Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
Having your moniter lower than the line of sight prevents this and improves blinking. This is how i cured my dry eye. -Suman Also it is good to think of conciously blinking to rewet the eye. In front of computer screens people blink three times less often than off screen (and even less when constantly reading one text). That causes eyes to dry out. They fatigue and you get headaches. Since one tends to forget this I also use every now and then eye drops which contain only a saline solution (lachrymal liquids) to counter this. -b
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
ashok wrote: For a while now I have been reading scanned / digital books on a laptop screen. Some of these books are out of print nowadays (or otherwise hideously expensive to purchase in printed form). Even after setting the glare and contrast factors to a comfortably low intensity, i get severe headaches after reading text from a screen for extended periods of time (its not my eye sight - i got that checked ) Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? Also it is good to think of conciously blinking to rewet the eye. In front of computer screens people blink three times less often than off screen (and even less when constantly reading one text). That causes eyes to dry out. They fatigue and you get headaches. Since one tends to forget this I also use every now and then eye drops which contain only a saline solution (lachrymal liquids) to counter this. -b
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
Listening is easier than reading :-). Is it possible to set the speech synth rate to "auctioneer"? I had tried this several years ago but gave up on it because listening is significantly, even annoyingly, slower than reading. -Dave (the text above takes about 9 seconds with the default Mac TTS)
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
>>apparently borges was also blind, and never learnt braille. Borges was not exactly born blind..though he had eyesight problem all along...his sight detoriated over the years till he was totally blind...and he was actually a librarian twice...once as a junior librarian and later after the change of the Peron regime, the director of the national library of argentina... On 8/11/06, ashok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: (just tested the ipod reader thingit seems to work ! the only minor glitch is the formatting of the text is a bit offbut that is probably because of the ) sastry wrote on 08/11/2006 10:32:54 AM: > (at the oldest). After that your eyesight starts playing up and you start > looking for bigger and bigger text (eg one alphabet per screenful) or when > you get to my age - braille starts getting more and more attractive. > i had a physics tutor during my schooldays who was partially blind. we would sit in a darkened room, and and ask us to read out the lessons and questions by turn. all explanations and answers were verbalized. he was so good at it, he could work out solutions to mathematical equations in his head. certain sounds aggravated him, like the clicking of a ball point pen. soon, ball point pens were completely forbidden during his sessions. on some evenings, when i reached his house, he would be seated on a recliner in the verandah, and a young girl from the neighborhood would be reading a chapter out to him from a withered novel authored by someone called jorge luis borges. many years later, in an airline bookshop i found a book by borges, and out of curiousity began reading it. there was a brief bio at the beginning of the book -- apparently borges was also blind, and never learnt braille. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -does the frog know it has a latin name?- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
(just tested the ipod reader thingit seems to work ! the only minor glitch is the formatting of the text is a bit offbut that is probably because of the ) sastry wrote on 08/11/2006 10:32:54 AM: > (at the oldest). After that your eyesight starts playing up and you start > looking for bigger and bigger text (eg one alphabet per screenful) or when > you get to my age - braille starts getting more and more attractive. > i had a physics tutor during my schooldays who was partially blind. we would sit in a darkened room, and and ask us to read out the lessons and questions by turn. all explanations and answers were verbalized. he was so good at it, he could work out solutions to mathematical equations in his head. certain sounds aggravated him, like the clicking of a ball point pen. soon, ball point pens were completely forbidden during his sessions. on some evenings, when i reached his house, he would be seated on a recliner in the verandah, and a young girl from the neighborhood would be reading a chapter out to him from a withered novel authored by someone called jorge luis borges. many years later, in an airline bookshop i found a book by borges, and out of curiousity began reading it. there was a brief bio at the beginning of the book -- apparently borges was also blind, and never learnt braille.
