Sometimes it's about more than just the technology

After this episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" aired earlier this year there was a lot of talk on the listservs I frequent about the neat gizmos and wikked cool electronics and integrated access technology that allowed the Deaf parents to communicate and care for their visually impaired and autistic son.

OAK PARK, Mich. - Four years ago, a nationwide television audience watched as Judy Vardon stepped from a limousine and fought back tears as she marveled at her family's extensively renovated home. But few are watching now as Judy and her husband Larry, who both are deaf, face foreclosure on a house that was remodeled on ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in part to accommodate their blind, autistic son.

There was a happy ending to the two-hour show broadcast on Nov. 6, 2004, which set an "Extreme Makeover" ratings record. Now, the Vardons are swamped by a mortgage payment that has almost doubled since the makeover, and their medical insurance doesn't cover autism treatments for 16-year-old Lance.

Adding to their insecurity, Larry Vardon, 50, works at Chrysler's Sterling Heights stamping plant. The company is on the brink of bankruptcy as it and the other Detroit automakers appeal to Congress for emergency loans. "I'm afraid I'm going to lose my house now," Judy Vardon, using sign language through an interpreter, told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens for a story published Sunday. "This house really belongs to Lance. This is his environment. He can't speak out for himself, and I hope we can save this house."

ABC said 20.5 million viewers saw a crew led by host Ty Pennington rehabilitate the Vardons' 980-square-foot house in suburban Detroit from the inside out, including installing cameras and flat-screen monitors allowing the Vardons to monitor their son, Lance.

Today, the numbers that most affect the Vardons are a monthly house payment of $2,300 and a mortgage rate that has topped 11 percent after having been resold three times since the makeover. And they're struggling to keep their house from becoming what Oak Park officials say would be the 391st to go into foreclosure this year. Throughout Oakland County, officials expect 9,400 foreclosures this year, a 440 percent increase from 2004.

In case you want to re-live early 2008 when the economy was till vibrant and programs like this had a good-feel to them, here is a link to a blog with YouTube videos of the entire episode in eight parts.
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iTunes Enhanced Accessibility

iTunes version 8 was recently released and among the bells and whistles Apple has very quietly enhanced the accessibility of the program to make it screen reader friendly on BOTH Mac and PC. Manage your iTunes library using VoiceOver in OS X Leopard or Window-Eyes for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Or use your screen reader to purchase or download content from the iTunes Store — including iTunes U. Apparently you can also use newer versions of JAWS for Windows.

But wait - there is more - the new iPod Nano now has a feature that speaks every menu and song info, which is especially nice for those who are visually impaired- or simply too busy to look at the tiny screen. According to Apple, the new Nano will tell you everything you need to know over the headphones, and if you have speakable items set up on your computer, the Nano will inherit the voice of your choice. Howvere, at this time it is unclear whether this feature will also be part of iPod touches and iPhones.

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Damn ... it really could happen to you!!

Press Release: This is a direct transcript of the press release.

AAP APPLAUDS MEMBERS’ SUCCESS IN SUIT

TO STOP SALES OF PIRATED AND UNAUTHORZED TEXTBOOKS

Washington, DC, February 29, 2008: The Association of American Publishers (AAP) welcomed the February 28 announcement by four of its member publishers that they have successfully settled a trademark and copyright infringement action against the owners and operators of ValoreBooks.com, an online textbook marketplace. The four AAP publishers, Mc-Graw-Hill Education, Pearson Education, John Wiley & Sons, and Cengage Learning, brought suit against Valore for repeatedly permitting and assisting sales by third-party sellers of pirated educational materials and of foreign manufactured editions of textbooks not authorized for sale in North America, including editions bearing the publishers’ trademarks that are materially different from their authorized U.S. counterparts.

