Mac OS X Lion even more Accessible

This post is from Gail Johnson:

From the OS X Lion Apple website:

Built-in voices

VoiceOver in OS X Lion includes built-in voices that speak 22 languages: Arabic, English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Turkish, Cantonese, Mandarin (China), and Mandarin (Taiwan). In addition, other languages are available for downloads including Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Romanian, Slovak, and Thai, as well as alternative voices with different dialects such as English (UK), English (Australia), English (South Africa), and Spanish (Mexico).

High-quality voices

In addition to the built-in voices in Lion, you can download higher-quality versions of the languages from VoiceOver Utility. Choose Customize from the Voice pop-up menu in the Speech pane.

Set up your Mac in your language

Lion supports 22 different languages in VoiceOver, so you can set up your Mac in almost any language.

Picture-in-picture zoom

The screen zoom feature in Lion offers a picture-in-picture view, allowing you to see the zoomed area in a separate window while keeping the rest of the screen at its native size. Choose to have the window follow the cursor, or keep the window in one place to show only areas you navigate.

International braille tables

Lion includes built-in support for more than 80 new braille tables serving a wide range of languages.

Braille verbosity settings

You can now specify the default verbosity level (amount of information you want to receive) for use with a refreshable braille display. And you can set verbosity levels for specific controls, such as applications, checkboxes, and Dock items, as well as headings, images, and links.

High-resolution cursor

In Lion, the cursor is crisp and sharp at larger sizes.

Improved drag and drop

VoiceOver in Lion offers an improved drag-and-drop experience for users who are blind or have difficulty seeing. Simply mark the item you want to drag, then mark the destination — OS X moves it into place.

VoiceOver activities

With VoiceOver activities, you can create groups of preferences for specific uses. For example, you can create an activity to use a certain voice and faster speaking rate when you’re shopping online catalogs. Create a second activity to use a different voice and slower speaking rate when you’re reading online newspapers. You can switch activities manually or have VoiceOver switch automatically based on the applications you use.

Single-letter quick navigation in web pages

Assign VoiceOver commands to single keys to make it even easier to browse the web using VoiceOver.

Search in VoiceOver Utility

VoiceOver Utility includes a search field to help you find the feature you’re looking for.

For those with the Mac Air and the Mac Mini

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/08/apple-unleashes-first-os-x-lion-update/1

For AllMac owners

http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html

 

 

 

Ruby vs Pebble Digital Magnifiers

This post is from Lauren Tappan.

 Quintex of Asheville/ Frank & Edna Beard demonstrated a new digital magnifier called the Ruby.  I thought the refresh was better than the Pebble.  It is light weight and had several other user friendly features I liked.  Check out the Ruby from Freedom Scientific.

     Also, I will be giving you a consumer up-date on the Clear Reader Plus as soon as I have had a chance to play with it.

Ruby video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3yMRLfkSN4&NR=1

Pebble videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBjRKSYcxhI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWO0TSZUSdQ&feature=related

Wonderful Low Vision Library in Cape Cod

The following article is by Lauren Tappan:

 If anyone is traveling to Cape Cod this summer, you might consider stopping in at the Harwich Mass Brooks Free Library at 739 Main Street. Their phone number is (508) 430-7562. They have an area entitled “Vision Impaired Technology Assistance” at the library that is extraordinarily impressive.

Carla Burke is a paid staff member who has not only organized a weekly low vision support group, an impressive outlay of pamphlets and written resource material, but also has an incredible display of AT equipment. They have the SARA, a computer with ZoomText and Jaws, a CCTV, and a Kurzweil and a computer set up with the Guide program. They also have individuals that are volunteer readers as well as individuals that will provide AT assistance.

Along with all of this, they have an AT Loan Program which is called the Assistive Technology Exchange inNew England program. I believe they also have a KNFB reader for interested individuals. I was extremely impressed with the welcoming atmosphere and cooperation from the volunteers and staff.

    This is the first time that I have located a library that has this active and extensive amount of resources for individuals with low vision.

Making a car for blind drivers

Using robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong of the Virginia Tech Robotics Lab  is building a car for drivers who are blind. It’s not a “self-driving” car, he’s careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed, proximity and route — and drive independently.

Here is his presentation at TED Talks.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_making_a_car_for_blind_drivers.html

Verizon’s Samsung Haven Cell Phone

Samsung does it again.

Article by Maurie Hill of AI Squared. Selected by Lauren Tappan.

I recently had the opportunity to check out the Samsung Haven cell phone which is more conducive for someone who is blind or low vision.  This phone does not have Bluetooth, a camera, GPS, or the internet, so if that’s a deal breaker then it’s not the phone for you.  But even just little things make the Haven more blind and low vision friendly than the LG.  For example, there are voice commands for checking the time (“Say Time”) and battery level (“Check Battery”).  If you have an aging memory like me, you’ll like that when you flip it open, it tells you the time and the function of the major buttons, “left soft key Menu, right soft key Contacts”.

