Miscellaneous Deals, Sales, and News

A graduate student at San Francisco State University is studying the use and experience with audible pedestrian signals. Much of the research about audible signals has only focussed on traffic engineers and O and M instructors rather than the end users. The survey includes 29 questions and should take between 10 to 15 minutes to complete. If you don't feel comfortable taking the survey online, you can email apssurvey.sfsu@gmail.com to set up a time to complete the survey over the phone.

This year is HIMS 15th anniversary. In celebration, they are asking customers and those interested in HIMS products to fill out a short five question survey. Everyone that participates will be entered to win one of five $15 Starbucks gift cards. The questions cover: why you're interested in assistive technology, what disability related topics you're interested in, what products or services interest you, and what topics you would like to have a webinar discuss.

The Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University is studying the use of magnification by people with visual impairments. The purpose of the study is to learn about the experience of those who use magnification. Improvements for usability and productivity can than be made based on the responses from participants. The survey includes 26 questions.

A team of researchers at MIT have just designed the first prototype OCR scanner that fits on your finger. The device, which is currently known as the finger meter, allows the user to scan over text with their hand and have the text read aloud. The video on the website demonstrates someone using this device to scan a document.

Beyond reading pages of printed text, this device could be a great option for reading labels on products, finding out the price of items, and so much more. It could also be a great benefit in the classroom for students who don't have access to a portable OCR solution.

On the website, there is an option to provide your email address if you want to stay informed about the progress of the project.

If you thought that the BrainPort was strange, researchers in Israel are now developing a contact lens that would tell the blind what they are seeing through tactile stimulation on their eye. The device uses a smart phone camera to take a picture and than translates that image into a set of electric pulses that the wearer would feel on the eye. The researchers feel like their field testing has been promising, but before this device ever comes to market they have to go through full clinical testing. Tell us what you think of this idea. Would you feel comfortable with having images drawn for you on your eyes? Is this preferable to the BrainPort which uses the tongue?

Enhanced Vision has just released their latest desktop magnifier called the Merlin Ultra HD. This magnifier has an HD camera that has a wider lens to improve image quality. Some other features of this magnifier include: easy to use tactile controls, LED lighting for better image quality, adjustable tilt for the screen, and 1.9 X to 104 X magnification depending on size of screen and XY table chosen. For pricing and more information, contact Enhanced Vision at (888) 811-3161.

A team in Houston has developed a new and innovative way to improve vision for people with diseases such as macular degeneration and RP. By using the Occulus Rift and their own software, the team is able to customize each device for the user. According to the company's website, this is how the device works. "The VUE takes stereo images captured by two cameras and using custom software from Reveal, manipulates the images to present them in the best way for the specific user. These manipulations are not only custom for the wearer, but also for each eye. The VUE then presents the images to the user through the Oculus Rift display with minimal latency." In field tests, they've found that users can improve their vision up to 3 to 5 lines on the eye chart.

In order to bring the device to market, they need to raise more funds. Visit their Indiegogo campaign page to learn more and contribute.

A new study just published in the journal Experimental Eye Research showed that the active chemicals in marijuana can slow down the progression of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). For the study, researchers in Spain gave rats with the disease doses of synthetic THC and found that after 90 days, rats who had received the treatment had 40% more photo receptors and performed better on eye exams. This finding points to another way that marijuana can help treat progressive diseases. It will be interesting to see how eye doctors respond to the findings and if they start recommending medical marijuana for their RP patients.

From now until February 17, HIMS is offering discounts on some of their products. You can get $100 off the BookSense XT, now $449, $50 off the BookSense, no $299, and $100 off the Candy Grip Handheld Magnifier .

Today President Obama made an executive order raising the Federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. This change will impact hundreds of thousands of people who either work for or are contracted by the federal government. Under that executive order, the president is including all federally contracted workers including those who work for sheltered workshops. this is the first step in the battle to change the law that allows people with disabilities who work in sheltered workshops to be paid less than the minimum wage. Hopefully, this executive order will be a wake up call to congress to finally change this law.

Technology in our classrooms is becoming more prevalent each year. Although technology can be a great asset for students with disabilities, it can also be a barrier if the technology is not accessible. There are already a number of laws that help protect student's rights to have access to accessible materials, but the current laws aren't always strong enough. A new bill in congress called the Technology, Equality, and Accessibility in College and Higher Education Act, or the TEACh act, would require that technology used by colleges and universities either be accessible or that accommodations would be put in place to give students as much access as possible. This <a href="http://petri.house.gov/press-release/petri-introduces-teach-act-ensure-equal-access-educational-materials-students" article provides more details about the act and what it would do.

A petition on Change.Org has been set up for supporters of the bill. The petition already has over 120 thousand signatures, but the more signatures the better. If you believe this is a bill that will help students with disabilities, consider adding your name by following the link in the headline. Both of the major U.S. consumer organizations have expressed support for the bill.

If you live in Sydney and are blind, you are eligible to help Google research how the blind use mobile applications made by Google. The interviews will last for about 2 hours, and questions will cover how the blind use mobile devices such as phones and tablets, and the accessibility of Google apps like Drive and Gmail. Participants will earn $200 for their time. Call Murray Gale at 02 9371 0855 or send an email to office@qra.net.au for more information.

