The AlphaSmart 3000 has been a popular low-cost "classroom-toughened" alternative to a laptop computer for word processing for some years now. The recently released AlphaSmart 3000 IR (or "infrared version") comes with a built-in 100% error-free infrared (IR) interface that allows users to send text via wireless infrared to any Mac, PC or infrared-ready printer. The infrared transfer uses the same simple one-button send and print functions as an AlphaSmart connected by cable to the computer or printer.

If your computer is IR ready, all you will need to do after you receive your AlphaSmart 3000 IR is to download the AlphaBeam software from the AlphaSmart website for free. If your computer is not IR ready, you will need an infrared pod which is accompanied by the AlphaBeam software.

To use the infrared transfer, simply launch the AlphaBeam software, and then open any application (for example word processing, spreadsheet, multimedia or presentation software), point the AlphaSmart 3000 at the pod/transceiver and press the "send" key. Text will automatically be transferred to the open application 100% error-free - meaning that it never drops characters while transferring text to or from a computer. The AlphaSmart can be used up to one metre away to from a computer.

If you would like to know more about how to use the AlphaSmart 3000 IR in your classroom and therapy activities, please email us on mail@spectronicsinoz.com for your free AlphaSmart catalogue or AlphaSmart training video. In just 20 minutes, you will understand the benefits to your students (and to your school's technology budget!) of this popular device.

If you have non-IR compatible AlphaSmart 3000's, Spectronics can also upgrade these to be able to communicate with your computer using IR technology. Please contact Michael at michael@spectronicsinoz.com for more details.

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There will be a short delay in supplying the Co:Writer SmartApplet in Australia. Trust us to be difficult!! But in Australia we use AlphaSmarts with a US keyboard layout, and we need our Co:Writer SmartApplet to predict with UK type spelling. There is small amount of reprogramming required to create a SmartApplet for Australia and both Don Johnston Inc. and AlphaSmart in the USA are working really hard on this project for us. We will update you on our website as soon as we have news of its release. Thank you to all of you who have ordered the program and are now waiting patiently for its release.

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Michigan's Assistive Technology Resource Centre in the USA has completed a thorough analysis of a sample of text reading software programs comparing the features of programs such as WordSmith; Kurzweil 3000, WYNN and other related programs. To view this report on-line visit http://www.matr.org/PDFs/Newsletter/newsprg01.pdf and look through the article headed "Text Readers for Students with Print Impairments".

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We are often asked about software programs which allow for creation of on-screen worksheets for students to complete. "Complete" the latest add-on for Writing with Symbols 2000 offers this feature and allows worksheets and cloze activities to be set up using text or symbols or both. The program:

• comes with over 150 activities, ready to use or ready to modify*
• can create 'cloze' and open ended activities
• allows grids to be used to answer questions
• can provide extra speech, sound and video feedback
• stores a record of each students' achievement
• has switch access

*Example activities for Complete include early learning tasks, rhymes, word sounds and simple spelling activities. In the activities for older students there is a project on career choices, on using a supermarket and on sorting clothes for washing. There is also a typing tutor mode where a beginner writer can ‘over-type’ text on the screen to practice their keyboard skills.

Visit Spectronics' website for more details.

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Just as an update to our earlier news about the Windows CE computers operating as Portable Impact Communication Devices, these devices are now available for loan. We do need to charge $100 plus GST per week for these loans - however, if you or your client then decide to purchase the device, the full cost of the loan is refunded. For more information on the Portable Impact models currently available, see http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/browse.asp?cat=8063

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The TACTUS Keyboard is a new addition to Spectronics' range of inclusive learning technologies. If you visited our stand at ARATA, you may have met up with Alberto Sabato, the enthusiastic designer of this keyboard. He has used a simple strategy of creating a series of ridges on the keyboard which create "walls", which in turn form a "box" within which the fingers move, exactly as in touch-typing. There are three boxes, one for the left hand, one for the right hand and one for the right hand when using the numerical keypad. The ridges on each key provide the finger with a specific tactile feedback, which tell the finger its exact position inside the box.

For the touch-typist, the ridges on the keys of the TACTUS keyboard help locate the keys and will help decrease striking of the wrong keys.

For the user with a visual impairment, the ridges on the keys of the TACTUS keyboard help them to locate home keys via touch - no need to use visual cues to find the right keys. These ridges are much more pronounced and more quickly located than the computer keyboard standard of small raised dots on only two keys. They will be able to start typing with greater confidence knowing that they are indeed pressing the keys they intended to use.

Our website provides more information at http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/product.asp?product=8441

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In our September Email Update, we told you about the new trackIR AT - the affordable hands free mouse for people with disabilities. Here's a bit of interesting trivia for you all! The Standard version of the trackIR (without switch access and dwell clicking) has caught the enthusiastic interest of the Flight Simulation gaming community in a big way! They use it to free up a hand from controlling a mouse and for view panning, moving and aiming of weapons and to enhance the feeling of immersion in the games on-screen. Or in the words of one user, "It’s hard to explain the advantage of this...it has got to be experienced. But the immersion is great when you’re sneaking up on a clearing and you actually turn your head to look left, then right, to check for bad guys. Sniper duty gets a new meaning as well, when you control the sight with your head. Actually feels like looking through the scope of a rifle." If you are interested in reading the comprehensive review from this Flight Sim enthusiast, see http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/hardware/reviews/trackir/

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Switch-accessible computer puzzle programs are always popular in special ed settings - particularly when the puzzles can easily incorporate digital camera images. The Jumble Fun series is a great new program from the UK which offers a variety of jigsaw puzzle activities on-screen. It is ideal for building images of staff or fellow students in a classroom as it will automatically step to the next image in a folder once the first puzzle is completed. Lots of potential here for asking "Who is this?" or "What time of day is this?" as the image builds on the computer screen.

For more information about the Jumble Fun series see http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/browse.asp?cat=8533

Spectronics also will be producing a full demo CD of this clever series of programs in February 2002, so please email us on barbara@spectronicsinoz.com if you wish to have a copy sent out to you at the start of the school year.

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