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
Hmmma google revealed that this is possible by converting a text e-book to an ipod note.. Should try this Srini Ramakrishnan wrote on 08/11/2006 07:01:14 AM: > Has anyone used their iPods for reading a book? Would that be any better? > > Cheeni >
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On Fri August 11 2006 9:31 am, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote: > I used to use a Palm Tungsten device and plucker or PDBreader, but the > phone is much easier to hold. One sound idea in this connection would be NOT to grow any older than 30 years (at the oldest). After that your eyesight starts playing up and you start looking for bigger and bigger text (eg one alphabet per screenful) or when you get to my age - braille starts getting more and more attractive. I am in the market for a PDA as big as a chair and as light as a pen and which fits into my shirt pocket. shiv
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On 8/10/06, sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? It's your neck You cannot move a laptop around like you move a book and it's probably your neck muscles that are playing up. Get a laptop that weighs 200 grams that you can hold up like a book and read in weird positions and from book-like angles. I use my Nokia 6600, which comes with a nice ebook reader - Mobipocket that reads PDB files, but not plain text. I usually use txt2pdb to convert the files to Palm DB format. I used to use a Palm Tungsten device and plucker or PDBreader, but the phone is much easier to hold. I've read some pretty lengthy books (1000+ pages) on the phone with no side effects, but it's probably not a good idea to stare at the screen for long intervals in low ambient light conditions. Has anyone used their iPods for reading a book? Would that be any better? Cheeni
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On Thu August 10 2006 3:44 pm, ashok wrote: > i get severe > headaches after reading text from a screen for extended periods of time > (its not my > eye sight - i got that checked ) > > Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? It's your neck You cannot move a laptop around like you move a book and it's probably your neck muscles that are playing up. Get a laptop that weighs 200 grams that you can hold up like a book and read in weird positions and from book-like angles. shiv
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On 10/08/06, Abhijit Menon-Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: At 2006-08-10 18:41:35 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > You can get Carl-Zeiss lenses with anti-glare coating. My plain old non-Carl Zeiss lenses from Lawrence & Mayo's also have an anti-reflective coating (I've had it for many years, and I like it). I gather you can get coated lenses from many other opticians too. Yup. Anti glare adds about Rs500 to the cost of the lenses, IIRC. Mine are anti glare too and some regular brand I guess. -- b
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
At 2006-08-10 18:41:35 +0530, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > You can get Carl-Zeiss lenses with anti-glare coating. My plain old non-Carl Zeiss lenses from Lawrence & Mayo's also have an anti-reflective coating (I've had it for many years, and I like it). I gather you can get coated lenses from many other opticians too. -- ams
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On 8/10/06, ashok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: i tried wearing anti-glare spectaclesbut they are not so comfortable, and a bit heavy on the nose... You can get Carl-Zeiss lenses with anti-glare coating. These are like normal lenses and not like anti-glare clip-ons which are cumbersome. I am assuming that you are in India. These Carl-Zeiss lenses are available only in some optician outlets as of now. -- Vinayak
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On 10-Aug-06, at 11:14 AM, ashok wrote: Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? Check out http://tinyurl.com/kywqe and http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad Cheers #!
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
i tried wearing anti-glare spectaclesbut they are not so comfortable, and a bit heavy on the nose... Yes...most of it is gutenberg text or in other cases PDF I do like your suggestion of using vim white on black text > What format are these ? I used to read some text downloaded from > Gutenberg in vim with white letters on black background. I prefered Didnt think of thisthanks...will give it a try! > > Another alternative is to use Festival[1] text to speech software to > read out text. Listening is easier than reading :-). I used to filter > [1] http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/download.html >
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
On 8/10/06, ashok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Even after setting the glare and contrast factors to a comfortably low intensity, i get severe headaches after reading text from a screen for extended periods of time (its not my eye sight - i got that checked ) Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? What format are these ? I used to read some text downloaded from Gutenberg in vim with white letters on black background. I prefered this to the default (black text on white background) of other text editors. Another alternative is to use Festival[1] text to speech software to read out text. Listening is easier than reading :-). I used to filter mail from some people and get festival to read out those mails to me sometime back. Useful when you are working. -- Vinayak [1] http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/download.html
Re: [silk] reading scanned/digital text....
How about anti-glare glasses, which most opticians should be able to provide you with? They helped me a great deal. I also have an anti-glare screen, which obviously isn't as readily attainable as the specs, but the specs alone should really make a difference. Supriya.On 8/10/06, ashok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: For a while now I have been reading scanned / digital books on a laptop screen. Some of these books are out of print nowadays (or otherwise hideously expensive to purchase in printed form). Even after setting the glare and contrast factors to a comfortably low intensity, i get severe headaches after reading text from a screen for extended periods of time (its not my eye sight - i got that checked ) Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives? -- We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.-- T S Eliot (Little Gidding V)
[silk] reading scanned/digital text....
For a while now I have been reading scanned / digital books on a laptop screen. Some of these books are out of print nowadays (or otherwise hideously expensive to purchase in printed form). Even after setting the glare and contrast factors to a comfortably low intensity, i get severe headaches after reading text from a screen for extended periods of time (its not my eye sight - i got that checked ) Any suggestions for more comfortable alternatives?
