Serotek Blog

Now, that's something. I had no idea that SA s...

2011-12-15T05:46:48.578-08:00

Now, that's something. I had no idea that SA supported Google Chrome. NVDA was the only one I knew of, before now, that supported it and actually worked (jaws doesn't count for stability reasons). Sure enough, SA worked with Google Chrome once I fired it up. Why does this not appear in any of the SA Change Logs? This should have been big news, worth shouting.

I want to say that I totally agree with the idea t...

2011-12-07T20:10:12.893-08:00

I want to say that I totally agree with the idea that you all use. I asked about scripting more as a courious idea than a critizism. ANd as for recently, with system access, and docuscan plus? Well, tell me, who offers that for as little as they do?

Dear Mike, This is a wonderful message to Steve. ...

2011-10-07T10:03:02.179-07:00

Dear Mike,

This is a wonderful message to Steve. I think you spoke very well on behalf of the blind community and summarized the thoughts of most of us out there. Thank you for this well put together, perfectly worded and finely articulated blog post.
I just discovered about Serotek yesterday and listened to a podcast of yours. It was great to hear the quality, professionalism and attention to details conveyed by each and everyone of the characters behind the microphones.

All the best to you and your team. I will try to find some time to listen to your shows now and then.

Regards,
Emrah

:-) that reminds me of the braillenote empower sit...

2011-08-27T22:56:31.102-07:00

:-) that reminds me of the braillenote empower sitting in front of me now, not being used of course. The school gave it to me, because they don't have enough money to buy the new apex of blind ghetto products. :-)

I was very disappointed to hear the comment on the...

2011-07-24T08:11:05.547-07:00

I was very disappointed to hear the comment on the show, and I appreciate your response to it, indifference to accessibility is one thing, but Sara's comment was careless and irresponsible for someone with a media voice. I am glad you spoke up about this and wish more people in AT would.

nicely said. it's too bad something so obvious...

2011-07-13T12:25:00.915-07:00

nicely said. it's too bad something so obviously true has to be said, but it does, every time the issue pops up. thankss for your letter.

Great post Mike! More and more these days I am hav...

2011-07-07T12:50:51.465-07:00

Great post Mike! More and more these days I am having to put up with the inaccessibility of certain things and it really angers me. This may be a rather unpopular statement to make, but I think that the ACB and NFB need to do more to promote accessibility. It's true that they have done some good things, but more needs to be done. One suggestion I have is that more and more software developers be included in sessions with users of the various screen readers and such present.

Thanks for publishing this. It's time that peo...

2011-07-06T01:07:51.170-07:00

Thanks for publishing this. It's time that people such as macbrake weekly, and other web people knew that accessibility benefits everyone, not just a few.

It is is great that you guys at Serotek do such a ...

2011-07-05T09:29:30.665-07:00

It is is great that you guys at Serotek do such a great job when it comes to accessibility! My name is Steve, and I know what is like to have trouble with accessibility because I am blind myself. That is why we need to make our voice heard when it comes to the issue of being able to have access to everything on the WEB.

grate letter, good to know there's people like...

2011-07-01T15:49:42.149-07:00

grate letter, good to know there's people like you who don't take stuff for granted and are willing to challenge the status quo

I am a sighted person with a blind child. I don&#...

2011-07-01T13:52:12.301-07:00

I am a sighted person with a blind child. I don't think people understand 1. that the web can be made accessible to the blind. 2. Having an inaccessable website to the blind is same as not having a ramp for wheelchair for a brick and mortar building.

I think people think that an accessible website blind is impossible. They simply don't understand what it means to be blind or the amazing tools that are available.

This spoof is very cute, but it is a bit too remin...

2011-04-08T15:34:09.299-07:00

This spoof is very cute, but it is a bit too reminiscent of some of the actual ads for new note taking devices that I've seen over the past year or two. Thanks for making that point through such a humorous vehicle.

Dear Serotek, As a blind consumer, I am concerned...

