I’m not posting the links as clickable at this time. I’m already late, so posting as is.

Greetings,

GW Micro is proud to announce the release of Window-Eyes 7.1. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in the public beta cycle. Your feedback helps make Window-Eyes the best it can be.

Window-Eyes 7.1 is packed with features, including support for Windows 7, support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7, enhanced Braille functionality, new scripting features for end users and script authors, and more. Window-Eyes 7.1 also continues to build on the foundation of stability, performance, and reliability. The unrivaled Window-Eyes Error Reporting feature has again proved itself invaluable, allowing us to resolve a wide range of issues. We are committed to ensuring a stable computing environment so that you can get your job done, without worrying about crashes and unexpected reboots. You can rely on Window-Eyes.

Read more about the features that Window-Eyes 7.1 offers at http://www.gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes/Latest_Features.

If you own a copy of Window-Eyes 7.0, or Window-Eyes 7.01, you may download an upgrade to Window-Eyes 7.1 for FREE. To get started, either select the Window-Eyes Update option from the Help menu in the Window-Eyes control panel, or open a web browser and navigate to http://www.gwmicro.com/upgrade. If you prefer to obtain a CD version of Window-Eyes 7.1 for $20, you may do so by contacting our order department at 260-489-3671, or via email at orders@gwmicro.com.

If you have Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 installed (either the 32-bit version or 64-bit version), you may download and install the final Window-Eyes 7.1 upgrade on top of the beta version. If you have a 64-bit operating system, but do not have Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 installed, you will need to obtain a CD copy of Window-Eyes 7.1 for $20. Even if you do have Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 installed on a 64-bit operating system, we strongly recommend purchasing a CD version of Window-Eyes 7.1 in case you need to re-install in the future. Contact our order department at 260-489-3671, or via email at orders@gwmicro.com, for additional information.

All versions of Window-Eyes 7.0/7.01 (Retail, Dongle, Everlock, Payment Plan, Evaluation, and Demo) can be upgraded to Window-Eyes 7.1.

If you do not own a current version of Window-Eyes, and are interested in upgrading, refer to the pricing information available at http://www.gwmicro.com/Catalog/Upgrades/.

Enjoy!

This article is interesting. Kevin Jones on Twitter sent this to me. This is very interesting, indeed, thoughts are welcome.

My first experience using an accessible touch screen device « Marco’s accessibility blog.

Greetings,

GW Micro is proud to announce the release of Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1. Building on the success of previous versions, this highly anticipated release of Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 has something for everyone.

If you rely on advanced hardware and software technologies, Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 gives you the tools to get your job done fast and efficiently with access to the latest in computing technology, including support for 64-bit operating systems and the upcoming Windows 7 operating system.

Braille readers will appreciate the enhanced navigation capabilities Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 has to offer. With the new Line mode, you can get a true, tactile representation of how data is presented on the display. Speech Box mode provides a Braille history for review at any time.

Script developers, using the most advanced scripting engine available today, can take advantage of many new scripting features in Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1, including the ability to monitor any window message, and add menus to custom dialogs. Script users will enjoy new features such as being able to check for script updates easily through the Window-Eyes control panel. Everyone will experience enhanced stability and reliability when working with scripts.

Read more about the features that Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 has to offer, as well as important information and instructions regarding the installation of Window-Eyes 7.1 Beta 1 at the Beta Page. We anticipate a very short beta cycle, so please test this version of Window-Eyes extensively. If you encounter any problems, have any questions or issues, or any constructive feedback to provide, please contact support@gwmicro.com, or post to the GW-Info list.

Enjoy!

GW Micro and accessaphone™Make Office Phones Accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired

For people who are blind or have vision impairments , accessing a phone in a typical office can be a difficult challenge. Caller ID and other important pieces of information are presented visually on the LCD display of most phones. While the numbers and other buttons on a phone are easy for a blind or visually impaired person to push because they are tactile, the information on the LCD display has been impossible to access . . . until now.

GW Micro and Tenacity have joined together to make office phones accessible to blind and visually impaired people through the use of GW Micro’s Window-Eyes and Tenacity’s accessaphone. accessaphone provides audible caller ID information from the telephone as well as audible message waiting, alternative input methods to conduct call control including intuitive keyboard hot keys (i.e. Alt A to Answer, Alt H to Hold and Alt C to Conference, etc.), a call log, the option to keep notes about the call, and much more.

