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Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 162

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) These three technology-related books have recently appeared on the Online Books page, and are freely available. I know nothing more about the books or the accessibility of the files. Structures of Participation in Digital Culture
http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/books/2007/12/31/structures-of-participation-in-digital-culture/

Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization: A White Paper
http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub141abst.html

The Future of the Internet, and How to Stop It (interactive electronic edition,
http://yupnet.org/zittrain/

2) A series of YouTube videos to train users and teachers on the Braille+, American Printing House's version of the Levelstar from Icon, is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2U7ZKY54fI

3) The Braille+ and Icon run under Linux, and Bob Rankin has made his book, "The No BS Guide to Linux" available for free download:
http://www.lowfatlinux.com/

4) The May, 2008 edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival contains several articles on synthetic speech, including a discussion of the Yakitome service we have mentioned here before, speech synthesis on the Mac, and a variety of speech synthesis experiences with JAWS.
http://atblogcarnival.blogspot.com/

5) Thanks to the Access Ability blog, we have the link to a transcript of Glenn Beck's interview with the always-interesting Ray Kurzweil:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/30/gb.01.html

6) A reader recommends HotKeyMan, a free little utility for assigning hotkeys to open programs, send text and perform a few other functions. The good news for Vista users is that it gives the same functionality provided by the unsupported WinKey program, which many of us like, letting you assign hotkeys to combinations including the Windows Key:
http://hotkeyman.hulubulu.net/

7) GW Micro will provide 3-hour, $10 trainings on Window-Eyes and the Braille Sense at the ACB convention in Louisville on Saturday, 6 July. Register online:
https://www.acb.org/convention/register2008-1.html

8) On the Dolphin web site, we find a video of users of the Dolphin EasyReader Daisy player discuss, in this video, the benefits of the new Save as Daisy add-on which enables Word documents to be saved as Daisy files. This video is in English, but there are Mandarin, French, Dutch and Spanish versions on the Dolphin site:
http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msnse/0804/33022/Daisy_MBR.wmv

9) Dolphin Systems has released a free upgrade version 9.02 for all their screen access and magnification products. This upgrade features some enhancements to web navigation and improvements to the list utility among other fixes.
http://www.yourdolphin.com

10) Serotek's Digital Lifestyle will be the topic for the Tek Talk training to take place on GMT Tuesday, 10 June at 00:00.
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

11) Speaking of Serotek, as part of their Serotek Summer Sizzle promotion, a lucky respondent to their online questionnaire will win a laptop and a full package of their software.
http://serotek.com/

12) In the May issue of FSCast, you can learn about the latest JAWS and MagIc updates and listen to a CSUN presentation regarding the Pac Mate Omni.
http://podcast.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/episodes/fscast018-may2008.mp3

13) And Freedom Scientific is hiring an on-site technical support specialist. E-mail resume to:
BryanC@freedomscientific.com

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