In this issue we feature news on the following:

1. SmartView Xtend

2. myReader report

3. BrailleNote Transplant Offer

4. BrailleNote talk

5. Victor Reader - new models

6. BrailleNote in Korea

7. New staff - Sam Taylor

8. ZoomText Keyboard

9. ViewPlus Tiger distribution

10. Kurzweil K1000 update

11. Trekker GPS release

12. Australian Distribution

1. SmartView Xtend

SmartView Xtend.

Last issue we told you about a new innovation in electronic magnification that allowed users to upgrade from a standard model to one that featured full colour, computer connectivity, split screen capability, a keypad & remote control - & much more.

It's called SmartView Xtend. It comes complete with a modern flat panel screen, which produces a great picture. This screen is mounted on a flexible arm, which can be moved up or down or side-to-side according to the users preference. Phone us now for a demonstration.

2. myReader report

No more so than for the Law Family in Bell Post Hill, Geelong who were introduced to myReader by Scott Freeman (the HumanWare Low Vision Consultant resident in Melbourne).

The myReader has certainly had a great impact on the low vision community since it’s release.

Jayne Law was one of the original Victorian users of the myReader and thanks to the generous contribution of the Variety Children’s Charity, her two children Jacob and Kate now have myReader’s of their own at school.

Jacob and Kate attend Rollins Primary School and are in grades three and one respectively. The myReader’s are set up in the classroom and allow Jacob and Kate to read, write and draw at a level and speed which would be unattainable without the use of low vision equipment.

Jayne explains the impact myReader has for her two children. "It has improved their work a lot. The myReader allows them to do things more easily and to feel independent. They don’t have to have work blown up and can work at a similar pace to the others."

The beauty of the myReader with children of this age is that it can support them as their workload increases. The myReader started out primarily as a writing & drawing aid for Jacob and Kate, which they used to do small amounts of reading with.

As they get older & there is a shift towards reading greater volumes of text, the myReader’s auto-reading and scrolling abilities will be utilised.

The myReader is more 'fun' than anything at the moment for Jacob and Kate, but the serious developmental impact it will have will be felt through to the end of their schooling and beyond.

3. BrailleNote Transplant Offer

Just wanted to remind readers that the very popular & economical BrailleNote transplant offer is still available for only $2,750.

Send us your old BrailleNote & we "transplant" your current Braille cells into a brand new mPower machine with all the latest technology.

Contact Anthony to book a time to have yours updated now.
email: anthony.kirkpatrick@humanware.com
phone: (02) 9686 2600

4. BrailleNote talk

The following appears with thanks to the Victorian Statewide Vision Resource Centre, who published this in their November newsletter:

How Has Year Seven Been For Me? By Cassie
I am surprised how well I took the transition from grade six at primary school to year seven at secondary school at the beginning of this year. Having a supportive family, friends, VT, teachers& school really helps.

At the end of term four 2005 my soon-to-be school (Diamond Valley College) bought a BrailleNote & ScannaR for me. I use the BrailleNote for every class except for maths, where I prefer to have a hard copy. I don't know how I would be if I didn't have them. Before I had the BrailleNote, I did all my work on either the Mountbatten Brailler or my laptop. Both had their good & bad points though. The laptop took a while to warm up and was a little bit slow, but it meant that the teachers could read my work as I did it. The brailler gave me a hard copy of my work and the teachers could read it when I printed it, but it was also noisy. The BrailleNote, however, is much quieter & easy to use.

Although I haven't done this yet, you can connect the BrailleNote to a computer; therefore the teacher can read it as you work. It can also print & emboss work.

The ScannaR is handy when teachers, although it doesn't happen to me very often, forget to prepare my work.

I enjoy talking to other BrailleNote users to learn more things the BrailleNote can do & also learn better ways to do things I am already doing. Although I haven't used all the features on the BrailleNote, I can't wait to use everything to the best of my & its ability.

Everything else, homework, keeping on top of schoolwork, friends, learning my way around the school etc, has also gone really well for me. I can't wait to start year eight soon & I wish anyone starting year seven in 2007 good luck.

5. Victor Reader - new models

Victor Reader Classic X
We are proud to announce two new exciting DAISY digital talking-book CD players, which allow blind and learning disabled people to access books, manuals, magazines, etc. Replacing the popular Victor Reader Classic desktop player series, the new ClassicX and ClassicX Plus (+) models are enhanced with additional usability and reliability features, which continue to distinguish them as the premium DAISY desktop CD players.

Key new features in the ClassicX series include:

• User replaceable battery. Battery can be recharged in only four hours & provides ten hours of playtime.
• Larger, stronger laptop style AC connector moved to the back of the player.
• Indicator light when the power is on and while recharging.
• Sleep key added which will come on when Sleep is activated and will blink during the last minute of the Sleep timer.
• Better colour contrast with a darker charcoal grey case to further contrast keys.

