Mantis Q40 getting text to speech

One of the things I actually really like about my Mantis is that there are no speakers. I like having just Braille, I see no need for speech output. When I got my Chameleon, TTS was the first thing I disabled.

I am curious. Doesn't it get tiring to pres the keystroke, feel the line, read what it says and repeat?

I couldn't imagine doing that on the internet, now if it was a multy lined touch display where you could tap a link to click it and so on, i'd be all over that but this, I just find the idea to be very long.

Now then, Bingo's Brailliant is the best product in the world. I would say it beats the Mantis in being smaller and having text to speech. I'm neutral over Braille versus qwerty keyboard but obviously, a Braille keyboard that's nice and uncramped still takes up a lot less room than a qwerty keyboard with the same attributes.

I do like the text to speech facility we have on the brailliant; but I don't use it all that much. I might use it now and again. If I'm reading a long document on the way to work, I might use it as reading via synthetic speech is quicker. However, I'm more likely to be reading said long document on my iPhone as most of my professional paperwork is stored in the Cloud. Still, speech is one of those things I find it's really nice to have if I want. I daresay I'd use it more if I could read my newspapers on the brailliant.

Which brings me to my next point: Olly, don't get excited about libraries. we in the UK cannot use the online libraries to which the Brailliant has access. i daresay the same will be true of the Mantis. That is, unless they add any new ones.

I absolutely do not want any internet and email capabilities on my Brailliant! It's the best product in the world because it's low tech and doesn't suffer from the identity crisis from which so many notetakers suffer. A stopwatch and countdown timer? absolutely. A way to open Powerpoint slides without converting them to PDF first? Definitely that would be very useful. A way to translate Docx files to BRF files with the formatting preserved and? Bring it on, old lad! A simple spreadsheets app (KeySpread)? Great, but probably impossible given all the sorting and filtering Excel can do. But email? Internet? media player? Cloud services? No! No! No! The Brailliant is a business tool with a noble purpose, and noble purposes deserve not to be diluted.

Olly, that last couple of sentences was rather disturbing. Sorry sorry: those last couple of sentences were rather disturbing. Yes to lots of apps. No to going online! as I explain on another thread, one of the reasons I'm allowed to use the brailliant for work is that it can't go online and be meddled with by all those hackers who want to read Bingo's BRF files.

Is it really that easy with US Bookshare? there was an email service back in the day, Pakistan Mail I think it was called, that advised you to make an alternative email address up if you didn't have an alternative email address. that's right, folks, this was the official line! Is it really that easy with US Bookshare?

UK Libraries have been coming to the Brailliant since the Brailliant was invented. They're not here yet and, with all due respect, I won't live forever...

I clean forgot to add that those last couple of sentences of yours put me in mind of something that might help - something which, indeed, you might already have tried: ever had a chat with Mia on Chat GPT? She's the life coach. I had a jolly old chinwag about whether to aapply to become associate professor of law, or associate professor of academic leadership. She was ever so helpful. A mate of mine has had plenty of deep and meningfuls with Mia, so I'm sure she'd at least talk to you about your kiss and cuddle problem.

Bookshare is available globally, including in the UK, so you don't need to lie to gain access to the service. Please note that I'm referring to the standard Bookshare site and associated apps for braille displays, not the spin-off RNIB Bookshare Education Collection.

and, you have to get some supporting letter from a health professional saying that you're a bleeder. Post-Covid, you're doing well to be seen (other than remotely) by a health professional, let alone getting them to write something for you! I'd take the RNIB Newsagent stuff on the Brailliant over a glass half full UK Bookshare library.

The RNIB also ships an SD card full of books to us. It's no Bookshare substitute but there's a lot of interest on that SD card. Hopefully they'll get to downloadable BRFs from Reading Services in fairly short order. Meanwhile, I do like having all those books on my Brailliant.

I've got to say I share the same curiosity as Brad about how efficient it is possible to be with a braille display and a computer. I laid hands on a couple of braille displays at Sight Village earlier this year for the first time. So I believe they tend to have buttons you press with your thumbs to go backwards and forwards. So typically would you get into content you want to read, then use those buttons so you can keep your fingers on the braille? I suppose in terms of writing braille, maybe you just need to be good at typing so you don't have to pay so much attention to reviewing it as you go along. Which counts me out I reckon.

