Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 9, 2007 (double mailing: html version
I'm sending this newsletter out twice because of an error on my part, and because it's periodically good to do this to make sure everybody knows what's going on. There will be a little more text this time, but not much more.
I offer two versions of the newsletter, mailed in different ways to hpefully get past spam filters. this is the html version, which most, but not all, people see as html, with links in the messages. the other version is atext only version which I mail myself rather than using the Mailman program. That version depends on a file of addresses which I cleverly managed to delete and did not have backed up. So if you want that version, whether or not you have ever received it, please write to me and I'll re-create the list.
A couple more notes: Feel free to send individual paragraphs (items) from Tidbits to non-subscribing friends, but please tell them where you got the information. A good way to do this is to paste the link to the tidbits page: http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm.
Feel free to write to me to clarify a Tidbit you don't understand. I make these Tidbits concise and know that some of the information is hard to understand if you aren't very familiar with it. If I know the answer and don't procrastinate too much or get too busy, I'll answer.
I don't repeat items very often, which is one way to make tidbits concise. However, there have been a lot of useful items over the years, and while I encourage everybody to use the Full Text Archive, I know this does not always occur. So I'm going to occasionally reprint useful older news items that are still as good as they were when originally published. I'll put them at the bottom and mark them as Archive items, so the veteran readers can skip them.
On with the news:
1) I recently conducted a training on Jamal Mazrui's powerful and accessible file manager, Filedir. the archive of that training is available through Accessible World, nowever, the transmission often broke up during the session, and since then, the program has undergone an update. After months of dormancy, the Sound Computing article service awakens with article 34, a more complete and break-up free version of that presentation including new material on the new version of FileDir. this is all part of the one $9 subscription, and the listing of completed articles has been updated.
2) If you want to learn how to get more accurate scans of books and documents, no matter what technology you use to scan them, you can download an mp3 of the June 12 Friends of bookshare chat, and learn from the experts.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/June_12_2007_Scanning.mp3
Audio and text archives for many of the Friends of Bookshare chats are available, and many are pertinent whether you are a member or not.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
3) Larry Lewis, under his Flying Blind company, has launched two podcasts. In the first installment of FB Tech Notes, learn how to synchronize data from a mobile device such as a cellular phone or PDA with a PC running the Windows Vista operating system.
http://www.flying-blind.com/fbtt/FBTechTipsVolume1.mp3
And in the second installment of the EyePod technoCast, hear a demonstration of System Access to Go from Serotek.
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast2.mp3
4) It is now possible to download an Iso image of the open-source Windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access, so that when it is copied to a cd and that cd is inserted into a computer, the installer wil come up talking.
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/nvda/nvda.iso
5) Dolphin Systems has added a section to its web site concerning windows Vista, including a tutorial and keyboard guides.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/dolphin.asp?id=131.
6) Speaking of windows Vista, the topic for the Tuesday 00:00 GMT Tek Talk training on 14 August will be Conquering Windows VISTA With Your Keyboard.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
7) A local chapter of the US National Federation of the Blind has launched an initiative to encourage blind students to study computer and information technology. The web site for the project is
http://www.blind411.org/ITCareers/
and they have a Google group for discussions with students, parents and employers:
http://groups.google.com/group/itcareers4blind/
8) An individual has put up a web site where you can find out the number one song on the billboard chart for any day in history, or presumably any day while the charts were being produced.
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
9) Drop into a virtual Old Time Radio weekend, twelve hours each day, starting Saturday 18 August at 16:00 gmt and again Sunday 19 August at 16:00 gmt.
http://www.radiooutofthepast.org
10) Popular computer guy Chris Pirillo discusses What kind of laptop should I get in this installlment of his Chris Pirillo show. the show can be downloaded in various video and audio formats, and you can read interesting comments from those who have watched the broadcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/media/2007/08/07/what-kind-of-laptop-should-i-get/
11) this is GnomeDex weekend, Chris Pirillo's high-power conference in Seattle. Audio and video will be streaming live beginning early gmt on Friday 10 August. Little or no adaptive technology information here but the cutting edg of Internet technology.
Top Tech tidbits for Thursday, August 9, 2007 (double mailing: html version
I'm sending this newsletter out twice because of an error on my part, and because it's periodically good to do this to make sure everybody knows what's going on. There will be a little more text this time, but not much more.
I offer two versions of the newsletter, mailed in different ways to hpefully get past spam filters. this is the html version, which most, but not all, people see as html, with links in the messages. the other version is atext only version which I mail myself rather than using the Mailman program. That version depends on a file of addresses which I cleverly managed to delete and did not have backed up. So if you want that version, whether or not you have ever received it, please write to me and I'll re-create the list.
A couple more notes: Feel free to send individual paragraphs (items) from Tidbits to non-subscribing friends, but please tell them where you got the information. A good way to do this is to paste the link to the tidbits page: http://topdotenterprises.com/tidbits.htm.
