Pneuma Solutions Blog

It’s a privilege to call Deborah Kendrick a long-time friend. I have followed her coverage of the assistive technology industry for years now, and her level of well-balanced, thorough attention to detail is unwavering. If Deborah does not believe in a product or service, she will admit as much. So it was a privilege to sit down for a chat with Deborah that resulted in not one but two coveted spots in the March issue of Access World, a highly respected publication known for in-depth coverage of technology developments of interest to blind consumers. In the first Access World article, Deborah puts together a portrait of a guy I still affectionately think of as the boy genius. We learn more about the young man who evolved into the programming marvel that helped put more assistive technology into the hands of blind people. He was the engine behind all the innovation we brought about at Serotek Corp, and he is the driving force behind the revolutionary blueprints we are cooking at Pneuma Solutions. No article will ever fully capture the respect I will always have for Matt Campbell, but I am grateful there is an article that highlights a few of his accomplishments as a tech wizard, a … [Read more...] about Pneuma Solutions on Access World

Recently, Mike and Matt had the privilege of sitting down for an interview with Stuart Lawler of the Sight and Sound Technology Podcast. If you have not had the opportunity to listen, we welcome you to check out the episode. In it, you’ll learn about the little details that did not make it into the big announcement of Mike’s return. Outside of the innovation, Mike is known for storytelling. Some of you feeling a little nostalgic for the old SeroTalk Podcast will enjoy listening to Mike recount the winding down of Serotek and a little of the backstory surrounding the intervening years. It turns out Mike was not sitting on his laurels. Scribe had been percolating for a while, but only now do we get a better account of the chain of events that led to the line of products you see today. Matt claims to be a Jack of all trades, master of none. Yet, listening to him speak, you quickly realize the latter half of that statement is a significant understatement. Matt powered the former Serotek products across several major operating systems, and it doesn’t take long to understand just how firmly Matt drives the conversion from vision to execution. Best of all, if you have been curious … [Read more...] about Mike and Matt on Sight and Sound Technology Podcast

Eavesdrop on Mike Calvo and Matt Campbell in a rare informal chat with ACB Radio Main Menu’s host, Jeff Bishop. Find out how the newest product release, Scribe for Meetings, was developed and what it will do for you. From the ACB Radio program description: "What is Scribe for Meetings? As the world continues to move to a virtual environment, you need an affordable solution that guarantees full access to everyone in your audience. The goal is to make the on-screen content in your online meetings and webinars accessible to print-impaired participants in as easy a manner as possible. Come learn more from Mike and Matt as we get updates from their new company." For the full podcast of this ACB Main Menu program click here. … [Read more...] about Hear the story behind Scribe for Meetings on ACB Radio’s Main Menu

Effective immediately, the much talked about Scribe for Meetings is now available free for public webinars whose audience is primarily blind or visually impaired, anywhere in the World. With more popular seminars and conferences continuing to shift to a virtual stage, Pneuma Solutions wants to ensure that all blind and visually impaired people have equal access to presentations on meeting platforms internationally. How It Works If you are an agency, for profit company, or nonprofit organization serving the blindness community, visit ScribeForMeetings.com and register for this free service. Follow the easy prompts. Provide the event URL and upload a copy of your PowerPoint presentation to be shared at your event. And, that’s it! At present, this special offer is for Webinars only. If you are interested in using Scribe for your internal Zoom Meetings, please check out our very affordable pricing structure. Also, stay tuned. We are expanding to other meeting platforms like Microsoft Teams for maximum flexibility. For this free offer, you don’t have to provide a credit card number. You don’t have to commit to a contract. The goal here is to keep it free and make it as painless as … [Read more...] about Scribe for Meetings Is Free for Webinars Worldwide

Millions, likely billions, of documents are in a hostage situation, and accessibility, or lack thereof, is being used as ransom. Thankfully, there is an affordable solution to this accessibility standoff. In accessibility, hostage documents occur when an organization or governmental department ignores requests to make its public information accessible to those with print impairments, resulting in a legal mandate to make all public documents accessible to people with print disabilities. When that deadline expires, any digital documents that are not made accessible to print disabled people are pulled offline. They remain offline to everyone until the day they are made accessible to print disabled individuals. Those documents are held hostage in exchange for paying the price of accessibility as ransom. Are there actual cases of documents being held hostage? Yes, here’s just one example. After a 2017 audit, California was given two years to make all their documents accessible to blind and visually impaired people. According to Mike Nguyen, Caltrans chief technology officer, California spent well over six million dollars remediating just 13,000 of their 2.6 million documents. At … [Read more...] about Stop Holding Documents Hostage