Am I right in thinking that most, if not all, braille displays have their own software built in. I've often wondered why there isn't a braille display that has no software and just sits next to your existing keyboard and can be used with a screen reader only. Maybe one that could clip onto the bottom or something to stop it moving around. Why do they need built in keyboards at all?

Do they all have built in software because using a full-blown computer is painful and that simpler software on device works better?

Also, the Mantis does seem very over-priced compared to, say, the Orbit Optima which is a more modern, Windows laptop with the display and interchangeable, modern components. But maybe the value comes in software more specifically tailored to braille?

Apologies I know I'm sounding as ignorant as I am. I'd love to be able to have something like this to play around with, but I can't justify paying so much money for something I know I will struggle to use. Hopefully someone can educate me.

And one thing - @ollie - I say this a lot so apologies for being boring, but if you had a little bluetooth numpad you could stick it next to the Mantis and use it one hand to do most things you need to on the Mac, whilst keeping your left hand free for the braille. In which case, maybe I've just answered my own question.

If I were to have a braille display, I would want it to be just that, a braille display. The keyboard functionality, whether it be braille or Corti, would be for writing from the display itself. I think of this more like streamlining your workflow. If you have the display attached to a computer, you have your main keyboard there, and really wouldn't need the keyboard on the braille unit itself, however if you are using a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet, the keyboard might be handy for efficiency sake.
However I feel that the more functionality they pour into a braille display device, the bulk gear it will be. I would love to have a braille display that was sleek, lightweight, and conveniently portable. Rather than having to lug a brick around all day.

Having said all of that, does anyone remember the Braille Edge by HIMS? That, was a sweet machine.
It did have several applications, besides the display itself, has a Perkins keyboard, and also has Bluetooth capability. Not sure if that fits under Bingo's "no no" list.

It seems most displays think they have to be more than displays now. If they have a book reader it does give the advantage of a portable book reader and not draining your phone battery at the same time. But otherwise they try to hard and I don't find it all that useful in a professional setting. Perhaps more so in an academic setting, e.g., for students.
The closest thing to display only is currently the Focus line as far as I know. The 5th gen does have some book reader and a notepad on it but that is all. I still have an older Focus, 3rd gen I think? and it has absolutely nothing other than it can connect to one USB machine and one Bluetooth machine and switch between them. I wish it had more Bluetooth connections (the 5th gen has 5) but otherwise it suits my Windows powered office needs perfectly.
Yes a display tailored for laptops which in my mind would basically mean as slim as possible to try to clip on the front or over the top of the touchpad would be welcome. I don't need the Perkins keyboard when the full one is right there. I think that HandyTech used to have one like this called the Braille Wave if memory serves. I don'tthink it exists now so much not have been popular enough, or it was too before its time as I think it was before the MacBook Air style slim laptops of today.
Note though it is critical the display have navigation keys that can be used without moving the hands from the dispaly. To this end, the Mantis and Brailliant need a couple more keys than they have. I ended up writing some JAWS scripts to add more modes to the two end thumb keys for my Mantis that by default only move by line. (I added tabbing and move by heading modes.) I wish I could do this for iOS but VoiceOver doens't provide sufficient scripting customization abilities to do stuff like this. And anyway, Humanware has room for a couple more thumb keys and a key on each end of the display too which would make navigational life a lot easier. Funny the product designers didn't call me for my input!

Yes, it has always amazed me that braille displays come with built in keyboards. Most of them have braille keyboards. That just seems to take up more space.

I use the display from an old Pacmate device. The PacMate was one of those Windows CE OS devices that was supposed to be a portable notetaker. When at work, I did use it that way at meetings, but used a standard braille display at my desktop computer in my office.

Now I have just the display part of the PacMate hooked up to my desktop computer at home with a standard QWERTY keyboard sitting in front of it. Works great with a PC since it is easy to use standard Windows navigation and screen reader hotkeys. I never type in braille.

BTW, I believe that many braille displays do have a mode where it will automatically scroll the display if you are reading long pieces of text. On my PacMate, there are little wheels on each side that enable you to quickly scroll through a document. But being hooked up to my PC, I always use the QQWERTY keyboard to scroll through documents and rarely make use of the wheels or navitgation buttons above the braille display.

Anyway, would be nice to see devices that were just braille with no frills just like sighted people have displays without a keyboard hooked up to them.

