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UNSUBSCRIBE Page October 2004   Volume 3 Issue 12 @Freedom Scientific is a free newsletter packed with the latest information about deploying and maintaining Freedom Scientific technology. Please feel free to send us your feedback. In this issue of @Freedom Scientific: Freedom Scientific is Honored with Top Braille Institute Award Download the Free JAWS 5.1 Update for a Bounty of New Features and Fixes Roll the Cameras: Freedom Scientific Technology is on TV WYNN and TestTalker to Benefit Large Ontario School District Outstanding Reviews for Eagerly-Awaited PAC Mate 2.5 Update JAWS, MAGic and Dragon Combo Work Together to Solve a Set of Unique Needs Surf's Up: The Next Wave in Getting the Most Out of the Internet with JAWS School Is In - and So Is PAC Mate Check Out Our Sale on Braille Paper! Freedom Scientific is Honored with Top Braille Institute Award Freedom Scientific's leadership in the field of emerging assistive technology for the visually impaired was recognized with the Braille Institute of America's Reflections Award on September 22 in Los Angeles, California. Only six previous organizations have received the Reflections Award that honors recipients for “uncommon achievement in furthering the understanding of sight loss and the capabilities of people who are visually impaired.” Among past recipients are Earthlink Network, Inc., the Marriott Corporation, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, and Warner Brothers Entertainment. The Braille Institute award ceremony cited Freedom Scientific's “achievements in developing cutting-edge technology that provides greater freedom for people with visual impairments.” Notable contributions include the development of JAWS screen reading technology, the PAC Mate, MAGic screen magnification software, OpenBook scanning and reading software, and the WYNN literacy software tool that is designed to enhance success for individuals with reading and writing challenges. Dr. Lee Hamilton, Freedom Scientific president and CEO, accepted the award. Return to Top from First Story Download the free JAWS 5.1 Update for a Bounty of New Features and Fixes Hundreds of improvements and fixes for JAWS are just a few clicks away on the Freedom Scientific Web site. The update is free for all users of JAWS 5.0. All the exciting details of JAWS 5.1 can be viewed online at the JAWS What's New Page. Users also can read about the changes and fixes by choosing What’s New from the Help Menu after the update is downloaded and installed. A few highlights include: The Merge Setting feature is back! After installing JAWS 5.1, you will be asked if you'd like to merge your settings from an early version of JAWS 5.0. This includes most configuration settings and all of your voice settings from an earlier version. Speech and Sounds Manager Training Mode, requested by many trainers, has been added. The training mode lets new students hear the classic information and the new sounds from a user-defined scheme, all at the same time. Since the sound assignments made by the scheme's creator may not be immediately obvious, training mode can help you determine the purpose of each sound. For example, with training mode off, if a scheme uses two different sounds to indicate the state of a check box, you might not be able to tell which sound signifies that the check box is selected. If training mode is on, JAWS plays the sound and then says, "Checked," or "Not checked." Note: If you are using a scheme that includes items for controls in a dialog, the INSERT+TAB command now also includes feedback (just like the training mode does), even when Training Mode is off. This serves as a quick reminder of what your scheme is indicating, compared to the classic mode. We’ve also added Settings Packager, a program that allows you to import or export speech and sound schemes, PlaceMarkers, and personalized Web settings. You can use this program to share your JAWS schemes and settings with other users. Settings Packager collects settings information into a single .zip file that you can share with other users through e-mail or by distribution on the Internet. These are only a few highlights of all the new JAWS features. You’ll want to read more about new braille and Microsoft Word features and other JAWS features and fixes on the Freedom Scientific Web site. Return to Top from Second Story Roll the Cameras: Freedom Scientific Technology is on TV JAWS, OpenBook and MAGic are basking in the television spotlight. JAWS and OpenBook recently played roles as the PBS series POV premiered Freedom Machines, “a view of disabilities through the lens of assistive technology.” POV, a cinema term for point of view, is public television’s premier showcase for independent films. Other Freedom Scientific technology products were shown on the one-hour special, but JAWS stood out due to an online focus on Web site accessibility. Freedom Scientific provided accessibility guidance for a special Freedom Machines Web site page. The page