Freedom Scientific Ships GPS and DAISY Solutions for the PAC Mate

Freedom Scientific announced today the first shipments of FSReader and StreetTalk™, two exciting new applications for the popular PAC Mate™ BX and QX series accessible Pocket PCs.

With FSR eader, PAC Mate users now can read DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) format digital talking books on the PAC Mate and fully navigate DAISY 2.0 e-books and DAISY 3.0, the ANSI/NISO standard, like those available from Bookshare.org. Using FSReader, individuals with low vision or other print disabilities can navigate to a particular point in a book from the table of contents or the index by browsing headings, or by flipping pages. Pages reopen right to the place where the reader left off, and users can set multiple bookmarks. In books containing both audio recording and text, users can fast forward and rewind and even speed up the narrator. They can switch between recorded audio and text with synthesized speech or even read along with the audio using one of Freedom Scientific’s refreshable Braille displays. FSReader for the PAC Mate is available for $79.95 USD. Purchase versions for both the PAC Mate and the desktop computers together for only $119.95 USD.

StreetTalk, Freedom Scientific’s GPS solutio n, adds speech and Braille accessibility to the award winning Destinator™ 3 GPS application for Pocket PCs. The maps available on Destinator CDs cover the USA, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia and include millions of categorized points of interest. Us ers can select to have StreetTalk route them by entering an address starting with either the city or the postal code, or they can designate a destination from the list of points of interest, a list of their favorites, or from their contacts list. As they travel, they can review their directions turn by turn while having access to a broad range of information through both speech and Braille:

• Upcoming turns
• Points of interest by proximity and direction
• The streets of an intersection
• Direction of travel and compass bearing
• Current speed 
• Nearest address 
• Number of satellites being tracked 
• Current GPS Precision - position dilution of precision (PDOP) and horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP) 
• Latitude and Longitude 
• Altitude 
• Distance traveled and distance to destination

With the receiver active, StreetTalk can be set to remember the movements the user makes, so that the trip can be recalled and followed again later in either direction.

Even without the GPS receiver active, StreetTalk provides a Planner Mode that allows the user to browse the points of interest near a given location within a radius controllable from 300 yards out to 10 miles, and then calculate a route to a particular point of interest. All routes can be saved and printed, embossed, or emailed.

StreetTalk is compatible with most GPS receivers that connect via Compact Flash™ or Bluetooth. Total GPS Solution packages will be available for purchase at the 2005 ACB and NFB Conferences for a special price of $499 USD. The package includes:

• Destinator 3 software 
• Maps of USA and Canada
• StreetTalk 
• GlobalSat BT-338 Bluetooth GPS receiver
• Socket Communications Compact Flash Bluetooth Connection Card

Training sessions will be conducted throughout exhibit hours at both conferences for users desiring one-on-one time with product experts.

StreetTalk sells for $119 USD and requires a PAC Mate BX or QX running release 3.0 and Destinator 3.0.75. All PAC Mate owners who purchased StreetTalk prior to June 30, 2005 are eligible for a free download of the PAC Mate 3.0 upgrade, which they can access from the Freedom Scientific Web site when they register their StreetTalk application using the confirmation code in the product box.

Source: Freedom Scientific