The new ClassicX series still provides all the functionality that has made their predecessors the most popular DAISY talking book player in the world. Simple and easy to use, these DAISY players are ideal for reading leisure books, magazines, or newspapers. The ClassicX + also enables reading of highly structured reference books.

Victor Reader lets users read DAISY audio books much like print books; move from chapter to chapter, section to section or page to page by simply pressing a key; enter & skip directly to a page number from the table of contents; set your own bookmarks & return to them later; read at your own pace with the variable speed control; & even play MP3 and commercial audio CDs.

6. BrailleNote in Korea

Although not related to our Australian operation, I thought you might be interested in the success of our developing operations in Asia.

For the past 5 years Ron Hathaway has been extensively traveling throughout Asia & setting up a network of supportive agents & distributors. In the next few months we will even be opening our own HumanWare office in Beijing, China.

Recently we have been working with a Seoul based software company to “localize” the BrailleNote for Korean users. This was hugely successful & we can now offer Korean speech & Braille with BrailleNote mPower. And we will soon be adding GPS capability.

This hard work was rewarded when the local authorities granted us an order to supply 500 BrailleNotes for vision impaired Koreans.

Our single biggest order ever. Yahoo!!

7. New staff - Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor.

New Staff Appointment In Sydney: Samuel Taylor joins HumanWare
"Samuel Taylor joins our team on February 5th in response to strong blindness product sales." said Phil Hazell, HumanWare National Sales Manager for Australia.

Sam will specialise in this fast growing sector of our business via support to a wide range of customers utlising Window-Eyes, BrailleNote mPower, Trekker, Maestro, ScannaR, Victor Reader, and braille printers.

Sam worked part time at Vision Australia, Enfield, as a multi-format producer. This role included proofreading/transcribing literary and music Braille codes, as well as assisting clients within his department on relevant technologies.

Sam has been described as an enthusiastic & knowledgeable ‘power user’ of blindness products. He is also an accomplished musician & singer; he teaches school age children piano & how to use technology for reading music. Recently he travelled to the USA, representing Australia in the International Vocal Harmony Championships.

As an executive member of ‘Blind Citizen Association’ & a keen net-worker with other organisations, Sam has many industry contacts.

He will be working very closely with Ramona Mandy, National Blindness Product Consultant. “Ramona has needed support for some time now” said Phil. “We have been waiting patiently to find a person of Sam’s calibre to help support our customers needs”.

Sam may be contacted from the 5th February at our Sydney office on (02) 9686 2600 or via email at samuel.taylor@humanware.com

8. ZoomText Keyboard

ZoomText Keyboard.

• Large-print keycaps that are easy to see, even in low light.
• High-contrast colors that decrease eyestrain and fatigue.
• Fast, accurate typing and increased productivity.
• One-touch access to essential ZoomText 9.0 features.
• Simplifies learning and using ZoomText 9.0.
• 16 programmable feature keys.*
• Perfect for use at home, school and in the workplace.

*Note: Feature keys can be reassigned to the users favourite ZoomText 9.0 commands, Internet & multimedia commands, or to launch an application, document or web page.
Cost is just $180 – see Anthony for special offers.

More ZoomText News
We are pleased to announce that we can now offer a full 60 day trial period of ZoomText. The trial remains fully functional during the trial period.

We understand that sometimes users are hard pressed to fit a full evaluation of the software into a month’s time. We also understand that sometimes decision makers and cheque writers are not as quick to act as the user may wish. Rather than have to call us for a trial reset, or worse, go without the product for weeks, we are giving all potential customers 60 days to work with the product, make a decision and get the funds in order.

New ZoomText v9.04
ZoomText V9.04 features support for the new Internet Explorer 7 & a variety of enhancements that improve the performance & usability of ZoomText!

Now offers complete compatibility with Internet Explorer 7, including use of ZoomText’s reading tools (AppReader, DocReader and SpeakIt) in Internet Explorers tabbed browser windows.

Auto-update feature enabled (in the program Preferences dialog), ZoomText will automatically detect, download and install the 9.04 update. Or you can manually download the 9.04 update from Ai Squared's web site: http://www.aisquared.com/support/Updates.cfm. When the download is complete, double-click on the file to begin the installation.

If your still running V8 or earlier, your missing out on the spectacular features in ZoomText 9, that truly make any computer “easier to see, easier to hear and easier to use”.

9. ViewPlus Tiger Distribution

The Emprint Braille Printer.

HumanWare has been appointed exclusive distributor for the range of ViewPlus Tiger Embossers.

The Emprint Braille Printer (shown left) combines HP colour Inkjet printing and Tiger®: the world's most advanced paper embossing technology. Printed documents appear visually-identical to those from HP Inkjet printers. The Emprint Braille Printer also impacts the paper so printed features are raised for touch.

