September 30, 2007, 08:38:11 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Good news for those who can not pay the price of a commercial screen reader like Jaws, Window-Eyes or Hal. Also good news for those who want access to any computer on any place, because NVDA can run from any USB stick. NVDA is a free open source screen reader for Windows XP and Vista.

Full Story | | | 5968 views

iZoom Web - The First Web-based Free Screen Magnifier Reviewed

August 01, 2007, 06:10:26 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

It seems a new tendency in Assistive Technology, web-based screen reading and magnificaiton. Web-based means, that the screen magnifier or screen reader software comes from a server on the Internet. Nothing has to be installed, nothing is realy changed on the computer, like professional screen magnifiers and screen readers often do. The only thing you have to do launching your screen reader or magnifier is, surf to a web page on the Internet, allow a small program to install or open and there you go!

Full Story | | | 5827 views

Rockbox Open Source Replacement For MP3 Firmware Give Visually Impaired Access to Ipods by Speech Support

October 24, 2006, 07:32:23 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Rockbox Open Source Replacement For MP3 Firmware Give Visually Impaired Access to Ipods by

Rockbox is open source firmware for a range of MP3 players. Started with MP3 players from

Archos, now there are beta versions for iRiver and most Ipods.

While most MP3 players are difficult to access by visually impaired, Rockbox Firmware

alternative, made by users for users, make MP3 players fully accessible for the visually

impaired, because of the build-in speech support.
With Rockbox installed, all menus, directories and files are voiced.

Full Story | | | 5689 views

Screen Magnifier Magnifying Glass Pro 1.5 Reviewed

December 24, 2007, 09:22:56 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Magnifying Glass Pro is one of the, what I mention, new generation intermediate screen magnifiers. It includes important features for visually impaired like support for full screen magnification and tracking of the input caret. Maybe most unique of Magnifying Glass Pro is the mix of features interesting for good sighted graphic editors and Website designers and features for people having low vision.
Peter Verhoeven of magnifiers.org reviewed.

Full Story | | | 5625 views

DesktopZoom Screen Magnifier For Windows 2000 / XP Includes Full Screen Magnification

February 17, 2006, 02:21:44 PM by Peter Verhoeven in .

DesktopZoom is a small but free feature rich screen magnifier utility for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, that supports three magnification modes, including full screen magnification.

There are many free screen magnifier utilties available. Most of them can be downloaded from this weebsite, but there are less magnifier utilities that support full screen magnification.

Full Story | | | 5403 views

New Free DesktopZoom 1.6 Full Screen Magnification For Windows 2000 / XP Includes Nice Features

January 24, 2007, 07:46:26 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

One year ago I post an article titled DesktopZoom Screen Magnifier For Windows 2000 / XP Include Full Screen Magnification.

DesktopZoom is a free screen magnifier running on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. What maybe of interest for a lot of visually impaired is, that this small but powerful screen magnifier inCludes full screen magnification.
In the same article I also suggest some improvements for future releases. Version 1.6 of DesktopZoom now includes most of those suggested features!

Full Story | | | 5371 views

Microsoft Again creates New Accessibility Problems With Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista

October 26, 2006, 05:15:14 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Microsoft claims, that Windows Vista will be the most accessible Windows operating system

ever.
Microsoft also said, that every product leaving the company is checked by the Microsoft

Accessibility Technology Group (ATG) for accessiblity.
But the truth is, that Microsft does less to make Windows more accessible and that all

current releases of screen magnifiers and screen readers will not work well with Internet

Explorer 7 and Windows Vista.

Full Story | | | 5332 views

Free Full Screen Magnifier For Windows DesktopZoom 2.1 Now Features Tracking

October 13, 2007, 09:02:39 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

A new revolution in the area of free screen magnification is here, DesktopZoom now features tracking of all kind of Windows objects, including Windows Start menu, menus, buttons, check boxes and radio boxes. With this release the gap between freeware screen magnification and professional screen magnification declines.

Full Story | | | 5150 views

86-year-old man drove at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour into a crowd of people gathered at an outdoor Farmers Market in downtown Santa Monica

January 05, 2005, 05:04:52 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Lighthouse International, a nonprofit champion for all those with vision problems, wants our help. I say we should answer this call for aid.

Lighthouse people are beginning a five-year study to better understand driving transitions among people with vision loss.
Hidden behind those innocent-sounding words is this question: How do you get around and do your errands if you can not see well enough?

Sitting in the passenger seat alongside my mother, the car zipped past first one very red stop sign and then a second sign, equally as scarlet and forbidding. When I suggested that perhaps her driving skills had eroded, she called upon her favorite defense weapon, humor.

Oh, you are as bad as my friend Hazel, she said, laughing. She says those same things... Sadly, emphysema, followed by lung cancer, took this grand lady off the road forever.

As you read this, there are more than 70 families in California dealing with grief, understandable anger and nagging incomprehension. In the early afternoon of July 16, 2004, an 86-year-old man drove at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour into a crowd of people gathered at an outdoor Farmers Market in downtown Santa Monica.

