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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Pam, The ever changing Braille display market is indeed interesting. Has progress been made? Absolutely. Do we still have a long way to go? Certainly.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The points you raised about the size and usability of the EReader are right on. Until I started using an Orbit Reader I didn’t believe a 20 cell display would be enough. I have seen people who are just starting to build their reading speed pick up a 20 cell display and improve their skills.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The new displays give us another choice in the ongoing evolution of electronic Braille rading. Are they perfect? No, they have too high a price point, they also suffer from the never ending limitations that items with moving parts have always had. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>When they add audio to these it is going to be terrific. Is that far off? No, my guess it will be fairly soon. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Am I going to rush out and buy anything at this point? No, but it is sure tempting. I just purchased a QBraille so no more displays in my immediate future. During the next two months we are likely to see even more announcements of new and exciting technology. Stay tuned and see what happens next.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Bob<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> DSM-Iowa <dsm-iowa-bounces@nfbnet.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Pam Quinn via DSM-Iowa<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, January 23, 2021 11:45 AM<br><b>To:</b> Des Moines Chapter List, NFB of Iowa <dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org><br><b>Cc:</b> Pam Quinn <pamandpoodles@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [DSM-Iowa] Braille Technology Marches Forward<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal> <span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>The NLS E-reader is absolutely awesome, and the 20-cell is perfect for me. I love how with the case, it looks just like a small hard-cover book that you can just throw in your purse or whatever. The advantages of these new displays of course would be the addition of bookshare and Newsline, and the ability to create files. I've heard that eventually text to speech might be included as well. Wondering which speech it would be as I prefer the synthesized as opposed to the more "human sounding" speech. That would be great if it happened to be Eloquence, although not holding my breath on that one. Thanks for the info. I'm off to check out the tutorial. </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Pam Quinn</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'> <a href="mailto:dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org" title="dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org">Robert Ray via DSM-Iowa</a> </span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'> Saturday, January 23, 2021 10:30 AM</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'>To:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'> <a href="mailto:dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org" title="dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org">dsm-iowa@nfbnet.org</a> </span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'>Cc:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'> <a href="mailto:rjray@q.com" title="rjray@q.com">rjray@q.com</a> </span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='background:whitesmoke'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black'> [DSM-Iowa] Braille Technology Marches Forward</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>Greetings,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This week Humanware has released two new Braille displays. They are of course part of the Brailliant line of displays. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The first one is the BI 20 X. This display is very much like a display the APH announced last summer. A few of the highlights of it are<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>20 cell Braille display<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you have the E-reader from NLS this machine will look for all purposes identical.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It does all of the things that the e-reader does plus having a notepad built into it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It not only will connect with BARD but also, Bookshare and NFB Newsline.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>If you are interested in having a device that has these features it is currently priced at $1,895.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Next is the BI 40X.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This device has<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>40 cells<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The same basic design as the BI 20X .<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The differences for the 40 are that it does not have an SDcard slot. However, you can put files on it from a jumpdrive. In addition, the 20 has 16 Gigabytes of memory and the 40 has 32 gigabytes of memory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The price of this device is $3,195.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>No, these devices have not gone to the newer lower priced braille cells but they are good solid devices and even though they are higher price points than any of us would have liked to see they are available ready to go.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I should also remind you that Pat Fisher with Nanopac will work with you for discounted pricing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>One last thing on this subject. Humanware has a contract with Mystic Access to provide audio tutorials for their devices. If you wish to have one of these tutorials go the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.mysticaccess.com/free">www.mysticaccess.com/free</a> downloads<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and download the tutorial you wish to try.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Bob Ray<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<br>DSM-Iowa mailing list<br><a href="mailto:DSM-Iowa@nfbnet.org">DSM-Iowa@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/dsm-iowa_nfbnet.org">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/dsm-iowa_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for DSM-Iowa:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/dsm-iowa_nfbnet.org/pamandpoodles%40gmail.com">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/dsm-iowa_nfbnet.org/pamandpoodles%40gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>