• User replaceable battery. Battery can be recharged in only four hours & provides ten hours of playtime.
• Larger, stronger laptop style AC connector moved to the back of the player.
• Indicator light when the power is on and while recharging.
• Sleep key added which will come on when Sleep is activated and will blink during the last minute of the Sleep timer.
• Better colour contrast with a darker charcoal grey case to further contrast keys.

Emprint Braille Printers literally add another dimension to your printed documents, using the same paper and ink cartridges as does an HP Inkjet printer. Make your own Haptic Colour prints from any Windows 2000/XP file that prints on an HP Inkjet printer.

The Emprint & the Iveo are in stock & available now.

Contact Ramona for further details, pricing or to arrange a demonstration.
email: ramona.mandy@humanware.com
phone: (03) 9686 2601

10. Kurzweil K1000 update

Kurzweil have announced the release of the new Version 11 K1000 software. Following is a list of new features now incorporated in this world-leading scan & read software. (Prices remain unchanged.)

Kurzweil 1000 now recognizes most printed forms and presents them with the fields, labels, boxes, and text areas in the appropriate reading order.

Add your signature to any Kurzweil 1000 document once it’s scanned into the program.

Send your files to BrailleNote, BookPort, Book Courier, Maestro & portable devices, plus create CDs of your Kurzweil files. Easily convert Kurzweil documents to MP3, WAV & DAISY files.

If your document contains bookmarks, Kurzweil 1000 will use them to
create separate audio files so your selections will be easier to manage on
your portable player.

Create, add, edit, or delete your calendar entries simply from the desktop taskbar, as well as set audible reminders that will play any sound file on your computer.

Save time & effort with automatic linking of your preferred settings
to new documents.

Contact Anthony for your update or for further information.
email: anthony.kirkpatrick@humanware.com
phone: (02) 9686 2600

11. Trekker GPS Release

Trekker GPS Release in Australia - Freedom to Explore
Late last year we conducted a series of state-by-state launches of the fabulous new stand-alone Trekker GPS orientation system with Australian maps. Working with our HumanWare Canadian friends (where the GPS systems are manufactured), the Trekker demonstrations were a great success & created a lot of demand.

Being so reasonably priced (just $2,380 for the Maestro & Trekker combination) they are a hot item.

Trekker 3.0 boasts an array of new features, including using multiple GPS maps, maps covering wider areas, turn by turn instructions guidance while in a vehicle, capabilities to handle various sources of points of interest, & many other innovations.

Moving from one region to another is now easier, with the new generation GPS maps. These cover larger territories & are divided into regional maps for more convenience. Multiple maps can now be activated & stored in the memory.

Trekker 3.0 also expands the sources of geographical information with the capability to integrate complementary points of interest coming from other users, or databases downloadable from the web. Searching for points of interest is now easier because different search criteria can be used & combined (post code, categories, distance, etc.). Personal points of interest can be organized into categories, transferred to and backed up on a PC, and even shared with other users.

Trekker 3.0 offers shortcut keys for instant information about speed, direction, city name, altitude, latitude, longitude and number of satellites in view.

A free upgrade is available for users of earlier versions at the following address: http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/UpdateMap.asp

A detailed list of the new features in Trekker 3.0 is also available at:
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/d_NewFeatures_Trekker_3_0.asp

Trekker Around Melbourne
The Eye & Ear Hospital, East Melbourne was the venue to demonstrate the latest in orientation devices for the vision impaired.

The conference & demonstration was attended by 38 Orientation & Mobility Professionals from Guide Dogs & Vision Australia, Vic.

Phil Hazell, National Sales Manager for HumanWare & Kate Stephens, Consultant & Trekker user, put Trekker through its paces.

Two sessions were conducted that consisted of a formal short presentation followed by a walk around streets of East Melbourne with Trekker showing the way. Each session had up to nine people following Kate and listening to Trekker via a loud speaker announcing POI’s (points of interest) along the way.

POI’s can be cafes, government buildings, police stations or just about any thing that is registered on the GPS maps. Kate demonstrated how the user can browse almost any area in Australia even without being there.

Imagine planning a trip to Perth for a conference and having the ability to browse the streets between your hotel and conference venue before you’re even there.

Trekker is not a mobility aid but an orientation device. The user still requires a cane or guide dog to safely travel from A to B.

Some feed back from recent purchasers:

• "I never knew that lane way existed and I have been walking this route for
  a long time".
• "The most exciting innovation for the blind for years."
• "I will feel more comfortable travelling to a different place now I can browse the streets first".
• "It even works in the capital of round-a-bouts – Canberra. It certainly gives the user great confidence".

Contact Phil at HumanWare Sydney for more information.
email: phil.hazell@humanware.com
phone: (02) 9686 2600

12. Australian Distribution

Ron Hathaway.

Thanks for joining us for this issue of HumanWare Australia’s newsletter TechStyle.

We look forward to your company again for the Autumn edition.

Best wishes,

Ron Hathaway