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Review of Audiomatic by Wise Riddles Software

This tool is not just for blind (or otherwise disabled) computer users and it's not just for musicians. It's for anyone that uses a computer on a daily bases and does many repetitive tasks - and the best part of it is, that you don't have to be a computer genius to make it work!

You can use Audiomatic to make "system-wide macros." Macros are, in short, a few keystrokes that can take lengthy and sometimes complicated commands and reduce them down to a quick keyboard command (button or series of button pushes).

With Audiomatic, in just minutes you can start using the program to reduce wasted time - no matter what you do: musician, lawyer, web designer - anyone - the program takes your repetitive tasks and gets them done with just a keystroke or two.

I use Audiomatic to sign my standard closing lines to business letters, launch programs without having to return to the desktop or start or close the program I am currently working with.

It's even JFW friendly!

I could talk forever about how many great things you can do with Audiomatic, but go check it out for yourself instead at: http://www.wiseriddles.com
-Review by Joey Stuckey
 

Review of FTP Voyager 10 (an FTP Tool)

If you are a serious computer user and/or a business owner that needs to get things out to your customers over the internet then you might need a FTP tool at some point.

There many of them out there on the market and several are supposed to work with JFW, but I have found that the only one that really works well is FTP Voyager (Version 10).

Unfortunately, that is no longer the newest version, so you should download it from the following link:
http://www.ftpvoyager.com/oldarchive/fv10007.exe

After you buy this program, you should go to: http://www.snowmanradio.com and buy the great scripts for this program. These scripts make this program 100% accessible. With out them the program is 75% accessible, but with out the Snowman scripts you don’t get any info from the status bar and so don’t know how much of your file has been uploaded to the FTP site.
-Review by Joey Stuckey
 

Entertainment/Games & Products:

Apple has major flaw with iPad-Mini for blind users!

Apple has major design flaws with iPad Mini for the blind users of VoiceOver. The main present I really wanted for Christmas of 2012 was the iPad Mini since I have had such great success using the iPhone 4S and iPod Touch with the speech software VoiceOver.

Indeed, one of Apple's main selling points for the visually impaired is that all of the apps that come included with the iPad Mini, iPod Touch or iPhone 3 or later are totally accessible with the VoiceOver program - or so goes the claim. However this is not 100% correct.
I recently discovered that in the audiobooks tab inside iTunes while the sighted user can tab back to return to the audiobook main menu from where you can select what audiobook you wish to listen to this is not possible for the blind user. I called Apple tech support, and while they were very helpful - they discovered that I was correct - Apple made a major oversight and has no plans to correct the flaw anytime soon.

Even more frustrating on the audiobook front is that while Apple claims that everything is backed up in the iCloud all apps music, etc., audiobooks are not.

I hate to have to inform Apple, but "all items" means all items - if audiobooks are not backed up in the cloud, the selling point should say most items and then you can read for details about which items are backed up in the cloud and which are not.

After digging through pages and pages and pages of different FAQs, etc. you do see a mention that Apple expects you to take care of your backups as audiobooks are not supported.

If it were that audiobooks were simply not supported in the cloud I would be okay with that while not really understanding why. But it is more insidious than that. In fact, audiobooks cannot be found under purchased items, so if you delete an audiobook from your iOS device or computer you have to rebuy the audiobook, no other item in the entire iTunes store is treated in this manner. As audio books are one of the main reasons I wanted an iPod, it is frustrating that audiobooks are so unimportant to the Apple experience!

I have seen a few people talking about this on the net via blogs; even a few that defend Apple. However, I have two things to say to their points. First, I agree that if the product is removed from iTunes for whatever reason, you don't get another download of the product that has been removed, at that point, you need to have either backed up your purchase or take it up with the third party that provided that product in the first place. The main problem in this scenario, is that Apple makes it impossible to back up audiobooks from your IOS device, at least without buying a third party program.

To the other point, that most audiobook titles are provided by aubible.com, I say, guess what, that is ridiculous! The fact is that if you are a distributor of products or services and you offer the download of all purchased items, then where you get said product is not relevant. I provide iTunes with music via the portal of CDBaby and I am subject to the policy of allowing fans that have bought my music to redownload my music from the iTunes Store.

It wouldn't take much to make these problems disappear and truly make the Apple experience what it should be - and claims to be. As a person that spends a lot of money and time using Apple products and services, I hope that Apple shows me that they care about me and the rest of the blind community and other audiobooks enthusiasts.

-Joey Stuckey

Why I use Audible.com!

If you are blind like me, you are probably tired of paying too much for an audio book on tape or CD.

If I wanted an unabridged title it could cost me from $35 to $125 (this is for the same title that a sighted person could read for $6 to $25).

Well, I don’t smoke, drink, take drugs and now that I am married I don’t chase wild women, but I was still going broke reading audio books! Until I found - quite by accident, Audible.com. Friends, it changed my life!

Audible.com has the most current titles, and of course lots of older/classic titles too in downloadable audio files so you can have them instantly on your computer and then transfer them to your portable MP3 player.

They have cool original products as well and even NPR programs you can get daily or weekly.

But, the best part is that I can now get books that would have cost me $50 apiece or more for $19 per month! That’s right. I get two unabridged books a month for $19 per month. It doesn’t matter what the book costs. With my Audible.com subscription plan I can buy one audio book that would cost me $50 and another for $25 and only pay $19 for both. If I want more than two books per month I can buy more at the regular price, which is still much less than most places.

If that plan doesn’t suit you, don’t worry! They have so many different ways that you can enjoy audio books and radio programs that you will be able to find the perfect way to enjoy their service.

But, don’t just take my word for it. Check out the links to Audible.com on this page and start enjoying the amazing titles instantly - you'll be glad you did!
-Review by Joey Stuckey
 

Review of GMA Games "Tank Commander"

This is GMA Games' newest addition. In this exciting surround-sound game, you are in command of a powerful, modern day tank. It is equipped with several missile types, standard tank shells, armor-piercing shells, an armor-piercing machine gun, and smoke generation for your protection. You must work behind enemy lines inflicting as much damage as possible, complete several missions and then meet up with the rest of your attack force. There is a demo available for download. This is a truly great game! The sounds are movie quality and the action is non-stop. This is a game you will play for a long time. The only thing I would like that would improve on this game is to have it accessible via a game pad. For more info about this or other great GMA games visit them at: www.gmagames.com
-Review by Joey Stuckey
 

Review of "Word of Darkness"

About 2 years ago, I found a site called: http://www.dreamtechinteractive.com On this site there is a game for the blind called "World of Darkness", a text adventure game. For those of you who may not be familiar with text adventure games you type in a command and use your arrow keys with the Jaws cursor to read any responses. This game comes with various sound effects such as, street traffic, restaurant noises including burping, sounds you would hear in a Karate club and various other sounds. The story line is about a fellow who was sighted most of his life and suddenly found himself blind. The player has to teach him to live as a blind person. If you're good with cardinal directions you will do well with this game. I really love the game and I feel that it was $16.00 well spent. If I had anything bad to say about the game it would be that sometimes especially in the restaurant, the background noises makes it impossible to hear what Jaws is reporting. Other than that, I give it thumbs up.
-Review by Jim Jackson
 

Last page update: Saturday, March 17, 2007 05:48 PM

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