DAISY News Feed

Dolphin Computer Access Announce Their Acquisition of Software Express Distribution

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

Dolphin Computer Access Limited, a long time Friend of the DAISY Consortium and UK software company announced its acquisition of Software Express Distribution Limited . This acquisition enables Dolphin to bring on board an innovative UK software development company, most recently recognized for developing Guide and Handsfree Guide, access tools for computer users who are blind.

Tech Museum of Innovation Honors DAISY Consortium as a Tech Awards Laureate

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

The 25 Tech Awards Laureates were honored at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California on November 12, 2008 where Hiroshi Kawamura, President of the DAISY Consortium accepted the award trophy on behalf of the Consortium.

AMIS 3, the Free and Open Source DAISY Player For Windows Has Reached Its Fourth Beta Release

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

What's new in beta 4? Improvements were made to internationalization, accessibility, and overall reading experience. There are two new notable features. First, AMIS supports text-only books now in addition to full-text, full-audio and audio-TOC books. Secondly, there is a new piece of documentation in DAISY format: the Keyboard Shortcuts book that can be found in the help menu.

DAISY Welcomes Synscenter Refsnaes/RoboBraille as an Associate Member of the Consortium

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

As a nationwide institution, Synscenter Refsnaes caters to various needs of visually impaired children. The centre also offers boarding school facilities for blind and partially sighted children. More information about Synscenter Refsnaes/Robobraille is available in the list of DAISY Members and Friends.

WCAG 2.0 Moves to Last Stage in W3C Approval Process

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 was published as a W3C Proposed Recommendation on Nov. 3, 2008. The technical material of WCAG 2.0 is now complete and has been implemented in real sites. WCAG 2.0 has been submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) membership for final review and endorsement. Final publication is expected in December 2008.

DAISY Welcomes Novosibirsk Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired as an Associate Member of the Consortium

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Novosibirsk Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NRSL) is now a recognized leader and coordinator of accessible library services in Siberia, Russia. Additional information about The Novosibirsk Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired is available in the list of DAISY Members and Friends.

W3C Invites Implementations of Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1 (Candidate Recommendation)

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1 is a W3C Candidate Recommendation. Candidate Recommendation period closes on January 5, 2009.

DAISY Consortium Presents 2008 Culture of Sharing Award to Stephen King, Group Director Access and Innovation at the Royal National Institute of Blind People, UK

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

The DAISY Consortium presented its highest honor, the Culture of Sharing Award, for 2008 to Stephen King, Group Director Access and Innovation at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), UK. King was unanimously selected for the award by the DAISY Consortium Board of Directors in recognition of his long-term, visionary leadership in support of the Consortium's mission to develop and promote international standards and technologies which enable equal access to information and knowledge by all people with print disabilities and which also benefit the wider community.

The Sixth International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A 2009): First Call For Papers

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

Co-located with the Eighteenth International World Wide Web Conference in Madrid, Spain, the conference will be held on April 20-21, 2009. 'Web Accessibility for Older Users: Are We There Yet?' will be the main theme. Older Web users can remain productive and continue working if only technologies, especially the Web, were available and accessible to them. Topics of interest range from Accessibility Problems of Older Users and End User Tools to Universally Accessible Graphic Design Approaches. Details for submitting papers are available on the W4A 2009 Conference website.

Olearia First Public Release: Version 0.90b

Wed, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 -0700

Olearia 0.90b is a free open source software application for Macintosh computers. It will play DAISY 3 (ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2005) and DAISY 2.02 books with audio content. Text only books are not yet supported. The updated version saves the play position. Due to enhancements in accessibility and code generation with the release of Leopard (OS X 10.5), Olearia requires Mac OS X version 10.5 or better. Olearia 0.90b can be downloaded from the CUCAT Olearia project website.