Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 334
The Week's News in Access Technology

A Flying Blind, LLC Publication
http://www.flying-blind.com/

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Greetings,

1) The January, 2012 issue of The Braille Monitor contains an article entitled Mainstream Access to E-Books - What Works, What Doesn't, and What Is Still Unclear
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm12/bm1201/bm120105.htm

2) The January, 2012 issue of AccessWorld is now available, featuring a review of the low-cost screen magnifier CDesk COMPASS by AdaptiveVoice, an evaluation of the trekker Breeze, discussion of The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, A Guide to Accessing Spotify and Rhapsody Music Streaming Sites with a Screen Reader, and more.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld

3) Detailed instructions on how to install the Java access bridge for windows under various system configurations are found here.
http://ojt-accessibility.java.net/accessbridge

4) Along the same lines, JWin is a free, open source program for detecting and installing the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on Windows, together with the Java Access Bridge (JAB), which is needed for full accessibility of Java-based applications to assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities.
http://EmpowermentZone.com/JWin_setup.zip

5) The Cisco Academy for the Vision Impaired is offering its unique and proven Courses for the first semester, 2012. Application dedline is 3 February. Besides established courses in IT essentials and CCNA Discovery and Exploration, a new course, "An intro to command-line Linux administration". Per-course cost is $500 if an employer or agency is paying and roughly a third of that if you pay out of pocket. Please see:
http://www.ciscovision.org/
Or Email:
caviinfo@ciscovision.org

6) Learn about the latest version of the accessible audio production scripts and tutorial called CakeTalking for SONAR from Dancing Dots in a brand-new audio presentation created by Bryan Smart.
http://www.dancingdots.com/huge/ct8.5demo.mp3

7) Many people and organizations have striven to create a truly affordable braille display; so far, none has brought a product to fruition. Now, David Pankhurst appears to be launching an endeavor with considerable energy. I hope it happens someday, and maybe he'll be the person to get it done.
http://www.indiegogo.com/Open-Source-Braille-Display

8) Part of the Tek Talk presentation for GMT Tuesday, 10 January, at 01:00 will be the second part of a two-part tutorial on using SendSpace.
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

9) Here are some of the latest additions to the Gizmo site:
Start The Year With A Free Security Check For Your PC
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/start-year-free-security-check-your-pc.htm
Gizmo's Freeware Award for Best Freeware Product of 2011
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/gizmo-s-freeware-award-best-freeware-product-2011.htm
This Selection of Useful Tutorials and How-To Articles Will Help Make You a Better PC User
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/selection-useful-tutorials-and-how-articles-will-help-make-you-better-pc-user.htm
Best Free File Archiver-Zip Utility
http://www.techsupportalert.com/users/akt
Best Free OCR Software
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-ocr-software.htm

10) Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow demonstrate finding, downloading and reading with Bookshare's Read2Go iOS app in this podcast.
http://blindaccessjournal.com/2012/01/never-leave-home-without-your-books-bookshare-read2go-for-ios/

11) You can find the JAWS scripts to work with the latest version of the Goldwave audio editor on the Blind Geek Zone Programs page.
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/programs.htm

12) GW Micro has launched a new email list: GW-Apps, designed for discussions related to all GW Micro and Window-Eyes Apps, including GW Skype. You can sign up for this list, and all other GW Micro lists, at
http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv

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