Category: accessible Devices
My friend sent me a listing of extremely interesting aps for the iPhone. All are extremely cheap and usable by the blind. I really know nothing about these devices, as my only experience with modern Apple products is with Voiceover on my Macbook from 2007. So please forgive my ignorance. Is there a cheaper Apple alternative to the iPhone? I don't really need a phone, but wouldn't mind a palmtop like device. I know of the iPad, but what is it, exactly? Is it a full computer? Also, can these devices be used with an external keyboard, eliminating the need to use the touchscreen? Is there a huge difference between the somewhat older and the newer models? I know I can't afford the new ones, as they're way out of my budget. Finally, is there a cheaper and still accessible device, from another company, which is similar, or at least which has similar programs? It can be either mainstream or for the blind, though the latter would need to be older, since again, the prices would be far too high on the new models.
The IPad is basically a tablet computer. It can do practically everything a computer can do, but in a flat, book-like platfform.
Yes, you can use them with an external keyboard, but there is no need to, the touch screen is perfectly accessible after about five minutes worth of practice. Plus, not all of the commands for the products are able to be done by a keyboard. I would suggest you get used to thhe touch screen, it really is not difficult.
You could also look into an IPod, which does most of the things that an IPhone does, as long as you get the model with a camera.
Thanks for explaining all of that and for answering my questions. I personally don't like touchscreens, so finding out whether these products could be controlled entirely by the keyboard was important to me. But it's still good to know that these things exist.
using a touch screen with Voiceover is nothing like using one with anything else. I would highly recommend trying one out before saying you don't like it. many people, including myself, have said this very thing and later changed our opinion 180 degrees.
Cody's right, though. the iPod touch will be cheaper than the latest phone. if you try out the touch screen the way it's meant to be used with Voiceover, and you still don't like it, there are many options for bluetooth keyboards. The standard Apple one works flawlessly for me, though it is on the more expensive side, and is certainly not pocket size. You should have no problem fitting it in a backpack or computer bag, but it won't fit in your pocket.
Unfortunately, whether you like them or not, they're becoming the norm. You should really just get used to them. Its cheaper and easier to make them, and they last longer than keyboards, and can't be effected by outside elements. So companies are going to be using them a lot more for all kinds of things.
I actually have a standard Apple keyboard, which I'm using right now with my XP desktop. I may go to the Apple store and try out an iPod Touch, just to see what it's all about, and whether i like it or not. I just like real tactile feedback and keys. I even want to get a Model M for my desktop, as I hear they're really incredible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard
I just can't imagine trying to type on a flat surface.
Its not as hard as you imagine it will be.
Is it access friendly? Yes.
Does it take time to learn? Yes.
Is it really complicated? No.
Does it require patience, and a few weeks to really get comfortable with? Depends on what you're doing.
Can you really evaluate weather it would be a good option for you with out giving it a few weeks to try? Absolutely not.
Does it require you to reevaluate your preconceptions in order to use the product? Yes.
But I'm afraid that I won't be able to return it after a few weeks. What if, for some reason, I don't like it, even after that much time with it? Still, what you said does make sense from a logical standpoint. Mom is actually the other way. She hates computers, keyboards and the like, and loves the idea of touchscreens and especially voice activated things. So we're getting her an iPod for the holidays. Maybe, I can try it out that way, if the iPod Touch is similar. I'm confused with iPad and iPod. I thought the latter was just for music.
just go to your local Aopple Store and give it a try before you purchase one. They'll allow you to mess with one before you purchase.
It is mainly for music, but it also has a web browser, and whatever apps you feel like putting on it. That is the thing about apple, the apps for the IPhone, are the same apps as the IPod and Ipad and Mac. They are all interchangeable. That is why apple is so accessible.
In fact, I have both an IPhone and and IPod, and when I get an app on one, it asks me if I want to download it on both. If I do, it does it automatically. Its a well designed platform.
Cool! I didn't know that! So I guess it's a matter of form factor and price if I were to get one.
When you say Ipod, it's important to distinguish between an Ipod Touch and older versions like the Ipod Nano. Sounds like an Ipod Touch would be great for what you're wanting. Perhaps getting one for your mom and trying hers for a while would be a good idea for you as well. The cool thing is you can set it up so that all you have to do is tripple click the home button, a tactile button at the bottom of the screen, to turn Voice Over on and off. That's what I've done with my mom's Iphone and my son's Ipod so I can turn VO on and off quickly if I ever need to use their devices.
The Ipod Nano is pretty much just for music but like someone else said, the Ipod Touch is basically an Iphone without the phone.
Good luck. Hope this was helpful.
Definitely. I think Mom's getting the iPad, but from what's been said here, they're fairly similar. So I'll need to look up the differences between the iPod Touch and the iPad.
I think the main difference is the size. If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected. lol
I just found this article, and while it mostly focuses on visual things which don't concern me, it pretty much confirmed what you said. Size and price.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/31077/apple-ipad-vs-ipod-touch
The iPad is $400 more. I I'm looking for something in the $300 range, $500 at the absolute most, and I'd need family help there. So if the iPad already costs $400 more than the Touch, I don't want it. Also, if I'm going to get a large device, I want one with a real keyboard etc. so I would probably get a netbook, as I don't know of any current palmtops. But the reason why I started this thread was because of the interesting Apple aps, which, of course, wouldn't be available on a Windows device.
The apple store allows 14 days to try anything and bring it back, no problem, except for the iPhone, which is 30.
Hmm, I didn't know that. Good info to have should I ever scrape up enough money for a Mac.
Tifanitza, why don't you go for a better mainstreem resource, look it up on apple website itself, or simple google apple accessibility + voiceover instead of going to all those websites that you have been using?
I just typed in difference between iPad and iPod Touch in Google, just to get a feel for things, to find reviews etc. My next step, of course, would be to go to the Apple site. I need to check pricing anyway.
Keep in mind, James, she may not have an Apple store in her area. I do not, for example. The closest one to me is two hours away. Eleni, if you do have an Apple store within a reasonable distance, I agree with these guys, go there and look at and try out the various devices: the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad. It always helps to actually be able to see what you're looking at. That beats any written explanation.
The touch screen really is not all that bad. I was intimidated by it too, until I got used to it. You can also get a tactile screen cover for the phone. It's not buttons, but it has dots that correspond to where various things are on the screen. I don't prefer one, but a lot of people love them. They help some people to orient on the touch screen and use it faster. I believe such tactile screen protectors are available for all the devices we're talking about here.
And yes, there is a learning curve. It took me quite awhile to adjust to my iPhone. In fact, at first, I hated it with a passion. Had my 14 day period of being able to return it not run out, I'd have done so. I even posted a board on here where I bitched about that very thing. But you can learn it, and then wonder what you did without it. Smile.
I'd advise using the touch screen for awhile, just so you get used to it. I love my Apple keyboard, and use it a ton. But there are times I can't or don't have it, so I'm glad I learned the touch screen first. That way if I don't have a keyboard, I'm still proficient with the phone.
