Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 208
The Week's News in Access Technology

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) Mobile DAISY Player V2.2 from Code Factory, for use on Symbian phones, supports the Microsoft Save as Daisy plug-in, plays files from NFB Newsline in your Pocket, lets you convert MP3 files to DAISY, and has a Go to Page feature.
http://codefactory.es/en/downloads.asp?id=43#version_2_57

2) Jamal Mazrui has received more feedback concerning Mctwit than any of his other programs, testifying to the popularity of Twitter. Version 1.4 is now out, operating on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and featuring other enhancements.
http://EmpowermentZone.com/mtsetup.exe

3) Bay Area Digital is designing accessible medical equipment. Their first product is nearly ready for release and it's called HealthTeller. It will give access to some never-before accessible medical equipment including a peakflow meter and an oximeter. the company has prepared a special report/white paper, available in Word or MP3 formats describing the product potential.
http://healthteller.blinkweb.com

4) The DAISY Consortium announces the new release of AMIS software, Version 3.0. AMIS is a free, open source software application for reading DAISY books. It is self-voicing, therefore specialized screen-reading software is not needed.
http://www.daisy.org/news/attachments/amis_3.0_release.html

5) Here is a lengthy Fred's Head article, with links to lots of resources, entitled Meeting the Challenge of Finding Employment
http://www.fredshead.info/2006/07/meeting-challenge-of-finding.html

6) This one is called
How to Determine if a Computer is a 32 or 64 bit System with Windows
http://www.fredshead.info/2009/05/how-to-determine-if-computer-is-32-or.html

7) Finally, two posts of potential benefit to people who have a good deal of vision: Creating a Big Blinkin' Cursor!
http://www.fredshead.info/2009/05/creating-big-blinkin-cursor.html
and Making the Desktop Icons Bigger
http://www.fredshead.info/2009/05/making-desktop-icons-bigger.html

8) Serotek has extended their offer of a $200 price reduction for System Access for people who don't have a software maintenance agreement with their existing screen reader until May 31. Their podcast #14 contains current tech news and an interview about Blue microphones. they are offering some microphone vigeaways.
http://serotalk.com/2009/05/12/serotalk-podcast-14-quality-blue-microphones/

9) This is coming up soon, and you have to pre-register, but it will also be archived: Seminars@Hadley Presents: Self-Employment and Working from Home, Friday, 15 May, 15:00 GMT
http://www.hadley.edu/seminar/

10) The May, 2009 issue of AccessWorld is freely available, containing part one of Navigating by Phone: A Review of Wayfinder Access GPS and Mobile Geo, focusing on Wayfinder Access, a summary of learnings from the CSUN conference, and other articles.
http://www.afb.org/accessworld

11) Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday, 19 May at 00:00 features A discussion of The Cash manager, Accounting Software used by blind persons
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

12) You can download a walk-through of an installation of a Linux distribution called Vinux.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bnpkdq

13) Dancing Dots Braille Music Technology & Handy Tech North America present a two-day in-house seminar in Minnesota: Accessible Audio Production: Track, Mix and Master with SONAR, Thursday, June 11, and Friday, June 12, 2009 - 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Cost is $550. e-mail
earle@handytech.us

14) The Legend is an Internet radio station playing particularly oldies. Two personalities in the blind technology industry have launched or are about to launch programs on it. First, the Mosen Explosion Radio Program is back, with Jonathan Mosen creating a three-hour interactive program playing music from the 60's and 70's on GMT Sundays at 18:00. You can join one of two mailing lists to learn about this weekly radio event. To join an announcement-only list, send a blank message to
announce-subscribe@mosenexplosion.com

15) And Brian Hartgen will launch his two-hour program on The Legend, playing music from much of the 20th century, taking requests for obscure or interesting music you'd like to hear or dedicate. Read about the program here:
http://www.hartgen.org/thelegend.html
And you can listen to either of these programs, as well as others, in a variety of audio formats, here:
http://loudcity.com/stations/the-legend/files/show/index.html

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