Low Vision Reading Devices

Due to age, I just cannot read those tiny displays, anylonger. I refer to the displays on calculators, cell-phones, etc. If I wanted to find/buy a cell-phone, with "Talking Caller I.D.", so that the phone would tell me who was calling, how do I ask about such a device? Any suggestions?

www.independentliving.com/departments.asp?dept=197
This site has cell phone magnifiers at a reasonable price. I purchase a "talking phone" through my phone company several years ago. It was a bit expensive then but the price may be lower on these now (my husband got mine in a divorce settlement) and Radio Shack may have them. Call your phone company (both cell and home) and ask them.
I know how you feel. I need glasses and I am to proud to admit my EYES are aging!

2010-01-01 16:17:01 by kittycat

Russ has macular degeneration and uses a Vision Technology electronic magnifier to help him see, read and enjoy life. This is his story.

I have been feeling very tired and week. I constantly need to lie down during day. I sleep for hours at night and still can't get up. I borrowed a blood pressure checking device and made notes of my bp each day. My diastolic BP is rarely above the 50s. I can have BP for the systolic reading at normal levels but diastolic always low and in mornings it all is low. I have bad visual disturbances but I have had my eyes checked and are ok. I feel sometimes as though I just can't focus and feel not with it at all. Yet, my vision gets really poor and washed out. I wonder what is going on. I had general health checks done and they are ok. No one has monitored my BP though until I used this machine as I just want to understand why I am nearly falling asleep at the wheel of my car some days. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
I am late 30s, male. I went through a lot of family stress over last few years. I started to put on weight even though I am not a big eater (was 81kg and now hovers at100kg) and lose a bit and put back on quickly with no great variation in diet.......I look very puffy in mornings and eyelids are constantly swollen. I was studying at uni this year but nothing I can think of that must be making me feel this way long term.
last 3 years but it has been bad lately. I fall asleep in chairs in middle of day and when I wake up room is flickering like mad and that takes awhile to subside.

Blood pressure varies from person to person and also during the day. Some people have a diastolic blood pressure on the lower side and it is perfectly normal. A diastolic blood pressure of 50 is fine as long as you do not have lightheadedness or dizziness. The other symptoms you are describing are unlikely to be related to the diastolic blood pressure. The visual symptoms you are describing are not related to a low diastolic pressure. Falling asleep while driving is unlikely to be related to your blood pressure, but certainly should be investigated. Make sure you are getting enough restful sleep. You may also be evaluated for sleep apnea, because daytime drowsiness is a sign of this. You should see your doctor about this. The other symptoms are minor, but falling asleep while driving is dangerous to you and others on the road. Good luck.

2009-12-25 18:27:23 by Nick

Use your computer to magnify printed text and images
Comes with the optical scanner (gray device in product photo)
Computer specification: Should work with most consumer-oriented PCs (not Macs)

There are two parts, and sorry it's a little long. Please be nice, and criticize it as nicely as possible. Constructive criticism and compliments are welcome! Thanks!

Kris disconnected her Hoak messenger from its holder on her ear and awakened it with the press of a button. The screen flickered to life, the words “command me” writing themselves across the small, thumb-sized device.
“Time please,” Kris whispered, her breath curling out in front of her. The Hoak’s receptors caught the words, and it’s screen glowed warmly as it pulled up a set of numbers.
It was just past eight o’ clock, with fifty-three seconds to go before eight o’ five. She wouldn’t wait past eight ten- they were already over fifteen minutes late.
Kris set the Hoak to alarm her in five minutes and tucked it back into place behind her ear.
There was nothing to do now but wait.
She knelt down in the meadow of lights on the pad’s surface, pulling her auburn hair around her face in an attempt to better hide herself from view. It didn’t keep the butterflies out of her stomach, but at least she wasn’t completely visible. And being lower to the ground helped her nerves a little; for the first time since escaping her apartment, she was able to run through the plan in her mind.
It was simple, almost perfect. All the little details weren’t completely worked out, and there were a few rough edges they hadn’t smoothed over in their meeting, but that was why it was so fool-proof. Things never went according to plan, so plans had to have gaps in them, room for variables, room for the unexpected.
Kris fingered her pocket where she could feel the bulge of the adjusted sparkbomb she’d set up the night before.
It was definitely a gap in the plan.
Sparkbombs were toys that little kids used for pranks. They let out a small spark upon contact that looked like a real explosion, but was completely harmless. The sparks weren’t even hot.
But this sparkbomb was different. It was dangerous, a weapon created by Kris herself.
She thought back to the night before, when she’d spent almost two hours fiddling with the wires inside of the bomb. It’d taken a lot of random guessing- and caused a lot of sparks to flare, some of which were actually painful- but in the end, she’d done it.
When this particular bomb hit something, anything, with enough force, it would do serious damage.
The problem was that Kris didn’t know just how well it would work. Would it really do what she needed it to? Or would it just crash and burn? And what would they do if that happened?
Kris pictured the three of them silhouetted against the night sky like dark phantoms, waiting helplessly as security men closed in from all sides. She couldn’t imagine anything more terrifying than that. Just thinking about it made her feel trapped, like she was in a room and the walls were advancing on her from all sides…
Of course, she wouldn’t even have to worry about her sparkbomb failing if Skylar and Caleb never showed up.
Kris ground her teeth together, the sharp pain only increasing her annoyance. What were they doing- baking cookies? They were supposed to meet her on the link pad outside of the East district at seven forty-five; she was sure of it.
But to be fair, Kris checked the plaque at the center of the pad. She squinted, letting her Vision Lenses zoom in on the writing, sharpening it until the words as easy to read as if they were right under her nose. East District.
This was infuriating.
It says there are two parts, but there's only one. I just caught that. :D

