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Humanware Adds PDF Document Support to Keysoft 9.2

October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Humanware has announced the release of Keysoft 9.2 which promises “instant access” to PDF documents for the Apex BrailleNote and VoiceNote family of products. The update, which requires one count of SMA, “allows for any accessible PDF documents (PDF with imbedded texts) to be converted to a text file, enabling professional documents to be received on the Apex as email attachments and opened and read without the use of a computer or other external converter.” If editing of the file is not required,  the PDF document can be opened  with the same method that is used to open a standard book.

The press release also listed these new features:

  • Larger downloads with more information
  • More dynamic Apex QT keyboard
  • Better WindowEyes control

For a full list of features and downloading information, click on Humanware.

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Victor Reader Stratus M

October 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

HumanWare has announced that its Victor Reader Stratus M multi-media accessible audio book player is now shipping.

“The Victor Reader Stratus M model continues the legacy of HumanWare’s 13 year history of developing simple, easy-to-use audio book players that offer extended multimedia capabilities,” says Gerry Chevalier, Victor Reader Product Manager. “It can play many recorded book and audio formats including DAISY, MP3, commercial audio books or music CDs. And customers can use any of their preferred media: CD, DVD, SD cards, or USB flash.”

The Stratus M has reading capabilities beyond just listening to recorded books and music. It can also play text books and documents in formats such as BRF, DOCX, HTML, RTF, and TXT with high quality computer voices from Acapela .

Victor Reader Stratus M claims superb fidelity for a loud built-in speaker, with a pronounced audio tone control, variable speed playback control, built-in carrying handle, and rechargeable battery. Users can also directly copy CD DAISY books to an SD card without use of a computer.

The Stratus can play both DAISY recorded and DAISY text books from most DAISY libraries around the world. In the United States this includes books from NLS, Learning Ally, and Bookshare.

The Stratus4 M model features a simple 4-arrow keypad providing sequential navigation such as next/previous chapter, section, page, line, sentence, word, and character. In addition to sequential navigation, the Stratus12M model has a 12-key telephone style number pad allowing direct navigation such as “go to Page” and “Go to heading”. The keypad is described as having high contrast keys, well spaced, with tactile features, with all key presses returning audio feedback for the non-sighted user.

 

Source: HumanWare

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HumanWare’s New Brailliant 40 Braille Display

September 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Brailliant BI 40 Refreshable Braille display and keyboardHumanWare has announced that their new Brailliant  40 braille display is ready to ship. Gilles Pepin, CEO of HumanWare said, “As a proud supporter of braille literacy, HumanWare is committed to developing products that help people who are blind to fully participate in the quickly evolving, mobile world around them.”

The new Brailliant BI 40 display has 40 braille cells and is compatible with JAWS 10 and later and Window Eyes 7.5.2, on Windows operating system computers. HumanWare plans to  support other screen reader manufacturers such as Apple, Dolphin, NV Access as well. The compact design fits ergonomically in front of your laptop and includes an eight-key braille keyboard and thumb key controls.

We think the Brailliant BI 40 is a step in the right direction for price and portability,  but at $2995 it is still out of reach for most consumers. We hope to see even bigger steps toward price reduction in the future.

Source: Humanware

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