I also noticed on HumanWare's Web site that they're planning to offer hardware protection contracts for the Monarch display, following the end of the two-year warranty period. This potentially alleviates one of my concerns, that we don't know how durable and reliable the hardware is, especially the cell components. Any actual information about this is probably proprietary and confidential anyway. I can just imagine the repair costs... The hardware maintenance agreement might well be worth it. One would also have to consider insurance against loss or theft, especially if the device were to leave home.
#BrailleDisplays #MonarchDisplay

I'm this person that needs always to know what she invests into. So with that said, who of my followers, or non-followers, has a 14cell braille display? What is the good about it? Also, has anyone used the focus 14 cell and do they use it still, etc. I'll be glad for any answers. I just can't always carry a 40 cell display, and find it difficult to carry sometimes. I also don't use speech all the time, so maybe having something more portable will be good. Anyway, awaiting your wise words, or just responces. Thanks! #Braille #accessibility #BrailleDisplays

My personal technology highlights of the year: (1) more capable, multimodal large language models. Image descriptions and question answering are starting to be more widely used in real applications. (2) The Monarch Braille and tactile graphics display - on balance, the most capable Braille device on the market, and an impressive engineering achievement. (3) High-performance Arm processors are heading to laptops and desktop systems, beyond Apple's devices, while Apple itself continues its performance lead.
#MachineLearning #BrailleDisplays #ArmCPUs

The European Blind Union is conducting a survey of braille display users, preparatory to discussions with product manufacturers. The survey's organizers are seeking respondents both within and outside the E.U.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
#braille #BrailleDisplays #AssistiveTEchnology #accessibility