FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

>Contact: Jamie Principato
>Director of Public Relations
>Phone: (239)810-4951
>E-Mail: [log in to unmask]

>MOST AFFORDABLE E-BOOK READER FOR THE BLIND HIT'S THE MARKET
>Blind Readers Can Access eText for Less than the Cost of an 
Evening Out

>Mar 2, 2012: In the age of technology, when most people turn to 
the
>Internet for information, and a laptop is practically a necessity 
in
>the workplace or at school, the e-book is rapidly becoming as 
common
>and important to daily life as its paper-bound counterpart.  
Access
>to printed information for the Blind is more important now than
>ever, and though there is a variety of software available to make
>electronic books and documents accessible, it either comes 
complete
>with a price only few could afford without assistance from a 
school
>or rehab agency, or does not allow the reader to open even a
>minority of the various eText formats.  Christopher Toth, a blind
>software developer, aims to change that with QRead, the first
>e-reader for the blind that is affordable even to the average 
college student.

>QRead is a program that provides blind users with fast and 
efficient
>screen-reader access to most common e-book formats, including 
both
>PDF, the industry standard for textbooks, ePub, a format popular 
for
>technical titles and fiction as well as many others.  Users can 
open
>and tab between an unlimited number of books, place an unlimited
>number of bookmarks, and return to their current place in each 
book
>even after a session has ended.  QRead offers the ability to read
>continuously, "skim" through a text by percentage, and even 
search
>for specific passages with its "Find" feature.

>QRead interfaces directly with all major screen reading software,
>including JAWS for Windows, Window-Eyes, Super Nova, System 
Access,
>and the free and open source NVDA.

>The program goes on sale today for an introductory price of $20, 
and
>is expected to retail for $30.  Its nearest competitors are 
available
>for upwards of $80.

>Mr.  Toth says his software offers a unique benefit in addition 
to
>affordability.

>"Historically, access to PDF, ePub and other eText formats has 
been
>cumbersome, difficult or even impossible.  I invented QRead to 
fix
>this, and in the process have created a tool which will vastly
>improve your reading experience, regardless if you're a casual
>reader, student, or professional", he states.

>For more information about QRead and other accessibility software
>developed by Toth, visit http://q-continuum.net/ .

>###

>ABOUT THE DEVELOPER:
>Christopher Toth is a freelance software developer in 
Tallahassee,
>Florida.  His projects focus primarily on breaking down the 
access
>barriers faced by blind consumers of technology on a daily basis.  
He
>is the creator of Hope, the accessible Pandora Radio client, and
>contributes regularly to various open-source projects.  Toth has 
been
>blind since early infancy as a result of Retinoblastoma, and 
started
>writing software while he was in high school.  He founded Q 
Software
>Solutions as a means of distributing his ideas and his code to 
those
>who will find it most useful.





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