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Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, March 18, 2010 – Volume 250

The Week’s News in Access Technology

Distributed by Flying Blind, LLC
http://www.flying-blind.com/

Introducing EO-EDPS, Bringing Environmental Access Through Universal Design to the United States

Based in Lyon, France, EO-EDPS has a rich history of integrating the multi-sensory experiences of vision impaired travelers into environmental design modifications that enable these individuals to more independently explore, access, orient themselves to, and safely navigate throughout, a variety of settings across the country of France. EO-EDPS will unveil its “Global Accessibility Concept” at this year’s 25th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference via General Session Presentation BLV-2017 on Friday, March 26, 2010 from 12:00 – 12:30 PM PST in the Del Mar AB Room of the Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego. Come join Fabrice Mercier, International Sales Manager, EO-EDPS, as he presents these solutions by registering to attend this presentation. You may also e-mail Fabrice directly at fmercier@eo-edps.fr to receive more information, or a demonstration of any of the aforementioned solutions while attending the conference.

Greetings,

News

1.) Music Playlists for Different Moods

This site lets you listen to playlists of music that it believes relate to different moods.
http://www.stereomood.com/

2.) Tek Talk on Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic Downloads

This author will discuss the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic seb site, the process of downloading books from RFB&D, and why you might want to access the service, which is now free to any print-disabled American, on Tek Talk on GMT Tuesday, 23 March at 00:00
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

3.) Cory Ballard Reviews the Book Port Plus

Cory Ballard spends a week with the Book Port Plus and reviews it.
http://access4.us/2010/03/bookportplusaww/#more-94

4.) Serotek Podcast 37 and the Portable Talking Bible

Serotek Podcast 37 covers a variety of tech news and discusses the portable talking Bible.
http://serotalk.com/2010/03/16/serotalk-podcast-37-tech-news-advocacy-talking-bible-and-transferring-files/

5.) Serotek Tech Chat on Online Educational Resources

Serotek Tech Chat 54 discusses online educational resources.
http://serotalk.com/2010/03/12/serotalk-tech-chat-54-several-educational-resources-online-sero-2/

6.) Window-Eyes 7.2 Public Beta Adds Office 2010 Support

Users of current versions of Window-Eyes can take part in the public beta test for version 7.2, which adds support for Microsoft Office 2010, improves support for iTunes and provides a lot of fixes and small enhancements.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes/Beta/Readme/

7.) DAISY and HTML Program Information for CSUN

BlindBargains.com helps us find DAISY and html program and venue information for the upcoming CSUN conference.
http://www.daisy.org/csun-2010-files

8.) Blind Mind Podcast Previews Talks Version 5

They also lead us to Blind Mind, a blog and podcast with tech reviews and tutorials. In the latest episode, we get a preview of Talks for mobile phones version 5.
http://blog.blindmind.net/2010/03/17/podcast-interview-exclusive–torsten-brand-tells-all-about-talks-v50-in-this-extended-40minute-interview.aspx

9.) Ez One Phone from Snapfon for Low Vision

Independent Living Aids has a mobile phone that could be of interest to people with low vision. The Ez One from Snapfon displays digits in a 28-point font and speaks them as entered, features a high-iontensity LED light and an S.O.S. button which can dial local emergency services as well as ring four pre-programmed numbers when pressed for five seconds, and has an fm tuner. the phone costs $99.99 and works on GSM carriers worldwide, including with prepaid cards.
http://www.independentliving.com//prodinfo.asp?number=813201

10.) Debunking the Myth of PDF Inaccessibility Webinar

AFB Consulting and Adobe present Debunking the Myth of PDF Inaccessibility, a free 90-minute webinar on Monday 5 April at 17:00 UTC. People can phone in toll-free from Australia, the UK and the US.
http://www.afb.org/Community.asp?EventID=2156

11.) Watch Live Sports Free at MYP2P

This sounds too good to be true, but I had heard about it elsewhere: Fred’s Head directs us to MYP2P, a web site where you can watch most live sports events free.
http://www.myp2p.eu/

12.) Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Programs by State

This Fred’s Head post is entitled Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Programs and Access to Telework Loan Programs, and lists programs by state.
Assistive Technology Alternative Financing Programs and Access to Telework Loan Programs
http://www.fredshead.info/2010/03/state-assistive-technology-and-telework.html

13.) Free Open-Source Screen Reader for Android Phones

Fred’s Head points us to Stiel, a free, open-source screen reader for Android phones and netbooks. the product is under development an at present gives access to basic features of the devices.
http://spielproject.info/

14.) Accessibility of Olympus Digital Recorders

The Cisco Academy for the Vision Impaired did a podcast overviewing the accessibility of the Olympus digital recorders.
It can be found at:
http://cucat.org/class_notes/Thursday%20chats/2010/olympus_podcast.mp3

15.) Kathy Ann Murtha Textbooks on Web Browsers

Kathy Ann Murtha has lowered the prices on textbooks related to web browsers and updated their content to add new screen reader features such as ResearchIt for JAWS.
http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/browsers/

16.) Olearia is a free DAISY player for the Mac

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/29377/olearia

17.) ReadHear DAISY Reader for the Mac

ReadHear is a DAISY Reader for the Mac from the UK available for purchase but with a 30-day trial period:
http://www.gh-accessibility.com/products/readhear_mac

18.) Accessible Facebook Chat Through AOL Instant Messenger

FaceBook chat is accessible to users of JAWS for windows and of VoiceOver on the Mac through AOL Instant Messenger. The feature enhancement is now in beta testing, so you can get it at:
http://beta.aol.com/
To get AIM, and to get this feature in the official version once testing is complete in several weeks, you can get it from:
http://www.aim.com

19.) JAWS Script Exchange Version 7.2

Jamal Mazrui has updated JAWS Script Exchange to version 7.2. This version offers some fixes and additions, and the package comes with several script sets you might want to install.
http://EmpowermentZone.com/jsxsetup.exe

20.) Government of Canada Website Accessibility Petition

There is a GOVERNMENT OF CANADA WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY Petition available for interested people to sign
http://www.petitiononline.com/GCWAP/petition.html

21.) New Evaluations in the AccessWatch Database

Accessibility evaluations of Klango version 3.1.1, Entombed version 1.0, autoit version 3.4.0.0 and Day by Day version Professional have been added to the AccessWatch database.
http://www.accesswatch.info

22.) Accessibility Quality Engineer Job at Apple

Apple is seeking an Accessibility Quality Engineer to work in Cupertino, California.
http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=48170&CurrentPage=1

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