Like its less specialized sibling, MacSpeech Dictate Legal supports dictating text directly into applications, and issuing commands via speech recognition technology and includes a USB headset microphone.

MacSpeech Dictate Legal requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 (Leopard) or later and is priced at $595 US as a new purchase, or US$345 for current owners of MacSpeech Dictate 1.5. Users of MacSpeech Dictate V1.3 can pick it up for US$395.

Thanks to Holly for her work to compile this list.

This episode features knights Holly Anderson, Darcy Burnard, Josh de Lioncourt, Cara Quinn, Steve Sawczyn, and Eric Troup.

Though they acknowledge that they are not visually impaired users, they tried and found VoiceOver’s capabilities to be "impressive", and give a little more insight on how this revolutionary new screen reader will work. We highly recommend this review.

This continues to show what a striking job Apple is doing in making the mainstream aware of accessibility, something which can only benefit VoiceOver users in the long run.

Once again, we’d like to thank Mr. Breen and MacWorld for their mainstream coverage of Apple’s accessibility advancements.

We hope to see you there!

As we reported previously, Safari 4 corrects a number of accessibility problems that plagued earlier versions, such as same page links and multi-select list boxes. Additionally, the final release corrects a problem in the public beta where buttons with images were not being read properly.

One of Safari’s new and widely touted features is its "Top Sites" functionality. In the public beta, this feature was inaccessible with VoiceOver. We are pleased to see that, in the final release, it works very well, and should prove a very useful tool for many users.

One strange and unfortunate issue, however, is that running VoiceOver with Safari 4 while browsing Apple’s online store pages frequently causes the browser to unexpected crash. One can work around this problem by turning off VoiceOver before clicking links, buttons, or other elements that will load a new page, and then restarting it once the new page has finished loading. This is a fairly significant problem, and we expect a fix from Apple before long.

Overall, this is a strong update for the browser, with several improvements to accessibility.

When using the latest Skype beta (version 2.8.0.X) a VoiceOver user can do this very quickly by doing the following:

• In the Skype main window, use VO to navigate to the ‘Edit Profile’ button

• Tab once which will place you in the mood text edit field

• Simply input the text you’d like shown, and press enter! Your mood text will refresh with the text you’ve just entered

NOTE: When in the mood text edit field, tabbing again will bring you back to the ‘Edit Profile’ button and continuing to tab will cycle between the field and the button. If you have trouble leaving the text field with VO navigation, simply tab to the button and then use VO to navigate again in the main Skype window.

Happy mood texting!…

Though many said it could never be done, Apple has yet again shown a tremendous commitment to accessibility today with the announcement of the iPhone 3GS, the latest version of its popular iPhone handset, which ships with a version of VoiceOver optimized for it. Using this incredible new technology, the blind and visually impaired will have access to the iPHone in much the same way they enjoy Mac support today.

Using a combination of touch screen technology and specialized gestures, the VoiceOver user can use all the apps that ship with the iPhone, and Apple is already working with third-party developers to make sure their applications are accessible as well.

You can read the full details of how the new VoiceOver screen reader for iPhone 3GS works on the iPhone accessibility page. The iPHone 3GS will be released in the US, Canada, UK, and some other European countries on 19/June, with other countries to follow through the summer.

Apple has also announced that similar technology will be available to control Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with VoiceOver and your Mac’s trackpad. More information is available on this Apple Accessibility page.

All of us here at Mac-cessibility are overjoyed and astounded at this tremendous leap forward. No words can describe our excitement.

It’s time for this month’s edition of the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast. This month’s episode is #3, entitled "A Visit From Steve-Megatron".

Topics covered:

• Introduce this month’s panelists, including Holly Anderson, Darcy Burnard, Steve Sawczyn, Eric Troup, and Josh de Lioncourt.
• Mac OS X 10.5.7 accessibility changes-"OMG!"
• MacSpeech Dictate.
• The upcoming World Wide Developer’s Conference and possible accessibility announcements
• The rumored Appled ultra-portable
• Rumors of text-to-speech and speech recognition in iPhone 3.0

Other resources and show notes:

• Steve’s picks – Jack OS X, Apple Earphones with microphone and remote, and the SendSpace.com Wizard for Mac
• Eric’s pick – Audio Book Builder
• Darcy’s pick – Solona.net
• Holly’s pick – SlingBox
• Josh’s pick – SmallDVD
• Josh’s new band and music EP – Stage 19, available on iTunes and Amazon MP3. Includes the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast theme song.

Today, Apple released iTunes version 8.2. Along with some unspecified bug fixes, the update delivers support for the as yet unreleased iPhone and iPod Touch 3.0 software and, of greater interest to our readers, accessibility improvements.

We will update this post as soon as we have some clarification on exactly what these accessibility enhancements are.

iTunes 8.2 can be downloaded through the "SoftwareUpdate" option in your Mac’s Apple menu.

Today, MRRSoftware released version 2.0.1 of their popular Syrinx Twitter client for Mac.

This update focused heavily on accessibility fixes. VoiceOver users will find a feature-rich and wholly accessible interface with advanced features for searching, managing, and reading Twitter messages.

We applaud MRRSoftware for their tremendous effort in making this product accessible for all.

Syrinx requires an account with Twitter.com.

Today, Apple refreshed their $999 entry level white MacBook. Changes include a modest processor jump from 2.0 GHz to 2.13 GHz, a boost in RAM speed from 667 MHz to 800 MHz, and an increase to the hard drive capacity from 120 GB to 160 GB. Battery life is now advertized as 5 hours, up from 4.5 hours of the previous model, and now meets Energy Star V5.0 standards like its shiny, pricier siblings. The entry level MacBook is rated EPAT Gold, up from the silver rating it previously boasted.

There are some build-to-order options as well, which is where some stranger of items of note come into play. The $999 white MacBook’s build-to-order options include hard drive capacities up to 500 GB. Notably, the aluminum MacBooks still list 320 GB as their maximum drive capacity under BTO. This would sugest a possible refresh to the aluminum MacBooks soon as well.

MacSpeech, Inc. announced earlier today the release of MacSpeech Dictate V1.5, the first major upgrade to their speech recognition solution for Mac OS X. This version introduces a new Vocabulary Editor, new English profile options, enhanced accuracy and more.

With the new Vocabulary Editor, users can add, delete, manage and train words in their profile’s vocabulary.

MacSpeech Dictate V1.5 boasts improved accuracy. The company promises that enhancements to the underlying technology will provide up to 20% more accurate recognition than previous versions of the software.

This upgrade also includes new profile options for Inland North American, Southern North American, and Latino North American accents, compatibility improvements for Microsot Office and more.

MacSpeech Dictate V1.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 or higher and is available today for US$199 as a new purchase, or US$54.95 for current users.

Today, Apple issued a press release detailing their plans for the World Wide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) keynote on 08/June. Specifically, they mention improvements to Snow Leopard that will be shown at the conference, including accessibility. Here’s an excerpt:

Snow Leopard and Mac technical sessions will showcase hundreds of refinements to the operating system and dive deep into its new technologies including a 64-bit architecture, QuickTime® X, next-generation multicore and GPU processor support, and amazing new accessibility technologies. iPhone OS 3.0 technical sessions will cover introductory and advanced concepts to help developers get the most out of the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK and over 1,000 new APIs available for iPhone OS 3.0.

Today, Apple released an update to its Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system. Changes include enhancements to Finder, parental controls, video playback on more recent Macs, and much more. You can view the complete list of changes here.

We are unaware of any accessibility changes in this update, and Apple outlines none in its release notes.

You can obtain the update by running "Software Update" from your Mac’s Apple menu.