Top Tech Tidbits - Volume 188
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) The November-December issue of Dialog Magazine features the Technology Answerbook and What's New and Where to Get it columns as well as a 2008 Gift Guide and other technology and non-technology-related articles.
http://blindskills.com/nov_dec_2008_toc.html

2) Ibby Karbhari is again making available his Easy-To-Use Diary in text and Word formats, 14 or 20 point size. The diary costs two pounds, payable by PayPal or credit card.
http://www.moving-mountains.com/diary.shtml

3) On the 13th, Stevie Wonder will hold another Houseful of Toys benefit concert in Los Angeles. Proceeds of this event go toward equipment for students and young people who need adaptive technology but cannot otherwise afford it. Sendero spearheads the project, and many other adaptive technology companies are contributing as well. Applications for equipment are open until January 15, with the nominating teacher and the student expected to write.
http://www.SenderoGroupddcom/hftformddhtm

4) Michael McCarty at American Printing House for the Blind has been busy this week with Fred's Head Companion. First, he delivers a collection of travel tips and resources for blind travelers and other travelers with disabilities:
http://www.fredshead.info/2006/08/tips-and-resources-for-blind-or.html

5) T. V. Raman is a blind mathematician and engineer. He wrote "Doing advanced math without vision". That article and some subsequent discussion it sparked is found here:
http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/raman/publications/thinking-of-math/

6) Since we mentioned Mr. Raman, we'll stop citing contributions from Fred's Head Companion for a moment to say that Emacspeak, a speech system built around the Emacs environment in Unix is now up to Version 29. Besides funny press releases, the product is offering increased access to various Google apps and other enhancements.
http://www.cs.vassar.edu/%7Epriestdo/emacspeak/

7) Back to Fred's Head Companion, here is a post detailing a couple places to download sounds for free:
http://www.fredshead.info/2008/06/download-sounds-for-free.html

8) Here is a post giving two sites that let you refine eBay searches and get notified when a product you want is available on eBay.
http://www.fredshead.info/2008/12/getitnext-on-ebay-with-stuffalert.html

9) This two-link post helps us verify that what we hear on the Internet is accurate.
http://www.fredshead.info/2006/10/keep-it-real-with-snopescom.html

10) The Radio is another online station with hundreds of thematic stations that play in an imbedded player.
http://www.theradio.com/

11) In our final borrowing from this prolific blog, here is a thorough post discussing many aspects of cd's and dvd's, how to write, read and understand the terminology related to them.
http://www.fredshead.info/2006/10/cds-and-dvds.html

12) The popular online game site for the blind and sighted, Al inPlay, offers bargains in the form of gift memberships at reduced prices.
http://allinplay.com/participate/gift_membership.php

13) MX Skype Recorder is one of many choices we have for recording Skype conversations. We'll learn about it on Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday, 16 December at 01:00.
http://www.accessibleworld.org

14) If you want to keep up with developments at TandT Consultancy, makers of JSay, JTunes and other products, you can now join an announce-only mailing list, Tandt-news. To join, send a blank message to
Tandt-news-subscribe@googlegroups.com

15) David Bales continues his tradition of producing free guides to Windows software, with this guide to using Windows Mail, the Vista e-mail client, with JAWS.
http://tinyurl.com/5zaf5z

16) The three products of the Braille Sense family from Gw Micro have received significant upgrades. More wireless encryption standards are supported; up-to-date Duxbury braille translation tables are included; the media player allows for changing the speed of recordings and for more flexible streaming media access. Deaf-blind users of the Braille Sense Plus can easily use its LCD display to communicate with sighted people in real time.
http://www.gwmicro.com

17) JAWSWiki is a community driven wiki for any information related to the use, configuration and scripting of the JAWS screen-reader along with listings and information about accessible and not so accessible applications.
http://wiki.jawsscripts.com

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