News
Perkins Announces that it will be participating in the late summer of 2008 with new Digital Players
-- The Victor Reader Stream.
Perkins is renowned for having built an expansive library of audio books on cassette tapes which enables countless people to access books for both leisure reading and education. But, since the world continues to move towards a digital environment, there has been a much greater demand for digital books. So, Perkins is jumping on the digital bandwagon by testing a new digital book reader, the Victor Reader Stream, in a few states including Massachusetts. They have about 200 of these readers to supply to participants and hope that dedicated members of Perkins will appreciate the new benefits of this new technology and supply Perkins with their feedback. Over the next couple of years Perkins hopes to build their supply, but inititally there will not be enough machines for everyone to use. Veterans will be given first priority.
The Victor Reader Stream is a new and versatile digital book reader. Just like its predecessor, the Victor Reader Wave, it utilizes the same ergonomic controls that make it fast and easy to navigate through talking books - but there is one big difference between them. The Victor Reader Wave can only play Daisy and commercial audio CD formats with about 8-9 hours of battery life. The Stream does not play CDs, however, it pushes further into the digital realm by playing back digital daisy format files, MP3s, NISO, and digital text files such as (.txt) and (.doc) files. These files are stored on a Secure Digital (SD) flash card which are available in capacities ranging from 256 MB to 16GB - so it is now possible to carry the equivalent of a shelf full of books in the palm of your hand. It features a built-in text-to-speech voice synthesizer that reads text files to you and helps you navigate through options. The battery life has been increased to 15 hours of non-stop playback.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/dtb_players/compact_
models/_details/id_81/victorreader_stream.html
Disney World helps the Visually Impaired experience attractions like never before
Recently, the Walt Disney Company has been allowing some visually impaired guests to test new Hi-Tech descriptive audio narration devices around the EPCOT park. This news was brought to my attention through a very popular weekly Disney Internet Radio Show Podcast called “Inside the Magic” which in its 150th episode, featured an informative segment covering this device from a man who was able to use it hands-on. This device is about the same size as a PDA and uses earphones to provide astonishingly accurate descriptions of participating attractions from when you first enter the cue line to when you get off the ride. This device is available from Guest Relations and is completely free to use. For now the participating attractions include “Journey into Imagination with Figment”, “Honey I Shrunk the Audience”, “Impressions de’France”, “American Adventure”, and “Reflections of China.” The narrating voice is peppy and exciting, but does not interrupt your experience at all - it simply describes to you what you cannot pick up with audio cues, and feels so natural that you can easily forget you are listening to a narration while enjoying your experience in the attraction.
Here is a link to show number 150 of “Inside the Magic” .Here you can listen to the segment about the device which you will find near the middle of the podcast.
Bionic Eye
News on the internet recently states that U.S. researchers have begun to explore the possibility of implanting the prototype of a “bionic eye” device in fifty to seventy five patients. It is called the Argus II system, and it uses a camera that is mounted upon the frame of your glasses that transmits visual information to electrodes implanted in your eye, at the back of the retina. It is hoped that this device can be refined enough to partially restore sight for people with particular forms of blindness caused by diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, or macular degeneration.
A Feel for Art
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts is featuring a new exhibit called “Seeing What I Feel”. The exhibit is the work of students from the Perkins School for the Blind. Through a special program at the museum the students from Perkins School were able to touch, smell, or see artwork in the museum and then return to their classrooms to create pieces based upon their experience at the museum. These pieces made by the students are now on display at the museum.
American Flag in Braille
Blind Americans are not able to see the stars, stripes and colors of the American flag. However, one company in Wichita, Kansas is hoping to distribute a unique U.S. flag, made especially for them. The Kansas Braille Transcription Institute, has made an American flag in Braille. It informs the blind (using Braille) of the 50 stars, 13 stripes and colors that make up our nation's flag, and the Pledge of Allegiance is also on the flag. The institute is working with the local lawmakers in Kansas to see if t the flag can be distributed. They would also like to see it placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
More Accessibility with Mac OS X Leopard
One of the world’s most advanced and easy-to-use operating systems, Mac OS X Leopard, boasts several new facilities that take accessibility for the visually impaired to a new level. Leopard features all the same accessibility tools that were available on Tiger, but picks up where it left off. A new, highly advanced synthesized speaking voice named “Alex” has been added that is much more accurate and understandable than the others that have existed in Mac OS for years. The biggest Improvement of all is the new Braille capabilities, which allow for quick and setup-free use of compatible USB Braille displays. It is so easy to use, it is literally plug in and go. There is no installation required and the Braille displays can even be used to aide in the installation of Leopard itself. So far, it is compatible with 30 different USB Braille displays. The built-in Voiceover screen reader and speech synthesis now work together better than ever with more options and capabilities that allow you to make much finer adjustments to screen navigation, the content that it speaks, and voice commands. Even better, all Apple computers now come pre-installed with Leopard, which makes it very convenient to have these powerful tools at your disposal straight out of the box. This means, that unlike PC computers, all of these capabilities come on board Leopard, saving you hundreds of dollars on additional software purchases.
Science for the Blind
Since the summer of 2004, the National Foundation of the Blind and the National Science Foundation has recognized the need for blind students in the science classroom to be able to participate in labs and experiments and enjoy the experience just as much as their sighted peers. They have teamed up to form the National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS). Up until now, there have been concerns about the safety of the blind students during their participation and uncertainty about how well they are able to learn without any visual aides. The simple solution to this is to take a more tactile approach to learning for these students and being able to supply them with the accessible tools they need to get the job done - such as beakers with braille measurements or talking graphing calculators. The NCBYS has set forward several goals to help these students achieve their highest potential. These include establishing an information resource center, provide educational opportunities, provide material support, and even a mentoring program. So, with this amount of assistance, blind students can now go beyond the limitations they faced in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
http://www.blindscience.org/ncbys/Default.asp