2011-04-01T17:52:30.148-07:00

Dear Serotek,
As a blind consumer, I am concerned that this new device is entirely too liberal for the low price you charge. In my opinion, in edition to the limited tech support, you must promise at least a 2 month turnaround time for users who need to submit their devices for repair. Blind people need to understand that their products are incredibly specialized, and giving them prompt service might lead to an unhealthy sense of entitlement. How dare they ask for things quickly so as to have their lives back in order? They need to understand that they must accommodate the AT companies, and not the other way around.
Also, you failed to mention a yearly hardware SMA, which should not count for the upgrade of any new versions. It is only spent to allow the repair of the current chips, and should not count over christmas break or any other major holidays.
Please promise me you will fix these massive defects with your product. My life as an old curmudgeon who refuses to live in the 21st century with its accessible android, linux, and IOS devices depends on it!
Happy April fools day guys. Nice job!

John

As funny as this was, I am reminded of a computer ...

2011-04-01T14:53:10.810-07:00

As funny as this was, I am reminded of a computer I bought in 1994. It had a 340MB hard drive and 8MB of RAM. It ran DOS and didn't even come with a modem. It had Vocal-eyes for a screen reader, OSCAR to perform OCR, and a new-to-the-market Dec-Talk Express external synthesizer. throw in the HP flatbed scanner, and the price was just over $4,000. My how times have changed!

also, the Echo 2 reference made me laugh out loud. i remember using that synth on an Apple 2E back in 1985. The cool thing about the Echo, as bad as the speech was, was that you could write a program in Basic that could change the pitch, volume and speed of the speech by using character strings. Add in a function that would send random numbers to the character string parameters, and you could make the synthesizer absolutely flip out with constantly and randomly changing pitch, speed and volume. Fun fun fun!

Good job guys. Really makes a point. I especially ...

2011-04-01T12:49:20.121-07:00

Good job guys. Really makes a point. I especially like the fact that you set up a BBS for this. :D

Wow, how exciting? Will the GTO feature a Gopher c...

2011-04-01T11:14:07.844-07:00

Wow, how exciting? Will the GTO feature a Gopher client so I can access the BBS plus all my favorite Gopher sites? That'd be totally rad. Then I could keep up on all the latest cold war happenings, not to mention follow news on missed episodes of Star Search! Sometimes I run out of VHS tapes or forget to press Record, you folks at Serotek know how that goes I'm sure!

Well, many years have passed since this conversati...

2011-02-23T09:23:37.855-08:00

Well, many years have passed since this conversation started but not terribly much has changed. Unless of course you're talking about Serotek. Can you script with it? No. Since I like to script, this is an issue for me because I run into stuff that isn't right out-of-the-box software that isn't directly supported by screenreaders in general. This isn't because screen reader manufacturers are evil people. It just so happens the applications I speak of are only in existance because of the smallish company that needs them. Unless you worked in my call center, you wouldn't know or care about these applications. The ability to get in there and make them work was most valuable to me as a jaws scripter because if that app didn't work for me, I didn't eat and food is one of my favorite things. I've been an SA user since 2008 and am three quarters of the way through my four year plan with them. Even though I won't save any money on AT costs, what I have saved in headaches and gotten even some good free food from is the ability to have my, (to borrow a catch phraise) accessibility anywhere. Training for stuff on my last job where they couldn't do it at my desk used to mean IT had to know about it a few days ahead so that the necessary arrangements could be made to get my tower from my desk to the training room. With SA, be it by U3 drive or logging into SA to go, my company could handle me like anyone else and make me aware of this new important training pretty much the way they did everyone else. "when you're done with that call, go to training room X. Most of this one shot training was done oddly enough in powerpoint presentations and even with system access, I did just fine. My credibility as a blind computer user increased on a personal level when friends who can see had trouble and so long as it wasn't with their USB ports or their internet, I could go in, work on their stuff and leave their computer working and without any trace of my presence.

The other big change is pricing. Serotek has a plan to account for many many pricing needs. The most note worthy is although I may still pay near or better than the price of a computer for a full license for SA, I will only do that once. No picking of my pocket every couple of years just to keep it current. Even if I replace my computer, the SA license can be moved either with a simple process on line or a short phone call to the help desk.

