Computer Training & Sales/Disability Consulting 464 Sylvania Avenue phone (215) 572-5882 Glenside, PA 19038-3629 fax (215) 572-6045 OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS May 7, 1998 It is time once again for that informal document I call a newsletter. Your itinerant scribe has just returned from the CSUN conference in sunny California where, aside from the beautiful weather, I had a chance to learn much. Probably one of the most fascinating items of discussions and workshops for me, avid reader that I am, was the work being done on digital talking books. Imagine the ability to only carry one cd disk per book when you travel, to jump to a given spot in the text, to get the spelling of a word or name when wanted, the convenience of not having a cassette break when you're just at the most crucial moment in the book. Alas! The most optimistic projection for this technology to hit the market, even in a limited amount, is four years from now. Probably the leader producing books with this technology in the United States will be Recording for the Blind. Also, did you hear that loud sigh of impatience, the first use will probably be text books and not the trashy novels into which your author loves to escape. I guess I'll just have to continue to take five books along when I travel in case a cassette breaks in the middle of one I'm reading. Ok, I know, this is supposed to be about computers, peripherals and adaptive technology. Let me quit these mental peregrinations and get on with updates. PRODUCT UPDATES ARKENSTONE It was an enjoyable experience to attend a session at CSUN called "Dueling Scanners." The main contenders were Omni and Openbook, and although the results from the judges are not in yet, Arkenstone did very well. Soon to be released is WYNN, (What You Need Now), a program developed for persons with learning disabilities. It will be released in two versions: 1. The full version, cost $995.00; and 2. A version called WYNN Reader which will have all of the features of WYNN except Optical Character Recognition. Although you can't scan with this version all of the reading and learning tools of WYNN are available for use with files already on your computer. The planned release date is the end of May or early June, cost $399.00. The Arkenclone no longer sells as a separate computer. It is now part of the Sound Blaster reading system. The computer has been upgraded to a 233 mhz, with a 3gb hard drive, 32mb of ram, a 24 speed cdrom drive, a 56k fax modem, a Sound Blaster 16 with text assist as the speech synthesizer and Windows 95. The unit including the Arkenclone, a 5100 HP scanner and Openbook Unbound software ships with a full keyboard and costs $2943.00. DecTalk Access32, the software speech synthesizer, now works with both Atlas Speaks and Openbook Unbound. Don't forget that Arkenstone still has a trade in offer for persons who want to switch from competitive products. If you are using one of the other blindness scanning programs you can send in either disk one of the original software or the copyright page from the manual and you can get OpenBook for $500.00 rather than the $995.00 price. Work is proceeding on Ruby, the next generation of OpenBook. It is based on the more basic product WYNN which has the latest care OCR, it is all 32 bit, and has a lot of sound basic features. In addition, Ruby will have a lot of Pizzazz features. Jim Fruchterman, the dynamic head of Arkenstone, has as his goals to be the industry leader with the Openbook reading software, with Vera, dedicated software for senior citizens and persons with low vision, and with WYNN for persons with learning disabilities. ARTIC Ok readers, from now on when we talk about spirits we're not talking about a seance, a liquor shelf, or a revival meeting, we're talking about the latest external inexpensive speech synthesizer from Artic Technologies. The Spirit is a new external serial speech device that costs $299 and supports both the TRANSPORT and ACCENT speech controls. It is compatible with all screen readers. This no frills synthesizer has the traditional crisp Artic voice. It has the usual Artic fast responsiveness. Spirit's sturdy aluminum case measures 5.25" x 5.75" x 1.75" and weighs about one pound. The internal speaker gives a full voice sound. Volume is controlled from a thumb wheel on the front panel. A simple DOS command can be used to change the data rate from the default 9600 BAUD so there are no awkward dip switches to set. A wall plug power adapter is also included. SPIRIT is also available with built-in rechargeable NICAD batteries for $349.00. One thing to be said about Artic is that they are the most active company at producing new hardware that I know. In past issues we talked about the fact that the company was developing a disk drive for its notetakers. Well, forget it, no, I mean only forget the concept of a disk drive and think of a disk station. What's that you ask? Don't feel bad, that's exactly what I asked when I talked to Dale McDaniel. Dale explained that the disk station is the combination of a 3.5 disk drive and a 1.2 gb hard drive in a mini tower case. It won't have batteries as it is produced for people who want to do their work in class, on the road, or in the office, then bring the NOTETAKER home and save the material onto a disk. Since the new SOFTWARE upgrades to the notetakers already support the Blazie disk drive there was not a need to duplicate portability. With the new disk station and the new notetaker upgrade you can move files between the notetaker, the floppy, and the hard drive. The cost will be $499.00. So what about that new software for the notetakers? I