Under the terms of the settlement, Valore is prohibited from importing, purchasing, packaging, altering, marketing, or offering for distribution or sale any of the plaintiff publishers’ copyrighted textbooks and other foreign manufactured materials authorized for sale only in international regions or specific countries outside North America or that bear the publishers’ trademarks and are materially different from their authorized U.S. counterparts, and from selling and distributing pirated electronic copies of the publishers’ works.

Allan Adler, AAP’s Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, lauded the publishers’ tenacity in pursuing blatant infringements of their intellectual property rights. “Individual publishers are in the best position to track and assess violations of their intellectual property rights and AAP is proud of its members’ determination to pursue infringers and bring them to court. AAP and the industry are ready to support these efforts in any way we can,” Adler said.

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP’s more than 300 members include most of the major commercial publishers in the United States, as well as smaller and non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field, educational materials for the elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and professional markets, scholarly journals, computer software, and electronic products and services. The protection of intellectual property rights in all media is among the Association’s highest priorities.

ATHEN Updates

After a hiatus it is time to get the blog up and running again. How better than to provide some updates on the organization to which this blog is entrusted.

• First up is Minutes for Accessing Higher Ground Conference Meeting 2007 ATHEN. These are the official minutes from the annual business meeting back in November. A previous post had some information and links (and an excellent picture of President Ron) but they were unofficial and incomplete.
• Next up is information on ATHEN membership. The membership application has been updated and we are now able to accept credit card payments through PayPal. Complete information is available on the Membership Page.
• The third (3rd) issue of the ATHEN e-journal is available for your reading pleasure (along with the first two issues). This issue provides an overview of the State of Assistive Technology Support for Students with Disabilities in the United Kingdom. The content of this issue came from our international members across the pond.
• The ATHEN Wiki is now up and running as well. Both members and n0n-members are welcome to contribute. I know that all of us have something to add -- the trouble is in finding the time to do so (kinda like running a blog)
• Several members recently attended and took part in ATIA and many more will be attending and taking part in CSUN. We will also be represented at NERCOMP (Educause), the UConn PTI, AHEAD, and the national Educause. Details on conferences past, present, and future will be presented in later postings.
• Also note that members and non-members alike are welcome to join the conversation on the ATHEN e-mail list. We would prefer that - if you are going to do more than lurk - that you join the organization. But all opinions are welcome (more or less).

Taking a Whack Against Comcast - washingtonpost.com

Courtesy of Slash/Dot

The Washington Post reports that a little old lady took a hammer to Comcast. Apparently fed up with the lousy service she received from a botched Comcast installation of "triple-play", and a completely humiliating experience at a customer service center, 75-year-old Mona "The Hammer" Shaw took her claw hammer back to the customer service center and bludgeoned the office equipment into tiny plastic pieces.

Typically such an item would not appear on this blog -- but it is simply too good to pass up. When you run the blog you can post (nearly) anything you want.

Microsoft extends Windows XP's stay

From c!net News.com

Large PC manufacturers were slated to have to stop selling XP after January 31. However, they have successfully lobbied Microsoft to allow them to continue selling PCs with all flavors of Windows XP preloaded until June 30, a further five months. Microsoft also plans to keep XP on retail shelves longer and will allow computer makers in emerging markets to build machines with Windows XP Starter Edition until June 2010.

This is good news for our field as the majority of accessible software packages are geared towards Windows XP. Certainly, more and more programs are being upgraded or re-worked for Vista but that is not as important as the fact that far too many users of access technologies simply cannot afford to replace their hardware and software. One must also consider the cost of training and the time factor of lost productivity while workers or students learn a new OS.

It is difficult enough for unimpaired computer users to deal with major changes to how things work, and anecdotal evidence suggests that computer users with disabilities tend to stay with their older equipment instead of upgrading. I wonder -- has anyone done research into how and when computers with disabilities upgrade their operating systems and software? This could be an interesting study...

