Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 3, 2015 - Volume 537
The Week's News in Access Technology

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

This Week's Featured Advertisement: Shop the Flying Blind, LLC Online Store This Holiday Season!

Having just wrapped the Thanksgiving holiday last week we at Flying Blind, LLC would like to kick off by wishing all of you a fantastic and joyous Holiday Season. And just in the St. Nick of time we've added some new products and reduced pricing within our online store that may just make your shopping list a little easier to fill this year. Stop by and pick something out for a friend, family member, or yourself. We provide a wide selection of deals on refurbished equipment, refreshable braille displays, low vision solutions, and daily living aids for people of all ages with a variety of visual impairments. And remember, we offer free shipping within the 48 Continental United States for purchases over $100.00 USD or more 365 days a year! We're also available by email at featured@flying-blind.com or by calling us at +1 (216) 381-8107 to answer any of your questions, help you with your transaction, or just provide you with guidance on which solutions might work best for you!

Check Out the Flying Blind, LLC Online Store This Holiday Season at: https://www.toptechtidbits.com/store.html.

Greetings,

1) Codex is a free, donation-ware e-book conversion tool. With Codex, you can take the books you've legally purchased from sites like Amazon, Smashwords, and popular eBook stores using Adobe Digital Editions or Barnes & Noble via NookStudy and convert them to a format of your choice, be it ePub for reading on the latest devices, plain text to read in Notepad, or any of the other supported output formats:
http://jscholes.net/project/codex/

2) Here is a professional paper, "A survey of assistive technologies and applications for blind users on mobile platforms: A review and foundation for research:"
http://www.soundofvision.net/a-survey-of-assistive-technologies-and-applications-for-blind-users-on-mobile-platforms-a-review-and-foundation-for-research-2/

3) Read the prize-winning essays in the Onkyo World Braille Essay Contest:
http://www.euroblind.org/projects-and-activities/activities/nr/210

4) The monthly AppleVis post detailing, "What's New in Accessible Apps for November 2015" is ready for your perusal:
http://www.applevis.com/blog/ios-apps-mac-apps-news/applevis-unlimited-whats-new-accessible-apps-november-2015

5) Geof Collis has written a second book in his WordPress series, this one teaches how to create an ecommerce site, or a community forum site:
http://wpforbadeyes.com/badeyes-launches-second-online-book-in-its-wordpress-for-badeyes-series/

6) Lynnette Tatum has created JlWordTips, a $4.95 iOS app, which is a 21-lesson course on using Microsoft Word 2010-13, with emphasis on shortcut keys:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mlwordtips-quick-keyboard/id1034632174?mt=8

7) During the Tek Talk program on GMT Tuesday, 8 December at 01:00, you'll hear about three programs: communication app Zello, folder-sharing program BittorentSync, and the Google Chrome browser:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

8A) Brian Hartgen will offer a four-lesson course, "Improve your Outlook: Optimizing the Power of JAWS for Windows and Microsoft Outlook, starting 14 January, 2016. The course costs 100 pounds or approximately $150.00 USD. To express interest or get more information, write to:
jaws@hartgen.org

8B) While we're talking about that company, Hartgen Consultancy has released Version 3 of the Leasey package, including three new games, an eBay search, and program enhancements:
http://www.hartgen.org/node/351

9) The free Windows Twitter client TwBlue has undergone a major upgrade, allowing for multiple conversations, keyboard mapping, language translation and much more:
http://twblue.es/node/23

10) Here we have a review of the Smart Beetle Braille display from HIMS:
http://www.applevis.com/reviews/braille-devices/smart-beetle-hims

11) If you end up getting a new Android device for Christmas, here are some accessible apps for it:
http://blog.blackspheretech.com/?p=306

12) Check out this Interview with Sadam Ahmed reviewing the NVDA 2015.4 update, 15 minutes into the recording:
http://www.rphadelaide.org.au/links/LL3.mp3

13) Another NVDA-related innovation: AudioScreen is an experiment in image accessibility for blind people. It is an NVDA add-on. The demonstration recording shows the developer using the add-on to explore a map of Australia, a rainbow, the earth from space, a cartoon house, and a sunset:
https://github.com/nvaccess/audioScreen/blob/master/readme.md

14) The European Commission has proposed a European Accessibility Act, which will set common accessibility requirements for certain key products and services that will help people with disabilities at EU level to participate fully in society:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-6147_en.htm

15) Get to know Unified English Braille in this short audio series:
http://www.ukaaf.org/braille/ueb/describing-unified-english-braille/

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Description: The U2 provides unparalleled Braille access to PowerPoint and Excel files, connects you to the Cloud via Dropbox, and puts the wide world of social networking at your ...

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Flying Blind, LLC Online Store Highlights:
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1.) Silver Indoor Outdoor Talking Thermometer for $16.95 USD - Flying Blind, LLC Online Store
http://bit.ly/1HHaM7I
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A portable Braille display with more to offer for less money. The Mini provides Braille input and output for PCs, tablets, mobile phones, and gives you that internal notetaking functionality ...

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Spiral bound book. Holds up to 500 address listings. Three address listings per page. Includes 20/20 pen. Durable covers with inside front and back pockets. Alphabetical tabs and ample room ...

4.) Smart Beetle 14 Cell Refreshable Braille Display with Executive Products Carrying Case for $1,275.00 USD - Flying Blind, LLC Online Store
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A Pocket-sized Power Pack That Fits Your Lifestyle and Your Budget! Ultra-Portable 14-Cell Braille Display with 5 Simultaneous Bluetooth Connections! Smart Beetle is a 14 Cell Braille ...

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Spiral bound register helps keep better control of check recording. Contains spaces for 14 entries per full page. Size: 5" x 9" ...

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