Feel free to write to me to clarify a Tidbit you don't understand. I make these Tidbits concise and know that some of the information is hard to understand if you aren't very familiar with it. If I know the answer and don't procrastinate too much or get too busy, I'll answer.
I don't repeat items very often, which is one way to make tidbits concise. However, there have been a lot of useful items over the years, and while I encourage everybody to use the Full Text Archive, I know this does not always occur. So I'm going to occasionally reprint useful older news items that are still as good as they were when originally published. I'll put them at the bottom and mark them as Archive items, so the veteran readers can skip them.
On with the news:
1) I recently conducted a training on Jamal Mazrui's powerful and accessible file manager, Filedir. the archive of that training is available through Accessible World, nowever, the transmission often broke up during the session, and since then, the program has undergone an update. After months of dormancy, the Sound Computing article service awakens with article 34, a more complete and break-up free version of that presentation including new material on the new version of FileDir. this is all part of the one $9 subscription, and the listing of completed articles has been updated.
2) If you want to learn how to get more accurate scans of books and documents, no matter what technology you use to scan them, you can download an mp3 of the June 12 Friends of bookshare chat, and learn from the experts.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/June_12_2007_Scanning.mp3
Audio and text archives for many of the Friends of Bookshare chats are available, and many are pertinent whether you are a member or not.
http://www.friendsofbookshare.org/
3) Larry Lewis, under his Flying Blind company, has launched two podcasts. In the first installment of FB Tech Notes, learn how to synchronize data from a mobile device such as a cellular phone or PDA with a PC running the Windows Vista operating system.
http://www.flying-blind.com/fbtt/FBTechTipsVolume1.mp3
And in the second installment of the EyePod technoCast, hear a demonstration of System Access to Go from Serotek.
http://www.flying-blind.com/ept/EyePodTechnoCast2.mp3
4) It is now possible to download an Iso image of the open-source Windows screen reader Non-Visual Desktop Access, so that when it is copied to a cd and that cd is inserted into a computer, the installer wil come up talking.
http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/nvda/nvda.iso
5) Dolphin Systems has added a section to its web site concerning windows Vista, including a tutorial and keyboard guides.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/dolphin.asp?id=131.
6) Speaking of windows Vista, the topic for the Tuesday 00:00 GMT Tek Talk training on 14 August will be Conquering Windows VISTA With Your Keyboard.
http://www.accessibleworld.org
7) A local chapter of the US National Federation of the Blind has launched an initiative to encourage blind students to study computer and information technology. The web site for the project is
http://www.blind411.org/ITCareers/
and they have a Google group for discussions with students, parents and employers:
http://groups.google.com/group/itcareers4blind/
8) An individual has put up a web site where you can find out the number one song on the billboard chart for any day in history, or presumably any day while the charts were being produced.
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
9) Drop into a virtual Old Time Radio weekend, twelve hours each day, starting Saturday 18 August at 16:00 gmt and again Sunday 19 August at 16:00 gmt.
http://www.radiooutofthepast.org
10) Popular computer guy Chris Pirillo discusses What kind of laptop should I get in this installlment of his Chris Pirillo show. the show can be downloaded in various video and audio formats, and you can read interesting comments from those who have watched the broadcast.
http://chris.pirillo.com/media/2007/08/07/what-kind-of-laptop-should-i-get/
11) this is GnomeDex weekend, Chris Pirillo's high-power conference in Seattle. Audio and video will be streaming live beginning early gmt on Friday 10 August. Little or no adaptive technology information here but the cutting edg of of Internet technology.
http://live.pirillo.com/
12) Thanks to the Fred's Head Companion, here is an article about how to fix scratched cd's or dvd's.
http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Scratched-CD
13) Here is a long Fred's Head article on finding employment, including many useful Internet resources.
http://fredsheadcompanion.blogspot.com/2006/07/meeting-challenge-of-finding.html#links
14) download a demo, produced by Matt Campbell of Serotek, of the System Access support for windows Vista built-in speech recognition:
http://audio.samobile.net/Information%20Center/System%20Access%202.0%20Lessons%20and%20Demos/11%20Windows%20Vista%20Speech%20Recognition.mp3
15) Some fun nostalgia should be had this weekend for many as BBC Essex commemorates the well-known pirate stations of the 60's and holds Pirate BBC Essex until Tuesday 18 August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/essex.shtml
16) Archive: Will Smith creates text versions of several newspapers and e-mails them to subscribers free. Among his weekly mailings are the Sunday New York Times and Washington Post, Thursday technology columns from those papers, Slate and others. E-mail him for a list and to ask to be added to the mailing list for any you want:
wilsmith@iglou.com
An individually-mailed text version of Tidbits is available to those who want it or have difficulty receiving the usual html version. Write to me to request it.
Visit the Tidbits page at 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.