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September-October 2005 Volume 4 Issue 5 - @Freedom Scientific Newsletter @Freedom Scientific is a free newsletter packed with the latest information about Freedom Scientific technology. Please feel free to send us your feedback.
SARA 7.5 Update Brings More Exciting New Scanning and Reading FeaturesUsers are calling the Freedom Scientific SARA™ the ultimate scanning and reading appliance for blind and low vision users. Now, the newest SARA update adds even more great features. Since the release of the SARA, users have commented on its ease of use, with operation so simple that it can be used right out of the box, with little or no experience - and no cables to connect, no installation or configuration of software necessary. By pressing one button, the SARA scans a page from a novel, magazine, typed doctor’s instructions, and many other types of documents and automatically reads in a clear, natural-sounding voice. The SARA even reads text produced in other languages. All of the SARA’s functions are easily accessible through a simple, intuitive keypad. The Help function can be toggled to provide a learning mode in which users can press the keyboard’s various keys and hear their functions.Users can attach a monitor to the SARA, turning it into a powerful low vision reading device with a variety of fonts and font sizes for easy reading of documents on the screen. The foreground and background color settings can be adjusted to reduce eye fatigue while reading. Built-in spacing settings increase the amount of space between characters, words, lines, and sentences to help separate the currently highlighted text from other document text. Word highlighting synchronizes with the built-in speech to highlight each word as it is spoken. The 7.5 update includes many more enhancements:
All of these features are packed into a device that is one of the most affordable scanning and reading appliances on the market. All current SARA owners will be sent the 7.5 update. If you have a SARA and do not get the update by the end of September, please contact Freedom Scientific at 1-800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000. You can learn more about the SARA by visiting the Freedom Scientific Web site SARA scanning and reading appliance page or by contacting our Sales department at the number listed above. Return to Top from First Story
Now Available: MAGic 9.50 Screen Magnification Software UpdateMAGic screen magnification software, when combined with JAWS 6.20, creates an unbeatable total screen access solution, with both speech and magnification. The new MAGic 9.50 update, a free update for MAGic 9.x users, adds even more features:
For a complete list of enhancements and fixes, and to download the update, visit the MAGic 9.50 Update page on the Freedom Scientific Web site. Return to Top from Second Story
New from the Training Department: MAGic Basic Training in DAISY FormatNew with the release of MAGic 9.50 comes almost one hour of basic training in DAISY format, with both text and audio. Now you can read through the MAGic Basic Training or listen to narrated audio with the included FSReader Demo DAISY reader. The training covers the basics of customizing MAGic to suit specific low vision needs. Topics include:
The MAGic Basic Training is available on the MAGic 9.50 program CD. While it is not included in the MAGic 9.50 download package, you can download the MAGic Basic Training as a separate file by going to the MAGic 9.50 Update Page. Return to Top from Third Story
Why I Love the PAC Mate: an Interview with the NFB’s James GashelA little over one year ago, James Gashel, Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives with the National Federation of the Blind, switched to using a PAC Mate. He chose the PAC Mate for its portability, because he could synchronize it with his desktop computer, and because it seemed more like a direct replication of the Windows® system, among other reasons. He stayed with PAC Mate for those attributes and also for its wireless capabilities and the PAC Mate’s stability. Below is the text of an interview with Jim Gashel about the PAC Mate: Interviewer: What work is
involved in your position on a day-to-day basis as Executive Director
for Strategic Initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind? Interviewer: We know you use a PAC Mate. What model PAC Mate do you have? James Gashel: I have a BX440 PAC Mate with a 40-cell braille display. Interviewer: When did you get your PAC Mate? James Gashel: I got my PAC Mate in June of 2004 … so it’s been about 14 months that I’ve had it. Interviewer: What other accessibility solutions have you used to assist you in the functions that the PAC Mate now performs? James Gashel: Going way back, I started using Braille ’n Speak when it first became available in 1987. I used it for many years until I started using the Braille Lite in about 1999. Then I switched over and used a BrailleNote for about 13 months. That’s when I switched to the PAC Mate. Interviewer: Why did you switch to the PAC Mate? James Gashel: A couple of considerations led me to switch to the PAC Mate. One was, at least at that time and it still could be true, the advantages of synchronization with a computer, in