News aggregator

EasyReader Express is a new web-based subscription service. It enables DAISY talking book providers to 'add' an Express version of EasyReader to their DAISY talking books. With EasyReader Express added, readers with vision impairments and dyslexia can instantly open the DAISY talking book on their PC in a fully accessible, zero install reader.

Suited for publishers of DAISY talking books, professional transcription services, and DAISY talking book libraries, EasyReader Express ensures that readers have instant access to DAISY talking books. Dolphin's AltFormat Product Manager Mattias Karlsson explains: "The benefits offered by DAISY's navigation and synchronised text and speech are well documented, but a problem has always existed that readers need their own player to read a DAISY book. With EasyReader Express added, DAISY talking books can be opened on any PC, with or without a software player."

More information is available on the Dolphin Computer Access website.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD) includes the right of access to education and identifies braille as an indispensable medium of communication for those of us who are blind. The development of literacy, the support of lifelong learning and the accessibility to knowledge are achievable objectives for all of us. The accelerating pace of change and the explosion of information we all experience requires a fresh and innovative approach to the future of braille as a vibrant medium for the 21st century.

The World Congress Braille21 will take place from September 27-30, 2011 in Leipzig, Germany. At www.braille21.net visitors can find the most recent information about the Braille21 project.

It can be difficult to keep all the possibilities and new technologies sorted out. With the advent in recent years of downloadable audio books from both commercial sources and collections specifically for blind and low-vision users, many readers are now asking not only about content and sources, but also about the devices on which to play that content. The September issue of AccessWorld, just published by the American Foundation for the Blind, features Deborah Kendrick's article Picking a Player: A Roundup of Devices for Playing NLS and Other Talking Books. This article is a great resource for readers in need of assistance with choosing a digital talking book player.

For more detailed descriptions, please read previously published AccessWorld product evaluations or visit the manufacturer websites for the following devices: VictorReader Stream, BookSense, BookPort Plus and PlexTalk Pocket.

EasyReader Express enables DAISY talking book providers to 'add' an Express version of EasyReader to their DAISY talking books. With EasyReader Express added, readers with vision impairments and dyslexia can instantly open the DAISY talking book on their PC in a fully accessible, zero install reader.

Ideal for Publishers of DAISY talking books, professional transcription services, and DAISY talking book libraries, EasyReader Express ensures that all readers have instant access to DAISY talking books.

EasyReader Express not only enables DAISY talking book providers to reach a wider audience of readers with vision impairments and dyslexia, but also provides instant and seamless access to DAISY talking books. With EasyReader Express added, readers can instantly open their book in a PC with EasyReader Express, or still use their preferred DAISY player.

EasyReader Express is becoming an instant hit with DAISY talking book providers, as Dolphin's AltFormat Product Manager Mattias Karlsson explains:

The benefits offered by DAISY's navigation and synchronised text and speech are well documented, but a problem has always existed that readers need their own player to read a DAISY book. With EasyReader Express added, DAISY talking books can be opened on any PC, with or without a software player."

EasyReader Express customers can add EasyReader Express using:

• The Add EasyReader Express website (www.YourDolphin.com/AddExpress)
• Dolphin EasyConverter (version 5 or later)
• Dolphin Publisher (version 3 or later)

Adding EasyReader Express is easy. To find out how, check out the EasyReader Express video tutorials available at www.YourDolphin.com/EasyReaderExpress.

NLB are very satisfied with EasyReader Express as it facilitates an easy and economic approach to provide all our users with a DAISY-player." Olav Indergaard; Norwegian Library of Talking Books and Braille.

Read the full user story to find out more about how EasyReader Express is being used at the Norwegian Library of talking books and Braille (NLB)

Want to experience instant DAISY for yourself? Download a free EasyReader Express DAISY talking book from the Dolphin website.

MathType 6.7 was just released. It includes lots of new features such as Office 2010 support and increased interoperability with other sites and apps. A nice accessibility improvement came about because of our close collaboration with ViewPlus: it is even easier in v6.7 to generate braille math output using ViewPlus's Tiger Software Suite.

