It’s About Time!

Hey there everybody! I’m back after another hiatus. But this time it was due to a computer virus that I picked up somewhere along the road. Actually that is only part of the story. The other part is that System Access to Go was not picking up everything in Avira, my anti-virus program of choice. But in order to find this out, I had to call the office where I work and ask our tech guru to come over here. He is fully-sighted and he’s someone I have known and been friends with ever since he came on board not long ago. He came over here and trouble-shot with me for awhile. He asked me if I was able to access the results that Avira displays as text upon completion of a scan. Aha! Therein lied my problem! So he manually started a scan, and several nasties were found. I then thanked him and he left after awhile, and told me to call the office if I had any more problems. I went and grabbed the latest version of Non-Visual Desktop Access. Those of you who are unaware of the NVDA screen reader, just head on over to http://www.nvda-project.org and check it out. It is free and it is excellent. And yes, it reads Avira’s results just fine, as well as the results of Malware Bytes. So that is my excuse for this time. Now on with the show.

Klango 3.1. That’s right, Klango version 3.1 was released during my absence. I was finally able to get it working this afternoon. There are some great new features in this release, as well as everything contained in previous versions of the software. Numerous bugs have been squashed as well. So to those of you registered on Klango but who are still using versions prior to 3.1, now’s your chance to upgrade. One more thing. There are now a few paid-for features of the software. This shouldn’t, however, discourage people from using K3.1 . I don’t even know all the details of this payment option, but I don’t think the devs are charging a huge amount. It seems that most of the features which we Klangans/Klanganettes have come to know and love, are still free for all to use. So that is all I know about K3.1 at this time.

Biology. Some of you have asked me how my biology class is going. The answer is that it is going quite well, although I did not do so well on Exam 1. This was due to a few things which I will not get into here. Nevertheless, I have been studying a lot for exam 2. My professor said that his exams are cumulative. This means that future exams will cover not only new stuff which we are learning, but they will also cover material from the previous chapters in our textbook. This professor has continued to make raised diagrams of things in the book, so that I can be successful in his class. As a matter of fact, he is being publically recognized for doing this. These diagrams have been a big help to me, and will continue to be a big help to me. Well, I think that’s all for this entry. I need to finish my grocery list, otherwise I’ll have nothing in the house and you know how that feels I’m sure. Live long and prosper!

Another Update from the Trenches

Hi everybody. I’m back again as you can see. First off I want to talk science. Last Saturday, which happened to be my birthday, I started my biology course at the local community college. My professor asked me to come in early to meet with him, so I did that. We discussed a few things, namely what all he could do to make the class worthwhile and fun for me. The discussion was frank, and he was very receptive. Then all the students came, and class started. My aid couldn’t be there, so my mom ended up being my lab partner. The professor had absolutely no problem with this. One thing he did–which my mom and I appreciated very much–was to provide me with a raised drawing he made of two cells side by side. The rest of the day went very well. My books came to me on two flash drives, and I also got a CD-ROM containing other study material. This was my first-ever experience with flash drives, and they seem to work quite well on my system here at the pad. So I think I can say with a great deal of certainty that this class will be everything the professor hopes it will be. The other thing I would like to talk about here is System Access. I am almost done with my trial, and I have made the final decision. I’m going with Serotek’s Build a Bundle option. You just can’t beat the price, and I think what they’ve done is awesome! My honest opinion is that System Access will someday take the assistive technology market by storm, as will Klango. Speaking of which, rumor has it that K3.1 is coming out next week. Now I’m not usually one to spread rumors, but this one just seemed too good to pass up.

The Inclusive Planet

Hey folks. Nope, this is not an announcement of a new planet that was added to our solar system. But this entry is to let everyone know who doesn’t, that a website was just launched at http://www.inclusiveplanet.com . I just registered on there and it’s pretty cool. It’s another social-networking site. But unlike Facebook, Twitter and some others it has no CAPTCHA.

Rock ‘n Roll’s History, as told by Mr. Bill Drake

Hey all! For anyone who is familiar with Serotek’s SAM Network but hasn’t yet downloaded it, there is something very cool that I’d like to share with you. There is actually a 52-part History of Rock ‘n Roll contained in the Entertainment portion of the SAM Network. This is just one of many great features. I won’t bother with an explanation here because I think people can guess what a “History of Rock ‘n Roll” is. However, please do take a listen if you’re like me and are a fan of this genre of music. Bill Drake has done a terrific job of chronicling its history, plus there is an added bonus. The songs are for the most part, actually played in their entirety.

