Familiar Voice for BrailleNote
Pulse Data HumanWare recently announced the appointment of Jonathan Mosen as its product marketing manager for BrailleNote and VoiceNote, the company's personal digital assistants. Mosen takes over for Larry Lewis, who now reports to president Jim Halliday as the new general manager of Pulse Data HumanWare's Blindness Division. Blind since birth, Mosen has a long affiliation with ACB (American Council of the Blind) Radio, and he formed the Out of Sight company in 1999 to manage the Internet radio station. Mosen had been chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind. Contact: Pulse Data HumanWare; phone: 800-722-3393 or 925-680-7100; e-mail: <usa@pulsedata.com>; web site: <www.pulsedata.com>.
ALVA Ends Mac Support
ALVA announced it will soon cease development of the Macintosh versions of outSPOKEN and inLARGE, ALVA's screen reader and screen magnifier for Macintosh computers. Explaining the change, Eric Weldink, ALVA's president and CEO, commented, "Our resources are best directed towards producing stand-alone products...tailored to the needs of our customers.... " Weldink pointed out that ALVA has redoubled efforts on its MPO (Mobile Phone Organizer), which is an integrated cell phone and personal organizer for people who are visually impaired. OutSPOKEN 9.2 and inLARGE 2.1 for Macintosh will be available through January 2003, and warranties and service agreements will be honored. For more information, contact: ALVA Access Group; phone: 888-318-2582 or 510-451-2582; e-mail: <info@aagi.com>; web site: <www.alvabraille.com>.
Cingular Access
Cingular Wireless, a telecommunications service provider, offers Voice Connect free to qualified customers. The voice portal is designed to allow people with disabilities who cannot independently use a telephone access to voice and information services by using voice commands. In addition to voice dialing, Voice Connect allows customers to retrieve, by cell phone, business and recreational information such as stock quotes, weather, sports, and horoscopes. Contact: Cingular Wireless; phone: 800-331-0500; web site: <www.cingular.com>.
Words and Music
What's New in Word XP? by Sharon Monthei is a short reference guide intended to ease the transition from Microsoft Word 2000 to Microsoft Word XP by answering basic questions about functions ranging from Microsoft Office Clipboard to Mail Merge. The reference also includes step-by-step instructions for configuring Word XP to work with speech and braille. National Braille Press (NBP) also offers a reference guide for sound-editing software, including Sound Forge 6.0, GoldWave 5.0, and Cool Edit 2000. The guide includes keyboard commands and how to get screen reader configuration files and additional help. Each guide is available in one braille volume or PortaBook format and costs $5. Contact: NBP; phone: 808-548-7323 or 617-266-6160; e-mail: <orders@nbp.org>; web site: <www.nbp.org>.
Who'll Be at TechShare
The Techshare organizers recently announced the key speakers for the 2003 conference, which will take place November 20–21, 2003 in the United Kingdom. Madelyn Bryant McIntire is director of the Accessible Technology Group at Microsoft; Brian Charlson is vice president, American Council of the Blind, and director of the Computer Training Services program at the Carroll Center for the Blind; and Rob Lees is a technology executive for Vodafone Global Products and Services, a mobile telecommunications company and partner of the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), organizer of the conference. Contact: Techshare, RNIB; phone: 0870-013-9555; e-mail: <techshare@rnib.org.uk>; web site: <www.rnib.org.uk/techshare>.
Got news?
Send your assistive technology-related news to AccessWorld. Contact: Rebecca Burrichter, associate editor, AFB Press; fax: 212-502-7774; e-mail: rebeccab@afb.net.