features New York JAWS user Myrna Votta as she demonstrates Web site screen reading using JAWS. Freedom Machines was broadcast through the end of September. JAWS and Freedom Scientific's MAGic screen reading technology will be featured in the new season of the CBS reality series Starting Over. The highly-rated daytime series follows a group of women as they are provided counseling and tools to overcome obstacles in their lives. Freedom Scientific donated JAWS and MAGic to assist a young visually impaired woman continue her education. Starting Over airs weekdays on the WMOR network at various times throughout the U.S. Learn more about the program at the Starting Over Web site. Return to Top from Third Story WYNN and TestTalker to Benefit Large Ontario School District Thanks to a large grant from the Canadian Ministry of Education, 400 licenses for TestTalker software and 161 WYNN Wizards will be assisting Ontario students to perform better in school this year. The grant will benefit the Thames Valley District School Board, one of Ontario’s largest public school boards, with 186 schools and more than 80,000 elementary and secondary students. “Thames Valley also is known for its devotion to helping students through their extensive Special Education program,” said Roberta Brosnahan, vice president and general manager of Freedom Scientific’s Learning Systems Group (LSG). TestTalker and WYNN employ a bi-modal teaching approach to assist individuals who have learning disabilities or other reading and writing challenges. TestTalker combines synthesized speech with electronic versions of tests, worksheets and other forms. WYNN software is an innovative and award-winning literacy tool for individuals with reading and writing challenges. WYNN simultaneously highlights text as it is spoken, transforming the printed word into information that students and others can understand Peggy Dalton, Freedom Scientific’s Canadian regional manager, began presenting and exhibiting at conferences and conducting WYNN and TestTalker workshops to familiarize administrators and educators with the software. WYNN and TestTalker’s easy-to-use interface and powerful features attracted immediate interest. Learn more about this grant, WYNN and TestTalker on the Freedom Scientific LSG Web pages. Return to Top from Fourth Story Outstanding Reviews for Eagerly-Awaited PAC Mate 2.5 Update The latest free upgrade for PAC Mate BX and QX, now available for download from the Freedom Scientific Web site, is receiving enthusiastic reviews from users. A few of the most highly-praised features of the PAC Mate 2.5 release are: Multi-Language Support that allows the user to load as many as four languages on the PAC Mate using a new language installer via ActiveSync. A new Audio Recording Settings control panel that gives the user options for automatically adjusting close-up recording levels to subdue breathing noises and strong sibilants, raise the recording level for full room recording, or monitor through headphones while recording. Braille Study Mode that instructs the PAC Mate to say and spell out words for those who are learning contracted braille or are not sure what a symbol is on the braille display. The PAC Mate 2.5 release has many other exciting features that have users talking. Read all about them, and then scroll to the bottom of the page for a sneak preview of upcoming PAC Mate utilities, including a Bookshare Unpack Utility and Consumer Infrared Remote Control for TV, stereo and other electronics devices. Return to Top from Fifth Story JAWS, MAGic and Dragon Combo Work Together to Solve a Set of Unique Needs Sue Martin's stock in MAGic and JAWS always has been high. As a computer access technology specialist in Alabama, she has witnessed the high level of success that visually impaired individuals experience with Freedom Scientific software. But she was put to a challenge recently for a man whose vision and other physical disabilities required an exacting fusion of software that she was sure would conflict. “When my client arrived to begin his training program, I quickly determined that, although his vision was pretty bad, he definitely did have usable vision,” she says. However, he was unable to use a standard keyboard. A computer designed to work with ScanSoft's Dragon Naturally Speaking was built for her client. With Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software, users can dictate into almost any Windows-based application with greater speed and accuracy. The client also needed Freedom Scientific's MAGic screen magnification software and JAWS screen reading software. Sue successfully installed JawBone to enable coordinated use of JAWS for Windows and Dragon Naturally Speaking. Still, she had concerns. “Never having installed JAWS, MAGic, Dragon Naturally Speaking, and JawBone on a computer together, I wasn't sure how they would do. “They performed perfectly together! My client completed his program in a much shorter period of time than I had expected. The combination of JAWS and