[Promotion-technology] Promotion-technology Digest, Vol 66, Issue 13

Fri Nov 27 23:45:12 UTC 2009

Please remove me from this list.Second request. Removal links don't
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work.

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Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 12:00 PM
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Subject: Promotion-technology Digest, Vol 66, Issue 13

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Today's Topics:

   1. Fw: Tectile mouse for blind computer users (Ed Meskys)
   2. Save With Serotek and Win! (Serotek Announcements)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:27:11 -0500
From: "Ed Meskys" <edmeskys at roadrunner.com>
Subject: [Promotion-technology] Fw: Tectile mouse for blind computer
	users
To: "NHBLIND-TALK NH Blind/Low Vision List"
	<NHBLIND-TALK at LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG>, 	"nfb-talk"
<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>,
	"nfb-promotion/evaluation technology list"
	<promotion-technology at nfbnet.org>
Message-ID: <4259A7EFF7A24582B39D3D876741BE58 at preferref1e8f1>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

Ed Meskys
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
edmeskys @ roadrunner.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Lerner" <Fred.Lerner at Dartmouth.EDU>
To: <edmeskys at roadrunner.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:21 PM
Subject: Tectile mouse for blind computer users

Ed,

This was in the Eonomist online today.

Fred

A tactile mouse helps blind people to use the internet

Tactile World

COMPUTERS have become such an integral part of life, in the rich world at
least,
that even social networking is done online. The blind, however, are often
excluded
from such interactions. Now a system has been developed to make it easier
for
blind people to navigate the internet, use word-processing software and even
trace
the shapes of graphs and charts. Its inventors hope it will enable more
blind
people to work in offices.

The system developed by staff at Tactile World, an Israeli company, uses a
device
that looks similar to a conventional computer mouse. On its top, however, it
has
two pads, each with 16 pins arranged in a four-by-four array. Software
supplied
with the mouse translates text displayed on the screen into Braille.

In traditional Braille, numbers and letters are represented by raised bumps
in
the paper of the page being read. The pins on the mouse take the role of
these
bumps. As the cursor controlled by the mouse is moved across the screen, the
pins
rise and fall to represent the text across which they are moving. One pad
represents
the character under the cursor, the other gives the reader information about
what
is coming next, such as whether it is a letter or the end of the word. This
advance
information makes interpretation easier. As the user reads the text, the
system
also announces the presence of links to other websites. And the user can
opt,
if he wishes, to have the computer read the whole text out loud.

The mouse's software has an "anchor" feature, to hold onto the line of text
that
is being read. Alternatively, a user can click a button on the mouse and the
text
will scroll along and run under his fingers without him having to move the
device.
Click here to find out more!

When he encounters a graph, map or other such figure, the pins rise when the
mouse
is on a line. The number of pins raised reflects the thickness of the line.
If
he strays from the line, the pins fall. He is thus able to trace, say, the
curve
of a graph or the border of a country. More complex diagrams can also be
interpreted.
Dark areas of maps, for example, can be represented by raising all the pins,
while
light areas are places where all the pins are dropped.

Not only is the tactile mouse more advanced than existing technologies for
blind
people, it is also cheaper than existing Braille readers, which plug into a
computer
and typically display 40 Braille characters at a time. The tactile mouse
costs
$695, rather than $3,500-8,000 for a Braille reader.

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:35:02 -0600
From: Serotek Announcements <noreply at serotek.com> (by way of David
	Andrews	<dandrews at visi.com>)
Subject: [Promotion-technology] Save With Serotek and Win!
To: promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
Message-ID: <auto-000128494895 at mailfront1.g2host.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed

The day after Thanksgiving, now known as "Black 
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/_details/id_81/victorreader_stream.html>Victor 
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or the 
<http://www.plextalk.com/in/ptp1/index.html>PLEXTALK 
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    * System Access Mobile Network For $129 per year or $14.95 per month.

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a third portable U3 license to use on any computer,

access to the SA Mobile Network, Eloquence and DECtalk text-to-speech,

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There are no long-term contracts, so you can 
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For $80 plus shipping, add a light, portable CanoScan USB scanner.

    * Surfboard all-in-one computer with System 
Access and 1 year of SAMNet starts at $999

At about the size of a PC keyboard, the unit is 
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in the front, and 2.5 inches high in the back, and weighs 7.4 pounds.

6 USB ports, 2 1394 FireWire ports, up to 3.2 GHz 
processor, up to 2GB main memory, and up to 250GB 
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    * Netbooks Start at $799 with Speech, or $599 Without

Netbooks currently offered include: the Lenovo 
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The winner will be announced Tuesday, December 1st at 10 AM Eastern U.S.

If you have an account with either samobile.net or satogo.com, go to

<https://secure.samobile.net/login.html?next_url=/signup/order_start>https:/
/secure.samobile.net/login.html?next_url=/signup/order_start

If you have never created an account with samobile.net or satogo.com, go to

<https://secure.samobile.net/signup/account_info.html>https://secure.samobil
e.net/signup/account_info.html

To order by phone, call either Friday, November 
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10 AM and 10 PM Eastern U.S. at 866-202-0520.

So give yourself, or someone you care about the 
holiday gift of accessibility anywhere!

And while doing so, you might just win your 
choice of either a Victor Reader Stream, or a 
PLEXTALK Pocket; from Serotek corporation, where 
low prices and great support make every day Black Friday.

------------------------------

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End of Promotion-technology Digest, Vol 66, Issue 13
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