Hi all,
Harry here.
My thanks to Dean, at top dot enterprises, for putting this text version of all the issues of the ttt, (the top tech tidbits), newsletter out there for all of us.
Now I'm not gonna send this to the list all the time each week, but since I thought some of you would want to know everything going on im the tech industry, or at least much of it, I thought I'd copy and send it to ya.
You can read it weekly yourself at
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.html
I sure hope I copied that right, and if not just go to the home page at
http://www.topdotenterprises.com
and click on the tidbits page, and be sure and bookmark that so you can read it weekly.
There are 150 issues, so you've got alot of reading to do, but if things interest you, go to the links and read the different articles, or, hear the different audio files that are mentioned.
Harry
Top tech tidbits Text Archive
This was the first issue of tttt to be produced, and should give you an idea of what you'll get when you subscribe. Future issues look much like this one;
despite my prediction below, they're all about this length.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 16, 2004
In this first issue of TTTT, we'll catch up a little on recent news, so this issue might be busier than most.
Jonathan Mosen doesn't get to do as much general technology reviewing as he once did, but he did review the new Google desktop search program, quite favorably.
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?player=2&audioid=Pf8af5d43dc2dce27c993eaa48f4e6685ZV56QlREYmJy&buffer=5&autoplay=1&fcolor=CCFF33&bcolor=FFFFFF&size=20
The folks at the International Braille and Technology Center of the U.S. NFB have created a Gift Guide 2004, published in the November Braille Monitor.
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm04/bm0411/bm041110.htm
Kathy Ann Murgha is offering 25% off her adaptive technology textbooks purchased during this holiday time.
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com
The public beta process has begun for Window-Eyes version 5.0. This version promises improved access to Microsoft Word, access to the popular web browser
Mozilla, a better color dictionary and a more sensible laptop keyboard layout, anong other improvements. For information or to try it:
http://www.gwmicro.com/index.php?showStory=11.
For an audio demonstration conducted by one of the testers, on For the People:
http://gwmicro.com/audio/a-d-11-28-04.mp3
the November, 2004 issue of AccessWorld contains a review of the two systems seeking to make mobile phones accessible to the blind:
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw050604
Users of the Pac Mate can now benefit from scripts designed to make the AIM instant messaging client more accessible. Get the scripts at
http://www.pacmategear.com/files/scripts/AimScripts.zip.
Scripts are also available for the Olive Tree Bible program, at
http://www.pacmategear.com/files/scripts/OliveTreeScriptsV10.zip
A series entitled Talking Turkey about Household Appliances and Consumer Electronics begins in the December issue of the Braille Monitor with a discussion
of the pitfalls of buying usable stoves and ovens:
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm04/bm0412/bm041205.htm.
The same issue contains a discussion of accessible to Microsoft products by Curtis Chong:
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm04/bm0412/bm041206.htm
Moving Mountains Technology is making their easy-to-use Diary 2005 available for free download at
http://www.moving-mountains.com/
A talking dictionary is available from the UK for the cost of shipping:
http://www.rwfts.com/
The makers of the Freedom Box have released a public beta of System Access, a low-cost, new and transportable way to gain access to conducting basic Windows
tasks without a screen reader. To try it, go to
http://freedombox.info.
The Access to Assistive Technology for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004 has passed, strengthening existing ATAP's which are a leading source of
funding for adaptive technology in the U.S.
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060109&Special=33
ACBRadio conducted extensive and historic live broadcasts from the World Blind Union convention in Capetown, South Africa. This material is now available
on demand, at
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=30&MMN_position=41:29
In a recent discussion on one list of the best places to buy compact flash cards, recommendations included
http://www.buy.com
and
http://www.dealram.com/
Finally, JAWS for Windows 6.0 was released on Wednesday afternoon. This version provides Remote Access for Citrix and Terminal Services, new abilities
to customize display of hard-to-read web controls, as well as pdf and Word forms, a demo of Freedom Scientific's daisy reader, and many more enhancements.
http://www.hj.com/fs_products/software_jaws60intro.asp
That's the news for this week.
Feel fre to forward intact copies of this newsletter, so others can subscribe. To subscribe, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] and
reply to the confirmatory message. Aspiring subscribers can also go to
http://topdotenterprises.com/mailman/listinfo/tttt_topdotenterprises.com
To leave the list, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] and reply to the confirmatory message.
If you have a news item, handy web page or piece of software you want to recommend, concerning adaptive technology, technology as it relates to the blind,
or Internet audio, send it to me for inclusion next time.
List archives are available to members at
http://topdotenterprises.com/mailman/private/tttt_topdotenterprises.com/
Inclusion of information in tttt does not imply any endorsement of products or services mentioned, or even that the content of the announcement is accurate.
(Often, I do not verify the accuracy of the announcements.) Having said this, most are accurate and useful.
TTTT is a free service of Top Dot Enterprises, Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, Top Dot Enterprises.
Dean Martineau
Top Dot Enterprises
2219 Rucker Ave #204
Everett WA 98201
(425) 876-4406
[log in to unmask]
http://www.topdotenterprises.com
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 23, 2004
Welcome and joyous holidays to the 309 subscribers who are receiving this rirst issue of TTTT to be sent out to the list. Speaking of our name, it consists
of four T's even though screen readers may only read three of them because of the repeat filter.
There is more news than I expected for this week before Christmas:
Adobe has released version 7.0 of the Adobe Reader, for Windows 2000/XP. This version promises better performance of pdf documents when read with screen
readers.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html#reader70full
Fred Langa, http:/
www.langa.com,
passed on this link for a great article about virtual memory in Windows xp:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm
Jamal Mazrui has assembled the documentation that comes with JAWS version 6.0, along with the latest documentation on the scripting language, into a collection
of text files, available from
http://www.empowermentzone.com/jfw60doc.zip
Mike's Radio World is a worldwide directory of online broadcasts that is periodically updated:
http://www.mikesradioworld.com
In recent discussions of accessible portable mp3 players, positive mention was made of the Sandisk Companion,
http://www.sandisk.com/
and of the players and recorders rendered accessible by the Rockbox open-source jukebox firmware,
http://www.rockbox.org/
A mailing list to discuss Rockbox is available at
http://cool.haxx.se/mailman/listinfo/rockbox
Kevin Doucet points out that If you have JFW a computer and a midi interface you can purchase scripts which make the Kurzweil K2000, K2500 or K2600 keyboards
much more accessible and enjoyable with speach. Read more at:
http://www.keysounds.com/kdr.html
Easy Cd Da Extractor is a cd ripping program popular among many blind users. Steve Pattison points out that an update is available from
www.poikosoft.com.
Freedom Scientific has released MAGic version 9.2, a free upgrade for owners of version 9.0.
http://www.hj.com/fs_products/software_MAG92.asp
GW Micro announced Beta 2 of Version 5 of the screen reader Window-Eyes on Tuesday. They promise even better support for Microsoft Word and many fixes.
It is available from
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
Kathy Ann Murtha is offering a ten-hour seminar for trainers on teaching Microsoft Word 2003 over the weekend of January 15-16, 2005.
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/TeachingWord.html
American Printing House announces Money Talks, an accessible, bank account management software package promiising a wealth of sought-after features, now
available for field testing. To learn more, write to Terrie Terlau at [log in to unmask], or visit
http://www.aph.org/beta.
The makers of the Freedom Box are selling their Key to Freedom, which allows subscribers to run Freedom Box on any computer with a USB port, for $150, twenty-five
per cent off.
http://www.freedombox.info
OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) offers a variety of audio programs in January and February. Individual programs will be announced here as their
dates approach, but if you want to look ahead, go to
http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm
If you want to put the new JAWS custom label function to the test, here's a practical application.
As I was preparing the JAWS 6 update for the audio course on JFW and the web,
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/rww-info.htm,
I took two frustrating web pages and added custom labels to them. One is a bookseller that sells Baha'i and Virtues Project materials that I wanted to
access, the other, a site for a Belgian monastery requested on a mailing list. The former was illegible using JAWS or Window-Eyes, but quite legible when
I tested it with the Freedom Box. The latter offers sounds of the monks chanting while you browse the page, which didn't compensate for the fact that
the links were unusable.
To see the power of this feature, first visit either or both:
http://store.yahoo.com/imagesintlinc/
or
http://www.monasterechevetogne.com/
(choose English if a list of language options appears.) Feel the frustration.
Now download tryit.zip by choosing this link. Be aware of where on your computer your downloads go:
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tryit.zip
Open the Settings Packager. Hit Control-O to open a file, navigate to tryit.zip and choose it. Once it is open, tab to the list of two web pages whose
settings are contained in the file. Select one or both of them, tab to the import button and press space. You can now close settings packager and revisit
the problem web pages to see the difference in usability.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 30, 2004
A happy and prosperous New Year to all those who use the Gregorian calendar!
Freedom Scientific has released version 7.02 of the OpenBook scanning and reading program. this version promises improved OCR accuracy and many bug fixes.
http://www.hj.com/fs_products/software_OB702.asp
A couple web pages of possible use: Jackie McCraw sent along the link to Ash Grove Audio Book Exchange:
http://www.ashgroveaudiobook.com/
And I noticed that the Online Books Page continues to be updated frequently with new finds:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
For a long time now, Will Smith has been taking some of the daily and weekly publications available on the web, turning them into textfiles, and sending
them free by e-mail to blind users. to get the list of publications, you can send a blank message to [log in to unmask], or write to Will
directly at [log in to unmask]
The Iowa Department for the Blind is applying for a National Institute
on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) grant that will fund a
project to develop training kits for nonvisual access technology to be
used by blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind individuals. They seek letters of support for the grant. For information or to receive a sample support
letter, write to Curtis Chong at [log in to unmask]
Eric Damery of Freedom Scientific wrote to point out that people might be unaware of the power of the new skim reading feature in JFW 6.0. I was; thanks
to him, I am no longer. If you want to read what he has to say, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The PDF-Access Working Group will hold its second meeting at the National Federation of the Blind headquarters in Baltimore, Jan. 11-12. remote conferencing
is being established for those who cannot physically attend. Those interested can write to [log in to unmask] or follow the web site
http://www.aiim.org/standards.asp?ID=24488 .
Experimentation is under way to use MobileSpeak, the screen reader for mobile phones, in conjunction with a camera to provide light and color information
to the blind. You can read about this at
http://www.CodeFactory.com.
Pranav Lal passed this on: Alan Cantor has updated his FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document on Windows keyboard access. While partly an add for his
booklet on the same subject, it contains useful information, and is free:
http://www.cantoraccess.com/keyaccess/keyaccessfaq.htm
CDex is a free cd-ripping program used by many. I, among others, have been baffled by its method for naming files, and indeed by trying to understand and
change where it puts them. Thomas Stivers wrote a coherent answer to these questions, and you can get it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
JAWS scripts are available for Paltalk Messenger, a free chat program, by going to the downloads area at
http://support.paltalk.com.
Jim Snobarger sells high-quality JAWS scripts to enhance access to Sound Forge, a very powerful sound editor. He has recently updated the scripts for both
Sound Forge versions 6 and 7 to script version 6.31, promising new features and corrections.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/scripts.html.
This and numerous other announcements each week came via Steve Pattison: OcuSource calls itself the Vision Impairment Industry Portal. They are conducting
a magnifier giveaway sweepstakes between now and February 13.
http://www.ocusource.com
Freeware: Do you want to easily change settings for your computer's volume control, using different combinations of recording and playback settings for
different tasks? Do you share your computer with others and find your volume changed or even muted when you try to use it? If so, QuickMix is a solution.
http://www.ptpart.co.uk/quickmix/
Winamp is a very popular computer audio player among blind users. Version 5.08 is now available. You can get it, along with other handy software, at
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 6, 2005
The flow of news picks up now that the winter holidays in the Northern hemisphere are passed:
Main Menu is the weekly technology program on ACB Radio. Unfortunately, the web and ftp archives aren't updated too often lately, but the final program
for 2004 is available. It is a 90-minute recording of a panel discussion regarding Intetnet accessibility held at the ICAN Conference in Capetown, South
Africa. Download it at
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/mm20041222.mp3.
All Windows users need to know the methods offered by Windows for selecting text in a document. But some of us still have fond memories of the old days,
when you could press a key, move unhindered to a second point in the document, then hit a second key, at which point all the text between those two points
was selected. Thanks to a couple ingenious macros, anybody can have this capability in any recent version of Word. For step-by-step instructions for
adding this capability to your copy of Word, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The first Wednesday of every month, Talkingcommunities.com presents An Accessible World Symposium, a free online audio event where major players in the
disability field present their solutions to access problems. The next live event will presumably be held on February 2 starting at 9:00 A.M. Pacific time,
17:00 GMRT. In the meantime, archives of the last several seminars, covering a variety of topics, are available at
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/aaw.html.
Project Assist with Windows from the State of Iowa announces the release of two new tutorials for braille-only users: The Microsoft Windows XP with Window-Eyes
4.5 and the ALVA Satellite 570, and The Microsoft Windows XP with JAWS 5.0 and the Braille Lite M40 Tutorial for Beginners. The tutorials are available
in electronic. audio and embossed braille formats. For information, visit
http://www.blind.state.ia.us/assist/order-info.ht
or e-mail [log in to unmask]
Via David Poehlman: An article on audibly playable pc games, and other interesting material, is found at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4112725.stm.
Just as sighted people take lots of pictures when they're on holiday, Jonathan Mosen took some audio snapshots using Power Dictaphone on his Nokia 6600.
To hear the results:
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?player=2&audioid=Pdc1f14b86ce871d78abde28b35403b5eZV56QlREYmF2&buffer=5&autoplay=1&fcolor=CCFF33&bcolor=FFFFFF&size=20.
You can follow his blog, containing both text and audio postings, at
http://www.mosenexplosion.com.
Following up on last week's info about color identifiers, a screen-reader-independent color identifier, and much more besides, can be found at
http://www.seeingwithsound.com.
Darrell Shandrow has started the Blind Access Blog, where he will write articles concerning access challenges and others can read them and also join the
discussion.
http://nu7i.blogspot.com.
Gw Micro, makers of the screen reader Window-Eyes, has implemented a "lease to buy" option, and is testing version 5.0 of the product.
Erik Deckers discusses this in an interview on Soundprints,
http://home.mindspring.com/~mbmccarty/soundprints.mp3.
The link will probably work until Monday, and the interview starts about twelve minutes into the program.
George Bell reminds us that if you ever delete a file in windows xp without sending it to the recycle bin, and then want to get it back, you may be able
to do so with a free utility.
http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/
For those trying to figure out what adaptive technology to buy, Kelly Pierce wrote a series of articles to guide them in the decision-making process. Free
registration is required to read them; they're found at
http://www.esight.org/
Spyware Doctor comes highly recommended for removing and protecting against malware, which can wreak terrible havoc with your computer. the freeware version,
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdsetup.exe,
just removes, while the shareware version,
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/?action=purchase,
$29.95 for one computer, $49.95 for two, provides real-time protection
Here is a link to download scripts which may improve performance of JFW 6.0
with MSN 6.2.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_support/BulletinView.cfm?QC=849
The Jernigan Institute of the National Federation of the Blind seeks participants in a survey concerning performance of blind and visually impaired students
in science and math. For more information,
http://www.aph.org/edresearch/nfbsurvey.html.
Optelec has reduced the price of its Braille Voyager displays. Now the 40-cell unit costs $3,495, and the 70-cell costs $5,995. For more information,
http://www.optelec.com.
Skype is a very popular program among blind and sighted users for carrying on conversations over the net. Version 1.1.0.61 is now out, and can be downloaded
from
www.skype.com.
JAWS scripts for Skype can be had at
www.panix.com/~ccn/projects/jfw/skype.php.
The American Printing House has sold a speech compressor, which allowed you to run a cassette at double speed and compress the speech to make the voice
sound more normal. These units formerly sold for over $100, but they're being closed out, and while they last, you can buy one for $30. You may need
to call to get this price; U.S. and Canada residents can call toll-free 800-223-1839; others, 502-895-2405, or visit
http://www.aph.org.
Kim Komando,
http://www.komando.com,
reminds us of a great site where you can get boot disks for all sorts of operating systems:
http://www.bootdisk.com.
Kim also wrote a piece about how to transfer data between two computers, perhaps your old one and your new one. To read her article, send a blank message
to [log in to unmask]
Will Pearson wrote a brief coherent note on what is required for Java programs to work with JAWS. To read it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
We'll end with three items of particular interest in the U.S. I will happily post items uniquely relevant to residents of other countries if I receive
them:
Users of the Pak Mate Pocket pc device can now download a free Bookshare unpack utility so that they can open books from the Bookshare service without a
pc.
http://www.hj.com/fs_products/PACmate_BookShare_Unpack.asp.
In the course of helping a friend find low-cost dial-up access in the U.S., I asked on a mailing list and got several answers. to read them, send a blank
message to [log in to unmask]
According to this New York Times article, for which free registration is required to read, people in California may be eligible for compensation under the
Microsoft settlement:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/technology/05soft.html?th
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 13
this isn't a buy-sell newsletter, but since it's my newsletter, I can get away with this: I'm selling a Braille Lite 40 in good condition and with a 90-day
maintenance warranty for $1,500; credit card payments preferred. Contact me if interested. Now, on with the news!
The National Cristina Foundation,
http://www.cristina.org/
collects used computer equipment for donation to people with disabilities and at-risk students.
The January issue of AccessWorld contains, among other articles, a comparative evaluation of the BrailleNote PK and the BrailleSense,
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060103,
A review of the Muvo mp3 player,
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060108,
part one of a review of the Mountbatten Brailler,
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060106,
and an account by a high school student of his use of the Pac Mate,
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw060104.
Darrell Shandro has written an article for beginning users of Bookshare describing how to find and download materials from the site. Read it at
http://www.shandrow.com/tutorials/bookshare.html.
It is possible to install Windows xp unattended. You can download the "kit" here:
http://www.jfwlite.com/WinXPUnattendedSetupKit.zip,
and get a thorough list of all the options for the process at
http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/reference.htm.
Jack Lowe posted his own .sif file (minus personal info,) and you can read it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The Associated Blind has created a new blog for discussion of disability-related employment issues under the eSight network. Visit
http://www.tabinc.org/sim/.
The LGVX 4500 is a fairly accessible mobile phone from Verizon. Verizon provides accessible manuals for the phone, but these can be hard to come by. Doris
Fisher has an electronic manual that she has enhanced with information about the key layout. If you want her manual, write to her at [log in to unmask]
Main Menu. the weekly technology program on ACBRadio, resumes next week after its customary January break. It airs on Wednesdays at 1:00 GMT, hence Tuesdays
at 8:00 Eastern or 5:00 Pacific in North America, Wednesday at noon in Melbourne, and then is repeated around the clock for the next 24 hours. The program
thrives on submissions from users, and people wishing to submit reviews or for other questions, e-mail Dave Williams at [log in to unmask] it's
on, you can hear the program at
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=8&MMN_position=14:14.
Continuing the recent trend, Freedom Scientific has lowered the price of their Pac Mate braille displays, reducing the price of the 40-cell unit by 20%
and the 20-cell unit by 30%. The price of the Pac Mate units with 40-cell displays has also been reduced by $200.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Aman Singer answered a question about accessibility of the IPOD and offered alternatives. To read his message, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
You can hear a demonstration of a person using Trekker gps to navigate the streets of Montreal by going to
http://www.visuaide.com/trekker_audio.wmv.
Online games are now available for members of the Freedom Box online community. Check out
http://www.freedombox.info.
Talking Communities has created TCscreen. , TCscreen is an application that will allow you to record audio and video right from your computer. You can
get more information and download a demo at
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/tcscreen/.
We mentioned Bootdisk last week. They put out an excellent newsletter, covering topics discussed in their online forums. to subscribe, go to
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootlist.htm.
Kathy Ann Murtha has added online discussion forums to her web site.
http://accesstechnologyinstitute.com/forum/.
A recent list discussion highlighted the challenges faced by blind folks wanting to pursue genealogy research. A couple web sites where help can be solicited
are
http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html
and
http://www.raogk.org/.
In addition, Kathy Parkinson is willing, "within reason" to do lookups lf census data for interested blind folks. Write to her at [log in to unmask]
OPAL, Online Programming for all Libraries, offers the following audio programs:
Orientation for Participants at 19:00 GMT on Tuesday, January 18:
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1
; The Meting of the Minds Online Book Discussion Group discusses the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton on Wednesday, January 19 at 01:00 GMT:
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1
; the Library of Congress presents a program about presidential inaugurations on Wednesday, January 19 at 19:00 GMT:
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1.
the U.S. tv news program 60 Minutes recently had a feature on Google, the popular search service whose registration process is inaccessible to us. Read
a transcript at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/30/60minutes/main664063.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories.
To read Wednesday's Wall Street Journal article about the ultimate end of open-reel tape, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Jonathan Mosen conducts an audio demonstration of RSS, an exciting technology that brings your favourite news web sites and blogs to you:
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?player=2&audioid=P84829fce335ac18b2ce20e3199f6b00aZV56QlREYmFx&buffer=5&autoplay=1&fcolor=CCFF33&bcolor=FFFFFF&size=20.
Jim Snobarger has a free tool for those who write JAWS scripts that helps script difficult programs. It's called HotSpotClicker, and it has recently been
updated. Read more at
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/HotSpot.html.
Fred Langa,
www.langa.com,
has produced an article about year-end steps to take to keep your computer running happily for the upcoming year. The article, with lots of supplemental
links, is at
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=55800698
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 20, 2005
Top PowerPoint Audio Course, the next course offering from Top Dot Enterprises, is due for release by February 19. The anticipated six-hour audio course
for users of JAWS for Windows and PowerPoint xp and 2003 will be available in downloadable, cd-mp3 and cassette formats for prices ranging from $29 to
$49.
Nearly an hour of audio content has been added to the audio course JAWS for windows and the Real World Web. Updates include a demonstration of new web features
in JFW version 6.0 and a more elaborate demonstration of online bill-paying, this time using Washington Mutual as the example. Information about this
now fourteen-hour course, available for as little as $34, can be had by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The Media Access Group at WGBH offers several update newsletters concerning audio-described movies in theaters and on video, as well as on web access and
educational access. Get the list and subscribe at
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/getinvolved/newsletter-sign-up.html.
Gw Micro has released window-Eyes 5.0 and launched a marvelous lease-to-own plan, allowing people to buy the program in installments.
http://www.gwmicro.com.
Agenda 2005, a very simple 2005 calendar in Word format can be had at
http://www.jfwlite.com/Agenda%202005.zip
Two technology-related articles are to be found in the January, 2005 issue of the Braille Monitor: An Overview of Accessible Technology: Where are we now
and What does the Future Hold? at
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0501/bm050102.htm,
and For the Blind, a Welcoming Web,a reprint from Business Week Online concerning web accessibility, at
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0501/bm050109.htm.
John Mattioli was helpful and knowledgeable, and prior to his death from cancer, worked as a software engineer with Kurzweil. I found an informative post
he wrote a while back on the use of scroll bars in Windows. To get it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Michael McCarty sends along a link to his page, World of Audio, which contains 561 links to radio and tv station streams and other fascinating places to
visit, some of which I had not seen before:
http://www.worldofaudio.net/.
Microsoft falls short of its publicly-touted commitment to accessibility with Microsoft Outlook Web Access. Basic features of this system are usable by
blind folks, but not such 'premium' features as the calendar and scheduler. Darrell Shandrow discussed this problem in the January 14 post to his blog,
http://nu7i.blogspot.com/.
Main Menu, ACBRadio's weekly technology program, returns from break. The program airs on Wednesdays at 01:00 GMT, noon in Melbourne, Tuesdays at 8:00 P.M.
Eastern time, 5:00 Pacific, and is then rebroadcast every two hours throughout the 24-hour period. The ftp and web sites of the Main Menu archive has
been updated. Here are links to some mp3 files you can download or hear: A two-part interview with Stephen Baum of Kurzweil Educational Systems discussing
Kurzweil 9.0, at
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/mainmenu/mm20041110.mp3
and
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/mainmenu/mm20041117.mp3
; Happenings at Dolphin Computer Systems, makers of Hal, Supernova and other products, at
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/mainmenu/mm20041215.mp3
; Window-Eyes 5.0, at
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/mainmenu/mm20041201.mp3
; The Assistive Technology Center, at
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/mainmenu/mm20041124.mp3
; Interviews with non-North American exhibitors at the World Blind Union Conference:
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm197.m3u.
Much discussion has taken place both concerning Microsoft's new AntiSpyware program in general (most reviews have been quite favorable,) and its usability
by blind users (unanimously deemed difficult or impossible to access at present.) Now we have an exchange with Microsoft staff that promises access to
the program by the time it is officially released. To read it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Kathy Ann Murtha has announced release of her PowerPoint textbook through her Access Technology Institute. The cdd, which costs $100, includes print versions
of the textbook in various formats, audio files of demonstrations, a shortcut key reference and subscription to a support mailing list. To learn more,
call the new phone number of ATI, -679-4161, or go to
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/PowerPoint.html.
Anapod Explorer is a program, free trial available, which purports to make transfer of files to and from an IPod very easy:
http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/getanapod.php.
Dolphin Computer Access announces that the version 6.03 of their programs are now available in Spanish.
http://www.dolphinusa.com/
or
http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk/.
http://www.icanworkthisthing.com/
is a site containing accessible manuals for various devices.
Affordable portable speech-output devices are becoming available from two companies. VisuAide produces Maestro, a modified PocketPc device. You can hear
a demonstration of it at 1:00 GMT Friday 21 January, hence Thursday at 8:00 Eastern time or Friday at noon in Melbourne, at
http://www.for-the-people.com/
(free membership in For the People required.) Meanwhile, Optelec is introducing the EasyLink, a $1,595 PocketPc device at the ATIA conference this week.
To read the company's publicity brochure, which isn't even on their web site yet, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Speaking of VisuAide, on Wednesday their merger with PulseData was announced. The new company is called the HumanWare Group.
another product line which isn't quite available yet but shows promise comes from Tactile Dynamics, which has new braille display technology allowing for
more affordable multi-line braille displays. For information about their technology and forthcoming products, send a message to [log in to unmask],
and put trbd as the subject.
Jonathan Mosen conducted a 70-minute, quite favorable audio review of Freedombox 2.0 with System Access, at
http://www.freedombox.info/fb2_review.ram.
And speaking of Jonathan Mosen, it's worth tracking his blog, which often contains technology-related information:
www.mosenexplosion.com.
Read about yet another Internet pitfall, as the Panix.com domain was purloined, by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) offers three programs this week: Introducing to Searching for and Finding Information on the Internet, Monday
24 January at 19:00 GMT, Tuesday 25 January at 16:00 GMT, and Wednesday 26 January at 21:00 GMT; Accessible Portable Playback Devices, Thursday 27 January
at 19:00 GMT; diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis in the
elderly, Friday 28 January at 16:30 GMT. To attend any of these programs, go to
http://www.tcconference.com/lib/?auditorium&nopass_field=1
and enter your name.
Optelec announces a reduction in the price of its ClearView CCTV units for enhancement of reading for people with low vision.
http://www.optelec.com/.
There is an e-mail list for discussing use of Verizon's accessible mobile phone, the LGVX 4500. To join, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
John Wilson sells a set of two 90-minute tapes for computer beginners, among other instructional tapes. He has updated this package with material on Windows
xp. Nis web site containing information about all his tutorials is
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 27, 2005
Don Coco has found a very accessible and powerful sound editor, Wave Pad,
http://nch.com.au/index.html.
to read a short message he wrote about it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The Microsoft Word XP with JAWS 5.0 and the ALVA Satellite 570 tutorial from Project Assist with windows is now ready. To order this braille-related tutorial,
go to
http://www.blind.state.ia.us/assist/order-info.htm.
Last week's audio demonstration of the Maestro Pocket Pc device can be downloaded from
http://www.peepstalk.com/presentations/Maestro%20Presentation.mp3.
Fred Langa, (
www.langa.com,)
has written an article about how to set up a new pc safely and solidly:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57701147.
Fred also recommends a site with extensive information about windows xp:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm.
Another Langa List newsletter provided this link to a page where a person writes for novices on how to convert records and tapes to cd:
http://www.sticksite.com/tape2cd/
As this is a slow week for exciting news, I'm delving into the archives of Amy Ruell's list for useful tidbits. Steve Britt wrote a concise messave on
how to use Mailwasher, a spam-fighting tool available from
http://www.mailwasher.net/.
To get his explanation, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
A few free audio books and book exerpts can be had by visiting
http://literalsystems.org/audio/doku.php.
OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) offers three technology-related programs this week. On Monday 31 January at 19:00 or Tuesday 1 February at
16:00 GMT: Accessible Portable Playback Devices; Tuesday 1 February at 19:00 GMT: Introduction to the Moderation Functions of the I-Vocalize Program; Wednesday
2 February at 21:00 GMT and Thursday, 3 February, at 19:00 GMT: Getting the Most from your PDA. Melbourne is 11 hours after GMT, Eastern time is five
hours before, and Pacific time is eight hours before. To attend any of these programs, visit
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1.
There is also an archive of past programs, including last week's web searching presentation and an earlier dissemination of this week's session for moderators
among many others, at
http://www.opal-online.org/archive.htm.
Listen to ghis week's edition of the Main Menu technology show, a multi-segment edition described on the web site as follows: "From the wBU General Assembly
Christopher Friend, Special Projects Consultant with Sight Savers International, introduces Helen Brasier who speaks on behalf
of the International Federation of Libraries Associations and Steven King who sits on the board of the daisy consortium. We hear about Daisy for All projects
in India and Asia and Dick Tucker tells us about the work of the Force Foundation. Finally, We hear about plans for Vision 2005 which is aming to be the
largest conference ever held on blindness."
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm198.m3u.
Will Pearson sent out information about the purpose and accessiblilty of a Microsoft initiative called Windows Genuine Advantage. To read it, send a blank
message to [log in to unmask]
The Carroll Center for the Blind offers Carrol Tech, a new affordable source for online courses in Microsoft Office applications with speech and
large print access. For information,
http://www.carrolltech.org/classes/open.php.
A simple way to select text has been devised for the NoteTab family of editors, one of which is free. By this means, a user can mark a spot, move using
normal navigation to another spot anywhere in the document, then select all the text between the mark and the new position. To find out about this, send
a blank message to [log in to unmask]
For information about VoiceOver, the new screen reader for the Apple Macintosh due out in the middle of this year, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
KeySoft 6.1 for the BrailleNote family is nearly out, and the HumanWare Group has a website for all things related to this update, including schedules and
features, at
http://www.pulsedata.com/6_1.
Martin Courcelles tells us about
http://www.speechtechmag.com/,
a web site with news about all things related to speech, including mainstream speech developments.
Martin also passed along a novelty link,
http://www.speegle.co.uk/,
a speaking search engine.
A recent Kim Komando Cool Site of the Day was an online spellchecker/math converter/translator site,
http://spellcheck.net/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 3, 2005
Introducing the mother of all autoresponders: As we produce this newsletter each week, we're accumulating a growing collection of informational text files.
Now, you can get a complete list of these by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] I'll try to update this monthly and in any
event, I'll announce when it is updated.
An unfavorable article concerning Google's privacy policy can be had by sending a blank e-mail message to [log in to unmask]
http://www.webgrid.co.uk/
is a well-maintained source for much freeware.
Reginald George sent along a short excerpt of a review of the IPod Sghuffle showing, among other things, that it is totally accessible. To read it, send
a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Jamie Pauls' AccessWatch system is growing. The system features reviews by blind users of off-the-shelf programs. A good number of reviews are on the
site, and they want more. to read or contribute, go to
http://www.accesswatch.info/review.php.
Thanks to Rick Roderick for pointing out that RAIN, the Radio and Internet Newsletter, comes out free each day from
http://www.kurthanson.com/.
Thanks to them I found
www.ccuradio.com,
an online radio service with a good variety of music formats (six different flavors of celtic music among many others!) the unique thing about this service
is that its imbedded player can be controlled with JAWS and mostly with Window-Eyes. (I could change volumes with both screen readers, but only figured
out how to skip songs with JAWS.) The service lets you screen out artists whose music you don't want to hear. Other imbedded players aren't this easy
to use!
If you're in North America or if you don't but have access to low-cost international long distance phone service, you may already know about Tellme, the
free information service at 800-555-8355 (800-555-tell.) If you go to the News Center and then say Technology, you can listen to the daily broadcast of
Chiptalk, a one-minute daily broadcast on technology. All links mentioned in the broadcasts can be found at
www.chiptalk.com.
A short e-mail exchange confirming that one person finds SpySweeper to be accessible with WindowEyes can be read by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
As more and more people use portable gizmos like the IPod, the phenomenon of podcasting is growing too. Not specifically related to the IPod! A thorough
article from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting.
National Public Radio ran two stories on podcasting this week; the summary and link to the audio for the All Things Considered story is at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4472935,
while audio from a Day to Day feature is at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4473787.
Two technology-related programs happen this week at OPAL, Online Programming for All Libraries. Getting the Most from your PDA runs today at 17:00 GMT
and Monday 7 February at 19:00 GMT; a previous airing is already listed in the archive among other programs at
http://www.opal-online.org/archivetraining.htm,
and The
Froogle Online Shopper runs Tuesday 8 February at 16:00, Wednesday 9 February at 21:00 and Thursday 10 February at 18:00 GMT. Eastern time is five hours
before GMT, Pacific time is eight hours before, and Melbourne is 11 hours after.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 10, 2005
We can now purchase Window-Eyes and other Gw Micro products online at
http://www.gwmicro.com.
Also, new Window-Eyes purchasers or upgraders who live in the U.S. and are not already members of the Bookshare service can get $25 off their subscription
to Bookshare.
There is now a mailing list to discuss accessing the web using browsers other than Internet Explorer. To join, send a message to [log in to unmask],
and put the word subscribe in the subject.
Alan Cantor presents a two-part workshop, Gears for your PC: More Speed and Less Sweat with Macros Windows Macro 2-part Clinic, on Thursdays 17 February
and 1 March March at 18:00 GMT. Registering for the free class will also get you links to the recording in case you can't be there for the live version.
Learn more about the class at
http://www.cantoraccess.com/upcoming.htm#easimacros2005,
and register at
http://easi.cc/forms/macro.htm.
A lot of blind folks used to use Apple II computers, and some apparently still do. Jason Smith sends along news of his website devoted to talking Apple
computers, at
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/blindapple.
RWF Software has updated its talking calculator program, available for about 3 pounds 50 or 6 U.S. Dollars. For information, go to
http://www.rwfts.com/
Don Barrett recommends the
http://www.hrblock.com/
site for filing U.S. income taxes, as an accessible site. Meanwhile, Michael Barber finds WebTurboTax, which costs some money, to be accessible:
http://www.webturbotax.com/
I'm a sucker for number and word logic games, so I wasted some time playing Cryple, a free little game where each of the digits from 1-0 is represented
by a letter, and it's up to you to deduce which letter stands for which digit based on aritimetic problems. the game works with JFW and Window-Eyes.
I've prepared a 15-minute audio file explaining it, to justify my wasting time playing it. You can get the audio file at
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/cryple.mp3,
(you might want to right-click and choose Save Target As if your intention is to download the audio file,) and the game from
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/cryple.exe.
Jonathan Mosen reviewed the voice-mail service which is now being tested by the popular Skype chat client:
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?player=2&audioid=P554ba7ce13e919d29e9bb7475d283d48ZV56QlREYmF9&buffer=5&autoplay=1&fcolor=CCFF33&bcolor=FFFFFF&size=20.
The good online radio service I mentioned last week probably didn't work for you, since I mistyped the link. It is
www.accuradio.com.
Living proof of why it is best to copy and paste!
the OPAL program on the Froogle Online Shopper is already in the archives at
http://www.opal-online.org/archivetraining.htm.
You can attend a live version of this training today at 19:00 GMT. A program on Finding Scholarly Information on the Internet will be presented three times:
Monday 14 February at 19:00 GMT, Tuesday 15 February at 16:00 GMT, and Wednesday 16 February at 21:00 GMT. To attend live sessions, go to
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1.
Both JFW and window-Eyes enable us to view our misspelled words as we read through a document, but this doesn't really approach the information received
by sighted users, who can be warned instantly if the spell checker doesn't recognize a word. One free program I know that gives us that functionality
is TinySpell, which puts itself in the system tray and beeps when something you type, in any application, isn't in its dictionary. You can download the
program at
http://www.megspace.com/computers/tinyspell/tisp13.zip
or view the home page
http://www.megspace.com/computers/tinyspell/
If you try it and would find a free audio tutorial helpful, let me know.
Free classes in Window-Eyes will be available online for 12 students. the next class will take place Thursday 17 February at 02:00 GMT. Free membership
in For-The-People is required. To check availability, write to Jennifer Thomas at [log in to unmask]
Audio Enriched Links now works with JFW 6.0! This handy free JAWS add-on lets you look into links on the web which may not speak properly to find out what
the link is really about before visiting it. Under some circumstances, AEL drastically improves access to difficult web pages. You can get Version 1.42,
which works with both JFW versions 5.x and 6, at
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~parente/ael.
Peter Parente invites feedback and suggestions at
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.whatifsports.com
allows visitors to simulate games between any two teams from history in all popular American sports and generate box scores and game recaps.
http://www.sportsjuice.com
streams lots of minor league and amateur American and Canadian sports events. One enterprising, and perhaps too idle, gentleman has simulated an 80-team
baseball tournament, featuring his versions of the 80 greatest teams of all time, and is then broadcasting the resulting games via sportsjuice. The City
of Brotherly Love might (or might not) be abuzz when, beginning Saturday 12 February at 01:00 GMT, he broadcasts the game between the 1980 Phillies and
the 1993 Phillies.
Two search engines that are accessible and could replace Google for some searches are
http://www.answers.com
and
http://search.msn.com/
MSN allows for searching Encarta for free, and answers.com searches dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as the web.
And seconds before this newsletter was to be e-mailed, news came in that Dolphin Systems has released version 6.5 of their screen reader and magnification
programs. New features include fractional magnification, pdf document reading, PowerPoint support, keyboard customization, line view mode, more power
with Internet Explorer, and keyboard layouts for other screen readers. For more information, visit
http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk/
or
www.dolphinusa.com
Remember that in relation to GMT, North American Central time is six hours earlier, Johannesburg is two hours later, and Perth Australia is eight hours
later.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 17, 2005
Do you read braille books on a braille display? If so, you know that braille pages, 40-character lines, and volumes are not really necessary any more.
I've been working (obsessing!) on a NoteTab clip to remove most of these annoyances from books produced by the U.S. National Library Service for the Blind.
I had hoped to post this by today but needless to say, it is proving to be not as simple as I expected. Still, progress continues to be made. If you
would like to test or use this clip when I have it to a point of usability, drop me a note and I'll send it to you. I don't anticipate providing much
instruction in the use of NoteTab with the clip. Or, if anybody has a solution to the small but interesting problem of making braille books more readable
with braille displays, and would like to share it, write as well.
We haven't mentioned The Internet Tourbus here yet. This is one of the most venerable Internet newsletters. Every week, you receive two advertiser-supported
issues with good information on new Internet resources, Internet security and other timely topics. On the web site
www.tourbus.com
you can subscribe, view the current issue and see the archives of all past issues for years before 2005. The 2004 archive was uploaded not long ago and
is a good source of information in itself, since almost all of it is still current.
Users of FreedomBox, including those trying out the system, can take part in a technical workshop on Friday, 18 February at 02:00 GMT in the tech room
of the chat area of the system to discuss feature requests and learn what is planned for the FreedomBox browser and System Access over the next few months.
Thanks to Howard Kaufman: Eto Engineering specializes in selling accessible mobile phones to the blind. their site contains good information for anybody
wishing to learn more about accessible mobile phone options.
http://www.etoengineering.com/vision.htm
For links to daily schedules of audio-described tv programming available on U.S. cable and broadcast television, go to
http://www.tv-now.com/dvs/index.html.
A user recommends Look'n Stop as an accessible firewall; he has used it successfully with Window-Eyes 5.0:
http://www.looknstop.com/En/faq.htm.
A free eighteen-week course on e-book publishing starts on Friday, 18 January at 01:00 GMT, for members of For-The-People. The first session is open to
all, while subsequent sessions require a password which will be provided upon enrollment. For more information, write to Jennifer Thomas at <[log in to unmask]>.
HumanWare announces that new purchasers of any of the BrailleNote family of products during February will receive a free WiFi card. They also announce
the release of firmware Version 3 of the Victor Reader Classic digital talking book players. to learn about all of this, go to
www.humanware.com.
It seems Microsoft has released their old DOS operating system to the public domain, and somebody has made improvements in it. This could provide some
low-cost computer access to some people. To learn about the new DOS, go to
http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/
Michael Damien has written JAWS scripts for a few sound-editing programs and also a package called JFWTechnical, a tool to help writers of JFW scripts.
Check this out at
http://www.kulgan.net/mick/programming/jfwscripts/.
To calculate GMT, Mountain time is seven hours earlier, and Wellington, New Zealand is 13 hours later.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 24, 2005
Jim Fettgather tested the IPod Shuffle and determined that it is much less accessible than I announced previously. You cannot use windows Explorer to copy
music to it; you must use ITunes. You can use Windows Explorer or My Computer to copy files as you can to any thumb drive, but in order to use the unit
to play music, you need ITunes. The shareware ITunes alternative, Anapod Explorer, is supposedly being updated to support the Shuffle.
Speaking of thumb drives, there's an amazing one called MultiPod, which can serve as voice recorder, digital camera, webcam and video recorder. Read the
article from today's New York Times by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] My perusal of the online manual suggests that the product
is probably usable, with some study, by a blind person.
A while back we had a discussion about low-cost Internet access in North america. A resource which wasn't mentioned at that time is
http://www.access-4-free.com/
which gives 10 hours of free access per month, then charges $1 per hour up to a maximum of $10. You get no ads, and they have lots of access numbers.
A perspective on accessibility to the two U.S. satellite radio providers is found in The Voice of the Nation's Blind from the NFB, at
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/61/satellite-radio.
Two other technology-related articles in that publication: A Personal Assessment of the BookPort,
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/109/book-port-a-personal-assessment,
and an overview of the Maestro,
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/106/maestro-an-overview-of-visuaides-new-accessible-pda.
Consumer tips and microwave recipes are the most recent content additions to the FreedomBox Network,
www.freedombox.info.
A review of Trend Micro Internet Security 2005 from the accessibility standpoint is found at
http://www.accesswatch.info/reviewdisplay.php?pid=0000000036.
Jamie has also added an audio demonstration of how to submit a review to AccessWatch, at
http://www.accesswatch.info/accesswatchreview.m3u.
An announcement appeared on Hotmail today stating that new Hotmail or MSN accounts will no longer be accessible via Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express,
and presumably any POP3 e-mail client. Existing accounts can still be accessed via POP3, but Microsoft is promoting its Microsoft Office Outlook Live
e-mail service.
Two Seattle area radio stations could be of interest to people worldwide. KBCS has recently added a broadband stream as well as a dial-up one. They play
a wide variety of jazz, folk and world music. The homepage is
http://kbcs.fm/.
KSER also pays a wide variety of music. Fans of novelty music such as is found on the Dr. Demento Show will appreciate Music with Moskowitz, a two-hour
program on Saturdays at 19:00 GMT. You can e-mail requests to
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Requests. The home page for KSER is
http://www.kser.org/.
Several audio programs in wide use by blind folks came out with updates recently. Winamp, the popular audio player, is up to version 5.8E, and one place
to grab it is
http://www.mrimpau.com/winamp508e_full.exe.
Nero Burning ROM, a popular cd-burning program, is up to version 6.6.08; check the home page at
http://www.nero.com/
(One user reported that this version improved accessibility.) Total Recorder, from
www.highcriteria.com,
my favorite program for recording Internet audio streams, reached version 5.1. Finally, the popular sound editor GoldWave is now at version 5.10, from
www.goldwave.com.
to read a lengthy article from the February 19, 2005 New York Times concerning the phenomenon of PodCasting, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Speaking of blogs, David Facheux, who runs an audio blog, will give an audio presentation on blogs for OPAL on Wednesday 2 March at 01:00 GMT,
http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1
One of the upcoming online audio clinics offered by EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) will be a day of presentations from the upcoming major
CSUN technology conference. These presentations will take place throughout the day on March 17 beginning at 16:00 GMT. to read what will take place and
to register, go to the main Clinics page,
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm.
One user reports that she has bought e-books from
http://www.wiley.com/
and is able to read them successfully with Adobe Reader version 7.
Two programs have been added to the Main Menu archive. An interview with the Huge Print Press streams at
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm200.m3u,
and a discussion of blogging using blogger.com streams at
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm200.m3u.
Jamal Mazrui has converted the documentation for several programming languages to plain text and has made zip files of these collections available. to
read a list of what he has and how to get these free downloads, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 3, 2005
Tom Fowle provided information on two hardware braille-style keyboards you can buy to connect to a pc for braille keyboard input. To read the message,
send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Two standard games are now usable with the Pac Mate: Battleship and Jawbreaker. For information, go to
http://www.pacmategear.com/.
MarvelSoft has released Talking Toolbox, a package that includes e-mail client, addressbook calendar, calculator, word processor and cd player. For $75,
it is designed to make computers easy to use and accessible to new users of all ages. For information, go to
http://www.marvelsoft.com/.
The daisy format is becoming popular for the creation of electronic books. There was recently a mailing list thread on how to create daisy books; to read
it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Stephen Manes writes technology columns for Forbes Magazine. To read his assessment of the Dragon Naturally Speaking program for voice input in its current
version 8, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
For recording audio streams from the Internet for later listening, some users recommend ReplayRadio from
http://www.replay-radio.com/.
The latest edition of the Main Menu technology program to appear in the archives features an interview with Mike Calvo of Seratech, makers of the Freedom
Box:
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm201.m3u.
Speaking of the Freedom Box, they now allow two computers per one account with a small additional charge:
www.freedombox.info.
Richard Seltzer has for some time been selling cd's and dvd's filled with text books. All the material he sells is freely available on the net, but he
organizes it and reformats some books to make them easier to read. His collection is constantly growing. He also makes his own writings and other text
available from his page,
http://www.samizdat.com/.
Once stories have aired on many U.S. National Public Radio programs, they are available indefinitely in the archive. An item during 26 February's Weekend
Edition featured the DVS recording of the film Ray and a discussion of Descriptive Video Services. You can listen to the feature and see some related
links at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513781.
Miranda is a popular instant messaging client, and JFW scripts for it are available at
http://jbauer.port5.com/.
Owners of Index braille embossers can download version 4.10 of the free braille translation program WinBraille from
http://www.indexbraille.com/downloads/index.htm
Stephen Manes from Forbes has written a Ten Point Plan to Protect Your Computer. To read it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Easy CD DA Extractor is a cd ripping and audio file organizing tool popular among many blind folks, though not free. Version 8.0.2 is now available at
http://www.poikosoft.com/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 10, 2005
As subscribers, you know you can grab Tidbits issues from the archive, but the process is rather cumbersome, so I've decided to make quarterly files available.
To get the collection of the first thirteen issues, over which time our readership has trippled, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] I've
also updated the master list of all the autoresponders you can send for; to get that, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Speaking of items like the one above, I like to use autoresponders. That's the word for these e-mail accounts that send you back an article. They're the
ultimate in simplicity. Two tips: Since they're auto-responders, you don't need to put a subject line or anything in the body; the system doesn't care
and doesn't read the message or the subject, it only cares about the address. And if you use ZeroSpam filtering service, they won't work.
A company called Issist has released a beta of IZoom version 1, a free screen magnifier for Windows xp. Learn more and get it from
http://www.issist.com/.
The March, 2005 issue of the free magazine AccessWorld features, among other articles, a review of the IPod, a tour of Audible.com, a review of two flat-panel
cctv's, and an update on accessible cell phones. Get it at
http://www.afb.org/accessworld.
Beth Hatch reports that users of the U.S. cable internet service Comcast have a better alternative when trying to access web mail and other information
from the home page. Screen reader users may want to go to
http://www.comcast.net/lite.
The FreedomBox Network now includes an option to receive tv listings in your local time zone for a large number of cable networks.
www.freedombox.info.
Kathy Ann Murtha of Access Technology Institute has produced a limited-edition dvd of all her textbooks. The dvd includes updates as they appear, but only
40 will be made, and it costs $300. To see if it's still available, go to
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/dvd.html
A poster recommends the programs at
http://www.processtext.com/index.html
for performing many types of conversion from one file format to another.
HumanWare Group announces that the latest version of the Maestro portable pocket pc device now supports two off-the-shelf infrared keyboards. Read about
this at
http://www.visuaide.com/news_keyboards.html
The Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference at CSUN comes up soon, and you can look through the extensive list of presentations and read abstracts
at
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/2005/proceedings/csun05.htm.
Kelly Ford wrote a short note explaining how to configure Mocrosoft Office Outlook 2003 for best results with adaptive technology. You can read it by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask]
A user recommends a site for hearing music from the 50's through the 70's:
http://www.goldradio.net/.
ScanSoft announces that a public beta of version 2.0 of Talks accessibility software is available. This version adds access to the web browser on Nokia
Series 6 handsets and GPS navigation with Wayfinder (primarily useful in Europe at present.) Technical notes for the beta are found at
ftp://ftp.audiolife.de/technical_notes_199_9.doc.
A recent discussion thread on pc-audio discusses using the free Cdex cd ripping program to convert wav diles to mp3. Read it by sending a blank message
to [log in to unmask]
In response to a search for a way to locate all the mp3 files on a computer, Kelly Pierce recommends MAC, Mpeg Audio Collection. Get this free program
from
http://mac.sourceforge.net/.
For those whose needs are greater, Kevin Lloyd recommends Audigen from Red Chair Software.
Darrell Shandrow is trying to spur a grassroots campaign to encourage Google to provide a visual alternative to their visual verification scheme. Find
relevant information at his Blind Access Journal,
http://www.nu7i.blogspot.com/.
Optilec announces that it is now partnering with Technologies for Lifelong Independence (TLI) to sell bundles of Nokia phones with TMobile service and the
MobileSpeak access software from Code Factory. To learn more, go to TLI's web site,
http://www.independtech.com.
Reginald George sent along a rather technical article about one person's discovery of how to track pc's on the net. Get it by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
In a recent discussion of how to normalize mp3's, to make sure the sound level is constant, two users recommend Mp3 Gain, freeware from
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/,
as doing this better than utilities found in other programs.
In the constant quest to make Ipod and IPod Shuffle more accessible, a user mentioned XPlay, a $29.95 add-on from
http://www.mediafour.com/products/xplay/
which supports the Shuffle.
I wrote a post explaining how to follow a hyperlink in a Word document. Obviously, you can't press Enter! To read it, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Venerable and powerful St. Louis radio station KMOX, whose format is news-talk, will begin streaming on the Internet on Monday at
http://www.kmox.com/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 17, 2005
This week, when the CSUN conference takes place, is one of four main times throughout the year access technology companies target for news releases. Some
of our news results from those efforts.
We have two audio feeds to choose from for information from CSUN. OcuSource and Talking Communities are combining to provide interviews from the exhibit
hall today, Friday and Saturday. For information, http://www.ocusource.com/ocusource/index.cfm?page=csunlive. Marlaina Lieberg is sending numerous audio
reports of activities for ACBRadio; many are online now and more are sure to come, at http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=35&MMN_position=49:49.
Optelec announces that they plan to begin shipping MyLink in the fourth quarter of 2005. this will be a series of products combining off-the-shelf portable
information management with universal
wireless connectivity, giving the user both on-board PDA functionality and limitless opportunities to connect to a variety of wireless devices. The series
of devices will use Pocket Hal screen reader and a mini-cell braille display from Optelec.
In an interesting announcement, GW Micro, maker of the Window-Eyes screen reader, have announced that they will market and sell the Braille Sense, a portable
braille unit made in Korea which allows for multitasking, connectivity and word processing. Learn more about the device at http://www.braillesense.com/.
John Wilson announces a 70,000+ word tutorial, "Accessing the Internet from
the Keyboard" Volume 2, for those wishing to get into the more
exciting and challenging aspects of the Net. Among other topics this tutorial contains long sections on using RealPlayer version 10, using Skype for Internet
telephony, using MSN Messenger, and online banking. Get all details at http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard.
The HumanWare Group has made two announcements of products to come. They say they'll begin shipping a new Daisy book reader/cd/mp3 player, the Wave, in
June. Read the release at http://www.visuaide.com/news_wave_en.html. In may, they plan to ship an integrated package consisting of the Trekker gps system
and the Maestro pda. Read about this at http://www.visuaide.com/news_trekker_maestro_en.html.
Ironically, this week of future product announcements also saw the final end of TeleSensory, once a major player in the adaptive technology field, which
closed its doors for financial reasons.
Freedom Scientific has streamlined its website (available through many Urls, but my favorite is www.hj.com,) and also announced the release of MAGic version
9.3, a free upgrade for owners of version 9.x. Read about this at http://www.hj.com/fs_products/software_MAG930.asp.
Radio Reading Services, found throughout the U.S. and in some other countries, are services for the blind where newspapers, magazines and books are read
on a schedule, usually by volunteers and usually over closed-circuit systems. A good number now broadcast via the Internet. Some broadcasts require registration,
not usually difficult to do, and some do not. One that does not is the Iowa Radio and Information Service (I.R.I.S.) On Saturday at 14:00 and Sunday
at 06:00 GMT, they broadcast Chips and Bytes, a program from In Touch Network in New York where articles from current computer magazines are read. their
web site is http://www.iowaradioreading.org/.
Find information about all the Radio Reading Services you can hear online at http://www.iaais.org/hearservices.html.
A tip from the Optelec newsletter informs us about Teleflip, a free service that lets you send text messages to any U.S.-based mobile phone number via e-mail.
You write e-mail to [phonenumber]@teleflip.com, and the user gets a text message. www.teleflip.com.
The AccessWatch Review System version 2.0 now lets users receive e-mail alerts when new reviews are added. There are audio tutorials, and submitting a
review is easier. the site is at http://www.accesswatch.info/review.php.
Jim Snowbarger has released a major upgrade to his free HotSpotClicker JAWS scripts, which allow you to define places on the screen to be clicked with the
press of a hot key. Very useful for those hard to adapt applications. For more information, visit:
personal.adiis.net/snowman/HotSpotClicker.html.
The easiest way to access KMOX radio's internet stream, and many others, is through links provided by Bill Sparks at www.billsparks.org.
The March, 2005 issue of The Braille Monitor contains two technology-related articles. Why I Bought a PAC Mate, http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0503/bm050309.htm,
and Clarification from Curtis Chong's E-mail Basket, http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0503/bm050310.htm
The link to Darrell Shandrow's Blind Access Journal from last week's newsletter may be inaccurate; use http://www.blindaccessjournal.com/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 24, 2005
Top PowerPoint Audio Course will be available during the coming week. To learn about this most affordable course for users of PowerPoint xp and 2003 with
JFW 5 or 6, available for as lissle as $19, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Sound Computing Magazine will be relaunched in April! Subscribers who pay $9 for this online publication will receive 50 audio articles: product comparisons
and evaluations, mini-tutorials and reviews. The first article to appear will be a head-to-head comparison between JFW 6.0 and Window-Eyes 5.0 in providing
access to Microsoft Word. To learn more, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Shaun Everiss points out that Adobe has released version 7.01 of their Acrobat pdf creation tool and, more pertinent to most of us, of Adobe Reader. http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/7x/7.0/enu/AdbeRdr70_enu_full.exe.
