Words without boundaries, Serotek’s DocuScan Plus OCR Goes Multi-Platform With Support For The Mac

Minneapolis, Minn, April 29, 2011

Media Contact: pr@serotek.com 612.246.4818 Ext. 104

Words without boundaries, Serotek’s DocuScan Plus OCR Goes Multi-Platform With Support For The Mac
Serotek Corporation

the leading provider of accessible, multi-platform cloud-based solutions, is proud to announce the availability of DocuScan Plus for the Apple
AAPL Macintosh

platform.
DocuScan Plus, released for the
Microsoft Windows

platform in November 2010, allows individuals with a computer and attached imaging device to scan and convert printed materials in to text, and to store these documents in the cloud for easy retrieval on either Operating System from anywhere. The newly released Mac application contains the same compelling features as found in its wildly successful Windows counterpart, including easy conversion to daisy, Braille and MP3 formats, sending to
Amazon Kindle

password protection options, and saving to a local computer in large print or Rich Text Format. DocuScan Plus represents the first fully accessible cloud-based OCR solution to be available in the Mac app store.
“When we designed DocuScan Plus for Windows with cloud-based features, bringing it to the Mac was the next logical step,” said Mike Calvo, CEO. “People don’t use just one computer, or even one operating system anymore, and they need to access their information regardless of which platform they’re using at any given time.” “Apple has a host of accessibility features already built in to the operating system,” continued Calvo. “Because of this, we were able to make an application that is universally compelling in its own right, regardless of whether you’re print-disabled, and its accessible right out of the box to a very wide audience.”
DocuScan Plus is designed with an easy and intuitive interface, and works seamlessly with Apple’s Voiceover screen reader and Zoom magnifier. The application can be used in conjunction with the wide variety of Braille displays which are supported with Voiceover. The $299 price for this service provides users the ability to utilize DocuScan Plus on both the Windows and Mac platforms without paying a premium. This unique  approach continues  Serotek’s philosophy of offering accessibility anywhere at an affordable price, which is unparalleled in the Assistive Technology Industry.
The app is now [available through the Mac App Store,

and you can learn more about the revolutionary DocuScan Plus by visiting
www.docuscanplus.com

Serotek Corporation
Serotek Corporation is a leading technology company that develops software and manufactures accessibility solutions under the System Access brand. Committed to the mission of providing accessibility anywhere, Serotek began with the launch of the first online community specifically designed to meet the needs of people with visual impairment. Since then, Serotek has introduced several powerful, affordable solutions that require minimal training and investment. For more information, visit www.serotek.com

Media Contact: pr@serotek.com 612.246.4818, Ext. 104

Technical Contact: info@serotek.com

Serotek Presents at International Association of Audio Information Services Conference

News Release
For Immediate Release
Media Contact
pr@serotek.com

612.246.4818, ext. 104
Serotek Presents at International Association of Audio Information Services Conference
Minneapolis, Minn April 15, 2011
Serotek Corporation

the leading provider of Internet and digital information accessibility software, will be presenting at the

Annual International Association of Audio Information Services conference,

held May 12 - 14 at the Sheraton ST Louis City Center Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. The
IAAIS

is a volunteer-driven organization whose aim is to turn text in to speech for those who have difficulty accessing the printed word. Serotek provides easy access to content produced by IAAIS members through its
SAMNet subscription service,

as well as through a free application for iOS devices entitled
iBlink Radio.

iBlink radio is the first blindness-specific app for iOS devices, and it provides access to a wide variety of content by and for the blind community.
Michael Lauf, Serotek’s content director, and the host of weekly podcasts

www.SeroTalk.com,

will be presenting at the conference on several topics. These include using iBlink Radio to reach existing and new listeners, saving money by negating the need to purchase radios, using the internet and social networking to expand coverage areas, making quality readings available so patrons can listen at times convenient for them, recruiting volunteer readers, increasing funding through donations, and real time engagement of audiences by taking questions during live and pre-recorded events.
“I’m honored to have been invited to present at this year’s event”, said Lauf. For Serotek and IAAIS, the mission is very much the same. We both understand the importance of having access to a wide variety of information, and we both provide that in a way which is comfortable for everyone to access.”
In addition to participating in this year’s conference, Serotek has offered its weekly podcasts for syndication by IAAIS members. The podcast, which provides access to the latest mainstream and assistive technology news, has already been chosen for syndication by
Houston Taping for the Blind,