“While accessaphone does include built-in text-to-speech, some users may select the option to silence accessaphone and enjoy the added benefits of using Window-Eyes.” said Dustin Armstrong, Director of Operations of Tenacity . “GW Micro has been a force in making various technologies accessible to blind consumers,” said Dan Weirich, GW Micro’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We are very excited to work with Tenacity to help continue to make the workplace even more accessible.”

For pricing and more information on accessaphone (www.accessaphone.com), contact sales@accessaphone.com. Blind and visually impaired consumers who want to use accessaphone will need the latest version of Window-Eyes (www.gwmicro.com). After installing Window-Eyes, a free Window-Eyes script must be downloaded from GW Micro’s Script Central that allows Window-Eyes to work with accessaphone located at www.gwmicro.com/Scripts/Accessaphone. For pricing and more information on Window-Eyes, please contact GW Micro at (260) 489-3671, or via email at sales@gwmicro.com.

GW Micro Announces New Products and Developments at CSUN 2009

GW Micro continues to lead the way with exciting new products and developments being announced during the CSUN Conference at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott from March 18 through 21. If you are attending CSUN, we invite you to visit with us in Booth 314.

Window-Eyes 7.01 Features

The Window-Eyes 7.01 feature set is extensive: Scripting, Placemarkers, Enhanced Control Search, Unicode support, iTunes, Firefox 3, keyboard language announcement, Eloquence and more. We are very excited about these features, and are continuing to demonstrate them. In addition, the power of scripting is being exhibited with the new WE4Java script, by Jay Macarty. WE4Java provides comprehensive support for Java applications without using additional third party add-ons.

Preview of Window-Eyes 7.1

We are previewing Window-Eyes 7.1, which will include full support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. We are also demonstrating Window-Eyes on Windows 7, including 64-bit versions of Windows 7. In addition, Window-Eyes 7.1 will include many enhanced Braille features (including line mode, and speech box mode), enhanced support for standard edit boxes (including 100% text accuracy), several new scripting related features (such as a new, customizable script menu, the ability to add menus in dialogs, built-in update checking, and more), and support for Internet Explorer 8 and Thunderbird 3.

Two Exciting New Products

GW Micro is also announcing two exciting new products - Book Sense, a portable digital audio book player, and Braille Sense Plus QWERTY, the new version of the Braille Sense Plus, featuring a standard keyboard and Braille display.

Book Sense

The new portable digital audio book player, Book Sense, lets users access information for education, information, and entertainment. Students can access school textbooks, people in the workplace can stay current with journals or business magazines, and anyone can enjoy newspapers, favorite novels, or a bestseller.

With a comfortable feel when held in your hand, Book Sense is very easy to use. Weighing only four ounces (115g), it is portable and powerful and easily fits into a shirt pocket, backpack, or purse, so you can take it anywhere.

Two models are offered - Book Sense and Book Sense XT. Both models play audio files, DAISY content, Secured-Digital (SD) memory card slot, and built-in recorder. The media player supports a variety of formats, such as MP3, MP4, OGG, WAV, WAX, MPC, and WMA.

The Book Sense model features an SD memory card with 1 GB of storage. Book Sense XT has internal 4GB storage memory, built-in Bluetooth, and an FM radio.

With Book Sense, you can access digital talking books from providers such as Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), BookShare, and Audible.

Book Sense makes it simple by utilizing the USB port to connect to your PC to transfer downloaded books and music directly to the Book Sense XT or to an SD memory card for use in either model.

The book reader mode supports several file formats, including txt, rtf, doc, docx, html, xml, and brf.

Pricing for Book Sense will be decided soon and shipping will start later this year.

Braille Sense Plus QWERTY

In response to people who have asked for a notetaker with a standard keyboard, GW Micro listened and developed the Braille Sense Plus QWERTY. Now you can type on a standard keyboard and also have a Braille display in a notetaker that is still small and portable.

Equipped with 32 Braille cells and speech output, the Braille Sense Plus QWERTY weighs only two lbs (924g), so you can carry it without experiencing shoulder pain from lugging a heavy laptop or notetaker.

It has 8GB of built-in memory and allows you to have plenty of storage for all the files you download using the built-in WI-Fi or Ethernet connection. There is 128MB of RAM for quick response time. The VGA Port allows you to have a conversation with a large group using an external monitor or projector. It also has one SD slot, one CF slot, two USB ports, and a user-removable battery. It also has built-in Bluetooth.

GW Sense Navigation (SenseNav) wayfinding is available as an option for anyone who travels.