ScanSoft has announced the release of the "screen reader" for mobile phones, Talks Version 2. Read about it at http://www.scansoft.com/news/pressreleases/20050315_talks.asp.
This year more than ever, we from around the world who didn't get to the large CSUN conference can experience much of it via the net. Five presentations
and their accompanying papers are found on the EASI site at http://easi.cc/csun2005.htm. A presentation which billed itself as a comparison between Pac
Mate and BrailleNote, but which is really an enthusiastic piece by a Pac Mate owner, can be heard at ftp://ftp.freedomscientific.com/users/hj/private/WebFiles/media/BrailleNote-PACMate-ComparisonMP3.exe.
Marlaina Lieberg made great recordings and held great conversations, available for the listening on ACBRadio at http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=35&MMN_position=49:49.
Lou Pipschultz of OcuSource and the team from Talking Communities combined to make several hours of interviews from the exhibit room available, archived
at http://www.ocusource.com/ocusource/index.cfm?page=csunlive. Finally, a presentation about the computing option JSay, using JAWS and Dragon Naturally
Speaking, can be heard at http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/j-say.html.
Gw Micro has posted a Frequently Asked Questions document and a pre-release version of the manual for the Braille Sense portable device. Read them at http://www.gwmicro.com/braillesense.
A new issue of the long-running Audyssey Gaming Magazine for the Blind is available. All issues can be read at http://www.angelfire.com/music4/duffstuff/audyssey.html,
and the current issue is at http://www.angelfire.com/music4/duffstuff/aud43.txt.
You can read a short e-mail thread about games for a new gamer by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Wired magazine recently had an article about gaming by the blind, entitled The Blind Fragging the Blind, available at http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,66879,00.html.
Version 1.2.0.37 of the popular voice chat program Skype can be found at http://www.skype.com/.
Information about the Navigator, a GPS device from Poland, is now available in English at http://www.migraf.pl/.
An article about the dangers of unprotected computing, and another one about about the growing danger of worms lurking in files sent via instant message
programs, can both be had by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Accessibility evaluations of Spybot Search and Destroy Version 1.3, Bible Gateway, Dictionary.com and JSay Standard and Professional have been added to
the AccessWatch site. Read these and more at http://www.accesswatch.info/.
Martin Courcelles recommends SciTe for anybody looking for an accessible and versatile programmer's editor. http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html.
Jim Snobarger has created JFW scripts for the new version 8.0 of the Sound Forge audio editor. Read about and purchase the scripts at http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/forge80.html.
OPAL presents an audio presentation, Introduction to Tumble ebooks and digital audio books on Wednesday March 30 at 17:00 GMT, http://www.tcconference.com/lib?auditorium&nopass_field=1.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 31, 2005
Top Dot Enterprises now accepts PayPal for payments for subscriptions, audio courses and training, to [log in to unmask]
Reviews of Encyclopedia Britanica 2005 Online Edition and XPlay 2.1.2.0 have been added to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info.
Karen Kenworthy distributes several small freeware programs and puts out a weekly newsletter, Karen's Power Tools Newsletter, in which she discusses updates
to them. The March 24 issue contains what she learned from Michael W. Lawler of Gw Micro concerning the right tab controls for programmers to use for
screen readers to access them. As a result, she has updated several of her programs to make them more screen-reader friendly. You can read the newsletter
issue by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask], and visit her page to subscribe to the newsletter or get the programs at www.karenware.com.
The ACBRadio web site contains an article about how to use the popular free audio player Winamp with screen readers: http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=36&MMN_position=50:17
Fred Langa has written an article on how to use two little-used windows features, My Briefcase and Offline Files: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159905095.
A frequent question posed by new users is: What is a good program for burning cd's. One fairly consistent answer is Nero, from http://www.nero.com/. A
Window-Eyes user recently recommended B's Recorder, for which a demo is not available, from http://www.bhacorp.com/.
If you already have Adobe Reader version 7 and want to get the latest patch, you can get it from http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/7x/7.0.1/misc/Acro-Reader_701_Update.exe.
In the OPAL archives, you can listen to a round-table discussion about digital audio books at http://www.opal-online.org/DABdiscussion200503.wma, and the
introduction to Tumble E-books and digital audio books, http://www.midtb.org/tumbleintro20050323.wma.
The issue of Main Menu which will air on Thursday 7 April at 01:00 GMT will be two-hour special in honor of the fifth anniversary of the program. Check
out the various listening options at www.acbradio.org, and remember that in much of North America, where daylight time takes effect this weekend but GMT
doesn't move, ACBRadio programs will begin an hour later than they have for the last half-year.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 7, 2005
Alva has produced a version of their MPO5500 specifically designed for the deaf-blind. Read about it at http://www.alvampo.com/.
Version 1.1 of iZoom, the recently-launched free screen magnifier program has been released. Investigate at http://www.issist.com/.
From recent issues of the Bootdisk newsletter come links to some useful KnowledgeBase articles from Microsoft: How To Customize the Windows Explorer
Views in Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307856; You Cannot Open New Internet Explorer Window or Nothing Happens After You Click a
Link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281679; How to Troubleshoot Issues with Reading CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD Discs: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321641;
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310560; HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting
in Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316434. And a great language site, http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html. The whole site can
also be had, through a link at the bottom, as a giant text file ideal for use in notetakers old and new.
mp3DirectCut is a small tool for editing mpeg audio directly. You can remove parts, change the volume, split files or copy regions to new files. All without
the need to decompress your mp3 into pcm/wav. This saves work, encoding time and disk space. And there is no quality loss through any re-compressions.
Version 2 beta is available at http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/mp3DirectCut/1010041409/1. Audio help files in zip format are at http://home.comcast.net/~musicmaker365/mp3directcut_help.zip.
Alasdair King of the University of Manchester in the UK has produced WebbIE, a free talking web browser. He has also produced three other small programs:
Accessible BBC Radio allows you to choose any current bbc broadcast from a list and listen to it with RealPlayer. Accessible Listen Again lets you choose
archived broadcasts from Radio 4 from a list and listen. All this can of course be accomplished from the web, but this is an easier way. Also, Accessible
RSS is an rss reader. Find out about, and download, all these at http://www.webbie.org.uk/download.htm#accessibleradio.
The Firefox browser is becoming quite popular. Computer science students at the University of Texas developed some JAWS scripts for it. Unfortunately,
development stopped at the end of the university term, but they are available at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/s2s/latest/jaws1/home/index.shtml. Gw
Micro states that window-Eyes will support Firefox in its next release and when the next version of Firefox comes out, in the next few months.
A review of QWS has been added to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/.
Following up on last week's game information, Bill Boules reminds us about Chillingham, from BaviSoft, http://www.bavisoft.com/.. Another reader mentioned
poker and crazy
eight's, free for the first month, $7 per month thereafter, with simultaneous chat: http://www.allinplay.com/
Project Assist with windows of the Iowa Department for the Blind is offering a train the Trainer workshop for assistive technology trainers in the U.S..
Download an application for the free training at http://www.blind.state.ia.us/assist
The presentations made during the April 6 Accessible World seminar are already in archives. Presentations were The Better Business Bureau, The Many Facets
of OcuSource, Freedom Scientific Braille Displays, and Innovative Rehabilitative Technology. Listen, and check out previous months' programs at http://www.talkingcommunities.com/index2.htm.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 14, 2005
This week's Main Menu reported that Window-Eyes now supports the latest version of the instant message client, MSN Messenger Version 7. However, JAWS won't
support it, and JAWS users are advised not to try using it, until JFW 7.0 comes out sometime in the summer.
Fred Langa's latest article for Information Week is entitled "Test and Tune your Online Connection," and offers tips and testing sites for users with dial-up,
dsl, cable and t1 connections.
According to the press release at
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/voiceover/,
the long-awaited Mac OSX Tigre, the new Apple operating system that promises a free and fully-functioning screen reader will be released on 29 April.
In an acquisition which we hope goes better than the last one, Kurzweil Educational
Systems, makers of reading systems for the blind and learning disabled, has been acquired by Cambium Learning, an education company with a strong commitment
to creating useful educational materials for all people. Kurzweil will remain an independent company under this umbrella.
John Wilson announces that he has updated his Microsoft Excel 97-2003 and Microsoft Word 97-2003 From the Keyboard tutorials to incorporate commands for
JFW 6, Window-Eyes 5, and HAL 6.5. Learn about these and all his tutorials at
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard.
JAWS for Windows version 6.1 is out. The program offers better support for foreign languages, support for Pac Mate Desktop with which Pac Mate users will
be able to operate their computer remotely once the next version of the Pac Mate firmware is released, and various other enhancements. Find out about
it at
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws610fea.asp.
The foreign language support stems from the fact that JFW now supports Unicode. Information about this can be found at
http://www.unicode.org/,
and the site for looking up Unicode characters, so you can modify how they are treated with speech or braille, is
http://www.unicode.org/charts.
John Tisinger tells of a site for those who love oldies:
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/.
We have talked about Podcasting a few times, but never from the perspective of a blind user. Now Debbie Krafts has written about it and described how she
accesses the huge and growing amount of downloadable audio material you can get this way. To read what she wrote, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Fred Langa recommends a large page at
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mrscary/winupfaq.htm
because it contains a huge list of tips related to the windows Update process.
When Gw Micro was developing Window-Eyes version 5.0, they uncovered various problems with Microsoft Office which impeded accessibility. Microsoft developed
some "hot fixes" to solve these problems. Now, these "hot fixes" are incorporated into the standard security and update process for Office users, so there
is no longer a need to download special hot fixes. The dlownloads are available at
http://office.microsoft.com/.
Miranda is a multi-messaging program, allowing users to access accounts on MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, IRC and ICQ with one program. Get it from
http://www.miranda-im.org/,
and get JFW scripts for it at
http://jbauer.port5.com/.
As part of a recent discussion of what to do when the computer locks up and screen readers don't work, Vic Pereira wrote a brief piece from the standpoint
of the Window-Eyes user. The w in his example refers to Window-Eyes. You can read it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 21, 2005
Welcome on this, the beginning of the most important festival of the Baha'i year!
Do you ever wish you could change your keyboard layout, perhaps creating a start menu key on a laptop that has none, or simply move keys into more sensible
places? Keytweak is a great free tool to achieve this. Its use is not elementary, but the 20-minute article in Sound Computing will get you started effectively.
You can get this and 49 other audio articles by subscribing to Sound Computing for $9.00 to learn more, send a blank message to [log in to unmask],
or visit http://www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm.
Dave Porter presents Burn-it Rip-it, How to Create your own Cd Library, archived at Talking Communities, http://www.talkingcommunities.com/edu/archives/burit-ripit-2.htm.
Jim Snobarger has released JAWS scripts for the sound editor Sound Forge version 8.0. http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/forge80.html.
EASI presents Maximizing Accessibility in Academic and Public Libraries, today, 21 April at 20:00 GMT. The event will be archived, so register or read
more at http://easi.cc/clinic.htm. they will also hold a four-part series on library accessibility which will cost $95 during the month of June.
the same people that bring us Accessible RSS now offer Accessible Podcaster, an easy program for collecting podcasts. http://www.webbie.org.uk/download/AccessiblePodcasterInstaller.exe.
A user reports that it is possible to remove spyware manually. Go to http://www.safersite.com/ and type in the spyware you want to remove and you will
receive directions on how to proceed.
BlindSoftware.com has released their Talking Clock featuring clock, big ben chimes, atomic clock sync program and reminder system. It costs $14.95 from
http://www.blindsoftware.com/program_detail.asp?id=33.
Reviews of Real Alternative version 1.35, MSN Messenger 7.0, Audacity version 1.2.3, Complete Cleanup version 4.8.1 and Hoekey version 1.13 have been added
to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/. Jamie has announced that the person submitting the 100th review will receive a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com.
You can hear the ACBRadio coverage of Window-Eyes at the recent CSUN conference by going to the Gw Micro audio page, http://www.gwmicro.com/audio.
Optelec announces that EasyLink, a pda with a wireless keyboard, is now shipping. http://www.optelec.com. They also announce that in May, they will begin
shipping a Pen Drive from Dolphin, which will enable users of any of Dolphin's access products, such as HAL or SuperNova to temporarily install their screen
reader on any computer.
Freedom Scientific encountered some glitches with its release of JFW version 6.10, so they released an updated version on April 15, which installs over
the other one. http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws610fea.asp
The Web Accessibility Toolbar, provided by the Accessible Information Solutions (AIS) team at the National Information and Library Service (NILS) , Australia,
lets users render web pages more accessible and helps developers create accessible pages. Read about it and download it at http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 28, 2005
Two messages to readers:
I'm headed out of the country for three weeks. I expect to have e-mail, so barring big problems, you'll get newsletters on Thursdays. However, for several
reasons, I'm going to leave all the mailing lists at home. Hence, if you're on a mailing list, and somebody gives a good answer to a question, or you
get a useful piece of information, please forward it to [log in to unmask] Subscribers will appreciate it!
Second, there is at least one ISP that blocks this newsletter. If you know somebody who has mentioned not getting these every Thursday, have them contact
me. In the same vein, if you tried to get some material from an auto-responder and it didn't work, contact me about that as well.
More reviews of off-the-shelf software have been added to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/. This week's additions include TinySpell version 1.3,
7zip version 3.1.3, System Security Suite version 1.04, Complete Cleanup 4.8, Bible Seeker version 2.1, Miranda IM version 0.3.3, BSC Talking Clock version
1.0, and Freedom Chat version 1.6.
Jeff Bishop has started an e-mail list to discuss podcasting, both how to broadcast and how to find and gather podcasts. To join, write to [log in to unmask]
ACBRadio has launched the ACBRadio Replay Service, which lets you listen to the programming for ACBRadio Mainstream for any of the previous seven days.
Main Menu, the technology show, is aired on Wednesdays, so to listen to the current week's edition, go to the Replay link off the Mainstream page at
http://www.acbradio.org/ and choose to replay Wednesday.
The IPod Shuffle Database Builder is an opensource project that eliminates the need to use the ITunes software, which is marginally accessible, with the
IPod Shuffle. Read about it at http://shuffle-db.sourceforge.net/.
Speakup version 2.0, a screen reader for Linux, is available at http://linux-speakup.org/.
Gw Micro announced their Lease to Own program for window-Eyes previously, but apparently it is really available now. Purchasers pay $50 for the first month,
then $100 for additional months until they have paid $950 or $1150 depending on how many upgrades they want to purchase. More information about this innovation
is at http://www.gwmicro.com/lto.
EASI Publishes Information Technology and Disability. Here is a link to Volume X of the journal: http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itd10.htm. One of the subjects
of that volume is accessible electronic voting, and EASI will have a free web conference which will include three authors from the Journal articles. The
conference will take place on Thursday, 12 May at a time which was not announced. If you register, you can either attend live or access the recording
later. http://easi.cc/forms/voting.htm.
http://www.publicradiofan.com offers a wealth of links of public radio programs from around the world, sorted in many ways.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, May 26, 2005
I'm home, with some temporary limitations due to health problems in the family.
I have the impression that few if anybody received Tidbits issue 21 from May 5. I'll paste it at the bottom of this message.
Some list member contracted a worm and as a result, since that person had many auto-responder messages stored on their hard drive, lotsof messages appearing
to come from various Top Dot Enterprises addresses went out to lots of other places, with many resulting bounces for me. I do mean lots of bounces!, very
annoying when you pay per minute for dial-up access as I did on this trip. ! One reader was somehow apparently affected; I hope others weren't!
I will be in Flint Michigan from June 5-17, so if you need affordable training or computer set-up services, let me know.
Onward!
Ann Morris points out an addictive game to play on the web, 20Q, from http://www.20q.net/
From Tourbus, we learn about a useful search engine, Exalead, which has search functionality not found in more common search tools. With it, you can do
proximity searching, use phonetic or approximate spelling, use word truncation, and, for real advanced users, regular expression searching. http://www.exalead.com/
A review of GMud version 32 has been added to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/.
The May 2005 issue of AccessWorld contains a report on the CSUN Conference, a review of Pac Mate, a discussion of how to customize windows for low vision
users, a discussion of the merger of HumanWare and PulseData and reviews of two more mobile phone products. http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp.
A clear article about pdf files and how to use them, Pdf Survival Guide, is found in Voice of the Nation's Blind, http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/135/pdf-survival-guide
We in the U.S. are losing some of our low-cost options for Internet access, but some still remain, outlined at www.emailaddresses.com/email_internet.htm.
Freedom Scientific announces the release of a Universal Remote Control program for the Pac Mate, FS Commander. It lets users control all their remotes
with one accessible system. http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/PACmate_FSCommander.asp.
The Education technology Group at the Chronicle of Higher Education has launched a free service, the Wired Campus Blog, at http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/.
You can subscribe to an e-mail version at http://chronicle.com/infotech/newsletter/newsletter.htm, and an RSS feed is at http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/index.rdf.
What Works in the Real
World will be a conference aimed primarily at RehabilitationTeachers, and will take place in Las Vegas from July 5-7. For information,e-mail B.T. Kimbrough
at [log in to unmask]
The April 2005 Braille Monitor contains an e-mail exchange between Chrtis Chong and a Microsoft staff member regarding present and future accessibility:
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0505/bm050508.htm.
If you live in the U.S., you can join Bookshare, and can receive some recently-added technology-related books, including Windows Xp, the Missing Manual,
Outlook 2003 Personal Trainer, and more.
Now, the repeat of the May 5 issue, the only one produced during my trip:
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, May 5, 2005
NO NEWSLETTER NEXT WEEK. Internet access isn't too great where I am now, and next week, it will vary from scare and expensive to non-existent.
ACBRadio has launched a beta of their Podcast feed, allowing hyou to easily download prpgrams to an mp3 player and otherwise listen to them away from the
computer. You'll need a program designed to grab podcasts, such as IPodder, http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/download/index.php, or the simpler Accessible
IPodder we mentioned last week, http://www.webbie.org.uk/download/AccessiblePodcasterInstaller.exe, add the link to ACBRadio Replay to the program's feeds
and you can always grab the latest ACBRadio shows. The feed to add is http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=replay.
A British audio magazine, SoundAround, is available at http://www.soundaround.org/.
Skype , the highly popular voice chat program, comes out with frequent new versions and i do not always announce them. The latest is version 1.2.04.0.
Thanks to Shaun Everiss for this news.
Jake Joehl passes along thenews that BlindSoftware has released version 1.1 of their Talking Clock, featuring
better support for third-party voices. They now distribute the Cepstral voices, which they consider to be the highest quality SAPI voices available.
Check out the demo at http://www.blindsoftware.com/cepstral.asp.
From a recent Bootlist: Having problems with programs that won't automatically open maximized? Try AutSizer, http://www.southbaypc.com/AutoSizer/
And also: Participants in the forum there are unanimous that having your anti-virus program scan e-mail is actually redundant, since it will recognize viruses
in attachments anyway, and sometimes e-mail scanning can cause difficulties. The Norton site affirms that e-mail scanning is unnecessary: http://tinyurl.com/8tbzu.
And from an earlier issue, I was reminded about a tool called Regmon. It sits in the background and monitors changes to the Windows registry so that you
can manually reverse them, or know what is going on behind the scenes: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/regmon.shtml
Fred Langa wrote a balanced article on the popular Firefox browser, a browser that will probably become increasingly accessible to the blind, at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160900911.
From Tourbus: An Australian web site has the ambitious plan to list all the brain teasers that have ever been created. Apparently, they're coming close:
http://www.braingle.com/.
And Ken Leebo has created a Blog, Blogging about Blogs, which purports to discuss and direct readers to blogs that are worth reading: http://bloggingaboutblogs.blogspot.com/.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 2, 2005
Alasdair King has renamed his Accessible Podcaster and added features. Accessible Podcatcher now features subscription functionality so that desired programs
can be automatically downloaded. http://www.webbie.org.uk/accessiblepodcatcher/index.htm.
Spybot Search & Destroy version 1.4 is now available and one place where you can download it from is at http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Spybot_Search_and_Destroy/1043809773/1.
An accessible and large listing of podcasts is found at the Digital Podcast Directory, http://www.digitalpodcast.com/.
The Microsoft Glossary for Business Users is a handy technical reference. Note that it may load slowly because it contains over 2,700 links. http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/glossary.mspx?pf=true.
Reviews of Corel WordPerfect 12, Cloudmark Safety Bar for Outlook Express version 1.7.2 and Yahoo Messenger version 6 have been added to AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/.
A recent tech podcast called The Make contains a review of a promising mp3 player that includes an fm tuner that announces the frequencies and also a digital
recorder: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/review_super_ta_1.html#more.
Beyond Sight of Colorado has jumped on the Dolphin bandwagon and is offering two days of training on Dolphin products in September: http://www.beyondsight.com/.
From the BootList: If you have entries in your Windows XP Add/remove list for programs you have already ninstalled, here are a couple websites with suggestions
for eliminating them: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/AddRemove.htm, and http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314481.
New desktops and laptops often come loaded with unwanted software and with recovery data stored in a second partition. These arrangements limit access to
disk space you paid for and make the system less flexible to use. Fred Langa has written an article on how to take control of such systems: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163105444.
Sony, the inventor of the good old 3.5-inch floppy disk, has announced that it will stop manufacturing them.
The commercial site http://www.amazingmultimedia.net/ features information on how to clean up, digitize and restore records and open-reel tapes under the
sections Restoration Notes and Tips and Tricks.
I don't mention every new version of Skype, the popular voice-chat program, but they occur frequently. Skype version 1.3.0.48 beta is now available and
you can download it from
www.skype.com
and also at
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Skype_for_Windows/1062684717/1.
You can hear the HumanWare Audio Newsletter, whose latest issue is May, 2005, starting at http://www.pulsedata.com/About/market_news_US.asp.
Acording to this article, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4603539.stm, Microsoft will increase the use of xml in its next version of Office.
The next big time for adaptive technology announcements will be late June/July, when the large consumer conferences take place in the US and Sight Village
takes place in the UK. In a recent Main Menu interview, Mike Calvo said that the summer version of Freedom Box will give users some unique mouse functionality.
On the May 25 entry on his blog, The Mosen Explosion, http://www.mosenexplosion.com/, Jonathan Mosen gives the HumanWare side of the question, which is
better, the BrailleNote or the Pac Mate. In the May 10 entry, he discusses accessing Podcasts with the BrailleNote. He is also interviewed on this week's
Main Menu to offer the HumanWare side of the comparison between Pac Mate and Braille Note. Main Menu will be available throughout the week via ACBRadio
Replay from Wednesday.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 9, 2005
If you wonder which screen reader, JAWS or Window-Eyes, performs better with Microsoft Word, the answer, (not a simple one,) is to be found in article 2
of Sound Computing. Subscribers already have it, and if you are not yet a subscriber, you can get that article and 49 others for the nominal sum of $9.00.
To learn more, send a blank message to [log in to unmask], or visit www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm.
Dolphin Systems has been touting its new Pen Drive which allows users to easily use their Dolphin product on any computer. Doug Geoffray from Gw Micro
discussed his perception of difficulties with this concept in general and also some ways in which Window-Eyes accomplishes the same thing in a listserv
post. You can read his thoughts by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
This month's Accessible World symposium, sponsored by Talking Communities and Ocusource, consists of 30 hours of presentations over three days. Most of
today's events will be concluded by the time you receive this, but events continue from 18:00 Friday 10 June through 00:30 on Saturday 11 June (including
a demonstration of the braille Sense, of Plextalk and of Bookport,) and from 15:00-22:30 Saturday 11 June. (including presentations of Book Courrier and
JSay.) All programs will be archived, and door prizes will be given. For more information and to take part, go to www.ocusource.com/expo/expo.cfm
Podcasting Do It Yourself Guide is a commercial book available from Amazon.com (and probably elsewhere.) It can be had as an Adobe pdf file from those
sources for $13.50, and reports are that the book can be read effectively using Adobe Reader. The Url to order the book from Amazon is www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0009VD2OQ/ref=lpr_g_1/102-246.
In response to a question of which rss readers work best with Window-Eyes, (and presumably with other screen readers,) suggestions included Bloglines at
www.bloglines.com/, Sharp Reader from www.sharpreader.com/ and Newsgator Online Services at www.newsgator.com/ngs/default.aspx
While we're talking about podcasting, Mika Pyyhkala has written a thorough listserv post on how to get started in it. You can read it by sending a blank
message to [log in to unmask]
Makers of an open-source screen reader which will bear the name Screenful are seeking several developers and documentation writers. (one wonders what will
happen to the project if they don't find them!) If interested, write to [log in to unmask]
Reviews of AT&T Global Network Client, English version 5.05.1, Bloodrose Talker Gmud version gmud 32, Retrospect version 6.5 and True Image version 8 have
been added to the growing database of reviews at AccessWatch, www.accesswatch.info.
Fred Langa's latest newsletter offers two web sites with information about slimming down Windows xp: www.hollow-refuge.net/Bold/viewtopic.php?t=229 and
www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=51202853.
Version 2.1 of JSay Professional, the package that assists JAWS users to use Dragon Naturally Speaking for inputting text and controlling the computer by
voice, has been released. This version supports JFW version 6.1 and Dragon Naturally Speaking version 8.1 SR1. The lead U.S. and Canada dealer is Next
Generation Technologies, www.ngtvoice.com/products/software/jsay/
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 16, 2005
It always helps when I give the proper addresses rather than relying on my memory. The auto-responder article on starting podcasting can be found at [log in to unmask]
Here are four podcasts that give up-to-date information on adaptive technology. The feed addresses given are designed to be given to a podcast aggregator
program like IPodder or Accessible Podcatcher so you can get the new episodes automatically:
Larry Skutchan from American Printing House for the Blind provides an informative podcast including demonstrations and instructions of APH products and
thoughts on what is to come. The feed is found at www.aph.org/tech/bct.xml.
Don Coco produces a weekly podcast called Blindtech in which he demonstrates and teaches various software. The feed is found at http://feeds.feedburner.com/djc.
You can subscribe to an rss feed of the show notes at http://livejournal.com/users/djc1/rss, or read them at http://livejournal.com/users/djc1.
JeffBishop produces The Desert Skies program on ACBRadio, and now also produces The Desert Skies podcast. The podcast covers technology news with a bent
toward podcasting, especially news regarding IPodder. The feed is found at http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheDesertSkies. Also note that the beta versions
of IPodder, largely thanks to Jeff, are progressively more accessible than the official released version. You can always get the latest one, and read about
development, on his blog page, www.jeffbishop.com.
Robert Cole produced a 12-part tutorial on using Mp3 Direct Cut. It is only available as a podcast. You can subscribe to it at http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobsPlace.
EASI presents a free web conference, The Collaborative Road to Maine State Web Accessibility on Thursday, 23 June at 19:00 gmt. Sign up for the live performance
and to gain access to the archive at http://easi.cc/clinic.htm.
At least two mailing lists exist for those wishing to discuss web authoring from a blindness perspective. You can subscribe to blindwebbers by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask],
and you can subscribe to the nfb-web list by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
the New York Public Library has joined some other libraries in making a collection of books available for digital download. www.nypl.org.
Version 2.2 of Freedom Box offers many new features and big fixes including cd burning, the ability to aggregate rss feeds and to create and play podcasts,
ability to create a simple personal web page, ability to mark places in audio files and increased file transfer capabilities. www.freedombox.info.
www.macvisionaries.com is a commercial web site dedicated to supporting the transfer of blind users to using VoiceOver, the screen reading capability built
into the core of Apple Macintosh OS 10.4. Probably their main offering is a busy mailing list to support VoiceOver users, with tutorials on VoiceOver
promised for the near future. You can join the discuss list from that site or by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Subscribers to Sound Computing will soon receive the third article of the series, a short tutorial on using TinySpell. You can get 50 audio articles for
$9.00, and can learn about the service at www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm, or by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 23, 2005
I'm sending this issue to subscribers individually, so I believe nearly everybody will receive it. More people are failing to receive the newsletter when
it is sent through its normal channel. A lot of people didn't get the June 16 issue, so I'll put it at the bottom of this mailing. I'll probably add
web availability to the options people will have for receiving the newsletter. Stay tuned!
Companies are starting to publicize their offerings for the U.S. consumer conventions. HumanWare promises a new mystery product which they will unveil
at the conventions, but which we presumably won't really be able to buy yet!
Episode 12 of the Desert Skies Podcast features a panel discussion about the current state of accessibility to the Macintosh. You don't need to be a subscriber
to listen to the program. This and others in the series are available for download from http://www.jeffbishop.net/
Dave Goodwin has launched a pre-release test version of VIP Consumer, a web site designed to help consumers review and discuss accessibility of consumer
products. http://www.vipconsumer.com/
The National Library for the Blind in the United Kingdom has launched An online discussion forum on access technology, alongside other new forums on public
libraries, books and tactile formats: http://forums.nlb-online.org/
There's an rss reader for use in Linux, Snownews, from http://kiza.dcore.de/software/snownews/
Steve Pattison identifies a web site
containing reviews of products designed to identify and remove spyware: http://www.adwarereport.com/
Version 1.4 of Accessible Podcatcher is available: http://www.webbie.org.uk/
The final release of iPodder version 2.1 is available. Accessibility to the program has been improving throughout the test cycle, and this release is much
more accessible than the previous release version. One place to get it is http://www.jeffbishop.net/
Reviews of mercora IM radio version 3.1.8.0, All Image version 1.0.1, iPodder version 2.1 and DivX Create version 6 have been added to the database of AccessWatch,
http://www.accesswatch.info/
EASI offers a $350 course, Assistive Computer Technology on a Shoestring the EASI Way. Read about it at http://easi.cc/workshops/ltech.htm
You can rename form fields in Word forms using Window-Eyes version 5, even if the form is password-protected. Read the procedure by sending a blank message
to [log in to unmask]
To read an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer about the trend for libraries to offer downloadable audio books, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Keep in mind that for all matters regarding books, items may be limited to the country where the books are published because of international copyright
laws.
Passwords that used to be safe from computer password-cracking software may no longer be so because of advances in this software. Fred Langa has written
an article about how to make really secure passwords at http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164303537
Eligible readers in the U.S. who are members of www.bookshare.org can acquire high-quality copies of several newly-available technology books, including
books on pc and mac hardware, Windows Xp, and web design.
Kelly's Corner is a web site entitled Troubleshooting Windows XP, Tweaks and Fixes for Windows XP. It contains hundred of registry fixes and utilities.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
With this issue, we've completed our second quarter of Tidbits, so I'll put q2 up as an auto-responder file. You can get issues 14-26 of Tidbits by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask] The first thirteen issues are available as [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 30, 2005
This copy of Tidbits is being sent from the mailman list to which you are subscribed..
Starting this week, you have four choices for receiving Tidbits.
The first choice is the usual Mailman list, the list you subscribed to. For some of you, that choice works impeccably, but for others it does not. Increasingly,
newsletters are blocked by ISP's working to fight spam, and often the intended recipient is not aware of this blockage. So, for those who do not consistently
receive Tidbits via e-mail, or who want another option, you now have three of them.
First, All issues heretofore will be posted to the Tidbits web site, http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
Second, if you want to receive an e-mail announcement when the newest Tidbits has been posted to the web, visit the Tidbits web site and fill out the Page
Monitor form. You'll receive a short announcement alerting you that the page has changed. This free page monitoring service does not generate spam for
you and spam filters do not tend to block the announcements.
Third, Tidbits now has an rss feed. Paste this link into your rss reader to be notified when a new issue is on the web page: http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.xml
Note that I sent last week's Tidbits myself, bypassing the Mailman list. This issue will go out twice, once from my system and once from Mailman, with
the two copies labeled so you can distinguish them. this extra e-mail will enable you to know if you are receiving the Mailman messages or not.
Remember that the name of the newsletter contains four t's, but most screen readers will only pronounce three. To join, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
To leave, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] Whenever you see a worthy news item, mailing list post, or piece of technical information
that might help others, send it along to me at [log in to unmask]
Any questions about any of this? Just ask!
Now to the news, abundant since summer consumer group convention time is upon us in the U.S.
Freedom Scientific has posted the announcement of the Pac Mate 3.0 firmware upgrade. This $115 upgrade adds automatic braille scrolling, the ability to
lock the keyboard so you can read without losing your place if a vehicle bumps, improved support for pocket AIM for messaging, and the ability to use Pac
Mate desktop to operate a desktop computer running JAWS from the Pac Mate. The Pocket AIM support increases communication options for the deaf-blind,
and they plan other deaf-blind communication device options by the end of the year. http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/DL_PACmate_30_Update.asp
The "mystery product" frum HumanWare is the next generation BrailleNote, the BrailleNote mPower. People will indeed be able to buy a unit now and have
it ship in July. It features much more internal memory, usb connectivity, the ability to listen to streaming audio, stereo speakers, and built-in bluetooth.
Hear an audio demonstration at http://www.humanware.com/. The mPower was the subject of this week's Main Menu on ACBRadio, and the broadcast remains
available through ACBRadio Radio Replay throughout the week. Read the press release at http://www.humanware.com/About/news/press280605.asp
Kurzweil announces the release later this summer of Kurzweil 1000 version 10.0. This version will allow for the creation of audio daisy books and better
recognition thanks to the inclusion of ScanSoft OCR version 12.6. http://www.kurzweiledu.com/
The latest weekly article in the Gw Micro Did you Know series discusses the Window-Eyes 5.0 color dictionary. The Did You Know articles are now available
as a podcast: http://www.gwmicro.com/podcast
BITS, the Blind Information Technology Specialists chapter of American Councl of the Blind, will be podcasting their convention sessions. The feed is at
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bitsaudioblog
Chris Skarstad plans to make technology-related podcasts from the ACB convention. His feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/toonheadsrants
Now for ITunes:
Woody Anna Dresner has written a book for National Braille Press, The iPod Experience: Gaining Access to the iPod Shuffle. The book is available in digital
or hard-copy braille for $6.00 from http://www.nbp.org/IPOD.html Anna was interviewed by Jeff Bishop for The Desert Skies podcast, and the interview can
be downloaded at http://libsyn.com/media/jeffbis/tds20050629-14.mp3
Brian Hartgen is in the process of preparing free JfW scripts for iTunes, particularly designed to facilitate transfer of Audible files and music to and
from the iPod Shuffle. Write to him to learn of the availability of his scripts at [log in to unmask]
Chris Skarstad wrote a detailed message on making iTunes work. He called it I Conquered the iPod Shuffle.
You can read it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
iTunes 4.9 came out Tuesday and is said to contain considerable accessibility improvement for JAWS users.
Premier Access Technology announces the release of Text Cloner 7.0, its $99.95 optical character recognition program, featuring a choice to scan text in
high-speed mode (which skips tables and graphics) and can recognize five or six pages a minute on a low-cost scanner, and detail scan mode. http://www.readingmadeeasy.com/
Ian Humphreys, owner of Spoonbill Software, has taken to writing freeware accessible games for the blind. So far, he has versions of Freecell and cribbage
with some other games in process. Games have received very positive reviews. Visit the page at http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm
Petro Giasou has created a mailing list for JAWS users to discuss use of Replay Radio, a program for recording Internet radio and capturing podcasts. To
subscribe, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
You can read articles from Pc Magazine and Pc World reviewing anti-spyware programs by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
VIP Conduite, Inc. has created a new audio chat site for the blind. Read about the organization and its plans at http://www.vipconduit.com/
A review of Milog version 8.2.2 has been added to the database at AccessWatch, http://www.accesswatch.info/
Reminder: I provide adaptive technology training and computer setup at affordable prices throughout most of Washington and Oregon, and elsewhere by special
arrangement. In addition, I expect to be in Fargo and St. Louis later in the North American summer. Contact me if I can be of any assistance.
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, July 7, 2005
Audio coverage of technology and other matters from the American Council of the Blind convention continues non-stop at www.acbradio.org. Extensive daily
coverage of the National Federation of the Blind convention was to be posted at http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/148/vnb-presents-2005-nfb-national-convention-same-day-coverage
but the page, and the entire Voice of the Nation's Blind page has been down whenever I've tried to reach it.
In Blind Cool Tech, Larry Skutchan takes listeners on a sound seeing tour of the NFB convention exhibits, particularly the Accessible Home Showcase which
features various accessible household appliances: http://www.aph.org/tech/bct/NFB2005Exhibits.mp3. He also shares a presentation where the director and
staff of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped discuss the plans for conversion to digital technology: http://www.aph.org/tech/bct/EverythingDigitalWithNLS2005.mp3.
Larry has recorded other events at or surrounding the convention. The Blind Cool Tech web site is http://www.aph.org/tech/bct.htm and you can subscribe
to the podcast at by adding http://www.aph.org/tech/bct.xml to your podcatcher.
AI Squared, www.aisquared.com, is showing ZoomText Version 9, which among other enhancements features incremental magnification from 2x to 3x, magnification
as high as 36x, and a system for making very large text display smoothly and crisply.
Assistive Technology Center has two of their own products. The DocuEdge Scanning System is a very small scanner which can scan up to 100 pages into its
memory for later transfer to a computer. The $249 or $449 package comes with transfer software and cables and OmniPage optical character recognition software.
They also sell a line of laptops, the AdvantEdge laptops, which come with no-questions-asked warranties. http://www.atechcenter.net/
After months of promising these products, Freedom Scientific is now shipping both StreeTalker, a gps system which adds speech and braille access to Destinator,
a gps program for Pocket Pc, and FS Reader, a daisy software package with versions available both for pc and Pac Mate. http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/PressRoom/en/2005/nr_StreetTalk-FSReader-6-30-2005.asp
Gw Micro has been showing the upcoming Window-Eyes version 5.5, which will feature vastly-improved access to Microsoft Access and complete access to the
Firefox web browser.
Duxbury Systems is syipping version 10.5 SR1 of the Duxbury Braille Translator for Windows. This version includes quick ways to generate braille from Microsoft
Word documents, JAWS scripts for use with the program, the ability to import braille music documents produced by the GoodFeel translator, standard windows
dialog boxes, and more. http://www.duxsys.com/news.asp
The Sendero Group is in the final month of testing version 3.0 of its Braille Note GPS system. The system includes a database of 12 million points of
interest and enhanced manual route creation capabilities. http://www.senderogroup.com/
Moving away from news and discoveries from the consumer conventions:
Subscribers to Sound Computing will receive a new article: Accessing Audio and Electronic Books from Public Libraries. This and 49other audio articles
are available to subscribers for a $9.00 subscription. www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
AdAware Scripts 1.0, JAWS scripts for the AdAware spyware removal package, are available free from http://www.accessibleprograms.com/
Clarion USA announces the PcMate, a video magnifier that connects to a computer via usb so that a laptop screen becomes a cctv. It features split screen,
distance viewing, color select and can even
"Capture" an image to be saved as a file on your hard drive.
http://www.clarityusa.com/
Steve Holmes has created free Window-Eyes set files for iTunes. He reports that the program has glitches even with these set files, but that the glitches
can generally be overcome and he will answer questions. http://www.holmesgrown.com/window-eyes/itunes.zip
A driver now exists to allow JAWS users to use the Braille Note or Voice Note as a speech synthesizer. http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/braillenote_downloads.asp
Katherine Schneider has started a mailing list for those wishing to discuss logic and word puzzles. To subscribe write a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Reviews of Microsoft ActiveSync version 3.7.1, Money Talks version 1.0, Winfax version 10, FTP Explorer version 1.0, Absolute FTP version 2.2.10 have been
added to the AccessWatch database at http://www.accesswatch.info/
A recent thread on the gw-info mailing list highlighted two ways to get accessible television program listings in the U.S. To read about them, send a blank
message to [log in to unmask] (When I say blank, I mean it: all text in subject lines and message body is ignored by the auto-responders!)
A talking e-mail system has been started in New Zealand. http://www.springdoo.com/
Aaron Howel tells of a fairly speech-friendly free registry cleaner and system optimizer called Crap Cleaner, available from http://www.ccleaner.com/
American Printing House for the Blind will hold a series of
eight webcasts concerning different aspects of the Bookport, their portable audio book reading device. The webcasts will last around a half hour each,
will take place on Tuesdays in Morth America, and are free to attend with prior registration by e-mail. To learn more, go to http://www.aph.org/advisory/webcast.html
I've launched my own podcast: Baha'i Perspectives. You can listen to or download the programs at http://bahai-perspectives.info and subscribe to the feed
at http://bahai-perspectives.info/fp.xml.
My thoughts, prayers and condolences go to the people in London and the U.K.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, July 14, 2005
Breaking News: Thursday will come early next week, maybe not at all! I'm leaving town and the Internet Wednesday afternoon, so if there's a newsletter,
it will appear before then.
I'm looking at selling a PAC Mate QX420, (QWERTY keyboard with 20-cell braille display.) The unit is new and under warranty until September. Running version
3.0. Asking $2,800 or best offer. Reply if interested.
It's the news crash after the U.S. consumer conventions:
The entire contents of The Smith-Kettlewell Technical File are now available by FTP. The Smith-Kettlewell Technical File is A QUARTERLY TECHNICAL JOURNAL
FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED READERS It contains, among other articles, a seven part series on soldering techniques,
and an extensive series on basic electronics construction methods
which culminates in building a series of practical test
instruments. also included are numerous articles on specific
integrated circuits and other solid state devices. To find this journal, go to this case-sensitive site: ftp.ski.org/pub/Rehab/Fowle Contact Tom Fowle
at [log in to unmask]
if you have difficulties accessing the site.
The July issue of AccessWorld is available at http://www.afb.org/accessworld. It contains reviews of the Focus braille displays and Maestro pda, a guide
to customizing the mouse for users with low vision and other articles.
AI Squared is making ZoomText 9.0 available as a public beta for all to try and evaluate. Get it at http://www.aisquared.com/Products/zt9/Z9FreeTrial.cfm
This article discusses the problem faced by blind computer users when companies such as Google and Yahoo implement graphical security procedures to ensure
that a human and not a robot is logging on: http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3518741. The US National Federation of the Blind passed a
resolution against the use of these procedures. Google has publicly announced that it will have an accessible
alternative in one to two months.
Hurricane seasons have unfortunately been quite active in recent years. Here is a web site with hurricane tracking information for any current storm, including
audio tracking: http://www.hurricanecity.com/
There will be an audio seminar on podcasting on Saturday 16 July from 14:30-17:00 GMT, given by Dave Porter from Chicago. The Url to join live is http://www.talkingcommunities.com/edu
and archives will be available. A follow-up session will take place on Friday 22 July at 22:00 GMT.
The BootList offers this link to troubleshooting Usb problems in Windows xp: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310575
his week's additions to Blind Cool Tech include demonstrations of Talking Word Puzzles and of the K Sonar mobility aid. http://www.aph.org/tech/bct.htm.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Wednesday, July 20, 2005
I told you Thursday would be early this week! (I will be away from the net for four days starting late Wednesday stateside, hence the early delivery of
Tidbits this week.)
In response to a reader request, the links in Tidbits will appear on lines by themselves for easy copying in the web and rss versions.
Subscribers to the Sound Computing service can now access a 90-minute tutorial on Replay Radio, prepared by Petrakigianos Giasou. This tutorial is especially
suited for new or uncertain JAWS users. It is very thorough. This and 49 other articles, tutorials and reviews are available as part of the $9.00 subscription
to Sound Computing. For information, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] or
visitwww.topdotenterprises.com/sc.htm
At Sight Village, the main technology exhibition in the UK, Serotek will unveil Key to Freedom 2.2, a small usb drive for Windows 2000 and xp that allows
the owner to put Freedom Box on any system, leaves no trace of itself requires no sighted assistance, and even provides the user with storage space for
downloading files from the Internet, local computer, and even home -- right onto the device itself. The unit will begin shipping in August for $595;
if you lose yours, you can replace it for $200.
For more information,
www.freedombox.info
For the People,
http://for-the-people.com/
will offer two technology classes. The first one may already be full: Taming the Beast: Tackling Outlook Express will be offered Mondays or Wednesdays starting
27 July at 18:00 GMT. To learn more and check availability, write to [log in to unmask] They will also hold classes on the JAWS scripts for their
audio chat client, Chatterbox. These take place Friday 22 July at 00:00 or Saturday 23 July at 18:00 gmt. Free membership in the group is required for
participation.
A Wired article entitled ITunes Mints Podcasting Stars is found at
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,68185,00.html
Version5.094 of the popular audio player Winamp version is now available and one easy place where you can download it from is at
www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html.
A company call Kurzweil Technologies showed a pocket-sized reading machine at the US National Federation of the Blind convention. The unit, which they
claim will be available in 2006, is supposed to be able to read print on signs, packages and electronic displays as well as standard books.
If you want to buy music from a particular artist, you can go to
http://www.mp3.com/
and find links to the online music stores that carry that artist's music.
Recent additions to the Did you Know series from Gw Micro include
The Braille Sense and Multitasking and Using the Spell-check hotkeys in Window-Eyes. These are available as podcasts, or as text from
http://www.gwmicro.com/support
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, July 28, 2005
EASI offered a free hour-long web conference on the DO-IT program's NSF grant to promote advancement of people with disabilities in science, technology,
engineering and math. You can listen to the conference and learn about two other free conferences coming up, as well as some for-fee events, at
http://easi.cc/summer05
Jeff Bishop continues to produce and improve The Desert Skies, a weekly podcast whose individual programs are also downloadable from his site
http://www.jeffbishop.net/
In the show notes for the 21 July podcast, found on the site, are several technology and adaptive technology news items worth reading.
On his periodic blog, The Mosen Explosion,
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
Jonathan Mosen used his mPower to record an interview with Martin Roberts, also of HumanWare, at the close of the Sight Village exhibition in the UK. Listen
at
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=P806f2e8a0066903a80af559e1fcb7825ZV56QlREYmd0&buffer=5&fc=CCFF33&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&autoplay=1&gateway=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audioblog.com%2Fplaylist&player=ap02
Australian tax payers can again use E-Tax 2005 to prepare tax returns; it is accessible with both JAWS and Window-Eyes.
http://www.ato.gov.au"/
Beth Hatch wrote a brief explanation of the difference between a network hub and a switch, and provided a source for additional information. You can read
her message by sending a blank message to
hub&[log in to unmask]
this site has a lot of information about the growing threat of identity theft:
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/
Gregg Kearney has produced a Daisy talking book of the manual for the VoiceOver screen reader for the Macintosh. Download the zip file at
http://kearney.servehttp.com/test/VOICEOVER.zip
Talkr is a service which converts text blogs into audio ones using synthetic speech.
http://www.talkr.com/
A web usability firm, Webcredible, has produced some coherent guidelines for web developers on making sites really usable. You can read them by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask]
A review of the accessibility of Itunes version 4.9 has been added to AccessWatch,
http://www.accesswatch.info/
The TeDub project is working to give blind folks access to a variety of digitized technical drawings and maps. Learn about the project at
http://istresults.cordis.lu/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/BrowsingType/
Michael Feir has written an article entitled Adware and Spyware: Nuisance to Sighted and Mennace to Blind. You can read it by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Kirk McElhearn has written an article, Old Time Radio for Your iPod: Free OTR May Improve Podcasts. You can get it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
In his Blind Access Journal,
http://journal.shandrow.com/
among much other content, Darrell Shandrow is sharing his learnings on using the StreetTalker gps system with PAC Mate and the Destinator software for Pocket
Pc. Here you can listen to his first adventure with the system, http://www.audioblog.com/export/P7d9b8183ff2417a5df0fbb4531cb67abZVFwRVREYmF2.mp3
And he also provides a live installation tutorial
http://www.shandrow.com/audio/podcast/destinator_streettalk.mp3
The first beta of the upcoming uperating system Windows Vista is out, and you can read an article about it from ZDNet by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 4, 2005
Did you all enjoy the auto-responder on the differences between hubs and switches? Good; very gratifying. Now, perhaps you'd enjoy it even more if you
could actualy read it! One [perceptive reader pointed out that the and & sign isn't allowed in e-mail addresses, so that item couldn't go through e-mail
as created. So if you want to know the differences between a hub and a switch, write a blank message to the corrected address [log in to unmask]
Two recent podcasts have reviewed the Iriver IFP-799T digital recorder. Larry Skutchan reviewed it in BlindCoolTech,
http://www.aph.org/tech/bct.htm
and Shane Jackson reviewed it in his podcast, to which you can subscribe by adding
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Shaneslivejournal
to your podcatcher.
Gregg Kearney has written a free cross-platform program to build Daisy books from either text or audio files. Read about DaisyMaker at
https://home.wmcnet.org/services/daisymaker/
The latest edition of the Freedom Scientific Newsletter can be read at
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
The latest edition of Gw Micro's Did You Know series of support articles concerns reading tables in Word.
http://www.gwmicro.com/support
Saqib Shaikh has written a description of what he can and cannot do with the current version of VoiceOver for the Macintosh. You can read it by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask] Appended to the message is Gregg Kearney's list of currently accessible applications with the mac.
There is a list of blind podcasters at
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/podcasts.html
Another review of the first beta of windows Vista, this time from CNet, can be read by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
The makers of the Freedom Box have added free spam filters and anti-virus protection for their subscribers.
www.freedombox.info
You can read the article Secrets to good Hard Drive Hygiene from the New York Times by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Sendero Group is now shipping BrailleNote GPS Version 3.3, whose imminent existence was announced earlier but with the wrong version number. The database
is now much larger and contains some 12 million "points of interest," and the manual route creation software has been enhanced.
http://www.senderogroup.com/
Amateur radio operators and those potentially interested in the hobby can get information and read or listen to newsletters from the Courage Center at
http://www.handiham.org/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, August 11, 2005
Remember, if you or somebody you know stops receiving the e-mail edition of Tidbits, your ISP has probably decided that it looks a lot like spam and begun
filtering it out. Do not despair, just go to the Tidbits web site and download the issues from there, or subscribe to the rss feed.
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
Jamal Mazrui makes available two free programs. JAWS Script Exchange is designed to
assist and promote the sharing of script files among users of the JAWS.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/jsxsetup.exe
PDF2TXT 2.0 is for converting files in Portable Document Format (.pdf extension) to plain text(.txt extension). The program lets you convert multiple files
in a single,
batch operation, either from a GUI dialog or a console-mode command line.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/p2tsetup.exe
Gw Micro is making available training materials in Flash, with audio and video content, fully usable by blind and sighted folks.
http://www.gwmicro.com/support/tutorial
An accessibility evaluation of Goldwave Version 5.10 has been added to AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info/
AbleData, a long-time resource, contains listings of disability-related products and other adaptive technology information, maintained under a contract
with the US National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
http://www.abledata.com/
Byte Into It is a computer show from Melbourne, available in streaming audio or as a podcast:
http://www.rrr.org.au/onair.php?pid=24
AMIS is an open-source Daisy player intended to bring Daisy content to all, especially those in third world countries. A pre-release candidate version
of the player is available for testing at
http://amis.sf.net/
Astronaut Steve Robinson was the first podcaster from space. Listen to his broadcast at
http://www1.nasa.gov/mp3/124708main_sts114_robinson_podcast.mp3
Recent additions to Darrell Shandrow's Blind Access Journal
http://journal.shandrow.com/
include discussions of PAC Mate woes, comparisons of two gps receivers, a tutorial on installing Street Talk the PAC Mate gps program, a demonstrate of
the Street Talk gps solution, and a tutorial on configuring PAC Mate to work with a Nokia mobile phone.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 18, 2005
If you change e-mail addresses, and you want to keep getting Tidbits at the new address, once the new one is in place, just send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
to subscribe to Tidbits there. From the old one, you can write to [log in to unmask] In most cases, I won't change addresses for Tidbits
manually for you since it is easy for everybody to do, but write if there's a problem.
If you change e-mail addresses, once the new one is in place, just send a blank message to [log in to unmask] to subscribe to Tidbits there.
From the old one, you can write to [log in to unmask] In most cases, I won't change addresses for Tidbits manually.
Version 10 of the OCR program Kurzweil 1000 is now shipping, featuring new NewSpeech voices, the ability to create Daisy files and a newer version of the
ScanSoft OCR engine among other enhancements.
www.kurzweiledu.com
If you use either web development software or a text editor to create web pages, along with adaptive technology, you may be invited to test a new web development
package. If interested, send e-mail to
[log in to unmask]
If you are encountering difficulties setting up an account on Google because of the inaccessible visual verification procedure they use, you can write to
[log in to unmask] Darrell Shandrow in his Blind Access Journal
http://journal.shandrow.com/
calls our attention to a Blogger survey which may give us the chance to emphasize our need to accessible alternatives to visual verification:
http://services.google.com/feedback/blogger/5820579
Users of Acrobat Reader 7.02 can now install version 7.03, available from
http://www.softwarepatch.com/graphics/acrobatupdate703html or update from within Acrobat Reader.
Code Factory has released a public beta of Mobile Speak
Pocket, a screen reader for devices running Windows Mobile 2003. The official page is at http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_pocket/mspeak_pocket.htm
and a developing user community is at http://www.mspusers.com/
The July Braille Monitor contains an insightful article comparing the PAC Mate and the BrailleNote.
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0507/bm050710.htm
While this article contains good information, it is of necessity out of date since it appeared before the BrailleNote mPower became available. Watch here
for news of the Sound Computing up-to-date comparison.
Speaking of Sound Computing, subscribers can now read an article entitled Fast Listening with Software, detailing how you can use free software to speed
up spoken-word audio files. this and 49 other audio articles are gradually becoming available for the single-digit price of $9.00 US.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
HumanWare has released KeySoft version 6.01 for the BrailleNote PK.
http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/braillenote_downloads.asp
Reviews of Spyware Blaster version 3.4 and Winamp version 5.093 have been added to AccessWatch,
http://www.accesswatch.info/
The latest Bootlist refers us a handy site on computer networking, with lots of other subjects covered elsewhere at the site:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking.htm
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, August 25, 2005
Sound Computing will shortly feature a head-to-head comparison of portable devices, primarily PAC Mate and Braille Note mPower. As part of the comparison,
it would be enlightening to get users' perspectives, whether you use PAC Mate, one ofthe Braille Note family or some other portable device. I invite you
to answer a free-form questionnaire regarding your experience with portable devices, or to simply write me a letter about those experiences and your evaluation.
The questionnaire can be had by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
This week, subscribers to Sound Computing will be able to learn the latest about Google Desktop Search, a tool which puts Windows Find to shame. This and
49 other audio articles, evaluations and mini-tutorials can be had for the price of $9.00 US total.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm or via blank message to [log in to unmask]
Biblseekr is considered by some to be the most accessible Bible search program. Some new versions of the Bible have recently been added to its options.
http://www.bibleseeker.org/
A new mailing list to discuss use of the Macintosh by the blind has been started. The list is macfortheblind, and you subscribe by sending a blank message
to [log in to unmask]
You can find an assortment of US federal, state and local government podcasts at
http://freegovinfo.info/node/174
For-The People,
http://for-the-people.com
is offering to its members an introductory course on Windows. You can find out about the class from
John Harris
[log in to unmask]
Andy from the UK has posted some quality instructions for using The affordable sound editing program Goldwave to split large files, and also a list of Goldwave
keyboard shortcuts. You can read his post by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Carrolltech is offering its full line of instructor-led and self-paced classes on using JAWS or Window-Eyes with popular applications starting in September.
Self-paced classes typically cost $100.00 for individuals.
http://carrolltech.org
This summer, EASI did 3 hour-long Web conferences on the topic of making science, technology, engineering, and math more accessible to students with disabilities.
