Booksense version 2.1 released

Greetings. For those interested, Booksense version 2.1 has been released. See below the announcement from GW Micro. Also, I realize that I haven't been as active on the blog as of late. I'm much more active on Twitter. If you're on it and want to see what I've been up to or want to follow me, then go to:

www.twitter.com/wcmerritt

Enjoy.

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In case you missed our important CSUN announcements, BookSense 2.1 firmware has been released!

You asked for it, and we have listened. GW Micro is proud to announce the brand new release of BookSense 2.1. The BookSense now supports content from SAMNet, such as audio described movies, television shows, and more. SAMNet is a subscription service. For more details and to sign up, go to
www.serotek.com

BookSense 2.1 also adds full support for NFB Newsline In Your Pocket. Now you can use the BookSense to play your favorite newspaper or magazine. For more details, visit
http://www.nfbnewsonline.org

The new, free upgrade also adds different tones for marks, and the ability to switch from text to audio or from audio to text while reading a DAISY book; making DAISY playback more simplified.

To download the latest firmware, and to read all of the changes for BookSense 2.1, go to
http://www.gwmicro.com/booksense
and then activate the BookSense 2.1 Now Available link. If you have any other questions or need help installing the firmware, please contact our Technical Support Department at (260) 489-3671, or via email at support@gwmicro.com.

Jeremy Curry
Director of Training
GW Micro, Inc.

New Olympus players announced

Greetings. Below is a message that I sent to some of my work colleagues regarding the summer release of some new Olympus digital voice recorders and media players. Blind Bargains has the same information, along with many other sites, but they also have the U.S. prices, which are expected to be $249 for the Olympus D2 and $299 for the Olympus D4. Are the features for either of these players enough to get me to go out and buy one? Probably not since I've already got and am happy with my Booksense from Gw Micro. However, if the Olympus players live up to their billing and if what I speculate below about their ability to perhaps play the DAISY NLS files, then this would truly be a notable development. It could mean that a mainstream developer of technology is really taking an interest in the blind market and attempting to reach out beyond offering one token product for the blind. Given the battery life though, it does present an interesting and thought provoking case for getting these new players. Enjoy.

***

The Olympus D4 and D2 have been announced. Among other things, these players include built in voice guidance and text to speech, as well as the ability to play DAISY files specific to the blind and low vision. Though it doesn’t say so directly, since it supports the DAISY files for the blind, I’m assuming that this means it will play the NLS digital talking book files. If this is true, then this is probably the first mainstream off the shelf player that will be able to play these types of files. Read more at the link below:

http://j.mp/aeyK8E

Save Wayfinder Access

Greetings. I received this message the other day regarding the Wayfinder Access product. I bought this product for my Nokia N82 phone a year ago. The times that I have used it, I have found it very interesting and helpful. Wayfinder Access was by far the cheapest and most afordable, other than the free packages that were under development, of the various GPS solutions out there for the blind. The next GPS product for the blind costs double the price of Wayfinder Access and though it runs on Windows Mobile phones, I don't believe that it can run on the Symbian platform. Hopefully another company will take up development and continue this great product. If not, then we might have seen the end of an era for a certain portion of the mobile blind population. Anyway, if you are inclined to help save the software or help continue its development and are on Facebook, then check out this group. Here's the message.

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From: Darren Harris

Greetings all,

I do apologize for this cross posting but I feel that it is necessary.

I don't know how many of you have herd but the wayfinder access gps solution
for simbion based mobile phones is no longer available. Vodafone who own the
rights to wayfinder products have pulled the plug on it completely. They
have discontinued the entire wayfinder product line effectively in order to
create their own package. Which we believe is going to be completely
inaccessible to blind people.

Considering how accessible wayfinder access is to use as a product, we feel
that this is unacceptable action to be undertaken.

If you are on facebook, then I have created a group called (save wayfinder
action group). The purpose of this group is to bring a dedicated group of
people together so that we can constructively build a case in favour of
keeping access going as a product.

If you think and believe as we do that this product should be saved, then
please come and join in and help to build a case for this product.

