Uncategorized

Dear Speakeasy Members,
Today is an historic and exciting day for Speakeasy.
I am pleased to announce that Speakeasy has been acquired by Best Buy, an
innovative and growing Fortune 100 company and the top consumer electronics
retailer in North America. This is a significant milestone for our company
as our new relationship will help us realize our goals of becoming the No. 1
provider of voice and data solutions to small businesses. It is important to
note that though Speakeasy will now be a wholly owned subsidiary of Best
Buy, we will continue to operate as a standalone, independent operating
division with headquarters in Seattle.
Speakeasy will be an important part of the Best Buy For Business service
that delivers simple, reliable, and affordable technology solutions to small
businesses. Speakeasy's array of broadband voice, data and managed services
offerings will be the focal point of the Best Buy For Business
communications solutions.
This agreement is a major step forward for our company. While our business
remains strong, our relationship with Best Buy provides us with additional
resources and brand recognition, while opening new sales channels which will
dramatically accelerate our growth.
Best Buy, like Speakeasy, is known for its high level of customer service.
Our reputation as a trusted provider of voice and data services with stellar
customer service will not change. Our values are similar too — Best Buy
shares our customer passion, respect for individuals, and drive to do the
right thing while achieving results.
All aspects of your service will continue to be managed by Speakeasy and the
excellent service and support you expect will continue uninterrupted.
Best Regards,
Bruce Chatterley
President & CEO, Speakeasy, Inc.

GENERAL INFORMATION
What are Best Buy and Speakeasy announcing today?
Best Buy has agreed to acquire Speakeasy, a privately-held voice and data
solutions company based in Seattle, WA. Speakeasy will be aligned under the
Best Buy For Business (BBFB) unit, enhancing Best Buy's technology portfolio
and ability to help small businesses improve their productivity and cut
costs.
Why is Best Buy purchasing Speakeasy?
Speakeasy is a highly regarded voice and data services provider with
national coverage whose values align well with those of Best Buy. Best Buy
is seeking to accelerate the growth of Best Buy For Business (BBFB) by
providing core communications solutions for small businesses. Speakeasy's
array of products offer a simple, understandable value proposition to small
business owners, and gives BBFB the opportunity to build and maintain a
regular, recurring relationship with customers.
Who is Best Buy? Where are they located?
Best Buy Co., Inc (NYSE: BBY) is one of the nation?s leading retailers of
technology and entertainment products and services. Their mission is to give
customers great experiences – whether they are shopping for consumer
electronics, home-office products, entertainment software and appliances, or
using those products and related-services in their homes or offices.
Best Buy's corporate campus is located in Richfield, Minnesota and it
operates over 1,150 stores across the U.S., Canada, and China.
Why would a retailer buy a technology company?
One of Speakeasy's core product offerings is Voice over IP (VoIP), which is
becoming a popular choice for small businesses who seek efficient and
cost-effective telecommunications services. Best Buy For Business' mission
is to deliver simple, reliable, and affordable technology solutions to small
businesses. A product offering such as VoIP, which has immediate compelling
appeal to most SBs based on cost savings and simplicity, is an attractive
value proposition that allows Best Buy to round out its solutions menu for
small businesses.
What is Best Buy for Business?
Best Buy for Business is an operating unit within Best Buy, which has the
mission to deliver simple, reliable and affordable technology solutions to
small businesses – a segment of the enterprise population which Best Buy
feels has been traditionally underserved by providers. BBFB is meeting the
technology needs of this underserved population, providing solutions through
its retail store locations direct sales channels, and via the web at

www.bbfb.com
Why did Best Buy create Best Buy For Business (BBFB)?
Best Buy started BBFB out of its customer centricity work, recognizing that
while small business owners were shopping its retail stores as a general
consumer, small businesses have different needs and deserve to be treated
differently. For example, a small business may need business-grade
technology such as a server or an IBM ThinkPad, and may require different
pricing and payment options.
Will the Speakeasy brand be integrated into BBFB?
In the short term, the Speakeasy brand will remain unchanged. Speakeasy has
earned its reputation in the market as an excellent provider of
business-grade VoIP and data services, as well as its high-touch customer
service.
What are details of the Best Buy and Speakeasy agreement?
Best Buy has agreed to acquire Speakeasy, a privately-held voice and data
solutions company based in Seattle, WA. Speakeasy will be aligned under the
Best Buy For Business unit. Speakeasy enhances the communications portfolio
of Best Buy For Business with its voice and data services.
It is important to note that though Speakeasy will now be a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Best Buy, we will continue to operate independently and the
excellent service and support you expect will continue uninterrupted.
How will this change affect my service?
There will be no change or interruption to your existing service or level of
customer support. All aspects of your service will continue to be managed by
Speakeasy.
What is the benefit of this agreement?
The immediate advantages for Speakeasy and our customers is that we're
backed by an innovative and growing Fortune 100 company who shares our
values and reputation for quality and customer service.
Best Buy For Business and Speakeasy will be able to provide more services
and products to help grow your business and meet your needs. Best Buy For
Business provides reliable and affordable technology solutions and the
addition of Speakeasy will only help enhance this mission.
How will Speakeasy be managed?
Speakeasy will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Best Buy and will be aligned
under the Best Buy for Business unit.
Speakeasy will continue to operate independently and our corporate offices,
management, employees and customer operations will remain in Seattle.
Speakeasy's partner sales and support team will not change.
©2007 Speakeasy 1201 Western Ave. Seattle, WA 98101 1-800-556-5829