Hope that helps in some way.
IPad comes in 9.3inch display, it starts from 16gb wifi connectivity to 64gb wifi + 3g connectivity. It comes in both white and black with grayish silverish aluminuim back. Its basicly a ultra portable computer without the keyboard and bits and pieces. If you ever take a flight or train or something, majority of the people who uses some sort of electronic device will play with IPad instead of a laptop or a netbook. The batry last you about 8 to 10 hours (depends on what you do and how you set up your screen res and that). Its fast cause its using Solert state drive rather than a hard drive, means, there's no moving and spinning part. I believe IPad starting price is around $400 to $900
IPod Touch (4th gen) comes in 3inch screen, it comes in both black and white with glossy silver metalish aluminuim back. It comes in 8gb, to 64gb with wifi connectivity. It can do what IPad does with the limitation of it doesn't have 3g capability, much more smaller, and much more affordable for most people. I believe the IPod Touch 4th gen starts from $100 to $450.
IPhone on another hand have all of the above, comes in either 3.7inch for iphone4 and iphone4s or 4inch for iphone5. It have all of above function, plus phone.
All of the apple products come with Voiceover, although the voiceover from the mac and voiceover on IOS (the operating system for IDevices) may be a different, but the concept is very similar. Voiceover support more than 20 languages (unsure about the greek).
All of the above device also allow you to pare with a bluetooth keyboard or a braille display/braille note taker. (perhaps not devices from my great grand mother's era though) grins. But if you have braille displays or braille note takers that is made from 2008 or newer, you'll find that most likely, it is able to pare up with IDevices.
Okay, my economic censors just went up and liked what they saw! I checked out the price of the iPod Touch on the Apple site, and it's only $299! Even I can afford that! I was expecting something like $600 or so. Now I really need to look more into this stuff. I don't want to say "ooh! Apple!" buy it and then be stuck with something that I can't stand. I may consider getting that tactile screen cover, as I'm sure it will help me and make things feel less strange. Thanks, SisterDawn, for explaining the positives and negatives, and for the encouragement. It's good to see someone else who wasn't enthusiastic about touchscreens actually enjoying a device which has one. Given that the iPod Touch is so small, I would see if I could look for a keyboard which is smaller than the standard one made by Apple. Still, as much as I cringe at the idea, your advice on learning how to use the touchscreen does make sense.
Yes, there is an Apple store very close to me, so I will need to go there and do some playing around. And I really like the idea of the 14 day trial. I was honestly looking for something, preferably small to carry with me and do the following. I'm not including printing, embossing, or scanning books with a flatbed scanner, as all of that can be done with my desktop.
Surfing the net. This includes searching on Google, using GMail, posting to Facebook, shopping on Ebay, listening to/downloading things on/from Youtube, and going to other sites. As of now, with my Macbook and Snow Leopard, Facebook, even the mobile site, is a total nightmare, Ebay hardly works, and Youtube would work but Flash Player is either out of date or disabled, and the new installation is not accessible.
Using Greek. This means reading and writing. While I would like both monotonic and polytonic support, monotonic is the one that's essential. From Youtube, to Facebook, to various sites, Greek is an important part of my internet usage, not to mention my ongoing lessons and music offline. I would also like to be able to save files with Greek names, and to save Greek rtf files to my compact flash card so that I can read them with Windows. When I save Greek text with the Mac, it turns into jibberish when I try to read it with XP.
Scanning papers and simple documents. As with the KNFB Reader Classic, I'm not expecting to read huge books. But perhaps the newspaper or small sales pages would be nice.
Making video and audio recordings. I use Quicktime for both on the Mac and don't use any kind of editing software afterword.
Chatting with friends. On the Mac, I do this with Adium, and while I have several messengers, MSN and Facebook are the ones I use most of the time.
Using the calculator. It's just nice to have one handy.
Using iPod Touch Specific aps. These are things which I wouldn't expect to do with a regular Windows netbook, but which I know exist for iOs devices. Such things include colour identification, bar code scanning (or voice label usage), money identification, gps, etc. I'm not sure what else there is, though I do know that other accessible aps exist.
Thanks, buttercup, for that wonderful and informative post! It does seem as if the iPod Touch is the way to go for me, though now I can at least better understand the differences between them. I'm not sure what 3g is, but considering that the Touch has all of the other things of the iPad, it should be fine. As for older devices, darn! You mean I can't plug in my typewriter from 1908, or at least my Apple IIGS? What are they thinking! That seriously gave me a laugh for the night. *smile*
When i have my first iphone (iphone4) it takes me about 2 to 3 months to get use to it. I struggle to the point i almost sell my phone on EBay. When i first thinking of the idea of touch phone, and voiceover i sort of think "it must be joking, its impossible". I'm a very fast text typer, even on a regular numb pad phone. So, it takes me longer to get use to the idea of a qt keyboard on a phone, and a touch screen typing. I'm quite happy to say i'm pretty fast typer using the on screen keyboard now, and have very less struggle with it.
Like SisterDawn, me too, i don't think i can live without one of this thing with me now. The beauty of this thing is that i can check my email, surf the net in any sort of condition as long as it have 3g or wifi coverage.
Eleni, the same company that sells the tactile screen protectors for Apple devices also sells small bluetooth keyboards for them. I have one of those too, that I carry in my purse for the times I feel I need it. I believe it's called the Rii Mini Bluetooth keyboard. If you want to look more at those, and the screen protectors, the website is:
www.speeddots.com
Sorry I don't know how to make that clickable, or I would. But there it is.
I don't text at all, let alone with a numberpad on a phone, so am exclusively used to a keyboard. So that will be a benefit to me. Thanks so much for the website. I'll just paste it into Firefox and go to it that way. I don't know how to turn websites into links either. I just write the full url.
Hope I'm not getting too far off topic here but how do you like the RII keyboard? I'm looking for a good bluetooth keyboard for my I-phone. I want to make sure I get something that has keys I can actually feel. I don't have a problem typing on the flat screen but would be faster with a keyboard.
This is not off-topic at all. If I get one, I would be asking the same sorts of questions. I actually may get to go to the Apple store tomorrow. Mom and I are going to take out an iPad and an iPod Touch, respectively, for a 14-day spin. But I can't get those keyboards at Apple, so will need to use my regular one during the test. But I'll also attempt to use the touchscreen as well. At least this way, I'll be able to say whether I like it or not from firsthand experience. Please, if anyone can direct me to a tutorial or a podcast of how to use Voiceover on it, I would appreciate it. I've used it with Snow Leopard, as I've said, but have heard it's very different on these devices.
Try looking at www.applevis.com
They have lots of good info on all things Voice Over.
Good luck and enjoy.
Thanks! I'll do that today, so that I can get a headstart on things if I go tomorrow.
I have that mini keyboard. It's awesome. Keys are very tactile and it's easy to type on once you get used to the key layout. I had never used a mini keyboard before, so it took me some time to get used to it being so small, but there was no issue at all with feeling the keys.