It's not often that we come across a product that is in the adaptive market
and that is as cheap comparatively as access.

Please spread the word on other mailing lists as this is important.
Specifically the various phone and technology lists that there are out there
and anybody else who you think may benefit from this.

Thank you for your attention.

Booksense now supports RFB&D

Greetings. I received the following announcement from GW Micro earlier. This is great news for those students, be they in grade school, junior high, high school, college or graduate level, and professionals who may need RFBD materials in a more portable digital form. It took a while for the Booksense to add support for RFBD material, but now it's finally here. Happy reading!

****

GW Micro is proud to announce that the BookSense officially supports Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D). RFB&DAr is the leading accessible audio book library for students with disabilities such as visual impairment or dyslexia. BookSense customers can now take advantage of the large selection of textbooks available from the RFB&D service.

With the addition of support for RFB&D books, students can now instantly download textbooks from
http://www.rfbd.org
and read the books on the BookSense. Textbooks are available from RFB&D's AudioPlus service, which has books in DAISY format. Students can choose from any of the 50,000 books, all of which are read by humans, so students get the benefit of an actual person reading the book.

Adding RFB&D support to the BookSense adds even greater capability to one of the most advanced eBook readers available to people who are blind or visually impaired. The BookSense XT is the only eBook reader for the blind to have built-in Bluetooth for wire-free listening while in the classroom, as well as built-in memory to make it easier for students to carry textbooks without the need to worry about memory cards.
Whether you own the BookSense or BookSense XT, both models support RFB&D. Your player must be authorized to play RFB&D content. This means you must become an RFB&D member. You can sign up by going to
www.rfbd.org
or by calling RFB&D at 1-800-221-4792. Once you have become a member of RFB&D, you will need to authorize your BookSense player. To learn how to authorize your player, go to
http://www.gwmicro.com/kb1114


If you have any other questions regarding the BookSense, please contact GW Micro at (260) 489-3671.

2009 Annual Access Awards

Greetings. Once again, the folks over at Blind bargains are doing their annual awards for the best of 2009 in accessible technologies, products, software and websites. Click here to view 2009 Access Award rules and submit nominations. This first period of nominations goes until January 14 at 5pm EST. Nominations can only be submitted once per person and per category. View the categories and consider what you want to nominate for which before making your submissions. Enjoy and good luck to all.

Follow me on Twitter

Greetings. For the last few weeks I've jumped into the social networking scene. i tried Facebook for about a week, and while you can still pull up my FB page, I no longer deal with that site anymore. I got tired of repeatedly having to enter those visual verification codes to add content to my page, such as status updates. For awhile it was when I wanted to put links up, but then it carried over to other content, such as straight text. So I switched to Twitter. I gave myself awhile to get used to it and now I love it. Though I'm not likely to follow thousands of people, since that would mean spending all of my time on Twitter and I'm not ready to make that commitment, I do welcoem additional followers. If you have read this blog for awhile, this is the type of content I'll post, along with other personal musings and such. For those wondering, I'm not using any sort of Twitter client to put posts up, other than the good old WWW and my cell phone to send texts though. I've heard and read about numerous programs, but am reluctant to tie myself to a specific program that can only be used on one platform. Of course, I say that, and then I'll go off and pick up a certain program; oh well, go figure. I am following some interesting peopel and businesses including, among others: Google, Southwest Airlines, Audible, and various people in the tech industry. Anyway, My Twitter page is at:
http://www.twitter.com/wcmerritt
Currently it's public, but that could also change if the mood suits me. I didn't know how much I'd get into Twitter, always having some skepticism, but have really enjoyed putting things up and watching things from other people. Thogh Facebook may offer more tools to stay connected and have fun, Twitter's simple interface and one question, of "What are you doing?" are fine for me. I'll still put things up here on the blog, but updates may decrease over time. Anyway, see you on Twitter or whatever social networking site you prefer. One more thing: if you do sign up for Twitter, there is a visual verification you have to enter, but Twitter does offer an audio solution for those that need it. There is an audio solution on Facebook, but only if you're using the main FB site, not if you're using FB Mobile. After you sign up with Twitter, there's no code to enter each time you post, which is great! Enjoy.