MAGic (with the other software) was just the ticket for him!” Return to Top from Sixth Story Surf’s Up: The Next Wave in Getting the Most Out of the Internet with JAWS As a JAWS user, do you want to learn how to get the most out of the Internet? If so, you are a candidate for the new Freedom Scientific’s Surf’s Up! Surfing the Internet with JAWS. This new HTML challenge introduces all the powerful HTML features available in JAWS 5.0 or later. Through realistic sample pages and exercises, users are shown how to effectively apply those HTML features to real Internet sites. New JAWS users (or people who are thinking of purchasing JAWS) can dive right into this tutorial and experience all that Freedom Scientific's powerful screen reader can do for them. More experienced JAWS users will want to explore the advanced HTML features and options and learn a new trick or two. Instructors can use the exercises and sample Web pages to train students on how to use the Internet, or they can use it to supplement their own material. Surfing the Internet with JAWS covers a wide variety of topics related to the Internet and HTML pages. Learn how to: Navigate and read pages. Use PlaceMarkers and the Custom Page Summary. Change verbosity settings temporarily, permanently, or only for certain Web sites. Work with tables, forms, and frames. Use language detection. Get useful information from graphics with mouse overs. Share PlaceMarkers and personalized Web settings with others. Find text on a page. Use search engines to search the Web. Gather information on fonts, text attributes, and other on-screen information. Deal with difficult Web pages. Retrieve information in HTML Help systems. And much more! Surfing the Internet with JAWS is a free training aid. Visit Surf's Up! Surfing the Internet with JAWS on the Freedom Scientific Web site. Freedom Scientific is committed to providing services that individuals with vision impairments and learning disabilities can use to change their world. When you want to surf the Internet, whether for school, work, news, or entertainment, JAWS is ready to be your surfboard! Return to Top from Seventh Story School Is In – and So Is PAC Mate The PAC Mate is going to school this fall in a new and exciting way. Just in time for the new school year, Freedom Scientific has announced new, easy-to-use PAC Mate classroom features – and a special educational resource bundle for PAC Mates purchased for students or the classroom. As they discover how easy the PAC Mate is to learn and use, more and more schools are providing PAC Mates for even the youngest students with visual impairments. Because PAC Mate can be expanded with a variety of add-ons, the PAC Mate keeps growing with the student, even into their adult years. Now, the PAC Mate is even more relevant to the classroom with new, simplified menus. Teachers can place in the Start menu only the simplest applications that young students need and use. As the student progresses in skill and education level, the teacher can easily reveal the more advanced applications in the Start menu. Through December 24, 2004, when a PAC Mate is purchased for a student, Freedom Scientific also will add in the FS Schoolhouse Bundle, a 128M CompactFlash card with the concise World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. This great offer is available only with PAC Mates purchased for schools or students. Call the Freedom Scientific Sales department at 1-800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000 to learn more about the PAC Mate with the FS Schoolhouse Bundle. Purchasers of PAC Mates who want the FS Schoolhouse Bundle must provide the name of a student, school and school district. The FS Schoolhouse Bundle cannot be purchased separately, but each of the applications that make up the bundle can be purchased online from Town Compass® Dataviewer. Return to Top from Eighth Story Check Out Our Sale on Braille Paper! Now is the time to stock up on braille paper, available at an all-time low price! Freedom Scientific has reduced the price of 11-inch by 11.5-inch braille paper from $49 to $29 for a limited time. At this price, supplies cannot be guaranteed, so act right away. Call Freedom Scientific Sales at 1-800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000. Ask for Part Number BP-11.5, and mention that you saw the sale price on the Freedom Scientific What's On Sale page. You also can check out other great buys on the What's On Sale page. Return to Top from Ninth Story Freedom Scientific's mission is to develop, manufacture and market innovative technology-based products and services that those with vision impairments and learning disabilities use to change their world. @Freedom Scientific is published by Freedom Scientific, Blind/Low Vision Group 11800 31st Court North St. Petersburg, Florida 33716-1805 800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000 www.FreedomScientific.com Those having hardware or software technical support queries can address them to Support at FreedomScientific.com