Vol. 37, No. 2
June 2007

NEWS YOU MAY USE

The Library will be closed July 4 for Independence Day and September 3 for Labor Day.

Mark your calendars!  The 2007 Vision Rehabilitation and Technology Expo has been scheduled for November 16 at Mesa Convention Center.

The Code Factory announced in January that they have released new software, MobileSpeak Smart Phone.  Almost all cell phone carriers have at least one smart phone that will work with the $299 software.  Their website says this about the software: “Mobile Speak is a screen reader solution for mobile phones that allows access to most of the functionality of the device. Mobile Speak is to mobile phones what JAWS is to desktop computers”.  For more information, visit http://www.mobilespeak.com.

There is a new travel site on the Internet for Braille travelers.  The content excerpts popular guidebooks and some newspaper travel sections and makes the articles available at TravelBraille.com.  The information is free to blind individuals under fair use rights as long as the user is legally blind, and certifies that he/she will use the material only for research purposes and will not communicate the information to others.  To register, go to www.travelbraille.com.

The Arizona Assistive Technology Access Program (AzTAP) has announced a new program that provides an online forum for individuals to place ads to donate, buy, sell, exchange or advertise a need for a piece of assistive technology, which is defined as any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase, maintain or improve the capabilities of individuals with disabilities.  There is no charge or fee to post an ad on the ATEX website, which is at www.azATEXchange.org.  For more information contact Clayton Guffey, AzTAP Assistive Technology Specialist at 602-776-4699 or 1-800-477-9921 or www.azatexchange.org.

Check out the American Foundation for the Blind’s Senior Site at www.afb.org/seniorsite for lots of useful information.

Tiflolibros is the first digital library for the Spanish-speaking blind.  It was created in 1999 by a group of blind friends who wanted to exchange digital books and has grown to have more than 20,000 books in Spanish available for more than 3,000 members in American, Europe and Asia.  To use Tiflolibros send email to tiflolibros@tiflolibros.com.ar.  You will need to have access to a computer with a voice reader and provide proof of disability.  Registration is free, but there is a recommended donation of about $50 every six months to support the library’s operation.

Google’s Accessible Search is designed to make searching the internet easier by filtering out web sites that are not easily readable by a screen reader while still finding the most relevant information based on the search terms.  To use Accessible Search, go to http://labs.google.com/accessible/.