[Nfbf-l] Fw: NEW PRODUCT WORTH READING!

Thu May 20 14:02:36 UTC 2010

Hi Sherri and all,

Thanks for posting this article, as I'm sure lots of people will be
interested in this product.  Though I don't usually have a problem
identifying currency, this is a wonderful little gadget that I'm planning to
purchase.  For once the price is right!  Dealing with money at conventions
is one of the main reasons why, especially when working at the exhibit hall.
I went to Orbit Research's website to order it, and apparently they're so
popular that they put you on a waiting list!    Well, I've waited this many
years for something like this, so a few months won't hurt I guess, though I
would love to have this when I attend national convention.  I'll keep my
fingers crossed.

Sherrill

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
Behalf Of Sherri
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 5:54 AM
To: nfbf-l; NFB of Florida parents
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Fw: NEW PRODUCT WORTH READING!

Just sharing.
Sherri
----- Original Message -----
From: Claudia
To: Claudia
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 9:23 PM
Subject: NEW PRODUCT WORTH READING!

NEW PRODUCT WORTH READING!

  Block quote start

  Product Reviews

  A Product for Taking the Blues out of Your Green

  Deborah Kendrick

  In 1999, Orbit Research, a small company in Delaware, developed and
released a talking scientific calculator that many blind students and
professionals

  have come to embrace. Based originally on the Texas Instruments TI-34
model and, more recently, on the TI-36, this unit displays and voices every
operation

  and offers a learning mode in which the user can press a key to hear its
function without performing an inadvertent calculation. The talking
scientific

  calculator was a success and filled a void, but in the decade since, the
company has dedicated itself to identifying and filling a more significant
gap.

  "We wanted to develop a product that would fill a need of everyone in the
[blind and low-vision] community," explained Brian Rao, director of
engineering

  for Orbit Research. Not everyone, in other words, uses a scientific
calculator, talking or otherwise. The company searched to identify a need
and accompanying

  solution that would fill a gap in the daily lives of all blind people.

  The staff at Orbit Research did their homework. After speaking with scores
of blind people, including those affiliated with various organizations, the
universal

  problem that surfaced was the identification of currency. Blind and
low-vision people in all walks of life expressed their frustration with not
being able

  to identify, independently, whether a piece of currency was $1 or $100,
and the company focused on developing a solution.

  "There were three challenges that we wanted to address," Rao explained.
Essentially, the product had to be compact and unobtrusive, accurate, and
affordable.

  The iBill meets all three criteria with ease.

  When asked if the project was selected in response to the widely
publicized lawsuit brought by the American Council of the Blind against the
U.S. Treasury

  Department for its failure to make American currency distinguishable by
touch, Rao demurred. "We hear that question a lot," he said, "but we were
working

  on this product long before we ever knew anything about a lawsuit."

  What It Looks Like

  The first striking feature of the iBill is how small and sturdy it is.
Measuring 3 by 1.6 by 0.7 inches, it is about the size of two packs of
chewing gum

  laid side by side (thus smaller than most cell phones). The unit is
completely solid with no moving parts. On one long edge is a slot the exact
width of

  the narrow end of a piece of U.S. currency. On either end is a single push
button. And that's all there is to it.

  The iBill with a ten dollar bill ready to be inserted for identification.

  Caption: The iBill

  To use the iBill, one inserts the narrow end of a bill into the slot as
far as it will go (about an inch). By pressing either button, the
denomination of

  the bill is announced in a clear female voice. The announcement is a
single word, "one," "five," "ten," etc., spoken once. With the bill still
inserted,

  you may press a button again, for as many repetitions as desired, and the
single word will be repeated. Recognition takes about one second. There are
three

  modes for identifying currency: speech, tones, and vibration. While the
speech mode will undoubtedly be the most widely used by customers, the tone
and

  vibration modes are additions that indicate serious planning from the
Orbit Research team. Vibration mode renders the device completely accessible
to those

  low-vision or blind individuals who are also deaf or hearing impaired.
Similarly, even if your hearing is perfect and you want to identify your
money discretely

  or in a noisy place, the vibration mode makes that easy to do. The tones
mode may be preferred by some who have difficulty discerning speech or,
again,

  who prefer more privacy when identifying currency.

  It occurred to me that sometimes I might not want others to see me with a
stack of bills in one hand and the iBill in the other while I figure out if
I

  have, say, enough money for taxi fare or the right bills to tip the person
who is carrying my luggage. With that in mind, I tested the iBill's ability

  to identify currency while still inside a purse or laptop bag. It worked
perfectly.

  While in speech mode, the iBill has three volume levels. To cycle through
these three levels and then to tone and vibration modes, you simply press
and

  hold a button on one end of the iBill and then press and release the
other. It doesn't matter which button you press first. With each combination
of holding

  down one button and then quickly pressing the other, the device cycles
through the five positions in this order: speech minimum volume, speech
medium volume,

  speech maximum volume, tone, vibration, and back again to speech minimum
volume.

  The recognition in tone and vibration modes is delivered via a set number
of beeps or pulses. One dollar, for instance, is a single tone or single
pulse.

  A $2 bill is two tones or pulses. Some denominations are identified with a
combination of high-low beeps and/or long-short pulses. A $5 bill, for
instance,

  is identified by three high beeps or three short pulses. A $10 bill is
identified by one high beep or one long pulse, a $20 bill by two high beeps
or two

  long pulses. A $100 bill is identified by four beeps in a low-high
low-high pattern or, in vibration mode, four pulses in a short-long,
short-long sequence.

  No amount up to $100, in other words, takes longer than four beeps, four
pulses, or a single word in order to be recognized. Coupled with the rapid
recognition,

  the device is extremely quick and efficient in any of its three modes.

  The iBill operates on a single AAA battery, easily replaced by the user.
When the battery is low, the iBill emits two beeps after announcing a bill.
After

  doing this for several recognition sessions, it will eventually just quit
entirely, although I didn't push it to that point for this article. I used
it

  for about 10 weeks on a daily basis before finally hearing the battery
warning.

  Returning to the company's original criteria for a moment, the resulting
product is clearly compact and unobtrusive. It is also extremely easy to
use. The

  company Website claims 99.9 percent accuracy and I would concur with that
claim. I tested it on all denominations from a $1 bill to a $100 bill,
including

  a $2 bill and the newer $5 bill. When the iBill does not recognize a bill,
which happens rarely, it says "error." Typically, if the bill is flattened,

  turned around, or simply inserted a second time, it will be identified
correctly.

  At $99, it is without doubt the least expensive currency identifier
available. The only serious drawback I can see with this out-of-the-blue
product is

  the initial difficulty the company had in meeting buyer demand. At this
point, the iBill can be ordered directly from

  Orbit Research

  , the

  National Federation of the Blind,

  AT Guys

  , and possibly some other online sources.

No virus found in this incoming message.
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Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2868 - Release Date: 05/11/10
11:40:00

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