have been beta testing it myself and can testify to the fact that it includes several improvements and new features. Some of the major features are: the organizer function which is a menu of associated files that can be formatted by the user. These are personal organizer files like a phone book, diary, to-do list, which are placed on a separate menu for ease of access. You can change the names on those files in the menu to suit your own personal needs. Other features include the ability to point to a file in a list and if it is a text or document you can hit and it will automatically open the editor and bring in the file. The ability to add time/date stamps to files has been included. Also added are: an instant mute function, paragraph up and down keys, the ability to jump to a given page in the document, and the ability to protect a file by using a read only mode. The price of the upgrade will be $60.00, although if you buy it before the end of May the price will be $45.00. No, you don't have to return the notetaker for upgrade. All you need to do is put the disk in a computer, attach the notetaker and follow the directions that come with the software. It is always a pleasure to announce lower prices, and that is what Artic has done on most of its notetakers. The Ergo Braille and the Braille Pad have been reduced to $895.00. The Sqwert, the other low cost notetaker with a qwerty keyboard, remains at $995.00. Even the cost of the more sophisticated notetakers have fallen. Braille Desk 2000 is $1,295.00. TransType 2000 is $1,395.00 and the Extended Keyboard version is $1,495.00. A new 2 mb flash card became available in April for those notetakers with a MicroFlash slot. The price is $149.00. What's in the works for Winvision? The company is predicting no problems with it running Windows 98. Support has been added for the Dectalk Access 32 software speech synthesizer which Artic now sells. At the present time the Winvision Web Pilot works very well with Internet Explorer, (IE),3.x. The company is working with Microsoft to assure compatibility with the next release of IE, and until that time it is recommended that One use IE 3.x. Coming next for Winvision is the inclusion of BusinessVision in a single product called Vision Forward. This will be done in such a way that BusinessVision will run under Winvision making all of the features of BusinessVision available in a DOS shell. Whatever Winvision is using as a synthesizer will be available to BusinessVision. The package price is projected at $795.00. News From Duxbury In our last issue your intrepid prognosticating author stated "Early in 1998 the company intends to release version 10.2 for DOS and version 10.2 for the MacIntosh." Would that my lottery picks were as accurate! In February the company released upgrades to DOS, Windows and the Mac. These upgrades now include the Nemmeth code translator, the importing of Braille graphics, and a vastly improved list of help features. The latest release by this company is the MathBraille Talk which is a voice input interface using Dragon Dictate to produce Nemmeth Braille Code. The user needs to train Dragon Dictate which takes about an hour. GW MICRO Yes, Window-Eyes 2.1 is on the way. Your author has been running betas of the product for quite some time. The company has a philosophy of allowing beta versions of upgrades to be downloaded from the ftp or web site by those who choose to do so. In that way they get a thorough feed back regarding problems and recommendations concerning improvements. Since version 2.0 there have been 20 beta upgrades and each has brought with it changes and improvements. Probably one of the most significant changes is the keyboard layout. As users of Vocal-Eyes for DOS, and earlier versions of Window-Eyes know, the program used the control key together with mnemonic alphabet keys to perform screen reading functions. For example, control-l read the current line, control-c read the current character, control-w read the current word, etc. As window users know, these keys are often used in windows programs to the point that one could tire of pressing the pass through key, a key that said in effect, "Get out of the way screen reader, this next key stroke is for the other program." Recognizing this problem, GW Micro has redesigned the keyboard to rely heavily on the number keypad. There have also been some improvements in hotkeys including the ability to determine the default button in a dialog box by hitting the delete key on the numbers keypad. The new key strokes take some getting used to, but in the long run one appreciates the move. For a list of the new keys go to the GW Micro web site and download the April edition of the company's fine newsletter, Voice of Vision. Improvements in web browsing capability with Internet Explorer include a hot key that switches you to Microsoft Active Accessibility mode. In that mode the web page is decolumnized so that you can use your cursor keys to move around. Window-Eyes will now read the whole web page even if it isn't all displayed on the screen. After Window-Eyes 2.1 is released the company will continue to work on access to Windows 98. They are also interested in adding support for Braille displays, and in access to Windows NT. By the way, two new programmers have been added to the staff. Henter-Joyce Coming soon, before the end of May, is Jaws for Windows 3.2. It is a product loaded with new features including: Hurray, the program is now on a CD. A Henter-Joyce software synthesizer will ship with the product. The synthesizer will be a version of eloquence which can only be used with JFW running. The program and