One of the greatest challenges for lowering the cost of printed braille is making braille printers affordable to everyone. This challenge may just have been tackled by a 7th grader in California. Using Lego's Mindstorms EV3 kit and some parts from a hardware store, Shubham Banerjee came up with a way to make a braille printer that costs less than $500. His invention, called BRAIGO is named for the combination of braille and Lego. Shubham has decided to make his project open source so that families around the world and organizations that serve the blind will have easy access to the software that runs the printer.

In this youtube video, Shubham demonstrates how the printer actually works. At this point, the printing speed may be too slow for many applications, but the cost will hopefully open the doors to more of the blind having access to braille around the world. It will be fascinating to see how this project progresses.

It's not often that as a future reader of a magazine that you get to help shape the content. If you are interested in a new lifestyle magazine for the blind, fill out this survey. The questions ask you to think about things you enjoy doing, activities that you find challenging, and even what you have always wished you could do. All participants will be entered to win a $25 gift certificate for Amazon. If you feel uncomfortable answering the survey questions on the website, send an email to polina.steier@gmail.com and they'll happily do the survey with you over the phone. While the survey lists a February 5 deadline, we checked with the creators and they are still looking for responses, so have at it.

Humanware is continuing to expand the number of services that Victor Reader Stream users can access wirelessly. With version 4.3, users can now access Wikipedia and Wiktionary as well as thousands of internet radio stations. According to the press release, Humanware is planning to expand wireless options in the months to come. Their hope is to make the Victor Reader Stream as powerful a tool as they can.

Researchers at Microsoft are trying to understand the intersection of crowd sourcing with people who self identify as disabled. They estimate that the survey should take no more than 20 minutes, and participants have until February 10 to fill out the survey. All of those who finish the survey will be entered to win a $50 gift card to Amazon.

Now that GW Micro has partnered with Microsoft to offer anyone who has Office 2010 or later a free copy of Window-Eyes, they're offering people the ability to become Window-Eyes certified. This certification does not certify you as a Window-Eyes trainer, but it demonstrates to either people you're teaching or an employer that you're really knowledgeable about the software, it's features, and how to use it.

The certification exam consists of 100 multiple choice questions. It costs $99, and you need to get 80% of the test right to pass. If you don't pass, you can choose to take it again, but it will cost another $99. The test is also only currently offered in the U.S., but it's possible that they'll offer it in other countries in the future.

One of the biggest challenges of using a touch screen device when you're blind is typing on the on screen keyboard. Solutions like Fleksy and MBraille have addressed many of these issues, but they don't work for everyone. A team in Israel is working on a whole new way of typing. Their app known as the UpSense Super keyboard relies on gestures rather than a standard QWERTY keyboard design. Think of it as being similar to the handwriting feature in iOS 7.

Along with creating a gesture based typing app, the UpSense Super Keyboard will also allow you to type in braille. At this point, the hope is to release the app for Android and iOS this year, but the team needs more funding in order to bring the app to market. If you want to support their efforts, consider contributing to their Indiegogo campaign by following the link in the headline.

Since I wasn't clear on how the UpSense keyboard differed from solutions that already exist, I contacted the developer Nissan Yaron.

Q: How is the UpSense keyboard different from solutions like Fleksy?
A: Our keyboard works entirely different, it's based on making gestures with the fingers rather than pressing on specific keys.
After calibration, hot zones come under your fingers and make it possible to define between your fingers in a way that doing the same gesture with a different finger will create a different character.
The characters are made in intuitive way so it's easy to remember them and you can also customize them according to your comfort.
For example, typing 'V' is made with the Index and Middle fingers together in an upward movement.
If you want, you can switch it for downward movement or to something entirely different.

Google is expanding it's horizons once again. They've just announced that they plan to design a contact lens that will measure a person's glucose level using their tears. This is an important issue to our community since Diabetic Retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the US today. As it stands right now, people have to check their blood throughout the day using needles and glucose monitors. This process can be quite challenging when you can not see. Also, using a contact lens instead of a needle would remove the painful aspect of the process. Finally, since the plan is for readings to be taken every second, diabetics would likely know sooner that their blood sugar is dropping, hopefully preventing blood sugar crashes that can lead to serious medical consequences.

The Matilda Ziegler publishing company was founded in 1907 to provide a monthly magazine in braille to the blind. Over the past 107 years, the magazine has been distributed to thousands of people around the world. In 2009, the board of directors decided to change the magazine to a weekly publication. They also stopped production of the magazine in braille and audio, and decided to offer the articles exclusively online. After 4 years of running the magazine exclusively online, the board of directors is now stopped production of the magazine all together while they decide what they want the future of the magazine to be.

I was brought onto the writing team of the magazine in June of 2010. Over the past three and a half years, it has been my privilege to write for the magazine and to share it with people who don't know about it. I think that our team of writers is passionate and knowledgeable, and that the content that we provide is a valuable resource for our community.

If you are a fan of the Matilda Ziegler magazine and you feel like the board of directors would be making a mistake if they shut the magazine down, please send them your feedback. You can write to them at editor@matildaziegler.com or you can submit comments by visiting the contact section of the Matilda Ziegler website.