Category: accessible Devices
MKSpeech: the first open-source NoteTaker for the blind!! and it needs your help!
click read the story and you see more info and the oficial website as well.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mkspeech-speech-based-notetaker-for-the-blind--2#/
So, admittedly I'm in a bit of a hurry just now and haven't yet gone to wherever that URL is pointing me...but someone please, please answer me this:
Why are we still making notetakers? Seriously.
Laptops are far cheaper and far stronger, and getting a decent braille display, if you think you need one of those, plus a laptop...well, it's in the same ballpark as a notetaker, financially, but you have so much more flexibility. Why are notetakers continuing to be pushed? I just don't get it.
perhaps read the oficial website and you'll see why. dono lol
mkspeech.com
and i hear that the mkspeech Indiegogo site went down do to papal issues. he is moving to another site.
One solution is not best for everyone. Note takers have advantages just as laptops and tablets do. Actually, the modern notetakers are more like tablets than laptops. I happen to be able to use both, and I like each for different reasons. Just because you have no use for a note taker is not any reason to begrudge those of us who like that form. It isn't all about price either. Though a laptop and braille display may be similar in price to a braille enabled notetaker, the note taker form factor is much more compact as the display is incorporated.
while I have more often than not been underwhelmed by blindness specific products over the past 5 years or so, I will be the first to say the BrailleNote touch from HW is by far one of the nicest blindness products released in memory. I don't own one, but I've trained users on them extensively over the past year, and I continue to be amazed at there actual usefulness.
here is the first audio demo showing us the notebook app, there is going to be multiple demos showing the different apps that MKSpeech has.
http://mkspeech.com/demos/
I just wish you could watch YouTube on a Notetaker.
you can with this one
Is that a legitimate fact, or a lie?
lol no ly
Ehh.
I might get one of these. I've been looking for a notetaker.
how much are they?
Not sure how much they're going to be, it's not even released yet. I don't think so anyway.
Ana, the Braille Sense Mini I have used for three years now plays YouTube. I use that feature all the time.
300 or 380 if you want both keyboards or that's what it said on Indigo page. I think but speech on it sounds like NVDA and not sure if you can add other voices.
Ugh, I hate NVDA. lol I have the eloquence add on, much better that way.
Notetakers are almost essential for us deaf/blindies.
I think is going to have different screenreader options.
But remember that this doesn't have a braille display, at least not yet. So no use for deafblind, which imo is its biggest limitation. It may get added I guess, but right now it's basically a VoiceNote, not braille note taker. Which is why it is low cost. You write in braille, but you have to hear to use it.
I'm not deafblind, but I personally don't want one purely because of that. The good thing about notetakers is being able to read in braille, not just write, at least for me.
I don't think that has been made clear enough when advertising it, that currently it lacks a braille display. I'm worried deafblind people would buy it and be angry and disappointed.
I'll believe it when this comes out. The braille to Go was going to be $600 and turned out to be $2400. You'd think it was a government contract with that kind of cost overrun.
if this comes out at a sub 500 price tag, I will buy it. please post here if it does. just to give it a run its not a bad buy in, and I can sell it for cheeper or give it to my girlfriend who has an aging braille note if I don't like it.
here is the new funding page
https://fundrazr.com/b1Cvbc?ref=tw_96Sc94
also if you go to the oficial page you can Subscribe to the Newsletter.
http://mkspeech.com
I feel conflicted because I like the guy making it, but there's no way I'd buy something that doesn't have a braille display.
maybe cuz you can buy it. lol
I'm just getting the money to get this. now imagine if i try to get $1000! or even $5000lol... they one to fix my braille note display for 1000... basicly i lost my m power... some of us don't get help from the government so stuff like this is the only way to go. thats why its one of the reasons why i'm trying to help manuel cuz there are so many people like me who don't get help with technolagy, specially for the blind.
dono why i said one lmao ment want.
Yeah, which I'm not disputing. My point if you read back was that this device excludes deafblind people, who are big users of notetakers because of the display.