Listen to them at
http://easi.cc/summer05/
The fall schedule of EASI web conferences at
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
Learn about EASI's for-fee workshops in September at
http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
Jamal Mazrui is writing JAWS scripts to create speech-friendly and powerful alternatives to Windows programs. Beta scripts for Notetalk
http://www.empowermentzone.com/ntb49scr.exe
scripts which enhance the functionality of the $20 Notetab Pro editor
www.notetab.com
and also EJ (Explorer plus JAWS
http://www.empowermentzone.com/ep62scr.exe
scripts which enhance the performance of the $40.00 ExplorerPlus
http://www.sendphotos.com/Products/ExplorerPlus/
Radio station WFMU offers three interesting podcasts, one offering interesting radio airchecks and the others offering recordings from the old days of the
phonograph.
http://www.wfmu.org/
Various programs from the American NBC television network, including the nightly news, are available as podcasts.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132577/
Fred Langa's worthwhile newsletter
http://langa.com
directs us to two interesting articles on potential liability for unauthorized access to wireless networks: "Wi-Fi Liability: Potential Legal Risks in Accessing
and Operating Wireless Internet" is a scholarly legal paper available from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=692881
And "Assessing Liability? Trespass on (Municipal) Wi-Fi Networks," a more
colloquial take on the issue, is available here:
http://blog.pff.org/archives/2005/06/assessing_liabi.html
Fred has compiled a listing of four dozen of his readers' favorite tools for converting, burning and ripping sound files, along with comments on why the
tools are effective.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166401664
In addition to his informative podcasts, Jeff Bishop provides links to much of the week's technology news as show notes. Find all this at
http://www.jeffbishop.net/
One alternative for an accessible digital recorder/player is the Archos line of products. In conjunction with the Rockbox firmware upgrade, these units
become quite accessible. They are not made any longer, but now there may be some hope for finding some units in good condition. A reader reported that
he has had good success working with a company called NewMp3Technology, and that in response to his question, Mike Freeman from thiscompany may be able
to sell some units in good working condition. Check out the organization
http://www.newmp3technology.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, September 1, 2005
As we talk about adaptive technology, tens of thousands of people suffer displacement, injury and loss on the U.S. gulf coast.
Google Talk is a new voice talk program from Google. Aman Singer has written a post on its accessibility. Get it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Matthew Webb is a student doing a study on web accessibility for the blind. He seeks blind computer users to participate in the study. For information,
go to http://www.mathewwebb.f2s.com/study/
Freedom Scientific has released version 9.5 of the screen magnification program MAGic. Read about the release at http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_MAG950.asp
The September-October issue of the Freedom Scientific Newsletter is now available, with introductory rumblings about JFW version 7.0, an enthusiastic endorsement
of the PAC Mate and other articles. Read it at http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
Apple's VoiceOver screen reader has not received universally positive review, and another unfavorable review will appear in the September issue of AccessWorld.
Ian Blackburn disagrees with these assessments, and has written his own review. You can read it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Version 5.5 of window-Eyes is coming, and Gw Micro plans to release a public beta of this version on September 6. In anticipation of this event, they are
publishing a daily teaser about the new features of the program, focusing on firstrate access to the Firefox web browser and to Microsoft Excel. You can
read all installments of the series at http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
Speaking of the Firefox browser, access to it is rumored to be part of JFW 7, whose features are yet to be made public. In the meantime, users of JFW version
6 can already access firefox to some extent, as described in a recent listserv post. You can read it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Brian Hartgen has started a new mailing list, blindipod, for discussing all aspects of IPods and portable media devices as used by the blind. To join,
send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
You can get information about EASI's free and fee-based clinics in September by visiting
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
window-Eyes set files for the Skype voice chat program are available at
http://ariesthekid.no-ip.org/skype.zip
A nice site providing ongoing podcasting news and a well-organized podcast directory is at
http://www.podcastingnews.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, September 8, 2005
When I get back to a high-speed connection in a few days, I'll be uploading a Sound Computing article concerning how to access list Views with both Window-Eyes
5.0 and JFW 6.2. Also, what is becoming a two-part series on the current state of portable devices for blind folks will begin with a discussion of the
results of my recent notetaker survey. A $9.00 subscription gives you access to these and 48 other audio articles, some already produced, most coming
over the next few months.
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
An accessibility review of ML iPod version 1.21 has been added to the database of AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info/
The public beta of Window-Eyes 5.5 is now available for all to test and evaluate, with its improved access to Microsoft Excel, access to the popular Firefox
web browser and other features.
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
The program archives for ACBRadio's technology show, Main Menu, have been updated to contain material through August 31.
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19
This week's Main Menu program, available for the rest of the week as part of the download at
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/replay/wednesday.m3u
contains a review of the IRiver 799 and 899 digital player/recorder, which is very popular among blind users.
VipConduit offers classes to its members for an annual membership of US $20.00. Available archived classes include a tutorial on Winamp,cd burning under
windows xp, and windows basics classes among others.
http://www.vipconduit.com/
Paul Edwards wrote an article for the Braille Forum concerning VoiceOver for the Macintosh. It is available at
http://home.adelphia.net/~bmss/vo/bfvo-sept2005.html
An article entitled Podcasting, a New Technology in search of Viable Business Models, can be read at
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_9/crofts/index.html
Here is a non-profit organization that loans audio books on cassette or cd and pays the return postage. The collection grows through donations. I don't
know how much of the world can benefit from this.
http://www.talkingpages.org/
HumanWare's newsletter, News for Educators, fall edition, is now available from
http://www.humanware.com/about/documents/EducationNewsletter8-2005.doc
The best way to keep up with the latest news in general technology, with some excellent adaptive technology focus as well, continues to be Jeff Bishop's
The Desert Skies podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast by adding this link to your podcatcher
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheDesertSkies
You can download this week's broadcast here
http://www.archive.org/download/JeffBishopTheDesertSkiesPodcastEpisode22/tds2005090822.mp3
and you can find links to the numerous technology news stories at
http://www.jeffbishop.net/
Among the tidbits I picked up from The Desert Skies: US National Public Radio now has a web site that lists 130 podcasts available from them or their affiliate
stations:
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php
You can listen to a five-minute preview of all the presentations coming up through OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) by clicking
http://www.opal-online.org/preview200509.htm
Check here for a podcast blog of past OPAL events
http://opalpodcast.blogspot.com/
AiSquared has released ZoomText version 9.0, with more flexible and improved magnification and also higher-quality speech. A trial version is at
http://www.aisquared.com/Products/zt9/Z9FreeTrial.cfm
Freedom Scientific plans to release JFW 7.0 during the last week of September.
If you're looking for programs to catalog cd's, movies and books, one list poster recommended programs from
http://www.wensoftware.com/
If you're looking for a program to extract audio from dvd's, this subject came up on one mailing list recently. One recommendation was Dvd Audio Extractor,
from
http://www.castudio.org/
and another, IM2, from
http://www.imtoo.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, September 15, 2005
Dr. Jonathan Lazar gave a speech at this year's US National Federation of the Blind convention entitled "What Frustrates Screen Reader Users." You can
listen to the speech here;
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/asx/DrJonathanLazar.asx
The September 2005 issue of AccessWorld is out, including a review of Apple's VoiceOver, how to buy a CCTV, an interview with Curtis Chong, tips for trainers
and more
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
Computers to Help People is making available a free xml-to-braille translator which can translate files exported from Microsoft Word, and some Daisy files,
into contracted braille. Visit the What's New section of this site for the archive:
http://www.chpi.org/
FreedomBox 2.2.1, which fixes bugs and enhances the capabilities of the FreedomBox browser, is available.
www.freedombox.info
An article a bout planned features in Internet Explorer version 7 is found at
http://www.techweb.com/wire/170703182
Jamal Mazrui has released Windig, an open-source program which "digs" for technical information about the currently running program. The utility generates
lists of hotkeys and menu options as well as technical information useful to those wishing to adapt the program for adaptive technology.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/wdsetup.exe
An article discussing Microsoft's plans to expand its windows Vista testing is found at
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+expands+Vista+testing/2100-1016_3-5862654.html
Version 1.110 of MobileSpeak, one of the screen readers for mobile phones, is now available from CodeFactory
http://www.codefactory.es/
CodeFactory also announces version 1.0.2 of MobileSpeakPocket for PocketPc, providing improved web browsing.
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_pocket/msp_downloads.htm
Iowa's Project ASSIST With Windows is currently accepting applications
for US residents for the ASSIST Online program. ASSIST Online is a distance learning
program that offers free online courses which will prepare you for the
Microsoft Office Specialist certification exams for Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Word. The Microsoft Word
class for new students begins October 3. We must receive completed
applications no later than September 22, 2005. For further information,
and to download an application, please point your browser to
HTTP://www.blind.state.ia.us/assist/assistonline.htm.
The Fred's Head Database, named in honor of Fred Gissoni, is a service of American Printing House for the Blind offering practical tips for solving daily
difficulties posed by blindness. Now you can read a blog of Fred's Head submissions or receive them as a podcast. Visit
http://www.fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/
Brian Hartgen has created free Window-Eyes set files for iTunes version 5.0 You can get them at
http://www.hartgen.org/blindipod.html
Larry Skutchan continues to produce frequent informative podcasts in the Blind Cool Tech series, now available from
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
As part of the series, Curtis and Karen Delzer created a podcast to demonstrate the Verizon LGVX4650 phone.
Jonathan Mosen has resumed production of his Mosen Explosion radio program, a four-hour program every Friday. The program contains music, technology, health
and general-interest information. It is available as a large download or a large podcast. In addition, Jonathan is making available the program segments
as individual downloads. From last week, you can download an interview with DougGeoffray of Gw Micro discussing Window-Eyes version 5.5, an interview
with Jeff Bishop discussing the latest technology news, and other segments.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
Jim Snobarger has released version 7.01 of Hotspot Clicker, a free utility which allows the JAWS user and scripter to click on any spot on a screen based
on any of several criteria. The program is designed to increase accessibility to hard-to-script programs and give increased keyboard functionality even
to those that are now somewhat usable by the JAWS user.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/HotSpotClicker.html
As mentioned last week, the archive for the ACBRadio MainMenu program has been further updated. In addition, MainMenu is available as a podcast without
having to download other programming from Wednesday. Add this link to your podcatcher:
http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=mainmenu
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits forThursday, September 22, 2005
Richards' Vending and Supply in the U.S. announces a wrap-around magnifier to enlarge the display on cordless and mobile phones by 2x or 4x. For more information,
e-mail Bruce Richards at
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Christian has created some basic Window-Eyes set files for the Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client. You can get them by writing to him at
[log in to unmask]
Ian Humphreys now has four versions of solitaire and cribbage in his series of free self-voicing games for the blind. Two other games are under development.
He asks potential users to e-mail him a request for the games so that he can inform you of updates and new games. All the information is available at
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm#LIST
Humanware is shipping, at least in Canada and presumably elsewhere, their new Daisy player announced at CSUN, the Victor Reader Wave.
www.humanware.com
A recent CNET article suggested that the Mozilla web browser is more susceptible to security flaws than Internet Explorer, but most hackers still target
Internet Explorer.
http://news.com.com/Symantec+Mozilla+browsers+more+vulnerable+than+IE/2100-1
According to a story in Speech Technology Magazine, Motorola
has entered into an agreement with Phoenix Speech Group to provide DECTalk speech in some of its upcoming phones, initially the Motorola i355, to make phone
features accessible to the blind. This is a Nextel phone.
The manual for VoiceOver, the screen reader for the Macintosh, is now freely available on Apple's web site,
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover
The current issue of The Voice of the Nation's Blind from the US National Federation of the Blind contains an update on the activities of the Federation's
Access Team. the article contains some useful tidbits about the technology under discussion.
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/166/access-team-update
Map files for the Dolphin computer screen reader and magnifier have been released for MSN Messenger 7.
http://www.dolphincomputeraccess.com/
The BootList directs us to a Microsoft article on Windows Firewall
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/internet/sp2_wfintro.mspx
It also gives us this link to information about the Microsoft Malicious File Removal Tool, which appears to be a handy utility:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/890830
Fred Langa has written an article about the current state of GPS equipment. Quality has increased as prices have decreased.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170701704
Jamal Mazrui continues to enhance the capabilities of Windig,
having now added an additional category of msaa analysis to the program's capabilities to provide information about the running application.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/wdsetup.exe
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, September 29, 2005
The second article describing the current state of affairs regarding portable computing devices for the blind is now available to Sound Computing subscribers.
With this article in place, subscribers can access an hour of discussion designed to help potential buyers of devices like Braille Note, PAC Mate or some
of the newer options coming onto the market make wise decisions. Subscribers get this article and 49 others for the total of only $9.00.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
Last week, we finished the third quarter of Tidbits issues, issues 27-39. The handy text file containing all thirteen issues is now available on the web
site or via auto-responder; send a blank message to [log in to unmask] to get it.
Accessibility reviews of Synchromagic version 4.3.0.7, WinRAR version 3.50, and Winamp version 5.1 have been added to the AccessWatch database,
http://www.accesswatch.info/
The Blind Citizens Australia National Convention will be held this coming Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Perth, Western Australia.
Convention activities will be streamed online. For the program and links to listen, go to
http://www.bca.org.au/
Jim Noseworthy has made JAWS scripts available for the contacts editor of the Nokia Pc Suite software package. You can download them from
ftp://ftp.compuconference.com/JFWNokia.exe
Many computer users have fond memories of WordPerfect for DOS. It seems the program is being updated for use on Windows machines, and can still be acquired.
Read all about the developments at
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/
Sean Randall's Technicalish podcast offers software reviews from a blindness perspective. Read about it, download individual programs or find the link
to subscribe to the podcast at
http://randylaptop.com/technicalish/index.php
In a great development for braille readers with portable braille displays, National Braille Press is now set up so you can buy books and download them immediately.
Find out about it at
http://www.braille.com/
Alan Cantor will be teaching a four-part, $1t50 course entitled Wormholes through Windows: Enhancing the Usability and Accessibility of Microsoft Windows
and Microsoft Office. Read the syllabus at
http://easi.cc/forms/cantor-series.htm
Freedom Scientific has announced the feature list for JAWS version 7.0 which may be released this week. Among the many new features are support for MSN
Messenger 7.0 and 7.5, the ability to append items to the clipboard, quick access keys for reading Word documents, improved support for pdf documents,
the ability to install JAWS from a jump drive, and many others.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws70fea.asp
The Hadley School for the Blind, a well-known correspondence school for blind students worldwide, now has a set of message boards for staff, students and
others to use for sharing.
http://www.hadley.edu/
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, October 6, 2005
It's still Thursday in my time zone!
It's looking like North American autumn is the low time for news about adaptive technology. Remember, over a thousand people read this publication weekly,
so they will appreciate it if you pass news tips my way for inclusion here.
If you wrote to me during the last week or so of September and didn't get an answer, it's probably because I lost the message; I lost a goodly amount of
e-mail. I love Eudora but it does have a couple flaws. . . .
JAWS for windows 7.0 was released Monday. . Later in the week, versions of Both JAWS and MAGic were released that allow users to run the programs from
a thumb drive, thus allowing greater portability. The site below also has a link to the updated html challenge pages.
www.hj.com
Jamal Mazrui has created a text version of all the JFW 7.0 documentation including the scripting manuals. Download it at
http://www.empowermentzone.com/jfw70doc.zip
A reader says that this site has games which are accessible to the blind as well as bulletin boards:
http://www.zonebbs.com/
Screamer Radio is a program that lets you listen to Internet audio streams and also record them to your hard drive. It is reported to be free (though they'd
love donations) and easy to use.
http://www.screamer-radio.com/
Online Programs for All libraries (OPAL) offers a variety of audio programs, some related to technology, many not. Now you can hear audio previews of upcoming
programs.
http://www.opal-online.org/programs.htm
National Braille Press has updated several of its handy braille reference cards listing keystrokes and configuration information for popular programs, and
has also added one on the new features of Microsoft Office Word 2003. These booklets are available for $5.00 or $10.00 US depending on the booklet.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/index.html
ABC Radio Australia will be streaming commentary of cricket matches live this summer. Find audio links at
www.abc.net.au/cricket
Optilec has reduced the price of its EasyLink braille bluetooth keyboard, which allows users to write using mobile phones and and PDA's. The keyboard for
mobile phone use is $495, and for use with PDA's is $995.
http://www.optelec.com/
The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) is currently
studying ways to integrate accessible multimedia into both Digital Talking Books (DTBs) and e-books of various formats, through its Beyond
the Text project. Complete information about this project can be found
at
http://ncam.wgbh.org/ebooks.
The Center is seeking blind volunteers to test their undertakings. Testing would take no more than an hour, unless you live near Boston, in which case
they are also seeking in-person testers who would receive an honorarium. For either type of testing, contact Geoff Freed, at [log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, October 13, 2005
We grieve for the suffering in South Asia from the recent earthquake.
Gada.be is an innovative web search tool conceived by Chris Perillo. It returns its results as both rss feeds and links, and is ideal both for users of
portable devices and desktops. I have done a demonstration of the service for Sound Computing. Subscribers, enjoy! Others, subscribe any time!
Window-Eyes 5.5 Beta 2 is now available with bug fixes and some new features, including Support for Outlook 2003 Auto Complete Multiple Soundcards Supported
with DECtalk Access 32 and Support for Windows XP Media Edition Media Center Application.
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
Yahoo now has a podcast directory and search service.
http://podcasts.yahoo.com/
If you haven't looked at lately, Larry Skutchan's BlindCoolTech podcast has grown considerably and now receives submissions from many users reviewing equipment,
giving sound-seeing tours, and discussing their careers. You can subscribe to the podcast or download individual programs.
www.blindcooltech.com
Goalball One on One is a new game from the Audio Network which costs $25 US, 21.55 Euros or 14.99 pounds. An audio demonstration is available at
http://www.yrguk.com/disk/welcome.htm
For more information write to Bill at
[log in to unmask]
Accessible and Usable PDF Documents: Techniques for Document Authors is a $150 four-part clinic provided by EASI. There is also a free overview on Thursday
20 October at 19:00 UTC, 14:00 Eastern. To learn more,
http://easi.cc/forms/pdf-series.htm
WBView is a $59.95 program designed for searching and reading books on the
US NLS WebBraille system. version 2.0 of the program is out and it offers many features for users of the service. A fifteen-day trial version is available.
http://www.wb-view.com/
Radio communication enthusiasts will want to know about The Radio Reference
http://www.radioreference.com/index.php
iZoomMouse is a magnification program that lets low vision users use a mouse effectively by magnifying a portion of the screen to the desired size. The
web site for the program is
http://www.sitex.com.ua/en/products/iZoomMouse
SoundsGood.com is a new source for audio books, newspapers and broadcasts. Buyers can purchase individual items or an annual subscription for $19.95 which
allows two downloads per month plus two free books, and some free titles are available.
http://www.soundsgood.com/
John Wilson will be auctioning his line of From the Keyboard tutorials, so that the winner will have the full rights to sell the packages. the auction
will be held on BlindTreasures
http://www.blindtreasures.com/auction
One of many programs designed to remove pops and crackles from vinyl records that you have converted to digital is depopper, available for $18 US with a
free 30-day trial
www.depopoer.com
Australian readers will appreciate a visit to the Online Books Page, which, among many other digital books, contains some which are only available for download
in Australia.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
If you want to extract the sound from a dvd movie, a free choice to achieve this is Dvd Decoder, from
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_decrypter.cfm
The National Braille Press reference card for Word 2003 mentioned last week is actually for Word 2002.
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, October 20, 2005
Today is the 186th anniversary of the birth of the Bab, the Herald-Prphet of the Baha'i Faith, and a major Baha'i holy day.
Allchars is a free program that makes it easy to type accented and special characters and to create keyboard macros.
http://allchars.zwolnet.com/
ProduKey is a Product Key finder for software on your computer that also finds Microsoft Office keys.
http://nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
An accessibility review of X Hour has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
HumanWare's Audio Newsletter #3 is now available, and its contents are also available as text
http://www.humanware.com/
For the People is a site that requires free membership. They now have a Linux lounge where people can share tips about using and accessing Linux.
http://for-the-people.com/
MagniTalk is a new program providing voice control for the ZoomText speech and screen enlargement program.
http://www.ngtvoice.com/products/software/magnitalk/
>
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Education and Outreach Working Group >(EOWG) has published 'Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your
>Organization.'
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/
A self-voicing accessible chess game is available from
http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/et/projects/GameChest
Version 5.3 of TotalRecorder has been released.
http://www.highcriteria.com/
Some people report that older versions of the Winamp audio player work better than newer ones. Many old versions can be found at
http://www.winampheaven.net/
Speaking of Winamp, you can get a plug-in for it that allows you to play windows Media format files and streams
http://nunzioweb.com/daz/playlist_loader.html
To show why I should never type Url's, the link for the pop and click removal program Depopper was mistyped last week. It is
www.depopper.com
Also, Matthew Bullis did a review and demonstration of the program in 2001 for MainMenu, available at
www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm0504.mp3
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, October 27, 2005
The list of short information files, auto-responders, that you can get by e-mail from topdotenterprises.com, has been updated. Remember, if you want any
of these, just send a blank message to the address given. Don't bother writing anything in the subject or body. The masterlist can be had by sending
a blank message to [log in to unmask]
Apple is looking for a software engineer to help with development of the VoiceOver screen reader. Send resume to [log in to unmask]
AVIS, a free Daisy reading program, has been rewritten in version 2.0.
http://amis.sf.net/
And DaisyMaker is a set of Perl scripts to use to create Daisy audio books from text files.
http://w3.wmcnet.org/daisymaker/dm3/
Another mailing list now exists for discussing matters related to JAWS. It is called jaws_users. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
And the October-November issue of the Freedom Scientific Newsletter is available
www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
Quantum Technology has announced the creation of a web site exclusively devoted to the Mountbatten braille writer and to braille literacy. It is at
http://www.mountbattenbrailler.com/
Web Text Reader lets you look up a wealth of information on the net, and the programmer is said to be very accessible. A free demo is available at
http://www.webtextreader.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits fur Thursday, November 3, 2005
For some odd reason, the Mailman software has begun unsubscribing people from the list. I re-subscribed several, and made a configuration change, whose
effect I hope we see, to eliminate the problem. If you or a friend were summarily removed from the list, please re-subscribe, or write for help.
The BoseWave Music System is a popular small stereo system operated by a credit-card sized remote. The company has produced braille remotes in two sizes,
and for both the new version of the system and the older version, to improve accessibility.
There is a new driver to enable JAWS users to use their Braille Note as a speech synthesizer. This driver is needed for those on Windows xp or 2000 running
JFW version 7.
http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/braillenote_downloads.asp
EASI is broadcasting live from two national conferences: November 4 EAST conference on access to science and math
http://easi.cc/forms/east.htm
November 11 Accessing Higher ground in Boulder
http://easi.cc/forms/ahg.htm
On 14 November at 14:00 (time zone not specified) Norman Coombs will present a live web conference providing an overview of the current accessibility state
of online learning. For this and other free and fee-based course info, go to
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
The Plextalk PTR@ is a new portable multi-purpose digital recorder, successor to the PtR1. Michael Lang has prepared a review and test recording of the
unit, at
http://www.longus.info/
There are often several ways to accomplish the same task using Windows. An example of this phenomenon is the existence of two lesser-known ways to copy
and move files and folders. You can read about them by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
People often want to convert files from one audio format to another. Files in the RealAudio format are especially difficult to convert compared to those
of other more open-source formats. There are various ways to accomplish the conversion; a free one is Rawavrecorder from
http://www.rawavrecorder.homestead.com/
@Podder is a new free podcatcher client for the visually impaired, meaning those who have some vision and do not use screen readers. One initial report
found that it does not work, but of course that can change. It is available at
http://www.apodder.org/
My goof of the week last week was to call the free Daisy
book reader Avis, whereas the correct name is AMIS.
feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, November 10, 2005
The rss feed for Tidbits contained some errors. Thanks to a reader pointing out that it wasn't working, those errors have, I believe, been removed. This
is a great way to keep up with Tidbits, especially if you are among the growing number who cannot receive the e-mail version.
With the articles being added this week, thirteen audio articles are available to Sound Computing subscribers. They'll eventually have access to fifty
in this series. If you'd like to know what is available at present, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
In article 11, we learn to use the Notetab regular expression engine to make braille documents that are better suited for display on a portable braille
device.
Window-Eyes version 5.5 has been officially released. It includes full support for the popular Firefox web browser and for Microsoft Excel, the ability
to run Window-Eyes from a usb drive, a new menu design to make the program easier to learn, and smooth interaction with baloon tooltips among other features.
http://www.gwmicro.com/window-eyes
The current issue of The Voice of the Nation's Blind contains a review of the Braille Sense from Gw Micro.
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/175/braille-sense-a-comparative-evaluation
You can read an article from Poker News entitled Blind Man's Bluff: Online Poker for the Blind at
http://www.pokernews.com/news/2005/11/online-poker-blind.htm
Scanner manufacturer Plustek has launched the Book Reader, advertised as the only reading peripheral device under $700 that is devoted entirely for book
reading by the visually impaired.
http://www.plustek.com/bat
In Sound Computing, we'll be focusing a lot on TotalRecorder, a program that lets you record streaming audio for later listening. In article 12, we learn
how to solve a problem which occurred when one user wanted to record a site that was hard to get to using TotalRecorder's browser. We'll learn to use
a simple command-line tool called Send which has other potential uses.
Feedster lets you search blogs, newsgroups and podcasts.
http://podcasts.feedster.com/
EASI will broadcast three sessions from the Accessing Higher Ground conference on 11 November: Accessibility of Online Resources in Academic Libraries,
Panel: Current Trends in Electronic Books, and Library e-Journal Accessibility - A Usability Study. Proceedings begin at 16:15 GMT. on that day, a link
to the broadcasts will be found on the EASI home page,
http://easi.cc/
If you register beforehand, you can receive a link to recordings:
http://easi.cc/forms/ahg.htm
The Digital Books for Visually Impaired Persons Blog has been launched to discuss how to get more material into digital formats
http://shrikantdtb.blogspot.com/2005/11/digital-books-for-visually-
OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) has two educational programs coming up: On Thursday, 17 November at 01:00 GMT: Shopping Online: Click and Ship,
provides tips and tricks for shopping as well as for avoiding pitfalls. Friday, 18 November at 19:00 GMT: The Mouse Pad Traveler: Using the Internet to
Plan and Purchase Your Travels, will discuss techniques for planning travel on the net and for doing so safely. Archives will be available.
http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm
To find the best current prices for memory and flash cards and memory sticks, a good place to visit is
www.dealram.com
Their affiliated site
www.dealnews.com
lets you receive alerts for deals for a variety of items and keeps running tabs on bargains.
In Sound Computing Article 13, we look at the JAWS for windows Speech and Sound Manager and how it can make computer use more efficient and enjoyable.
Version 5.11 of Goldwave, the inexpensive and popular sound editor, is now available, featuring some new features and some fixes.
www.goldwave.com
A mailing list subscriber asked where one can download sound effects, and one answer given was
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/
The latest version of the popular voice chat program Skype, at
http://www.skype.com/
is said to be accessible with JFW. This is version 1.4.0.84.
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, November 17, 2005
The November issue of AccessWorld is now online, including a tribute to Dr. Russell Smith, information about pdf documents, two articles about online shopping,
reviews of two stand-alone reading machines, a book freview, a review of Mobile Magnifier, and an article on blogs.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
FaceToFace is a new program from Freedom Scientific that allows deaf-blind Pac Mate users to communicate in person with sighted folks, who use an IPac portable.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/PressRoom/en/2005/nr_FaceToFace-11-15-2005.asp
Dolphin Systems has released Pocket HAL, a screen reader for the Pocket Pc operating system, supporting bluetooth keyboards and bluetooth braille displays.
The introductory price is US $495.
http://www.dolphincomputeraccess.com/news/2005/Pocket%20hal%20is%20coming1.htm
EASI will conduct a free two-part webcast series on Daisy e-text books and players, on Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 December.
http://easi.cc/forms/beach.htm
The nice folks at Apple computer decided that the name iPodder for the popular program used by many to collect podcasts
could infringe on their property rights, so the makers of the open-source podcatcher have changed its name to Juice Receiver. Get the newly-named program
here;
http://www.tdspodcast.com/
The PodcasterNews Network has been launched. This allows people to build a customized audio news feed of exactly the topics that interest them.
http://www.podcasternews.com/
Speaking of podcasts. the US National Public Radio has launched fourteen new ones, doubling their production, with more to be added.
http://www.npr.org/podcasts/
Doug Wakefield, long-time technology trainer and advocate for accessibility, has started a blog entitled Technology Accessibility Issues.
http://dougwakefield.net/discussions
The November, 2005 issue of The Braille Monitor contains an article, Recommended Non-Visual Access Products for Blind Seniors.
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm05/bm0510/bm051012.htm
Version 10 of the popular archive management program winzip is available.
http://www.winzip.com/
One of the activities of the VIP Conduite voice chat community is the Accessible Devices forum, held on Sundays at 19:00 GMT, where participants look for,
discuss and guide others to accessible devices.
http://www.vipconduit.com/
There are many options for converting from one unit of measure or weight to another. One free one is Convert.
http://www.joshmadison.com/software/convert/
An Accessible World Symposium: Holiday Stocking Stuffers and
> Exciting Gift Ideas For Everyone, Including Those With Special Needs will be a free online event to take place on Saturday, 26 November, at either 17:00
or 18:00 GMT (the press release gives both times!) To get more information about the session, where various companies selling interesting equipment will
discuss their products, write to Pat Price,
> [log in to unmask]
To attend the event, visit
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
you can read an article detailing Darrell Shandrow's efforts to promote accessibility, particularly at the recently-concluded Portable Media Expo.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7000987957
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, November 24, 2005
Happy thanksgiving to all the U.S. citizens and residents who are celebrating today.
AI Squared now offeres Extended Service Plans for its screen magnifier and screen reader ZoomText.
http://www.aisquared.com/
Doug Geoffray from Gw Micro reports that America Online has released AIM Triton, its new instnt messaging client. this program is not accessible to screen
reader users at present. Gw Micro and AOL are working on window-Eyes accessibility.
an accessibility review of Goldwave 5.11 has been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Those who would like to produce their own blog might want to use the services of WordPress, since this service is quite accessible and does not use any
visual verification procedures.
http://www.wordpress.com/
this web site is a home for free online textbooks. Right now there aren't many there but they hope to gather more.
http://www.textbookrevolution.org/
Robby, nickname Ace, has written scripts for the popular chat client mIRC to make it work with screen readers. you get the scripts from
http://www.freedomchat.org/tirc
and you can ask questions at
[log in to unmask]
HumanWare announces that the new version of Trekker, version 2.7, their global positioning system (GPS) for the blind now provides access to new wireless
GPS receivers.
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/p_DA_Trekker.asp
T&T Consultancy announces the release of JSay Professional version 3.0, which supports JAWS for windows version 7 and Dragon Naturally 'speaking Professional
version 8.0 SR1. this package allows the JAWS user to control the computer by voice.
http://ngtvoice.com/products/software/J-Say/
Version 7 of the popular e-mail client Eudora is now available, featuring improved support for Imap servers and a more powerful message search capability.
://
www.eudora.com/
Librivox is a site where volunteers read public-domain books aloud and the resulting audio books are made available for free download as podcasts.
http://librivox.org/
A humorous site containing absurd patents people have received is at
http://www.patentlysilly.com/
Deafblindtecchies.com is a mailing list to discuss and support technology for the deaf-blind. to subscribe, e-mail
[log in to unmask] .
Sun Microsystems is testing the next version of the Java Access Bridge for windows. you can test it at
http://java.sun.com/developer/earlyAccess/accessbridge/
and if you don't have the necessary username and password, you can get them at
http://developer.java.sun.com/servlet/RegistrationServlet
From the Bootlist newsletter: Some Internet service providers brand their names into the title bar of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. To get rid
of such intrusions, go to
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/ie/ispunbrand.htm
The BBC has produced a guide for persons with disabilities to get the most out of built-in accessibility features in their computers. the guide will be
helpful to people with less serious vision impairments not already using access technology.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
BlueIRIS is a new radio information service for the blind from Lancashire, UK, providing at least four hours of programing a day, with plans to provide
recorded books over the Internet.
http://www.blueiris.info/
Enrichment Audio Resource Services offers free independent-living-related cassettes for people losing their vision.
http://www.earsforeyes.org/
Browse Aloud is a talking web browser designed for people who do not have screen readers but want to hear web pages read aloud.
http://www.browsealoud.com/downloads.asp?dl=bl
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, December 1, 2005
Users of JAWS versions 6 or 7 are invited to test a new tool designed to improve accessibility to mathematical and scientific instruction.
http://eteach.engr.wisc.edu/mike/SampleSelf-assessment_files/StartHere.html
Microsoft has released new versions of programming languages such as Visual Basic, Visual C, visual J and Visual Studio. they have also released "Express"
versions of these tools which will be free for at least the next year and which contain tutorials for beginning programmers and sample code for each language.
You can read about all this and get links to download the free tools for the next several days from the Karenware site
www.karenware.com/current.asp
Emacspeak version 23 is now available. This is a screen reader system for Linux whose creators write funny press releases.
http://emacspeak.sf.net/
Soundy Mouse causes your mouse to generate sound as you move it around the screen.
http://www.networkactiv.com/SoundyMouse.htmlhttp://www.networkactiv.com/SoundyMouse.html
Version 1.5 of the popular firefox web browser, completely supported by window-Eyes and partially supported by JAWS, is available. One place to get it
easily is
http://gwmicro.com/support/firefox
Larry Skutchan has done a couple podcasts for blindCoolTech on buying inexpensive mp3 players.
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
OPAL will present "Podcasting, an Introduction," an introductory presentation on this phenomenon, thursday, 8 December at 19;00 GMT. archives will be
available.
http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0
Laplink is an ftp program which is now freely available. Richard Turner has put the program, some files needed for the instalation which users may not
have, and his set files for window-Eyes versin 5.5 on his web site.
http://www.turner42.com/
As part of his Wormcast podcast, Australiaan Scott Rutkowski has produced a demonstration of MobileSpeak Pocket, one of two screen readers that give access
to the Pocket Pc environment. you can download this program here:
http://libsyn.com/media/wormcast/msp.mp3
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, December 8, 2005
A subscription to Sound Computing could be an ideal small Christmas gift. Fifty audio articles for $9.00. Articles 14 and 15 are now available.
Article 15 begins a two-part series on using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 to comunicate with the computer rather than using the keyboard. We look at this
from the blind user's perspective.
HumanWare announces that Keysoft version 7 will be available for its line of VoiceNte and BrailleNote products sometime in mid-January. The release features
a new database program, a text adventure game system, braile keyboard input for computers running JAWS, EloQuence speech and enhancements to the scientific
calculator among other goodies.
www.humanware.com
Building Educational Success Through Technology (BEST) is a new monthly podcast seeking to information listeners about the use of adaptive technology in
schools and colleges.
http://bestpodcast.blogspot.com/
Article 14 of Sound Computing is a 35-minute guide to setting up TotalRecorder, one of my favorite programs. More articles on TotalRecorderill follow.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
The Seeing Ear is a U.K. Internet-based library. Membership is free to residents of the European Union. they are looking for blind users to test the site
for accessibility.
http://www.seeingear.org/
Accessibility reviews of MushClient version 3.69, AVG Antivirus Free Edition version 7.1 and Disk Checkup version 1.1 have been added to the AccessWatch
database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind located in Washington D.C. is in need of adaptive technology trainers for the blind and low vision in the D.C. area, and
possibly nationwide. Please send resumes to:
[log in to unmask]
Or call: (866) 668-4532 for more information.
Dancing Dots announces version 3 of the Godfeel Braille Music Translator, which allows users to Quickly transcribe to braille from Finale, Sibelius and
other popular music notation software used by band, orchestra and choir directors, independently create print and equivalent braille transcriptions for
collaboration with sighted or blind teachers, colleagues or students and scan, read and write musical scores with the Lime notation editor via the new
Lime Aloud JAWS- based features.
http://www.dancingdots.com/goodfeel.htm
In case you tried to investigate the Soundy Mouse last issue, the Url was mistyped. It should have been
http://www.networkactiv.com/SoundyMouse.html
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, December 15, 2005
At the suggestion of a reader, I am changing my policy concerning redistributing material from Tidbits. You can copy individual Tidbits paragraphs to individuals
and mailing lists, as long as you reference the tidbits web page, or subscription info, while you're at it.
Freedom Scientific has updated its Html Challenge, a set of web pages demonstrating the capabilities of JAWS for windows version 7.0 with Internet Explorer.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/Surfs_Up/_Surfs_Up_Start_Here.htm
the company has also launched a low-vision division, with the TOPAZ line of desktop video magnifiers.
http://www.low-vision-help.com/index.html
Version 5.12 of the popular audio player winamp is available, and one easy place to directly download it is
http://www.mindspring.com/~mrimpau/winamp512_full.exe
Not surprisingly, now that we have the phenomenon of podcasting, we have the danger of podjacking. Read a clear article about it at
http://vegan.com/issues/2005/podjacking.htm
Microsoft has released SNARF, Social Network and Relationship Finder, an add-on to Outlook xp and 2003 to help prioritize e-mail messages
.
http://www.softwarepatch.com/office/snarf.html
An oft-overlooked feature of window-Eyes is its cursoring keys. A recent listserv message highlighted the use of this feature to add an Echo Characters
and Words ability to the program. To read about it, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Speaking of window-Eyes, we break out the new microphone in article 16 of Sound Computing and briefly demonstrate how to add screen functionality to TotalRecorder
for Window-Eyes users by adding a user window to read the duration of a recording
and some field names to clarify ambiguous prompts. this and the other 49 articles in the series are yours for a total of $9.00.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
IniForm is a free utility Jamal Mazrui has developed that may be called by any programming language that can read and write .ini files, including JAWS scripts.
It allows programmers to more easily build GUI forms.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/ifsetup.exe
Jonathan Mosen provides an audio review of the Rockbox firmware, which gives greatly improved access to some commercially available hard-drive mp3 players.
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=Pcad155e152666a68389dca4099d0bf47ZV56QlREY2B2&buffer=5&fc=CCFF33&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&autoplay=1&gateway=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audioblog.com%2Fplaylist&player=ap21
AccessWorld is the free bimonthly web-based access technology publication of American Foundation for the Blind. In the months when AccessWorld is not published,
they e-mail AccessWorld Extra, which offers reader discussion of a question they ask, a sneak peak at the upcoming issue of AccessWorld and some news items.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
Nuance, the company which was known as ScanSoft, has announced Zooms, a magnifier for mobile phone screens, and version 2.5 of Talks, their screen reader
for mobile phones. This and more is the subject of a two-hour Main Menu, aired December 7 and now in the ACBRadio archive.
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm238.m3u
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, December 22, 2005
the US Defense Department conducts the DARPA Grand Challenge, a competition to create a vehicle that can operate without a human being to drive it. Read
about this year's results in the current issue of The Voice of the Nation's Blind,
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/179/darpa-grand-challenge
Internet mailing lists can be an excellent way to learn and get support on many subjects, among them adaptive technology. Some mailing lists have new homes,
and some others wil soon. One long-time listis access-l. Now, you join it by sending a blank messave to [log in to unmask] You can visit
the list's home page at
http://www.access-l.com/
Two more specialized lists are dectalk, for discussions of the synthesizer, including how to make music with it, and bindapple, for discussions of blind
folks using the Apple II computers. Now, to join Dectalk,
send a blank message to [log in to unmask], and to join BlindApple, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
For a long time, many mailing lists have been hosted on the listserver at St. Johns University. this was a valuable service, but now there are many options
for hosting mailing lists, so St. Johns is choosing to devote their computers to other functions. There are some blindness-related lists which will doubtless
be moving, so if you know of a new address for one of these lists, send it my way so I can tell everybody.
the December-January edition of the Freedom Scientific Newsletter is available for reading at
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
Issue 4 of the HumanWare Audio Newsletter, many of whose articles are also available as text, can be found at
http://www.humanware.com/
Gw Micro announces an upgrade to the BrailleSense, their notetaker. the unit now supports reading DAISY 3.0 books, playing playlists of mp3 files and streaming
some Windows Media Internet streams, using bluetooth for data transfer and braille display support, and other enhancements.
http://www.gwmicro.com/
SUN has released version 2.0 of the Java Access Bridge.
http://java.sun.com/products/accessbridge/
Clarity has released the Carrymate, a 10-pound (4.8-kg) video magnifier.
http://clarityusa.com/carrymate.htnl
A series of tech-related podcasts, reported by a tidbits reader, is found at
http://www.gtconline.us/
EASI offers a certificate in Accessible Information Technology to those who successfully complete five of their month-long courses. Three courses start
January 9. To read about them, find the appropriate heading on the page at
http://easi.cc/
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for thursday, December 29, 20 05
Article 17 of Sound Computing is our second big article on Total Recorder, this time concentrating on playing and editing files. this and all the other
articles in the 50-article series are yours for only $9.00. Payment via paypal, credit card or check.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
or write with questions.
An accessibility evaluation of ZoneAlarm Version 6.1 has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
A podcast of a lady reading public domain literature aloud, with a new reading every week, is found at
http://publicdomainpodcast.blogspot.com/
A page containing information about all the podcasts available from the U.S. NBC television network is at
http://podcast.msnbc.com/
Another page listing pocasts, some related to news and current events, is at
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Social-Sciences/Current-Events
Talking about podcasting, a recent thread on an e-mail list discussed ways for people to learn about podcasting. the discussion can be had by sending a
blank message to [log in to unmask]
Article 18 of the Sound Computing series gives experience and advice for buying a lightweight laptop, discussing four sources for such computers.
the Owasys 22C is a screenless mobile phone now available in the U.S. with features that allow a blind user to access much of the information available
to sighted users of standard phones.
You can learn about this $499 phone and listen to an audio demonstration of it by visiting
http://screenlessphone.com/
More and more people are buying fm transmitters so they can broadcast their computer or portable device's output to a radio in the car or house. In article
19 of Sound Computing I do my best to put together the current wisdom on which of these devices work best. Nobody will be interested in every article
in the Sound Computing series, but most everybody can find several that will be of benefit to them.
Visit the Tidbits page at
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for thursday, December 29, 20 05
Article 17 of Sound Computing is our second big article on Total Recorder, this time concentrating on playing and editing files. this and all the other
articles in the 50-article series are yours for only $9.00. Payment via paypal, credit card or check.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm or write with questions.
An accessibility evaluation of ZoneAlarm Version 6.1 has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
A podcast of a lady reading public domain literature aloud, with a new reading every week, is found at
http://publicdomainpodcast.blogspot.com/
A page containing information about all the podcasts available from the U.S. NBC television network is at
http://podcast.msnbc.com/
Another page listing pocasts, some related to news and current events, is at
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Social-Sciences/Current-Events
Talking about podcasting, a recent thread on an e-mail list discussed ways for people to learn about podcasting. the discussion can be had by sending a
blank message to [log in to unmask]
Article 18 of the Sound Computing series gives experience and advice for buying a lightweight laptop, discussing four sources for such computers.
the Owasys 22C is a screenless mobile phone now available in the U.S. with features that allow a blind user to access much of the information available
to sighted users of standard phones.
You can learn about this $499 phone and listen to an audio demonstration of it by visiting
http://screenlessphone.com/
More and more people are buying fm transmitters so they can broadcast their computer or portable device's output to a radio in the car or house. In article
19 of Sound Computign I do my best to put together the current wisdom on which of these devices work best. Nobody will be interested in every article
in the Sound Computing series, but most everybody can find several that will be of benefit to them.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, January 5, 2006
the fourth quarter, issues 40-52, of Top tech tidbits have been collected into a handy text file just like the issues for the first three quarters. To
get this one, send a blank message to [log in to unmask] Use q1 q2 or q3 to get earlier collections. since it is as easy for you to search the
archives as it is for me to do it, I will usually urge you to search them for old items rather than asking me about them. Most of the old items still
have value, so the archives can be quite useful, especially if you haven't seen them before.
Two technology-related articles appear in the January, 2006 issue ofThe Braille Monitor. Building a Global Library for People with Print Disabilities,
text of a talk by Jim Fruchterman
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0601/bm060106.htm
and Access at the Point-of-Sale: The U.S. Netcom Solution
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0601/bm060111.htm
Kathy Melton teaches medical transcription online. Group courses cost 475 per month.
http://www.kaysclass.com/
Sound Computing subscribers get 15 hours or more of audio information for 49.00. this time, we focus on the Book Port and Book Courier. Article 20 discusses
the differences between these two devices and article 21 gives a compendium of Book Port information not found in the manual.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm.
There are lots of collections of Windows xp shortcut keys. Here's one in Excel format. For best results. use the context menu or right click, depending
on which screen reader you're using, and choose choice a, Save Target As, then open in Excel.
http://www.bootdisk.com/temp/keybdshortcuts.xls
Accessibility reviews of Skype version 2.0, Skype Answering Machine version 1.35, Cool Edit 2000 version 1.0, Shades of Doom version 1.2 and Amadeus II
version 3.4.8 have all been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
OPAL offers several online audio programs in the coming days: finding Health Information Online, Monday 9 January at 19:00 GMT and Wednesday 11 January
at 01:00 GMt, The Armchair Traveler, Wednesday 11 January at 19:00 GMT, and Wiki World an Introduction, Thursday, 12 January at 20:00 GMT.
http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm
The Bootlist gives us this Url to a clear site concerning setting up a wireless network:
http://www.ezlan.net/index.html
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 12, 2006
I'll be in Chicago for three weeks, and can offer affordable computer setup and training services during evenings and weekends.
* The January, 2006 AccessWorld features a review of the BrailleNote mPower
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070107
an article on converting audio tapes to digital audio using Goldwave
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070108
reviews of the current versions of the three major Windows screen readers
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070103
and more
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) is launching its first Podcast: Barrier-free Information Technology Tips and Tricks. Programs will appear
at least weekly and will last about fifteen minutes each.
http://easi.cc/podcasts/
EASI also presents a free interactive webcast, Comparing Accessibility Checker Tools, on Thursday, 19 January at 19:00 GMT, and a two-part paid series,
Podcasting: How do You Get Them and How Do You Make Them?, 25 Jnauary and 9 February at 19:00 GMT
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
Two mailing lists, primarily geared to people in the UK and Europe, have been created. To join the Visually Impaired Home Cinema group, send a blank message
to
[log in to unmask]
and to join the Visually Impaired Motorized Satellite group, send a blank message to
>[log in to unmask]
There's also a mailing list to discuss the Firefox web browser. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
A new build of Keysoft 6.2 for the BrailleNote and VoiceNote, solving a problem of loss of speech, has been posted.
http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/braillenote_downloads.asp
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, three companies: Philips,Panasonic and Netgear announced plans for phones to allow people to place and receive
calls using Skype. The Netgear phone will be a stand-alone unit.
JAWS scripts for the sound editor Goldwave have been updated.
http://jbauer.port5.com/
Accessibility evaluations of spyware doctor version 3.2.2, xm module version 1.6, laplink ftp version 2.0.15, and Norton Partition Magic version 8.0 have
been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
AccessWatch now has a podcast, focusing on technology reviews.
http://jamiepauls.libsyn.com/
Richard Seltzer produces compilations of public-domain books on cd and dvd, and also produces a newsletter discussing this and other topics. He now has
launched a blog mostly discussing books on cd and dvd.
http://www.samizdat.com/blog
Updates for the Victor Reader and Victor Reader Plus daisy book players to version 3.1 are available from HumanWare..
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/Download.asp
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, January 19, 2006
De Witt Associates, an adaptive technology company n New jersey, US, is looking to hire an adaptive technology trainer. Send a cover letter and resume
in the body of an e-mail to
[log in to unmask]
Blind Cool Tech continues to be a valuable source for technology information as well as other interesting recordings. Recent podcasts available for download
include a two-part course on html, Two articles about the IRiver mp3 player/recorder, a demonstration of the Cobolt Talking Color Identifier, and demonstrations
of downloading text and audio books from the public library.
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
Here is a New Zealand site that seeks to find the lowest prices for computer and mobile phone equipment
http://www.pricespy.co.nz/
The makers of the Owasys 22C screenless phone have seen fit to drop its price by half, to $199.00.
http://screenlessphone.com/
TENbot aims to convert rss feeds into formatted text; a test version is available
http://www.daden.co.uk/tenbot
The Poetry Online Archive contains readings of poems by their authors, with some recordings dating back as far as 1932.
http://www.poetryarchive.org/
A fairly new mailing list to discuss JAWS now has a web page and a slightly different name: jaws-users
http://www.jaws-users.com/
Gw Micro has revamped its web page, with an improved shopping cart, a knowledge base, and clearer organization, among other improvements.
www.gwmicro.com
windows Onecare Live Beta is available to anybody who wants to test this firewall, antivirus, tune-up and back-up package
http://www.windowsonecare.com/
An accessibility review of Skype Answering Machine version 1.0.8 has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info
HumanWare announces KeyMaestro, a wireless braille keyboard for its Maestro pda.
http://www.humanware.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, January 26, 2006
Dolphin Systems has released version 3.01of Cicero, their optical character recognition package, which now uses the Finereader recognition engine. they
have also announced new versions of their screen reader and screen magnifier, allowing support for Windows Xp Media Center and various other enhancements..
www.dolphinusa.com
A concerted effort is afoot to encourage Google to stop using visual verification, a security procedure which drastically limits accessibility to the web
for people with vision loss. Google could do much to promote web access by providing a sound alternative which others could emulate. Read about and sign
the petition, which already has over 2,300 signatures and needs many more, at
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb333502.htm
Optelec announces the EasyLink12, a unit which consists of a wireless keyboard and 12-cell refreshable braille display, intended to provide wireless access
to pda's, pc's and smart phones.
http://www.optelec.com/
Until the end of July, Gw Micro is rewarding U.S. purchasers of their Braille Sense notetaker with a free subscription or renewal to Bookshare. They have
built the Bookshare Unpack Tool into the Braille Sense, so that users will not need a computer to open Bookshare books.
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1035
The much-announced Keysoft 7 for the BrailleNote family of products is now actually available. There is a web site devoted to the upgrade, whose many features
we mentioned here previously, found at
http://www.humanware.com/7_0
It turns out that the price for the Screenless Phone has not been reduced as I suggested last week, but rather US customers of TMobile can get the phone
on a subsidized basis. Meanwhile, the US distributor has released a Frequently Asked Questions document about the phone:
http://screenlessphone.com/FAQ
Several large companies, including Google and Sun, are joining forces to create a web site to fight what they term "badware," meaning spyware, adware, and
other malicious code that makes the web dangerous.
http://www.stopbadware.org/
Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind in Florida, US, is seeking a Rehab technologist. Complete the application available at
http://www.tampalighthouse.org/
If you want accessible crossword puzzles and other accessible puzzles, an employee of Puzzler encourages you to express your interest by e-mailing
[log in to unmask]>
If you're looking for a podcast on a particular topic, one way to find it is to use PodZinger, a search site that indexes content from some 48,000 podcasts
and uses voice recognition technology to allow you to search the content of the programs.
http://www.podzinger.com/
An accessibility review of Anapod Explorer version 8.95 has been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Freedom Scientific announces that a new addition to its product line for folks with low vision, the $795 Opalt Ultra-Portable Video Magnifier, will be available
in March. The pocket-sized magnifier can be connected to a tv or computer screen for increased magnification, or used with its own 4-inch screen.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/
Gw Micro is busily adding material to its new KnowledgeBase. An article entitled Learning New Applications with window-Eyes is available at
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1036
and an article concerning Opening attachments in E-mail Messages is at
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1034
Internet security expert Steve gibson has written a handy free utility, Wizmo, which has many features including capabilities to control the computer sound
via desktop shortcuts.
http://www.grc.com/wizmo/wizmo.htm
On 18 March the third Annual Accessible World Old time Radio Symposium will take place online. An announcement-only mailing list to prepare for the event
has been created. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
PowerDvd is a commercial program for viewing dvd's on the computer. To see a list of shortcut keys for use in the program, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, February 2, 2006
At the suggestion of a reader, I will begin numbering the tidbits. Each number will be followed by a right parenthesis ). this way, you can skim through
announcements. I do listen to feedback, so keep feedback coming. Also, thanks to people who sent news items this week. Over a thousand people appreciate
your contribution.
1) As Seattle prepares for its historic first appearance in the Super Bole, we learn that Jim Kitchen has recently created a free self-voicing football
game, available at
http://kitchensinc.blindprodigy.net/ttsgames/winnfl3.exe
He has lots of free games on his site
http://www.kitchensinc.net/
I learned about this one from a review of it by Chris Judd for BlindCoolTech
http://www.archive.org/download/ChrisJuddbct333Football/bct333Football.mp3
2) Gw Micro now offers some rss feeds, enabling interested people to use rss to find out about new entries to their web site:
http://www.gwmicro.com/RSS/
3) Sight Exchange is a new mailing list dedicated to free exchange of items for the blind. All items will be made available for free. To subscribe, send
a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
4) while we're on the subject of helping people acquire used stuff, blindad is a mailing list for buying and selling items by and for the blind, along
with related discussions. the new address to join this list is
[log in to unmask]
5) Midimag is a mailing list for visually impaired persons who have an interest in or work with MIDI and other music technologies for home use or professional
purposes, to discuss accessibility, share documentation, and help each other. the list has moved, and the current address to join is
[log in to unmask]
6) Thanks to the LangaList,
www.langa.com
Here's a comprehensive site listing travel sites and specialty search engines:
http://www.allsitecafe.com/search2.html
7) Fred Langa has written an article about how to boot windows Xp from a 256-mb flash drive. the purpose is for portability and also to repair complex
system problems. I have no idea whether screen reader users can make use of this procedure, though I suspect they could, so if somebody tries it, let
me know and I'll pass on the findings:
http://www.informationweek.com/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177102101
8) Access Technology Institute's Gene Asner will present a free demonstration of the free audio editor Audacity on Tuesday, 14 January at 01:00 GMT. The
formal presentation will last about an hour with questions to follow.
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/ATIPresents.html
9) A security flaw has been found in the popular media player Winamp. Version 5.13 has been released to solve the problem. One easy place to get it from
is
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html
10) Episode 23 of the always-informative Desert Skies Podcast is out; many of us are glad to see this program return to the net. this edition largely
deals with blogging and podcast-hosting.
http://www.tdspodcast.com/
11) You can read Microsoft's answers to the top ten Outlook Express questions here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/OEtopten.mspx
12) Courtesy of the BootList
www.bootdisk.com
If your windows xp system is slow to shut down, there is a section on this page that may help you solve the problem:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm
13) And from the same source: Here's a non-Microsoft site that delineates the differences between Xp Home and Pro:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp
14) Two articles have been added to the Gw Micro KnowledgeBase. Window-Eyes LTO Internet Activation
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1037
andNo Interruptability in Internet Explorer
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1038
Here are two items of primarily local interest, though the local areas involved have large populations. I may not always publish such items:
15) New york: The Assistive Technology Expo 2006 will be held on 11 May in Albany. They are looking for vendors.
http://www.atexpo2006.com/
16) Washington, DC: ITG, an IT company in the DC Metro area with a specialization in Assistive Technology, is hosting an Open House on February 8 and 9
with demonstrations of key Humanware products. A presentation on Using Accessible PDA Products for Productivity within the Workplace by Jonathan Mosen,
Product Manager for Humanware will be given. Interested parties should RSVP: by February 6, 2006
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
adaptiveadminTop Tech tidbits for Thursday, February 9, 2006
1) Shaun Everiss has started a mailing list, primarily but not exclusively for discussing old computer equipment. to join, send a message to the address
below, and put the word subscribe in the subject field
[log in to unmask]
2) The American Foundation for the Blind will publish the first AccessWorld Guide to Assistive Technology Products. the book will appear in March on disk
and in print and will cost $24.95.