I have an iPod Touch that I've been using for about a year an a half. It's great for email, surfing the net, games, music, reading books and all those neat blindy apps. I like the money identifier the best. I haven't had much luck with the barcode scanner. The color identifier is not very accurate but it will do in a pinch. I use the light detector app quite a bit as well. I haven't used any of the OCR apps, but have heard they're not very accurate.
If you get a touch, keep in mind you'll need a wi-fi network to surf the net, get on YouTube, get email and that sort of thing. You can't just take it everywhere and expect it to work. It's not like a phone with a data plan that gives connectivity everywhere. More and more places have wi-fi access these days so it's not a big problem, but it's something to consider. If you don't have a wi-fi network at your house, then it won't be as useful to you. There are many apps that don't require an internet connection, including many of the blindy specific apps. The money identifier for instance, will work anywhere as long as you have a good light source.
aHow is the key layout of the mini keyboard different from a regular one? Thanks for your input on the blind aps. It seems that some of these are too good to be true, or at the very least, as if they need improvements. Then again, they're also dirt cheap or free, so I can't really complain. I am especially interested in the one for detecting light, as there have been times when the light was left on in my place and I didn't know it until someone told me.
I have wireless in the house, so that shouldn't cause a problem. I wouldn't really need it when going out, as the most I would do is to read a book in txt format, listen to music, or scan something like a dinner menu. When I go out, I leave the net at home. That said, I've heard of something called a hot spot, which is basically a little square box that you carry with you which gives you wireless access anywhere. You pay about $10 a month for so much usage.
Here goes, please! keep your comments to yourselves for those who know me and my feelings toward apple at this time. There are cases that are beeing worked on or have come out that serve to purposes a case for the Ipod and to give it internet connectivity. I saw it back about a few months posted on google news. Last that I saw left out, the Ipod can be used as a skype device so you can skype your friends or make a skype out call. Also my younger syster-in-law uses the Ipod I gave her to text her friends with a texting app. Not sure what app, I did not ask her. She also uses it to text her older sister my wife. So tiff something to think about as well, you would be able to talk to your friends via skype with the Ipod.
Hi,
To answer your questions about things you want to be able to do:
Surfing the net. This includes searching on Google, using GMail, posting to Facebook, shopping on Ebay, listening to/downloading things on/from Youtube, and going to other sites. As of now, with my Macbook and Snow Leopard, Facebook, even the mobile site, is a total nightmare, Ebay hardly works, and Youtube would work but Flash Player is either out of date or disabled, and the new installation is not accessible.
Web browsing works well, although some services like eBay, Facebook and Youtube have their own apps so you wouldn't even have to use the websites. The eBay one works well - I use it every day to monitor the items I'm selling; Facebook just became much more accessible and unfortunately the Youtube one is a bit up in the air at the moment. It works, but not as well as the one that used to come with the operating system on the devices - iOS.
Using Greek. This means reading and writing. While I would like both monotonic and polytonic support, monotonic is the one that's essential. From Youtube, to Facebook, to various sites, Greek is an important part of my internet usage, not to mention my ongoing lessons and music offline. I would also like to be able to save files with Greek names, and to save Greek rtf files to my compact flash card so that I can read them with Windows. When I save Greek text with the Mac, it turns into jibberish when I try to read it with XP.
I've just checked and voiceover supports greek; you should also be able to set the language of iOs to Greek when you set it up but I don't think this can be toggled between Greek and English for example. You can change voiceovers language on the fly, but if for example you changed it to Greek, as far as I know, voiceover would be trying to read English words but using a Greek voice. I have no idea how this would sound. Ask a genious (That's what they call them) at the Apple store if you can change the language of iOS without having to do a restore.
Scanning papers and simple documents. As with the KNFB Reader Classic, I'm not expecting to read huge books. But perhaps the newspaper or small sales pages would be nice.
This is possible on the touch; make sure you get the latest one that's just been released as this has a vastly improoved camera compared to older models. Identifying money & general items doesn't take that long to master; taking good enough pictures that you can read text is dooable but takes time. iOS comes with an app called newsStand where you can buy and read newspapers, so you might not have to worry about scanning them.
Making video and audio recordings. I use Quicktime for both on the Mac and don't use any kind of editing software afterword.
This is extremely easy using built in applications.
Chatting with friends. On the Mac, I do this with Adium, and while I have several messengers, MSN and Facebook are the ones I use most of the time.
As has been said Skype is dooable; you could also text people using whatsapp. There are clients for MSN and Facebook chat.
Using the calculator. It's just nice to have one handy.
iOS has one built in or you can ask Siri who is a personal assistant that accepts voice commands.
Using iPod Touch Specific aps. These are things which I wouldn't expect to do with a regular Windows netbook, but which I know exist for iOs devices. Such things include colour identification, bar code scanning (or voice label usage), money identification, gps, etc. I'm not sure what else there is, though I do know that other accessible aps exist.
There shouldn't be a problem with any of these accept for GPS. Because the touch can only access information online using WIFI, most GPS apps won't work unless you're connected to a network. You would be able to find out what items are near to your home though and get root instructions for them or you can enter a destination and get instructions.
In regards to iPad vs iPod, I have an iPad and whilst I really like it, I just don't use it that much. Browsing the web on the iPad is a very enjoyable experience but that's about it; I really don't think it's worth the extra money for blind people unless your making music. Your mum (Assuming she is sighted) will probably enjoy the iPad more than the touch though.
For typing, if you get the latest touch, you will be able to dictate things that you want to type (except for passwords) whilst your getting to grips with the keyboard. This isn't 100% accurate all of the time, but it's usually more than good enough that most of the content can be dictated and then you can go in and correct the odd error.
When purchasing a keyboard, you should considder if you really need the portability. I had a case that had a built in keyboard for my iPhone and I just wasn't a fan of the small keys after a couple of weeks of trying. I have an Apple bluetooth keyboard which appears to be a full size keyboard excluding the phone style numberpad and it works really well; I use it if I'm on a weekend away and I don't want to take a computer with me. Bare in mind that you will only be able to use your existing Apple keyboard if it is bluetooth capable. Technically there are ways to connect a standard USB keyboard to iDevices but it gets quite involved and it's probably beyond the scope of this post.
Also, iPods / iPads don't have compact flash by default, so you'll have to come up with another way of doing file transfer. Possible solutions would be to email yourself the content you want to transfer or use Dropbox.
Try to stick with it all. I'm not convinced 14 days will be enough for you to fall in love with the device, but if you've made any progress at all, it's probably worth keeping. Apple products have extremely good resale value, so even if you do decide after a month or two that you want to sell, you really shouldn't lose that much money at all.
Cheers.
Regarding the Greek, the language that iOS is set to use won't effect the language of websites. So, if you were reading a Greek site, you would be able to change the language of voiceover to Greek and it should be able to read it. Out of all the things you want to do, honestly the only one I think would be a problem is changing the language of iOS without having to reinstall it.
