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Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 224
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.

This Issue's Featured Advertisement:
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ABISee is offering a complete solution for blind and low vision that includes a FREE ACER NETBOOK when you purchase one of their popular computer based products. This promotion applies to Zoom-Twix, the student's favorite, as well as Eye-Pal and Zoom-Ex, but only this September and October, while supplies last. Plug these devices into a USB Port and they instantly read any printed material fonts 7.5 and bigger, even crumpled papers and junk mail. Each product can scan up to 20 pages per minute, so save as many books as your hard drive will hold.
 
Eye-Pal is a device for the blind that is integrated with Braille displays.
 
Zoom-Ex will both read and display text in large font.
 
Zoom-Twix adds a second camera to zoom up on the teacher or blackboard and captures images with a single keystroke, eliminating a lot of note taking. Students love that, and it is an advantage over sighted colleagues.
 
The captured text becomes accessible to the user in multiple ways. You can store it as image or MS document, cut and paste, or otherwise manipulate converted text. Display the text in the size and color of your choice utilizing "word wrapping" so it never goes off the screen reading aloud or through headphones. The result is much like a personal teleprompter that also reads. If you prefer, set the display to a continuous line while you control the speed, font size, and contrast. By giving away the Acer computer, ABISee is providing a practical, lightweight, and affordable solution that fits easily into a backpack or briefcase for both students and professionals.
 
For more information, contact ABISee, Inc. at 1 (800) 681-5905, sales@abisee.com, or visit us on the web at www.abisee.com.

Greetings,

1) Perhaps the most significant adaptive technology news of the week comes from Apple with their release of the Snow Leopard Operating System for the Mac. The system brings significant enhancements in the ways mac users can navigate the web as well as other usability changes.
http://www.lioncourt.com/reviews/mac-os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-with-voiceover

2) Here is a MacWorld review of the new operating system:
http://www.macworld.com/article/142423/2009/08/snow_leopard_review.html?lsrc=twt_macworld

3) Meanwhile, it's that time again, as a new version of JAWS, version 11, is starting its public beta cycle. Listen to the official version from the company on this month's FSCast:
http://podcast.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/episodes/fscast033-august2009.mp3

4) JAWS 11 is now in public beta, including a research feature, improved access to ARIA content on the web, better ability to support multiple sound cards, a free DAISY player, and a host of other features.
http://freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/JAWS-public-beta.asp

5) Internet Explorer 8 with Jaws, Window-Eyes, and System Access is a $5 reference card available from National Braille Press In Braille, PortaBook, ASCII Text, and downloadable formats.
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/IE8.html

6) You can grab a two-hour audio Tutorial on the Book Sense here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6tuwq6

7) This Fred's Head posting discusses barcode scanners and other systems for identifying and labeling products.
http://www.fredshead.info/2005/10/bar-code-scanners.html

8) You can post a letter to a fairly accessible web-based form, pay a fee and have the letter mailed to a U.S. address through the postal service.
http://www.fredshead.info/2005/10/bar-code-scanners.html

9) SeroTalk Tech Chat 30 discusses Effectively Searching the Internet, providing instruction for better use of Google and some other sites to use when desirable.
http://serotalk.com/2009/08/29/serotalk-tech-chat-30-effectively-searching-the-internet/

10) The topics for SeroTalk Podcast 22 include Listening to NFL Games, Building Homes Without Eyesight, and Installing Snow Leopard on the Mac
http://serotalk.com/2009/09/01/serotalk-podcast-22-listening-to-nfl-games-building-homes-without-eyesight-and-installing-snow-leopard-on-the-mac/

11) Thanks to BlindBargains.com, we learn of the Time Magazine opinion as to the 50 best web sites in 2009.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1918031,00.html

12) The July-August, 2009 issue of Dialogue contains various technology-related material including an article about social networking.
http://www.blindskills.com/jul_aug_2009_toc.html

13) GW Micro is now shipping the $595 Portable SenseVoiew Pocket, a portable magnifier using a different screen display technology, OLED, which is said to yield a brighter screen with better color and an unlimited viewing angle.
http://www.gwmicro.com/CCTV/SenseView_Pocket

14) Vinux version 2.0, a specialized version of Linux optimized for people with vision loss, is now released. Vinux provides a screen-reader, full screen magnification and support for Braille displays.
http://vinux-development.blogspot.com/2009/08/vinux-20-release-notes.html

15) Cantor Access announces "UNDERSTANDING WEB ACCESSIBILITY," a $225 course for Web content developers and people who need to know about making Web content accessible to everyone. It is free to citizens of the province of Ontario, and is offered three times this fall in intensive and standard schedule formats.
http://www.atutor.ca/services/courses.php

16) Rigel Technology offers these online seminars: Understanding Word 2007, 6 hours, $495; Making Windows Vista your friend, 2 hours, $75; Basic Jaws Scripting, 8 hours, $795; and Understanding Excel 2007, 6 hours, $495. Various schedules are available. To enroll or for more information, no web site is given; call 888-723-5011, ext. 1.

17) The Innovations program currently in the midst of its airing schedule includes information about using screen readers with Internet Explorer 8, another installment in the "Everything you might want to know about audio" series, an interview with the author of the new book on the use of Word by the blind, and information about audio description from the BBC.
http://www.theglobalvoice.info

18) The State of Minnesota has two accessibility-related jobs, full-time through 2011, whose application deadlines are fast approaching: Project Consultant SR,
https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/JobPosting/19e7b157205bcca59f95afd34f03a550/View
and Information Tech
https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/JobPosting/3f85a820ee1b07d21a43891909eb0140/View

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