Accessible World

Presenters: Rob Turner, Glenn Ervin, and Kelly Sapergia Responding to yor many requests, Tek Talk Online Training will start its weekly programming with three knowledgeable trainers discussing the way to convert files to MP3 format using OpenBook, Text Aloud and DSpeech. Step by step instructions, along with a review of each program's features, will enable you to create sound files quickly.

Presenter: Charlene Vormeng
Thanks to a variety of free Internet software, computer users can communicate instantly with colleagues and friends around the world. However, selecting the service that best suits your needs can be challenging. Join Charlene during next Monday's Accessible World Tek Talk training as she demonstrates key features and screen reader accessibility of AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger.

Presenter: Joshua Miele, Ph.D., Research Associate, Smith-Kettlewell Eye
Research Institute's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center, San Francisco, California

This week's Tek Talk online training sponsored by Accessible World.org will
feature an informal review by Research Associate, Dr. Joshua Miele of the
LevelStar Icon -- a new Linux-based blind-accessible PDA. He will describe
the unit, its capabilities, and his impressions of its potential as a
platform for third-party software development. Following his presentation,

The Accessible World Tek Talk online training this week will feature two
highly qualified assistive technology specialist, Walt Kramer and Ken
Trebelhorn, as they provide valuable information to unleash the power of
Microsoft Word. Specifically, participants will learn efficient ways to
organize data and a variety of ways to handle page layouts. The discussion
will include relevant information on opening, closing, and saving documents,
Formatting attributes such as bolding, underlining and italicizing,
formatting paragraphs, bullets and numbering, outlining and tabbing, and

Presenter: Mitake Holloman Burts, Keystone Systems Product Manager
919-782 1143. Email: mitake@klas.com.

Do you have access to your Talking Book library 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week? At any time of the day or night can you independently search the
complete catalog, select the books you want, and order them directly from
your computer? If you are a patron of 75 of the 141 libraries in the
National Library Service (NLS) network , you can answer a resounding YES to
these questions. Why? Because your library has had the foresight to install

Presenter: Larry L. Lewis, Jr., Founder and President, Flying Blind LLC.
Home Office Phone: (216) 381-8107. Mobile Phone: (216) 276-0699. Email:
L_Lewis@Ameritech.net.

This week the Accessible World international Tek Talk online training event
is proud to present a demonstration of the many features of Mobilespeak
Pocket, the first screenreader released for persons who are blind that runs
on an endless number of windows Mobile PDAs and cellular phones. Drawing
upon his extensive background in product evaluation, training, and deploying

Presenter: Jeff Levy of KNX Radio Computer News. jeffknx@yahoo.com.
http://www.knx1070..com

Presenter: Beau Barnhart. Look Media International, LLC. 888-378-5665
. http://www.lookmedia.com. beau@lookmedia.com

This week the Accessible World international Tek Talk online event focuses
on a friendly, yet powerful program that allows beginners and advanced
computer users
with visual impairment, learning or reading difficulties to instantly access
vital information on the Internet. With just a few keystrokes, WebText
Reader will read you the latest news, weather,
sports, stock quotes, T V listings and much more instantly without having to

Presenter: Woody Anna Dresner, National Braille Press. adresner@nbp.org
(888) 965-8965 http://www.nbp.org
If you have subscribed to Audible.com, the popular source for a wide variety of audio content, and use a screen reader, it is certain you have experienced some frustrations navigating its information packed web pages.
During this week's Accessible World Tek Talk event Anna Dresner, acclaimed author of several technology books and editor of numerous publications, will provide the basic steps to minimize, if not eliminate altogether, many problem areas.

Presenter: John Glass, Customer Support Manager, Bookshare.
john.g@benetech.org. 650 644-3403. http://www.bookshare.org

Presenter: Michael Curran, Australia. Email: mick@kulgan.net.
www.nvda-project.org
Presentation 1:
the Accessible World Tek Talk event focused on NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA), a free and open source screen reader for Microsoft Windows Created by Michael Curran, with help from James Teh and others. During the demonstration, you will learn how NVDA enables blind and vision impaired people to use their computers for no more cost than the computer and Operating System itself.

Accessibility Specialist Walt Kramer will present a useful mini-tutorial on
list view management.

