All Deals

The Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communications Technologies is interested in learning more about the accessibility practices of financial institutions. The results of the study will be used to gain insights and create best practices so that banks and other financial institutions can best serve people with disabilities. The survey should take between 15 and 20 minutes. If you're interested in receiving the results, you can provide your email address at the end of the survey.

There are a number of changes that are coming in the new release of iOS. Many writers are likely going to focus on the visual changes, and Apple will release a new handbook, but the mainstream is not going to focus on accessibility and the changes to Voiceover. Jonathan Mosen who has been beta testing the new iOS 7 is writing a book that will be specifically for Voiceover users. He is offering the book at 50% off, or $9.95,if you pre-order it before iOS 7 is launched. The book will be released when iOS 7 comes out. According to his website, here are some of the chapters included in the book, "What’s new in VoiceOver, Working with the Control Center, Notifications - a New Look and Feel, Search gets the Spotlight, App Switcher Changes, Siri Comes of Age, A better App Store, and iTunes Radio."

If you are a Learning Ally member and use an Android device, you can now read books from their collection using the Learning Ally Audio App. The app has the same functionality as the iOS app. You can read any book in their collection, download directly onto your device from your bookshelf, navigate by page or chapter, and add bookmarks. In order to use the app you will need to have Android 4.1 or later. Like the iOS version, no search capability is included, so you need to log into the Learning Ally website to add books to your bookshelf. It's available now and is free from Google Play.

There are a number of reasons that people use third party apps to read their twitter feeds. For screen reader users, one of the reasons is that for a long time, the twitter.com website was difficult to navigate. The team at twitter is aware of these challenges and they are working on fixing it. In a recent post to their blog, they discuss how they are making the website more easy to navigate using the keyboard.

Two of the keyboard shortcuts that are most valuable are the J and K keys. Using the J key will jump you to the next tweet in your feed and using the K key will jump you to the previous tweet in your feed. The blog post has a video demonstrating this feature using Voiceover, NVDA, and JAWS. Note that your screen reader's browse mode may require the use of a pass-through key for website shortcuts.

To get updates about accessibility or to give feedback on your experience, follow the twitter accessibility team .

There have been events where blind drivers have raced on a track with a sighted helper, but to our knowledge, never before has a blind driver competitively ridden a motorcycle by himself. Later this year, Dan Parker aims to change that. Before he lost his sight, Dan was an experienced race car driver. With the aid of a GPS system that will audibly guide him, Dan is going to participate in the Quest for the Salt at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Below is a copy of the press release from the NFB who is among the organizations sponsoring his efforts.

Sendero has just announced that they have submitted Seeing Eye GPs 1.1 for the iPhone to the app store. There are a number of changes in this version and the company has decided to reward early adopters of the app by resetting their subscription date to August 20. This means that everyone has been using the app for free since it launched. Below is a copy of the release that discusses the changes and new features.

HIMS has just released a new version of their firmware for the Braille Edge 40. The upgrade includes additional braille tables including Danish and Hebrew, the ability to read and edit TXT, RTF, DOC, and DOCX files in contracted braille, ability to save text in TXT format, and automatic battery warning when the unit has 10% of battery life left. See below for the entire list of new features and instructions on how to upgrade your unit.

AI Squared has just released the newest version of ZoomText for Windows8 . Free trials are available for this release, which is only currently available on Windows 8. A Windows 7 version is planned. In addition to the Windows 8 support, support for Internet Explorer 10, Microsoft Office 13, and touch screen devices is included. They have also posted some videos to introduce the new features in version 10.1. We've included the list of new features from their website after the jump.

Going to the gym or using exercise equipment in your home can be a challenge if the machine is not accessible. A lot of exercise equipment uses inaccessible touch screens or other visual information that the blind can not access. A team of researchers is asking for feedback about how the blind use exercise equipment, what the challenges are, and how the machines could be made better.

A researcher at the University of Maryland is studying the accessibility of mobile technologies. The survey asks for feedback about what does and does not work for users. The survey should take no more then 25 minutes and at the end of the survey you will have the option to be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card. To enter into the drawing, you will need to provide your email address.

Support for braille displays on Android is improving with the latest update to BrailleBack. According to the Google Play website, these are the braille displays that are now supported: APH Refreshabraille,
Baum VarioConnect, Esys EuroBraille, Freedom Scientific Focus Blue (14 and 40 cell models), HandyTech (Basic Braille, Active Braille, Braille Star, Braille Wave, Braillino, Easy Braille), Harpo Braillepen 12, HIMS (BrailleSense, Braille EDGE), Humanware Brailliant (1st generation and BI models), Optelec Alva (BC640, BC68, Papenmeier Braillex Trio, and the Seika (notetaker and 40 cell. Several new commands were also added in this release, including a command to search for text on the current screen which works with displays with a braille keyboard. It's available now on Google Play and works with Android 4.1 and later.

Technology has greatly increased the ability for the blind to find employment. Unfortunately, there is still a barrier if the software that companies use is not accessible to their blind employees. The non-profit, My Blind Spot is one of the organizations that tries to eliminate this barrier by providing scripting services so that screen readers can work with software that is unique to a specific company. Their latest project is to make the well known accounting software QuickBooks accessible. They hope that making this widely used software package accessible will open the doors to more jobs for the blind. We've reached out to the developers and will post more info as we receive it.

Learning Ally wants to learn how to better serve their blind and visually impaired customers. they are looking for college students to participate in a multi-month study to get feedback about how blind and visually impaired students access their materials. According to their website, this is what the study would entail: "The study has been designed to allow students to share their experiences with us at their own pace and in their own words. We plan on following students at the start of the semester. Over the course of the semester, they will be asked to leave voice-mail messages to reflect on their successes and challenges. At two points in the semester, researchers will meet with the student to further discuss and observe their academic experiences. Student participation will be compensated at several points in the semester and students will be able to withdraw from the study at any time and for any reason." Participants may be compensated up to $550 if they complete the study. Students in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will be given preference.

