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Stevie Wonder made one of the most public declarations ever of the need for things to be accessible at the 2016 Grammy Awards. As he was about to announce the winner for Song of the Year by reading the name from a braille card, nearly 25 million people heard his message about accessibility.
"We need to make every single thing accessible to every single person with a disability"
Watch a recap of Stevie's grammy night below the jump.

Dan Weirich, the W in GW Micro, has announced his retirement from AI Squared, ending a nearly three decade career in the assistive technology industry. He was introduced to the industry through his work as chief engineer at Computer Aids Corporation, known largely for their Apple software products including Word Talk and File Talk. In 1990, he partnered with Doug Geoffray to form GW Micro which sold Vocal-Eyes and Window-Eyes screen reading software for the next two decades. Here's a letter from the Raised Dot Computing newsletter announcing the formation of GW Micro in 1990. Since the merger of GW Micro and Ai Squared in 2014, Weirich held the position of VP of Strategic Programs.
Here's an interview with Weirich from 2011 talking about Window-Eyes 7.5 and another from Shelly Brisbin in 2015 talking about ZoomText Fusion.
Dan posted a message to several AI Squared mailing lists, which we've included below.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and thanks to the National Braille Press, blind children can join in the fun with braille valentines. The 2016 series says "Just POPPING through with a VALENTINE for you!" and includes a hint of popcorn when scratched. Get 32 with envelopes for $14 or 20 for $10 by following the link on this post.

HumanWare is overhauling their lineup of portable video magnifiers by releasing three new models. The Explore series comes in 3, 5, and 7 inch models and is advertised as some of the lightest units in its class. The $249 Explore 3 is ultraportable and includes a built-in stand. The 5-inch Explore 5 comes in at $749 and includes 16 color contrast modes and magnification up to 22X. The larger Explore 7 is available for $1,099 and features a rugged stand and is more ideal for reading Books. They're all available now from the HumanWare website. Follow the link for the full press release.

The latest update to the Hims Braille Edge adds native Unified English Braille support. While UEB had worked with screen readers in the past, it now can be used for the Braille Edge's on-board notetaking and other functions. Other minor improvements are also included in the free update. Check the link on this post to get the latest firmware for the Braille Edge, or read on for the complete changelog.

FamilyConnect, a program of the American Foundation for the Blind, is looking for parents of blind or visually impaired children to participate in a focus group about transitioning to Unified English Braille (UEB). "There have numerous been focus group and interview studies in which consumers and vision professionals have been asked about their concerns, expectations and experiences with UEB. A big gap in our research involves the voices of the parents and families of children who are blind and transitioning to the UEB. We want to learn more about what families expect from UEB and what is happening to support them."
Two focus group times are available on either Tuesday, January 19 or Thursday, January 21 and participants will be compensated $50 for their time. Follow the link on this post for more info.

Accessible Apps is working on the latest in their growing list of apps and services and set up a website to tease the upcoming offering. CAPTCHA Be Gone will be a browser extension that aims to solve visual CAPTCHAs, often used to prevent automated bots from hacking into websites. According to the website, "CAPTCHA Be Gone is a powerful but simple solution to solve CAPTCHAs for you nearly instantly. Press a single keystroke, and the CAPTCHA is automatically detected, extracted from the page, sent off, and solved in seconds. As soon as it is solved, an audio cue is played, and the solution is copied to your clipboard so you can paste it and keep going about your day."
The popular Web Visum service for Firefox has not been updated in some time and is now unavailable by default in the latest versions of the browser for security reasons. Rumola is another pay service that is currently available for Chrome and Firefox. Captcha Be Gone will be available as a service for $3.50/month and initially work with Firefox and Chrome with additional support planned. Check out the page for more info or to be added to a mailing list to receive updates. Would you pay for a CAPTCHA service that works with a variety of browsers? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Inclusive Android has posted a survey to gain user feedback on the accessibility of Google's office products including Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive. The survey applies to versions of these programs both on mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android as well as personal computers. Results will be shared with Google's accessibility team. Follow the link on this post to take the survey. Note: this survey was not created or endorsed by Google.

Thanks to two popular online gaming sites, you can enjoy some new games with your friends near or afar this holiday season.
Over at QuentinC's Game Room, Backgammon has been added as their 25th game title. The classic dice and strategy game can be played with two humans or one person and a bot. Meanwhile, RS Games has added a basic slot machine game as well as a version of the number game 99. Both gaming sites can be played on a variety of platforms and are free to use.

