[brlinc at mindspring.com: WYFIWYG Newsletter November 2001]

[Gregory Nowak]

Hi all,

There is an incomplete excerpt here at the end about speakup that I thought
some of you may be interested in.
Greg


----- Forwarded message from Peter Duran <brlinc at mindspring.com> -----

Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 09:28:10 -0500
From: Peter Duran <brlinc at mindspring.com>
Subject: WYFIWYG Newsletter November 2001


WYFIWYG Email NEWSLETTER November 2001

Copyright November 2001 by Peter Duran
All rights Reserved

Table of Contents

Note:  The * (Shift+8) character precedes topics in this newsletter so you 
can search for a * to jump to the next topic.

Windows XP Enhancements
GPS Update
Microsoft Reader 2.0
Let the Tigers Roam Free
Screen Reader for Thanksgiving
MACROMEDIA Makes ANIMATION Accessible
The eBook Directory Update Newsletter
Dead Microsoft Operating Systems
Microsoft Word 2000 Stupidity
Tiger Tricks for Tiger Advantage
Window-Eyes Professional Update Dirt Cheap
Duxbury Translator Update
Comprehensive Mailing List Resource
Screen Review Utility for Linux
Subscription Information

End of Table of Contents

* Windows XP Enhancements

The article at

www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1001475527

has information about enhancements for Windows XP.

* GPS Update

From:  Michael May <MikeMay at SenderoGroup.com>

Dear Atlas and GPS-Talk Users and Friends,

September 2001 will be the last month that GPS-Talk version 1x will be 
manufactured by Sendero Group.  Let me explain why and what our plans are.

I left Arkenstone 2 years ago and formed Sendero Group, a "grass roots" 
company dedicated to wayfinding technology and to releasing the first ever 
GPS products for the blind.  My co-founders, Jim Misener of Beyond Sight 
and Charles LaPierre our Chief Technology Officer and developer, have 
joined me in putting much heart, soul, time and money into this effort.  We 
released GPS-Talk in March 2000 and have had many improvements and 
subsequent releases since that time including our most recent release of a 
Canadian version.  Our company of blind people for blind people has begun a 
new era of accessible location information and you, the GPS-Talk version 1X 
users, have been pioneers right along with us.

The reality of pioneering a new product category is that initial GPS-Talk 
sales have not been sufficient to fund Sendero operations let alone 
development of new versions.  In order to take this technology to the next 
level in terms of features and portability, we need to focus our resources 
on developing new products rather than on modifying the current 
version.  We cannot do both.

Getting GPS on note takers and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs) is our most 
immediate focus.  Sendero is joining forces with Pulse Data International 
and HumanWare to provide GPS with BrailleNote and VoiceNote PDA 
products.  These new units have nearly the power of a notebook computer and 
yet they are smaller, lighter, have an instant-on capability and serve many 
purposes.  The small incremental cost and size of adding GPS to the 
BrailleNote and VoiceNote greatly enhances the access to GPS for blind 
users.  By combining forces, we can quickly get a portable GPS solution 
into your hands and have the resources to develop this and other aspects of 
wayfinding technology.  I am very pleased to be joining the highly 
respected HumanWare team to accomplish this.

Sendero Group and HumanWare announce two and a quarter million dollar Grant 
Awarded

The Department of Education National Institute for Disability 
Rehabilitation Research has awarded $450,000 per year for five years for 
Wayfinding research and development to an national all-star team led by 
Sendero Group.  The goal of this project is to create a GPS core platform 
around which other wayfinding technologies will be tested and incorporated 
including GPS cell phones, indoor and outdoor navigation, location specific 
signs, complex intersections and signal lights.

* Microsoft Reader 2.0

Microsoft has released MS Reader 2.0.  The prior version of this 
application was not accessible, but now it is.  It is self voicing.  Check 
it out at:

http://www.microsoft.com/reader

  go to

http://www.fictionwise.com

and you can buy hundreds of books in reader format which will work with the 
reader.  They also have them in pdf and you can download both with no extra 
charge.

Now, with the new MS Reader you can go to Amozon.com and buy a book just 
like everybody else.  I just did that today and it works beautifully!  The 
selection isn't that great yet but it is getting better, I also understand 
it works with Audible.com's books but haven't tried them.


* Let the Tigers Roam Free

Hello all,

Many of you have received Tiger samples and have expressed your amazement 
at the braille and tactile graphics quality.  Tiger is definitely the 
braille printer for this millennium.  You can emboss any Word document or 
Excel spreadsheet in a matter of minutes with a Tiger font.

Place an order for a Tiger before Thanksgiving and save $750.00!  A great 
savings on a revolutionary braille and tactile graphics printer.

Purchase orders are accepted from businesses, educational institutions, 
governmental organizations and other organizations.  Prepayment by check is 
required of individuals.  Act now so you can have a Tiger rome your 
premises in the near future!

