TDI-L eNote 6/7/06 Call for Beta Testers to View New Radio Captioning Technology of Earize Communications Providing Streaming Text on National Public Radio (NPR) "Talk of the Nation" Radio Show - 06/12/2006 (2:00 - 3:00pm EST) Many of you have been asking for radio shows to be accessible. Now we at Earize think we've developed an inexpensive way to stream radio show text on the Internet -- as it happens. But we need your members help to test the technology and find out how many people can reliably use the system at any one time. As well, this technology can be used for emergency situations where television is not an option. For the last year, Earize Communications has been quietly developing high volume "one-to-many" text streaming technology at its own expense. Over the last year, the development team has grown to include what we think we think are some of the best minds and most experienced people from across the nation -- ID, CA, IA, MI, NV, NY, FL, MD, and DC. But now it's time to take the technology out of the laboratory and into the real world. The big questions are: "How many people can use the system at any one time?" and "Will captioned radio really be useful?" We are hoping that TDI's members will help us answer these questions. Two test sessions were planned. One session already took place on June 6, 2006. At least 7,500 people are needed to log-in at the next test session at http://earize.com, in which Earize will display real-time captioning text from NPR's Talk of the Nation show at 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST on June 12, 2006. There is no sign-in, no personal information will be collected, no software or cookies will be downloaded on any computer, and your members will have the satisfaction of knowing that they helped make a higher level of accessibility possible. Please encourage your members to participate and to share their comments and questions about the test with us at info@earize.com. Thank you so much for helping to make this innovative and exciting technology possible. Sincerely, Lorraine Carter, RPR President [P.S. Not one cent of taxpayer money was requested or used to develop this much-needed technology] About Earize Communications: Earize is an Internet streaming text service. This service can be used exclusively for caption radio, and to assist deaf and hard of hearing people in meetings, telephone conferences, and seminars, to name a few. Audiences can be increased by 8.6% just by reaching the folks with hearing loss. The service is also a vehicle for additional advertising to this sometimes-overlooked segment. Earize Communications is a subsidiary of Caption Reporters Inc. It draws on over 13 years of experience in broadcast captioning and real-time captioning including webcast and CART (computer assisted real-time) The subsidiary has a three prong charter: To develop a cost effective way for broadcasters and organizations and businesses to expand their audiences; To expand the emerging market of people with text capable PDAs and cell phones to be able to read "talk radio". Over the last year a team of engineers and software developers pared down the traditional slow, high bandwidth and low capacity Internet conferencing technology. What emerged is a lean and mean Linux server strategy designed to simultaneously send text to thousands of people. This proprietary server software takes very little bandwidth, supports all major web browsers, and most importantly requires no special software to use. As a result of this new technology, Earize can now offer services never offered before to include caption radio, talk shows, remote captioning for deaf and hard of hearing people through the Internet. For more information, go to http://earize.com About TDI: Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. is a nonprofit advocacy organization that promotes equal access to telecommunications, media and information technology for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. Since 1968, TDI has successfully advocated for a variety of federal legislation to improve the lives of people with hearing loss, including the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, both of 1990, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In addition, TDI advocates for administrative rules and policies that will provide greater access to wireless technology, as well as complete and high-quality captioning of television programs. Since its inception, TDI has promoted equal access to 9-1-1 centers and other public safety answering points, and is now working to ensure full access for deaf and hard of hearing people to information during natural or manmade disasters and other types of emergencies. TDI annually publishes a national directory and resource guide, commonly known as The Blue Book, which is a popular resource book for people with hearing loss, as well as The GA-SK Quarterly News Magazine. For more information about TDI, visit http://www.tdi-online.org.