This newsletter is published three times a year by Artic Technologies, Inc. Fall 1992 / Number 1 From the Editor WHERE'S ARTIC? It has been quite some time since we have released news from Troy. During this absence, we have heard a variety of rumblings and grumblings as to what we have been doing and whether there is still life in Troy. I am here to assure you that we are here, alive, well and ready to kick some products out the door. Since our last newsletter, we have released Vision 3.x (our newest screen review software), Focus 1.x (our new screen enlargement software), and Gizmo (a navigation pad for Vision). Unfortunately, there was no newsletter to let you know these things. Well, that's where I come in. It is my job to keep you informed about what we are doing and when we are doing it. In fact, we hope to be doing enough things to force me to write one of these things at least three times a year. What's New Now? This issue of the Visions Newsletter talks about TransPort, our new speech synthesizer. Also covered is FOCUS: impressions from one of our users of FOCUS and information on the performance of FOCUS. There are a variety of other tidbits included that are guaranteed to make you demand more NEWS. What's In Store? Some promised products, some surprises and a guarantee to keep you better informed about our work. Though we can't talk about any products until they are ready to go to market, we can say that we are busy, excited, and confident that we will be doing some exciting things. Now, read on; I will see you in four months. Randy Knapp TRANSPORT NEW EXTERNAL SYNTHESIZER For years, many users strongly encouraged us to develop a portable, battery operated voice synthesizer that could be easily attached to a computer and is as responsive as our internal speech cards. Well, it's here. Artic Technologies is proud to announce our new family of external voice synthesizers called TransPort. TransPort is small, light weight, (less then a pound), rugged, and operates on rechargeable batteries or AC current. You can use TransPort on Desk Top, Lap Top or Notebook Computers and get the same efficient performance you have come to expect from our internal speech cards.Here is a description of TransPort. Dimensions And Weight: TransPort is three quarters of an inch high, by four and one eighth inches wide, by seven and one half inches long. It weighs approximately 15 ounces, just under 1 pound. TransPort easily fits in a coat pocket and its small size makes it easy to carry. Construction: Transport is housed in a sturdy aluminum case and stands up to use at home or on the road. Speech: All Transport synthesizers use the Artic 263 speech chip. It sounds like the speech you get with Business Vision. TransPort has thumb wheel controls that adjust its volume and tone. You can listen to TransPort using its internal speaker, or through headphones or an external speaker. Responsiveness: One of the common criticisms of external speech synthesizers is that they are sluggish and unresponsive. The TransPort line of voice synthesizers do not fall into that category. They offer the same responsiveness, speed, and clarity that you get from our other speech products. Battery Operation: All TransPort models run on batteries or AC current. Therefore it is ideally suited to work where you do. Battery Life: The TransPort external Voice Synthesizer operates for approximately 16 hours before you need to recharge its batteries. A typical Lap Top computer only goes about three hours before it needs to be recharged. TransPort also contains a low battery alarm that lets you know when to charge your synthesizer. You will have enough time to finish your work before you need to charge the unit. You can still use TransPort while it is recharging. TransPort 615: TransPort model 615 is the flagship of our external synthesizer line. It has features common to external synthesizers and additional enhancements that are unique and will add flexibility and convenience making this product quite useful. Here is a brief overview. TransPort And Business Vision: TransPort model 615 comes with Business Vision, our screen review program. It includes a feature that permits you to copy the current version of Business Vision from TransPort's electronic ROM disk to any computer without needing a diskette. This feature is handy should you forget to bring your software with you or if you need to install Vision on more then one computer. VEST: The model 615 contains VEST, our most advanced speech rule set. Users of Business Vision have come to depend on its accuracy and reliability. Other Unique Features: The model 615 has a real time clock calendar. You can get the current time and date, and set up to 16 alarms with prompting messages to remind you of appointments or things you need to do easily and without fuss. Storing And Retrieving Files: The model 615 has battery backed RAM for storing and retrieving files. This is convenient because you can choose to take important files with you and they will be there as long as your batters remain charged. If TransPort is fully charged, files in Battery Backed RAM can be stored for approximately thirty days from the time it was turned off. TransPort With Gizmo And Turbo Pedals: The model 615 has a Turbo Port that permits you to plug in and run either Gizmo or Turbo Pedals. It also comes with a Turbo Pad that duplicates all of the functions of Turbo Pedals and plugs into the front of the unit. TransPort And Other Programs: All models of TransPort can operate with other screen review programs. Specifications will be published so that third party developers can write drivers for TransPort. Transport supports 2 emulation modes, PortTalk, our standard control code set, and external Accent. Therefore, if your screen review program supports the external accent or Transport, you can easily use our synthesizer with it. Model 611: TransPort model 611 operates just like the 615 but does not include Business