All News and Views

It's barely spring, but the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) wants you to think about submitting a paper for its 2018 conference. ATIA 2018 will be held January 30-February 3 in Orlando, and the Call for Presentations is now open.

The American Printing House for the Blind has brought their popular Talking Typer program to the iPhone. The typing tutor and learning tool includes nearly 3 dozen lessons and is available now for $4.99.

As we posted earlier The Seeing Eye's 9th annual auction is currently going on, and it ends tonight.

As promised, Learning Ally has brought their Link reading app to the Android platform. The new version joins counterparts for iOS, Chrome, Windows and Mac and allows members to read their over 80,000- available titles.

The Windows 10 Creators Update is here, and while some of you may be dreading the process of updating to Microsoft's latest operating system, I've completed the mission and lived to tell the tale. Below I'll explain the relatively simple process so you can be up and running in no time.

Passports are one of the most important travel documents, and one country is working to make them more accessible for blind travelers. According to the Yonhap News Agency, The South Korean Foreign Ministry will begin issuing the modified passports on April 20 at hundreds of locations

Freedom Scientific has posted the April update to JAWS version 18 which includes a laundry list of changes with a heavy Google Docs and Microsoft Office focus.

It's time once again for the Seeing Eye's annual online auction, and this year's edition has over 500 items to tempt your fancy or your wallet.

A new USPS service may be able to scan your mail for you before it is delivered, potentially providing a more accessible way to read mail. The Informed Delivery service has been tested in several cities and is schedule for a nationwide roll-out on April 14.

Twitter has been making a lot of changes to how the default profile photos work on its website, and this may cause some users to become hidden if they choose not to upload an image.

A researcher from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom wants to hear from assistive technology users who have administered Wordpress websites. The WordPress Administration - Accessibility' survey has now been posted to gather feedback from such users and will be available through April 30.

Another company is plunging hands-first into the crowding accessible smart warable market, armed with a $100,000 award from a weekend competition. Somatic Labs, creators of the moment wearable device, won the prize at the Innovation Open, an event for entrepreneurs hosted at Arizona State University.

Dolphin has released version 16.03 of the SuperNova screen reader, a free update for existing users. Don't let the version number fool you, as this release packs in quite a few new features.

Voxygen, the company that brought us Halloween fun with the Witch text to speech voice, has now introduced their lineup of voices to Windows computer users. Dozens of goofy and more naturally-sounding voices are now available in SAPI 5 format, compatible with Windows screen readers.

A lot of cable and television providers, some with more fanfare than others, have launched some form of accessibility for their talking guide software. While we were enjoying the holiday break, Verizon quietly enabled this feature for their Fios customers.

Another piece of early audio book history has been uncovered. According to the American Printing House for the Blind Fred's Head Blog, A 1936 recording of Gulliver's Travels was recently donated along with other early talking books.

The last time guidelines for accessible web content were published by the World Wide Web Consortium, many of our readers were likely using flip phones or early talking Nokia devices. The next version will address many of the advancements in technology which have been released over the past few years including mobile apps and touch screen devices.

The first public beta of TalkBack 5.2 has been posted for Android users. As we previously reported, this new release introduces a variety of features including custom verbosity settings which allow a user to select how much speech feedback is given while navigating. Feedback via sound is also different in this version, with a new collection of earcons, the sounds that are played to indicate various elements on the screen. The new sounds are less musical and more brief and to the point.

As promised by Greg Stilson in our recent Humanware CSUN podcast, version 3.0 of the software for the BrailleNote Touch is now available as a free update. This version adds support for opening multiple documents in KeyWord, updated support for WebViews included in newer versions of Android, additional voices and languages, and a smattering of additional features and bug fixes. Greg demonstrates some of the new features and goes into more detail on the podcast linked above. The version 3.0 changelog is listed below and also linked from this post. Thanks to Jay Pellis for the tip.

Terrill Thompson has once again posted a completely accessible NCAA March Madness bracket which you can fill out and monitor. It uses accessibility best practices to create one of the most usable brackets for screen reader users. Check the source link on this post to check it out or fill out a bracket. The first main tournament round starts just after noon on Thursday.