synthesizer will support multiple languages. Dr. Jaws will diagnose the system that JFW 3.2 is being installed on and report any potential problems and fix them if possible. Remote JAWS will allow a technician to support a remote JFW user over a phone line. JFW 3.2 will support IE 4.01 and will read all those difficult pages on the web. Also, the program supports Quicken 98. There is more, but those are some highlights to wet your appetite. New features coming in Magic 6.0 later this year: split screen support; A Magic lens; many new color combinations; less jaggies on the characters; and tight integration with JFW running at the same time. If you have purchased JFW 3.0 after April 1, 1998, you will get a free upgrade to 3.2 when it is released. If you currently own JFW 3.0 the upgrade price to 3.2 will be $100.00. If you currently own JFW 1.x the cost to upgrade to JFW 3.2 will be $300.00. If you own JFW 2.x the cost is $200.00. MAGNISIGHT In the last issue of this technological collage we covered the mini reader in some detail. There is now a stand with a full sized x/y table that holds the camera of this device and gives it all of the read/write capabilities of its bigger brother cctvs. I had occasion to see it last week and it is one neat addition to the product line. RAISED DOT COMPUTING MegaDots version 2.0 is expected to ship soon. In addition to the features mentioned in the last newsletter, the company has added a special menu for adding Braille diacritics, and support for the tiny talk speech synthesizer. After MegaDots 2.0 is released, the emphasis will probably go to developing a windows version. SIGHTED ELECTRONICS Papenmeier, producers of the only two dimensional Braille displays, will be releasing the 2d 60 Braille-ex. This 60 cell two dimensional Braille display is expected to be on the market by the time of the ACB and NFB conventions. The company has also developed drivers so that its Braille Displays will work with Jaws for Windows 3.0. Internet Mail! Works for Me By Bob Garrett I have been quietly encouraging contributions to this newsletter for quite some time. The following is from Bob Garrett an active computer user who I have known for a number of years. When Bob started on the computer I gave him hours of advice and help. Now, and this is the way it should be, I can call on him for help. Right on, Bob, and thanks for the following article. When I first began using windows 95 in July of 1997, I was told by several blind users that MS Internet Mail, (IM),was not speech friendly. Since I enjoy a challenge, and usually establish opinions on my own, I checked the option of Internet Mail when I loaded MS Internet explorer on to my computer. Since then I have found IM to be very stable, flexible and speech friendly. As I mentioned above, you have the choice of loading Internet mail when you load Internet Explorer 3.2. As with most Windows programs, you access the main menu with the alt key. The menus are very self explanatory and completely speech friendly. Let me just take a moment and describe the steps of creating a new message. First, ctrl-n brings up the new message screen where you type in the e-mail address of the recipient. If the person's address is already in your address book, you only need to type in part of the address and you will be asked to verify the name. This menu is very straight forward and is made up of buttons and combo boxes. Simply tab through it and follow the instructions. Tab once and you are now on the CC field. Tab again and your on the subject field. Fill in your message subject and tab again. The CC field and subject fields do not speak--at least I haven't figured out how to make them speak--with WinVision 97. Now your ready to write your e-mail message. IM has all the normal editing features of cut, copy, paste, etc. All work with speech and at least from my experience work quite well. When you have completed your message either push alt and you will bring up the menu or alt-s and you will send the message. To read incoming mail simply hit and read your screen. To copy the e-mail address of the sender of mail you are reading, hit alt and arrow up to address submenu push your right arrow and you will hear sender. Simply hit and you are now in the address book. Tab across to OK and hit and you have added this person to your address book. To close the message hit alt-f4 and the message is closed and marked as mail you have read. One feature I have found to be very useful is the folder menu. Unlimited folders can be created and from the options menu you can direct IM to place messages with user defined parameters in these folders as the mail comes to you. If you don't do this, all mail comes to your inbox. Parameters such as deleting immediately after reading, setting the frequency to check for new messages, etc. are all definable and work with speech. I have not attempted to build a mailing list but I know it can be done. Space does not permit me to go in to more detail but try out Internet Mail for yourself. Have fun with IM and feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance to you. My e-mail address is: rgarrett@sunlink.net WHAT'S THIS WINDOWS NT STUFF The following information was initially stimulated by an e-mail from Jamal Mazrui who has a fascinating web site at: http://www.empowermentzone.com. Jamal had contacted Microsoft regarding several questions and forwarded the answers to the guispeak listserve. There was also an interview with Microsoft on the BBC during which Jeff Witt of Microsoft commented on some aspects of Windows NT. I made a follow up contact with Jeff who was kind enough to respond and send further