Archive for December, 2008

Fourth SeroTalk Podcast on Music and Radio Websites

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Listen to fourth SeroTalk Podcast on music and radio websites, two product reviews and great discussion – 60 minutes

Follow SeroTalk on Twitter at www.twitter.com/serotalk

Get the latest podcasts and blog postings by adding the following feed to your newsreader or podcatcher

http://serotalk.com/feed/

Call the Blab Line and tell us what you think – 866-997-BLAB (2522
If you haven’t done so, get to know the Serotek team when you
Listen to the First SeroTalk Podcast

Sites mentioned for broadcast radio streams were:
BillSparks.org – largest list of working U.S. terrestrial radio streams

www.vTuner.com

European radio stations at www.ListenLive.EU

Reciva.com 15,000 radio streams and 21,000 shows on-demand

Radio-Locator.com displays AM and FM stations that can be heard in a given zipcode

A site to listen to and control radio receivers from around the world is
www.GlobalTuners.com lets you control receivers around the world

Two sites for licensed Amateur Radio Operators, General class or higher:
www.EchoLink.com

www.W4MQ.com

Both sites for U.S. sattelite radio were mentioned:
www.XM.com

www.Sirius.com

Sites mentioned for internet only radio stations included:
www.ShoutCast.com

www.000Audio.com

www.1.fm

www.181.fm

www.977Music.com

www.BigRRadio.com

www.Blip.FM

www.Sky.FM

www.StreamingRadioGuide.com

www.TheRadio.com

Music sites that let you create radio stations and learn your preferences

www.pandora.com

www.Last.FM

www.slacker.com

www.SongZa.com

www.BlueBeat.com

Sites mentioned for listening to, and buying music included:
www.AmazonMP3.com

www.iTunes.com

www.LaLa.com

www.NapSter.com

www.Rapsody.com

www.WalMart.com

Sites mentioned for tech podcasts and tech news included:
www.BlindCoolTech.com

www.Podcast.cNet.com

www.KenRadio.com

Live.Twit.TV

Speaking of TV, two sites mentioned

Hulu.com TV shows and full length movies on-demand in high quality

wwitv.com Worldwide Internet TV channels from around the world

 

Other sites mentioned:

www.BlindMiceMart.com

www.LiveJournal.com

DVD Audio Extractor website at www.castudio.org

We played a product review of the Moshi voice-activated talking alarm clock from
www.IndependentLiving.com

Per user request, Mike Calvo demonstrated his Bosh TAS10 coffee maker using Tassimo disks.
www.TassimoDirect.com

And Mike Calvo recommended the $220 Tom Bihn airport laptop Checkpoint Flyer briefcase,

Tom Bihn CheckPoint Flyer Briefcase for laptops

May whatever holidays you celebrate, be all you hoped for and more!

Tips and Resources for Blind Travelers

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Great Freds Head Companion Article With Useful Travel Tips

covers airport security, hotels, traveling abroad, locating luggage, signature guides, currency, service animals, x-raying access technology and more.

 

Dollar General Agrees to Add Accessible Point of Sale Terminals to All Stores Over the Next 15 Months

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Dollar General, a national discount retailer with more than 8,000 stores in 35
states, announced On Dec. 10, 2008 that it will be installing tactile point of
sale devices in all its stores over the next 15 months, so that customers who are blind and visually impaired can independently enter their PIN when using a point of sale device. The announcement is the result of an agreement the company negotiated with the American Council of the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, and a blind Dollar General customer from Texas. The settlement was reached without litigation using Structured Negotiations and was negotiated by Linda Dardarian and Lainey Feingold. Direct links to the agreement and the press release:
Dollar General Settlement Agreement

Dollar General Press Release

Dollar General is the seventh national company to engage in Structured Negotiations about the issue of tactile point of sale devices with ACB and AFB, and with the CCB when the retailer does business in California. A list of all POS agreements, as well as all thirty two agreements signed using Structured negotiations is available at
Law Office of Lainey Feingold – www.lflegal.com