Just so everyone knows, I'm not anywhere near a full on AT expert but I am an end user to the highest degree and I can say this. No one screen reader paid or free does everything I want every time I want it. Based on what random stuff catches my ear, I can see the day when Windows comes with something on the level of voice over and the only nitches that will remain will be the rare call managing app and whether or not that app gets accessibility will depend on how motivated the one charged with making that happen will be. Said motivation will either come from a big fat cash bonus for getting it done or the satisfaction that the individual for whom the access is being provided is one that the individual providing the access really likes or can otherwise get excited about. Put another way, in addition to their being a need for motivated and tallented geeks that can string the zeros and ones together to make it all work, we also would do well to be a community that doesn't feel the need to kill them just because our particular need or want didn't get addressed first.

hi, i am a blind user and have been using jfw and ...

2011-02-22T23:35:54.882-08:00

hi, i am a blind user and have been using jfw and zoomtext since 1998.
I have had many problems with zt and jfw one does some tasks better and some not so good.
I have just downloaded my tryal version of system access,
1, in the first day i was able to go to a friends house, pop in my u3 drive and was able to be using the computer in under 2 minutes flat, without having to restart, install video chaining driverrs, etc etc.
all the crap i have been doing for the last 14 years.
on the second day i was able to go to another friends house and was able to pop in my u3 open up google chrome and use it!
Ie is slow and prone to viruses, firefox is slow and when u put jfw or zt on top of that it is not a fun process.
back to my story,
I was able to use a brouzer that jfw has no plans of supporting any time soon,
SA has done out of the box no scripts etc etc.
built in zoom for those things that it is needed for,
and all on my u3 drive, and or going to SATOGO.com and clicking ctrl R 2 times and be up and running with my screen reader in under 2 mins.
I love this application and will buy it in the next month or so.
I do not have the money to buy jfw out right and or SA, but SA is the only application that can be boght by paying small monthly payments.
I have also used orca, narrator windows eyes, voiceover, nuance talks on the phone mobilespeek,
so i believe i know what i am talking about when i say, that opensource is ok but in some cases when a programmer has some insentive to program more than just the feeling of have helped,
a much better product is created.
it is like a marketer who is paid per hour and no percentage, what insentive is there to work hard?
what insentive is there to listen to your custommers?
i give Serotek 2 thumbs up and would give more if i had.
i love this product and am shocked it was never menchioned to me by my assistive program vender.

sory about the grammer or the spelling.
but i had to state my views.

Seems like we always need to catch up with the lat...

2010-08-05T13:26:41.724-07:00

Seems like we always need to catch up with the latest technology. But I must admit, the Intel Reader is something worth checking out. I give the company credit for being able to reach out to the blind community. Good thinking!

Whatever the future of screen reader technology ha...

2010-07-30T22:43:11.465-07:00

Whatever the future of screen reader technology has in store for us, I sure hope Freedom Scientific is not part of that future. FS, with its anti-competitive and anti-cooperative actions, is damaging a very fragile industry.
Their refusal to participate in the standardized braille display driver initiative, their attempts to prevent Jaws users from using third-party displays, and the lawsuits against their competitors (I'm sure Apple, Code Factory and The NVDA Team are next), clearly demonstrate that FS doesn't care about accessibility. If the latest version of Jaws doesn't support software that's used by a large percentage of corporations, too bad! We may get around to supporting the version that's just been depricated once we finish coding the new JFlush(r) technology, which allows you to flush your toilet from anywhere you have access to JAWS.

Joe, I know it will be a great move for you. Let...

2010-07-30T14:09:21.063-07:00

Joe,

I know it will be a great move for you. Let me know how I can help. I know you will be sorely missed at DARS.

Garry

i would like to point out you forgot to mention th...

2010-07-28T11:43:40.412-07:00

i would like to point out you forgot to mention that Apple's voiceover has plug and play with braille displays as well, via bluetooth or USB.

I agree with Anonymous. Serotek is lucky to have y...

2010-07-19T10:38:25.698-07:00

I agree with Anonymous. Serotek is lucky to have you! I wish you the absolute best. And, of course, Hugs!

Joe, my mentor and the one that really helps me he...

2010-07-12T03:42:30.981-07:00

Joe, my mentor and the one that really helps me help my students! Congratulations on your new position! I look forward with eager anticipation your newest adventure and contributions to access!
Rebecca Cagle UNT

We hope Serotek knows how lucky they are to have y...

2010-07-08T08:28:49.606-07:00

We hope Serotek knows how lucky they are to have you-WJS4