[Nfbmo] I-Phone could take the win out of KNFB Reader.

Tue Jun 29 17:21:23 UTC 2010

You're certainly right, Shelia, remember when the KNFB Reader came out with 
a price-tag of $3,300 or more. And then they reduced the price to $2,800 and 
now I believe the price is down to around $1,500. En lite of the fact that I 
heard an engineer at Kurzweil headquarters in 1988 say that the company 
could sell it's current product, the Kurzweil Personal Reader for $2,500 
which at the time the low-end unit with hand scanner was selling for $7,000 
and the top-of-the-line model for $12,00.00 and still make a profit, and 
since many blind folks consider the prices for Jaws and Window Eyes 
prohibitive the fact that the KNFB reader/phone sells for $1,500 plus makes 
this Apple application infinitely more affordable and the fact that the KNFB 
Reader/phone is priced nearly four times the price of the Apple I-Phone. And 
let's not use the argument that the KNFB Reader is not used in a main-stream 
product, because it is. The problem for me is that it appears that an 
organization of and for the blind has the appearance of making money off the 
blind when they give every appearance of acting in the best interests of the 
blind.

Fred Olver
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shelia Wright" <sbwright95 at att.net>
To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] I-Phone could take the win out of KNFB Reader.

>I am all for options and for affordability. If the Apple's OCR program is
> comparable or even better than the KNFB Reader that is great. However, the
> fact that the NFB and Kurzweill  has developed the technology through many
> years of work, has in and of itself led to making it possible.
>
> The tone of the posts that the KNFB Reader is a rip off is a bit niave and
> annoying given the years of work I have witnessed. Bravo for the work 
> Apple
> is doing; Bravo that technology is advancing and becoming more affordable;
> Bravo to the pioneers who led the way!
>
> Shelia Wright
>
>
>
>     --Original Message-----
> From: nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Bryan Schulz
> Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 9:25 AM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] I-Phone could take the win out of KNFB Reader.
>
> hi,
>
> any chance these phones have an option for not having to pay 30-60 bucks a
> month?
>
> Bryan Schulz
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Olver" <goodfolks at charter.net>
> To: <Blindad at babel-fish.us>; <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: <msb-alumni at googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 7:17 AM
> Subject: [Nfbmo] I-Phone could take the win out of KNFB Reader.
>
>
>> the I phone will have an OCR  app soon.  thus no need to pay two grand 
>> for
>
>> the kurzweil reader , phone , and talks or moble speak.   the 3 g as well
>> as the new 4g phone will work with  this OCR software. and the I phone 
>> has
>
>> it's own speech software which is FREE. So  go and listen to the file
>> below and see for yourself.
>>
>> SayText is an app designed especially for the visually impaired and by 
>> the
>
>> way, it's free! In a few words to describe it's use, you need to place 
>> the
>
>> iPhone on the center of a document. There's a big button for starting the
>> tool, tap it. ?Slowly elevate the i Phohne upwards from the document 
>> until
>
>> you hear a beep sound - this indicates, that the document is now fully in
>> frame and the camera will shoot automatically, when the picture is stable
>> / focused. ?Now only thing you have to do, is to wait for a few seconds.
>> (You can tap the screen to hear the OCR progress, e.g. OCR 35%). ?When 
>> the
>
>> OCR is ready you can start the voiceover to read the document out loud.
>> The app should come to Appstore in a week or so. There is a website for
>> SayText:
>> http://www.docscannerapp.com/saytext/
>>
>> There's also a video, where Mr. Heikki Ekola, a totally blind person uses
>> it. He's representing the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired -
>> You can find the video here:
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlWJF27IdX4
>>
>> This video is also at the SayText homepage.
>> http://www.docscannerapp.com/saytext/
>>
>>
>> Fred Olver
>>
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>
>
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