Presenters: Rob Turner. 818-445-8853. rbturner1@sbcglobal.net
Mike Stearn
Two experienced computer and access technology veterans will compare the PAC Mate and BrailleNote mPower note takers from a consumer's perspective. Some of the features to be compared are: built-in help, synchronizing data with a PC, editing text, web browsing, and file management. Audience participants asked questions and offer their feedback.

Presenter: Mike Gibson, Blindness Product Specialist. 800-722-3393 Ext 264.
Email: mike.gibson@humanware.com. http://www.humanware.com.
Part Two of the comparison between two popular notetakers during the Tek Talk online event Monday, May 7, 2007. Last week the features of Freedom Scientifics' Pac Mate were reviewed in detail. This week discussion will focus on the HumanWare's BrailleNote mPower.

Presenter: Matthew Bullis, Phoenix, Arizona. matthewbullis@runbox.com
Although shopping online is extremely popular with most computer users, using screen readers to navigate eBay, Amazon and other attractive and feature rich websites makes the task challenging and sometimes nearly impossible. Join us this week in the Accessible World Tek Talk training room where Matthew Bullis, a blind experienced computer user, will share ways he has learned to successfully buy and sell on eBay.

Presenter 1: Walt Kramer (wokwest@charter.net)
Presenter 2: Gene Asner [gsasner@ripco.com]

Presenter: Devon Wilkins, Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.
theharness@rogers.com
Tek Talk focused this week on the DS-40 Olympus slim, handheld digital voice recorder. You will learn how the device provides the versatility Needed to get the most out of digital voice recording, playback and management. Its 512 MB built-in memory provides up to 134 hours. Of multi-media format recording, including the ability to download and create podcasts.

Presenters: Gene Asner gsasner@ripco.com
Rob Turner. rbturner1@sbcglobal.net
If there is one experience all computer users have it is having a program or programs freeze or crash. When it happens, either we panic and vow never to use a computer again, or we calmly determine the cause and take the necessary steps to bring our computer back to life. Admittedly, it requires knowledge to take the latter approach.

Presenter: Rob Hancik rhancik@verizon.net
The Accessible World Tek Talk online training this week focused on GoldWave, one of the most popular and highest rated audio editors for Windows. GoldWave is a professional digital audio editor that can be used to play, edit, mix, restore, and analyze audio, or apply special effects, such as fade, equalizer, doppler, mechanize, echo, reverse, time warp, noise reduction, pop/click filter. New files can be recorded from cassettes, albums, radio, microphone, etc. or digitally copied from audio CDs.

Presenter: Dean Martineau, Top Dot Enterprises. dean@topdotenterprises.com
http://www.topdotenterprises.com
Do you ever become frustrated with the limitations of My Computer or windows Explorer for managing your files? Would you like to learn about a free program that is both more powerful than the aforementioned ones and at the same time is designed with the needs of visually-impaired keyboard users in mind? Jamal Mazrui has created TextPal, a free file manager with great power and flexibility. Many of its capabilities will be demonstrated during the next Tek Talk training event.

Presenters:
Mike Gibson, Blindness Product Specialist 800-722-3393 Ext 264
Email: mike.gibson@humanware.com
Gerry Chevalier, Victor Reader Product Manager
Email: gerry.chevalier@humanware.com
http://www.humanware.com.
The Victor Reader Stream is the most compact, most powerful DAISY player to date. Blind and low vision people can comfortably hold this new player in the palm of their hand (4.6 inches x 2.6 inches x 0.9 inches) and have the flexibility to quickly and accurately access content from digital audio books.

Presenter: Jonathan Mosen., Vice President, Blindness Hardware Product, Management Freedom Scientific BLV Group LLC. Phone in USA: 800-444-4443.
Worldwide Phone: 727-803-8000. Email: jmosen@FreedomScientific.com .
Web: http://www.freedomscientific.com.

