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December 2004 Volume 3 Issue 13 @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. Special Edition of @Freedom Scientific:New JAWS, MAGic and OpenBook Updates Now Available for DownloadToday Freedom Scientific simultaneously released the next generation of JAWS® for Windows® and an update of our MAGic® screen magnification software. An update of OpenBook® scanning and reading software will be posted later this week. These updates have been extensively tested to ensure maximum stability and compatibility when installed and running together. Extra effort has been given to testing JAWS and MAGic together. JAWS 6.0 is an SMA update for existing JAWS users. MAGic 9.2 and OpenBook 7.02 are free updates for users of MAGic 9.0 and OpenBook 7.0. Below are the key details for each update and where to download the latest versions.
JAWS FOR WINDOWS 6.0 IS RELEASED!In honor of the ten-year anniversary of JAWS, the Freedom Scientific development group and its team of 120 beta testers have been quietly working on the most power-packed release of JAWS to date – JAWS 6.0. Just a quick glance at the changes and improvements are verification of Freedom Scientific’s commitment to deliver the best product on the market for jobs, education, and home use. As soon as it is installed, users will recognize differences: improved responsiveness, unmatched accuracy, innovative and creative tools for Internet browsing, Office applications, PDF documents, and JAWS training materials. Plus options have been added to provide support for JAWS in Citrix and Terminal Services, including Remote Desktop. Below is a list of just the top 10 items. More features and details can be found on the What's New Web page. DAISY Reader IncludedYou now can get more help learning JAWS basics and the more sophisticated features of JAWS with FSReader Demo, a built-in DAISY Reader solution that is included with JAWS 6.0 at no charge. All basic training materials have been converted to DAISY format and will automatically install. In addition, the What's New material and a series of helpful overviews of the most important features also are provided for more advanced users. Custom LabelerJAWS 6.0 is the first screen reader released that allows users to assign custom labels. With this breakthrough, users can label all types of links, graphics, and form controls in Internet Explorer that do not read well or are not marked up correctly. Even fields on poorly designed or protected PDF forms or Word forms can be labeled. This innovation promises to become a must-have standard in screen reading, just like JAWS' Quick Navigation Keys. Unparalleled Refreshable Braille SupportUsers will notice right away that JAWS’ braille output is more responsive, extremely accurate, and does a much better job of showing relevant information without requiring the user to continuously pan. Great efforts have been taken to incorporate user feedback to make JAWS more accessible to deaf-blind users, using braille only. The Auto Advance mode, another JAWS first, is an equivalent of JAWS’ Say All command for braille readers. Without taking their fingers off the braille display, users can comfortably read through an entire document, skipping blank lines and white space. The user also can pan backward or forward to repeat or skip over text, to change reading speed on the fly, and even to use Navigation Quick Keys. Other options allow users to suppress capital signs to make better use of the display; customize Braille Flash Messages to get spoken messages in braille; and a host of other great innovative options. These options are described in the Braille Section of the What's New. Skim ReadingThe exciting new Skim Reading Tool allows users to customize the way they skim Web pages or documents. By default, the user can read by the first line or sentence of each paragraph in a document. The user also can create a unique text rule to skim a document by single lines, sentences, or paragraphs that contain a chosen word or phrase. For example, you could skim read your favorite news Web site for any number of words or phrases of interest. You can skim read a history book for specific dates and events. During the skimming, if you find something of interest, a simple key press will start JAWS reading continuously again from the last match. Once you've heard enough, go right back to skimming again with another key press. Rules can be saved and instantly recalled. This time-saving feature will become a must-have for daily computer use. Custom List View ToolList Views present data in columns. The Customize List View feature enables users to choose how they want to hear and read the data presented. For example, if a List View contains ten columns, but the information of most interest is in column three, then two, then five, the user can instruct JAWS to read the data in that order whenever this List View gains focus or when the user asks JAWS to read the currently selected object. The user also can independently decide to show the data in braille in yet a different order. The user can even tell JAWS to speak the column headers but not to show them in braille (or vice versa). The user no longer needs to wait while irrelevant or unimportant data is spoken. What's more, the user also can ask JAWS to directly read the contents of any column (up to 10 columns) just by pressing a keystroke. JAWS can even be instructed to speak the column heading in a different voice than it speaks the data to