Aug. 18th, 2011

kestrell: (Default)
Kes: Actually, this is more useful as a detailed description of the archive.org scanning process (1,000 pages an hour? I can't decide if I'm more envious or turned on--probably equal parts of both). Also, not only do braille Playboys not include a centerfold, they don't include advice columns, Playboy bunny interviews, or anything else that talks about sex. I know this because I used to read Playboy when I was learning braille in my mid-twenties.

http://blog.archive.org/2011/08/17/scanning-a-braille-playboy/
kestrell: (Default)
When I tried installing this earlier this year when it first came out, I kept having an issue with Windows Journal Viewer that repeatedly interrupted the install process. Finally, last week I just uninstalled Windows Journal Viewer and the install completed.

Since then, I've been enjoying Amazon Kindle ebooks, but the Kindle format is not going to become my favorite format anytime soon, because accessibility is still pretty limited.

Basically, the Kindle ebooks are accessible in that they can be read aloud using the combination of the user's own screenreader and the Nuance text-to-speech engine included in the Kindle accessibility plug-in.

However, the user can only listen to the ebook, not access the text itself. Thus, as in the case of the art book I was reading, I couldn't find out how an artist's name or an art term was spelled. Also, one can only read by page or by sentence, so taking notes means you have to keep repeating an entire sentence until you get the words or quotes you want written down in another file.

The TTS also seems to insert lengthy pauses for white space, so sometimes I think it is done and scroll to the next page before the currant page is fully done being read. To scroll to the next page, one presses the right arrow, then hits control+r to read the page, although sometimes just pressing the spacebar reads the page. Control+shift+right arrow reads the next sentence, control+shift+left arrow reads the previous sentence. I find that I get less stutter when I read by sentence than when I read by page, which seems to sometimes jumble words.

I don't consider this restricted level of access to be sufficient for reading educational textbooks, but it does suit my very specific need to access art books, which are often too designy to scan easily, and the Kindle ebooks are often less expensive than the print books I would have to spend hours scanning. Also, of course, I can only read the Kindle ebooks on my PC, not my preferred reading device.

Bottom line: Kindle for PC with accessibility plug-in is worth trying out, although I recommend the user try playing wih some free Kindle ebooks before spending money on Kindle ebooks. Amazon still has a ways to go in making he Kindle for PC app fully accessible, bu it's definitely showing promise.

Links:
Amazon Kindle for PC with accessibility plugin download
http://www.amazon.com/kindle/accessibility
help and FAQ
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_ac?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200596280
AccessWorld review
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw120506
kestrell: (Default)
Kes: and the author feels just as strongly wtf? as I do about Altman's "The Long Goodbye" and just as awed by the perfect casting of Robert Mitchum in "Farewell, My Lovely." I just read "Trouble Is My Business" last night, alhough I'm note ven vaguely tempted to check out the film by the same title that was made a decade or more ago.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/08/marlowe-never-sleeps

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