1. There is absolutely no JAWS functionality.  The computer is silent and has become an inaccessible paperweight.
2. Starting Narrator results in constantly studdering speech.
3. Key presses do not work at all as expected.  For instance, pressing the Windows key to open the Start menu causes it to quickly appear and disappear.
4. Forcibly shutting down and restarting the computer is the only way to regain control.
5. I have experienced this issue on at least two different systems. 
6. It has been happening on JAWS 8.0, but also in previous versions, such as 6.2 and 7.1, but at a much lesser frequency in those older versions.
7. The issue is not observed if other screen readers, such as NVDA, System Access or Window-Eyes are running when I walk away from the computer.  In all such cases, the computer remains accessible and completely usable as expected upon my return.

I woke up this morning and things were not good at all from a visual perspective. Everything was very dark, even inside the house. I thought it was a very cloudy day when, in fact, the weather was clear and sunny. After about three hours of it I finally called my retinal specialist. A little over an hour later, I was in his office. He told me the bad news. There is some new scar tissue pulling on my retina. It is starting to detach again. I saw this same doctor just two days ago, and all was fine then. Amazing how quickly things can change with the eye.

So, tomorrow morning at 9:00, I’ll be undergoing my second eye surgery in less than three weeks. Though the cornea remains in good shape, the retinal surgery will be much more complex this time. Another vitrectomy will be performed, along with membrane stripping and replacement of the vitreous with a silicone oil to insure the retina remains attached. Despite the fact that no cornea surgery needs to be performed this time, this operation will last longer than the previous one. It was an hour and a half last time. This time it will take about two hours.

Coming right up on Main Menu in less than 40 minutes, Larry Skutchan from APH will talk about the Icon, BookPort II and many other interesting topics. Don’t miss it!

Here’s a quick reminder to check out Petro’s Podcasts covering the use of the very accessible Replay A/V and Replay Converter applications.

Hello everyone. This is just a quick update. I’m not doing so great today. I decided to do laundry this morning. It is the first time I’ve ventured outside completely on my own for a significant length of time. Sadly, my adventures resulted in disappointment. Though I do have a great deal more vision in the very right side of my eye, the rest of my visual field is just as cloudy, or maybe even worse, than it was before surgery! The results are just way too distorted to be usable. I feel like this situation is much worse than what I had before in many respects. I hope to get some answers when I see the retinal specialist who performed that portion of the operation. That’s coming up on Tuesday the 13th.

On Monday, Feburary 26, I underwent surgery to transplant the cornea and repair a retinal detachment in my right eye. The cornea transplant, my fifth, went very well and I required less retinal surgery than originally expected. The Vitreous was removed, the retina repositioned and lasered back into place. No silicone or other materials needed to be injected into my eye, so the Vitreous will be able to grow back unimpeded.

I am now healing, but there is one concern. When I look out the very right side of my eye, I can see quite clearly. The vision seems to be clearer than I have ever experienced in the past. Unfortunately, I can’t keep my eye in that extreme position for more than about half a second. Otherwise, my central vision seems much more cloudy. The surgeon who performed the cornea transplant portion of the operation says all is going very well, and this issue may be due to the optical characteristics within my eye caused as the cornea changes shape during the healing process. I have seen the cornea specialist three times since surgery. This coming Tuesday I will have a follow up with the retinal specialist, whom I will also consult concerning this issue.

I was able to stay with Jeff and Keri Bishop down in Tucson for almost a week after the surgery. Keri helped me with administering the ointment four times a day as prescribed. Since my return home, Jessye, a junior student at the ASU College of Nursing has been administering the ointment, which has now been decreased to twice per day in the morning and evening. I am thankful to Jeff and Keri, as well as Jessye and the nursing college for their assistance. That’s about all I have to say for now. The pain is very minimal and, overall, my sight is better than it was before the surgery.

As of February 12, 2007, Plustek has released an updated driver for the OpticBook 3600 scanner, adding support for this innovative book edge scanner to run on Windows Vista. This is great news!