We have tons of projects on the fire as the technology we saw at CSUN and the Conventions is now starting to roll into the Unit. So I plan to post some leftover news and reviews of products to the Blog in the next two weeks. That means a shorter update. Stop making that face! You know you like thos 12 page monsters. Today you luck out at 5.
Steve’s Word Of The Month:
Virtualazation
Definition: You know how some fast food places have Pizza Hut, Long John Silvers and KFC all under one roof? Kind of the same thing. You can have one server with multiple cores/processors running three operating systems or more all at the same time. You can switch back to any menu you want because they are all in the same building. But a better and more technical description can be found here:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6094502.html
Lightning Round!
* JAWS 7.1 Live Update: It was only a matter of time before JFW joined everyone else in the live internet update distribution department. Just remember to back up your data before you make any updates to any critical programs on your computer.
http://hj.com/fs_products/software_jaws710update.asp
* K1000 10.5: Kurzweil released a new patch to K1000 last week. Download the patch here:
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/downloads_k1000_updates_ver10.asp
* KNFB Reader: Sources in the world wide web tell me that there are two versions of this device out and about. One runs Mobile 2003 and the later units, presumably any unit not used in the year long Beta test, use Mobile 2005. Changes in functionality of the OCR software may be marginal, however, differences between Windows Mobile 03 and 05 are pretty detailed. Just be aware of what unit your buying with your $3,500.
* Maestro 2.0 Humanware updated their Hand Held PDA solution. See the Press Release here:
http://www.humanware.com/about/news/news300606.asp
* Smartview CCTV: The classic line featuring the numeric keypad has been phased out completely. The new Xtends will replace the older Smartviews and they will start shipping the first week of August. The My Reader has been updated as well and it too should ship soon.
* Zoom Text Keyboard: It’s still on the way and still set for a summer release. But my sources tell me that Labor Day may be the earliest you see this being shipped. It’s $99 and $10 for shipping.
* More on Google Accessible Search: Google says that their rankings of Access go far beyond the standards set by the W3C. Learn more here:
http://www.theregister.com/2006/07/23/google_search_engine_for_the_blind/
* Dragon 9: Nuance has released a new version of it’s Speech Recognition products. No idea on how the Realspeak Text to Speech engine is incorporated yet or how this will work with any Assistive Technology outside of J-Say.
http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=13820
Minimum Requirements:
http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/professional/sysreqs.asp
* Access World Another good article on the Laptop Assisted CCTV highlights the latest issue of AW.
http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
* Main Menu: The BITS presentations are slowly coming on line from this year’s ACB convention. The first one up is Microsoft discussing Vista. Now I am a little partial because well I spoke at the NFB Computer Science conference but I thought Robert Sinclair’s presentation was a bit more organized and concise. Still until that finds it’s way on to the web you can listen to ACB Radio’s Main Menu archives for the other presentation.
http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=19
* Freedom Box: One of the projects we have going in the Unit is to look at the new System Access and Freedom Box Network changes that have garnered a lot of buzz as of late. Check out some of these changes at the official site.
http://www.freedombox.info/
* Zero Day Attacks And Windows Update: Your best chance at being hit by one of these new Zero Day Attacks seems to be the day after Patch Tuesday. Learn about who and why this is the trend from this article below.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6098229.html
* Bionic Eye Shot Down By FDA: I guess there is no need to save your pennies as the 6 million dollar man is still a far ways off.
http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=13605
* Web 2.0/Jon Vorak: Always good for controversy on the web John says that Web 2.0 was broken before it ever got off the ground. I tend to agree with him.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1987181,00.asp
* IE7 Push: Microsoft is planning on releasing Internet Explorer 7 as a Critical Update under Windows Updates. The good news is that you can say “no” if you set your updates to allow you to confirm them before install. The bad news is that you will need to not only update IE but your AT as well once this goes live. That is if your AT supports it of course. Many companies will be releasing their support patches in October of this year. And yes Virginia there may just be a Santa Claus after all in that these may be free updates. Time will tell.
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+tags+IE+7+high+priority+update/2100-7350_3-6098500.html?tag=nefd.lede
* Tactile Cell Phones: LG has licensed the Rumble Technology found in videogames in hopes of providing a type of feedback method for confirmation of selections on your cell phone.
http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=13861
* Windows development: Believe it or not but Microsoft is already working on the version of Windows to follow the long delayed Vista.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060719-7302.html
* NVIDIA on AMD/ATI: By now you must have heard about AMD buying ATI for, cue Dr. Evil voice, billions of dollars. Rather than link a boring article on if AMD did the right thing I thought I would rather post this defiant NVIDIA tak on the deal.
http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3506&Itemid=2
~~ “Vista Ready!”
Shorter than usual look at all things Vista this go around. Those of us running in Beta 2 land can only be jealous of those in CTP 5472burg. It’s said that the latest build is not only 20% faster but it allows you to have the “list” option in folder views again. Boy was that a shock in Beta 2 installs let me tell you.
Vista delay.. First up.. me having to wine about Vista maybe three months longer than expected. Vista may slip back a full calendar quarter if this article is accurate.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6098922.html
Vista upgrade paths: When Vista finally does emerge from the cocoon the madness of upgrade paths begin. My personal advice is to slash and burn with a clean install but to each his own I guess.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/7/20/4721
User Interfaces: It isn’t really truly Vista related but there are changes to the User Interface in Vista and a great article on how changes effect training is listed below.
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/07/yahoo_finance_r_1.php
Update!
I found this link on the Ribbon in Office 2007 a few hours after I put this issue to bed. Check out the changes coming to the Ribbon in the next pre launch release of the Office Suite.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/7/27/4783
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