Reflections since 2000

Greetings. This is usually the time of year when I put up my year end reflections. This time though, I thought I’d do something a little different. Since we’re coming to the end of the first decade of the 2,000’s, I thought I’d do a review of some of the changes in technology between 2000 and 2009. Perhaps we can use some of these as a gage for what will come in the next 10 years. I’m sure I’m going to miss some things here so forgive me in advance.

Screen readers: The last 10 years has seen more screen readers being developed for blind users, and ones that can run on a portable USB flash/thumb/pin drive, to ones that can run from a simple website. You no longer have to be tied to an actual computer to use a screen reader. Now, when I go to my parent’s house, I can bring up a web based screen reader and have instant access to their computer, rather than waiting for them to purchase an expensive screen reader and leave it on their system for the few times that I might visit them during the year.

Notetakers: Before the year 2000, there were a few note taking devices on the blindness market, but mainly from one company. In 2000, the BrailleNote was introduced and in 2003 the PAC Mate was brought into being. Fast forward a few years and we have a range of different note taking devices in various forms and with similar abilities, some with and some without Braille displays; some using Qwerty (computer style) and some using Perkins (Braille style) keyboards; and some that have specific functions and other that have more general functions. In other words, the blind user now has lots more choice. Some newer notetakers even have built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth access, which makes getting connected to the web in order to browse websites or send/receive email lots easier. Add to that the mainstream laptops and mini-laptops, known as netbooks, that have become very popular in the last couple of years. In the beginning of this year alone perhaps 1 person I worked with had a netbook. Now though, aside from me there’s an additional 5 or 6 other people I know that have and use netbooks for greater portability. This particular portion of the tech industry, the netbooks and notetakers, will be interesting to watch over the next 2-5 years to see how they shake out.

Book reading: Before year 2000, blind people read books on their computers, in Braille, or on tape. Now though there are a number of different options, including for lack of a better phrase, the portable book reader, such as the Victor Reader Stream and Booksense, among several others. In fact, after the Stream came out in 2007 and it was seen how popular such a device was, several more devices have come out with the ability to read books, listen to music, play audio books, read different types of files (such as Word documents, text, HTML, and others), and do other things. To be fair, there were a couple of devices around that could read those types of files and other material, but they were old and out dated. In fact, one of them, the Book Port, was initially promised to have new life, but the update project for it was shelved after about 6 months in 2008 I believe. At any rate, information and entertainment has really grown in leaps and bounds as far as portability.

I can’t talk about books and portability without mentioning the work of the national Library Service (NLS). In 2000, they started their Web Braille program, where the user could download a growing collection of books and magazines in Braille formatted files. In 2007, they began officially testing a similar download service for their many audio books. That collection began with around 7,000 books, and now numbers around 16,500 books, and is growing nearly every week. Thanks to funding from Congress, the digital talking book is here and here to stay!

Cell phones: Here’s an area that’s affected everyone, blind or not. However, until around 2002, the blind did not have ready access to such devices. Sure, you could dial a number, but that quickly lost some luster when compared with all the things that your friends and colleagues could do on their phones, such as text message, take pictures, manage contacts and calendar appointments, view call logs, and much more. Then, in 2002, the Talks screen reader was created and announced that it would work with a couple of Nokia phone models. Though it’s taken a few years to get rolling, now true phone accessibility is becoming more of a forethought rather than an afterthought with many manufacturers. With some providers such as Verizon, there are even some phones that you can buy off the shelf that have built in accessibility that are increasingly allowing greater access. Perhaps not at the level of Talks, but we’re getting there. Of course I can’t talk about phone access without mentioning Apple and the work that they’ve been doing with making phones more accessible, and phones with touch screens o less. Say what you want about a touch screen accessible phone, the fact that this is now an option for the blind user, and that having a screen reader on such a phone, is a great sign of things to come. Talk about built in accessibility.

