Again I let everyone know that speeling is going to be bad because I am writing from a friend’s laptop. Here’s some more of what we saw so far..
Magnisight:
The company has not changed their line up per say, however, they did have a change in color due to a new set of monitors that came from their distributor. The monitor cowlings had the company sport a new look. The unit themselves are still as solid as ever though. If you’re an old school CCTV user then these are still the units that you would generally gravitate to for your daily use.
GW Micro:
I spent some time with Window Eyes and Vista. Okay I mostly drooled over Vista. Alright I mostly panicked over Vista. The system was set for Arrow Express, Windows Classic, so I didn’t get to play with any eye candy. I did, however, see that you can’t back space hotkey to the route drive in a folder view. I could see the desktop but I could not get to My Computer or Profiles like you can currently do in XP. There’s a setting where you can do this from what I read but I was nice and I left their machine alone.
I did though try MSCONFIG from the Run dialog box and it came up with new options. And doing Windows plus Scrl Lock brought up something not exactly like a System Properties box. I was unclear about what did come up and the floor was packed making it hard to hear the system clearly. So the rumors about most hotekeys still working seem to be true. What they do now may be the new mystery. The current performance of Window Eyes was great though. I had no problems or dragging of performance when I did my tour with Window Eyes running. I imagine JFW is at the same level of performance as well but I didn’t get a chance to see their unit at their booth. I was too busy playing with the Opal that day.
The truly awesome thing at the GW Micro booth was the Small Talk. Chris Park, who came over from Himes, was instrumental in the US release of this cool little device. I will break it down in more detail later but just think of a full PDA with embedded Windows XP running Window Eyes on a 30 gig hard drive. The remarkable thing though was that you could take the unit’s stylus around the large, okay six inches may not be so large, display and the mouse would move.. without you touching the stylus to the surface of the display. Even better yet Window Eyes would speak controls and other text as you moused over them. We were even told that Zoom Text could be loaded and it too would function with the moving of the mouse-tracking. It’s a real trip but it’s near 2,800 bucks. More on this later though as it was a real star of the show.
Duxbury:
Version 10.6 is on it’s way. And some will be happy to know that one of it’s biggest improvements comes in an update to it’s registration and authorization process. We were told that the company uses a third party program for this feature and it was having some difficulty with Raid arrays and other hardware configurations. The other big feature in this release will come in an “undo” tool.
Kurzweil:
We stopped by and talked to them for a bit but nothing is on the horizon for K1000 beyond a few more patches. Honestly this current release will be hard to top and the company has slowed down on a release schedule anyways.
Vision Technologies or VTI:
We saw the new VTI Select. Think of the base of the View but different. The Select has a monitor on an arm which can be repositioned to meet your needs. The camera base it’s self is a modified standard unit that allows you to move the camera into all sorts of positions. So it’s more like a Flipper than say an EVS Acrobat.
The other thing we noticed was that the general 1800 was connected to a plain jane Akai widescreen LCD.. and it looked fantastic. This company’s systems can really be hampered by the wrong display monitor that’s for sure as we were stunned by the clearity of the unit on this monitor you can find real cheap at Sam’s Wholesale.
The new VTI units also are shipping with a new feature. The VPs, I think that’s right, is the new “Video Positioning System”. It’s a neat way of saying that you can move the unit’s camera up and down with a knob on the face of the unit.. without moving your X-Y table. Also the units now have the red view locator light that has been on Optelec machines for years.
Himes:
The unit I most wanted to see was hard to find. I thought, as per the press release, that I would find it at GW Micro’s table. But off in one of the smaller rooms I found the international distributors for Himes with the Sense View line… and boy howdy is it worth the time to see these devices.
The hand held version of the Sense View is now my new fave in this emerging line of CCTv units. It’s small, easy to see and just plain amazing looking. Okay it’s a nice wide screen with digital zoom, false colors, screen capture and a mysterious expansion slot to be used for other stuff to be named later. All for around 825 dollars US. It ships in June in the UK and a US distributorship is still being developed from what I understood. I will go on and on about this thing in more detail later on but let me say that this unit does all the things that the Amigo does but this one fits in your shirt pocket discreetly and at half the cost as well.
The desktop line of units are no slouches either. The split screen units boast 35 false color options and a beautiful display on LCD monitors. The controls may look a little Fisher Price like but you have a true tactile feel that you moved a control with each sporting a different shape or feedback when used. Those guys in Korea surely came out on fire last year with the Braille Sense and now it looks like lightning is going to strike twice with these new CCTV units.
Well I have more on tap including some more detailed descriptions of what we saw. But for now I have to start packing for the long flight back. I honestly never had a desire to travel to LA before this trip. But after being here and experiencing the “LA Vibe” I can understand why this city is sooo huge. I think it would be cool to come back and explore this place outside of the CSUN craziness sometime and that’s a big remark coming from a guy like me.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Some Quick News From CSUN
As promised I am writing you from a hotel in sunny LA. And I can say that I am really happy to be here. First off the plane we took had a one hour delay. It seems it was held in Jacksonville for a “mechanical problem” but of course that wasn’t all. TSA evacuated the terminal along with the situation with the plane. Now those who know me KNOW that I am not a big fan of flying, however, to my credit my friend didn’t have to hit me with a very large mallet in order to get me on that thing with wings.
Anyway.. here’s some quick news on what we saw..
Vista:
Yes it looks like Jan 07 is the new date. And the MS gang at CSUN looked as shocked as the rest of us at the story in USA Today. But that new date won’t stop the MS hype machine. At one of the sessions we saw the new “Ease of Access” features in Vista. This “Ease of access” replaces the MSAA we know now with a new icon and features. Narrator, magnifier, On Screen Keyboard are now enhanced by Speech Recognition and some cognitive options that were not shown to us in the short demonstration.
Narrator is better. By that I mean it sounds better and it’s easier to understand.
Magnifier now goes to sixteen X mag but it is not full screen as the rumors thought it was.
Speech recog is not as good as say Dragon but it’s not meant to be anything more than a bundled product. Still it works better than what you currently have in Windows Mobile products.
We made some in roads with MS and I hope to have more on this stuff as we approach the Beta 2 release in May.
Freedom Scientific:
FS has JFW up on Vista. MS announced the current 13 AT companies that are working with them on the latest builds of Vista. FS and GW Micro were both listed and both are showing Vista running with Screen Readers. But the real star of the show for me so far is the first working model of the Opal. This hand held CCTV is a wide screen unit like the Pico with good colors and a slightly dimmer display. It has a slider for magnification which is unlike the slider for the Compact as that is really more of a focus knob more than anything else. The real surprise about the Opal is that it has a video out which can also be connected to a LCD monitor or TV. So your hand held unit can now also be a mouse camera for a big monitor as well. We should have one in the unit in April or May. So expect a more hands on look later on in the year.
We also saw the Topaz. It’s okay. But it is really hard to be with another in the never ending line of desktop CCTVs. Still it’s not a bad unit and we will be looking at it in more detail next month.
Open Book 8 will be hopefully released this year. Dusty is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on Magic 10. Magic, by the way, is still thought of as it’s own product rather than JAWS with big words. It does now sport some of the quick use features of JFW which may give some users of both products the ability to use a system on some base levels if their product isn’t on the machine. Forms mode and the forms list from JAWS are just some of the features that came across into Magic. I didn’t get a chance to work on a system with Magic but I am now on the Beta team for Magic and Open Book. So expect some impressions at some point later on down the road.
APH:
The real news beyond the Money talks program is that there is an update to Talking Typing Tutor. TTT can now use ATT Natural Voices. It’s a fifteen dollar upgrade, 90 dollars new, but it’s a real improvement that deserves a mention.
Mozilla:
We are going to a session today on where Mozilla is in the rumored Alpha of 2.0 but the real news is that Mozilla is doing a lot of PR in the shadow of IE7. Some AT venders haven’t done much with Firefox and the others in the suite and there are several sessions on the docket to show just how easy it is to use Mozilla. I also have it on good authority that there is going to be a neat article in possibly the Braille Monitor in regards to the state of the AT industry and Mozilla coming out soon.
Well we are off to breakfast but expect more soon!
Anyway.. here’s some quick news on what we saw..
Vista:
Yes it looks like Jan 07 is the new date. And the MS gang at CSUN looked as shocked as the rest of us at the story in USA Today. But that new date won’t stop the MS hype machine. At one of the sessions we saw the new “Ease of Access” features in Vista. This “Ease of access” replaces the MSAA we know now with a new icon and features. Narrator, magnifier, On Screen Keyboard are now enhanced by Speech Recognition and some cognitive options that were not shown to us in the short demonstration.
Narrator is better. By that I mean it sounds better and it’s easier to understand.
Magnifier now goes to sixteen X mag but it is not full screen as the rumors thought it was.
Speech recog is not as good as say Dragon but it’s not meant to be anything more than a bundled product. Still it works better than what you currently have in Windows Mobile products.
We made some in roads with MS and I hope to have more on this stuff as we approach the Beta 2 release in May.
Freedom Scientific:
FS has JFW up on Vista. MS announced the current 13 AT companies that are working with them on the latest builds of Vista. FS and GW Micro were both listed and both are showing Vista running with Screen Readers. But the real star of the show for me so far is the first working model of the Opal. This hand held CCTV is a wide screen unit like the Pico with good colors and a slightly dimmer display. It has a slider for magnification which is unlike the slider for the Compact as that is really more of a focus knob more than anything else. The real surprise about the Opal is that it has a video out which can also be connected to a LCD monitor or TV. So your hand held unit can now also be a mouse camera for a big monitor as well. We should have one in the unit in April or May. So expect a more hands on look later on in the year.
We also saw the Topaz. It’s okay. But it is really hard to be with another in the never ending line of desktop CCTVs. Still it’s not a bad unit and we will be looking at it in more detail next month.
Open Book 8 will be hopefully released this year. Dusty is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on Magic 10. Magic, by the way, is still thought of as it’s own product rather than JAWS with big words. It does now sport some of the quick use features of JFW which may give some users of both products the ability to use a system on some base levels if their product isn’t on the machine. Forms mode and the forms list from JAWS are just some of the features that came across into Magic. I didn’t get a chance to work on a system with Magic but I am now on the Beta team for Magic and Open Book. So expect some impressions at some point later on down the road.
APH:
The real news beyond the Money talks program is that there is an update to Talking Typing Tutor. TTT can now use ATT Natural Voices. It’s a fifteen dollar upgrade, 90 dollars new, but it’s a real improvement that deserves a mention.
Mozilla:
We are going to a session today on where Mozilla is in the rumored Alpha of 2.0 but the real news is that Mozilla is doing a lot of PR in the shadow of IE7. Some AT venders haven’t done much with Firefox and the others in the suite and there are several sessions on the docket to show just how easy it is to use Mozilla. I also have it on good authority that there is going to be a neat article in possibly the Braille Monitor in regards to the state of the AT industry and Mozilla coming out soon.
Well we are off to breakfast but expect more soon!
Monday, March 20, 2006
Magic 10 Details On Line.
Freedom Scientific has posted the feature list of it's upcoming update to their popular Screen Magnifier. Some of this will look REAL familiar to you if you are currently a JFW user. Still the instant 1x mode with a scroll wheel click is cool.
http://hj.com/fs_products/software_MAG100.asp
http://hj.com/fs_products/software_MAG100.asp
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Zoom Text: Update 9.whatever Now On Line
Looks like Ai Squared went and updated it's software this weekend before CSUN. ZT 9.02.1.11, no I am not kidding, is a small patch that fixes many issues. To see the full list go here:
http://www.aisquared.com/support/z9updates.cfm
Oh yeah and JAWS 7.1 Beta and Beta Bug Fix Form is also on line at:
www.freedomscientific.com
http://www.aisquared.com/support/z9updates.cfm
Oh yeah and JAWS 7.1 Beta and Beta Bug Fix Form is also on line at:
www.freedomscientific.com
Friday, March 17, 2006
The Sweet Release Of Press: CSUN 2006 Invitations
The below are straight up cut, copy and paste versions of the tons of email on CSUN announcements I have gotten over the last two weeks. Each will be seperated by my traditional ~~ so you can skip to the ones that interest you the most. Enjoy!
~~
You are cordially invited to the first event of the post-screen reader era.
Mike Calvo, CEO and Founder of Serotek Corporation, invites you to join him in the Santa Monica A Room of the Hilton Hotel on March 23, from 9.00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. and on March 24 from 9.00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. to hear, touch, and feel Serotek's System Access 2.0 operating from a second generation Key to Freedom, and delivering Accessibility Anywhere! There will be demonstrations every hour on the hour.