information. I put all of this together in a question and answer format and sent him a copy of the following to assure its accuracy. Ok, having got all of those credits out of the way, the question for me was what is Windows NT and should I upgrade to it. Sure, I know that some blind folks have no choice as the work environment forces the issue, but what about some one who is just using a home computer. Here is what Jeff had to say: Windows NT is the high-end version of Windows. Windows NT 4.0 looks almost exactly like Windows 95. The main advantage of Windows NT over Win95 or Win98 is stability. That is, it's considerably more difficult for an application running on Windows NT to crash another application or the whole system. There is also a noticeably smoother user experience, as the system manages multiples simultaneous tasks in a more elegant fashion. In other words, NT doesn't seem to pause for very long times as much as Win95 does. Question: What about DOS support for old timers like me who still find some things faster from the command prompt? Answer: NT has DOS support, through the Command Prompt. The implementation is almost identical to that on Windows 95, though there are some limitations. Specifically, DOS applications cannot address the hardware directly on NT as they can on Win95. But generally speaking it is the same. I don't think there are any differences in DOS application performance on NT compared with Win95, assuming we're talking about plain generic DOS applications. If your DOS applications talk directly to the hardware in any way, they may not run on NT. But as far as screen reader compatibility goes, I believe the NT-based utilities (ProTalk, JAWS, and HAL) all work as well on NT as on Win95. You can check with the vendors to confirm this. Question: How powerful does my computer need to be in order to run NT? Answer: NT will run well on a Pentium 90 or higher with 32 megs of RAM or more. The literature says you can use as little as 16 megs, but 32 is quite comfortable to run Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet Explorer simultaneously. Of course if you need lots of extra memory for an accessibility utility, you may want more than this. Question: Do I need to give up my Windows 95? Answer: You can dual-boot NT and Windows 95 without any problem. You don't need a separate partition or boot floppy to run NT. When installing NT it asks if you would like to upgrade the current OS (probably Win 3.1 or Win95) or install into a separate directory. If you choose separate directory, the next time you reboot you'll get a new menu when the machine is first turned on. Unfortunately this menu is inherently inaccessible, because there isn't really an operating system loaded at the time that the menu is up (so there is no support for an accessibility utility). However, the machine does beep when the menu is presented; you just need to remember how many times to press the Down Arrow, then Enter, to choose the operating system you want. Question: There are rumors that Microsoft will build a screen reader and a screen magnifier into Windows NT5, is that true? Answer: That's technically true, but it's probably not what you think. Windows NT5 will have a text-to-speech engine built in, along with a utility program called Narrator. Narrator is basically a very low-functionality screen reader. A blind user would use Narrator to install a full-functioning screen reader unassisted, or to do minimal work on a machine other than their primary machine, or to recover if their regular screen reader fails for some reason. No one expects that any blind users will want to use Narrator as their primary screen reader, and we have no plans for beefing up Narrator to be a competitive screen reader in the future. Similarly, the Magnifier utility that will be included with NT5 is for occasional or emergency use only. It's primarily intended for use by users who have slight visual impairments, on machines where they don't have a regular magnification utility installed. The Magnifier will do up to 9X magnification, but it doesn't do full-screen panning, and it doesn't do font smoothing. In fact it doesn't do a lot of things that people need for everyday use. But it will be helpful to visually impaired users who are using a machine other than their primary machine. Again, we don't have any plans to make Magnifier a competitive product. It's just like the other Accessories you get with the system - they provide low-end functionality, and if you need high-end functionality, then we'll point you to better products made by other companies. MY ONLY COMMERCIAL Let's face it, I have to say something about my company if I'm going to convince Uncle Sam to let me use the cost of producing this sortie into the world of technology as a business expense. So, let me remind you that Young Opportunities Inc. provides computers, peripherals, and adaptive technology at reduced prices. In addition to discounts on all prices, monthly sales can add to your savings. In addition to other products we carry all the products listed in technology updates, and we invite you to call for further information. CLOSING TIME Time, cost and postage tell me that it is time to end this newsletter. Address any comments to me at the address on the front page or contact me by e-mail at Youngopp@voicenet.com. Also, visit my home page at: http://www.voicenet.com/~youngopp. Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\ok598.zip" Ted Young, Young Opportunities Inc. 464 Sylvania Avenue Glenside, PA 19038 Phone (215) 572-5882 fax (215) 572-6045 e-mail youngopp@voicenet.com Home Page http://www.voicenet.com/~youngopp