Check out esp. the first two items. Peter NEWS NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL OFFICE For the week ending August 1, 2003. * Blind couch potatoes Unite! Your time has come. Tired of all those remotes hanging around the house and you have no idea where the kids, the dog, or you put them all? Worse yet, you have to keep straight all the different combinations to turn on the cable, the TV, the VCR, SAP and who knows what else and then remember how to get them all to cooperate just to watch a program. What's a blind couch potato to do? Well charlie Crawford got a demo talking remote control this week and just can't wait to set it up. Imagine just walking in the room and with your voice saying "channel 4 please" and all of a sudden all the stuff turns on and there it is. You can even say "sap" and it will turn on the secondary audio channel if you have a setting for it on your equipment. Not bad eh? News notes will let you know more if charlie ever stops watching TV. the remote is called the Accenda and looks like it just might be a winner. * Talking cell phone is here, but not all quite there. Imagine the anticipation when Charlie Crawford got an email from President Gray pointing to a web site where we could hear accessible cell phone software. Yes, it works and even with a couple of domestic cell phone carriers, but wouldn't ya know it, there are problems. First, the software is licensed in europe and they want a fee for their product. This means another round of potential problems with the cell phone service providers who might forget their obligations under Section 255 of the Telecomm Act to not charge for accessibility. So we will need to make sure companies don't charge blind folks for just having access to the info others use. Next there are only a couple of phones with which the software currently works for the moment and these are poorly designed for the use of blind users. New phones will be accessible soon enough though. That's the bad news, the good news is that we can demonstrate a real application for access to cell phones which overcomes industry representations that the fix is not readily achievable. We have a strategy to move this ball along rather quickly and you'll know about it real soon. * ACB meets with Segway reps: hope springs eternal? None of us have been too impressed with the political activities of the Segway makers who have been busy trying to get state legislatures to allow segways on sidewalks. ACB even has a resolution against such a dangerous situation from evolving. So with the above in mind, we met with some political people who work with the company and we are looking to find ways of protecting our safety. we believe we have made a bit of progress. The exact nature of what is to come is still uncertain, but we can stay faithful to the reasons for our resolution while exploring ways to enhance the positive pedestrian environment that resolution seeks to promote and protect. * National office bids a fond farewell to our interns. Just when we get all comfortable with our summer interns, it always seems we have to let them go on with their lives. ACB has been very fortunate to have had Rebecca and Carlos with us this summer and we will miss them around the office. A big thanks from all of ACB for your work, your participation in our lives and we look forward to seeing you often at ACB activities in the future. Be well, be happy and we are pleased to have been helpful in whatever little way we have been able to contribute to your success. * ACB sends letter of support for GDUI complaint at DOJ. In compliance with a resolution on the matter at convention, ACB has sent a letter to the Department of Justice in direct support of the need to move their process along to make sure proper attention is paid to the complaint of Guide Dog Users Incorporated on behalf of Ms. Stephanie Dohmen to uphold the rights of guide dog users seeking to participate in rehabilitation programs. * ACB fiscal year 2004 budget process about to launch. Are you ready? Get Set, Go! ACB Executive Director Charlie Crawford will soon be analyzing all the data from our budget tracking systems and talking with the President and Chief Financial Officer and Budget Committee to see if we can get a budget up and ready for Board consideration soon. This process is very time consuming but vital in protecting the interests of our members and operations of our organization. To paraphrase an old country song: So pour me another cup of coffee, cause I got the budget in my hand. Put another nickel in the jute box, cause I'm a numbers driving man. *** News notes is a compilation of the highlights of the events of the preceding week and is not intended to provide a comprehensive listing of all activities, or treatment of the topics mentioned. For information and more detailed treatment of especially legislative concerns, call the Washington Connection at 800-424-8666 nights and weekends eastern time. Be sure to read the Braille Forum each month and check in with the ACB web site and radio at WWW.ACB.ORG a nd WWW.ACBRADIO.ORG respectively. VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. To join or leave the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations. VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html