Hi,
I just don't know what you mean about blades. Do you mind to expand on
this?
Thanks for listening,
Alex,
On 18-Nov-08, at 8:37 AM, Chris Blouch wrote:
So would it be reasonable to make a slimmed down MacMini with flash
instead of a hard drive and a battery? Probably could shrink that
down quite a bit. Then have snap on or wireless input/output devices
like braille, qwerty, headset or whatever. Even if it's not tiny, I
could stick the thing in my bag and just deal with the wirelessley
tethered input and sound devices. The iPhone is just OSX under the
hood with a different UI. If you could bluetooth an input device and
have the functional equivalent of voiceover on it that would be
close to what I think you're describing. Actually a laptop sans
screen and keyboard could be made quite small with the same wireless
input and output devices. Folks could just choose what their
favorite input and output devices are. You could also re-market the
boxes, sans battery, as blade servers putting several on a shelf
together.
CB
Alex Jurgensen wrote:
Hi,
It is fully modular, with three keyboard types, a qwerty, keypad,
and Braille
Thanks for listeninog,
Alex,
On 18-Nov-08, at 5:24 AM, erik burggraaf wrote:
Hi, Just a couple of points. From your description, it looks
like the unit is going to come wih braille input. This will
instantly render it useless for the sighted world, which seems to
be a feature of your product description below.
Second, I don't think that name will work, as It will be easily
confuzed with the IMac. How about the IPad, the Eye-Pad, or the a-
mac? A for accessible.
All right, now I sell these things for a living. Actually I
support them for a living, but I work for a very small company,
and we all have to chip in where we may. That means I'm stuck
selling the stuff once in a while. Note taker solutions have
three main problems. They're bulky. They're expensive. They're
proprietary. There's definitely a lot of interest in them, but
that interest doesn't translate to sales because of the three
factors I just mentioned. The funding for such things is screwey
here as well, so that is another pin prick in your balloon.
Any of my clients who want a speech only, qwerty note taker go
with a pda phone. It's half the price of a blinkware note taker,
has better and somewhat less proprietary features, and has
individually upgradeable parts, so that one piece doesn't lose
it's value when the others are redundant. For example, Suppose
you fork out $2000 for a pda phone, mobile speak smartphone or
pocket pc, and mobile geo gps with an external holux m1000. When
pda phones with half again the speck come to the market next year
and your current pda phone works like garbo, you can fork out $500
for a new pda phone, transfer your code factory licences, and be
off to the races. Same if you decide you want a new gps
receiver. If you buy an external braille display with input for 5
grand, That braille display retains it's value, because when
youpgrade your kit next year, your braille display is still
relevant and you just keep it running on the new system. I feel
sorry for any one who bought the gw braille sense last year,
because this year they brought out the braille sense plus with gps
and a bunch of hardware upgrades, and suddenly your $6000 note
taker solution, all be it one that probably still works for you
more or less, is now irrelevant to the market. Therefore, I
suggest you make the thing modular. So, I can remove the qwerty
keybord and buy a slide-on braille keybord or vice versa if I
want. When I trade in my base unit next year, I can just slide
off my braille display and keybord and buy a new base unit. When
I buy a new base unit, I can rip out my modular storage flash and
put it into my new base unit, and all my contacts, appointments,
notes, and so on will be right where I left them. If my battery
goes capoot, I want to wip the module off the back, chuck it in
the resycling repository, and get a new one. On that basis, you
could easily bring your price point up, since your componants will
retain maximum value.
The proprietary note takers are bulky. My braille connect 32 fits
in my pocket and weighs a little over a pound, and my phone is
negledgeable. The braille sense on the other hand, which is the
one we sell most often, and has the best hardware on the market
right now, weighs in at over two pounds and is the size of a hard
cover book and the thickness of a tri-county telephone book. It
has ginormous fisher-price toy buttons, and just screams, "I'm a
waste of space". If you can get it down to something the size of
a braille connect that really does fit in a pocket, you'll have
something. There is even room for a qwerty keybord option on
something that size, and the keys don't have to be pocked with a
stylus either.
The three features my clients want most in a note taker are: 1,
quick access to something to write with. Two, gps navigation
system, and Three, ability to use the note taker as a braille
terminal. This is how they justify the expense, since they often
have to lump the entire cost themselves.
If you can do all this with a note taker, then I expect we'll sell
them.
Best,
erik burggraaf
Certified Technician
Assistive Computing LTD Support and training
Sales department: 888-828-2445
Support and Training: 888-255-5194
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website coming soon
On 17-Nov-08, at 7:15 PM, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
Hi,
Would you buy this?
EyeMac -- The next generation of sleek notetakers
The EyeMac features aluminum housing, weighing in at under a
pound. This sleek and shiny notetaker is based on the state of
the art technology, featuring wireless and bluetooth. The six-key
input provides Braille users the ability to legally access the
world's most user friendly and advanced operating system. Built
on the foundation of Mac OS X, the EyeMac is the bleeding edge in
affordable portable computing technology. Costing around $500 us,
the EyeMac is an easy pick for the user with a tight budget. Its
portability make it ideal for not only end users but the
professional who needs a lightweight, portable solution. The
EyeMac measures less than 20 CM long by seven CM wide, and
about 3 cm high. Durable, powerful! Take full advantage of the
world wide web. The EyeMac Pro has wireless anywhere capability.
Need a Braille display? EyeMac Plus models feature built-in
Braille displays that make reading Braille text messages and
documents a breeze. The EyeMac is built on a actively developed
Operating System, that features a well documented programming
guide that will ensure your EyeMac can be customized with the
applications that best suit your needs. Designed for ease of use,
this revolutionary device will change your portability experience.
Project status: Planning
Thanks for listening,
Alex,
