Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Bowing to pressure from Jerry Halatyn to make constant changes to the way in which If Every Day Were Christmas is delivered to blind podcasters, Jeff Bishop has simply removed the means by which we were able to obtain this song without the need to use the currently inaccessible Podsafe Music Network. Once again, it appears that the needs of everyone else trump the need for accessibility at all costs, again placing our needs at the very bottom of the list! For all that, I don’t even like this song anymore. The accessibility issues and undue complications in resolving the issues have simply taken all the fun out of this project. Thank you, Slau! In addition to all the accessibility issues and subsequent wrangling, one must be very careful as this project is, in no official way, endorsed by UNICEF. There is no way to absolutely, positively guarantee that any money generated from the purchase of this song will go to that charitable organization. Podsafe for Peace will not be played here on the Blind Access Journal podcast and we will be making no financial contribution to this endeavor.

The premier audio book website audible.com has released a new design to its website.

The new design labels all the images that one would need for navigation purposes, the book pages have headings so you can quickly jump to the publisher summary for example without reading through all the book information first, and the site rolled out new listener membership plans that let you roll your book credits to the next month.

The last feature is obviously taken from the cell phone industry and the roll over minutes option that they all pretty much offer now.

A very cool new feature is the list of lists which include lists like the best Listens of 2005, books to film, holiday stories, and staff/customer top ten lists.

The site also has an express purchase feature that is the same as amazon.com’s one click ordering.

the one drawback with regards to accessibility is on the membership join page. The membership plans are described using labeled graphics, but the plans are each on their own line with the click here portion of the graphic clickable all though your screen reader might not indicate that.

the plans on the audible site are basic ($9.95/month), Gold ($14.95/month), and Platinum ($22.95/month).

You get 1 credit per month on the gold plan and 2 per month on the platinum plan. the basic plan I’m not sure about though you do get some form of free audio plus 30% off any audiobook.

I had canceled my audible.com membership a few months ago, but now that you can roll your credits to the next month I may resubscribe.

Bottom Line

Despite the one accessibility issue, which I don’t technically consider an issue since the graphic says click here, I recommend audible.com for anyone who enjoys reading and likes access to the latest and greatest in literature.

Shownotes

Note to self and warning to everyone: don’t accept software from strangers! Recovering from both a computer and a biological virus…

Natalie Brown

Thanks for the excellent ID! It now begins the show. Anyone else want to supply one?

Fix for crackling speech from Sound Blaster Live cards.

Check out this Freedom Scientific Technical Support Notice if you have the crackling Eloquence speech problem as this solution can be difficult to find when you need it…

Download and Listen

A new trojan horse executable with the name google_accessibility.exe is making the rounds. Purporting to enable the blind and visually impaired to work around Google’s inaccessible visual verification scheme, it actually corrupts the data on the attacked system’s hard drives, rendering such systems inaccessible and effectively useless. In addition, all data on any mapped drives connected to the attacked system over a network share is completely erased. Recovery requires a full reformat and clean reinstallation of the operating system and all applications.

Google_accessibility.exe is extremely tempting to those whom have found themselves increasingly locked out of Google’s services due to inaccessible visual verification, but this trojan horse is not our salvation and must be avoided at all costs. A confirmed case of this attack resulted in the following catestrophic consequences:

• JAWS went silent after the program was run.
• A restart resulted in an unbootable operating system.
• The data on the attached hard drive was so corrupted as to be impractical to recover.
• A complete reformat and clean installation of Windows was required in order to restore the system to correct functionality.
• A backup drive connected by way of a network share was wiped clean.
• Approximately 100 GB of accessibility advocacy related materials, contact information, correspondence, documentation, e-mail, financial records, music, podcasts and other similarly critical data were completely lost.
• Tens or perhaps hundreds of hours may be required to restore the Accessibility Command Center to full operation!

My computer was killed last night. I just learned from one of my sighted coworkers that we’re going to need to perform a complete operating system reinstall! Thankfully, I backed up most of my important data on another system, so the loss is not catestrophic. What happened and why? Stay tuned. An Ancestor ate my computer’s data and operating system. Crunch, munch, snap, crackle, pop…

Dear Leo,

Thank you for allowing me to chat a bit about accessibility on TWiT #30 from the podcasting expo. I hope there may be future opportunities to work with you to get some serious play on accessibility issues as there are potentially disastrous consequences of inaccessible technology for those of us with disabilities, whom represent a market that must not be ignored.

I have recently registered with Digg.com. Visual verification without
accessibility kept me out, but someone at Digg assisted me in completing the registration in a couple of days. Unfortunately, the matter is not closed. Despite being logged into an account that already required visual verification, I am still not allowed to submit new stories to digg.com due to another visual verification test, also without appropriate considerations for accessibility. A couple of letters to the available contact e-mail addresses at digg.com have not yielded a response on this second, much worse accessibility issue in over a week. I would really appreciate it if you would please work with your friend Kevin Rose over at Digg to devise a way to allow the blind and visually impaired to fully participate in this service.

Again, thanks for the exposure of accessibility issues on TWiT and I hope to hear from you.

All the best,

Darrell Shandrow

Shownotes

Listen to this tutorial covering the download, installation and use of Juice Receiver with the JAWS screen reader. It should also serve as an introductory demonstration of the use of screen reading technology by the blind.

Get Juice Receiver from Jeff Bishop

Check out Jeff’s site for the quickest and easiest way to download Juice Receiver.

Juice, the cross-platform podcast receiver.

Learn more about Juice Receiver at the project’s SourceForge home page.

