I came across this great piece of freeware recently. I have always recommended readplease and sayz me to clients, but this seems to be a much better piece of software and includes some nice touches like export to mp3 and wav.

Visit the TTSReader page to find out more and download a copy

Guide Version 4 has many new features including:

• Built- in Skype support so you can talk with your family and friends for free anywhere in the world
• DVD player enabling you to watch movies
• BBC Listen again option so you can catch up on any radio programmes you have missed
• Personal Finance Manager to help you manage you incomings and out goings.

For a demonstration copy of Guide send an email with your address to wayne@taslivingtech.com.au. More information can be found on the Guide product page or the software express site.

Tasmanian Living Technology has now been operating for two months and I've finally had some time to create a more coherent web page. The CMS is not fully W3C compliant yet due to some quirks with the ecommerce module but it is getting there.

Business is brisk and TLT has recently been named as both Victorian and Tasmanian distributor for Software Express Guide. It is a deceptively simple program designed for blind or partially sighted users with no previous computer experience. I have found that its OCRing capabilities are worth the price alone.

I will be demonstrating Guide at the Blind Citizens Australia National Convention in Melbourne on the 19th of October.

What is Guide?

GUIDE is an all-in-one computer package, for people who are blind or partially sighted. It has been specifically designed to be easy-to-use and easy-to-learn. So it doesn't matter if you've never used a computer before, GUIDE will help you to achieve the results you want.

GUIDE has its own in-built screen reader, so it will read out the text on every screen, even while you're typing. It also has its own in-built screen magnifier, so you can enlarge the text on every screen, whether you are writing a letter or surfing the Internet.

And what's more, GUIDE requires very little training, so most people can easily teach themselves how to use it. This is because GUIDE uses easy-to-follow menu options for each task, which are controlled via the keyboard and displayed on uncluttered screens. If you are stuck, a Help Page can be accessed from any screen, to give you extra advice and support.