Portable Devices Deals, Sales, and News

Here's an editorial piece from Serotek founder Mike Calvo on the Intel Reader, questioning the motives of Intel, Humanware, and others. There's many interesting and valid points here, and it's definitely worth a read. Via Serotek Blog

We have received an annonymous report describing the Intel Reader in detail, and their impressions with The unit. The Intel Reader is being marketed as a stand-alone reading device, able to turn a page of text in to speech. Read on for details.

An EBay seller and Blind Bargains reader has posted a Victor Reader Stream portable media player with a starting bid of $200. With $10 for shipping, that's nearly $140 off the cost of a new unit. Plus, an 8GB memory card is included. Auction ends October 31.

Orbit Research has just released the iBill Talking Banknote Identifyer for $99.99. At this price, this is the least expensive bill identifyer currently on the market. According to the manufacturer, this device recognizes every US banknote in circulation in about a second and is able to announce denominations by voice, tones or vibration. The iBill runs on 1 AAA battery and can be ordered immediately.

An EBay seller has relisted a like-new KNFB Reader Classic, now for a starting bid of $1,100. This is the PDA model and comes with everything necessary to start reading printed material. By comparison, the KNFB Reader Mobile retails for roughly $2,200. Auction ends November 5.

An EBay seller has listed a used TSI Optacon, model R1D, with a BuyItNow price of $399.95 with about $20 for shipping. or, make an offer. The Optacon is still one of the most sought-after reading devices available, allowing the blind to feel raised print. The unit is being sold as is, and comes with rechargeable batteries.

An EBay seller has listed a like-new KNFB Reader Classic for a starting bid of $1,200. This is the PDA model and comes with everything necessary to start reading printed material. By comparison, the KNFB Reader Mobile retails for roughly $2,200. Auction ends October 25.

An new update has been released for the LevelStar Icon and BraillePlus PDA's. Among other features, vesion 1.11 adds support for the Audible book format so users can download and listen to books from Audible.com. Also, a new feature called the workspace has been added, which allows for users to view recent RSS feeds, files, or a welcome screen. Some bugs with some National Library Service books were also fixed.

AccessibleWorld.org will be featuring a presentation on the new features in the Victor Reader Stream 2.0. The interactive chat will be held on Monday at 8 PM Eastern, 5 PM Pacific in the tech talk room, which we've linked to on this post. We don't have any concrete details on new features as of yet, but Windows Media and braille support have been ideas talked about in the past. If you have any insight, you can send us a note. You can send us a tip anonymously if you wish for this or any other breaking news story.

The LevelStar Icon and Icon BraillePlus have added support for NLS digital downloads in their latest update, version 1.1. You can get it via the link on this post. It's a free update for current Icon owners.
Thanks to Top Tech Tidbits among many others for the tip.

Humanware has released an alternate US English voice for the Victor Reader Stream. The male voice Tom is contained in an alternate version of the just released 1.2 firmware update. Voice samples, other languages and voices are also available.

We have staff on the scene at the CSUN conference in Los Angeles and have just learned of the first major announcement of the week, Humanware's Trekker Breeze. The breeze weighs less than a pound and includes a built-in GPS receiver. The possible down-side, however, is the lack of point-to-point directions. So it basically serves as a tool for gaining information about your surroundings, which may be a tough sell compared with the many other GPS options available. That being said, for those looking for a simple solution without a lot of required setup, this may be the perfect product. Retail for the new unit is expected to be $895. It won't be released until at least the summer, and we'll post more as we find out. Note: The link has been updated with Humanware's press-release.

The highly anticipated update for the Victor Stream digital book player, version 1.2 has been released. The free update adds several enhancements to the music player, a built-in SD card format utility, support for NIMAS textbooks and content from the Serotek System Access Mobile Network, and several other improvements.

Adaptive Information Systems Inc. is selling the Humanware Victor Reader Stream digital book player for $299. With free shipping, we weren't able to find this player for less elsewhere. The Stream can play Daisy books from Bookshare.org, as well as Audible.com and RFB&d Audio plus books. Note that Adaptive Information also sells the Executive Products leather case for the device, for $34 shipped when purchased with the Stream.