[gui-talk] Fwd: Freedom Scientific Reduces PAC Mate Price - and Releases FREE 6.5Update

Sat Oct 2 02:14:20 UTC 2010

This is just my opinion of course, but I think the days of these note takers are numbered. Why pay this much for an accessible device when you can purchase laptops and or net books for much less. And a laptop or net book does much more. I honestly cannot think of any advantage one of these note takers provide now a days. Even the battery life on some laptops is about as long as a note taker. In my macbook for instance, if I turn off the screen, I get about 14 hours per charge.
On Oct 1, 2010, at 6:02 AM, Steve Pattison wrote:

> From:  Susan Thompson susan at sthompson.net
> To:      VIP-L vip-l at freelists.org
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> To: Acb List
> 
> Even though this is US pricing, I thought it worth people knowing.
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> Media Contact: Brad Davis
> 800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000
> www.FreedomScientific.com
> Sales: info at FreedomScientific.com
> 
> The World's Most Powerful Notetaker Just Got More Affordable
> 
> Freedom Scientific Reduces PAC Mate Price and Releases FREE 6.5 Update
> 
> (St.  Petersburg, Florida ?September 30, 2010) ?Freedom Scientific
> today announced a $900 price reduction on its PAC Mate Omni accessible
> Pocket PCs while releasing a FREE firmware update for existing users.
> 
> The new prices are:
> 
> PAC Mate Omni Speech Only ?$1,495 reduced from $2,395
> 
> PAC Mate Omni with 20 cells of Braille ?$2,895 reduced from
> $3,795
> 
> PAC Mate Omni with 40 cells of Braille ?$4,695 reduced from
> $5,595
> 
> Already an industry leader in accessible mobile functionality for the
> blind, the PAC Mate Omni is now the clear leader in affordability, offering
> 40 cells of Braille for about 25 percent less than what competitors charge
> for a notetaker with just 32 cells.
> 
> “While other manufacturers are raising prices, Freedom Scientific is making
> assistive technology more widely available by passing savings in our
> manufacturing processes onto our customers,?says Jonathan Mosen, Freedom
> Scientific’s Vice President of Blindness Hardware Product Management.
> 
> “This is our third major price reduction this year.  We reduced our Focus
> 40 Blue Braille Displays by 38 percent in March, and we lowered the price
> of our MAGic Screen Magnification Software by $100 in June.?
> 
> This price reduction coincides with the posting of the 6.5 release for
> English language users that expands the PAC Mate Omni’s capabilities with
> an array of new features:
> 
> RealSpeak Voices
> Since Freedom Scientific introduced the RealSpeak voices in JAW, MAGic, and
> OpenBook, many customers have enjoyed the more natural sound, particularly
> for reading lengthy texts.  Many have asked for these voices with the PAC
> Mate Omni.  With Release 6.5, you can easily switch between Eloquence and
> RealSpeak synthesized speech with a simple command from anywhere on the PAC
> Mate Omni.
> 
> RealSpeak is available in many languages, further heightening the PAC Mate
> Omni’s appeal among those who work with multiple languages.
> 
> Expanded settings dialogs in the PAC Mate Omni 6.5 provide thorough,
> independent control over primary and secondary voices and Braille languages.
> 
> Unified Instant Messaging with Mundu?IM
> The PAC Mate Omni continues to offer free Windows Live Messenger support
> out of the box.  With the 6.5 release, we’ve added support for Mundu IM, a
> unified instant messaging solution supporting a number of services
> including MSN, Yahoo, ICQ,  AIM, Google, and Jabber.  Chat with your
> buddies in real time, no matter what the service.  The PAC Mate Omni with
> Mundu IM gives the deaf blind access to the many relay services that
> interface with AOL, and instant messaging is available in contracted
> Braille, letting messages fly back and forth even faster.  Mundu IM is
> available for purchase separately.
> 
> Built-in FSReader DAISY Player
> Freedom Scientific's FSReader software opens a world of accessible reading
> material for the visually impaired.  Used with Digital Accessible
> Information System (DAISY)-formatted talking books, FSReader delivers a
> host of powerful navigation tools for
> reading:
> 
> Go directly to a specific chapter, heading, or page Set an unlimited number
> of annotated bookmarks Speed up or slow down speech whether listening to a
> recorded narrator or synthesized speech Download or purchase on CD DAISY
> 2.0 and DAISY 3.0 e-books (the ANSI/NISO standard) like those available
> from www.Bookshare.org, and browse, read, and study.  Play AudioPlus books
> from Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D).
> 
> There are numerous other enhancements and performance improvements in the
> PAC Mate 6.5.  Coupled with the powerful Microsoft Office support, e-mail
> options, and other applications already in the PAC Mate, the 6.5 release
> continues to broaden the range of tasks one can accomplish on the go with
> this multi-faceted device.
> 
> Release 6.5 is available as a free download from the Freedom Scientific Web
> site at
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/pacmate/pacmate-omni65
> -update-dl.asp.
> 
> To learn more about accessing the many capabilities of the PAC Mate Omni,
> register for our free Webinar on October 5, 2010 ast
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/e-LearningEntrance.asp.  
> Or check out the DAISY books at the PAC Mate training downloads page at
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/PACMate-training-hq.asp
> 
> Regards Steve
> Email:  srp at internode.on.net
> MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
> Skype:  steve1963
> Twitter:  steve9782
> 
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