Courtesy of Jeff Daly
Learning Ally began in 1948 as Recording for the Blind and today serves those individuals who struggle to read standard print due to blindness, dyslexia, visual impairment or other learning disabilities.
With the help of over 6,000 volunteers across the nation, there are 70,000 recorded titles and textbooks available to download onto an assistive technology device or other piece of equipment.
While this organization has been around for awhile, it recently introduced an app that allowed users to view downloaded material on their iOS device. Called, Learning Ally Audio, the software is one of the most popular audio playback software systems around.
The app has enabled users, since 2011, to download their book content to a computer via Apple iTunes or Learning Ally’s Audiobook Manager, and then transfer it over to their preferred iOS device via wire connection (i.e – USB cable).
Now, the organizaiton offers an upgraded version that allows the user to easily download their audiobooks from their personalized Learning Ally bookshelf directly to their devices via a wireless network, without the use of a Mac or PC computer. No launching of Apple iTunes or Learning Ally’s Audiobook Manager is necessary.
Along with the upgrade, users still get to enjoy the cool features that make Learning Ally software so cool. For instance, users will still enjoy page and chapter navigation, extensive bookmarking capabilities, last book/last position playback, variable speed and pitch control, and playing while locked to save battery life.
Members who have an earlier version of the app will get an automatic upgrade through “Apple Updates”; and the audiobooks currently on their device will remain intact. For new app users, the app is available to Learning Ally members for $19.99 via the Apple iTunes store.
Learning Ally Audio is fully compatible with all iPad, iPhone 4s, 4 and 3GS models, and iPod touch second generation and above devices. For visually impaired members, the app takes full advantage of Apple’s VoiceOver technology. The app integrates seamlessly with Learning Ally’s memberships for indviduals as well as institutions and schools, and is an easy, affordable way to access and enjoy the organization’s vast collection of textbook and literature titles. More information, frequently asked questions, a quick start guide, and customer service contact info to support the Learning Ally Audio app are available at http://www.LearningAlly.org/apple.
Courtesy of ATIA
Optelec is a company that provides assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired community and the following is a list of products they provide that make living in a world made for the sighted a bit more user friendly for those who cannot see or have difficulties doing so.
Compact 5 HD: This handheld portable video magnifier is lightweight, is always in focus and gives the user abilities to read glossy magazines, letters, displays or price tags in both the lowest and widest continuous magnifcation range possible.
ClearNote: This device is ideal for the office, classroom and/or home. Combining near, self and distance viewing, this piece of equipment allows the user to view white boardings during a meeting or class, take notes from a lecture or read printed case reports while using a computer.
Multiview: This 3-in-1 viewing device is a multipurpose video magnifier for document reading, distance and self-viewing with a 3-in-1 flexible camera. Designed to fit conveniently on any workstation, the multiview camera can focuse on a wide range of activities including reading, writing, hobbies, needlework, or even painting. The camera has the ability to tilt and rotate to view yourself for getting ready in the morning, or it can be adjusted for distance viewing around the room.
Compact: This portable video magnifier is a great combination of design and sophistication. It comes in tons of cool colors, like pink, white, blue and green and allows the user to read labels, maps, schedules and directions all on the go.
FarView: This magnifier is ideal for the active user. Offering the combined benefits of document and distance viewing in a stylish and compact design, the FarView allows the user to access information with ease in selected magnification and high contrast settings.
Make sure to visit www.Optelec.com to check out their extensive line of AT for those who are blind or who have low vision.
Watch as Brian demonstrates how to use the PlexTalk digital reader device. It reads, records and bookmarks important information.!
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Information from the INDATA Project is now available via podcast! Every Friday, the INDATA Project will release two podcasts featuring new assistive technology projects. The podcasts are available for viewing on the INDATA Project website and on iTunes. The “Assistive Technology Update” is a fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts. The “Accessibility Minute” is designed for all listeners to provide assistive technology tips and tricks.
Image from The New York Times
Watching individuals talking with their hands, shouting or having heated conversations with apparently no one have become the norm for those who use headphones, with microphones, attached to their mobile device.
Hands free, it’s all the rage.
Now, Google will introduce a set of goggles that can augment reality, that is lay a set of virtual information over the image of physical objects through the lens of the glasses. Cleverly called, Google Goggles, this invention could mean big news in the world of aug. comm. and assistive technology.
The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly. Much like the applications on smartphones, the glasses will only be used when needed. However, it is pretty safe to say that some users will be wearing them quite a bit.
“It will look very strange to onlookers when people are wearing these glasses,” William Brinkman, graduate director of the computer science and software engineering department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio told The New York Times. “You obviously won’t see what they can from the behind the glasses. As a result, you will see bizarre body language as people duck or dodge around virtual things.”
This bizarre body language will come from the actions users must take in order to select what they want to view in the glasses. Similar to the virtual reality games, where users wear large headsets to maneuver virtual spaces, the goggles will respond to motion in order to activate certain services.
Such services include identification of buildings and people, text and contact information.
Using the same Android technology that powers smartphones and tablets, the goggles are equipped with GPS and motion sensors. They will also contain a camera and audio inputs and outputs.
Soon, people may look up at a building through these glasses and be able to see its historical background as well as read comments about it left by their friends. Directions will become step by step instructions.
Even advertising will morph into something new.
Mr. Brinkman said he was very excited by the possibilities of the glasses, but acknowledged that the augmented reality glasses could pose some ethical issues.
“In addition to privacy, it’s also going to change real-world advertising, where companies can virtually place ads over other people’s ads,” he told The Times. “I’m really interested in seeing how the government can successfully regulate augmented reality in this sense. They are not really going to know what people are seeing behind those glasses.”
