Hi Scott, I think you would have to be numb not to be getting excited about off the shelf products right now. There's the Iphone/ITouch, apple computers, developments in Android, rockbox MP3 players, and new stuff coming every day, especially in terms of enhancements to what we've already got. The high functionality and low price point are astounding. I tend to take it on a case by case basis though. Everyone's need is so different. I love my rockbox sansa E270, but when I show it to clients, some of them their 80-year-old fingers are just too swollen and clumsy for the small control surface.
I've got a few seniors who've really taken to their mac computers, but when it comes to scanning, the off the shelf packages just don't have it. The price point is great, the results are accurate, but a 70-year-old guy looking for some ott to read his mail is just not going to be bothered futzing with scanner compatibility or scripting a sequence so that the three programs he needs to have working together come through for him. It's just not happenin. I'd handle it for them, but by time they get to me, they usually already have their kit, and if the scanner isn't compatible well that's that. If you give them something like the Kurzweil 1000 or the Eyepal, they can just walk up, place a document, hit the button, and get the info, which is what they need it to do. If I had a transcription service there's no way I'd be without an EyePal. Despite my reservations the product does what it's supposed to. Last year I had a client who was really interested in macs, and I would have loved to put her in front of a macbook for good. Unfortunately, she worked from home, and her company had spent $150 per hour on 10,000 lines of jaws scripting to make their custom software work. How can I really recommend that lady switch. She is totally locked in unless she quits that job or they totally overhall the company systems or something. There's just no way. Fortunately we have a funding system here to provide expensive kit to people who can't afford it. Unfortunately the system is completely corrupt and you need to do all kinds of madness to get the equipment that's right for you. All to many people simply take what they are offered and then find out later they would have preferred something else. But I think my biggest complaint with the proprietary AT manufacturers is not so much the high price point. Naturally I'd like to see that come down so that people could afford it and so that thieves can't steel as much from unwary blind people. My beaf is what I perceive to be a lack of respect for that pricepoint, a lack of value for money. Let's take the EyePal for example since that's my current project. One of my contacts is the head of sales for humanware north america, and you couldn't ask for a friendlier more supportive person. So she loaned me their demo EyePal knowing full well I planned to use it on my mac. When I got the unit, it didn't come with mac software. The windows software was 3 versions out of date, and the camera was the old 3 mpx version in stead of the 5 mpx version shipping with the current model. When I got back with her on the fact that what she gave me bore no resemblance to what I would actually be buying, she literally said to me, "well erik, what do you expect?" So I told her straight up that I expected a demo of a $2200 piece of kit to reflect the product, and that I thought it looked bad on the company. I also told her I wasn't going to show it to clients in the state it was in, since it crashed my virtual machine every 5 or 10 scans and was liable to give my clients flight responses. She told me straight up that she'd look into getting mac software, but that if ABISee wanted to charge humanware $150 for the mac version the company wouldn't pay because they couldn't guarantee a sale. So I told her I saw a need and could generate two leads for her in a month with mac software, but I could guarantee those two leads were going nowhere without a proper demo. And she shrugged and said she would see what she could do. Now, I want to make it clear that I like this person and think that as long as she makes her sales targets, she really wants to help clients. But I straight up haven't got any interest in doing business with a company that has a problem spending $150 to generate $4400 in sales. To me, that shows disrespect for the product and the client. We had a similar rangle over the Victor stream value pack, which I consider an insult to the consumer, especially the way they handled it. The attitude carries across the bord. I like GW-micro and think window-eyes is a great value for money, but even they have been known to throw it in the face of the blind consumer on occasion. One thing apple products do for blind consumers is provide a level of dignity to the consumer. Apple quietly goes about making products that support braille out of the box and not patting themselves on the back in public, blaring their horns at trade shows, making TV commercials about all the good they're doing... Just making stuff and letting people use