Posts Tagged ocr
The Blind Buzz: Scansoft’s free online OCR service
Posted by nystagmite in Uncategorized on June 5, 2010
There is very good news for those of us who do a lot of scanning and OCR (optical character recognition) conversion. SmartSoft has announced that it is launching a
free online OCR service
You don’t need to register for this. You merely upload the image file that you want converted to text, and collect the results in a format of your choice, which can be DOC, RTF, plain text or PDF..
The service accepts files in JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIF and PDF documents (up to 5 pages) .
More info:
Press Release
The Blind Buzz on Accessibility
Posted by nystagmite in Uncategorized on April 3, 2010
CSUN 2010 Audio
Blind Bargains: Audio Content Index includes several items related to CSUN
CSUN 2010 – 27 interviews conducted on March 25, 2010, in the exhibit hall of the San Diego California Manchester Grand Hyatt.
Hands On with Accessible Canon Copiers
MagniLink Go Reads, but also Magnifies
New Magnification Upgrades from Enhanced Vision
Serotalk – SeroTek at CSUN 2010
Tech Chat 56 – CSUN Highlights, and XP Mode Under Windows 7 « SeroTalk
The Summit of I.D. Mates
Other CSUN 2010 items
Adaptech Research Network Presentations
Adventures From My First Day at CSUN 2010 – Perspectives from a Blind Point of View
More Adventures from CSUN 2010 – Perspectives from a Blind Point of View
CSUN 2010 recap – Marco’s Accessibility Blog
Olympus DM-4 And DM-2 Digital Audio Devices Are At Your Command To Deliver Super High-quality Recording And Simple Playback
Slides from CSUN 2010 Talks – Adobe Accessibility
Two New Seika’s Coming to the U.S. – new Braille displays
10 Insanely Great iPad Apps We Can’t Wait to Use « AccessTech News
[Video] 2007 Faculty Development Award Winner: Access E-Learning – Georgia Tech tutorial on many aspects of accessibility.
A Brief Guide to WordPress and Web Accessibility
ABBYY Invites iPhone Users to Try Its Business Card Reader for Free
Accessible JavaScript: Beyond the Mouse
Accessible World Tek Talk Presents Make It Work, Computer Consultants March 29, 2010 by Mr. Daniel Kevorkian – general computer discussion
Accessibility tips for the casual coder – hope: Nerdy PSA – Why you should use em and strong tags for italics and bold.
ai squared – making accessibility simple – ZoomText, Victor reader Stream, Pebble, SenseView Duo and more.
Ajax Accessibility and ARIA – Ajaxian
Apple iPad Helps Businesses Meet Needs of Disabled Employees – Yahoo! News
Bank of America Installs Talking ATMs by Bank Systems & Technology
Best Buy Adds Tactile Keypads to Improve Checkout Experience for Customers with Visual Impairments – USA story.
Blind Bargains to Begin Charging for Access on April 15
Blind-friendly ipad – Latest Technology News
Browser Zoom Comparison | AlastairC – several ways of changing the size of things on screen in several browsers.
Choosing To Use A Cane – Fred’s Head
Cinemas apply for exemption to the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 « AccessTech News – cinemas in Australia are asking for a delay in the demand for audio description and captioning.
Contributor Robert Kingette – Accessible PDF with WebbIE – Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind – first-hand experience of Accessible PDF from webbie.org.uk, which on the whole is very good.
Council on e-accessibility « Sköne Oke – standards are inconsistent across ~European countries.
Costa Rica Zip line Tour at Turu Ba Ri park is almost for any body | Costa Rica Turubari Park – Canopy Tours – elderly blind woman enjoys the tour.
Digital Talking Book Internet Service Delivers One Millionth Download « AccessTech News this is the NLS BARD Service in the USA.
eBooks page on the RNIB web site. On the same subject, you may like to visit
The tale of the accessible eBook – BBC Ouch!
eClipseWriter Student-Teacher – talking word processor with adjustable fonts and "Save as DAISY" facility.
FAE: Run FAE – functional accessibility evaluation. Enter a web address for an assessment of the page’s accessibility.
Free AVG Rescue CD Helps Get Unbootable PCs Working
Freedom Scientific Lease-to-Own Petition – sign the petition if you agree that FS should let people pay by instalments instead of needing the whole purchase price of JAWS up-front.
GNOME 2.30 released – with excellent accessibility support – Peter Korn’s Weblog
Google funds new research to help blind web surfers | Bioscience Technology Online – work at Manchester University to be supported by a £50,000 grant from Google.
Google Services Optimized for iPad: Gmail, YouTube, Maps and More « AccessTech News
GrabText – the idea is to take a picture of the whole screen and pick out the text from it using OCR
[GSoC Proposal] N900 as an Accessibility device – maemo.org – Talk
How Perceptual Blindness Works – Simple test shows how Humans (yes, even you) sometimes completely miss things that are in plain sight – Try the test – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks – Mozilla Firefox – even if you have some sight, you can miss something that’s right in front of your face. Here’s why.
How to Use Bump Dots to Maximize Accessibility – Fred’s Head – raised dots have uses on keyboards, ATMs and keypads. there are other uses for them in your life.
iPhone HD or iPhone 4G release? – rumours, no doubt carefully orchestrated by Apple, of the new iPhone release in the summer of 2010.
Is it possible to develop an accessible dynamic menu? – AccessIT
Issues in improving accessibility « H809 Learnings by SkillKick – some of the barriers.
IVONA Text-To-Speech Makes Mobile Applications More Accessible – free trial and book available on the site.
Juicy Studio: Image Analyser – This service examines all images found on a web page to check for any accessibility issues. The width, height, alt, and longdesc attributes are examined for appropriate values.
Kit support scent – Kit Cosmetics want to support Guide Dogs Australia. They have even sent scented Braille letters to blind people making them aware of their support and their product.
Support Scent Video Commercial
KPR – Koester Performance Research – ‘ …enhances the usability and accessibility of information and assistive technologies through research, development, and education. We research the “fit” between users and their technology. We develop software to assess user needs and to enhance computer interfaces. We also consult on usability and research desig’.
Learning the way – Donna Jodhan – how are you going to find your way about when you can’t see landmarks?
LookTell, Mobile Applications For The Blind – Technology Blog – mobile application for object recognition.
[Video] LookTel demo shows how Looktel system recognises objects, including food cans, newspaper items, shop signs, currency notes (at least, American currency notes).
Mouse by Keyboard « AccessTech News – Mac tip
Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0.4 Final « AccessTech News
Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition 3.0.4 Released « AccessTech News
Multiple form labels and screen readers | 456 Berea Street – using an extra label to carry text for users to read seems like a good idea until you try it with a screen reader…..
New Design Opens Door To Full Screen Displays For The Blind – page display rather than line-by-line.
News Bytes – latest on Linux.
Nuance Announces TALKS 5.0 for Touchscreen Phones | Business Wire
Nuance Talks web site.
Nuance announces T9 Trace « AccessTech News – it’s not clear whether Nuance Talks will support this text entry system.
OverDrive Announces New Program for Visually Impaired Readers « ResourceShelf – download up to 20 ebooks per month.
Podcast: 30 Mar 2010 Software Walk-Through Resco News S60 – Blind Mind News – Unrestricted Access – RSS reader for symbian 3rd and 5th generation phones.
ReadPal -Free download to read faster with no stress or glare. – read documents in easy formats.
Set default zoom level in Safari using a CSS file – Mac OS X Hints
Sharp’s New 3D Touch Displays Eliminate Need for Glasses | Blog | ZiggyTek
Software @ ColorJack – products include a free Sketchpad program, Color Galaxy for color visualization and Color Sphere, which lets you choose color schemes, including colorblind simulators.
Sources of Research Articles on Cognitive Web Accessibility « Clear Helper
[Audio] The very first look at a touch screen phone with Talks 5. | Listen and Learn Recordings
The Web Isn’t for Everyone … Yet but lessons here try to help web authors make the most of it.
Virtual Ability, Inc. – offers techniques and training to enable disabled people to enjoy virtual worlds, such as Second Life.
VisionZone Initiates Eye Heath Awareness and Low Vision Community Connectivity -online arm of Optelec promises education on eye health and support for visually impaired people and their allies across the USA.
What to do with a Guide Dog when entering a Mosque? – www.TurnToIslam.com
Whenever you use :hover, also use :focus | 456 Berea Street – applying :focus to the CSS state of links.
WinPenPack Gathers Hundreds of Portable Apps in One Package [Downloads] « AccessTech News
YouTube accessible interface alternative now available « AccessTech News
Full story
Accessible Interface to YouTube
The Blind Buzz on Accessibility
Posted by nystagmite in Uncategorized on January 22, 2010
is There Room for another OCR Product? HandyTech Thinks There Is – Blind Bargains – a new desktop OCR program, iRead, is trying to join OpenBook and Kurzweil.
More information and 30-day trial
Lynx Viewer – online service that demonstrates how your web pages appear to a text-only browser.
Mac Video Tutorial Subtitles project | ATMac – the aim is for Mac users to be able to add captions to videos, and in languages other than English.
Mobile office gadget – A new projector phone that helps you take the office anywhere – welcome to the Sweatshop California
Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Offers Notable Improvements – Enterprise Applications from eWeek – speed, appearance and HTML5 compatibility make this an upgrade worth having.
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 3.6 Released by PortableApps.com
Pantech’s New Sky IM-U560K For Girls – that’s what it says – a cellphone for girls. I only report this stuff. It has text-to-speech on it, but presumably no maps!
Solona Offers reCAPTCHA Help – Blind Bargains – the CAPTCHA-solving service, Solona, offers advice about dealing with Recaptcha.
SpeakingFox – text-to-speech add-on for the Mac.
Talkr — Letting blogs speak for themselves – turns the feed from any blog into a text-to-speech podcast.
Twitter accessibility, yellow/white on black | userstyles.org</p
The Blind Buzz on Accessibility
Posted by nystagmite in Uncategorized on December 17, 2009
10 Best Nokia Beta Labs Apps -include the experimental Braille Reader, indoor GPS, magnifier
[Audio] 1197am RPH Adelaide – Listen On-line to Vision Extra
33 Must Read CSS3 Tips, Tricks, Tutorial Sites and Articles | Graphic and Web Design Blog -Resources
A Beginner’s Guide to Web Accessibility: 21 Ways to Make Your Site More Web Accessible
A vision for inclusion – A Guide to the European Blind Union. Includes a section on inaccessible products and services.
A website for teachers who are blind or visually impaired
Abilities Expo | Events for People with Disabilities – USA organization for disabled people and proefessionals. Events display latest technology, products and services.
Access for Everyone: Empower Technologies’ Accessible Comparison Shopping Service – Fred’s Head from APH
Direct link to empowereveryone.com
Access Keys -Accessibility Assessments – these are awards for web sites that meet particular needs.
Accessible Alternatives for CAPTCHA – those visual puzzles you have to solve before you can enter some web sites are not a whole heap of use to blind people, so here are some solutions.
Accessible Devices Podcast Feed
Listen to Episode 9: iBill Currency Identifier – other episodes cover the iPhone, Penfriend Audio Labeler and the BrainPort. Plextalk recorder,
Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms – The Web Standards Project
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 – what’s ARIA all about?
Accessible Tech Resource Library: How can our organization deliver accessible webcasts?
Accessible Twitter : web accessibility for the Twitter.com website application
Accessible Twitter Wins Award, Slidedeck – Web Axe
Accessible Web Video: JW Player Controls – OSU Web Accessibility Center
Accessibility tools, web developer tools, wizards and markup generators | Accessify – warning: a script on this page generated a threat warning from AVG anti-virus. Probably trivial, but it’s your choice whether to follow this link.
Accessify Forum: Accessibility Discussion Forums
ADA Online: Is a Website a “Place of Public Accommodation”? | Citizen Media Law Project – in the light of the recent case claiming that Sony’s games site was not made accessible to visually impaired people, questions arise about the status of websites.
Adobe – Accessibility training resources
AMP Express – get a free accessibility report for your web site.
ASSOCIATION OF BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED TEACHERS AND STUDENTS [ABAPSTAS] – UK based
Balabolka: Free Text-to-Speech for Windows – Fred’s Head – this is a simple text-to-speech program that can read from the clipboard and save sound files from what it reads there.
Beyo CBS Reader is an OCR application for Symbian phones, cost £75. Get a demo in the UK from
Computer Room Services – supposedly the OCR program requires Talks.
Blind in business: Cutting-edge seeing aids – The Independent, UK – how a City of London blind high flyer does it.
Bookshare – Accessible Books for Individuals with Print Disabilities – books and periodicals made accessible. USA based.
Browser Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts « AccessTech News – Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari, Opera.
Cambridge University Press Has Signed an Agreement with the DAISY Forum of India
Captchas: The Bain of Everyone’s Existence – Perspectives from a Blind Point of View
Color Vision – by Cal Henderson – a tool to simulate how someone with color deficiency would see your site – or not, as the case may be.
Copyright Owners Fight Plan to Release E-Books for the Blind | Threat Level | Wired.com
Discover new ways of thinking about accessibility – W3C Blog – new documents urges designers to involve users, not just stick to standards.
Dive Into Accessibility – book for site owners.
Dragon Dictation comes to the iPhone. Wow. – The Unofficial Apple Weblog
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
RSS Feed
easy computer for our seniors – software and hardware that are easy to use.
