Thoughts on Assistive Technology

Let's make one thing straight, Amazon Kindle is not Apple iPad, for one thing, the functionality of kindle is not on par with Apple iPad, it was designed for one purpose, and only one purpose , assisted reading. For another thing, the durability of Kindle may arguably be more frail than iPad. I broke my Kindle within a week and had to return it to Amazon for replacement. While one can left iPad on for weeks, one cannot do the same to kindle without its LED display caving in. However, consider its costs,what it was designed to do and what it does, I think it is a charming little assistive device. For $189.00 you get a free Wifi 3G and that alone to me, already justified the cost. 3G wifi normally costs $40 a month, so if your kindle lasts a year or two, it would be economically justifiable. Kindle comes with text to speech voice navigation, and also text to speech narration, although its choice of voice engine left something to be desired, nonetheless the functionality is there, a

June 4th is a very important date to me, no, it's not because it was on that day of 1989, the Chinese government ordered a general crackdown on Tianmen square students, but it was on June 4th, 2010, when I obtained my iPhone 3GS which fundamentally changed my life. The first device to be banished was my much beloved iPod Touch (which I gave to my sister), second device I retired as the result of the iPhone was my 7 years old Fuji Digital camera, which I probably chucked it under the bed somewhere, the third was my Citizen Eco Drive Watch, which I gave to my dad. It is becoming fairly apparent, that the mighty Apple iPhone was designed to be an Omni-purpose all encompassing PDA, those who claim apple iPhone 4G is inferior to HTC Droid because it comes with a 5 Megapixel as opposed to 8 Megapixel have completely missed the point. The attraction of the apple iPhone lies with the tens of thousand third party applications for us technophiles to swim in, those third party applic

As an assistive technology advocate, it has been a part of my job to write up a requisition form for devices in the lab, and perhaps due to the ethnic/cultural heritage; the price tag on those devices simply did not make sense, and of course, buying them at those prices made even less sense to me. Although I have to concede, devices built by Enhanced Vision really is in a league of their own, but still, how does one expect a $10.00 per hour wage earning lower middle class person to afford $2800.00 device affectionately named "Merlin" or "Jordy"? Even naming them Chi-Hung Luke Hsieh wouldn't make them more affordable! When my supervisor saw the 13 years old webcam that I have lying around in my office, he asked me if I could turn it into an electronic magnifier using a Windows computer and USB port. The technology involved really isn't rocket science; as a matter of fact, Bierly Trademark has a USB based monomouse magnifier selling at about $500 a piece, a

After spending two articles lauding Apple to the moon, let's come back to reality and examine assistive software for Windows PC. A few articles ago, I wrote about Ginger, a grammar assisting software that may provide tremendous help for people with dyslexia. However, thanks to Google Adsense, I was introduced to another grammar software that purportedly does the same thing. That was when my curiosity kicked in, and I could not resist buying a copy of my own to compare. There is another less high sounding side story to why I bought the Whitesmoke software: Mainly, I was duped.  On their website, it stated that a discount offer of 80% on their software was going to end on April 21st 2010, well a month later, the same website still offers the identical discount with the dates changed. https://buy.whitesmoke.com/incp/purchase.php? I am not here to discuss whether such antics are ethical, as ethics always take second place in the face of profits; the point is that I now have both G

Until recently, I have never, in my wildest dream, imagined that I'd one day, be using an AAC device, let alone owning one. For those of you who are fortunate enough to not having to know what AAC stands for, it stands for Alternative Augmented Communication. Although I have been plagued with moderate speech disability from birth, I have managed my life without one by going to speech therapy, self help accent training CDs, and repeating often. And had I not become an Assistive Technology Advocate, I would still have no clue how much those things cost. From what I have observed, I believe Dynavox-Johnson has something of a monopoly in manufacturing and selling of high tech AAC device. And if my deduction is correct, the price tags Dynavox placed on their devices were never intended for middle class consumers or robust market, but rather, insurance companies - private or otherwise. This is why Dynavox will go out of their way to assist clients with fundings. I cannot sa