and is expected to be syndicated by other Radio Reading Services in the near future. “Syndication is a very exciting step for us”, said Joe Steinkamp, producer of the podcast. “With
www.SeroTalk.com,

we wanted to educate people about technology, and demonstrate that it’s not just for geeks. There’s a lot of technology out there that would truly make people’s lives easier if they knew about it, and could make decisions about what works best for them. Now that the podcast is in syndication, we can reach a much wider audience who may not have been able to access this type of information any other way.” With the podcast in syndication, Serotek and IAIIS can partner to identify informational needs among the audiences of specific IAIIS members, and create content beneficial to those groups.
For more information about Serotek Corporation, visit
www.serotek.com

For more information about The International Association of Audio Information Services, visit
www.iaais.org

Serotek Corporation
Serotek Corporation is a leading technology company that develops software and manufactures accessibility solutions under the System Access brand. Committed to the mission of providing accessibility anywhere, Serotek began with the launch of the first online community specifically designed to meet the needs of people with visual impairment. Since then, Serotek has introduced several powerful, affordable solutions that require minimal training and investment. For more information, visit
www.serotek.com

Serotek Enters The Note Taker Market With The New GTO!

Minneapolis Minnesota

April 1st 2011

Serotek, the leading provider of Internet and digital information accessibility software and services, today announced its entrance in to the notetaker market with a product simply named the GTO. The GTO, originally code-named Project Doorstop, aims to resurrect previously existing technology for a second chance at life.

“So many people believe that innovation is about doing something that’s never been done before,”, said Hugh Morris, product manager for the GTO. One thing that hasn’t been done nearly enough is to take seemingly obsolete technology and combine it in new, and perhaps ludicrous ways.” That’s exactly what we’ve done with the GTO. Morris went on to say that though the cost of manufacturing the GTO is extremely low because no one else in the market has use for its parts, consumers will not benefit from this cost reduction. “We’ve spent 3 weeks in hard-core development and testing with this product. We tested it until we got tired of doing so. All that hard work costs the company money, and we’re going to pass that cost along to the consumer tenfold. We’re going to make consumers pay … and pay … and pay!” Mr. Morris then begin cackling maniacally and was unavailable for further comment.

We spoke with Rusty Mettles, lead developer for GTO, to learn more on how the product came about. “I had this closet full of stuff,”, said Mettles. “My mom was going to make me throw it out, and it was in that moment of desperation that I came up with the idea of the GTO. I love the sound of a 14.4KBPS modem connecting, and I didn’t want others to miss out on that beautiful sound. I remember composing research papers using WordPerfect 5.1, and I don’t understand why technology like this has fallen by the wayside. The GTO was my chance to bring it back.”

The GTO already works with several formats familiar to seasoned tech enthusiasts, and boasts specs on par with many previously released devices.

Specifications.

The GTO runs on RISC processors gathered from gently used Game Boy units. This will allow you to play many legacy games that may or may not be accessible.

The unit supports several external storage formats including but not limited to: 3.5 and 5 ¼ inch Floppy drives, bubble memory and tape backup. The unit's internal memory is a roomy 640K, which ought to be enough for anybody. The US Robotics 14.4KBPS modem works on any existing phone line and will connect to any dial up service using the included ProComm Plus software. Telix software is available for an additional fee. Serotek continues to applaud Apple's accessibility efforts, so the Echo 2 synthesizer was the logical choice for text-to-speech on the GTO. Everything about this unit is built to offer consumer choice, so the unit will support 6 popular versions of DOS. We know many out there are tired of having to deal with messy graphics. This way we ensure that almost everything is text-based.

Input on the unit is accomplished through Morse code. Blind ham radio enthusiasts will be ecstatic about this innovation, and those who don't know Morse code should have learned it long since, and will no longer have an excuse to put off acquiring this skill.

The included car battery accessory with alligator clips allows for 20 hours of battery life.

The unit has been tested rigorously by 6 Chimpanzee-Bonobo hybrids, who received bananas and peaches in payment for their hard work. During the testing process, it was discovered that a banana-resistant surface was necessary to maintain the integrity of the unit. This is a feature not present in any other product on the market.

