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The American Council of the Blind has announced there locations and dates for the next two conferences. Next year will be in Las Vegas. Pre registration starts on the 10th of July with the opening session on the 13th and the final day being the 18th.

If you're not up for Vegas, or need to wait a couple of years before going to conference again, then you can choose to attend in 2015 in Dallas Texas. Pre-registration will start on July 2nd, the opening session will be on July 5th, and and the conference will end on July 10th.

Happy planning.

Wearable computing seems to be the next frontier. The Pebble watch and Google Glass are being raved about, but wearable technology doesn't jus have to be for humans. Researchers at Georgia Tech are working on a system called FIDO, or Facilitating Interactions for Dogs with Occupations. The idea is that the dog could activate a sensor that would then transmit either a verbal command into a headset or a visual command onto a screen. For example, a bomb sniffer dog could tell his handler what kind of bomb it is, or a rescue dog could alert someone that he found an injured person. A guide dog could tell us that there is an obstruction to our right or in front of us. According to the article in technology review, "In an early study, the researchers equipped a dog vest with an Arduino microprocessor and tested four different sensors that dogs could activate by biting, tugging, or putting their mouth nearby. The three service dogs participating in the test quickly learned to activate the sensors to set off a tone." Tell us in the comments what you would want your service animal to be able to communicate.

Sendero is very interested in hearing from it's customers. They have set up a page where you can vote on what features you want to see in upcoming versions of their new Seeing Eye GpS app. The features that you can vote on include:

Ability to add your own public and private POIs
Announcing of Sendero's existing User POI database
Increasing the number of items in the route history list
Favorite's list
Ability to add a route from your contact's list
Ability to run the app in the background
Announce intersections at more then 15 MPH
Vibrate alerts on upcoming turns and arrived at destination

You may vote for two of these 8 features. You can also submit one feature that is not on the list that you would also like to see.

If you're planning a trip to a federal recreation site or one of our many National Parks, then you can get your free pass for life with proof of your disability. According to a post in Positively Naperville, "When you visit a federal recreation site or national park, just present some documentation of disability status and ask for the free Access Pass. Documentation includes a physician’s statement, or a document issued by a state or federal agency like the Veteran’s Administration, proof of Social Security Disability Income or Supplemental Security Income, or a letter from a vocational rehabilitation agency. The pass gives you and three adults free admission to national parks around the country."

To learn more about this program, or to find out where National Parks are located, visit the National Park Service website.

Byron Lee, who works for Horizons for the Blind, describes a new Directions for Me app that should be coming to the android platform soon on this week's Serotalk podcast. He starts by describing the main screen which includes the buttons: scan, search, browse, and info. The scan button will allow you to scan bar codes with your phone's camera. Since it can be difficult to find the bar code, the scan mode is continuous allowing you to rotate the product until the camera finds the bar code. Once the bar code is found, you get the product name, description of the product, directions for how to use the product, ingrediants, wanrings and manufacture information. You can also search for a specific product or browse using the directions for me website.

Sendero announced today that the Seeing Eye GPS app has been submitted to the app store and is now available. The app can be downloaded for free, but you must have a subscription in order to use it. A one year subscription will cost you $69.95 and for three years the cost is $129.95.

According to the description of the app, some of the features that make this app particularly useful for blind users include:

Route, POI's, and Location are available at any time
At intersections the cross street and it's orientation are announced
Intersections are described such as four way or two way
Routes are available for both vehicle and pedestrian mode
To hear what is around you, point your phone in a direction and the LookAround Wand tells you nearby POI's
POI's and intersections are automatically announced as you get close to them.

GW Micro announced today a new app for the PC called SocialEyes. If you wish that you could interact with facebook better but you find the website too difficult and inaccessible, then SocialEyes is for you. According to the press release: "
SocialEyes offers Facebook users the ability to access their newsfeed, read comments, create comments, like posts, search for events, pages, friends, groups, and more. Users can also read notifications, messages, chat with their friends, write on timelines, manage friend requests, and access event information."

The app will be compatible with most PC screen readers and magnification software. For a limited time, a one year subscription can be purchased for $25. You can preorder SocialEyes today by calling 260) 489-3671. Once the promotional period is up, the yearly subscription will go up to $50.

To see SocialEyes in action, visit <a target="_blank" href== "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULm6DW4zAmw&feature=youtu.be"> GW Micro's You Tube Page .

If you haven't tried out Blind Square yet and you're going to either the NFB or ACB national conventions, then now is your chance. The makers of BlindSquare have come out with BS Event. This app will allow you to use the app in demo mode if you are attending events that are important to the blind. Some of the features include: learning about interesting places around you, access to phone numbers and addresses, ability to search for specific places, ability to input a destination into your favorite turn by turn app, and ability to checkin at your location using foursquare. This app is only intended for those who do not own the full BlindSquare app. If you're not attending a convention, a virtual mode is also available. The full BlindSquare App is available for $19.99.

There are a number of braille typing apps already available for IOS devices. Some may wonder then do we need another one. For me, MBraille is my favorite so far. Some of the benefits include: contracted braille, ability to type with the device on a table or facing away from you, free access to twitter and the clipboard, and a tutorial mode.

