The Deafblind Techies Newsletter Number 14..

2 March 2001.

IN THIS ISSUE

++ 1, Editorial.
++ 2, The DB Techies Newsletter is Closing Down.
++ 3, WeMedia Talking Browser.
++ 4, New deafblindness.com Web Site.
++ 5, The DB Techies Bits n Bytes News File.
++ 6, Download the past issues of the DB Techies.
++ 7. The Archives of the DB Techies Newsletter.
++ 8. To unsubscribe from the DB Techies.

++ 1. Editorial.

Hello to all of you, And welcome to another DB Techies Newsletter. I hope
that you are all in good health
and that all is OK with you all.

I have been a bit busy over the past two months since the last DB Techies
newsletter with trying to help other Deafblind people on the net and
helping webmasters to make there sites a little more accessible for
Deafblind and Blind net users, This is not an easy thing to try to do as
sighted hearing webmasters don't really understand much about this. But
with a little time they get the idea how easy it can be to make a web site
accessible for all.

My sister Annemarie got married in January and we had a great time at the
wedding Annemarie and my new Brother in law Duncan have been getting ready
for this day for some time so the Big Day did come at last
And we all had a great time. All the family where there My brother and
sister in law have Triplets and they are almost two years old now the
triplets are very hard to try and keep a control on them. They are every
where doing things that they should not be doing. Two nannies and us and we
still find it hard to keep up with them. And they also have little Ciaran
who is five years old and he is full of fun, So it was a busy wedding just
trying to keep up with the children.

So my brother and sister are married now and it just me and mother at home
keeping each other going.
I am too used to the home cooking to go anywhere so me and mother are very
happy to have each other together for keeping each other going.

Right less of me going on and on, I have a little important thing to say
about the DB Techies that I will
explain later in the Newsletter but This is going to be the Last DB
Techies, I am sad it this..

++ 2, The DB Techies Newsletter is Closing Down.

This is going to be the last DB Techies newsletter because the membership
is going down and it's not worth all the work that I put in to the
Newsletter with so few people on the list, so it time to call it a day with
the DB Techies. I am a little sorry about this after buying the
DBTechies.net domain name it takes a lot of work to do the newsletter and
no one is really interested in it so it time to walk away from it and say
to my self I did try to write the first online newsletter for Deafblind
people by a Deafblind person

It is very hard for me to give the DB Techies up after all the time and
work I have put into it but the interest in it is just not there. I thought
that with getting the DBTechies.net domain name would bring more Deafblind
people interested in it, but this is not happening and it is a sad one for
me. The membership is not moving up and has been going down over the past
months.

Maybe one day another Deafblind person will try to write a Newsletter for
Deafblind people online, that person I really hope coming from within the
online Deafblind community.

For me it's time up trying to help others with a Newsletter for Deafblind
people, maybe I was a bit too boring for others to read my findings of
software or web sites I thought where interesting to Deafblind or Blind
people. So after 14 Issues the DB Techies is coming to an End. And I am a
little sad at that because I really thought that fellow Deafblind net users
would be interested in a newsletter just for them online, one that was not
part of an organization so had nothing to sell or to ask anything from
them, It was Just trying to bring Deafblind people together But that never
really happened and only Gwen was willing to help me out
with writing an article for the newsletter and I would like to Thank Gwen
for that.

Maybe it was really me that did not push the DB Techies or myself on to
others making them aware of the Newsletter, But I have never been a forward
person, I have been for so long just keeping in the back ground
on the net and also within the Deafblind or Blind community where I live,
so maybe I didn't push the DB Techies Newsletters as hard as I should have
done. To make a site like A-Z to Deafblindness which is getting about
20,000 people coming to it a month was hard, but I can hide behind a web
site and let it do my talking for me. with a Newsletter it is a lot harder
to try and hide within it. And i have done so much hiding in my life
keeping out of the way for such a long time.

I will be going up to the newsgroup site some time soon and will try to
unsubscribe all the members of the
DB Techies so that you will not have any trouble from the egroups.com or
this new yahoogroups.com site.

I will keep the DBTechies.net web site running and not pull it down from
the net until some time next year
so that the old issues are still there for us to read.

So it's a farewell to all of you and I hope to meet you all again on the
net. Take care And thank you for staying with me on the DB Techies I hope
that you enjoyed it as much as I did, I am grateful for you taken the time
to read this.

Take care of yourselves.
Yours
James

++ 3, WeMedia Talking Browser.

