Klango Player 2.0 Final Released

Today, the developers of Klango Player have released their new version. many bug fixes and upadates have been made. To read all about Klango Player, you can visit,
www.klango.net.
To read the new features that are present in this update, you can go to,
this link.

First Impressions:

When I looked at this version of Klango, I was excited If you looked at the new features, you will know why. One of the major features in this release is the capability to use Wikipedia. I tried the search and it came up with several results. When reading the article, I noticed that unlike reading the exactly same document in a Web Browser, it does not display any headings or links. Instead, it puts all the links and the sections in a list. I'm not sure which method of displaying the text structure is better but I can tell you that both ways of reading are pretty easy.

I haven't looked at the interface for Amazon.com in detail but it is quite comprehensive and stright forward to use. I searched for an item with it and was able to gather the information about the perticular product. The advantage to using this interface is that you won't need to bypass any clutter at all.

I've been using the
Youttube
search feature that can be found in the media player, for some time. It is also very easy to use and you can find a certain video in a matter of seconds.

There are many other features that I have not covered in this short review but if you are interested, you can explore them on your own. Klango Player has come a long way since it started.

NVDA 0.6P2 Now Available

Yesterday, the developers of NvDA put up 0.6P2. It is not a stable release but it will give you a look at what will be in 0.6 when the official release comes out.

It has greatly improved since the release of 0.6P1. The most noticeable change is that NVDA now works with Firefox 3 almost flawlessly. Also, the virtual buffer has been improved. You can jump to any element on a page with a key command There were some present in the older version but more has been included. The number of bugs that were present in the older release have now been corrected. To learn about all the changes in detail, you can read
• What's new in 0.6p2"

To download the installer for this version, you can
click here.
To grab the portable version, you can
click this other link.
Finally, to keep up with the latest happenings on NVDA, you can read the
NVDA blog.

Freedom Scientific Filing Lawsuit Against GWMicro

Recently I have just learned about the lawsuit that Freedom Scientific, the makers of JAWS for Windows has filed on GWMicro, the creaters of Window eyes. This lawsuit is outrageous for the simple reason that GWMicro has put in a place marker feature which Freedom Scientific has supposedly Patented.

Even though I've been using JAWS for a number of years, I have decided to no longer buy JAWS or any of their products because I do not like FS using my money to file meaningless lawsuits. The money that they earn should be used to make their screen reader better. After JFW V8.0 was released, things started going down hill for FS. Their so called major updates seemed like minor ones because of the lakc of innovations in the new features. Their hype about clipboard functionality is just dum because even though it is useful, it is nothing to be estatic about.

I am looking forward to the upcoming release of Window Eyes 7.0 because of it's scripting. Once I have the money to perchase it, I will be more than glad to buy a copy because the screen reader that GWMicro has put out is very stable and packed with innovative features.

The
GWMicro blog
will have some information on this lawsuit.
Also
Blind Access Journal
has a post on this issue.

Firefox 3.0 Released

Today, Firefox has come out of beta so it is now stable. There are many improvements over the last version. You can
click here
to view the release notes. You can also
click here
to grab your copy of Firefox.

Urgent News For Canadians

Hello.

Everyone from Canada please go
here
and fill out the form to help us keep our rights. The DMCA is coming to Canada. Please help keep it out.

Those in other countries please pass this on to Canadians so we can express our displeasure. Thanks.

Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop Addition Released

Recently, the developers of Ubuntu have announced a new relase of the free and open source operating system named Ubuntu. You can find a full list of features by clicking
here.
One feature that existing blind and visually impaired users should take note is the new you of installing this OS with out sighted assistance. You can learn more and get your own copy by going to
www.ubuntu.com.
To learn how to install Ubuntu with out any sight, head over to
http://live.gnome.org/Orca/UbuntuHardy.
From the same website, you can learn about the screen reader that is used in conjunction with the Gnome Desktop Environment by clicking
here.