3) Independent Living Aids, in conjunction, I believe, with a Swiss organization, is marketing the Milestone mp3 player/recorder for $365.00. the unit
features accessible navigation and the ability to store audio files in its 256 megs of built-in memory or on a cf card. You can listen to a presentation
on the device and read more about it here:
http://accessible-devices.com/milestonerecorder.html
4) Top Speed2 is a car racing game with impressive sound effects and an enthusiastic community of players. the game is free from
http://playinginthedark.net/
5) Gw Micro, maker of window-Eyes, and Libera, maker of the System 7, a case management application, have announced that they have collaborated to make
this case management system accessible to blind social service employees.
6) A new mailing list for those interested in learning to write scripts for JAWS has been created, called Scriptography. Read about it here
http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com
7) OPAL and LibraryU present the Day of the Digital Audio Book on Ghursday, 16 February. Presentations and self-paced modules will take place throughout
the day. Free, but registration requested:
http://learning.libraryu.org/LULiveReg/LULiveReg.asp
8) window-Eyes users report that the menu system in the cd burning program Nero Burning Rom, which was formerly not accessible, now works wel in window-Eyes
with version 7.0.5.4.
9) The February, 2006 issue of the Braille Monitor contains a review of the three accessible gps systems available for blind travelers:
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0602/bm060206.htm
10) If By Phone is a new interactive phone service trying to get started. You can call the US toll-free number 866-350-9836 or visit
http://www.ifbyphone.com/
11) I got the month wrong for the AccessTechnologyInstitute presentation on the Audacity audio editor, but not the day. You haven't missed it! It's coming
up on Tuesday, 14 February at 01:00 GMT. I always give times in GmT, and this event takes place at the beginning of Tuesday even though North Americans
will experience it on Monday.
12) Jonathan Mosen shares a link to a site that contains the audio feeds for all the many BBC channels in one accessible place.
http://dave.org.uk/streams/
13) In the 30 January entry on his blog, Jonathan discussed software designed to turn gext into mp3 or other digital audio formats so one can listen to
it in a portable player, burn it to cd, and such.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
Thanks to those who reported the problem with the web edition last time. It was corrected during the week.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday February 16, 2006
We spend 43 minutes in Sound Computing, Article #22 studying how to record and how to schedule a recording using Total Recorder. For information about
the $9.00 Sound Computing package,
www.topdotenterprises/scinfo.htm
1) For-the-people will begin offering monthly tech mini-classes. You need to be a member to take part in these audio courses, but you need not pre-register
or pre-qualify. the first class will take place on Wednesday, 22 February at 01:00 gmt and is called Working with winZip.
www.for-the-people.com
2) A recent list message mentioned places to find compact flash cards and other similar computer products.
http://www.thenerds.net/
http://www.pricegrabber.com/
http://www.pricescan.com/
3) The german Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI has made its Mary text-to-speech engine open-source. I've seen no reports of how this works with
screen readers, but it is said to be easy to install, and contains German, English and Tibetan versions.
http://mary.dfki.de/
4) A reader recommends this site for old-time radio programs
http://www.oldtimeradio.com/
5. On that topic, there will be an old-time radio chat online in the OTR chat room on the TalkingCommunities site, Friday 17 February at 01:00 GMT. When
you get to the site, choose the Old Radio Room.
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
6) Kathy Ann Murtha has written a comprehensive textbook on the screen magnification and reading program ZoomText 9.0, available on a dvd with content
in text and audio formats. the text begins shipping on 21 February, and orders placed online before that date can receive a 20 per cent discount if the
code ZT09 is entered into the promotional code field of the shopping cart.
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/ZoomText.html
7) A new article has just been posted to the GW Micro Knowledgebase: Window-Eyes and Firefox Extensions
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1040
8) The Adaptech Research Network is looking for Canadians who have taught or supported persons with disabilities in post-secondary e-learning activities,or
who are disabled and have taken courses using some sort of electronic support to participate in a 20-minute online survey.
http://www.adaptech.org/elearning
9) If you run windows xp Sp 2, you can use the now-accessible version of windows Defender Beta, Microsoft's evolving anti-spyware tool. One place to get
it is
http://www.tdspodcast.com/
10) Accessibility reviews of Windows Defender Beta version 2.0 and Top Speed version 2.0 have been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
11) A reader of the Bootlist
http://www.bootdisk.com/
suggests this site if you want to upload a really large file to share with others so they can download it easily
http://tinyurl.com/9tqv8
12) Jonathan Mosen has created a new Internet radio station for broadband users. The station's focus is music about love in all its forms.
http://www.the-minx.com/
Here are a few mailing lists which, while not related to technology, use e-mail for their dissemination, and will be of interest to some.
13) EChurch is a list for blind Christians and friends to support each other. to join, put the phrase "subscribe firstname lastname" in the body, using
your real name, and send that message to
[log in to unmask]
14) The Blind Chef is a list for those who want to improve cooking skills and discuss available equipment. to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
15) BlindHandyMan promotes discussion of independent home repair and power tool use by the blind. To join send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
finally, here are sites of interest to speakers of other languages.
16) Speakers of South-Slavic languages such as Serbian and Croatian can benefit from
http://www.slikom.org/
and can join the Slikom mailing list, whose information can be found at
http://www.freelists.org/list/slikom
17) French speakers will find a wealth of adaptive technology information at
www.winaide.net
If you stop receiving Tidbits via e-mail, it's probably still being sent, but your ISP is considering it spam and blocking it for you. You may be able
to change this behavior on their part, but otherwise consider the web or rss notification systems, which I have set up precisely because of this problem.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 23, 2006
There will be several news items that won't get into this week's newsletter because of travel and other deadlines. It's already Friday!
1) If you want to hear what the Speech Plus Calculator, sold in the 70's by Telesensory Systems, can do, here is a web site demonstrating it:
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/speechplus
2) Tutorials for learning music by ear are available at
http://www.musicvi.com/
3)Read about the soon-to-be-released Sanyo induction heat-type cooking stove with voice navigation and voice and musical alerts:
http://www.popgadget.net/2006/02/cooking_stove_w_1.php#trackbacks
4) Skylook is a program used in conjunction with the popular chat system Skype and with Microsoft Outlook to record Skype calls. Hear an interview with
the creator of Skylook by going to the 15 February program for this Melbourne radio station:
http://www.rrr.org.au/byteintoit
5) EASI will launch its second podcast on 3 March. this regular broadcast will be entitled "It's about People, not Technology."
http://easi.cc/podcasts/
6) The National Conference on Reuse of Assistive Technology will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, US, from 8-10 May 2006. For more information e-mail
[log in to unmask]
7) Winamp version 5.2, a major upgrade for this popular media player, is available. One easy place to get it is
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html
8) You can read a review of Windows Defender Beta, mentioned in last week's Tidbits, here:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windefender_beta2.asp
9) Two articles have been added to the Gw Micro Knowledgebase. Window-Eyes and Remote Desktop
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1042
and ZoomText Not Tracking Focus with Window-Eyes:
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1041
10) Sean Randall has written a program called Burgeon, especially useful for people who run their screen reader from a usb drive. It creates lists of programs
to run easily.
http://www.randylaptop.com/projects/burgeon/
11) Rockbox is an open-source project to improve the operation of disk-based mp3 players. One result is making those players much more accessible. According
to this announce,ent, Rockbox can be added to the 4 GB IPod.
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodPort
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 2, 2006
1) If you want to encourage the creation of more accessible computer games, a couple enthusiasts will be speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San
Jose. they are looking for stories of game experience as a blind user, game wishes and ideas. Submit to
http://www.audiogames.net/contact.php
2) The current issue of The Voice of the Nation's Blind has several technology-related articles: Google Struggles with Accessibility as Services Expand
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/192/google-struggles-with-accessibility-as-services-expand
Mozilla Firefox Is Accessible!
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/191/mozilla-firefox-is-accessible
The Ins and Outs of Audible.com
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/189/the-ins-and-outs-of-audiblecom
Touch the Sun, about a new tactile-braille book on the sun
http://www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/195/touch-the-sun-brings-earthrsquos-nearest-star-to-life-for-blind-students
3) Jonathan Mosen has conducted an excellent review of Replay Radio AV, a tool which seems to surpass all others in its ability to easily record streaming
audio. Listen to his tutorial
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=P11c4b4b51f579a9a6d9fd7f3cf50823aZV56QlREY2Zz&buffer=5&fc=CCFF33&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&autoplay=1&gateway=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audioblog.com%2Fplaylist&player=ap21
4) A list member recommended the program called Switch for easily converting files of a variety of sound formats to mp3:
http://www.nch.com.au/switch/
5) Jamal Mazrui has augmented Layout by Code, a public-domain tool for aspiring Windows programmers, to version 2
http://www.empowermentzone.com//lbc.zip
6) Jamal has also begun work on an open-source accessible database manager, DbDialog, and seeks feedback as to its usefulness.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/dbdsetup.exe
7) Finally, Jamal has a collection of a dozen books on the Perl programming language which he has customized so that they are in easily-readable text format
http://www.empowermentzone.com/perl5doc.zip
8) the archives for the weekly technology program Main Menu have now been updated, at
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19&MMN_position=30:29
Main Menu is also available as a podcast by adding this link to your podcatcher
http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=mainmenu
9) Among other material, the March, 2006 issue of AccessWorld from American Foundation for the Blind http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
contains: Focus on Screen Magnification, Part 1: A Review of ZoomText 9.0 and LunarPlus 6.5
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070203
and an article about audio description
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw070205
10) A new article has been added to the Gw Micro KnowledgeBase: Configuring the Braille Sense to Work as a Braille Display via the USB Port
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1043
11) In the first item to concern the upcoming CSUN conference, a $714.50 two-day class on JSay, the JAWS add-on which facilitates using Dragon Naturally
Speaking to control the computer by voice, will be offered on 17-18 March. Participants receive three meals and a full copy of the program. RSVP by 3
March is requested to
[log in to unmask]
12) A mailing list to discuss the open-source sound editor Audacity has been started. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
13) Let'stalradio is a mailing list for discussing radio history and on-air personalities. You can join at the website
[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
14) Accessibility reviews of quicktime alternative version 1.68, Total Recorder version 5.3 and uTorrent version 1.4 have been added to the AccessWatch
database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
15) From the E-Access Bulletin
http://www.headstar.com/eab/
we learn that the SpeakOn, to be released later this year at a price said not to exceed 500 pounds, will be a stand-alone Internet device for listening
to audio content from the net without a computer
http://www.a-technic.net/
16) From the same source, an accessible audio version of a popular brainteaser, Sudoku, has been produced.
http://www.audiogames.net/sudosan
17. We announced winamp version 5.2 last week. this program is not as accessible as it used to be. Particularly, the library feature is more difficult
to use than before. Advocacy is going on with the developers to remedy this problem.
http://forums.winamp.com/
18) Some new synthetic voices, complying with the SApI standard, are available at
http://www.cepstral.com/
and
http://www.nextup.com/
I am very pleased with TMobile as my cell phone carrier, Earthlink as my Internet service provider, and Onesuite for long-distance phone cards. If you
might be inclined to purchase any of these services, I would appreciate credit for a referral, so please contact me if interested.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, March 9, 2006
I'm in an auto-responderish sort of mood this week, so I've added three free text documents to the collection and updated the list of available documents.
In all cases, just write to the address given if you want the document, you need not include a subject or body. Also, if you're somebody who fights spam
by making new correspondents reply to a message or fill out a form before their message reaches you, you cannot get these text documents because no human
is going to intervene on your behalf!
1) SSB Technologies has or will have several jobs in either the San Francisco or Washington dC area for web accessibility consultant, accessibility tester
and software accessibility consultant.
http://www.ssbtechnologies.com/
2) From the Rvers Computer Help Newsletter
mailto:[log in to unmask] Question
The Freecycle network is a large network of community groups which allow you to give away items you no longer need so they don't end up in landfills, or
to find something you want
http://www.freecycle.org/
3)From the same source: Use Am-Deadlink to check your favorites in Internet Explorer or Firefox to weed out links that don't work:
http://www.aignes.com/deadlink.htm
4) Woody Anna Dresner writes clear and informative books on technology for National Braille Press. Of course, the drawback of these and any books on technology
is that they can quickly become outdated as things change. to keep her books relevant and to give announcements about new ones, Anna has created a blog
where she gives new information about the topics covered in her books.
http://nbpupdates.wordpress.com/
5) Although the manuals for the sound editor Sound Forge are ordinarily distributed as protected pdf files, making them hard to use for screen reader users,
you can often ask Sony Media to provide you with an unprotected pdf copy by explaining that you are blind. In addition, Neal Ewers has made the manual
for Sound Forge version 8 available in Word, text and html format on his ftp site, which can be reached through your usual web browser or an ftp program
ftp://ftp.ravenswood.org
6) During March, Serotek is offering their remote computing solution, the Key to Freedom, along with their access program System Access, for a total cost
of $395, $200 below the standard price for this bundle.
http://freedombox.info/
7) Jamal Mazrui has made several improvements to his free database manager DbDialog and brought it to version 2.0.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/ddsetup.exe
8) Code Factory has released version 1.0.6 of Mobile Speak Pocket, their screen reader for PocketPc devices.
the version brings the ability to both control the device and read its output on some bluetooth braille units, additional voices in several languages, support
for some PocketPc Smart Phones and more.
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_pocket/mspeak_pocket.htm
9) Two members of the pc-audio list discuss how to build a playlist for music or other audio on your computer using Windows Media Player. To read their
instructions, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
10) the latest issue of the Freedom Scientific newsletter is now available. the bulletin begins the process of unveiling the new features of JFW version
7.1, Pac Mate version 4.0, and Scantalker version 2.0, all of which will become available sometime after the CSUN conference later this month.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
11) JAWS scripts for the MIRC program, a popular way to access the IRC chat system, are available at
http://jbauer.port5.com/
12) A pc-audio member describes how she uses the Rhapsody music service with JAWS. To read her explanation, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
13) A limited number of computing-related internships (software engineering, programming, web design, computer science research, etc.) are available on
campuses and in industry nationwide for college students with disabilities who are considering the pursuit of computing studies and careers. For more
information and an application, e-mail Scott Bellman at
[log in to unmask]
14) the article Previously Accessible ActiveX Controls No Longer Speak has been added to the Gw Micro KnowledgeBase
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1044
15) There are various ways to take the sound from a DVD movie and turn that sound into a file. One of the emerging favorites among blind users is DVD Audio
Extractor. It's also a very accessible program for viewing DVD's. Jonathan Mosen has conducted a 27-minute review and demonstration of the program.
You can find it on his blog,
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
or listen using this Url, making sure your system doesn't split it into two lines;
http://www.audioblog.com/playweb?audioid=P2ea1ca7d5433ffa326670964bbc7fc0eZV56QlREY2V1&buffer=5&fc=CCFF33&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&autoplay=1&gateway=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audioblog.com%2Fplaylist&player=ap21
16) Jonathan also came across a relic from his Apple computing past, the game called Ad Libs, where you had to enter parts of speech and they would be used
to fill in the blanks in stories, often creating very funny results. the web-based version of the game is here:
http://www.sundhagen.com/babbooks/adlib.cgi
17) there will be an assistive technology exposition in Topeka, Kansas, 27-28 March.
http://www.kckcc.edu/faculty/beach/brochure_txt.doc
18) A powerful and little-utilized feature of the winamp media player is its ability to let you set up global hotkeys so that you can control it from anywhere
in windows and even eliminate its window from the taskbar altogether without losing functionality. Kai posted detailed instructions on how to accomplish
this, and Matthew Bullis passed them on to me so we all can benefit. A lot of good instruction like this appears in mailing lists, and when you see something
like it, others will probably want to read it, now or in the future, so pass it on to me. to read Kai's article, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
19) I have updated the Masterlist of all the auto-responder text documents you can receive via e-mail. some of these documents are out-of-date, but many
are highly valuable. to get the list, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
I am very pleased with TMobile as my cell phone carrier, Earthlink as my Internet service provider, and Onesuite for long-distance phone cards. If you
might be inclined to purchase any of these services, I would appreciate credit for a referral, so please contact me if interested.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, March 16, 2006
1) the University of California at Berkeley offers some lecture courses for free download or as podcasts. Course files contain video content and have a
format of .mp3.rm. Renaming the files to delete the .rm portion of the name seems to allow them to play as audio mp3 files; otherwise they play in RealPlayer.
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses/feeds.php
2) Talking Computers magazine, from the UK, is now available as streaming RealPlayer files. the site is self-voicing, so no screen reader is needed.
http://www.tc.pressakey.net/
3) Ken Gould has written JAWS scripts for the new version of Audible Manager, the program that helps you track and access the books you purchase from the
popular budio-book site. this is version 5.0.0.5, and Ken has received support from the developers at Audible as they developed this version. Scripts
only are developed for JFW version 7.0.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_support/BulletinView.cfm?QC=1035
4) JFW 7.1 will be out sometime soon, and the company is making it available for public beta testing sometime sooner. The new version features some 206
announced fixes and some enhancements to JAWS functioning in many programs, as well as a new installer designed to ease the transition to Windows vista.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws710fea.asp
5) Jonathan Mosen is attempting a return to the business of selling computer-related instructional material. His first production is a two-hour tutorial
entitled Jonathan Mosen's Get going with Google, which promises to help you get all you can from this powerful search tool. Introductory price, $9.95.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/google/google.html
6) Jamal Mazrui has assembled plain-text collections of materials on two programming languages: PHP 4 and 5
http://www.empowermentzone.com/php_doc.zip
and Visual Basic 2003, 2005 and Ado.net
http://www.empowermentzone.com/vbnetdoc.zip
7) Gw Micro is holding several hands-on programs in their suite at CSUN Conference next week, and during one of those sessions, will announce plans for
a new product.
8) Ai Squared is offering discounts for ZoomText to attendees at CSUN.
9) On 31 March, The next program in the series An Accessible World will be held, this to be a Symposium, The world of Work in the 21st Century, beginning
at 18:00 GMT with sessions running for the next five hours. Archives will be available afterwards. To attend, go to
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
10) For information about recently-uncovered security problems with Microsoft Office and windows Xp, go to
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-073A.html
11) Useful articles on windows Update and on trouble-shooting USB 2.0 problems can be found here:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 23, 2006
1) Users of the software Daisy player FS Reader will, beginning in April, be able to play books from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. the 1.10 upgrade
which is to make this possible will be available on April 13
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/FSReader_Desktop_Update.asp
2) The public beta version of JAWS 7.10 is now available for testing by all comers.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws710pbintro.asp
3) Gw Micro announced on Wednesday the release of the Small-Talk Ultra, a palm-sized computer weighing less than a pound and running windows xp, bundled
with window-Eyes. the price for the basic unit starts at $2.795.
http://www.gwmicro.com/smalltalk
4) the primary support mailing list for Gw Micro products is gw-info, and now the web interface to this forum has been redesigned so that it is easy to
read list messages on the web.
http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo
5) A new source for audio commentary on the CSUN technology conference this year comes from the Association of Blind Citizens. Remaining webcasts will
take place Friday and Saturday, 24 and 25 March , beginning at 02:00 GMT, lasting about an hour.
http://www.blindcitizens.org/live
6) Ongoing coverage of CSUN is also available via audio files and some written commentary via the ACBRadio blog
http://www.acbradio.org/blog/
7) The Accessible World Symposium entitled the World of Work will take place on Thursday, 30 March. This is a correction from last week's newsletter.
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
8) Serotek has released version 2.0 of System Access, its Windows access system which provides easy access to windows and to many supported windows programs.
In conjunction with the Key to Freedom, a user can have speech access on any windows computer and can remotely access her home computer, all without having
administrative rights on the computer to be accessed.
http://freedombox.info/
9) Microsoft is looking for college students interested in interning with the company across the U.S.
http://www.microsoft.com/college
10) Assistive Technology Center announces a remote support service, through which technicians from the Center can, with the user's permission, examine
the computer remotely and resolve problems. the service is free to those who purchase from the Center and available for a "nominal fee" for others. For
information, e-mail,
[log in to unmask]>
11) Version 1.4 of the on-the-fly spell checker tinySpell is now available. the company has also released a Plus version, available for a $5 contribution,
which allows for the creation of auto-correct lists.
http://www.tinyspell.m6.net/
12) An accessibility review of Microsoft SyncToy version 1.1 has been added to the database at AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info/
13) If you're interested in detailed talk and tracking of major weather events, here are three podcasts to consider, complete with the links to subscribe
to the feed: Pod Weather (Internet Partnership Radio)
http://www.podweather.com/podcast.php
WRBN.Net Podcasting
http://www.barometerbobshow.com/podcast/podcast.php?com=1
StormWatch Report, The Weather Channel Podcasts
http://podcasts.weather.com/common/podcasts/stormwatch.xml
14) Engineer Debee Norling is conducting a thorough and well-researched series on how to "de-gunk" a windows computer. the audio is available through Blind
Cool Tech
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
and she also sent detailed notes for the first program of the series to the mailing list. To read her notes, send a blank message to [log in to unmask]
15) with this newsletter, we complete the fifth quarter of tidbits issues. You can receive issues 53-65 by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
In addition, you can download a text or zip version of the entire package to date. For the zip version:
http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbitsfull.zip
and for the plain text version
http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbitsfull.txt
>Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 30, 2006
1) Various organizations are producing audio books as podcasts, either for free or for a small contribution to the author. Here are four sites, with the
first having the most material at present
http://www.podiobooks.com/
http://www.bmw-audiobooks.com/
http://www.silentuniverse.com/
http://www.darkerprojects.com/
2) Kathy Ann Murtha is offering a two-hour, $50 online course on using the firefox web browser, suitable for both JAWS and window-Eyes users
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/firefox.html
3) Gw Micro has posted a new article to its KnowledgeBase: the Path from JAWS to wndow-Eyes Made Easy:
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1045
4) A user has set out to simplify the process of locating blindness-related items on the large auction site eBay. He has created a page of popular searches,
and promises to expand the scope.
http://www.bestmidi.com/ebay.php
5) In the category of somebody generating a useful item using technology, Enid O'Leary, with both home economics and rehabilitation teaching degrees, has
produced a cookbook on cd in Word format containing over 1,100 recipes. Recipes are formatted for clarity and ease of reading, and the cd sells for $25
including shipping.
http://www.creativecookingclassics.com/
6) Freedom Scientific announces the release of Pac Mate 4.0, featuring an improved help system, the much-sought-after ability to have two word processing
documents open at once, and other improvements.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/DL_PACmate_40_Update.asp
7) At the CSUN Conference, a new Linux-based pda for the blind was shown in prototype. the Icon from a new company called LevelStar aspires to feature
one-touch recording, audio file playback, word processing, calendar, Firefox web browsing, and gsm phone among others. Two podcasts from the BlindCoolTech
series discuss the product:
http://blindcooltech.xplorations.net/bct481BreakfastWithMarc.mp3
http://blindcooltech.xplorations.net/bct482IconDemo.mp3
8) duxbury Systems announces version 2.3 of the braille translation program MegaDots, featuring integration with windows, free beginner Braille and MegaMath
modules and improved printer support.
http://www.duxburysystems.com/news.asp
9) An accessibility review of Talking Typer for Windows has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
10) Here are the subscription links to four podcasts dealing with language and words: A Way with Words
http://kpbs.org/words/podcast
podictionary
http://www.podictionary.com/rss
Just Vocabulary's Podcast
http://feeds.feedburner.com/JustVocabulary
The Word Nerds
http://thewordnerds.libsyn.com/rss
11) Fred Langa
http:/langa.com
has demonstrated the ability to build a computer with a Terabyte, 1,000 gigabytes, of storage for around $500.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=183702383
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 6, 2006
1) Twingine is a clever privately-run web search tool that lets you search Google and Yahoo simultaneously and read the results of each search in a separate
frame. Let's hope it lasts.
http://www.twingine.com/
2) Kathy Ann Murtha offers an $85 course, An Immersion into Windows, during May. This will be an 8-lesson course, and if you pay by 12 April, you can
receive a free textbook from her collection.
http://tinyurl.com/zt7bb
3) Again this year, all radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball are available for a total cost of $14.95 through the Game Day Audio subscription, http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/subscriptions/gameday_audio.jsp
For those who prefer, there is a simplified interface to the broadcast links, though it does not presently offer links to the archived broadcasts which
the main site provides:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mediacenter/index.jsp
4) the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind has launched a US-wide toll-free assistive technology support line, (888) 825-0080, for resolving issues for blind
users, teachers and other interested parties.
5) the former UK Audio Network has been renamed The Audio network. It is a site that speaks without aid of a screen reader, offering games, links to radio
broadcasts, to audio-described movies, radio drama and other content.
http://pressakey.net/
6) HumanWare is striving to improve the performance of the BrailleNote with Word documents, and to this end invites users to submit to them all sorts of
Word documents that could be expected to work on the Braille Note. Send documents, along with a message stating the Word version used to create the document
and whether or not it opens currently on the brailleNote, to
[log in to unmask]
7) Odiogo is an Rss aggregator that converts the found articles to mp3 files using the voice of NeoSpeech Paul.
http://www.odiogo.com/
8) Speaking of rss, I periodically get questions about what it is and how to use it. I get the same sorts of questions regarding podcasts, so article 23
of the Sound Computing series introduces rss and demonstrates the free Bloglines service. An article about podcast listening will follow. Just one more
article you get for your $9 subscription.
www.topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
9) Airchecks, recordings of live radio from the 60's to the 80's from the northeast, are available in abundance here:
http://www.northeastairchecks.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 13, 2006
1) If you've been wanting an introduction to the world of podcasting, Sound Computing article 24 talks about how to find podcasts and how to use the Juice
program to catch them. It's a fifty-minute mini-tutorial. You can have it and 49 other informative audio articles for the total price of $9.00.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scinfo.htm
2) ForThePeople will offer two sessions of an audio class, Peeking Through Windows. The class is designed or novice users. Sessions meet at 21:00 or
at 04:00 GMT. Free membership in ForThePeople is required.
http://www.for-the-people.com
To get more information about the classes and to register, e-mail John Harris
[log in to unmask]
3) Bridge Baron 16 is a popular computerized version of the card game Bridge.
http://www.greatgameproducts.com/
Paul Hopewell has written Window-Eyes set files and JAWS scripts or the program. for information, e-mail
mailto:[log in to unmask]
4) The Snowman has released a major update to the HotSpotClicker, a free set of jaws scripts which can be used to bring significantly enhanced accessibility,
to nearly any application. Read about it here at
personal.adiis.net/snowman/HotSpotClicker.html
5) David Bailes has produced some keyboard guides for several applications and put them on the web. He is happy to receive feedback on these guides.
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/
6) The National Council of the Blind, Malaysia
http://www.ncbm.org.my)/
is trying to develop a web publishing system that will make it easy for the blind to publish online content. They are seeking a grant to accomplish this
task and are looking for individuals or companies to collaborate with them. For information e-mail
[log in to unmask]
7) Version 5.13 of the popular sound editor goldwave is available,
with faster handling of Ogg Vorbis files and other fixes.
http://www.goldwave.com/
8) National Braille press
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/index.html
will carry Super Dvd #1, a dvd containing 3,626 books, 646 plays, 496 magazines and 2,753 stories. All this material is available in the public domain
on the Internet, but Richard Seltzer
http://www.samizdat.com/
has in many cases reformatted it for clear and simple text access. The dvd costs $39, and a listing of its contents is at
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/DVD1.html
9) Two pieces of good news regarding Google. They are hiring two software engineers to focus on accessibility, as well as summer interns for the same
purpose.
http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/answer.py?answer=37456
10) Thanks to efforts spearheaded by Darrell Shandrow and supported by many others, Google has now implemented an audio alternative to the visual verification
process, so blind users can now independently apply for Gmail accounts and take advantage of Google services such as Google Groups. All Google services
are not yet supporteded, but many are.
11) EASI has introduced a third series of podcasts, featuring talks from assistive technology conferences and interviews with presenters.
http://easi.cc/podcasts/
12) Awave Studio reads a veritable host of audio carrying file formats from different platforms, synthesizers and
trackers. It can be used in a variety of ways: as an audio file format converter, an audio editor, an audio and MIDI
player, and, last but not least, as a wavetable synthesizer instrument editor and converter. Jim Bauer has produced JAWS scripts or the program. the scripts
are in beta form, not a final release. Get them from
http://jbauer.myvnc.com:6080/awsBeta.zip
13) Be aware that if you subscribe to the Game Day Audio service of Major League Baseball to listen to baseball games, you may be unwittingly subscribing
to Sports Illustrated magazine. You get three free issues, and if you don't cancel that subscription, which is separate from the Game Day Audio subscription,
you will be billed for Sports Illustrated later.
On the brighter side, there is a free site for listening to most minor league baseball broadcasts:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/multimedia/audio.jsp
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits fur Thursday, April 20, 2006
1) An article about Internet Explorer 7 Preview Beta 2 can be read at
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=652
2) the Japanese Society for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities has produced a free self-voicing program which is at once text editor, web
browser and e-mail client. the program is available in both English and Japanese versions. Here is the English home page:
http://www.normanet.ne.jp/~altair/index_e.html
3) the mac-talk mailing list has been created to discuss any aspect of usinb a Macintosh with or without speech output. To join write to
[log in to unmask]
4) this article has been widely distributed, but if you've missed it, you can read a good article from the Baltimore Sun describing the $2,995 portable
reading device being jointly developed by Raymond Kurzweil and the US National Federation of the Blind, due to be available this summer. the article is
entitled Kurzweil-NFB Reader: Device provides words to live by, and you get it by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask]
5) The ITACTI project is one of at least two attempts to produce lower-cost and more useful braille displays. You can read about their recent efforts
here:
http://istresults.cordis.lu/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/ID/81443/BrowsingType/Features
6) EASI is holding another free clinic, "Creating Accessible Narrated PowerPoint, on 27 April. The second in the series Using Authoring Tools to Create
DAISY Documents comes on 9 May.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
7) A popular site in the UK for buying audio. books, cd's and dvd's online is
www.play.com
the equivalent site in the US and Canada is
www.playusa.com
8) You can see a video demonstration of ZoomText 9.0 and the forthcoming Large Print Keyboard at
http://tvworldwide.com/events/csun/060320/default.cfm?id=6688&type=wmhigh
You can download a 24-point type sheet of Essential ZoomText hot keys
http://www.zoomtext.com/docs/zt9/hotkeys/HotkeysXL.pdf
9) If you're creating web pages and want to make sure your links work, a free online link checker is found here
http://validator.w3.org/checklink
10) the link for q5, the compendium of Tidbits issues 53-65, now works.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, April 27, 2006
1) Access reviews of Skype Answering Machine version 2.0, Replay Radio AV version 7.12, Light Cars version V1.0.6, Webbie version 3.0, and Mozilla Firefox
have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
2) Accessible World Tek Talk Training and Discussion will be a weekly free online event every Tuesday at 00:00 GMT. the first hour will be a tutorial
and the second will be for questions and answers. the schedule of events will be posted to the Tektalkannounce list. To join the list, send a blank message
to
[log in to unmask]
A discussion list has also been formed; to join it, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
finally, to take part in the online chat, go to this address at the appropriate time and put your name; no password is required:
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
3) Another mailing list out there is the blind_geez_zone. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
4) Portal Tutoring offers for-fee online adaptive technology training. For information and prices, visit
http://home.eznet.net/~akp/portal.html
5) Microsoft has made widely available a beta version of Internet Explorer version 7. An article about this can be read here
http://www.betanews.com/article/print/Internet_Explorer_7_Beta_2_Released/1145950438
6) Another BetaNews article discusses the features to come, particularly for media enthusiasts in windows Vista, the new operating system due out in 2007:
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Details_Vistas_Media_Features/1145896498
7) Jamal Mazrui has released a beta version of a free text editor designed to be accessible and powerful. The program is called TextPal; get it and try
it here:
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
8) Jonathan Mosen has released a 4-hour audio tutorial on using the popular chat program Skype, called Speaking of Skype. The course as is costs US $14.95,
and for an additional $5.00 buyers will receive free updates to the course for a year, since Skype and accessibility to it change frequently.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/sos
9) Samuel Proulx is gathering information for an article on the audio gaming situation. He invites interested parties to take a survey at
http://fastfinge.livejournal.com/7642.html
He also wants to speak particularly to audio game developers, who can write to him at
[log in to unmask]
10) This site is a free collection of old-time radio programs intended for the blind, though not limited to access by the blind. Free registration is
required.
http://www.fearyoucanhear.com/
11) ending on a positive note: There's lots of worldwide access to British and worldwide cricket for matches from now until the end of September. A good
place to get schedules is
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/counties/4923160.stm
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, May 4, 2006
1) Version 10.04 of the Kurzweil 1000 scanning and reading package is out, correcting bugs and adding minor features
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k1000.asp
2) the web page that contains blindness-related eBay searches has been updated with even more links to possible searches.
http://www.bestmidi.com/ebay.php
3) robert Leblond and the Assistive Technology Center of Sacramento have announced the new AdvantEdge Reader, which combines the SmallTalk Ultra from Gw
Micro with a portable scanner to make a portable reading system for the blind. More information is available via e-mail from
[log in to unmask]
4) brian Hartgen has started the JAWS and Pac Mate blog to provide news items and web links regarding these two products.
http://bhjaws.livejournal.com/
5) While reading through the blog, I found that Brian has released scripts for JFW 7.0 that considerably enhance the place marker feature of JAWS. Read
about them and download from the link on the blog.
6) A regulation has been proposed that would prohibit US Medicare recipients from ever receiving assistance from Medicare to pay for low vision aids of
any sort. Comments are now being accepted on this proposal. for more information and to learn how to comment, email [log in to unmask]
7) there is now a second set of JAWS scripts for Apple's iTunes. this set is free, and has somewhat less functionality than the for-fee ones from brian
Hartgen.
http://zufelt.ca/jaws/itunes.aspx
8) A new mailing list for those wanting to develop audio games is available.
http://lists.agdev.org/
9) Debbie Scales, long-time provider of support to JFW users, has developed JAWS scripts for the Juice podcast receiver to make the scheduler easier to
use.
http://www.jfwlite.com/JuiceA.zip
10) Catherine Thomas is conducting a survey of users of the Optacon reading aid to attempt to advocate for the device's continued existence in the future.
You can obtain a copy of the short survey by e-mail
[log in to unmask]
11) Users of the Vipconduite chat system now have a new chagt client they can use,
the VIP Communicator.
http://www.vipconduit.com/
12) Information about the GRAB project, a research project designed to make 3d graphical environments accessible to the blind, can be found at
http://www.grab-eu.com/
13) The creators of the Skype voice chat service have launched Skypecasts, free public 100-person online conferences.
http://skypecasts.skype.com/
Jonathan Mosen has reviewed the beta version of this feature, and finds it mostly quite accessible.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, May 11, 2006
1) If you use an Optacon, you may not know that it is still possible to get Optacons repaired. If you have need for a repair, send e-mail to
[log in to unmask]
and describe your situation including your geographic whereabouts, so that you can be referred to the most appropriate repair situation.
2) Mp3 Clip is a program designed to split and join mp3 files and to digitize analog recordings. the full version used to cost money; now it is freeware.
http://www.oxrud.com/mp3clip/
3) If you live in the UK, you can listen to a book-reading radio station called Oneword:
http://www.oneword.co.uk/
4) Jamal Mazrui has upgraded his text and programming editor Textpal, fixing bugs and adding features.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
5) Here is a web site for blind radio enthusiasts:
http://www.radioenthusiast.com/visually_impaired_radio_enthusiasts.htm
6) Here is an article describing the transition of a Cold War technology laboratory into a lab seeking ways to make everybody items accessible to the disabled:
http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/%200,70835-0.html?tw=rss.technology
7) Here is a web site devoted to accessing the popular Firefox browser:
http://www.accessfirefox.com/
8) For years, US citizens have been able to access braille books and magazines electronically through the National Library Service for the Blind's Web Braille
service. Now, NLS has abruptly discontinued the service for an unannounced length of time. One librarian has recommended that those who are concerned
about this situation should address e-mail to Judith dixon
[log in to unmask]
and NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke,
[log in to unmask])
9) Here is an article about Future Web Access and Current Problems:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=111219&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8
10) WhereCreativitySoars is a mailing list where blind writers can share their creative writing and receive comments from others. to join, send a blank
message to
[log in to unmask]
11) Another new mailing list is the Secondhand-zone, for buying, selling and trading used equipment. For information, go to the web site:
http://www.moving-mountains.com/
12) Assistive Technology Center has made a video demo of their AdvantEdge Reader. to receive this demo as an mp3 video file, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
13) this page contains a large number of easily-accessible links to freeware programs
http://100-downloads.com/
14) This article about the Webbie! awards comes from AbilityMaine:
http://www.abilitymaine.org/webby.html
15) You can listen to several presentations from this January's ATIA conference at no charge, and to all available presentations for $49.00
http://www.atiaonline.org/
16) Accessibility reviews of MonkeyTerm version Unknown and APH Talking Clock version Unknown have been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
We end with three technology-related job announcements:
17) California's Sensory Access Foundation is seeking an Access Technology Specialist. e-mail Maria King
[log in to unmask]
18) University of Denver is seeking an Assistive Technology Specialist:
http://www.du.edu/hr/employment
19) London's Brunel University is hiring an Assistive Technology Advisor.
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/job/cdata/Professional
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, May 18, 2006
I have decided to stir things up a bit and create this newsletter in html. I would much prefer to receive it this way and I believe most others will share
this opinion. Do you prefer this or does it drive you crazy? Let me know what you think by e-mailing I'm not presently very excited about producing
two versions of the newsletter, but will entertain that idea depending on what kind of response I get to this experiment.
1) We begin a three-part series in Sound Computing regarding affordable computing alternatives for the blind, looking at Talking toolbox from MarvelSoft
this $75 program may well meet the needs of many potential users who can't afford, don't need or are intimidated by a screen reader and synthetic speech.
You can get this and 49 other audio articles, 25 of which have now been produced, by subscribing to Sound Computing for the really low $9.00 subscription
price. Read about the articles that have been produced so far by sending a blank message to
2) the IDMate is a bar code scanner used by some blind people to label and identify products. A mailing list has been started to discuss and extend it
use. to join, send a blank message to
3) ViewPlus of corvallis, Oregon, has announced the Emprint, a printer that will both emboss braile and print as a color ink-jet printer.
4) Mobile Speak for Pocket Pc, version 1.07, has been released, containing 22 new features and 49 fixes as well as some new braille drivers.
5) US readers will be pleased to know that the Web Braille service has quietly been restored, well within the timeline promised by NLS in various communications.
Now users need to agree to abide by the terms and conditions before downloading each volume. the process is very straightforward. the Library has indicated
that some other hiccoughs may be noticed as they continue to enhance system security.
6) AI Squared has made arrangements with over 150 organizations throughout North America to make demonstration copies, demonstrations, and in some cases
training for ZoomText available on the local level. You can find the list of available centers here
7) A podcast has started for Blind Musicians, producers, engineers, and industry professionals, or those espiring to work in the field. It's called The
Midi Mag Podcast,and runs in cunjunction with the Midi Mag discussion list at You can read about the dpisodes and get them from the MidiMag blog
8) George Buys is developing what he believes will be a powerful and innovative voice chat client. He is looking for people to test it, so if you're interested,
">write to him.
9) It was announced on a mailing list that SoundProfessionals is offering a half-price deal on a high-end Sony Minidisk recorder, bundling it with a stereo
microphone and set of headphones. this is happening because Sony will soon come out withth a new recorder. Read about the deal from the SoundProfessionals
site
10) Jamal Mazrui has now officially released version 1.0 of textPal, a full-featured text and programmers' editor. Download it here.
11) total Recorder is a popular program for recording streaming audio. Version 6.0 of the program was announced last week, featuring the ability to record
multiple streams simultaneously and the ability to check sound levels before recording, among other improvements. Get it from High Criteria.
12) Microsoft has announced a beta version of windows Media Player 11, which will work with their new Urge music download service. One place to get the
program is here. You can find a review of the program Here on the Super Site for Windows
13) Skype has announced that those in the US and Canada can call any Us or Canadian phone using Skype at no cost until the end of the year, maybe longer.
14. this article from the Japan Times discusses a braille sensor that seemingly allows people to read braille without learning it. 15) An effort is being
made to make the Ubuntu system of Linux accessible. Download a cd image of the installer and Read the Getting Started guide
16) Kathy Ann Murtha will offer a free windows course on Wednesdays at 23:00 GMT. Here is the syllabus and more information.
17. Here is the schedule for the free instructional sessions provided by Talking Communities at 00:00 GMT on tuesdays: on 23 May Donald roberts will present
a tutorial on Outlook Express, and on 30 May rob turner will provide instruction on accessible web browsing with both JFW and window-Eyes. Each week's
session lasts two hours, with the second hour being devoted to open questions. choose the Tek Talk room here.
18) the State of Washington seeks an Adaptive Technology Specialist. find all needed application naterials here.
19) the Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind is looking for a computer instructor.
Visit the Tidbits page where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me.
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, May 25, 2006
1) The May issue of the free publication AccessWorld is now online, with articles including two articles on the FreedomBox system, two articles on accessibility
of household appliances, a review of two laptop-compatible closed-circuit tv's, and a summary of happenings at CSUN among other articles.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
2) Among many tidbits gleaned from the Fred's Head Companion blog
http://www.fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/
this is a link to lots of recordings of phone company messages you have heard when you receive disconnected numbers,wrong numbers or blocked calls
http://www.payphone-directory.org/sounds.html.
3) I have not reviewed this, though I hope to, but here is a link to a free windows screen reader, whose official release is apparently not until July:
http://www.screenreader.net/
4) Oralux version 0.7Alpha is a Linux distribution for the blind
http://freshmeat.net/projects/oralux/?branch_id=41713&release_id=226819
5) Microsoft has uncovered a critical volnerability in Microsoft Word documents. They recommend running Word in a "safe" mode until they release a patch
to solve the problem on June 13.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Run_Word_in_Safe_Mode/1148489285
6) Electronics-talk is a new mailing list to discuss accessibility of mp3 players, phones, dvd players, household appliances and other devices. to join,
send e-mail to
[log in to unmask]
and put the word "subscribe" in the subject field.
7) An archive of the free audio training on the Outlook Express e-mail program can be heard at
http://www.accessibleworld.org/tt-archives/outlook-express.mp3
8) Accessibility evaluations of TrueCrypt version 4.2 and gnucleus version 2.2.0.0 have been added to the database at AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info/
9) The June, 2006 issue of the braille Monitor contains two technology-related articles: The Milestone 311: The Epitome of Accessibility
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0606/bm060604.htm
and Accessible Cell Phone Technology
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0606/bm060608.htm
10) EASI will offer a four-session, $150 clinic on Making Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Accessible to Students with Disabilities
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
11) the book Web Business Bootcamp: Hands-on Internet lessons for managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals looking for online business success by richard
Seltzer, published in 2002, is now available free on the web
http://www.samizdat.com/
and this web site has resources for building your own web page:
http://www.selectyourself.com/
12) window-Eyes set files for Skype version 2.5 are available; to get them, write to
[log in to unmask]
13) Again from the Fred's Head blog, in the category of useful information made available by technology, visit the How to Clean Anything web site,
http://www.howtocleananything.com
14) Biblos is an Italian editor, available free with donations accepted, with many features. the interface is mostly in English. One unique ability
of the program for JAWS users is the ability to turn Word and text documents into mp3 files using the EloQuence voice that comes with JAWS.
http://www.digrande.it/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 1, 2006
1) An audio tutorial on using Skype is available here; donations are accepted.
http://onj.andrelouis.com/marrie/TheSkypePage.html
2) You can read an article about Microsoft's debut of its windows Live Onecare program, an all-in-one anti-virus and anti-spyware package, here.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Debuts_Windows_Live_OneCare/1149095737
3) The Center for the Visually Impaired in Daytona Beach, Florida is looking to hire a computer teacher. For information e-mail
[log in to unmask]>
4) Many people prefer using older versions of the winamp audio player, and most of them can be found here:
http://www.winampheaven.net/
5)
HumanWare has become the exclusive master distributor for Mobile Speak Pocket and the soon-to-be-release Mobile Magnifier from Code Factory. Code Factory
has set up a forum for users of Mobile Speak Pocket here:
http://www.mspusers.com/
6) Jamal Mazrui has fixed some bugs and added a few features, and has released version 1.1 of his text editor TextPal.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
7) The Fred's Head Companion
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/
featured an article about dictionaries and encyclopedias online.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FredsHeadCompanion?m=1662
and an article about YourTechOnline, able to repair your computer via the Internet or by phone for prices ranging from $60 to $79 per hour.
http://www.yourtechonline.com/how_we_help.php
8) An accessibility review of Casper XP version 3.0 has been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 15, 2006
1) The Fred's Head Companion
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FredsHeadCompanion?m=1702
tells us about Sky.fm a clear site that offers several streams of music for free Internet listening.
http://www.sky.fm/
2) the mailing list that discusses the Voiceover screen reader for the Macintosh has moved. Here is its page now:
http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover
3) the latest Freedom Scientific Newsletter, with information about summer product releases and tips for using various Freedom Scientific products, is
now available.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_news/current_newsletter.asp
4) Chris Judd has produced low-cost audio tutorials: Accessible Games $10, EBay $8 and Paypal $8. For information, write to him at
<[log in to unmask]>
5) Jim Snobarger has released version 7.51 of Hotspot Clicker, his free scripting tool for JAWS
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/HotSpotClicker%20Quick%20Start.html
6) Golden Ear is a free podcatcher program that lets you easily listen to podcasts on your computer as well as save them for playing on a portable device.
http://brooklynnorth.com/
7) The developers of the voice-input add-on to JAWS, J-Say, are discontinuing development of the standard version of the product. they will ocntinue to
support that version at its current level, and offer to its owners a competetive price for upgrade to the professional edition, which will continue to
be developed.
8) Anna Dresner has written another helpful book for National Braille press: Blog On!. this book is an introduction to blogging. It costs $10 in paper
or electronic format.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/BLOG.html
9) A new online radio station, consisting of various sound effects mixed and matched in creative ways, is FX Radio.
http://fx.pdaudio.net/
10) Gw Micro produces a monthly radio show on the chicago radio Information Service on the first Thursday of each month. You can hear archives of all
three existing programs at
http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
11) You can join a mailing list for discussing all aspects of radio, including past present and future, digital radio and broadcasting, by sending a blank
message to
[log in to unmask]
12) Most weeks, as we have mentioned here before, you can take part in free online computer training classes on stateside Monday evenings, Tuesday morning
GMT, through Pat Price's Accessible World efforts. Now archives of the sessions to date are available here
http://accessibleworld.org/show.php?contentid=43
13) Several free programs, including a program you can use to turn synthetic speech output into wav or mp3 files, are available here:
http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/ ]
14) Sometimes you need an older version of a program, perhaps because it is more accessible than the current version, or perhaps you just like it better.
Two sites you can use to achieve this are
http://www.recycledsoftware.com/
http://www.oldversion.com/
15) Via Anna Dresner's NBP Book Updates blog
http://nbpupdates.wordpress.com/
Brian Hartgen has created a "portal," the Portable Players Portal, for information about accessible options for portable mp3 players:
http://www.hartgen.org/portable.html
16) Jamal Mazrui has fixed more bugs and introduced more features into his accessible text editor, Textpad, bringing it to version 1.3.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, June 22, 2006
1) Read from the Braille Monitor the official release announcement for the Kurzweil NFB Reader, a first-of-its-kind portable reader costing $3,495.
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm06/bm0607/bm060703.htm
2) Jonathan Mosen's recent 100-minute Accessible World presentation on Skype can be downloaded here:
http://accessibleworld.org/show.php?contentid=43
3) Sean randall has updated his free Skype add-on called SKRead. It reads out various events such as call status,
contact status information or skype chats, and is screen-reader-independent.
http://www.randylaptop.com/projects/skread/
4) Jim Grimsby has updated the JFW scripts for winamp to support the winamp Library which is no longer accessible. the scripts can be found on the Programs
page on jfwlite, under the audio-related applications section.
www.jfwlite.com
5) The public beta phase is over, and JFW 7.1 has been released.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws710fea.asp
6) De Witt & Associates has produced a $129 tutorial on using the Sendero GPS system for the blind in print, braille and daisy formats.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=4193403&s=116970891
7) the next free online training from Talking Communities will take place at midnight on GMT Tuesday, 27 June, and will be entitled Basics of File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) and Setting Up An FTP Server.
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
8) From the Fred's Head Companion
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FredsHeadCompanion?m=1740
we learn about a fully-audio adventure game, Sounds Like Fun.
http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/et/2005/SoundsLikeFun.html
9) Dancing Dots announces the release of CakeTalking 5.0, the latest version of this package, which gives JAWS functionality to the Sonar music production
package.
http://www.dancingdots.com/index.htm
10) Triumph technology is offering a $200 discount on its MPac to those who attend either of the national conventions for the blind in the US in July.
the M-Pac consists of a PocketPc device, bluetooth keyboard, the MobileSpeak Pocket screen reader and a tutorial.
http://www.triumphonic.com/
11) Freedom Scientific has also released version 10 of the screen enlargement program MAGic.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_MAG100.asp
12) Jamal Mazrui has created a zip file of all the help documentation for JFW 7.1 in text format.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/jfw71doc.zip
13) Jackie Rumble has created a mailing list called technical-support. To join, write to
[log in to unmask]
14) If you want to listen to the AccessWatch podcast, discussing accessible software, subscribe to the podcast here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/accesswatch
15) From Jeff bishop's Desert Skies blog
http://jeffbishop.net/archive/2006/06/22/811.aspx
we learn about a site where you can test your firewall for "leaks."
http://oncomputerstips.blogspot.com/2006/06/firewall-leak-tester.html
16) another tip from Fred's Head Companion, learn how to use MSN Messenger to get information from the Encarta encyclopedia.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FredsHeadCompanion?m=1744
17) EASI offers a free web clinic on 27 June at 19:00 GMT: Designing Content for Web Delivery. Register here:
http://easi.cc/forms/june27.htm
18) HumanWare Group is looking to hire a blindness technical support analyst. Deadline 26 June. to apply, e-mail application and cover letter to Belinda
Hall at
[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, June 29, 2006
1) At the summer conventions, Optelec will begin showing the Alva BC-640, a so-called "braille controller," which will, once available later this year
and for a price nearing but not exceeding $5,000, offer a slim package that is a braille display with bluetooth and USB capability and a braille notetaker.
http://www.optelec.com/
2) At the same events, HumanWare will be showing KeySoft 7.2, which will be available for both the BrailleNote mPower and Classic. It will feature better
file management and statistical calculator functions, and for the mPower, Daisy capability. You can hear an audio demonstration of its features here:
http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/braillenote_tutorials.asp
3) The audio Network and Talking Communities are combining to bring live coverage of the World Goalball Championships. Goalball is a sport played by the
blind in many countries. the tournament continues through this weekend. You can hear an audio summary of each day's activities here
http://www.sports.pressakey.net/
and can listen live to many matches by logging into the auditorium here;
http://www.talkingcommunities.com/pat
4) Jonathan Mosen has updated his Speaking of Skype tutorial to cover latest changes. You can still buy the tutorial for $19.95 and receive updates as
they appear.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/sos
5) Audio recordings of the two Orca sessions and >the ODF Accessibility Panel from this year's CSUN Conference are now available
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/korn/20060628
6) Accessible Ndews is an rss reader designed to work with screen readers. One of its features is that it simplifies news pages by removing peripheral
links.
http://www.proaxsysreader.com/accessiblenews
7) Between 4 July and 4 August, You can visit the world eBook Fair and download any of 300,000 ebooks free.
http://worldebookfair.com/
8) An excellent blog to follow is the Steve &Jonnie blog. this couple does the late show on WGN radio in Chicago, and on gmt Thursdays between 04:00 and
07:00 the show becomes Web Site Wednesday, featuring several computer experts including Patrick Douglas Crispin of Internet Tourbus fame. You can listen
to the show online. More efficiently, you can read the summary of the topics covered on the blog. this is the program from this week:
http://www.wgnradio.com/weblog/archives/steveandjohnnie/2006/06/last_wed_of_jun.html
and this one comes from last week and focuses on wi-fi security
http://www.wgnradio.com/weblog/archives/steveandjohnnie/2006/06/wi-fi_securitys.html
9) Northwest vista College in Texas will be offering a certification program in Braille Textbook Transcription.
http://www.accd.edu/nvc/areas/braille
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, July 6, 2006
1) John Wilson created many guides for using software from the perspective of the blind user. He used to sell them, but now he has released them to the
public for free use, not for resale.
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
2) the next free TechTalk session to take place on gmt 11 July at 00:00 will concern the Trekker, the portable gps device that helps blind folks navigate
in both urban and rural areas.
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
3) CodeFactory announces the release of Mobile Magnifier Pocket, a full screen magnifier software for Pocket PC and Pocket PC phones
http://www.codefactory.es/
4) The Oritntation Center for the Blind in California seeks a technology teacher. For information, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
5) Staying in California, Sensory Access Foundation is looking for an Access Technology specialist. E-mail
[log in to unmask]
6) Washington State Department of Services for the Blind seeks an Assistive technology Specialist
http://www.dsb.wa.gov/whoWeAre/AssistiveTechnologySpecialistITS4.htm#contentTop
7) the first of several happenings at Gw Micro: Freedom Scientific opted not to provide the ability for users of the braille Sense to use the device as
a braille display with JAWS, so Gw Micro has done the work. they have provided a KnowledgeBase article on the subject: Using the Braille Sense as a refreshable
Braille display with JAWS
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1046
8) Gw Micro has raised the price of the Braille Sense (the earlier price was labeled an introductory price) to $5,400, and reduced the price of the Small-talk
Ultra by $200, so that the version including window-Eyes costs $2,595 and the version for those already owning a screen reader costs $2,295.
http://www.gwmicro.com/
9) Most every day, Gw Micro offers a Tip of the Day on its web site for the use of one of its products.
http://www.gwmicro.com/
10) The Canadian Conference on Adaptive Technology will take place on 26-27 October in Winnepeg.
http://www.dis-it.ca/
11) Fred's Head Companion
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FredsHeadCompanion?m=1790
directs us to this site which maintains accurate lists of up-to-date electronic coupons available for use in online shopping sites:
http://www.dealhunting.com/
That site in turn refers us to DealHunting, for finding the best bargains and related message boards:
http://www.dealhunting.com/default.php?cc
12) From The Access Technologists' Higher Education Network
http://www.athenpro.org/
the New Jersey Higher Education Webmasters' Association has produced a podcast on The Web and The Law
http://depts.drew.edu/media/podcast/njhewa/Web%20Law.mp4
13) ACBRadio will offer two streams of activity from the ACB Convention, which begins on July 8. On the Mainstream channel, the convention programs will
be broadcast, in a higher bitrate than in previous years. On the Interactive channel, you will hear interviews from the exhibit hall with both exhibitors
and attendees.
www.acbradio.org
14) If you want to keep track of the hotkeys you have assigned to launch programs on your computer, particularly under windows xp, you can now find a good
program and corresponding helpful hint on the Jfwlite site: Hotkey Search Detective.
http://www.jfwlite.com/programs.html
15) HumanWare announces Maestro versin 2.0, an accessible pda with e-mail, media player and task manager among other optional features.
http://www.humanware.ca/
16) the Rain Report is a weekly, audio ham radio program service produced with the blind in mind by Hap Holly. It is available as downloadable
mp3 files or as podcasts.
http://www.therainreport.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, July 13, 2006
1) The next free online training from TalkingCommunities is called Burning CDs and Other Tips Using Windows Explorer and will take place gmt Tuesday 18
July at 00:00. You can log in to join this event, or listen to archives of trainings after they occur at
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
2) You can read about the new Kurzweil-NFB Reader mentioned here previously at
http://www.knfbreader.com/
3) Michael Curran is writing a free, open-source screen reader for windows. The current version is primitive in the extreme, but Michael wants input and
programming assistance, It is being written in the Python language.
http://www.kulgan.net/nvda/
4) Read a tantalizing article on how upcoming iPods and other portable devices may have some speech built-in
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=999772006&format=print
5) Brian Hartgen and T&T Consultancy Ltd. will provide a podcast and blog of Sight Village, the major UK conference on technology for the blind. Visit
this main site
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/
and visit the latest news section, or subscribe to the podcasts here
http://tandtconsultancy.wordpress.com/feed/
6) According to Jeff Bishop's informative blog, The Desert Skies
http://jeffbishop.net/archive/2006/07/12/850.aspx
it is now possible for users of the instant message services windows Messenger and Yahoo Message with Voice to interact, so that you only need to be a user
of one service to talk to usrs of both.