These days for $500 you can buy a braille display that has notetaking features, and that you can put an sd card in. So I think a product like that would actually be a better investment overall, for a bigger group within the community.
Just because I wouldn't buy something doesn't mean it shouldn't be made. But I think it's fair and reasonable to critique and compare products that are currently available.
There are 3 currently, this, the orbit and the soon to be brystal braille.
They aren't much different in price, but two out of those have braille displays, so they are more functional overall. That's just my opinion as a user. If I'm going to spend x amount of money, I'll look for the thing that can give me the most personally.
Perhaps what I want is different to someone else, so this device might work for them, and that's great.
But for most people, especially those of us who are studying, braille is essential as it allows us to work without having to listen at the same time.
ah totally agree, its nice to have different options to buy. some of us this will work and for others it won't. for me is no secret that I don't mind braille lol
I don't care if it has a display or not, I'll probably definitely get one. I'd like to fund the project, but I'm so broke it's not even funny.
If I get some money though, I'll definitely contribute. Even if I don't, I'll definitely buy one when it's released.
There is also the Blitab which is suppose to be priced around $500.
Unfortunately there isn't much information to go on, at least not on their site.
They're using some sort of membrain that's like a liquid to produce the braile dots instead of the pins braille displays normally use, plus this thing not only has braille plus speech, it also is suppose to be something like an actual braille page.
I guess we'll see if it ever gets released.
http://www.blitab.com if anyone is interested in taking a look.
Yeah I have heard of that one. I really can't wait until we get a multi line display or notetaker. Braille is so essential if you're going to use something like a notetaker in education tbh.
Even though it doesn't have a display, its still very well priced for what it can do. a display unless he can raise a lot of money and come of with a cheep way to make one just would price it up there with note takers already out, then what would be the point of his project then? for some who need a display or are used to having one do so knowing every note taker they will by now a days will be expensive. People who can settle for speech will be able to though.
Oh yeah, I agree if you can settle for just speech it is a great price. But if you are after braille there are some equally low cost options that can give you this.
I just don't see the point, and again, this is me personally, in a device that's just speech when I could use a small pc with NVDA for the same price lol.
I am not aware of any device allowing both input and output with a braille display for $500. Can you give what those products are?
I really hope this gets funded. Although i would rather have a device with a
Braille display, i'm glad to see someone creating a speech only device for this
kind of price.
What I miss most about a notetaker is the ability to read a book, I mean in Braille.
To do so on an iPhone, it's two devices and always kind of feels klunky.
I think they should buy technology from orbit research and use orbit braille cells to keep the cost of braille very very low but still very high quality. I will be getting the $449 orbit reader20 book reader and noteTaker and braille display once its out I am hoping next month. just go to the american printing house for the blind website and look up orbit reader 20. you'll find it. I am a tester of the orbit reader20 prototype that is now well my prototype is 7 months old and is using the older pin set so has some bugs but remember I am testing a now 7 or so month old prototype. The real super high quality thing should be out next month I am hoping.
there will be very low cost braille displays on the market soon.
1. orbit reader20, $449
2. blitab, price around $500
3. bristol braille canute, probably around $700 or $800
Unlessed I am confused, the actual full page Braille display will not be available for anyone to purchase, just government agencies. A couple facts on deaf-blindness, since I am deaf-blind myself. First, we are not the majority of users needing note-takers. These devices are great for anyone who needs to read Braille or wants a simpler device. Secondly, we do not make up the majority of users within the community, quite the opposite. We are a very small minority, which hints why products specifically developed for us is very limited. The blind have way more technology that they can actually use than someone who is deaf-blind. With that being said, did you know the majority of users who are deaf-blind are not actually deaf? Most wear hearing aids, bone conduction hearing aids, or cochlear implants. Manystill can hear, and would still be able to benefit from a device like this. How do I listen to Jaws, for example? I have the voice a lot slower, and also, my hearing aids can connect directly to the computer. I think more need to be educated within the blindness regarding what deaf-blindness actually is and its implications.