April 02, 2007, 04:50:56 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Currently it comes with shortcomings, because you can only read and view while you screen is magnified.
But NLarge full screen magnifier for Windows XP, 2003 server and Vista realy has potency to become a useful screen magnifier for visually impaired in the future.

Full Story | | | 4057 views

Microsoft Again creates New Accessibility Problems With Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista

October 26, 2006, 05:15:14 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Microsoft claims, that Windows Vista will be the most accessible Windows operating system

ever.
Microsoft also said, that every product leaving the company is checked by the Microsoft

Accessibility Technology Group (ATG) for accessiblity.
But the truth is, that Microsft does less to make Windows more accessible and that all

current releases of screen magnifiers and screen readers will not work well with Internet

Explorer 7 and Windows Vista.

Full Story | | | 3552 views

Rockbox Open Source Replacement For MP3 Firmware Give Visually Impaired Access to Ipods by Speech Support

October 24, 2006, 07:32:23 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Rockbox Open Source Replacement For MP3 Firmware Give Visually Impaired Access to Ipods by

Rockbox is open source firmware for a range of MP3 players. Started with MP3 players from

Archos, now there are beta versions for iRiver and most Ipods.

While most MP3 players are difficult to access by visually impaired, Rockbox Firmware

alternative, made by users for users, make MP3 players fully accessible for the visually

impaired, because of the build-in speech support.
With Rockbox installed, all menus, directories and files are voiced.

Full Story | | | 3476 views

86-year-old man drove at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour into a crowd of people gathered at an outdoor Farmers Market in downtown Santa Monica

January 05, 2005, 05:04:52 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Lighthouse International, a nonprofit champion for all those with vision problems, wants our help. I say we should answer this call for aid.

Lighthouse people are beginning a five-year study to better understand driving transitions among people with vision loss.
Hidden behind those innocent-sounding words is this question: How do you get around and do your errands if you can not see well enough?

Sitting in the passenger seat alongside my mother, the car zipped past first one very red stop sign and then a second sign, equally as scarlet and forbidding. When I suggested that perhaps her driving skills had eroded, she called upon her favorite defense weapon, humor.

Oh, you are as bad as my friend Hazel, she said, laughing. She says those same things... Sadly, emphysema, followed by lung cancer, took this grand lady off the road forever.

As you read this, there are more than 70 families in California dealing with grief, understandable anger and nagging incomprehension. In the early afternoon of July 16, 2004, an 86-year-old man drove at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour into a crowd of people gathered at an outdoor Farmers Market in downtown Santa Monica.

Full Story | | | 3312 views

DesktopZoom Screen Magnifier For Windows 2000 / XP Includes Full Screen Magnification

February 17, 2006, 02:21:44 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

DesktopZoom is a small but free feature rich screen magnifier utility for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, that supports three magnification modes, including full screen magnification.

There are many free screen magnifier utilties available. Most of them can be downloaded from this weebsite, but there are less magnifier utilities that support full screen magnification.

Full Story | | | 3212 views

New Free DesktopZoom 1.6 Full Screen Magnification For Windows 2000 / XP Includes Nice Features

January 24, 2007, 07:46:26 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

One year ago I post an article titled DesktopZoom Screen Magnifier For Windows 2000 / XP Include Full Screen Magnification.

DesktopZoom is a free screen magnifier running on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. What maybe of interest for a lot of visually impaired is, that this small but powerful screen magnifier inCludes full screen magnification.
In the same article I also suggest some improvements for future releases. Version 1.6 of DesktopZoom now includes most of those suggested features!

Full Story | | | 3014 views

iZoom Web - The First Web-based Free Screen Magnifier Reviewed

August 01, 2007, 06:10:26 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

It seems a new tendency in Assistive Technology, web-based screen reading and magnificaiton. Web-based means, that the screen magnifier or screen reader software comes from a server on the Internet. Nothing has to be installed, nothing is realy changed on the computer, like professional screen magnifiers and screen readers often do. The only thing you have to do launching your screen reader or magnifier is, surf to a web page on the Internet, allow a small program to install or open and there you go!

Full Story | | | 3006 views

Free Full Screen Magnifier For Windows DesktopZoom 2.1 Now Features Tracking

October 13, 2007, 09:02:39 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

A new revolution in the area of free screen magnification is here, DesktopZoom now features tracking of all kind of Windows objects, including Windows Start menu, menus, buttons, check boxes and radio boxes. With this release the gap between freeware screen magnification and professional screen magnification declines.

Full Story | | | 2420 views

The Phone Monocle Brings New Hope for Cell Phone Users Who Can Never Find Their Reading Glasses

February 09, 2005, 12:49:48 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Magnifics Inc. a California manufacturing company has provided the solution to hard to read cell phone pda gps and other small electronic device displays by introducing the Phone Monocle.