Maybe the thought about bundling braille displays with extra software is that most of the cost of the displays are associated with the braille, while software is practically free an upgradable. Then the manufacturers can tout the differences in their displays and easily modify their function without having to make new hardware.

--pete

I prefer braille no takers. Or, I could use a display, but it would need to have at least some form of functionality that my, younger brain would be used to. Not full on braille sense android 12 like, just you know, text to speech, FM radio, word processor, and music player. Just on a display, with USB c charging and a Usb a plug to plugg in my USB drive.

Presumably if you don't have a software suite built in, then the device itself becomes cheaper to produce because it doesn't need as much processing power to handle all the extras. A software suite is also not free as it requires development. I guess Orbit and Humanware and whoever else are having to build those tools anyway, but I guess each device will have its own requirements.

If the braille display was the only expensive bit then qwerty displays would surely not cost much more than perkins versions which doesn't appear to be the case.

A while back, the guy leading the Optima project was on Double Tap and he gave a very passionate interview where he was saying that the problem with braille note takers is that kids at school can learn braille on these devices, but as soon as they go out into the wider world of work they are faced with something entirely different and have to re-learn it all. Whereas the idea of the Optima is that you are learning one thing with multiple applications.

I've found the comments here really interesting. There is definitely a lot to be said for a device that does a small amount really well rather than having that does absolutely everything but with much more complexity, and where its core is not something built with us as the prime user.

I do love the idea of being able to use a computer quietly. Audio is fine for the most part, but I often mishear things and there are some things I really struggle with, such as punctuation heavy coding. I remember on Friday my dog was just barking and barking and I was trying to concentrate on something fairly complicated at work, and after a while the voice of the screen reader just became another noise and I just wanted the world to just shut up and let me think. It doesn't happen often, but the thought of just being able to read quietly does really appeal, even if it's something that may always remain a bit of a dream.

Problem is braille devices are just too expensive to buy one and see if it becomes useful.

I love the idea of a Braille display without any sort of keyboard for use with a laptop, or even with the iphone now that BSI has recently improved so much. You could really slim down your setup with something like that. I'm not a power Braille user, and I know other people may use the built in functions more, but I almost always have mine connected to either my phone or computer, so really the only functions I need are using it as a display. You could actually maybe do it so that you could pair a stand alone keyboard, either qerty or perkins directly to the display if you wanted to use it for a scratch pad function or something.
I think there have been some 80 cell display only products, but I wonder why nobody has done it in a smaller, more portable form factor? I think it would be brilliant.

The Brailliant form factor, the Bi-20X (20 cells) I have is basically that yes: a slab of plastic which seems thicker than necessary, Perkins keyboard, five keys on the front. The Mantis Q40 is the exact same thing substituting the QWERTY keyboard on top, which makes it deeper. I've not seen the 40 cell Brailliant but given the pattern here I think we can draw a safe conclusion. I do like those metal cases, the HumanWare Braille Connect 12 was one of my favorite form factors of all time. It was all metal including the keyboard which had depressed set keys which allowed it to slip into a pocket easily. Wish they'd bring that back with a 20 cell version. Oh also, it did nothing at all except connect via Bluetooth to a host.

slightly, folks; slightly. I do not want a Braille display that does nothing but hook up to the laptop. no no no. I want what I essentially have - the brailliant. that has a basic wordprocessor, a basic BRF editor, a book reader, a calculator, and pretty much naught else apart from the ability to connect to the iPhone. I'd like a timer, stop watch, the ability to open Powerpoint slides but essentially a very basic (by the standards of today) notetaker. See my post to the other topic about Braille computers where I reference the pad and paper theory...and a pad and paper, with those additional features I've just listed thrown in, is what I want.

What's wrong with a Braille keyboard? I use it to write in Braille, you know. Can't really do aught else with it. The Brailliant is, honestly, the best product in the world.

12 cells is too few. 40 too many for true portability. 20 about right. The Brailliant would fit in my pocket if I hadn't encased it in an Executive Products or whatever they call themselves now case. That case is fantastic what with it's zipper pocket for headphones and its excellent shoulder strap which allows one to read and write while standing and while walking.

I also have a Focus40 5th gen. Bit too basic to meet all the needs of the Pad and Paper theory -or should that now be refined to be pad and paper plus? the plus would be my enjoyment of the book reader and calculator.

