In a letter to the editor of The New York Times dated September 15, 2009, Roger Ebert, film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times, writes:
I am one of those you write about [“For Speech-Impaired, Insurance Fights Remedy,” September 14, 2009] who uses a computer voice after losing the power of speech as a result of cancer surgery. After trying an $8,000 custom device with little computing power and a small, dim screen, I tried the built-in speech software on my MacBook and found it much more practical.
It will read anything aloud, including what I define on a Web page or in an e-mail message. Several voices are built into the computer, and others are downloadable at moderate prices.
I combine talking and Web surfing — for example, sharing a news headline with my wife. Instead of using the weak built-in speakers, I use nice loud, lightweight speakers powered from a USB port, costing around $50.
Anyone who uses a computer and has lost the power of speech knows that e-mail becomes invaluable. It’s stupid of insurance companies to insist on an inferior device costing 10 times as much.
Source: The New York Times
More info about Apple’s Mac OS X’s VoiceOver feature here.
Ebert’s website – two thumbs up – is: rogerebert.suntimes.com
MacDailyNews Take: Ebert has long been a great backer of Apple Macs and we wish him the best of health.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “WhitIV” for the heads up.]
reading the article, the chick with ALS bought an iPhone and a $150 dollar text to speech app. I haven’t been able to find this $150 app in iTunes.
Anyone have any clues? The most expensive text-to-speech app I found was $5
never mind. I found it. It’s $190 now and it’s called proloquo2go. Great reviews and actually looks like it’s worth it.
I generally avoid these types of threads, but I have to respond to two statements.
@Joel: I oppose it because experience has taught me that it will run as efficiently as the post office or the cash for clunkers program.
Oh, you mean the Postal Service, which delivers a letter to anywhere in the US, usually within three days, for less than the cost of a can of soda, or the Cash for Clunkers program, one of the most popular and successful govt. programs in history, which significantly increased the demand for domestic cars? Oh yeah, I’d HATE health care to be run like those programs. That would be SO BAD. (Was my sarcasm sufficiently obvious?) (Oh, and the USPS is a PRIVATE COMPANY, genius. It’s chartered by the Federal Govt, but it receives no govt funds.)
“Government doesn’t work” is a conservative myth. Government programs work just fine, as long as they’re competantly run. Need proof? Medicare is a government program. Ask anyone, ANYONE, on Medicare if they’d give it up.
@Spark: Health care has always been rationed. The question now is who will ration it: you or the Federal Government.
So close. What you should have said was “The question now is who will ration it: your insurance company or the Federal Government.”
Another conservative myth is that I somehow have less control over what the government does than I do over what a private company does. If I don’t like how my government is running healthcare, I can express my rage at the ballot box. If I don’t like how my insurance company is running healthcare, what can I do? Change providers? I’m stuck with the one my employer provides. I can’t even protest outside their building, because it’s private property.
If you’re opposed to/afraid of a government public option, ask yourself “could such a thing possibly be worse than what we have today”? If you actually say “yes”, I can only conclude that neither you nor anyone close to you has ever been seriously ill.
——RM
I wish Roger all the best and am very thankful for his insight. He is an asset to us all and proves that common sense and reality are at times more important than superimposed highly scientific gadgets that hold up well in a laboratory but not in reality.
On the subject of healthcare, I am in two minds about it. At first I was completely against the original plan, until someone to whom I was discussing it brought up the question as to whether the people holding Medicare or Military Insurance would give it up. The answer has always been No. With both of these, they have the ability to see whatever specialist they want to see with no out of pocket expenses. They are both government run (I don’t know about debt), but seem to run well. Hence, I am still on the fence about the Public option. However, if it would lead to more competition and not be the only game in town, I could shift towards saying yes to the bill.
Alansky and several others have it quite right. From what I see in the comments here, those opposed to universal healthcare are those who perceive a personal loss. But in reality the only people who will ‘lose’ under a universal healthcare/health insurance system are those who have a vested interest in the current (broken, damaging, inhumane) system: the owners/operayors of HMOs and private insurance companies. There are many, many countries around the world whose citizens enjoy excellent, accessible, affordable healthcare: the UK, Canada, Sweden, Taiwan (free dental, as well), even Cuba.
No system is perfect, but the current US system is vicious, avaricious, mean-spirited, and designed to secure a profit–_not_ the health of the American people.
For shame.
@ LordRobin,
Amen to that.
And sort of bridging the thread hijacking with some of Ebert’s own words. Basically, he had already exhausted his health care benefits before fortunately reaching eligibility age for Medicare.