The WWW: Okay, so that’ a broad category, but just think about how many different web services have gained usage in the broader population over the past 10 years or so, such as: blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, more personalized e-commerce and shopping, staying connected, ability to use web services via your cell phone, such as texting a site for the weather or current stock quotes, among many other uses; streaming audio and video; and much, much more. Let’s not forget the growing popularity of a certain website start up that flew under the radar for a few years and quickly went from unknown to people trying to copy what they were doing and draw their users. And further, the site even added various applications that helped to change the way we work and play, such as email, shopping and bargain comparison, working with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, keeping up calendar appointments and contacts, tracking stocks and other finances, and much more. Yes, I’m speaking of Google and their many services. Google has transformed from a noun to a verb, as in, “Google it,” when someone needs to look something up. Currently, Google is even working on their own cell phone and portable netbook. That’s probably one of the big things that I’m excited about and will be closely following, to see how this whole Google Chrome operating system fills out and if it will be accessible. I suppose that might say something: am I excited about the new offering from Microsoft in Windows Seven? No, the thing that excites me is what their competitors are doing, and I’m not the only one.

Even though it's not tech related so much, technology has been affected by the next two items: the terrorist attacks of 2001, and the economic boom and eventual bust. One phrase seems appropriate here, which I've told students and friends regarding money: it's not how much money you have, but how you manage the money you have. Hopefully we can take that phrase and apply it as we go forward. Sure there will be tough times ahead, perhaps even tougher than what we're going through now in the recession/recovery. But if we can manage our money, then these times won't seem so tough when they do come. That's been my personal experience this year in the current economically tight times.

Hopefully we can take what we’ve learned from the first 10 years of the 21st century and apply it to the next 10 years. I think as we go forward, month by month and year by year, our lives will even more interlock with the web and the possibility that we’re going to be a web-based society is not too far off. Will we be to the point of talking to our kitchen appliances and having them automatically order things from the grocery store to refill current refrigerator stock? Who knows, anything’s possible.

On a personal level, this last 10 years has seen me wrap up my college career, get an unexpected job in working part time and doing something that I was meant to do and not what I thought I was going to do, find a full time job just weeks after being let go from the part time one, and really building my teaching ability and the different areas I would grow in, and even getting another Seeing Eye dog, which is something that I never thought I’d do. Not to mention starting a personal website which has grown to attract more than 7400 unique visitors, and maintaining the professional website for the White Cane Day Austin celebration. So it’s been a great year and a great last 10 years. Here’s to 10 more!

ACB Radio premiers new product

Greetings. I received the following announcement in my email earlier. Those in the blindness community who are also into AT have doubtless been seeign announcements and emails from HumanWare regarding a new product. Though the official word is expected to be tomorrow on November 11, ACB Radio will have a show this Friday night all about this new product. Read on for details on the live show, but unfortunately not what the product is going to be. It sounds like you will want to listen to the show live or download the podcast later though. Enjoy.

***

ACB Radio is proud to announce a special live event where you will learn about a
fabulous new product being launched by HumanWare. Read on and be a part of the live, call-in event!

what is it? Well, something great has just become smaller and better!
HumanWare is soon to launch an exciting new product. Is it a new DAISY player? A new Braille device? A new
scanning or low vision aid?

We can only tell you that the device is small enough to be inserted into a #1 size envelope.

Be among the first to find out about one of the most exciting products to be announced.

And, you'll hear about it first on ACB Radio Mainstream, just after Main Menu! Pass it on and tell your friends! It's way cool and worth hearing about!

when: Friday, November 13 at 9 PM Eastern, 6 Pacific; that's Saturday morning at 2 UTC.
ACB Radio's Marlaina will host this exciting program, and have as her guest
Matthew Janausauskas, HumanWare's Technical Support Manager.

Marlaina and Matthew will take your calls at 866 666 7926.

Remember, you'll hear it first on ACB Radio Mainstream, just after Main Menu.

So, join Marlaina and Matthew on Friday the 13th! It could be your lucky day!