7) For students and speakers of Spanish: Tiflolibros is a free service (though donations are encouraged) where members can access thousands of electronic
books in Spanish, books not available through the US Bookshare service. Among other materials, their collection includes several dictionaries including
the popular one from Real Academia Espaniola. They require physical proof of disability, which can be faxed or sent as an e-mail attachment. Though you'll
need Spanish reading knowledge to really benefit from this, Engoish information is here:
http://www.tiflolibros.com.ar/Inglés/english.asp
8) reviews of these programs have been added to the AccessWatch database: dvd audio extractor version 3.5.1, Handy Bits Voice Mail version 5.5, Text Monkey
Lite version n/a*free*, Premier CD Creater version 2.0, Thunder version Unspecified and Word of the Day version Unspecified.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
9) A new article has been added to the Gw Micro KnowledgeBase: Changing the Display Brightness Level on the Small-Talk Ultra
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1047
10) EASI presents a Free Clinic: What Are Podcasts and Why Would I Want to Get One? Thursday 27 July at 18:00 gmt.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
You can use the same link to get information about: Free Web Conference: Tablet Technology and People with Disabilities August 15
they also offer a 4-part fee-based series on Learning Disabilities and Adaptive Technology
http://easi.cc/forms/ldconf.htm
11)
We mentioned chris Judd's four tutorials previously. He's running a special until the end of July where you can buy all four for $20 rather than the usual
cost of $34. If interested, e-mail
<[log in to unmask]>
12) University of Tennessee Chattanooga will be hiring an Assistive Technology coordinator. For nformation 3-mail
[log in to unmask]
13) Microsoft is looking for a dedicated software design engineer in Test to head up accessibility testing for the Internet Explorer team. Read about
it at
http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/details.aspx?JobID=73665C6F-C19E-4F4A-A216-5A1A4740E1AF
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, July 20, 2006
A while back, I established the pattern of creating quarterly compilations of tidbits issues, where a quarter is defined as 13 issues of the newsletter.
Q6, consisting of issues 66-78, 30 March-29 June, is now available by sending a blank message to [log in to unmask] The file is also on the web
site, where you'll also find links to newly-updated text and .zip collections of all issues up to this one.
www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm
1) the BlindTechs Network is a company providing sales and training of computer equipment and also some free information about the advantages of the Macintosh
for the blind.
http://blindtechs.net/
2) It is often impossible to receive weekly sale flyers from stores in accessible form. As an outgrowth of the National Federation's lawsuit against them,
Target has launched an rss feed so that users can easily receive their weekly sales information. Add this link to your rss aggregator:
http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/rss/weeklyad.rss
3) From the Langa List
http://www.langa.com
This technique lets you completely and nondestructively rebuild, repair or
refresh an existing XP installation while leaving already-installed
software alone (no reinstallation needed!). It leaves user accounts, names, and passwords untouched.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187000225
4) the July issue of AccessWorld is now online, featuring articles comparing Kurzweil 1000 and OpenBook programs, the accessibility of insulin pens for
diabetes management, the second in a series comparing portable video magnifiers, a review of music download sites, reviews of Virtual Pencil, two programs
from Henter Math for independently solving arithmetic and algebra problems, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
5) WGBH announces the free publication, Accessible Digital Media: Design Guidelines for Electronic Publications, Multimedia and the Web.
http://ncam.wgbh.org/publications/adm/
6) A new source for buying audio books and old-time radio programs is Spoken Network. there is no subscription fee; you pay for what you want to read or
listen to, and files are mp3, not in a proprietary format. the Url for the U.S. and most of the world is
http://www.spoken-network.com/?source=RUSC
and in the Uk
http://www.spoken-network.co.uk/?source=RUSC
7) Quikscrybe is a long-running braille transcription business run by a blind family. Now they have announced that they can create electronic braille
materials for use in braille notetakers as well as paper braille. To inquire about this new service, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
8) During the recent ACB Convention, a representative from Microsoft gave a talk about the accessibility features in windows Vista, the next windows operating
system. the file is called microsoft.mp3, and the presentation starts some 18 minutes into the recording.
ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/convention2006
9) Wayne Merritt, in his blog, The Ranger Station,
http://www.therangerstation.blogspot.com/
gives a summary of his presentation on accessibility of windows Vista and Office 2007 on the July 1 entry, and a summary of his impressions of what he saw
in the NFB convention exhibit room in the July 6 entry.
10) three entries to the Blind Cool Tech podcast
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
during July provide tips and tutorials for using the popular sound editor Goldwave, presented by tim Cumings. the dates concerned are July 5, 11 and 13.
11) As part of The Mosen Explosion, Jonathan Mosen recorded a 30-minute interview and demonstration of the KNFB Reader on July 7.
http://www.mosenexplosion.com/
12) Read an article about a trend toward more use of the sense of touch in high-tech devices.
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/mg19125606.000
13) An option for learning to type using the computer is Typeability.
http://www.yesaccessible.com/
14) EASI will offer a fee-based series of presentations during September about podcasting.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
15) From the Web site Wednesday blog
http://www.wgnradio.com/weblog/archives/steveandjohnnie/2006/07/woo-weeewebsite.html
Now that Microsoft officially does not support windows 98, ME or 2000, those who still use those operating systems may want to read this article on keeping
your computers secure.
http://www.netsquirrel.com/articles/securing_win9x.html
16) Maybe not high tech, but it's my newsletter: while the supplies last, National Braille Press is giving away a hard-copy braille booklet containing
10 sudoku puzzles, at least partly so they can evaluate how best to present the puzzles and generate interest in them.
http://www.braille.com/
17) Accessibility reviews of Skype Answering Machine version 2.5 and Trucker version Unspecified have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
18) SSB + BART Group in Washington, DC is looking for an Access Technology Consultant. e-mail
[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, July 27, 2006
1) this week's Accessibleworld free online training, Tuesday 1 August at 00:00 GMT, will be entitled Solving Digital Media Needs with Windows Media Player,
presented by Gene Asner. Archives of all previous programs are available at the same site:
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
2) Jamal Mazrui has released version 1.2 of the JAW Script Exchange, a free open-source program intended to assist and promote the sharing of script files
among users of JAWS.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/jsxsetup.exe
3) Wayne Merritt isn't the author of the Ranger Station blog as reported here last week, despite the appearance of the message from whence i garnered the
information. the author of that informative blog is Ranger1138.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
4) Google has released a beta of a search engine that performs the usual Google search as requested, but ranks the results in order of the accessibility
of the sites uncovered by the search. One of many articles about this is here:
http://www.playfuls.com/news_03533_Google_To_Aid_The_Visually_Impaired_With_Accessible_Search.html
Meanwhile, various people on mailing lists pointed out that for a real simple interface, they like this Google page:
http://www.google.com/ie
5) From the Desert Skies
http://www.squeet.com/redirect.aspx?redir=http%3a%2f%2fjeffbishop.net%2farchive%2f2006%2f07%2f20%2f862.aspx&f=47561&e=11777176
We learn that users of the gizmo Project
http://www.gizmoproject.com/learnmore-allcallsfree.html
in many countries can call each others' landline phones using the software free.
6) The Thunder screen reader, free for individual use, has been released. It works with windows 2000 and xp.
http://www.screenreader.net/
7) BlindSea is a site containing, among other things, information about third-party programs for use on Series 60 cell phones. the programs, many of which
have free demos or are free, have been found to mainly work with the Talks program, and many would presumably work with Mobile Speak.
http://www.blindsea.com/
8) From the Fred's Head Companion
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/http%3A%2F%2Ffredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F07%2Faccessible-news-from-proaxsys.html
Accessible News is a subscription-based news reader that makes reading blogs and news sites easy. You can try it free for ten days. Until August 14, a
four-month subscription to the service costs $10.
http://www.proaxsysreader.com/accessiblenews/
9) From the same blog, we learn about I Speak It, a program for the Mac that allows you to convert documents into mp3 files using the Mac's built-in synthetic
speech.
http://www.zapptek.com/ispeak-it/
10) ILRU of Houston houses the Disability Law Resource Project, which has for some time produced twice-monthly video presentations on various disability
law matters. Archives, with transcripts and related handouts, are here:
http://www.ilru.org/html/training/webcasts/archive/index.html
11) Read an interesting summary, from Access technologists Higher Education Network, of a discussion among members of the E-text Solutions Group of the
Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) about the present and future of book availability for post-secondary students with disabilities.
http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2006/07/q-with-e-text-solutions-group.html
12) the Millionaire Game is free and accessible.
http://www.audiogames.net/db.php?action=view&id=temp111
another source for accessible games, some of them free, is
http://www.tafn.org.uk/games.htm
13) A good source for customized local tv listings, with free registration required to build your own personal "tv guide" is titan tv
www.titantv.com.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits fur Thursday, August 3, 2006
1) for convenience, the accessible Google search tool we mentioned last week is located here:
http://labs.google.com/accessible/
2) For readers who are members of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic: It ordinarily costs around $15 to get a key so that you can play RFB&D books on
the Book Port, but until December 31, it will be free. Call Member Services at 800-221-4792 and order a book on cd and give promotion code RM106. You'll
get the cd necessary to make RFB&D books playable on the Book Port in the mail.
3) Government Computer News (GCN) has implemented a gool that lets readers turn its stories into mp3 files for playback on computer or portable devices.
the mailing list report stated that audio quality was good and that Adobe Flash Player was required for it to work.
http://www.gcn.com/print/25_22/41508-1.html
4) From Jeff bishop's the Desert Skies blog
http://www.squeet.com/redirect.aspx?redir=http%3a%2f%2fjeffbishop.net%2farchive%2f2006%2f07%2f31%2f867.aspx&f=47561&e=12741902
People with a bet for programming can now download the MSDN library from Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=373930CB-A3D7-4EA5-B421-DD6818DC7C41&displaylang=en
5) I don't know of anybody who has tested this for accessibility, but Jeff also tells us that holders of a free mail account from Lycos can now have 3 gigs
of storage and can send attachments of any size!
http://www.lycos.com/
6) the next free online training from Accessible World is entitled Using Freedom Box and System Access to Interact Comfortably With Those Who Use Main
Stream Products Tuesday 8 August at 00:00 GMT, presented by Ann Parsons.
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
7) Access technologist's Higher Education Network
http://www.athenpro.org/
tells us about a podcast not routinely devoted to access technology, Fly with Me, narrated by a commercial airline pilot. Episode 11 is an interview with
a blind aspiring helicopter pilot and discuss the auditory and tactual aspects of airplane control. Here is the mp3 link:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/joepodcaster/fwm-011.mp3
8) Jamal Mazrui continues to enhance and improve TextPal, the free text editor, adding features of interest to blind programmer and to others in version
1.4.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
9) Kevin Reeves has created a file of JAWS place markers for the social networking site MySpace. this should make navigating the site easier for those
users. You can download it here:
http://bestmidi.com/~kevinree/Myspace.zip
10) An Assistive Technology site from Northeast Minnesota is
http://assistivetechmn.net/
11) Chris Judd now has ten tutorials, including tutorials on Winamp, Outlook Express, Word, Job Searching, Accessible Games, and more. Tutorials cost $8
each, but if you buy more than three, you get a discount. For information e-mail
[log in to unmask]
12) A mailing list recommendation for an accessible program to hear or download podcasts is golden Ear.
http://brooklynnorth.com/
13. Screen Reader Users Forum will be a weekly half-hour Internet radio program full of information on screen readers. It will air Thursdays at 23:00
GMT.
http://www.cjoyinternetradio.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 10, 2006
When I get material from blogs, I like to quote the source. Some people have objected to the unnecessary web links this practice provides. Henceforth,
I will quote the sources used for a month in the last issue of the month, at the bottom. Typically, these blogs have been referenced before, so you can
always find them in the arvhice, or you can do a web search for them. this should make the newsletter easier to read for some.
1) EASI will present a free web conference, Tablet Technology and People with Disabilities, on Tuesday, 15 August at 19:00 GMT
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
2) The Hadley School will present a free seminar entitled "Self-help Support Groups for People Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision," Wednesday, 16 August
at 18:00 GMT. Pre-registratin is required.
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/
3) Apple plans to release the Leopard operatign system for its Macintosh computers in October of 2007, and you can read about its planned accessibility
features here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/accessibility.html
4) >Nintendo has developed 7 mini audio games that can be played on every GBA compatible platform, including the GameBoy Advanced, Gameboy Micro and Nintendo
DS. Read about these Sound Voyager games here:
http://www.audiogames.net/db.php?action=view&id=SoundVoyager
5) This edition of Fred's Head companion lists and describes several sites where students can get help with homework:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/9184335/homework-helping-sites-on-net.html
6) the same source also discusses Frucall, a site which allows you to go to a store, find a product you like, get the bar code from the product, then call
and get prices for the product from the net on your mobile phone. Call 888-363-7822.
7) At the site
http://www.xpscreenreader.com/index.php
You can read about Thunder, a free screen reader for windows xp, Lightning, a 99-pound ($180) screen magnifier for windows xp, Inform, a news reader for
those not familiar with computers, Scan2Text, an OCR program, and WordRead Plus, a screen reader for those who can use the mouse.
8) I don't often include news items of product ideas that are nowhere near fruition, but this one, regarding a low-cost braille-writing device, will be
worth following:
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home06/jul06/braille.html
9) IfByPhone, the voice portal that lets you check and send e-mail, get news, play games, and networkis now available toll-free in the U.S. they will
soon let you send text spelled on your phone keypad as e-mail messages, and are promising to raise their prices soon.
http://www.ifbyphone.com
10) Rusty Perez has created a tutorial on performing some EBay functions with a notetaker. You can download the 30-minute recording from him for $7 or
he'll mail a cd to you for $10. E-mail him at
[log in to unmask]
Here are some web sites, gleaned from various publications, which might be interesting. I probably haven't evaluated them, so feel free to do so:
11) U.S. Government search, for searching across government agencies:
http://usgov.google.com
12) Check out the airline industry, performance of different carriers, and more
http://flightstats.com
13) A site for finding the lowest air fares
http://cheapflights.com
14) there is much interesting material to be read on blogs, but how do you find it? Here are some blog search tools:
http://www.sphere.com
http://blogsearch.google.com
http://www.icerocket.com
http://www.feedster.com
http://www.technorati.com
15) Do you wonder about the many processes that run on your windows xp system, what they do and whether or not you can get rid of any of them and save
some system resources? Here are two web sites to help you answer those questions.
http://www.processlibrary.com
http://startup.networktechs.com/
16) A twist on the usual book review site, Field-Tested books is based on the hypothesis that "reading a certain book in a certain place uniquely affects
a person's experience with both."
http://www.coudal.com/ftb/
the full archive of Tidbits issues, available in .zip and .txt formats, has been updated to include all issues through today.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 17, 2006
1) Here is a web site containing games, many free, and some other programs for the Pac Mate, the older notetakers and some for Windows and Linux:
www.braillesoft.net
2) the Plextalk PTR2 is an expensive digital recorder with many unique features for the blind. Brian Hartgen has written a review of it. From his Portable
Player Portable site, choose the link for Daisy Players and Recorders link to read it:
http://www.hartgen.org/portable.html
3) Pro Tools is the leading program used by recording studio engineers, musicians and producers. Its manufacturer has not chosen to implement the accessibility
provisions that Apple has built into the latest editions of the Mac. You can sign a petition to urge them to do so.
http://www.protoolspetition.org/
4) Here is a handy site listing over 70 stations owned by CBS that now stream their programming online:
http://radiomat.com/
5) Gw Micro has published a new article to its KnowlegeBase: Small-Talk Ultra Processor Throttling
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1048
6) Version 10.6 of the braille translation program DBT is available, featuring enhanced support for importing Nemeth documents, new and improved foreign
language translation capabilities, and improved data entry both for entry in DBT itself and for typing in Word.
http://www.duxburysystems.com/dbtwhst.asp
7) Here's something for JAWS scripters: Tutorial: Extending JAWS using Python
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~parente/tech/tr06.shtml
8) One mailing list participant recommends the Data Doctors weekly free newsletter
http://www.datadoctors.com/
9) Another source of information is the Rvers Computer Help newsletter
http://www.rverscomputerhelp.com/
These folks have written a lot of help articles over the years, so they suggest looking at their collection of articles
http://www.rverscomputerhelp.com/articles.html
and their newsletter archive
http://www.rverscomputerhelp.com/archives.html
10) Coming up shortly, at 03;00 Friday 18 August, the Computer America radio program will feature an interview with the folks who make the Sepstral software
speech engines, with demonstrations of the latest in available software speech. You can listen to the hour-long program by pasting this Url into the ctrl-u
dialog in Windows Media Player, or presumably into the ctrl-l dialog in winamp:
mms://64.92.199.77/BusinessTalkRadio-IN
11) Speaking of software speech, there's an interesting web site for a program, presently available free, called Model Talker that claims to let you use
your own voice. Nobody has reported how well it really works:
http://www.asel.udel.edu/speech/ModelTalker.html
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 24, 2006
1) Here's an installment of Fred's Head Companion that provides a lot of useful information about using Google.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/15667038/getting-more-out-of-google_23.html
2) the same source also tells us about mail.com, now testing a web-mail service to allow e-mail in 11 languages to be read aloud.
http://www.mail.com/
3) the next Accessible World free online training will concern SendSpace, a service that allows you to send large files to others via the net. The training
starts at 00:00 gmt, Tuesday, 29 August.
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
4) Serotek, makers of the Freedom Box, is seeking sales representatives. Send a current resume to them at
[log in to unmask]
5)A new article has been posted to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base: How To Enable Bluetooth on the Small-Talk Ultra
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1049
6) Jamal Mazrui is developing JAWS scripts for Visual Studio 2005. You can download the installer for the work so far here;
http://www.empowermentzone.com/msenv2005.exe
7) Andrew Kirkpatrick from Adobe has written a couple accessible versions of the Hangman game using Flash, and he would like people to test them to see
which they prefer. You can find more information on this entry in the Adobe Accessibility blog
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/2006/08/two_accessible_flash_games_whi.html
8) the Jernigan Institute's National Center for Blind youth in Science portal is found at
http://www.blindscience.org/
9) You can read an article about Nuance Communication's Scansoft Pdf Converter Professional 4, a $100 package which allows for converting pdf documents
to speech and for creating pdf documents that are friendly to screen readers.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6107260.html
10) Jeff Bishop reports in The Desert Skies that Microsoft has released a release candidate for Internet Explorer 7.0, and that his testing is bearing
positive results. You can download Internet Explorer 7 from the Microsoft Download Center.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=94e5bf41-2907-4415-8f72-da7c2c2ace09&displaylang=en
11) We talked last week about Model Talker, the software speech synthesizer that lets you use your own voice. Josh can share JAWS scripts for the Invtool
program that you use to create the voices, and may be able to explain how to make the program work with screen readers
<[log in to unmask]>
12) All in Play has created its third online game usable by the blind, Texas Hold'em. You can get a fifteen-day free account to try the service.
http://allinplay.com/unsub.php?u=
13) CHS-TV will air an 8-hour old-time radio program marathon starting Friday 25 August stateide and repeating throughout the weekend. Click chs-tv, then
chs-radio to listen.
http://www.carthageisd.org/
14) DeWitt & Associates is offering a two-day, $400 workshop in Midland Park, NJ entitled LEARNING MS EXCEL WHILE USING JAWS, 25 and 26 September. Call
Maria at 1-877-447-6500.
15) Here is an article by Joe Clark in which he challenges the effectives of the Web Accessibility guidelines version 2:
http://alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 31, 2006
1) We often mention both the free clinics and the fee-based web-conferences offered by EASI. They have membership savailable for both institutions and
individuals to take their fee-based conferences for a more affordable cost. You can read about the membership plan here:
http://easi.cc/sub.htm
and the fall schedule is available here:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
2) You can download or listen to an interview with the makers of the free Thunder screen reader as part of the Blind Cool Tech podcast.
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
3) Humanware reports that they will continue to provide support for the classic BrailleNote and VoiceNote products, but development of them will cease
with the next version of Keysoft to be released. the release of KeySoft version y7.2, whose existence was first intimated during the summer conventions
stateside, will be next week. Capabilities of the release will vary depending on just what kind of machine you have, but it cal feature Daisy playback
capability, improved file management, statistical calculator functions and more.
4) Mitchell Smith has written a small program called the window-Eyes Mobile helper to facilitate using Window-Eyes on USB flash drives.
http://www.bur.st/~mjs/wemobilehelper.zip
Gw Micro has released an article to their Knowledge Base, Window-Eyes and Autorun on USB Flash Drives
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1050
5) A new accessible game called Mississippi is available, to try as a demo or to purchase.
http://www.mar-dy.com/
6) We learn from Fred's Head companion about Pirate, a fun memory audio game.
http://www.klangogames.com/en/pmg/
7) the Math Description Engine is an open-source software library that generates text, sound and visual representations of graphs
found in both math and science applications.
http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/mde
8) We learn from the Rvers Computer Help Newsletter about the Free Dictinary, a web site featuring a dictionary and other related services.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
9) the same source tells us about a test you can run from the Pc Pitstop site to see if your computer will run windows Vista successfully when it is released.
http://www.pcpitstop.com/
10) this will presumably be our last reference to The Mosen Explosion, since its author, Jonathan Mosen, has left Humanware to work for Freedom Scientific
and simultaneously discontinued his blog. this is an article from the New York Times (free subscription may be necessary to read it)concerning public
domain audio books.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/books/25audi.html?ex=1314158400&en=5441d083f6d4aca4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
11) Here is a good list, courtesy of Fred's Head Companion, of sources for electronic books, both free and paid.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/18104401/project-gutenberg-and-other-online.html
12) The latest JAWS scripts for Skype are available here:
http://www.dlee.org/jfw-skr298.zip
13) According to Web site Wednesday, this is a site where you can see which broadbabd service is available in your area.
http://www.broadbandreports.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, September 7, 2006
I know of nobody among blind Internet users and their friends who better exemplifies the combined virtues of competence, patience and pure generosity than
Debbie Scales. Her untimely but peaceful death on September 1 deprives this community of her presence and assistance. The web site she created and conscientiously
maintained,
www.jfwlite.com
which contains links and hints useful to all no matter what screen reader you use, will remain in place but will not be updated.
1) A new mailing list for the discussion of screen magnifiers, screenmagusers, has been formed. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
2) A mailing list user recommends a $29.95 anti-spyware program, Pc Pitstop Exterminate, as being highly accessible.
http://www.pcpitstop.com/
3) Read this blog posting concerning Teseract, an optical character recognition program that Google appears to be opening up for development:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=775
4) this installment of the Fred's Head companion discusses various games where users, primarily sighted ones, compete to see who can write the best caption
for an unlabeled graphic on the web.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/19841832/sighted-people-phetch-descriptions-of.html
5) another installment of the same blog tells of places for finding free sound effects on the web:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/19850450/free-sound-project.html
6) A Dutch company called AssistiveWare has released two speech products for blind Macintosh users to add more high-quality voice options and to enable
creation of mp3 files of the speech output.
http://www.assistiveware.com/pr.php
7) Here is an article discussing the rationale for the accessibility features in windows Vista.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003234739_msftaccess30.html
8) the next free training in the Accessible World series will be entitled The Total Recorder Advantage: Who should use Total Recorder, and how > to get
going with the program, and will be presented by Dean Martineau. Training will take place at 00:00 GMT on Tuesday, 12 September, and archives will be
available not long afterword.
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
9) A new installment of the monthly Gw Micro radio program and podcast, On the Move, is now available for streaming or download.
http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
10) We learn from Fred's Head Companion that Google now has a page devoted to searching newspaper archives.
http://news.google.com/archivesearch
11) On 11 September, EASI offers a free clinic on a program that enables people to easily create narrated Powerpoint for the Web and make the presentation
fully accessible. the following day they offer the first of their four-[art fee-based series on podcasts and vodcasts (first time I've seen *that* word
used by anybody!) and their accessibility.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
12) New JAWS scripts for the music creation program Cakewalk Sonar, for versions 5.0 and 4.1, are available, with donations encouraged, from the JSonar
group
http://www.jsonar.org/
13)Accessibility reviews of Steve\'s Clock version 2.03 and Mississippi version 1.20 have been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, September 14, 2006
1) The free training at Accessible World on Tuesday 19 September at 00:00 GMT will showcase Internet Radio. Go to the Techtalk room at
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
2. the September, 2006 issue of AccessWorld, free online magazine, features up-to-date reviews of accessible mobile phones, accessibility evaluations of
satellite radio receivers and their web sites, more reviews of laptop-compatible video magnifiers, an introduction to podcasting, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
3) Dane Trethowan has produced some informal audio tutorials on using the Nokia N70 Smart Phone with the Talks screen reader. If you want them, write
to him at
<[log in to unmask]>
4) the BlinDIA project is a volunteer effort designed to facilitate independent installation of Debian Linux by a blind user. they have released some
speech and braille modules for this purpose.
http://brlspeak.net/blindia.php
5) From the E-Access Bulletin, we learn that Royal National Institute for the Blind has launched a software Access Center, a resource for software designers
and developers, systems integrators, procurement professionals and accessibility policy makers.
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_sachome.hcsp
6) AI Squared announces that their zoomText Large-Print Keyboard is now shipping. this $99 keyboard makes typing easier and gives one-key access to ZoomText
9.0 features.
http://www.aisquared.com/Products/Keyboard.cfm
7) IfByPhone has upgraded its service so that users can listen to some e-mail attachments, can have an addressbook, and can have unlimited access to multiple
e-mail accounts among other improvements. they also now allow people with no computer to set up phone-based e-mail accounts; those interested can call
(877) 295-5100 to sign up.
http://www.ifbyphone.com
8) Microsoft has given more information about Zune, it's portable answer to the iPod. No word yet about accessibility.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Officially_Unveils_Zune/1158251571
9)A 4-part fee-based series on creating Daisy documents will be one of EASI's offerings for October, on the first four Tuesdays at 18:00 GMT.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
10) the First International Virtual Audio Online Symposium on Diabetes has been scheduled for wednesday 8 November 2006, from 15:00-20:00 GMT, under the
auspices of Helping Hands for the Blind and the Accessible World Symposiums.
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
11) Rvers Computer Help Newsletter tells us of a free online distance calculator for determining the distance between two cities.
http://www.geobytes.com/CityDistanceTool.htm
12) Accessibility reviews of Norton Internet Security version 2006 and Accessible Battleship SV have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
13) this installment of Fred's Head Companion features various accessible ways to get ring tones for your mobile phone.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/22278547/accessible-site-for-ring-tones.html
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, September 21, 2006
1) Here, thanks to the Bootlist, is a Microsoft article on troubleshooting problems with computer standby and hibernation under windows Xp:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=907477
2) >Version 1.0.0 of Orca - the free, open source, scripting screen
>reader for UNIX systems that provides access to the graphical desktop via user-customizable combinations of speech, braille,
and/or magnification - has been officially released.
http://live.gnome.org/Orca
3) Here's an article about the LevelStar, the new Lunux-based portable device for the blind:
http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=14540
4) Accessibility consultant Alan Cantor is producing a report on the state of accessibility to pdf documents. If you want to contribute, from any standpoint,
write comments to him by 22 September.
[log in to unmask]
5) >Freedom Scientific announces the immediate availability of the new Multi-language keyboard driver for PAC mate, allowing you to add the ability to
input text in eight different languages on your PAC mate QX.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/PACMATE-HQ/PACMate_Multi_lang_Keybd_Driver.asp
6) Speaking of Freedom Scientific, their recent hiring of Jonathan Mosen has generated a lot of talk and now some press. It was the subject of this week's
Main Menu program on
http://www.acbradio.com
and that program will appear in the archives in due course. It is also now the topic of an extra article in the AccessWorld series from American Foundation
for the Blind, entitled The Mosen Excursion.
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
7) And through the end of this year, owners of any of the Braille Note family of products, old or new, can trade in their unit for any member of the Pac
Mate family for very reasonable prices.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/
8) Brent Harbolt offers to install the open-source Rockbox software onto your video iPod, thus making it a talking device, for $60 including shipping.
Note that some users choose to successfully perform this task unaided, but Brent is offering to do this for those who would prefer not to do so. Write
to him at
[log in to unmask]
9) Gw Micro has posted an article to its KnowledgeBase: Internet Explorer 7 RC1 Causes Startup Problems
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1052
10) We've mentioned the Blindness Auction Gateway, a web site that puts several EBay searches related to blindness-related items in easy reach, and also
can make other EBay searches easier. the site now allows you to search for Braille watches.
http://www.bestmidi.com/ebay.php
11) A good place to find accessible games, both windows and DOS, is
http://www.pcsgames.net/game-co.htm
12) Code Factory announces the release of Mobile Speak SmartPhone, an operating system for Smart Phones running under the windows Mobile operating system.
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_smartphone/mspeak_smartphone.htm
13) And Code Factory has released version 1.0.8 of Mobile Speak Pocket, containing some 150 new features and fixes.
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_pocket/msp_features_v108.htm
14) this installment of Fred's Head Companion describes the Atari Retro, an affordable game machine which would be quite playable for some folks with low
vision.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...games-for-people-with-low.html
15) And they also offer an article on voice-activated tv remote controls, an alternative to the often-inaccessible remotes.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...ivated-tv-remote-controls.html
16) The eighth annual Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference will take place at the Millennium Harvest House, adjacent to the campus of the University
of Colorado - Boulder, Nov. 7-10. Early registration rates run until 1 october.
http://www.colorado.edu/ATconference
17) An accessibility review of UTF-8 TeraTerm Pro version 4.45 has been added to AccessWatch.
http://www.accesswatch.info/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, October 5, 2006
1) Spoonbill Software has released another free game usable by the blind. this one is a version of the word game Boggle. You get this and other games
by sending a request to Ian Humphreys at
[log in to unmask]
the web site is
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm
2) the Accessible World presentation for the GMT day of October 10 features American Printing House for the bind's $49.00 Money Talks package, a self-voicing
bank account management program. The live discussion starts at 00:00, with archives available soon thereafter.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
3) this month's installment of On the Move, Gw Micro's radio program and podcast, features a sneak peak at window-Eyes version 6.0.
><http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove>www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
4) Here is a link to a Cnet article discussing the use of mp3 players to play audio books. It contains links to a lesser-known source for audio books and
to some reviews of mp3 players that include a bookmarking feature, though of course the reviews do not discuss use of the players from a blindness perspective.
http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=13023041-d1930ee7504db8e18937780415b01280-bf&s=5&fs=0
5) Jamal Mazrui has implemented a number of fixes in his screen-reader-friendly text editor textPal, version 1.5.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe
6) A new mailing list has been created for discussion of the use of the various Macromedia web development tools by the blind. to subscribe, send a message
to
[log in to unmask]
with 'subscribe' in the Subject field.
7) Well-known writer Fred Langa has created a blog to which he adds frequent entries.
http://langa.com/blog
And this item from a past Langa List explains blogs and rss feeds.
http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-09-21.htm#6
8) this installment of Fred's Head Companion discusses a program called 1st Read it Aloud, which allows you to have text read back to you n a variety of
voices, speeds and languages.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...ad-selected-text-from-any.html
9) Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9.0 has received very positive reviews. Now T&T Consultancy has released version 4.0 of JSay Pro which supports this
version and requires JAWS version 7.1.
http://ngtvoice.com/products/software/J-Say/
10) the October 3 installment of The Ranger Station gives a good summary of recent technology happenings. this blog is a good place to read to keep up
with developments as windows vista gets closer to being released.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
11) At various times during the coming weekend, you can listen to the state convention of the National Federation of the blind of Colorado.
http://www.cocenter.org/stream.m3u
12. the Lions Center for the blind in Oakland California seeks a Computer Services Coordinator. the message from which I gleaned this information did
not contain contact information for them, so you'll have to unearth it if you want to apply for the position.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, October 12, 2006
Hopefully, I'll only send one copy this week and it will be the current week's newsletter. the duplicates you may have received last week weren't intentional
but those from the previous week were.
1) Version 0.30 of the Linux Screen Reader is available.
http://live.gnome.org/LSR/FrequentlyAskedQuestions)
2) As part of the All About Microsoft blog, read about Internet Explorer version 7 being officially released later this month.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/
3) Among many useful technology-related items emanating from Fred's Head Companion this week, here's a post with a lot of information about caring for,
using and copying cd's and dvd's
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/cds-and-dvds.html
4) And Michael McCarty (author of Fred's Head Companion) directs us to a $10 200-page pdf file
called Audio and video Answers. You can read the extensive table of contents or buy it here
http://www.jakeludington.com/tutorials/20060731_audio_and_video_answers.html
5) window-Eyes Version 6.0 Beta 1 will be released on 16 October. Version 6 provides support for the Microsoft Outlook Calendar and for Microsoft Office
PowerPoint among other enhancements. Gw Micro is posting teaser articles to its web site and podcast series describing the new features.
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
6) for some time, the various sites related to ACBRadio's Main Menu technology program weren't being updated too regularly. Now they are, so you can catch
the latest editions of Main Menu by either using your podcatcher to grab the podcast version of the show,
http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=mainmenu
or use the On demand archive at
http://www.acbradio.org
7) the latest edition of Main Menu features an in-depth look at the upcoming JAWS for windows version 8.0 besides using the above means to listen to the
show, you can read a summary of it on the ranger station
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
8) JAWS version 8 will include support for Internet Explorer 7, support for shared calendars in Microsoft Outlook, enhanced functionality in many Microsoft
Office programs, and inclusion of high-quality RealSpeak speech synthesizers for those who want to use them. If you want to hear what they will sound
like, try the sound samples on
http://www.nuance.com/realspeak/languages/
9) the free training coming up on Accessible world on gMt tuesday 17 October at 00:00 will feature Matthew bullis discussing A Comprehensive Overview of
DVD Storage Media
http://www.accessibleworld.org
10) A couple new mailing lists, pertinent because they use technology to enhance communication: home-workers is a list for aspiring blind entrepreneurs
and those who already run businesses. to subscribe, send a message to
[log in to unmask]
and in the body, write the phrase "subscribe home-workers firstname lastname" substituting your real name.
11) blindmoviebuffs is for discussing movies and sharing audio described movies. to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
12) change is in the wind as qualcomm will turn over the venerable e-mail program eudora to the Mozilla foundation, where it will become free and open-source.
www.betanews.com
13) this installment of Fred's Head Companion diswcusses a way to use the Notepad program for logging and organizing.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/notepad-accessible-way-to-organize.html
14) And another one leads us to the Pc guide web site which is a help site written in non-technical language.
http://www.pcguide.com.
15) Rvers computer Help Newsletter offers us an article about ways to use the win Key, the start menu key, in windows xp
www.rverscomputerhelp.com/winkey.html
16) tunefeed is an australian site that claims to have set up a way for people to share music legally.
http://www.tunefeed.com.
17) Version 1.8 of TextPal improves speech for window-Eyes users and cuts down on some extraneous chatter in the program.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
18) From this issue of the web site Accessibility Blog we learn that the Google Accessible Search has been enhanced.
http://www.accessibilityblog.com/2006/10/10/google-increases-accessible-search-features/
19) fred's Head companion informs us about gotvoice, a service Us residents can use to grab messages from the phone-company-provided voice mail systems
and display them on the web.
http://gotvoice.com.
20) this edition tells how to prevent your computer from being taken over by malware and what to do if it is.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/has-your-computer-been-turned-into.html
21) and we never weary of listings of sites for online books.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/project-gutenberg-and-other-online.html
22) chris Judd has now produced some 20 low-cost tutorials available for $8 each with quantity discounts available. Until he gets his online shopping
cart in place, you can e-mail him at
[log in to unmask]
for information. He has also created an announce-only mailing list so people can learn about new items. to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
23) the audio Network has a new free trivia game based on tv theme songs.
>http://www.pressakey.net/tv/
24) An accessibility review of TextAloud version 2.95 has been added to AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, October 19, 2006
1) HumanWare announces the release of Trekker version 3.0, the gps system for the blind, featuring more maps and maps with broader coverage, turn-by-turn
instructions when in a vehicle, and other enhancements.
http://humanware.ca/web/en/NewsGetFile.asp?file=20061018.html
2) Here is a link to download an audio tutorial on how to create 'maps" for the Supernova screen reader/screen magnifier combo.
http://www.tbrn.net/arfy/mapping%20supernova.ogg
3) window-Eyes version 6 public Beta is now available.
http://gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes/Beta/
It is the subject of this week's installment of ACBRadio's Main Menu.
4) One mailing list user re commends Greg Epley's Weather Gale, a program for keeping track of weather forecasts and conditions.
http://www.thinkzo.com/products/WeatherGALE.htm
5) You can hear an australian Rules football match in London this Saturday at 12:e0 GMT via BBC Radio London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/10/12/live_commentaries_feature.shtml
6) I seem to recall this article from before, but here's a good compendium of information about how best to use Google, courteous of the Fred's Head Companion.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/38592746/getting-more-out-of-google.html
7) From the same source, we learn that the Georgia Tech Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access has launched a Wiki, a grassroots-created
encyclopedia, on assistive technology. the site presently contains 54 articles.
http://atwiki.assistivetech.net/ATWiki_Home
8) And also, we learn of a page with instructions for finding old computer games which may be playable by folks with lo vision, and for making the games
playable on modern operating systems.
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/articles/Windows/Free_Old_Games_for_Your_New_PC/
9) chris Judd presents a free online training on Coping With the Many Challenges of Online Shopping this GMT Tuesday 24 October at 00:00 as part of the
Accessible world series.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
10) Enhancements and fixes continue to come thick and fast with the accessible text editor TextPal, which has now attained version 1.9.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
11) with the release this week of Internet Explorer version 7, window-Eyes users of version 6 are safe to upgrade to it, but JAWS users are advised to
wait for version 8 sometime in November. In preparation, here is a Fred's Head Companion article on Internet Explorer keyboard use.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/37879853/keyboard-lovers-guide-to-internet.html
the rest of this issue consists of repeats of several items from last week which were printed incorrectly. Most of the errors were caused by a change in
software which had unforeseen consequences.
11) Among many useful technology-related items emanating from Fred's Head Companion this week, here's a post with a lot of information about caring for,
using and copying cd's and dvd's
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/cds-and-dvds.html
12) blindmoviebuffs is a mailing list for discussing movies and sharing audio described movies. to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
13) this installment of Fred's Head Companion diswcusses a way to use the Notepad program for logging and organizing.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/notepad-accessible-way-to-organize.html
14) this edition tells how to prevent your computer from being taken over by malware and what to do if it is.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/has-your-computer-been-turned-into.html
15) and we never weary of listings of sites for online books.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/project-gutenberg-and-other-online.html
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for thursday, October 26, 2006
there will be two mailings this week, this one containing the full newsletter, and a notification announcement to let everybody know the newsletter has
been provuced. I'll be curious to see if some people get the short, link-free message and don't get the newsletter.
1) You can freely download some 300 movie scripts, a good way to know what is going on in the movie.
http://www.weeklyscript.com/movies_full_list.htm
2) Peter verhoeven has written an article on how to make iPod and some other mp3 players accessible by installing the Rockbox firmware.
http://magnifiers.org/news.php?action=fullnews&id=204
3) speaking of mp3 players, an interesting site to keep up with what's new and is not iPod, visit this one:
http://anythingbutIpod.com
4) there's been a lot of talk about the Hamilton Beach talking microwave. One vendor selling it Independent Living Aids. On this page you read about
the unit and can hear a sample of the voice.
http://www.independentliving.com/prodinfo.asp?number=756800
5) Gordon Kent of Dancing Dots has recorded an informative and entertaining audio demo showing how he uses the wireless TranzPort remote control device
to create multi-track sound recordings using Cakewalk SONAR.
http://www.dancingdots.com/prodesc/tranzport.htm
and find the text that says: Listen to an audio demo by Gordon Kent.
6) wizzard Software has created Wizztones, a program that lets Skype users assign different ringtones or voice messages to different skype contacts, so
that you can easily know who is calling.
www.wizzardsoftware.com.
7) Jamal Mazrui has released the initial version of Layout by Code for .NET development, a library of convenience functions for easier development of accessible
graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in .NET 2.0 languages.
Here is the source code:
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/lbc.cs
and here is a console-mode program to demonstrate some of its capabilities:
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/lbc.exe
8) read this post from the Desert skies about Mocrosoft's final release of its windows Defender antispyware package for users of windows xp sP 2.
http://thedesertskies.com/archive/2006/10/23/Microsoft-releases-final-version-of-Windows-Defender-Spyware-application.aspx
9) HumanWare has made an audio and video demonstration of its Daisy book player victor reader ClassicX available online.
http://humanware.ca/web/en/p_DP_VR_ClassicX_VideoDemo.asp
10) the free International Online Symposium on Diabetes will run for five hours, with five different presentations, on wednesday, 8 November
starting at 18:00 gMT.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
11) the US social Security Administration has created a web site to inform its workers and contractors about the accessibility requirements of Section
508 of the Rehabilitation act.
http://ssahost.ba.ssa.gov/arc/
12) the latest installment of The Ranger station contains a good summary of the current situation with regard to the accessibility of Internet Explorer
7.0 with various access technologies.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
13) If you want to know more about RSS and find out about
how to track RSS feeds via e-mail, sound computing Article 27 discusses this matter and reviews two free e-mail RSS readers. Subscriptions cost only $9
for a 50-article package.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, November 2, 2006
I'm working to improve the html so that links show up in e-mail and on the web, but am having interesting system problems.
1) US residents who like to attend movies with audio description can find Regal Cinema theaters that offer the service in their town.
http://www.regalcinemas.com
2) the tuition-free correspondence school for the blind, the Hadley School, now offers a course entitled getting Organized with Excel. For information,
e-mail:
[log in to unmask]
3) 3) Microsoft has released version 11 of windows Media player, and here is a review of the program:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/wmp11.asp
4) Serotek has upgrades Freedom box System Access so that the Freedom Box user can link to a computer running another access program such as window-eyes
or JAWS and run that access technology remotely from their computer. this has great training and trouble-shooting potenaial. Serotek has also widened
its dealer network.
http://www.freedombox.info
5) Jamal Mazrui has assembled a collection of 40 free online books for learning to program with C#, converted them to text files with some structure for
searching, and made them available in a 10MB archive.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/cnetdoc.zip
6) IRC is a venerable instant messaging system where people exchange files and conversation.l Two ways to access it have recently been discussed on mailing
lists. One that works with both window-Eyes and JAWS is TIRC
http://www.talkingirc.net
and information about two other access approaches, Mirc and Sjans can be found here:
http://blinx.interfree.ca/index.php/Accessible_irc_solutions
7) Gw Micro is releasing a beta version of the Braille Sense notetaker on 3 November. this version will support MSN Messenger and include an enhanced
database
http://gwmicro.com/Braille_Sense/Beta/
8) Here is a Fred's Head Companion article listing several sources for free old-time radio programs and other vintage audio material.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/10/old-time-radio-shows-and-newsreels.html
9) JfW 7.1 does not fully work with the new Internet Explorer 7.0. Freedom Scientific has announced plans to release a patch in the next week to make
these two programs work together.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, November 9, 2006
1) the Ranger Station tells us about a web site for the Nemo, the newest 4-inchdisplay cctv made by Enhanced Vision.
http://enhancedvision.com/nemo_family.php
2) this Fred's Head Companion article tells of a site where you can shop for assistive tehcnology using MSN
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FredsHeadCompanion/~3/46205895/shop-for-assistive-technology-online.html
3) they also point out a new recipe site, Recipe Spin.
http://www.recipespin.com/
4) the Star program in Minnesota has set up a cross-disability site for buying and selling used assistive devices.
http://www.mnstarte.org/
5) Online streaming of at least four conferences and conventions is available this weekend. Proceeds of the National Educational Association of Disabled
Students convention in Canada will be available in English and French.
http://www.nows.ca/conference/en/online.php
6) there's still time to hear proceedings from the Accessing Higher Ground conference on Friday 11 November.
http://easi.cc/forms/ahg.htm
7) You can listen to the convention of the Illinois affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind here:
http://uddle.com/nfb.m3u
8) Follow the linds from the ACBRadio web site to hear the Washington Council of the blind convention
http://www.acbradio.org/
9) thanks to the Washington Council of the Blind, Washington State residents can now hear their Evergreen Radio Reading Service online.
http://www.wtbbl.org/ERRSwebstream.html
10) the monthly On the Move radio program and podcast for November from Gw Micro featured an interview with a member of the Microsoft Accessibility Team.
You can stream or download the program here:
http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
11) Gw Micro has also announced the availability of Beta #2 of Window-Eyes version 6.
www.gwmicro.com/beta
12) Freedom Scientific has released an update to JFW 7.1 that fixes several problems and enables JAWS to work with Internet Explorer version 7. You can
get the update through the automatic update feature or from the site.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/softw...
13) You can register to listen to an online web conference entitled Standardized Testing and Students with Disabilities: The Stakes are High and So is
the Anxiety! on 27 November from 20:00-22:00 GMT.
http://easi.cc/forms/nov27.htm
14) Jamal Mazrui has released version 1.3 of Jaws Script Exchange, a system for easily sharing scripts for different programs.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/jsxsetup.exe
15) Users of any version of the braille Note family of devices can buy a $195 add-on containing the Concise Oxford Dictionary and the Concise Oxford Thesaurus.
http://www.humanware.com/Products/Notetakers/ConciseOxfordForKeyS
16) A researcher from Arizona State University is seeking people over 18 years of age to respond to a survey on technology, and those who complete the survey
are entered into a raffle to earn $50 or $250 prizes.
https://psyp01.la.asu.edu/phpsurveyor/sites/asilverm/index.php?sid=1
17) rick Harmon has set up a site which contains his various audio tutorials and other useful information.
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/
18) Fred's Head Companion tells us about a site with several free programs. Copy Cat is a program that copies cd's, floppies and dvd's that are scratched
or damaged.
http://www.vcsoftwares.com/cc.html
19) Mp3 Knife lets you extract a portion from a larger mp3 file and save it to a separate mp3 file.
http://www.vcsoftwares.com/mk.html
20) Be Punctual is a simple program for Windows that includes an Alarm Clock,Reminder and Human voice time teller (both male and female).
http://www.vcsoftwares.com/BePun.html
21) Computerweekly.com has published an article with suggestions on how to make web sites fit for all.
http://www.computerweekly.com/Feeds/RSS/Articles/2006/10/24/219269/How+to+make+your+website+fit+for+all.htm
22) Accessible world will present the second part of their Holiday Stocking Stuffers Synposium on GMT 14 November at 01:00. the three-hour program will
feature presentations by four vendors of high- and low-tech assistive products and other neat stuff.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, November 16, 2006
1) Crossword puzzle and word game enthusiasts might want to check out One Across, a site with some interesting tools for helping to solve.
http://oneacross.com/
2) to learn about the Individuals with Disabilities
Education
Act, download the webcast Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004 Part B Final Regulations Webcast
http://idea.ed.gov/
3) From now until the end of the Gregorian year, if you buy FreedomBox System Access Mobile, you can get a year of the FreedomBox Network or a 512MB U3
key at no cost.
http://www.freedombox.info
4) TextPal is now up to version 2.2, and the versatile program possesses the ability to download a batch of web pages easily.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/palsetup.exe
5) There is a need for a trainer to teach JSay and JAWS in Kalamazoo, Michigan. If able, e-mail
mailto:mgrossman13%40yahoo.com
6) the Minnesota State Academy for the blind seeks a Computer technology Specialist.
http://www.doer.state.mn.us/
7) Ohio State University seeks a director of Assistive Technology Services.
http://www.jobsatosu.com/
8) EASI presents a 4-part paid clinic, Accessible and Usable PDF Documents:
http://easi.cc/forms/pdf-series.htm
9) with the impending release of JAWS for windows version 8, you can listen to a 90-minute program on the new features by downloading this zip file
ftp://ftp.freedomscientific.com/users/hj/private/WebFiles/JAWS/WhatIsNew8.zip
and you can also read the information online
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, November 23, 2006
It's a little late, but for those who collect the quarterly compendia of tidbits
issues, I've finally uploaded the seventh quarterly file, q7, consisting of
issues 79-91, from 7 July through 5 October. You can get the file from the
website
http://topdotenterprises.com/q7.txt
or by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
We'll be seeing a flurry of additions to the Sound Computing collection in the
next few weeks. If you're considering the deal, 50 audio articles, at least 18
hours of content, for a total of nine dollars, you can now look at a page which
lists the existing articles for you to preview.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
1) Version 8 of JAWS for windows has been released. Not recommended for users
of Windows 2000, but win xp users are having good experiences with it.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp
2) Jamal Mazrui has created an archive containing 27 files of the documentation
for JAWS version 8.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/jfw80doc.zip
3) the window-Eyes beta cycle continues, beta 3 of version 6 has been released.
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
4) In Sound Computing article #28, we update and complete the tutorial on total
Recorder, discusing features new in version 6 as well as some of the other
powerful recording features of the program.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
5) You can talk to Santa again this year courtesy of the Audio Network.
http://www.pressakey.net/santa/>
6) We learn via the EAccess Bulletin that the BBC has launched a blog to
discuss the accessibility of the growing number of Web 2.0 services.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/access20/ ),
7) You can get a free and easy-to-use document diary in text and Word formats.
http://www.moving-mountains.com
8) Jamal Mazrui has assembled a collection of 13 tutorials for learning the
Java programming language.
http://www.empowermentzone.com/java_doc.zip
9) IRTI has released beta versions of four tools designed to read and create
Daisy files.
http://www.irti.net/eclipse/index.htm
10) Sound Computing article 29 features a discussion and demonstration of the
very affordable and accessible subscriber site for the mainstream computer
magazine Smart Computing.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
11) A new discussion group, blindcomputerusers, for anything related to
computer use by the blind has been created. to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can
subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, November 30, 2006
1) Do you wish you could add Accessible Google or other less common search tools to the search provider list in Internet Explorer version 7? this page shows
how to do it; navigate to the link for Handy Java Scripts.
http://post.queensu.ca/~tremblam/webtoys.html#
2) Speaking of Google and its accessibility initiatives, engineer Dr. T.V. Raman wrote a short hote for the Official Google Blog defining CAPTCHA, discussing
Google's accessible alternative and asking for feedback on how well it works for all people.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/audio-captchas-when-visual-images-are.html
3) Do you ever wish you could download web pages for playng in a Book Port or in another device where you're away from your Internet connection? Thanks
to TextPal, it's now quite possible to do so, and we show you how in article 29 of Sound Computing. Incidentally, the scsum.htm file has been cleaned up
and updated to show all the available articles, so you can see what all you get for your total expenditure of $9.00
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
4) Speaking of TextPal, it's now up to version 2.7, with more fixes and a new calculator feature. who knows: By the time you get this, the version number
might be even higher!
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe
5) the Hadley School will offer a free one-hour seminar, Beat the Rush with Online Shopping, on on tuesday 5 December at 19:00 GMT. Registration required.
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/
6) the upcoming free training from Accessible World will be entitled Affordable and Accessible CD/DVD Burning and Scanning Software. It will concern two
low-cost products from Premier Assistive Technology. Previous programs are consistently archived.
<http://www.accessibleworld.org>
7) teniss's Davis Cup final takes place this weekend in Moscow, and quality audio commentary will be available starting on Friday 1 December ar 10:00 GMT.
http://daviscup.com/
8) Baen Books has been producing their science-fiction books in unprotected electronic format since 1999 and charging a low cost for them. Now in recognition
of the service of disabled veterans, those with print disabilities, veterans or not, can gain access to these books at no charge after registering. through
Baen Books or through ReadAssist.
http://www.readassist.org/
9) One of the interesting trends on the net is the ability for everybody to create his or her own customized online "radio" station. In article 30 of Sound
Computing, we discuss this trend, showing how to use one such service, Pandora.com successfully with screen reading technology, and provide other useful
links for online radio listening.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
10) Kurzweil-blind-users is a mailing list for discussing the use of Kurzweil keyboard by blind users. To subscribe send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
11) Reader-users is a mailing list for supporting the handheld Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader. to subscribe, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
12) Article 31 of Sound Computing illustrates
two powerful ways to select text in Microsoft Word. One is the built-in Extend Selection Mode, while the other is a set of easily-installed macros that
give Word an effortless way to select text, much like that some of us used to like in old programs.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
13) This link from Fred's Head Companion is a great site for comparing cities and learning about a city that may interest you.
http://www.city-data.com.
14) Here is a Fred's Head article on accessing online dictionaries and encyclopedias.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/11/accessing-dictionaries-and.html
15) Version 11 of the OCR program Kurzweil 1000 is now shipping. this $125 upgrade features enhanced OCR engines, some ability for blind users to scan and
then fill out printed forms, an appointment calendar and several bilingual dictionaries.
http://www.k1000eng.blogspot.com/
In Article 32 of Sound Computing, we have an hour-long conversation with Stephen Baum of Kurzweil Educational Systems. Whether you're a long-time OCR user
or are contemplating program purchases, you will likely learn from this interview. It's rare to find somebody discuss their product with this degree of
honesty.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
16) US residents may be able to earn themselves free copies of either windows Vista or Microsoft Office 2007 by registerign and taking part in three technical
webcasts per product.
http://www.powertogether.com/
17) Two new games are available from the Audio Network in the UK, a trivia game and a maze game.
www.pressakey.net/catalog>
18) Freedom Scientific is seeking to hire two in-house tech support specialists and two contract tech support specialists. For information, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
or
[log in to unmask]
We've now sent out 99 issues of top Tech tidbits. You'll all have to wait until December 21 for the 100th installment, because da wife and I are off to
Hawaii, and I'm leaving the computer at home! thanks to
http://www.ifbyphone.com
I can choose to keep up with any important e-mail that comes along.
visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 28, 2006
Web site technical difficulties and the death of a hard drive prevented the delivery of last week's newsletter, so this, finally, is the 100th issue. It
is the first to be published in December.