The keys are arranged basically the same as a regular keyboard. They're just smaller. Many of the keys have multiple functions. For instance, to get a period or comma, you have to hold down the FN key or Shift key with another key. There is a description of the keyboard layout with a list of all the function commands at the link below.
Link to keyboard description
That keyboard description was very helpful. Thanks.
I'm curious about what you didn't like about the case keyboard. I was thinking about getting one of those so as not to have to carry around more than one unit. Were the keys difficult to feel or was it that they were just too small for your personal liking? I have small hands so size doesn't bother me too much; I'm more concerned about the ability to distinguish one from another.
And if you really want a good iPod touch, the best thing to do would be to wait until the 5th generation iPod Touch comes out later this month. It's going to have a faster processor and will have support for Siri and dictation. Here's a clickable link if you want to order something from Speed Dots
b3n, I'm really curious about those aps for Facebook and Ebay. It would be wonderful if i could avoid using the actual sites and if these clients worked better! I always use ESpeak in Greek mode, even when reading English. That said, it can read English very well, with no accent. I've used other Greek synthesizers in English, and though they have a heavy accent, I could certainly udnerstand them. So I'd probably do that on the iPod Touch, if I couldn't change languages on the fly. Mostly, I get my news from greekreporter.com and hri.net. But I would like to read the local newspapers for sales, jobs, and interesting items. So I may consider News Stand, if they have them and if they're not expensive. I've heard that Siri is really neat! I think when I tell Mom about it and the dictation feature, she'll go totally nuts! That's her idea of computing! Yes, she's sighted, and already said that she wants "the big one", meaning the iPad.
I'm perfectly fine using the keyboard on an 8.9 inch netbook, but if I had to use something, say, the size of the older Language Master, for an extended period of time, it would drive me crazy! I almost never use the numberpad on a full-sized keyboard, regardless of the os I use So that won't be a loss. How much does one of those cases cost and does it come with anything else other than a built-in keyboard? As for my files, I know that the iPod Touch doesn't have a pcmcia or compact flash slot. But neither does the Macbook. In that case, I'm able to use my external usb flash card reader. Would that work here?
I'm still a bit nervous about the whole thing, but you really made me feel better about this by explaining about the resale value. That really does help.
I don't need to change the language of iOS so that it will read menus etc. in Greek. I just need to be able to read websites, files names, and text documents in the language.
Dirty Little Oar, thanks for the link to the keyboard description. I'll check it out. illumination, thanks for the heads-up on the new iPod Touch. Yes, in this case, I really do want the latest and gratest, so long as it won't be pricey. The one I saw on the Apple site, as I said, was $299 for 32gb. Is that the new one on preorder?
Another reason you're better off with the new touch rather than the older ones, is the simple fact that the new one has a much better camera, that should actually work better for just about everything you do.
the old touch has a .8 mp camera where as the new touch has a 5 mp camera.
Mp stands for megapixals and up to a point, the more of these a camera has the better. In addition other factors make the newer touches camera better, such as lo light support.
the ebay app on iOS is very usable.
You can change the system language of iOS, as well as the region settings accessibly with out much of a problem, as well as picking which languages you would like to easily switch voiceover between on the fly.
Tiff, I had an oversion to touch screens as well, especially typing on them. I bought an iPod Touch, and liked it, but still hated typing. When I bought the iPhone, I, out of necessity, learned to type on it. I still hate it, but it's sure better than any of the other phone options I know of. Believe it or not, the keys are bigger for my fingers, and I've gotten pretty good on it. I still wouldn't compose long emails or anything, but for texting, updating Twitter, etc., it works just fine. Plus, it has dictation if I get lazy, and the dictation is super accurate. I also just sold my iPad, but I carried it as a laptop replacement with the Apple bluetooth keyboard, and it worked great. It really is solid technology, and I wish you well.
I never use ITunes with anything, and have my music backed up to my card and categorised into various folders. On the Macbook, I just copy and paste the folders into the Music folder and play them with Quicktime. Can I do this on the iPod Touch? I found the user's manual for the one with iOS 5, and it says nothing about Quicktime.
um... this is where I jump in and why I sold my Ipod "Itunes" for windows. Unless you get a third party app that will let you cut, copy paste, you still need to use Itunes. This is where my choice of platform trumps IOS. Any way tiff, I saw you had a mac so I suggest you use Itunes on the mac, for windows its a pile of crap. Using it on a net book allow with a screen reader, it tends to lag on older net books. So in short your going to have to use Itunes like it or not. You can get a third party program to help you with cut, copy and paste, not sure any of that is free. If its not, its be yond me why something like that would cost.
This is definitely going to be a problem. My folders are arranged according to album names and/or Youtube channel names. Most tracks are called things like track1, track2, etc. or they're written in Greek, which may or may not transfer over to the iPod. They did on the Macbook, but then, when I saved them back to the card, including some newly downloaded songs, they were named in jibberish. Some are still named that way, but mostly because that's how people gave them to me. In any case, I think the iTunes library's way of doing things, by album, artist etc., would just confuse me and mess up my folders. I need to see about copying and pasting for text files as well. If I can't copy and paste, then the whole thing is kind of pointless for me.
You could get a galaxy player from samsung, running IceCream sandwige and avoid Itunes still be able to cut, copy and paste your music. also you would have to contend with micro SD cards but that is where a lot of devices have gone. yes android Icecream sandwige is different, it takes a learning curve but its definitly do able. yes you can use skype on this player, download music from amazon and google's play store and even read books with about 4 book readers that vary in accessibility. Not going to appologize for putting this on a apple related board but giving tiff options :). Choice is good!! :).
Agreed. If you are unwilling to go the iTunes route, Android is definitely the better OS for you, although it takes a greater learning curve. Should you go this route, the other option is to buy the $250 Google Nexas tablet, which runs Jellybean, an even more accessible update to Android.
Agreed with the others. If you're dealing with an Apple I device, you are also going to have to deal with iTunes. It's a bitch, I grant you that. I've been having problems with it lately myself. But I still think having the iPhone is worth it. However, if iTunes is a deal breaker for you, better not to go with an Apple product.
If it's just for music, I'd much rather get another uvo T100, or even another Zenstone. I love how they work and there are no unnecessary complications. You just plug them in, paste in your music, and go on your way. I also have enough tapes to lase I don't even know how long, so I could always just copy my music from the computer to them, grab a walkman and go. That's certainly the cheapest route. In either case, I may just get the iPod Touch and not deal with music on it. But what about my other files? Can I copy and paste them in with my card, as I do with the Mac?
The IOS device's do not support cut, copy and paste into there native storage. Your going to have to get a third party app either for mac or PC. Take care tiff, this is why I rid myself of my last Ipod and for the most part IOS devices. Hmm.. there's more but not appropriate for this topic.
This is going to be a huge problem, even when it comes to copying and pasting from a text editor onto the net. It may be a major deal breaker for me, so I must now look for small Windows or DOS machines. I've heard about Android, but if it's even more difficult to use than the iPod Touch, I'm not really sure I want to go down that road. I may look for a tutorial, just to learn more about it.
