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Welcome to the Winter Edition of On the Pulse
In this issue we feature news on the following:
Welcome to the 2004/5
winter edition of On the Pulse.
Inside, you will find a wide range of articles on our latest
product releases and stories from some of our customers which we
hope you will find of interest. We are also pleased to include details of
services offered by organisations and charities with whom we work
closely. Hopefully some
of their services and areas of expertise may be of interest to you,
our reader.
Whilst producing On the
Pulse it never fails to amaze me of the different ways our customers
receive and read this newsletter.
Perhaps you are using a
SmartView CCTV
or perhaps you are a ScannaR
customer and letting Jane do all
the hard work (more of this inside ), or perhaps you are one
of our several hundred
customers who receive the text in Braille or has downloaded the
information by email and reading it on the electronic Braille
display of the BrailleNote.
The options available for people to read On the Pulse
continue to expand. myReader,
the worlds first low vision auto-reader will assist our customers
with low vision who find CCTV’s uncomfortable or difficult to use
and the new Brailliants will assist those people who prefer to use a PC or
laptop with a Braille line.
The new Keysoft 6.1 for the BrailleNote family will allow people to
download On the Pulse from our website wirelessly whilst relaxing in
a café or perhaps on a train with wi-fi connectivity.
However you like to read On the Pulse, we hope you receive it in the
format which is most convenient and practical for you.
If we’ve got it wrong, please let us know.
Finally from all the UK team at Pulse Data Europe we would
like to offer our best wishes for a happy, safe and prosperous 2005
to all our readers.
Alan Davis, UK General Sales Manager
Peter
Sallis and Plain Speaking Jane
Eighty-three-year old Peter Sallis who is about to celebrate thirty-two years in the BBC favourite Last of the Summer Wine, and is the voice behind Wallace in Wallace and Grommet has a new lady in his life! Unfortunately I cannot see to read any more” says Peter, “but I have this lovely machine called Jane, she’s another of these modern marvels, I scan my typescript and within twenty seconds she is reading it to me in a lovely standard English voice”. Peter is of course referring to the English female voice “Jane” in the Pulse Data ScannaR.
It has been a very busy year for Peter with lots of script reading. He used his ScannaR to learn his lines for the recent ITV production of Belonging and rang our offices to tell us how the other cast members were amazed at the fact he was word perfect in remembering his lines. The ScannaR has also helped enormously as Peter has been able to take it on location with him.
myReader Kicks Off at Mancester
United
The spectacular backdrop of Manchester United’s Old Trafford Football Ground, vied for attention with myReader. Professionals from Education and Employment Services were invited along to
Manchester United for a preview of myReader, Pulse Data’s ground breaking
low vision auto-reader. The reaction of our guests was fantastic and confirms our belief that myReader will really make a difference to people with low vision. Visit our website at www.pulsedata.com for an interactive demonstration or alternatively call our sales office and arrange a visit from your local representative for a free demonstration on 01933 626000.
Brailliants
are Simply Brilliant
The world’s smallest Braille displays, the Brailliants are here. Do you struggle when you need to carry a laptop and braille display. The answer is the Brailliant, simply slip it into your laptop bag and you will barely know its there. Portability is no longer an issue as the Brailliants 24 and 40 cell weigh an amazing 0.38kg and 0.56kg respectively. Bluetooth connectivity is the icing on the cake for the Brailliants, just think no more wires or leads to fuss with and the versatility to use the Braille display when, where and how you want to. The price for the Brailliants are lso amazing — a 24 cell Braille display for just £1995 and 40 cells for £3595. Call our sales office today for further information on 01933 626000.
NLB-online.org
Reading is one of life’s greatest pleasures and opens the door to culture, knowledge and independence” so states the website of the National Library for the Blind. NLB’s main website www.nlb-online.org provides a gateway to a wide range of services and information including an online book catalogue, book choosing tools and reviews, a comprehensive, free e-reference service, news and events. A-sites
(www.a-sites.org) provides a launch pad for visually impaired web surfers, helping them find websites that work with access technology.
The site has continued to increase its listings ranging from home shopping and personal finance to sport and e-government. The Access Technology Primer
is a free online training resource helping professionals to understand ICT for visually impaired people. NLB’s information portal Visugate
(www.visugate.org) contains a wealth of information and resources on visual impairment from over 20 UK partner organisations. NLB offers a wide range of library services including Braille, Moon and electronic media. Autumn 2003 saw a major development in the launch of Revealweb, a service managed jointly by NLB and RNIB. For the first time ever, Revealweb
(www.revealweb.org.uk) provides a one-stop-shop for accessible format books through a web-based catalogue of titles available from a wide range of organisations.
myReader
Wins its First Award
We were very pleased to receive the announcement in October that myReader had been awarded the 2004 BEST Design Award by the Designers Institute of New Zealand. We hope this will be the first of many and it’s certainly a great credit to our team in design, research and development back in Christchurch, New Zealand.
myReader will significantly change the lives of many people with low vision who need or who simply want to read a lot more.