Do you really need to continue to use a screen reader? Serotek's award-winning System Access reinvents accessibility from a whole new technology base. A design breakthrough, System Access unleashes the underlying accessibility of the Windows operating system and the full range of standard Windows applications including Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express. It also provides full access to Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook, including the Outlook calendar, along with read-only access to Excel and PowerPoint content. You also get access to Adobe Reader, Skype Internet telephone services, and much more. This is just the beginning; try it with your favorite application, and you may be pleasantly surprised how well it works out of the box. There's no need to write scripts or set files, just accessibility anywhere for everyone. System Access 2.0's unique virtual mouse gives blind users point, click, review capability they've never had before. System Access delivers remote access to the user's home system and even allows the user to run his or her conventional screen reader, remotely. System Access is easy to learn and easy to use; most users are up and running with full access with no more than an hour or two of training. Now they can invest all their training time and dollars in becoming experts in the actual applications. For newly blind individuals and technical wizards alike, System Access provides a level playing field at work and at play.
If that weren't enough, System Access 2.0 comes fully loaded on the second generation Key to Freedom with AutoRun Anywhere. Plug this flash device into the USB port of a Windows XP computer, and the computer is fully accessible in seconds. Remove it, and there is no residual left on the host system. Get off the chain -- the video chain, that is; there's no need to install flimsy and security breaching video chaining drivers, so you don't need administrative access to the computer. It is truly plug and play, not plug and pray. This makes the Key to Freedom perfect for public computers such as those found in libraries and universities. The retail price of System Access 2.0 and the Key to Freedom combined is less than half the price of a conventional screen reader. Even if you use a screen reader, System Access provides you a level of mobile accessibility not available in any other product on the market. This is why In 2005, Serotek was awarded the prestigious da Vinci Award by the Multiple Sclerosis Society. This award honors outstanding engineering achievements employing universal design principles to promote accessibility.
And this is only the beginning; Mike will also show you FreedomBox Network access from cell phones and PDA's. Visit http://www.blogger.com/www.freedombox.info <http://www.freedombox.info/> for more information about this award-winning product!
If you are an adaptive technology reseller and want to be a part of the future of accessibility, Serotek is looking for you. We have some very attractive distributor/dealer offerings. You can be part of an adaptive technology revolution. Respond to this email with your contact information, profession, and the date and time you'll be attending. Let's get together and see if the chemistry works. But hurry; space is limited.
It's real! It's here! The post-screen reader era has begun.
See you at CSUN.
Mike Calvo
~~
AD·AS will be on site at CSUN 2006 to show you our line of accessible computer furniture. The exhibit dates are March 22 - March 25. If you're not familiar with our products, this would be a great opportunity to see them up close. AD·AS offers the EquityTM and AccellaTM series --- computer workstations that adjust in height using a hand crank, and the InfinityTM series which adjusts with powered height-adjustment. You'll also be able to see and try out the options and accessories that enhance accessibility for your clients and patrons. AD·AS's accessible computer workstations are commonly packaged with other assistive technology in schools, libraries and government agencies.
We'll be at Booth #150 in the Hilton International Ballroom. Please stop by to say hello and to meet with us and sign up to win a free Ipod MiniTM that will be given away to a CSUN conference attendee.
Hope to see you soon!
Nancy Coupe'
Customer Service
ADAS
2728 S. Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709
800.208.2020 toll free
208.362.8001 local
208.362.8009 fax
customerservice@ad-as.com <mailto:customerservice@ad-as.com>
http://www.ad-as.com/ <http://www.ad-as.com/>
~~
IBM will be showcasing Innovation that Matters at the CSUN 21st Annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference March 22-25 in Los Angeles, California.
The IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center will host the following key
activities:
Exhibit area - we will feature solutions to enhance learning and
productivity, drive the progression from compliance to usable access,
and assist with the creation of accessible applications.
General sessions - we will be presenting a broad array of topics ranging
from cost reduction of caption editing to including users with
disabilities in the design of products and services.
Chat room – new for 2006 – we are hosting an interactive breakout
session, "Accessibility and Innovation that Matters to the World", where
participants will learn more about IBM’s commitment to innovation in
accessibility and discuss how collaboration, standards and open
computing can lead to a societal transformation with global benefits.
We hope you will join us at CSUN.
~~
IntelliSwitch for only $99 USD*
Click here to find out more <http://www.icebase.com/go.shtml?20060316143930598645&m3340&http://www.madentec.com>
Computer access just got a lot simpler!
DiscoverPro software and the IntelliSwitch, provide wireless switch access to the computer for those who have trouble using a standard keyboard & mouse.
*Until May 31st, 2006, buy an IntelliSwitch for only $99 with the purchase of the DiscoverPro software ($399**).
See us at CSUN March 22-25
Booth Information:
Booth #143/144 Hilton and
Booth #316/331 Marriott
Presentations:
Thursday, March 23
1. "Wow! DiscoverPro 2.0 + IntelliSwitch + IntelliKeys = Powerful Computer Access"
Time - 1:45-2:45pm Catalina C in the Hilton hotel 2. "3 Easy Ways To Access - Touch, Point, Scan"
Time - 4:25-5:25pm Century CD in the Hilton hotel
Friday, March 24
3. "Discover Envoy for Mac OSX"
Time - 9:20-10:20am Catalina C in the Hilton hotel
~~
Ai Squared
Quick Tips: Updates, Upgrades, Reinstallations and More
Quick Tip Logo
Sooner or later, we all need to install newer versions of our computer applications in the form of updates and upgrades. Although extra preparation and caution is often required when updating and upgrading applications, this is not the case with ZoomText 9.
Still, for many users this is a disconcerting process that invokes a variety of questions and concerns. To ease these concerns, here are answers to the most common questions about ZoomText 9 updates and upgrades, plus a couple more about reinstalls and converting trials to products.
* Do I have to uninstall ZoomText 8 before I install my ZoomText 9 upgrade?
No. If you prefer, you may leave ZoomText 8 installed on your system and still install ZoomText 9. You can even switch between running ZoomText 8 and 9, however, when switching versions you may be prompted to restart your system first.
* Do I have to uninstall ZoomText 9 before I install a ZoomText 9 update?
No. In fact, a complete ZoomText 9 product must be installed on your system in order to install a ZoomText 9 update.
* What is the difference between a ZoomText upgrade and a ZoomText update?
ZoomText upgrades provide new and enhanced features that add valuable functionality to the product. Upgrades are denoted by a change in the tenths digit or the ones digit of the product version number. Specifically, upgrading from version 8.0 to 8.1 is a minor upgrade, while upgrading from version 8.0 or 8.1 to 9.0 is a major upgrade. Upgrades must be purchased from Ai Squared or a ZoomText dealer.
A ZoomText update provides performance enhancements and bug fixes for its corresponding product release. Updates are denoted by a change in the hundredths digit of the product version number. For example, versions 9.01 and 9.02 are both updates for version 9.00. Updates are provided free of charge and may be downloaded using the ZoomText Update Wizard, or from Ai Squared's website.
* If I need to reinstall ZoomText 9, do I have to uninstall the existing installation first?
Yes and no. If the version of ZoomText you want to reinstall is older than the version currently installed on your system, than yes, you will need to uninstall the version on your system first. Otherwise, no, you do not need to uninstall ZoomText first.
* If I reinstall or update ZoomText 9, will I lose my product activation?
No. Reinstalling or updating your installation of ZoomText 9 will not remove or corrupt the ZoomText product activation.
* Do I have to uninstall the ZoomText 9 trial software before I install my ZoomText 9 product?
No. In fact, you can quickly convert your installed ZoomText trial software into a full product, without having to perform another installation. Here's how…
Each time you launch the ZoomText trial software, the Activation Wizard appears, providing an option to activate ZoomText. Select the option – "I have a serial number and want to activate ZoomText" and you will be prompted to enter your ZoomText serial number, which you can find in your ZoomText product package. Enter your serial number and follow the prompts, and in a matter of seconds your trial installation will magically convert to a full activated product. It's that easy.
We hope that the above questions and answers ease any fears you have about ZoomText updates, upgrades, reinstallations, etc. However, if you're still apprehensive about performing any of these tasks, contact Ai Squared's product support department at (802) 362-3612 (option 3) or support@aisquared.com.
ZoomText Giveaways and Discounts at CSUN 2006
Image of Conference Floor <http://www.aisquared.com/images/show_floor.jpg>
Ai Squared will be exhibiting at CSUN's 21st Annual Conference – "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" – March 22nd through the 25th in Los Angeles, California. The conference will bring together leading experts and manufacturers of assistive technology. Attendees will take in four days of presentations, workshops and product exhibits.
This year we will be raffling off one copy of each of our products (ZoomText Magnifier/Reader and ZoomText Magnifier) to show attendees who come by our booth and sign up for the giveaway. For those not lucky enough to win a free copy, a special CSUN discount will be available to all show attendees during the show and for a limited time afterwards. "We wanted to make CSUN a more fun event – for our customers and us – and we thought giveaways and discounts on show purchases was the way to do this", said Doug Hacker, Director of Sales and Marketing. "We’re confident people will be surprised at the discount".
The CSUN conference will be held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott and neighboring Los Angeles Hilton. Please visit us at booths 218 and 231 in the Marriott Marquis ballroom to register for the free products, see live demonstrations of ZoomText 9.0 and pick up a free trial CD. While you're there, ask an Ai Squared representative about special show discounts on all Ai Squared products.
We also invite you to join us for our ZoomText presentations:
ZoomText 9.0: Overview for the AT Trainer Friday, March 24th at 10:40 am – Marriott, Dallas Room
ZoomText 9.0 New Features and Overview
Saturday, March 25th at 8:00 am – Marriott, Chicago Room
We look forward to seeing you there. Learn more about CSUN 2006
~~
<http://www.ad-as.com/images/white_fill.gif> We've all witnessed the power of assistive technology and computers in enhancing the lives of people with disabilities. Equitable computer access is more important than ever in our schools, colleges and public places.
Today, accessible computer workstations from AD·AS are used in thousands of computer labs. We're proud of our role in creating accessible environments across the United States and overseas.
To make your computer lab accessible, consider these quick tips:
· Place printed resources in a location easily reached by a wheelchair user · Utilize signs with high contrast and large print · For each type of workstation in your lab, ensure that at least one is adjustable
For a comprehensive list of features an accessible computer lab should have, visit:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?101 <http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?101>
To view a short video of computer lab staff interacting with people with disabilities in an accessible computer lab setting, go to:
http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.asp?rid=612 <http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.asp?rid=612>
AD·AS is offering an Exclusive Spring Special for assistive technology professionals. For a limited time, purchase the InfinityTM Two-story, one of our most popular wheelchair accessible computer workstations, at 25% off of list price.
The InfinityTMTwo-story is an ergonomic computer workstation with motorized adjustment http://www.ad-as.com/wp/infinity_2story.htm <http://www.ad-as.com/wp/infinity_2story.htm>
Offer ends April 28, 2006. Call 1-800-208-2020 to take advantage of these savings, and reference the "Exclusive Spring Special." Exact shipping charges apply.
If you'd like to receive AD·AS product catalogs by mail, you can request them online or call us at 800-208-2020.
Nancy Coupe'
Customer Service
ADAS
2728 S. Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709
800.208.2020 toll free
208.362.8001 local
208.362.8009 fax
customerservice@ad-as.com <mailto:customerservice@ad-as.com>
http://www.ad-as.com/ <http://www.ad-as.com/>
~~
Humanware
Come visit HumanWare at CSUN
Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference March 22-25, 2006 Los Angeles Airport Hilton and Marriott Hotels HumanWare will be in booth 247 in the Marriott
Come visit the Humanware Booth at CSUN where we'll be demonstrating all our products including the BrailleNote mPower with the powerful new KeySoft 7. We will be highlighting exciting low vision and braille products for the blind and visually impaired.
Register to win a new, portable Color PocketViewer or Vibe, Digital Talking Book Player, and see a demonstration of each. (One entry per person). The drawings will be held at 4 PM on Thursday and Friday.
Also, you are invited to join us for a memorial to honor Russell and Marian Smith on Wednesday, March 22 in the Meridian Room at 7:30 PM.