Anyway, the debate continues. I have written this contribution on a full-sized qwerty keyboard, incidentally. I revel in being contrary.

The Brailliant Bi-20X shares software with the Mantis, so you will have a near exact experience in managing connected devices from the Mantis to the Brailliant. The Brailliant is also just as slow at booting.

iPhone!! Now all that just for Braille? Never used one and manage well with my iPhone. Braille is a must to learn but never needed it when working as a social worker.

I can give you a use case where, as a social worker, Braille might well have made things easier for you.

Barrister Bingo: now, Holger, could you please turn to page B366 in the bundle?

(Holger searches for B366 using the find function.)

Barrister Bingo: paragraph 10, please. Now, that is an account you gave of the contact visit you attempted to make to Mr Jones on 4th April, is that right?

Holger: yes.

barrister Bingo: would you care to read the last three sentences of that paragraph out to the court?

(Holger listens to the last three sentences as they are broadcasted to him by the screen reader), then repeats what the screen reader has said out loud.)

Barrister Bingo: forgive me, but that is not what it says, is it?

Holger: it is.

Judge: read it again, please, witness.

Holger: oh, no, sorry, it isn't.

Barrister bingo: very well. would you please read the final three sentences of that paragraph?

)(Holger does so).

Judge: witness, you really cannot carry on in this way...do you not read Braille? The Court does not have unlimited time.

I find the connection time and the start up time on the BI20X absolutely fine. I don't know whether it's quicker than the mantis as I don't have one so cannot make them have a race - although if I did, I now would as it seems rather a splendid idea. But, as I say, it's fast enough for me. In fact, it's Brailliant.

Funnily enough I've made a similar point to americans on this site before, who go on about putting massive iPhones in their suit jacket pockets. Suits are tailored differently in the UK - I certainly cannot fit my iPhone 16 Pro Max, or my Brailliant BI20X (with or without the case), into a suit jacket pocket. the iPhone does fit into the trouser pocket. The Brailliant without the case would also do so, although in a way that I suspect would not be good for the cut of the cloth. Perhaps Humanware should design a suit that professionals could wear when using the brailliant? It would probably be 4 grand or so.

Can you imagine what TSA checkpoints would be like, if we all had marsupial pouches? 🤣

