Mike's Cool Products list
Over the course of many years and a variety of conferences, Mike May has discovered a variety of interesting and unique products that enhance our lives or are at least entriguing.
Mike May attends many general market conferences including the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) since 1984. Mike May ocasionally does product reports for Playback Magazine. MP3 versions of these files are available for download. Links to other products Mike finds interesting or particularly useful are also provided below.
Playback Magazine, hosted by Ed Potter, phone: (919) 736-0939. Produced every 2 months on an audio cassette, $21 per year.
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SD/MMC CF adapter. Allows you to plug an SD or MMC card into a BrailleNote PK's compact flash slot
Cost: $22, Item Code: MIS001001
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Motorola HF820 hands-free Bluetooth speaker. This unit is approximately 3 inches high by 2 inches wide and resembles a small cell phone with belt clip. Although it is intended for use as a hands-free speaker phone for the car, it works as a wireless speaker for the BrailleNote if you have the appropriate Bluetooth audio dongle/adapter on the BrailleNote. Cost: $62, mWave part number: 3755916.
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Talking Thermostat: a Playback report on the talking thermostat. Visit Talking Thermostat website
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Mini Amplifier Speaker from Radio Shack. Is great when you need a little more sound to hear GPS while walking around. Cost: $11.99 (plus tax and shipping), Catalog number: 2771008.
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Bluetake i-Phono Plus Bluetooth Stereo Headphone Kit, With Stereo Dongle. Stereo Bluetooth headphones with microphone. They can be connected to your laptop and can be easily switched to your cell phone. It also comes with a Bluetooth audio adapter, meaning you can plug this adapter into any audio jack and the signal will be transmitted to the headphones. The power adapter has two connections so you can charge the audio adapter and headphones at the same time. Cost: $135.00 (plus tax and shipping), Part number: BT420RX-C
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Logitech Mobile Bluetooth Headset. Enjoy hands-free convenience, soft-touch comfort, up to 7 hours of talk time... and never worry about tangled wires ever again. Cost: $99.95 (plus tax and shipping), Part number: 980179-0403
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Cell Phone Bluetooth Adapter, or Audio Bluetooth Dongle. It plugs into the audio jack of any device, including the BrailleNote and converts the audio into a Bluetooth signal. You pair this Bluetooth Adapter with a Bluetooth earpiece. To pair it, you press a recessed button with a stylus and put your Bluetooth earpiece in Discover mode. It comes with a sub mini plug. You need an adapter from sub mini to the BrailleNote's standard mini jack and it works wonderfully. Cost: $46.99 (plus tax and shipping), Part Number: 1110-05
Other Cool Services
Access Braille travel and tourism information on TravelBraille.com. These Braille Readable-only Files (BRF) are excerpted from popular published guidebooks (such as Lonely Planet and Fodor's), brochures, Tourism Authority websites, and newspaper travel sections such as The New York Times. Braille files available include Tibet, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Belize, Kenya, Tasmania, Greece, Italy, the City of Rome, Thailand, and an introduction to the World Heritage program.
For assistance in connecting audio and video equipment in the Sacramento area, contact Phelita at Hook-Up Connection 916 486-4619. $60 per hour. She is very knowledgeable and works nicely with blind folks.
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