Archive for April, 2008

Webkit, the HTML rendering engine that powers Safari and many other components of the Mac OS, has recently completed a number of key bug fixes and enhancements where regards accessibility. While these are very technical, we are providing some information and links below, as we believe these fixes will lead to dramatically improved accessibility [...]

Mac-cessibility Quick Tips is an ongoing feature of Lioncourt.com to provide brief tips and tricks to assist blind and visually impaired Mac users improve their Apple experience. Not all tips will be specific to VoiceOver, and most will work on either Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Now [...]

Today, Microsoft released Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0, the latest version of their popular instant messaging client for the Live Messenger and Office Communications services. Unfortunately, Microsoft apparently paid little or no attention to accessibility.
Like most Mac software, Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7 could have been made accessible. In fact, it nearly is. [...]

Today, AT&T Wireless announced a new Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) for the iPhone, intended to give users with hearing and speech disabilities unlimited text messaging, Web browsing and e-mail for $40.00 per month.
"Our Text Accessibility Plan allows customers who are deaf or have hearing or speech disabilities to literally tap out their communications on the [...]

Finally here in America we can get some of the great shows from The UK. Three new titles have been added to the itunes store from BBC America. They are Torchwood series 1 and 2, little Britain sereis 3 only, and Robinhood series 2 only. Hopefully this means more will be on [...]

Today, Assistiveware released Infovox iVox version 1.2. Version 1.2 is a free upgrade for existing users that adds a pronunciation editor that allows users to add abbreviations or change the pronunciation of words. It also introduces a number of new voices and languages: Eliska and Sabrine for Czech, Ania for Polish, Snorri for Icelandic, [...]

Loquendo is now offering their high-quality text-to-speech voices to Mac developers for use in their software products. These voices do not currently integrate with the Mac’s speech services, as far as we can determine, so they are not yet suitable for use with VoiceOver. Given the multitude of languages and the quality of [...]

As the interest in VoiceOver continues to gain momentum, we receive word that Casper College in Casper, Wyoming, will be hosting Camp VoiceOver on August 4-5. Camp VoiceOver will provide two days of training in Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader and in the use of the Macintosh platform. Training will focus on common tasks such as [...]

Apple has refreshed its iMac line of all-in-one desktop computers. The new models include the newest Intel Core 2 Duo processors with increased speed across the line, a 1066 MHz front-side bus, and up to 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Optionally, there is a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS card with 512MB of video [...]

As we reported previously, the North Michigan Avenue Apple Store will be presenting VoiceOver workshops on Saturdays through the month of May. We now have times of the presentations. They will be held from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM every Saturday, with the exception of 10/May/2008. On the 10th, MacSpeech Dictate will [...]

Apple has extended its educational discount for students to Hadley School for the Blind. To obtain the discount, students should contact Diallo at 800-409-5381 Ext. 2645. If you get voice-mail, leave your name, number, and that you attend Hadley School, and they will get back to you. Thanks to Greg Kearny of [...]

We’ve just received word that the North Michigan Avenue Apple Store in Chicago will be hosting VoiceOver workshops on Saturdays through the month of May. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first in-store workshops devoted to VoiceOver. We encourage those of you who would like to see similar VoiceOver workshops in [...]