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Being able to order my own plane tickets online is very empowering, but even in 2013, not all airline websites are as accessible as they could be. There are also no accessible kiosks for passengers to check in at any of our airports, but this may be changing. The Department of Transportation (DOT), has just issued new rules to expand access to airline websites and airport kiosks to passengers with disabilities. A portion of the press release is pasted below.

After landing on Mars your job is not only to discover what is on the planet, but because you crashed onto the planet, you must now also survive. This is the premise of a new Interactive Fiction game called Red Planet Rex. The game is different from your average interactive fiction game since it's also voice activated. Instead of typing out your commands, you can just say them. It will be like having a conversation while you're playing.

The plan is for the game to be released for both iOS and Android, and for it to be accessible on both platforms. As a player, you will have the option of using the voice commands or playing the game with just text. This makes the game accessible to both blind and deaf, and allows users to switch off voice commands when they're in a situation where it would be awkward.

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.

Back in August, the Coalition of E-reader Manufactures requested a waver from the FCC. It was their opinion that their dedicated E-readers should not have to comply with the 21st Century Video Communications Act because the primary purpose of the devices was to read printed text. ON October 22, the FCC decided to grant a temporary waver until January of next year to the coalition to give them more time to review the waver request. If you are concerned that the FCC will grant a permanent waver to these companies, make sure to contact the FCC and your representatives in congress.

There is more descriptive video programming on television then ever before, but accessing that content is still a challenge for the blind. With the new rules that the FCC has adopted today, the challenges may soon become a thing of the past. Comcast has already announced a move to make a talking program guide and to enable a single button on the remote to turn on descriptive video or closed captioning. Now all other cable and satellite providers as well as makers of external devices such as the Roku Box will have to do the same. The official ruling of the FCC is pasted below.

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.

October 15 is National White Cane Safety Day. There will be events around the country celebrating the use of the white cane. If you're participating in a White Cane Safety Day event, share your experiences in the comments section.

Along with White Cane Safety Day, President Obama has also declared the day as Blind Americans Equality Day. The presidential proclamation is posted below.

A designer and an Ophthalmologist have teamed up to create a new way for children to learn braille. Fittle puzzles allow blind children to practice their braille while giving them a better understanding for what the word means. An example would be a puzzle in the shape of a fish with the braille letters that spell fish. The goal of the company is to use 3-D printers to make the puzzles so that they can be made cheaply and with different materials. The Fittle website will post the designs for the puzzles so that anyone with a 3-D printer can print them out. In order to make this goal a reality they need funding. The company has set up an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds. Check the link on this post to learn more and support.experience braille.

I have been playing complex strategy based board games for years. Many might know them better as Euro games since most of them are developed in Europe. These are not the type of games where you role a dice, land on a square and have something happen to you. They are much more complex and fun. The inherent problem with all of these games though is that they're not accessible. In some cases I've added braille to cards or modified the board, but the reason I'm able to play the games is because I have sighted help and I memorize everything.

Since I love board games, I was excited to learn about a new company called 64 Ounce games, because they are committed to making their games accessible to the blind. The husband and wife team are both teachers. Richard teaches science and has been designing games for years, and Emily Gibbs is a teacher of the visually impaired.

If you're looking for a compact braille display that will work with a variety of devices, then the BraillePen 12 Touch may be a good option. The newest version of Harpo's 12-cell BraillePen has two new features. It now has Optical Routing keys which differ from other braille displays because they are not mechanical buttons, the idea being there are less parts that can go back. The other new feature is the Clipboard. You can now write with the BraillePen without being connected to a device. Once you connect to a device, you can then copy what you've written to the device. The BrailePen Touch is selling for $1,095 until the end of 2013, at which point the price will go up to $1,195. By comparison, the original BraillePen 12 sells for $995.

The United States Congress has until the end of September 30 to pass a budget or the government will go into a partial shut down. The shut down will effect a number of agencies, including access to their websites. The National Library Service will close their doors on October 1 if the budget does not pass, according to an official. Users of the NLS Braille and Talking Book program will likely be effected and will need to make book requests or download books from the BARD website prior to the shutdown. This nearly happened during a similar situation in 2011 though this shutdown was avoided at the last moment.
If Congress doesn't come to an agreement, access to NLS books will likely be restricted starting on Tuesday, and services will not return until congress passes a budget. While no official statement has been made from BARD administrators specifically, we anticipate loss of download functionality for the BARD mobile app as well. Books that have already been downloaded should still play. Government aid programs including Social Security and Food Stamps will not be effected as they are considered essential services. New applications for benefits would not be processed however.

If your streaming video needs aren't being met by Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, or any
of the other options, then you now have one more to choose from. On Wednesday, Target announced the availability of <a href=\"
http://www.targetticket.com">Target Ticket after months of beta testing.
\"> Target Ticket is very similar to Amazon or iTunes since there is no monthly
fee. The over 30,000 titles can either be rented or bought and then watched on many
different devices. I decided to try out the service to see if it was accessible and worth the money.

Before 2012, there was no television coverage of the Paralympics. Then, in 2012, NBC showed 5.5 hours. Now, they've just announced that the 2014 Winter Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics will have over 100 hours of television coverage. The US olympic Committee will also be airing live coverage on their website, TeamUSA.ORG . This perhaps could mean much greater exposure for sports such as goalball which are largely unknown by the mainstream.

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.