January 2010 - Fred's Head - The Network of Care

US Blind Tandem Cycling Connection Website

The website for the US Blind Tandem Cycling Connection provides an online resource for blind and sighted cyclists to team up for a bike ride. By creating a profile, riders can search for either a sighted pilot or a blind/visually impaired stoker in their...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 10:49 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Web sites, Interaction, Health and beauty, Exercise, Sports, Blindness organizations, Relationships, Transportation

HoverCam Scans Documents Quickly, Will it Work with Open Book or Kurzweil?

The USB-powered HoverCam X500 uses a digital camera to take a snap shot of a document and is designed to replace the much bulkier traditional flatbed scanner. It takes a snapshot of the document placed beneath its lens in a split second, much like a camera...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 10:36 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Employment, Reading, Accessibility, Electronics, Technology, Students

Own a Business? Then You Need Tactile Signs

Tactile signs are a common means of communication used by people who have both sight and hearing impairment. Some methods of tactile signing are Hand-Over-Hand, Tracking, Tracing, Co-active signing, Braille signing etc. These are based on standard systems...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 4:59 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Braille, Accessible media, Tactile aids, Accessibility, Safety, Web sites, Communication, Accommodations, Labeling, Deafblind, ADA

Let's All Balabolka!

Here's a program that could be helpful for those just starting to experience vision loss. It will read a variety of documents, but it's not a full-fledged screen reader. Balabolka is a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that works with all computer...

Published Thu, Jan 28 2010 3:55 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Adjusting to blindness, Aging, Low vision, Reading, Speech products, Audio, MP3, Computer software, Students, Travel

Let's Get Twitter LinkedIn

The idea is simple: When you set your status on LinkedIn you can now tweet it as well, amplifying it to your followers and real-time search services like Twitter Search and Bing. And when you tweet, you can send that message to your LinkedIn connections...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 10:52 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Employment, Internet, Web sites, Adaptation, Interaction

Braille Eni Puzzle

We're always on the lookout for games and toys modified with braille. This product comes to us from the Seen From The Heart blog and was posted by Carter. From the blog: "I bought this off of Amazon.com the other day, and decided to check it...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 2:54 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Educational aids, Teaching, Teaching aids, Reading, Braille, Toys, Recreation, Games

American History In Video

From the website: "American History in Video provides the largest and richest online collection of video available for the study of American history, 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion. The collection's wealth of video and multiplicity...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 2:28 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Education, Educational aids, Teaching, Teaching aids, Accessible media, Web sites, Homework helpers, Streaming audio, Students, Movies, Information services

94 secret Windows shortcuts

Ed Bot over at ZDNet has a list of some cool shortcuts for Windows. These are mostly for Windows 7 but may work in Vista and XP as well. "The shortcuts I’m referring to involve the shell command, which is curiously undocumented in the Windows 7 Help...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 1:29 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Tutorials, Accessibility, Technology, Computer aids, Windows, Time management

Push Button Padlock: Accessible Security for the Blind

You've just started school and you need a lock for your locker. What do you usually do? I'll bet you buy a lock from the campus bookstore or the local hardware store and the first thing you do is ask a friend to read the printed code so you know...

Published Wed, Jan 27 2010 12:17 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Adjusting to blindness, College, Aging, APH products, Parents, Accessibility, Self-defense, Safety, Computer aids, Assistive devices, Students, USB devices, Storage, Crime

Shopping for unique gift items?

In this record we have pulled together a number of sources for on-line gifts and novelties. We compiled this list with the help of the Fred's Head Brain Waves participants. We hope it will be useful when searching for those hard-to-find gifts for...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 5:09 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Children, Braille, Parents, Clothes, Teenagers, Infants, Shopping, Holiday, Crafts, Role Models, Dog guides, Catalogs

How Better Customer Service to Special Needs Consumers Can Increase Revenues and More

by Donna J. Jodhan This is a statement that I preach to my clients every day. If you improve your customer service to special needs consumers then there is no doubt that you will accomplish some very astounding benefits such as: You will increase your...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 4:54 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Adjusting to blindness, Advocacy, Interaction, Blindness

Your MP3 Player Can Talk with Rockbox

If you've been wanting to get in on the portible MP3 player craze here's some software that will be of use. Rockbox is an open source replacement firmware for mp3 players. It runs on a number of different models and allows those MP3 players to...

Published Tue, Jan 26 2010 12:51 AM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Accessible media, Electronics, Adaptation, Assistive technology, Audio, MP3, Computer software, Free stuff

Umbrella Etiquette

Do you travel with an umbrella? If yes, the following tips will help to keep you and those around you safe during those rainy days. Use the Right Umbrella: Carry an umbrella that is appropriate for your use and proportionate to your body size. There is...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2010 11:49 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Tutorials, Household hints, Safety, Interaction, Travel, Transportation

Parents and Visually Impaired Infants (PAVII)

Parents and Visually Impaired Infants (PAVII) is a pack of print materials designed to help parents of infants who are visually impaired become involved as primary members of the intervention team. Includes: Parent Assessment of Needs: Help identify home...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2010 9:49 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Adjusting to blindness, Education, Educational aids, Special education, APH products, Preschool, Parents, Books, Tutorials, Infants, Transition

Free High Quality Audio Books at AudioOwl

AudioOwl offers an extensive collection of high quality public domain audio books. They are helpfully organized by genre, including children and teen/young adult. You can browse by genre, or search the entire site by author, title, or key words. A selected...

Published Mon, Jan 25 2010 9:23 PM by Fred's Head from APH

Filed under: Educational aids, Teaching aids, Reading, Audio books, Accessible media, Web sites, Homework helpers, Audio, MP3, Streaming audio, Students, Podcast, Free stuff

January 2010 - Fred's Head

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