FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HumanWare and Partners Demonstrate Assistive Technologies that Change Lives at CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference Los Angeles, California, March 21 2007 - HumanWare and partners will today showcase assistive technologies for the blind and visually impaired that can fundamentally improve lives and eliminate barriers to success. HumanWare will demonstrate its breakthrough products such as myReader, the reading support product for people with low vision. Trekker, HumanWare's handheld GPS product, will be used for "virtual booth tours" and to conduct GPS-guided tours outside the conference venue. The world-renowned BrailleNote line running Sendero GPS will also be featured. "CSUN is the longest-running and largest university-sponsored conference on technology for persons with disabilities. So, it's the ideal place to showcase our world-leading and life-changing technologies," said Dr Richard Mander, HumanWare CEO. "We always have one of the largest booths at the event, and this year, rather than taking center stage ourselves, we're showcasing the two groups that mean the most to us: Our customers and our partners." Showcasing Partners On the first day of the CSUN Conference Exhibition, Wednesday, 21 March, HumanWare will be showcasing six key partners: . Baum Retec AG. Germany's Baum makes the BrailleConnect and Brailliant Braille displays, resold by HumanWare, and the hardware for HumanWare's BrailleNote PK device. Baum is also an authorized distributor for HumanWare products in Germany and Austria. . Code Factory. Code Factory of Barcelona, Spain makes Mobile Speak Pocket, software which "speaks" the screen contents of a PDA. HumanWare is the sole authorized distributor for Mobile Speak Pocket in English. . Eschenbach. Eschenbach Optik of Germany is the leading distributor worldwide of eyecare products, such as glasses, to eyecare professionals, and the largest authorized distributor worldwide of HumanWare low vision products. . Quantum Technology. Quantum Technology of Australia is the developer of the MountBatten Brailler and Jot a Dot Braille learning products, for which HumanWare is the sole authorized distributor in the US. . Sendero Group. US-based Sendero Group makes the GPS product for the BrailleNote family and sells a variety of products, including GPS-equipped BrailleNotes. . ViewPlus Technologies. ViewPlus, another American company, makes a breakthrough line of Braille embossers with their patented TigerR technology. Tiger allows flexible printing of Braille text, embossed graphics and even mixed Braille and plain text printing. Support Braille Literacy Also on the first day of the CSUN Conference, HumanWare will launch a new resource in its Support Braille Literacy effort. HumanWare is continuing its Support Braille Literacy effort, launched in January, with a campaign called "We're Listening". In meetings, at conferences and online, HumanWare will be soliciting ideas from customers, partners and others. A new Web page, www.humanware.com/braille, will be launched to solicit ideas. According to JoAnn Becker, HumanWare's International Education Product Manager, who will be presenting on HumanWare products on the day: "I was lucky to learn Braille as a child, and Braille has made a huge difference in my life. Most blind children today are not so lucky." According to National Braille Press, the number of school-aged children in the US who use Braille as their primary reading medium has dropped from 50 percent in the 1960's to 12 percent today. Other countries have a similar story. Many of HumanWare's partner relationships support Braille literacy. HumanWare bundles Baum's BrailleConnect and Code Factory's Mobile Speak Pocket into a complete Braille-based PDA solution. Code Factory is also demonstrating a new Games Pack of Braille learning games for Mobile Speak Pocket with HumanWare at CSUN. Users can grow from Quantum's Jot a Dot and Mountbatten Brailler, sold by HumanWare in the US, to HumanWare's BrailleNote family. And with ViewPlus printers, HumanWare customers can create a complete Braille learning or productivity environment. myReader, GPS and more Thursday, March 22nd, is HumanWare's Update Day for myReader, the reading support product for people with low vision. Trekker, HumanWare's handheld GPS will feature on Friday March 23rd, which is GPS Day, and HumanWare will hold GPS seminars in the morning and demonstrate Trekker and Sendero GPS. The final day of the Exhibition, Saturday, March 24th, is open to the public until the show closes at 1pm. For further information please contact: Floyd Smith VP, Marketing and Customer Experience HumanWare Ph: +44 7949 818966 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
About HumanWare HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision, including products for the blind and visually impaired. HumanWare's products include BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital talking book players; and myReader, a unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision. Web links HumanWare: www.humanware.com HumanWare Support Braille Literacy ideas page: www.humanware.com/Braille CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference: www.csun.edu/cod/conf/ National Braille Press, The Case for Braille: http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/case_for_braille.html Baum Retec AG (in English): www.baum.de/index-e.php Code Factory: www.codefactory.es Eschenbach Optik of Aemerica: www.eschenbach.com Sendero Group: www.sendero.com Quantum Technology Mountbatten Brailler Web site: www.mountbattenbrailler.com ViewPlus Technologies: www.viewplus.com Note: All trademarks used are property of their respective owners. Matthew Janusauskas Technical Support and Training Manager HumanWare USA Inc. 656 N Kennedy Drive Kankakee IL 60901 Phone: 800-722-3393 Ext. 204 Fax: 815-939-3194 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: http://www.humanware.com ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
