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. -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!109!143.0!Al.Hoffman Internet: Al.Hoffman@p0.f143.n109.z1.fidonet.org
David.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 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!David.Andrews Internet: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org
Sam.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 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!107!608!Sam.Troia Internet: Sam.Troia@f608.n107.z1.fidonet.org
Brian.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 -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!151!603!Brian.Lewis Internet: Brian.Lewis@f603.n151.z1.fidonet.org