Though the chimps were excellent test subjects, the only intelligible quotes they provided for the press release were: "Peach good. Banana good good." For a more in-depth testimonial, we approached a human user, Ms. Anne Thrope for her thoughts on the GTO. “I despise people”, mumbled Thrope. With this technology, I can legitimately bow out of communicating with people in an effective and timely manner. It’s tremendously liberating!”

The unit is priced at a reasonable $4011, and comes with 2-hour tech support, from 11 AM to 1 PM Eastern Standard Time. We approached Izzy Smart, lead technical support

representative, for his comments on the GTO. "So basically, if they call us and tell us something's wrong, all's we gotta do is tell them to buy another one,", said Smart. "I learned how to do that pretty quick. It was like a couple of weeks, and I totally had it down, ok? And then, like, if they ask us how to do something on the thing, we're supposed to just hang up. I told my boss, I was like, man that's mean! He goes, no way, see, this way we're teaching people to learn to think for themselves. I was like, oh, right on, man! I can dig that!"

We are also proud to announce our newest addition to the Serotek stable today in support of the GTO. The SAMBBS, or System Access mobile Bulletin Board System, will let you connect with your friends and family from just about anywhere you can connect with a land line. Here are just a couple of the revolutionary things you can do on the SAMBBS.

Create documents using WordStar.

Read documentation through Borland, to relearn all that you have forgotten.

Play music files, painstakingly composed using QBasic.

Just dial in, log on and by tomorrow you will be reading email and browsing through files. Downloading files, however, is not supported at this time. This capability is slated for a future release in 2015.

To get a sneak preview of the SAMBBS, use your Telnet client of choice to connect to bbs.samobile.net

Our marketing consultants told us we should at least pretend to care about your input. With that in mind, if you can think of features we should have included in the GTO but didn't, please comment here or call the Serotalk blab line at (866) 997-2522 and we'll give your ideas the attention they deserve.

Serotek TownHall Meeting on March 30, 2011

All persons interested in the future of Serotek, as well as the blindness and low vision community, are cordially invited to join Serotek for a town hall meeting, to be held Wednesday March 30 at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, 6:00 P.M. Pacific, in the TownHall Voice chat room.

Serotek's CEO Mike Calvo will discuss future goals and objectives for both Serotek corporation, as well as some very important issues that should be of concern to blind and low vision persons.

Persons may also listen via SAMNet Radio,

listen via Accessible Event

or by using Serotek's free iBlink Radio app for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Because of the large number of attendees, we will not take live questions. However, persons are invited to

email your questions and comments in advance to Mike Calvo.

We look forward to sharing some interesting objectives for Serotek, as well as outlining some exciting projects to greatly enhance the quality of life for blind and low vision persons.

The Serotek Team

Urgent Announcement concerning Vipre Antivirus and System Access

The latest definitions for Vipre Antivirus from Sunbelt Software are flagging System Access as a trojan. this means if you reboot your computer, you will not have speech and will likely need sighted assistance. You may wish to run another screen reader to give permission to Vipre to allow System Access. You may even consider disabling Vipre, or even uninstalling Vipre until they have resolved the problem they have created.. we are in contact with Sunbelt Software at this late hour, in the hope of resolving the issue asap. 

