Keysoft 7.5 update

Greetings. I don't usually post updates, unless they're major ones, for the BrailleNote line of products here. However, I'm doing it today because I know a lot of people use BookShare and this update mainly addresses the new zip file archives from the new BookShare site. Plus, there's some other things in here that a BrailleNote owner/enthusiast might like. I received this information from the GUI-Talk email list. enjoy.

***

Longueuil, Quebec, March 18 2009 -- KeySoft 7.5, Build 31 for the BrailleNote mPower, BrailleNote Classic and BrailleNote PK has been released today.

In January 2009 Bookshare updated their web site offering members a number of benefits including a change from their proprietary decompression technology, (the unpack tool), to the industry standard unzip technology. This change temporarily interrupted access to Bookshare books using the BrailleNote family of products. From Bookshare member feedback and comments we recognized the importance of this access and are releasing this free update that fixes the ability to download and unzip books to current users of KeySoft 7.5.

For users of the BrailleNote PK and Classic we have also taken the opportunity to correct the error associated with scheduling an appointment, and the failure in some circumstances to retain words added to the spelling dictionary that were corrected for mPower users in Build 29. For PK users the long term issue of sometimes losing speech has been identified and corrected.

Please read the file "Release Note for KeySoft 7.5 Build 31" for further tips on using the Bookshare site with your BrailleNote.

We encourage existing KeySoft 7.5 users to take advantage of this important Bookshare access update as the Development Team finalizes the release of KeySoft 8.0.

Installation Notes:

BrailleNote mPower

Users upgrading their mPower from an earlier version of KeySoft 7.5 do not have to download and re-install the 7.5 Product Key. Users installing KeySoft 7.5 for the first time will need to obtain a Product key. The following brief instructions apply to those Users who are already running KeySoft 7.5 on their mPower.

Simply download the new Bin file from the KeySoft 7.5 Upgrade page, using the link "KeySoft 7.5 mPower Download".

Save the Bin file to a correctly prepared SD card. This card must be 512mB or less in capacity. Insert the card in the mPower, connect the AC Adapter, and perform a Reset with dots 4-5 held down. The upgrade process will then begin. Do not remove the AC adapter or press Reset during the upgrade process.

BrailleNote Classic

Users upgrading their Classic from an earlier version of KeySoft 7.5 do not have to download and re-install the 7.5 Product Key. Users installing KeySoft 7.5 for the first time will need to obtain a Product key. The following brief instructions apply to those Users who are already running KeySoft 7.5 on their Classic.

Simply download the new Bin file from the KeySoft 7.5 Upgrade page, using the link "KeySoft 7.5 Classic Download".

Save the Bin file to a Compact Flash card. Connect the AC Adapter, and perform a Reset with dots 4-5 held down. The upgrade process will then begin. Do not remove the AC adapter or press Reset during the upgrade process.

BrailleNote PK

The following brief instructions apply to PK Users.

Download the correct version of the BrailleNote PK Upgrader, using the link "BrailleNote PK Upgrader".

Download the new NB0 file from the KeySoft 7.5 Upgrade page, using the link "KeySoft 7.5 BrailleNote PK Download".

Save both files to a Compact Flash card. Connect the AC Adapter, and run the "BrailleNote PK Upgrade.exe" using the Utilities Menu, Application Program option. The upgrade process will then begin. Do not remove the AC adapter or press Reset during the upgrade process.