For millions of people the arrival of the Phone Monocle on the market means no more searching for reading glasses to answer your cell phone, use your PDA, and Palm The Phone Monocle is here.

Full Story | | | 2383 views

NVDA Free Open Source Screen Reader For Windows Reviewed

September 30, 2007, 08:38:11 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Good news for those who can not pay the price of a commercial screen reader like Jaws, Window-Eyes or Hal. Also good news for those who want access to any computer on any place, because NVDA can run from any USB stick. NVDA is a free open source screen reader for Windows XP and Vista.

Full Story | | | 2370 views

Speaking Mobiles For Visually Impaired in Cyprus

November 08, 2006, 05:22:42 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

AN INNOVATIVE new scheme to enable blind or partially sighted individuals to use mobile phones was introduced by CyTA in a news conference yesterday.

The new service comes under the framework of CyTAs social programme entitled We all have the right to communication and has been in use for about two months. With this new speaking phone, people with visual disabilities will have easier access to communication and control their private life when it comes to their mobile phone.

Full Story | | | 2293 views

Apples new iPod shuffle MP3 player is user-friendly, even for the visually impaired

February 17, 2005, 02:35:43 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

By Ridzwan A. Rahim

Apples new iPod shuffle MP3 player is user-friendly, even for the visually impaired. RIDZWAN A. RAHIM finds out why. WHEN Apple unveiled its new iPod shuffle MP3 player, it sparked a controversy. The reason: the player comes without a display. But what is seen as a design flaw by detractors may just win Apple a new set of fans from a group often wrongly perceived as technologically backward, the visually impaired.

Full Story | | | 2268 views

Issist releases First Free Full Screen Magnifier iZoom 1.0 Beta

March 01, 2005, 01:31:12 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Issist (pronounced eye-sist), is pleased to
release the first Beta version of the iZoom screen Magnifier/Reader.
Under development for almost a year, iZoom is the first and only
free screen magnifier which offers full screen magnification and
reading.

Full Story | | | 2145 views

Focus on Screen Magnification, Zoomtext 9 and Lunarplus 6.5 Reviewed

April 27, 2006, 03:33:28 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

In the March edition of AccessWorld you can read a review of the two leading screen magnifiers on the market Zoomtext and Lunarplus.
Conclusion of the review is, that Zoomtext better meet the needs of the low vision, but is that true?

Full Story | | | 2071 views

Dolphin Releases version 7 of Supernova, Hal, Lunarplus en Lunar

June 01, 2006, 06:02:38 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Dolpin has released version 7 of their range of access software. Supernova is a screen reader plus screen magnifier for the Windows platform, including braille, speech en magnification suppot.

Hal is a screen reader, including braille en speech support.

Lunarplus is a screen magnifier with speech supot and Lunar is a professional screen magnifier.

It seems, that version 7 of the Dolphin products does not include much new features and it is a pity that Dolphin does not solve the major problem in their software: inaccessibility to a lot of programs.

Full Story | | | 2039 views

Issist Inc Announces iZoom2Go Screen Magnifier on USB Drive

November 10, 2005, 05:07:15 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

License agreements preventing you from using software YOU own? Tired of installing your favorite magnifier over and over on different machines just to use it for a few minutes? Need an administrator to grant you access before you can install anything?

iZoom2Go is the worlds first truly portable access solution available on a USB drive. You simply plug it in and it starts up. No installation, no administrative access, no license agreements, no hassles. It simply works... PERIOD!

Full Story | | | 1995 views

Is Google Shutting Out The Blind?

July 09, 2005, 06:16:15 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Accessibility activists charge that search goliath Google shuts blind people out of many of its services.

Google was the straw that broke the camels back, said Joanmarie Diggs, curriculum director for Carroll Tech, a program that teaches disabled people workarounds for barriers to their use of technology. How many cool things can Google come up with that block people who are blind?

Full Story | | | 1935 views

The Magnifier 1.5 Beta - Now With Support For Full Screen Magnification

July 31, 2007, 05:46:06 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Innovation Management Group has released a public beta of The Magnifier 1.5. The Magnifier 1.5 is cheap screen magnification utility for Windows 2000, XP and Vista and now includes full screen magnificaiton.

Full Story | | | 1915 views

ZoomText 9 Released by Aisquared

September 05, 2005, 01:17:36 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

AiSquared has released version 9 of ZoomText.
Important new features are XFont, magnification up to 36 times and the human-sounding NeoSpeech synthesizers.

Full Story | | | 1835 views

Lenses and Lasers: A look at the newest technology in eye care

March 03, 2005, 07:23:17 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Imagine a world without the technology of corrective lenses or surgery for people with vision problems. Its a thought that many of the 135 million American adults who wear prescription lenses, a number compiled by the eye care advocacy group Vision Council of America, do not want to contemplate.

It would affect me socially, academically and mentally, said senior Julie Park.
Everything is blurry without my contacts, and if I didnt have

Full Story | | | 1808 views

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