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Blind Access Journal Posts

Digital Television and Video Description: Service Continues, Consumer and Industry Efforts Required

July 3, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

The WGBH – Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) has published a new Outreach and Policy Paper, Digital Television and Video Description: Service Continues, Consumer and Industry Efforts Required Most consumers are just now becoming aware of the mandated transition from analog to digital broadcasting scheduled for February of 2009… Finish Reading Digital Television and Video Description: Service Continues, Consumer and Industry Efforts Required

Catch the 68th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind Online!!!

July 1, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Catch the 68th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind Online!!! July 1-5, 2008 The National Federation of the Blind–the voice of the nation's blind–will be streaming portions of its annual convention over the Internet. The NFB National Convention is the largest gathering of the blind anywhere in the world. If you cannot… Finish Reading Catch the 68th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind Online!!!

HumanWare Launches Version 2 of the Victor Reader Stream DAISY, MP3 and NISO Player

July 1, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

VICTOR READER STREAM THE PROVEN SUCCESS STORY, IS NOW EVEN BETTER WITH A FREE VERSION 2.0 SOFTWARE UPGRADE Longueuil, Canada, June 30, 2008 — Victor Reader Stream, the pocket-sized portable MP3 player designed for blind and low-vision people has swept the world wide market place since its launch in September 2007. Heralded by its users… Finish Reading HumanWare Launches Version 2 of the Victor Reader Stream DAISY, MP3 and NISO Player

Update: Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 25 – Window-Eyes 7.0 Fully Disclosed

June 24, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Hello Everyone, Coming up on this week's Main Menu Live, we dedicate the two hour episode to talk all about Window-Eyes 7.0. Doug and Aaron from GW Micro will be with us as well as many beta testers from the Window-Eyes private beta team. We will discuss the product and the many scripts that will… Finish Reading Update: Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 25 – Window-Eyes 7.0 Fully Disclosed

Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 25 – Window-Eyes 7.0 Fully Disclosed

June 21, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Hello Everyone, Coming up on this week's Main Menu Live, we dedicate the two hour episode to talk all about Window-Eyes 7.0. Doug and Aaron from GW Micro will be with us as well as many beta testers from the Window-Eyes private beta team. We will discuss the product and the many scripts that will… Finish Reading Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 25 – Window-Eyes 7.0 Fully Disclosed

Don’t allow Sprint-Nextel to quietly cancel a life saving service for the elderly, blind, and disabled on July 1

June 21, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Sadly, July 4th won’t  be Independence Day for some among us. In 2005 Sprint announced Free Voice-Dialing Services for the Blind, Elderly, and Disabled ( http://www.mobiledia.com/news/32095.html ), to justifiable applause. For the first time, family members and caregivers could quickly and easily maintain on-line phone books for those who couldn’t even reliably dial cell phones,… Finish Reading Don’t allow Sprint-Nextel to quietly cancel a life saving service for the elderly, blind, and disabled on July 1

Warning: Blind Screen Reader Users Urged to Avoid Early Skype 4.0 Beta

June 18, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Doug Lee, creator and maintainer of the popular JAWS scripts for Skype, reports that there appear to be some significant accessibility concerns with the Skype 4.0 beta in its early form: This is a bit long, but I have a lot to say… As has already been announced here, Skype 4.0 Beta has been made… Finish Reading Warning: Blind Screen Reader Users Urged to Avoid Early Skype 4.0 Beta

Visual Verification: Research Study on Audio CAPTCHA Technology

June 18, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Jennison Asuncion reports that a study of audio CAPTCHA technology is being conducted at the University of Washington: A friend of mine, Jeff Bigham, a Graduate student at the University of Washington in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering is conducting research into audio captchas, the goal being to use the results to inform… Finish Reading Visual Verification: Research Study on Audio CAPTCHA Technology

Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 18 – Accessible Cell Phones and Serotek’s Accessible Digital Lifestyle

June 14, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Hello Everyone,     Coming up on this week’s Main Menu, our first hour is prerecorded and our second hour is live! In the first hour, Shane Jackson from the Blind World Podcast interviews a panel of experts discussing their experience with accessible cell phones. In the second hour, Mike Calvo, Matt Campbell and Ricky Enger from… Finish Reading Coming up on Main Menu for the week of June 18 – Accessible Cell Phones and Serotek’s Accessible Digital Lifestyle

An Accessible Way to Manage Permission of the Programs on Your Computer to Use Skype

June 7, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

This morning I received a call from a fellow blind Skype user asking for help with one of the program’s few significant accessibility quirks. He had installed a new program for automatically voicing Skype events, yet he could not figure out how to access the automatic prompt for allowing the utility to use Skype. This… Finish Reading An Accessible Way to Manage Permission of the Programs on Your Computer to Use Skype