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Bookshare Offers Free Membership to Disabled Veterans Attending School

Posted by Unknown Sunday, November 10, 2013 0 comments

Bookshare recently announced that they will be providing free membership for disabled veterans who are currently attending a United States college or university. Bookshare also serves disabled civilian students and others with print disabilities by providing free downloadable accessible books. Veterans who qualify, but are not enrolled in school will have access to a 30 day free trial. After the trial veterans continue using Bookshare for a $50 yearly membership fee. Especially on Veterans Day it is great that veterans who are disabled will be able to access over 215,000 accessible books from the Bookshare library. Bookshare's press release says,

"Accessible books can break down reading barriers and open a new lifeline to reading to go back to school, learn a new vocation or read for pleasure."

A membership provides an individual with electronic books that can be read with text-to-speech or used with a braille device. This makes reading possible for people who are blind, low vision, physically disabled, or dyslexic. Interested veterans can find more information by visiting Bookshare's veterans site. People interested in Bookshare who are not veterans can visit Bookshare.org.

Assistive Touch Improvements in iOS 6

Posted by Unknown Sunday, October 7, 2012 0 comments

Apple's iOS 6 improves on the Assistive Touch feature that was originally introduced in iOS 5. Assistive Touch allows people with physical disabilities to use an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. People with physical disabilities may not be able to use two fingers to pinch or to zoom, or may not be able to double tap a button, but Assistive Touch makes these tasks easier. Among the improvements are quick access to Siri, multitasking and screenshots. Assistive Touch still gives users the ability to make custom gesture. Assistive Touch now is compatible with VoiceOver so you can use both features at the same time. To activate Assistive Touch go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Assistive Touch. Click here to learn more about Assistive Touch. Watch the above video to learn more. Click read more below to view screen shots.

Best Apps For Your New iPhone 5

Posted by Unknown Friday, September 21, 2012 0 comments

Did you get the iPhone 5 today? Below is a list of apps to make the most out of your new iPhone 5.

Read2Go (Bookshare) - $19.99

Read2Go is the best way to access Bookshare.org books on your iOS device.Bookshare provides free accessible eBooks for people with print disabilities. Click here to learn more about Bookshare. Once you download the app you can download over 150,000 books directly to your device. The best part of Read2Go is that students can easily read books anywhere because of the portability of iOS devices. To learn how to become a member click here.

Learning Ally Audio - Free

Learning Ally (formally RFB&D) provides audio books to people with print disabilities. Members must pay a yearly fee in order to download books. To learn about how to become a member of Learning Ally click here.

Prizmo - $9.99

Prizmo converts a picture of a document into text which can be read using text-to-speech. In short from document to text to speech in just seconds. Prizmo is also the fastest and most accurate optical character recognition (OCR) app I have every tested.

iBooks - Free

iBooks is Apple's eReader app. It is simple to use and accessible using VoiceOver. With iBook Textbooks students and teachers can download select textbooks onto theiriPad.

The list goes on, click read more below to view more great apps.

iTunes U - Free

iTunes U allows you to follow along with select classes from your iOS device. You can download classes from top universities and watch videos of the classes and read documents provided by the professor.

Khan Academy - Free

Great videos that walk you through many concepts from almost all subject. This app is great for homework help and learning new concepts. To learn more about Khan Academy click here.

iPhone 5 Announced

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 12, 2012 0 comments

Apple announced the iPhone 5 at an event today in California. The iPhone 5 includes and bigger screen, better camera, faster processor, thinner design and more. The iPhone 5 will run on iOS 6 Apple's mobile operating system which includes accessibility features such as VoiceOver, Guided Access and Speak Selection. Click here to learn more about iOS 6.

The iPhone 5 will be available for pre-order on September 14th and for sale on September 21th starting at $199. Click read more below to view more images of the iPhone 5.

iOS 6 To Be Released on September 19th With New Accessibility Features

Posted by Unknown 0 comments

Today, Apple announced that iOS 6, the software that runs iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, will be released on September 19th. The free software update will include new accessibility features such as Guided Access, Speak Selection with highlighting and improved Siri. Click here to learn more about Guided Access. iOS 6 will also include Made For iPhone Hearing Aids which allow hearing aid users to better use the iPhone. Along with accessibility improvements iOS 6 includes an updated maps app and more.

Click read more below to view more images of iOS 6 from Apple.

Create iOS Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted by Unknown Saturday, August 25, 2012 0 comments

Keyboard shortcuts are a tool for improving typing speed on your iOS device. To create a keyboard shortcut go to Setting > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts. To add a new short cut click the plus button in the top right. You can create a short cut to write "see you" when you type the letters "cu." You could also create a short cut for your email so you can enter your email quickly with just a few key strokes. Watch the above video to learn more.

