Fintan Ramblings

I was looking for something that could alert me and I always like gadgets or home automation.
I came across Nabaztag

Its reads out rss feed, news plays your pod cast and your favourite radio station and email not useful for a deaf person, but my family are all hearing so I see some uses.
You can talk to other nabaztag users via its belly button (yes really!)
One had a radio key tag, which sends me an email when wife and kids are at home, I can see this being useful for letting her know that I am working late.
And sending some silly messages to the kids

Another gadget that does something similar called Tux Droid,

Me being a Linux guy, you can have access to the code and modify it anyway you like.

The only thing that puts me off it has no radio key fob.. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if they are working on this.

Besides all that, this thing looks evil when its eyes light up while it talks!

I doubt kids would like it to read them bedtime stories!

So the next device I came across, which I am more likely to buy (have to convince the wife) is the Chumby.

Looks like a glorified alarm clock but it does much more than nabaztag and tux droid does:

• Reads your news feed, such as bbc news and blogs
• Reads what TonyB twittered about on twitter
• Look at flickr pictures like digital photo frame
• It can be a radio alarm clock and listen to radio shows around the world

Check your Ebay and read Ceefax the list is endless

The down side is they don’t ship overseas so I will have to ask my friend nicely if she could bring it over.

Ben who is a member of Deaf-uk-chat posted a message about a device that may interest us;

Alert me

A new British start-up has a cool package where you can fit various
sensors, including a doorbell , and it will alert you via SMS (and email if you like)
http://www.alertme.com/

A bit pricey but its more for home security than for geeky fun stuff the only thing that puts me off is the £11.75 a month for using the alert me service.

How ever if they brought it down to £5 a month I would definitely use it.

Looking at the forum they are open to new ideas they have temperature control monitor very handy if you want reduce your energy consumption.

Perhaps if we all go to the forum http://forum.alertme.com/index.php

We could suggest some ideas. What I would like is some doorbell sensor so it can alert us to who is at the door with a web cam.

Possibly a web cam that switches on when the sensor is triggered. Or vibrations alert to let us know what’s triggered the alarm with a built in smoke detector.

The alertme would be so cool and useful not like the ones some of us have which looks cumbersome and designed in the 70’s, and having separate devices for different things when alert me could be an all in one box solution.

Saw this humour video from this site http://www.vlog-sordi.com/ and would love to see it translated

Edit Lorenzo the owner of this Vlog contacted me to say there is a English version to which I have replaced.. ignore the 10 sec advert which is out of our control.

I reckon I could be a serous contender if I had been invited see this link scarborough hospital

Should CI companies be allowed to put pressure on deaf people that they must wear CI implants?

I got talking to one member of Deaf UK Chat on MSN.

It all started when she wanted help in setting up a website she was doing for a hobby.

Knowing I co-run the forum with Tony, she asked if I could post about CI, as she was a little shy. She knew I was anti implanting CI against children’s will, and hate companies that give deaf people half-truths!

First of all she contacted the RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf ) who were only interested in giving her charity tickets and donating to them which is not surprising really!

She wanted more information, the doctor gave her very few leaflets and a search on Google gave her few results (it’s mostly children with CI)

Although I was born deaf, I am not a CI user, so I am not the best person to ask.

I posted on Deaf UK chat.

We are a levelheaded bunch, and another member helpfully posted a link to a CI forum .. I did not ask what information they give her so she went to doctor armed with more questions.

Not surprisingly she found it hard to understand them. They did not offer to write all this down and make sure she understood it all.

I can understand why people who lost their hearing later on in life want to do anything to try and get it back; she is an adult, she can make her own mind up.

What she hadn’t bargained for was the constant persistence that she must wear CI

She got various letters, and representative came knocking at her house trying to persuade her.

She was offered a holiday to meet other CI user and she was paired with (her words) an articulate CI user and a really thick deaf person.

She suspected he had other problems let alone just being deaf

A good ploy don’t you think after all most people believe that without hearing you cannot be educated, hence why they want a mass implantation on children.

I hadn’t seen her for a while and was worried about her, when I caught her online she was suffering from depression.

Understandable really when your divorced, children to bring up and her dad had just died.

But she said it’s the relentless persuasion by this company, she told them that she could not afford this and needed money to travel all the way to Ivory Coast for a funeral hoping that they will go away.

Sadly she never got to see her dad get buried…

What she hadn’t bargained for was that they came back with grants from the council for her to sign even a social worker was present.

Don’t worry your local council will pay for CI and all you need to do is sign on the dotted line.

What horrible pressure, I even offered to drive all the way there and film this and give them a piece of my mind.

She took my advice and went to Citizens Advice Bureau or a solicitor (cant remember) which and I am happy to say has put all the persistence to a stop.

In my opinion the best people to ask is other late deafened people. The doctor should have offered her counselling …

…and when she decided against having a CI they should have let her be…

P.S I know the picture is Homer Simpson brain but it doesn’t half look like a CI doesn’t it?

I have passed my driving test 15 years ago and I had to go through so many driving instructors before i finnaly under stood one.

As I co run a forum we often get young people asking where to find a driving instructor that can sign so i thought i give Castle Hill Driving school a plug

Website can be found here

http://www.aditraining123.co.uk/