Adventures in Assistive Technology

On Wednesday, Apple officially kicked off its 2009 back-to-school promotion, which offers a free 8GB iPod touch to students and educational staffers who purchase a qualifying Mac.

Here are the terms & conditions:

• You must purchase your Mac computer and iPod from the Apple Online Store, an Apple Retail Store, or an Apple Authorized Campus Store. Products purchased at other locations are not eligible for this offer.
• Your purchase must be made between May 27, 2009, and September 8, 2009, to be eligible. Your claim must be postmarked by October 8, 2009.
• Your computer and iPod purchases must appear on the same receipt. Online orders may ship separately. In this case, include all relevant invoices.
• The Campus Computer Store is an Apple Authorized Campus Store, and you can find them at the bottom escalator in Lower Place Riel. Visit their website for additional information! http://ccs.usask.ca/

Click on the link below to get the rebate coupon.

http://images.apple.com/ca/promo/

Posted by cab870 at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The new 4GB iPod shuffle uses VoiceOver to generate text to speech. The VoiceOver function will tell you the name of the song and artist you are currently listening to, and it will also read aloud your playlists. It can speak 14 languages, from Dutch to Japanese, and while the actual speech is generated by iTunes it is transferred to the Shuffle when you sync it.

Check out the Apple website for more information

http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/voiceover.html

Posted by cab870 at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case you missed it, blind ex-Motown singing star, Stevie Wonder, recently appeared a BBC technology program called Click. He was talking about accessible technology and discussed what AT gadgets he uses, but also called on technology companies to make their products more accessible to blind people. Go Stevie!!!

Visit the Click website to view a clip of the interview, and read what else Stevie Wonder had to say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7859227.stm

Posted by cab870 at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to the new iPod nano (4th generation) and the latest version of iTunes, blind or visually impaired music lovers can enjoy their music and audio books with the benefit of spoken menus. Apple has introduced spoken menus in the new iPod nano (released Fall 2008). This feature lets blind and visually impaired music buffs browse and select menu items without viewing the screen. Instead, a synthesized voice speaks the names of menus, playlists, artists, and songs. In addition, the new iPod nano has a font size setting, allowing the user to increase the font size from standard to large.

According to the Apple Accessibility website, you will need the following to take advantage of spoken menus:

- iPod nano (4th generation)
- iTunes 8
- Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later
- Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3 or later)

For information about enableing spoken menus in your iPod nano, go to the Apple Accessiblity website:

http://www.apple.com/accessibility/itunes/vision.html

Posted by cab870 at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)