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Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 163

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) Spybot Search and Destroy version 1.6.0.25 beta is now available, and this version of the popular free anti-spyware tool is supposed to include accessibility improvements.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SpyBot-Search_&_Destroy_Tools_Beta_d5396.html

2) Jamal Mazruihas made available the wisdom he has acquired making programs written in various programming languages more accessible to speech users by releasing his SayTools package to help orogrammers add speech functionality to their programs. He has already advanced this to version 1.2 by adding some functionality unique to some languages.
http://EmpowermentZone.com/saysetup.exe

3) Among the gems we mine from Fred's Head Companion this week is a post giving tips for purchasing an external hard drive.
http://www.fredshead.info/2008/06/tips-for-purchasing-external-hard-drive.html

4) Another is a compendium of information on the theme of Using Outlook Express (or other POP3 e-mail clients such as Outlook) with AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo!
http://www.fredshead.info/2008/06/using-outlook-express-with-aol-hotmail.html

5) On the subject of e-mail, they also mention Pop Peeper, a little utility that can let you know when you receive mail messages from all sorts of mail accounts using many kinds of programs and services.
http://www.poppeeper.com/

6) The Ranger Station comes through with news about a new game, which is free to play while it is in beta. It is TAG, The Anagram Game, from All inPlay. Try it here:
http://allinplay.com/games/beta.php

7) This article from The Braille Monitor for May is entitled The KNFB Reader Mobile: An Individual Perspective
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm08/bm0805/bm080508.htm

8) And this article from the June issue is called The Victor Reader Stream --More Than an iPod for the Blind
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm08/bm0806/bm080605.htm

9) Tag-It Demonstrates The Talking Skeleton and Much More On Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday, 17 June at 00:00. This system, based on the RFID -technology (Radio frequency, allows identification of objects that are provided with tags or transponders and displays information via a computer, a PDA or some other small device. The tags are small self-adhesive labels which can be received by a RFID reader on a short distance without intervisibility. This process has unbelievable adaptations that are already broadening the horizons of the blind and low vision both tactually and audibly.
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

10) Daisy and Macintosh advocate Greg Kearney announces iStream version 2.0, a free utility for owners of the Victor Reader Stream who use Macs.
http://w3.wmcnet.org/dtbmaker/istream/

11) Greg's center has made temporarily available the agenda for the National Federation of the Blind convention and the magazine from its Writers' Division in Daisy format:
http://www.cucat.org/books/tmp/index.php

12) Along with its usual collection of provocative non-technology-related articles, the May-June issue of DIALOGUE Magazine includes an article about the Alliance for Technology Access, a Technology Answer Book column and lots of other adaptive technology information.
http://blindskills.com/may_jun_2008_toc.html

13) EASI will present a free webinar on Accessibility of Next Generation Web Applications: An Overview of Web 2.0, on Thursday, 19 June at 19:00 GMT.
http://easi.cc/forms/web2008.htm

14) We learn from Fred's Head Companion about this web site that takes measurements and converts them into familiar objects so we can get an idea of what the length, height or weight means in real terms.
http://www.sensibleunits.com/

15) They also direct us to SafeManuals, a site with thousands of product manuals, some doubtless more readable than others, all in pdf format.
http://www.safemanuals.com

16) Speaking of pdf documents, Fred's Head Companion alerts us to a web-based service for converting them to text, even retaining form elements if the pdf is a form.
http://pdftextonline.com/

17) And here's a $12.50 pdf document converter that will convert pdf's into all sorts of formats and is said to be thoroughly accessible. A free demo of this program, called ABC Amber Pdf, can be had here:
http://www.processtext.com/abcpdf.html

18) The AIRS-Los Angeles podcast contains some readings of periodicals and some programs targeted to inform those with print disabilities.
http://www.Airsla.org

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