However, for people whose priority is to look at photographs, complete a cross word puzzle, or just do some occasional reading ie.a short letter or a bill, the SmartView range of electronic magnifiers available in black and white or full colour might be the best choice. Please contact our sales department on 01933 626000 who will be happy to assist with the best selection of equipment for your needs and if required, will arrange a free and no obligation demonstration with your local area representative.
VIP
on Air Turns One!
VIP ON AIR is Europe’s first radio station for blind and partially sighted people and in November it celebrated its first birthday. Broadcasting over the internet from Glasgow, magazine and human interest programmes play a key part in the stations’ line up, together with live studio debates and phone-ins. Tune in to VIP ON AIR at
www.viponair.com.
Events
The RNIB and Ability Net join forces to present Techshare, Pulse Data presented two papers to the Conference, which is aimed at professionals who work in the field of sight loss and have an interest in access technology. The papers included ‘myReader restoring the joy of reading’ and ‘Keysoft is the key’. Both papers were received with interest.
BETT 2005 is a major Exhibition held in January each year. Covering all aspects of IT in education and over 550 IT companies attending, the Exhibition also has a dedicated areas for Special Needs in Education, this is where our Stand No. SN68 is situated. Vision 2005 is another major conference which the RNIB are hosting in April next year. Vision 2005 is the world’s largest conference on issues concerning people with sight problems. The conference provides a unique opportunity for discussions on issues of worldwide significance including the latest cutting edge technology. Presentations by leading international figures in the field of blindness and sight loss will be held. Pulse Data will be submitting papers to the Conference
BrailleNote PK, Part of the
Continuing Success Story from Pulse Data
Don Cooper a BrailleNote user was the first customer to receive a BrailleNote PK from Pulse Data Europe. We asked Don for his comments.
“I have used a plethora of small Braille input devices, but I must say the PK has a solid feel about its Braille key movements and is certainly most responsive. The 18 cell Braille display is one of the best I’ve handled and is very readable. Why did I choose to buy this unit I suppose first and foremost because of its extreme portability and development potential. Just think when I go on holiday, instead of taking a book, I can travel with the whole of my library, including reference books. I will be able to send and receive emails while travelling, just imagine being able to download a newspaper...… the list is endless. The BrailleNote PK breaks new ground for Braillists, especially in the provision of Bluetooth technology which as I am discovering is not some outlandish character from Iceland sagas but a form of wire-less connection. I do not see the PK as a replacement for the BrailleNote but rather complementary to it or any pc. I believe the BrailleNote PK has a great future.” If you would like to read Don’s comments in full, please visit our website at
http://www.pulsedata.com/Products/Notetakers/User_stories_DC.asp
The New Colour PocketViewer, go
Small, think Big
Compact and convenient are words which describe the latest in portable magnifiers. The new Colour PocketViewer fits into your handbag or jacket pocket and has superb colour picture quality for viewing photos and illustrations. It also has a built in writing stand for signing cheques and writing brief notes. At £485 the PocketViewer is available on a 14 day free trial. Call our Sales Office today on 01933 626000
New Staff Members
Meet Kate and Cliff, who have joined the
team. We are pleased to welcome Kate Clark who has joined our sales team as Internal Sales Administrator. If you require prices, product information or a quotation Kate will be pleased to assist you.
Clifford Chamberlain has joined our Logistics Department as Operations and Logistics Assistant. Clifford arranges deliveries of our products to our customers in the UK and across Europe.
Product
Demonstrations
Would you like to have a free demonstration of our products. If the answer is YES, why not call our sales office today and we will arrange for your local representative to contact you. We can provide individual or group demonstrations and presentations, at the venue of your choice, whether you are at home, in the workplace, school or college. Phone 01933 626000
Bluetooth
You have read about the Brailliants and BrailleNote PK having Bluetooth connectivity. What is Bluetooth, well it isn’t some strange form of tooth decay but the name of a new technology that is now commercially available. It promises to change significantly the way we use technology. You may be interested to know the name Bluetooth originates from a Danish Viking and King Harold Blåtand, (which translates into Bluetooth in English) who it seemed had an inclination to eat lots of Blueberries ! A Bluetooth chip is designed to replace cables, by taking the information normally carried by a cable and transmitting at special frequency to a receiver Bluetooth chip, which will then give the information received to a computer or phone. .If you can transmit information between a computer and a printer, why not transmit data from a mobile phone to a printer. With endless possibilities for using Bluetooth technology, this is a term which we will all become very familiar with in the future.
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