Product-specific presentations will be held in the HumanWare Suite. This year our in-suite sessions will be held Thursday, March 23 in the Torrance Room:
10:00 AM BrailleNote mPower & KeySoft 7
11:00 AM Maestro, The Most Portable Hand Notetaker
12:00 PM Trekker, Portable, GPS System
2:00 PM myReader, The First Auto Reader
3:00 PM What's new with Braille Displays
4:00 PM BrailleNote Users Group
We will also have our ever popular KeyShop running for BrailleNote, VoiceNote and BrailleNote PK users. Stop by our booth for more information.
ViewPlus will offer presentations on the Tiger, Emprint and IVEO in Suite 1728 of the Marriott. The schedule is:
Thursday
1-2 PM Tiger/Emprint
2-3 PM IVEO/Audio Graphing Calculator
3-4 PM General Open House
Friday
10-11 AM Tiger/Emprint
11-12 PM IVEO/Audio Graphing Calculator
HumanWare and our partners will cover many topics in presentations during the general sessions. There is sure to be one of interest to you:
DAISY: Why Daisy Has Been Adopted Throughout the World Gerry Chevalier, HumanWare Wed, 9:20 AM - Denver Room, Marriott
Trekker Reviewed An Advanced GPS System for the Blind Lucia Gomez, HumanWare Thurs 9:20 AM - Boston Room, Marriott
Digital Talking Books Life After the CD
Gerry Chevalier, HumanWare
Thurs 10:40 AM - Denver Room, Marriott
Victor Reader Soft
Ivan Lagace, HumanWare
Thurs 1:45 - Denver Room, Marriott
Digital Technology and Print Disabilities Brenda McBride, HumanWare Thurs 3:05 PM - Denver Room, Marriott
Maestro, My World in the Palm Of My Hand Lucia Gomez, HumanWare Thurs 3:05 PM - Boston Room, Marriott
Emerging Computer Technologies for Accessible Math John Gardner, ViewPlus Friday 8 AM - Chicago Room, Marriott
Future Accessible and Highly Portable Computing Platforms Ivan Lagace - Humanware Friday, 9:20 - Chicago Room, Marriott
Breaking Down the Barriers of Science and Engineering Using Adaptive Technology Noel Romey, U of Arkansas Friday 9:20 AM - Dallas Room, Marriott
Sensitive Braille Displays with ATC Technology (Active Tactile Control) Sigi Kipke, HandyTech Friday 12 PM - Dallas Room, Marriott
Tactile- Audio Diagrams - IVEO
Jeff Gardner, ViewPlus
Friday 2 PM - Chicago Room, Marriott
HumanWare
175 Mason Circle
Concord CA 94520
(800) 722-3393
www.humanware.com
~~
Axistive is the Online Media Partner of CSUN 2006. Thanks to this partnership, you can now follow CSUN 2006 online, with daily news, interviews, articles and products live from the conference!
<http://www.axistive.com/images/arrow_take_action.gif> Visit Axistive's CSUN 2006 Special Reports Online <http://www.axistive.com/content.jsp?objectid=9946&utm_source=12&utm_medium=email> !
~~
Visit SSB BART Group
CSUN Booth #364 in the Marriott
Learn about the Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) and SSB BART Group's deep bench of senior accessibility specialists. AMP combines a proven, metrics based, methodology with an easy to use web-based system for ensuring the accessibility of enterprise wide IT systems. AMP’s performance benchmarks are based on over 3 million data points from SSB BART Group's more than 1200 successfully completed accessibility projects.
For immediate assistance call:
415.624.2710 or 703.637.8955
~~
It is hard to believe that CSUN is opening in just one week! De Witt & Associates will be there and we are very excited about all the fun and timely topics our staff will be presenting this year!
OUR PRESENTATIONS:
Live & Learn: Using eHarmony with JAWS, or Blind Dates and More!
De Witt & Associates President and Founder, John De Witt, relays his success in using eHarmony with JAWS. John will discuss tips and tricks for using eHarmony and talk about how he met his fiancé Paula using this service. John will be joined by Peg Halverson of The Sacramento Society for the Blind, who also met her husband Tom using eHarmony.
Friday 3/24/06, 8:00 a.m. in the Dallas Room at the Marriott
Live & Learn: Online Poker & Crazy Eights; Hands Down, Great Games!
Associate Patti Mitchell will be joined by Jeremie Spitzer from All inPlay to talk about how accessible online games can help new computer users gain confidence and provide all computer users with a thriving, fun community. This workshop will feature plenty of how-to advice for those new to this fun gaming software, plus information on how to integrate games into introductory computer training.
Friday 3/24/06, 4:10 p.m. in the Chicago Room at the Marriott
STOP IN AND WIN!!
Don’t forget to stop by our booth to enter to win a $300 American Express Gift Certificate! 2nd prize will be a $200 Gift certificate. We’ll also be giving away three copies of Talking Typing Tutor! We’re at Booth 408, in the Saddle Brook Room at the Marriott.
Drop in your business card or give us your name and e-mail address to enter! And while you are at the booth, don’t forget to say hello. Our CSUN staff this year will be John De Witt, Rick Fox, Patti Mitchell, Joe Adamo, Del Basha and Larry Bonds.
WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR:
At CSUN we’ll be introducing our latest Courseware offerings.
The all-new, all-updated Teaching and Learning the BrailleNote GPS: for Version 3.5. This is a must have guide for orientation and mobility instructors who need to teach students how to use this revolutionary product. As a CSUN special, good until April 21st, the Courseware is packaged free with every BrailleNote GPS purchased from De Witt & Associates.
Getting Started with the Internet and Word provides the basic lessons needed to get a novice computer user up and running with assistive technology. It is available in a JAWS and ZoomText version.
Come see us at Booth 408 in the Saddle Brook Room at the Marriott for more information!
~~
If you have been reading about education trends in the US, then you know that the level of math and science achievement among our nation's schools puts us at a disadvantage compared to other countries in the industrialized world. What you may not know, however, is that this situation is further compounded by a substantial disparity between the math skills attainment of America's 6 million students with disabilities and those without. At Design Science, we believe this is a problem that needs fixing, and we are asking you to join us in trying to find ways to make math accessible.
The need for students with disabilities to be able to access the general education curriculum has been identified as one of the key factors in leveling the playing field and allowing students with disabilities to have the same ability to compete academically with their non-disabled peers. Although this fact has been recognized, there has been little work done so far which concentrates specifically on the accessibility of math instruction and assessment for students with disabilities. Some of the issues that must be addressed include the need for publishers, instructional software vendors, and assistive technology developers to support math accessibility in their products, and the need for all states to mandate accessible math instructional content and provide math assessments that are accessible to all students.
Design Science is working to help develop some of the technology infrastructure that will be critical in addressing the issue of math accessibility. We worked with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to help pioneer the major technology, MathML, which will be vital in creating accessible math. Design Science is also actively working with groups like the DAISY Consortium and the NIMAS Development Committee to further develop the international and federal standards which will support math accessibility in the future. We are further involved in research and development activities supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to create advanced math accessibility technologies, including improved math-to-speech, synchronized speech/highlighting of math equations for individuals with learning disabilities, Braille support, and math search engine technology.
If these ideas sound exciting to you, we invite you to hear one of our leading math accessibility developers, Neil Soiffer, as he and two other leading experts in the field describe some of the latest advances in math accessibility during the CSUN panel session "Emerging Computer Technologies for Accessible Math," on Friday March 24, 8:00-9:00 AM in the Chicago Room of the Marriott Hotel.
Also, please visit us at booth #414 in the Marriott Hotel to learn more about the work we are doing in math accessibility, and find out what you can do to promote math accessibility policy and practice in your state. We invite you to pick up our handout on making math accessible to learn more. If you can't attend CSUN, or simply can't wait to find out about our current work in this exciting area, please visit our web site at http://www.dessci.com/accessibility/.
We're looking forward to meeting you in Los Angeles!
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Noble
Director of Accessibility Policy
steven@dessci.com
Tel: (502) 969-3088
Fax: (502) 964-5198
http://www.blogger.com/www.dessci.com/accessibility
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, WebEQ, Equation Editor, TexAide ~
~~
HIMS
Braille SENSE is introduced with Bluetooth, wireless LAN, MSN and power full database at the 2006 CSUN.
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image002.gif>
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image004.gif>
Please come to visit our booth #413, Marriott.
If you join our Session, you can learn more about it March 22nd 12:00PM to 12:30 PM, Boston-Marriott
SenseView the first and the world’s smallest portable magnifier designed for people on the move with 4.3" WIDE TYPE TFT-LCD is introduced at 2006 CSUN.
Also HIMS will show 2 additional desktop models.
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image006.jpg>
Please visit our Booth #413 in Marriott Hotel.
If you join our SenseView session, you can lean more about P430.
March 24th 3:20PM to 3:50PM Dallas-Marriott
~~
On behalf of Aequus Technologies, I would like to cordially invite you to attend the Snap!VRS and AspireReader™ product demonstration event during the 21st annual CSUN 2006 International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference on March 23rd in Los Angeles, CA.
During this demonstration, members of the disabilities community will have the opportunity to join friends and colleagues to experience two new exciting products and services during 1-2 hour sessions:
Snap!VRS Demo
The new Snap! video relay service for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing will be demonstrated during a 2-hr session using the Ojo™ video phone. This remarkable new video phone offers true-to-life audio and video transmission that is sure to get you excited. For Snap!VRS subscribers, the Ojo is provided for at no charge.
Please click here for details > <http://www.aequustechnologies.com/demo/Snap!VRS_CSUN2006_Invitation_FINAL.pdf>
AspireReader Demo
The new AspireReader 4.0 software player for struggling students will be demonstrated during a 1-hr session. This new software improves learning outcomes by providing multi-sensory tools for accessing digital talking books, webpages, and rich text documents.
Please click here for details > <http://www.aequustechnologies.com/demo/AspireReader_CSUN2006_Invitation_FINAL.pdf>
I look forward to seeing you there.
Warmest Regards,
Richard Schatzberg
Chief Executive Officer
Aequus Technologies
~~
Celebrate Dolphin’s 20th Anniversary at CSUN 2006
March 22– 25
Are you interested in the latest Access and Education technology for people who are blind or low vision or print impaired? You are!
Are you planning to visit the CSUN Conference 2006? You are!
Dolphin Computer Access would love to meet you, please call by the Dolphin booth #317/318, situated in the Marriott.
Dolphin has been a leader in the accessibility industry for 20 years, and to celebrate this CSUN 2006 will see the launch of Dolphin’s next generation version 7.0, access software. Supernova v7.0 offers users more features than any other combined screen reader and magnifier, and comes with continued robust support for all Microsoft supported platforms, including support for Citrix networks and Terminal Server sessions, as standard. All Dolphin access products are available on the Dolphin Pen – the coolest way to take your access software with you and have it run on any compatible computer, any time and anywhere!
Dolphin will also be demonstrating its latest Pocket Hal, screen reader. Launched at the recent ATIA Conference, Pocket Hal offers a full screen reader for PDA users, providing the same level of functionality as the full desk top version of Hal.
Dolphin is also busy working on screen reader solutions for Smartphones. To find out about the latest developments visit the Dolphin booth #317/318. Now whether you are at school, at work or on the move; Dolphin has a solution for you!
Ever wanted to create accessible materials instantly? Visit the Dolphin booth to try out their latest Text to Digital Talking Book software. Dolphin Producer is becoming the most talked about solution for creating instant DAISY Digital Talking Books from text documents – perfect for creating instantly accessible materials at the push of a button.
Dolphin would also like to invite you to our presentation sessions during your visit to CSUN:
Mobile Access Solutions – Pocket Hal for PDAs
Wednesday 22 March at 9:20 AM, in the Boston Room - Marriott
DAISY Accessibility for the masses Using EaseReader
Wednesday 22 March at 10:40 AM, in the Denver Room - Marriott
Text To Digital Talking Books In An Instant - Dolphin Producer
Wednesday 22 March at 1:30PM, in the Denver Room - Marriott
Advanced Synthesizer Technology from Dolphin
Saturday 25 March at 10:40 AM, in the Dallas Room - Marriott
If you are unable to make any of the presentation sessions please drop by the Dolphin booth and we will be happy to demonstrate any of the latest range of Access and Education software to you.
We look forward to meeting you in 2006.
~~
You are cordially invited to the first event of the post-screen reader era.
Mike Calvo, CEO and Founder of Serotek Corporation, invites you to join him in the Santa Monica A Room of the Hilton Hotel on March 23, from 9.00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. and on March 24 from 9.00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. to hear, touch, and feel Serotek's System Access 2.0 operating from a second generation Key to Freedom, and delivering Accessibility Anywhere! There will be demonstrations every hour on the hour.