1) Jamal Mazrui has enhanced his collections of text-based programming tutorials. You can download 58 Visual Basic .net tutorials
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/vbnetdoc.zip
12 Visual Basic 6 tutorials
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/vb6_doc.zip
10 HTML tutorials (including CSS, CGI, DOM, and JavaScript)
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/html_doc.zip
12 general programming tutorials (including design, debugging, and object orientation)
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/prog_doc.zip
2) Jamal has also released FileDir, an enhanced speech-friendly windows file manager designed to surpass the features of Windows Explorer. So far the program
is advancing through the beta testing process.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
3) the Hadley School Newsletter reminds us of a great way to search a dictionary by e-mail. to get a definition, send a message to the address at the end
of this tidbit and in the subject field, write define, put a space, then type the word whose definition you want. Similarly, you can search a thesaurus
by putting the two words synonym and your target word in the subject field of an otherwise blank message. the e-mail address to use is
[log in to unmask]
and more information and services are available at
www.wordsmith.org.
4) window-Eyes Version 6, with extensive support for Microsoft Office PowerPoint and for the Outlook Calendar as well as other improvements is now available.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes
5) Two articles have been added to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base: How to Create Drawings with Window-Eyes and PowerPoint
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1053
andWindow-Eyes Speaks "Go To" Continuously in Microsoft Word
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1055
6) For a few months, users of Skype have been able to call phone numbers in the US and Canada free. Now those who live in the US and Canada can have this
privilege throughout 2007 if they pay $14.95 before the end of the year, twice that much if they wait to pay until next year. Skype version 3.0 is now
out, and they will be announcing other rate structures in mid-January.
7) CodeFactory will be conducting a public beta of version of Mobile Speak 3 for users of Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition phones. If you own such a phone,
you can take part by sending information to
[log in to unmask]
8) This edition of the Web Site Wednesday blog contains excellent guidance for computer purchasers, among other information concerning windows Vista:
http://www.wgnradio.com/weblog/archives/steveandjohnnie/2006/12/must-read_websi.html
9) FS Braille Coach is a free program for use with Pac Mate 4.1. It is designed for students of braille and for their teachers, and provides prepared lessons
and the ability to create custom ones.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/PACMATE-HQ/PACMate-hq.asp
10) And Freedom Scientific now has a podcast, FsCast, produced by Jonathan Mosen each month. the December issue is available, featuring an interview with
the head of FS tech support and information about the pacmategear web site. You can download mp3 files or subscribe as a podcast on its page
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fscast
11) the National Council on disability has prepared a document entitled Over the Horizon: Potential Impact of Emerging Trends in Information and Communication
Technology on Disability Policy and Practice.
http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/emerging_trends.htm
12) The Ranger Station reminds us of the Open Culture web site, containing links to a variety of public-domain audio books and various educational and informative
podcasts on numerous topics.
http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/10/audio_book_podc.html
13) From BlindCoolTech, we discover the existence of Chacha, a search site where you can search with the assistance of hand-picked expert guides on a growing
number of subjects.
http://www.chacha.com/
14) Speaking of BlindCoolTech, after a lull in activity, a good number of technology-related recordings have been made over the past several weeks, including
three game reviews, tutorials on the AVG free anti-virus program, the Mac and VoiceOver screen reader and Pac Mate, and a review of an accessible dvd of
Dr. Who Series 2.
http://www.blindcooltech.com
15) the Official Google Blog informs us that there is a way to generate a set of textual directions from a Google map search. To use it, put the first address,
including city and state, the word To, and the second address and hit search.
http://maps.google.com/?output=html
16) You can download choir music from the Methodist Christian Choirs and mp3 Hymns site:
http://www.good-music.org/good-music/moores-chapel/choir/choir.html
17) the National Federation of the blind Jernigan Institute has worked to make available the Math Counts School Handbook, a resource used to stimulate math
competence among middle-school students, in free braille-ready downloadable form.
http://www.mathcounts.org/webarticles/anmviewer.asp?a=945&z=71
There's a little more catching up to do from December, but it will give us some material for next week.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 4, 2007
1) The venerable Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind can now be read online. The current issue and a growing number of past issues can be read this way,
and the magazine can be received via e-mail as well as the usual more traditional formats.
http://www.zieglermag.org
2) The Bootlist offers us this large collegtion of windows xp registry tweaks for the adventuresome to try:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
3) Those wishing to pursue amateur radio licenses, somewhat easier to achieve now that Morse code requirements have been removed, might wish to investigate
the HandiHam site:
http://handiham.org
4) AccessWatch will launch a magazine-style monthly podcast, to which you can subscribe by visiting
http://feeds.feedburner.com/accesswatch
or you can grab the mp3 files of the podcast or read their blog here
http://accesswatch.livejournal.com
5) SayIt is a $14.95 text-to-speech program for PalmOS version 5.0 or higher. It is not a screen reader, but may be useful for some people.
http://software.palminfocenter.com/product.asp?id=5995
6) Ronan Carty is working on an audio sequencer for the blind. At present the program only works with .wav files but the goal is for it to work with midi
files. He is seeking input for how the program could be more useful.
http://homepage.eircom.net/~cartydsl/index.htm>
7) U.S. taxpayers can download IRS publications and forms in text or braille from here
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=131773,00.html
and publications
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=131761,00.html
"talking forms" are available here
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=98135,00.html
The forms on the IRS site can be filled in usingAdobe Reader version 5 or higher.
8) Richard Turner has Window-Eyes set files for version 6 that work with GoldWave version 5.18 and some other programs. the GoldWave sets come with an explanatory
text file that lists keyboard shortcuts and notes which program shortcuts conflict with Window-Eyes built-in functions.
www.turner42.com
9) Users of the free NFB Newsline service can now receive localized television program listings.
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Television_Listings.asp?SnID=383388905
10) the powerful and accessible file manager FileDir is now an official release rather than a beta test program.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
11) Ian Humphreys has released BGYahtzee, a single-[player version of the popular dice game. Like his other numerous games, this one is free and to get
it, send requests to Ian directly at
[log in to unmask]
and see his page at
http://www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/blindgamers.htm#LIST
the rest of this newsletter consists of useful material gleaned from the Fred's Head Companion blog.
12) Zoommy is a free magnifier for windows pc's.
http://zoommy.mutexdevelopments.com.
13) AutoRun Express is a free program to let you control how the cd's that you burn run in your or other people's computers.
http://www.autoruntools.com/express/
14) The Blind Bargains site has a self-explanatory mission
http://www.blindbargains.com.
15) Final Conflict is an accessible, self-voicing Star Trek game.
http://www.usagames.us/stfc.html
16) I think we've seen this one before, but it's presumably been updated. It's a Fred's Head Companion piece entitled Getting More out of Google.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/12/getting-more-out-of-google.html
17) And similarly, here's an article entitled Finding, Researching and Downloading Books, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias on the Net
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/12/finding-researching-and-downloading.html
18) Presumably of most relevance to North american readers, the Get Human web site helps those of us who want to call a company and talk to a real person
rather than waiting on hold or going through umpteen menus:
http://www.gethuman.com.
19) eSnips is a site that gives you a gigabyte of space so you can share, or sell, photos art or music that you make.
http://www.esnips.com.
20) finally, if you want to learn to play traditional music on guitar, Mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer or banjo, and want to do it by ear, visit Hetzler's Fakebook:
http://hetzler.homestead.com/index.html.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, January 11, 2007, html edition
Read the end of the newsletter for important information regarding the distribution of Tidbits and why there are two copies this week.
1) When looking to buy a digital recorder. blind folks have up until now had to either pay high prices to get one whose features are easily accessible to
them or learn to work with a recorder that is usable but not easily so. If the recent press release from Olympus proves reliable, and we should know by
February, there may be three commercially-available ditigal recorders which, while not perfect, will offer an accessible interface at prices no higher
than everybody else pays for the same units.
http://www.olympuspresspass.com/press_pass_cut/opp_press_details.asp?pressNo=518
2) Here's a Microsoft article, related to Internet Explorer 6 but still mainly pertinent, about using AutoComplete in Internet Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/autocomplete.mspx
3) Accessible world makes its return from the holidays with a free training about how to create mp3 files of text content using either OpenBook, Text Aloud
or DSpeech, the latter being free. at 01:00 on Tuesday 16 January, drop into the Techtalk room at
http://www.accessibleworld.org/
4) Main Menu on ACBRadio is already back from the holidays, and on 24 January it launches a two-hour format, with the first hour keeping the current pre-recorded
interview format and the second hour a call-in format allowing users to query guests and ask technical questions. In the meantime, the program for 17 January
will feature an interview on Daisy with Peter Proscia from IRTI, with announcements about their new Daisy products. Programs start at 01:00, are repeated
throughout the rest of the GMT day, and are available as podcasts.
http://www.acbradio.org
5) A CISCO Training Academy for people who are blind or vision impaired has been established by Curtin University and the Association for the Blind of WA
(Western Australia.) they offer a one-year course on networking, and those not resident in Perth can take the course entirely online. Residency requirements
and exact cost were not elaborated in the message announcing the course. they will accept applications until 21 January, by e-mail to Ian Murray
[log in to unmask]
6) Gw Micro has started a mailing list for discussions of the Braille Sense. To join, go to the web site and choose the gw-notetaker list from the combo
box of available lists.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Email_Lists/
7) EASI is offering a four-part fee-based course on blogs. Everybody can hear the first part at
http://easi.cc/archive/blogwiki/part1/part1.htm
and you can register for the balance of the course at
http://easi.cc/forms/blogwiki.htm
and everybody can read the blog created for the course at
http://georgiatechcatea.wordpress.com/
8) Jim Grimsby Jr. has written JAWS scripts for the Goldwave sound editor. the current scripts work with Goldwave version 5.16 or later. You can get them
here
www.blind-geek-zone.net
9) Yu can read an article about computer security, Evolving the Antimalware Technology Model, at
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/evolving-antimalware-technology-model.html.
10) Jason Dasent is considering creating an audio tutorial on how to mix a song from start to finish in the professional editing program sonar. If you might
be interested in this production, write to him at
[log in to unmask]]
11) this posting on Open Culture gives several resources for making and disseminating podcasts:
http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/12/podcast_primer.html
12) A fourteen-part course offered by the Harvard University Extension School, Understanding Computers and the Internet, is available free in audio, video
or podcast
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cscie1/?page=aboutcourse&type=static
13) US readers can compare prices for electronics and appliances on sale in stores in their state at Sales Circular
www.SalesCircular.com.
14) CoolQuiz is a trivia site with humor, trivia and puzzles.
http://www.coolquiz.com/
15) Speaking of games, a less common but very handy thing that we can do with portable braille devices is keep score in games, even fast-paced ones where
scores change quickly. I believe the Braille Lite family is best suited for this, though more modern devices fill the bill as well. Article 33 of Sound
Computing is a short discussion of some little-used techniques for keeping score on Braille Lites.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
We're adding a new version of Tidbits, a text-only version. this will be good for those of you who have had trouble receiving the usual html edition. for
this week only, I'm going to send both issues to everybody. Once you see which you receive, if you want to keep getting the new version, you have to write
to me directly by replying to the newsletter, which I invite you to do. If in the future, you begin to have difficulty receiving the html version, you
can always ask to receive the new edition instead, since its delivery should be more reliable. Unfortunately, the new edition cannot be sent in html.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, January 18, 2007
1) We have a new way to find U.S. businesses by phone, and it comes from a familiar source. Now you can call TellMe (800-555-8355,) and at the main menu,
say Business Search. the service is n beta, so is imperfect, but mostly it is efficient, effective and ad-free, and lets you find a specific business or
search the yellow pages.
2) Learn how to choose the instant messenger client that is best for you among the various free choices on next week's Accessible World presentation, Tuesday
GMT at 01:00. To take part in this free training, which will be archived for later listening as eell, drop into the TechTalk room at
<http://www.accessibleworld.org>
3) Seminars Hadley will offer a free 45-minute program, Digital Accessibility in the Workplace, on 24 January at 20:00 gmt. Register in advance for the
seminar, which will presumably be archived, at
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/
4) Pc Magazine has published the Insider's Guide to Windows vista. Of course, there will be many articles and books to appear about Vista in the coming
months, but I came across this one. Once you reach this page, most screen readers let you easily navigate to the print button. activating this button gives
you a clear, 65,285-character version of the article
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2074998,00.asp
5) Main Menu will have a thorough discussion of windows Vista on its 31 January program, corresponding to the date when Vista is released. They will have
at least two major guests and will take listener questions in advance and during the program.
http://www.acbradio.og
6) the people at Serotek have announced that Freedom Box System Access is the firwt screen reader to work with the windows stick keys feature. this feature
allows those with impaired typing ability to press a modifier key such as alt, shift or insert, then to press the desired key on the keyboard rather than
having to press both keys simultaneously.
http://www.freedombox.info
7) Fred's Head Companion tells us about FreebieFinder, a page which purports to find lots of offers of free stuff, eliminate those that are really spam,
and give you ujp-to-the-minute offers. the rss feed here is recommended since updates happen so quickly.
http://absurdlycool.com
8) A while back we mentioned the impending release of a public beta of Mobile Speak version 3.0, which works on a variety of phones running the Pocket Pc
and Symbian operating systems. It's now ready for allll owners of those phones to try.
http://www.codefactory.es>
9) Jamal Mazrui's TextPal text editor is now up to version 3.0,
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe>
and his powerful and accessible file manager, FileDir, is up to version 1.5.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
10) You can download free public-domain music, mostly classical music, here:
http://www.musopen.com.
11) Golden Ear is an accessible program for either listening to or downloading podcasts. A new build of version 1 has been released.
http://brooklynnorth.com
12) Microsoft Office 2007 is a complete redesign of the program, so Office veterans, though they are expected to like it better in the end, may have some
adjustments to make. Kelly Ford has provided a posting to his blog where he links to lists of keystrokes and other useful information about this suite
which is due to come out at the end of January.
http://blog.kellyford.org/archives/2007/01/finding_the_ele.html.
13) EASI will hold a free clinic on making Google Maps accessible during the week of 22 January; the date wasn't specified in the announcement. Register
to take part here
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
14) Jim Snobarger has updated Hot Spot Clicker to version 7.6. this free tool (donations welcome!) facilitates customizing programs to work with JAWS.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/HSCWebPage.html
While we're at it, a lot of people used to enjoy the Snowman Radio Broadcast, a wacky smoothly-produced Internet program Jim used to produce on a weekly
basis. Now he has created the Snowman Radio Retrospective audio CD which he sells for $12. Write to him at
[log in to unmask]
15) Fred's Head Companion alerts us to PrivatePhone, a completely free phone number and online voicemail service under the umbrella of NetZero.
http://www.privatephone.com
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, February 1, 2007
1) the latest monthly Freedom Scientific podcast, which you can either download directly or grab in your podcast receiver answers many questions about JAWS
and windows vista, specifically, that if you use version 8 and if, and only if, you have a current software maintenance agreement, you will be able to
run vista when a new build of version 8 is made available in the first half of February. this same build will, incidentally, introduce many fixes to JfW
version 8 for everybody else, and announcements are to be forthcoming on the web.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/default.asp
2) Gw Micro has released a public beta version of window-Eyes, version 6.1, in versions for users with vista and with 2000-xp.
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta
3) Serotek has announced that Freedom Box system Access now works with windows vista. Fortunately, they also have plans to incorporate a scripting engine
into the program sometime this year so that the scope of the program can be extended.
http://www.freedombox.info
4) the next two Main Menu programs, heard at 01:00 on Wednesday gmt, repeated every two hours throughout the day, then available as podcasts, are as follows:
on 7 February, Kurzweil 1000. 14 February, Applian technologies, makers of Replay A/V and Replay Converter.
http://www.acbradio.org
5) Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome fame, has started a link-intensive little newsletter/rss feed called Pirillo's Picks. You can join by e-mailing
[log in to unmask]
the next two items come from there.
6) Google isn't the only way to search the web, and it isn't always the best, depending on what you want to achieve. Here's a page entitled The Top 100
alternative Search Engines.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_100_alternative_search_engines.php
7) NationMaster is a fun site seeking to pull together comparisons, information and statistics of all sorts about the countries of the world.
http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
8) Serotek announces the release of two remote-access packages for System Access. RAM lets blind folks remotely control or examine other computers on an
enterprise network, while RIM allows blind users to provide training or tech support to individuals anywhere who have an Internet connection.
http://www.freedombox.info.
9) Last time I mentioned the new Olynpus digital recorders which appear to provide some accessibility features. Michael Lang has prepared a review and some
demo recordings of the DS-50.
http://www.longus.info/
10) HumanWare has strengthened its ties to Baum, maker of braille isplays. that company has a new series of displays, the BrailleConnect 12, 32 and 40.
HumanWare also announces a Dell pocket pc device running MobileSpeak Pocket costing $595 for a limited time.
www.humanware.com
11) Fred's Head Companion directs us to a free, web-based strategy game, 1000 A.D.
http://www.1000ad.net/thegame/
12) The January, 2007 issue of AccessWorld appeared a few weeks ago, including a reviews of the two screen readers for mobile phones, a discussion of accessibility
of home appliances, reviews of two portable magnifiers, a review of HumanWare's Auto-Reader, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
13) Gw Micro announces the official release of version 4.0 of the Braille Sense, incorporating a database, improved reading of braille books, more flexible
e-mail handling, and numerous other improvements.
http://www.gwmicro.com
14) the long-running program and podcast Cooking in the Dark has a new feed address. You can listen to the program on ACBRadio on gmt Sunday every three
hours, and on Houston Taping for the Blind Radio
http://listen.tapingfortheblind.org
on Wednesdays and thursdays at 21:00. the new address to paste into a podcatcher is
http://www.cookinginthedark.libsyn.com/rss
finally, you can download the current show and many old ones from here
http://www.cookinginthedark.libsyn.com
15) Petro has produced a series of podcasts about Replay A/V, and is now branching out to include reviews and tutorials of other technology. You can download
or listen
http://petrogia.blogspot.com
or you can add this address to your podcatcher
http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/PetrosPodcasts
16) On gmt 6 February at 01:00, Accessible world will present Exploring the Power of Microsoft Word (Part 1)
http://www.accessibleworld.org
17) Readers in the U.S. will likely be surprised at the number of choices for buying food online, as exposed in this Fred's Head Companion post:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/01/tips-to-buying-food-online-accessible.html
18) And this article from the same source offers resources for trustworthy medical information online.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/01/trustworthy-medical-websites.html
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for thursday, February 8, 2007
1) For-The-People and BITS (Blind Information Technology Specialists) will offer an introductory seminar on System Access and Freedom Box on 25 February
at 01:00 gmt. A free account is necessary to take part.
http://www.for-the-people.com
2) A new version of the open-source windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop has been released. the author says he now can use this program as his exclusive
screen reader.
http://www.nvaccess.org/nvda/
3) Accessible World will feature the second part of its training on Microsoft Word, with answers to questions about the new Word version 11. Drop into the
Tech Talk room or wait a few days for the archive.
http://www.accessibleworld.org>
4) The team at AccessWorld has assembled a page detailing screen reader manufacturers' statements about their products' readiness to run Windows Vista.
Find the article, Are We Ready for Vista, on this page.
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
5) this Fred's Head Companion piece gives a good listing of ways to find phone numbers without using a phone book. the article doesn't mention the TellME
Business Search beta, which I mentioned accompanied by the wrong phone number a couple issues ago. the correct number for that service is (800) 555-8355.
Here's the link for the article:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/02/finding-friends-and-businesses-without_05.html
6) Gw Micro and AI Squared have announced that they have worked together behind the scenes to ensure that the screen reader Gw Micro and the screen enlargement
program ZoomText work together weamlessly in Windows Vista.
7) Ralph Stewart of myradiostore.com is willing to advocate with Xm Radio to produce receivers that are blind-friendly if there is sufficient interest.
those who might be interested n such a receiver are encouraged to e-mail
[log in to unmask]
8) Eons is a new company that has developed a search engine for the web which they claim is great for those over 50. Results are shown in a larger font,
and you only see four results per screen to minimize confusion.
http://www.eons.com.
9) Humanware announces that the BrailleNote interfaces with Mobile Speak Pocket so that users of the mPower can work with pocket pc devices and phones.
http://humanware.com/
10) An accessibility review of Techno Shock version 1.2 has been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
11) This posting from the Access Technologists Higher Education Network blog provides links to a lot of great audio and video material on a range of technology
suggested by the title of the blog.
http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2007/02/multimedia-edition.html
12) And the same blog pointed out a National Public Radio story, Downloading Audio Books Gains in Popularity, available for listening here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7189148
13) The E-Sword Bible Program is a powerful study tool featuring several versions of the Bible as well as dictionaries and commentaries. the program is
quite usable with speech, and to make it more useful, there is a low-traffic mailing list where users can ask and answer accessibility questions. To join,
send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, February 15, 2007
1) A lot of work is going to programming and archiving at ACBRadio these days. One of their new programs is tech this, a two-hour call-in show discussing
high and low tech, airing weekly at 02:00 GMT on Saturdays.
2) If you can't listen to the weekly two-hour Main Menu program, organizers assure us that each week's program will be on the web archive
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19&MMN_position=30:29
within two hours after its 24-hour run on the station. Also, there are two new and improved podcast feeds for Main Menu. If you want to grab the recorded
interview/demo segment, add this link to your pddcatcher:
http://www.acbradio.org/podcasts/mainmenu
and for the Main Menu live segment:
http://www.acbradio.org/podcasts/mainmenulive
They have a page where all the growing number of ACBRadio podcast feeds can be easily accessed
http://www.acbradio.org/podcasts
3) the Main Menu team has also started a mailing list for continuing discussion on past topics and for questions for upcoming guests. You can join by sending
a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
4) the Main Menu program for 21 February will feature discussion of the new accessible Olympus digital recorders. Neil Ewers will be among the guests, and
you can find his typically thorough and professional evaluation of the product near the top of the Blind Cool Tech page
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
5) Here's a link, provided by the Website Wednesday blog, to a Wikipedia article about backing up data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
6) In the U.S., laws have changed, so what we call "daylight savings time" starts on 11 March, and will also end a week later than it used to. Of course,
computers manufactured before the law was passed know nothing of this, so clocks will be an hour off for about a month throughout different times of the
year. there will be a windows update to handle it for newer operating systems, but if you don't want to get those updates, or use an older operating system,you
can get a keyboard-friendly set of instructions for eradicating the problem here:
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/dst.html
7) the subject of this week's Accessible World free training will be Pocket Hal, a screen reader for pocket pc devices. The event will take place on GMT
tuesday at 01:00 (stateside Monday evening.)
http://www.accessibleworld.org>
8) this Fred's Head Companion article lists state-by-state the places where US residents can look to find out if they have any unclaimed money coming to
them from the government.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/02/do-you-have-unclaimed-money-or.html
9) Alan Cantor continues to work to familiarize people with the power of macros. He has updated his Frequently Asked Questions document about learning and
using macros for users and technology trainers.
http://www.cantoraccess.com/macro-docs/macrosfaq.htm
10) Here's a Fred's Head Companion piece giving some resources for those wishing to play the popular game Sudoku.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/02/sudoku-for-blind.html
11) this article lists many useful add-ons to the Skype internet telephony service. they may or may not work with screen readers, but some probably do.
http://www.voip-news.com/feature/hacking-skype-020607/
12) A new mailing list to discuss all aspects of notetakers for the blind has been formed. To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
13) New games are frequently added to the menus of the Audio Network.
http://games.pressakey.net>
14) EASI plans to record several sessions of the CSUN Technology conference in March and make them available as podcasts.
http://easi.cc/podcasts
another free program from EASI will be a "webinar" on making online conferencing systems accessible to persons with disabilities. This will take place on
Tuesday, 13 March.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
Finally, EASI offers a four-week fee-based course on Barrier-free E-learning in March.
http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm
15) The Adaptech Research Network of Dawson College, Montreal, has compiled a listing of free and low-cost (under $200) adaptive technology software.
http://www.adaptech.org
16) this month's Gw Micro radio program features the first of a two-part series on window-Eyes and windows vista.
http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
17) Gw Micro is sponsoring a free five-Card Draw poker tournament with prizes through the accessible All inPlay service. The event starts at 22:00 gmt
on Friday, 23 February. In addition, anybody who has had an account with All inPlay can play draw poker throughout the week leading up to the tournament.
http://allinplay.com/free_trial.html
18) We learn from Pirillo's Picks that Mark Donaldson, aka LUEM42, has assembled a vast array of useful links and also puts out a newsletter.
http://luem42.com/
19) From the same source, we discover Send To Toys and other free utilities from Gabriele Ponti. Send to toys lets you enhance the functionality of the
windows Sendto menu option.
http://www.gabrieleponti.com/software/index.html#sendtotoys
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, February 22, 2007
You notice that I always give times in gmt, which is actually called Coordinated Universal Time. this way, readers in New york, Melbourne, Delhi, and Moscow
can get the time of an event and I only have to give one time. (We have readers in all those places and more!) If you aren't sure how to convert gmt times
to your time, here's a site that can help you:
http://timeanddate.com/s/8
1) this week's Accessible World training, held on Tuesday, 27 February at 01:00 gmt, features a new simple, $200-250, screen reader, thunder on a Stick
or Thunder-RJ,
http://rjcooper.com/thunder-rj/index.html
which runs on USB sound cards or from a cd. visit the site and drop into the tek Talk Online Conference Room at the time of the training, or wait a few
days for the show to appear in the well-updated archive.
<http://www.accessibleworld.org>
2) On 16 March at 02:00 gmt, Assistive Tech Center will present a one-hour free seminar using Skype, on the subject of screen reader and magnifier accessibility
to windows vista and Office 2007.
http://www.atechcenter.net
3) ZoomText 9.1 is now in public beta. this version of the popular magnifier runs vista.
http://www.zoomtext.com/software/beta/ZT91_Beta.exe
4) with funding from the National Science Foundation, there will be a four-day workshop from 16-19 August 2007 for visually-impaired students in grades
7-12 who are interested in computing. Registration is free and financial assistance with transportation to the rochester Institute of Technology and lodging
there may be available.
http://www.se.rit.edu/~imagine-it
5) Microsoft DigiGirlz is a daycamp for girls in grades 9-12 which seeks to expose girls to high-tech careers. There are seven locations around the U.S.
for these camps in 2007: Charlotte, Chicago, Fargo, Las Colinas, Redmond, Washington DC and Stony Brook. Disabled participants have had positive experiences
there in the past.
http://www.microsoft.com/about/diversity/programs/digigirlz.mspx.
6) the monthly e-Access Bulletin from the UK now has a blog for updated news and continuing discussions.
http://www.headstar.com/eablive .
7) the address of the new mailing list for discussions of topics from the Main Menu program has changed slightly. To join the list, send a blank message
to
[log in to unmask]
8) Deborah Armstrong is undertaking an initiative to produce a well-crafted, technically-savvy letter to software developers concerning accessibility. She
wants input to make the letter as effective as it can be. the letter still has cosmetic errors; she is especially seeking examples and technical assistance.
http://www.jfcl.com/Debee/openLetter.htm
9) Kim Komando points us towards this site, where you can listen to non-described movies and tv programs free:
http://power.listentoamovie.com/
10) A new mailing list has been created to discuss the free screen reader Thunder, (as distinct from the one with "thunder" in its name presenting next
week in the Accessible World seminar.) To join, put the word subscribe in the subject of a message and send it to
[log in to unmask]
11) We learn via the Access Technologists Higher Education Network that the MIT tech Review contains a lot of fascinating articles, some of which have implications
for adaptive technology.
http://www.technologyreview.com/
12) Fred's Head Companion unearths 7-128 Software, a company that makes games, some free, many playable by blind and visually-impaired players.
http://7128.com/
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, March 1, 2007
1) Freedom Scientific has released a public beta version of JAWS that works with windows Vista, and at the same time has released an update to JFW version
8 that fixes various bugs. You can get the update through the automatic update feature of the program, or download it as well as the public beta version
here:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp
2) Gw Micro has added three articles to its Knowledge Base, two of which concern the Braille Sense. Here is their Knowledge Base page:
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/
3) The National Federation of the Blind is accepting applications for Youth Slam, a STEM leadership academy for blind, high school age students. The Youth
Slam will take place July 30 through August 4, and will provide attendents with the chance to explore careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math,
as well as the exposure to successful blind mentors and professionals.
http://www.blindscience.org
4) The second issue of the ATHEN E-Journal, of the Access Technologists Higher Education Network, is now available. The focus of this issue is Higher Education
and Web Accessibility: Providing Training and Support
for the Future.
http://athenpro.org/node/52
5) the best way to follow and influence the development of accessible receivers for XM satellite radio is through the official forum topic created for the
purpose.
http://www.xm411.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=30236
6) Revision 380 of the open-source screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access is available, with many bug fixes. Also on this page is an audio demonstration
and explanation of this free screen reader.
http://www.nvaccess.org/nvda/
7) Accessmart is a new e-mail list, one of several, designed to facilitate buying, selling and trading of items among blind and visually-impaired folks.
to join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
8) Another new mailing list discusses the use of the Replay series of products from Applian Technology from a blindness perspective. To join, put the word
subscribe in the subject line of a message and send it to
[log in to unmask]
9) The last Harry Potter book will become available on 21 July, 2007, and National Braille press will make it available that day in paper or PortaBook (electronic0
format. this should mean that the book will be downloadable that very day. They are charging a pre-publication price of $18.89 if you order before the
publication date. If you order after, the price will be the same as the print copy, $34.99.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/HALLOWS.html
10) Users of Talking Book libraries in the U.S. will find this week's Accessible World presentation to be of interest. the title is KLAS, Library Management
for Talking Book Libraries. the presentation, followed by discussion, takes place at 01:00 tuesday 6 March at
http://www.accessibleworld.org
11) The E-Access Blog offers an article entitled Windows ‘Vista’ Offers Enhanced Accessibility.
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=48
12) Here is a video interview with Jim Fruchterman regarding his work with Bookshare, Behetech and other socially-responsible computing efforts.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=t9jcHjBYZ6U
13) Here is a 46-minute presentation on making web sites accessible
http://connect-cdn.educause.edu/files/active/0/EDUCAUSE2006_Making_Web_Sites_Accessible.mp3
14) this article by Fred Langa contains an evaluation of ten registry-cleaning programs and his recommendations for the best free and paid programs.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=171203805
15) Mozekty is a free program containing both a player to play Internet radio and a database of stations. the programmer has made special efforts to make
the system accessible, and to this end, the program can use any SAPI version 5 voice on your system to speak its information.
http://www.infradrive.com/downloads/Mozekty.exe
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, March 8, 2007
1) Here is a blog post giving a clear review of five online sites where you can convert files from one format to another.
http://franticindustries.com/blog/2007/03/04/5-online-file-format-converters-reviewed/
2) thanks to Pirilo's Picks is a potentially handy site, Tasklist.org, giving information about all the processes that run in the background on your computer.
http://www.tasklist.org/
3) One of the annoying ironies of adaptive technology of late has been that while Apple claimed to be making advances in making its systems accessible to
the blind, its own iTunes program wasn't accessible to blind Mac users. the situation is now apparently largely resolved with the latest iTunes version.
A Window-Eyes user reports that the latest windows version also works better with that screen reader.
4) the March issue of Accessworld is out, including articles about the Jitterbug cell phone, accessible equipment for diabetes care, accessibility of distance
learning, and several more articles.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
5) Bus riders in Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Austin, Houston and Dallas can get bus schedules via text message.
http://www.dadnab.com/
6) EASI will hold a free workshop, When Is a Webinar Accessible for Users With Disabilities? on Tuesday, 13 March at 18:00 gmt. they are trying out a new
web-conferencing service and hope people will register and give them feedback. they will offer two paid clinics on webinars (that's "web-based seminars)
in April.
http://easi.cc/forms/webinar.htm
7) If you have a current BrailleNote or VoiceNote but no gps system to go with it, you can enter a drawing for a free gps system. For every 100 owners who
enter the drawing, one gps unit will be given away.
http://www.senderogroup.com/freegps.htm
8) David Dailes has written a free guide for JAWS users trying to use the free multi-track audio editor Audacity. the guide can be found in the audio section
of his web page, and he is open to feedback.
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/jaws-guides/
9) the Accessible World online trainings which occur Monday evenings in North America are scheduled based on North American time, so beginning next week,
when most of North America switches to daylight saving time, the time for these programs will remain the same in North America but change elsewhere in
the world; the programs begin at 00:00 tuesday gmt. Next week's training is entitled Incorporating Mobilespeak Pocket into Day to Day Living.
http://www.accessibleworld.org>
10) On the other hand, ACBRadio bases its schedule in GMT, so North Americans who want to listen live to Main Menu, or take part in Main Menu Live, will
need to do so an hour earlierstarting next week. I know at least one North American with whom I am intimately acquainted who will be listening breathlessly
to next week's program, Wednesday 14 March at 01:00 gmt, as Larry Skutchan from American Printing House for the blind discusses, among other things, the
next version of the Book Port. And since said North American will be unavailable for the live broadcast, it is great to see that the ACBRadio archives
are updated very quickly now and the podcasts come quickly too.
11) the blind Handy Girl list is for women to discuss better ways of doing things around the home. the list has moved to Google Groups. to join, send
a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
12) window-Eyes 6.1 Beta 2 is now available
http://www.gwmicro.com/beta.
13) and you can now listen to the second part of the two-part feature on On the Move Radio concerning window-Eyes and windows Vista.
http://www.gwmicro.com/onthemove
14) Opportunities Unlimited for the blind will hold the 3rd Annual "World at Your Feet" GPS/Technology Event in Michigan from 16-19 August, 2007. this camp
for blind and visually-impaired children will give them the chance to navigate a park and a nature trail using gps, and to attend a technology fair.
http://www.campt.org
15) Two new articles have been posted to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base: Disabling Smart Tags in Microsoft Word and Uninstalling window-Eyes Manually nder
windows Vista.
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/
16) VIP Conduite is an audio chat site for the blind and sighted featuring weekly activities and classes, many free, some for supporting members.
http://www.vipconduit.com
17) Brian Buckley has a web page with lots of links to european radio stations with streaming audio.
http://www.live-radio.net/european.shtml
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 15, 2007
I have updated the complete tidbits archive, 110 issues over slightly more than two years. It's on the web in both plain text and zip format, and is a
great one-stop place to find that Tidbit you think you remember seeing but can't quite locate. It's also a great retrospective of what has gone on in
adaptive technology over the period. I'm probably going to discontinue the quarterly collections, and I have stopped producing auto-responders or making
them available because they generated vast amounts of spam.
1) this page of the Internal Revenue Service web site gives links for obtaining accessible tax forms and publications for U.S. citizens and residents.
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=96151,00.html
2) Pirillo's Picks directs us to Squeezer, a site that purports to make other web sites work better with mobile devices. Perhaps it will make more sites
usable by owners of the various increasingly-popular small accessible gizmos such as the Braille Note, smart phones, Ikon and others.
http://skweezer.net/
3) The topic for training from Accessible World for gmt 20 March at 00:00 will be Accessing the Internet Easily With Webtext Reader, which is a program
that benefits those with learning and reading disabilities as well as those with limited vision.
http://www.accessibleworld.org>
4) Gw Micro has launched a blog for sharing technology information from their company's perspective.
http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/
5) It's CSUN Conference time again. ACBRadio's Main Menu for gmt 21 March will allow listeners to ask questions that those from the station who will attend
the conference can research while there. Various organizations will be providing streaming audio if the last couple years are any indication. One site
that is pledging to link to product announcements and to streaming audio from the conference is blindBargains.
http://www.blindbargains.com/
6) At conferences of this sort, vendors frequently offer drawings for prizes to conference attendees. De Witt Associates is offering several drawings
to people who visit their booth. They have also updated their list of premium-[priced training packages (prices are not visible on their web page but
range in the $150 area) to include Using the Internet with JAWS for Windows and Getting Started using System Access.
http://www.dewittassociates.net/
7) Users of the last several versions of the winamp audio player have had difficulty using the Library feature. the newly-available beta version purports
to make this feature accessible. Here is a download link:
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/progs/winamp534_1155beta.exe
8) If you're a fan of bluegrass music, there's an Internet radio station that plays nothing but.
http://www.worldwidebluegrass.com
9) A new mailing list has been formed to discuss open-source software for the blind. to join, put the word subscribe in the subject field of a message
to this address:
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 22, 2007
1) Brian Hartgen and others from T&T Consultancy are recording some presentations and writing and recording comments from the CSUN conference going on as
we write. You can get to it all from their blog
http://tandtconsultancy.wordpress.com/
2) the folks at Talking Communities and LetsgoExpo.com are providing both audio and video streaming of different conference events. Here's the link for
the interactive audio conference room
http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs6ac12b97d65e
and for the video webcasts
http://www.letsgoexpo.com/expo/index.cfm?EID=80000081&p=0&page=schedule&HID=6924
3) Speaking of Brian and T&T Consultancy, they have announced the release of JSay Pro version 5.0, working with Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9 and
JFW version 8 and including improved documentation.
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com
4) Gw Micro is now taking orders for three products which won't ship until June. One is the voice Sense, a voice-only small notetaker, whose price will
be dropped $100 from its usual $1895 price until July. Second are two lightweight usb-powered braille displays, the 20- and 32-cell Sync Braille, costing
$2,495 and $3,495 respectively. An availability date for the third product, an external camera for the Portable Sense View designed for handwriting.
http://www.gwmicro.com
5) Fire Vox is an open source, freely available talking browser extension for the Firefox browser
http://www.firevox.clcworld.net/index.html
6) Guerilla Technologies has emerged onto the adaptive technology scene with a product sounding a lot like the Kurzweil NFB Reader, consisting of a tablet
pc connected to a camera for reading and in this case magnifying print. We don't know how available the product is; they showed it at the ATIA conference
in January.
http://www.GuerillaTechnologies.com
7) the current issue of windows Secrets contains, among many other things, a compendium of tips and links concerning hard drive repair.
http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/070322
8) Jeff Levy, purveyor of computer news on Los Angeles radio station KNX will be the speaker on the Accessible World training for gmt Tuesday, 27 March
at 00:00, with a topic entitled Finding Your Way Through Gigabytes and WiFi.
http://www.accessibleworld.org>
9) For its USA customers, Dolphin Computer Access will allow those purchasing its Dolphin Pen, a portable version of its access products, to also buy stand-alone
installable versions for one price. Purchasers can choose the screen reader Hal, magnifier Luna or Luna Plus, or combo package SuperNova.
http://www.YourDolphin.com/usa
10) Wayfinder Access is a gps system which now works with the Mobile speak screen reader and Mobile Magnifier for mobile phones, thus creating a very small
and potentially more affordable gps solution for many of us.
http://www.wayfinder.com/news.en.php?id=92&year=2007
11) A service release of the Duxbury Braille Translator is now available, featuring improved Daisy import, functioning on windows vista, and working with
Word 2007 among other enhancements.
http://www.duxburysystems.com/dbtwhst.asp.
12) If you are an accessibility consultant in residing in the Northeast United States, and you have more than three years experience in accessibility standards
and programming, consultant work may be available. E-mail
accessibilityblog@gmail [dot] com.
13) Byte Into It is an Australian radio computer program, airing wednesdays at 19:00 on 3RRR in Melbourne. the program is available as a podcast, and
now there is a blog for it
http://byteintoit.wordpress.com.
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, March 29, 2007
1) EASI offers a free session on accessible PowerPoint On 5 April at 18:00 gmt, and will follow that with a four-part fee-based series going into greater
detail. they will also offer a four-part fee-based webinar on creating Daisy books.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
On their podcast page is a session from the recently-completed CSUN Conference on an initiative to turn pdf documents into Daisy documents.
http://easi.cc/podcasts
Finally they offer two online courses during April.
http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
2) this interesting site, courtesy of Pirillo's Picks, let's you learn more about movies which claim to based on real life, and on movies which are based
on, or which generate, books.
http://www.chasingthefrog.com/
3) From the same source comes this Personal DNA, free personality test that appears to be quite accessible.
http://www.personaldna.com/
4) Jeff Bishop at The Desert Skies directs us to a great video where Doug Geoffray from Gw Micro is educating engineers at Yahoo! about screen reading
technology.
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2007/03/28/video-geoffray/
5) PCS Games has a new offering designed for the blind: Sarah and the Castle of witchcraft and wizardry.
http://www.pcsgames.net
6) the Carroll Center is offering a $2,960 seminar, Computer & On-line Job Search Skills Training, with separate sessions for JAWS and ZoomText users.
Email
[log in to unmask]
7) Owners of the Pac Mate who purchase FS Reader or update their existing copy to version 1.1, and who purchase a key from Recording for the Blind and
Dyslexic, can now play RFB&D books on their Pac Mate.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/FSReader_Update.asp
8) the Jawslite mailing list has for some time been an alternative, presumably less busy, list for those seeking help with JAWS. Now the list has moved
to Freelists. to join, put the word subscribe in the subject and send a message to
[log in to unmask]
9) Owners of the BrailleNote mPower with the latest version of KeySoft can buy a comprehensive tutorial on Nemeth braille as an add-on. To learn more,
e-mail
[log in to unmask]
10) Orientation and information accessibility is the topic for the 3 April gmt at 00:00 Accessible World training, focusing on talking signs.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
11) Recent entries to the Ranger Station blog, those dated from 22 to 28 March, give many links to products featured at CSUN, particularly low vision
products. Noteworthy is his high praise of the screen magnifier MAGic version 10.5.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
12) Serotek announces that its System Access now allows users to create Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, and supports the new Office 2007.
http://www.freedombox.info
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, April 5, 2007
A slow news week follows all the CSUN excitement.
1) this is a link to the manual for theVoiceOver screen reader for the Mac, with files available as pdf or mp3 files.
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/manual.html
2) the current beta version of Skype offers what is generally agreed is better sound quality than previous versions. the JAWS scripts for Skype work with
this and earlier versions, and can be had here;
http://www.dlee.org/skype/
3) Jamal Mazrui has revived and expanded a former project, the Homer Script Library, now a set of JAWS scripts to bring added functionality to WordPad,
NoteTab and the JFW Script Manager.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.exe
4) Assistive Technology Center in Sacramento is looking for a technology trainer and salesperson.
http://www.atechcenter.net
5) Gw Micro has placed an article, Understanding Window-Eyes Mobile, into its KnowledgeBase.
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1067
6) Jonathan Mosen writes of a site that allows users of Pac Mate and other Pocket pc devices play music and videos stored on their home computer while
they're away.
http://www.orb.com.
7) Navigating and Using Audible.com With Ease is the title of the Accessible World training to take place on gmt Tuesday 10 April at 00:00. Woody Anna
Dresner from National Braille press will be presenting.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
8) those interested in old-time radio sound bytes can get many hher:
http://www.otr.com
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, April 12, 2007
1) Yet another option for free directory assistance for obtaining US phone numbers, from a familiar source: Google. 800-goog-411 (800-4664411.) It only
lets you search for businesses, but offers to connect you to the business when it finds it.
2) Cricket fans can hear live comnentary from Lords this summer, at the park and apparently sometimes online.
http://www.lords.org/latest-news/news-archive/live-ball-by-ball-commentary-at-lords-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-cricket-fans,838,NS.html
3) an interesting place to find online radio and television streams from the US as well as information about other stations is:
http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-station-list-by-state.php?state=
4) Pranav Lal has created a tutorial on the use of the vOICe, the software allowing blind folks to "see" graphical images using a pc camera.
http://www.theemptyvessel.info/index.php/2007/04/05/129/
5) HumanWare invites you to join its new on-line audio chat room for a web based presentation of its innovative line of wireless, bluetooth braille displays.
On Friday, 13 April at 18:00 GMT.
http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs5794715a0cfa
6) sony has released version 9 of its powerful audio editor Sound Forge. they offer a $99 upgrade for an introductory period. The Snowman, who produces
JAWS scripts for Sound Forge, is working on adapting those scripts to the more complex interface of this version, and one report is that the version is
less accessible with Window-Eyes than were previous versions.
7. Residents of the US can download or listen to the audio-described version of The wind in the Willows as aired on Masterpiece Theatre.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/willows/audio.html
8) Alan Cantor, consultant who specializes in macro use to improve accessibility, was interviewed for a podcast while at CSUN.
http://www.connsensebulletin.com/csb011.mp3
9) EASI has updated all three of its podcast series, including one with a presentation from CSUN on the latest news on disability and IT law.
http://easi.cc/podcasts
10) An accessibility review of NOD32 version 2.7 has been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
11) If you want to find US radio stations that are or soon will be broadcasting in HD radio, try this:
http://www.ibiquity.com/hd_radio/hdradio_find_a_station
12) Bookshare For You In 2007 is the topic for the Accessible World training on 17 April at 00:00 GMT.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech tidbits for Thursday, April 19, 2007
1) window-Eyes version 6.1, with full support for windows Vista, including the sidebar, and enhancements for users of other operating systems, is now released.
http://www.gwmicro.com/upgrade
2) Gw Micro has also added an article to its Knowledge Base: Deploying Window-Eyes Through Group Policy
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1068
3) Tasha chemel is conducting an online survey for a linguistics class regarding emotional qualities people perceive when listening to a speech synthesiser.
For information on how to take part, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
4) this week's free online training from An Accessible World will feature two topics: NonVisual Desktop Access: A Free Open Source Screen Reader, and
Creating A List From A List View. the fun begins on Tuesday GMT at 00:00 on 24 April.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
5) the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco will be offering a series of ten tech workshops. the first is on Wednesday, , 9
May, from 21:00-00;00 GMT, concerning Mobile Phone Accessibility. People can attend in person, via conference call or via live audio stream. Rsvp is
required. E-mail
[log in to unmask]
6) Jamal Mazrui has brought the Homer Script Library to version 1.0. He has documented both the editor features, for those wishing to enhance their
use of Notetab or Wordpad, and the scripting functions, for those who may wish to use them in other JAWS scripts.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.exe
7) Jamie Pauls has started a blog to distribute AccessWatch-related information. One way to read it and keep up with his efforts is to visit
http://accesswatch.wordpress.com
8) the University of Washington, with funding from the National Science foundation, is offering a workshop entitled Workshop on Semi-supervised Learning
for Language Processing. Two graduate and two undergraduate researchers in electrical engineering or computer science can take part, with all costs potentially
being covered.
Applicants need to send resume, cover letter and a one-paragraph statement explaining their interest by 8 May, to both
[log in to unmask]
Ladner, [log in to unmask]
9) Freedom Scientific announces MAGic Pro Scripting edition, bringing the power of a scripting language to this screen magnfication program, allowing for
individual customization. Until 30 June, they are offering discounts for MAGic 10.0 users who wish to upgrade to this version.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_magic_pro_scripting_edition.asp
10) RoboBraille is a free service, still in the test phase, allowing for web-based braille translation and text-to-mp3 conversion in several European languages.
http://www.robobraille.org/index.htm
11) this BBC news article discusses the impending crisis facing Internet radio
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6562823.stm
and you can go to
http://www.savenetradio.org
to try to influence the U.S. Conress to limit the damage.
12) EASI offers a free webinar, Making Checking for Accessibility of Your Web Pages Easy! on Tuesday, 24 April at 18:00 gMT.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, April 26, 2007
1) EASI is offering a free webinar,The Future of E--books Is Here!: Accessible Textbooks for Students, on Tuesday 1 May at 18:00 GMT. Free, registration
required.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
2) Around 3 or 4 May, EASI will post, among its podcast presentations from conferences, the Google presentation, as well as its supporting documents, from
the recent CSUN conference.
http://easi.cc/podcasts/
3) Gw Micro has posted a couple articles to its Knowledge Base regarding difficulties that can arise with using window-Eyes with Windows Vista. They have
also touted improvements in the manual for window-Eyes version 6.1.
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/
4) Thanks to the Gw Micro Blog, we learn about a very useful free utility, Flash Mute, which lets you silence annoying unsolicited noise and music that
sometimes bursts forth from web pages.
http://www.indev.no/?p=projects#flashmute
5) TapMemo is a new, voice-activated personal data assistant including a calendar, phone book, Memo pad, and alarm clock. the developer of the device,
Nir Dvash, will present his device on the Sunday, 6 May, edition of Accessible Devices on VIP Conduit at 18:00 GMT. Free membership is required.
http://www.vipconduit.com
6) JAWS for windows version 8.0.2107 has been posted, and it is available via automatic update or for download from the site. It features enhanced support
for windows Vista including User Account Control and the sidebar and gadget feature.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/JAWS_HQ.asp
7) Hot Spot Clicker, the add-on to the JAWS for windows scripting language that adds power and flexibility to the program, has become sufficiently popular
to warrant its own web page. Here you can find hot spot sets for the Sonar music production program as well as the latest version of HSC
http://hotspotclicker.org/
8) the Homer script library for JAWS, produced by Jamal Mazrui, is now up to version 1.3, and adds ease and functionality to Internet Explorer as well
as to Wordpad, Notepad and Notetab.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.exe
9) Katherine Schneider is seeking recommendations of accessible online games for her public library, which has asked her to help in designing the children's
area of the web site. If you know of such games, e-mail her at
<[log in to unmask]>
10) Accessibility reviews of non visual desktop access version rewision 425, Simon version Unspecified, Zip Central version 4.0 and Light Locater version
1.4.1 have been added to the Access Watch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
11) The American Printing House for the Blind announces the official release of the Braille+ Mobile Manager, APH's version of the Ikon, a small pda offering
e-mail, web browsing, music and audio book playing and access to Linux conslole applications. the device costs $1,395, is only available in the US, and
APH promises much more development over the next year.
http://www.aph.org/tech/
12) HumanWare will hold a free web-based demonstration of the Concise Oxford Dictionary and thesaurus for the Braille Note and Voice Note family of products,
on Tuesday, 1 May at 20:00 GMT.
http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs5794715a0cfa
13) JLC's Internet Tv is a free program (donations encouraged) which lets you watch some 1,400 online tv stations from throughout the world. It works
well with Window-Eyes and probably with other screen readers.
http://www.jlc-software.com/index.php?page=internet_tv.html
14) Pranav Lal wrote an article about the vOICe (Vision Substitution) software.
http://www.atechnews.com/guestarticles.html
15) the subject for Main Menu on ACBRadio on 2 May will be Running Virtual Machines on the Mac, Running windows and Apple operating systems on the same
machine. Gordon smith has recorded his presentation, which will air during the first hour of Main Menu, and you can download it ahead of time here:
http://www.tft-bbs.com/demos/vm-demo.mp3
16) LostInTheStacks is a mailing list for those who enjoy audio books. You can join by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
17) petrakigianos giasou, tireless advocate for accessibility of Replay A/V and other programs, was a guest on the 21 April edition of Breakfast Bytes.
http://www.wgtd.org/breakfastbytes_archives.asp
18) Tara annis, is an intern with American Foundation for the Blind, spearheading a research project into the accessibility, or lack of it, of mobile phones
in the U.S. the survey might lead to the filing of a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. to voice your thoughts on the subject, e-mail
Tara at
[log in to unmask]
19) SBK is a program which lets you use six keys on the standard pc keyboard as a braille keyboard. You can write in contracted braille in any application
and the results will be instantaneously reverse-translated into text. You can download a free trial, and for a couple weeks the price of the program has
been reduced to $26.00 from $40.00.
http://www.oss-globe.com/sbk
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, May 3, 2007
1) The US National Library Service for the Blind and physically Handicapped is preparing to begin issuing digital talking books next year. You can listen
to a speech by engineer Neil Bernstein about the project.
http://www.sos.mo.gov/wolfner/friends.asp?id=keynote
2) ACBRadio will launch its fourth radio stream, ACBRadio World, on 7 May. The channel will feature broadcasts in languages other than English and also
music programming of a more international character.
http://www.acbradio.org
You can reach this and all other channels of the station more easily with its new tuner, version 6.5, which lets you tune in with one key, without visiting
the web page.
http://www.acbradio.org/tuner
You can find a tutorial for using the tuner by pressing F8 from within the tuner or by using the help menu.
An accessibility review of the tuner is now available on AccessWatch
http://www.accesswatch.info
3) the National Federation of the blind is in the midst of a lawsuit against Target stores because of the lack of accessability of their web site. they
are looking for
people who like to search the web for products before visiting the store; people who would like to be able to find out what is at Target and at what price;
people who shop at Target and have found their site inaccessible for such actions as coupons or pharmacy refills. If you can fit any of these criteria,
e-mail
[log in to unmask]
4) Code Factory is inviting teams of three blind or visually-impaired folks to work together to create the best ring tone. Each member of the winning
team can choose a free license for either of their screen reader products.
http://www.codefactory.es/TeamCreativity_Competition/
5) Accessible World tried to hold a comparison between the Braille Note and Pac Mate on 30 April but only the Pac Mate portion could air, so the Braille
Note portion will air on GMT 8 May at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
this may be the shortest Tidbits on record!
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, May 10, 2007
I know, it isn't thursday anywhere now. A half-hour evening commitment became a three-hour one, and I decided everybody could survive a slight calendar
change this week.
1. the May, 2007 issue of Braille Monitor contains an article entitled Accessible Personal Data Assistance Reviews and contains reviews of five PDA's.
http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm07/bm0705/bm070508.htm
2. this week, we benefit from the efforts of several competent volunteers. To start, as part of Blind Access Journal, Darrell Shandrow and wife Karen
created a podcast and demonstrated the capabilities of RIM, the product from Serotek that allows blind users to carry out remote technical support with
speech output
http://www.shandrow.com/audio/podcast/serotek_rim_demo_1.mp3
3) David Bailes continues to write free VIP Accessibility Guides. His latest contribution is a guide to windows Media Player 11 for JAWS users, though
its usefulness is not limited to users of JAWS. this 8,000-word guide can be had here
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Windows-Media-Player-11-Guide.html
and you can visit the software guides page here:
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/
4) Jamal Mazrui continues to update several of his projects: FileDir, TextPal, and the Homer Library. Download links to all these have been given before,
and are unchanged. If you have FireDir or TextPal, you can "elevate" to the latest version by hitting F11. Links to Jamal's projects and documentation
compilations, as well as a lot of other useful information, much of it but not all oriented to programmers, can be found at
http://grabbag.alacorncomputer.com/
5) Moving out of the volunteer arena, but not totally, the Gw Micro blog has a very useful article concerning the inaccessibility of the new version of
Hotmail, now known as windows Live Hotmail, as well as suggestions for using the new version with window-Eyes.
http://gwmicro.com/blog/index.php/all/2007/05/09/title_1
6) Gw Micro remains the only company I know that provides a reasonable way for a user to buy a full-featured screen reader. they have replaced their lease-to-own
program with two payment plans. the long-term option allows a user to pay $41 down plus shipping and $39 per month for 31 months.
http://www.gwmicro.com/paymentplan.
