So would it be reasonable to make a slimmed down MacMini with flash
instead of a hard drive and a battery? Probably could shrink that down
quite a bit. Then have snap on or wireless input/output devices like
braille, qwerty, headset or whatever. Even if it's not tiny, I could
stick the thing in my bag and just deal with the wirelessley tethered
input and sound devices. The iPhone is just OSX under the hood with a
different UI. If you could bluetooth an input device and have the
functional equivalent of voiceover on it that would be close to what I
think you're describing. Actually a laptop sans screen and keyboard
could be made quite small with the same wireless input and output
devices. Folks could just choose what their favorite input and output
devices are. You could also re-market the boxes, sans battery, as blade
servers putting several on a shelf together.
CB
Alex Jurgensen wrote:
Hi,
It is fully modular, with three keyboard types, a qwerty, keypad, and
Braille
Thanks for listeninog,
Alex,
On 18-Nov-08, at 5:24 AM, erik burggraaf wrote:
Hi, Just a couple of points. From your description, it looks like
the unit is going to come wih braille input. This will instantly
render it useless for the sighted world, which seems to be a feature
of your product description below.
Second, I don't think that name will work, as It will be easily
confuzed with the IMac. How about the IPad, the Eye-Pad, or the
a-mac? A for accessible.
All right, now I sell these things for a living. Actually I support
them for a living, but I work for a very small company, and we all
have to chip in where we may. That means I'm stuck selling the stuff
once in a while. Note taker solutions have three main problems.
They're bulky. They're expensive. They're proprietary. There's
definitely a lot of interest in them, but that interest doesn't
translate to sales because of the three factors I just mentioned.
The funding for such things is screwey here as well, so that is
another pin prick in your balloon.
Any of my clients who want a speech only, qwerty note taker go with a
pda phone. It's half the price of a blinkware note taker, has better
and somewhat less proprietary features, and has individually
upgradeable parts, so that one piece doesn't lose it's value when the
others are redundant. For example, Suppose you fork out $2000 for a
pda phone, mobile speak smartphone or pocket pc, and mobile geo gps
with an external holux m1000. When pda phones with half again the
speck come to the market next year and your current pda phone works
like garbo, you can fork out $500 for a new pda phone, transfer your
code factory licences, and be off to the races. Same if you decide
you want a new gps receiver. If you buy an external braille display
with input for 5 grand, That braille display retains it's value,
because when youpgrade your kit next year, your braille display is
still relevant and you just keep it running on the new system. I
feel sorry for any one who bought the gw braille sense last year,
because this year they brought out the braille sense plus with gps
and a bunch of hardware upgrades, and suddenly your $6000 note taker
solution, all be it one that probably still works for you more or
less, is now irrelevant to the market. Therefore, I suggest you make
the thing modular. So, I can remove the qwerty keybord and buy a
slide-on braille keybord or vice versa if I want. When I trade in my
base unit next year, I can just slide off my braille display and
keybord and buy a new base unit. When I buy a new base unit, I can
rip out my modular storage flash and put it into my new base unit,
and all my contacts, appointments, notes, and so on will be right
where I left them. If my battery goes capoot, I want to wip the
module off the back, chuck it in the resycling repository, and get a
new one. On that basis, you could easily bring your price point up,
since your componants will retain maximum value.
The proprietary note takers are bulky. My braille connect 32 fits in
my pocket and weighs a little over a pound, and my phone is
negledgeable. The braille sense on the other hand, which is the one
we sell most often, and has the best hardware on the market right
now, weighs in at over two pounds and is the size of a hard cover
book and the thickness of a tri-county telephone book. It has
ginormous fisher-price toy buttons, and just screams, "I'm a waste of
space". If you can get it down to something the size of a braille
connect that really does fit in a pocket, you'll have something.
There is even room for a qwerty keybord option on something that
size, and the keys don't have to be pocked with a stylus either.
The three features my clients want most in a note taker are: 1, quick
access to something to write with. Two, gps navigation system, and
Three, ability to use the note taker as a braille terminal. This is
how they justify the expense, since they often have to lump the
entire cost themselves.
If you can do all this with a note taker, then I expect we'll sell them.
Best,
erik burggraaf
Certified Technician
Assistive Computing LTD Support and training
Sales department: 888-828-2445
Support and Training: 888-255-5194
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website coming soon
On 17-Nov-08, at 7:15 PM, Alex Jurgensen wrote:
Hi,
Would you buy this?
EyeMac -- The next generation of sleek notetakers
The EyeMac features aluminum housing, weighing in at under a pound.
This sleek and shiny notetaker is based on the state of the art
technology, featuring wireless and bluetooth. The six-key input
provides Braille users the ability to legally access the world's
most user friendly and advanced operating system. Built on the
foundation of Mac OS X, the EyeMac is the bleeding edge in
affordable portable computing technology. Costing around $500 us,
the EyeMac is an easy pick for the user with a tight budget. Its
portability make it ideal for not only end users but the
professional who needs a lightweight, portable solution. The EyeMac
measures less than 20 CM long by seven CM wide, and about 3 cm
high. Durable, powerful! Take full advantage of the world wide web.
The EyeMac Pro has wireless anywhere capability. Need a Braille
display? EyeMac Plus models feature built-in Braille displays that
make reading Braille text messages and documents a breeze. The
EyeMac is built on a actively developed Operating System, that
features a well documented programming guide that will ensure your
EyeMac can be customized with the applications that best suit your
needs. Designed for ease of use, this revolutionary device will
change your portability experience.
Project status: Planning
Thanks for listening,
Alex,