The History of Serotek

Hi everybody. This is just a short entry to let y’all know that part 1 of Serotek’s history has just been uploaded to their podcast. Those outside of Klango can get there by typing in http://www.serotalk.com . For those of us using the mighty Klango however, the history is in the media catalog under Serotalk Blog and Podcast. I’ve also got a link to them in my blogroll, for the sake of convenience. I already listened to all of part 1, and I will tell you it is very well-done. I’m assuming part 2 is not far behind and will post to this very space once it becomes available.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I know some of you have probably already seen the ball drop. I hope that 2010 brings only good things to everyone, like Klango and JJ’s List. Enough said on the Klango front, as I have discussed that at length. However, what I would like to do is to sincerely thank the development team. Without you great guys none of this would be possible. So thank you thank you thank you, and I just know we’re going to see more and more improvements in 2010. Now, to JJ’s List. My hope is that more and more people will flock to our site and create profiles, and review businesses. JJ’s List is a great advocacy tool. Not only that, but it is also very useful for people who need to increase their technological skills. I am going to start doing more for the site. As for my time off, it was very nice. Santa was very good to me on Christmas, as he always has been. Or is Santa really a he? I’ll leave that question to you. But I got some wonderful presents, and it was great to see all the fam again, and as always there was plenty of good food and drink to consume. I was more or less back and forth, but I don’t live far from my folks’ house so it was no big deal. Next week I have to return to work. Normally people would dread going back to work, school, etc. But not me.

JJ’s List Now on Twitter!

Hi peeps! This is just a short entry to let everyone know that doesn’t, that as of a few nights ago, JJ’s List made its debut on Twitter. You may follow us at JJsList. Actually, when I checked I found out that we had been on Twitter since October of this year. Something doesn’t sound right there but that’s fine by me.

Seasons Greetings

Seasons greetings to you all! Nope, I’ve not forgotten about the blog, I’ve just not had much time to update it. Hopefully all is well with everyone this holiday season. Like I mentioned I’ve been keeping pretty busy. I’ve been on Klango of course, and not surprisingly it continues to get better as time goes by. But Klango is just one of many things that have kept me busy during the past few weeks. JJ’s List, the website I’ve been working on where people review various types of businesses and services for disability awareness, has continued to grow. More and more people are finding out about our site, and that is indeed good. Those of you who haven’t checked us out, please stop by and say hello. Take a moment or two to post a review of whatever business/service you’d like. Did you have a horrible experience at your neighborhood diner? Or was the service at the local shoe store good? Well, these are the things we want to know about. Did your local barber shop have someone who totally ignored you/your son/daughter with a disability? We want to know. Whether you’re pregnant with your first-born, retired, or somewhere in between we want to hear from you. But reviews aren’t the only things you’ll find on our site. There are also several disability-related news articles and you may even make a donation if you’re feeling generous. There are a couple other goodies on there too.

I recently found out that I’m getting a new neighbor who is going to move in across the hall. Actually, he is someone from another of the Center for Independent Futures residential buildings. I’ve known him for a little while now and he’s a nice guy. So plans have gotten underway for him to move in. I’d like to end by wishing those of you who celebrate it, a very happy and safe Hanukkah.

Happy Turkey Day to All

Hi there. I’d like to take this tine to wish everyone who celebrates it, a most happy Thanksgiving. I know I’m doing this a bit early, but I’m busy this evening and tomorrow. I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon and probably won’t be back till next week. Maybe this weekend, we’ll see. But I hope everyone has a wonderful time, and don’t eat too much. I know I will, so don’t bother telling me not to eat too much ’cause it won’t work! And as far as what I am thankful for, well? One thing for certain is Klango. I won’t bother repeating what I have said already, but I will say this. Those who don’t have Klango and wish to download it, it’s calling your name loud and clear! Just look at the top of my main page and everything you’ll need is right there. Also JJ’s List is the other new thing for which I am thankful. Come visit us online if you haven’t already done so. The place to be is JJ’s List. Or you can just click on the link in my visiting card, which is right before my blog. We here at JJ’s List have certainly made great progress since we went live earlier this year, and that is certainly something to be thankful for. Plus, I tested the site out using Klango’s Quick Web View, a built-in web browser of sorts.