“Having arrived at a qualifying age thanks to the love and care of my wife and doctors, I am writing this as the beneficiary of the excellent heath care my insurance plan covered (until my illness exhausted its provisions). I am now covered under MediCare. I continue to get the same treatment as before–and as, for that matter, all members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives do, no matter what their age or political party. You should try it sometime.”
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/08/death_panels_an_excellent_phra.html
@Lord Robin
Everything you said is either completely wrong, or actually proves the opposite of what you are trying to say.
The postal service continually raises rates faster than the rate of the cost of living and is constantly in need of huge federal subsidies. If it were a company it would be bankrupt and shut down.
Medicare is billions in the red, if it were a private company it would have shut down 30 years ago.
Cash for clunkers ran over it’s budget by 2 billion dollars.
The reason no one on Medicare would give it up is because, it’s “free” dude! They aren’t paying for it! The taxpayers are!
If the govt. is providing health care and I want to switch providers I have no choice. If I am privately insured and I don’t like my health care provider, I can LOOK FOR A NEW ONE. I am not required by law (yet) to accept the health care from my employer.
The ‘Gummint’ could have given every US citizen a million dollars, then we would have bought our way out of this recession by now. In 5 years lots of us would have been broke, some of us would be very, very rich, and on and on. Instead they, (polticians), have spent and borrowed far more and our grandchildren will blame us for their debt.
@lord rogreedgreed. That and I don’t understand conservatives fearing our government doing anything about health care but somehow they are competant enough to run our military.
Sorry should be @ lord robin. Agreed.
Still practicing typing on my new iPod touch.
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Sherman wrote:
“…I don’t understand conservatives fearing our government doing anything about health care but somehow they are competant [sic] enough to run our military.”
Is that supposed to be a logical conclusion? There are so many problems with that statement, I don’t know where to begin, but I’ll settle for one of the most important differences: it’s a lot harder to sue a government entity if you get denied coverage than a private insurer. A trial lawyer with experience in such matters wrote a compare and contrast here: http://davidssecretblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-which-we-try-to-be-informative-and.html
The only thing the government does mostly right is the military. If you think they will run health care efficiently you are out of your minds. These maobama people are so crooked it’s disgusting. I’ll take the free market solution every day of the week. How about health insurance tax breaks instead of a take over? They won’t do that because they wan the power, the dollars, and to decide who lives and dies. Which will depend on what political party you belong to. Screw the government solutions. They do not work!!!!!!!!!
@ @ Lord Robin,
“Cash for clunkers ran over it’s budget by 2 billion dollars.”
I believe it was extended; it didn’t run over budget.
“The reason no one on Medicare would give it up is because, it’s “free” dude! They aren’t paying for it! The taxpayers are!”
No, it’s not free:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)
“Out-of-pocket costs:
Neither Part A nor Part B pays for all of a covered person’s medical costs. The program contains premiums, deductibles and coinsurance, which the covered individual must pay out-of-pocket. A study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2008 found the Fee-for-Service Medicare benefit package was less generous than either the typical large employer PPO plan or the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Standard Option. Some people may qualify to have other governmental programs (such as Medicaid) pay premiums and some or all of the costs associated with Medicare.”
Bad link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)
What the hell. Oh well, just google ‘Medicare’.
Cash for Clunkers was a complete fiasco. Most dealers still have not been paid a penny for the clunkers. Destroying perfectly working cars is insane. Global “climate change” or whatever you freaks are calling it this day is not proven science that it is caused by humans. The climate is always changing. What are you freaks going to do to stop the continents from shifting????? You liberal-commies are disgusting. The government is printing more money to pay itself back for it’s own loans. These people are out of control and destroying the US at break neck speed. Liberals are only out for power for themselves, the leaders. They hate the people. Can’t wait until they are voted out. You ignorant jack asses need to figure out that you are being lied to and stop voting democrat.
An unknown writes: “If the govt. is providing health care and I want to switch providers I have no choice. If I am privately insured and I don’t like my health care provider, I can LOOK FOR A NEW ONE.”
Well, my experience was completely different. My employer had AETNA as the only choice. I lost my doctor because his health group refused to take AETNA because of their crappy payoff speed. I was forced to find a new doctor. With a Medicare-like public option, it simulates “single payer”, you can pick any provider you like. Change as often as you like.
yeah that government run veteran’s hospital is really run well. how about the government run indian reservation health care. how about oregon and massachusetts’ public health care programs that are bankrupt. you are out of your mind to support a public option. we should have tax write offs to be able to purchase our own health care insurance. maobamacare will destroy the US.