Vision. . Pricing And Availability: If you have additional questions, or need pricing information, contact Artic Technologies at 313-588-7370. Randy Knapp The Artic BBS For some time, we have operated a Bulletin Board system (BBS) to assist users with problems and to provide a forum for general discussion, problem sharing, and access to software and Artic Related utilities. Our number for the BBS is 1 313 588 1424 and is on line 24 hours a day. We support baud rates from 300 to 38,400, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity. Many of you have responded to this service and have helped to contribute to those of us who use it. For those of you who do not know about it, or have not tried it out, we strongly encourage you to do so. Changes To Our BBS: We are making some changes to our BBS that we hope will help better serve your needs. Here they are: New High Speed Modem: We have purchased a high speed modem to accommodate those of you who use one. You can dial in at 14,400 baud using V32-BIS protocol. Don't Worry, those of you that have slower modems can still call the board without difficulty. New Bulletin Board Software: We will be switching from PC-Board to WildCard version 3.50. We are making the switch to become FIDO compatible so we can participate in the FIDO network. We hope to become active in bulletin boards such as Blink-Link and other services that are used by our customers. Increased Presence: There are times when we respond to messages left on the board more slowly then we would like to. We will try to speed up our response time so that you can get messages back in a timely manner. If you leave a message and do not get a quick response, call Artic and let us know that you need an answer. We will do our best to respond quickly and efficiently. By the way, Nick Dotson, of Dotson Enterprises, Inc. has kindly agreed to be a remote sysop for this board. Don't be surprised if you hear something from him. Comments Or Suggestions: We would like to hear from you. We want to make this board as good as it can be. Therefore, comments and suggestions are always welcomed. Randy Knapp SYSOP. Focus On FOCUS I have been involved with Artic Technologies speech products for the last five years. One of the things that has made the products so popular is their responsiveness and the palate of many USEFUL features. Artic then released its first Screen Enlargement products Artic Focus and Business Focus. There are many delights that make computer screens more readable such as smooth formed fonts, square aspect ratio characters, (those based on square shape are easier to read), and Ultra-Glide to name a few. Most of my experience has been with speech products. Even though I have 10% vision, I still tend to think as a blind person when accessing a screen. That's where I find the real power of the Focus product line. I have seen other large print screen access systems, and though they have lots of features, I could never find how they would be very useful in a working environment. This is where the Focus product line differs. There are arguments concerning whether a mouse-based system would be faster than a command driven one for accessing material on a computer screen where we only see a small magnified area. With a little practice, commands from the keyboard are an extremely effective way of seeing what you want to see when you want to see it. They work much better than taking your hands off the keyboard and "fishing around" for your material. For example, if a blind person using speech wants to read the line the cursor is on, he/she would request it with a keystroke. Artic Focus products are the only screen enlargement system that can perform this simple but required task. Another example is easily reading a designated portion of the screen with a single keystroke. Blind users have been doing this for years using speech windows. We can finally do this in large print. It is really nice to be able to ask for the bottom two lines on the screen by pressing the appropriate keystroke. Has anyone ever heard of a large print system that can search for text in a crowded help screen of a program. Again, most speech products do this as a standard must-have option. This feature in Focus allow me to rip through a spell check with ease. No fumbling. I just ask for the misspelled word, summon the window with the possible corrections, make my selection, and carry on. In the Windows environment, adding Artic Gizmo can make your work much easier because you can do such things as: Move quickly to corners or to the center of the screen, Move diagonally, Switch to the 1X screen. You can easily scroll the screen without disturbing the mouse pointer. When you are ready to use the mouse again, move the mouse slightly, and presto, your mouse pointer area is back in view. I would challenge a blind person with speech, and a low-vision person with a large print package to have a race completing a given task. In most cases, assuming that the persons had about equal ability and experience with their access technology and computer equipment, the blind person would win. To sum it up, the Focus products offer many useful features to help you glide through your computer work with ease. John Ogilve Creating Configs We would like to encourage interested users of Vision and Focus to submit configurations for programs you know work well. If we agree, we will send you the next major revision of our product at no charge. To qualify, you must submit the configuration and documentation file in Zipped format. The documentation should cover window definitions, smart zone definitions, and any other information that one would need to use it with the appropriate program. Be sure to put your name in the documentation file so we know who to credit. In case we get two identical configurations, the one arriving first will be selected as the winner. Randy Knapp Artic Technologies, Inc. 55 Park Street Troy, Michigan 48083 313-588-7370