7) Gw Micro has added an article to its Knowledge Base: Understanding Window-Eyes Video Support
http://gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1073
8) the May, 2007 issue of AccessWorld is now online. It includes reviews of CCTV's, discussions of accessible household appliances, a summary of the CSUN
conference, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
9) A paper on the history of speech synthesis, with some audio examples, is found here:
http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/eecs225d/klatt.html
10) Useful Information for Navigating and Bidding on eBay will be the topic for the Accessible World training to take place on GMT Tuesday, 15 May at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
11) Here is the link to the Google Accessibility presentation at CSUN long with the documentation they provided at the conference.
http://easi.cc/podcasts/conference/conference.htm
12) It is still possible, since Internet radio has not yet been curtailed, to listen to over 100 free music channels on AOL Radio by simply providing your
screen name and password. The accessibility difficulties with the listening process can be overcome somewhat.
http://www.aol.com
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, May 18, 2007
1) We start out this week with two pieces of good news for those running systems under the Linux and Mac operating systems. first, the chat and education
site Talkingcommunities.com is preparing to offer clients for those operating systems. they want prospective users to test by visiting
http://67.19.5.34/masteradmin/webcast.asp?roomid=3D= rs0cf4c71fca57.
2)
Next, version 0.93 of UBT, a free tool for Unix and Mac OSX users to transfer files to the Book Port and Book Courier is now released.
http://www.nfbcal.org/~buhrow/ubt
3) Here's ResourceShelf, where dedicated librarians and researchers share the results of their directed (and occasionally quirky) web searches for resources
and information.
http://www.resourceshelf.com/
4) And That discovery prompted me to check, and one of my favorite Internet resources is still alive and kicking, now renamed to Librarians' Internet Index
http://www.lii.org/
5) Made for the blind in Singapore, the TellMate is a voice recorder, mp3 player, and a label scanner/reader, costing around $400 US.
http://www.gaishantech.com
6) Loadstone GPS is a free GPS program available from
http://www.loadstone-gps.com/
It works on Symbian mobile phones. Cindy Sheets is trying to organize a gathering of users and potential users at the upcoming NFT Convention. E-mail
her if interested.
[log in to unmask]
7) the big news this week is the sale of both Freedom Scientific and HumanWare to two organizations with no history in the adaptive technology industry.
You can listen to an interview with Freedom Scientific President and CEO Lee Hamilton discussing this and other matters.
http://podcast.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/episodes/fscast006-may2007.mp3
8) Freedom Scientific has added two rss feeds so you can keep up with changes to their web sites. Keep up with training resources by adding this link
to your rss reader:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/RSS/Training/rss.xml
And this one keeps you up to date with JAWS developments
http://www.freedomscientific.com/RSS/JAWS_HQ/rss.xml
9) EASI is offering a free webinar on creating accessible forms using pdf, Word or html, on Thursday, 14 June at 18:00 GMT. Pre-registration required,
and gives you access to the archive.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
10) Two topics for the price of one (free!) this week during the Accessible world training, to take place on Tuesday, 22 May at 00:00 GMT (Monday evening
stateside.) Topic 1: QuickMix: What It Is and How To Use It; Topic 2: Various Ways To Open Programs and Drives With Shortcuts
http://www.accessibleworld.org
11) A step in the right direction: the price of the portable KNFB Reader has dropped by $950, to $2,550.
http://www.knfbreader.com/
12) Version 9.1 of the magnifier ZoomText is shipping, featuring dual-monitor support, support for Vista, focus enhancements and other improvements. A
60-day demo is available.
http://www.aisquared.com
13) Here's a page that calls itself the blind Computing Home Page, containing links to software and tutorials in a variety of categories.
http://www.blind-computing.com/
14) An accessibility review of TypeAbility version 2.1.1 had just been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info
15) An online guide to traveling on the London Underground (LU) for the blind and disabled is now available.
http://www.directenquiries.com/ ),
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, May 24, 2007
You may notice that I seldom repeat items in Tidbits. That is one reason why the newsletter is so concise, and besides, I want to encourage people to retain
and search old issues for information. The full-text archive, a large text file available in both plain-text and zip format, is updated as of today, so
I hope you'll use it.
http:/topdotenterprises.com/tidbitsfull.txt
http:/topdotenterprises.com/tidbitsfull.zip
Also note that I'm going to return to using Eudora's html mode to send the newsletter. It should mean that most users will see links in e-mail messages.
A few users may have trouble with Eudora's creation of html. If you're one of those, feel free to ask to be put onto the text-only list.
1) Google It! A Guide to the World's Most Popular Search Engine is a new book from National Braille Press, in downloadable or paper braille formats, for
$12.00 US.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/GOOGLE.html
2) Talking Alarm Clock is a free program for setting flexible alarms and reminders; screen reader accessibility has been built in from the beginning.
The program is at version 1.4.
http://www.cinnamonsoftware.com/alarm_clock.htm
3) There are several mailing lists and a few web pages where people can look to buy or sell used adaptive equipment. Here is one:
http://www.frontiercomputing.on.ca/swapshop.php
4) Blind Information Technology Specialists and For-The-People will be offering a chat concerning Mobile Speak and pocket applications, on GMT Sunday, 3
June at 01:00. Free registration with For-The-People is required.
http://www.for-the-people.com
4) One of many sources for adaptive technology training is Portal Tutoring; the owner publishes a quarterly newsletter.
http://www.portaltutoring.info
5) The American chemical Society is in the process of converting its high school chemistry textbook Chemistry in the Community, into a digital talking
book. If you want to pilot test it, e-uail
[log in to unmask]
6) From Fred's Head Companion, we learn about the Pc Guide web site, which contains buyers guides, system management, troubleshooting, and repair guides.
http://www.pcguide.com.
7) the same blog mentions Proxify, a program with both free and paid versions, which hides your identity as you surf the web.
http://proxify.com.
8) Tag it guide is a German product which uses RFID to label landmarks, museum items, or other points of interest, useful for guiding and e-learning.
http://www.dlinfo.de
9) The Accessible Devices E Mail list has been providing information about the accessibility of products for 4 Years now. It is an announce only low volume
list. to subscribe, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
10) Blind Confidential directs us to a very pertinent Information Week article discussing ways in which aggressive uses of patent law can ruin small companies,
hold back innovation and stifle the creativity
that has fueled the high technology explosion; some players in the adaptive technology industry are engaging in such tactics.
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printablearticle.jhtml?articleid=199602086
11) Christian also gives us a very interesting early look at Mobile Speak SmartPhone edition run ning under windows Mobile 6.
http://blindconfidential.blogspot.com/2007/05/first-look-mss-with-wm6.html
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, May 31, 2007
1) Audio for the very efficiently-run Cell Phone Accessibility Seminar at the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind can now be downloaded.
http://lighthouse-sf.net/~dropbox/lighthouse-sf.org_content/cell_phone_seminar/cell_seminar.mp3
2) Daniel Dalton is creating JAWS scripts for the Thunderbird e-mail client.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ddalton/ThunderBirdScripts.html
3) There has been a lot of favorable talk about a new small screenless mp3 player, the Creative Zen Stone. It is easily available, costs $40 US or 25
pounds, and one can transfer files to it with no external software. There is an external program which adds some useful features, and Brian Hartgen has
written free JAWS scripts to improve its performance. It plays books from Audible and retains your place in the file if you move to a different file or
folder.
http://www.hartgen.org/zenstone.html
4) From Fred's Head Companion, we learn about final Conflict, a free, self-voicing Star Trek game.
http://www.usagames.us/stfc.html
5) New Visions Network is a new audio chat site, scheduled to launch on 8 June, which will feature conversation and courses.
http:/www.new-visions-network.com
6) EASI will present a free webinar, Thunder RJ: A Screen Reader with Training Wheels, on Tuesday, 19 June at 18:00 GMT.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
7) Shane Jackson has produced a review of the AT&T 8525 PDA which you can download.
http://www.shanejackson.net/8525.mp3
8. Version 0.5 of NVDA, Non-Visual Desktop Access, the open-source windows screen reader, has been released. It now supports thirteen languages, has a
self-voicing installation routine, and comes with its own speech synthesizer.
http://www.nvda-project.org
9) Humanware announces that soon, members of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic who use the mPower, PK and Trekker products will be able to play those
books on their devices. Users will have to buy a key from RFB&D to make this possible.
http://www.humanware.com
10) the Beyond Radio Network offers some unusual web streams and now offers a free telephone chat number.
http://tbrn.net/
11) Chris Pirillo has an active and often interesting blog / podcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/
12) I don't know much about this, but the creators of the winamp audio player have assembled the winamp Essentials Pack, a number of add-ons intended to
enhance use of the player.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5644
13) T.V. Raman, blind engineer currently with Google, was asked to write an article describing what it is like to be a mathematician who cannot see. the
article, thinking of Mathematics, and a commentary written to address subsequent questions, is here: the author hopes that it encourages blind math students
and serves as a resource for their teachers.
http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/publications/thinking-of-math/
14) Applian Technologies is accepting beta testers for new versions of their products. the company makes programs allowing users to record and convert
various kinds of audio from the net, and they have been very responsive to the needs of screen reader users. the Replay A/V 8.2 beta page is here
http://applian.com/replay-av/ysi_beta.php
And the Replay Converter version 3 beta is here:
http://applian.com/replay-converter/rc_beta.php
finally, the Applian Technologies blog is here:
http://www.applian.com/blog/index.php
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for thursday, June 7, 2007
1) National Braille Press now has a reference card of windows Vista keyboard commands and tips for using Vista without a mouse, downloadable, $5.00 US.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/VISTA.html
2) The May-June issue of Dialogue, a magazine available in several formats for a $42 annual subscription, containing information about technology and much
more regarding blindness, is now available.
http://www.blindskills.com/current_past.html.
3) Here's a review of another inexpensive portable mp3 player with some advantages, the iRiver T50 or T60:
http://pocketables.typepad.com/pocketables/2007/05/review_iriver_t.html
4) Here's a free program that will burn data and audio cd's and data dvd's. If you buy the paid version, it will burn movie dvd's.
http://www.deepburner.com
5) this page contains several courses from New York University whose lectures are available as podcasts or free downloads:
http://podcast.york.cuny.edu/lectures/
6) Some months after its pre-announcement, Gw Micro announces that the Voice Sense, a small notetaker with an fm radio, wifi and bluetooth capability,
is now shipping. The price is $1,795 until it goes up by $100 on July 15.
http://www.gwmicro.com/voicesense
7) Keep Your Computer Safe! is the topic for the Accessible World training on GMT 12 June at 00:00. The group has also updated its program archive, so
all recent trainings are available for download.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
8) The Bookshare Online Chat Room, staffed by volunteers and under the auspices of Accessible World, will open on Friday, 8 June, for those wishing to
promote and extend the Bookshare community.
http://tinyurl.com/2avczp
9) A software speech synthesizer with capability for nine languages is now available for Linux.
http://TTSynth.Com
10) Microsoft is hiring a software engineer to head up accessibility testing for Internet Explorer.
http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/details.aspx?JobID=EDC85083-8FD9-4E16-BE2B-1B736C30E3AC&start=1&interval=10&SortCol=DatePosted.
11) Sensory Access Foundation in California is hiring an Adaptive Technology Specialist. Send resume and cover letter to Marie King at
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, June 14 (really Friday, June 15) 2007 (
Thursday has become Friday as I created technical problems for myself and couldn't use the computer for some of Thursday.
1) The stand-alone ReadEasy Scanner, a reading machine costing $2,900 US, will be the topic for training during the upcoming week in Accessible World,
starting at 00:00 on GMT Tuesday, 19 June.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
2) Bookshare-related online chats will now take place on stateside Tuesday evenings, GMT Wednesdays at 00:00.
http://tinyurl.com/2avczp
3) Freedom Scientific announces that beginning in July, it will ship four new magnification products, two for pc users and two stand-alone units, using
a new camera system that allows for three sorts of magnification.
http://www.lowvisionsolutions.com/>
4) Serotek is creating the first-ever web-based accessibility tool, and has released System Access to Go into public beta. It is a screen reader that
leaves no trace on the computer where it is used, and gives the user access to the System Access screen reader. Anybody can sign up for a 30-day trial
account or use a 10-minute demo; once it is running, hit insert+f to bring up the menu that controls the speech settings for the system.
http://satogo.com
5) Petro has created five new podcasts on Replay A/V, one of which concerns using the versatile recording program with Sistem Access to Go. check his
blog at
http://petrogia.blogspot.com/
6) Version 6.6 of the ACBRadio Tuner has been released, incorporating support for System Access and also a new tutorial for using the tuner.
http://www.acbradio.org/tuner
Accessibility reviews of the ACBRadio Tuner, CCleaner version v1.40.520, Cuckoo version 1.0.5 and indeed.com have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
7) I don't know how long this file will be available, and most people won't want this large file, but if you have moved up within JAWS version 8, found
an upgrade didn't work for you and want to go back, this 281-mb file contains an archive of all the JAWS version 8 upgrades that have been made available.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/sos379
8) Returning once again to Serotek, users have started a mailing list to discuss the various programs, System Access, RAM, RIM, etc. You can view archives
and join from the web,
www.freelists.org/list/tal
to join by e-mail, put subscribe in the subject line and write to
[log in to unmask]
9) At the Ear Institute of the University College of London, a sensory substitution prosthesis for blind and visually impaired people is being developed.
The general idea is to make the image emit sound. By presenting an audible representation of a live camera image, visually impaired people can use their
auditory sense to acquire information their visual sense normally would deliver to them. To better understand the needs for such a prosthesis, we would
like to ask you 11 short questions. If you are interested in participating, please go to
http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~sjjgsst/survey
10) We learn from the EAccess bulletin that Insight Radio, Europe's first station for the blind and visually impaired, broadcasting on 101-fm in Glasgow
and online has won the silver prize in the National Sony Radio Academy awards for Best Internet Program.
http://www.insightradio.co.uk .
11) Fred's Head Companion points us to an oft-updated site for sharing good and bad hotel experiences for the benefit of future travelers:
http://www.hotelchatter.com
12) Infotech is a most-monthly audio technology magazine costing 30 pounts, about $40 US, to subscribe. the May issue contains a 2-hour comparison of JAWS,
window-Eyes and System Access running Word and Outlook 2007. the next issue will continue the comprehensive side-by-side look at screen readers with Office
2007 by examining PowerPoint and Excel.
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com
13) Sound Taxi is a $15 program, one of whose virtues is the ability to unprotect books from services such as NetLibrary so that they can be played on
mp3 players. Brian Hartgen, editor of the aforementioned Infotech Magazine, has made available free JAWS scripts to enhance the functionality of the program.
http://www.hartgen.org/portable.html
14) Greg Kearney has released Louis, an open-source Macintosh-based braille translation program with abilities to translate text and math.
http://w3.wmcnet.org/braille/louis/
15) Two new versions of Skype are available. Perhaps the most interesting is the beta, which contains potential improvements in the accessibility of the
text chat feature of the program.
http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-beta.
The latest set of JAWS scripts support this improved feature.
http://dlee.org/skype.
And the latest "stable" version of the program can be had here:
http://www.skype.com
16) Jamal Mazrui continues to upgrade the text editor, TextPal, updated on 9 June,
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe
and the file manager, FileDir, updated on 12 June,
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
Jamal's programs was one of the topics for ACBRadio's Main Menu this week, and the programs are already on the web and in the podcast archive.
http://www.acbradio.org
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 28, 2007
There was no newsletter last week. With US blind consumer convention week approaching, I'm surprised there hasn't been more news, but maybe it will come
next week.
Yours truly got careless a few weeks ago and made an error. (Shock, amazement!) When the ReadEasy Scanner was to be discussed on Accessible World, I wanted
to get the price so that I could tell everybody up front what the unit costs. I found the price on the official site from the UK,
http://visionaid.co.uk/
£1595.00, multiplied by my perceived conversion ratio of 1.33, and stated an approximate price for the machine of $2400 US. The actual price is $2900 US.
1) There have been a few pieces of news timed for the conventions. Owners of the KNFB Reader will soon be able to buy a collapsible stand which will facilitate
the reading process for some users, for $150 from dealers and from the NFB. the next software upgrade for the Reader will enable reading a wide variety
of text colors and backgrounds.
http://www.knfbreader.com/
2) Ai Squared has released two portable low-vision devices. the Nemo is an ultra portable pocket sized magnifier with much capability, costing $795,
while the Max is a reading unit the size of a computer mouse that connects to any television. the color unit is 4449 and the black and white display unit
costs $349.
http://www.aisquared.com/portable
3) HandyTech USA now sells packages including a Symbian 8 mobile phone, the Mobile Speak screen reader, a gps receiver, and Wayfinder Access gps software,
or whichever of those components the user needs. Discounts on these packages are offered until 15 July.
http://www.handytech.us/
You can download a demo of the gps system here:
http://www.triumphonic.com/demos/wfademo.mp3
4) Thanks to Tim Sears and Reginald George, here is a web site full of little programs that give you power to turn off loud automatic music played by some
pages and to eliminate other annoying web behavior on different pages.
https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html
5) Larry Lewis's latest sales and information venture is a company called Flying Blind.
http://www.Flying-Blind.com
Larry is producing podcasts in which he demonstrates products he likes and sells. the first one demonstrates Mobile Speak Pocket, its braille support,
and use of windows Media Player on a pda. Download the file here
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast1.mp3
Or use this link to subscribe to the feed
http://flying-blind.com/tinc?key=pvsai0mw
6) A new iteration of JFW version 8, this one declared to be a full non-beta release for windows vista users, is now available.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp
7) Accessibility reviews of UK Audio Network and RealPlayer version 11 Beta have been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info
8) the article Understanding the Microsoft Office 2007 Ribbon, recently added to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base, might be useful even if you don't use window-Eyes
as your screen reader.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1075
9) the audio and PowerPoint for a 20 June HumanWare presentation on BrailleConnect and Braille Display, using Mobile Speak Pocket, are now available for
download, and HumanWare plans to add more presentations to the site.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/product_presentations
10) t&T Consultancy announces that at the Sight village exhibition in the UK in July, they will release two sets of JAWS scripts for purchase. J-Days
gives full access to the Outlook 2007 Calendar, while J-Vist gives good access to the windows Vista speech input component. they have not made prices
available on their web site for these products.
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, July 5, 2007
I make this newsletter very brief, and a lot of us like it that way. I try to slip in brief explanations, but I'm sure many readers find some of the news
items mystifying. If you wonder what something is good for or what it is about, feel free to ask. If I can, I'll try to clarify.
1) this fall, Freedom Scientific will finally bring its pac Mate up to date when they release the Pac Mate Omni. this ambitious upgrade promises increased
memory and battery life, improved searching and mail handling, full keyboard support for windows Mobile 6.0, and protection of data in case of power loss.
Most interesting, current owners can upgrade their hardware and software for a reasonable $299 to $699 depending on current ownership arrangements.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/
2) HumanWare promises an August release of version 7.5 of KeySoft for the BrailleNote family, the last upgrade for the classic units. This paid upgrade
features braille translator enhancements, multi-language support, improved SD card and USB drive support and some other features.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/about_us/press_releases/keysoft_7.5_soon_to_be_released%21
3) Also in August, HumanWare will begin shipping the Victor Reader Stream, a palm-size Daisy-mp3 player for playing books and music. the unit plays many
file formats, has a rechargeable battery, and costs $329 US, but ten per cent of the people who order a unit during July will get it free. (The unit is
only on sale is the US, so this deal applies to US orders.)
http://www.humanware.com/fr-canada/about_us/press_releases/290607_vr_stream_launch
4) In another Northern hemisphere summer deal, Serotek says that if you buy their screen rader, System Access Mobile, costing $495, during July, you get
a year of what is now called the System Access Mobile Network for free.
http;//www.serotek.com
5) And another one: Code Factory is offering free licenses to any of its products to three individuals who answer at least four of six questions correctly
in a little quiz about Code Factory.
http://www.codefactory.es/Summer_competition
6) while talking about phones, in a sterling example of "you can find anything on the Internet," an individual is collecting the original ringtones available
on all possible mobile phones and putting them up for all to enjoy. Go listen, or add your phone's voice to the collection.
http://andrelouis.com/phonetones
7) Back to useful stuff: North American and overseas dealers announce the Alva BC640, a lightweight braille display equipped to work with a wide range
of portable devices as well as pc's and offering an optional braille-audio add-on to create a notetaker/audio player. One of the dealers is Visioncue.
http://www.visioncue.com
8) EVAS is now the North American distributor for Guide, a large print and speech package designed for those who find the standard windows interface challenging
or overly complex. they sell Guide for $795 on its own or as part of ready-made systems. they also sell ZoomText systems.
http://www.evas.com
9) Dräger & Lienert, a German company, offers some new products. Max is software to easily create Daisy books from a variety of file formats, and will
be shown at the sight Village expo in the UK later this month. they also have Tag It Guide: a system that makes visible information accessible and guides
people, Tag It: which makes objects accessible, remembers where you drop an object, and EasyTask: offering Express access to information.
http://www.dlinfo.de
10) there is now a software synthesizer for the Afrikaans language. to get a copy, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
11) the topic for the tuesday gMT Tek Talk training from Accessible world will be Manage and Edit Sound Files with GoldWave. the fun starts at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, July 12, 2007
1) EASI's August 4-part fee-based course is Accessible Internet Multimedia: Podcasts and Vodcast. Anybody who takes it gets free admission to the September
course, Accessible Vodcasts, Making Captions for a Personal Portable Player.
http://easi.cc/workshops/mmedia.htm
Another August offering is a four-week Train the Trainer course.
http://easi.cc/workshops/train.htm
2) Sound RTS is a real-time strategy game based on games like Warcraft and Civilization. Bryan Smart has created a recorded introduction and brief tutorial.
You can get the tutorial from
http://www.bryansmart.com/files/SoundRTSDemonstration.mp3
and the game site is
http://jlpo.free.fr/soundrts/
3) Lots of reviews of portable devices appear in the July, 2007 issue of AccessWorld. Besides an article on blind students using technology, there are
reviews of the Icon, Mobile and Zooms cell phone magnifiers and Mobile speak Smartphone.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
4) Loadstone GPS is a free gps program for visually impaired users of Symbian Series 60 phones. the folks behind the program have written an article comparing
the efficacy of three currently-available GPS receivers using their program.
http://www.loadstone-gps.com/articles/test3rec/
5) ABISee, Inc. sells two reading devices. Zoomex is a portable stand and camera which, attached to a desktop or laptop, can provide either rapid OCR
of documents or magnify and display them. ZoomTwix takes Zoomex and adds the ability to act as a cctv.
http://www.abisee.com
6) Mike Calvo of Serotek was a guest on the Computer america program, 10 July, hour 2. You can download the program segment here:
http://archives.warpradio.com/btr/computeramerica/071023.mp3
7) A publication called Blogger and podcaster Magazine makes contents of its monthly issues available as podcasts.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BloggerAndPodcaster
8) Hadley School will hold an online seminar focusing on all aspects of employment for the blind and vidually impaired. The free event will take place
on Saturday, 28 MJuly, at 16:00 GMT. pre-registration is required.
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/
9) the dulcet tones of yours truly will invade the net on GMT Tuesday 17 July at 00:00, as Accessible World's Tech Talk presents a discussion of the many
facets of Jamal Mazrui's powerful FileDir file manager.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
10) The Information Technologists' Network has published a free guide, the IT Director's guide to Accessible IT.
http://www.publictechnology.net/downloads/index.php?IT_Directors_Guide_to_Accessible_IT.pdf
11) iZoom Web is a web-based screen magnifier with many features. You can download a free public beta to test it.
http://www.issist.com/
12) If you want to hear the speech used in Humanware's forthcoming Victor Reader Stream mentioned last week, this page offers a link to a sound sample.
http://www.humanware.com/en-canada/products/digital_talking_books/portable_cd_and_flash_player/_details/id_81/victorreader_stream.html
13) Insight Radio is a new bbc radio station directed toward the blind and visually impaired, on fm in Glasgow and online.
http://www.viponair.com
14) Accessibility reviews of Avast Antivirus version 4.7, Internet Alarm Clock version 1.0.0, CallBurner version 1.0.0.30 and blue voda website builder
version 1.0 have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
15) Target Corporation is seeking a JAWS scripting specialist for a two-month project in Minneapolis, MN, UsA. E-mail resume in word format and other
pertinent information to
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, July 19, 2007
1) those interested in up-to-date information about the performance of the most prominent screen readers will do well to read entries in the Blind Confidential
blog by Christian for this week, 16-19 July.
http://blindconfidential.blogspot.com/
2) More perspectives on the state of screen readers, particularly positive impressions of the Serotek line, and impressions of various portable and low-vision
products, can be found in the Ranger Station entries for 19 July.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
3) Jamal Mazrui has embarked on a project to create a text editor that will work in multiple Windows platforms. EdSharp is in early public beta phase.
Jamal is looking for testers using any windows operating system, but particularly those using windows Vista, Windows Mobile 5 or 6. the editor might
even work in Linux.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
4) an article with the no-nonsense title: Window-Eyes is not picky about what graphic adapter you use has been added to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1076
5) At present, if you can't read the screen visually and want to sign up with Yahoo for one of its services, you can't do it on your own because of CAPTCHA.
Yahoo promises that a representative will call to assist blind users with the sign-up process, and this might be acceptable to some, except the calls
seldom really come, so we are locked out. A petition is under way asking Yahoo to do the right thing and set up audio CAPTCHA.
http://www.petitiononline.com/yabvipma/petition.html
6) George Kerscher has long been in the forefront of the work to make electronic books available to those of us who can't read print unaided. He has written
an article concerning Google's efforts in this area: First Step in Adding Accessibility to Google Books - Was It Enough?
http://www.daisy.org/news/default.asp#newsitem322.
7) The US federal law known as Section 255 requires that mobile phones be accessible to people with disabilities, but to date this law has not been heeded
by manufacturers, with the result that people with impaired vision usually can't go to the store and pick themselves up an accessible cell phone. American
Foundation for the Blind is starting a campaign called 255 Action to educate consumers and perhaps help them file complaints with the Federal Communications
Commission. For information, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
8) As the last Harry Potter book finally makes its appearance, many of us with print handicaps won't have to wait long to read it. those from around the
world who buy from National Braille Press will be able to download their copy on Saturday. That version will appear early next week as part of the Web
Braille collection for US citizens; look for book number BR17210. Finally, staff at Bookshare will be busily scanning the text throughout the night to
make it available to members on Saturday. From 03:00-10:00 GMT on Saturday, 21 July, there will be a virtual Harry Potter party in the Bookshare community
room on the Accessible World site.
http://tinyurl.com/2avczp
9) The Victor Reader Stream - Small in Size - Big in Features! will be the topic for the Tek Talk session on Tuesday, 24 July starting at 00:00 in the
Tek Talk room.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
10) Beginning in the fall, ATT Wireless will carry Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier from Code Factory in both windows and Symbian versions, a move which
should make accessible cell phones easier to come by in the US.
http://tinyurl.com/yu3o9n
11) Owners of the Braille Note product family will be able to benefit from Version 4 of Sendero GPS, featuring some 50 new features.
http://www.MySendero.com.
12) Boise State University is seeking an AT Coordinator.
http://hrs.boisestate.edu/joblistings/professional/SA0061-67.shtml
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, July 26, 2007
1) this post from the Access Technologists' Higher Education Network gives lots of links to information about the current situation for making digital textbooks
available for US students.
http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2007/07/ahead-e-text-solutions-group-at-ahead.html
2) china, Denmark, Canada and the US will be participating in a women's Goalball tournament in Alabama this weekend, and you can listen and watch the matches,
ask questions and discuss the tournament.
http://www.sports.pressakey.net/goalball
3) Jim snobarger, the "Snowman,"has updated his JAWS scripting utilities, JLS-Utilities, Home Row on Steroids, and made them free of charge.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/JLS_utilities.html
4) Jonathan Mosen from Freedom Scientific will be demonstrating the soon-to-ship Pac Mate Omni this gmt tuesday 31 July at 00:00 on tek Talk.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
5) Gw Micro has added three articles to its Knowledge Base concerning the VoiceSense.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/
6) From the EAccess bulletin, we learn of the new online training source in the UK, the AT Portal, offering a range of online courses. A year's membership
costs 100 pounds, and individual courses cost 25 pounds, with a few offered at no cost.
http://www.abilitynettraining.org )
7) If you have any interest in radio sound bytes from the 60's and 70's in the San Francisco Bay Area, here's a site to explore:
http://www.bayarearadio.org
8) those in the U.S. who may want to save money on a high-speed Internet connection can explore DSL Extreme, recommended by several people:
https://secure.dslextreme.com/Medusa/DSL/
9) the AT Network in California is looking for a half-time Assistive Technology Website Editor; telecommuting is negotiable. the organization's web site
is
http://www.atnet.org
and resume and cover letter to apply for the job should be e-mailed to
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 2, 2007
1) the Assistive Technology Center will offer several online trainings during August. A two-hour training on optical character recognition (OCR) software
on 30 August from 20;00-22:00 GMT and one-hour sessions on the Small Talk Ultra, Tuesday, 14 August at 20:00 GMT and a comparative Analysis of screen
readers, Thursday, 16 August at 20:00 GMT, will be free. Other two-hour sessions on window-Eyes, thursday, 21 August from 20:00-22:00 GMT and the Braille
Sense, Tuesday, 28 August from 20:00-22:00 GMT, will cost $50.00 per session, considerably less than the usual cost.
http://www.atechcenter.net/events.htm
2) If you're looking for the online stream of a radio station, here are one knowledgeable user's three favorite places to look, seemingly the most up-to-date
databases with continuous updates:
http://streamingradioguide.com
http://www.radiotime.com
http://www.mikesradioworld.com
3) In this posting to the Blind Confidential blog, Chris explains how users of System Access may soon be able to effectively use windows Vista's voice recognition
capability.
http://blindconfidential.blogspot.com/2007/08/vista-speech-recognition-and-latest.html
4) the July 31 posting to the Gw Micro blog explains one way to extract audio from flash video files, those commonly used on sites such as YouTube, so you
can listen to that audio on your computer or in a portable device.
http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/
5) Thanks to The Fred's Head Companion, we learn about The Low Vision Gateway, a compendium of low vision information available on the Internet.
http://www.lowvision.org
6) That same source uncovered an interesting site you can use, I do now know in which countries if any besides the US, to assemble many of the businesses
located within walking distance of a given address in one place and get its "walk score."
http://www.walkscore.com/
7) Thanks initially to the work of David Truong and others, JAWS users have excellent access to the features of winamp for listening to audio. However,
recent changes to winamp have rendered the Winamp library largely unusable. David has written scripts which should work with JFW versions 7 or 8 and which
fix the library problem and also offer more flexibility in moving through audio files. No support is offered for these scripts, but they work where they
have been tested.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/bnfiles/winamp4jfw.zip
8) the Tek Talk training for GMT Tuesday 7 August at 00:00 GMT (later that day in Australia, Monday evening in North America) will be entitled The Voice
Sense: A PDA With Extras.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
9) I am producing this week's newsletter using EdSharp, Jamal Mazrui's latest free text editor, which should work in virtually all versions of Windows
and which is now up to version 1.0, ready for general use.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
10) the Friends of Bookshare community meets on North America tuesday evenings, GMT Wednesdays at 00:00. On Wednesday 8 August at 00:00 GMT, the topic
for discussion will be Bookshare.org for schools and groups: 101. Use this direct link to enter the online room, full name required.
http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e
11) IRTI has produced a $9.00 self-voicing utility called Audio Safeguard, that lets a user easily reset the audio on a computer in cases where a family
member has used it and muted the audio.
http://www.irti.net
Note that I and many other screen reader users employ a free program called QuickMix to restore muted audio and manage other audio settings, but this program
may not run under windows Vista, and the IRTI solution may be easier for some to use.
http://www.ptpart.co.uk/quickmix/
12) Traveleyes is a British travel service that aims to provide holidays for both blind/visually impaired and sighted travellers, journeying together in
a spirit of mutual independence. they are also providing text versions of a few of the Lonely Planet travel guides, with more to come.
http://www.traveleyes.co.uk/
13) DIALOGUE: A WORLD OF IDEAS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE OF ALL AGES is a magazine available, among other formats, via e-mail. Subscriptions are $42
per year. Here is the contents for the July-August, 2007 issue; some sample articles are available online.
http://www.blindskills.com/jul_aug_2007_toc.html
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 9, 2007 (double mailing: html version
I'm sending this newsletter out twice because of an error on my part, and because it's periodically good to do this to make sure everybody knows what's
going on. There will be a little more text this time, but not much more.
I offer two versions of the newsletter, mailed in different ways to hpefully get past spam filters. this is the html version, which most, but not all,
people see as html, with links in the messages. the other version is atext only version which I mail myself rather than using the Mailman program. That
version depends on a file of addresses which I cleverly managed to delete and did not have backed up. So if you want that version, whether or not you
have ever received it, please write to me and I'll re-create the list.
A couple more notes: Feel free to send individual paragraphs (items) from Tidbits to non-subscribing friends, but please tell them where you got the information.
A good way to do this is to paste the link to the tidbits page: http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm.
Feel free to write to me to clarify a Tidbit you don't understand. I make these Tidbits concise and know that some of the information is hard to understand
if you aren't very familiar with it. If I know the answer and don't procrastinate too much or get too busy, I'll answer.
I don't repeat items very often, which is one way to make tidbits concise. However, there have been a lot of useful items over the years, and while I encourage
everybody to use the Full Text Archive, I know this does not always occur. So I'm going to occasionally reprint useful older news items that are still
as good as they were when originally published. I'll put them at the bottom and mark them as Archive items, so the veteran readers can skip them.
On with the news:
1) I recently conducted a training on Jamal Mazrui's powerful and accessible file manager, Filedir. the archive of that training is available through
Accessible World, nowever, the transmission often broke up during the session, and since then, the program has undergone an update. After months of dormancy,
the Sound Computing article service awakens with article 34, a more complete and break-up free version of that presentation including new material on the
new version of FileDir. this is all part of the one $9 subscription, and the listing of completed articles has been updated.
http://topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
2) If you want to learn how to get more accurate scans of books and documents, no matter what technology you use to scan them, you can download an mp3
of the June 12 Friends of bookshare chat, and learn from the experts.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/June_12_2007_Scanning.mp3
Audio and text archives for many of the Friends of Bookshare chats are available, and many are pertinent whether you are a member or not.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
3) Larry Lewis, under his Flying Blind company, has launched two podcasts. In the first installment of FB Tech Notes, learn how to synchronize data from
a mobile device such as a cellular phone or PDA with a PC running the Windows Vista operating system.
http://www.flying-blind.com/fbtt/FBTechTipsVolume1.mp3
And in the second installment of the EyePod technoCast, hear a demonstration of System Access to Go from Serotek.
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast2.mp3
4) It is now possible to download an Iso image of the open-source Windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access, so that when it is copied to a cd and
that cd is inserted into a computer, the installer wil come up talking.
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/nvda/nvda.iso
5) Dolphin Systems has added a section to its web site concerning windows Vista, including a tutorial and keyboard guides.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/dolphin.asp?id=131.
6) Speaking of windows Vista, the topic for the Tuesday 00:00 GMT Tek Talk training on 14 August will be Conquering Windows VISTA With Your Keyboard.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
7) A local chapter of the US National Federation of the Blind has launched an initiative to encourage blind students to study computer and information technology.
The web site for the project is
http://www.blind411.org/ITCareers/
and they have a Google group for discussions with students, parents and employers:
http://groups.google.com/group/itcareers4blind/
8) An individual has put up a web site where you can find out the number one song on the billboard chart for any day in history, or presumably any day
while the charts were being produced.
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
9) Drop into a virtual Old Time Radio weekend, twelve hours each day, starting Saturday 18 August at 16:00 gmt and again Sunday 19 August at 16:00 gmt.
http://www.radiooutofthepast.org
10) Popular computer guy Chris Pirillo discusses What kind of laptop should I get in this installlment of his Chris Pirillo show. the show can be downloaded
in various video and audio formats, and you can read interesting comments from those who have watched the broadcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/media/2007/08/07/what-kind-of-laptop-should-i-get/
11) this is GnomeDex weekend, Chris Pirillo's high-power conference in Seattle. Audio and video will be streaming live beginning early gmt on Friday 10
August. Little or no adaptive technology information here but the cutting edg of Internet technology.
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 9, 2007 (double mailing: html version
I'm sending this newsletter out twice because of an error on my part, and because it's periodically good to do this to make sure everybody knows what's
going on. There will be a little more text this time, but not much more.
I offer two versions of the newsletter, mailed in different ways to hpefully get past spam filters. this is the html version, which most, but not all,
people see as html, with links in the messages. the other version is atext only version which I mail myself rather than using the Mailman program. That
version depends on a file of addresses which I cleverly managed to delete and did not have backed up. So if you want that version, whether or not you
have ever received it, please write to me and I'll re-create the list.
A couple more notes: Feel free to send individual paragraphs (items) from Tidbits to non-subscribing friends, but please tell them where you got the information.
A good way to do this is to paste the link to the tidbits page: http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm.
Feel free to write to me to clarify a Tidbit you don't understand. I make these Tidbits concise and know that some of the information is hard to understand
if you aren't very familiar with it. If I know the answer and don't procrastinate too much or get too busy, I'll answer.
I don't repeat items very often, which is one way to make tidbits concise. However, there have been a lot of useful items over the years, and while I encourage
everybody to use the Full Text Archive, I know this does not always occur. So I'm going to occasionally reprint useful older news items that are still
as good as they were when originally published. I'll put them at the bottom and mark them as Archive items, so the veteran readers can skip them.
On with the news:
1) I recently conducted a training on Jamal Mazrui's powerful and accessible file manager, Filedir. the archive of that training is available through
Accessible World, nowever, the transmission often broke up during the session, and since then, the program has undergone an update. After months of dormancy,
the Sound Computing article service awakens with article 34, a more complete and break-up free version of that presentation including new material on the
new version of FileDir. this is all part of the one $9 subscription, and the listing of completed articles has been updated.
2) If you want to learn how to get more accurate scans of books and documents, no matter what technology you use to scan them, you can download an mp3
of the June 12 Friends of bookshare chat, and learn from the experts.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/June_12_2007_Scanning.mp3
Audio and text archives for many of the Friends of Bookshare chats are available, and many are pertinent whether you are a member or not.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
3) Larry Lewis, under his Flying Blind company, has launched two podcasts. In the first installment of FB Tech Notes, learn how to synchronize data from
a mobile device such as a cellular phone or PDA with a PC running the Windows Vista operating system.
http://www.flying-blind.com/fbtt/FBTechTipsVolume1.mp3
And in the second installment of the EyePod technoCast, hear a demonstration of System Access to Go from Serotek.
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast2.mp3
4) It is now possible to download an Iso image of the open-source Windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access, so that when it is copied to a cd and
that cd is inserted into a computer, the installer wil come up talking.
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/nvda/nvda.iso
5) Dolphin Systems has added a section to its web site concerning windows Vista, including a tutorial and keyboard guides.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/dolphin.asp?id=131.
6) Speaking of windows Vista, the topic for the Tuesday 00:00 GMT Tek Talk training on 14 August will be Conquering Windows VISTA With Your Keyboard.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
7) A local chapter of the US National Federation of the Blind has launched an initiative to encourage blind students to study computer and information technology.
The web site for the project is
http://www.blind411.org/ITCareers/
and they have a Google group for discussions with students, parents and employers:
http://groups.google.com/group/itcareers4blind/
8) An individual has put up a web site where you can find out the number one song on the billboard chart for any day in history, or presumably any day
while the charts were being produced.
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
9) Drop into a virtual Old Time Radio weekend, twelve hours each day, starting Saturday 18 August at 16:00 gmt and again Sunday 19 August at 16:00 gmt.
http://www.radiooutofthepast.org
10) Popular computer guy Chris Pirillo discusses What kind of laptop should I get in this installlment of his Chris Pirillo show. the show can be downloaded
in various video and audio formats, and you can read interesting comments from those who have watched the broadcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/media/2007/08/07/what-kind-of-laptop-should-i-get/
11) this is GnomeDex weekend, Chris Pirillo's high-power conference in Seattle. Audio and video will be streaming live beginning early gmt on Friday 10
August. Little or no adaptive technology information here but the cutting edg of Internet technology.
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 9, 2007 (double mailing: html version
I'm sending this newsletter out twice because of an error on my part, and because it's periodically good to do this to make sure everybody knows what's
going on. There will be a little more text this time, but not much more.
I offer two versions of the newsletter, mailed in different ways to hpefully get past spam filters. this is the html version, which most, but not all,
people see as html, with links in the messages. the other version is atext only version which I mail myself rather than using the Mailman program. That
version depends on a file of addresses which I cleverly managed to delete and did not have backed up. So if you want that version, whether or not you
have ever received it, please write to me and I'll re-create the list.
A couple more notes: Feel free to send individual paragraphs (items) from Tidbits to non-subscribing friends, but please tell them where you got the information.
A good way to do this is to paste the link to the tidbits page: http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm.
Feel free to write to me to clarify a Tidbit you don't understand. I make these Tidbits concise and know that some of the information is hard to understand
if you aren't very familiar with it. If I know the answer and don't procrastinate too much or get too busy, I'll answer.
I don't repeat items very often, which is one way to make tidbits concise. However, there have been a lot of useful items over the years, and while I encourage
everybody to use the Full Text Archive, I know this does not always occur. So I'm going to occasionally reprint useful older news items that are still
as good as they were when originally published. I'll put them at the bottom and mark them as Archive items, so the veteran readers can skip them.
On with the news:
1) I recently conducted a training on Jamal Mazrui's powerful and accessible file manager, Filedir. the archive of that training is available through
Accessible World, nowever, the transmission often broke up during the session, and since then, the program has undergone an update. After months of dormancy,
the Sound Computing article service awakens with article 34, a more complete and break-up free version of that presentation including new material on the
new version of FileDir. this is all part of the one $9 subscription, and the listing of completed articles has been updated.
2) If you want to learn how to get more accurate scans of books and documents, no matter what technology you use to scan them, you can download an mp3
of the June 12 Friends of bookshare chat, and learn from the experts.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/June_12_2007_Scanning.mp3
Audio and text archives for many of the Friends of Bookshare chats are available, and many are pertinent whether you are a member or not.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
3) Larry Lewis, under his Flying Blind company, has launched two podcasts. In the first installment of FB Tech Notes, learn how to synchronize data from
a mobile device such as a cellular phone or PDA with a PC running the Windows Vista operating system.
http://www.flying-blind.com/fbtt/FBTechTipsVolume1.mp3
And in the second installment of the EyePod technoCast, hear a demonstration of System Access to Go from Serotek.
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast2.mp3
4) It is now possible to download an Iso image of the open-source Windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access, so that when it is copied to a cd and
that cd is inserted into a computer, the installer wil come up talking.
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/nvda/nvda.iso
5) Dolphin Systems has added a section to its web site concerning windows Vista, including a tutorial and keyboard guides.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/dolphin.asp?id=131.
6) Speaking of windows Vista, the topic for the Tuesday 00:00 GMT Tek Talk training on 14 August will be Conquering Windows VISTA With Your Keyboard.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
7) A local chapter of the US National Federation of the Blind has launched an initiative to encourage blind students to study computer and information technology.
The web site for the project is
http://www.blind411.org/ITCareers/
and they have a Google group for discussions with students, parents and employers:
http://groups.google.com/group/itcareers4blind/
8) An individual has put up a web site where you can find out the number one song on the billboard chart for any day in history, or presumably any day
while the charts were being produced.
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
9) Drop into a virtual Old Time Radio weekend, twelve hours each day, starting Saturday 18 August at 16:00 gmt and again Sunday 19 August at 16:00 gmt.
http://www.radiooutofthepast.org
10) Popular computer guy Chris Pirillo discusses What kind of laptop should I get in this installlment of his Chris Pirillo show. the show can be downloaded
in various video and audio formats, and you can read interesting comments from those who have watched the broadcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/media/2007/08/07/what-kind-of-laptop-should-i-get/
11) this is GnomeDex weekend, Chris Pirillo's high-power conference in Seattle. Audio and video will be streaming live beginning early gmt on Friday 10
August. Little or no adaptive technology information here but the cutting edg of of Internet technology.
http://live.pirillo.com/
12) Thanks to the Fred's Head Companion, here is an article about how to fix scratched cd's or dvd's.
http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Scratched-CD
13) Here is a long Fred's Head article on finding employment, including many useful Internet resources.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/07/meeting-challenge-of-finding.html#links
14) download a demo, produced by Matt Campbell of Serotek, of the System Access support for windows Vista built-in speech recognition:
http://audio.samobile.net/Information%20Center/System%20Access%202.0%20Lessons%20and%20Demos/11%20Windows%20Vista%20Speech%20Recognition.mp3
15) Some fun nostalgia should be had this weekend for many as BBC Essex commemorates the well-known pirate stations of the 60's and holds Pirate BBC Essex
until Tuesday 18 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/essex.shtml
16) Archive: Will Smith creates text versions of several newspapers and e-mails them to subscribers free. Among his weekly mailings are the Sunday New
York Times and Washington Post, Thursday technology columns from those papers, Slate and others. E-mail him for a list and to ask to be added to the mailing
list for any you want:
[log in to unmask]
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 16, 2007
there will be no html edition of Tidbits for this late week. I am looking for another option to mail the newsletter, since my current situation does not
allow for the easy management of a 2,000-subscriber mailing list. If you have one, whether free or fee-based, and you'd like to discuss it with me, please
write. I did receive such an offer a couple years ago, but unfortunately no longer have the information.
1) Here is an article about Universal Music Group's decision to sell some music not protected by DRM.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Universal-to-start-selling-DRM-free-music.html
2) the topic for the Tek Talk training coming up on GMT Tuesday 21 August at 00;00 will be All About Podcasts. Drop into the Tek Talk room at
http://www.accessibleworld.org
3) 24 hours later, on GMT Wednesday 22 August at 00:00, the Friends of Bookshare will feature its first book club, a Christian Fiction book club.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org
4) Version 3.25 of Mobile Speak, a screen reader for cell phones, is available, featuring much-improved braille support.
http://codefactory.es.
Meanwhile, if you can get hold of an older Symbian phone, you may be able to buy Mobile Speak for that phone for only $149 from Handy Tech USA. this press
release hasn't made it to the Handy Tech USA site, so if interested, write to
[log in to unmask]
5) Jamal Mazrui has again improved the lives of blind computer users by creating chm2txt, a utility for transforming windows help files into structured
text files.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/chm2txt.zip
6) the North Carolina Department of Services for the Blind is looking to hire a part-time adaptive technology instructor for their Asheville office; application
period closes August 20.
http://osp.its.state.nc.us/positiondetail.asp?vacancykey=4450-0215-7201-419&printit=no
7) windows Secrets newsletter informs us about Spyware Warrior, a web site devoted to exposing the many programs which pretend not to be spyware but really
are.
http://spywarewarrior.com/
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 30, 2007
There was no newsletter last week. I'm going to try another distribution experiment this week.
1) Download an accessibility review of the graphical user interface of Linux, using the Gnome desktop, the Firefox browser, and Open Office using the Orca
screen reader.
http://www.digitaldarragh.com/linux-and-orca-review.mp3
2) Archives for the Tek Talk training on Rockbox, the open source firmware system that makes many off-the-shelf mp3 players accessible, on podcasting,
on Windows Vista and many others are now available.
http://accessibleworld.org/show.php?contentid=43
3) Friends of Bookshare will launch two online book clubs in September. the Mystery Book Cloub will have its first meeting on GMT Wednesday, 5 September
at 00:30. the Harry Potter Book Club will hold its inaugural session on GMT thursday 13 Sepbember at 00:30. Both clubs will choose their eventual meeting
times as they get organized. Bookshare.org membership is not required. To take part, drop into the community room at
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org
4) Jamie Pauls at AccessWatch has produced the first AccessWatch tutorial. For $9.95, you can download an audio tutorial on using the Rhapsody Music Service
and receive free updates as they become available.
http://www.accesswatch.info
5) A user recommends Magic Lens Max as a small, efficient and configurable screen magnification program. You can magnify any part of the screen, lighten
or darken parts as needed, sharpen blurred content, view in different colors or split color channels. Download a 30-day trial version at
http://www.visionsuit.com/MagicLensMaxSetup.exe
6) the people who are working on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 2.0, are seeking people to test some web pages. You don't have to
know anything about web accessibility, the process is straightforward, and for each block of pages you test, you get a $15 Amazon gift certificate. Screen
reader and screen magnification users are among the populations being sought. You first register here:
http://bentoweb.org/amfortas/register.html
and then find the questionnaires here:
http://bentoweb.org/amfortas/sign-in.html
7 The World Series final of the Beep Baseball championship will air on the ACB World channel on GMT Saturday, 1 September, with airings at 00:00, 12:00
and 23:00.
http://www.acbradio.org
8) A user recommends a free (for personal use) program at this site as being more powerful than the windows System Restore feature, good for those who
like to install, uninstall and test programs.
http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/
9) Gw Micro has posted a Knowledge Base article about a patch that fixes some problems for some users of window-Eyes version 6.1.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1081
10) If you're ever listening to ACBRadio Interactive and you encounter breakups or other listening difficulties, here is an alternate page to try:
http://acbradio.org/blog/2007/08/alternate-acb-radio-interactive.html
11) Serotek will hire a marketing assistant.
http://www.serotek.com/JobOpenings.html
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request
it.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, September 6, 2007
We're getting into the rhythm of the new mailing system. It appears to send the messages by default as text. If you want to receive them as html, visit
the public subscription page,
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Subscribe to the ttt list, check the html option and reply to the confirmation message.
1) Stephen Baum from Kurzweil will present A Technical View of Optical Character Recognitionas the Tek Talk presentation for GMT Tuesday, 11 September
starting at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
2) Here is a Fred's Head Companion post to help you decide if joining an audio book club is a good idea for you.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/09/audio-book-clubs-are-they-right-choice.html
3) Fred's Head also tells us that Bob Rankin, co-author of the informative and venerable Internet Tourbus newsletter,
http://www.TOURBUS.com
wrote a plain-language book called the No Bs Guide to Linux. the book is out of print, so he has put it on the web, calling it Low Fat Linux, for free
use.
http://www.LowFatLinux.com
4) Jim Kitchen continues to enhance his collection of self-voicing windows games. He has recently added four files to the trivia game and has improved
his baseball game.
http://www.kitchensinc.net
5) Here are two mailing lists, jaws-users-list and blind-computing. to join jaws-users-list, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
and for blind-computing, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
6) Denny Huff has started a list dedicated to helping screen reader users use Office 2007 programs more effectively. JAWS, Window-Eyes and System Acces
are all discussed. To join, put the word subscribe in the subject line and send an otherwise blank message to
[log in to unmask]
7) The Tarzan Junior game is now freeware, and works on windows Vista.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/97vnap
8) EdSharp, Jamal Mazrui's free text editor and word processor, continues to add new features at version 2.1. It now lets you download web pages, edit
html documents, write subscript and superscript as well as bold, underline and italics, set and change font, look up words in online dictionaries, process
and store regular expressions, and much more.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
9) Assistive technology Center is offering some free seminars and a couple $50 seminars online during September. Free seminars include AdvantEdge Reader
Overview, while paid seminars concern System Access. For registration information e-mail
[log in to unmask]
10) EASI is holding a free online webinar, Accessible E-Books in Higher Ed, on Thursday, 27 September at 18:00 GMT. Pre-registration is required.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
they also offer a four-part fee-based series; Accessible Vodcasts, Making Captions for a Personal Portable Player starting on 18 September.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
11) the Gw Micro blog has recently discussed a way to read protected pdf documents which you can use if you have Microsoft Office 2003 or later, and also
reviewed the free Contact Keeper program which is an accessible replacement for the Microsoft Outlook Contact Manager if you don't.
http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top tech tidbits for Thursday, September 13, 2007
1) The September, 2007 issue of AccessWorld features four articles about different aspects of accessible mobile phone use and a review of two hand-held
cctv machines, among other information
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
2) Doug Lee has released a free tool to help those who write JAWS scripts. It is called BX
http://www.dlee.org/bx/
3) Meanwhile, Jim Snowbarger has updated his free set of JAWS scripting tools, JLS Utilities, to version 4.2.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/jls_utilities.html
4) Daniel Dalton has updated his JAWS scripts for the Thunderbird e-mail client.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~ddalton/jaws/scripts/thunderbird/DownloadScriptsForThunderbird.html
5) Ian Humphreys of Spoonbill Software has released another free high-quality card game for the blind. this time, it's Uno. You play against three computer-generated
opponents. To get the game, send a message with your name and country to Ian at
[log in to unmask]
6) If you own or will soon own a Victor Reader Stream, live in the US, have high-speed Internet access and are an active user of one of the network of
regional libraries under the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, you can apply to test digital download of NLS audio books.
These books will play in the Stream once you install a key provided by HumanWare. Watch over the next few months as other players capable of playing
the new NLS digital audio books will doubtless be announced.
https://www.nlstalkingbooks.org/dtb
7. GUIDE: All-in One Software for people with Low Vision or who are blind is the topic for the Tek Talk training to take place on GMT Tuesday, 18 September
at 00:00. (Monday evening stateside.) this simplified integrated package allows for writing, web browsing, e-mail and document scanning.
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
8) the Audio Network will be broadcasting the Goalball championships from the Paralympics in China next year. To test and warm up, they're broadcasting
this weekend from China in what's called the Good Luck Tournament. Read about this and more on the sports page
http://sports.pressakey.net/
9) this Fred's Head Companion piece provides some online recipe and cooking links I've not seen before.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2005/12/bachelor-cooking-made-easy.html
10) the same blog informs us of the Bibliovault Repository, a portal which contains a growing collection of older, recently published, and new books from
participating scholarly presses. These are not text books; you can order print copies, and the organization offers to help university disabled student
specialists obtain text copies of books from some publishers for qualifying students.
http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.index.epl
11) the Blind Bargains page tells us that if you want to find cooking directions for many packaged items, a place to look is on Amazon Grocery, as many
pages contain directions, nutritional information and recipes.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/?node=52129011
12) the same page points us to a very simple and clear way to get tv program listings: the tVGuide Wireless page:
http://wireless.tvguide.com/
13) In case you want or need to find a spell checker for Outlook Express, here is a download link to a free one:
http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlspelloe.html
14) A user recommends this database manager for cataloguing cd's and other media. It's called Where Is It, and the user claims it is quite accessible.
http://www.whereisit-soft.com/
15) Archive: new product reviews and audio tutorials are always being added to the large collection already available at BlindCoolTech
http://www.blindcooltech.com/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, September 20, 2007
Some temporary Internet connectivity issues and a rather busy schedule helped this issue come late and perhaps a bit short.
1) Jamal Mazrui has produced a free way to access those pesky pdf documents that are just scanned images of the text, that no screen reader can read.
You can download it at
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/pdf2ocr.zip
2) Humanware has set up an announce-only "newswire" to disseminate news about the Victor Reader Stream. If you bought one electronically, you're already
on the list. Everybody else can join on the web page:
http://www.humanware.com/products/digital_talking_books/portable_cd_and_flash_player/_details/id_81/victorreader_stream.html
3) the Blind Confidential blog leads us to an article about Roselle Ambubuyog, the tech support specialist for Code Factory.
http://www.hardwarezone.com.ph/news/view.php?id=8586&cid=12.