I'm experimenting with it as we speak. Just bought a Nexus7. As for iOS devices, and iTunes, I don't know why everyone says iTunes is so terrible. If you have a Mac, it's super easy to use, and it's never given me a problem in the least, not like the old prehistoric days of it when nothing spoke. Easy as anything.
not sure what you're talking about copy in to your card. There's no external storage system for the IOS. means there's no card slot for whatever card you have beside the sim card on selected IOS products. There's no simple solution to this, either,
1. go for something that is good on accessibility but with other restriction that it may have on you such as not a strate forward copy and pace etc etc, or
2. go for something that is quite accessible, but may be a pain to learn, and have the ability of all the features you may need.
At the end of the day, it depends on what you want to achieve and how you wish to achieve it. I might be wrong, but i don't think Androy support any other language TalkBack beside English just yet. From my understanding, definitely not Greek.
If you have a dropbox account, you can always copy and pace your file on your computer's dropbox, and retrieve it on your IOS. Same as if you have a google docs account as well.
Lots of the stuff now is done internally, and remotely, you don't necessary need a third party storage to achieve it. But again, as i said earlier, it comes to what you want to achieve it and how you wish to achieve it.
Being a first ever touch screen user, might be a good idea to go and have a few of all the devices that available for you, that include both Androy and IOS devices.
And don't forget iCloud. You don't necessarily have to connect your computer and sync it with iTunes all the time. If you have iCloud turned on, you can easily download music and apps on your iPhone, and it automatically syncs with all of your devices without having to plug them in.
Her problem is that she doesn't want to use ITune at all. So, either way, she'll have problem with ITunes or ICloud for syncing process. What i found though, syncing with ICloud allows me to play music thru winamp rather than thru ITunes on my computer. There's also wifi syncing process too. There's way to overcome the ITune issue, depends on her, how willing and ready and want to explore, and how well she knows her devices.
This is off topic, but the last few posts have made me think of a question. My boyfriend has an Android, and he says that you can't copy and paste text, say from one window to another. Let's say he wants to copy something from a website, then paste it in the edit field to post on Facebook, he says he can't do that. Is that true, and if not, how can he accomplish that?
buttercup, I have a compact flash card, and an external usb card reader. I was going to use that. In any case, I think I've decided what I'm going to do about this whole netbook, upgrading Mac, buying an iPod Touch quandary. None of the above! I'm buying another IBM Thinkpad X32! I didn't think I could find one for a good price, but at $249, refurbished and with a six-month warrantee, I did.
http://www.kingoflaptops.com/Laptops/IBM-Lenovo/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X32-Pentium-M-2-GHz-121-Inch-512-MB-Ram-60-GB-HDD-PID-708
Aside from the accessible aps of the iPod Touch, which I've learned on this thread aren't the best anyway, It really does have everything I want, and outperforms netbooks by several miles.
2ghz Intel Pentium M Processor (most netbooks have a 1ghz to 1.6ghz Atom processor)
a maximum of 2gb ram (most netbooks only have 1gb)
solid keyboard with the six pack (most netbooks have a very low profile keyboard and not all have the six pac)
1 pcmcia slot, 1 compact flash card slot, 1 parallel port, 1 vga port, 2 usb ports, 1 firewire port (netbooks only have usb ports)
6 cell battery good for 6 hours and 9 cell good for more (most netbooks have 3 cell batteries which only work for three or four hours)
wireless and 56k internet connectivity (netbooks only have wireless)
Windows XP Pro (netbooks with XP usually have home)
latches to lock the lid in place (I've never seen a netbook with those)
While the X32 has a built-in microphone, it doesn't have a camera. But they're easy and cheap enough to buy. It has a 12.1 inch screen, so is larger than some of the netbooks out there, and certainly larger than the iPod Touch, but it's still within my screen size requirements and is very light. It also has between a 40 and a 60gb hard drive, but I really don't need any more than 60gb, and could always have a larger one put in if I did, or just use a bigger compact flash card. Speaking of which, now I can keep my usb card reader on the desktop, where it belongs! The extra ram and speed also means that I could comfortably upgrade to Windows 7 if I wanted to do so. Plus, since I already have an X32, I can use it for spair parts should anything go wrong with this one! The one I've got my eye on has only 512mb of ram, but I think I can actually tell where the ram goes in, and I have 1gb from my old one to hold me over until I can get the 2gb.
After I wrote this post, I went to the homepage of the site where I saw the X32, just to see if they had one with 2gb ram. I went to the Ibm/Lenovo link, but the X32 wasn't listed. So I went back to the original link where I found it and they said it was in stock. I added it to my shopping cart, just to see what happened, and they didn't say it was out of stock. So I don't know what's going on and will need to call them tomorrow. I also typed Thinkpad X32 2ghz into Google and set it to shopping. The only store which came up was that one. When I did a regular search, nothing came up at all, except reviews. I know there are models with 1.6ghz and 1.8ghz. If I found one of those, would I notice the difference between that and 2ghz?
I may upgrade the Mac to 4gb, and put Lion on it, but for now, I think this is the best solution for me. Still, thanks to all of you for your help. I'm glad that at least I was able to get honest opinions and learn about the benefits and drawbacks of the I devices.
um? they still have Pentium machine? oh wow. i'm back to the 1990s it seems.
I'm not sure what you meant by "accessible but not the best" on what you've wrote here. But each have their views when come to accessibility i guess. If you're fine using 10 to 20 years old tech, or tech that is older than you, who can say no to that? as long as you're happy with it...
I've heard here that not all the aps work as well as advertised. For instance, the colour identifier and the ocr scanner aren't that accurate. They're all pretty cheap, especially when compared with tech made specifically for the blind, but considering all the other drawbacks of these devices, I'm not really sure if it would be worth it. The fact that it lacks the ability to copy and paste is a huge problem for me. Even DOS can copy paste with third party software, though I'm not sure how accessible that is, as it normally utilises the mouse.
I can't speak for the iPod Touch, but most netbooks use single core Atom processors with a maximum of 1.6ghz. The X32 can go up to 2ghz. The memory is also better, from 1gb on a netbook to 2gb on the X32, not to mention all the built-in ports and slots, plus the incredibly long battery life, especially with a 9-cell. While I would like something with a palmtop factor, I highly doubt that one with all of those features exists. So this is a nice compromise between a netbook and a full-sized laptop.
Actually, OCR and color ID aren't great on the touch because it relies on the camera, and they put budget cameras in those devices to keep the cost down. I've used the both on the iPhone with great success, even to pick out clothes, and such things. I've read things with the OCR stuff, too, so yes, it does work well. Again, the Touch camera is cheesy to keep costs to the consumer down. It's not made for serious picture taking, which you need if you're gonna do OCR.
