Software Deals, Sales, and News

One of my favorite apps on my iPhone is TapTapSee. This app allows me to take pictures of objects, and have them identified. I can even identify what's in my pictures that I have on my camera roll. Yesterday, the makers of TapTapSee announced on twitter that their app is now compatible with Android as well as iOS. Features in the Android version are the same as they are in iOS.

If you're a fan of the Papa Sangre games and the Knight Jar, consider donating to the KickStarter Campaign from Somethin Else. The team wants to release their newest game, but they need more funds in order to finish the project. Their newest offering is called Audio Arena: Zombie Defense. In the game, your job is to fight zombies as a blind warrior. According to the KickStarter page, what sets this game apart is the audio engine. Unlike other first person shooters, not only are there no visuals, the audio experience is like none other.

Reading regular sheet music can be a challenge for people with low vision. A new app for the iPad aims to solve this problem. Music Zoom is a sheet music app that allows users to enlarge their sheet music easily. Users are also able to scroll through the music using wired/wireless foot switches, or gestures on the screen. Other features of the app include: in app highlighting to draw the eyes to important sections of the music, inverting colors to white on black, and importing music from scanned images or the photo library. Music Zoom can be purchased for $19.99.

A new version of NVDA has just been released as a beta. Some of the new features in NVDA 2014.1 include: support for Powerpoint 2013, support for braille displays that are connected using the Widcomm Bluetooth software, and readable labels for attachments or flagged emails in outlook or windows live mail.

Today I came across an app that makes me very excited as a future teacher of the visually impaired. Everyware Technologies, makers of iMove and other apps has just released a new app for the iPad called Math Melodies. It teaches math concepts using stories and music. The app is compatible with both Zoom and VoiceOver so it's a great option for both blind and low vision students. It also works with a braille display for kids that want to practice their braille while they play.

Math Melodies teaches math concepts that range from first to third grade. Users will practice counting, adding, subtracting, and patterns. They will also learn how to explore a table, a concept that is an important skill that can be quite challenging for blind children. The music and sounds are fun and engaging.

The developers are always appreciative of feedback. If you have any suggestions for how to make the app better, or you just want to thank them for the app, send and email to: accessibility@ew-tech.it!

Fleksyy has had a number of changes since it's release. Some of these changes have been positive, and for some of us, the changes have been confusing. Now that Fleksy has opened it's SDK to other app developers, they want to make sure that the app is consistent and easy to use for it's users. For this reason, they've just released a new version of the app called Fleksy VO. According to the Fleksy blog: here are some of the changes that you'll notice in Fleksy VO. You can now tap and hold the top of the screen to bring back the menu, manual typing has been fixed, and you can use long presses for punctuation. In addition, your dictionary from other versions of Fleksy will be ported over, and it will always be free.

Last year's announcement from AOL that WinAmp was going away was unwelcome news from users who really like the software. For the blind community, WinAmp was a favorite app to use while hosting online radio programs or as an accessible alternative to iTunes or Windows Media Player. These users may be in luck though. WinAmp has just been acquired by a company in Belgium called Radionomy . According to the press release, Radionomy plans to bring Winamp back and to offer it on more platforms including mobile.

For those who are not familiar with Radionomy, it's a place where people can design their own radio stations and share them world wide. Since they offer a mobile app, I decided to check out the iOS version. I'm happy to report that the app is very VoiceOver friendly, and it is my hope that their radio station design tools will be just as friendly.

BrailleNote and VoiceNote users now have a new version of KeySoft. The main highlight of this upgrade is that users can write in Nemeth code and have it translated into print. This will make doing math much easier for users of these products. Students can write out their math using the Nemeth code and than provide it to their teachers in a printed format. The upgrade also comes with a tutorial for the Nemeth code for those who need a refresher or for those that are just learning it. The other major improvement in this upgrade is the ability to open and read Power Point 2007 or 2010 files. The upgrade is free and available now for download.

Sendero continues to make changes to their Seeing Eye GPS app, and the third update should be coming out soon. This update comes with many features that users have been asking for since it's release. Some of the highlights include the ability to run the app in the background or with the screen locked, the ability to play music and still get turn by turn updates, getting warmer routes no longer requiring a cell connection, and reduced calls to the server which uses less data and should improve battery life. The app will now also have a $9.95 monthly subscription option for those who want to test out the app, or for those who are unable to pay the larger up front cost of the yearly subscription.

If you're a premium subscriber to Spotify and have trouble accessing Spotify content on your PC, you now have a solution. A new app called Blindspot has been released. The app gives screen reader users access to their Spotify account and more. The app can be used in five languages including English, French, German, Spanish, and Swedish. The app uses a set of hot keys for navigation which users can learn about by visiting the documentation section of the website. At this time, the app only works with premium accounts, but the developer hopes that at some point, people who only want to use the free features in Spotify will be able to use Blindspot. Spotify currently only allows the use of their API for premium accounts, thus the limitation. Spotify Premium costs $9.95 a month and also gives you offline playlists and full access to their mobile apps.