Presenter: Raul Gallegos , GW Micro, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 260-489-3671.
Email: sales@gwmicro.com or support@gwmicro.com. http://www.gwmicro.com

Presenter: Joseph Lee, Los Angeles, California.
Email: joseph.lee22590@blindsea.com

Presenters: Kelly Sapergia Email: ksapergia@sasktel.net
Gene Asner Email: gsasner@ripco.com
Although podcasting is considered by many to be one of the most popular forms of Internet communication, defining, creating and editing podcasts is still a mystery to many individuals. This week's Tek Talk online training event will definitely solve that mystery as Kelly Sapergia will begin by giving a brief overview of a podcast, discuss how to prepare for and create one, and give a short demonstration on how to put one together with Sound Forge.

Presenter: Glenn Ervin, Norfolk, Nebraska.
Having access to off-the-shelf mp3 players, such as Apple's iPod, is a major concern to blind computer users. This week the Accessible World Tek Talk online training event will demonstrate how Rockbox, an open source firmware replacement for a growing number of MP3 players, is providing that access. Rockbox aims to be considerably more functional and efficient than the manufacturer's device's stock firmware while remaining easy to use and customizable.

Presenter: Stephen Baum, Vice President, Kurzweil Educational Systems. 800-894-5374 Ext. 618
Email: steve@kesi.com. Web: http://www.kesi.com
The Accessible World Tek Talk event this week focused on optical character recognition (OCR), one of the major technologies that has played a significant role in providing access to the printed page for those with disabilities. Leading the discussion will be Kurzweil Vice-President Stephen Baum, a recognized OCR authority.

Presenter: Jerry Swerdlick, President and CEO, Electronic Vision
Access Solutions, Westerly, Rhode Island. 800-872-3827.
Email : jswerdlick@evas.com Web: https://www.swiftpage4.com/evas.

Presenter: Mike Gibson, Blindness Product Specialist Colorado 800-722-3393 ext 264
mike.gibson@humanware.com
Dan Brown, Blindness Sales Representative Texas 800-722-3393, Ext. 272 Dan.Brown@humanware.com

Presenter: Michael May, President, CEO and Founder, Sendero Group, Davis, California. 530-757-6800 Email: mike@may.org Web: http://www.senderogroup.com/

Presenter: Catherine T. Gettel, Dealer Network Sales Manager,
Ai Squared Making Accessibility Simple R. 802-362-3612 x114
Email: cgettel@aisquared.com
Web: htt//pwww.aisquared.com

Presenter: Kelly Sapergia, KJS Productions.
306-692-2215
Email: ksapergia@sasktel.net
Web: http://www.ksapergia.net
Much interest has been expressed in learning more about the variety of information available in hundreds of podcasts. The Accessible World Tek Talk program this week will provide an abundance of useful information on the topic as Kelly Sapergia will discuss what Podcasting is and how to take full advantage of it. He will discuss and demonstrate ways of finding and subscribing to a podcast, and how to retrieve podcasts via the web and podcatcher software.

Presenter: Raul Gallegos , GW Micro Technical Support, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
260-489-3671.
Email: raul@gwmicro.com
Web: http://www.gwmicro.com

Moderator: Walt Kramer
Email: wokwest@charter.net.
So, you've found a new internet radio station you like a lot. But you're being driven crazy by your own screen reader, which insists on reading all that stuff in the various pop-up windows on the station's site?
Solutions to this and many other such dilemmas will be offered this week during the Accessible World Tek Talk first online open forum.
Forum moderator, Walt Kramer, and other Tech Talk team members will be standing by then to answer your questions.

Denise Russell, founder of Speak To Me Catalog, will kick off the Accessible World 2007 Holiday Stocking Stuffers event. She will describe some of the unique, practical and fun products that talk, sing, play music, and allow you to record your own personal message. These include many gift ideas that will delight both sighted and blind because "they say something!"
Speak To Me Catalog, Renton Washington. 800-248-9965 Option 4
Visit: http://www.speaktomecatalog.com.
Email: vendor@speaktomecatalog.com

Since 1978 Ferguson Enterprises of De Smet, South Dakota, has provided a one stop shopping experience for a variety of small and large Adaptive Products and Services.