The app is very similar to Fleksy because it uses gestures to add spaces, new lines, and deleting of text. The help section of the app reviews all of the gestures and the other features that the app has available. One feature that speeds up the posting process are commands. For example, to tweet, write your message followed by a new line. Then write .twitter and the message will be sent.

The free version only gives you access to sending tweets and adding text to the clipboard. If you want the full list of features including email, Facebook, text messaging, and editing capability, the app will cost $30. The benefit of course is that you get to try out the app before spending any money.

It is important to note that the voice that you use for voiceover will determine your braille table. If you are using the Australian voice for example, you can only write contractions that exist in UEB.

For blind golfers, the need for their caddy to tell them everything from how far the hole is to where their ball landed can be frustrating. A new device can increase a blind golfers independence through the use of GPS and text to speech. The Golf Buddy Voice is a device that will tell you the distance to the center of the green, front of the green, or back of the green. The device can be purchased from Amazon for $122.79 with free shipping. The Golf Buddy Voice can be clipped to a pocket or be worn like a watch, it has 36,000 golf courses already loaded, and it just needs to be connected to a computer to be upgraded. Though we have reports of blind golfers using the device, we're not sure if it's completely accessible without sighted assistance. If you've tried or seen one of these units, let us know what you think in the comments.

Progress was made when ATM's first got braille, and then they were even more usable once they started talking, but the machine still spit out a paper receipt. Wells Fargo is now going to start offering you your receipt either via email or text message. The company is doing this to help cut down on paper waste, but it ends up being a great option for the blind. Customers must have an online account with Wells Fargo to be eligible for the new receipt options.

To celebrate Independence Day, AI Squared is offering a discount of 15% on all orders. You can get the discount by either using the code: INDEPENDENCE, or by calling 800-859-0270 and mentioning the word independence. Happy shopping.

When the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in 1997, it was specified that all children with vision impairments should learn braille unless there was a legitimate reason for them not to. However, the number of students who are actually learning braille is continuing to fall despite this requirement. In May,26 senators sent a letter to the Department of Education explaining their concern about the very low rates of braille literacy. Wednesday, the Department of Education issued a statement clarifying the guidelines that school districts must follow. One important change that will hopefully increase braille instruction is the rule that having access to other media such as audio or computers can not be used as an excuse to deny braille. Read the statement from the NFB and the letter from the Department of Education by visiting the link provided.

traveling independently for those of us who can't read the street sign either means having accessible GPS or memorizing where we are. Knowing where you are is an important skill, but it would also be useful if the street sign was accessible. The city of Sydney is currently testing out a prototype of their new street signs which will feature braille and raised letters. They are working with blind citizens to make sure that the signs are readable and that they will be placed in consistent locations on intersections. This change could make travel more safe and appealing to those with vision loss.

There are a number of braille typing apps available for the app store, but some might say that none of them are perfect. Maybe MBraille will be the braille app of our dreams. The developer hopes that it will be released in the app store next week. Some of the features, according to the AppleVis post include: ability to type in contracted or uncontracted braille, ability to post to Facebook and twitter, ability to send emails and make calendar appointments, and copy and paste text to the clipboard. The post also points out that the app will be free for those who just want to type and tweet, but if you want the full list of features then the app could cost $30.

Echolocation is being talked a lot about these days. There's a new book on how to teach yourself to echolocate, and now from Swiss researchers, there may be an app coming soon that would map out a room using echoes. The app would be able to map out a simple room to help orient the blind person. The technology could also locate a person within a room because everyone's echo is unique. This could make finding our friends or learning the layout of a room that much easier.

Apple announced today that it's adding new content to the apple TV. If you have an HBO Go account, which requires you to be subscribed to HBO, you can now watch content on your apple TV. They have also added ESPN content. In both cases, you need a cable or satellite subscription to access these new features. Note that some people are reporting that the sign-up screen for HBO Go is not accessible with VoiceOver. Let us know your findings in the comments.

JJ Lucia-Wright, a member of Extreme Clowning, an organization that helps the deaf/blind experience entertainment in an accessible way has created the first Star Wars convention that is just for people with disabilities. The convention will take place later this year in Peterborough England. Attendees will be able to tactually explore costumes from the films, meet costume characters and actors from the films, and even get to experience a droid. There will be sign language and tactile sign language interpreters on hand. Donations to the Kickstarter campaign will be used to support the many volunteers that are going to make the event possible. Is this a cool idea, or just a bit weird? Sound off in the comments.

Christopher Toth, maker of Hope the Accessible Pandora and Q-read, has added Chicken Nugget, an accessible PC twitter client to his website. The app is still in beta, but you can now download the beta from the website. You can also purchase an official copy of the app for $15.00.

On Friday, Microsoft released its new version of office for the iPhone and iOS devices.
The app is called Office Mobile for 365 Subscribers and as the title suggests,
the app is only for current 365 subscriber's.
There is a way to buy a one month's or year's subscription within the app or on Microsoft's site. Students can also get a special 4-year license for $79.99. According to a post on Apple Vis from Bryan Jones, the app is usable, but there are a number of accessibility issues.