I'm not sure about the particular colour identifier and also OCR as i don't use them or such. However, all these depends on lots of other factor. Take OCR for example, its pretty much depends on how you set up the camera, the quality of the particular document, light environment, glair, blur, etc etc. There's more than one factor that influence the quality of the immage. Same as the colour identifier too, if you use it in a very low light envrionment, you won't get any good result from it either.
I've been using my iphone4 to scann some pretty bad quality print invoice from recycle paper. It is so bad that some sighted people having a hard time reading it. However, i scann it using the VizBiz app, and got almost 100% accuracy on it. Of course, i know what it was before i scann and asking the question, just to test it. But i'm very impress with the result and quality of the scann. That was with a 5mp camera that come with the iphone4.
Like Jesse said, you are using a mobile phone camera to identify stuff, you are not using a particular camera or lans that purposely build for the purpose of scanning like what you may found on your flatback scanner or such.
wrong, e-speak supports greak try again.
hey i just looked up the VizBiz app and it came up with nothing. could you tell me what to look up to actually find it/ Thanks.
Also let me make another thing clear, while cut copy paste may not work on a mac it does work on a windows computer. I could not test it because I do not have a mac. Currently I am a windows7 user and will probly stay with the windows platform which works for me.
@Nickey, sorry my mistake, its VizWiz not VizBiz... i can't remember if its free or you need to pay. either way, this is one of the app that i will never regret to have. It can read 3d object too, as long as you got the camera angle right, it can even tell you what is written on a can or a packet.
Its my mistake there Starfly, however, do Greek espeak comes with the OS or you need to install it seperetly?
ok thank you. i am checking this out.
It comes with the OS, e-speak is a separate engine.
Keep in mind if all of the android TTS engines were in stalled some users would not have room lol. Currently we have 6 TTS engines that run under gingerbred and about 4 TTS engines that run under ICS and Jelly bean.
Oh, I did for get I am not counting the voices that come with the engines that do cost, so that would be a lot of room gone on a device.
with vizwiz, how do you read/listen to the answers once you get one back/ I am not figuring this out. thanks
I went to the On Sale page, and couldn't find the X32 listed there. But I did find an X60 for $299.
http://www.kingoflaptops.com/Laptops/IBM-Lenovo/Ultra-Portable-Business-Laptop-IBM-ThinkPad-X60-Light-Powerful-Fast-Intel-Core2Duo-processor-Solid-performanceExcellent-keyboard-Superb-data-security-Weight-only-3-pounds-Ideal-for-travel-vacation-business-pid-38
I visited the manufacturer's homepage, and aside from the lack of a parallel port, the specs look promising.
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?DocID=PD010033
I especially like that this runs on a dual core processor and can hold up to 4gb ram. I was concerned about build quality, since I heard that, unlike the X32, the X41 isn't as solid. But this doesn't appear to be a problem with the X60. These reviews look good, especially the second one.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3173
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2828
While not a Toughbook, by any stretch of the imagination, the keyboard is spill-proof to a certain degree and the hard drive can withstand a three-foot drop. I really would love to find a review of an X32 with a 2ghz processor and 2gb of ram going head to head with an X60 with the same specs, only with the dual core processor. But other than that, if I can't find the X32, I really may get this one.
Oh, and as a sidenote, if it wasn't for my backup dialup, I wouldn't be online right now, as the wireless is acting up again. So that integrated 56k modem is quite important.
Just when I thought I was ready to buy, I found two of them on Ebay! Both are much cheaper than the one at Laptop Kings, but these are not factory refurbished, and don't come with six-month warrantees. But one does come with 3gb of ram and both come with 14-day money-back guarantees. So now I'm not sure what to do! If you have enough sight to tell, cosmetically, how do these actually look in comparison to the first one and to each other? The one with 3gb ram is actually $130 cheaper than the one at the store!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Lenovo-X60-Thinkpad-Laptop-1-83ghz-Dual-Core-Duo-3GB-60GB-Windows-XP-Pro-/370661183345?_trksid=p5197.m1997&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D16%26meid%3D2535986488904090360%26pid%3D100016%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D6%26sd%3D380479789584%26
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ThinkPad-X60-Laptop-1GB-RAM-60GB-HD-CDRW-DVD-1-83Ghz-XP-Pro-MN-17079HU-/320931030277?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item4ab8fae505
Well, for good or for ill, I went with the one on Ebay for $169. I couldn't resist the price and the 3gb ram. If I wanted to upgrade that other one, I would have paid more, ontop of the $299. Here's to a speed demon of a machine and many years of usage! I hope I don't regret this, but a $169 mistake is way better than a $299 one.
It looks like you've already made up your mind, but it's perfectly possible to copy & paste to an iDevice using third party software. Quite a bit of missinformation in this topic as it stands.
Thanks for clearing that up. I'm glad that's the case, though I still think it's sad that a truly modern os doesn't have such a basic capability built-in. As for my decision, I think the only thing that I might have changed is that I would have gotten an X61, if I could have found one under $300 and with XP or 7 installed. That model has a Core 2 Duo processor instead of a Core Duo and can hold up to 4gb memory instead of 2. But overall, I've heard the two machines are really the same and there's no major difference in performance. But at least I know the model to get if, for some reason, I really do need the speed and memory. It appears to be the last one with a pcmcia slot, so the rest don't interest me, including the X200, with the touchpad.
I don't know if the newer IPod Touches have it, but the newer IPhones have Siri, which among other nifty things also allows you to dictate your text messages to your device, so you could just tell your phone what the message was supposed to say and it would write it for you. Granted that would take practice but if you get the hang of it it could save you a lot of time.
You should get an Ios device anyway. Those IBM machines you are looking at are old, old, old!
Yes, the new iPod touches have Siri. I went to see them yesterday, and boy are they thin. It's pretty impressive.
I'm pretty sure the original poster doesn't give a flying flip what anyone says is better, considering how set she is in her ways. in fact, she's bound to get what she wants anyway, despite how helpful we've been.
I copy and paste to ITunes all the time without third party software. Yoou just have to uncheck a little checkbox and it does it perfectly well. It just makes it a bit more difficult to remember what you have and don't have on the device.
I also copy and paste to iTunes all the time using my Windows computer with iTunes installed. My device takes the track I put there and catalogs it just fine.
I wish I had read this board before.
Just because you use iTunes doesn't mean you must change your library, or files in what ever order you like them. iTunes doesn't have to be your default music player, so you can add files to it as you like and even remove files from it back to your computer if you purchased them from Apple.
This can be done with the USB cable that comes with the phone, or even via Wi Fi, from your internet to the phone from the computer or bise versa.
Yes, iTunes is the best way to install files on your iOS device and Android you can use many sources, but it is smooth and most times easy.
You need no 3RD party anything to move files back and forth at all and syncing is a neat feature to use as well.
Yes a lot of mis information.
Last. If you purchase a new, and I stress, new device, Apple will support you free of charge for 90 days. Use it.
If you purchase a used device you'll have to learn on your own, but ther is lots of information available.