I thought that this speech software may be useful to some members of the DB
Techies who may have some useful hearing and would be able to put it to
some good use.

But unlucky for those of us who have to use Braille Display because this
software will not support our Displays, But you never know they may support
it one day but I not think to my little self I will wait for that day to
come it maybe a long time away..

Right this is what the WeMedia Talking Browser say about there software.

WEMedia Talking Browser is a PC software application that was developed in
an effort to help blind and vision impaired people to experience the World
Wide Web in a much more friendly way then is currently available.

Basically, this is a web browser that "speaks" (using Microsoft Active X
Agent© technology) the text from web pages for the benefit of the blind or
vision impaired person. Please do not confuse this as another "screen
reader" as it is a totally different concept to make the Internet
experience available in a more user friendly way. In fact, it has been
designed to be used without the help of a screen reader. It is operated via
keystrokes (mouse clicks allowed), and upon further development, via voice
recognition. These features give the sight impaired user the ability to
navigate (with the skills or senses available to them) within the program.
We have made a point of designing this software to be VERY simple to
operate, thus giving a wider audience that can take advantage of it's use.
In fact, after getting aquatinted with the operation of the software, it
can be operated with the use of only 6 "hot keys" in a very efficient
manner! Any additional software needed ( a text-2-speech engine) is
supplied within the setup program to be installed on the system.

Includes the following features...

The application has the ability to be operated completely via user function
keystrokes or user mouse clicks as to allow the blind or impaired vision
person to execute program features without the need of a "helper".

The application "talks" all functions and the help menu so as to allow the
user to rely on their hearing ability only (to extend their own self
reliance).

Includes an "interactive" help system to guide the user at every step.
Ability to announce where the focus is (within the program) upon demand via
a "hot key" activation. All links included within the loaded web page can
be accessed via a "user controlled scan method" that speaks the name of the
link or in the conventional way.

Features a "favorites" function to add favorites for future use. Takes
advantage and use of the Microsoft IE bookmark system but displayed and
accessed in a different manner.

Includes a "Browser map" that the user can perform any function of the
browser from this one stop via a single keystroke. Put the focus into the
"browser map" via a "hot key", scan down the list of commands (via the down
arrow key) until find desired function, press the Enter key and it's
done! Includes several advanced features such as a text enlarger, option
to change font size, option to change background colours, options to set
the voice speed, tone, pitch, etc. Option the view the page in the normal
view or text only (all graphics stripped out) for low sighted users.

Features a very complete and tailored help section with interactive
features. Browser can be operated by the use of only 6 "hot keys" after
getting acquainted with it's features. Last but by all means not least, a
simple web browser that will "talk" the text that is displayed on most any
web site.

The application will give the user the option of using voice recognition
(i.e. the computer will convert the user's speech to actual computer
commands that will operate just like a keyboard and mouse does now) and /
or the user's keystrokes and mouse clicks to activate all the functions.

The "talking" web browser will allow the user to surf the web by means of
the users function keystrokes OR speech recognition.

The application may feature a "live chat room" that will speak the contents
of what the user has typed in and the response from the other client on
demand. This will be limited to the other user having this software
installed on there computer as well. Peer to peer communications. Also, we
hope to have an e-mail feature added to the software that will not require
sight to operate simply.

System requirements...
Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, ME, 2000 or NT
Windows compatible sound card and speakers
Microsoft Internet Explore 4.+
All other required software components supplied within the setup (VB6
runtime files, Text 2 Speech Engine, Microsoft Agent core files)

Due to the size (8.24 Mb) of this setup, we also offer the option of
receiving the software on CD for a shipping / handling charge of $9.00
Or send a request via snail mail to Customized Computer Software, P.O. Box
171, Midwest, WY 82643.

This is I believe a good way to get on the net if your speech software is
not really up to the job of speaking web pages back to you.

So why not give it a try. At just over 8MB in size it would not take that
long to download.

The WeMedia Talking Browser web site is at:
http://216.219.186.187/atec/WeMedia_TB.htm
To go right to the download file go to:
http://www.webtalkster.com/WEMediaTB.exe

++ 4, New Deafblindness.com Web Site.

As many of you may know I own deafblind.com and deaf-blind.com domain names
to try and help other Deafblind people on the net and to also make sighted
hearing people more aware what Deafblind people can do if only given a
chance. So Deafblind.com was started to do this and also to keep my brain
going. Last year the domain name deaf-blind.com became available after I
have been waiting years for it, And I than pointed
deaf-blind.com to deafblind.com so if one typed deaf-blind.com it would
take you to deafblind.com.

