The Reston VIP Group, a regional support group for people with visual impairments, has invited NDU to come demonstrate our products and speak with its members. If you live in the Reston, Vienna, or Fairfax area and are looking for a support group, go to this website to find the locations and times of meetings or to contact a group leader.
Below is a picture of Joanne with happy customer Jane at the ACB Conference last weekend!
Live in the DC area? Come visit NDU at the ACB affiliate convention at the BWI Marriott in Baltimore, Maryland. Exhibit hall hours are Friday, October 30th from 5pm-8pm and Saturday, October 31st from 10am-5pm. We will have our SpeakEasy Media System and SpeakEasy Reading Machine for you to check out.
Happy Halloween!
NDU traveled out to Portland, Oregon last week for the Blinded Veterans Association’s annual convention. Despite the long hours in the exhibit hall, we managed to squeeze in some fun while we were out west! It was great to finally meet some of our west coast customers — thanks for making the trip down to see us!
If you haven’t heard of BVA, here is a little information about the organization:
The Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) is an organization of blinded veterans helping blinded veterans. Through our service programs, regional groups, resources, and advocacy before the legislative and executive branches of government, we hope to make life better for blinded veterans. We also hope to be there with encouragement and support. There is no charge for any BVA service and membership is not a prerequisite to obtain help. All legally blinded veterans are also eligible for BVA’s assistance whether they become blind during or after active duty military service.
To learn more, go to their website at www.bva.org or call (800)669-7079.
NDU is located in Bethesda, MD, close to the National Institutes of Health. One of the institutes within the NIH is the National Eye Institute. Below, is some information about one of their initiatives – Healthy Vision 2010.
For the first time, vision objectives have been included in Healthy People 2010, a national disease prevention initiative that identifies opportunities to improve the health of all Americans.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People identifies the most significant preventable threats to health, and establishes national goals to reduce these threats. The chapter on vision addresses visual impairment due to eye disease and refractive error; regular eye examinations for children and adults; vision screening for pre-school children; injury prevention; and vision rehabilitation. Most states and many localities use the Healthy People framework to guide local health policies and programs.
For more information, click the logo above. Or click here.
Just got back from the Got AT? Conference in Richmond, VA. This “vendor showcase” was hosted by the Virginia Department of Education’s Division of Special Education and Student Services. This gathering was organized for AT specialists in Virginia’s school districts to educate themselves on what products are fresh on the market. With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), schools are receiving additional funding for local school divisions under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). School divisions have been encouraged to use this funding to obtain state-of-the-art AT devices for students with disabilities. More information on this legislation can be found here.
ARRA and IDEA affect all fifty states and many different types of state programs (not just schools), so please learn about how this funding can help you, your loved one, or your program!
We had a great time at the American Council of the Blind conference in Orlando this month. Attached are some pictures of the booth.
NDU will be presenting our products at a number of conferences this year. We look forward to seeing you there!
Over July 4th weekend, the American Council of the Blind will be hosting a conference in Orlando FL. This is a large conference with lots of great information and exhibits; we are proud to be a part of it. If you’re going to be at the conference, please come by and check us out. We always enjoy meeting our customers. If you don’t have a SpeakEasy yet, feel free to stop by and we’ll give you a demo and let you try it out for yourself.
In August we will be at the Blind Veteran’s Association National Conference in Portland, OR.
We have recently released a new version of the SpeakEasy Media System Software. We are excited about the update. Many of the new features and enhancements came from direct feedback from our customers. Below is a list of updates.
Major New features:
1. A Calculator has been added under the Productivity menu.
2. A Calendar has been added under the Productivity menu. You can add events, event details, and reminders to alarm you as your event approaches.
3. An Address Book can be found under the Productivity menu. This feature enables you to store contact information that includes name, physical address, phone number, email address, and birthday. It has been integrated with the calendar for Birthdays, and with e-mail for the e-mail addresses of your contacts.
4. A Business Directory will help you look up information about businesses. You need only enter a name to search and a zip code, the SpeakEasy will give you a list of search results along with the address and phone number of businesses that meet your search criteria. Find this new feature in the News and Information category.
5. You can use a Timer or set an Alarm Clock with the new Talking Clock feature found in the Productivity category. Once set, no matter where you are in the SpeakEasy, you will be alarmed when the time is up.
6. SpeakEasy now supports the use of portable USB drives. You can export or import documents from your own USB drive.
Minor New Features:
1. Check the current date and time from anywhere in your SpeakEasy. Just press Control + Shift + T.
2. Talk Radio Stations have been added under the Entertainment menu. This feature works the same way as the Music Stations; but gives you access to your favorite talk radio stations.
3. A New Help Mode is available by pressing F2. Just press this button, then press any key and hear its function. We hope you find this to be a quicker and more interactive help mode for many screens.
4. The new Spellchecker makes a sound play when a word is misspelled. It will alert you right after you press the spacebar after you have entered the misspelling as well as when you are reviewing what you have typed. Find this new feature within Note Taker and Email.
5. Automatic magnification feature enabled for Advanced Internet Browser and Advanced Screen Reader. 6. Added support for reading the content of PDF docs, as well as Microsoft Word.
Improvements:
1. Tones will give you auditory cues as to how far down a menu or list you have gone. The tone starts high at the top and becomes lower as you approach the bottom.
2. CapsLock will now quickly silence your SpeakEasy. It is simply a quick mute, but the SpeakEasy will start talking again if you press any new keys.
3. To adjust the volume of your SpeakEasy, use the Control + Shift + Up or Down arrow key. Similarly, to adjust the speed of your SpeakEasy, use Control + Shift + Left or Right arrow.
4. SpeakEasy now supports MP3 CDs in the Audio CD Player
5. Now you can check the weather anywhere. Enter in the zip code or city and state to get the week’s weather.
6. A Next Page option has been added to the audio books. This will make searching for books much easier as you can keep scrolling through the provided list of books.
7. Scan and Read features have been streamlined to be easier to use.
8. NVDA and Magnifier auto-launch when you Exit the SpeakEasy Software.
9. Email can now handle tens of thousands of messages. You can also perform Reply Alls to group emails and save emails as drafts.
10. Significant re-vamping of SpeakEasy and NVDA documentation can be found in the Help and Tutorials section.
Welcome to the new NDU blog. This section of the site will be updated with news and information about the company and our products. Please check back from time to time to hear the latest information!
We have added a new member to our family of affordable, assistive technology solutions.
The SpeakEasy Reading Machine is the easiest to use, most affordable, stand alone reading machine available. It makes printed media accessible to the blind and visually impaired, with the touch of a button.
SpeakEasy boasts extremely rapid text to speech processing time, which is also highly accurate. Our Reading Machine can also be used to listen to audio books.
With low vision and print-disabled readers in mind, the SpeakEasy Reading Machine may be upgraded to include a magnification display and a Portable Player. With the added Scan & Magnify feature, you will be able to zoom in on text as the machine reads, or read at your own pace using the same easy controls.
Starting at $1695, this is the most affordable reading machine available on the market today! Check it out on our webpage.
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