Do you really need to continue to use a screen reader? Serotek's award-winning System Access reinvents accessibility from a whole new technology base. A design breakthrough, System Access unleashes the underlying accessibility of the Windows operating system and the full range of standard Windows applications including Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express. It also provides full access to Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook, including the Outlook calendar, along with read-only access to Excel and PowerPoint content. You also get access to Adobe Reader, Skype Internet telephone services, and much more. This is just the beginning; try it with your favorite application, and you may be pleasantly surprised how well it works out of the box. There's no need to write scripts or set files, just accessibility anywhere for everyone. System Access 2.0's unique virtual mouse gives blind users point, click, review capability they've never had before. System Access delivers remote access to the user's home system and even allows the user to run his or her conventional screen reader, remotely. System Access is easy to learn and easy to use; most users are up and running with full access with no more than an hour or two of training. Now they can invest all their training time and dollars in becoming experts in the actual applications. For newly blind individuals and technical wizards alike, System Access provides a level playing field at work and at play.
If that weren't enough, System Access 2.0 comes fully loaded on the second generation Key to Freedom with AutoRun Anywhere. Plug this flash device into the USB port of a Windows XP computer, and the computer is fully accessible in seconds. Remove it, and there is no residual left on the host system. Get off the chain -- the video chain, that is; there's no need to install flimsy and security breaching video chaining drivers, so you don't need administrative access to the computer. It is truly plug and play, not plug and pray. This makes the Key to Freedom perfect for public computers such as those found in libraries and universities. The retail price of System Access 2.0 and the Key to Freedom combined is less than half the price of a conventional screen reader. Even if you use a screen reader, System Access provides you a level of mobile accessibility not available in any other product on the market. This is why In 2005, Serotek was awarded the prestigious da Vinci Award by the Multiple Sclerosis Society. This award honors outstanding engineering achievements employing universal design principles to promote accessibility.
And this is only the beginning; Mike will also show you FreedomBox Network access from cell phones and PDA's. Visit http://www.blogger.com/www.freedombox.info <http://www.freedombox.info/> for more information about this award-winning product!
If you are an adaptive technology reseller and want to be a part of the future of accessibility, Serotek is looking for you. We have some very attractive distributor/dealer offerings. You can be part of an adaptive technology revolution. Respond to this email with your contact information, profession, and the date and time you'll be attending. Let's get together and see if the chemistry works. But hurry; space is limited.
It's real! It's here! The post-screen reader era has begun.
See you at CSUN.
Mike Calvo
~~
AD·AS will be on site at CSUN 2006 to show you our line of accessible computer furniture. The exhibit dates are March 22 - March 25. If you're not familiar with our products, this would be a great opportunity to see them up close. AD·AS offers the EquityTM and AccellaTM series --- computer workstations that adjust in height using a hand crank, and the InfinityTM series which adjusts with powered height-adjustment. You'll also be able to see and try out the options and accessories that enhance accessibility for your clients and patrons. AD·AS's accessible computer workstations are commonly packaged with other assistive technology in schools, libraries and government agencies.
We'll be at Booth #150 in the Hilton International Ballroom. Please stop by to say hello and to meet with us and sign up to win a free Ipod MiniTM that will be given away to a CSUN conference attendee.
Hope to see you soon!
Nancy Coupe'
Customer Service
ADAS
2728 S. Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709
800.208.2020 toll free
208.362.8001 local
208.362.8009 fax
customerservice@ad-as.com <mailto:customerservice@ad-as.com>
http://www.ad-as.com/ <http://www.ad-as.com/>
~~
IBM will be showcasing Innovation that Matters at the CSUN 21st Annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference March 22-25 in Los Angeles, California.
The IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center will host the following key
activities:
Exhibit area - we will feature solutions to enhance learning and
productivity, drive the progression from compliance to usable access,
and assist with the creation of accessible applications.
General sessions - we will be presenting a broad array of topics ranging
from cost reduction of caption editing to including users with
disabilities in the design of products and services.
Chat room – new for 2006 – we are hosting an interactive breakout
session, "Accessibility and Innovation that Matters to the World", where
participants will learn more about IBM’s commitment to innovation in
accessibility and discuss how collaboration, standards and open
computing can lead to a societal transformation with global benefits.
We hope you will join us at CSUN.
~~
IntelliSwitch for only $99 USD*
Click here to find out more <http://www.icebase.com/go.shtml?20060316143930598645&m3340&http://www.madentec.com>
Computer access just got a lot simpler!
DiscoverPro software and the IntelliSwitch, provide wireless switch access to the computer for those who have trouble using a standard keyboard & mouse.
*Until May 31st, 2006, buy an IntelliSwitch for only $99 with the purchase of the DiscoverPro software ($399**).
See us at CSUN March 22-25
Booth Information:
Booth #143/144 Hilton and
Booth #316/331 Marriott
Presentations:
Thursday, March 23
1. "Wow! DiscoverPro 2.0 + IntelliSwitch + IntelliKeys = Powerful Computer Access"
Time - 1:45-2:45pm Catalina C in the Hilton hotel 2. "3 Easy Ways To Access - Touch, Point, Scan"
Time - 4:25-5:25pm Century CD in the Hilton hotel
Friday, March 24
3. "Discover Envoy for Mac OSX"
Time - 9:20-10:20am Catalina C in the Hilton hotel
~~
Ai Squared
Quick Tips: Updates, Upgrades, Reinstallations and More
Quick Tip Logo
Sooner or later, we all need to install newer versions of our computer applications in the form of updates and upgrades. Although extra preparation and caution is often required when updating and upgrading applications, this is not the case with ZoomText 9.
Still, for many users this is a disconcerting process that invokes a variety of questions and concerns. To ease these concerns, here are answers to the most common questions about ZoomText 9 updates and upgrades, plus a couple more about reinstalls and converting trials to products.
* Do I have to uninstall ZoomText 8 before I install my ZoomText 9 upgrade?
No. If you prefer, you may leave ZoomText 8 installed on your system and still install ZoomText 9. You can even switch between running ZoomText 8 and 9, however, when switching versions you may be prompted to restart your system first.
* Do I have to uninstall ZoomText 9 before I install a ZoomText 9 update?
No. In fact, a complete ZoomText 9 product must be installed on your system in order to install a ZoomText 9 update.
* What is the difference between a ZoomText upgrade and a ZoomText update?
ZoomText upgrades provide new and enhanced features that add valuable functionality to the product. Upgrades are denoted by a change in the tenths digit or the ones digit of the product version number. Specifically, upgrading from version 8.0 to 8.1 is a minor upgrade, while upgrading from version 8.0 or 8.1 to 9.0 is a major upgrade. Upgrades must be purchased from Ai Squared or a ZoomText dealer.
A ZoomText update provides performance enhancements and bug fixes for its corresponding product release. Updates are denoted by a change in the hundredths digit of the product version number. For example, versions 9.01 and 9.02 are both updates for version 9.00. Updates are provided free of charge and may be downloaded using the ZoomText Update Wizard, or from Ai Squared's website.
* If I need to reinstall ZoomText 9, do I have to uninstall the existing installation first?
Yes and no. If the version of ZoomText you want to reinstall is older than the version currently installed on your system, than yes, you will need to uninstall the version on your system first. Otherwise, no, you do not need to uninstall ZoomText first.
* If I reinstall or update ZoomText 9, will I lose my product activation?
No. Reinstalling or updating your installation of ZoomText 9 will not remove or corrupt the ZoomText product activation.
* Do I have to uninstall the ZoomText 9 trial software before I install my ZoomText 9 product?
No. In fact, you can quickly convert your installed ZoomText trial software into a full product, without having to perform another installation. Here's how…
Each time you launch the ZoomText trial software, the Activation Wizard appears, providing an option to activate ZoomText. Select the option – "I have a serial number and want to activate ZoomText" and you will be prompted to enter your ZoomText serial number, which you can find in your ZoomText product package. Enter your serial number and follow the prompts, and in a matter of seconds your trial installation will magically convert to a full activated product. It's that easy.
We hope that the above questions and answers ease any fears you have about ZoomText updates, upgrades, reinstallations, etc. However, if you're still apprehensive about performing any of these tasks, contact Ai Squared's product support department at (802) 362-3612 (option 3) or support@aisquared.com.
ZoomText Giveaways and Discounts at CSUN 2006
Image of Conference Floor <http://www.aisquared.com/images/show_floor.jpg>
Ai Squared will be exhibiting at CSUN's 21st Annual Conference – "Technology and Persons with Disabilities" – March 22nd through the 25th in Los Angeles, California. The conference will bring together leading experts and manufacturers of assistive technology. Attendees will take in four days of presentations, workshops and product exhibits.
This year we will be raffling off one copy of each of our products (ZoomText Magnifier/Reader and ZoomText Magnifier) to show attendees who come by our booth and sign up for the giveaway. For those not lucky enough to win a free copy, a special CSUN discount will be available to all show attendees during the show and for a limited time afterwards. "We wanted to make CSUN a more fun event – for our customers and us – and we thought giveaways and discounts on show purchases was the way to do this", said Doug Hacker, Director of Sales and Marketing. "We’re confident people will be surprised at the discount".
The CSUN conference will be held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott and neighboring Los Angeles Hilton. Please visit us at booths 218 and 231 in the Marriott Marquis ballroom to register for the free products, see live demonstrations of ZoomText 9.0 and pick up a free trial CD. While you're there, ask an Ai Squared representative about special show discounts on all Ai Squared products.
We also invite you to join us for our ZoomText presentations:
ZoomText 9.0: Overview for the AT Trainer Friday, March 24th at 10:40 am – Marriott, Dallas Room
ZoomText 9.0 New Features and Overview
Saturday, March 25th at 8:00 am – Marriott, Chicago Room
We look forward to seeing you there. Learn more about CSUN 2006
~~
<http://www.ad-as.com/images/white_fill.gif> We've all witnessed the power of assistive technology and computers in enhancing the lives of people with disabilities. Equitable computer access is more important than ever in our schools, colleges and public places.
Today, accessible computer workstations from AD·AS are used in thousands of computer labs. We're proud of our role in creating accessible environments across the United States and overseas.
To make your computer lab accessible, consider these quick tips:
· Place printed resources in a location easily reached by a wheelchair user · Utilize signs with high contrast and large print · For each type of workstation in your lab, ensure that at least one is adjustable
For a comprehensive list of features an accessible computer lab should have, visit:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?101 <http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?101>
To view a short video of computer lab staff interacting with people with disabilities in an accessible computer lab setting, go to:
http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.asp?rid=612 <http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.asp?rid=612>
AD·AS is offering an Exclusive Spring Special for assistive technology professionals. For a limited time, purchase the InfinityTM Two-story, one of our most popular wheelchair accessible computer workstations, at 25% off of list price.
The InfinityTMTwo-story is an ergonomic computer workstation with motorized adjustment http://www.ad-as.com/wp/infinity_2story.htm <http://www.ad-as.com/wp/infinity_2story.htm>
Offer ends April 28, 2006. Call 1-800-208-2020 to take advantage of these savings, and reference the "Exclusive Spring Special." Exact shipping charges apply.
If you'd like to receive AD·AS product catalogs by mail, you can request them online or call us at 800-208-2020.
Nancy Coupe'
Customer Service
ADAS
2728 S. Cole Road
Boise, ID 83709
800.208.2020 toll free
208.362.8001 local
208.362.8009 fax
customerservice@ad-as.com <mailto:customerservice@ad-as.com>
http://www.ad-as.com/ <http://www.ad-as.com/>
~~
Humanware
Come visit HumanWare at CSUN
Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference March 22-25, 2006 Los Angeles Airport Hilton and Marriott Hotels HumanWare will be in booth 247 in the Marriott
Come visit the Humanware Booth at CSUN where we'll be demonstrating all our products including the BrailleNote mPower with the powerful new KeySoft 7. We will be highlighting exciting low vision and braille products for the blind and visually impaired.
Register to win a new, portable Color PocketViewer or Vibe, Digital Talking Book Player, and see a demonstration of each. (One entry per person). The drawings will be held at 4 PM on Thursday and Friday.
Also, you are invited to join us for a memorial to honor Russell and Marian Smith on Wednesday, March 22 in the Meridian Room at 7:30 PM.
