all categories Deals, Sales, and News

There's another batch of I.D. Mate II portable bar code readers on EBay, again for $450 plus $25 for shipping. Or, use EBay's best offer feature and see if they'll take a bit less. They're actually sold by En-Vision America, makers of the handheld item identification devices. Listing ends February 20.

We've received some reports of possible issues using high-capacity SD cards with the Victor Reader Stream. This may be related to an incorrectly formatted card. Version 1.2 of the stream firmware, released within the next week, should fix this with an on-board format utility. Alternatively, check the link on this post for an SD format utility. Download sdfv2000.exe from the page to properly format your memory card.

Buy.com has the SanDisk 4GB Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $24.95. Plus, shipping is free. This drive includes U3 support, meaning you can run many popular applications directly from the drive. This is especially useful because U3 is the technology used by Serotek's System Access, meaning you could use this drive to run their screen reader.

We are still hearing from people who are either having trouble subscribing or receiving our Daily Deals newsletter. If you fall into either of these categories, please send us a note so we can see what's going on.

IndependentLiving.com has the Speechmaster Talking Color Identifier for $109.95. With about $7 for shipping, that's $30 off retail and the lowest price we could find. It identifies the name and intensity of many common colors and comes with instructions on cassette and headphones. A 9-volt battery is required, but not included. Deal ends February 29.

An EBay seller has listed a used Braille Blazer embosser for $99. Add about $14 for shipping. Not much is said about the printer, but you could ask the seller questions to find out more and perhaps get a steal of a deal. Auction ends early on February 13.

When it comes to mainstream video games, many titles are quite playable if it wasn't for those pesky menus and setup screens. Enter We Can Play, a new wiki-based website that allows users to share tips for getting around these screens, game reviews, audio demos, and other information to allow for the playing of more mainstream games. Created by L-Works programmer Liam Erven, the site accepts reviews and tips for virtually any platform from Playstation to Nintendo and relies primarily on user contributions. It has quite a bit of potential to open up accessibility to many more game titles, and it'll be interesting to watch the site as it develops.

Humanware has released version 2.1 of Maestro and 3.02 of their Trekkor applications. The new update to Maestro adds a web browser, file explorer, improved power management on the HP HP hx2490b platform, among other enhancements. Version 3.0.2 of Trekkor adds support for the Holux m1000 bluetooth GPS receiver. Note that their is now only one setup file, which runs on all platforms of Maestro and Trekkor.

J.J. and Matt from Blind Bargains were guests on this week's Main Menu Live, which focused on the 2008 ATIA conference in Orlando. Listen to this two hour show to hear replays of some of the audio interviews from the conference, listener questions, and discussions of what we saw at the conference. Main Menu is a weekly technology show heard on ACB Radio Mainstream.

In case you missed it, Top Tech Tidbits is back for 2008, now with a partnership with Flying Blind, LLC who is now distributing the weekly technology newsletter. Dean Martineau still compiles this useful list of technology news links which is available via Email or on the web. Look at this issue and see why it was voted website of the year in the 2007 Blind Bargains Access Awards.

An Ebay seller has listed a tested Freedom Scientific Blazer Inferno braille embosser with a starting bid of $99.95. This was the upgrade model to the Braille Blazer which prints at up to 50 characters per second. It also prints on wider 11.5 inch paper and weighs 17 pounds. The unit powers on, talks, and feeds paper though no further testing was done, according to the listing. Auction ends early on February 6.

An EBay seller has listed a copy of Window-Eyes version 5.5 with a current bid of $300. That's $595 off the cost of a new copy of version 6.1, though an upgrade cost is necessary to bring the program to the current version. Auction ends February 10.

We thought you may be interested in seeing this press release from Applian Technologies, makers of Replay AV, regarding their nomination in the Blind Bargains Access Awards. We're glad to see a mainstream company recognized by blind and visually impaired computer users for their accessibility efforts.

MacMall.com has the Nokia N82 unlocked cell phone, the model compatible with the forthcoming KNFB Reader Mobile software, for $489.99. With about $6 for shipping, it's $90 off our mention last week and the lowest price we could find. In addition to the 5 megapixel camera used for the OCR package, it includes a built-in GPS receiver, wi-fi connectivity, a MicroSD card slot, and several other accessories. This phone will work with both Mobile Speak and Talks, though neither is required to use the KNFB Reader Mobile product. Of note, you may need to send your phone to a KNFB dealer to have the software and lens polarizers installed.

We're now back from ATIA and ready to talk about it. Join J.J. and Matt on this Tuesday's Main Menu as we discuss all things ATIA and replay some of the audio interviews. We'll also answer your questions about the conference, the new technology we saw, or how much nicer the weather was in Orlando. Main Menu first airs from 8-10 PM Eastern, and then repeats every two hours after that. If you miss that, a podcast feed is also available.

Amazon.com has the Socket P500 compact flash 802.11G wireless card for $85.99. With free shipping, we couldn't find this particular card for less elsewhere. This card works, among other places, in the new Pac Mate Omni which includes built-in drivers.
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Humanware has released some details regarding a new update to the Maestro and Trekkor applications. First, version 3.1 of Trekkor adds support for the Holux m-1000 GPS receiver. Version 2.1 of Maestro adds a web browser, file explorer, and improved power management on the HP hx 2490b PDA. Both updates are expected to ship by the end of this week. In addition to these firmware updates, Humanware is developing a slimmed-down version of their Trekkor. Stay posted to Blind Bargains as details are made available.

If you're wanting to learn more about the future of scripting with Window-Eyes, check out this news release from their website. It gives more details as well as an excerpt from their forthcoming documentation.

An EBay seller has listed a Humanware Braille Window refreshable braille display with a starting bid of $74.99. Add about $15 for shipping. This display is being sold as is without a power supply, but may be worth the gamble for the price.

Lenovo has announced a partnership with the newly-formed AIR Foundation, the same nonprofit that announced a free web-based screen reader a day earlier. The partnership will allow for Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCenter desktops to include access software, namely Serotek's System Access screen reader. We'll have more on this in an audio interview with Serotek CEO Mike Calvo later this weekend.