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MIPsoft, the company behind the popular Blindsquare GPS app for the iPhone, Comcast, and Odin Mobile were among this year's winners for the American Foundation for the Blind's Access Awards. The AFB the Blind annually recognizes companies, organizations, and people who have broken down barriers to accessibility in extraordinary ways.

Users of the free NVDA screen reader now have another option for obtaining enhanced voices. Acapela Group is now offering two voice packages, which both include a variety of voice styles and languages and work on up to three computers.

Cambium Learning Group has released version 14 of its popular Kurzweil 1000 OCR program. The popular Windows-based scanning and optical character recognition tool now can create PDF files from extracted images and includes a host of additional improvements which we've listed below. Upgrades from any previous version remain at $125 and are available now.

A team of researchers has recently raised over $10,000 to create an alpha prototype for BLITAB, a full-page braille display project which has been in development for three years. The claim on the project's page as the "world's first tablet for blind people" is perhaps a bit misleading, but the project itself has some lofty goals. The BLITAB would include braille translation features as well as a GPS and support for obtaining information from NFC tags.

It may be at least 2018 until regulations governing sounds made by quiet cars takes effect. According to Green Car Reports The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has delayed their rulemaking procedures on the issue until the end of 2015, which also has the effect of delaying implementation of the rule. IN 2011, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act became law, a bill which required quiet cars to emit a sound to alert pedestrians including the blind. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated over 11 million vehicles which use alternative fuels were on the road as of 2011, though not all of these vehicles would be considered quiet cars. Check the source link for more details.

The wildly successful adult party game Cards Against Humanity is now accessible to the blind, thanks to a kit from 64 Oz. Games. The company specializes in making kits which make card and board games accessible, often accomplished by using plastic overlay sleeves. To achieve this, you would purchase the Cards Against Humanity game and then the accessibility kit. It'll be necessary to find a way to read the printed cards so they can be matched with their corresponding braille overlays. Once this is done, you'll have a completely accessible version of one of the most popular games in the world.

Hims is adding another model to its line of Blaze portable DAISY players. The Blaze ET will include additional features including a dictionary, calculator, and other applications. A redesigned layout is also a possibility, given some of the features and requests from users of the original Booksense models. This presentation outline from this week's ATIA conference gives some additional information. No pricing info has been released. We'll be sure to post more about this as our ATIA coverage unfolds. Update: Earlier we reported the inclusion of a Skype application, based on the above link. Hims has now said this feature will not be included, at least for now.

Good things usually come in threes. However, this week sees the release of four new apps for your iDevice of choice.

The field for crowdsourced helper applications is growing rather quickly, and the latest entrant to this category, Specular, is now looking for beta testers. Specular takes elements of some existing services and adds some new twists, allowing blind users to take a picture of something and ask a question via audio. From the description, the app seems a bit more conversational, allowing the sighted or blind user to ask for clarifying information or a better picture. Since the company is looking for beta testers, go ahead and check the link on this post and apply to join the free program for yourself. Both iPhone and Android apps are promised. Only time will tell if all of these new services will survive, but the landscape is certainly becoming interesting.

The Be My Eyes app has become one of the most talked-about app launches for the blind in recent memory, receiving a whirlwind of mainstream attention not seen since the early days of Fleksy. Media sources and users have been weighing in, giving both user testimonials and prognostications of the future's viability.

HumanWare has posted a new version of the software for the New Generation Victor Stream without much fanfare. Version 4.4.12 doesn't include a changelog as of this post but does seem to include some speed improvements and support for FLAC audio files. One Twitter user reports speed improvements when transferring files from the main memory to the SD card. A bug that caused some users to lose their list of podcast feeds also appears to be squashed. Updates for the stream can be downloaded wirelessly, directly from the unit or from this HumanWare page. If you notice other improvements or changes, post them in the comments.