510.548.5062
E-mail Lainey Feingold – lf@lflegal.com

 

Third Podcast Discusses Social Networking – What It Is, and Why We Should

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Listen to Dec. 11, 2008 Podcast on Social Networking Via Facebook and Twitter – 40 Minutes
We discussed social networking, finding lost friends, getting the latest information, staying in touch with people you care about, playing games, accessibility and useful third party plugins and software, via the two most popular websites:

faceBook.com

Twitter.com

OutTwit plugin to send and receive tweets from within Outlook

Twitteroo Stand-alone Windows Application

Serotek offers three discounts during 12 Days of christmas Promotion, from Dec. 13 through Dec. 24.

First-time SA Mobile Network subscribers can get one year of the system
Access Mobile Network for only $99, that’s $30 off the regular price.
Buy SA Mobile to run on two computers and  license to create your own
U3 enabled thumb drive for $499, and get one free year of access to the
SA Mobile Network!
Buy additional System Access machine licenses for $149, $50 off the
regular price.

A petition has been started by George McDermith, askingBraille display manufacturers to base their drivers on the human interface protocol, found on all Windows computers. Such a design philosophy will ensure that users can be certain of having support for their Braille display on any computer, not just one which has been custom-configured for such access, and will eliminate the need to depend on specific screen reader drivers.

Visit petition web page to add your support to this worthy cause.
And Mike Calvo recommends the Radius Atomic Bass earbuds.

 

Two Web pages With Info on Microsoft Windows 7

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Site listing features to be part of the upcoming Windows 7

Article from Microsoft with comments about accessibility planned for Windows 7

Four Sources for Accessible TV Program Listings

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Wireless.TVGuide.com

quickly lists what’s currently on for your cable or satellite provider with just the channel number, name, and the current show.
EPGuides.com

lists episode titles and air dates for over 4100 TV shows, lets you Search and browse alphabetically, sort by year, check out currently running shows, view fall US TV schedules, subscribe to newly added shows, recently canceled shows (US-only) and recently released US and UK TV DVDs, and receive updates on your RSS reader.
MyTVRSS.com

lets you create a special RSS feed by selecting the shows you want to track, clicking “Create Feed,” and adding the feed to your reader.
LocateTV.com

displays when your favorite shows or movies are shown on TV, see if available online, and view where you can get them on DVD.

Latest Consumer Electronics Usable by the Blind

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

The Access Technology Team at the Jernigan Institute has produced its latest Consumer Electronics list, of mainstream devices usable by the blind includeing: Washers and Dryers, Dishwashers, Ranges, Microwaves, Refrigerators, Telephones, Home Theater, Radios (including SIRIUS/XM, Cell phones and PDAs, Boomboxes, iPod Docks, Receivers, Portable DVD Players and Thermostats.

Usable, but Not totally Accessible Appliances and Electronics

Canadian TV Channel for the Blind

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Accessible Channel Launches with ‘Open Format’ Descriptions
The Accessible Channel launched across Canada on December 3rd, 2008, providing television for the vision-impaired. The Accessible Channel’s “open format” makes description available on the primary audio setting and the only soundtrack provided is the described track. The Accessible Channel will also provide closed captioning for 90% of its program schedule, which is in compliance with current CRTC regulations.

Serotek Extends offer of $200 off the purchase of $399 or more Through Dec. 3RD

Monday, December 1st, 2008

Due to popular demand, Serotek has extended our offer of $200 off the purchase of $399 or more through Wednesday, Dec. 3Rd at Midnight Eastern. Get $200 off System Access screen reader version 3.0, System Access Mobile Network, Neospeech, Document Scan, additional machine licenses, or a Netbook computer with System Access. Call toll-fre 866-202-0520 or visit the

Serotek Purchase page