Product-specific presentations will be held in the HumanWare Suite. This year our in-suite sessions will be held Thursday, March 23 in the Torrance Room:
10:00 AM BrailleNote mPower & KeySoft 7
11:00 AM Maestro, The Most Portable Hand Notetaker
12:00 PM Trekker, Portable, GPS System
2:00 PM myReader, The First Auto Reader
3:00 PM What's new with Braille Displays
4:00 PM BrailleNote Users Group
We will also have our ever popular KeyShop running for BrailleNote, VoiceNote and BrailleNote PK users. Stop by our booth for more information.
ViewPlus will offer presentations on the Tiger, Emprint and IVEO in Suite 1728 of the Marriott. The schedule is:
Thursday
1-2 PM Tiger/Emprint
2-3 PM IVEO/Audio Graphing Calculator
3-4 PM General Open House
Friday
10-11 AM Tiger/Emprint
11-12 PM IVEO/Audio Graphing Calculator
HumanWare and our partners will cover many topics in presentations during the general sessions. There is sure to be one of interest to you:
DAISY: Why Daisy Has Been Adopted Throughout the World Gerry Chevalier, HumanWare Wed, 9:20 AM - Denver Room, Marriott
Trekker Reviewed An Advanced GPS System for the Blind Lucia Gomez, HumanWare Thurs 9:20 AM - Boston Room, Marriott
Digital Talking Books Life After the CD
Gerry Chevalier, HumanWare
Thurs 10:40 AM - Denver Room, Marriott
Victor Reader Soft
Ivan Lagace, HumanWare
Thurs 1:45 - Denver Room, Marriott
Digital Technology and Print Disabilities Brenda McBride, HumanWare Thurs 3:05 PM - Denver Room, Marriott
Maestro, My World in the Palm Of My Hand Lucia Gomez, HumanWare Thurs 3:05 PM - Boston Room, Marriott
Emerging Computer Technologies for Accessible Math John Gardner, ViewPlus Friday 8 AM - Chicago Room, Marriott
Future Accessible and Highly Portable Computing Platforms Ivan Lagace - Humanware Friday, 9:20 - Chicago Room, Marriott
Breaking Down the Barriers of Science and Engineering Using Adaptive Technology Noel Romey, U of Arkansas Friday 9:20 AM - Dallas Room, Marriott
Sensitive Braille Displays with ATC Technology (Active Tactile Control) Sigi Kipke, HandyTech Friday 12 PM - Dallas Room, Marriott
Tactile- Audio Diagrams - IVEO
Jeff Gardner, ViewPlus
Friday 2 PM - Chicago Room, Marriott
HumanWare
175 Mason Circle
Concord CA 94520
(800) 722-3393
www.humanware.com
~~
Axistive is the Online Media Partner of CSUN 2006. Thanks to this partnership, you can now follow CSUN 2006 online, with daily news, interviews, articles and products live from the conference!
<http://www.axistive.com/images/arrow_take_action.gif> Visit Axistive's CSUN 2006 Special Reports Online <http://www.axistive.com/content.jsp?objectid=9946&utm_source=12&utm_medium=email> !
~~
Visit SSB BART Group
CSUN Booth #364 in the Marriott
Learn about the Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) and SSB BART Group's deep bench of senior accessibility specialists. AMP combines a proven, metrics based, methodology with an easy to use web-based system for ensuring the accessibility of enterprise wide IT systems. AMP’s performance benchmarks are based on over 3 million data points from SSB BART Group's more than 1200 successfully completed accessibility projects.
For immediate assistance call:
415.624.2710 or 703.637.8955
~~
It is hard to believe that CSUN is opening in just one week! De Witt & Associates will be there and we are very excited about all the fun and timely topics our staff will be presenting this year!
OUR PRESENTATIONS:
Live & Learn: Using eHarmony with JAWS, or Blind Dates and More!
De Witt & Associates President and Founder, John De Witt, relays his success in using eHarmony with JAWS. John will discuss tips and tricks for using eHarmony and talk about how he met his fiancé Paula using this service. John will be joined by Peg Halverson of The Sacramento Society for the Blind, who also met her husband Tom using eHarmony.
Friday 3/24/06, 8:00 a.m. in the Dallas Room at the Marriott
Live & Learn: Online Poker & Crazy Eights; Hands Down, Great Games!
Associate Patti Mitchell will be joined by Jeremie Spitzer from All inPlay to talk about how accessible online games can help new computer users gain confidence and provide all computer users with a thriving, fun community. This workshop will feature plenty of how-to advice for those new to this fun gaming software, plus information on how to integrate games into introductory computer training.
Friday 3/24/06, 4:10 p.m. in the Chicago Room at the Marriott
STOP IN AND WIN!!
Don’t forget to stop by our booth to enter to win a $300 American Express Gift Certificate! 2nd prize will be a $200 Gift certificate. We’ll also be giving away three copies of Talking Typing Tutor! We’re at Booth 408, in the Saddle Brook Room at the Marriott.
Drop in your business card or give us your name and e-mail address to enter! And while you are at the booth, don’t forget to say hello. Our CSUN staff this year will be John De Witt, Rick Fox, Patti Mitchell, Joe Adamo, Del Basha and Larry Bonds.
WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR:
At CSUN we’ll be introducing our latest Courseware offerings.
The all-new, all-updated Teaching and Learning the BrailleNote GPS: for Version 3.5. This is a must have guide for orientation and mobility instructors who need to teach students how to use this revolutionary product. As a CSUN special, good until April 21st, the Courseware is packaged free with every BrailleNote GPS purchased from De Witt & Associates.
Getting Started with the Internet and Word provides the basic lessons needed to get a novice computer user up and running with assistive technology. It is available in a JAWS and ZoomText version.
Come see us at Booth 408 in the Saddle Brook Room at the Marriott for more information!
~~
If you have been reading about education trends in the US, then you know that the level of math and science achievement among our nation's schools puts us at a disadvantage compared to other countries in the industrialized world. What you may not know, however, is that this situation is further compounded by a substantial disparity between the math skills attainment of America's 6 million students with disabilities and those without. At Design Science, we believe this is a problem that needs fixing, and we are asking you to join us in trying to find ways to make math accessible.
The need for students with disabilities to be able to access the general education curriculum has been identified as one of the key factors in leveling the playing field and allowing students with disabilities to have the same ability to compete academically with their non-disabled peers. Although this fact has been recognized, there has been little work done so far which concentrates specifically on the accessibility of math instruction and assessment for students with disabilities. Some of the issues that must be addressed include the need for publishers, instructional software vendors, and assistive technology developers to support math accessibility in their products, and the need for all states to mandate accessible math instructional content and provide math assessments that are accessible to all students.
Design Science is working to help develop some of the technology infrastructure that will be critical in addressing the issue of math accessibility. We worked with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to help pioneer the major technology, MathML, which will be vital in creating accessible math. Design Science is also actively working with groups like the DAISY Consortium and the NIMAS Development Committee to further develop the international and federal standards which will support math accessibility in the future. We are further involved in research and development activities supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to create advanced math accessibility technologies, including improved math-to-speech, synchronized speech/highlighting of math equations for individuals with learning disabilities, Braille support, and math search engine technology.
If these ideas sound exciting to you, we invite you to hear one of our leading math accessibility developers, Neil Soiffer, as he and two other leading experts in the field describe some of the latest advances in math accessibility during the CSUN panel session "Emerging Computer Technologies for Accessible Math," on Friday March 24, 8:00-9:00 AM in the Chicago Room of the Marriott Hotel.
Also, please visit us at booth #414 in the Marriott Hotel to learn more about the work we are doing in math accessibility, and find out what you can do to promote math accessibility policy and practice in your state. We invite you to pick up our handout on making math accessible to learn more. If you can't attend CSUN, or simply can't wait to find out about our current work in this exciting area, please visit our web site at http://www.dessci.com/accessibility/.
We're looking forward to meeting you in Los Angeles!
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Noble
Director of Accessibility Policy
steven@dessci.com
Tel: (502) 969-3088
Fax: (502) 964-5198
http://www.blogger.com/www.dessci.com/accessibility
~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, WebEQ, Equation Editor, TexAide ~
~~
HIMS
Braille SENSE is introduced with Bluetooth, wireless LAN, MSN and power full database at the 2006 CSUN.
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image002.gif>
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image004.gif>
Please come to visit our booth #413, Marriott.
If you join our Session, you can learn more about it March 22nd 12:00PM to 12:30 PM, Boston-Marriott
SenseView the first and the world’s smallest portable magnifier designed for people on the move with 4.3" WIDE TYPE TFT-LCD is introduced at 2006 CSUN.
Also HIMS will show 2 additional desktop models.
<http://www.himskorea.co.kr/webmail/csun_2006_img/image006.jpg>
Please visit our Booth #413 in Marriott Hotel.
If you join our SenseView session, you can lean more about P430.
March 24th 3:20PM to 3:50PM Dallas-Marriott
~~
On behalf of Aequus Technologies, I would like to cordially invite you to attend the Snap!VRS and AspireReader™ product demonstration event during the 21st annual CSUN 2006 International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference on March 23rd in Los Angeles, CA.
During this demonstration, members of the disabilities community will have the opportunity to join friends and colleagues to experience two new exciting products and services during 1-2 hour sessions:
Snap!VRS Demo
The new Snap! video relay service for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing will be demonstrated during a 2-hr session using the Ojo™ video phone. This remarkable new video phone offers true-to-life audio and video transmission that is sure to get you excited. For Snap!VRS subscribers, the Ojo is provided for at no charge.
Please click here for details > <http://www.aequustechnologies.com/demo/Snap!VRS_CSUN2006_Invitation_FINAL.pdf>
AspireReader Demo
The new AspireReader 4.0 software player for struggling students will be demonstrated during a 1-hr session. This new software improves learning outcomes by providing multi-sensory tools for accessing digital talking books, webpages, and rich text documents.
Please click here for details > <http://www.aequustechnologies.com/demo/AspireReader_CSUN2006_Invitation_FINAL.pdf>
I look forward to seeing you there.
Warmest Regards,
Richard Schatzberg
Chief Executive Officer
Aequus Technologies
~~
Celebrate Dolphin’s 20th Anniversary at CSUN 2006
March 22– 25
Are you interested in the latest Access and Education technology for people who are blind or low vision or print impaired? You are!
Are you planning to visit the CSUN Conference 2006? You are!
Dolphin Computer Access would love to meet you, please call by the Dolphin booth #317/318, situated in the Marriott.
Dolphin has been a leader in the accessibility industry for 20 years, and to celebrate this CSUN 2006 will see the launch of Dolphin’s next generation version 7.0, access software. Supernova v7.0 offers users more features than any other combined screen reader and magnifier, and comes with continued robust support for all Microsoft supported platforms, including support for Citrix networks and Terminal Server sessions, as standard. All Dolphin access products are available on the Dolphin Pen – the coolest way to take your access software with you and have it run on any compatible computer, any time and anywhere!
Dolphin will also be demonstrating its latest Pocket Hal, screen reader. Launched at the recent ATIA Conference, Pocket Hal offers a full screen reader for PDA users, providing the same level of functionality as the full desk top version of Hal.
Dolphin is also busy working on screen reader solutions for Smartphones. To find out about the latest developments visit the Dolphin booth #317/318. Now whether you are at school, at work or on the move; Dolphin has a solution for you!
Ever wanted to create accessible materials instantly? Visit the Dolphin booth to try out their latest Text to Digital Talking Book software. Dolphin Producer is becoming the most talked about solution for creating instant DAISY Digital Talking Books from text documents – perfect for creating instantly accessible materials at the push of a button.
Dolphin would also like to invite you to our presentation sessions during your visit to CSUN:
Mobile Access Solutions – Pocket Hal for PDAs
Wednesday 22 March at 9:20 AM, in the Boston Room - Marriott
DAISY Accessibility for the masses Using EaseReader
Wednesday 22 March at 10:40 AM, in the Denver Room - Marriott
Text To Digital Talking Books In An Instant - Dolphin Producer
Wednesday 22 March at 1:30PM, in the Denver Room - Marriott
Advanced Synthesizer Technology from Dolphin
Saturday 25 March at 10:40 AM, in the Dallas Room - Marriott
If you are unable to make any of the presentation sessions please drop by the Dolphin booth and we will be happy to demonstrate any of the latest range of Access and Education software to you.
We look forward to meeting you in 2006.
March 06 Early Tech Update: "Because CSUN Can't Come Soon Enough!" Edition
Well we stand at the shadow of CSUN 2006. Check out the bottom of the post to see what we learned already. I will be Blogging from CSUN, if I am not out on the town in the City of Angels, with more next week. I also will be posting the tons of press releases I have here at work in a post later on today.
