tabulas.com

Hello there! Before I get to the topic of discussion I'd like to wish all those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah a very Happy New Year and Shalom. I think I said that right. But I'm not Jewish so I can't be sure on that one. I've seen and heard the word "shalom" a few times before though. And now back to our regularly scheduled writing. First off for you JAWS users out there, the second public beta of version 10.0 was just released last week. I downloaded and installed it and I think it is pretty good. More voices have been included. However, please do not download them if your system is full or even near full with other large programs. These extra voices take up a great deal of memory and will therefore eat up your hard drive if you're not careful. You have been warned. This beta includes two totally new features which I'd like to discuss briefly. Those of you familiar with Apple and their products will know that in recent years the company has been harshly criticized for their nonwillingness to make their products accessible to those of us using adaptive technology. Well, fear not because the popular iTunes software is now accessible and JAWS 10 includes support for it. I have not yet verified this myself, but I heard it demonstrated in the latest episode of Freedom Scientific's podcast. I just might try it out though since it is free. The other big feature in this release is something called JAWS Tandem. It is a feature which will allow support personnel using JAWS versions 10 and later to remotely connect with other JAWS users who have versions 10 and up. This will undoubtedly lead to not only improved tech support, but also better training among JAWS users. That's all on the JAWS front for now. The other new release I'd like to talk about is Klango Player 2.0. Yesterday it was announced on the Klango listserv and a little bit in the forums that the final release of version 2.0 will be rolled out next Monday, October 6. I for one--having used the beta of the Klango Player for a little over a month now--am very excited. Those of you not using it but who are curious have absolutely got to go check this thing out! It is absolutely free, and the developers are extremely responsive to user feedback. I'm not just saying that for the money either. But these folks seriously care about accessibility and it shows. Please head on over to http://www.klango.net and check it out!