Below is the text from an email I received, along with my two cents.
Solona teams up with independent developers to make Captcha Solving much easier with new API programs: Qwitter and SendToSolona.
It is well-known that Captchas, those text-in-image security devices that websites use to detour spam efforts, are a blatant barrier for screen-reader users. Solving inaccessible Captchas quickly and independently is now easier than ever before.
Solona, the popular Human Powered Captcha Solution Service,
is now integrated into two independent programs:
Windows users can use Qwitter,
and Mac users can use SendToSolona.
Qwitter, the popular Twitter Client developed by Christopher Toth and his team, now includes a session that interfaces with Solona for Captcha solving. The Qwitter development team did a fantastic job of making Captcha solving as easy as one keystroke! The Qwitter/Solona session incorporates all the functions necessary for fast Captcha solving: operator status, user authentication, image capture, image upload, code retrieval, and it even copies the code to your local clipboard so all you have to do is paste the code into the appropriate edit field. It doesn’t get any easier!
There is tremendous value and advantage for a user to use the Qwitter client to solve Captchas over the Solona website interface: speed, automation and image accuracy. The Solona website interface is always available. However, API programs such as Qwitter offer a much more streamlined Captcha solving experience. Your transaction continues to be anonymous – no operator will know who you are, and you will not know who the operator is. If you hate to ask a sighted person to look over your shoulder just to solve a Captcha for you, check out theSolona website, and then download the Qwitter client to start solving Captchas easily and independently. You will be amazed at how easy it is to negotiate inaccessible Captchas!
Are you a Mac user? Have trouble solving Captchas independently? Don’t worry, there’s an app for that! Theresa Ford developed an easy-to-use application called SendToSolona so that Mac users can easily, quickly, and independently solve Captchas. Check out the SendToSolona Web page.
SendToSolona makes Captcha solving easy and fast from the terminal window. The program integrates all the functionality so all you have to do is generate the image, and type one command. Within a matter of seconds, the solution to your Captcha will be copied in to your local clip board for you to paste where appropriate.
If you’re a Windows user, take a moment to check out the Official Qwitter site . If you’re a Mac user, visit Theresa Ford’s site. Also, keep an eye out for new programs that will incorporate Solona functionality. I strongly recommend people to use API integration programs when solving Captchas via Solona. You can still use the native Solona website interface to solve Captchas. That will always be available to you if you don’t have access to an API program (perhaps you’re at a public computer). The Solona website Captcha solving interface is a universal-access tool: it works with all operating systems, browsers, and websites.
Do not let the inaccessibility of Captchas prevent you from accomplishing your goals! There are resources that you can use to independently solve Captchas. Visit the Solona website and learn about independent Captcha solving today, and check out our other services as well!
Solona is a completely free service for users. There is no cost to solve Captchas, and there is no marketing to the users. We provide a clean and easy-to-use interface that allows people to independently solve Captchas.
Bernard Maldonado
And now my two cents!
We at SeroTalk are very excited about these two CAPTCHA solving solutions, one for the PC, and one for the Mac. However, it is more important than ever, that we now don’t sit on our hands, and assume we no longer need to be concerned wit this issue. Companies are looking at deploying alternative methods that will impair our ability to use their products and services. We need to advocate for our full access to web sites, especially important now that companies are putting their services in the cloud, and in some cases, requiring we solve a CAPTCHA before using their services, or purchasing their products.
We hope you will join us Thursday Feb. 25 at 9PM Eastern for Tech Chat 52, which will discuss tips for effective advocacy. With publishers wanting to charge us extra for text-to-speech, budget cuts reducing transportation options, inaccessible software, voting independently, ATM access, inaccessible touch screens, etc., we each need to give a little bit. We have the technology, now all we need is the vision, and motivation to see our dreams become reality. If each of us chooses just one project to passionately pursue, we as a collective community will be unstoppable!
Hats off to Bernard Maldonado and the volunteers at Solona, Christopher Toth with Qwitter, and Theresa Ford, creator of GoToSolona for the Mac; but in the words of Karen Carpenter, “we’ve Only Just Begun.”
Michael Lauf