Voice of the Voiceless - Choices

OK so with some research it seems as though I am not going to get to far unless I learn some C++. So that is on the to do list immediately. I have also found that it looks like iphone and the NDS lite are going to be the choices to write the program for. Reason for the two pieces of hardware are because the main target audience I want to do this for typically have some fine motor skill limitations. Being able to use something that it touch screen versus keypad is very important. The NDS and the iphone gives the kind of versatility that is needed. These two pieces of hardware are my choice and maybe we can port these over into new things once these two are tackled. Technology is changing constantly and maybe down the road I will find something better, but the main goal is to make these devices as portable and accessible to those that need them on a financial level.

I know it is going to be a long and daunting task but I know if I chip at it little by little I will arrive at my goal soon enough. The main part of the challenge is just finding the time between work and family to do this.

I don't know if quitting smoking at this point was a good thing. :\

Giving a Voice to the Voiceless

Ok so I have not been around a lot lately. I have been pretty busy with work and family and such, but as always I find myself back again with new projects and things that need to get done. Last thing I left you with was the whole mythtv thing and I have to admit that I dropped the ball, but there are a lot of websites out there that should point you in the right directions. So I must apologize, but not too much cause if you were seriously interested you probably have already done the research and have a system up and running at this point. Enough with that!

For those of you that dont know, I have a son and two nieces that are autistic. Lately I have been thinking about them and how I could make their lives easier. My son has no speech at this time, and I would love to some way give him a voice. There are devices out there, but they are very expensive for even people that have money, and only those people can afford them. The manufacturers should be ashamed for how much they charge for these devices cause all theyare doing is exploiting the community of the disabled. Before I get too rooted in ranting, I have some ideas to develope cheaper affordable devices for this community that would definitely benefit them, and a bunch others that have no speech.

I have decided to use my blog to try and give me some structure and organization. If anyone of you have read my other blogs you would probably see that I need something to focus cause typically I am all over the place (like now :) )

So at this point I have a lot to do.

• Figure out language to write applications. - Picking a language that is small but yet portable to many devices and easy for me to learn is very important. (ie. mp3 players, cell phones, game devices.
  

• what devices do I want to port this over to, and which would be the most functional and easiest ( For those of you that dont know, many autistic people have so level of motor function disability, So using the right device is very important.)
• Developer kits or applications - this all depends on what devices we use
  

The list is small so far but important. I am pretty sure it will grow as time goes on, but nailing these down should help me be on my way a lot faster.

Btw - if anyone should like to help please let me know. Or if you have any ideas I am wide open to them right now.

So far I have been thinking about using java, but really dont know a lot, but also know there are applications that will help me write the basics and develope the rest. The application is pretty simple, and I have a bunch of them that I want to write for different systems and know that I will probably have to get permissions from some companies once I get further on the way, but I want to get something up and running as fast as possible. Time does not wait for these kids and every day spent trying to develope brings them closer to having a voice