My 7-year-old daughter taught me how to text message on my LG but it’s pointless because I can only read incoming text messages by placing the phone under my CCTV, defeating the purpose of having a portable pocket phone.  But because the Haven speaks text messages aloud in addition to menus, alerts, and digits, all its features are fully functional for a person who is blind or low vision.

http://www.aisquared.com/blog/2011/03/verizon%E2%80%99s-samsung-haven/?utm_source=ZoomNews+from+Ai+Squared&utm_campaign=fc68cbf385-Blog+Summary+%2319&utm_medium=email

The Clear Reader Plus

This post is from Lauren Tappan:

I have been searching for an appropriate reading machine, and have looked into the Victor Reader, SARA and then I  was planning on purchasing the Eye Pal until I saw the Clear Reader. I was going to purchase the Clear Reader, until I heard about the Clear Reader Plus. I will have a demonstration of the Clear Reader Plus sometime in March, and will let you know what I think about the latest version. It looks like a small boombox, and is portable. Im hoping the Clear Reader Plus will be able to hook up to a monitor. More to come on this.

http://www.airsla.org/broadcasts/LoVisTech101005.mp3

http://www.optelec.com/en_US/optelec-clear-reader

Blind Bargains blog is helpful

I recommend a vist to the Blind Bargains blog. It is an excellent supplement to our own emphasis on Low Cost Assistive Technology.  It not only gives you info on sales bargains. It gives advice on what works well regarding Accessibility, and what does not. Here is their opening paragraph.

Blind Bargains: Deals & News for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Welcome to Blind Bargains, your home for the latest deals, and news for the blind and visually impaired.

Blind Bargains scours the net to find sales, deals, and news on computers, screen readers, notetakers, braille printers, hard drives, accessible cell phones, memory cards, talking products, and much more.

http://www.blindbargains.com/

Portable Handheld Electronic Video Magnifiers Comparison – Updated

This item is from Gail Johnson.

This informative table shows a detailed comparison of  portable Electronic Magnifiers.

http://thebatchannel.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/portable-handheld-electronic-video-magnifiers-comparison-2-2-2/

2010 NC Assistive Technology Expo

This item is from Lauren Tappan:

Sponsored by the NC Partnership in Assistive Technology, the 2010 Expo will be held November 17 – 19, 2010
at the North Raleigh Hilton.

The Assistive Technology Expo is an exciting three-day event designed to increase awareness and provide current information on assistive technology. Conference offerings include an exhibit hall (on 11/18/10 only) featuring over 60 vendors exhibiting the latest in assistive technology products and services, 40 concurrent sessions, a poster session and a Keynote address.

In addition, a pre-conference session will be offered on November 17 from 9:00-4:00 on Accessible Instructional Media: Using Bookshare to Meet Your Students’ Needs. The morning session will focus on assistive technologies. We’ll look at what’s out there and how to align the technologies with students’ needs. The afternoon session will focus on the Bookshare website as a source of free accessible instructional media (AIM). Particpants will learn what Bookshare offers, how to sign up, how to download books, how to read the books, and where to get support.

Each year between 550-700 registered participants from across the country attend the NC AT Expo and approximately 1300 attend the free Exhibit Hall. Participants include: persons with disabilities, family members, teachers, therapists, Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living staff, rehabilitation counselors, employers, engineers, college professors, medical staff, college and university students, and authorized state purchasers.

For more info, contact http://www.pat.org/index.php/front/contact/

Sayvoice Text to Speech Reader for Windows

Sayvoice Text to Speech for windows is software, which can convert your text documents to Wave and MP3 audio files, so you can listen to your documents on a regular or car stereo, CD, MP3 player, or Pocket PC, or integrate spoken audio content into your product presentations. Sayvoice is also an online translating tool which allows you to provide your customers with speedy, multilingual translations in seconds.

Sayvoice Text To Speech Reader is a full-featured tool that will not only read aloud any text of DOC, RTF, HTML, or TXT files, but will also create audio recordings (in either MP3 or WAV) of any supported document or user-created text. The audio quality can be customized, both when reading a text aloud and when converting text into an audio file.

You can open any already existing text file (within the list of supported formats), copy and paste any text in the program’s window, or even type in your own text. In the last two instances, the program will also allow you to create a TXT backup copy of it. This is as far as most TTS software tools can get, but Sayvoice TTS Reader goes beyond that. Its HTML support will let you open an Internet browser without leaving the application, navigate to the web sites of your choice and have them read aloud just like any other document. Thus, when it comes to web browsing, it is almost like having a screen reader installed in your system!

The Windows version does not read anything directly. It can open a Word document, but pastes the contents into its own Text reader automatically. You can paste the contents of an email into its internal reader, but it cannot read the email listing. It opens websites in its own browser. This last is the  smoothest of the lot.

It costs $23.99 for the reader with 5 voices, up to $58.99 for 25 voices. Not all voices are clear; some are muddy or accented.

It comes with a 30 day trial feature. I suggest you try it before you buy it. It does not work as easily as Apple’s VoiceOver does. It is inexpensive, but it was not designed with Low Vision users in mind.

http://www.sayvoice.com/

http://sayvoice-text-to-speech.software.informer.com/4.3/

http://www.sayvoice.com/sayvoice-text-to-speech-win.php