Pricing for Braille Sense Plus QWERTY will be decided soon and shipping will start later this year.

Sense Navigation Rebate Promotion

GW Micro is also announcing a special CSUN promotional rebate on SenseNav. Anyone who purchases SenseNav at the retail price of $1,549 between now and the end of March will receive a $150 rebate.

SenseNav version 1.3, released in December 2008, is the GPS add-on for the GW Micro Sense notetakers, which include the new Braille Sense Plus QWERTY being introduced at CSUN, along with Voice Sense, Braille Sense Plus, and Braille Sense Original.

SenseNav consists of an 8GB CF card containing every file you need to travel the U.S. or Canada. Other countries are available. A CD that may be used in your computer or audio CD player is included. The CD provides an audio tutorial, the user manual in text format, and other system files. You receive the Holux M-1000 receiver with AC adapter and custom-carrying case.

To obtain your $150 rebate, just submit your receipt for the retail purchase price of $1,549 along with your request for the rebate, and GW Micro will provide a check to you. Send your request and receipt to: GW Micro, 725 Airport North Office Park, Fort Wayne, IN 46825.

GW Micro and Lexmark Offer Easier Accessibility

Users of GW Micro’s Window-Eyes screen-reading software and Sense notetakers will now find it easier to use Lexmark’s Multifunction Printers (MFPs) thanks to Lexmark’s Accessibility Solution.

In the past it has been difficult or impossible for blind or low-vision people to access LCD screens on multi-function copiers. Due to the collaboration between GW Micro and Lexmark, we are making Lexmark MFPs accessible to blind and visually impaired consumers.

The web-based software lets you set up and complete copy, fax, e-mail, ftp and scan jobs directly from your PC or notetaker, rather than from the MFP touchscreen display.

The software works with GW Micro’s Window-Eyes, Voice Sense, Braille Sense, Braille Sense Plus, and Braille Sense Plus QWERTY.

You now have access to almost every setting and option available on Lexmark’s MFPs to ensure that you can accomplish equivalent tasks to those completed directly from the touchscreen. You can control more than 120 settings/options, change accessibility application display options like font size and foreground/background colors, and check the working status of the MFP.

Lexmark and GW Micro are demonstrating the Accessibility Solution in the GW Micro booth 314 at CSUN.

As they say: better late than never?

From the GW News list sent Feb 11, 2009.

­GW Micro is excited to announce support for Java applications through the new WE4Java Window-Eyes script, developed by Jay Macarty.

The WE4Java Script Central web page describes WE4Java as a script that “provides access to Java based programs using an alternate technology from the Java Access Bridge. This interface communicates directly with the Window-Eyes COM object model via a public API.”

WE4Java is designed to send information from Java applications to Window-Eyes via the Window-Eyes scripting COM interface. Because Window-Eyes is a COM server (meaning other applications can send information directly to Window-Eyes), the possibilities of making any application accessible are endless, regardless of the programming language an application is developed in.

“The Java language is, at times, regarded as being limited in the area of accessibility and not particularly screen reader friendly, ” says WE4Java developer, Jay Macarty. “However, Java actually has one of the most powerful accessibility frameworks available built right into the GUI components. WE4Java simply takes advantage of the extreme power of the Window-Eyes scripting facility to expose the Java accessibility framework in a new and different way. We’re not re-inventing java accessibility. We’re simply making it visible as an external Window-Eyes script. In other words, the java access capability was always there. Window-Eyes scripting provided a way to unlock it in a new manner.”

You can read more about WE4Java at the direct script page. If you’re using Window-Eyes 7.0 or greater, you can download and install WE4Java for immediate access to your Java applications. Once WE4Java is installed, you can read the documentation by selecting WE4Java under the Programs section of the Start Menu.

Congratulations to all Window-Eyes script developers for all your hard work and contributions. We are excited about the future that Window-Eyes scripting has to offer.

The gw-news list is an announce only list used for GW Micro news and product information.

Heartland Payment Systems Exposes Credit Card Transactions.

CES 2009: Everything connected and mobile | Crave - CNET.

This was posted yesterday. A massive headache prevented me from doing much last night, so hear goes.

Greetings,

We have posted text versions of each section of the Window-Eyes tutorial
on our Tutorial web page. In
addition to downloading and/or streaming the audio versions of the
tutorial sections, you can now choose to read a transcript of the
sections, including the speech that Window-Eyes provides. This is an
excellent resource for deaf/blind users.

A single text file containing all sections will be available shortly on
the same page.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Aaron
–