To listen to the program on November 13 at 9 PM Eastern and 6 PM Pacific, point your browser to:
http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream

This is an event you will not want to miss!

Larry Turnbull
ACBRadio Managing Director

Google accessibility user study

Greetings. Those interested in perhaps participating in the Google Accessibility user study should go to the following address: http://bit.ly/1DJin

I have no additional information on the study other than what's there. After I filled out the form, the resulting page said that due to the high number of responses, that they may not take everyone but I would be contacted if I were selected. Since Google, along with other tech companies, have only recently started looking into making their products more accessible, anytime you get the chance to participate in said studies, grab them by the horns! Enjoy.

Review of Microsoft Security Essentials

Greetings. Though this software has been out for a month or two, it's getting great reviews and showing good promise. If you're hesitant about trying it or currently using paid security software and want to see how MSE stacks up against competition, then check out this review from Ars Technica called First look: Microsoft Security Essentials impresses. To hear a review of the Microsoft Security Essentials software (direct MP3 download) then check out this podcast from Mary Emmerson. I've put this free software on my netbook and am considering doing the same with my Windows Vista home PC. Read the review to find out why. Enjoy.

NAGDU phone conference on dog guides in healthcare facilities

Greetings. I received this information for a phone conference/seminar that the National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU) is putting on in late November. I'm posting it now so those interested can register for this free event. Registration is limited from what I hear so act soon. Read on for more details.

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National Association of Guide Dog Users
National Federation of the Blind
October 27, 2009

Guide Dogs in Hospitals & Other Health Care Facilities

What are your rights as a guide dog user when visiting family or friends in the hospital? As a patient, do you have the right to have your dog in the room with you? Are there places or conditions in which you can be restricted from being accompanied by your guide dog? Can your doctor deny you the right to have your guide dog with you in an examination room? Can an ambulance refuse to transport your guide dog with you? These questions and many more will be answered in an upcoming special teleseminar.

The National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU), a strong and proud division of the National Federation of the Blind, will host "Guide Dogs in Hospitals & Other Health Care Facilities" on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. eastern standard Time (7:00 pm Central; 6:00 pm Mountain; and 5:00 pm Pacific). This teleseminar is absolutely free; however reservations are required. Participation is limited and is on a first come first served basis.

In order to reserve your space in this teleseminar, please send your name, city & state, and your email address by Friday, November 20, 2009 to

President@NFB-NAGDU.ORG

An email confirmation with the call-in number and access codes will be sent to you. Those without email access or who would like more information may call 813-626-2789.

The information provided during this teleseminar is intended as informal guidance only and should not be construed as legal advice. The National Association of Guide Dog Users, the National Federation of the Blind, or any of its affiliates, divisions, or chapters will not be responsible for any telephone charges or fees that may be incurred as the result of participation in this seminar. For more information about the National Association of Guide Dog Users, the National Federation of the Blind, or to locate a Chapter in your area, you may visit the following websites:

National Association of Guide Dog Users
HTTP://NFB-NAGDU.ORG


National Federation of the Blind
HTTP://NFB.ORG


The National Federation of the Blind is changing what it means to be blind!

Remembering Ed Eames

Greetings. A few days ago, the world lost a great champion for the rights of the blind and otherwise disabled, and even more important, the rights of guide/service dog users. This article in the Fresno Bee really sums up the life and contributions of Ed Eames. Ed Eames fought for rights of disabled. Farewell Ed; you contributed and you will be missed.

Overview of Kurzweil 1000 version 12

Greetings. Main Menu, from ACB radio, recently did a show on the new features in Kurzweil 1000 version 12. This link is a direct download of the MP3 file. The show is about an hour long and after the shorrt bit of tech news, there's a good interview with Stephen Baum, the lead developer of Kurzweil 1000. Among other notable things with version 12, users now have the ability to run Kurzweil from a USB flash drive. Check out the show above for more on this exciting new release. Enjoy.

