Claro Software Ltd

Premier House
Office 27, Church Street
Preston, Lancashire PR1 3BQ
United Kingdom
Telephone: 011-44-870-760-5877.
Fax: 011-44-870-132-7471.
Web: http://www.clarosoftware.com.

Products manufactured by Claro Software Ltd (listed alphabetically)

1. CLARO MINDFULL

   Claro Mindfull is a concept mapping program and writing skills training system designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities. This software enables the user to brainstorm ideas, create exercises and games to aid learning, and turn visual thoughts into a linear essay. The user's thoughts are mapped using images, arrows/links, and text. Each idea on the concept map can have a recorded sound assoicated with it, and concept maps can be linked together so that an idea on one concept map can link to another. Finally, concept maps can be exported to Microsoft Word.

2. CLAROREAD PLUS

   ClaroRead Plus is a voice output screen reader, optical character recognition, and audio file creation program designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities. Scanned documents are converted into Microsoft Word text, which can be read back immediately or saved. The program can also convert PDF files to Word format. Text is spoken as it is typed, and on-screen text can be read by highlighting sections and pressing Play. The program has five human-sounding voices: RealSpeak Daniel, Emily, Jane, Indian English voice Sangeeta, and British English voice Serena. Pronunciations can be modified. Spoken words can be tracked on screen with user-selected highlighting colors. Audio files can be created from text documents and saved. The software is closely integrated with Microsoft applications, including Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word. In Microsoft Word, all functions appear on a single tool bar with clear graphic icons, and the Font Button allows the user to modify the font size, type, color, and spacing of the whole document. The program identifies homophones and confusable words and lists alternatives. Picture icons help to explain word meanings. Other features include word prediction and the ability to read figures from the Windows Calculator, buttons on standard or scientific calculators, and figures from Microsoft Excel. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 operating system; 512 megabytes (MB) RAM; 250 MB hard disk space; sound card; Microsoft Word 2000, XP, 2003, or 2007; and a scanner supporting TWAIN or WIA drivers.

3. CLAROREAD PLUS FOR MAC

   ClaroRead Plus for Mac is a voice output screen reader and optical character recognition program designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities. Designed for use with Microsoft Word, Safari, and other Mac applications, this program's toolbar for Microsoft Word allows the user to change the font size, spacing, and font and background color. Any word can be checked for definition and meaning with a single click on the toolbar. The Word Toolbar also features a homophone checking tool which highlights tricky words which sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. The program includes a full copy of OmniPage Pro X optical character recognition software from Nuance Communications, which can scan paper directly into Microsot Word and convert PDF files into text documents. It also includes ClaroView for Mac from Claro Software, which can change the color of the overlay and adjust the tint level to make it brighter or darker. The color settings can be retained and restored by pressing a single button. COMPATIBILITY: For use on Apple Macintosh computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X version 10.2.8 or later operating system; 40 megabytes of free disk space; CD-ROM drive. Compatible scanners include Epson V100, Canon LiDe 70, Canon LiDe 60, Epson Perfection 3490, Epson Perfection 2580, Epson Perfection 1670, and Epson Perfection 1660.

4. CLAROREAD PREMIUM

   ClaroRead Premium is a voice output screen reader, optical character recognition, concept mapping, and audio file creation program and accessibility software module designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities. This product includes ClaroRead Plus and Claro Mindfull together with a portable USB memory stick containing ClaroRead Standard (see separate entries). ClaroRead Standard runs directly from the memory stick on any personal computer (PC) without installing files. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 operating system; 512 megabytes (MB) RAM; 250 MB hard disk space; sound card; scanner supporting TWAIN or WIA drivers; and Microsoft Word 2000, XP, 2003, or 2007.

5. CLAROREAD STANDARD EDITION

   ClaroRead Standard Edition is a voice output screen reader program designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities or dyslexia. Text is spoken as it is typed, enabling the user to check and proof-read writing. Text can also be spoken by highlighting sections and pressing "Play." Text is read in a human-sounding voice, either male (RealSpeak Daniel) or female (Emily or Jane). Pronunciations can be modified. Spoken words can be tracked on screen with user-selected highlighting colors. Audio files can be created from text documents and saved. The software is closely integrated with Microsoft applications, including Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word. In Microsoft Word, all functions appear on a single tool bar with clear graphic icons, and the Font Button allows the user to modify the font size, type, color, and spacing of the whole document. The program identifies homophones and confusable words and lists alternatives. Picture icons help to explain word meanings. Other features include word prediction and the ability to read figures from the Windows Calculator, the buttons on the standard or scientific calculators, and figures from Microsoft Excel. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 operating system; 512 megabytes (MB) RAM; 250 MB hard disk space; sound card; and Microsoft Word 2000, XP, 2003. or 2007.