it. Your Iphone is the same as everyone else's. You paid your money just like everyone else. You get served in the apple store just like anyone else, and if it's not perfect all the time, we can all harken back to three years ago when there was no such thing and no one has to write a press release and get their name in the paper over it. So what do I like about the proprietary stuff? Well, I love window-eyes, and we get a new release this year. Releases are few and far between which is good for my SMA, especially since the product manages to stay relevant while the next full version is in the works. Major releases also tend to offer up something huge, as with scripting in WE7. I'm not really sure why anyone tolerates fs licensing these days except for people like my huge scripting client. Brailliant and braille connect displays are pretty much the only choice here. Because of the funding, our only choices are alva bc640 brailliant/braille connect, and focus blue. Neither of the other two are anywhere near up to the build quality of the brailliant/braille connect. I love mine, though I won't be sorry to see it replaced by an electro-pollimer model of slate and stylus form factor. The video magnifiers out over the last 2 or 3 years have been very encouraging. Optelec seems to be the favourite here. I can't use one myself, but I can see the advantages over a standard magnifier or CCTV. I love what they did to the IDMate Summit. I'm also looking forward to what the EyePal can do with the 5 mpx camera. I think the personal notetaker is reaching the end of it's rope, which is unfortunate since so many people love and rely on them. I'm happy enough recommending either the braille sense or a braillenote apex. I'd personally like to see more people adopt the iphone and braille display but I think we're a ways away from seeing acceptance for that type of solution. I'm also not really sure how long the personal computer has left. What would you say, 5 years on the market and then another 5 on the longtail? I mean, it's tough to watch my brother flicking around on his htc desire android phone and believe there's much left for the computer except for possibly file serving or high end gaming. Where does the decline of the personal computer leave jaws and window-eyes? I just don't know, but I sort'a feel like off the shelf assistive technologies have a much better chance of keeping up with the pace of change than the old proprietary regime. It's a great time to be involved in AT no question about it. Best, Erik Burggraaf User support consultant, Now posting occasionally on twitter at eburggraaf, 1-888-255-5194 http://www.erik-burggraaf.com On 2011-01-22, at 4:21 PM, Scott Granados wrote: > As a trainor and someone whith his hands on the gear all the time who has the > best products right now? > > Is off the shelf the way to go from your viewpoint or is the specific blind > related products superior? > > > On Jan 22, 2011, at 1:16 PM, erik burggraaf wrote: > >> They did rebadge a lot of baum hardware which was a brilliant move from my >> perspective. At least, I don't like to think what a braille display in the >> mould of the victor or trekker lines would look like. >> >> Best, >> >> Erik Burggraaf >> User support consultant, >> Now posting occasionally on twitter at eburggraaf, >> 1-888-255-5194 >> http://www.erik-burggraaf.com >> >> On 2011-01-22, at 3:52 PM, Scott Granados wrote: >> >>> Or the blackberry products?:) >>> >>> Can anyone think of a product that Humanware managed well? >>> >>> On Jan 22, 2011, at 12:45 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote: >>> >>>> Good for Humanware if they're really going to do something like that but >>>> I'm not too sure I'd buy one of their products given what's happened with >>>> the Victor Reader stream, yep a great product when it came out but now? >>>> Well its slipped behind the times due to lack of development, other >>>> products have overtaken it and they're more flexible however here's not >>>> the time nor the place to discuss the streams strengths and weaknesses, >>>> strengths little and weaknesses now many <smile>. >>>> >>>> >>>> On 23/01/2011, at 3:52 AM, Michael Busboom wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi. Several months ago, when Humanware's European marketing manager >>>>> visited me here in Vienna, he told me that the company would soon be >>>>> introducing an OCR product that would work with the Mac. The user would >>>>> purchase a tripod/camera that would connect to the Mac through the USB >>>>> port and pages within a document would be scanned by taking "Snapshots." >>>>> >>>>> The scanning process was very fast, at least under Windows, and I was >>>>> assured that a similar system was almost finished for the Mac. If anyone >>>>> has tried out the system (I don't even remember what it was called) and >>>>> would be interested in sharing their impressions, it would be most >>>>> helpful. >>>>> >>>>> My best to all, >>>>> >>>>> Mike >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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