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WYNN (What You Need Now) is an innovative software designed to aid individuals to read and write more effectively. WYNN was developed with the help of special educators and individuals with learning difficulties. They aided in defining the features that most support reading and studying. WYNN comes in two versions:
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WYNN Wizard provides optical character recognition (OCR), the ability to scan a printed page and convert it into electronic text. Speech synthesis enables this scanned text to be read aloud. A special correction feature provides automatic correction of misrecognized word. WYNN Wizard permits two views of material: Exact View shows material exactly as scanned; Text View displays the text only to enable visual tailoring for individual use. The two views are linked and users may switch back and forth from one view to the other. WYNN Wizard can scan and read word processing, text files, and the Internet.
WYNN Reader includes all of the features available in WYNN Wizard except the OCR capability. In addition to customized visual tailoring, individuals may enjoy clear, natural-sounding synthetic speech while reading standard word processing files, the Internet, ASCII text files, and scanned pages saved to disk.
Features
WYNN’s user interface has been carefully designed to provide power, flexibility, and a short learning curve. Its color-coded toolbars have intuitive, large buttons that are labeled with both pictures and words.
Color Coded Tool Bars
The blue File Management
tool bar lets you scan a page, open, close, save, and print files. It also
lets you browse the Internet or send email. Use the Text View button, and
its partner, the Exact View button, to switch between two different views of
the page. Like the other three tool bars, this one includes the Next, Read,
Write, Exact View, and Other Document buttons.
The green Visual
Presentation tool bar controls how WYNN presents the document, including
the size of the text, spacing, margins, and the type of font used – all to
make the page more readable. Plus, there’s the popular Mask button, which
“masks out” everything on the page except the section you wish to read.
The pink Study Tools
tool bar gives you access to a dictionary and a thesaurus; lets you add a
bookmark, text, or voice note to the document; and allows you to highlight
selected text using brightly-colored “markers.” You can spell a word aloud
or break it into syllables. With the List feature, you may bookmark or
highlight selected text on a page, then make a list of those highlights in a
separate document.
The yellow Writing tool bar helps create or edit a document. Our buttons let you cut, copy or paste text, run a spell check, or ask WYNN to find a specific word in the document. The new word prediction feature helps struggling writers and spellers. Students can also create and manage outlines.
Other features include:
Benefits:
1. WebFocus™ Feature: The WebFocus™ feature masks distracting visual clutter, both text and graphics, and aids the reader to focus on important information.
2. Email: Incorporates an address list and numerous standard email features while maintaining WYNN's bimodal approach and visual customization.
3. Outlines: In this mode, text is automatically entered into an outline format.
4. Word Prediction: This feature helps students with writing difficulties by suggesting words during writing exercises.
5. Standard and Basic Dictionaries: A Basic dictionary has been added to WYNN that offers more simplified definitions.
6. Recursive Dictionary: Users can look up a word within the definition or the synonym list.
7. Broadcast Settings: The Broadcast Documents feature allows a teacher to send a document to numerous students. Broadcast Settings allows the teacher to select specific settings for multiple students.
8. New OCR Engines: The user may now choose which scanning engine is most appropriate for each specific document.
9. Styles (bold, italic, underline): Users can now add the attributes Bold, Italic, and Underline to any text in the Text View of documents.
10. Pronunciation Dictionary: Use the Pronunciation Dictionary to correct the pronunciation of words in WYNN.
11. OCR Correction: This feature allows users to correct any errors that may occur during scanning.
Network WYNN: WYNN Wizard and WYNN Reader are now available in a network version.
System Requirements for Use with a PC
| Computer Type | Pentium™ PC at 233 Mhz or higher |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Microsoft Window NT version 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows ME. |
| Video Display | A VGA video card and monitor, running at 800x600 resolution and high-color 16-bit mode. |
| Memory | 64 megabytes of RAM |
| Hard Disk | 200 MB available for program (plus additional space for document storage) |
| Media | WYNN ships on CD-ROM |
| Microphone | Included, for voice annotations |
| Recognized File Types | WYNN can open and read ASCII text, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, HTML, and many more file types |
| Speech Synthesis | WYNN ships with IBM’s ViaVoice Outloud speech software to make your PC speak. To use ViaVoice Outloud for speech synthesis, you need a sound card in your computer. WYNN also supports most SSIL speech synthesizers, including DECtalk. |
| Supported Scanners (for WYNN Wizard) | See our scanner information page |
| Warranty | 30-day money-back guarantee, 1- year warranty |
| Optional | A modem, DSL, or network connection, plus an ISP (Internet Service Provider) for access to WYNN's new Web-browsing and email features. |
Find out how WYNN has helped some users...
“I use WYNN in the classroom for all my reading. It really helps me
understand more. WYNN reads slower than my teacher. I hear what its saying
and I understand the story. . . I think WYNN would help everybody, not just
kids with reading problems. It really helps me.”
—Ashley, a 6th
grader has been using WYNN for two years.
“I used to consider myself dumb,
because I’d get nervous when it came time to read aloud. Sometimes the kids
bugged me because I didn’t know how to read. . . But when I read with WYNN,
I really understand and remember. Now I love reading.”
—Matt, a 6th
grader, has been using WYNN for two years
“WYNN is quick to install, easy
to use, incredibly simple to teach, and user friendly. With WYNN, the
educational process is just pure pleasure. This is something that every
student needs to have.”
—Terry Hogart,
Educator
“I was introduced to WYNN
through San Jose State’s Disability Resource Center . . . With WYNN, I am
able to write my ideas down, go back, listen to them and make corrections .
. . WYNN makes it easy to write, and allows me to multi-task. It makes me
more productive.”
—Aaron, 26, senior
at SJSU
“We have many students using
WYNN at different times during the day. These children have a reading
deficit, which makes reading laborious for them. There are three ways WYNN
helps my students. It helps them complete their tasks faster, helps with
grades, and it helps with their self-esteem. WYNN is a revolutionary
product.”
—Bina Varughese,
Coordinator of Educational Services
“I like the simplicity of the
product. It’s very straightforward and very easy to use. With WYNN, you can
focus on the student’s strength while supporting their area of need. It’s a
diversified product that doesn’t need to be narrowed down to attention and
learning problems.”
—Rick Goldman,
Educational Consultant.
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