NFB Vigilant Quarterly Newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

NFB-NEWSLINE® is pleased to announce the availability of two nationally known magazines. In addition to more than one hundred newspapers NFB-NEWSLINE® now offers the New Yorker and Economist magazines!

This new content is available to subscribers from anywhere in the country. Once you have logged on to NFB-NEWSLINE® using a touch-tone telephone, you may now press #7 for magazines.

To find out how you can sign up for NFB-NEWSLINE®, call us at (410) 659-9314. To find out how you can help fund NFB-NEWSLINE® in your state, contact Mr. John Paré at extension 2371.

On July 1, 2006, NFB-NEWSLINE^® announced a new feature for our subscribers on the go. We can now email you the newspapers to your inbox in DAISY 3 format. This allows subscribers to read the newspaper on their PC or portable device. Using this method our subscribers can be more portable, and also help save us money on our phone bill. To sign up for this service you must first be a registered NFB-NEWSLINE^®user. If you need to subscribe visit the subscription page. If you are already a subscriber you can fill in the subscribe to email delivery or download and print out a form and return it to us. You will receive a confirmation email with instruction once you have been signed up for email delivery.

THE KURZWEIL-NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND READER

• Combining a state-of-the-art digital camera with a powerful personal data assistant, the "camera that talks" puts the best available character recognition software together with text-to-speech conversion technology--all in a single, handheld device.

• The Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader has the ability to dramatically enhance the lives of millions of people who have difficulty seeing or reading print by providing access like never before.

• Users need only hold the Reader over print-a restaurant menu, an airline ticket, a business card, a school assignment, an office memo-and in seconds they hear the contents of the printed document played back in clear synthetic speech.

• The National Federation of the Blind helped fund the development and production of the Reader and helped plan and design it, especially with respect to the user interface. As many as 500 NFB "Pioneers" have tested and influenced the design of the Reader.

• Ray Kurzweil, who partnered with the NFB to develop the Reader, has been called the "Thomas Edison of the 21st century," one of "16 revolutionaries who made America," the "restless genius," the "ultimate thinking machine," and by Bill Gates, "the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence." Kurzweil is chief executive officer of KNFB Reading Technology, Inc.

• The Reader reads most printed documents, address labels, package information, and instructions with ease. It offers readers a choice of hearing a full page, or just a few lines for identification purposes.

• The Reader can store thousands of printed pages with easily obtainable extra memory and users can transfer files to their desktops and laptop computers or Braille notetakers.

• The Reader reads documents from computers or other devices.

• The Reader has a headphone jack so users don't have to disturb others in close proximity.

• The Reader costs about the same as many flat screen televisions today, yet has the power to revolutionize a person's life.

• Sales will be handled by Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., and its national distribution channels. To locate your local dealer, call (800) 894-5374 or visit http://www.knfbreader.com/.

View the brochure (.pdf)

Press Release

CHESAPEAKE BAY CHAPTER of the NATIONAL

FEDERATION of the BLIND of VIRGINIA

(CBC)

SEASIDE

THE KURZWEIL-NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND READER