Eldy RSS Feed
Enhanced Keyboard-accessible Google Maps » Learning the World
eyes-free Google Group – access to Android phones.
Finally, Posted Notes for the Visually Impaired – Fred’s Head – ever wanted bigger post-it notes? Now’s your chance!
FireVox – free text-to-speech extension for Firefox.
Free PDF to Word Converter Online – send in your scanned PDF file, and get a Word document back with page features preserved.
Global Assistive Technology Encyclopedia – accessible wiki site that everyone can help to build.
GW Micro – News & Events – Upcoming Events – Online Presentation of BookSense 2.0 Firmware! – When: Monday, December 21, 2009 – registration for this event is closed, but you will be able to hear a recording of it eventually.
IDEAL Group Android Accessibility Wizard – helping people to move from previous generation phones to Android smartphones.
Introducing Easy Web Browsing – Macy’s talking web browser in co-operation with IBM. Only works with oudated versions of Internet Explorer.
JAWS ate my tables – WebAIM Blog – is this a data table or is it a layout table? It isn’t always clear to screen readers.
JAWS scripts for Mozilla Thunderbird version 3.0 – this link starts the installer.
KeyboardNavigation Does Away with Mouse Clicks in Chrome – Keyboard Shortcuts – Lifehacker
Lighthouse International: Get Organized – handy hints on making your whole life more accessible.
Lou Reed Launches iPhone App for the Visually Impaired – Spinner UK – yes, it is that Lou Reed. The app zooms your iPhone contacts.
Main Menu show on ACB Radio has a feature on MobileSpeak 4 on Saturday, 19th December, 2009. If you miss it, find it in
the Archives.
Make Thunderbird 3 Your Ultimate Online/Offline Message Hub – Thunderbird 3 – Lifehacker
Memory Fox Manages Firefox’s Memory Use, Aims to Keep It Low – Memory – Lifehacker – much as you might love Firefox, it can be a memory hog.
northtemple – The Accessibility Checklist I Vowed I’d Never Write – a guideline for developers not experienced in accessibility.
Obama Sides With Blind in Copyright-Treaty Debate – some copyright holders (authors and publishers) in the USA want to deny blind people the right to accessible bookes e.g., text-to-speech on the Kindle). Obama has laid his cards on the table on this issue.
Primula Speak N’ Brew Coffee Maker, world’s first talking coffee maker » ZiggyTek » Blog
Section 508: Summary of Section 508 Standards – site may not be available this weekend.
SeroTalk Tech Chat 44 – Accessible Gifts Under $50
Simplicity launches in London computer powered by Eldy – easy computer targeted at older people.
Simply Accessible – presntation dating from 2005, but may still be useful .
RSS Feed
SmartMenus DHTML Menu / JavaScript Menu – Accessible List Based Website Menu / Web Menu – accessible menus for web pages.
Speech-to-Text: Dictation software for Mac OS X | ATMac
Text Speech Plugin Turns Winamp into a No Frills Book Reader – Blind Bargains
Thunderbird 3 is coming out soon, and it’s accessible! – Marco’s accessibility blog
Total iTV, on-line movies and series with subtitles and audiodescription
Ubuntu brings advanced Screen features to the masses – screen profiles are very powerful, but most users don’t know about the advanced features.
UN Agencies Agree on Need for Closer Collaboration in Favor of Visually Impaired including access to literary and scientific materials.
Usability Testing Toolkit: Resources, Articles, and Techniques – Noupe
VisionAWARE | Resources For Adults Experiencing Low Vision, Vision Loss, and Blindness – find products, services and useful information.
WCAG 2 Tutorial – learn about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Web Accessibility Toolbar for IE – several manual web page testing tools for Internet Explorer only.
Web Axe – Practical Web Design Accessibility Tips – Podcast and Blog: Colorblind, Law, and Lightboxes 4
RSS Feed
Window Eyes Scripts for TeamTalk 1.0 by J.J. Meddaugh
Windows Vista Accessibility Tutorials from Microsoft.
Accessibility Buzz
Posted by nystagmite in Uncategorized on October 5, 2009
I thought I’d start with the very basics. Without accessibility to the web and other things, blind people can’t get started with anything else. Luckily, this is a very lively area at the moment, and accessibility is likely to be a major theme in this blog.
These are simply alphabetically listed links. Along the way there will be features on particular subjects.
11 iPhone Typing Tips – thanks to
The BAT Channel for this one.