Blind Casting E-mail Discussion List

This list is for the open discussion of podcasting for blind and visually impaired users. Discussions can focus around listening and producing podcasts and all that generating podcasts is all about. We talk about the equipment required for doing ppodcasting and much much more.

JAWS

The most expensive, widely used screen reader for the blind. JAWS (Job Access With Speech) was used as the screen access solution in the tutorial.

Window-Eyes

Solid, lower cost alternative screen reader to JAWS.

Download and Listen

Shownotes

Listen to Karen and I talk about the real meaning of Thanksgiving Day, discuss the recent passing away of Karen’s retired guide dog Chanel, review plans for our upcoming Christmas trip to New England, recommend a few reasonably accessible web sites to meet your online Christmas shopping needs and much more.

Announcements and Links:

The Desert Skies

Tune into ACB Radio Interactive and Listen to The Desert Skies with Jeff Bishop on Thanksgiving night between 7:00 and 10:00 MST and Friday night between 7:00 and 9:00 MST.

NosillaCast

Listen to Allison cover technology from a slightly Apple perspective. Check out her promo at the end of the show.

Natalie Brown

Listen to Natalie sing Give Love on Christmas Day.

Watch Out for Sony Music CD’s

Despite the recent hault to production of CD’s containing the dangerous rootkit, many Sony CD’s featuring this threat remain on the market. I can imagine most novice computer users might not realize they have been rootkitted until it is too late. Watch out when buying music this Christmas season!

Christmas shopping links:

• FindGift.com
• GreenFeet.com
• KB Toys
• PetSmart
• Target
• Wal-Mart

10 Traditions to Bring Your Family Closer

by Nicole Wallace

Once Upon a Family

NATIONAL FAMILY WEEK NOVEMBER 23-29

What do you remember about your childhood? Was it the leather bound book set you received from Grandma or was it her apple pie that she cooked for every family event? We often miss the opportunity to do the things that matter most while we’re off spending time and money doing things that don’t matter. It’s not the expensive gifts or the big parties that we remember from our childhood — it is the family rituals that we did over and over again. These events are traditions that can help us instill strong family values and give us a sense of family identity. Traditions are also the building blocks for strong, caring, happy families. This holiday season why not try out a few new ones:

1. Designate one night a week as family night. It doesn’t matter what you do together, just that you do it together. Play board games, go bowling, rent a movie and order pizza.
2. Take pictures of Grandma making her famous apple pie. Save the picture and recipe in an album along with other family pictures and recipes.
3. Ask everyone to write what he or she is thankful for on a beautiful colored paper leaf at Thanksgiving. Put the leaves in a basket and read them after dinner. Collage the leaves and a picture of the event into a Thanksgiving album each year.
4. Keep a blessings box all year long. Whenever something wonderful happens (the baby sleeps through the night, your son scores the first goal in the soccer game, etc.) write it down and put it in this box. Read and count your blessings every Thanksgiving.
5. Use a sheet as a tablecloth this Thanksgiving. Give everyone a permanent marker to write a thought, wish or dream. Date and sign each message. Bring the tablecloth out for every family gathering.
6. Gather the family and discuss your Family Motto. This could be one word that you stand for like, honesty, integrity, loving, etc. Or you could use a standard proverb such as “Anything worth doing is worth doing well,” or “Never judge another person till you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Hang on a suitable wall where everyone can have a daily reminder.
7. Write yourself or a family member a letter every year at Thanksgiving. Keep the letters and bring them out again in five years to read.
8. Write your children letters every year on their birthdays. Save them in a beautiful box. Present the letters to them at a special time (graduation, 21st birthday, wedding, etc)
9. Write a specific assignment on back of each person’s place card this Thanksgiving. Examples could be: carve the turkey, clear the plates, organize the coffee, fold the napkins, take beverage orders, etc. This makes everyone feel a part of the celebration.
10. Start a new Friday night dinner tradition. Tell each other ‘the best thing that happened to me this week was…” You can also use this as part of your weekly phone call to the grandparents.

Download and Listen

Karen reminds us to keep these quotes in mind as we work tirelessly to retain and enhance our access to the world around us.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

-Goethe

The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

-Anonymous

Every fool knows you can’t touch the stars, but it doesn’t stop a wise man from trying.

-Harry Anderson

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away.

-Sir Arthur Helps

Some in the technology industry justify the ongoing inaccessibility of their visual verification schemes due to the claimed “expense” of implementing solutions such as audio CAPTCHA. Let’s evaluate a potential solution that could be built entirely on open source or otherwise easily available technologies at a sufficiently low cost to insist upon its implementation.

This solution relies on the presentation of the standard visual CAPTCHA along with a link to an audio playback of the characters to be entered. Though such implementations have been successfully put in place, this option should be appealing due to its overall simplicity and low cost.

1. Manually record, using the human voice, an MP3 file corresponding to each possible character in the underlying CAPTCHA string.
2. For each test, generate the standard image along with a M3U Winamp style playlist file pointing to all the MP3’s making up the string.
3. Present the user with both the conventional graphic along with a link to the M3U file.
4. The sighted user will complete the visual verification while the blind user will click the link to hear the audio in their media player.

This solution seems to enjoy the following benefits:

1. Overall low CPU utilization. If pictures can be combined into a CAPTCHA, it won’t take much more to combine individual audio files into a M3U playlist version of the test.
2. No text to speech software needed on the server.
3. No complicated streaming solution needed on the server. It is open source, easily available and already implemented in most if not all web server software.

We hope this further helps the technology industry to make CAPTCHA, visual verification and word verification schemes more accessible and further reduces the justification for its continued use in ways that lock out the blind and visually impaired from participation in more and more of the Internet.