En-Vision America has released a free update to the software for the I.D. Mate Quest Bar Code Scanner which includes some new social features and bug fixes. Users can now share bar code results with the company to help improve the database. In addition, a history mode can be enabled that allows one to listen to the last 30 scanned items. The entire changelog is posted below.

Some Window-Eyes 9 users received an unexpected pop-up message earlier today, the result of a security breach on the company's App Central repository. AN updated copy of one of the default scripts was posted to the website by someone who maliciously hacked the server. AI Squared quickly defused the problem, though some users may need to go and redownload the GW Toolkit app. No personal data stored on your computer is believed to be at risk. We've included more info on how to fix the problem and a statement issued by AI Squared below.

In the world of accessible games, Super Liam was the first accessible side-scroller, taking many of its cues from Super Mario and other past titles. Now, you can relive this chapter in early 2000's accessible games by downloading and playing Super Liam for free. L-Works is releasing several of its older titles for free and users can expect additional releases including Judgment Day in the near future. Check the link to learn more and download the free game, compatible with most versions of Windows.

There's no shortage of quality text-to-speech voices available for Android users and now Code Factory, who already has made available a version of Eloquence for Android, has added to the available options by releasing Vocalizer voices for the platform. Vocalizer voices are most commonly associated with the iPhone, including Samantha which is the default United States voice. Similar to Acapela, a free app allows users to browse available voices (more than 80 in all) and individual voices can be purchased for $3.99 each. Early reports indicate the voices are quite responsive. Have you tried out any of the new Vocalizer voices for Android? Let us know what you think.

The Be My Eyes app we previously posted about is now available for free on the iTunes App Store. The app pairs blind or visually impaired individuals with volunteers who can help answer visual questions such as the expiree date on milk or the reading on a thermostat. We've linked to the page on the App Store from this post, and you can hear an interview with cofounder Thelle Kristensen in our Blind Bargains podcast.

AI Squared has released Window-Eyes version 9, the biggest update to the screen reader in a couple years. Among the new features are completely rewritten web support for Internet Explorer and Firefox, which will handle modern web pages with dynamic content. In addition, support for Google Docs, the latest version of QuickBooks, MathPlayer, and preliminary support for the Windows 10 preview are included in the update among other features. Increased responsiveness is also included, especially when arrowing around documents or executing other keyboard commands. Window-Eyes is free for users with a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 or later installed. We've linked to the press release from this post.

For the past two years, blind individuals in Denmark have been testing an app which uses the video chat capabilities of an iPhone to provide sighted assistance. Now The app is set to launch worldwide on January 15. Be My Eyes connects volunteers with people needing assistance for cases where an extra pair of eyes could be useful. Examples given include reading mail or adjusting the thermostat. Currently, the nonprofit is looking for volunteers to help run the free service, and is using Thunderclap, a tool to generate interest on social media, to do this. To learn more about the app or join the Thunderclap, which will send their message to over 200 accounts on Thursday, check the link on this post. And, here's a link to the Be My Eyes site. Thanks to Bryan Smart for the tip.

Intel's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show included a demonstration of how their RealSense technology has the potential to help the visually impaired be more aware of their surroundings. In the video, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich introduces us to Darryl Adams, a Technical Project Manager at Intel who also happens to be visually impaired. They explain how vibration and other feedback is used to convey nearby information, and how it has opened up new possibilities for Adams. While opinions may differ on the effectiveness of this approach, it's another example of a mainstream company giving time to issues that affect the visually impaired in a major and well-publicized speech. We've linked to the relevant portion of the video in the source so you can watch it for yourself and share your feedback.

Google Docs has received the lion's share of attention when it comes to accessibility, but Microsoft has posted a blog message detailing some current and future planned enhancements to Office Online. Included in the changes are increased formatting notifications, virtual buffer reading for smaller files, and improved documentation. While much of the post centers around Narrator support, the help documentation also gives tips for screen reader use with Jaws and Window-Eyes. Check the source link for the post and help files. Have you tried Office Online, and how does it compare with Google Docs? Let us know in the comments.