* Screen Reader for Thanksgiving

Many of you have told me that times are tough on the financial front, but 
you need to switch to a more "rock solid" screen reader.  Here is the best 
I can do for all of you.  This offer is valid till Thanksgiving 2001, but 
supply is limited.  Call toll free 877-993-4994 to order the most stable 
screen reader on the market.  All major credit cards are accepted.

Window-Eyes 4.11 Price $455.00
Shipment UPS Ground $10

Your choice of free tutorial on disk:  Verbal View of Word 2000 or Verbal 
View of Windows 98 or Verbal View of Windows Me.

* MACROMEDIA Makes ANIMATION Accessible

Animation -- cartoons that wiggle and jiggle, are a staple of many 
graphic-rich web sites.  Macromedia is the leader in web animation.  This 
company has announced developments to make its animations more accessible 
to blind Internet users.  Dreamweaver free add-ons let web designers check 
their web sites for accessibility.  Download these add-ons at:

http://exchange.macromedia.com

Macromedia has plans for a Flash Accessibility Developer Kit and future 
enhancements to its Flash Player.  This kit is expected to be available by 
the end of the year.  This kit will contain guidelines and sample programs 
to fully support development of accessible web animations.  Access to data 
in animations are planned for an updated version of Flash Player so screen 
readers can speak labels and other text tags.  Go to

http://www.macromedia.com/accessibility/

for further details.\

* The eBook Directory Update Newsletter

Electronic books are becoming a mainstream item for many publishers.  This 
newsletter is awonderful resource for anybody who wishes to read or publish 
eBooks.  Current eBooks are listed and some are reviewed.  Here is the 
sign-up information:

To subscribe send a blank e-mail to:

  mailto:ebookupdate-subscribe at egroups.com

  To unsubscribe send a blank e-mail to:
  mailto:ebookupdate-unsubscribe at egroups.com

* Dead Microsoft Operating Systems

Whilst Microsoft support for DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 officially 
ceases at the end of this year, support for Windows 98 and 98SE (As well as 
NT4) is not scheduled to cease until June 2003.

You can see full details at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycleconsumer.asp

* Microsoft Word 2000 Stupidity

Microsoft wants to make you say only nice things about folks as you 
write.  Microsoft has removed all offensive words from the Word 
thesaurus.  Look up the word "fool" and you won't find any nouns that could 
be used to call people names.

* Tiger Tricks for Tiger Advantage

Now, a user manual from BRL, Inc., for the Tiger is available in braille -- 
written in Word 2000 and embossed on the Tiger.  You can order a copy for 
$25.00.  Learn about the Tiger and its tricks -- most of which are beyond 
all other braille printers.  The cost of this user manual is deducted from 
the cost of the Tiger when you order a Tiger of your very own.

A very important Tiger trick is that the Tiger has its own tactile 
fonts.  These fonts let you emboss dozens of characters beyond the 
capability of Grade 2 braille as well as the Computer Braille Code.  You 
can use the Symbol Tiger font to emboss all the characters included in the 
Symbol font for Word.  Try to emboss those characters on any other 
embosser.  Good luck!

* Window-Eyes Professional Update Dirt Cheap

A new FAQ on the SMA program is now on the GW Micro web site.  They have 
updated the information to reflect the price changes and how you can use 
two SMA counts to migrate to Window-Eyes Professional.  Check it out at

www.gwmicro.com/support

and go to the FAQ link.

* Duxbury Translator Update

A Table of Contents Generator is one of the major features that will be in 
DBT 10.4.  DBT 10.4 should be shipping first quarter of 2002.

Editor comment:  Well, about time!  PC braille has had this feature for 15 
years.

* Comprehensive Mailing List Resource

From:         Cathy Anne Murtha <cathy at CATHYANNE.COM>

I have gathered together all of the blind mailing lists I could find (I am 
still on the hunt) and placed them into a comprehensive indexed list for 
those who may be looking for a new list to which to subscribe or are just 
interested to see what is available.

Over three hundred lists have been indexed and I invite you to pay a 
visit.  You will find the link for the Mailing list index at:

http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com

* Screen Review Utility for Linux

From: Kirk Reiser < kirk at braille.uwo.ca>

speakup v-1.00 allows you to hear all output directed to the console and 
move around the screen using the typical screen review functions.  This is 
a stable release by popular vote on the speakup mailing list.  Which  eans 
it is by no means complete but seems stable and has been well tested.  It 
is quite usable in it's current incarnation though, with the blaring lack 
of cursor output support.  That means in an editor it doesn't read each 
line as you move up and down the screen.  It tracks the cursor so you just 
need to do a say current line but it doesn't do it all by itself.  There is 
more to be said for cursor tracking and speaking than meets the ear at 
first glance.

Speakup is a set of kernel patches which means you should have some 
experience with kernel compiling.  It currently works on the Linux kernels 
2.2.18 and

* Subscription Information


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----- End forwarded message -----