My Thoughts on the KNFB Reader

Good day to everybody. About a week ago I attended part of a transition conference mainly geared at teachers of students with disabilities throughout Illinois. I went representing JJ’s List, and I was accompanied by two other people. In addition to teachers and a few parents who have family members with disabilities, there were a couple vendors and other companies in attendance. One of these was a local vendor of assistive technology. I had the privilege of going over to his table and getting my hands on a few pieces of assistive technology, some of which I remember from my high-school days. But one device I saw which stood out in my mind was the KNFB Reader. For those that don’t know, this is a reading device that is actually a collaboration of the National Federation of the Blind’s technology division and Ray Kurzweil, inventor of the Kurzweil line of products popular among the blindness community. The KNFB Reader is actually a cell phone with features built into it. The following is a press release I received:

KNFB Reading Technology, Inc., is pleased to announce the latest breakthrough in print accessibility. We have developed software which places the functionality of a reading machine into a multifunction cell phone. The KNFB Reader Mobile can be activated and ready to use with the touch of a single button on the phone. The user takes a photo of the print to be read and the character recognition software in conjunction with high-quality text-to-speech will read the contents of the document aloud. At the same time, it can display the print on the phone’s screen in large print if needed and highlight each word as it is spoken. In addition the user can snap pictures and read in Spanish or French as well as translate between languages.

Features:
Reading modes for books, articles, and labels; bills and memos.
Synchronized text highlighting.
Text navigation by sentence, word and character.
Import/export text files.
Automatic OR manual saving of documents and image files.
Transfers files to and from PC’s.
Automatic screen rotation for portrait and landscape reading.
Save settings to and from memory card.
U.S. currency recognition.*
Field of View Report for training.
comes with earbuds for private listening.

For phone usage, US user would need to be signed up with AT&T or T-Mobile. With the use of an optional screen reader, the user can access other features of the phone device including personal information management such as contacts, calendar, etc. Phone also supports accessible GPS programs, access to Adobe pdf files, voice recorder, music player and much more.

Specifications:
Operating System: Symbian S60, 3rd Ed, Fp1.
Supported phone models: Nokia N82 and 6220 Classic.
Supported languages: US or UK English, Spanish, French and others.
On-phone free flash storage: 50 Mb required.
Flash card storage: up to 500 images per Gb.
Memory: 40 Mb free RAM required.
Camera: 5 megapixel, autofocus with xenon flash.
Accessories included.
Training page.
Polarizers for camera and flash.
Earbud headset.
Other accessories available.
Phone case.
Additional languages.
Accessibility software (Talx or MobileSpeak).
GPS software.

Documentation:
Includes print and on-device help files. Braille available by request*.
Software upgrades.
One year from date of software activation. (Note: I’m assuming they’re referring to warranty, but I’m not positive.)

Pricing:
$1345– Includes KNFB Reader software and Nokia N82 hardware ready to use.
For an additional $300?: 2 additional languages.
Also for an additional $300? Talx or MobileSpeak accessibility software.
For an additional $400?: Wayfinder GPS software (requires MobileSpeak or Talx).
For an additional $145?: Bluetooth keyboard.

Judging from this press release, I’d say this is a very hefty price to pay! In addition, I read online that this is normally the price of an HD TV. So I have to ask, why this steep cost when all this is is a mere cell phone with all the software installed on it? You will also notice that I put an asterisk by two of the features mentioned above. First, let’s talk about the Braille documentation which is only available if the user requests it. It is not free, in other words, despite the fact that the National Federation of the Blind is a big believer in Braille. This seems rather contradictory indeed, doesn’t it? The other asterisked feature is the currency identification. Many readers will probably recall a lawsuit that was filed against the US Treasury Department brought on behalf of the American Council of the Blind not too long ago. Well, upon further investigation of this currency issue, I discovered that the National Federation of the Blind, who formerly supported accessible paper currency, have since jumped ship and are now saying we don’t need it. Then they turn right around and come out with a currency identifier? No matter what your position is on accessible currency, this is a big slap in the face. In addition, why did the NFB act like a bunch of babies? Why can’t they just grow the heck up? I tell you, it’s things like this that have caused me not to join an organization. I mean, what the hell are these longtime NFB leaders thinking! The ACB won/is winning their case, so just deal with it! You NFB people were in favor of accessible paper currency to begin with, and now you’re not just because you didn’t come out the winners? I’m sorry folks, but this is what I call childish behavior. But anyway, back to our regularly-scheduled program. I’ve been reminded time and time again that the NFB has done some good things. This is a true statement. As a matter of fact, the NFB and the ACB have collaborated on a few things here and there which is good to see but admittedly rather shocking. However, a lot of their thinking is just very distorted and one has to wonder where on Earth their thought processes come from at times.

Having said all that, I don’t think I’ll be seen with a KNFB Reader very soon. I think I’ll just stick to Klango for now, and perhaps down the road a bit I’ll get a thumb drive so that I can take Klango on the go! And as for the currency thing, well….I guess it remains to be seen what solution I’ll pick if I pick any at all. But I would like to thank this vendor for providing me with a Braille copy of the press release, at no cost to me.