A while back, I moved from a Brailliant BI 32 to the Mantis Q40. We all have our own likes and dislikes, but in response to the recent points about the Mantis, I thought I would chime in with my own observations.
1. I'm using braille much more since changing to the Mantis and here's why. I will start by explaining that I much prefer a QWERTY keyboard. Actualy I'm ok with direct entry of actual text in braille, but using a computer means I need all sorts of keys like the function keys, and key combinations with the Windows key and/or alt and control. I have never mastered all the braille key combinations to use a computer entirely from my BI 32 with just the eight key braille input. In fact I don't know if it is even possible. So I have always used a QWERTY keyboard for everyday work. I would typically use my laptop, but that means it's always an extra step to pull out and connect the braille display. Then once the display is connected, there's just so much space between my fingers on the laptop keyboard and the actual braille, that it isn't convenient to read. That's typical with laptops these days with a touch pad below the keyboard, and then the braille display keys are below that before the actual line of braille. And it's certainly not convenient to have a separate braille display connected if I'm working with the laptop on my knee, which I often do. So I would often just go without braille. Once I started using the Mantis, I'm using its keyboard all the time, at my desk, sitting on the couch, sitting in a cab etc. The braille is always there, just an inch below the spacebar, which is much handier.
2. When I am at a meeting, I will typically have my laptop with me, switched on but with the screen closed. I'm using the Mantis usually via bluetooth, sitting on top of the closed laptop. I'm also typically using something like the Shokz OpenRun bluetooth headphones for the speech from my laptop. This means I can be fully engaged in the meeting, but with the Mantis QWERTY keyboard if I need to compose anything like a resolution, and I have speech and braille from my laptop screen reader right when I need it. In fact even at home I am typically using the Mantis and headphones via bluetooth, so I am often moving around our living area using the Mantis on different chairs, even at our breakfast bar, while the laptop stays where it is.
3. I like that I can easily switch the Mantis to my iPhone and have instant QWERTY and braille access to that when I need it. I also have my iPhone paired to my OpenRun headphones. So it means I can, and I have been known to, read and reply to an urgent text message directly from my Mantis while still half participating in the meeting. Initially I noticed that if I switched to the iPhone, when I switched back to my laptop running Windows, the Mantis keyboard seemed to remain in IOS mode and was really unusable, and the only way to fix that was to actually completely restart the Mantis, which was rather annoying. But magically, that problem went away when I updated my iPhone to IOS 18. So now it's all good.
4. Because my laptop screen is closed, this switches the screen right off so I get significantly more laptop battery life. I noticed this a couple of years ago when still using my BI 32. A couple of keys failed on my laptop. Rather than send it away to be repaired, because I didn't want to be without it, I bought a Logitec bluetooth keyboard. That's when I realised how handy a bluetooth keyboard is and just how much longer battery life I was getting.
5. If I am working in a taxi or Uber, I will take the Mantis out of my briefcase but leave my laptop in there so I just have the Mantis and my OpenRun headphones out. The only thing to be aware of is to leave the briefcase open so the laptop can still move air to cool the processor if it needs to.
6. I should explain that I really don't use the on board editing and other features of the Mantis. I'm a PC user and all my work is on my laptop. I think this point is significant because it means I have always been more comfortable with a laptop keyboard than a full-size desktop PC keyboard. When I've talked to others about the Mantis, it becomes obvious that some people perceive this the other way. They are keen on their desktop keyboard so they see the Mantis keyboard as a waste of space. That's one reason why they prefer a traditional braille display keyboard, because it's smaller when it sits in front of their desktop keyboard. But the point to understand about the Mantis is, once you get used to using its laptop style QWERTY keyboard, you can think of it as one keyboard and braille display to rule them all. So I now have instant keyboard and braille display access to not just my laptop, but also my partner's laptop if I need to help her with something, and our desktop PCs, all from the same QWERTY keyboard and braille display. It doesn't get much better than that. I'm just not using the keyboards that come with these other machines.
7. I have read comments that some people say the Mantis is cheaply made, or "tacky". I think I understand that, but it doesn't bother me. I'm probably using the Mantis keyboard like eight or more hours a day and it's certainly holding up well. It's very light and easy to use in lots of different situations.
8. One situation when I would use the Mantis entirely on its own would be if I have to deliver a speech. That's when I really don't want anything to go wrong. But here the Mantis shines also because as long as it is connected via USB, it appears as a portable storage unit on my laptop, so I can directly copy my speech to the Mantis without having to fiddle with an SD card. And it's not like the Victor Reader Stream and other similar devices which have to be turned right off and back on again to come up as a storage device. It also makes it easy if I do want to use the Mantis on its own and take notes etc, and copy those back to my laptop later.
9. Oh, and they seem to be using high quality braile cells so the braille is excellent.

So each to their own, but in my view there's a lot to like about the Mantis Q40.

Cheers.

I would not demur from any of your nine points, except with my line manager's hat on when I would be somewhat aggrieved by your texting away when you're meant to be listening to what I'm tellign you in your appraisal meeting! Get back to work! Or is this all done in a sherking from home capacity?

In all seriousness, the killer for me re the Mantis is that the Brailliant is smaller. The fact that it didn't have text-to-speech wasn't a killer for me, though I would rather have it than not; but anyhow, that's now been cancelled out. Being smaller, the brailliant ~Bi20X is a far handier pad and paper, book reader, companion to choir practice, church and suchlike. I can see why having qwerty access really matters if your central use case is hooking it up to the laptop.

I remember back in the apex days, the qwerty Apex was quite often seemingly treated as the poor relation by Humanware. The original keyboard they had on it kept dropping letters. Took them ages and two attempts to fix that. It wasn't unique to my machine - it was a quite serious design flaw. Then there was that bleedin' problem that the keyboard was US english. I had to set up a macro for the pound sign! One also had to set up macros for most foreign language accents. Since UEB came along it is simply much easier, certainly in European languages, to use a Braille keyboard to write in those languages with english as your native tongue.

The UK did adopt UEB before the US did. In fact, they still teach the old style Braille here. That's what I learned, and what I was taught. Unfortunately never got to learn UEB. 🙂✌️

I think it was three years before the US or something like that. anyway, long after Bingo left school. Bingo learnt whatever British Braille code was in force during the 1980s and has had to make the adjustment to UEB during adulthood and by dint of self-directed learning as the educationalists are wont to term it. To be fair, UEB (at least from a literal/basic mathematical perspective) is far less of an adjustment for UK braille users than for those in the US and, I asume, canada.

