Fact: there are only 218 shopping days before Christmas Day 2008.

So why mention this in May? The answer is that any supplier wanting to source products for Christmas 2008 should have done so already.

Perhaps we are a little late getting organised but it’s certainly not too late for us to jump on the bandwagon. We’ve had a lot of guidance from Karen our toy supplier, and based on her recommendations we’ve pre-selected four electrical soft-toys that we’ll switch adapt for Christmas 2008. We’ll be taking delivery in four months and they’ll appear on the Dream-Racer web site in September alongside the three switch adapted toys available now.

These are the four we have selected:

The first is “Hip Hop Randy”. He is around 35cm tall and plays “Hip Hop Jingle Bells” while his arms, hips, mouth and head move.

The second is Storytime Bear”. He is around 40cm tall and his head and mouth move as he reads the Christmas story “Twas the night before Christmas”

The third is Goober. He is 33cm tall. His bells light up and his arms move up and down as he sings “Jingle Bell Rock”

The fourth is a “Rotating Christmas Tree”. It is around 35cm tall. As it rotates, it plays “O’ Christmas Tree” and bulbs on the branches light up.

Leave us a message if you are interested and would like to reserve one.

Mike

About a week ago I described a new project we had underway called "Domino". Just to recap, Domino is a large button, switch adapted, TV remote designed for people with limited hand and finger movement or those that have difficulty seeing and using a remote with small buttons.

Development work is complete and it has been CE certified.

Over the next three weeks we will be gearing-up to produce Domino for sales in June.

Although we started out with the idea of producing a TV remote Domino is able to do much more. It can learn the infra-red (IR) codes of most TV, DVD, video remotes on the UK market. In addition, it can learn the IR codes used to control, for example, automated doors and windows plus many other IR adapted environmental equipment found in the home.

We plan to produce a range of Domino-IR devices including a version for Sky, Sky Plus and Freeview receivers all with large button layouts to help navigate the on-screen electronic programme guide these systems use.

The change over from analogue to digital TV broadcasting in the UK will have a significant impact on how viewers watch TV. All users – disabled as well as able bodied – will need to select TV programmes and schedule recordings using an on-screen electronic programming guide, or EPG for short.

Anyone using a Sky or Freeview set top box will already be using an EPG accessed through the remote that came with their receiver.

But, individuals with limited hand and finger dexterity will likely find it difficult to press the small buttons on standard remotes and, instead, may prefer to use an adapted device to operate their TV and Sky or Freeview receiver. Moving to an on-screen electronic programming guide will likely make it more difficult for these individuals to access their favourite programmes.

To address this issue we have started work on a switch adapted, larger button, remote that will help disabled individuals work the EPG on their digital TV, Sky, Sky Plus, or Freeview receivers and recorders.

We’ve called the device "Domino". Over the next month or so we will complete the development work and CE testing. Our goal is to have units available commercially in time for the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

These are pictures of the working prototypes we have built so far. Both are programmable infra-red units that can "learn" the codes from an existing controller. Any standard 3.5 mm switch can be connected and used in preference or alongside the big Domino buttons.

The unit pictured left can control six functions on four separate devices such as TV, DVD, video recorder and satellite receiver. The unit pictured right has a dedicated layout of the main buttons found on a Sky Box.

I’ll describe their functions and operation in more detail in my next post.

Mike