I just suggested android the nexis7 because its about 200 and will do what tiff needs it for and do it well. My last post because tiff has made her mind up.
I love my 4S as well, and use a lot of those apps as well. What OCR apps are you all using?
I've been trying to use the "say text," app, and can't get it to do anything. To those who are having trouble with the barcode scanners, one thing I've had to do, and this is mainly with cans, is lay the can down on the counter, and just lift my phone a little ways up from it, feel where the top of the label kind of feels smoothe for about an inch or so where the barcode would normally be, then snap the photo of it.
Then if it doesn't get it on the first try, I just continue to rotate it a little until it reads it, which doesn't usually take long. I don't usually scan many other things at this point, but thought you all might like a tip there. For those who copy and paste with ITunes, what checkbox do you need to uncheck?
I'm using a mac as well, so would love some advice from anyone else on here.
Try Text Detective. People are having success with it. As far as Mac stuff goes, just talk to any of us Mac people on here and we can help you. Also, www.applevis.com is a great resource.
The Thinkpad X60, which is what I wound up buying, is only six years old. If you want old, and still using Windos, that would be my HP Pavilion Ze5385US, from 2002, or my IBM Abtiva from 1996 or so. That last is in the attick, but I do still use the HP, along with my XP desktop from the same time. Just for the record, if I would have gotten the X61 (I didn't know about it at the time), it would have had a core 2 duo processor and could have been expanded to 4gb ram. So it could easily run Windows 7. But even my X60, with a 1.83 core duo and 3gb ram can easily outrun the netbooks on the market today.
happy heart, I wrote this post to ask advice about the iphone, and then the iPod Touch. Just because I chose to get a Thinkpad, it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the help and advice that was given here. I've said thank you on several occasions in this thread, and did learn enough, both from here and from reading an iPod Touch manual, to decide that this isn't the best course of action for me at this time. But I'm hoping that the discussion continues for those who really are interested in these devices, since maybe, it could help them.
SilverLightning and forereel, thanks for explaining about ITunes. As I said, I personally choose to avoid that program, as it messes with my folders and files. But can you copy and paste things from a webpage into the text editor, and do you use ITunes for transferring regular text files as well?
starfly, I don't remember why I chose not to get an Andriod device. Everything happened so fast, and before I knew it, I was the owner of the Thinkpad X60. I think it was the copy/paste issue and the touchscreen. But to be fair, I didn't look at the tutorials for these things, so I really have no idea how the os runs or if I would like it or not.
Well if you're not going to get one it doesn't matter I suppose. Smile.
Tif, considering how much you anti chinese product and that, do you know Linovo is a Chinese company? just sayin
I know. *sigh* But I really can't afford a Toughbook, and not only are those fabulous machines, but they're among the few still truly made in Japan. I could have gone with an X31, which is real IBM, but that would actually be taking a step backward from my X32. Besides, Lenovo is among the only Chinese companies I've heard of which makes things of a decent quality. More than decent, to be honest.
IBN also own by Lenovo, btw.
oops, its IBM not IBN
Actually, I believe IBM contracted Lenovo to make some of their products. However, I believe the X31 and previous models were actually made by IBM, before the contract was negotiated.
IBM been bought over by Lenovo at least 8 years ago or so
I say don't worry about the race of people that build your products, just worry how they work, or don't for you. Suppose you have a factory in the US, and they hire some Chinese workers?
I really think its silly to go checking on your products unless you are wanting to buy strictly a country, and now days that is difficult.
It's extremely difficult, yes. But it's worth it in the longrun. I'd rather have high quality things which are slightly more expensive than cheap ones break all the time. In your example, they'd probably still be made well, as American standards of quality are far superior to those of China and many other Asian countries, with the exception of Japan.
But electronics are offten times made up of parts and not only from one country or source. The screen is something, the processor is something else, and well you understand.
How can you judge just because of they made in chinese means they break and come from cheap material? Lots of chinese company are exclusively build for eexclusive quality and price. It comes down to what you have to spend and how much you want to spend.
Mmmm, I love the smell of racism in the morning.
I'm referring to most of the products for the consumer market. They probably do produce good things for the very high end and/or special markets. But that's not what's sold in most stores.
Lenovo will be my next laptop :), after next year when I get my tax refund. :) Going for one of their gaming laptops, will post some where here if any one is intrested.
Only problem with the newer IPod Touches is that I've heard they're only making up to 32-gig now. And I'm getting tot he point where I'll need at least 64 gig for all the audio I'll be carrying around. Ah well, suppose I could get an IPad since I know I can still get 64 GB.
I have another thought, wait to see if infact the Ipad many comes to light or if reporters are just blowing smoke up people's back sides.
There is an Lenovo on sale through today for 629. Its an aultra book, so 629 is a wonderful price. Check out CNET cheap skate. No, he's not Chinese. JK.
Last I really think she's dealing with what use to be. Manufactoring in China has really come of age. I don't say it is right, but many companies are having products built in China due to cheap lagor, but the quality is not suffering, but actually getting better. To have a job, and a good one means much to a person needing to earn a living, so keeping it and doing a good job is what is causing this. Way back you'd be right the products were poor quality, but not anymore. It wasn't the place, nor the people, but the skill or no how.
Wow! For $629, I would want a full-fledged laptop, including all ports, slots, and jacks that I use, plus a few that might come in handy. I'd also want an excellent quality build. Still, it's not as ridiculously priced as the Apple products.
Forgot to say. I have a friend that lives and works here for a sporting goods clothing company. She is in design. She has to travel to China about every 3 months to set up the product manufactoring schedules and such things. The goods don't say where they are producted and the design is done right here, so if you purchased them you'd think you were buying American unless you bothered to really research. I wonder how many other products you own that are China built?
Far too many is all I know. The only really good nonJapanese Asian product that I have is my talking clock from Taiwan . It's from 1995 or so and still works perfectly. Plus, it has a wonderful female voice that I've never found on any other talking product. Not that squeaky nonsense, but a normal-sounding one. I also have a stereo, perhaps from Korea, with all manual controls, that I found at Good Will a few years ago. It has built-in dual cassette and radio, and you can add a turntable and cd player as extra components. The speakers hook up as wires, not with the usual 3.5mm jacks. Anyway, that seems to work pretty well.
IPad mini event is on the 23rd of October this year, as well as other Apple products. Ruma suggest that there will be the new IMac, MacBookPro13, and also Mac Mini available on that event too. But the focus will be IPad Minii and also IBooks.
As far as IPod Touch goes, you can get 32gb and 64gb model. They discontinue the 8gb and 16gb for IPod Touch 5 mainly because IPod Nanno 7th Gen has the capacity up to 16GB.
So, since the Ipod 5 is going to have Siri, I take it that there will be a mic inside this time?
Chinese manufacturing has taking a huge turn for the better. What western companies failed to realize was, that while many of these nations were the bottom for awhile, it was not their aim to stay at the bottom. While American schools fight about creation vs. evolution, Asian school districts turn out more science majors per year than ever before. In 2010, more scientific papers were issued from China than the U.S. a first time in history that has happened.