Prizmo Vs. TextDetective OCR iPhone App Challange

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 1, 2012 0 comments

Prizmo and TextDetective are optical charactor recognition (OCR) apps for the iPhone. These apps use the iPhone camera to take a picture of a document and then convert the text on the paper to digital text. Because the apps rely on the iPhone camera they work best on the iPhone 4S. The apps were compared using a complex image with multiple images and columns. Both apps were used in a room with good lighting. Watch the video above to learn more about each of the apps.

Prizmo costs $9.99 in the App Store. Click here to download Prizmo. Prizmo is the fastest most accurate user friendly OCR app that I have ever tested. It is designed for sighted users. It allows you to crop and edit the picture before you start the OCR process. Once the text has been recognized you can read it using text-to-speech, email it or copy the text. It is important to note that users with visual impairments may have a hard time taking pictures of the documents they want to OCR. It also is impossible for a visually impaired user to crop the document to improve the accuracy. That being said for sighted users very easy to use.

TextDetective costs $1.99 for a limited time. Click here to download TextDetective. TextDetective is designed for people with visual impairments. The app is designed to make taking a picture of a document easy for the visually impair. In my tests I had a hard time taking a clear picture of a whole document. I could successfully capture a clear picture of one or two paragraphs. TextDetective was less accurate and slower than Prizmo. One problem I found is that TextDetective only works in landscape orientation but most documents are in portrait orientation. The orientation of the app makes it difficult to take a crisp picture of the page. In all for only $1.99 TextDetective may be worth a try.

Apps Provided Complimentary To Reviewer

Reminder: WWDC Kicks Off Monday, June 11

Posted by Unknown Monday, June 4, 2012 0 comments

On Monday, June 11 Apple will kick off its WWDC conference with a Keynote at 10 A.M. Pacific. Apple is rumored to cover OS X Mountain Lion, iOS 6 and possibly Siri for iPad and new Mac computers. Nothing is official until word comes directly from Apple. Last year at WWDC Apple unveiled iOS 5 with many new accessibility features including Speak Selection and Assistive Touch. Stay tuned to the Assistive Technology Blog to hear all about the announcement and how it affects people with disabilities. Let us know in the comments what features or products you would like to see announced.

Click read more below to view more images.

PaperPort Notes App for iPad: Notetaking with Dictation

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, March 6, 2012 0 comments

Paperport Notes is a free app for the iPad. The app is made by Nuance the maker of Dragon Dictation. The app allows users to take notes by typing, writing with a stylist or by dictation. Paperport Notes also allows users to import pictures and web pages into notes as visual reminders. Another useful feature allows users to record audio notes of a class or meeting while they are typing or writing notes. The audio notes will allow you to go back and review the class or meeting if you missed an important part. Once you have completed your note you can save in as a PDF or use cloud services such as Dropbox.

Click read more below to view more images of Paperport Notes.

Vibrating Alarm Clocks Help the Hearing Impaired

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 23, 2011 0 comments

Alarms are very important to wake people up. People with hearing impairments can not hear when the alarm goes off. Luckily there are vibrating alarm clocks to wake hearing up people with hearing impairments. There are many models of vibrating alarm clocks at a variety of prices. One option is the Shake-N-Wake vibrating alarm clock which is worn on the wrist. The clock and vibrator are all small enough to wear on your wrist. The Shake-N-Wake alarm clock is $19.99. There are many other options for people who need vibrating alarm clocks. To shop for more click here.

Using Encryption in Microsoft Word

Posted by Unknown Monday, August 22, 2011 0 comments

Some students may need tests and quizzes in an electronic format for various needs. Teachers may be hesitant to distribute tests and quizzes ahead of time because of academic integrity concerns. With Microsoft Word you can encrypt tests and quizzes and securely distribute them to students who need electronic documents. With an encryption document the student is unable to open the document without knowing a code. The teacher could email a student an encrypted document for a test the next day. Then on the day of the test the teacher could simply give the student the code to unlock the test. This ensures students will not have access to tests and quizzes before hand, but also ensures that the test will be ready and available so the student who needs the electronic version gets it at the same time as all of the other students. To learn more watch the video above. For more Microsoft Word tricks click here and here

iOS 5 Reminders App Will Help Everyone

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 17, 2011 0 comments

Apple next operating system upgrade for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch will include a new app called Reminders. iOS 5 is set to be released this fall. To learn more about the accessibility features in iOS 5 click here and here. The Reminders app will is a to-do list that notify you when you have something to do. Within the app you can make a to-do list and set it to remind you to complete the task at a particular date and time. The app can also remind you to do something when you leave or enter a location. For example you could set a reminder to alert you to pick up the eggs after work. The new reminder app in iOS 5 will help many people remember tasks through out the day. Apple explains the Reminders app on apple.com as,

"Next time you think to yourself, “Don’t forget to...,” just pull out your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and jot it down. Reminders lets you organize your life in to-do lists — complete with due dates and locations. Say you need to remember to pick up milk during your next grocery trip. Since Reminders can be location based, you’ll get an alert as soon as you pull into the supermarket parking lot. Reminders also works with iCal, Outlook, and iCloud, so changes you make update automatically on all your devices and calendars."

