Also the Orbit Flow is really cool. Its a 40 cell display with three buttons on each side, with maybe half an inch of blank metal above it. It has no battery or keyboard and connects with USB C. I could see putting this in front of my keyboard and having a very comfortable setup, a lot better than putting a display with a Perkins keyboard in front of a QWERTY keyboard because the Braille is a lot closer to the keyboard with the Flow. It also has cursor routing keys of course. #NFB26

@emassey0135 Wish it had bluetooth since that is expected on a braille display in 2026. Or some kind of wireless dongle or wireless anything for connection. That is the only issue I have, otherwise I thin k it is definitely needed in the blindness tech space.

@jpellis2008 @emassey0135 I can see the rationale for not having it, though, and it's more of a failure on the part of Bluetooth than anything else. A fair few market segments Orbit serves allow for some AT to be funded by one's health coverage, with Braille displays being a notable exception. Bluetooth's proven track-record of unreliability plus bespoke batteries were seen as high-risk factors. This device eliminates both risks.

@jackf723 @emassey0135 Yes exactly. It will hopefully reach more markets that way.

@emassey0135 I'll believe it when I see it. So far that thing has been a mix of all talk and radio silence from the company.

@emassey0135 All of this is absolutely true, and you may ask me questions also, especially about the software. If you ask me about hardware, it doesn't mean I won't answer, it just means I'll probably need some time to ask people who know more. thanks for your interest!

@menelion Okay, thank you! For the software, what will the editor be like? Is it going to be something like notepad, or a Braille editor with QWERTY Braille entry and contracted Braille editing? What formats will the book reader support, and will it support downloading from libraries like Bookshare? What else beyond standard Windows will the Optima have, besides the Vocalizer voices?

@emassey0135 As for the editor, firstly a WordPad-like editor will be available, with Braille support via LibLouis, plus Perkins emulation on the QWERTY keyboard, yes. so like WordPad with Braille support. A more sophisticated solution is planned, but not in development yet.
Book reader will support all popular formats and yes, downloading from online libraries will be implemented. I'm not sure though whether text books and audiobooks will be handled by one reader or two separate apps, that is not decided yet.
Definitely we'll have other voices, not only Vocalizer, I'm not sure whether I have right to disclose exact details now, but most likely you'll see something you don't see anywhere else TTS-wise.
Also we are developing a suite of accompanying apps for those users who want a notetaker-like experience.