SoundRTS 1.0 Beta 10 e Released

Yesterday, the developer of SoundRTS, released a test version of his popular game. Here are the changes and bugfixes since Beta 9:

- added a map (JS4)• faster multiplayer Internet games
• the food provided by farms is 8 instead of 4
• the training time is divided by 2 (the research time stays the same)
• added an experimental very fast speed (4 times) for multiplayer games (might not work that much, though; try it)
• list players and games after login
• say the registered players list of a game when a player registers or unregisters for this game
• new multiplayer maps

You can click
here
for the multiplatform version or you click
here
for the Windows Installer.

If you would like a more detailed list of changes, you can go to the SoundRTS blog by clicking
here.

Monopoly Version 8 Now Available

I have just recieved an e-mail on a gaming mailing list from Jim Kitchen. The e-mail is below:

Hi,

I have put Monopoly version 8 up on my web site.

In version 8 I fixed the alt tab problem and you can now have custom tokens, currency, houses and hotels. You can also edit the MonopolyCustom.txt file
to change Go, Jail, Free Parking, Income Tax, Luxury Tax, Railroad, Utility, Bank, Community Chest and Chance. I have also added the features to roll
the dice to see who goes first and for a person to resign from the game.

The file winpoly8.exe can be found on my free windows sapi5 text to speech games page.

You can go to his website
http://www.kitchensinc.net
to grab this free game.

Testing Firefox Beta with NVDA Preview Version

I'm currently testing Firefox Beta 3.5 nightly build with NVDA 0.6 P and it's working pretty well except for a few bugs. One of the bugs that I found with NVDA is that it sometimes puts several links on one line so you will have to navigate to the line where the link is on and use your arrow keys to put your cursor on the link you want and hit enter. Also, it has problems activating a link if there is punctuation in front of it.

Even though NVDA doesn't work very well with Internet Explorer, it's still functional. I decided to compare the speed of how fast a document loads with IE with Firefox and the result is that Firefox loads documents much faster. It only takes about a second with Firefox and 5 to 6 seconds to load one in IE.

If you would like to try NVDA you can go to
nvda-project.org.
To get a Beta version of Firefox,
click here.

Dan Z Games Coming To a Close

Today, I have just heard from the people at
audiogames.net
that Dan Z is closing his game company so as a result, he has made all his comercial games on his site free until June 2008. The games that are free now are
Search Party,
Super Deekout
and
Chain Link

Note on the page you will find the demos of the software. To make it a full you version you will need to download and extract a file which you paste in to the game's directory. Those files are found on the main page.
You can go to his website by going to
danzgames.com

NVDA 0.6 P Released

NVDA 0.6 Preview has just been released by the NVDA team. Since it is just a preview version, there are still many major bugs that still needs to be fixed. One notable thing in the version is the newly written virtual buffer code for firefox. If you use Firefox, the web pages will load quicker than before. Currently, the code for Internet Explorer is broken so you may not have much success using it.
You can
click here
to get the installer.
You can also go to the official NVDA web site by going to
http://nvda-project.org

Sound Forge Version 9.0e Available

Sound Forge Version 9.0E Now Available.

Here are the changes in this version:

Fixed a bug that could cause the Wave Hammer and Acoustic Mirror plug-ins to revert to Demo mode.
Fixed a bug that caused the Cut and Copy toolbar buttons to be unavailable after making a selection.
Fixed a bug that caused the Loop Tuner window to ignore vertical zooming and panning in the data window.

You can go to
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/updates/soundforge
to download it.

Skype Version 3.6.0.248 Now Available

Skype version 3.6.0.248 is now available and one place where you can download it from is at
www.skype.com.