Accessibility in Windows 7 « The BAT Channel
Ameriphone Dialogue JV-35 Big Button Braille Phone for the Hearing & Visually Impaired
[Video] Apple – iPhone – Accessibility – demo video of the VoiceOver Screen Reader
BBC iPlayer – audio-described programmes – about 25 hours of BBC TV are available each week with audio description. Stay up to date with what’s available by installing this
RSS News Feed
Blindness ‘licked’ by new technology | Weird True Freaky | News.com.au – a camera image transformed into champagne bubbles on the tongue….. the Brainport is due to appear late this year.
BookBole – social network for lovers of accessible books.
Call for law to improve websites for disabled – Commissioner proposes pan-European law to include disabled people.
Change Log for WebbIE and the Accessible Programs – WebbIE is a text-based web browser, and comes packaged with many other handy programs – podcast receiver, internet radio tuner, access to Gutenberg Library, RSS news reader, front end for BBC iPlayer …… It’s too good to miss. This page details recent changes in these programs.
Down for everyone or just me? – if you have trouble getting through to a web site, this free online service may be able to diagnose the problem.
Download Instructions for Microsoft Security Essentials from the Blind Access Journal. You may want to research this a bit more before you install the new security tools from Microsoft. It does seem that you are expected to uninstall your current security software.
E-Access Bulletin Live » Blog Archive » Application Opens Up Twitter To Disabled Users
E-Access Bulletin Live » Blog Archive » Google reCAPTCHA Purchase Boosts Accessibility Potential – Google has acquired the company that produced an audio CAPTCHA system. Now let’s hope they use it wisely.
E-Access Bulletin Live » Blog Archive » Ofcom Report Uncovers Major Accessibility Research Gap – UK regulators OFCOM found that communications and broadcasting companies were doing very little to give access to disabled people.
Eye Glasses Turns iPhone into Magnifier For the Visually Impaired « The BAT Channel
Firefox Browser Tips and Addons for Low Vision Patients « The Eye Doc Blog
Free and Open-Source Screen Reader for Windows « AccessTech News – review of NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access)
Google Chrome Frame – accessibility black hole « AccessTech News
How Accessible is the Apple iPhone 3GS Smartphone for Visually Impaired?
How Tech for the Disabled Is Going Mainstream – BusinessWeek – the iPhone may now have speech output and be able to respond to voice commands, but this is familar territory for developers of adaptive technology.
HSBC Credit Cards To Deliver Services For Disabled – improved service in New York following customer complaint.
Keys-U-See Large Print Keyboard – Yellow Keys with Black Print – this and other blind-friendly devices are available in the USA from Amazon’s health and Personal Care Department! I don’t make it up, I just report it.
Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7″ Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation): Kindle Store – latest version of this book reading machine available on Amazon’s USA site, but it’s not exactly cheap.
[mp3] Mobile Speak New Touch Interface – Techshare London 2009 – audio recording of one of the presentations, with the microphone, as ever, placed as far away from the person presenting as possible.
National Legislative Measures Aimed at Strengthening Rights of Persons with Disabilities Focus, as States Parties to Convention Open Session – nations urged to embrace the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
New approaches to Flash and Java accessibility in the browser on Windows « The BAT Channel – very useful notes on the approaches taken by screen readers to these sometimes troublesome programs.
PenFriend Audio Labeller – record your own rewritable sound labels for cans, CDs etc. also visit this
BBC News article
Philly Fun Guide – lists accessible arts events in the Philadelphia area
Recent happenings in accessibility-related projects financially supported by Mozilla « AccessTech News – projects include NVDA screen reader, Orca and Firebug
Rogers Wireless launches Nuance’s TALKS Software on Nokia E71 to assist Canadians with vision loss
Sendero Group Podcasts – hear about the well-known GPS system for blind people.
[mp3] Audio about Sindero version 6
Smart Canews for the Blind – some recent developments.
Textbooks for the Disabled – Inside Higher Ed – publishers and the University of Georgia aim to provide text books in good time for disabled students.
Top 5 Free OCR Software Tools To Convert Images Into Text – maybe you already use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to scan your snail mail, but if you’re not blessed with Kurzweil or some other big-name software, you may find this article a very useful introduction.
Traveling Independently Without Sight – how do they do it?
Websites will talk to you now – Internet -Infotech-The Economic Times – India legislates for accessible web sites, and ATMs, washing machines and other devices are soon to follow.
Window-Eyes 7.11 is Now Available! – update of the well-known screen reader.
World’s First Talking Digital TV System – talking technology for television sets and set-top boxes, developed in Bristol, UK, could bring enhanced TV experience to millions.