Back in my PC days, Winamp was definitely my favorite music player. It was simple to use, and worked well with screen readers. I know there are still people who do internet radio shows using Winamp playlists. Sadly though, the times have changed, and the developers of Winamp have decided to bring this chapter to a close. There will be no new updates for the software, and you will only have until December 20 to download the application because after that day, it won't be available anymore. Tell us about your experience with Winamp in the comments. Will you find a new media player or just hold on forever?

TapTapSee is one of my favorite apps. I've used it to identify many objects over the last year. I even had a chance to interview the developers about the app. It is truly the best object recognition app available, and two of it's best features were that it is super easy to use and it was free.

According to the TapTapSee website, due to the high cost of image recognition, the company will no longer be able to offer the service for free. Over the next few days, they will be rolling out their new paid subscription options. You can either spend $7.99 for 100 images to be recognized, or $9.99 for an unlimited monthly subscription. When you've hit the cap of 100 images or the month has run out, you'll be prompted to renew. If you find that you're not using the app as much or you find that you need more than 100 images to be identified in a month, you can change to the other plan when you renew.

Many people are likely going to be outraged by this change, but it's important to remember that the company kept the service free for over a year. According to one of their staff, they really didn't want to charge for the service, but that the costs have just gotten too high for them to handle.

AI Squared has just released a new version of ZoomText for the Mac that is compatible with the New Mac OS Mavericks. The upgrade is free for users, and you can find the download instructions by following the headline link. According to their website, this is only for users that are running Mavericks. If you're still using Lion or Mountain Lion then you don't need to upgrade.

The American Printing House is currently developing an iOS version of their Math Flash software, currently available for Windows computers. According to APH's Research and Development Report, Math Robot will allow students to be drilled on math products using the touchscreen or a refreshable braille display. The software is currently being tested and a release is expected within the next year.

The makers of Zombie's Run are developing a new game that will encourage you to walk rather then run. The makers of the game find that when there's a narration connected with your exercise, you're more likely to enjoy the exercise. According to an article in Polygon, this is the premise of the game, "You're given a vital package that needs to be couriered to Edinburgh, Scotland. You're about to get on the train when terrorists, attempting to get hold of this thing you have, blow up the station. An electromagnetic pulse kills all things electronic — cars no longer work. Now you're forced to walk the distance with the police on your tail." So instead of running from zombie's, you're walking quickly away from the police.

Unlike in Zombie's Run, the app does not just assume that you're exercising. The app will check in with you during the day, take samples of your movements, and estimate how much walking you've done for each day. Zombie's Run is accessible for both iOS and Android users.

Earlier this week, Apple released it’s newest operating system for the mac, OSX Mavericks.. The best part, it’s free and it comes with some pretty cool new features. After playing with it for a few days, there are some things I’m really pleased about and some bugs that I look forward to Apple fixing.

If you've been waiting for JAWS 15 to be released, it's finally here. Now that Windows works with touch screens, JAWS has been updated to support touch screens and gestures. There are also a number of other new features. Read our previous post about JAWS 15 to learn more about the new version.

A degree of accessibility is finally coming to Windows Phone. Code Factory announced that their Mobile Accessibility suite of apps will be available for free in the next version of Windows Phone 8. The apps will provide access to contacts, text messaging, email, web browsing, and settings. They will also have caller ID and access to Voicemail.

This announcement is a long time in coming. The question is, how will the community react. Windows phone is far more popular in developing countries than it is in the US and Europe. Hopefully this means that the blind and visually impaired community in the developing world will be gaining access to technology they've never had. Unfortunately, the access available here may be far inferior when compared with iOS or Anroid. Still,it may be better than nothing for some.

When I was a PC user, some of my favorite games were from Spoonbill Software. All of the games are free of charge and do not require a screen reader to play. Ian has just released six new titles in his Blind Gamers series. There are three new word games and three new card games.

The three word games are Word Jumble, Word Builder, and Word Solitaire. the Word Jumble and Word Solitaire sound like games I would really enjoy. Word Solitaire is like Boggle, only backwards. You're given the 25 letters and you have to place them in the 5 by 5 grid to form as many horizontal and vertical words as possible.

The three new card games are all versions of Solitaire. In Eleven's Solitaire, your goal is to discard as many cards as possible. You can discard cards if they add up to eleven or if they are a set of three face cards.

Descriptions of all of the new titles, as well as the many other games available in the Blind gamers series, can be found by visiting the Blind Gamers section of the website.

Games can be ordered by following the How to Order instructions. I hope everyone gets as much enjoyment out of these games as I did.

In one week, Apple has come out with two new iPhones, a new version of iTunes, and now new software for the Apple TV. The 6.0 released actually came out last Friday but then was pulled after some users were experiencing some major usability issues. There are a number of new features in this update. Users will now be able to stream music, photos, and videos from iCloud, use the new iTunes radio, and buy music from the iTunes store.