[Tactile-Talk] List

Wed Apr 16 17:52:31 UTC 2025

As I said in my last mail the way they do buttons that are not moving parts is electro polemers.  Until they can get them to move fast and not over heat and not use to much current they are not going to be good.  Not to mention getting them to be small enough is hard.  Making big buttons are easy.  I have seen some electro polymers made out of liquid like metals and ceramics but we are not there yet.   

From: Tactile-Talk <tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of carcione--- via Tactile-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 1:30 PM
To: 'Tactile Talk for the discussion of the display and use of graphics on refreshable Braille platforms' <tactile-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: carcione at access.net
Subject: Re: [Tactile-Talk] List

Dan, do you know how that works?  What does a person feel, with no moving parts?  I suppose they could use haptics or something, but, at least for me, vibrations are not as clear as dots for understanding a pattern.
Tracy

From: Tactile-Talk <tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of dan.tevelde--- via Tactile-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 1:20 PM
To: 'Tactile Talk for the discussion of the display and use of graphics on refreshable Braille platforms' <tactile-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:tactile-talk at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: dan.tevelde at comcast.net <mailto:dan.tevelde at comcast.net> 
Subject: Re: [Tactile-Talk] List

I had the impression that he meant any moving parts. I remember reading at one time about technology which created virtual buttons. It was described using the acronym MEMS. A tech support person from my cell phone provider said it was a technology used to replace physical buttons which can break.

Dan

From: Tactile-Talk <tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Jenine Stanley via Tactile-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 11:54 AM
To: Tactile Talk for the discussion of the display and use of graphics on refreshable Braille platforms <tactile-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:tactile-talk at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: Jenine Stanley <jeninems at icloud.com <mailto:jeninems at icloud.com> >
Subject: Re: [Tactile-Talk] List

I’d be curious to know if he meant the piezoelectric pins or the little magnetic balls/pins used by the less expensive displays like the Orbit Reader. 

On Apr 16, 2025, at 12:14 PM, dan.tevelde--- via Tactile-Talk <tactile-talk at nfbnet.org <mailto:tactile-talk at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

Is this list still active? I haven’t seen any traffic lately. I’m interested in continuing the discussion of tactile displays. It was interesting reading a blog post by Kirk Adams describing his impressions of the CSUN conference. He noted that multi-line displays capable of displaying text and graphics are too expensive for the average consumer. I think we already knew that. It’s like any new technology. I remember the first Kurzweil reading machine was $50,000 and you only saw them at universities. Now we have reading machines in our pockets. I can use my phone or Meta glasses to read text. Could graphics displays become cheaper? I don’t know considering the situation with reduced public funding.

One comment Kirk made puzzled me. He said graphics displays should stop using pins. What would replace the pins? He should have explained what he meant which would have helped him make a case for his ideas.

Dan
_______________________________________________
Tactile-Talk mailing list
 <mailto:Tactile-Talk at nfbnet.org> Tactile-Talk at nfbnet.org
 <http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/tactile-talk_nfbnet.org> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/tactile-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Tactile-Talk:
 <http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/tactile-talk_nfbnet.org/jeninems%40icloud.com> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/tactile-talk_nfbnet.org/jeninems%40icloud.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/tactile-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250416/30bbc394/attachment.htm>