Design Science is committed to making math accessible. For more information on accessible math, see our accessibility solution pages.

The Center on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge has announced that the Call for Papers for the 26th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference will open on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 and will close on Wednesday, October 13, 2010. Visit http://www.csunconference.org for more information about the Call for Papers and the 2011 CSUN Conference.

A free update for all version 11 users of SuperNova, Hal, Lunar and LunarPlus is now available to download. Simply check for updates in the Help menu of your Dolphin control panel!

FIX: When using Word 2003 on a Windows 7 machine occasionally your cursor tracking would lose its focus. This issue has now been fixed.

FIX: Previously when you were reading a very long document with Read from Here or Doc Reader the screensaver may have cut in before you finished reading the document. This issue has now been fixed by temporarily disabling your screensaver whilst you enjoy reading your long document.

TIP: To start Read from Here use the Hotkey; number pad +. To exit Read from Here simply press the Esc key.

FIX: If you changed your Colour Scheme during a session and then restarted your Dolphin software. The 1st Colour Scheme that you were using, rather than the last Colour Scheme, in your previous sessions would have been saved. This has now been fixed and your last Colour Scheme will now be saved.

TIP: You can turn on the Colour Scheme by using the hotkeys Left Ctrl + Number Pad 0.

FIX: The problem which resulted in issues between the Optelec Alva BC640 Braille display and your Dolphin software has now been fixed.

v11.55 also features 12 changes and improvements to various maps and scripts to enhance your experience when using your Dolphin software.

• Read in full 'What's new in v11.55'.

To receive these free improvements ensure you have your Dolphin internet updater turned on to check for the latest product updates.

Dolphin is pleased to announce the appointment of Charlie Hamilton as V.P. of Sales for North America, based in Princeton, New Jersey.

In keeping with Dolphin's ambitious North American market strategy, Charlie will be tasked with driving growth, as well as adding value for existing customers, Dolphin's network of dealers and the regional teams.

A 25-year veteran of the software industry, Charlie's career history includes both small and large company management, with significant time spent at Oracle Corporation and BMC Software.  More recently, he managed North American sales and operations for a small international company. 

Charlie comes to Dolphin with extensive knowledge and experience in growing sales teams and consistently delivering results in both software and service organizations.  His claim to success is his ability to drive education, consulting and support services with all software sales, as he explains;

"If the customer is not comfortable using the solution and the solution is not seamlessly integrated into their daily life, then we have failed.  Happy customers are the key to market growth."

This mantra has guided Charlie's sales career mission.  Dolphin executives firmly believe this customer first philosophy will work well with Dolphin's North American market strategy.  Managing Director of Dolphin Computer Access, Noel Duffy explains:

"Our software users must come first and Dolphin strive to deliver software that empowers our customers to retain their independence. This thinking is at the heart of everything that we do, from intuitive product design through to our excellent product support and accredited training. Charlie shares this mindset and we are extremely confident that coupled with his extensive experience, he will confidently drive our North American business strategy."

To contact Charlie Hamilton email charlie.hamilton@dolphinusa.com, or call his cell at 201 400 8111

Accessibility has come to Africa. In 2007, Dolphin partnered with Sightsavers International to develop the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen; affordable computer access software for visually impaired computer users in Africa and the developing world.

More recently, the field of accessibility has grown in Kenya to not only providing computer access, but also the provision of alternative format versions of learning and reading materials.

Alex Kaluyu from Kenya Union of the Blind discusses the use of Dolphin EasyConverter to create altformats quickly and easily for students with vision impairments:

EasyConverter has been a very useful tool for conversion and reproduction of information and learning material in alternative accessible formats."

Read the full case study on the EasyConverter pages of the Dolphin website.

The Plextalk Pocket is a portable digital talking book player and recorder for the visually impaired and dyslexic. This webinar on September 1, 2010 (1:00 PM Eastern Time, 12:00 PM Central Time, 11:00 AM Mountain Time, 10:00 AM Pacific Time) will cover the following:

• The basics of Bookshare and the Plextalk Pocket
• How to download Bookshare books
• How to transfer Bookshare books to your Pocket
• How to read Bookshare books on the Pocket

The webinar presentation will be 30-minutes, followed by time for attendee questions. This webinar will be recorded and shared for later viewing.

Online registration and additional information can be found on on the Bookshare webinar page.

I have some good news and some bad news. First, the good news is that the new HTML5 standards initiative includes support for MathML and has been embraced by all browser vendors. This should reduce the barriers to producing web content with accessible, searchable, and interoperable mathematics.

Now the bad news. Unfortunately, MathML support in the next version of Internet Explorer 9 appears to be broken, based on our testing of Microsoft's latest Platform Preview. Read the whole story in MathML in HTML5: Internet Explorer 9 is Broken. It only requires a small fix but Microsoft likely will not give it much priority unless the STEM, Education, and Accessibility communities make it clear how important MathML support is for them. Our hope is that you will help us spread the word about this problem and make Microsoft understand the need to make MathML work once again. If you agree, let them know by any and all means at your disposal.

Nearly all of the publications digitized by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre are now also available in DAISY format to support the needs of readers with print disabilities.

Thanks to a grant from the Community Partnership Fund, and in collaboration with the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, the NZETC has generated DAISY books for 1,064 titles in its collection, including a number of required course texts.

To access an e-text in DAISY format, readers can select "DAISY ebook" from the list of "Other Formats" when browsing the NZETC title page. More information is available on the Victoria University of Wellington Library website.

A new Dolphin Script has been made available from the Dolphin Scripting Zone.

The Windows XP Explorer Progress Bar Beeps script adds beeps when a progress bar appears o screen. As the progress bar fills, the beeps rise in pitch and also move from left to right. Progress bars can appear when, for example, you copy or move large numbers of files.

To download the script or read more details including what beeps it uses, visit the Dolphin Scripting Zone at www.YourDolphin.com/Scripts.

If you are interested in learning more about making the inaccessible, accessible with a Dolphin Script, visit the Dolphin Scripting Zone. Alternatively why not register for a the Dolphin Scripting and Mapping training course that is accredited by the Institute of IT.

In a previous post, I broke the news that MathML 3 is going to be a proposed recommendation.  I also bragged about MathPlayer having 97% coverage for MathML 3 features. Support for the visual display of elementary math went into what will be MathPlayer 3 over nine months ago (see my earlier post about MathML 3).  As many people know, MathML is the way to make math accessible.  Now that MathML 3 supports elementary math, that too can be made accessible. Here's a demonstration of the next version of MathPlayer displaying and speaking elementary math:

We're still working on refinements to what is spoken.  If you have suggestions for how to improve the speech for either example, please let us know!

Dolphin Computer Access has announced the release of EasyReader Version 6.01. EasyReader is an accessible talking book reader software, allowing readers to read and listen to content through a combination of text, speech and images. Focusing on improving the reading experience of learners, Version 6 includes reading functionality that puts the reader in control.

Mattias Karlsson, Dolphin's AltFormat Product Manager and resident DAISY expert explains what's new in Dolphin's accessible talking book reader: "Version 6 is all about developing the reading experience and putting the reader in greater control. For young learners through to mature students, reading in education is mostly about absorbing and processing information. Version 6 includes the option to automatically pause or even stop after every sentence, giving the reader time to take in the facts. You can even control how long the pause is using a handy slider".

Version 6 also includes the ability to select and copy text from the book, a much requested feature as Mattias explains: “Students of all ages extract information from books and cite them in their own work. A reader with a vision impairment or learning disability such as dyslexia is no different. With version 6, learners can now select and copy text from the EasyReader reading window, ready to paste into Microsoft Word, or whatever their preferred application may be."

EasyReader v6.01 is immediately available in UK English, US English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. There are 3 simple licenses to choose from, making EasyReader ideal for a single user, a single site, or multiple sites. A free 30 day trial is available for schools looking to evaluate the new and existing features, as well as some free sample books in DAISY, EPUB text formats.

For a complete list of EasyReader features and what's new in v6.01, please visit the EasyReader pages of the Dolphin website.