distinguish the header from the data. It doesn't matter if column data is truncated on screen; JAWS will always read the data in its entirety. Enhanced Progress Bar SupportNow users can define how JAWS reports the status of progress bars, such as those used in downloading files or installing applications. It even lets you decide how often progress is reported. This setting is application specific, so users can turn it off when it is not necessary. Internet Based AuthorizationInternet License Manager (ILM) soon will replace the 3.5-inch authorization disks for most of our single user customers. This new solution will be distributed as part of the SMA shipment during the first quarter of 2005, so watch for these packages. If you have Internet access on your system, the simple automated authorization process takes less than a minute to complete. If you don't have Internet access, we have provided other easy options. The authorization process will be fully explained when you install, or you can read more now by visiting the authorization activation page. Citrix and Terminal Services/Remote Desktop SupportJAWS now can be used in remote access terminal sessions through Citrix MetaFrame and Microsoft Terminal Services. Users of client computers can now have speech and braille access to the terminal session environment. For example, you can connect to a computer at work while you are at home and use JAWS with your applications and files. This option can be added to any JAWS Professional License using the new ILM authorization or Dongles for activation. Contact Sales today for more details. Updated Navigation Quick Key OptionsJAWS 6.0 includes additional Quick Keys for navigation in HTML for Internet Explorer and online help. Also new is the ability to create lists (as you can for links and headings) for nearly all the items you navigate to, including tables, edit controls, check boxes, buttons, radio buttons, paragraphs, graphics, and so on. Microsoft Office SupportNot to be overlooked is Freedom Scientific’s continued commitment to the entire Microsoft® Office Suite. As in every Office application, JAWS continues to pave the way for professionals. With this release comes unmatched support of the Outlook Calendar, one of the most requested items. Authors of tables in Word also can communicate directly to JAWS with the use of bookmarks. With this feature, users can instruct JAWS to find relevant columns or rows within tables. JAWS will speak these automatically as you navigate. Don't miss the What’s New section on MS Office. More InformationAll additional new features of JAWS 6.0, including the list of serial numbers pre-authorized to download and begin using this version, can be found via the links on the Freedom Scientific Home Page. If you own a JAWS license, be sure to check the list of approximately 25,000 serial numbers and read all the details surrounding this SMA upgrade today. Return to Top from First Story
MAGIC 9.2 UPDATE BRINGS TOTAL SCREEN ACCESSConcurrent with the JAWS 6.0 release, Freedom Scientific has released MAGic 9.2. This free update for existing MAGic 9.0 users is fully compatible with JAWS 6.0, creating a total screen access solution with speech and magnification. MAGic 9.2 contains several exciting new features as well as several fixes: Incremental Magnification LevelsView the magnified area using nine incremental levels between 1x and 2x magnification. Users now have much more flexibility to choose the magnification level that is best suited to each individual’s vision needs. Toggle between 1x MagnificationThis feature allows you to view the entire screen area while retaining your mouse, cursor, and color enhancement settings, and then quickly switch back to your previous magnification level. Support for SAPI 5 SynthesizersMAGic now includes support for speech engines that use the SAPI 5 interface. Synthesizers that support SAPI 5 include some versions of RealSpeak®, AT&T Natural Voices®, Cepstral®, and more. More InformationRead more details about this free update on the Magic 9.2 What’s New page. Return to Top from Second Story
OPENBOOK 7.02 DELIVERS IMPROVED SCANNING AND READING PERFORMANCEThe much-anticipated OpenBook 7.02 update will feature several enhancements and performance improvements, including: Updated Optical Character Recognition (OCR)All OCR engines included with OpenBook have been updated to provide the best text conversion and page recognition available. Now you can choose between OmniPage® 12.5, Recognita® 12.5, or FineReader® 7.0 to recognize graphics-based text. RealSpeak Quality ImprovedThe RealSpeak text-to-speech synthesizer has been upgraded to 22 KHz to provide better quality speech for reading documents. Improvements in Book SearchingSeveral improvements have been made to the book search feature, including resolving several issues related to searching and downloading from Bookshare.org. Improvements to FaxingSeveral improvements have been made to improve usability of the fax utility. In addition, the ability to send and receive faxes in OpenBook now is automatically disabled if no modem is present. It also can be manually disabled if necessary for certain corporate environments. More InformationRead more about what’s new by visiting the Openbook What's New page. Return to Top from Third 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 Those having hardware or software technical support queries can address them to Support at FreedomScientific.com
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