[Reader-users] books

[David Evans]

Dear Terri,

Yes, a head set comes with the reader and a set of cables for video /audio 
hook ups too.
It is also possible to place your index finger over the speaker to muffle 
the sound or go into the reading speed/volume control and turn it down.
I do use the ear phones for this , but I just got the reader last week and I 
have only had two meetings where I used it to read something during a 
meeting.
You are going to love the KNFB Reader, Terri.
I just want to get a skin for it so as to better protect the polarizer's.
I have had no trouble with them as yet, but I am trying to be careful not to 
damage them anyway.
Tonight, at my Lion's Club meeting, I used it to read the menu, the board 
minutes, finance report and a letter from an eye case we handled.
I also got to show off the unit to my fellow lion's who were very impressed. 
At least one of them asked me how he could get one as his vision is going 
away.

Everybody wants one who sees it.
I bet that in two years or so the price will come down by half and the unit 
will do twice as much as it does now.

David Evans, NFBF
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <powerst at dcpcepn.nci.nih.gov>
To: "Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list" 
<reader-users at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-users] books


David;
Is there a headset with the phone so you can read in public.  If not, how 
can you read a flier at a meating?

Terry Powers


-----Original Message-----
From: David Evans [mailto:drevans at bellsouth.net]
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 11:51 AM
To: Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list
Subject: Re: [Reader-users] books


Dear Livio,

Jim has it right.  For scanning a book, the Reader, at this stage is not the 
best tool.
It can certainly scan the pages of a book, but this will put a real phyiscal 
strain on your body to do it and it may not have the best navigation 
features  for reading a book.
I do not have enough experience as yet to say how hard it will be to 
navigate the contents of a book that the Reader does scan, but I think that 
the product has room to grow in the future and perhaps features like this 
could be made more useful in future upgrades.
What I find the reader useful for is when I walk in to a meeting and they 
place a bunch of papers down in front of me that I must read on the spot, 
the reader will now give me that ability.
It will help me when I must travel out of town and read all kinds of 
information such as flight info, transportation info, hotel info, bills, 
signs and labels.
It is a great tool and I look forward to using it extensively, but I have 
only had it four days now and I am still learning to use it.
I just think that using a flat bed scanner and a OCR program is a much 
better method of scanning a book at this point.
It is possible to read and scan most anything you want with the reader, but 
for a large bunch of scanning there are better tools.
I am sure that KNFB is hard at work thinking up new features to make the 
Reader and even better tool for us to use such as a DAISY reader feature.

David Evans, NFBF
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Barbour" <jbar at barcore.com>
To: "Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list"
<reader-users at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2008 1:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-users] books


Hello Livio,

I'm not David, but I will happily give my opinion anyway.

The KNFB reader mobile is not designed well for books.  it *can* do
books, but it will not be anywhere near as smooth an experience as
using a computer based solution like the K1000.

The two main reasons are that it takes a while to scan and read a
page, and that its very hard to navigate.

By navigate, I mean moving from place to place within the book,
searching for what you want to read, organizing chapters, finding a
particular page, etc.

David's other point is that you have to hold your arm at an
uncomfortable angle to take a picture of a page.  Doing that several
hundred times to read an entire book will be very difficult.

I hope this helps,

Jim

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 12:18:16AM -0500, Livio Novi Rodríguez wrote:
> Dear David:
>
> I saw your last message and probably misunderstood your words.  So, Are
> you
> saying that the KNFB is not good for books?  Please give me a better
> explanation, because I am about to purchase my kNFB Reader Mobile (I read
> a
> lot of books) , when the software is able to read Spanish.  Note that
> although I speek and read English, I live and work in Mexico City, so
> Spanish is my main language.
>
> Please, I wait for your reply the sooner you can, because I have heard
> great
> things about the reader.  I can't wait to have mine!
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Livio Novi.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
> To: "Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list"
> <reader-users at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 9:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-users] books
>
>
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I don't believe that trying to take allot of pictures , very fast, will
> > be
> > very practical as using a flat bed scanner.
> > Your arm is going to get very tired trying to hold that unit still, at
> > the
> > right distance, for the amount of time to get the job done.
> > How are you going to turn the pages and everything and still keep from
> > moving the KNFB reader.
> > You would need some kind of stand for it.
> >
> > David Evans, NFBF
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "will lomas" <lomaswilliam at googlemail.com>
> > To: "Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list"
> > <reader-users at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 2:50 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-users] books
> >
> >
> >> it would but as has been states the processing power in the phone is
> >> not as fast as say the older classics. but if we suggest these
> >> features, and user input is taken into account via the company then we
> >> may see results
> >>
> >> On 16 May 2008, at 05:02, Kevin Jones wrote:
> >>
> >>> I'm still hoping they eventually include a batch shoot and a batch
> >>> process mode. this would make scanning books more convenient.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Dean Wilcox wrote:
> >>>> I've never tried to read a whole book with it but on the pages I've
> >>>> read it gives good results, also noticing that there are two pages
> >>>> and reading it properly.  If you wanted it to go all the way from
> >>>> left to right, top to bottom you can use bills and memos mode
> >>>> instead.  I know you didn't ask that but thought it'd be good to
> >>>> know.
> >>>>
> >>>> At 20:15 13/05/2008, you wrote:
> >>>>> if it can scan menus i would suggest text books won't be hard.
> >>>>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>>>> From: "will lomas" <lomaswilliam at googlemail.com>
> >>>>> To: "Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader user list"
> >>>>> <reader-users at nfbnet.org>
> >>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:24 PM
> >>>>> Subject: [Reader-users] books
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> hi does the reader scan textbooks reasonably well?
> >>>>>> thanks, will
> >>>>>>
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