A guest post by Brian Meersma, a student member of the Bookshare Advisory Board I am a high school sophomore with dyslexia. I was diagnosed at a young age, but was always eager to learn new things. Because I had trouble reading, my parents and grandparents would read to me for hours. I loved listening to all the great books they read to me and I knew there was no way I was able to read those books on my own. What I realized was that I had great listening skills. I got so much more out of books when…
6 CommentsCategory: Read2Go
A New Way to Think about Assistive Technology
Glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, canes, walkers are all devices that help a person do something better than he/she could without them. We don’t usually think of these aids as “assistive technologies,” but they certainly assist with a better quality of life and more independent living. The term assistive technology usually refers to tools or devices used by a person with a disability. For example, a person who is blind or visually impaired can use devices like digital talking book players that read books aloud at the press of a button. Other devices display refreshable braille. These tactile devices have…
7 CommentsWhat Is Text-to-Speech?
Special education, assistive technology, and technology in general is chock full of jargon. Bookshare uses terms that may seem like a foreign language, a fact I was recently reminded of while sharing a ride to Capitol Hill with a wise director from one of the many Parent Centers with whom we work. She encouraged me to stop talking like a PhD and to start talking like a “Ph-DO.” To this end, we’ll dedicate this and future blog posts to making our terminology and technology more accessible to all. This week, we focus on “text-to-speech” or TTS for short. What is…
5 CommentsRead2Go Inducted into AppleVis Hall of Fame
Last month, Read2Go was selected as a potential inductee into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame, and this month, we are pleased to announce that Read2Go was chosen as one of the eight inaugural inductees. This Hall of Fame, to quote from the AppleVis website, showcases “the passion and hard work that app developers put into creating great apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users. These apps place powerful tools into the palms of our hands, and give access to services, information, media or entertainment that the sighted world takes for granted.” We share this honor and want…
2 CommentsRead2Go fans, please vote for your favorite app!
The AppleVis website, a community-driven website with support and information for blind and visually impaired users of Apple Devices, is launching an iOS App Hall of Fame. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize the hard work developers do to create apps that are fully accessible to VoiceOver users. They have selected 18 apps as potential candidates for this first induction into the Hall of Fame, and based on user vote, 8 will be chosen. They nominated Read2Go in recognition of how highly the app is regarded by VoiceOver users. You can read the list of nominated…
Leave a CommentNew Update for Read2Go … Now Available
Apple has now approved this release and it is available in the app store. A new version of Read2Go is now available in the iTunes store. This version has support for iOS 5.0 and further enhancements for handling large books. Large books will be broken into smaller segments, but the segments will be invisible to the user. It’s version 1.0.2.0. Thanks for your patience!
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