I do remember at some point in my youth writing a hybrid code all of my own - on account of reading books from the National Library that had been printed in 1917 or some such and which, by dint of their age, used a different Braille code. the differences were subtle - the edwardians and Braille readers of the War years were much more trigger-happy about the use of the EA sign, whereas by the time of Margaret Thatcher it was considered using that sign in the middle of words such as near, bear etc. was bad for fidelity to syllables; and yet I have read written compositions of my tender years during which I embarked on a campaign to resurrect the former practice. There were other examples too - I just can't remember them.

Of course, when I was a lad, uK Braille eschewed capitalisation indicators in literary Braille. I believe you can still suppress them on the brailliant if you choose an historic UK Braille code though I can't be sure as have never done so. Of course, if you do that, note that there is a very important difference between helping your Uncle Jack off his horse and helping your uncle jack off his horse.

You have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Little. While I am in fact a wee bit older than you, you are far more knowledgeable and educated in regards to Braille than I will ever be. As I understand it, and please forgive me if I offend, you have been blind most or perhaps all of your life, while I have been blind for a grand total of 15 years. As I mentioned, I was taught the old school Braille, also known as grades one and two. This would have been in the summer of 2012. I did not even know UEB existed until 2015, when my ((then) fiancé and I moved to another state so she could take a job at that state's department for the blind. She had to essentially relearn Braille, so that she could in turn teach Braille to her students.

Fast-forward about a decade or so, and my Braille reading consist of elevator panels and Office door plates.

I have a brailliant BI40 and I would definitely appreciate email client capability on the device. I hate taking out my phone to reply to my important emails.

More or less related to this thread, but for these libraries like bookshare I heard that before in Canada we had a direct bookshare account, now CELA has these APIs which don't even allow to set the length of the display for brf generated file as I heard bookshare can natively do, and cela even dared to refuse to acknowledge / try to get this working when I politely asked them saying that not many people have the capability to choose their display in the first place. So while I might be tempted by the orbit 20 + or similar braille note taker (not including this one cause I usually have a bad opinion/experience about what end up to be outdated expensive braille note takers) this alone will make me hesitate.
Oh and guess what? I had this in my emails somewhere but the cela guy told me OI can pay usd$50 per year to have my own bookshare account just for that while through CELA I already have the entirety of their catalog.
PS: is it just me or we are getting very close to kvm+braille displays? :)

Not in the least bit offended, even though you have ended my life prematurely...I have not yet been blind all my life. But I have been blind since birth so have far more miles on the blindness clock than you do.

Regarding email clients, the MPower and the apex used to have pop3 email capability. Blimey it was primitive stuff! It used to receive the emails one at a time every time it connected to the server. If you had 28,000 emails, like I did, it wasn't worth the bother. It used to tell you all about the receiving process too: "Receiving 1. Receiving 2. Receiving 3. This email is larger than the maximum 50k size limit allowed; do you wish to continue? Receiving 4. Receiving 5." and so it went on. Of course, with Pop services your email client would normally delete emails from the server as it downloaded them, but I always thought that to be rather counterproductive so I always set it to keep copies on the server. The upshot was a pretty awful email experience, assuming you lived long enough for them to be received. I don't want another email client like that! Indeed, I don't want one at all for reasons articulated variously in my previous contributions hereto.

IMAP mail all the way, down with POP3!

I can't help but observe that Ollie posted his most recent remarks, I think, four times! Or were they his most recent remarks but one? I have not yet done a comparison but while they do all seem to say exactly the same thing, perhaps there are subtle differences in which case, brian, with which comment are you agreeing?

I completely agree regarding the RNIB libraries. Humanware have been saying they're on the way for quite some time now...we're talking years. Hard to know which will arrive first - the RNIB libraries, or Godot?

I was agreeing with Ollie, regarding using iCloud email, as it is I MAP, or Internet message access protocol email, which is email that stays on a server, but that you can access with a third-party application. Much better than Post Office Protocol, or POP version 3, or POP3 email.
As to the multiple posting thing, I believe the Editorial Team is looking into it.

Is why you fail. 😛