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The World's Most Versatile Notetaker Extends Its Lead with Release of PAC Mate Omni 6.5

(St. Petersburg, Florida - July 10, 2010)

Freedom Scientific today announced the next release of its popular accessible Pocket PC, the PAC Mate™ Omni 6.5. Already an industry leader in accessible mobile functionality for blind people, the free 6.5 release for English language users expands the PAC Mate Omni's capabilities with an array of new features:

RealSpeak™ Voices

Since Freedom Scientific introduced the RealSpeak® voices from Nuance® Communications in JAWS®, MAGic®, and OpenBook®, many customers have enjoyed the more natural sound, particularly for reading lengthy texts. Many have asked for these voices with the PAC Mate Omni. With Release 6.5, you can easily switch between Eloquence and RealSpeak synthesized speech with a simple command from anywhere on the PAC Mate Omni.

RealSpeak is available in many languages, further heightening the PAC Mate Omni's appeal among those who work with multiple languages.

Expanded settings dialogs in the PAC Mate Omni 6.5 provide thorough independent control over primary and secondary voices and Braille languages.

Twitter™ Client

The popular social networking site Twitter has become a huge hit with many blind people because it is exclusively text-based. Freedom Scientific has collaborated with Trinket Software to include support for its Twikini client in the PAC Mate Omni. Wherever you have an Internet connection, you can tweet, check your mentions and direct messages, and review your Twitter timeline. If your preference is for Braille input, you can tweet in contracted Braille.

Unified Instant Messaging with Mundu® IM

The PAC Mate Omni continues to offer free Windows Live™ Messenger support out of the box. With the 6.5 release, we've added support for Mundu IM, a unified instant messaging solution supporting a number of services including MSN®, Yahoo®, ICQ®, AIM™, Google®, and Jabber®. Chat with your buddies in real time, no matter what the service. The PAC Mate Omni with Mundu IM gives the deaf blind access to the many relay services that interface with AOL®, and instant messaging is available in contracted Braille, letting messages fly back and forth even faster. Mundu IM is available for purchase separately.

Built-in FSReader™ DAISY Player

Freedom Scientific's FSReader software opens a world of accessible reading material for the visually impaired. Used with Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY)-formatted talking books, FSReader delivers a host of powerful navigation tools for reading:

  • Go directly to a specific chapter, heading, or page
  • Set an unlimited number of annotated bookmarks
  • Speed up or slow down speech whether listening to a recorded narrator or synthesized speech

Download or purchase on CD many DAISY 2.0 and DAISY 3.0 e-books (the ANSI/NISO standard) like those available from www.Bookshare.org, and browse, read, and study. Play AudioPlus® books from Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic® (RFB&D®).

There are numerous other enhancements and performance improvements in the PAC Mate 6.5. Coupled with the powerful Microsoft Office® support, email options, and other applications already in the PAC Mate, the 6.5 release continues to broaden the range of tasks one can accomplish on the go with this multi-faceted device.

Release 6.5 will be available in August as a free download from the Freedom Scientific website.

About Freedom Scientific

Freedom Scientific is a leading worldwide brand of assistive technology products for those with vision impairments. Freedom Scientific is part of Vispero™. Vispero has its headquarters in the USA and the Netherlands, and offices in Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Through Vispero's multi-tier distribution, Freedom Scientific products are available in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Freedom Scientific® and its products are registered trademarks 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.