Category: The Rave Board
As most of you know, I adore old tech. But what many here don't know is that there are four modern things that I've always wanted, but never dreamed I'd actually have one day. The first, if anything, was the most realistic. These are:
Kapten Plus Talking Pocket GPS - Basic: U.S. Map ($380)
http://www.maxiaids.com/products/9316/Kapten-Plus-Talking-Pocket-GPS---Basic:-U-S--Map.html
This is a completely voice-guided gps system, meaning there are no inaccessible menus, touchscreens or extra software. It also doesn't require the use of a pda, either off-the-shelf or specifically for the blind.
I.D. Mate (Summit is $1299.00, and Omni, when they last sold it, was around $700.)
http://www.envisionamerica.com/products/idmate/
This is a portable, updatable and customisable talking bar code scanner. As with the Kapten, it does not require the use of a computer, since everything is built into the machine.
KNFB Reader (The Classic was $3,500. The mobile is over $1,400, including the phone on Ebay.)
http://www.knfbreader.com/
There are two versions of the KNFB Reader. The Classic (no longer sold on the site) is comprised of a camera (a canon powershot sd20) and a pda (a Fujitsu-siemens loox 560n). The mobile version uses one of a small handful of phones, such as the N82, all of which are expensive on their own.
BrainPort vision device (not yet sold.)
http://vision.wicab.com/technology/
Just thinking of this brings tears to my eyes and a longing to my heart. It's composed of a wearable camera, a tongue unit, about the size of a postage stamp, and a computer worn on a belt. The camera sends images to the computer, which translates them to light electrical pulses that are then felt with the tongue, which the brain, miraculously, reads as sight! There are several videos of this amazing device on Youtube.
At any rate, this month, I've actually managed to acquire two of these dream products. The first was the I.D. Mate Omni. The minute I saw it on Ebay I had to refresh the page a second and then a third time, thinking I was crazy! But there it was, in excellent condition, with a 1gb card, user manual on disk and in print, ac adapter, and case, all for the obsurd price of $48! I waited a few days, and watched it, thinking that it would change and praying that I was wrong. When it didn't, I decided to bid, and a minute before the auction closed, I bid around $120. At first, I thought that I was outbid, but then, it turned out that I won, and not for the amount that I expected, but for the original $48! For three years, I've wanted an Omni, and when it finally arrived, I was on a cloud and nothing and no one could have ruined it. I spent the first hour listening to the user guide, doing everything it said, though once I learned how to scan things, I stopped and had a bit of fun before going onto the next parts. Once I finished, I lost myself in bliss and went scanning everything I could get my hands on, looking for bar codes, reading all the information in the database for each item, and adding voice recordings to things which had codes and no information. Even now, two weeks after buying it, I still marvelled this morning as, without any assistance, I pulled out four tv dinners and was able to read them and decide what I wanted. Truly, buying it was one of the best decisions of my life, and at that price, it was like a gift from The Gods! To add to the blessing, this is the V3, which means that I can even upgrade the database to the latest version! I also intend on buying the extra bar code labels so that I can start organising things, from my records, to my tapes, to my clothing. The number of things I can do with this machine seems endless and I want to explore as many of them as possible.
The next product that I bought was the KNFB Reader Classic. This truly gave me a difficult time. I am, by nature, extremely frugal to the point of being ridiculous. My motto is usually "if I don't need it, I don't buy it". I kept thinking that I already have Kurzweil 1,000 (version 7 I think) and a flatbed scanner. Then, I told myself that I could get Scan2text for $100, so that I would have something newer which could also read Greek, and I found something, called Bookdrive, which uses two cameras so that I don't have to ruin books by pressing them down on a flatbed. I have no idea of the cost, though there are several products in the line. Even so, none of those options are portable, and even if there was some way for me to use a camera instead of a scanner without Bookdrive, I would still need to bring my laptop everywhere with me. I first saw the KNFB Reader Classic, for under $100, in December, but held back for the reasons mentioned. Then, I saw it again for $189. I looked at it a few times but always passed it up. I brought the problem to my family and friends, all of whom told me to buy it. But I was still concerned about its' accuracy, since I'd seen a live demonstration of the prototype and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to aim the camera correctly, since I'm totally blind. But then, I found this article.
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070604
According to the above, it's really not that difficult to aim and it does pretty well at scanning various kinds of texts, though the recognition time is quite slow. Finally, I noticed that someone had made an offer for $163 the previous day, and thought if I didn't buy it immediately, he/she would get it and then I'd have to wait months or even years for another one to be sold at such a price. So I bought it last night and even paid $18 instead of $13 for shipping so that it will arrive on Monday or Tuesday of next week instead of the week after.
Everyone's wishing me luck and telling me to enjoy it. I'm still trying to weigh the price against the advantages, and slowly, I think logic is winning out. Now, I'm starting to feel excited and can't wait for it to get here! I hope I love it as much as the Omni. I've never had a portable reader of any kind, and while there are newer and better ones out there, all cost well over $1,000, so they're not even worth considering. Yes, there is the IPhone, but I don't know how good its' ocr software is or how much it or the phone costs, I don't like touchscreens and their use with VoiceOver, and I am unsure if it has features to help with aiming the camera properly. In any case, I'll write more on the Reader when it comes.
Excellent. I'm really glad for you, and a little envious *smile*.
Thanks for sharing this experience with us.
Bob
Way back then, I priced my first open book and scanner and nearly choked. But when I bought both, like the vendor said, I took the small mistakes the reader did and still went with it because I was so glad not to bother friends with reading my mail. Glad to have read your experience.
wow.. the I.D. mate Omni device sounds amazing, wish I had one. Glad you enjoy it. :)
Wow! Go you, you were patient and found some deals. For all people make fun of what gets sold on eBay, sometimes you can really find a really good find on there.
congrats!
accessible tech is sooooo hard to come by here in my country so, I'm a little envious.
Well, my KNFB Reader Classic arrived today! I've had a few issues with it, but since this is The Rave Board, I'll focus on the positives and write the rest on the Accessible Devices board. The first thing I noticed was the huge box. But when I opened it, I found another smaller one inside, then the case, and in that, the reader itself, which is actually nice and compact, especially considering that it's really two devices stuck together. . I read a bit of the user manual, which was in braille (opa for braille!) and then decided to give my fingers a rest and put on the cd tutorial. I really would have preferred a cassette, and for that matter, a compact flash card instead of an sd card, but anyway. I was able to learn the commands easily enough and even discovered a few things on my own! I could read the help file and navigate around the menus, though it did take a few tries to get used to the setup. I think that, if I can get through these hurdles that I'm having, I will really enjoy it. It's nowhere near as fast as my flatbed and Kurzweil 1,000, so I probably won't be using it for long books. But for $208, it really is a steal and will definitely be worth taking out on the town, especially in restaurants!
Speaking of which, this weekend, I finally got to go to the store with Spiros. Naturally, I brought my Omni and lots of happiness ensued! I was busy scanning everything, and making recordings on things with unknown bar codes, and he was busy encouraging me! "What about this? Does it know this? I think you'll like this one." I couldn't keep the smile off my face! I wish everything was as easy to learn and as wonderful as my I.D. Mate Omni. Even more so, I wish that every blind person could experience the joys of having one, as it truly is a life-changing device.
At any rate, I'll keep you guys up to date on my progress with the KNFB Reader, saving the happy notes for here and working through the problems on the other board.
Of course, I hit the enter key and then remembered something else that I wanted to say! *smile* I wanted to share with all of you my first real use of the Omni, before the store. I had four tv dinners in my freezer, all from the same brand and all looked the same. None of them had braille on them. I'll never forget how I took each one, read it and chose the one I wanted. That is independence! I should really go work for Envision America! lol
That's awesome! The ID mate is definitely something I would want as well. At such a low price, I would have been skeptical at best, but you really lucked out there.