4) the ViTechPodcast seeks to take a different slant on blindness-related tehcnology, doing product comparisons and interviews not available elsewhere.
http://www.vitechpodcast.com
5) Design Science has released version 2.1 of MathPlayer, a program for increasing the accessibility of mathematically-oriented web pages. This version
adds braille support and screen reader integration. The company has a National Science Foundation grant to develop accessible software and promises more
to come quite soon. They also have a program called MathType.
http://www.dessci.com/en/company/press/releases/default.htm
6) On GMT Tuesday 25 September at 00:00, Tek Talk will present as its weekly free online training: What's New in KeySoft 7.5
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
7) The September-October 2007 issue of DIALOGUE: A WORLD OF IDEAS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE OF ALL AGES is here!
http://blindskills.com/sep_oct_2007_toc.html
8) those interested in the BrailleNote family of products are welcome to join either of two online chats this weekend, lasting at least two hours each,
in the BlindCoolTech chatroom. the chats will take place on Saturday 22 September at 19:00 GMT and Monday 24 September at 00:00 GMT.
http://67.19.90.10/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs12e65f29fafa
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, September 27, 2007
1) Gw Micro announces the new version of the Small-Talk Ultra, their branded version of the OQO computer, with 1 gB or RAM and an 80GB hard drive, with
either windows XP Pro or vista business. Other add-ons are available, but the base price for this pocket-size computer with a copy of window-Eyes for
$2,595. Users with low vision will appreciate the Small-Talk 02 Ultra LV series, which comes with ZoomText Magnifier for $2,395 or ZoomText with Speech
for $2,595. You can get $100 off the retail price, while supplies last, if you get a 60GB rather than an 80GB hard drive.
http://www.gwmicro.com/stu
2) TypeAbility Version 2.1 is a typing tutorial program that works with JAWS and is compatible with JFW versions 6-8. the program costs $85 to purchase,
and you can download a demo here:
http://www.yesaccessible.com/typeability%20download/typeability%20setup.exe
3) the September, 2007 edition of the FSCast podcast consists of a nearly one-hour-long discussion of the new features to come in JFW version 9, which
will b e available for public beta testing soon
http://podcast.freedomscientific.com/fscast/episodes/fscast010-september2007.mp3
4) There are a profusion of services that allow listeners to listen to hundreds of music stations based on their favorite genre, and to customize those
stations. Usually these services give US listeners some features not open to those from other countries, but this service is probably worth exploring
for anybody who likes this sort of thing. It's free, and it's among the most accessible such service I've seen.
http://www.bluebeat.com
5) Sendero GPS System: Wayfinding At Its Best will be topic for the free online Tek Talk training to take place on gmt Tuesday, 2 october at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
6) the following day, VR Stream Hands On Training will take place in the Friends of Bookshare online room at 00:30 GMT, Wednesday, 3 October.
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e
7) Brian Hartgen has recorded a free 30-minute tutorial on how to use the Napster online music service.
http://www.hartgen.org/napster.mp3
8) George Mason University is seeking a manager of AT services. Apply for position number FA623Z.
http://jobs.gmu.edu
8) Blind Industries and Services of Maryland is looking for an adaptive technology instructor to work at its Salisbury office. E-mail
[log in to unmask] <<mailto:[log in to unmask]
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top tech tidbits for Thursday, October 4, 2007
1) Code Factory, the maker of screen readers for mobile phones, is changing its licensing scheme. Up until now, the Mobile Speak or Mobile Magnifier license
has followed the phone. Now, it will be tied to the user, so that users can buy new equipment and apply their same license to it.
<http://www.codefactory.es/ucl>
2) We learn from the Fred's Head Companion about AudioForBooks, a web site containing articles, how-to guides, reviews, a blog and much more concerning
audio books.
http://www.AudioForBooks.com.
3) From The Ranger Station, we learn about SpokenText.net, a web site with a free converter to turn most text into mp3 files for use on web pages or in
a personal player or computer.
http://spokentext.net.
4) wondering about upgrading to Vista or buying a new computer to run it? the October 2 entry in The Ranger Station gives lots of coherent explanations
and suggestions.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/
5) The public beta for JAWS for windows version 9 is now available, featuring faster performance in Word, the ability to copy web documents to the clipboarde
and retain formatting, and a long-overdue easier way to configure JAWS. Anybody can use this beta in 40-minute mode, and users of JfW 8 can use it without
restriction.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws90fea_beta.asp
6) In news that will immediately begin to benefit any student of any level living in the US, and will ultimately benefit US readers and perhaps others
of all ages, BookShare has received a 5-year 32 million-dollar grant from the US Department of Education. As of now, students get free memberships to
BookShare, and, among other as yet unnamed initiatives, the organization plans to add 100,000 titles to its collection during the period, which would
tripple the size of the collection.
http://www.bookshare.org
7) the Blind Bargains site is back in full swing, providing lots of links to good deals. You can subscribe to an rss feed and now you can get daily e-mail
announcements of the site's contents.
http://www.blindbargains.com/emaillist.php
8) From that list, I found this posting to the Lifehacker site where the poster listed many keyboard shortcuts for Excel and responders added their favorites
and made comments about keyboard use in Excel, sometimes supplemented by use of the mouse.
http://lifehacker.com/software/excel/keyboard-shortcuts-for-excel-238097.php
9) On Tuesday, 9 October at 00:00 GMT, a Tek Talk training with the topic of ZoomText: A Feature Rich Tool for the Visually Impaired will take place.
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
10) The Main Menu program for 3 October featured a two-hour discussion of building and maintaining computers from a blindness perspective. Listen to it
here:
http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/mm312.m3u
11) the September 20 and 25 entries to the Gw Micro blog contain good information about running Windows Vista, helpful to users of any screen reader.
http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, October 11, 2007
1) More and more online book clubs are being formed under the auspices of the Friends of Bookshare. the books to be discussed are available on Bookshare,
but Bookshare membership or eligibility is not a requirement to take part. Among existing clubs are those for horror, Christian fiction, non-fiction,
mysteries, fantasy, hooked on books, and teens, and a Writers' Practice Club for aspiring writers. the best way to track new and existing clubs is via
the Friends of Bookshare web site.
http://friendsofbookshare.org/
2) Jamal Mazrui is in the habit of creating structured text file collections of the documentation that comes with JAWS, for those who prefer to read the
material in this format. Archives of documentation for JFW versions 7 and 8 have been mentioned in earlier editions of Tidbits. Now he has created an
archive for version 9, which is in public beta.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/jfw90doc.zip
3) A mailing list has been created for those new to programming who want to learn without being criticized for not already knowing. the list is called
newprogrammers, and you can join by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask] <
4) This post to the Access Technologists Higher Education Network blog discusses the extension of life Microsoft has recently given to allow windows XP
to be sold longer.
http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2007/09/microsoft-extends-windows-xps-stay.html
5) Gw Micro has added an article to its Knowledge Base giving a good listing of software synthesizers and places to obtain them.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1084
6) the public beta for MAG-ic screen magnification software, version 11, continues with a new update.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_MAG110_beta.asp#Update
7) this idea might benefit somebody in the US: Read this to Me is a free service whereunder blind folks fax documents, labels, or any other print material
they want read to them to a foll-free number and a volunteer calls them and reads the document.
http://www.readthistome.org/
8) the reading initiative is a service of Kevin Savetz, who for many years has maintained and updated a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document on how
to send and receive faxes via the Internet.
http://www.savetz.com/fax/
9) Tek Talk will present An Introduction to Podcasting, focusing on finding and listening to podcasts, during its weekly free online training on GMT tuesday,
16 October at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
10) Insight Radio will have an interview regarding something called the Ultra Cane on Monday, 15 October at 10:15 GMT.
http://www.insightradio.co.uk <http://www.insightradio.co.uk>
11) EASI presents a free Webinar, Midwest Alliance: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics, on Tuesday 16 October at 18:00 gmt. Pre-registration
is required to take part.
http://easi.cc/forms/midwest.htm
12) EASI also offers an interview with two scientists who are working to eliminate barriers to blind folks working in those fields.
http://easi.cc/download/stem1.mp3
13) Version 2.3 of Jamal Mazrui's EdSharp text editor/word processor is now more powerful for programmers.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
14) Thanks to the Internet Tourbus, we learn about Jot, a service which is currently in free public beta that lets you speak a short message via toll-free
phone and have that message converted to text and e-mailed to you or others, post to Yahoogroups or various blogs in the same way, and explore a few web
sites over the phone.
http://www.jott.com/
15) Bob Rankin is one of the editors of the Internet Tourbus mailing list, and he also hosts an Ask bob Rankin list for technical information. Here are
the top 20 most popular answers he has given recently:
http://askbobrankin.com/the_top_twenty.html
16) Freedom Scientific is seeking JAWS scripters to hire, primarily those willing to relocate to Florida.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_about/Careers/Careers_Detail/FS06609.asp
17) The Washington Department of Services for the Blind has two tech-related vacancies. An AT Assistant,
http://www.dsb.wa.gov/documents/JobBulletin_ITS2_10-1-2007.doc
and an AT Specialist.
http://www.dsb.wa.gov/documents/ITS4_ATSpec.doc
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, October 18, 2007
1) David Dailes has written another of his comprehensive software guides for screen reader users, this one for the popular free mail program known in most
places as Gmail and in the UK as GoogleMail.
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Google-Mail-Basic-HTML-Guide.html
2) Gw Micro announces that a new camera designed for reading handwriting is now available for the Portable SenseView
cctv, and can be had at the introductory price of $99.00
http://www.gwmicro.com
3) Staying with Gw Micro, the topic for this week's Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday 23 October at 00:00o will be The Voice Sense: Now A Unique Mobility Tool!
http://www.accessibleworld.org
4)
EASI's fee-based course for November will be Barrier-Free E-Learning, and participants get a bonus book on the subject.
http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm
5) EASI also offers a free two-part webinar, DIGITAL BOOKS & PLAYERS, AN UPDATE, Thursday, 15 and 29 November at 18:00 GMT.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
6) Microsoft has now created a free directory-assistance number, (800) call-411 (225-5411. It is the service they have offered via TellMe for some time.
Some people seem to prefer it over goog-411, some don't.
7) The Assistive Technology Center is now selling recordings of its online instructional seminars for $50 apiece. They have recorded trainings of Microsoft
Office 2003, computer maintenance, window-Eyes basic and Internet Bootcamp and plan to add more titles.
<http://www.atechcenter.net
8) Here is an introduction into how blind folks use cell phones, good for novice and experienced users alike and for sharing with the curious.
http://www.blindbargains.com/tips/cellphones.php
9) A new mailing list has been formed to discuss the Victor Reader Stream digital player. It is called victorstreamuk, and while everybody is welcome
to join, it will be particularly inviting to those in the UK and elsewhere who might find the US-centered discussion on the existing mailing list unhelpful.
To join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
10) Josh has formed two mailing lists on Google Groups. one is books4blind, and the other, blindconsolegamers.
In both cases. to subscribe, add [log in to unmask] to the name and send a blank message to that address.
11) The sound editor Goldwave has always been pretty accessible, but now the author has added several accessibility features and an accessibility section
to the manual. For instance, it is now possible to read the recording volume level with any screen reader.
http://www.goldwave.com
12) You can now listen to the latest installment of virtually any podcast over the phone. The service has a large directory of numbers, one number per
podcast, and if your favorite podcast isn't on the list, you can add it and then call to listen. BlindCoolTech has been added.
http://www.PodLinez.com
13) Beginning at 05:45 GMT on Monday, 22 October, and continuing for the next five days, you can listen to the proceeds of the European Blind Union general
Assembly and of the Equality and Diversity Forum that proceeds it, via ACBRadio world. Coverage should start about the same time each day, run live for
about ten hours per day, then repeat until the next day's coverage begins.
http://www.acbradio.org
14) Mobile Speak announces a public beta of version 2 of Mobile Speak for Smartphones, and also of Mobile Magnifier for windows Smartphones. The new version
offers a user-centered licensing scheme so that users can change phones and keep their license; improve braille support, support for many more devices
and over 50 enhancements.
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_smartphone/mss_downloads.htm
15) the radio program on the UltraCane which was announced last week will now be heard on 25 October at 10:15 GMT
http://www.insightradio.co.uk <http://www.insightradio.co.uk>
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, October 25, 2007
1) the Accessible World Tek Talk first online open forum will take place on GMT Tuesday, October 30 at 00:00 (Monday evening in North America.) You can
come in to the room and ask your puzzling questions about your computer, your screen reader or about some program that is not working the way it should.
If you e-mail moderator Walt Kramer at [log in to unmask]
http://www.accessibleworld.org.
2) Thanks to the Access Technologists Higher Education Network for this blog post explaining in human terms why web accessibility is a good idea.
http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200710/accessibility-making-it-all-worthwhile/
3) Jamal Mazrui's latest project is a programmer's tool called IronCOM, which allows those with the skills to greatly extend the capabilities of scripting
languages such as that which comes with JAWS, among other capabilities.
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/comsetup.exe
4) OtsAV is a program for making your PC sound just like a radio station. Jim Snowbarger has updated his JAWS scripts for the earlier incarnation of
the program, called Ots DJ to work with the current version, OtsAVPro version 1.77.0.1 The scripts are free to those who already purchased the scripts
for OTS DJ, otherwise they cost $30.
http://personal.adiis.net/snowman/OtsAV.html
5) the Serotek blog contains a thoughtful article on the problems with open-source technology as it relates to screen readers
http://blog.serotek.com/2007/10/problem-with-open-source-access.html
6) this Fred's Head Companion article discusses the question: Online Banking, is it Right for Me?
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/10/online-banking-is-it-right-for-me.html
7) Levelator is a free program that lets you take an audio file which has portions with different volume levels and make the whole file be as loud as its
loudest part. At the encouragement of some blind users, the developers have produced an accessible version of the program, which is currently in beta
testing but which works very well. If you want a copy, e-mail Darrell Shandrow at
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
8) Jim Grimsby Jr. has released a new version of scripts for the Goldwave sound editor, to work with the newest version of the program. You can get it
from the programs section of
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net
9) An accessible mp3 player is being developed. You can read about it here
http://www.viplayer.co.uk.
and download an audio interview about it here
http://media.libsyn.com/media/bct/bct1135ViPlayer.mp3
10) A PC-based computer program called the Nemetex Nemeth Back-Translator, costing *S $99, which supports back-translating Nemeth Braille produced
on an electronic Braille notetaker into print, is available from a company called AccessiSoft. Go to
http://www.accessisoft.com/nemetex.htm
11) the newest operating system for the Mac, called OS X Leopard, will be released this week. the new system is anticipated to offer many accessibility
enhancements, including a new voice, improved web accessibility and other improvements. This site discusses the new release in general:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/
the site for VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader, will presumably be updated not long after the release
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/
12) You can hear several new voices available for the Mobile Speak SS screen reader here:
<http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_smartphone/mss_downloads.htm>
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, November 1, 2007
1) The annual five-hour Holiday Stocking Stuffers ONLINE EVENT sponsored by the Accessible Worldwill take place Saturday, 3 November from 17:00-22:00 GMT.
This free event lets you learn about affordable gifts, gizmos and gadgets which can be of use to those who are blind or visually impaired. http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs5affc3cfa191
2) On the same Day, Kathy Ann Murtha is offering a 2-hour, $100 seminar on PowerPoint 2007 with window-Eyes.
http://tinyurl.com/3acu5d
3) Serotek now lets you access its full product line without commitment for $39.99 per month. You can also buy the product line for $24.95 per month for
48 months.
http://www.serotek.com/
4) John Gunderson will offer an On-Line Web 2.0 Accessibility Course using the W3C ARIA Specifications for $495, Mondays and Wednesdays at 20:00 GMT from
26 November to 19 December.
http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/courses/web20online/
5) In a development which might have benefit to us, the iPods to come next will have built-in speech. You can test the synthesizer they will use at this
site
http://say.expressivo.com
and read an article about the development here:
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=999772006
6) the topic for the free weekly training from Tek Talk this tuesday, 6 November at 00:00 GMT will be J-Ware, Specialist Interfaces Using the JAWS for
Windows Screen-reader, discussing voice-input options JSay and J-Vis, Outlook calendar enhhancement J-Days, and iTunes enhancement J-Tunes. this is a direct
link to the voice chat room:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2
7) thanks to the Blind Bargains newsletter and blog, we learn about this listing of the top 25 sites for blind gamers:
http://7128.com/top25/top25sitesblind2007.html
8) the Blind Bargains creator has also brought us Bargain Hunting 101: How to shop around for the best Deal, revealing many techniques they use to gather
the information for their blog and newsletter.
http://www.blindbargains.com/tips/hunting101.php
9) Fred's Head Companion brings us a useful short course on chat lingo for those who want to be part of online communities:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/03/do-you-know-your-chat-lingo.html
10) Developments of the OpenBook OCR program haven't come often of late, but a major upgrade, Version 8, is around the corner. Read about what will be
in this new version here.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_OB80.asp
11) Accessibility reviews of various programs, including unzip them all version 1.0 and windows live messenger version 8.0 have been added to the AccessWatch
database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
12) The installment of ACBRadio Main Menu to be heard on Wednesday, 7 November at 01:00 GMT will feature full coverage about the new Mac version Leopard,
particularly focusing on the features of Voice Over. this should be quite interesting, as some enthusiasts are claiming that the new version provides
excellent support of the web, while others are expressing disappointment with that same support.
http://www.acbradio.org
13) the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines provide guidance on designing Web browsers, media players, assistive technologies, and other 'user agents'
to be accessible and to increase accessibility of Web content for people with disabilities. the Web Accessibility Initiative has developed Version 2 of
these guidelines, and they invite comments.
http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-UAAG20-requirements-20071031/
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
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Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday or Thereabouts, November 29, 2007
Tidbits doesn't appear on Thursdays when I don't send it, like last week. Even when I do send it, when I send it late on Thursdays as I have done for a
long time, the current distribution process means you probably don't see it until a day or so later. God forbid, I might have to start sending it earlier!
1) EASI will offer a free 1-hour clinic entitled Tools to Turn Text Documents into MP3 Audio, Thursday 6 December at 19:00 GMT. You need to register in
advance to get a space, or to get the link to the recording. You can also read about other free and fee-based offerings from EASI.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
2) A new version of Fedora, a Linux installation made accessible via the Speakup screen reader, is available. It can be installed with no sighted assistance
by those with hardware synthesizers, and guidance and telephone support is available to those without hardware synthesizers.
http://speakupmodified.org/
3) Jim Kitchen has added a new free self-voicing game to his web site: Homer on a Harley.
<http://www.kitchensinc.net>
4) The November, 2007 issue of AccessWorld is available, featuring reviews of accessible mp3 players, an article on Blackberry access, the search for accessible
exercise equipment and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
5) A user has found a program, Nokia AudioBooks which appears accessible, and which allows owners of Simbian 60 3rd edition phones to play audio books
with bookmark and resume features.
http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/audiobooks
6) JAWS for windows version 9 has been released.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws90fea.asp
Eric Damery of Freedom Scientific will discuss the release, how it works with Office 2007 and windows Vista, and answer questions at the Tek Talk free online
training to be held on GMT Tuesday, 4 December at 01:00 (stateside Monday evening.)
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2
If you live in the US and received a JFW 9 cd that doesn't seem to install, the company is apparently aware of the problem and is sending replacements.
7) The team at Accessible World, providers of the Tek Talk weekly training events, have begun to collaborate with Level Star, the makers of the portable
Icon and its derivative device, the Braille Plus. They offer weekly trainings on the use of the device on Thursdays, and past trainings are or soon will
be in the archive.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
8) Jim Fruchterman, founder of BookShare, gave a presentation discussing the future of BookShare, discussing plans to serve students and non-US readers.
You can download the presentation, and find a wealth of other material of interest to those interested in books and reading.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
9) OpenBook version 8, the scanning-reading program from Freedom Scientifric, is due to be released in December. Owners of the previous version can upgrade
for $100 if they do so by the end of the year.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_open.asp
10) An Easy-To-Use document diary for 2008 both in word in a size of 14PT and 20PT and plain text formats is now available for you to download from the
website:
http://www.moving-mountains.com
11) the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco will present a 2-hour seminar on GPS (Global Positioning Systems) for the blind
on Friday, 7 December starting at 21:00o GMT. People can take part in person, over the phone or via the net. If you want to participate via toll-free
phone or online, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
12) Here is a blog entry concerning AXSJAX, a Google initiative for making some "Web 2.0" content such as AJAX, and some of the Google online programs,
potentially accessible.
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/11/introducing-axsjax-access-enabling-ajax.html
13) Some people may be able to obtain a refurbished computer for $`100 through the Texas Center for the Visually Impaired. These are computers running
Windows XP, and come with a 7-cassette tutorial and demo copies of window-Eyes screen reader and ZoomText magnification software.
http://www.handicapability.org/computers.html
14) The Assistive Technology Center will offer several online seminars in December, both free and fee-based.
http://www.atechcenter.net
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 6, 2007
I am not promising, but I suspect there will be no newsletter next week.
1) We have some good material courtesy of Fred's Head Companion this week. Here is an article about keeping track of eBay auctions using rss:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/02/use-rss-to-track-ebay-with-feedbay.html
2) You can also use rss technology to monitor the web for the best prices for your desired next flights:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/02/get-best-travel-deals-with-rss.html
3) And you can track packages using rss:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/02/track-packages-with-rss-technology.html
4) Finally from this source, here is a list of twenty Internet acronyms used in some online chat circles:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/12/twenty-internet-acronyms-parents-should.html
5) The Hadley School is offering another of its online seminars: "Shop 'till you Drop," with much practical guidance for doing online shopping at sites
such as Amazon, QVC, Overstock.com, and others. The seminar wil be held on GMT Friday 14 December at 00:00 (Thursday 13 December stateside. The seminar
is free, but online registration is required. Content will be available on the site after the seminar takes place.
<http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/>
6) 7-128 Software has released two programs. First, “Synonyms and Antonyms” a new game that is accessible to blind and visually impaired players. The
game costs $5 and has a free demo. Second, “DarkTimer, a simple self-voicing timer you can use on your computer. You You can get them, along with several
other affordable accessible games, at
http://www.7128.com
7) PCS Games has released an update to their blind accessible game, Sarah and the Castle of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the game you play Sarah, an American
teenager who explores the castle of Hogwarts from the Harry potter books. This patch includes new spells, new creatures and is adjusted to match details
from the last Harry Potter book.
http://www.pcsgames.net
8) Gw Micro announces the release of NoiceNav, the full-featured gps add-on for the Voice Sense compact notetaker. The $1,549 package contains everything
you need, at least in North America, to learn and use the system to navigate as a pedestrian or in a vehicle. At the same time, the introductory price
deal for thre Voice Sense ends at the end of the year, so its price rises to $2,395 in January, making the price for the Voice Sense plus gps package $3,944.
http://www.gwmicro.com
9) Surf with Skill is a $40 tutorial by Gene Asner, available on cd, to teach web use with Internet Explorer and either JAWS or Window-Eyes. You can download
a demonstration
<http://www.divshare.com/download/1856990-508>
and if you want to buy or to ask questions, e-mail Gene at
[log in to unmask]
10) The free online trainings from LevelStar on the use of the Icon will henceforth take place on GMT Wednesdays, stateside Tuesday evenings. The next
training will concern tools for students to research and create papers. The training will take place at 01:30 GMT in the LevelStar room
<http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs3a3fa151e8a9>
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 20, 2007
1) The Bibleseekr Bible study package has always been quite accessible, but now its accessibility has been enhanced.
http://www.bibleseeker.org
2) The BlindPhones mailing list has been a major independent place for people to discuss access to mobile phones. The list has moved. To join, send a
blank message to
[log in to unmask]
3) Freedom Scientific has announced the release, several months after its initial announcement, of the Pac Mate Omni, the much-enhanced version of the
Pac Mate pocket pc device now running Windows Mobile 6 and with accessibility based on JAWS. Upgrades for owners of older units are reasonably priced.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/PACMateOmni_Upgrade_Info.asp
4) Here is a web page listing services you may be able to safely remove from a computer running Windows Vista.
http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm
5) You can find a high-quality podcast produced by Neal Ewers on
the Victor Stream player from HumanWare, and a Word document containing the manual and links to other resources for the player, here:
<ftp://ftp.ravenswood.org>
6) The US National Federation of the Blind is investigating the accessibility of Apple's iTunes web site and related software. If you have experiences
to share and would like to assist, e-mail your name, address andphone number to
[log in to unmask]
7) You can buy a fully accessible cd of audio puzzles, enjoyable for children and adults, for US $14.95. You can buy the cd from other dealers, but if
you buy from the manufacturer and request it, you can get a braille track list for the 40 puzzles and braille label for the cd.
http://www.audiopuzzles.com/
8) New and current customers of AT&T Wireless in the US can get the MobileSpeak screen reader or the MobileMagnifier for use on any of five supported phones
for $89, a significant discount on the usual price for these products.
http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources.jsp
9) One reader recommends the Winamp Audio Essentials Plug-in for this popular audio player. The package of plug-ins has been recently updated.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-Plugins/Winamp-Essentials-Pack.shtml
10) Version 4.2 of the Sendero GPS system for use on the BrailleNote family of products is available, with some 20 enhancements.
http://www.MySendero.com
11) In the earliest CSUN conference announcement ever, Next Generation Technologies will offer a two-day training on JSay Pro in conjunction with this
March technology conference, March 10-11. The $994 cost is said to include a copy of the voice-input software JSay, training materials and some meals.
For information or to register, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
12) Many software reviews have been added to the AccessWatch database. There are now some 200 accessibility reviews on the site.
http://www.accesswatch.info/review.php
13) The Friends of Bookshare page contains a lot of useful information and links for the bibliophile, including audio archives of the presentation given
in November by Jim Fruchterman.
http://friendsofbookshare.org/
14) The Fred's Head Companion recommends the iheard Radio Stations site, a very large listing of online radio broadcasts. Many of the streams seem to
play in an embedded window, which makes the site best usable by owners of Windows Vista or those who use two sound cards in their systems.
http://www.iheard.com/
15) They also remind us that Talking Computers Magazine from the UK is available free online.
http://www.tc.pressakey.net/
16) And we also learn from that web site about Blind Date, a free game from the Royal National Institute for the Blind, available in flash
http://rnibblinddate.nomensa.com/flash/index.html
and html
http://rnibblinddate.nomensa.com/html_game/index.html
versions.
17) A further discovery is the large list of ingredient-based cookbooks available as low-cost e-books from Idea Queen:
http://www.idea-queen.com/ebooks/cookbooks-online.html
18) The Memory Wiki is a growing collection of personal reminiscences and personal stories.
http://www.memorywiki.org/en/MemoryWiki
19) In our final grab from Fred's Head Companion for this week, if you want to hear audio files conveying the sounds of World War II, visit Irv Mitchell's
QUEST: Echoes of the Past website <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irvmitchell/gene/echoes.html>.
20) DIALOGUE, an international news magazine edited for individuals who are experiencing vision loss or are blind and their friends and families, has released
a Call for Submissions for 2008. Reviews and reports on adaptive technology are among the many categories of articles sought. Submission guidelines and
sample issues are available. To read the contents of past issues of the magazine to see its scope, visit
http://www.blindskills.com/current_past.html
<http://www.blindskills.com/current_past.html>
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
the web page for subscribing or unsubscribing to Tidbits is
http://topdotenterprises.com/lists/
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, January 31, 2008
we have a lot of ground to cover, so we'll get right to it. There's a long explanation about the Tidbits "vacation", and about the new distribution arrangement
at the end of this issue. Remember that if you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me at [log in to unmask] Now, on with the news!
1) the Fred's Head Companion tells us about this page which contains many podcasts from the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/
2) this article from the Fred's Head Companion tells us about a couple of reliable ways to keep up with the steady stream of Internet discount codes available
through many shopping sites.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/07/discounts-at-currentcodescom.html
3) This posting to the Gw Micro blog contains a very coherent explanation regarding web- based dynamic content, and how it can best be made accessible to
those of us who use adaptive technology.
http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/index.php/all/2008/01/21/regarding_web_based_dynamic_content
4) Freedom Scientific has released the latest beta version of the MAGic screen magnification program. They have also released an update to JAWS. The
primary new feature in these releases allows users of both programs to receive more accurate visual information when using the web.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_MAG110_beta.asp
5) two new articles have been added to the Sound Computing article series. The first one is a 1.5 dash our multifaceted article entitled " a keyboard junkey's
tips for Windows Vista, office 2007, and other programs." You can receive this and all the other articles in the package for a one- time outlay of $9.00.
This link provides subscription information as well as a list of available articles.
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
6) the Hadley School offers another in its seri
es of free online seminars: Accessible Technology from HumanWare to take place on Tuesday, 5 February, at 21:00 GMT. Preregistration is required.
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/
7) The Levelstar and Braille Plus linux - based PDAs are soon to be equipped to play NLS downloadable audio books. A presentation on this topic took place
on 29 January, and should soon be in the archive here:
http://accessibleworld.org/category/site-categories/levelstar-archives
8) two recent free Tek Talk audio trainings to be added to the archive are presentations entitled Examining the Hidden Programs Within Kurzweil 1000, and
Harnessing the Power of Google.
http://accessibleworld.org/category/site-categories/tek-talk-archives
9) A two-part course entitled Computer Hardware 101 will take place on GMT 7 and 14 February starting at 02:00. Free membership in the VIP conduit voice
chat community is required in order to participate.
http://www.vipconduit.com
10) Jamal Mazrui has updated his JAWS scripts for the programming languages Visual Studio 2005 and 2008.
<http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/msenv2005.exe>
11) the January, 2008 issue of AccessWorld, from American foundation for the Blind, features a review of the Victor Reader Stream, evaluations of new and
accessible blood glucose monitors, a discussion of the challenges of technology in call center jobs, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
12) viewPplus has received
a grant to make scientific journals from the American Physical Society fully accessible to the blind using the Daisy format.
http://www.viewplus.com
13) the free Tek Talk training, set for GMT Tuesday, 5 February, at 01:00 will feature an overview of Microsoft office 2007. Here is the direct link to
the conference room:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2
14) from the Fred's Head Companion, we learn of this site, which has a small collection of books which they will send in installments using rss or e-mail.
Public domain books are free, others carry a small charge.
http://www.dailylit.com/
15) undoubtedly, the piece of adaptive technology news to receive the most buzz lately has been the impending release of the new version of the KNFB Reader,
expected to ship around February 15. The Reader software will run on a Nokia N-82 phone, making it a very portable and convenient way for those on the
go to scan print material. The Reader software will cost $1500, with the phone costing around $550. Here's an audio link to the NPR news story on the
topic:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18504117
and here is the official page:
http://www.knfbreader.com/products-mobile.php
16) the second Sound Computing article to be made available is a demonstration/mini-tutorial on using Windows Vista speech recognition software with System
Access. We demonstrate some surprising capabilities of the software, including a macro capability that I have not seen documented elsewhere. Much of
this newsletter is being created using Windows Vista speech recognition.
http://www.topdotenterprises.com/scsum.htm
17th) Fred's Head Companion directs us to Storyline Online, a site containing children's stories read by Screen Actors Guild members. Along with the story,
a video of the actor reading it and its illustrations is available, and there are downloadable activity guides.
http://www.storylineonline.net/
18) additional details have not yet been disclosed, but when Gw Micro finely unveils WindowEyes Version 7.0, it will contain a scripting capability which
many of us have requested, for those programs where the program's set file capabilities are not sufficient to create access.
19) Walgreens has announced an initiative to hire a sizable contingent of disabled workers at its headquarters facility.
http://www.walgreensoutreach.com/
Dean Martineau is available to provide adaptive technology training online, by phone, or in person, at very affordable rates.
New Distribution system for Tidbits
We've made some changes with Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, so some words of explanation are in order. I've had a nice vacation, but the biggest reason
for the non-appearance of Tidbits over the last several weeks has been the fact that I am unable to send it using my otherwise adequate Internet Service
provider. Fortunately for us all, Larry Lewis of Flying Blind, Inc, has offered to distribute the newsletter using distribution mechanisms which he already
has in place. Let me make three initial comments about our collaboration.
1. I highly respect larry's business ethic, and in impressed with the choices he has made in the adaptive technology field. He is very selective about
the prodeucts he sells and recommends.
2. Larry and I have no financial or business relations at all.
3. Had Larry not made this generous offer, it is likely that Tidbits would have come to an end.
We're working out the kinks in the Tidbits distribution process, so if you have any difficulties with the look of Tidbits, or with any other technology-related
matter, don't hesitate to e-mail me, [log in to unmask] Feel free to call as well, but this gives me a chance to publicly announce that the Top
Dot Enterprises phone number has changed. It is now (425) 296-1744.
This means, however, that for many of you, that will be a couple changes.
First, for a couple thousand of you, this will be the first issue of Tidbits that you will receive in your inbox. A lot of people find Tidbits to be a
concise and handy summary of what's new in adaptive technology and online and audio information for those with vision loss.
Veteran Tidbits subscribers will begin receiving newsletters from Flying Blind, Inc. These are mostly informative mailings. At this point, it is most
convenient to join the Top Tech Tidbits and Flying Blind lists together, but if this becomes a problem for many, we can try to separate them.
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 7, 2008
for all questions and comments regarding Tidbits, please e-mail [log in to unmask]
Dean Martineau provides adaptive technology training by phone, online and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.
1) the ATIA Conference is now over. Blind Bargains has created a page where you can easily access all the interviews they conducted in other recordings
they made during the conference. Many recent Tidbits have come from news announced at that Conference.
http://www.blindbargains.com/redirect.php?redirect=2638
2) next Generation Technologies announces thatJ-Say Professional Version 6 will soon be available. A new Feature Pack for the program will be made available
in April. This free upgrade will contain a simplified installation routine and more organized training materials.
http://ngtvoice.com/products/software/tandt/jsay/
3)Serotek is seeking to revolutionize the adaptive technology industry. They have spun off a foundation called Accessibility Is A Right and have turned
over distribution and development of their free online screen reader System Access To Go to that foundation. Henceforth, anybody anywhere with Internet
access has free unlimited use of this screen reader, which is probably the most fully developed free screen reader available. The company indicated plans
to create other language versions of the product, with Mandarin Chinese being their first target.
http://www.accessibilityisaright.org
4) here is a website where people can find out stories about their favorite songs.
http://www.songfacts.com
5) David Bailes has written a thorough JAWS Guide to Internet Explorer 7, another in his growing series of comprehensive guides for the JAWS user.
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Internet-Explorer-7-Guide.html
6) a lot of folks with vision loss enjoy reading books through Audible.com. Now, Amazon has purchased the company.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10401354/1/amazons-audible-play.html
7) thanks to The Ranger Station, if you want to know what's coming up with Windows Vista Service Pack one, you can read this FAQ:
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/vista_sp1.asp
8) over the years, a lot of children with the sight to do so have enjoyed drawing on Etch a Sketch. Now, thanks to Fred's Head Companion, we learn about
two electronic versions of this old favorite. First, there's the free online version.
http://www.etchy.org/
And you can also buy a version that allows you to draw using a controller , and view pictures on a television.
http://www.lighterside.com/product/66526.do?WT.srch=1&code=QLP&AID=10388556&PID=1830967
9) Humanware announces that version 2.1 of Maestro, its excessible PDA which can house the Trekker GPS program, now features accessibility to the web.
The upgrade is free to owners of the unit.
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/maestro.html
10) Richard McKinley has written a program called OE manager, intended to create a simpler interface to Outlook Express.
http://www.geocities.com/r_mckinley2000/oemanager.html
11) This audio news report discusses access to tactile maps on demand:
http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/view/747
12) Here are background documents and recommendations from the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) regarding making dynamic web content accessible to users
with disabilities; comments are sought.
[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
13) The Daisy consortium is also hlooking for input for the next version of its specifications.
http://www.daisy.org/z3986/requirements/
The Daisy web site is
http://www.daisy.org/
14) Ai Squared has released ZoomText Scripting Edition, which allows those with the skill to do so to make ZoomText a more efficient screen reading/magnification
product. The company also seeks people who have scripting skills so they can refer users who need custom scripts developed. They offer a 20% discount
on the $999 purchase price, and presumably on upgrades, through February.
http://www.aisquared.com
15) View International Foundation sells cd's containing tactile diagrams developped for use by college students. The entire collection comprises 11,280
files and sells for $259, but individual theme-based cd's can be purchased depending on the need. The diagraps are to be printed onto capsule paper.
http://www.viewinternational.org/diagrams.htm
16) The Colorado Center for the Blind will hire a Technology Instructor. To apply, e-mail resume to
[log in to unmask]
17) In the first of several useful items from Fred's Head Companion to wrap up, here is BoxCloud, a way to share large files with friends and colleagues
without having to upload the files to a central repository:
http://www.boxcloud.com/downloads/setup.exe
18) In a similar vein, SimplifyMedia lets you access your own music and media collection from another computer, or share with friends:
http://www.simplifymedia.com/
19) SkreemR is a database for finding audio content on the net, with the reliability of each source rated and with places for potential purchase within
easy reach:
http://skreemr.com/
20) Woomz is another search engine for music and audio content.
http://www.woonz.com/
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, February 14, 2008
Here's a hint for screen reader users: when you open Tidbits, if you hit the page down key, you may find yourself at or near the beginning of the text
of the newsletter.
Dean Martineau is avail to provide adaptive technology training by phone, online and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.
1) Key XL claims to be the largest repository of keyboard shortcuts available on the web:
http://www.keyxl.com/
2) Courtesy of Fred's Head Companion: Flash Mute is a useful program for silencing the unwelcome and often very loud sounds that accompany certain websites,
making them all but unusable with screen readers. Download it here:
http://www.indev.no/?p=projects#flashmute
3) here's a Fred's Head Companion posting which gives listings for sources for free document templates, enabling you to find boilerplate language and style
to create the document you need.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2008/02/free-document-templates.html
4) the Access Technology Team at the National Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute has started a blog as a means of sharing adaptive technology
information and news more efficiently. The February 7 posting to the blog contains a candid overview of the current state of low vision technology based
on what was displayed at the recent ATIA Conference.
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Access_Technology_Blog.asp?SnID=1332588961
5) The title for the Tek Talk online training to take place on GMT 19 February at 01:00 will be: "A Unique 'Up Close' Look Into HumanWare's Operations and
Vision For Its Future, Part 2, and An Update on Victor Reader Stream Version 1.2."
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2
6) the Accessible Devices mailing list has moved. You can read about the list and the activities of the group here:
http://www.accessible-devices.com
And you can subscribe to the list by sending a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
7) the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San Francisco will conduct its fourth technology seminar, on Friday, 7 March, from 21:00 to 23:00
GMT. The seminar will cover electronic devices that give the blind and visually impaired access to print documents by means of magnification or Optical
Character Recognition. Besides attending in person, you can take part in this session over the phone or through streaming audio. Email for instructions
to gain access to these remote versions of the program.
[log in to unmask]
8) relative newcomers to the Internet may not know about the Internet Tourbus newsletter, a twice-weekly email newsletter which contains a wealth of information
clearly presented. From the website, you can read the archives of issues from previous years, as well as some important information, such as "virus protection
101" and other useful guides, and subscribe to the newsletter.
http://www.internettourbus.com/
9) as part of their Accessible Digital Lifestyle initiative, Serotek announces that the System Access Mobile Network browser now works with the Amazon mp3
downloader. In addition, as soon as the new release for the Victor Reader Stream, version 1.2, is available, you will be able to transfer described videos,
podcasts, and other content from the System Access Mobile Network to that device for listening anywhere. Audio demonstrations of these features are available
here:
http://www.samobile.net/content/cat14790.html
10) a new mailing list has been created for users of electronic travel aids, particularly those produced by SonicVision-Bat Technology. To learn about
the list, go to
http://www.freelists.org/list/sonicvision
11) the January-February issue of Dialogue magazine is now available, containing a wide variety of information of interest to people with vision loss, including
adaptive technology information, such as an article about streaming audio.
http://blindskills.com/jan_feb_2008_toc.html
12) thanks to blindbargains.com, we learn about We Can Play, a web site with an associated mailing list devoted to the principle that many mainstream video
games can be played by people with little or no
vision.
http://www.wecanplay.info/index.php?title=Main_Page
13) the Skype Worldwide mailing list is a list, based in the UK, for people using a variety of forms of assistive technology to access Skype. They currently
have users who accessed Skype through Thunder, System Access, various magnification packages, and the Mac, as well as the more prominent screen readers.
If you want to join the list, send email to the address below, putting in the subject line that you want to join the Skype Worldwide mailing list, and
in the body your city and country of residence.
[log in to unmask]
14) the creator of The Ranger Station is an enthusiast of Big Finish, a British site which is licensed to create high quality audio dramatized versions
of several popular science fiction TV series, including Dr. Who, Dark Shadows, and Stargate.
http://www.bigfinish.com/
15) more good information from Fred's Head Companion: the mission of the 1 Stop for Free Assistive technology site speaks for itself.
http://onlineconferencingsystems.com/at.htm
16) they also direct us to two sites where you can watch documentary movies online for free:
http://www.bodocus.com/
http://www.freedocumentaries.org/
17) google Hacks is an open-source collection of search enhancements for Google, enabling you to conduct a variety of searches and do some lesser-known
things with the Google service.
http://code.google.com/p/googlehacks
I'm looking to sell a classic KNFB reader in excellent working condition. If interested, contact me
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
You are welcome to subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, issue #148, February 21, 2008
1) you can download a talk about using linux with speech and braille, as well as other talks from the same conference, here:
http://linux.conf.au/programme/presentations
2) you can hear an overview of the LevelStar Icon, ask questions, and request demonstrations of the features of the device, during a presentation on GMT
27 February at 01:30
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs3a3fa151e8a9
3) Jamal Mazrui continues to enhance his text editor, EdSharp, now up to version 1.6
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/edsetup.exe
And his file manager, FileDir, now up to version 3.2
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe
4) the January, 2008 issue of FScast, the monthly podcast from Freedom Scientific, focuses on how you can use JAWS to send music and spoken word files to
your mp3 player, with emphasis on the iPod and iTunes. here's the link to the sound file:
http://podcast.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/episodes/fscast014-january2008.mp3
5) the January, 2008 issue of the Braille Monitor contains an article concerning magnification software. Here is a link to the text of the article,
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm08/bm0801/bm080108.htm
And here's a link to an audio recording:
https://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Audio/Braille_Monitor/2008/January/08_Magnification_Software.mp3
6) thanks to the ever-vigilant J.J. At Blind Bargains, here's a link to a Google page listing all the free searches you can conduct from your mobile phone,
for which you will receive in return a text message containing the results
http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/sms/
7) tech Support Alert is a valuable site containing comprehensive and coherent evaluations of freeware programs in 46 different categories, including antivirus
and many varieties of anti-malware, as well as a useful free newsletter and an enhanced, affordable, paid version.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/index.html
8) Peter Crain has written a free organizer program that works with several screen readers:
http://members.dodo.com.au/~pcrain1/organiser.html
9) a frequent question I see on mailing lists is, "How can I record my Skype conversations?" The Tek Talk training coming up on GMT Tuesday, 26 February
at 01:00 will address this issue. As always, the program will be archived within several days of its recording, but here's the link to the conference
room:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2
10) the Blind Bargains mailing list tips us off to the fact that more information is now available about the new KNFB Mobile Reader, including documentation.
http://knfbreader.com/register.php
11) on a related matter, a lot of attention is being focused on the Nokia N82 phone, the feature-rich phone on which the KNFB Mobile Reader will operate.
J.J. lets us know about the Nokia N82 blog
http://www.then82blog.com/
12) J.J. says that the Say What electronic game is fully accessible. One place you can get it is Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OKT3KY?ie=UTF8&tag=blinbarg-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000OKT3KY
13) the Fred's Head Companion shares with us WorldTimeEngine.com, the Local Time Directory, which claims to allow you to find the local time for every country,
city, town, village, zipcode, point of interest and street on earth
http://worldtimeengine.com/directory/
14) AFB has published two late-breaking articles of AccessWorld. Scanning and Reading on the Move: A Review of Zoom-Ex and Zoom-Twix, and A Reading Machine
In Your Pocket: Introducing the KNFB Reader Mobile
http://www.afb.org/accessworld
15) to follow up on an item from last week's Tidbits, here's another website devoted to sharing hotkeys for different applications:
http://allhotkeys.com
16) we learn from the Braille Forum that Internet Speech has recently updated its netECHO software that allows anyone to access the Internet
using any phone and user's voice, without a computer.
http://www.InternetSpeech.com
17) , Thanks to the E-Access Bulletin, we are informed of a posting to A virtual Hosting blog which lists 25 free web accessibility checkers.
http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/test-me-25-freebie-website-accessibility-checkers/
18) GW Micro will be offering a variety of hands-on classes and demonstrations at the upcoming CSUN Conference.
http://www.gwmicro.com/News_&_Events/Upcoming_Events/?eventID=161
19) The NFB Access Technology Blog reminds us about
Their Access Technology Tips page, which has some new tips for using Office 2007, and claims to feature many underutilized and underdocumented functions
for a variety of programs and devices.
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Access_Technology_Tips.asp?SnID=1149621449
20) the February 15 posting from that same blog briefly describes some open-source tools for producing digital talking books, and provides links to them.
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Access_Technology_Blog.asp?SnID=1332588961
21) apple has extended the braille support found in its Leopard operating system, adding more Braille displays and generally streamlining the system.
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/brailledisplayupdate10.html
22) Microsoft has announced a new program, Microsoft DreamSpark, through which they will give copies of several development tools free to high school and
university students in 11 countries.
https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/
23) ATC is offering three 2-hour trainings during march. Each costs $50.00, and if you can't take part in person, you can buy a CD of the training for
the same price. Thursday, 6 March, 22:00 GMT: Advanced Dragon Naturally Speaking. Thursday, 13 March, 21:00 GMT: Advanced Window-Eyes. Thursday, 20
March, 21:00: OmniPage OCR. To register for any of these, or for more information, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
24) the free bimonthly AFB AccessWorld Extra informs us of a new CCTV from Freedom Access, the QuickLook. The unit has many advanced features, and costs
$995.
http://www.freedomvision.net
26) a new announce-only, low-traffic mailing list has been created to keep people informed about new developments regarding accessible cell phones. To
join, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
Dean Martineau provides adaptive technology training by phone, online and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, Issue #148, February 28, 2008
1) "Wired For Business! Strategies for incorporating Wireless Braille into your Technological Journey" will be the title of the Tek Talk free online training
to take place on GMT Tuesday, 4 march at 01:00. Larry Lewis, President of Flying Blind, Inc. brings considerable experience and enthusiasm to the topic.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
2) the staff at Gw Micro continues to whet our appetite for information about the upcoming version of Window-Eyes. Now you can listen to or download their
latest radio program, which discusses the new features, and particularly the new scripting feature to be found in version 7.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Audio_Video_Archive/On_The_Move_Radio/
3) If you want to join a mailing list regarding Accessible Math, go to
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath
4) a free electronic book, Wireless Networking in the Developing World is available as an accessible PDF document, and eventually in HTML format, from this
page. Versions in other languages are also available.
http://wndw.net/
5) Tidbits would be a lot shorter if it weren't for Fred's Head Companion. If you want an easy way to search through a lot of recipes, try the Food Blog
Search.
http://www.foodblogsearch.com/
6) this posting from Fred's Head Companion gives clear instructions on how you can create a simple web page using Microsoft Word.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2008/02/create-web-page-with-ms-word.html
7) Yet another golden goody from our favorite source is Talkster, an intriguing site which claims to offer no-strings-attached free calling between residents
of 29 different countries. Ostensibly, you input the phone numbers of each of the parties on their website, and you receive local numbers which you can
use to place these individual calls.
http://www.talkster.com/
8) the final borrowing from Fred's Head Companion, at least for the moment, is News Clipper, a site where news stories from seven different television networks
are aggregated. You can search for news stories, or see how the same story is covered by different networks.
http://www.newsclipper.org/
9) The Ranger Station offers us a thorough review of the new portable version of Zoomtext.
http://therangerstation.blogspot.com/2008/02/one-month-zoom-text-usb.html
10) a free electronic book, "The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet," published in 2007, is available in accessible PDF format.
A discussion guide is also available.
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text.htm
11) A new mailing list has been created to meet the needs of blind system administrators. To subscribe, send a blank message to
[log in to unmask]
12) EASI will offer a four-part, fee-based series: Learning to Create PDF Documents and Learning Acrobat, beginning 11 march.
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
13) here is a handy page for people in the U.S. to find out what is on television:
http://wireless.tvguide.com/
14) main Menu, ACBRadio's weekly technology program, is alive and well. However, the timing of their program announcements does not allow the information
to be included in Tidbits before the programs are aired. These days, the shows are archived quickly. Hence, recent editions of the program available
online feature an interview with Jim Fruchterman regarding Bookshare and other Benetech initiatives for the blind, a discussion of the new MacBook Air
laptop from an accessibility perspective, information concerning updates and new products from T&T Consultancy, information about and a demonstration of
the new KNFB Mobile Reader; and a discussion and demonstration of new features available in System Access.
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19&MMN_position=30:29
15) Joseph lee has created many informative podcasts while still a high school student, and he has now created a "wiki" to share support information regarding
the Braillenote family of products.
http://braillenote.pbwiki.com/
16) Richard Seltzer has made a business of compiling easy-two-use, comprehensive and well organized collections of public domain books on CD and DVD. You
can look at the range of his offerings here:
http://www.samizdat.com/
National Braille Press has sold some of his compilations in the past, and now they are featurign one: Books of the Western Canon, containing 797 books covering
the history of western thought, for $29.00.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/WESTERN.html
17) a poster to a mailing list enthusiastically recommends Amadeus Pro, a $40 audio editor for the Mac for its accessibility and power for a reasonable
price.
http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadeusPro/AmadeusPro.html
18) Sendero Group offers a number of deals for those wishing to upgrade to its latest GPS package. Their web site now includes rss feeds and an enhanced
search capability.
http://www.senderogroup.com
19) the American Foundation for the Blind is inviting input on proposed guidelines for educational media description.
http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=8&TopicID=338&DocumentID=3809
20) The Gnome Foundation is offering $50,000 in grants to improve accessibility of the gnome desktop in linux.
http://www.gnome.org/projects/outreach/a11y/
21) Blind Bargains introduces us to the Blind Planet News Aggregator, a site where you can find news and postings from several blindness-oriented blogs.
http://www.blind-planet.com/aggregator
22) I haven't lifted anything from Fred's Head Companion for several lines now, so let's finish with a few useful items from there. Accessible FX Software
currently offers 11 free programs, many of which may be of use to people with low vision. The site also offers other free downloads.
http://www.fxc.btinternet.co.uk/
23) this posting provides information about tutorials on the Internet concerning Internet-related medical sites in general and various medical conditions.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/03/evaluating-internet-health-information.html
24) Audiobaba is yet another innovative music-related site. Here, you input an artist or song title, and the site purports to find other music which is
acoustically related to the song you searched for. Hence, it's supposed to find other music that you will like. You can listen to snippets of some of
the songs it finds.
http://www.audiobaba.com/
25) The city of Chicago is offering a new free guide for visitors with disabilities called "Easy Access Chicago."
http://www.chicagogreeter.com/
Dean Martineau provides adaptive technology training by phone, online and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 7, 2008
Residents of most of the North American continent move their clocks forward on Sunday, 9 March, and keep them there until Sunday, 2 November. Residents
of the UK will make the same change in three weeks. This change affects listening habits on the Internet. If you listen to ACBRadio, your listening time
will change if you live in most of North America, because their programming schedule is based on GMT. On the other hand, listeners in other parts of the
world to the Tek Talk training will notice that the program starts an hour earlier now, because their programming schedule is based on North American time.
You will notice that I always give times in GMT, because we have a worldwide reading audience. If you're not sure how your time zone relates to GMT, feel
free to ask me, or check out this comprehensive web site.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/
1) Freedom Scientific has released MAGic Version 11. Besides its usefulness to users with low vision, the company believes that it has the potential to
assist trainers of JAWS when demonstrating web-based programs.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_MAG110.asp
2) Freedom Scientific has simplified and reorganized its web site.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/
3) in the February, 2008 edition OF FScast, Freedom Scientific's official monthly podcast, you can hear about all the contact availability and presentations
for Freedom Scientific during the upcoming CSUN conference. They also offer an interview with David Pinto who, with no programming background, has worked
to develop many advanced JAWS scripts, both for the music software Caketalking and for the typing-tutor program Typability.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/default.asp
4) Speaking of CSUN, users who are competent with Window-Eyes, JAWS, or Zoomtext may be able to recuperate a bit of the cost of attending the conference
by taking part in a one-hour usability study for which they will be paid $100. If interested, e-mail
[log in to unmask]
5) From Fred's Head Companion: a lot of commercial websites give you the chance to enter a promotional code when shopping. These electronic coupons give
you some sort of discount. Here is a site that collects electronic coupons, so that you can find currently available ones for the stores where you wish
to shop.
http://www.retailmenot.com/
6) The same news source informs us that if you are in the U.S., And you lose your cell phone, you now have an alternative. Assuming its battery isn't dead,
you can visit this site and input your number. Your phone will ring until you find it.
http://www.wheresmycellphone.com/
7) Wes Derby has been sufficiently impressed by the accessibility and effectiveness of the security package SystemSuite 8 from AvanQuest that he has become
an affiliate for the program, and, of more interest, has written a blog posting discussing his experiences with it.
http://wesderby.blogspot.com/2008/02/internet-securitypc-maintenance.html
8) If you're still hungry for information about the upcoming features of Window-Eyes version seven, you have two more interviews you can listen to. One
has just appeared in the Main Menu archive, who is link we gave you last week. Here's the other one:
http://www.accessible-devices.com/gwmicro_03_02_2008.mp3
9) Accessibility reviews of Kaspersky Antivirus version 2007, Spyware Terminator version 2.1 and AVG Antivirus version 7.5 have been added to the AccessWatch
database.
http://www.accesswatch.info
10) Our friends at Blind Bargains have started A Swap meet for the buying and selling of assistive Technology Devices. Registration and listing are free,
and several devices are already available for sale.
http://www.blindbargains.com/boards.php?cat_id=5
11) Game enthusiasts can pick up a five-pack of saint patrick's day-related games for $20.00 through this blindbargains.com link:
http://www.blindbargains.com/redirect.php?redirect=2801
12) The T&T Consultancy blog and podcast are being relaunched by this company, makers of JSay, JTunes, JBiz and JDays.
http://tandtconsultancy.wordpress.com
13) You can hear a 36-minute podcast entitled "Mobile Speak Smart Phone Interview Part 1" here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/candleshore
14) Fred's Head Companion teaches us about ProProfs.com, a site with, among other things, a tool for building quizzes and a good-sized collection of k-12
and general trivia quizzes.
http://www.proprofs.com/
15) Michael at Fred's Head Companion has compiled a collection of sources for unique and novelty gift items:
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2007/01/shopping-for-unique-gift-items.html
16) He also gives step-by-step instructions for adding web links to the start menu in Windows.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-add-website-links-to-start-menu.html
17) And tells us about Download911, a freeware site with a large and growing collection of free programs.
http://www.download11.com/
18) And finally points out a site listing some 80 web sites where you can host or share files.
http://mashable.com/2007/07/28/online-storage/
19) If interested in a job as a Technological Services Specialist in New Jersey, whose duties appear to specialize in adaptive technology for the blind,
e-mail
[log in to unmask]
20) Providing Instant remote access to accessible media Using eClipseWriter and eClipseReader is the topic for the Tek Talk training to be held on GMT
Tuesday, 4 March at 00:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
Dean Martineau provides adaptive technology training by phone, online and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.
Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When
doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits web site (see below.)
tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings
up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.
Visit the Tidbits page at www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the rss feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information
for future issues can come to me at [log in to unmask]
People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: [log in to unmask] (make sure to get all 4 t's into the address!)
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Archived on the World Wide Web at
http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
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