Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 175
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) Rynhardt Kruger has written a free program for users of Symbian Series 3 phones allowing users to read text-based books on the phone and setting bookmarks and searching. You need the Python interpreter for the phones. For information and to request, write to:
rpkruger@users.sourceforge.net

2) Some new books, each somewhat related to technology, have been announced on the Online Books page: "Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software":
http://twobits.net/
Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age
http://www.digitalculture.org/originality.html
The Hyperlinked Society: Questioning Connections in the Digital Age
http://www.digitalculture.org/hyperlinked.html

3) The Alva Braille Controller 640, a modern wireless braille display, will be the subject of Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday, 9 September at 00:00.
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

4) Shell Extension City is a continual source of interesting Windows utilities and powertools. The next few items come from there:
http://www.shellcity.net/

5) Browser Hijack Retaliator is a set of tools to protect your web browser from having its home page changed:
http://www.zamaansoft.com/

6) Restore is a program which may let you recover files accidentally deleted with the shift+del keystroke. It also lets you permanently delete files.
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html

7) Movavi lets you download movies from video-sharing sites like YouTube and save them to your phone or to various video formats:
http://online.movavi.com/

8) This site lists several WINDOWS PERFORMANCE TWEAKING MYTHS, claiming that many of the tweaks recommended on the web are either useless or harmful:
http://lifehacker.com/5033518/debunking-common-windows-performance-tweaking-myths

9) Now, from Fred's Head Companion, if you maintain a blog or want to, you might want to join the BlindBloggers e-mail group by sending a blank message to:
blindbloggers-subscribe@googlegroups.com

10) The publication Accessing Foreign Language Materials as a Blind or Low Vision Student addresses studying languages such as Mandarin, Turkish, Arabic, Korean and others where the road for the American or Western European student is less familiar.
http://www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/languageguide

11) Finally, SimpleWeather.com is a no-frills, easy-to-use weather site, great for pc's and notetakers.
http://www.simpleweather.com/

12) This web site seeks to make news sources accessible by reading them using its own synthetic voice. The site features some hotkey access, for which you will need to turn off MSAA or browse mode in your screen reader if you are using one.
http://www.vocentum.com

13) Code Factory has an active blog with considerable information to read and several podcast interviews to listen to:
http://codefactoryblog.wordpress.com/

Would you like to receive text-only versions of the Tidbits and Flying Blind, LLC E-Newsletters? If so, find the link at the bottom of every E-News titled "Update Profile/E-Mail Address", and check this newly-available option.

Feel free to forward individual Tidbits, or the entire tidbits issue, to interested people (but make sure they don't already receive it; a lot do!) When doing this, please have the courtesy to cite your source, perhaps directing them to the tidbits website (see below.)

Tidbits is intentionally concise, but I know a lot of people don't understand many of the items because little explanation is given. If a Tidbit brings up a question in your mind, feel free to ask, and I'll answer as time, knowledge and inclination permit.

Visit the Tidbits page at http://www.topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm where you can subscribe to the RSS feed and grab back issues. All that welcome information for future issues can come to me at dean@topdotenterprises.com.

People can subscribe to Tidbits via e-mail: tttt-join@topdotenterprises.com (Make sure to get all 4 T's into the address!)

| Flying Blind, LLC | 955 Pembrook Road | Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44121 |