particular being able to access my e-mail. I use the PAC Mate very often for my e-mail and for accessing information from the Internet and from my office PC when I'm away from the office. It’s more convenient for me to use ActiveSync and use the PAC Mate as an extension of my PC. With the BrailleNote, I had to enter my e-mail addresses, contacts, etc. into several different systems or pieces of equipment. With the PAC Mate, I can synchronize with my PC for my addresses, contacts, and information, so I only have to enter information once, and I can get at it whenever I want, whether I’m in the office or away. The PAC Mate also appeared to me to provide a close replication of the Windows® system, more of a natural extension of Windows and the PC desktop. The BrailleNote did what it was supposed to do, but it was not totally preferable for what I wanted to do. Interviewer: How did you learn about the PAC Mate? James Gashel: I heard about the PAC Mate through involvement in my work at the NFB headquarters. Others in the NFB knew about the PAC Mate, and we talked about it. To be honest, I was not an early adopter (of the PAC Mate), and I’m not usually an early adopter of technology. I usually like to wait for new technology to stabilize and get all the kinks out of it. So you might say that I’m a little bit of a Johnny Come Lately to the PAC Mate, although I definitely was an early adopter of the Braille ‘n Speak. Now, I find the PAC Mate to be very stable. Interviewer: What exactly do you mean by stable? James Gashel: What I mean by stability is, do I have my data when I need it? Do I lose information, and is there a lot of downtime in recovering things I have lost? The PAC Mate is very stable in this way. Even though I don’t recall any significant loss of data with the PAC Mate I have, I do recognize that it is a Pocket PC, and the way to protect yourself from losing information, as with any Pocket PC, is by doing ordinary, day-to-day back ups. I have Sprite Backup, and that has been very helpful. Normally, I have a Flash card with two or three days of back up, so I can always go back and recover anything that I might lose, even though I’ve never really experienced a loss of data with this PAC Mate. Interviewer: What are the main features that sold you on the PAC Mate? James Gashel: I think at that time, the ability to be wireless on the Internet with the PAC Mate was certainly a consideration for me. I move around a lot. One of the things I looked for is that the PAC Mate could be equipped with a wireless card, so I could be many, many places where there is a wireless hub, and I could get on the Internet when I needed to, look at my e-mail, and get to my work files. One of the things that PAC Mate has going for it that I especially like is that you can go from a hyperlink within an e-mail message right to a Web site. The PAC Mate will do that. Many times in my job, e-mail messages are sent to me as a guide to something for me to look at on a particular Web site. I use this information as a legislative research tool. Also, with the PAC Mate, I have acquired technology that allows me to use the PAC Mate with a cell phone and be totally mobile. Whether I am riding in a car, sitting in an airport, or whatever, I simply use the PAC Mate combined with a cell phone, and I’m on the Internet. With the combination of WiFi and Bluetooth®, the PAC Mate was the choice to make. Interviewer: Can you give me an example of how PAC Mate’s dependability has served you? James Gashel: Obviously, you have to have access to data when you need it, and I get that with the PAC Mate. If I have to spend time after time recovering information that I have lost, I am not going to use that piece of equipment. Dependability is critical to me. I say that, but I also want to emphasize that the most important part of dependability is for the user to take responsibility for protecting the data and backing it up. Interviewer: Before using the PAC Mate, did you consider yourself to be technologically well versed? James Gashel: I don’t believe I am technologically well versed as far as understanding what’s under the hood. Certainly, I have learned some of the terminology used in computer speak, but I am a consumer in this technology, not a technology expert. I rely on technology whether it’s a cell phone or PAC Mate. Having access to both written and oral communication wherever I go is essential for me to do my job. If I’m out of the office or have a day traveling on business, I can read and respond to e-mail even if I’m not at the office, and that is critical to me. Interviewer: Given that you’re not a technology “expert,” tell us about your PAC Mate learning experience. James Gashel: Learning the PAC Mate was not too hard for me. I had used the Braille ’n Speak and Braille Lite, so I was certainly familiar with using this kind of technology, and that contributed to me learning the PAC Mate fairly quickly. I spent a little time reading the Quick Start Guide as I recall, just to sort of know how this system was different and how to get it set up. I think I may have used the Help files one or two times for questions about how it operates. I also had wonderful tech support from Freedom Scientific to answer my questions. For the first month