Iorama blog

New iPad App “OneVoice” Gives a Voice to People with Speech Disabilities

s disease, or multiple sclerosis, to "speak" by selecting icons and phrases to be read by the device.

OneVoice represents an impressive leap forward in design and ease of use.Using the iPad touchscreen, the user communicates by building simple phrases and sentences.Users of any age or ability can communicate through its intuitive navigation system and customizable interface.Far simpler and easier to use than other augmented communication devices, OneVoice offers a number of outstanding features:    Highly portable, pre-configured and requires no training      Features over 100 custom made icons and expressive emoticons      Easily customizable for additional vocabulary with drag and drop organization of words and categories      Users can control voice speed and choose male or female speaking gender      Users can upload personal photos and customizable icons      A full keyboard for typing is available with one simple click      Simple, focused application.Users won’t get lost in many levels of categories and be unable to find their way back

Designer Nathan Barry of Legend was inspired to create the affordable, easy-to-use application after learning that many people affected by speech disabilities cannot afford the devices currently available on the market.At $199.99, OneVoice is significantly less expensive than similar devices, the most common of which cost many thousands of dollars.OneVoice can change the way people with speech disabilities interact with their families, friends, and the world around them.

Learn more or download OneVoice from .

About Legend:Legend is a user experience and software design firm headquartered in Boise, Idaho.Legend creates software solutions for personal and corporate use, building custom applications and websites that focus on clarity and quality above all else.

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Nathan BarryLegend208-462-0001Email Information

Traces of Japan radioactivity in US rain

Traces of radioactivity from damaged nuclear power facilities in Japan have been detected in rainwater in the northeast United States, but pose no health risks, officials said.

Ohio reported elevated radiation levels in precipitation on Monday, after Environmental Protection Agency monitors found similar instances in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio said they detected tiny amounts of Iodine 131 from Japan in rainwater collected from the roof of a campus building.

"In theory, the Iodine 131 could have come from any radioactive waste processing facility," said geology professor Gerald Matisoff, who monitors rainwater that is carried into Lake Erie for the EPA.

"But, we know it's from Japan. The isotope is being seen worldwide."

Matisoff "estimated the level of radiation is about one-tenth that of natural background radiation," the university said in a statement.

The EPA, in an update Sunday, said it had received reports of "elevated levels of radiation in recent precipitation events" in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and that it was "reviewing this data."

The EPA has been monitoring radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, and had previously detected "very low levels of radioactive material" in the United States, while saying that these "were expected" and that "the levels detected are far below levels of public health concern."

"Elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater have been expected as a result of the nuclear incident after the events in Japan since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere," the EPA added.

The agency has stepped up its monitoring of precipitation, drinking water, and other potential exposure routes for radiation as a precaution.

Last week, EPA cited "minuscule levels of an isotope that were consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident," that also posed no "concern for human health."

Police evict indigenous Easter Island protesters

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Police on Easter Island raided the grounds of a luxury hotel Sunday to evict the last of dozens of indigenous protesters battling for ancestral lands and a larger share of profits from the tourists who come to see the Pacific Island's mysterious statues of giant heads.

A Rapa Nui clan's claims to the land under the new, $800-a-night Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa has won support from international human rights agencies, and it poses legal and political dilemmas for a Chilean government already criticized for its treatment of indigenous people on the mainland.

The Hito clan's attorney, Rodrigo Gomez, said the last handful of about 50 squatters were hauled off and jailed by police Sunday after they had tied themselves down in the lobby.

Police Maj. Fernando Lobos said all the Hitos were processed and freed pending a court hearing. He said officers were following an order to empty the property so that federal investigators could survey its condition.

Members and supporters of the Hito clan had been squatting on the grounds of the $50 million development since August, claiming the land was swindled from their illiterate grandmother and then illegally sold into private hands by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.

They initially demanded recognition of property rights from the conglomerate that now owns the land so they could earn rent from the new hotel, insisting that Chile adhere to the international indigenous peoples treaty it signed in 2008, which requires governments to pay compensation for usurped land.

