[access-uk] Re: Call for RNIB or Alison Long To Respond To My E-mail
- From: Jonathan H <digitaltoast@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:45:18 +0100
I think my view would be based on the following quote:
From: "Long, Alison" <Alison.Long@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> RNIB invested 1.7 million pounds in the delivery of a technical library.
> This we did after establishing that the industry believed what we were
> asking for was completely impossible, technically not viable, and we had
> exhausted discussions with Europe and government with regard to funding.
> (I was told by technical experts at the European digital TV level that
> it was impossible to conceive of talking TV for at least 15 years).
I've said it before and I'll say it again, to put it quite bluntly,
the RNIB have had the piss taken out of them.
Look at what can be achieved in one evening by a few enthusiastic
geeks at https://london.hackspace.org.uk/.
Look at the uses that the £20 Raspberry PI is being put to already:
http://www.element14.com/community/groups/raspberry-pi
There are hackers who've run webservers on internet radios and pocket
calculators.
Just look around ebay and see the kind of technology you can buy -
I've just bought a 64Gb USB3 memory stick for £24, a Bluetooth 3
dongle that sticks out less than 7mm for under £5 and as I said
before, my glasses-free 3D mobile phone has a satnav, 3g, wifi,
bluetooth, hdmi etc etc, and cost less than £200.
2 years ago, these things either didn't exist or cost well over 3-5x as much.
To say that a speech enabled digibox was, and I quote, "impossible to
conceive of for at least 15 years" is total nonsense.
This is why I'd like RNIB to come forward with total transparency and
say who told them this, what this £1.7M "library" consists of, who was
involved etc.
To be GIVEN £1.7M of a charities money and then fail isn't unfortunate
or bad timing, it's bad management.
There's a lot of explaining to be done.
On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 9:22 AM, Tristram Llewellyn
<tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> It is easy to throw stones at RNIB in the light our present knowledge which
> is a kind of historic revisionism. I suspect RNIB had done research and
> probably decided on the basis that the company had been re-financed by one of
> its creditors in 2008 that it was in sufficiently good shape to initiate the
> project. I suspect RNIB decided to partner with TVonics because it is a
> smaller British based player with whom they would have better and deeper
> contacts than the big Japanese or other foreign firms where they would have
> had to work through many layers of management and maybe not even get the
> result they wanted. We live in unprecedented economic times and RNIB could
> have well crossed its legs and held on for some other opportunity but how
> long might that have taken for another such accessible device to come to
> market. It is not a foregone conclusion that the entire investment is
> wasted. However only RNIB can answer that one because it will relate to the
> nature of the techni
> cal library they have created and who owns what and what can be redeployed.
> TVonics and RNIB should be applauded there was risk on both sides, the
> alternative was for RNIB to "suggest" to firms to make things accessible and
> that has not had a good history of positive outcomes like the TVonics box.
>
> Regards.
>
> Tristram Llewellyn
> Technical Support
> Sight and Sound Technology
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Eleanor Burke
> Sent: 20 June 2012 18:25
> To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [access-uk] Call for RNIB or Alison Long To Respond To My E-mail
>
> Dear RNIB
> It is a sad day that you invested so much money in a company that has now
> gone in to Administration. It is fair to say that a number of blind people
> have had an opportunity to purchase and enjoy the TVonics. Might more
> research in to the financial stability of the company have been a good idea
> or did the company simply 'sell' the idea to obtain the 1.5 Million. Who at
> RNIB looked in to the Company's financial ascets prior to the deal?
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jonathan H" <digitaltoast@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 6:09 PM
> Subject: [access-uk] Re: TVonics in administration
>
>
>> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Eleanor Burke
>> <eleanorburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> I think that RNIB who have invested 1.5 million should give us an
>>> up-to-date
>>> statement. As I recall when the recorder came on the market and was being
>>> discussed on this list, someone from RNIB did send a mail to this list
>>> all
>>> about this 1.5 million invested.
>>
>> I have it here and have copied the relevant parts below. £1.7 MILLION
>> is a helluva lot, even at the £200 per hour they say they pay their
>> consultants, that's 4 consultants at £200 per hour working 8 hour days
>> for an entire year on this. So, yes, I'm as keen as anyone to know
>> what this library looks like. Anyway, here's the email:
>>
>> From: "Long, Alison" <Alison.Long@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:22 PM
>>
>> Tvonics have been supported by RNIB financially and with other expertise
>> to deliver what they have;
>>
>> RNIB invested 1.7 million pounds in the delivery of a technical library.
>> This we did after establishing that the industry believed what we were
>> asking for was completely impossible, technically not viable, and we had
>> exhausted discussions with Europe and government with regard to funding.
>> (I was told by technical experts at the European digital TV level that
>> it was impossible to conceive of talking TV for at least 15 years).
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