Al.Hoffman@p0.f143.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Al Hoffman) (07/27/90)
Index Number: 9534
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
This is just to clear up some Prodigy confusion.
After speaking with the Vice President of Research at Prodigy,
the following is supposedly in the works. 1. There is a project
"underway," involving AFB, to make Prodigy accessible to the visually
impaired. 2. You can use a standard modem with Prodigy, the package
can be had for $10.00 with just a disk and a little booklet.
You can copy material from the screen, there are a host of Prodigy
Utilityies available locally here. For low-vision people Prodigy
is just fine, we totals will simply need to wait some more, and maybe
boot AFB/Prodigy in the butt once in a while to speed up this project
they are working on. Curtis Chong has been in contact with the Research
people as well, but I don't know the outcome of that discussion.
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Internet: Al.Hoffman@p0.f143.n109.z1.fidonet.orgDavid.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) (07/27/90)
Index Number: 9550
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
AH> This is just to clear up some Prodigy confusion.
AH> After speaking with the Vice President of Research at
AH> Prodigy, the following is supposedly in the works. 1.
AH> There is a project "underway," involving AFB, to make Prodigy
AH> accessible to the visually impaired.
While I was not able to attend the meeting of the Computer ?Science
Division at NFB, I understand this was discussed. What I heard was
that Prodigy had supposedly contacted AFB, but AFB knew nothing
about it.
AH> 2. You can use a
AH> standard modem with Prodigy, the package can be had for $10.00
AH> with just a disk and a little booklet. You can copy material
AH> from the screen, there are a host of Prodigy Utilityies
AH> available locally here. For low-vision people Prodigy is just
AH> fine, we totals will simply need to wait some more, and maybe
AH> boot AFB/Prodigy in the butt once in a while to speed up this
AH> project they are working on. Curtis Chong has been in contact
AH> with the Research people as well, but I don't know the outcome
AH> of that discussion.
It is also possible that Prodigy will never be accessable to us.
One prominent feature of Prodigy is the ads. There are apparently
ads on most, if not all pages. Many of them contain bit-mapped
pictures of products. Even if they make the character portion
accessable, what do we do about the picture, and are they going to
be willing to make the service available if we don't get exposed to
the ads. After all, the reason that it is cheap is the
advertising. David Andrews
... Your Sound Alternative
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Internet: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgSam.Troia@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.org (Sam Troia) (11/06/90)
Index Number: 11581
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
Hi, Brian,
Well, I'm glad you got my message. Another thing about Prodigy, I had
this really neat idea: somebody could probably make a fast buck by
suing them for not making their service useable by the visually
impaired. It seems to me that somehow, somewhere a law was passed that
said that software developers had to make versions of there software
which are compatible with adaptive equipment. Well, if anyone brings a
suit against Prodigy, I guarantee it won't be me--that's much too
diligent a project. It was only a nice, get-rich-quick daydream. And
even then it wouldn't be quick--you know how slow the courts are. But
maybe they could be pressured in some way...
Anyhow, things generally are fine around here; I'm continuing with
my composing--I'm well along with Miditrax, Vol. 2. I'm working on
several pieces at the same time right now so I've kind of lost track of
how many there are. At last count there were seven. Also, some other
news, I have now a third synthesizer which has some really neat sounds
on it, and its strings are really excellent considering that they
aren't sampled. It's also a Roland and it has a pitch wheel. And, one
last thing, my copyright registration for Miditrax, Vol. 1 arrived in
the mail last week. Once I get a couple more details worked out I'll
be posting a message here about its availability. Oh yeah, one more
last thing: my friend John and I are gonna perform two of my
compositions live with a portable sequencer here in the building next
week. I'm really excited about trying that. Well, I've rambled enough
for now but we'll talk soon.
--Your Alternative Uncle Sam
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Internet: Sam.Troia@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.orgBrian.Lewis@f603.n151.z1.fidonet.org (Brian Lewis) (06/04/91)
Index Number: 15944
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
I have had some problems with Prodigy myself
I bought some Memorex disks last year and got enough points in that
program they had so that I could get some free software. Also thay
included a thing to call and get a free 3 months of Prodigy, but when I
did, they just said that it wouldn't work with speech synthesis, and
there was nothing they could do. What is this program that is supposed
to help with this? It bugs me that we are denied access to this service.
PC Link is the same way. I tried to talk to them, too, but they told me
the same thing. I hope we can get something worked on this. They either
should proviede a straight text mode for those who can't use graphics, or
somebody needs to write a good speech program that can pick out the
graphics characters and read us the text. Anyway, hopefully somebody can
do something. I wish I could write programs. I'd tackle the thing
myself, but first I need to tackle writing programs.--Brian Lewis
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Internet: Brian.Lewis@f603.n151.z1.fidonet.org