Well in January I bought the domain name deafblindness.com And as before
pointed it to deafblind.com.

Good Domain names are been taken up very fast and I believe that it won't
be long before we will not be able to get the one's that we are after so I
took the chance to buy deafblindness.com before it was taken. There is not
that many Deafblind domain names available out there now. Not just because
I have bought four of the Deafblind names which are deafblind.com,
deaf-blind.com, deafblindness.com, and deafblind.co.uk

Large Deafblind organizations throughout the world are starting to move on
to the net with a domain name that
will be as near as there organization name is, but these organizations may
have to use the ORG in there
domain name like deafblind.org.uk which belongs to Deafblind UK. The ORG
means organization.

Deafblind.net and Deafblind.org have been bought but they have not been put
on the net buy the people who own them. Deafblind.org is owned by a
Deafblind organization in Denmark, But Deafblind.net is owned by people who
are just sitting on it But I know who really owns it They are in the UK.

More and more Deafblind organizations are going to come on to the net and
this is going to be quite important
because this information will be at our finger tips about Deafblind
organizations and what they offer to there members. This can only be a good
thing for us all.

But much more important is that a lot more Deafblind people are starting to
make themselves present on the net with having there own web sites, one of
these people that comes to mind is the web site of Craig MacLean who has
made a great site to help other Deafblind people. This is a site that
should be a must for Deafblind
people it is at http://www.PeerSupportDB.com

And another person who is doing a lot for Deafblind people on the net is
Randy Klumph the person behind
the Deafblind mailing list and having a part on The National Information
Clearinghouse on Children Who Are Deaf-Blind site at:
http://www.tr.wou.edu/dblink/index.htm And Teaching Research Division of
Western Oregon University at: http://www.tr.wou.edu/

We are going to see a lot more people like Craig and Randy on the net
starting there own sites and being a part of other sites, offering help to
others, And I am pleased at this because we are able to do so much more
than the sighted hearing think we can do. And with the technology of today
the world is just starting to open up for Deafblind people with new
equipment that lets us take part in the sighted hearing world at long last.

Well I better stop here before I start to go too deep into this subject and
bore you all to sleep which I do very easily let me tell you all.

++ 5, The DB Techies Bits n Bytes News File.

Interliant Builds Web Site For The Blind.

ASP Interliant has worked with the American Federation for the Blind (AFB)
to create a feature-rich Web site intended to make e-commerce accessible to
the blind and visually impaired community. The site uses technology that
can "read" graphics, among other things.

AFB President Carl Augusto wanted a site that was graphically appealing to
those with sight but also highly accessible to the visually impaired.
Augusto says the site should create a community for the blind, their care
givers, and service providers and should also offer products for purchase.
Interliant attached links to the site's graphics so that a screen reader
can read the graphics as though they were text.

The site also has a color-change option for people with low vision, which
Augusto says is important and a good example of how small changes can make
any site more accessible to those with disabilities. Screen readers can
translate online text into Braille or a synthetic voice but cannot handle
the graphics that e-commerce sites frequently use to sell products or link
to other applications. Interliant CEO Herb Hribar says that the AFB site is
a prototype for public-service agencies, nonprofit organizations, and
commercial sites. Augusto says that the AFB site could become a host site
for agencies and schools that cannot afford their own sites.

+ Bits n Bytes, 25 per cent of Internet users will abandon CDs.

A recent MORI poll of Internet users, conducted for Creative Labs, has
shown that the CD's days are numbered, with one in four expecting to turn
to the Internet as the sole source of music. In the 15-24 age bracket the
figure was as high as 37 per cent.

The survey reveals just how widely accepted and understood the concepts of
codecs and streaming digital music have become. A massive 67 per cent were
looking to store digital music on mobile devices and 72 per cent expected
MP3 to remain the strongest format, with opinion equally split as to
whether emerging formats such as WMA and others will replace the codec.

The main reason for downloading music given by those polled was that it is
a cheap method to get it - witness Napster et al. And 72 per cent reckoned
that the music industry will have to change how music is sold.

Of course the music industry is painfully aware of this, but the closure of
the free music exchange section of Napster will leave it in the position of
online distributor - something that the labels can easily take up
themselves in order to out-price the competition. Labels can then add value
to music files with screensavers and other bonus media, making them the
music source of choice. Free music may die, but cheap music will thrive.

The survey polled 1,629 of the UK general public between 15 and 65, a group
of 320 people who download music at least once a month and a consulted
panel of 60 of e-MORI's IT journalists.