If you get an American product made in China and sold at WalMart, it's likely to be shoddy. But if you buy Chinese electronics made by Chinese manufacturers, they want to compete with Japan and the U.S. and maybe even South Korea someday. So their quality rivals ours.
The so-called Chinese junk phenomenon has more to do with American companies than Chinese ones, at least in the electronics industry.
Remember, American companies want to outsource over there to get cheap labor, government-sponsored healthcare, and subsidized housing for their workforces. Way too much irony on that one, but I know people over there in the electronics industry who've been candid about these things.
Now, you buy a Chinese product made by a Chinese manufacturer, it's not done to be the cheapest: they're just like anybody else, they want to be the best.
When I took a business course in Japan in 1990, (yeah I know that's awhile ago), the one thing that got hammered into us as Western students is the difference in perspective: ours is profits quarter by quarter. Theirs is industry domination generation by generation. Those are two very different business models and we're about to find out who's gonna win.
Certainly, I believe in universal health care and housing for the needy. But America goes about the first in the wrong way. At any rate, that does make sense about Chinese companies versus American ones working there. I'm not sure if I have any authentic Chinese products. I would love to hear more about your experience taking a business course in Japan! It's precisely because of these cultural differences that I believe they're the best at manufacturing electronics etc. From what I remember from sociology class, they have very strict guidelines to even enter business. You have to pass a certain test, and much networking takes place when looking for jobs. I'm sure some of this is exagerated, but this is the film that we watched in class.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_%28film%29
Another thing which impressed me was their skill at the abacus, as seen on various Youtube videos. They even have competitions to see who can do the fastest calculations! I've heard that nowadays, they start their children on computers at about three-years-old.
I didn't realise that China still has those kinds of work ethics when making products for consumers. I know they did, before 1906, as their university entrance exams were insanely tough, and I've heard their military has superior technology. But in general, I thought Japan surpassed them ages ago with schooling etc.
Ok, going back to something I saw earlier in this thread, I wanted to mention something. Tiff, you mentioned that you were disappointed in the lack of a parallel port on your new device. You probably already know this but just in case not, they make a USB to paralell adapter. I bought mine for about $60 a few years ago at Computer City or something like that. That was before I discovered ebay. lol
Anyway, if you didn't know about that, I hope its helpful. If you did, sorry for the waste of board space. lol
As for the Ipad mini, what's the point? Wouldn't that just be an Ipod touch or an Iphone? Shows what I know. lol Betchya I'm about to get schooled. lol
I would agree, China and Japan school America in almost every technological respect. How do the Germans rank. I mean they've got some cool tech, they made some cool guns, etc.
no the Ipad many is beeing corrated because google nexis7 and the Kindle fire and fire HD are taking a bite out of apple's bottom line with these tablits that sell less then the Ipads.
Keep in mind when the Ipad came out no one was relly doing well in tablits but the world has changed then, samsung is kicking the stuffing out of apple in sells and gaining turf on apple in tablets as well. Amazon's kindle fire HD is selling well. So if you were apple what would you do if these company's are nipping away at your bottom line?
Give me an example of how Samsung's tablets and the Kindle Fire HD are kicking Apple in the butt. Sorry to bust your bubble, but last time I checked, iPads are still selling like crazy. In fact, many customers returned their Samsung Galaxy Tablets because they mistook them for iPads, and they wanted an iPad more than that tablet. I've read news articles about it. The reason why they say Android is kicking Apple in the butt is because all those companies say that they shipped so many units, but the question is, how many did they sell? That's the only thing they won't tell us because they're ashamed of it.
Well Apple is simply "made in China" Smile.
Thanks, Domestic Goddess, for the advice on the usb to parallel port connector. Usually, I try to avoid such things, as I prefer ports either to be built in or close to the machine to avoid breaking of cables and the like. Plus, I'm usually not a big fan of usb. But I will definitely check for a pcmcia to parallel adapter. That would actually be really neat! But $60, to me at least, is way too much for something like that.
As for Apple's products being made in China, here's an interesting article on that.
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/22/why-apples-products-are-designed-in-california-but-assembled/
They seem to focus more on quantity than quality. They also update their products so frequently, and sell them as such high prices, that unless you really need some of their features, it's really not worth it to buy them. Certainly not for the basic computer user at any rate.
That should have read at not as. Anyway, I just went to Ebay and found pcmcia to parallel adapters starting at $12.15 with free shipping! Now that I like! *smile*
I shouldn't ask, but what in the world does she have against USB, and what in the world is she doing with her computer that she could snap a cable? Is she mud wrestling with the thing, or going into warzones? Dear god, I'm rough on technology and I've never broken a cable.
Now that I've asked that, I'm going to go hide and act like I didn't ask it at all.
You've really broken cables? Wow! Maybe if you don't have them off the floor and run them over with a vacum or something and you have thin ones, okay, but most computer cables are pretty thick. Even if you trip over a USB cable it will simply come out of the machine, no harm done.
Now the iPhone charging cable or headset cables are really thin and you can break these, but you don't have an iPhone, so.
I'll have to second that question. I'm really interested.
someone might bare repeating Cody's question, since she has him on ignore. I, too, am curious how she'll respond, though.
No. I didn't actually break any cables. But I've had usb connectors break and/or have trouble being recognised by the computer. I just se parallel, serial, etc. as much more durable and more secure when plugged into the machine. Granted, most of my problems with usb have been related to the cheap sound cards breaking. But as much as I love my compact flash card reader, I don't like how it dangled from my netbook, and was always worried that I'd yank it out, or that the card would fall out, or some such. On the desktop, it doesn't matter, since it just stays in place. But on a laptop, I like to have as few cables/wires sticking out as possible, which is one of the reasons why I'm such a fan of the pcmcia slot.
Good, I figured they had come way down in price. I had to buy mine about 5 or 6 years ago when I bought one of the original 1980's Versapoints off ebay before I realized that my fairly new computer didn't have a paralell port. *smacks self on head* It still works well today so I'd say I got my money's worth.
Before anyone asks why in hell I would buy such an antique of a braille embosser, I have no government agency rushing to help with my tech purchases so had to go cheap. I got it for $250 so it's worked out very well.
I didn't check the usb ones, so they could have been more expensive. I have a Braille Blazer and love it. I also have a Versapoint Duo, but could never figure it out, and honestly, I like the Blazer better, since it has speech. So I want to sell the Versapoint.
This might make me look like a dumbass, but do they sell tape drives still? If so, do they wolk with USB?
Um, it depends. It could be the very opesit of the case. I recently try to hunt down some 128MB usb drives for an event. I need about 50 of them, but guess what? i can't find them at all. In fact, when i ask around, the 128mb drives are more expendsive than the 512MB, and the 512MB drives are more expendsive than the 1gb drives. It is just how it is, you can't change the technology, either you follow, or you will left behind with your great grand parents tech.
Probably because the drives you are looking for are rare.