ATHEN Well Represented Among Top Tech-Savvy Community Colleges

The Chronicle of Higher Education Wired Campus Blog has posted a list of the "Top Tech-Savvy Community Colleges" in the United States. The category of "Small colleges - less than 3,000 students" caught my eye:

1st: Patrick Henry Community College, Martinsville, Va. (tie)
1st: Tompkins Cortland Community College, Dryden, N.Y. (tie)
2nd: Central Wyoming College, Riverton, Wyo.

Why - might you ask is this so interesting to this blog? Well, it just so happens that long-time ATHEN and AHEAD E-Text Solutions Group member Khaki Wunderlich is the Associate Dean of Learning Supportand Organizational Development and the Access Tech Goddess for the campus.

It was also brought to my attention that another ATHEN affiliated institution is among the Top Tech-Savvy Community Colleges:

Midsize colleges - between 3,000 and 7,500 students:
1st: Indian River Community College, Fort Pierce, Fla. (tie)
1st: Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, Wyo. (tie)
2nd: Darton College, Albany, Ga.

As Lisa Dignan, Coordinator of the Disability Resource Center at LCCC points out "it must be the ATHEN membership that makes the difference, eh?"

As Membership Coordinator I should have caught this earlier -- but I do thank Lisa for tooting her own horn. I do not think this is a coincidence as here we have two 'tech-savvy' institutions where the professional staff not only understands the role of access technology but is committed to (and proud of) their work. So -- do we know anyone at the other CC's on these lists? Let's get out there and recruit new members!

BTW Lisa and Khaki -- now might be a good time to upgrade your ATHEN membership to the Institutional level.

YouTube - Eye To Eye: An Online Library For The Blind

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman talks with Byron Pitts in a YouTube - Eye To Eye interview. Jim is the CEO of Benetech, an Associate Member of the DAISY Consortium.
In the interview Jim says that his mission is "to use technology to help humanity." And, in the spirit of those who participate in DAISY developments, he announced "It is a badge of honor to be a geek."

This also appears as a story on the CBS Evening News - "Tech Entrepreneur Helps Blind To Read". If you visit the site, be sure to check out the related video.

If you have ever met Jim you know what an approachable down to earth nice guy he is. Don't let the MacArthur genius award get in the way of getting to know him. I especially like that he has taken on the mission of trying to convince the next generation of high-tech entrepreneurs to be socially conscious.

The rebirth of Braille - The Boston Globe

This was in the Boston Globe today - The Rebirth of Braille - and has garnered some attention on the listservs. Personally I never thought Braille was dead - just in hibernation. As the digital revolution has transformed writing, publishing, and communication in general - braille sort of found itself on the back burner for a time as it was (is) expensive and sometime impractical to hardcopy print materials yet the hardware necessary to access braille was (is) expensive. However, refreshable braille displays are becoming less bulky and less expensive and the Braille software that runs them is constantly improving.

PC Magazine Best-Worst ('06) and Predictions ('07)

Time for me to get off my backside and get the blog rolling again as the "draft" folder is getting out of hand and I am awaiting a message from Google-Central asking if I am everr going to use any of this stuff [kinda like when I look thru Grandma's pantry and wonder when the great tin-foil drought will strike].

First up from PC World - The 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year.
I appreciate MS Office 2007 being at the top of the list as I have been using it for a couple of months now and really like it. The trial period is ending soon but I have a chance to get a full copy (and all it may cost me is a platter and frappe at UBurger). Intels CoreDuo comes in at #2 but in my mind should be tops - except fo rthe liklihood that it will be surpassed soon enough. I had my hands on a Sony Reader (#6) not long ago and really like it but want to see more features and accessibility of some sort. No ... wait ... not "of some sort" .. I want it to handle DTB 's.

The PC-Mag list winds up with their call on the top-5 innovations upcoming for this year. The top spot being held by the hybrid (flashbased) harddrives we will be seeing on the market soon (hopefully).

