Hello everyone. I do not have this product because of price but Dale Campbell at blindmicemart.com sells a bar code reader. I think it's called the talking omni. I think it's $1500 and you can probably read about it on his web site. Any products bought at this sight, the profits, are used to provide scholarships to seniors in high school who are blind to help with some college finances.
Monica Svopa----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Hofstader" <cdh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 8:33 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OT: Issues Blind People Face
Hi E. et al,I always look for technical answers to difficult questions. These are often expensive but as I gaze into my crystal ball, I see the unnaturally inflatedprices of AT crashing to Earth in the next two to five years. Currently, Freedom Scientific sells a very good bar code reader with a massive database of products ranging from music CDs to canned foods to health and beauty aids to some prescription drugs (the reason theprescription drugs are a limited set is that there is no standard set of barcodes for them so FS only supports Walgreens and CVS). Bar codes are usually in the same place on most products so finding them (with a good handheld reader) isn't hard and the database includes preparation information, nutritional data and lots of other good stuff that we PWVI cannot access independently while pawing through our kitchen cabinetslooking for something to eat. The FS solution is very expensive because ofits massive database (updated every 90 days) and because they ship it withan excellent bar code reading gun which makes the process that much easier.A bar code solution, however, is not adequate for shopping unless you have an insanely large amount of time on your hands.While I was still at FS, I had some conversations with Publix, a really hugegrocery chain here in the south. We talked about making a single lineBraille embosser/ink printer that could be attached to a cash register. As each item is scanned by the cashier, a label shoots out of the embosser withdots on one side and ink on the other. Either the cashier, the bag boy oranother designated to the task can then stick the labels on the packages sothe PWVI can read them when they get home. We calculated that we could manufacture and sell these for about $300 profitably. Each grocery storeneed only buy one as the probability of a swarm of PWVI shopping at Safewayall at once is pretty low so we wouldn't need to wait on long lines to get to the one register with the embosser. As far as I know, the project died when I left the company nearly 4 years ago. Putting pressure on the commercial AT vendors while helping those who make free open source programs will help us achieve control of our own technological destinies and, as a result, the liberty to move the art forward as we see fit. -----Original Message----- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of E. Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 5:35 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Chris's books If blind people take a bit of responsibility there are tools they can use. For instance, when I buy cans of something, I tend to buy several cans of the same thing. I do not buy several cans of different things which all come in similar feeling cans at the same time. That way, I can label the "several cans" of whatever when I get home. I know blind people have real problems. I also know blind people who make life harder for themselves by refusing to search out ways of solving "problems". Then they get angry because all cans are not labeled in braille or whatever. Let's encourage each other to problem solve rather than whine and lash out at others. E. At 04:24 PM 6/28/2008, you wrote:Hi all, <smiling> George, no of course it wouldn't be funny if it really had happened. No, this was a spoof, a funny essay or lark written to point up the problems blind people have with cans and boxes which aren't labeled in braille or in any other intelligible way. No, I'm not advocating destruction of property, not at all. This bit of hyperbole was written and posted on Blind Kiss some time back, and it was funny precisely because it was so exaggerated and so outrageous that it would never have happened in a million years. Yet its purpose was serious in that it was written to underscore the problems we have with printed material. I guess I didn't explain that well. It was written in the Robin Hood mind set, and it had just enough hijinx to make it extremely funny. In fact, it was so well written that even the image of all these blind people whooping and hollering and ripping off the labels on cans just makes me smile. I can't help it! I guess maybe I am, as they say in some quarters "slightly tetched.". <still chuckling> Ann P. -- Ann K. Parsons Portal Tutoring EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.portaltutoring.info Skype: Putertutor "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost." Email services provided by the System Access Mobile Network. 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