I have a T|X that had the screen whine and a terribly miscalibrated touchscreen. Two trips back to tech support and no improvement. Warpspeed and PowerDigi that fixed both problems. Between having to pay someone else extra to make it work the way it should out of the box and the general flimsiness of the hardware (have to really mash the hardware buttons to get them to register) I'm pretty sure this will be my last Palm device.
The only reason I haven't replaced it with an iTouch is that the T|X does spreadsheets and has a full scientific calculator. With the iPhone SDK coming soon, that may change (just call it the Newton2 already and be done with it). Palm is going to need to do something pretty drastic to keep from losing me as a repeat customer.
I still have to get other games for the Wii... Cooking Mama, Scarface, Mario Strikers, Mario Party, Zack & Wiki, there's probably more... Honestly, how are people bored? I admit there could be some longer games for the Wii, but considering it's on its first year, and considering the games actually worth playing on other consoles, what could there be to be upset about?
I feel the same way. People talk about the "casual gamer" and the "hardcore" and how this generation of consoles really emphasizes the differences. The definitions of these categories in my view is that the former plays games as one form of entertainment out of many, and for the latter, video gaming is their primary leisure activity.
If you are burning through the major game releases in one weekend after it's released, then I absolutely agree that the Wii, at present, isn't going to be enough to satisfy you.
For the rest of us, though, just because the Wii goes a week without being turned on doesn't mean that it is "gathering dust" or that it has no value. Most of the Wii owners don't play every day. For me, the good games are still coming out too fast for me to play them all. (Especially since it took me nine months to get the console in the first place so I got way behind).
I switched to Netbank after x.com abruptly closed my checking account because they were getting out of banking for this newfangled "Paypal" thing they were trying. I remember thinking at the time that it was a stupid, faddish idea that was just waiting to collapse in the next dot-com bubble. That's about the wrongest I've ever been in predicting winners in the market.
I've only taken one class that used a true curve. It was an undergraduate statistics course my senior year. It was required by the grad school I had already been accepted to but I didn't need it to graduate so I took it pass-fail.
I decided since any passing grade was fine I would, for the first time ever, TRY to get a C.
I had to WORK at it to achieve it. Twice I left the last page of an exam blank. I think I still ended up with the equivalent of a low-B. Man, there were some morons in that class.
The design with the nunchuck in the back is awful. I think I would have a really hard time using this. I can't think of a single real gun with a grip behind the trigger hand. I don't think it has anything to do with ambidexterity. There are plenty of real-world examples of firearms that are ambidexterous (something like the grips on the StyerAUG).
I hope someone comes out with a third-party peripheral that has a better form-factor.
This is awful advice. What about the question made it sound like the family wasn't already spending time with her, talking gently and being reassuring? Up until now they've been trying to communicate and it has not been effective. She is not in a coma, she still has information to contribute.
The last thing she really needs is to be told that the things she has to say don't matter.
Consider how long her recovery is expected to last. If she will be off the vent and speaking soon, you probably can make do with some low-tech solution or a stock laptop. A whiteboard and/or a cardboard alphabet and some immediately useful messages.
If it is going to be a while (more than a couple weeks) insist that the speech therapist at the hospital see her. Insurance will pay for speech therapy if you go the "Communication allows for active participation in care and treatment which has been demonstrated to improve recovery time and outcomes" route. A MEDLINE search will find plenty of clinical proof of this if you need it.
There are several manufacturers that make computers for this express purpose. Some have been mentioned already. Here's a list of a bunch of them: http://www.augcominc.com/links.html#dv
If you are in the U.S., your state has a lending program where you may borrow such a device for a trial before you commit to buying one. (And if she recovers speech, you might just use the loaner and not have to buy one at all). Most countries with national health programs have something similar. The hospital's speech therapist probably knows how to contact them.
If you don't get a satisfactory response from the hospital speech staff, see if your closest university has a Speech-Language Pathology of Communication Sciences and Disorders department. You might be able to get some good advice there.
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I also had a Visor and loved it.
I have a T|X that had the screen whine and a terribly miscalibrated touchscreen. Two trips back to tech support and no improvement. Warpspeed and PowerDigi that fixed both problems. Between having to pay someone else extra to make it work the way it should out of the box and the general flimsiness of the hardware (have to really mash the hardware buttons to get them to register) I'm pretty sure this will be my last Palm device.
The only reason I haven't replaced it with an iTouch is that the T|X does spreadsheets and has a full scientific calculator. With the iPhone SDK coming soon, that may change (just call it the Newton2 already and be done with it). Palm is going to need to do something pretty drastic to keep from losing me as a repeat customer.
This is the best gaming news I've heard in a long time. I hardly ever buy on launch day, but I WILL be getting this, and probably on the first day.
The only reason I read this thread was to find this post. I knew it would be here.
If you are burning through the major game releases in one weekend after it's released, then I absolutely agree that the Wii, at present, isn't going to be enough to satisfy you.
For the rest of us, though, just because the Wii goes a week without being turned on doesn't mean that it is "gathering dust" or that it has no value. Most of the Wii owners don't play every day. For me, the good games are still coming out too fast for me to play them all. (Especially since it took me nine months to get the console in the first place so I got way behind).
I switched to Netbank after x.com abruptly closed my checking account because they were getting out of banking for this newfangled "Paypal" thing they were trying. I remember thinking at the time that it was a stupid, faddish idea that was just waiting to collapse in the next dot-com bubble. That's about the wrongest I've ever been in predicting winners in the market.
I decided since any passing grade was fine I would, for the first time ever, TRY to get a C.
I had to WORK at it to achieve it. Twice I left the last page of an exam blank. I think I still ended up with the equivalent of a low-B. Man, there were some morons in that class.
The design with the nunchuck in the back is awful. I think I would have a really hard time using this. I can't think of a single real gun with a grip behind the trigger hand. I don't think it has anything to do with ambidexterity. There are plenty of real-world examples of firearms that are ambidexterous (something like the grips on the StyerAUG).
I hope someone comes out with a third-party peripheral that has a better form-factor.
The last thing she really needs is to be told that the things she has to say don't matter.
This is exactly what I do for a living.
Consider how long her recovery is expected to last. If she will be off the vent and speaking soon, you probably can make do with some low-tech solution or a stock laptop. A whiteboard and/or a cardboard alphabet and some immediately useful messages.
If it is going to be a while (more than a couple weeks) insist that the speech therapist at the hospital see her. Insurance will pay for speech therapy if you go the "Communication allows for active participation in care and treatment which has been demonstrated to improve recovery time and outcomes" route. A MEDLINE search will find plenty of clinical proof of this if you need it.
There are several manufacturers that make computers for this express purpose. Some have been mentioned already. Here's a list of a bunch of them: http://www.augcominc.com/links.html#dv
If you are in the U.S., your state has a lending program where you may borrow such a device for a trial before you commit to buying one. (And if she recovers speech, you might just use the loaner and not have to buy one at all). Most countries with national health programs have something similar. The hospital's speech therapist probably knows how to contact them.
If you don't get a satisfactory response from the hospital speech staff, see if your closest university has a Speech-Language Pathology of Communication Sciences and Disorders department. You might be able to get some good advice there.
Good luck.