News Release: HoverCam Teams with Docuscan Plus at CES

For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
contact@thehovercam.com

858-812-6358
Or
pr@serotek.com

612.246.4818, Ext. 104
HoverCam Teams with DocuScan Plus at CES
Alliance Brings Together Pocket-Sized Document Camera
and World’s First Cloud-Based Scanning Technology
SAN DIEGO, Calif – January 3, 2011 –
Pathway Innovations and Technologies, Inc.
, the designer and manufacturer of HoverCam office cameras, and
Serotek Corporation
, the leading provider of accessible multi-platform and cloud-based mobile technology
solutions, announce their alliance for CES 2011. Together the organizations deliver
mainstream convenience plus assistive technology industry accessibility to mobile
document scanning.
 The HoverCam Mini™ and Neo™ office cameras and DocuScan Plus™, the world’s first
cloud-based scanning solution, will be demonstrated together at the 2011 International
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 6 – 9.
Unlike conventional scanners, the portable Neo and pocket-sized HoverCam Mini scan
documents in one second or less. Users need only plug it into any computer’s USB
port. The
DocuScan Plus
 software offers high-quality optical character recognition to convert the printed
page to text. This self-voicing application requires no special drivers and can read
printed pages as well as many types of PDF files, including those containing text
or those containing only images. The entire camera and software package is affordably
priced below $800 USD.
“In today’s mobile business environment, users demand immediacy, portability and
global accessibility,” said Ji Shen, Chairman and CEO, Pathway Innovations and Technology,
Inc., “By teaming with Serotek’s DocuScan Plus technology, the HoverCam can deliver
all three.”
“While DocuScan Plus was originally designed for the reading impaired, such as those
who are blind, have low vision or are dyslexic, it also has mass appeal,” said Serotek
CEO, Mike Calvo, “The size and simplicity of the HoverCam Mini broadens the mobility
as well as the reach and appeal of this total scanning solution.”
Both products will be demonstrated at booth number 35955 on the second floor of the
south hall at CES 2011. For additional information, contact Pathway Innovations and
Technology, Inc. at 858-812-6358, visit
www.thehovercam.com
, contact Serotek Corporation at (612) 246-4818 or visit
www.docuscanplus.com
.
Pathway Innovations and Technologies, Inc.
Based in San Diego, California, Pathway Innovations and Technology is the designer
and manufacturer of HoverCam document cameras. Used in schools, hospitals and other
businesses, HoverCam cameras are designed for document scanning, video recording,
student assessment and the visually impaired. For more information, visit
www.thehovercam.com
.
Serotek Corporation
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Serotek Corporation develops software and manufactures
accessible, multi-platform and cloud-based mobile technology solutions. Committed
to the mission of providing accessibility anywhere, Serotek designs its solutions
to meet the needs of people who are blind or have low vision, with minimal training
and investment. For more information, visit
www.serotek.com

iBlink Radio 2.0 Now Available On The Apple App Store

For Immediate Release

Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 28, 2010

The iBlink Radio application from the Serotek Corporation has just been updated! The world's first application for the visually impaired for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad is now available on the iTunes App Store. Version 2.0 sports Push Notifications, Localized Content and even more content for you to explore. IBlink Radio offers radio stations, podcasts and reading services of special interest to blind and visually impaired persons; as well as their friends, family, caregivers and those wanting to know what life is like without eyesight. The original release of iBlink Radio has been downloaded thousands of times and it has even been featured on the front page of the iTunes Store. All stations under Community Radio are owned and/or operated by persons with limited or no eye sight. Genres include oldies, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, alternative, classic Rock, Old Time Radio and more. This is a small sampling of SAMNet, Serotek's award-winning online community dedicated to promoting the digital lifestyle to its low-vision and blind subscribers. Reading services provide narration of newspapers, magazines, periodicals and other print publications including: USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and hundreds more. Podcasts are produced by blind and partially sighted individuals, and cover topics including: broadcasting, computers, radio, technology, Independent Living, Travel, and much more. "We created this application and placed it on the iTunes store, free of charge, for a number of reasons. The blind community is full of people with an astounding and diverse array of talents and skills. These abilities are worthy of being noticed and appreciated by everyone, in both the blind and sighted communities," said Mike Calvo, CEO. iBlink Radio is the perfect way to showcase the broadcasting talent within the blind community, and the app is available for anyone, blind or sighted, to download. What's New in Version 2.0 Improved Interface: The new iBlink Radio interface allows even easier navigation across your iDevice of choice. You can use your iPhone, iPod or iPad in either portrait or landscape modes to find your favorite station. Or just move through the lists to discover all new ones. In either case, the tap of a finger will have your selection playing instantly. You can also adjust the volume from iBlink Radio by swiping your finger on the volume control at the bottom of the display. New Easy To Add Favorites: You can add your favorite stations and Reading Services without ever leaving the list page. Tap the bottom left of the display to add the selection to your Favorites list. You can even do this while listening to the station! Push Notifications: You can now set alerts and sounds to notify you when your favorite content has been updated. The new notifications option can be found under the Settings section of your IOS device. Localized Content Having trouble finding the right content for you? Listen to information and entertainment specific to your area with the use of the Localized Content feature. New Content Added 5 new radio stations have been added to the Community Radio section. Several new Radio Reading Services have been added including those from; Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and all five feeds for Voice Print Canada. This upgrade makes it even easier to find and hear the community radio stations, reading services, and podcasts you want, including resources in your area. This upgrade also adds support for a wider variety of audio formats, so you can expect even more resources to be added in the near future.

Download iBlink Radio Version 2.0