The Reminders app is not available on the app store and is only available for iOS 5. Click read more below to see more images and a video of the Reminders app.

Learning Ally Audio App Updated

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 16, 2011 0 comments

Today, Learning Ally (formally RFB&D) released a substantial upgrade to their iOS app. Learning Ally Audio is available for $19.99 on the iTunes app store. The app allows Learning Ally members to download audio books directly to their iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. If you are unfamiliar with Learning Ally click here. To be eligible you must have a qualifying disability. To learn about becoming a member click here. Downloading an audio book is simple and involves transferring the audio file to the app via iTunes. Once you've downloaded a book you can listen to it on the go with your iOS device. The app allows users to navigate the audio book by section or page number, bookmark important sections and speed up the speaking rate. The new update includes new features that make listening easier. One of the new features is the ability to jump to any page in the book. Another handy new feature allows playback to continue even when the screen is locked. Yet another new feature remembers where in the book you left off and starts playing from that point the next time you open the app. The Learning Ally Audio app is a must have for reading Learning Ally audio books on the go.

Learning Ally also announced in a press release that this fall they will support text as well as human narration. Learning Ally’s President and CEO, Andrew Friedman said,

"Looking ahead, the Learning Ally Audio app will include text to speech functionality, enabling learners to enjoy the best of both worlds: human narration as well as text content of their books and reading materials."

Click read more below to see screen shots of the updated app.

Digital Librarian is a One Stop Shop For Digital Publications

Posted by Unknown Monday, August 8, 2011 0 comments

Digital Librarian is a list of free online material sorted by category. Digital Librarian includes resources from around the web. When you click on a topic that interests you a long list of websites comes up. Digital Librarian is perfect for research projects. Once you have found an article you would like to read you can use a text-to-speech program to read it to you. Digital Librarian helps you find digital content quickly and easily. For more on digital library content click here.

Techmatrix Makes Finding and Comparing Assistive Technology Easy

Posted by Unknown Sunday, July 31, 2011 0 comments

Techmatrix.org provides a free service to help people with disabilities find appropriate technology to fit their needs. Techmatix allows you to search for assistive technology devices by many categories including disability, grade level and content area. When you select the categories that you are interested in Techmatrix produces a list of technologies that could help you. Then you can select products you are interested in to have them compared. Techmatrix can compare multiple technologies with a comprehensive check-list of features. Techmatrix is funded by the US Department of Education. If you are looking for technologies to help someone with a disability Techmatrix is an excellent resource.

SayText App Review

Posted by Unknown Monday, July 18, 2011 0 comments

SayText is a free OCR app for iPhone that recognizes text within a document and reads it back to you with VoiceOver. The app does not work as quickly as the Intel Reader but is fairly quick. The app is very simple to use and does not include a lot of features. Focusing the text in iPhone camera is hard and requires a steady hand. The app includes an automatic image capture feature when the text is in focus. Make sure the camera flash is on to increase the image and scan accuracy. SayText is free in the iTunes app store so there is no harm in trying it out.

Intel Reader Demo

Posted by Unknown Sunday, July 17, 2011 0 comments

Check out this video about the Intel Reader. This video shows some features of the Intel Reader as well the text recognitiond speed (OCR) and accuracy. The Intel Reader is great for quickly getting text into an electronic document that can be read aloud. For more information about the Intel Reader check out one of these links. Intel Reader: First Impressions, Intel Reader Unboxing, Intel Reader Give Away, and Intel Reader.

Dragon Go! iPhone app

Posted by Unknown Friday, July 15, 2011 0 comments

Nuance the makers of Dragon Dictation just came out with a new app called Dragon Go! The app uses Nuance's top notch voice recognition engine to search hundreds of websites and apps. The app is free on the iTunes app store. With Dragon Go! you can search hundreds of websites with the sound of your voice from within the app. If you say "weather in San Francisco" the app will search weather.com instead of Google. Dragon also has another app called Dragon Dictation that allows you to input text with the sound of your voice. Dragon Go! is a close as you can get to full voice search on the iPhone. With Dragon Go! you will never have to peck at the iPhone keyboard to search. To see a video about Dragon Go! click read more.

YourTube is Accessible Youtube

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, July 13, 2011 0 comments

YourTube is a site made by PoVidi that makes YouTube more accessible to people who use screen readers. Navigating YouTube with a screen reader is difficult because the control buttons are within the video player. This makes them impossible to use with a screen reader. YourTube is the solution for people who want to watch or listen to to YouTube and use a screen reader. YourTube takes the control buttons (play, pause, forward, backward and mute) out of the video player and into the webpage. Because the control buttons are in the webpage people who use screen readers can access the controls. YourTube allows you to search by video or channel. YourTube allows people that use screen readers to access YouTube.sers' feedback and comments on videos.