• Retweet: @vmwarefusion : Fusion 50% off today, one day only. Details: http://is.gd/9Gqi Coupon code "CyberMondayDeal" # 2008/12/01
• It's Thanksgiving Day in the United States. We're thankful for Apple's commitment to accessibility in their products. # 2008/11/27
• We've added social bookmarking and "Send this to a Friend" to the Mac-cessibility Site as a trial. Let us know what you think. # 2008/11/27
• Apple released Safari 3.2.1 today. No known accessibility changes, but a good update to have nonetheless. Stability is the focus. # 2008/11/25
• News: Comparing Accessibility of the Big Three Operating System http://www.lioncourt.com/?p=247 # 2008/11/21

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. Most controls in the program are properly tagged, and what minor access issues exist in the bulk of the user interface are cosmetic to the VoiceOver user.

The problem arises if you try to use the application for…well…instant messaging. From our initial tests, it appears that you cannot access the text areas of a conversation window without calling up a different window, although the other controls in the conversation window are available.

To read a conversation, for example, you can press Command-Comma to open the Preferences dialog. Focus, instead of moving to the Preferences Dialog, moves to the text of the current conversation window. You can then interact with the HTML content and read messages that have come in so far, or move focus to the second HTML content area to send a message. This might be an annoying but usable workaround if the HTML content area where messages come in displayed new messages as they come in. It doesn’t. To view new messages you have to close the Preference dialog, turn VoiceOver off and on again, then repeat the process.

This clearly appears to be nothing more than complacency on Microsoft’s part. Clearly this instant messaging client has everything in place to be accessible. Microsoft just didn’t care enough to check and fix the bugs.

If you’d like to see better access to Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0, we encourage you to contact Microsoft through their Accessibility Site.

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 go," says vice president of
Product Management, Voice Products and Affiliate Marketing for AT&T’s wireless unit, Carlton Hill. "Now with TAP for iPhone, users can tap, flick and pinch the innovative Multi-Touch touch screen for a completely new world of functionality."

To qualify, customers must complete an application for eligibility. The form is available at this link.

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 the way. Doctor who anyone?

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, Sanna for Finnish, Elin for Swedish, and Baris and Ceren for Turkish. The Czech, Polish, Icelandic and Turkish voices require Mac OS X 10.5. The other voices require 10.3.9 or later.

Infovox iVox integrates with Mac OS X’s speech service, and works well with VoiceOver and other products that utilize text-to-speech technology on the Mac platform. For more information on this upgrade, you can read the press release.