Dane Yes, we know you’re in love with your pi®! ;-)
But you’ve just conceded my original point. I am not in any way disputing the rich feature set. Nor am I attempting to argue the case for HumanWare’s platform. Their hardware is undoubtedly inferior and as I’ve said, their in-house philosophies would most certainly ultimately deprive their customers of the opportunity to take advantage of the rich vain of talented open-source programmers that there are out there. The Apex’s hardware platform is actually not being pushed to anywhere close to its capacity. Also the talk of faster devices has me a little bit unenthusiastic. After all, if one is looking up notes on a notetaker which, after all, is the central application for these devices, the Braille is surely going to be the core issue here. One can only display or even read scrolling Braille at certain speeds. The current hardware platforms are more than adequate to produce Braille at a rate at which even the fastest most proficient human Brailleist can handle. Ergo, without pushing through the rich feature set, why would one need a faster nontetaker? The need for speed sometimes deflects us all, I think, from the core issue which has to be functionality. When it comes to it, the rules of the game are simple. If a device performs to your expectations and does what you require, if it meets your individual needs, then regardless of what others might want, that is the device for you. I personally required a good notetaker, a database manager and various Internet functions. The only way in which I’m not happy with the Apex is in its mail support. But for the time being by digging around in the guts of the operating system which the Apex runs, I have been able to circumvent the rules of my mail server and present it with a device name with which it is happy. Not exactly something which Humanware recommends to its users as it involves changing a core reference file. But once done it is done. Kind regards <--- Gordon Smith ---> <[email protected]> Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; Providing Help & Support To Young People With Visual Impairment, plus Braille Transcription services. Telephone: United Kingdom: Free Phone: 0800 8620538 Mobile: +44 7907 823971 Europe and other non-specified: +44 1642 688095 Or: +44 1642 941776 United States Of America And Canada: +1 646 9151493 Or: +1 209 436 9443 Australasia: +61 38 8205930 Or: +61 39 0284505 Fax: +44 1642 365123 Follow Us On Twitter: <http://twitter.com/maciosaccess> Skype: <skype:mac-access-dot-net?call> ------------------------------ On 2 Nov 2013, at 10:02, Dane Trethowan <[email protected]> wrote: I take your point about budgets as I'm on one myself. I can't afford one of these new generation PDA's, well not at the moment at any rate but I will certainly entertain the idea of getting one in the future should the chance present itself, of course there may be other devices which come along in the meantime. Regarding the IOS and Android situation? AFB - American Foundation For The Blind - in their Access Word publication sum this up in a good way, IOS has revolutionised the way we use products however most Apps available on the Apps store are not designed specifically with blind or deaf people in mind so enter PDA devices such as Braillenote, the Sense line of products and so on, I'm not sticking up for manufacturers of this equipment and their price tags either but to be fair, prices have dropped one hell of a long way in the last couple of years, yes perhaps still too high but as special needs customers that's always going to be the way. And now another side to this whilst I think of it, there are very accessible alternatives out there but when they're presented to people in the blind community they turn up their collective noses, I take my hat off to those who are working in the field of open source software for various operating systems etc, these are the people who are putting technology into the palm of a hand for next to nothing when it comes to price and asking for very little in return, mainly feedback and donations towards development. On 2 Nov 2013, at 8:40 pm, Jackie Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Gordon > > I couldn't agree with you more. For most people on a budget, they are > prohibitive and, as you say, many are moving to Apple or Android devices and > just want Braille support via a cheaper option like the Seika Mini. The > Hims products, in the main, are nice, but not realistically affordable if > you are having to shell out yourself! > > > Kind regards, > > Jackie Brown > Twitter: @thebrownsplace > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gordon Smith > Sent: 02 November 2013 09:35 > To: Techno-Chat ... Technology Enthusiasm! > Subject: Re: Next Generation Braille Notetaker Just Released > > Sounds great but the price is just way too high. Given that other > manufacturers are now moving towards decreasing their prices to meet the > demands of this kind of competition, I think they have chosen the wrong time > to release such an expensive model. > > I totally grant that in terms of features, it beats the Freedom Scientific > and HumanWare products hands-down. But the price, well, I guess it may not > mean much to somebody who lives on Millionaire's Row. But unless you happen > to be able to get it via an agency you're going to have to save for quite a > while before you can afford one of these devices. > > As I said earlier, even the people at HumanWAre Europe have admitted that > technically the HumanWare Apex current generation simply cannot compete. No > point denying that, it's fact. But even so, whether or not there is a > take-up of these things remains to be seen. > > Kind regards > > <--- Gordon Smith ---> > > <[email protected]> > > Information Technology Accessibility Consultant; > Providing Help & Support To Young People With Visual Impairment, plus > Braille Transcription services. > > > ======================================= > > The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus > and worm-free > > To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web > pages located at > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at > either of the following websites: > > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html > > Or: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> > you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> > > --------------------------------------- > > > ======================================= > > The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus > and worm-free > > To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web > pages located at > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at > either of the following websites: > > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html > > Or: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> > you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> > > --------------------------------------- ********** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 Fax +61397437954 ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> --------------------------------------- ======================================= The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