+ Bits n Bytes, Wireless Industry Treads Carefully On Privacy.

Wireless phone companies will begin to implement location-tracking
technology that will allow tracking cell phone users' physical movements, a
move mandated by federal law and aimed at locating 911 callers. The
technology will open a new marketing avenue for commercials targeted at
consumers in the area of different stores and shops.

A person walking by McDonald's with a cell phone could receive a discount,
for instance. Wireless companies are already beginning to implement privacy
policies to ease consumer fears and forestall federal regulation. The
wireless industry plans to be proactive in protecting consumer privacy and
setting guidelines, unlike Internet companies that have been "reactive to
privacy issues," says Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular
Telecommunications& Internet Association. Internet privacy legislation is
currently before Congress, and recently the AeA endorsed highly focused
federal regulation on Internet privacy.


+ Bits n Bytes, Publishing Industry Aims To Establish Web Presence Without
Getting 'Blindsided'

Even as literary publishers have created a new niche for themselves on the
Internet, they have had to confront the traditional problems of piracy and
hackers. Publishers are carefully laying the ground rules for their e-book
Internet operations and keeping a wary eye on the potential for piracy.

"We want to deal with issues like intellectual property from day one,
rather than try to get it back in the box after it is too late," says Pat
Schroeder, CEO of the American Association of Publishers. Ignoring the
potential market value of the Internet is not an option for publishers; the
new technology has motivated them to develop different consumer goods based
on content they already own. By starting with an unblemished record, unlike
the music industry, literary publishers may well set the standard for
online consumer interaction.

Digital Goods CEO Scott Griffith says the publishing industry is facing the
Internet and e-book business with their priorities straight. "First you
take care of your security and you protect your intellectual property" by
constructing a well designed digital rights management system. After that,
"you can go out and really sell."

+ Bits n Bytes, Bluetooth Readies For Its Close-Up.

This year could prove critical to the wireless networking system Bluetooth,
which has been struggling for recognition since its debut two years ago.
Bluetooth is designed to connect virtually any short-range communications
device seamlessly, and Ericsson and Motorola are expected to premier
Bluetooth-equipped phones. In addition, the Wall Street Holiday Inn in New
York City will soon operate a wireless check-in system that runs on Bluetooth.

However, Bluetooth rivals such as HomeRF and 802.11B are challenging the
technology for control of the market. For example, original Bluetooth
backer Intel selected HomeRF for its new wireless Web devices because of
its cheapness and availability. MobileStar chose 802.11B to deliver
streaming audio and video to Microsoft PocketPC devices and laptops because
"we require something very robust and graceful, and Bluetooth just isn't
there yet," claims CEO Mark Goode.

+ Bits n Bytes, Once more unto the courts, dear Microsoft.

Or close the wall up with our legal dead! Yes, the 'case that will not
conclude' resumes today. An appeals court in America will hear arguments
over the long-running Microsoft antitrust action.

As you are no doubt well aware, Judge Penfield Jackson ruled back in the
summer of last year that Microsoft had been acting in anti-competitive
manner and should be broken up into separate elements. But this
court-imposed remedy was suspended pending appeal... Which just about
brings us back up to date.

Today a panel of seven judges will question both sides of the issue:
whether Microsoft illegally sought to maintain a monopoly over PC operating
systems through its use of Internet Explorer. Tuesday, the US Department of
Justice (and the 19 states) will restate the position that Microsoft did
abuse its dominant position, while Wednesday will see Microsoft's legal
representatives argue that Judge Jackson has shown himself to be biased
against the company and that his lower-court ruling was unfair.

And then - after what seems like a never ending legal process (the case was
first filed back in May 1998) - a conclusion might just be drawn. It's
definitely the beginning of the end. Almost certainly. Unless the appeals
court could decides to send the case back to another judge to revise
Jackson's rulings for a break up...

+ Bits n Bytes, Celera's Human Genetic Code To Go Online.

Celera Genomics Group will publish an analysis of the human genome, which
it finished decoding last year, in the journal "Science" and will make the
data supporting that analysis available on the company's Web site. The
arrangement between Celera and "Science" is significant as it marks the
alliance of research science's two competing wings: the academic and the
corporate.

The online data will be available to any academic researcher, but
researchers must first agree not to share the data with other firms that
have similar databases. Celera will let researchers use the data to support
and patent their own projects. However, researchers from drug firms will
not be allowed to use the data for commercial projects. Celera CEO J. Craig
Venter explains that, while the company does want to adhere to the long
tradition of data sharing among the research community, it must take steps
to protect its data from piracy, which does not fall under any current U.S.
copyright laws.

