Keystrokes, SwitchXS, LayoutKitchen
Amsterdam - 18 January 2008 - AssistiveWare® today announced the release of new versions of its flagship products: KeyStrokes® 4, SwitchXS® 2.5 and LayoutKitchen® 2.KeyStrokes 4, the latest version of AssistiveWare’s award-winning on-screen keyboard with multilingual word prediction, adds LayoutKitchen, which allows users to design their own virtual keyboards. Such virtual keyboards can be used not only for typing, but also to launch applications, speak, run AppleScripts and much more. This makes KeyStrokes more than ever the hub that gives users who cannot use a physical keyboard or who prefer a graphic tablet or touch screen full access to their computer. KeyStrokes 4 also adds Spanish and Russian word prediction dictionaries. KeyStrokes 4.0 runs on Mac OS X 10.3 and later (including Leopard). The suggested retail price for KeyStrokes is 249 Euro excluding VAT (299 USD in North America). Registered KeyStrokes 3 users can use the new version, but to use LayoutKitchen and design their own keyboards an upgrade to a KeyStrokes 4 activation code is required. An upgrade from KeyStrokes 3 to KeyStrokes 4 (including LayoutKitchen) costs 99 euro excluding VAT (129 USD in North America). This upgrade is free for anyone who purchased KeyStrokes 3 in 2007 or 2008. For more info they should contact support@assistiveware.com.
SwitchXS 2.5, which provides universal access to Mac OS X for users who cannot use a physical keyboard and mouse is now Universal Binary, adds full Leopard support, as well as many internal enhancements, and also includes the new LayoutKitchen 2. With SwitchXS 2.5, a user who cannot use a physical keyboard or mouse has full access to Mac OS X with just a single switch. SwitchXS 2.5 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later and is a free update for all registered SwitchXS users. The suggested retail price for SwitchXS is 249 Euro excluding VAT (299 USD in North America).
LayoutKitchen 2 makes designing on-screen keyboards for KeyStrokes and scan panels for SwitchXS much easier and faster with a new drag and drop button browser, SmartSnap and many other productivity enhancing features. The image browser is now searchable and includes over 600 images. LayoutKitchen 2.0 runs on Mac OS X 10.3 and later (including Leopard) and is a free update for all registered SwitchXS and LayoutKitchen users.
Website: AssistiveWare releases major new versions of flagship products
ATMac Comment: I have been beta testing the new version of KeyStrokes and it’s a huge jump up from the previous version - highly recommended.
- Ricky Buchanan
SECURITY:AVOIDING KEY LOGGERS WITH KEYSTROKES
You know when you hear about Key Loggers who try to get peoples passwords as they type them in?
Can they get the same information if you use a button in Keystrokes Panel or Switch XS to make the password appear in the right bit? (so whole password appears in one go rather than you pressing one key at a time)
@Kati: I honestly don’t have the faintest idea. There aren’t any trojan keyloggers for Mac computers though, so unless somebody actually installed one on your computer by physically using the computer then I doubt it’s any worry. David Niemeijer may know more about it perhaps - ask on the AssistiveWare mailing list?