As the weather turns chilly and we approach the start of a new year, it seems fitting we take advantage of the moment to announce the start of a fresh chapter. Much has happened in 2020. I hope that wherever my note finds you, you are warm, safe, and among loved ones, even if remotely. I hope my news will give you a spark of something to look forward to in the coming decade. The assistive technology landscape of today is vastly different from the environment we experienced even a decade ago. As I predicted in article after article, major companies in the Assistive Technology industry fell, merged, or tried reinventing themselves to keep pace with the demands of an evolving marketplace. Through it all, I patiently adjusted my approach to meet the inevitable change. Rather than fall victim to the evolution, I did some serious soul searching, asking myself: Was I still relevant? Was I still capable of creating change for our community? I concluded that there was more to be done and I chose to redirect my energy toward writing a new chapter in the quest to bring access to digital information in new and exciting ways. That probably sounds self-congratulatory. It’s not meant to come … [Read more...] about Winds of Change

Exciting developments are coming to the blindness community, and it’s time to share them with you. Some of what you’re about to read will become obvious why we’ve waited until now to make a formal announcement. Others are a natural progression of our vision for accessibility. Goodbye Serotek, thank you for your service. Many years ago, I had a vision to make accessibility both affordable, and portable. From that, I founded Pneuma Solutions’ predecessor, Serotek Corporation, the first and only company pioneering multi-platform, cloud-based accessibility solutions for blind and print disabled consumers. You can read more about Serotek’s historical role in our about page. For nearly two decades, Serotek developed cloud-based products and resources no one else provided. But, as cloud-based technology matured, so has the vision for powerful accessible products for the commercial, municipal, governmental, and educational markets. As technology advanced, Serotek’s corporate structure was being outpaced by the demands of the larger plan. Providing accessible cloud-based solutions at the consumer computer level was no longer enough. We knew we could take accessibility to the network … [Read more...] about Breaking Ground at Pneuma Solutions

Pneuma Solutions is the leader in accessible cloud technology. The company convenes top shelf talent spanning decades of experience bringing affordable technology direct to consumers. In this latest iteration, the company has pivoted to expand its portfolio to business customers. B2B Sales Representative Job Summary We are seeking a motivated, positive B2B sales representative to join our growing virtual team. In this position, you will drive sales by cultivating prospective business customers. As the public face of the company the Sales representative is responsible for dealing with any and all customer questions about the products and services the company offers. We are looking for someone who will continuously update their knowledge of the company products, services, and policies. We are looking for a go-getter with an aptitude for persuasive communication and a drive to succeed. Sales Representative Duties and Responsibilities Identify industry opportunities where Pneuma Solutions products would make a natural fit, to include: education, government, and corporate environments Draft white papers, PowerPoint presentations, and other sales pieces as needed to pitch new … [Read more...] about Seeking Dynamic B2B Sales Representative

When COVID-19 rocked the education system, we knew we couldn’t sit back and do nothing. We had to respond. As a result, we developed a program designed to help teachers like you, educators of print disabled students. The program is called Scribe for Education. Scribe for Education lets you provide print disabled students with study materials and assignments in an accessible format. You can provide students study materials and assignments in eight different file formats ranging from digital print, to Braille, to text-to-speech audio. And, you’re on-demand access is almost instant, using only a simple web browser. Scribe for Education was originally free for a limited time. After development, we quickly released it to qualified educators as a free tool through the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The outpouring of response, number of applications to the program, and gratitude coming from K-12 educators has been amazing. The positive impact on the educational system quickly became evident. We soon recognized the unique position we were in to help educators, students, and parents of print disabled students. Scribe for Education was reducing stress of how educational goals will … [Read more...] about Scribe for Education is free… because it’s the right thing to do