Their protest inspired nearly two dozen other native families to claim ownership of government properties on ancestral land. Police moved in with pellet guns and clubs in December to remove them in violent confrontations that injured more than a dozen islanders and several officers. Pictures of native women and men with bloodied heads were published internationally, shattering the tranquil image that attracts many tourists.

While dueling civil claims wind through Chile's court system, prosecutors have sought to persuade judges to charge 17 of the Hitos with trespassing at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday on the island.

Standing against the clan is the Schiess family, which runs one of Chile's most powerful private holding companies, Empresas Transoceanica.

The Hitos have opened a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington and won support from the United Nations. A Chilean appellate court, rather than approve the evictions, recognized that the two families have dueling claims that must be resolved by Chile's Supreme Court.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii on Friday urged Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to order the removal of police surrounding the hotel, and to provide food, water and medicine to the Hitos inside. James Anaya, the U.N. special investigator on indigenous rights, warned Chile that forcible evictions won't help resolve the situation peacefully.

Instead, Chilean police finally moved in Sunday morning.

"They knew we were going to win in court on Tuesday. This is a desperate move by the Schiess," Gomez said.

Jeanette Schiess, who runs the hotel project and is married to Empresas Transoceanica's chief executive, Christoph Schiess, said she couldn't immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday from The Associated Press. She has said in the past that the Chilean government should be responsible for any compensation, and while her family plans to make the resort a cultural center to benefit the entire Rapa Nui community, she won't negotiate with lawbreakers.

The Hitos' great-great-grandfather was among the Rapa Nui elders whose names appear on the 1888 annexation treaty, along with Chilean sailors whose ships were built by a company that is now part of the Schiess conglomerate.

The Rapa Nui civilization once numbered up to 20,000, with a written language, a royal family and an ancient culture centered on the awe-inspiring statues, which were carved from volcanic rock and moved around the island despite weighing tons apiece.

But internal strife, European conquests and Peruvian slave ships ravaged the population, and only 111 remained before Chile annexed the island, 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) off its coast.

The Rapa Nui population has recovered under Chilean rule, to about 3,500 natives and nearly 2,000 non-native residents. But the islanders were long treated as slaves or servants, herded into the island's small town of Hanga Roa by the Easter Island Exploitation Co., which claimed the rest of the land as a sheep ranch and kept the natives isolated from the outside world.

The native people were denied citizenship until 1966, and kept on small plots in town as the rest of the island became national property — and now a World Heritage site.

Chile's government, which also struggles to cope with land protests by the Mapuche Indians in Patagonia, insists it wants to honor indigenous rights and encourage the Rapa Nui to enjoy the fruits of booming tourism, which has grown to some 50,000 visits a year.

"The government of Chile has a debt with the Rapa Nui people. And we are prepared to take responsibility for this debt," said Raul Celis, who governs the island from Valparaiso, to The Associated Press.

He said that when Chile took over, "They were clearly in the process of extinction, at the point of disappearing. And it's possible that in the 122 years since the island has formed part of Chile's territory, that there have been moments when the state hasn't paid enough attention. That's why there's a debt. But we're trying to resolve it."

Celis said the Hitos never complained until the Schiess family invested millions developing a small, government-built hotel into a first-class resort. The Schiesses have said their title to the land is clear, but the Hitos say they the developers had to know islanders had tried for years to assert property claims despite unequal access to Chile's legal system. They argue that a 1979 law says only natives can own property on the island.

Celis also blames a few islanders for refusing to accept negotiations between the government and natives on four key issues: land rights, limits on residency by non-natives, economic development and a proposed law that would give the Rapa Nui more local control over their affairs, if not outright autonomy.

But Lorena Fries, who directs the government's Human Rights Institute and has an official watchdog role in such conflicts, says Pinera's administration could have avoided force by broadening the dialogue. Instead, she said, it picked compliant locals to make deals with and found ways of jailing the most outspoken.

"In response to any social conflict, this government shows a tendency of going to the extreme and criminalizing the citizens," Fries told the AP from the island after investigating the conflict.

Attorney Leonard Crippa of the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, which is building a case at the Inter American Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States, also says outspoken islanders are deliberately left out.

"I'm representing more than 30 clans. Most were not participating in that dialogue," Crippa said. "They don't know what's being agreed to. The Chilean government promotes this peaceful dialogue, says it's working with the Rapa Nui people and will get results. But that's not true in reality."