Great article on current Google Books case

Greetings. I've mainly left it to others to rehash the dispute regarding the Google Books case and upcoming settlement. However, I came across this article from the Matilda Ziegler RSS feed (linked further down this page), which really sums everything up quite nicely. It's by Carl Jacobsen, the president of the NFB of New York affiliate, and is called Blind need more access to written word, from the Times union out of Albany, NY. Enjoy.

JAWS 11 released

Greetings. Today Freedom Scientific has released the new JAWS version 11 in time for the upcoming release of Windows Seven expected later this week. Check this link for all the details of what's new and, perhaps of more interest to some, what's been improved. Note that when you receive your JAWS 11 on disc, it will be on a DVD that will contain boht the 32 and 64 bit versions of JAWS. When you start the installation process, JAWS will detect what version of Windows you're using and automatically adjust to install that particular version. For instance, if you have a 32 bit version of Windows, then that's what will be installed. Also, since JAWS will now come on a DVD, there's more room to include the Daisy training material, the free copy of FS Reader 2.0, and more. Enjoy.

Another Stream to choose from

Greetings. Since we now have a definite competitive market for playing digital audio books, such as from NLS, RFBD, BookShare and Audible, among others, there is more of a choice for consumers. I read today on the Fred's Head Companion blog of the new
Victir Reader Stream, Library Edition
that has come out. For those that already own a Stream, this new Library Edition apparently is no different from the regular unit. I looked on the HumanWare site this afternoon on the Stream's page and couldn't find any more information, such as price, for this new player. I'm assuming that it costs similar to the regular Stream unit. It sounds like more of a solution for those in education, libraries, or independent living/training centers, but I'm sure that individuals can get one of these units as well. However, I submit that if you already have a stream or another digital book player, then you probably can pass on the Stream Library Edition. Read the link above for more information on what differs this unit from the regular Stream, or for a play on words, the main Stream. Enjoy.

New initiative to make accessible textbooks for college students

Greetings. I received this information a few days ago and thought it was worth posting here. If this website grows with the number of textbooks, then this could end up being a great resource for colleges and their students. Enjoy.

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Textbooks for the Disabled

August 28, 2009

The Association of American Publishers and the University of Georgia this week unveiled an electronic database aimed at making it easier for blind, dyslexic and otherwise impaired college students to get specialized textbooks in time for classes.

The database, called
AccessText is designed to centralize the process by which electronic versions of textbooks are requested by colleges and supplied by publishers. Experts say it will allow disabled students to get their textbooks more efficiently, help colleges save money and avoid lawsuits, and protect publishers' copyrights.

For students whose disabilities prevent them from using traditional texts, the normally straightforward task of acquiring books for their courses can be tedious and frustrating. Federal law requires that colleges and universities provide disabled students equal access to educational materials, but this is often easier said than done. College officials have to track down and contact the publisher of every textbook that each of its disabled students buys and request an electronic copy. If such a copy exists -- the likelihood shrinks the older the book and the smaller the publisher -- college officials still have to convert the file to a format that can be read by whatever reading aid the student uses. If not, the college has to wait, sometimes weeks, to obtain permission to scan the book and create its own electronic version.

Once a college has an electronic copy, converting to a readable format can be another complex process, says Sean Keegan, associate director of assistive technology at Stanford University. Math and science texts often arrive as scanned pages, and cannot always be easily read by the character-recognition software the university uses to turn them into standard electronic files, Keegan says. "That can take a longer amount of time to process that material internally and turn it around and give that to the student efficiently," he says.

Meanwhile, delays in the process can make it impossible for disabled students to prepare for and participate in classes. "Students need to have a book in time so they can do the assigned reading and study for tests and papers," says Gaeir Dietrich, interim director of high-tech training for the California Community Colleges system. "So if the book doesn't come until the term has been in session for three or four weeks, that puts that student very far behind." Some students have sued colleges over such delays, she says.

AccessText aims to mitigate these woes by streamlining the request and delivery process, says Ed McCoyd, executive director for accessibility affairs at AAP.

