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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sales Contact:
Bryan Carver, Inside Sales Director
Media Contact:
Brad Davis
Blind/Low Vision Group
800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000
www.FreedomScientific.com
Special
Introductory Price extended through December 24, 2004!
FREEDOM SCIENTIFIC
ANNOUNCES GPS SOLUTION FOR THE
BLIND
(St. Petersburg, Florida June
29, 2004) - Freedom Scientific today announced a new GPS solution to run
on the popular PAC Mate accessible Pocket PC.
“We have adapted the
Destinator™ GPS application sold to users of mainstream Pocket PCs,
such as Hewlett-Packard iPAQ, to run on the PAC Mate, using speech and
Braille. We were able to get early access to their software development
kit and build our own interface to their application and maps,”
explained Chris Hofstader, Vice President of Software Development.
Freedom Scientific’s
application is called StreetTalk™. PAC Mate users will be able to
install StreetTalk with the next release of the standard Destinator application
and GPS receiver to make it accessible and to add special functionality
for pedestrian use. This approach has several advantages.
First, Destinator uses a GPS
receiver equipped with Bluetooth® wireless technology so it can be
placed anywhere within 30 feet of the user — on the window sill,
on the rear deck of a car, or even on the harness of a guide dog. There
is no need to “gear up” with a lot of cables or special straps
to use the solution.
Second, the maps that come
on the Destinator CDs cover the USA, Canada, and Western Europe and include
millions of categorized points of interest, including phone numbers. A
user can select which areas to install on the PAC Mate using ActiveSync.
Destinator proprietary compression technology allows maps of several states
to be carried on a standard CompactFlash card. Compatible Destinator packages
range from $499 for a Bluetooth® GPS receiver and maps of the USA
and Canada to $699 for the same package plus maps of Western Europe. Freedom
Scientific is offering StreetTalk at a special introductory price of $79.95
through October 31, 2004. Users can add a complete GPS solution to their
PAC Mate for as little as $578.95.
Users can get directions to
any of the points of interest in the map database, such as hotels, restaurants,
ATMs, hospitals, etc. The application also integrates with Contacts on
the PAC Mate so it can quickly navigate to any location in the user’s
address book.
The Destinator technology has
won “Best GPS Navigation System” the last two years running
from EUROPE POCKET PC AWARDS.
“We are excited to be
working with Freedom Scientific to combine their industry-leading technology
and support with our state-of-the-art map processing and navigation technology.
The result is a great boon to blind users everywhere,” said Alexei
Gavriline, Vice President of Business Development, Homeland Security Technology
Corporation. For more information on Destinator, visit http://www.destinator1.com.
Freedom Scientific will be
demonstrating StreetTalk at the upcoming National Federation of the Blind
and American Council of the Blind conferences and plans to begin shipping
in September.
About PAC Mate
The PAC Mate is the first
and only accessible version of Microsoft’s Pocket PC applications
for personal data assistants, or PDAs. The PAC Mate is a handheld computer
that provides on-the-go access to information and computing. The PAC Mate
is based on “pocket” or “small” versions of Microsoft
Windows and Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Internet Explorer
and is designed to integrate seamlessly with a desktop PC.
About Freedom Scientific
Freedom Scientific is the
world's leading manufacturer of assistive technology products for those
who are blind and vision impaired and products for the special education
and learning disability markets.
Freedom Scientific, PAC Mate,
StreetTalk are registered trademarks of Freedom Scientific, Inc. in the
United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and
products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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