September 23, 2008, 01:47:24 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has applauded Apples move to make iTunes and iPods accessible to blind and visually impaired people, saying, The iPod nano, which was virtually unusable for people with vision loss, is now equipped with talking menus and large font options. Apple has also made improvements to the accessibility of iTunes.

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Software for blind to surf the net

June 26, 2008, 05:43:42 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

University of Washington experts say that they have written new software, WebAnywhere , which can enable blind and visually impaired people to surf the Internet at any place.

Full Story | | | 2958 views

Stand-Alone Device To Access Audio Content Over The Web

February 21, 2006, 12:54:53 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

A stand-alone device that provides access to selected news and entertainment audio web content without the need for high IT skills is planned for a launch later this year by a UK-based assistive technology charity.

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Inovative computer 'eyes' help blind read

March 17, 2005, 04:25:45 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Thanks to an innovative device developed by students and staff at the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) at Arizona State University, visually impaired people will now have a chance to read their mail, browse through a magazine or look over a restaurant menu quickly and easily.

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Myths in the Assistive Technology Field - Screen Readers and Magnifiers are Cash cows

March 23, 2007, 07:14:47 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

In an interview with Access World Chris Hofstader, former director of software development at Freedom Scientific, tells about the myths in the assistive technology industry.
Companies like AiSquared, Dolphin, Freedom Scientific, GW Micro and Humanware have enough money to develop good and stable software. But in practise making money seems to be more important.

Full Story | | | 2941 views

GPS software supports visually impaired

October 07, 2008, 07:43:16 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Code Factory has announced Windows Mobile GPS software intended for visually impaired users. Mobile Geo supports blind or low-vision users by using a combination of voice synthesis and vibratory alerts, and runs on Windows Mobile 5.x, 6.x, or 6.1 devices, the company says.

Full Story | | | 2937 views

Will Apple iPhone And IPod Be Accessible For Visually Impaired Soon?

August 03, 2007, 06:14:31 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

A growing number of new mobile devices on the market have a visual-tactile interface. These products are inaccessible to the visuaaly impaired and can be dangerous while driving a car or crossing a street. Apples patents show ongoing effort to bring voice commands to its portable devices.

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iZoom 1.2 standard, cheapest professional Screen Magnifiers / Reader, Now Released

November 06, 2005, 01:25:35 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

After the outstanding success of the iZoom 1.1 with thousands of
downloads, Issist is pleased to
announce iZoom Standard 1.2, a professional grade magnifier without the
professional grade price.
iZoom Standard is the only Professional Grade Screen Magnifier and
Reader built into a single
application carrying a double digit price tag of $79. Magnify your screen
anywhere from 1.5 to 16 times
while having it read out to you, all ready with color/cursor
enhancements and image smoothing.

Full Story | | | 2928 views

New Screen Magnifier Lightning Give Visually Impaired More Freedom

August 04, 2006, 03:13:36 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Lightning is a new magnification software program for the modern fast PC.
It supports up to 16 times magnification, including full screen magnification. Important is, that you can copy Lightning on an USB device and use it on any Windows XP computer, without the need to install anything on that computer.

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VoiceOver Screen Reader is now installed on every Apple computer

September 16, 2005, 01:33:14 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

While Visually Impaired computer users, running the Windows operating system have to pay hundreds of dollars for their screen readers, the VoiceOver screen reader for the Mac OS X is shipped with every Apple computer for free.

Full Story | | | 2881 views

Watch Low Vision Aids in Action on YouTube

January 03, 2008, 07:44:10 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Trying before buying is always a good advice, by getting a low vision device. A good alternative is watching a presentation on YouTube, also interesting for good sighted!

Full Story | | | 2849 views

IBM Makes Web Accessibility For Visually Impaired Users a Social Effort

July 09, 2008, 07:17:03 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

IBM has launched a new initiative that it hopes will vastly improve the web browsing experience for visually impaired users. The Social Accessibility Project is a service that aims to make web pages more accessible for screen readers without altering the code of the page, the software for which is available in beta form today through IBMs AlphaWorks. If enough people participate in the project, then IBMs software could become integral to blind users' everyday surfing.

Full Story | | | 2836 views

ClaroRead Releases Open Source Accessible PDF for Windows

March 31, 2008, 01:38:40 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

PDF files often are difficult to access by visually impaired. With the free Accessible PDF program for Windows PDF files, if they are not a scanned image, are now also accessible for visually impaired.

Full Story | | | 2826 views

Search Engine for the Visually Impaired

October 15, 2005, 05:23:09 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

For those of you having problems to read the search results of traditional search engines like Google, MSN or Yahoo, Big may be a solution!

Full Story | | | 2806 views

Seventy-Five Percent Improve Vision With Breakthrough Acupressure Technique

June 17, 2006, 09:48:06 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

A groundbreaking adaptation of acupuncture may give hope to people who are concerned about their failing vision. The results of an experiment using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to improve eyesight indicated that 75 percent of participants had a significant improvement in their vision. EFT is now available to the public by downloading the free EFT Manual at the EFT website.

Full Story | | | 2798 views

Code Factory launches Mobile Speak Pocket, a full-fledged screen reader for Pocket PC Devices

August 19, 2005, 05:01:10 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Code Factory S.L. announces the availability of Mobile Speak Pocket, a
screen reading software for Pocket PC and handheld devices running on the
Windows Mobile operating system.

Mobile Speak Pocket provides blind and visually impaired users access to all
the functionality of the device, allowing users to discover the exciting
world of Windows Mobile-based PDAs which have been traditionally
inaccesible. Mobile Speak Pocket provides blind and visually impaired users
with the flexibility of choosing a Pocket PC device of their choice from the
open market, which apart from providing a cost advantage will also enable
them to use mainstream devices on par with their sighted counterparts.

Full Story | | | 2787 views

New Word add-in helps convert documents into talking books

May 08, 2008, 08:14:36 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Last year, Microsoft reaffirmed its support for DAISY, the talking book standard developed for the visually impaired. Today, the ability for Word to save files in that enabling format has been unveiled.

Full Story | | | 2765 views

Legally blind man rediscovers wonder of sight

February 13, 2005, 01:06:43 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

BROCKTON — Reclining in his black wheelchair Friday in his room at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Stephen Zardis gazed up at the tiled ceiling.

He had never noticed the electrical sockets there before.

That is because until about three months ago, Zardis had not been able to see them, or for that matter, anything or anyone at all in fine detail.

Full Story | | | 2744 views

Vibrating touchscreens allow Braille reading

April 08, 2009, 03:35:18 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Touchscreen handsets may be the talk of the town, but they are useless to the visually impaired. Software developed by Jussi Rantala and his colleagues at the University of Tampere in Finland attempts to address that by bringing Braille to touch-enabled mobile devices.

Full Story | | | 2731 views

Some of the latest assistive technology for visually impaired people is on show at Vision 2005

April 06, 2005, 01:00:55 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Vision 2005 - an international conference on all aspects of sight loss being held in London this week.
You also can see some new products like the Mobi-Click phone, SONUS 1XT speaking DAB Radio, PAN OPTICUS to read on-screen TV menus and the Mono Mouse Magnifier a cheap alternative for a CCTV.

Full Story | | | 2721 views

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