible GPS system. To read about all the changes in Sendero GPS 3.5, go to http://www.mysendero.com/