Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, June 28, 2007
There was no newsletter last week. With US blind consumer convention week approaching, I'm surprised there hasn't been more news, but maybe it will come next week.

Yours truly got careless a few weeks ago and made an error. (Shock, amazement!) When the ReadEasy Scanner was to be discussed on Accessible World, I wanted to get the price so that I could tell everybody up front what the unit costs. I found the price on the official site from the UK,
http://visionaid.co.uk/
Ł1595.00, multiplied by my perceived conversion ratio of 1.33, and stated an approximate price for the machine of $2400 US. The actual price is $2900 US.

1) There have been a few pieces of news timed for the conventions. Owners of the KNFB Reader will soon be able to buy a collapsible stand which will facilitate the reading process for some users, for $150 from dealers and from the NFB. the next software upgrade for the Reader will enable reading a wide variety of text colors and backgrounds.
http://www.knfbreader.com/

2) Ai Squared has released two portable low-vision devices. the Nemo is an ultra portable pocket sized magnifier with much capability, costing $795, while the Max is a reading unit the size of a computer mouse that connects to any television. the color unit is 4449 and the black and white display unit costs $349.
http://www.aisquared.com/portable

3) HandyTech USA now sells packages including a Symbian 8 mobile phone, the Mobile Speak screen reader, a gps receiver, and Wayfinder Access gps software, or whichever of those components the user needs. Discounts on these packages are offered until 15 July.
http://www.handytech.us/
You can download a demo of the gps system here:
http://www.triumphonic.com/demos/wfademo.mp3

4) Thanks to Tim Sears and Reginald George, here is a web site full of little programs that give you power to turn off loud automatic music played by some pages and to eliminate other annoying web behavior on different pages.
https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/zap.html

5) Larry Lewis's latest sales and information venture is a company called Flying Blind.
http://www.Flying-Blind.com
Larry is producing podcasts in which he demonstrates products he likes and sells. the first one demonstrates Mobile Speak Pocket, its braille support, and use of windows Media Player on a pda. Download the file here
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast1.mp3
Or use this link to subscribe to the feed
http://flying-blind.com/tinc?key=pvsai0mw

6) A new iteration of JFW version 8, this one declared to be a full non-beta release for windows vista users, is now available.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp

7) Accessibility reviews of UK Audio Network and RealPlayer version 11 Beta have been added to the AccessWatch database
http://www.accesswatch.info

8) the article Understanding the Microsoft Office 2007 Ribbon, recently added to the Gw Micro Knowledge Base, might be useful even if you don't use window-Eyes as your screen reader.
http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/Knowledge_Base/?kbnumber=GWKB1075

9) the audio and PowerPoint for a 20 June HumanWare presentation on BrailleConnect and Braille Display, using Mobile Speak Pocket, are now available for download, and HumanWare plans to add more presentations to the site.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/product_presentations

10) t&T Consultancy announces that at the Sight village exhibition in the UK in July, they will release two sets of JAWS scripts for purchase. J-Days gives full access to the Outlook 2007 Calendar, while J-Vist gives good access to the windows Vista speech input component. they have not made prices available on their web site for these products.
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com/

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