[Reader-users] Joined today

[Barbara Loos]

It's interesting that someone remembers the StereoToner.  I went to 
California to learn to use it in 1974.  I liked the fact that I could 
finally have access to reading print myself.  Unfortunately, it had a 
nickel-cadmium battery which, if overcharged, would literally blow up.  I 
was playing a game of Scrabble with some students when it happened, and 
thought one of them had deliberately done something startling, since some 
enjoyed getting a rise out of me in that way.  When the prime suspect jumped 
up with as much alarm as I did, I went to the area to check for possible 
causes.  There, with wires askew, was the StereoToner, never to sing letters 
and numbers again.  I wonder if any still exist.

Barbara Loos

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mhingson" <mhingson at guidedogs.com>
To: "'Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader users list'" 
<reader-users at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:34 PM

Subject: Re: [Reader-users] Joined today


> Hi Ken,
>
> I too recall the Optacon and even the StereoToner promoted by the VA in
> Chicago back in the late 70s and early 80s.  I even recall moving around
> the original prototype of the Kurzweil Reading Machine.
>
> Technology is wonderful.  However, let us not forget that all the
> technological progress in the world won't help if all of us do not
> accept that our biggest "handicap" is our own attitude.
>
> Enough preaching.  The KNFB reader is a great thing.  Ray Kurzweil does
> talk about how the imaging algorithms it uses will form the basis of
> much greater pattern recognition in the future.  It indeed is a
> wonderful time to be blind and to live in this country.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reader-users-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:reader-users-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> Kenlawrence124 at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 5:55 PM
> To: reader-users at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Reader-users] Joined today
>
> Hi users of the new Kurzweil NFB reader, Ken Lawrence Central  Chapter.
> Just
> joined the list today looking forward to the dialog and the  latest news
>
> concerning the reader.  I'm a bit of an old timer so I go back  to the
> Optacon's
> glory days.  just wondering how many users of the new  reader used to
> use the
> Optacon?  if you did, hope you saw the item in the  October monitor
> about the
> Optacon survey.  they're looking for users, and  people who don't use
> there
> Optacon any more.  they are thinking of putting  nonuse Optacons back in
> to
> circulation.  if they get enough response to it,  they may relaunch the
> Optacon
> with updated circuitry to make it possible for it  to read modern print
> formats
> and font sizes used today.  forget the email  address off hand, but does
> anyone
> on list remember what happened to the voice  output that was developed
> at
> around the same time as the First Kurzweil readers  that was mente for
> the
> Optacon?  also on a related question, oops, 2  questions, will future
> portable
> readers have a Braille display incorporated in  to it?  and also if a
> Car is
> developed for the blind, it seems a form of  the Kurzweil reader could
> be
> incorporated in to it so that a Street sign could  be read or even the
> menu at a drive
> through.  Yeah, it's a great time to be  blind Huh?  Ken.
>
> I pledge to  participate actively in the efforts of the national
> federation
> of the blind to  achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the
> blind; to
> support the  policies and programs of the federation; and abide by it's
>
> constitution.
>
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>
>
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