ATMac

Ventrilo is a free speech-based chat server that you can set up on your home network so that people can communicate using speech between different computers in the same house. It doesn’t access the internet to work, so even if your net connection is broken Ventrilo will still work.

Anyone who has browsed iPhone apps know that the iPhone can do just about anything. Now it can even be your own personal, portable library. You can use your iPhone to carry around massive amounts of specialised information without having to carry around all those books.

The White on Black inverse screen mode can be useful for many people with low vision but it’s inappropriate for some applications, such as windows containing video content. Matt suggests a solution that could make this function much more useful - if Apple implemented it.

For most people, dictation results in better structured and more creative writing of letters, essays etc. than either handwriting or typing out your own thoughts. Learn the principles of excellent dictation from somebody who’s dictated documents professionally for nearly fifty years.

Kati has written about her search for assistive technology to help her do as much as she is able with her progressive ataxia. She has settled on an iMac based system with a joystick and KeyStrokes software which enables her to do all the things she wants - including make provisions for possible future disability.

Leopard has very useful feature called QuickLook that lets you preview files without opening them in an application. But how can VoiceOver users make use of this feature?

My husband got me an iPod Touch for Christmas last year. I have no arms but I can use the iPod touch with my foot. We had thought at first that one would be able to type on the screen using anything with a sharp tip. I noticed on the first day that this was not the case - it was happy with me using my nose, but not using the top of a pen!

Some people burst with talent and will manage to create amazing stuff irrespective of the physical setbacks one suffers if affected by ALS. Tucker is certainly one of those people. Being confined to a wheelchair and having to control his computer with his head this sound designer, video editor and multimedia magician is as creative as ever.

Now that a built-in screen reader and a powerful speech recognition solution are available, what is the next biggest assistive technology feature missing on Mac OS X?

The following list is not all inclusive, but it does provide information on the most commonly held Mac myths in the VI community. I hope you find this list informative and helpful.