Dale Campbell of the Blind Mice Mart, the online gift center benefiting visually impaired students, will entertain us as he shares information about all the new fun and practical merchandise his organization has AVAILABLE FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
Visit: http://www.blindmicemart.com.
Email: info@blindmicemart.com

Recognizing that information about radios -- new and old, large and small, expensive and inexpensive -- is a favorite gift idea, we have asked Tim Hendel of Playback to share his expertise with us. We promise that Tim will cover the subject thoroughly And will give many resources to help you find that special one you want to purchase. However, just in case you still have questions, he has agreed to answer them.
Phone: 256-650-5212

For over 30 years, the name Bob Crane and C. Crane Company, Inc. of Fortuna, California have been synonymous with quality Radios, antennas, communications and consumer electronics equipment.
During this segment of our program, Bob will share with us some really great
gift ideas that are certain to please the most discriminating people on your
holiday shopping list.
C. Crane Company 800-522-.8863
Web: http://www.ccrane.com/

Presenters: Brian Hartgen, Technical Consultant and Product Developer, T&T Consultancy Ltd, U.K..
Email: Brian.Hartgen@tandt-consultancy.com.
Terry Clasper, Managing Director, T&T Consultancy Ltd, U.K..
Edward Rosenthal, President and CEO, Next Generation Technologies, North American Distributor.
Scott Erichsen, Technical Consultant T&T Consultancy Australia PTY Limited

Presenter: Gene Asner, Chicago.
Email: gsasner@ripco.com
An important source of information about how to use programs and what they can do is the help included with just about every program. A large number of blind computer users don't know how to use such help.
This week the Accessible World in partnership with Talking Communities has asked Gene Asner to give a presentation demonstrating how to use a standard Windows help system, the kind used in most programs.

Presenters: Earl Harrison, President, and Kelly Dunn, HandyTech North America. 651-636-5184
EMail: earle@handytech.us
Web: http://www.handytech.us

Presenter: Tony Swartz Email: tbswartz@ptd.net
Web: www.accessible-devices.com/edsharp.html

c

Presenters: Bob Crane - C. Crane Company
Denise Russell - Speak To Me Catalog
Dale Campbell - Blind Mice Mart
Pat Ferguson - Ferguson Enterprises
Do you still need some new ideas for unique, fun, practical and yet affordable Christmas, other religious events, birthdays, anniversaries, or just thinking of you gifts for family and friends? Do you also need to find gifts that are especially useful to those who are blind or visually impaired?

featuring Icon as a tool for student projects, research and writing. Particular attention will be given to the library menu, RSS reader, Web Browser, and word Processor, and how all of these can be used to facilitate student research and writing.
would benefit both k12 and college students.

The training focused on file management using the Disk Drive Mode utility and the Icon/Braille Plus File Explorer. It will cover general file management as well as how to specifically move and access files for use with the Music Player and Bookshelf. This will be a great training for new
users, but will also serve as a refresher course for those who have had their units for a while.
Level Star
1500 Cherry Street
Suite D
Louisville, CO 80027
Phone: 800-315-2305 option 1
Email: mjones@levelstar.com
Website: www.levelstar.com

Presenter: Gerry Chevalier, Victor Reader Product Manager, Humanware
Email: gerry.chevalier@humanware.com
.Phone: 800-722-3393
http://www.humanware.com

On Sunday, January 6, a two-hour Open House was held in the new Books and Beyond room. This will not only celebrate the show's new home and sponsor but will make it possible for everyone to get acquainted with the show's three-member team, Bonnie Blose, Nancy Lynn and Mary Jo Lord.

HumanWare Group Worldwide CEO Gilles Pepin and Pierre Hamel, Vice President
of R&D for HumanWare To Provide A Unique "Up Close" Look Into Company's
Operations and Vision For Its Future.
Many of you may have heard that the former president of HumanWare Canada has recently become the CEO of the HumanWare Group. Tech Talk has invited Gilles Pepin to join us and discuss HumanWare. Tech Talk participants will hear Gilles talk about his history in the Assistive Technology industry and how he developed his former company Visuaide best known for launching the Victor Reader in 1998.

What is it like to make a living writing about the wrongdoing of big corporations or our very government itself? How does a columnist go about verifying that facts he has found are true? How much time goes in to writing a column and does it vary and why? Where do ideas come from?

