AccessWorld News

Two Industry Leaders Purchased

On May 15, 2007, HumanWare shareholders voted to accept an offer to sell a controlling interest in the company. The purchaser is Jolimont Capital, funded by private equity from Jolimont, debt financing from ANZ National Bank, and personal investments from HumanWare's senior managers. HumanWare is based in New Zealand, and Jolimont is based in Australia. The sale price was reported to be $10.80 per share. HumanWare has approximately 3.3 million shares on issue. Its CEO is Dr. Richard Mander.

GPS on the Phone

Handy Tech North America, formerly Triumph Technology, has announced the availability of Way Finder Access GPS Navigation software, an application that operates in conjunction with Mobile Speak for Symbian phones. Way Finder, a Swedish product, has teamed with Code Factory of Spain to provide way finding technology on mobile phones that are equipped with Mobile Speak. Way Finder provides information on points of interest, intersections, speed, altitude, or coordinates. It can announce a current location or map a route to a desired destination.

Sendero Site Changes

Sendero Group, the company that produces the popular GPS (global positioning system) software for BrailleNote mPower and BrailleNote PK, has released a patch, version 4.03, to correct a metric calculation problem in version 4.0. The company has also made some changes to its web site to make receiving upgrades a more efficient process. Licensed Sendero GPS customers can now download the maps and GPS software directly from www.mysendero.com.

Accessibility Is a Right

Probably one of the most talked-about news items to surface during the ATIA 2008 conference, held in Orlando, Florida, in late January, was the launch of the new nonprofit AIR (Accessibility Is a Right) Foundation. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the foundation will make available to anyone who uses a computer anywhere in the world an application that renders computers instantly accessible to persons who are blind or have low vision.

Two More Devices to Play Talking Books

Patrons of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and its Talking Book program now have more options for downloading digital versions of books and magazines for listening on handheld devices. The Icon from LevelStar and Braille+ Mobile Manager from the American Printing House for the Blind can now play books that are downloaded from the NLS Digital Talking Books site.

New Embossers, New Dot

ViewPlus Technologies has announced that the latest additions to its series of braille embossers, the Tiger Elite and Tiger Premier, are now shipping. Features highlighted in a recent announcement include automatic two-sided embossing, long hours of continuous production, and a compact-desktop size. The "newly redesigned" braille dot reportedly offers improved readability while maintaining high-quality tactile graphics.

Freedom Scientific Files Patent Suit Against GW Micro

On July 15, Freedom Scientific filed suit against GW Micro, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,993,707 for a "Document Placemarker." The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida. According to a press release on Freedom Scientific's web site: "Freedom Scientific follows the standard business practice of filing patents for good reason. Not filing for, and then enforcing patents would stifle innovation.

Window-Eyes Upgrade Promises Complete MS Word Support

Newly released Window-Eyes Version 5.0 breaks unprecedented ground, according to its manufacturer GW Micro. Promising 100% text accuracy, the company said that the screen reader's upgrade will provide "the most thorough and stable support" for Microsoft Word to date. Every text feature, including all columns, tables, and fields will now be read aloud in the word-processing program, and users will now be able to use Word's spell and grammar checking capabilities on the fly.

Optelec Expands Product Line and Staff

Optelec has announced the addition of Jaap Breider to its executive management team, as technology officer for blindness products. Twenty years ago, Breider, who is blind, founded ALVA, the Netherlands-based supplier of refreshable braille terminals.