or so, just in setting things up and making them work right, I had a fair amount of interaction with Freedom Scientific, looking for help to teach me all the different things I would need to know. As with any computer, you need to know how to set it up if you want to get full value out of it. You need to invest effort and time up front to find out what it does, and how to get the most power out of the technology. I will say that the support I received from Freedom Scientific was excellent. Interviewer: On a typical day, how might you put your PAC Mate to work for you? James Gashel: My PAC Mate is constantly synced up to the PC at my work, so that when I leave my office at the end of the day and I carry the PAC Mate out, it has all the e-mail I have not addressed during the day and is a replica of all the things I have on my PC at work. I use it to look up addresses of contacts, for instance, or finish something up from work. Also, I find it more convenient to read a contact or address in braille than listen to it on the PC, so in that way I guess I use my PAC Mate as a braille display, too. Interviewer: What other ways does the PAC Mate enrich your daily life, both in your work and personal life? Do you play games on it, listen to music, or read books? James Gashel: I use it some for containing personal data, but I don’t do that very much. My wife says my work is my personal life, so maybe that’s why. I do not do games on the PAC Mate, and I have not used the FSReader at all for reading books. I do understand that it is a very powerful and effective tool. Someone sent me an e-mail on that last week, and said it is a great way to read newspapers from the NFB-NEWSLINE. I think I’ve read one book in Windows Media Player. I might listen to music occasionally. The PAC Mate is a very hard working machine, and mostly, I use it for work. I don’t want to say it’s not a pleasure to use the PAC Mate. I do enjoy using it … and I enjoy my work, too. Interviewer: What one or more PAC Mate features could you not live without? James Gashel: Portability is the PAC Mate feature that is of most value to me, that and the wireless and Bluetooth capabilities. And I wouldn’t see a reason for having a PAC Mate without the capability to synchronize it with the PC, so I don’t have to re-enter information over an over on several different systems. Interviewer: As you think about the future of the PAC Mate, what kind of functions would expand your use of the PAC Mate for work and leisure? James Gashel: One thing that I think the PAC Mate should be able to do, once the technology is completely developed, is to have a hand-held reader to record text digitally, and I would like the PAC Mate to be able to read it. Interviewer: If you were asked to recommend a notetaker/accessible Pocket PC to other professionals, would you recommend the PAC Mate? What benefits would you especially emphasize? James Gashel: I would certainly recommend the PAC Mate. I do think people should check out whatever is out there and see what they like. For some people, size is an important consideration. The PAC Mate may be on the larger end of the size scale, and some people might like something smaller, but there are sacrifices to make to the end of choosing on size. PAC Mate is certainly portable, and plus it has the factor of being a replication of the PC, and having the capability of having wireless and Bluetooth - all the things I consider to make the PAC Mate the PDA for the blind and that put the user closest to the experience that sighted people have with their PCs. Return to Top from Fourth Story
2005 Braille Challenge™ Finalists are Awarded PAC Mate Accessible Pocket PCsFreedom Scientific helped promote the importance of braille literacy this summer by awarding six PAC Mate BX400 accessible Pocket PCs at the 2005 Braille Challenge finals, held June 25 in Los Angeles, California. The Braille Institute of America presents the annual Braille Challenge for students in grades 1 through 12. The purpose of the event is to motivate students to become better braille readers. The challenge tests students’ braille skills in a variety of categories, including spelling, reading comprehension, and proofreading. Depending on their grade level, students compete at one of five academic levels, with a winner selected from each level. The 2005 winners in each level are:
For the first time, a teacher award was presented for demonstrating outstanding skills in teaching braille to visually impaired students. Anna Swenson of the Fairfax County Public School System in Virginia was honored with the first Teacher of the Year award. For more details on the Braille Challenge, visit the Braille Challenge Web site. To learn more about the PAC Mate and the many great features it offers to help students excel in school, check out the Teacher's Curriculum for the PAC Mate available on the Freedom Scientific Web site. Return to Top from Fifth Story