Here are the changes in this version:

feature: Public API access whitelist/blacklist
improvement: Improved connection speed to Skype network from restrictive network environment
bugfix: Skype cross-zone scripting vulnerability
bugfix: Skype crashed sometimes when leaving group chat
bugfix: Skype crashed when current Skypename field was empty
bugfix: Contacts were occasionally lost when synchronisation failed
bugfix: MySpace tab was not reachable via keyboard navigation
bugfix: Editing avatar resulted in "Cannot focus a disabled or invisible window" error
bugfix: It was not possible to answer second incoming call
bugfix: Dynamic Content message overlaying contact list toolbar and group controls on reduced Skype window
bugfix: Check update web link was incorrect
bugfix: Call on hold image was wrongly displayed
bugfix: USB webcam plugged in while on call did not allow to start video
bugfix: It was not possible to open video settings panel while on video call
bugfix: Skype crashed sometimes when expanding chat history
bugfix: Presence were shown wrongly to conference call participants sometimes
bugfix: Incorrect message was shown when sender cancelled file transfer
bugfix: Voice Mail greeting plays again when viewing profile
bugfix: Wrong flag was displayed for Democratic Republic of the Congo
bugfix: File Transfer relayed message was displayed after File Transfer had finished
bugfix: Language name for Belarusian was wrong
change: Language files updated

Montezuma's Return Beta 9 Released

Recently, after USA Games Interactive moved servers, a new version of the side scroller game came out. You can download it by clicking
here

The bug fixes and improvements are below:

Renamed *.xgs files as *.wav.
Replaced Gardian skull sounds with Guardian eagle sounds.
Updated LoadSounds() function.
Fixed bug where the player can walk over the spike pits.
Fixed bug where player invincibility is reset
when loading a saved game.
Updated sound descriptions menu.
Removed external level data files.
Incorperated external level data into Montezuma.exe.
Fixed bug with wrong death sound being played when falling off of a vanishing platform.
Added invincible monsters for levels 7-11.
Recompiled registration tools from 12/4/2007 backup sources.
Added yes/no prompt for saving games with f3.
Added yes/no prompt when loading games with f4.

Sound Forge 9.0d Available Now

Sony has recently posted an update to Sound Forge. Numerous bug fixes and improvements have been made. Here they are below:

Notable fixes/changes in version 9.0d

• The Loop Tuner window has been reimplemented an independent tool window.
• Added support for LPEC files imported from Digital Voice Editor software.
• Added support for WAV files up to 4 GB. Select the Allow Wave renders up to 4 GB check box on the General page of the Preferences dialog to enable support.

• Several Mix/Replace improvements have been implemented:

• Envelopes are now drawn when performing drag-and-drop mixes to indicate mix and fade-in and fade-out levels.
• If a selection exists in your destination data window, the selection is now preserved after mixing sound data.
• Markers are now added at the correct positions when you perform mixes with Options > Paste Events turned on.
• The end of the file is now used as a snap point when performing drag-and-drop mixes.
• A new setting has been added to the Editing tab in the Preferences dialog. Select the Auto-crossfade Mix with selection check box if you want the Fade
In and Fade Out settings for the Mix tool to pay attention to the destination selection and file length when mixing between files.

• You can now hold Ctrl while dragging in a data window to switch to the Magnify tool temporarily (as in Sound Forge 8.0). Select the Allow Ctrl+drag style
zoom in data windows check box on the General tab of the Preferences dialog to enable this behavior.
• Toggling a selection (using the S or \ key) now restores channel selection.
• The Lock Loop/Region Length command is now honored when multiple markers or regions are selected.
• A bug has been fixed that could cause black frames/silence when overwriting an open MPEG file.
• A bug has been fixed that could cause gapping when playing from the Plug-in Chainer and positioning the cursor if Options > Seek Cursor on Playback was
not selected.
• When selecting up to a marker that occurs on the last sample of a file, the last sample is now included in the selection.

You can download it by clicking
here.

Team Talk V3.4 Released

Two days ago, Beare.dk announced that V3.4 of Team Talk was available to download. You can read the change log by clicking
here.
You can directly download it by clicking
here.

My Smartphone

I've recently perchased a smartphone running Window's Mobile 6 using
Mobile Speak Smart
and I find it works really well on the
HTC S720
which is the phone I bought. At first look, it's very tactile with a dot on the five of the number pad and dots on the F and J keys of the QOURTY keyboard. The keys are separated nicely and they are big too. MSS is quite responsive. I may write a more detailed review of it from a blindness perspective when I figure more things out on the phone.