I don't think you need to get to the point faster at all...it was great! I usually can't stand reading other people's stories that they post up here, but I was intruiged right away with yours. I like how you describe things, it was well paced, and kept the reader wanting to know more. Keep it up! Sounds like you are off to a great start...

2009-05-03 12:38:21 by Janie

Price: $149.95 $149.95

binocular, binoculars glasses
maxtv glaasses, max tv, eschenbach
Distance Viewing - TV Glasses

How to Develop a Photographic Memory
Installed 02 August 2003. Latest update 06 September 2003.
Sometimes aircrew gunners have to make split-second decisions as to whether to fire or not to fire. (It's important to not shoot at friendly aircraft.)

In World War II, one method used to help gunners speed up their aircraft identification skills was to flash photographs on a screen of the planes they had to recognize. One device used for this purpose was called a tachistoscope (ta kis' tuh scope). Instructors could vary the duration of the images being flashed on the screen. At times the images would be flashed for just a few hundredths of a second. Blink and you miss it.


Aircraft Recognition Tachistoscope Simulation
(Classroom lights will be off.)
Images may load slowly first time around.
Funny things began to happen. When the gunners were in darkened rooms during this training, their eyes became dark adapted. It was found that many of them were holding on to the split-second images after the images were no longer on the screen. With dark adapted eyes, the images could be retained for a few seconds.

A study was set up to see just what could be done with these retained images. The images were positives instead of the more familiar negative images you get if you stare fixedly for a few seconds at a picture or scene, then look away. Some subjects got so good at the process that after seeing a very short duration image of a page in a book, they could then read the page, from somewhere inside their heads.

The above information was supplied to the writer by Mr. Ray Elkin West Lafayette, Indiana in 1962.

The fact that the subjects could acquire a readable image of a whole book page suggests that their peripheral vision happened to be, or became, more acute than that normally found in the general population. This form of retained visual images may not be accomplished with the same process as done by people who have what is called photographic memories. The writer didn't thin to ask Mr. Elkin, but the idea of long term storage of the images did not come up.

The writer did not have access to a tachistoscope but decided to try an alternate technique for seeing the retained images. Dark adaptation seemed to be a prerequisite for the short term image retention. One way to dark adapt you eyes is to close them. Its not the same as being in a dark room but one can get a similar effect. Then comes the tachistoscope emulation. Rapidly open and close your eyes. This is not unlike exposing film in a camera. The first few hundred times you try this, you'll probably get blurred images because your eyeballs aren't yet convinced to hold still during the exposure. The images will be there but doubled, usually vertically. Keep trying! It's also wise to make sure nobody is watching you.

After a month or so of your covert camera work you should find that your eyeballs begin to cooperate (the process might be called the steely eye)and images of big things with good contrast start to hang on. Big letters on billboards and soft drink machines make good targets.

With lots of work, assuming you haven't been put away, you should find that text in books show up in blurry fashion, unreadable, but recognizable as fuzzy text. Large print documents may bring more rewarding results. As time goes on the acuity should improve to the point of readability.

It may be that that tachistoscope simulation near the top of this page, if viewed in a darkened environment, may provide a usable indicator of the process being discussed.

You can cheat, or take a short cut if you please, by using a camera strobe flash in a dark room. Hold the flash unit above or to the side of your head and aim it at an outstretched arm. You'll see a bright image of your arm that does not immediately fade away. The image may last for two or three seconds. If you lower your arm while the image is still active you can have your own spooky show.

SO WHAT ARE THE TECHNIQUES FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY?

There are afterimages....not evidence of an eidetic (photographic) memory. Two different psychological phenomena. (psych professor)

2009-05-27 19:27:37 by ~*TWILIGHT*~