National Science Foundation Grant Brings JAWS Access to the Chemistry LabAccess to a good education is imperative for blind students. Now even the tools used in chemistry classes have become more accessible, thanks to JAWS and a National Science Foundation grant. With funding from the National Science Foundation Research in Disabilities Education (NSF-RDE) a JAWS scripting initiative has been launched to develop scripts for a software interface known as Logger Pro 3.3. Logger Pro 3.3 is a software interface developed by the Vernier Software and Technology Company in Beaverton, Oregon. This application is used to collect lab data from a device called a Lab Pro which can be interfaced via USB to a PC and then connected to a variety of laboratory probes, including a pH meter, thermometer, conductivity detector, oxygen detector, etc. Logger Pro collects the data from the Lab Pro in a Cartesian graphical representation or a data table, which can be configured by each individual user. Using the JAWS scripts, the student can read the rows and columns of data tables. The tables are fully accessible with speech or a refreshable braille display. In addition, by performing a simple keystroke, the student can hear what probes are currently connected to the Lab Pro and are collecting data. Logger Pro can also be used with an Ohaus balance, a device for measuring different units of weight, enabling the student using JAWS to have a “talking balance.” The initiative to develop JAWS scripts for Logger Pro 3.3 is part of a project titled, “Tools and Techniques to Enhance a Blind Student's Participation in High School Level and General Chemistry Laboratory Classes.” “It is the hope of this project to give blind and visually impaired students the tools to more directly interact with data acquisition in the laboratory,” said Cary Supalo, a blind graduate student at Pennsylvania State University who has been involved with the development of the scripts. “We hope these tools will change the traditional passive role of a blind student’s participation in a laboratory to a more active role. We hope that by giving blind students more access to their own data acquisition, it will spark more interest by the blindness community to seek career paths in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.“ The Vernier product line is available in the majority of high school chemistry laboratories across the country. These interfaces are also used in the general chemistry setting at the college level. JAWS users who are enrolled in chemistry classes should ask their laboratory course coordinators about the Vernier product line, and specifically Logger Pro 3.3. Future Logger Pro upgrades are forthcoming, and JAWS scripts will be created for these future versions. For more information about this research project or about the JAWS scripting for Logger Pro 3.3, please contact Cary Supalo at cary@chem.psu.edu. Return to Top from Sixth Story
JAWS 7.0 Revealed in the Lone Star State
Join Eric Damery, Freedom
Scientific Vice President of Product Management Software, and Bobby
Lakey, Regional Sales Manager for Freedom Scientific, in Austin,
Texas on September 28, as they demonstrate all of the exciting
new features and enhancements in the upcoming JAWS 7.0 release.
This
session will take place from 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM at the Marriott
Hotel South, Ball Room A. The address for the Marriott is 4415
S. IH35, Austin, Texas 78744.
To reserve your seat,
contact Bobby Lakey today at 469-360-1143 or 1-800-444-4443,
ext. 1122. Further details can be found on the Freedom
Scientific Events page. Return to Top from Seventh Story
WYNN 4.0 ReleasedThe Freedom Scientific Learning Systems Group (LSG), developer of innovative software for individuals with learning disabilities and reading challenges, has released WYNN 4.0. WYNN is a dynamic literacy tool that transforms printed text into understandable information for readers of all ages and abilities. The standalone version of WYNN 4.0 is currently shipping, and the Network version of WYNN 4.0 will debut in the fall. WYNN 4.0 is full of exciting new features, including:
Please contact the Freedom Scientific Learning Systems Group by phone at (888) 223-3344 x119 or by e-mail at wynn@freedomscientific.com to learn more about WYNN 4.0. You also can visit the Learning Systems Group Web site to learn more about all our learning products. If you would like to schedule a live presentation of the new features in WYNN 4.0 using GoToMeeting, you may do so by contacting an LSG Regional Manager. Read a description of the GoToMeeting service on the LSG Resources page. Return to Top from Eighth Story
GET A FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP TO AUDIBLE.COMEnjoy daily audio subscriptions to national newspapers, weekly business and science magazines, and more than 6,000 audio books with a trial membership to Audible.com®. Users of Freedom Scientific’s industry-leading assistive technology products, including JAWS® for Windows® and the PAC Mate™, are eligible for a free trial membership to sample from 34,000 hours of valuable spoken word audio. To learn more, go to our Audible.com information page.
Freedom Scientific's mission is to develop, manufacture, and market innovative technology-based products and services that those with vision impairments and learning disabilities use to change their world. @Freedom Scientific is published by Those having hardware or software technical support queries can address them to Support at FreedomScientific.com
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