(This version CORRECTS that Tuesday's court hearing will be on the island rather than in Valparaiso.)

T-Mobile to sell tablet with 3-D cameras, glasses

NEW YORK – Aiming to ride two crazes at once, T-Mobile USA will sell a tablet computer that can shoot 3-D videos.

The cell phone company said Wednesday that the "G-Slate" tablet from LG Electronics Inc. will be out this spring, but it didn't say exactly when, or how much it would cost.

The tablet will have an 8.9-inch screen and two cameras on the back, which together can capture 3-D, high-definition video. The tablet will come with red-blue 3-D glasses for 3-D viewing while shooting.

The G-Slate will be one of the first tablets with Honeycomb software, a version of Google Inc.'s Android operating system specifically designed for tablet computers.

The G-Slate will have a third camera on the front, for video-conferencing over T-Mobile's wireless broadband network.

The 3-D tablet comes as gadget makers and phone companies are trying to ride the coattails of Apple Inc.'s hit iPad tablet computer. Meanwhile, Hollywood studios and TV makers are pushing 3-D movies and TV sets, but 3-D TV sales have so far been disappointing.

Also Wednesday, T-Mobile is starting to sell another tablet, the Streak 7 from Dell Inc. It runs an Android version designed for smart phones. It costs $199 with a two-year contract for data service, after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Welcome to Bill O'Reilly's Spin Zone

While Bill O'Reilly says his interview with President Barack Obama before the Super Bowl will be among the most watched interviews in television history, will it also prove to be among the most irrelevant in recent years?

Friday morning, O'Reilly described the interview , "More people will see this interview than any other interview that's ever been done in the history of mankind." Given the huge audience that the Super Bowl draws, there would seem to be a reasonable enough chance for O'Reilly to be proven correct. Most believe a Barbara Walters interview with Monica Lewinsky in 1999 is the most watched interview of all time, with an estimated 70 million viewers tuning in.

Whether it sets records or not, the O'Reilly/Obama discussion is sure to draw a huge pregame audience. But will anything really important be discussed during the 12-minute interview, or is it mostly a PR opportunity for both the Fox commentator and the President?

While O'Reilly created a sort of self-fulfilling buzz about his conversation with Obama, he also wroteon Friday that seemed designed to temper expectations over what will be discussed. O'Reilly, who has made his name on Fox News by establishing a so-called "no spin zone," seemed to almost apologize in advance if his questions to the president are not hard hitting enough.

O'Reilly said that the interview is "fraught with danger" for him (not the president). He said he expects to get "hammered" after the interview from all ends of the political spectrum. The main point of O'Reilly's article seems to be that while he will ask hard questions of President Obama, he will not be able to "call out" the president on spinning as he must respect the man as president.

So as the nation settles in front of the national campfire that is the Super Bowl, and as a sizable percentage of the Super Bowl audience will surely settle in beforehand to watch the O'Reilly and Obama interview, what is it that they will actually be watching? Will it be an insightful give and take or will it be a chance for both Obama and O'Reilly to elevate themselves? O'Reilly gets the opportunity to the most powerful man in the world immediately before the biggest television event in the United States. The president gets the opportunity to appeal to O'Reilly's audience ... one that contains critical swing votes that Obama will need in 2012? The cynic, or perhaps even the realist, probably has his or her mind made up on those questions.

O'Reilly has already signaled to not expect much out of this interview. He has already, in advance, said he cannot interview Obama the way he would most anybody else. And if O'Reilly cannot apply his signature style and follow-up approach, if he cannot "call out" spin as he sees it, what is the point of all of this, really?

Perhaps O'Reilly is purposely setting expectations lower. He's an experienced journalist who should know how, at this point of his career, to remain respectful of the president while still asking hard hitting and insightful questions. If he cannot ask tough follow-up questions to answers that he considers "spin," then there is little point to having O'Reilly conduct the interview; Fox could just as easily hire a game show host or Larry King to handle the interview.

Ron Hart is a political observer living in New York City. Having volunteered on several political campaigns, for both , he brings a moderate's perspective. He is following the 2012 presidential campaign in its nascent stages.