¶ MANCHESTER, S.D. (AP) _ You can't buy gas or groceries in Manchester. There's no mayor or city council. And if you're just aching for a Big Mac, keep on truckin'. ¶ But if you're in the market for software that makes computers more accessible to the blind, well, that's a different story. ¶ A wide spot off U.S. Highway 14 in rural eastern South Dakota may seem an unlikely spot for a company that markets computer products to hundreds of folks from Malta to Manitoba. But nobody bothered to mention that to Vernon Ferguson and his wife, Pat. ¶ Manchester-based Ferguson Enterprises recently released the latest version of SCANACAN, a software program designed to let the blind hear information on tens of thousands of items that have bar codes. ¶ A scanner reads the code and a synthesized voice provides information the user requests _ a simple description of the product or, in the case of food, how to prepare it. ¶ Pat demonstrates with a bottle. ¶ "Antacid chew tabs," a speaker attached to the computer coolly enunciates. ¶ "Cream chick," it says when she waves a can in front of the scanner's glowing red eye. The voice then spells out the directions to fix a hot bowl of soup. ¶ Pat, who is blind, said the program helps her keep track of her stock of groceries. After she uses an item, she tells the computer she has one fewer of that particular item on hand. That also helps when it comes time to make a grocery list, because it means she does not have to rack her brain trying to remember whether she fixed corn or beans for dinner a week ago. ¶ "Computers have made a world of difference in our accessibility today," Pat said. ¶ The first version of the program, released earlier this year, had a database with bar codes for about 30,000 grocery store items. A supermarket chain provided the codes to the Fergusons at no cost, and Vernon used a conversion program to enter them so that each code did not have to be entered manually. ¶ The latest version _ SCANACAN Plus _ has that database and allows customers to create more databases. It holds up to 2 billion bar codes, though that number may be limited by the memory available on the computer, Vernon said. The idea is to let customers catalog a variety of household items _ anything with a bar code. ¶ "SCANACAN is a home management system," Pat said. ¶ Alburnie Wright, of Morrisville, Pa., uses the software to label compact discs, making his work as a disc jockey easier. That way there's no chance he will play Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen" when he meant to play Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." ¶ Wright also uses the program to label his clothes. He sews on a bar code that has not been assigned to a product yet and inputs a description of the article of clothing, including its color. Then when it's time to get dressed, he can avoid mixing pinstripes and paisleys. ¶ The blind can use Braille coding for the same purpose, but Wright says that's far more cumbersome. SCANACAN also can benefit newly blind people who are not fluent in Braille or people whose fingers have lost the sensitivity needed to read Braille, he said. ¶ The program has done wonders for him in the month since he bought it, Wright said. ¶ "It's totally changed my whole life," he said. "You can use it for so much." ¶ He predicts it will become standard equipment for the blind. ¶ For now, customers must manually enter descriptions of products whose codes are not already in the program. But the Fergusons are seeking databases from more manufacturers to expand the software's usefulness. ¶ "We're always trying to get more databases," Pat said. "We're not going to charge for the databases as long as we're not charged for them." ¶ The Fergusons rely on catalog and Internet sales for the bulk of their business. That's probably for the best because the population of Manchester is 10 people, plus assorted coyotes, deer, jackrabbits and other critters. ¶ "We don't get in each other's way, that's for sure," Vernon said. ¶ Neither he nor Pat claims Manchester is South Dakota's answer to Silicon Valley. Then again, they have had their taste of West Coast living and are glad to be enjoying peace and quiet again. ¶ Vernon, a native of Manchester, met his wife while working in California in the late '70s. He worked for a telephone company and custom-built computers on the side. ¶ The Los Angeles area had its good points, he said, but there was a nagging fear of becoming a victim of violent crime. Lines were long, too, and housing costs kept rising. ¶ Finally, in 1983, the Fergusons decided to move to Manchester. Vernon still had plenty of family ties. Pat, an Oregon native who grew up in good-size towns, was nevertheless eager to taste life in rural South Dakota. ¶ "I was the one who wanted to move back here," she said, though the idea also had plenty of appeal to her husband. ¶ It was in Manchester that the couple went into the computer business full time. Vernon had built a talking computer in 1979 so his wife could help out with their work of producing labels for commercial and private use. Pat ties their current work back to those roots. ¶ "In the late '70s and early '80s, there weren't that many manufacturers of adaptive equipment for computers," she said. "We were not really into that at that time, but that is something we wanted to do. ... Our goal was to help blind people succeed." ¶ Today, Vernon does the programming and Pat handles customer orders and other phone and Internet duties. Their business is connected to their home, so they don't have to worry about commuting during South Dakota winters. ¶ Computer gizmos and gadgets are not the only products they handle. ¶ For those of the low-tech persuasion, they also have a room stocked with lawn and garden equipment and parts. People come from as far as Huron and Howard, both about a half-hour away, for Vernon's lawn mower expertise. ¶ Vernon noted the seasonal quality of the couple's work. Warm weather keeps things hopping on the lawn-and-garden side. ¶ "When the snow flies, things pick up fast," he said of the software business. "Everybody gets inside and starts playing with computers." VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List. To join or leave the list, send a message to [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations. VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html