"There's a lot of transactional friction taking place currently," says McCoyd. "What AccessText is trying to do is take some of that out of the transaction by having parties agree to streamlined rules up front."

Having colleges submit requests using the AccessText portal should eliminate the need for the publishers to require endless paperwork with each request to protect its copyrights, McCoyd says. Under the system, the copyright protection agreements can be handled once, during registration, and the requester's bona fides can be verified by a log-in.

Currently, colleges that get tired of waiting for publishers to process the paperwork and procure an electronic copy of a text sometimes just scan a text themselves to try to satisfy the needs of disabled students in a timely fashion, says Dietrich.

AccessText is also set up to eliminate the need for different colleges to convert the same text to a readable format once it is acquired. Currently "numerous schools could be doing the exact same thing, converting the same text," says Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education at the publishers' association. Under the new system, "if one school has already spent the time and the money to convert a file to a format, they could advise the AccessText network, which could then make the info available that it was still available in that format, and that school could share it with another school" -- thereby sparing those colleges the time and resources it would have used to convert the file themselves, he says.

Eight major publishing houses paid a total of just under $1 million to develop the AccessText network and maintain it through its beta phase, which will end next July. From then on, it will sustain itself by billing member colleges between $375 and $500 annually, depending on size.

Dietrich notes that community colleges might not benefit from the AccessText network as much as other institutions, since "we have a lot more vocational classes and basic-skills classes, and a lot of those books don't come through those big publishers, they come through specialized publishers," she says. "It doesn't solve that part of the problem for us."

The network includes 92 percent of all college textbook publishers and is recruiting even more, according to AAP officials.

First netbook experience

Greetings. Thought I'd try to get this post out before it starts thunder storming again. We had a nasty one earlier. For a place like Austin that has been in a long drout, it really thundered and poured earlier, but at least we're getting some. Maybe we'll even catch up to the other parts of the state of Texas.

Anyway, netbooks have gained popularity in the general computing population and among the blind. Mainly because they are smaller and lighter than a laptop but stil sport many of the same things you find on a laptop or desktop PC. I've been looking into this netbook thing for around 6 months or so, studying different models, reading reviews, and considering features. I decided early on not to get one that was deeply discounted, since while that might have been a good deal, it also had the possibility of being cheap, as in not standing up to regular use over time. I also wanted to get one that included a long battery life, had wireless connection options for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and, from what you can tell from reviews anyway, looked to have a good keyboard. Oh, and now with all these different colors of netbooks, I also was hip to find one in blue. I finally found what I was looking for.

A week ago I ordered and today I received the ASUS EEE PC 1000HE, which sports, among other things: Wi-Fi of 802.11B/G/N (which means it can connect to all current Wi-FI standards and will likely keep pace for some time to come); Bluetooth; a normal sized keyboard, though from initial typing, the keys are smaller and some in weird places, but that's something I can adjust to; and the model I chose was a blue color with good looking finish on it. My colleagues at work today said that it was a very nice blue and finish. And the battery life is advertised at 9.5 hours. From the reviews, actual time looks to be around 8 or 9 hours, but still; that's lots better than some of the MSI models I read about that only got 4-6 hours. Though people have told me that even though the battery is 5 hours, it lasts them all day. I say, as long as the price doesn't go too high, the longer battery the better.

The ASUS 1000He is an older ASUS model, coming out in February of this year, but from what I've read it seems to be among the better of the various ASUS models. It also includes an SD slot, several USB ports, a Lan/Ethernet jack, web cam, microphone, and other things I'm probably forgetting. It weighs just over 3 pounds, which is notable since many notetakers weigh between 2-4 pounds and laptops around 6 pounds or more.

I'm still working out the kinks of getting a new computer, but this weekend should be rather fun as that process happens. Now I can understand why wireless web surfing is so much fun. Earlier, before all the storms, I was on an unsecured wireless netbook and going to Google and other websites. I actually signed into Gmail before I remembered that this was an unsecured network, and then I quickly signed out. I even was able to stream, all be it in fragments, a video and a radio station's audio. That brief wireless experience will see me investing in one of the many wireless routers out there. Though I have used my PAC Mate notetaker wirelessly before, it was somewhat limited with pocket versions of Internet Explorer and in the JAWS quick keys that actually work in the IE Mobile application, which by the way aren't nearly as many as on a PC. Now though, I've got full support on the netbook for any JAWS feature I want to use and in full versions of applications such as Internet Explorer.