Today, we are going to take a break from reviewing A T software for Windows PC and gear up just a little, as my new toy had just arrived from a jungle forest in Brazil. Now I don't remember purchasing a P D A device, but I distinctively remember telling Rachel (yes, I Christian my computer Rachel.) I want an Apple from Amazon. It took me a little more than an hour to familiarize myself with the Apple Ipod Touch, and its implications, and another hour to fall completely and helplessly in love with it. My only regret was that I bought the 8GB model instead of the 32GB model, but the folly can be justified by economic necessity and I hope Rachel can find it in her heart to forgive me. Seriously, in my 20+ years experience using personal computers, I have never once advocate for Apple products. I think they are overpriced status symbols that one can live comfortably without; However, as an assistive technology specialist, I really have to make an exception for Apple P D A. Simpl

Review: Premier Assistive Literacy Software Bundle. http://www.readingmadeez.com/products/lpp.html 3.5/5 In the field of assistive literacy software, one cannot go very far without talking about WYNN and Openbook from Freedom Scientific. I believe they have achieved a marketing triumph, therefore WYNN and Openbook have become a staple in assistive technology lab everywhere. This article is neither about Wynn nor Openbook. (I'd be happy to write one on popular demand) This article is about what can one do if one does not have $995.00 for WYNN Wizard or $995.00 for OpenBook. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Premier Literacy Bundle. For $249.00, you get talking word processor, talking dictionary, text to mp3 conversion software, scan and read software, word prediction software and a pdf editor. Now, I am not going to lie, the software have minor glitches here and there, and for crying out loud, don't run the talking grammar checker on a 96 page document, and the voice

By C.L Hsieh TextAloud With AT&T Natural Voices (Windows Software) http://www.naturalreaders.com/ Listed above are just two examples of popular text to speech software on the market, some of which I'll be returning to for review at a later date. But today, I would like to talk about voice engines. I think a great many of you will agree with me when I say that voices are very important; they can give impressions of intelligence where it is not due, and give impression of stupidity where it is undeserved. When applied to the field of assistive technology, the above statement is even more salient. A good voice engine can make a B grade software look like a state of the art marvel. Where as a bad voice engine (like Microsoft Sam) can make a state of the art software look like something out of 1978 Battlestar Gallectica returning to haunt us. Here is a news flash: most of companies producing text to speech software do not develop their own voice engine, that is because mo

http://www.gingersoftware.com/ I saw this nice little software in CSUN disability conference in San Diego. I was sufficiently impressed by the demonstration that as soon as I got back to Riverside, I purchased a copy of my own and ran it on a 96 page document. (The novel I happen to be working on.) Let us just say, it is a vast improvement over traditional grammar/spelling checkers and for $70.00, it is an affordable vast improvement. However, as any English lover would tell you, English, being an analytical language, is notorious for its grammatical exceptions and prepositional oddities; which means, the vast improvement on traditional grammar checkers still requires human tweaking here and there. So don't expect miraculous magic, the 96 page document still took a little less than three hours. Furthermore, its heavy dependence on the Internet Server means it may not function properly without an Internet connection; it also means it will be a hard sale trying to convince th

Just returned from CSUN Annual disability conference, beside good view, nice people, and fantastic food, I learned Apple Ipod Touch/Iphone and possibly Ipad can be turned into an AAC device comparable with Dynavox Tango/Mighty Mo, with the help of Proloquo2go. This has implications, this means MediCare/School District only has to pay $413.00 for Autistic or Cerebral Palsy children instead of $4000-$7000. So, my next project is to own one and convince every school district in Riverside to adopt the Apple Ipod Touch as standard AT for Austic children and Children with aphasia, before I lose this job, this goal has to be accomplished.