Books/Movies/Music Deals, Sales, and News

the author of iPads for Special Needs Sami Rahman, has designed a new online course that covers the accessibility of iOS. The three topics that are covered are voiceover, guided access, and assistive touch. The videos in the course will teach you how to setup each accessibility option, how to use them, and their features.

Seedlings Braille Books for Children offers free articles from the World Book Encyclopedia in braille. They're available for students in grades 1-12, and will be shipped within five business days around the world. We've linked to the form you can use to request articles.

With proof of visual impairment, Braille Bibles International offers what appears to be the solar-powered talking bible for a $20 donation. That's $70 less than the price of this bible through online retailers. There is a limit of one bible per person. These are audio King James bibles and are powered by sunlight or incandescent light. An MP3 audio bible is also available on two CDs for $10, or an audio bible on 60 CDs for $20.

Just in time for the start of the fall semester, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic has introduced a feature known as AudioAccess. It offers downloadable versions of it's wide selection of book titles, primarily textbooks for students of all ages. The service is free to members.

The popular software review site AccessWatch and owner Jamie Pauls have released a new tutorial covering the basics of Nero 8 with JAWS or Window-Eyes. Topics include burning both audio and data CDs, copying CDs, and obtaining help. The cost for the over one hour tutorial is $9.95, payable via Paypal.

Normally, we wouldn't mention a print book, but this one may be of some interest to those studying the assistive technology field. Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired and Blind People gets to the heart of what makes specialized technology work. It gives primarily an engineering background and is ideal for those looking to creat their own devices or systems and perhaps for students as well. It's a hefty $269, but Amazon.com gives 5 percent off for preordering the book now, which makes it $255.55, shipped free. No word yet on an EBook or other accessible formats.

The Associated Services for the Blind is offering a coupon off $5 off when filling out a short online survey. The site, based in Philadelphia, produces braille books by hundreds of authors and also has several recorded periodicals available.

With the Victor Reader Stream adding support for Audible books, we thought we'd mention their current special. Audible.com offers three months of their gold audiobook service for $7.49 per month, which is half off. Audible gives you credits each month which you can use to download audio books and other content. In addition to the stream, many mainstream devices such as the Creative Zen Stone as well as most computers can play the files.

If you missed out on the braille cookbooks sale, you have just been given a reprieve. Blind Mice Mart has extended their sale on braille cookbooks for a few more days. They take 20 percent off their selection of more than 100 recipe collections. Plus, shipping is free via free matter. Sale now ends December 9.

BlindMiceMart.com still has the American Standard Solar-powered Talking Bible for $89.95. Plus, shipping is free. It includes the entire old and new testament and allows you to jump between chapters or books. Plus, it's completely solar-powered, requiring no batteries.

Ending on Friday, Blind Mice Mart takes 20 percent off its selection of braille cookbooks. Plus, shipping is free via free matter. Dozens of titles are available. Deal ends November 30.

Kevin Reeves, famous among the blind community for his first CD release, has now released the album as a free download. It's About Time is available for free on his website as a part of his promotion of his new upcoming CD for the spring of 2008. Select the link on this post to get your copy of Shine, Throw me a Line, Afraid and Alone, and nine other great songs.

Mee Inc. offers the Victor Reader Stream for $294. With free shipping, that's $35 off retail and the lowest price we could find. This device from Humanware is compatible with the new National Library Service downloadable audiobook program as well as DAISY, MP3, WAV, OGG, and text files. It also has a USB port and SD high-capacity memory card slot. Deal ends December 31.

Once again, Blind Mice Mart takes 20 percent off its selection of braille cookbooks. Plus, shipping is free via free matter. Dozens of titles are available. Deal ends November 30.

What do you do when you are told your child is blind? What skills are the most important for a newly-blinded person to learn? What adaptations and technology is available? For many of us, these questions may have obvious answers, but for someone new to blindness, they are a mystery. Fred Olver's new book, Dealing with Vision Loss, is said to answer these questions and many more. Olver, who is blind himself, has a Bachelor of Science in Communication Arts and Secondary Education and a Master of Arts in Blind
Rehabilitation Teaching from Western Michigan University. According to the site's home page, "His life
experience as well as his work as a Rehabilitation Teacher and developing
technology and training for individuals in the use of talking computers and
software, uniquely qualifies him to speak to the many questions about vision
loss." In addition, a large list of resources is included. The book is available in many formats, including print, CD, and EBook. The latter, presented in Adobe PDF, is the best value at $15.95. An MP3 version of the book is also in the works.

Bookshare, who has received a $32 million grant to offer increased access to textbooks
for students, has removed the 26-year-old age limit that was formerly listed as a
stipulation for a free subscription. Now, any student who qualifies for Bookshare's
services, regardless of age, may apply for a free membership. In addition, any student
who purchased a membership within the past few months may be eligible for a partial
refund. All of this according to Tiffany Medina, Outreach Coordination Intern for
Benetech. In addition, any student over 26 who purchased a membership after October
1 can ask for a complete refund. More information is available from Tiffany via a
mailing list post linked here.

SecondSpin.com takes 25% off all CDs. No coupon is required; the prices are shown on the catalog. That's the best discount on CDs we've seen from this merchant, which sells used CDs, DVDs and video games. Deal ends October 18.

Buy.com has South Park, the Complete 10th Season for $32.98. With free shipping, we couldn't find it for less elsewhere. This set includes all 14 episodes from the show's 10th season, originally aired in 2006.

A message circulating on the Bookshare.org volunteer list details a $32 million grant that was recently received by the nonprofit to provide access to books for k-12 and postsecondary students. Students will receive free access and the collection of books will grow by at least 100,000. Update: More information has now been posted to the Bookshare home page.

An Ebay seller has posted a Humanware VictorReader Vibe with a starting bid of one cent. Add about $13 for shipping. This unit will play DAISY-formatted books on CD as well as regular music discs. New players run around $200. Auction ends October 1.