ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

LeapFrog announced a new product Demo 2008 called Tag which is a touch reading system that takes advantage of Anoto Functionality; the same technology used in the FlyPentop Fusion. Using Anoto Functionlity, LeapFrog can print their books with very small microdots on the page that give the paper interactivity. LeapFrog will be shipping this product in June 2008 and can open doors to reading by creating a very engaging and interactive environment. To see the live demonstration from Demo 2008 click here.

A lot of my readers have purchased the Fly Fusion Pentop computer from LeapFrog this holiday season and have been having some difficulties installing the software. I just received this email from LeapFrog that I wanted to pass along this information to you.

	Question
	What should I try? ..trouble with Fly Fusion downloads, Admin account, Flyworld and/or the Fly Store.
	Answer
	Thanks for being one of the first FLY Fusion Pentop Computer Users! Due to extremely high seasonal demand for FLY Fusion, many FLY Fusion users have had difficulty accessing FLY World, our FLY World Download Store or with their Admin account set up. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We have been working on these issues, and have made improvements that should help our users. As a special thank you for your patience, we want to offer our community of users a special gift! Please go to the FLY World PC Application, log on and click on the Download Store tab. We are offering 4 special downloads for use with your pen as a way of showing our appreciation for your patience and support for FLY. We will be providing updates on our FLY World Support site as we continue to release improvements to our online services. Check back on www.flyworld.com/support for updates, or call our Customer Support line directly at 1-800-701-LEAP (5327). Thank you for your support of FLY! The FLY Fusion Team

I have been a big fan of Anoto functionality and its implementation in the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer which was recently released by LeapFrog. One of the features which I was most interested in looking at was the ability to transfer your handwritten notes and transfer them into Microsoft Word as a text file. Unfortunately, the Fly Fusion Pentop only works with the Windows operating system. Once you install the Fly Fusion Pentop computer software you are ready to give it a try. Simply click on the Fly Notes icon and open your Fly Notebook and begin writing. I have tried the Fly Fusion Pentop with both print and cursive and it worked quite well. It is important to note that you must use the Fly Fusion Notebook when using the pen. Once you have written your notes you simply plug your pen into the computer with the supplied USB cable and your notes are downloaded to the Fly Fusion Pentop application. Once downloaded you can transfer them to Microsoft Word with a click of the mouse. The handwriting recognition worked exceptionally well. This is certainly a viable alternative for note taking and a way for students to catalog and store their notes digitally. One of the advantages of this system is the ability to search your notes on the computer and to be able to convert them to text for further editing. Give it a try and let me know what you think. At $79 dollars this is a very worthwhile tool and one that has lots of application in the classroom.