The Holiday Odyssey - Three kids, a dog and an epic quest to light a ridiculously giant tree. This is the premise of Target's Holiday Story book, a completely accessible experience on their website. Narration, sounds, captions, and alt text are included for both English and Spanish users as they read the 49-page story, narrated by Neil Patrick Harris. It's accessible both on your computer or mobile device. Take a break from your day, and check the link on this post to read the story. When you arrive at this page, use the Settings button to set up the story to your liking before you begin Thanks to Steve for the tip..

AI Squared has released Window-Eyes 9.3, a free upgrade for the screen reader. This version includes much-improved read to end feature, OCR support for a variety of file types and the screen, support for additional braille displays, and an overhauled spell checker experience for Microsoft Word. It's a free upgrade for users of Window-Eyes 9.2. Follow the link on this post to learn more or to download an upgrade or demo, or read on to read more from AI Squared.

Braille embossers don't often see major changes, but a new feature from Index is believed to be a first for modern braille printing. The forthcoming V5 line of their Basic, Everest, and Braille Box models will support printing directly from mobile phones and tablets. No details are included on which devices will be supported. V5 models will begin to ship in early 2016 starting with the production Braille Box model followed by the consumer oriented Basic and Everest models. Owners of current V4 embossers will also receive some of the new mobile functionality with a 2.0 firmware update scheduled for early 2016.

Researchers are developing a glove that they say will help the blind sense and grasp objects. According to a press release, "The technology will combine vision, tactile, force, temperature and audio sensors and actuators to help the wearer pre-sense an object - telling its location, feeling its shape and size - and then grasp it."

It can potentially be used to help in navigation, or for finding door handles or picking up a glass. Ambitions seem to run further than helping the blind, however. "Not only will this device help blind and visually impaired people, the methods and technology we develop will have great potential in advancing small and wearable robot autonomy with many potential applications in space exploration, military surveillance, law enforcement and search and rescue," Yantao Shen, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada Reno. We've linked to the press release from this post.

A new study is exploring the attitudes of visually impaired people regarding seeking psychological services. The study is being conducted by a graduate student at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education. According to the call for participants, "It is very rare to find research which investigates the attitudes and perspectives of the visually impaired on seeking psychological services."
The survey is listed as taking 45 minutes, though some participants report finishing it in half the time. Those who complete the survey will be entered in a drawing for one of three $25 gift cards. Follow the link on this post to take the survey. More information is included below.

It's still over three months away, but you can begin to plan your CSUN session calendar now. Next year's event will be held from March 21-26 in San Diego. The main conference sessions are on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and encompass a wide array of assistive technology topics. Follow the link on this post to view the over 300 sessions approved for the conference.

After a long delay, an update to Android's default Braille support has been released with a variety of new features. Google's Android Team has released BrailleBack 0.95.1 to the Play Store, it's the first update in two years. This version includes support for Unified English Braille (UEB), support for more braille displays including the Hims Smart Beetle and the Harpo Braillepen 12 Touch, and support for TalkBack custom labels. We've included the complete changelog below. Updated documentation has also been posted to Google's website.

If you have a VarioUltra from Baum, the latest free update fixes some major bugs. Version 1.32 allows you to once again connect to more than two Bluetooth devices at once, one of the major selling points for the unit. A limitation that only allowed for up to two Apple devices to be connected via Bluetooth has also been removed. Check below for the complete list of changes and bug fixed in this release. Thanks to Rich for the tip.

HumanWare has released a free update for the 2nd generation Victor Reader Stream. This release allows you to record Internet radio streams in a variety of sound qualities, supports the mass deletion of podcasts, and includes several additional text-to-speech voices. It's a free update for all current stream owners and can be downloaded wirelessly or manually. You can read the press release or view the changelog below.

With little fanfare, a new FCC ruling that requires emergency information on television stations to be presented in audio form has gone into effect. As of November 30, The Audible Crawl rule requires that information such as weather alerts, disasters, widespread fires and power outages, and other large-scale emergencies be presented on the station's Second Audio Program or SAP channel, interrupting other audio such as descriptive video or Spanish language programming. The rule applies to all television markets, regardless of whether or not they are currently broadcasting descriptive audio content.

Implementation of the service seems to have flown completely under the radar for many, with recent searches finding few examples of television stations advertising the new feature. Some stations, such as South Dakota's KSFY, focused their announcement of the service entirely on how to avoid hearing the spoken messages. An article from TV News Check details some of the troubles that stations have endured in implementing the new service, namely a lack of available technology.

We'd be hard-pressed to find many assistive technology users who love everything about .PDF formatted files. If you have experiences good or bad to share, a new survey seeks your input. The survey, titled PDF and the User Experience, is a means to provide your feedback on the accessibility or lack thereof of PDF files and is being administered by Karlen Communications. Follow the link on this post to take the survey, which closes December 31.