And please note the new dedicated Vista Awareness portion of the update. We will have this on a regular basis from this point on so be Vista Aware.. be very aware!
Steve’s Word Of The Month:
Spoofing
Definition: This practice is employed when you wish to say one thing but do something else. For example your teenage daughter calls from her best friend’s house and says she is staying over and doing homework. In actuality the Caller ID has been “spoofed” and your daughter called from the phone of the college Frat House where a raging Spring Break kegger is in full swing.
Some companies on the web offer the ability to use their services to show whatever you want on the Caller ID. Generally these services charge you by the call and work 90% of the time.
~ Lightning Round:
* The new Access World is up and it has an overview of the announcements at ATIA 06.
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
* Top Tech Tid Bits: Dean has a lot of good stuff in this issue from March 9th.
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tid63.txt
* AOL: More like SOL if you’re a dial up customer. AOL’s new ads are driven by their need to lose the dial up subscriber. I guess they don’ know that a whole lot of Texans don’t have two Dixie cups and a string let alone broadband. Read more here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6043910.html
* Talking Thermostat: Everyone’s Blog has a link to this new device from Kelvin. So peer pressure makes me list it here:
http://www.actiontalkingproducts.com/
* Humanware: A new CEO has been chosen to lead the company. Learn more from the official press release:
http://www.humanware.com/about/news/news030306.asp
* Windows Update: Depending when you last updated you might see either
A. 5 Critical Updates from February
B. 2 Recommended Windows XP updates from February
C. 1 Critical Update from March
D. 3 Windows XP Recommended updates from March
All updates hover between 415k and 1.7 MB. Your mileage, as usual, will vary. And if you haven’t already expect a Windows Genuine Advantage update when you go to install any Windows components. It updated it’s self last month but you might not find out about it until this month. Surprise!
* McAffe: Last Friday the company released an automatic update that killed MS Excel and other programs. The company quickly recalled the update and issued a new patch Excel killing free.
* Blue Ray Blues: This High Def DVD thing is getting nuts. Now Japan has stated that analog output is gone by 2010. And if you just spent a ton of money on that new Plasma.. well read the below link and weep.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060313a.php
* Apple: Not only did they not issue some revolutionary new product last month at this overhypped press thingy last month but it was a platform to announce more Mac Minis. G4TV got it right last year “Apple.. reinventing the wheel even if it doesn’t need it”. And oh yeah your not safe from hackers if you run Mac OSX.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6043353.html
!! Vista Bewareness
Welcome to the new section that is all Vista. The new Microsoft OS will be all you see, eat or breathe once MS’s PR department gets threw with you but who says we have to wait. Below is new info on Win V, Win Vis or Longhorn.. an OS by any other name.
* Release Date: August 24th has been a historical day in the past for Microsoft. Our own spies have told us that August was either the month where the OS went gold or even the day OEMs like Dell start loading it on to new systems. Here’s a neat article to see what else happened on August 24th with Windows.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=13
* Six Pack: MS will officially support 6 versions of Vista. You, however, may only encounter only 4.. if your lucky.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6046512.html
* Vista Marketing: Did you know that MS set aside 2 billion dollars to create, promote and ship the original Xbox? Well that’s nothing compared to the green Bill is going to spend on getting you interested in Vista.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6047217.html
* Short Term Memory: Many have said for years that Windows is a bloated memory hog. And those people are right. But 480 MB for Vista it’s self? Not a surprise but there is a lot of debug code to be pulled out of the final build. Get another take on it here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/index.php?p=17
* Feb Build Review: Paul at the Windows Super Site has once again broken down Vista in the first of his two part review of the Feb CPM release.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_5308.asp
* Vista Hardware and Upgrade Advisor: The old Windows XP Advisor is back and on steroids for Vista. Rumor is that it sticks it’s tongue out at you if you have an AMD chip though.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-6050116.html
* Office 12: Word is on the street that Office 2007 will ship same day as Vista. That makes perfect and sadly good marketing sense. I say sadly because there’s nothing like two learning curves at one time. Learn more about Office here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9593_22-6040071.html?tag=nl
~ CSUN 2006
Here’s what we know so far…
Freedom Scientific-
JAWS 7.1 Features
http://hj.com/fs_products/software_jaws710fea.asp
Pac Mate 4.0 Features
* The ability to open two FSEdit word processor documents at one time and work between them
* Many new FSCalc enhancements that make this math and scientific calculator even more versatile
* A new option that lets you set a secondary braille language when reading foreign language documents
* Full access to Resco Audio Recorder to record and edit right on the PAC Mate
* Help system changes that make it easy for even a beginner to get started with PAC Mate
Magic 10 beta will be on the floor along with a possible Open Book upgrade. An Opal will be given away so I assume it’s about to ship. Topaz will also be in full mode at one of at least three FS booths.
Humanware-
The company will market this new Easy Braille unit. It’s USB powered and feels a little different than your average bear.
http://www.handytech.de/en/normal/products/for-blind/easy-braille/index.html
Dolphin-
Supernova 7 will use Acapella the same way Pocket HAL does now. Pocket HAL will see an upgrade to work on Windows 2005 Mobile devices. And the big news? Supernova 7 will have a new properties sheet for OCR.
Ai Squared-
Zoom Text will have another free patch released in mid April. A .1 upgrade is on the horizon but right now there is no word if it’s going to be the path to Vista for ZT users. They will have a multi function keyboard on hand with pre programmed ZT keys at CSUN. If all goes well the prototype will go into production this April for an unspecified price. There is also a rumor floating around that they will announce or show a new line of CCTVs behind closed doors. We will see..
GW Micro-
Window Eyes 5.5 will be running on the floor under the latest build of Vista. 5.5 Beta is said to work even better. But get ready because 6.0 is just around the corner. Also they will have some new Braille Sense features on hand for the show. The big news is the inclusion of a CCTV to their portfolio as the Sense View will make it’s first public appearance at the show.
And please note the new dedicated Vista Awareness portion of the update. We will have this on a regular basis from this point on so be Vista Aware.. be very aware!
Steve’s Word Of The Month:
Spoofing
Definition: This practice is employed when you wish to say one thing but do something else. For example your teenage daughter calls from her best friend’s house and says she is staying over and doing homework. In actuality the Caller ID has been “spoofed” and your daughter called from the phone of the college Frat House where a raging Spring Break kegger is in full swing.
Some companies on the web offer the ability to use their services to show whatever you want on the Caller ID. Generally these services charge you by the call and work 90% of the time.
~ Lightning Round:
* The new Access World is up and it has an overview of the announcements at ATIA 06.
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
* Top Tech Tid Bits: Dean has a lot of good stuff in this issue from March 9th.
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tid63.txt
* AOL: More like SOL if you’re a dial up customer. AOL’s new ads are driven by their need to lose the dial up subscriber. I guess they don’ know that a whole lot of Texans don’t have two Dixie cups and a string let alone broadband. Read more here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6043910.html
* Talking Thermostat: Everyone’s Blog has a link to this new device from Kelvin. So peer pressure makes me list it here:
http://www.actiontalkingproducts.com/
* Humanware: A new CEO has been chosen to lead the company. Learn more from the official press release:
http://www.humanware.com/about/news/news030306.asp
* Windows Update: Depending when you last updated you might see either
A. 5 Critical Updates from February
B. 2 Recommended Windows XP updates from February
C. 1 Critical Update from March
D. 3 Windows XP Recommended updates from March
All updates hover between 415k and 1.7 MB. Your mileage, as usual, will vary. And if you haven’t already expect a Windows Genuine Advantage update when you go to install any Windows components. It updated it’s self last month but you might not find out about it until this month. Surprise!
* McAffe: Last Friday the company released an automatic update that killed MS Excel and other programs. The company quickly recalled the update and issued a new patch Excel killing free.
* Blue Ray Blues: This High Def DVD thing is getting nuts. Now Japan has stated that analog output is gone by 2010. And if you just spent a ton of money on that new Plasma.. well read the below link and weep.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060313a.php
* Apple: Not only did they not issue some revolutionary new product last month at this overhypped press thingy last month but it was a platform to announce more Mac Minis. G4TV got it right last year “Apple.. reinventing the wheel even if it doesn’t need it”. And oh yeah your not safe from hackers if you run Mac OSX.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6043353.html
!! Vista Bewareness
Welcome to the new section that is all Vista. The new Microsoft OS will be all you see, eat or breathe once MS’s PR department gets threw with you but who says we have to wait. Below is new info on Win V, Win Vis or Longhorn.. an OS by any other name.
* Release Date: August 24th has been a historical day in the past for Microsoft. Our own spies have told us that August was either the month where the OS went gold or even the day OEMs like Dell start loading it on to new systems. Here’s a neat article to see what else happened on August 24th with Windows.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=13
* Six Pack: MS will officially support 6 versions of Vista. You, however, may only encounter only 4.. if your lucky.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6046512.html
* Vista Marketing: Did you know that MS set aside 2 billion dollars to create, promote and ship the original Xbox? Well that’s nothing compared to the green Bill is going to spend on getting you interested in Vista.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6047217.html
* Short Term Memory: Many have said for years that Windows is a bloated memory hog. And those people are right. But 480 MB for Vista it’s self? Not a surprise but there is a lot of debug code to be pulled out of the final build. Get another take on it here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/index.php?p=17
* Feb Build Review: Paul at the Windows Super Site has once again broken down Vista in the first of his two part review of the Feb CPM release.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_5308.asp
* Vista Hardware and Upgrade Advisor: The old Windows XP Advisor is back and on steroids for Vista. Rumor is that it sticks it’s tongue out at you if you have an AMD chip though.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-6050116.html
* Office 12: Word is on the street that Office 2007 will ship same day as Vista. That makes perfect and sadly good marketing sense. I say sadly because there’s nothing like two learning curves at one time. Learn more about Office here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9593_22-6040071.html?tag=nl
~ CSUN 2006
Here’s what we know so far…
Freedom Scientific-
JAWS 7.1 Features
http://hj.com/fs_products/software_jaws710fea.asp
Pac Mate 4.0 Features
* The ability to open two FSEdit word processor documents at one time and work between them
* Many new FSCalc enhancements that make this math and scientific calculator even more versatile
* A new option that lets you set a secondary braille language when reading foreign language documents
* Full access to Resco Audio Recorder to record and edit right on the PAC Mate
* Help system changes that make it easy for even a beginner to get started with PAC Mate
Magic 10 beta will be on the floor along with a possible Open Book upgrade. An Opal will be given away so I assume it’s about to ship. Topaz will also be in full mode at one of at least three FS booths.
Humanware-
The company will market this new Easy Braille unit. It’s USB powered and feels a little different than your average bear.
http://www.handytech.de/en/normal/products/for-blind/easy-braille/index.html
Dolphin-
Supernova 7 will use Acapella the same way Pocket HAL does now. Pocket HAL will see an upgrade to work on Windows 2005 Mobile devices. And the big news? Supernova 7 will have a new properties sheet for OCR.
Ai Squared-
Zoom Text will have another free patch released in mid April. A .1 upgrade is on the horizon but right now there is no word if it’s going to be the path to Vista for ZT users. They will have a multi function keyboard on hand with pre programmed ZT keys at CSUN. If all goes well the prototype will go into production this April for an unspecified price. There is also a rumor floating around that they will announce or show a new line of CCTVs behind closed doors. We will see..
GW Micro-
Window Eyes 5.5 will be running on the floor under the latest build of Vista. 5.5 Beta is said to work even better. But get ready because 6.0 is just around the corner. Also they will have some new Braille Sense features on hand for the show. The big news is the inclusion of a CCTV to their portfolio as the Sense View will make it’s first public appearance at the show.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Hotel Living Ain't Easy!
The Unit recently held a big Workshop for our local Trainers. And the hotel that had been loyal to us for years had just seen it's franchise rights change twice in less than two years. The changes along with the aging property's general woes made for a bad stay for most of our visiting team. The following is a bit of a leter I sent out to the group to let them know that I too had an issue some years ago at the same location.
"I too had problems years ago. I thought some would find this story funny. It happened to me in 2000 and I was only on the job for a little more than two months. Think of that noise the clock on “24” makes as you read the following.
**
The following is a brief description of the events that took place on May 24th during my attempt to leave the Hotel on route to the San Antonio Center.
8:12 AM
My wife, who is my driver, and I had finished our breakfast at the hotel and were returning to our room to pick up our luggage and check out of the hotel. We both tried our keys, which are little chips with a metallic tab on one end, in the electronic lock to no avail. We then proceeded to the check out desk where the staff re-encoded our key and suggested that we try the lock again.
