ATMac

The TandemMaster Morse-2-USB interface is a fantastic device which converts morse code entered by two switches into keyboard presses and mouse movements. It gives the user complete control of a computer, as much as any regular keyboard/mouse user would have and can be used on any computer, with no drivers or software needed to be installed on the computer itself.

Firefox generally doesn’t let you use a lot of OS X’s accessibility features, including the services menu and some of OS X’s regular keyboard shortcuts. Setting your Mac up to speak highlighted text when you press a key also doesn’t work in Firefox. The Firefox extension SpeakingFox fills this gap with some nifty context menu options to fill this gap.

How would you organise an iPod so an child with autism could listen to his favourite music during car journeys but not accidentally press the buttons and turn off the music? I thought of a couple of methods, and would love to hear about others you’ve come up with yourself!

It’s been announced that the MacSpeech company has been purchased by Nuance. Nuance are the company behind the Windows product “Dragon NaturallySpeaking“ and other recent Dragon products for iPod Touch and iPhone. So what does this mean for MacSpeech Dictate and the other MacSpeech products? What would you like to happen?

Computers get dirty. Computers even get wet sometimes. They certainly get soiled despite the best of intentions. Even the most perfectly treated computers need occasional cleaning. Computers that are used all day, carried around, used with sticky fingers, used by multiple people, those ones are even more likely to need a good clean fairly often! Luckily, Apple’s online knowledgebase contains a wealth of articles about cleaning and disinfecting your iMac, Mac Mini, or MacBook.

Power’s what assistive technology gives us, really. The power to communicate, to read, to type, to plan, to play, to control things. The power to achieve things that we couldn’t otherwise achieve. Here are some ideas for gifts to empower assistive technology users.

This video shows one way to create new commands for MacSpeech Dictate - using the “Menu Item” command type. The article also discusses using the “Press the key combo” command to accomplish things which have no menu entry.

MacSpeech Dictate is a great program but learning so many commands at once can be intimidating. Here’s a quick document to help you learn and remember the important commands for controlling Safari with MacSpeech Dictate version 1.2.1.