6. CLAROVIEW

   ClaroView is a computer color overlay program designed for use by individuals with low vision. This software acts as an overlay to change the colors on the PC screen to meet the user's viewing needs. The user can set the color of the overlay and vary the tint level. Color settings can be retained and restored using a single button. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista operating system. COLOR: Overlay colors can be selected from the full color spectrum.

7. LIGHTNING MAGNIFIER

   Lightning Magnifier is a screen magnification program designed for use by individuals with low vision. With this software, whatever appears on the computer screen can be magnified up to 32 times. This software can magnify the entire screen, or a selected area with a magnification strip, a vertical or horizontal split screen, or a lens. It works with all Windows applications and video clips, and can change the shape or size of letters and pictures, smooth fonts, and invert on-screen colors for better contrast. This software is available in an installable CD version or a portable version that runs directly from a USB Memory stick. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and IBM-compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP or Windows Vista operating system.

8. SCAN2TEXT

   Scan2Text is an optical character recognition program designed for use by individuals who are blind or have low vision. This software extracts text from paper documents, PDF files, or image files such as those in .tif format, and drops the text directly into Microsoft Word. The text can then be edited, or read aloud by a screen reader or Claro WordRead (not included). The original format of the document can be saved, with or without embedded images. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista operating system; Microsoft Word 2000, XP, 2003, or 2007; 200 megabytes (MB) free disk space; scanner with a TWAIN or WIA driver interface.

9. SCREENRULER

   ScreenRuler is a screen magnification program designed for use by individuals with low vision. This strip magnifier highlights part of the personal computer (PC) screen in a horizontal band, magnifying the area within the strip or ruler. In addition, it can change the contrast within the strip, grey or dim out the background, and change the color of the cursor. The program works with any software, acting as an overlay on the PC screen. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista operating system; 1 gigaHertz (GHz) processor; and 128 megabytes (MB) memory.

10. THUNDER PLUS SCREEN READER

    Thunder Plus Screen Reader is a voice output screen reader program designed for use by individuals who are blind or have low vision. This keyboard driven program reads what the user types letter by letter or word by word. It gives full speech feedback for most text-based word processing tasks including editing documents in Microsoft Word, WordPad, or Notepad. It speaks all Windows menus and dialog boxes, and works with the Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Calculator, Messenger, antivirus programs, and any accessible software program running on the user's computer. The voice can be changed, the speed can be increased or decreased, and items can be repeated. With the included WebbIE web browser, this software reads pages on the Internet from accessible web sites. The software comes with two high quality Realspeak voices, and is designed to work with Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice input software (not included; see entry) by speaking the user's Dragon commands and input. It is available in UK and US versions with British or American male and female Realspeak voices. The software package includes both a CD and a USB memory stick, and comes with technical support. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP Home, XP Professional, or Vista operating system; speakers; and 180 megabytes (MB) hard disk space. For each added Realspeak voice, approximately 80 additional MB is required.

11. WORDREAD

    WordRead is a screen reader program designed for use by individuals who need assistance reading text from a computer. It speaks text on the computer screen using ScanSoft RealSpeak, including Word documents, e-mail, web pages, spreadsheets, presentations, and accessible PDF files. In Microsoft Word or web pages viewed with Internet Explorer, the user clicks the mouse at any starting point and presses the "play" button. The program reads from that point onward, highlighting each sentence as it is read, continuing until the document has finished or the user presses "stop." In other applications, text is spoken when it is selected. Word files, web pages, and other text can be converted to audio files and saved. The program comes with 17 RealSpeak voices and languages in which to listen to text. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM and compatible computers. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, or Vista operating system; Microsoft Word 2000, XP, 2003, or 2007; Pentium 350 megaHertz (MHz) processor; 128 megabyted (MB) RAM; sound card or sound chip; headphones or speakers; 40 MB hard drive space for English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, German, and Italian, and 160 MB for other Realspeak languages.