If you're interested in participating, contact Ksenia Pachikov.

phone: 646.321.3003

email: Ksenia@ConiferResearch.com

Many companies over the years have tried to come up with ways to find items that you've lost. Most of them involve a remote and a beacon that you attach to the item you keep misplacing. Most people used these gadgets for their keys, but often people complain that they wouldn't know where the remote was when they needed to find their missing object. A new company called Tile aims to change this problem. Their product includes two components. The Tiles are small stickers that you place on the object that you want to keep track of, and the app they've developed will help you locate the missing object as long as you're within 100 feet. When you tell the app that you're missing something, the tile will beep and the app will help direct you to the object. The company also hopes to use their technology to help people find stolen objects. The idea would be that if you had the tile app, you could then see objects that have been marked as stolen or lost.

The company is currently taking preorders for the tiles. One can be purchased for $19 or you can get 4 for $50. The battery in the tile will last 1 year and the app will notify you when the battery is low. The app is currently available for iOS and uses the new wireless capabilities of the Bluetooth 4.0 standard. Once more Android devices include this standard, a version for that platform will be more likely. Here is a link to the Tile website.

The ) Twenty-First Century Communications and Video ) Accessibility Act of 2010 requires companies who make electronic devices to make them accessible to people with disabilities. At this time, none of the Ebook readers that are on the market meet this requirement. Since many companies feel that this requirement should not apply to Ebook readers, Amazon, Kobo, and Sony have submitted a petition to the FCC asking for a waiver. According to the petition, this is the definition of an Ebook reader: "E-readers, sometimes called e-book readers, are mobile electronic devices that are designed, marketed and used primarily for the purpose of reading digital documents, including e-books and periodicals."

Since Ebook readers are primarily designed for print reading, the companies are arguing that the disabled community would not significantly benefit from these devices becoming accessible. They also argue that because the devices are so simple, making the changes to the devices to make them accessible, would cause them to be heavier, have poorer battery life, and raise the cost of the devices. Finally, these companies argue that since their apps are accessible on other devices such as the iPad and other full featured tablets, that they are already providing access to their content. We've posted the complete filing from the FCC's website below.
Here is a link to the original .PDF

An organization in Australia has developed a new set of games called Ballyland that help teach children with special needs about the keyboard. Unlike many typing programs, no literacy skills are required. The five games isolate individual keys so that children can learn at a slower pace. According to the Sonokids website, these are the features of Ballyland: "Self-voicing, Spoken feedback, Zoom, Easy recognisable sounds and images, Adjustable colour contrast, and Adjustable response time."

The program is available for PC and will be released for the Mac soon. there is a free trial option or the games can be purchased for download. All prices posted are in Australian dollars.

Running into objects because you can not see them can be a real issue for the blind. Canes and guide dogs do a good job of helping blind people avoid objects that are below the face, but low hanging branches or anything that is at face level can be challenging to avoid. A new project that is being developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield are aiming to solve this problem using ultrasonic technology. The researchers are basing their design on whiskers. Most mammals have whiskers on their faces which detect how close they are to an object. Since humans don't have whiskers, the team believes that they can design something that mimics whiskers to help the blind detect objects and give firefighters better information when they're trying to navigate a smoke filled room. The device will use ultrasonic sensors and vibration patterns to alert the person to how close they are to the object. The stronger the vibration, the closer you are to the object. At this time, they are multiple years out from making a commercial project, but they have already started beta testing with firefighters.

Google glass may not be available for people to buy, but many developers are already working with the new technology. The company Dapper Vision is designing multiple apps for google glass, including two that are relevant to the blind. According to Engadget, the company is already testing out the apps with visually impaired users. One of the apps would allow the user to take pictures and ask either the crowd-powered Mechanical Turk or twitter what the object is. the other, called Memento, would automatically recite notes to the user about a recognizable scene. For example, the app could warn users about dangerous equipment that they might be approaching.

If you're a fan of old time radio then you might be interested in this campaign on Kickstarter. Codename Cygnus will be interactive and use voice recognition during game play. According to the campaign website, this is what the game play will look like: "We're keeping our UI super simple. The experience is entirely sound and story: Writing + Voiceover + SFX + Music. With either a spoken word or a simple tap on the screen you can listen to the drama unfold in a progression similar to the multiple choice dialogue moments that you find in adventure or RPG games. You get to make decisions about what to do and what kind of agent to be in a world of espionage. Your iPhone/iPad recognizes your speech (or accepts the tap of a button) to trigger and play the next sound file so that the characters react to you as the events and story continue." Since the developers wanted high quality sound, they hired professional voice actors and built their own sound booth to save money. The first episode of the game has already been completed, and if they get funded, they'll start working on the second. At this time, the campaign is just over half way to it's goal and there are 11 days to go.

Watching TV that has audio description can be difficult to find and difficult to set up.
In case you haven't heard, Blindy.tv is designed to allow the blind to enjoy described television on their computers. The website offers five different channels to choose from and the content covers a variety of genres.
A software developer decided that they wanted to make the Blindy.tv experience even better. They have designed an app that you download onto your PC that allows you to watch Blindy.tv without using the website. According to the application's page, these are the features of the app: "On the main form, you will have comedy, drama, scifi, brain, and etc. You can tab to the station you want to listen to and press enter or the space bar on the play button to start playing. There is a stop button, adjust volume, and exit button."