The Optacon I want will have the best features of the R1D and the Optacon
II. I personally don't want it to speak, make coffee, or pre-scan and
interpret pages. If the Optacon III does additional things, fine, as long
as it also does what an Optacon is supposed to do--help a human brain (not
a computer brain) read print material (even with missing letters or other
defacements) in real time. Perhaps other features and additional software
could be made modular. The ability to use the Optacon to read computer
screens, a camera to fit into tight spacees, a better read on colors other
than black and white and the ability to read cell phone, CD palyer, and
other displays are the improvements that interest me most.
An Optacon will never be for everyone because it will take patience and
commitment to use in a technical age that values bells and whitles that
provide instant gratification. The primary idea behind a new Optacon is to
keep the technology available to those who need to read music, foreign
languages, architectural schematics, some hand-written or hand-printed
material, cans and bottles, appliance surfaces,
and all the other things that only the Optacon can do now.
In my opinion TeleSensory made a mistake by not pursuing the
sscreen-reading software aspect of the Optacon II. Most people who bought
the Optacon II didn't even know there was screen-reading software. Imagine
if advancements and improvements could have been made to that software so
that Windows screens could have been more easily read. The Optacon II
would have been marketable for sure. As it was I used the Optacon II as my
screen-reader for about six years.
In summary, avoid the temptation to produce a device that does circus
tricks and keep your eyes on the prize--a working real time print reader.
Catherine
------------------------------------------------------
-Catherine Thomas
braille@xxxxxxxxx /
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