Not all of Celera's genome database will be available online. Researchers,
with written approval from a university official, may order the complete
database on DVD or CD optical disks. Although some researchers have
criticized the agreement between Celera and "Science," many say it is a
reasonable precaution to
protect data.

+ Bits n Bytes, Colleges Focus On Making Web Sites Work For People With
Disabilities.

The past three years have seen several government mandates seeking to
improve the accessibility of college computer hardware and Web sites for
people with disabilities. In 1998, the federal government invoked the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require 11 community colleges in
California to provide information in both electronic and traditional print
format to students who have disabilities.

A new federal regulation pertaining to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is
pending as the Bush administration reviews all new regulations enacted in
the final months of the Clinton presidency. The regulation is meant
to bring federal agencies into compliance with the ADA but also applies to
state higher-education institutions. College officials say the issue cannot
be ignored as more and more professors use the Internet and other
multimedia tools as an integral part of their courses and the institutions
themselves make the Web an indispensable part of recruitment and
administrative activities. However, many of the new features are often
difficult for those with visual or hearing impairments to access.

+ Bits n Bytes, Who's Afraid Of E-Books?

Textbook makers are feeling more comfortable about their future now that
the dotcom fever has died down. In the midst of devising Web strategies in
response to the looming threat that Web startups posed to their industry,
book publishers have realized that they have all of the content. Newcomers
to the textbook field, from upstarts like Coursewise.com to giants such as
Microsoft, ultimately would have to team up with them to
access that content. "Everyone's got partnerships with everyone else these
days," says Henry Hirschberg, a senior publishing executive at McGraw-Hill.

Textbook and reference publishers such as Houghton Mifflin, John Wiley &
Sons, and Thomson Learning now
express doubt that the technology will overhaul their business. Bedford
Freeman & Worth COO Susan Driscoll believes that e-books cost too much to
design and build, while Jim Behnke, director of the central media group at
Pearson Education, believes that paper has too many advantages to
disappear. The old economy textbook makers are in the drivers' seat,
industry analysts say, and are likely to digitize textbooks at their own pace.

+ Bits n Bytes, Dial-Up Access Getting Faster.

The new V.92 dial-up modem standard promises to maximize the limited
potential of analog connections. Once Internet Service Providers upgrade
their hardware to handle the V.92 standard, the new protocol will shave a
few seconds off of logon time, allow free Internet call waiting, and speed
data conversion for faster downloads and uploads.

Actiontec's Lesley Kirchman notes that, while the future definitely belongs
to broadband, the V.92 standard could be the last great leap forward in
analog modem technology. ISPs America Online, EarthLink, and MSN have yet
to adopt the technology because it is so new, but representatives have
promised that the companies will soon test and debug V.92.

Among the new features are "Quick Connect" technology, which helps a modem
to learn connection patterns and hook up more quickly, and the new V.44
compression protocol that makes text and Web pages move faster.

++ 6, Download the past issues of the DB Techies.

If you would like to read the other DB Techies that you may have missed in
the past I have made an archive of all the past Issues available in text
and in the BRL format for a Braille Note taker. These files are available
at http://www.deafblind.com/dbtechies.html And they are dbttxt.zip this is
the text version, and dbtbrl.zip for the notetakers.

You can go to the site to get them or use this method too.

Send e-mail to www@...
and on the Subject line put this. www.dbtechies.net/dbttxt.zip
Or for the BRL version put this in.
www.dbtechies.net/dbtbrl.zip

++ 7. The Archives of the DB Techies Newsletter.

I have included a page on my site which will archive this copy of the DB
Techies Newsletter,
and the last issue of the DB Techies has already been put on to my site, so
if you missed the other Editions of DB Techies Newsletter you can get them
at http://www.DBTechies.net

++ 8. To unsubscribe from DB Techies send e-mail to:
dbtechies-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com You must send the e-mail letter from
the same e-mail address that you used to subscribed from.

This is the last Issue Of the DB Techies, Bye for now.

All the very best to you all.

Yours
James

James Gallagher
E-mail James@...
E-mail James@...

End of The DB Techies.

---
James Gallagher

A-Z to Deafblindness <http://www.deafblind.com>
A Deafblindness Web Resource <http://www.deafblind.co.uk>
For the Sighted Hearing my WAP site is at <http://tagtag.com/deafblind>