Blackboard Hitches to Google’s Wagon (Campus Technology.com)

From Campus Technology.com

Blackboard Inc. said last week it would integrate Google Inc.’s search technology into its campus management systems. Blackboard joined Google’s Enterprise Professional Program. The move will provide “a tremendous value to people across a campus community, allowing them to develop greater search literacy to find information within academic departments, across disciplines, and even on campuses in other locations,” said Blackboard president Michael Chasen.

A first priority of the deal will be to integrate the Blackboard Learning System and Google Scholar, the firms said. Google Scholar provides a way to search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers and articles, from academic publishers and universities. The integration through the Blackboard Building Block for Google Scholar will provide access to these scholarly references from courses within the Blackboard environment.

Blackboard will also offer a set of Google OneBox for Enterprise modules through a Blackboard Building Block for Google OneBox. The integration will enable targeted searches of an institution’s course catalogue, organization catalogue, and learning objects repository. Google OneBox for Enterprise is a feature of the Google Search Appliance which allows users to retrieve real-time content from various data sources across their institution.

More from the ...

Washington Business Journal - October 10, 2006
Blackboard teams up with Google by Neil Adler
Staff Reporter

Blackboard, a provider of software and related services to the education industry, is partnering with online search giant Google. The D.C.-based company will launch a series of efforts to enhance search capabilities for students and faculty at thousands of academic institutions worldwide. Blackboard says it will integrate various services with Google's enterprise search technology to help facilitate deeper, more meaningful search capabilities for members of the academic community.

Blackboard is joining the Google Enterprise Professional program, becoming the first member of the program to focus on educational institutions. As part of the partnership, Blackboard's learning system will be integrated with Google Scholar, providing quick access to millions of scholarly references directly from courses within the Blackboard system. As a Google partner, Blackboard will also offer consulting services to assist academic institutions looking to leverage search capabilities across their organization.

Samsung introduces working prototype of PRAM

For the Uber-Geeks out there and this ties in nicely with my Flash-Drive addiction!

Samsung introduces working prototype of PRAM
Sean Shim
EE Times
(09/11/2006 5:02 AM EDT)

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced Monday (Sept. 11) it has completed the industry's first fully working prototype of a 512-Mbit Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM), what the company claims is expected to become the main memory device to replace high-density NOR flash memories within the next decade.

Samsung said at a news conference here that its PRAM has been developed by adopting the use of vertical diodes with the three'dimensional transistor structure that it now uses to produce a DRAM. The PRAM has the smallest cell size of any working memory that is free of inter-cell noise, allowing virtually unlimited scalability, the company said. The PRAM features the fast processing speed of RAM for its operating functions combined with the nonvolatile features of flash memory for storage, giving it the nickname of 'Perfect RAM', Samsung said.

As the PRAM can rewrite data without having to first erase data previously accumulated, it is effectively 30-times faster than conventional flash memory. It is also expected to have at least 10-times the endurance of the conventional flash memory, Samsung added. Samsung claimed the PRAM would become a competitive choice over NOR flash, with availability beginning sometime in 2008.

Samsung also said the PRAM's cell size is only half the size of NOR flash memory. In addition, its PRAM requires 20 percent fewer process steps than those for the manufacturing of NOR flash, making it cheaper to produce. Adoption of PRAM is expected to be more popular in the future designs of multi-function handsets and for other mobile applications, where faster speeds translate into immediately noticeable boosts in performance. High-density versions will be produced first, starting with 512 Mbit, according to Samsung.

NIMAS Standards Become Official

The United States Department of Education has published the final NIMAS standard in the Federal Register as of today - July 19, 2006. This is critical because a law does not become a LAW until it's formal publication in this very central Federal document*. It's publication now starts the clock for deadlines connected with the statute.

• Web version of the regulations
• PDF version of the regulations

For you information junkies, the NIMAS 1.1 final specification is posted on the NIMAS-CAST website with related updates.

* In my youth I worked as a motorcycle courior in DC - law firms would have staff at their front doors eagerly awaiting the couriors to arrive with the books hot off the presses from the GPO.