8:22 AM
We tried the keys again and they did not work. Usually there is a beep to signify that the lock has accepted the key, however, there were no sounds or lights to be seen or heard from the lock.
8:26 AM
We returned to the check out counter and asked for guidance in this matter. The staff conveyed to us that this sort of thing happens all the time and that it would take ten minutes for the maintenance man to replace the batteries in the door lock. We were assured that it would take no time at all even after I explained to them the fact that I was late for my appointments of the day.
8:37 AM
The worker arrives to begin his task of replacing the door lock batteries. He tries his key to see if it works and it does not. He then moves on to the room to the left of our hotel room, Room 503, and goes inside. After 45 seconds he leaves 503 and tells us to wait for his return.
8:45 AM
The worker returns and he has brought some tools with him. He attempts to gain entrance by removing the covering of the lock to our room. At this point I then went to my car to find the number for my supervisor in order to explain my situation and that I was going to be late in my arrival to the Center. That is when I heard the workman break the window. I returned to see the glass broken out of the window on Room 503. The workman then realized that the window he had just broken did not gain him entrance to our room that had no windows [ except for those in the door ]. The worker then moved to the room to the right of our room, 501, and broke that window as well. Once again the man realized too late that the window also did not gain him entrance to Room 502.
9:03 AM
I returned to tell the staff about the broken windows to find that they were not all that concerned about the situation at hand. I again explained to them that I was late and that they must have come across this kind of problem before. Mr. J. T, Rooms Division Manager, said that it happened all the time and that it would only take ten minutes longer. I explained to him that I was told that in the beginning of all of this and we were now fast approaching the one hour mark.
I then asked him some questions on what would have happened if I had not been leaving that day.
Q: “Would you move me into another room?”
A: “Sure. If that’s what you wanted.”
Q: “So I would then have to wait for all of this to be cleaned up before I could retrieve my things to put into another room?”
A: “Or we can do all that for you.”
I explained to him that at this point I didn’t feel comfortable with them handling much and that I had a security issue with the other two rooms with broken windows. It was made clear to me that this situation was a common state of affairs and at no time did I get any apollogy, however, Mr. Talbot made a half hearted gesture of an offer to make things better on my next stay.
9:14 AM
I returned in time to see the workman drop his tools and then break the window inside the door to Room 502. The glass did not go all at once so he had to work at one particular section for awhile before he had a workable area to reach around the door with. At this point there is no lock on the door and no handle either. The worker had made a large hole in the glass, however, the rest of the glass now creaked and groaned with spider web cracks running throughout the rest of the remaining door. The workman told us that he would return in a moment.
9:25 AM
My wife and I noticed that the door was slightly ajar and we managed to pry it open without touching the parts of the door that contained the splintered glass. Glass covered the floor of our room but not any of our belongings. I went to the phone and called my supervisor and explained the entire story to her. She told me to write it up and the Regional Director.
.
9”40 AM
I returned one last time to the check out counter to make sure I had my names straight and to also give back my key to the hotel. Mr. T was still on duty and he made a joke about the key being a “keyless lock” that I found not funny by this point in the day. When I asked for Mr. T’s name he responded by offering his card. I gave him one of mine as well and that is when his aditude changed towards me. Now Mr. T was offering free upgrades and other services the next time I came into town. In fact, I was to call him so he could “Hook Me Up Big Time” on my next stay."
This wasn't AT related but I thought it was funny none the less.
"I too had problems years ago. I thought some would find this story funny. It happened to me in 2000 and I was only on the job for a little more than two months. Think of that noise the clock on “24” makes as you read the following.
**
The following is a brief description of the events that took place on May 24th during my attempt to leave the Hotel on route to the San Antonio Center.
8:12 AM
My wife, who is my driver, and I had finished our breakfast at the hotel and were returning to our room to pick up our luggage and check out of the hotel. We both tried our keys, which are little chips with a metallic tab on one end, in the electronic lock to no avail. We then proceeded to the check out desk where the staff re-encoded our key and suggested that we try the lock again.
8:22 AM
We tried the keys again and they did not work. Usually there is a beep to signify that the lock has accepted the key, however, there were no sounds or lights to be seen or heard from the lock.
8:26 AM
We returned to the check out counter and asked for guidance in this matter. The staff conveyed to us that this sort of thing happens all the time and that it would take ten minutes for the maintenance man to replace the batteries in the door lock. We were assured that it would take no time at all even after I explained to them the fact that I was late for my appointments of the day.
8:37 AM
The worker arrives to begin his task of replacing the door lock batteries. He tries his key to see if it works and it does not. He then moves on to the room to the left of our hotel room, Room 503, and goes inside. After 45 seconds he leaves 503 and tells us to wait for his return.
8:45 AM
The worker returns and he has brought some tools with him. He attempts to gain entrance by removing the covering of the lock to our room. At this point I then went to my car to find the number for my supervisor in order to explain my situation and that I was going to be late in my arrival to the Center. That is when I heard the workman break the window. I returned to see the glass broken out of the window on Room 503. The workman then realized that the window he had just broken did not gain him entrance to our room that had no windows [ except for those in the door ]. The worker then moved to the room to the right of our room, 501, and broke that window as well. Once again the man realized too late that the window also did not gain him entrance to Room 502.
9:03 AM
I returned to tell the staff about the broken windows to find that they were not all that concerned about the situation at hand. I again explained to them that I was late and that they must have come across this kind of problem before. Mr. J. T, Rooms Division Manager, said that it happened all the time and that it would only take ten minutes longer. I explained to him that I was told that in the beginning of all of this and we were now fast approaching the one hour mark.
I then asked him some questions on what would have happened if I had not been leaving that day.
Q: “Would you move me into another room?”
A: “Sure. If that’s what you wanted.”
Q: “So I would then have to wait for all of this to be cleaned up before I could retrieve my things to put into another room?”
A: “Or we can do all that for you.”
I explained to him that at this point I didn’t feel comfortable with them handling much and that I had a security issue with the other two rooms with broken windows. It was made clear to me that this situation was a common state of affairs and at no time did I get any apollogy, however, Mr. Talbot made a half hearted gesture of an offer to make things better on my next stay.
9:14 AM
I returned in time to see the workman drop his tools and then break the window inside the door to Room 502. The glass did not go all at once so he had to work at one particular section for awhile before he had a workable area to reach around the door with. At this point there is no lock on the door and no handle either. The worker had made a large hole in the glass, however, the rest of the glass now creaked and groaned with spider web cracks running throughout the rest of the remaining door. The workman told us that he would return in a moment.
9:25 AM
My wife and I noticed that the door was slightly ajar and we managed to pry it open without touching the parts of the door that contained the splintered glass. Glass covered the floor of our room but not any of our belongings. I went to the phone and called my supervisor and explained the entire story to her. She told me to write it up and the Regional Director.
.
9”40 AM
I returned one last time to the check out counter to make sure I had my names straight and to also give back my key to the hotel. Mr. T was still on duty and he made a joke about the key being a “keyless lock” that I found not funny by this point in the day. When I asked for Mr. T’s name he responded by offering his card. I gave him one of mine as well and that is when his aditude changed towards me. Now Mr. T was offering free upgrades and other services the next time I came into town. In fact, I was to call him so he could “Hook Me Up Big Time” on my next stay."
This wasn't AT related but I thought it was funny none the less.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
The Power Is Not In Your Hands
Recently we had a whole slew of battery issues in the unit. Last year we needed a patch to fix a battery issue on a note taker. Then we had two Hand Held CCTV units from two separate manufactures go bad. One of the Hand Held units was only 35 days old. And in one case we had a battery leakage issue on a note taker that was so bad the unit smelled like cat pee. Mmmm…
ZD Net recently posted an article on a Windows issue that was part of the cause for laptop batteries draining faster than they should. So one would start to surmise that there is a real problem with battery power these days.
I honestly recommend that you look at devices that have removable batteries for your work related tasks. Some new portable CCTV units actually come with two batteries right out of the box. That means you can charge one while using another. Hand Held units, however, aren’t so lucky. Most of them, like the current line of accessible PDAs, have on board non removable batteries. Which can make replacement a fun filled trip to the Post Office as the unit will have to go back home to be repaired.
The conspiracy theorists among our staff say that it’s a pyramid scam run by the Energizer Bunny from his bunker at the Symantec Anti Virus Research Center.. but that may be just what he wants us to think. I mean Easter is right around the corner and all. It could be the Cadbury Rabbit is honing in on his action is all.
Hmm… Note to self: Mid week entries tend to go very obscure on the reference tip. Must remember to stay on topic next time. Oh who am I kidding. That will never happen.
ZD Net recently posted an article on a Windows issue that was part of the cause for laptop batteries draining faster than they should. So one would start to surmise that there is a real problem with battery power these days.
I honestly recommend that you look at devices that have removable batteries for your work related tasks. Some new portable CCTV units actually come with two batteries right out of the box. That means you can charge one while using another. Hand Held units, however, aren’t so lucky. Most of them, like the current line of accessible PDAs, have on board non removable batteries. Which can make replacement a fun filled trip to the Post Office as the unit will have to go back home to be repaired.
The conspiracy theorists among our staff say that it’s a pyramid scam run by the Energizer Bunny from his bunker at the Symantec Anti Virus Research Center.. but that may be just what he wants us to think. I mean Easter is right around the corner and all. It could be the Cadbury Rabbit is honing in on his action is all.
Hmm… Note to self: Mid week entries tend to go very obscure on the reference tip. Must remember to stay on topic next time. Oh who am I kidding. That will never happen.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
February 06 Tech Update: The Calm Before The Storm Edition
All is somewhat quiet as most of the big names in AT are in sales meetings for the gearing up to CSUN next month. But I found some neat info to pad this issue out to a “cup of coffee” reading length.
Steve’s Word Of The Month
NSFW
Definition: Not Safe For Work. Files that could get you into serious trouble at the work site will have this phrase listed in the header so you don’t accidentally open them. Or, if your really bold, you can at least turn your screen around to the wall and lower your computer’s volume.
Fragmented by Sharon
A delightful and insane co worker of mine asked me if she could contribute to the Tech Updates on a regular basis. And I, desperate for good and somewhat original content, relented and said “Yes!”. So I bring you the first of Sharon’s take on Assistive Tech.
Alternatives to Audible?
As a 5 year member of Audible.com, I was excited when they revamped their website and, for the most part, it was still accessible. The combo boxes that replaced having to go to different WebPages for each library listing were a much better solution, in my opinion. However, the website and price increases for new accounts and updating existing ones, wasn’t the only change they made. The different packages one could subscribe to in the past were a nice economical way to get books not offered by NLS, in a professionally recorded audio format that could be played on your computer and/or Audible-ready players. Legacy accounts are still honored and you can still, if you are presently a member be pretty satisfied with things as they are, just beware of updating to a new account. The catch now is that the new packages offer you the same amount of credits (1 or 2 per month or some yearly packages as well with roll over options) depending on the price you want to pay. What they don’t seem to be making clear to folks is that the credits are not worth what they were before. You could get an unabridged book, divided into several parts to make the “download faster”, according to Audible, and you would only use one of your credits. Now, when some of the books are divided into “parts”, the cost is 1 credit per part. This is not true all the time, but it seems to be a trend with Audible, so be aware if you subscribe or have consumers that do. Some alternatives to Audible are Simply Audio Books
http://simplyaudiobooks.com/Audiobooks_For_Your_Car/dp/88/
And, Recorded Books.com
http://www.recordedbooks.com/
You will want to check out the pricing on these sites, but they offer some alternative solutions and several pricing plans both for rent and download.