KeySoft 7.5 upgrade page:
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/support/braillenote/software/keysoft_7.5_upgrade

What's new at ATIA

Greetings. If you missed the Assistive Technology Industry Association, or ATIA, conference last week in Orlando, Serotek has put together a nice little Collection of interviews from ATIA 2009. In all, 35 different short itnerviews were done with Michael Lauf from Serotek and the SeroTalk podcast, talking to various vendors at the ATIA conference. With the launch of SAM Net Radio on January 28, Serotek opened up their mikes for anyone to come and promote their products. And a wide variety of vendors showed up, from American Printing House for the Blind to companies that were showing producs for people with cognative disabilities, and all points in between. One big company that was noticeably absent was Freedom Scientific, for whatever reason. They freely promoted their own ATIA sessions in their January podcast, FS Cast, but they didn't show up to promote the beta of JAWS for 64 bit OS's. Weird. However, their competitors, such as GW Micro and HumanWare, did show up and promote themselves. perhaps they're saving something for CSUN in March? At any rate, hear all these interviews or only the ones you're interested in from this collection. Enjoy.

VR Stream and Book Share

Greetings. I received the following announcement from the Victor Reader Stream Newswire yesterday regarding the recent launch of the new BookShare.org website. For those that use BookShare, you might find this information of interest. Enjoy.

***

Dear Victor Reader Stream Friends:

The launch of the new Bookshare.org site has prevented playback of the DAISY version of Bookshare books on the Stream. In preparing the new site Bookshare
needed to reprocess their books to accomodate new external book sources to support their expanded services. This reprocessing caused a problem with the
DAISY version of their books which they have now corrected. If you re-download your book from Bookshare.org it should now play on your Stream.

Also, with the new zip format for the Bookshare.org book many of you have noticed some new files that are present in the DAISY version of the book. These
include files ending in .css, xsl, and DTD. You have asked if these files are required by the Stream. The answer is no but they require such a small amount
of space that you do not need to remove them from your SD card. It is ok to unzip all the files of the Bookshare.org DAISY zip file into a sub-folder of
$VRDTB. These new files will not affect the Stream.

Thank you,
The HumanWare Team

Issues with Stream version 2

Greetings. This note was originally sent out on July 2nd. Since I was away last week at convention, I'm just now getting to posting it here. If you read BookShare on the Stream, then you might want to pay attention to the following note. If not, you can still apparently install version 2 from the appropriate Stream page on the HumanWare site. I'll pass along any information I receive on a fix for the following problem. Enjoy.

Dear Victor Reader Stream Customer:

We are receiving reports of navigation issues in Bookshare.org books using the new Stream 2.0 software. The page navigation is not working and the Fast Forward/Rewind is causing the player to shut off. The Victor Team is working on these issues now and we will advise as soon as we have further information. In the meantime, we have restored the links to English version 1.2 so you may return to that version if you wish. The version 1.2 is available on the support page at:
http://www.humanware.com/en-canada/support/vr_stream_software


We are sorry for the inconvenience and will do our best to address the issue as soon as possible.

Thank you,
The HumanWare Team

Great news from Book Share

Greetings. If you are or know a student, you might want to note the following information. The below announcement is taken from the
Book Share website,
which provides books to people with qualifying print disabilities, such as blindness or dyslexia. Software or hardware is needed to read the books since they are in the specialized formats of electronic Braille files and Daisy files. Open Book and Kurzweil 1000 are popular Optical Character Recognition or scanning programs that can read these formats, and hardware devices may include the PAC Mate, Braille Note, Victor Reader hardware/software, and others. This opens up many opportunities for students to learn, since at last count, Book Share had 34,400 books. Membership is $50 annually and a one time $25 setup fee. Read more on the site about how to join. Enjoy.

***Book Share announcement***

We're happy to share incredible news, which will transform Bookshare.org. On Friday, the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. federal Department of Education made a major five-year award of $32 million to Bookshare.org. This will further the objectives of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), by supplying high quality textbooks and educational materials to students with special needs.

This funding is to fully support all schools and students with qualifying print disabilities in the United States, K-12 and post-secondary, with access to the entire Bookshare.org collection of accessible electronic books and to software for reading those books. As of October 1, 2007, we will cease charging these schools and students anything to join Bookshare.org. We also expect to add over 100,000 new educational titles in high quality DAISY and Braille formats over the next five years, getting students the terrific quality textbooks they need for academic success!