Pulse Data Releases KeyWeb, The First Portable Web Browser For Persons Who Are Blind

Pulse Data International is pleased to announce the launch of KeyWeb, a web-browser developed to provide BrailleNote users with portable on line access.

KeyWeb is the first portable solution of its kind developed specifically for people who are blind and is the latest in a series of applications developed by Pulse Data to compliment the powerful user friendly features already offered in the BrailleNote and VoiceNote product ranges.

Through the BrailleNote and VoiceNote internet access is available from either an internal modem or via an internet connection. Once connected KeyWeb enables users to navigate the world wide web and use the internet for research, shopping, banking, to download books and for various other tasks.

In addition to this KeyWeb can be used easily to fill out forms for purchasing items on-line, for researching information using popular search engines and it can be used without the assistance of a PC and screen reader to access a browser.

The release of KeyWeb further highlights Pulse Data's ongoing commitment to developing and enhancing its product range to meet its customer's needs.

Jim Halliday the President and CEO of Pulse Data HumanWare says, "many customers told us that if we added an easy-to-use browser to the BrailleNote environment they would no longer have to carry around a heavy laptop with a complicated screen reader, so that's exactly what we've done." 

Demonstrations of the Beta version of the KeyWeb application have also received strong recognition from leading industry organization s. Mr. Curtis Chong, Director of Technology at the National Federation of the Blind commented "a browser is an essential component in any e-mail-capable device today, and we are pleased that work on a browser for the BrailleNote has been completed. Many of us have waited a long time for this to happen."

"A great big thanks goes out to our lean team of Beta testers who assisted with the Beta testing of KeyWeb," says Larry Lewis, Pulse Data's BrailleNote Product Manager "It's probably the best Beta process in which we have ever participated and assisted with facilitating. All the testers gave invaluable feedback to our programmers and in-house testers."

Lewis continues, "Pulse Data has already given the marketplace the first portable GPS system designed for the blind, now we're giving them the first portable web-browser and at Closing the Gap in October we will release the first synchronization tool, KeySynch, which will enable BrailleNote users to automatically synchronize address books, date planners, and e-mail messages with Microsoft Outlook on a PC."

Established in 1988, Pulse Data International has gained international recognition for the design and manufacture of electronic devices for the partially sighted and blind. Pulse Data International export products to more than 30 countries, and has established sales offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands and Australia.