During this week's Books and Beyond Internet Talk show, sponsored by the
Accessible World, attention will be focused on one man's choice based not
only on need, but on a conviction that he had to do the best he could for
the two young children who call him daddy.

as Hostess Bonnie Blose talks with Glen Schulz, author of "unlawful Flight,
A Memoir", a dramatic, intriguing and real life story will unfold. You
will learn how he met the daily challenges, juggled child care, employment,
and personal relationships, how his, decision impacted family and friends,

Jenny goes through the email program on the Icon. She shows how to set up accounts and send and receive. We also discuss many other features in the email program.

Presenter: Woody Anna Dresner, National Braille Press.
Email: adresner@nbp.org
888-965-8965
http://www.nbp.org
Computer users worldwide are meeting the daily challenge of harnessing the
power of Google, the largest, most complete, and popular Internet search
engine available today. Attendees at this week's Accessible World Tek Talk
event WILL BE PROVIDED an introduction to using Google based on the book
"Get Going with Google", which was originally an audio tutorial created by
Jonathan Mosen that our presenter, Anna Dresner, later adapted to written

Hostess Bonnie Blose will interview Madeline Buzzard, a professional
narrator from the American Printing House for the Blind Recording Studio in
Louisville, Kentucky. This fascinating program will reveal just what is
involved in the narration process, skills required to make the printed page
become alive in audio format, whether NLS narrators can choose the books
they read, and, as an added bonus, the activities outside the recording
studio that fill this special narrator's daily life.

Presenters:: Walt Kramer Email: wokwest@charter.net and Ken Trebelhorn (lvti@charter.net
)While most people know that Kurzweil 1000 provides blind users access to
printed and electronic materials through its excellent optical character
recognition scanning program, few really know how to use the many other
extremely valuable tools within the software. During Monday's online Tek
Talk training event, sponsored by the Accessible World, Walt Kramer and Ken
Trebelhorn, assistive technology trainers working as independent contractors

LevelStar is pleased to announce that, our soon-to-be-released 1.1 software package
will include support for NLS digital talking books, as well as content from Audible.com.
for a preview of how these exciting new features are to be implemented
on the Icon and Braille +.
Contacts:
Jenny Axler
jaxler@levelstar.com
,Michael Jones
mjones@levelstar.com

Throughout a lifetime, every individual has the unique opportunity to make
choices that will ultimately determine the course of his/her life and how it
will impact others. During this week's live event of Books and Beyond, the
popular Internet talk show sponsored by the Accessible World, you will be
intrigued to learn how one man overcame a physical disability and much
prejudice to not only attain personal success in the education field but has
been successful in using all his talents and experiences to build a
meaningful network of support for others. As Hostess Bonnie Blose

Don Wardlow blind baseball color man was our guest in the Sports Talk Room. We shall also discuss Super Bowl 42. John Beaulieu will play an interview of John hannah, former patriot Tackle. he will discuss how he prepares for a big game.

comprehensive overview of the new Microsoft Office 2007 by Karen McCall, M.S. of Karlen Communications, a recognized trainer and consultant on digital environment accessibility. She will discuss many of the features of the software and provide valuable tips for setting up Outlook 2007 for anyone using adaptive technology and how to make the two programs work together better.
Contact: Karlen Communications, Ontario, Canada
Web: www.iprimus.ca/~martha/table.htm

Lisa Wingate, Inspirational Speaker, Magazine Columnist, and National
Bestselling Author, was our Guest On Books and Beyond and is internationally known for her novels
filled with love of family and the importance of memories handed down from
generation to generation. Author of nine novels, including the Tending Roses
series, she writes not only of the importance of family but the value of
place for each of us in the community in which we live. She believes we are
all called to add something good to the world, to inspire and uplift, and

Probably the most talked about topic among computer users of assistive devices is
the inaccessibility of many websites. Unfortunately, for most the talk is just that:
Talk. During the upcoming Accessible World Tek Talk online event, however, you will
have the privilege of meeting a technology expert who has done much more than talk
about the problem. He has developed core technology and led the development of InFocus(tm),
the industry's first commercial software for testing Web accessibility.
Tim Springer, co-founder of SSB Bart Group and the chief architect of the Accessibility

Jenny and Michael discuss a new feature coming to the Icon.
The next version will introduce file sharing on the Icon. We had a lot of
good discussion about this new feature.