User blog

I was watching the tobii C-series training videos when an idea came across. One of the videos is about the different feedback types.

I thought about having a combined feedback dot, a mixture of the shrinking dot and the dwell clock. The dwell clock helps in telling how long time is needed to dwell for a cell to become activated, whereas the shrinking dot helps to focus on the desired cell.

What if there was a feedback dot, which does both jobs at the same time?

Chris
pro tobii user

How do you talk to people on your tobiis? What sort of communication method do you prefer? Do you type everything in letter by letter or you use word prediction? You may find pretyped words easier to build sentences with. Or even a mixture of pretyped words with symbols on each cell. Whichever your preference is, the idea is to be able to let your enviroment know what you want to tell them. I personally still find pretyped words with symbols the fastest way to communicate. This is how I carry out my daily conversations.

In this blog, you can find my example of having a casual conversation about the Racer game with my carer using the Grid 2 software. I tell him, that Hector showed me the game and that I want to try it out. Then my carer asks my opinion about the game and when I want to give it a go. I give him clearly understandable answers.

Here is the video in HD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8SgwQK7T30

I would like to request to do brainstorming. The idea is, that all tobii users, professionals and helpers would shoot videos of their own conversations, upload and share them so we can all learn from eachother.

Chris
pro tobii user

I am here to report on my latest toy, which Hector showed me; the Racer game. I am also here to encourage all tobii users to be brave and show the world what power our eyes have. Remember, you don’t have to do the fastest laps around the track to have fun. It doesn’t even matter whether you make it around the track or not, it is the principle that matters: you are able to control a car with your eyes! How cool is that?

Here is a link to my video. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsejN1dtx1M

The game can be downloaded from the http://racer.nl website, under the download section. I recommend the latest stable version for P10 users.

I would love to hear feedback from you guys as I think it is important to know that this blog and video reaches you.

Chris
pro tobii user

For those who aren’t aware, I got a new powerchair at the beginning of December. The chair is brilliant, a lot more comfortable and faster than my previous chair but being a new chair it has a different frame which is wider to the one I used to use.

I use a Daessy mount to mount my P10 on my chair. This contains two main parts, a side folding pole and an in-line socket. The socket has to be fitted permanently onto my chair, this proved to be a bit of a challange. When the socket was put on the frame of my chair, it made my chair too wide to get through doorways. Therefore, I needed a piece of metal attached to the base frame of my chair to accomodate the socket. Luckily, with the help of my family, friends and two brilliant engineers a brand new part went on my chair – see photos -. I must say everyone did a great job! Thank you so much!

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/chris147/TobiiMountFinalySorted03022010#

My P10 was set up in no time, in the best ever position; these were my first words with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuO1fNAXKYA

I cannot wait to receive my C12 now! ;)

I am lucky, aren`t I? I had the new C12 with the CEye here with me for almost two whole days! I could say, that I was the guinea pig, testing the unit, giving feedback to tobii about the product; both hardware and software. Let me just tell you what it felt like to be a guinea pig for tobii. :)

You can imagine all the excitement building up as I waited for Lisa and Angela to arrive with the C12. Well before they were due to arrive, I was already looking through the window, checking if a car pulled up onto our drive. And when at last they arrived I was over the moon!

Everything happened so quickly. We introduced ourselves to eachother. Not because we all not have known eachother for a while via emails. :) Chatted for a while, then it was my time showing them the way my P10 is set up and all the softwares and grid sets I use. The girls were amazed, that I use all sorts of programmes for different things. Because I started off with the Grid, I still use this software to communicate, though I tend to shift to use the Communicator a lot more often now to talk to people. I still prefer the MyTobii software for chatting, emailing and surfing the internet. I don`t know about other users, but I find it natural to make use of every little possibility on the P10. And if this means, that I have to use a different software, then let it be. :)

After this, it was the girls time. They got the C12 out, set it up on my pool table – yes, I do have one -, and demonstrated what is different on it. I fell in love with the C12 for the very first time. It`s neat, perfect in size, much faster than the P10, and the level of usability is just amazing. The mouse control is fabolous, the magnifier is so much easier to control, the position of the off-screen button can be changed even by me, more accurate, etc. It is just a lot more sophisticated.
Guys, our dreams are becoming reality! Now, with the C12, we can access all of the settings on our own. How does it sound? A bit scary? No! Give us full control! :) As opposed to the software on the P10, everything is accessible through the Communicator. Calibration is easy, to change user profiles takes no time at all, click types are now available for us. Brilliant!

I also tried the Sono Keys grid set and I liked it so much, that I now have it running on my P10. To combine phrases is no trouble either. I am already building my phrase collection up for the time I am going to have a C12. ;)

I worked till late as the device had to go back the following day. Loved every moment of spending time with the C12 and I would like to thank tobii for the opportunity of letting me try their new product.

All in all, how do you think I felt being a guinea pig tester of the C12? It was FANTASTIC :D:D:D

Please check out my gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/chris147/TobiiC120708102009#

And my video here: