ViewPointPlus.net

This half-hour weekly show discusses products, services and daily living tips for people with vision loss. It is available in Rochester, NY to listeners of WXXI Reachout Radio, the local radio reading service, through other radio reading services across the US and Canada and to everybody else as a podcast at the link above. To date, the show has been downloaded in all 50 states in the US, 6 Canadian provinces and 45 other countries on all the inhabited continents. ViewPoints is hosted and produced by Peter Torpey and Nancy Goodman Torpey in partnership with WXXI Reachout Radio in Rochester, NY.
http://www.viewpointsplus.net

From Top Tech Tidbits

1) Media Access Australia has provided a page both with general instructions about using Facebook and about overcoming its accessibility challenges.
http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/online-media/social-media/facebook

3) Among recently released iOS-related podcasts, we have White & Yellow Pages: Now Offers Free Turn-By-Turn Voice GPS Navigation
http://www.applevis.com/podcasts/episodes/white-yellow-pages-now-offers-free-turn-turn-voice-gps-navigation


4) EASI produced a webinar, Overview of the Accessibility of Mainstream E-Readers. You can watch the presentations and view the slides.
http://easi.cc/archive/e-readers/resources.htm

12) Led Zeppelin music sounnds quite different when the Dec-Talk synthesizer handles the vocals!
http://q-audio.net/i/1M8W

The Assistive Technology Blog

The Assistive Technology Blog is a publication of the Virginia Department of Education's Training and Technical Assistance Center (T/TAC) at Virginia Commonwealth University.

http://www.assistivetechnology.vcu.edu/

Top Tech Tidbits

Audacity is a free, open-source, multi-track audio editor. A free guide to using it with JAWS, also useful with other screen readers, is available.
http://vip.chowo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/jaws/Audacity-2.0-Guide.html


This AppleVis podcast is entitled "Voice To Apps: Bringing Voice Recognition to Messaging, Email, Facebook Twitter and More"
http://www.applevis.com/podcasts/episodes/voice-apps-bringing-voice-recognition-messaging-email-facebook-twitter-and-more

These tips are from Top Tech Tidbits.  You can subscribe to Top Tech Tidbits on the Flying Blind, LLC Website at: http://www.flying-blind.com.
 

Squag.com - a social network for kids with autism

Squag.com - a social network for kids with autism, allows users to create a room, the Squagpad, filled with original thoughts, messages, videos and photos that enable each user to journal and create a personal space that facilitates self reflection and friendship. And with the help of parents, kids can connect with like-minded other Squag users to build communication skills and establish friendships.

Perkins Assistive Technology Prize

Perkins School for the Blind will offer the inaugural Perkins Assistive Technology Prize as part of the 2012 MassChallenge competition for early-stage entrepreneurs.

The $25,000 grant is designed to inspire solutions that improve opportunities and quality of life for persons with disabilities, empowering them to reach their full potential.

http://assistivetechnology.about.com/od/ATCAT1/a/Perkins-Assistive-Technology-Prize.htm

Fron Top Tech Tidbits:

In this edition of The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast, we hear an interview with a prolific mainstream Apple podcaster and committed advocate for Blind Apple users.

http://www.dr-carter.com/?p=93

Accessibility technology Consultant Jerry Berrier will have fun with his iPhone and let you listen in as he demonstrates a variety of fun apps on Tek Talk on GMT 14 February at 01:00.

http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

A second podcast on using NVDA and iTunes is available.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1625623/NVDA%20and%20iTunes%20Demonstration.mp3

 The February, 2012 issue of AccessWorld is now available, including A Review of the IBIS HD Video Magnifier (CCTV), an evaluation of The Readit Scholar, Diabetes and Visual Impairment: An Update on Accessible Blood Glucose Meters, information about AccessWorld App Version 1.8 and more:

http://www.afb.org/accessworld

GW Micro has begun to make available How Do I Do That? video mini-tutorials with fully accessible audio content on particular window-eyes features. The first two free offerings in the series concern how to add an attachment and how to use the ribbon with window-eyes.

http://www.gwmicro.com/Training/Tutorials/

The Veterans Health Administration Section 508 office created an innovative set of tutorials that explains portable document format (PDF) accessibility barriers and provides solutions that address them. The tutorial is "Creating Accessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Professional" and it is available at:

http://www.ehealth.va.gov/508/tutorials/pdf/index.asp

The VHA Section 508 office also has training on developing accessible Flash. The course is available at:

http://www.ehealth.va.gov/508/flash/index.asp

SpeechHub is a new set of speech synthesizers, at present, only for NVDA. Several synthesizers and languages are available.

http://www.speechhub.org/

The US Internal Revenue Service offers accessible tax preparation assistance.

http://www.irs.gov/accessibility/index.html

Here is a Youtube video describing what they offer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4PfzKqpXmg

Kathy Ann Murtha announces the release of two new $75 textbooks: Internet Explorer 9 with JAWS for Windows 13 and Internet Explorer 9 with Window-Eyes 7.5 http://www.blindtraining.com/shop/browsers.htm

This Blind Access Journal podcast is entitled Take Your Favorite Podcasts on the Road: Downcast for iOS:

http://blindaccessjournal.com/2012/02/take-your-favorite-podcasts-on-the-road-downcast-for-ios/

The NFB Access Technology Blog offers reviews of News Apps for iOS devices:

http://www.nfb.org/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=922&SnID=1727144647

And DAISY videos from the eBook Accessibility Symposium:

http://www.nfb.org/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=920&SnID=1727144647

Saturday Technology Training Session February 4th, 2012, 1pm to 4pm, Room 215, Adaptive Services, MLK Library

Saturday Technology Training Session

February 4th, 2012 1pm to 4pm, Room 215, Adaptive Services, MLK Library
Accessible App Demo and Discussion

It is time again for the quarterly adaptive technology training session on accessible apps for the iPhone and other mobile, gestural devices, hosted by Mark Reumann.  Details below:

Presenters:

Mark Reumann – Patent Office

Zuhair Mahmoud – Library of Congress

Don Barrett – Dept of Education

From 1pm to 3pm, this panel will demo and discuss accessible apps, like MoneyReader, Color Identifier and VizWiz.  We may also have a brief update on some of the projects initiated at the Product Identification Workshop November 5^th and further developed at the Accessibility Hackathon on Nov 12^th.

Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII)

http://www.gpii.net/
The purpose of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) is to ensure that everyone who faces accessibility barriers due to disability, literacy, or aging, regardless of economic resources, can access and use the Internet and all its information, communities, and services for education, employment, daily living, civic participation, health, and safety.

Saturday Technology Training Session January 21, 2012

The Saturday Technology Training Session on January 21st will feature an informal discussion of the outcome of the recent Accessibility Hackathon, as well as demos and an update on the status of ongoing, related projects.

Saturday Technology Training Session

January 21st, 2011

1pm to 4pm

Room 215, Adaptive Services

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

901 G Street NW

Washington DC, 20001

Our Saturday, January 21st demo and discussion will include the following:

1.       A demo by App Developer Zaid Al-Timimi, of a beta version of the Mobile Accessible Book Generator.  Powered by The Mashup App, the Mobile Accessible Book Generator allows iPhone/iPad users to create e-books for kids with print disabilities. Originally proposed during the 2011 Adaptive Services Division's Accessibility Hackathon, the Mobile Accessible Book Generator is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2012. A future version is envisioned to allow users to submit generated books to repositories such as Bentech's Bookshare. 

2.       A demo by Kevin Johnson and Patrick Timony of some of the other current digital archiving projects and accessible Internet participation applications related to the Accessibility Hackathon and the Adaptive Technology Program.

3.       Discussion of future events that could help to build the proposed solutions, including several proposed codeathon events, and the Maker Monday regular meetup at the library.

4.       Discussion of a proposed makerspace at the MLK library and the events and activities that could take place there, including skills training, book scanner building, 3D printing, format conversion, and disaster preparedness training and technology development.

The following organizations are currently involved (in no specific order): Adaptive Services Division, LibraryLab, University of Maryland iSchool, OpenForumFoundation, Federal Communications Commission, The Mashup App, Bookshare, VideoWashDC, iStrategyLabs, Bread for the City, Gallaudet Technology Access Program, HAC-DC.

The Accessibility Hackathon was held on Nov 12th, 2011 as a part of DC WEEK’s LibraryTech project (http://digitalcapitalweek.org/projects/library-tech/)and produced a list of product proposals to meet requirements from the user community (http://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Accessibility_hackathon)

Library Lab (http://wikimediadc.org/wiki/LibraryLab) is a demonstration project at the DC Public Library that is designed as a community center for annotation, classification, creation, curation, digitization; education and publication, reading and writing and media production.

Free training is available in the Adaptive Services Division, to teach the basics of using ATs.  Networking programs and events on the topic of ATs are coordinated at the library and in the DC area.  Here is a list of our current activities:

    AT Training Program

    Saturday Technology Training Sessions bi-monthly user group

    Adaptive Services Interest Group AT professional meet-up

    Accessibility DC Monthly meet-up

    AccessibilityCampDC Annual Unconference

    Adaptive Technology Tips and Hints online AT tutorials

    Adaptive Services Internet Classroom - learn ATs on your own

    Accessibility Hackathon Project

    Maker Mondays

    Tech Talk Tuesdays

    Audio-Video Archive

Saturday Technology Training Sessions are the 1st and 3rd Saturdays, 1pm to 4pm Adaptive Services Division, DC Public Library, Room 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library 901 G Street NW Washington DC 20001.