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Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 148

Distributed by Flying Blind, LLC
http://www.flying-blind.com/

For questions and comments regarding Tidbits, please e-mail Dean Martineau at dean@topdotenterprises.com.
 
Dean Martineau provides adaptive technology training by phone, online, and in person, with flexible arrangements, and at affordable prices.

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 http://www.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://html.com/blog/25-website-accessibility-checker-tools/

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:
connie@atechcenter.net

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

25) 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:
information-subscribe@blindphones.info

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