Full Story | | | 5074 views

Free Screen Magnifier DesktopZoom Version 3 Released!

June 16, 2008, 03:01:01 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

DesktopZoom is the most popular free screen magnifier for the Windows platform, that you can run without any installation and from a USB stick.
DesktopZoom version 3 now includes basic speech support!

Full Story | | | 4626 views

DesktopZoom 3.2 Free Screen Magnifier Released

January 02, 2009, 10:05:09 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

LittleGems.Admin has released version DesktopZoom 3.2.
DesktopZoom is the most popular free screen magnifier for Windows XP and Windows 200. It also seems to work on Windows Vista with Aero disabled.

Full Story | | | 4554 views

Bones launches Milestone 312, the Next Generation Audio Engine for Blind People

April 30, 2008, 10:28:14 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Bones is proud to announce the release of Milestone 312, an enhanced version of the successful Milestone 311. Milestone 312 offers the unparalleled benefits of portability, usability and reliability that the Visually Impaired relies on. Milestone 312 has a multitude of new functions, including variable playbackspeed, Text-To-Speech, Audible.com playback, Daisy 3.0, integrated RFID reader, integrated FM tuner and direct connection of stereo microphones. The hardware includes 1GB internalFlash memory, USB 2.0 OTG High Speed connectivity, a clock and the proven strong, crystal clear speaker.

Full Story | | | 4401 views

The Phone Monocle Brings New Hope for Cell Phone Users Who Can Never Find Their Reading Glasses

February 09, 2005, 12:49:48 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Magnifics Inc. a California manufacturing company has provided the solution to hard to read cell phone pda gps and other small electronic device displays by introducing the Phone Monocle.

For millions of people the arrival of the Phone Monocle on the market means no more searching for reading glasses to answer your cell phone, use your PDA, and Palm The Phone Monocle is here.

Full Story | | | 4207 views

The Magnifier 1.5 Beta - Now With Support For Full Screen Magnification

July 31, 2007, 05:46:06 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Innovation Management Group has released a public beta of The Magnifier 1.5. The Magnifier 1.5 is cheap screen magnification utility for Windows 2000, XP and Vista and now includes full screen magnificaiton.

Full Story | | | 3835 views

Issist releases First Free Full Screen Magnifier iZoom 1.0 Beta

March 01, 2005, 01:31:12 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Issist (pronounced eye-sist), is pleased to
release the first Beta version of the iZoom screen Magnifier/Reader.
Under development for almost a year, iZoom is the first and only
free screen magnifier which offers full screen magnification and
reading.

Full Story | | | 3826 views

Speaking Mobiles For Visually Impaired in Cyprus

November 08, 2006, 05:22:42 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

AN INNOVATIVE new scheme to enable blind or partially sighted individuals to use mobile phones was introduced by CyTA in a news conference yesterday.

The new service comes under the framework of CyTAs social programme entitled We all have the right to communication and has been in use for about two months. With this new speaking phone, people with visual disabilities will have easier access to communication and control their private life when it comes to their mobile phone.

Full Story | | | 3718 views

Apples new iPod shuffle MP3 player is user-friendly, even for the visually impaired

February 17, 2005, 02:35:43 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

By Ridzwan A. Rahim

Apples new iPod shuffle MP3 player is user-friendly, even for the visually impaired. RIDZWAN A. RAHIM finds out why. WHEN Apple unveiled its new iPod shuffle MP3 player, it sparked a controversy. The reason: the player comes without a display. But what is seen as a design flaw by detractors may just win Apple a new set of fans from a group often wrongly perceived as technologically backward, the visually impaired.

Full Story | | | 3666 views

Focus on Screen Magnification, Zoomtext 9 and Lunarplus 6.5 Reviewed

April 27, 2006, 03:33:28 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

In the March edition of AccessWorld you can read a review of the two leading screen magnifiers on the market Zoomtext and Lunarplus.
Conclusion of the review is, that Zoomtext better meet the needs of the low vision, but is that true?

Full Story | | | 3627 views

Dolphin Releases version 7 of Supernova, Hal, Lunarplus en Lunar

June 01, 2006, 06:02:38 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

Dolpin has released version 7 of their range of access software. Supernova is a screen reader plus screen magnifier for the Windows platform, including braille, speech en magnification suppot.

Hal is a screen reader, including braille en speech support.

Lunarplus is a screen magnifier with speech supot and Lunar is a professional screen magnifier.

It seems, that version 7 of the Dolphin products does not include much new features and it is a pity that Dolphin does not solve the major problem in their software: inaccessibility to a lot of programs.

Full Story | | | 3415 views

Issist Inc Announces iZoom2Go Screen Magnifier on USB Drive

November 10, 2005, 05:07:15 AM by Peter Verhoeven in .

License agreements preventing you from using software YOU own? Tired of installing your favorite magnifier over and over on different machines just to use it for a few minutes? Need an administrator to grant you access before you can install anything?

iZoom2Go is the worlds first truly portable access solution available on a USB drive. You simply plug it in and it starts up. No installation, no administrative access, no license agreements, no hassles. It simply works... PERIOD!

Full Story | | | 3346 views

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