Lightning Round
iZoom: The new USB enabled iZoom2 Go edition ships on the 27th. To learn more go here:
http://www.issist.com/index.asp?page=iZoom2Go
Victor Reader/Recorder: The new Victor Reader with Recording features is now available. Around $400 it’s far cheaper than a Plextalk. And there’s a new one of those shipping as well. See the Victor at:
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/p_DP_VR_ClassicPlusRec.asp
Freedom Vision: The Fusion, the unit to replace the Liberty Solo 7 Inch, is officially listed on the web site. And so is the return of the Opti. The Opti was the first of the Laptop Assisted CCTV units on the market but it had a major issue with video drivers and Zoom Text which stopped it’s production cold. See all of the units at the link below:
http://www.freedomvision.net/product%20pages/Products.htm
SAL 2: The SAL was an amazing Braille teaching tool that I thought was going to just take off. It didn’t and Freedom Scientific dropped the unit a few years later. It seems that others have picked up the torch now as here’s a release on SAL 2:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/518100/
Firefox Memory Feature: Remember that joke that goes “that’s not a bug it’s a feature!”? Looks like for Firefox the joke is on them.
http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/06/02/14/2154224.shtml
Mactacular: A major player in the Screen Reader field was contacted directly by Apple recently. Looks like Apple is well aware of ITunes not being accessible and they have asked for help to get it there. And if that wasn’t enough here’s a link on a Daisy Player for those Mac users in your life.
http://www.kafkasdaytime.com/2006/02/katieplayer-development-priorities.html
~ “As Clear As Windows”
It looks like the feature complete beta of Vista will be available sometime in April. But I know your itching to know more about all the changes in Vista and Office. You may want to bookmark a few of the links below [like the FAQ] as they will be updated often over the next few months.
Windows Vista Features
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_jimallchin.asp
IE7 Beta Review
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/ie7_beta2.asp
Office 2007 FAQ
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/office2007.asp
Office Live Article
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6039007.html
Windows Defender Article
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windefender_beta2.asp
~ “Time Flies At The Speed Of Light”
I saw this on the Screen Magnifiers home page and a co worker said it belonged here this month. I think he is bucking for a belated Xmas present.
http://www.ibeamtime.com/
~ “The World Of Work Needs More Ramps”
As we are all well aware our primary goal is to aid others with their search for employment. Below is a Blog that has an interesting story about someone who lost their job due to access issues. And the other link is a detailed look at what new HR rules go into effect for job searches and how to be good at doing them.
Job Access Issues Article
http://www.blindaccessjournal.com/
Job Hunting article
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/06/news/economy/annie/annie_0206/index.htm?cnn=yes
~ “When Is A Virtual Postage Stamp A Real Postage Stamp?”
A lot of people have asked me about this whole AOL Goodmail thing. Below is an article and a blurb from Ai Squared on what to do to keep getting their bulk mail. With some modding you can apply this to other mailing lists as well.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6038781.html
From Ai Squared’s newsletter
“
Add Us to Your "Approved Senders" List
Many email providers are beginning to crack down on unsolicited email or "Spam". In the process they are making it more difficult for legitimate companies like ours to communicate with our users. To make sure you continue receiving your copy of ZoomNews, we ask that you add our email address, sales@aisquared.com, to your address book, thereby validating us as an approved sender.
Accomplishing this task differs depending on your email provider and how you receive and read your email. Below are instructions for the top three email providers. If you use a different email provider, check the help system of the email client software you are using.
To add us to your list of approved senders:
AOL Logo For AOL Users: While reading this issue of ZoomNews, you’ll see a row of buttons on the right hand side of your window. Click the "Add Address" button. This will display the address entry and editing screen. You don’t need to make any changes here, just click the "Save" button and our address will be added to your approved list of senders.
Yahoo Logo For Yahoo Users: While reading this issue of ZoomNews, you’ll see address information at the top of the message. The "From" field should display our address – "sales@aisquared.com". To the right of the address, click the "Add to Address Book" button to display the address entry and editing screen. You don’t need to make any changes here, just click the "Add to Address Book" button and our address will be added to your approved list of senders.
Hotmail Logo For Hotmail Users: While reading this issue of ZoomNews, you’ll see a row of buttons above the "From" field. Click the "Save Address" button to display the address entry and editing screen. You don’t need to make any changes here, just click the "Add to Address Book" button and our address will be added to your approved list of senders.”
Steve’s Word Of The Month
NSFW
Definition: Not Safe For Work. Files that could get you into serious trouble at the work site will have this phrase listed in the header so you don’t accidentally open them. Or, if your really bold, you can at least turn your screen around to the wall and lower your computer’s volume.
Fragmented by Sharon
A delightful and insane co worker of mine asked me if she could contribute to the Tech Updates on a regular basis. And I, desperate for good and somewhat original content, relented and said “Yes!”. So I bring you the first of Sharon’s take on Assistive Tech.
Alternatives to Audible?
As a 5 year member of Audible.com, I was excited when they revamped their website and, for the most part, it was still accessible. The combo boxes that replaced having to go to different WebPages for each library listing were a much better solution, in my opinion. However, the website and price increases for new accounts and updating existing ones, wasn’t the only change they made. The different packages one could subscribe to in the past were a nice economical way to get books not offered by NLS, in a professionally recorded audio format that could be played on your computer and/or Audible-ready players. Legacy accounts are still honored and you can still, if you are presently a member be pretty satisfied with things as they are, just beware of updating to a new account. The catch now is that the new packages offer you the same amount of credits (1 or 2 per month or some yearly packages as well with roll over options) depending on the price you want to pay. What they don’t seem to be making clear to folks is that the credits are not worth what they were before. You could get an unabridged book, divided into several parts to make the “download faster”, according to Audible, and you would only use one of your credits. Now, when some of the books are divided into “parts”, the cost is 1 credit per part. This is not true all the time, but it seems to be a trend with Audible, so be aware if you subscribe or have consumers that do. Some alternatives to Audible are Simply Audio Books
http://simplyaudiobooks.com/Audiobooks_For_Your_Car/dp/88/
And, Recorded Books.com
http://www.recordedbooks.com/
You will want to check out the pricing on these sites, but they offer some alternative solutions and several pricing plans both for rent and download.
Lightning Round
iZoom: The new USB enabled iZoom2 Go edition ships on the 27th. To learn more go here:
http://www.issist.com/index.asp?page=iZoom2Go
Victor Reader/Recorder: The new Victor Reader with Recording features is now available. Around $400 it’s far cheaper than a Plextalk. And there’s a new one of those shipping as well. See the Victor at:
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/p_DP_VR_ClassicPlusRec.asp
Freedom Vision: The Fusion, the unit to replace the Liberty Solo 7 Inch, is officially listed on the web site. And so is the return of the Opti. The Opti was the first of the Laptop Assisted CCTV units on the market but it had a major issue with video drivers and Zoom Text which stopped it’s production cold. See all of the units at the link below:
http://www.freedomvision.net/product%20pages/Products.htm
SAL 2: The SAL was an amazing Braille teaching tool that I thought was going to just take off. It didn’t and Freedom Scientific dropped the unit a few years later. It seems that others have picked up the torch now as here’s a release on SAL 2:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/518100/
Firefox Memory Feature: Remember that joke that goes “that’s not a bug it’s a feature!”? Looks like for Firefox the joke is on them.
http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/06/02/14/2154224.shtml
Mactacular: A major player in the Screen Reader field was contacted directly by Apple recently. Looks like Apple is well aware of ITunes not being accessible and they have asked for help to get it there. And if that wasn’t enough here’s a link on a Daisy Player for those Mac users in your life.
http://www.kafkasdaytime.com/2006/02/katieplayer-development-priorities.html
~ “As Clear As Windows”
It looks like the feature complete beta of Vista will be available sometime in April. But I know your itching to know more about all the changes in Vista and Office. You may want to bookmark a few of the links below [like the FAQ] as they will be updated often over the next few months.
Windows Vista Features
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_jimallchin.asp
IE7 Beta Review
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/ie7_beta2.asp
Office 2007 FAQ
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/office2007.asp
Office Live Article
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6039007.html
Windows Defender Article
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windefender_beta2.asp
~ “Time Flies At The Speed Of Light”
I saw this on the Screen Magnifiers home page and a co worker said it belonged here this month. I think he is bucking for a belated Xmas present.
http://www.ibeamtime.com/
~ “The World Of Work Needs More Ramps”
As we are all well aware our primary goal is to aid others with their search for employment. Below is a Blog that has an interesting story about someone who lost their job due to access issues. And the other link is a detailed look at what new HR rules go into effect for job searches and how to be good at doing them.
Job Access Issues Article
http://www.blindaccessjournal.com/
Job Hunting article
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/06/news/economy/annie/annie_0206/index.htm?cnn=yes
~ “When Is A Virtual Postage Stamp A Real Postage Stamp?”
A lot of people have asked me about this whole AOL Goodmail thing. Below is an article and a blurb from Ai Squared on what to do to keep getting their bulk mail. With some modding you can apply this to other mailing lists as well.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6038781.html
From Ai Squared’s newsletter
“
Add Us to Your "Approved Senders" List
Many email providers are beginning to crack down on unsolicited email or "Spam". In the process they are making it more difficult for legitimate companies like ours to communicate with our users. To make sure you continue receiving your copy of ZoomNews, we ask that you add our email address, sales@aisquared.com, to your address book, thereby validating us as an approved sender.
Accomplishing this task differs depending on your email provider and how you receive and read your email. Below are instructions for the top three email providers. If you use a different email provider, check the help system of the email client software you are using.
To add us to your list of approved senders:
AOL Logo
Yahoo Logo
Hotmail Logo
Friday, February 10, 2006
The Amigo Wants To Be Your Friend!
We recently got one of these neat little guys into the unit and I have to say I am very much impressed. In fact I believe my first remark was “It’s a real shame my Pico has to fall down a flight of stairs later today”. Naturally I was kind of kidding. It will be run over by a bus as the quote from Aliens applies “it’s the only way to be sure”.
The Amigo is another in the “mid line” price point CCTV units. It’s around $1,800 which is double the price of say a Pico or Quick Look. But the Amigo is far more than those hand held guys.
The unit lays flat on a document like the Traveler, however, the rollers are a bit more responsive to the touch. The folds like a clamshell with the lid of the unit being the actual display. And what a big and bright display it is my Amigo.
The unit has the same color filtering options found on the Merlin or Acrobat, however, unlike those units the Amigo has wheels to activate it’s false colors. The unit also has wheels to roll through it’s several levels of clear zooming action. Both of these wheels sit on the right side of the unit. And, as a nice touch, the unit has a freeze frame feature located on the back right of the unit.
The real odd bit is that the power button is located on the bottom side of the Amigo. When the display is open you can not gain access to the power button. In a way I guess this is good because you can not accidentally turn the unit off while reading. But it does throw you off at first that you can’t find the unit’s power control easily.
The Amigo runs on the same rechargeable batteries found with the Jordi and other Enhanced Vision products. The unit can also be used while charging which is always a plus.
The weight is a little more than a hand held styled unit. But again this is a “mid line” product here. You want to feel that weight for the extra money you know? Even so the unit is not really bulky for everything it has under the hood. It’s smaller than most of the units found in it’s category and it has a few more features to boot.
The Amigo comes with a sort of writing stand but honestly none of the Portable units on the market are designed for creating the next manuscript for a great novel. Still it’s a little easier to write under this unit than say the Flipper Panel or Liberty Solo.
We will be putting the unit to work over the next week or so and I will give you an update on what we find. For now check out the official product web site at Enhanced Vision.
http://enhancedvision.com/amigo_family.php
The Amigo is another in the “mid line” price point CCTV units. It’s around $1,800 which is double the price of say a Pico or Quick Look. But the Amigo is far more than those hand held guys.
The unit lays flat on a document like the Traveler, however, the rollers are a bit more responsive to the touch. The folds like a clamshell with the lid of the unit being the actual display. And what a big and bright display it is my Amigo.
The unit has the same color filtering options found on the Merlin or Acrobat, however, unlike those units the Amigo has wheels to activate it’s false colors. The unit also has wheels to roll through it’s several levels of clear zooming action. Both of these wheels sit on the right side of the unit. And, as a nice touch, the unit has a freeze frame feature located on the back right of the unit.
The real odd bit is that the power button is located on the bottom side of the Amigo. When the display is open you can not gain access to the power button. In a way I guess this is good because you can not accidentally turn the unit off while reading. But it does throw you off at first that you can’t find the unit’s power control easily.
The Amigo runs on the same rechargeable batteries found with the Jordi and other Enhanced Vision products. The unit can also be used while charging which is always a plus.
The weight is a little more than a hand held styled unit. But again this is a “mid line” product here. You want to feel that weight for the extra money you know? Even so the unit is not really bulky for everything it has under the hood. It’s smaller than most of the units found in it’s category and it has a few more features to boot.
The Amigo comes with a sort of writing stand but honestly none of the Portable units on the market are designed for creating the next manuscript for a great novel. Still it’s a little easier to write under this unit than say the Flipper Panel or Liberty Solo.
We will be putting the unit to work over the next week or so and I will give you an update on what we find. For now check out the official product web site at Enhanced Vision.
http://enhancedvision.com/amigo_family.php
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
