all categories Deals, Sales, and News

Blind Bargains will be attending the 9th annual Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Orlando, Florida and providing news and interviews throughout the conference. Check back through the week for product announcements, hands-on impressions, and audio interviews with some of the biggest names in the assistive technology arena. Watch Blind Bargains for much more as the conference nears. If you represent a company and will be attending ATIA, please contact us if you would like to be a part of our podcasts. The ATIA conference runs from January 30 through February 2.

The annual conference for the Assistive Technology Industry Association is still nearly two weeks away, but some companies are jumping on the early PR bandwagon. GW Micro has published a brief announcement listing their schedule of events for the conference. Of interest is the mention of advanced scripting features for Window-Eyes 7.0, which has been speculated to be released in some form in the coming weeks. We've linked to a mailing list post to give you more insight. Watch Blind Bargains for much more ATIA coverage in the coming days and weeks.

An EBay seller has listed a copy of Kurzweil 1000 version 11 with a BuyItNow price of $499. With $15 for shipping, that's about half the cost of a retail copy of this popular scanning and OCR product. Listing ends January 20 if not sold sooner.

AFB has published the January issue of AccessWorld, a free online technology magazine. Among the articles in this issue is a discussion of accessibility in telephone call centers, an interview with an IBM executive, and a review of the Victor Reader Stream. AccessWorld is published six times per year.

    An Ebay seller has listed 10 I.D. Mate II Portable Bar Code Readers with a BuyItNow price of $450 each. Even with about $15 for shipping, this is roughly $1,000 off the price of a new unit. The I.D. Mate II contains bar code information for over 1.3 million products and features an omnidirectional scanner. 100 bar code labels for marking your own items without codes are also included as well as a 90-day warranty. Item expires January 21. Update: We believe these to be direct from the company, as the location of the auction is Normal, Illinois, the same as En-Vision America.

We periodically receive requests for links to various accessible games. If you haven't seen it, check out the PCS Games list of Fantastic Games and Where to Find Them. It's the definitive list of accessible games and is regularly updated.

Gifts & Gadgets Online via Shop.com has a Talking Atomic Clock with Remote for $22.95. With about $7 for shipping, we couldn't find it for less elsewhere. This unit announces the time, temperature, and date in a clear voice either by pressing its top or with the included remote. An alarm with 5-minute snooze is also included. And since it's atomic, no sighted assistance is neededf for setting the time.

An EBay seller has listed a like-new KNFB Reader with a starting bid of $1,650. Or, BuyItNow without bidding for $1,795. That's close to $1,000 off retail for this pocket-sized reading machine. All KNFB readers are still under warranty and can be upgraded to the latest firmware which reads a wider variety of print material. Auction ends January 11 unless sold sooner.

We're always looking for new ways to help you find the best deals and learn about products and services. Now, you can visit and post in our forums to do that and more. Post reviews of your favorite hardware and software, request information on products or deals, or post interesting news. Registration is completely free. Use the link on this post or the forums link on the top of any page. There may be a few kinks, so let us know if you have any problems.

The deadline is fast approaching for nominations for the first ever Blind Bargains Access Awards. You can submit nominations for any or all of the ten categories ranging from best new product or innovation to best website for the blind (Blind Bargains isn't eligible). Nomination submissions are due on January 14 at 5 PM Eastern.

It's not often we see an Ohtsuki Braille Embosser on EBay like this one, currently at $107.50. This machine was quite a bit ahead of its time and one of the first machines to produce both print and braille, a tremendous feat for the 1980's. It's being sold as is and shipping is $65. Auction ends January 12.

Most tech companies are happy with one blog. But now, Code Factory has upped the stakes by launching two. One focuses on messages from the company's CEO while the other will feature messages from the rest of the Code Factory staff. Both are pretty bare for now, but what do you expect, they're brand new.

Independent Living Aids has the Jot-a-Dot Pocket Brailler for $275. That's $70 off list and the lowest price we've seen for this writing tool. It allows you to write braille notes up to 20 cells per line on index cards, 4 by 6 paper, or other small-form sizes. Flip over part of the unit to read what you just wrote, and take this portable notetaker with you on the go. Deal ends January 31.

Simon's one of the world's simplest games and also one of the most accessible by design. Because of this, we've added a Simon category to the games section of the Auction Gateway. There's a few listings that don't exactly fit, but there's also quite a few versions of the classic game as well.

For a reader, Bargain Bob has found braille bingo cards for $9.95 at Independent Living Aids. Add about $7 for shipping. These cards include both large print and braille numbers. Also on this page is a set of 75 brailled numbers used for bingo callers for $14.95.

An EBay seller has listed a working Vera Reading Machine with a starting bid of $199. Made by Freedom Scientific, this device originally sold for $3,000 and is a stand-alone reading machine. Auction ends January 4.

You can now subscribe to our RSS feed directly from Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox. In Firefox, for example, use the subscribe to this page option from the bookmarks menu. Thanks to Wayne Merritt for the tip.

An EBay seller has listed a copy of Kurzweil 1000 Version 11 with a current bid of $123.50 plus $15 for shipping. New copies cost $995, and this is the latest version. Auction ends January 5.

It's not often that we see one of these, but an EBay seller has listed a Trekker GPS system with a starting bid of $500. That's less than half the retail price. This model runs on the Dell Axim PDA and includes several accessories. We are unsure as to the version of the Trekker software, however. Auction ends January 3.

For the United States, Turbo Tax has launched their annual tax preparation software, and once again, you can file your Federal return for free. Other options that may give you a higher return are also available from this page. Tax day isn't until April 15, but you might as well pick up that refund now. It's your money.