Though I still have some kinks to work out and essentially a new computer to get used to, I'm more than pleased with my purchase and research, and look forward to many happy hours of mobile computing! Incidentally, if anyone has any resources for getting started with the netbook I have, then please email me through my site and let me know. Thanks.

JAWS and ARIA

Greetings. ARIA, or Accessible Rich Internet Application, is an emerging set of web technologies that allows people to interact more with the web in new and different ways than HTML was designed for. HTML, or hypertext markup language, was for a long time the language of the web, as I've told my Internet class students. It tells the text where to go and what to do on a web page. However, now that we've entered the world of growing applications or what many people are calling Web 2.0, such as Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, and even some of the Google apps like Calendar and Docs (documents), we need more from our WWW and we need it to act in different ways that HTML might not be able to do. Enter ARIA.

I'm focusing on JAWS here because that's what I'm familiar with, but given the dynamic nature of the WWW these days, in that it's always changing, and that many people want to keep up with those changes, I don't know for sure but it's probably safe to say that other screen reader manufacturers are also working on support for ARIA applications/sites. Though before you ask, refer to their documentation and versions of screen readers for more details.

As far as JAWS goes though, version 10 is where the ARIA support has started, and I'm sure it will be further developed and enhanced with future versions of JAWS. On the browser side, we saw some support for ARIA in Internet Explorer 7, but even more in version 8. And I've heard that Mozilla's Firefox was the first browser to "officially" adopt ARIA support.

For more on ARIA and how it will effect our daily lives in a short time, a colleague of mine predicts within a year we're going to be seeing it everywhere on the web, check out these resources:

In the January FS Cast (direct link to download the show)
ARIA was the topic of discussion. In that broadcast, Jonathan mosen spoke with Glen Gordon, the Chief Technology Officer of Freedom Scientific all about ARIA, then Jonathan did some demonstrations of how one might use ARIA on the web.

On May 26 of this year, Glen and Dan Clark appeared on a webinar, an online interactive seminar session, jointly hosted by FS and EASI, covering ARIA from a web developer standpoint. they also provided more of the history of ARIA. Download an dlisten to this broadcast at
http://www.freedomscientific.com/doccenter/archives/ARIA-GlenGordon.zip Click here to download the zipped HTML files from Glen's presentation on ARIA.

I'm sure that there are other resources out there, including some good ones mentioned in Glen Gordon's presentation linked above, but these will at least explain ARIA better and provide examples of where you might find ARIA applications/sites. Enjoy.

RFB&D now free for individuals

Greetings. I came across this announcement from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic and hthought it worth posting here. The below message is what I sent to some work colleagues regarding this announcement, but for full details, check out the link below. It would appear that if you're an individual and have a compatible RFBD player, such as the VR Stream and soon to be the Booksense, then you can now download books for free! This is awesome news and I'm sure will be welcome news for any student, be they in school or students of life. Enjoy.

***

Unlike Book Share, there doesn’t seem to be any restrictions for being apart of any particular group, such as in school. It looks like as long as you can play the RFBD digital books, if you’re an individual then membership is now free.

*Aug. 18: here's an addition from one of my colleagues regarding the free memberships.
I spoke to RFB&D and the grant they received is for one year, so the free membership is just for one year.

When a individual consumer signs up online, the consumer does not have to pay the one time registration fee or the or annual fee for one year. If they have a portable audio book device such as the Victor Stream, the UAK (User Authorization Key) to download books is free also for the first year. If the grant is not renewed, the fee schedule will go back to what it was next year. Institutional memberships are not covered by the grant.

Read the following link for more details:



http://www.rfbd.org/membership-individual.htm