Monday, November 30, 2009
ReadHowYouWant CEO Tricia Roth News Release on Accessibility and Kindle
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bradi Grebien-Samkow: bradi@readhowyouwant.com
971-340-9853
Publishing Innovator ReadHowYouWant Bridges Kindle Gap
for Blind and Visually Impaired Readers
Sydney, Australia, November 23, 2009—Amidst complaints of Amazon’s Kindle inaccessibility for blind readers, ReadHowYouWant, a new technology publishing company from Australia, is leading the way in accessible publishing by using proprietary XML conversion software to repurpose books into a number of formats to meet the varying needs of readers who are blind, visually impaired, or have print or learning disabilities.
Now readers can choose between as many as ten different formats before they buy a book at www.readhowyouwant.com, including electronic braille, synthesized audio MP3; optimized, large print, 24 point bold EasyReadÔ print-on-demand books, and DAISY—a talking book format that produces audio along with the written text. DAISY books play on DAISY players, which are either standalone units or computer applications. DAISY is ideal for vision-impaired and blind readers, dyslexic readers, and for readers who are unable to hold a conventional book or turn pages. Testing is also being conducted on several specialized formats for readers with dyslexia and eye-tracking issues.
“Technology now offers the possibility of access to hundreds of thousands of books for blind and visually impaired readers. It is unacceptable that The Kindle and other mainstream reading devices have been designed with no consideration given to the requirements of universal design. The introduction of the Kindle DX in some universities discriminates against blind and visually impaired students, and educators should join with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University in rejecting this as a textbook replacement until it is accessible for all students,” says Tricia Roth, CEO of ReadHowYouWant.
ReadHowYouWant is reaching out to visually impaired readers through partnerships with leading assistive technology companies, HumanWare™ and PLEXTALK®. HumanWare's™ products include BrailleNote, a productivity device for blind people in education, in business and in their personal lives; digital talking book players; and a unique "auto-reader" for people with low vision. PLEXTALK® is the producer of the PLEXTALK® Pocket and other digital talking book players.
"Through our PLEXTALK® Pocket partnership with ReadHowYouWant, we are able to offer even greater access to and increased mobility for reading thousands of books available for download from ReadHowYouWant's extensive library,” says Deana Valdez, Sales & Marketing Manager, PLEXTALK® North America.
Through its partnership with over 70 leading trade and university publishers, www.readhowyouwant.com/braille currently offers some 4,500 titles in braille, DAISY, and audio MP3 formats¾from current bestsellers to health, political, spiritual, mystery, business, and history books. Readers can browse, sample different formats, and choose the format that is best for them. “New titles are being added weekly as the number of publishers partnering with ReadHowYouWant continues to grow,” reports Roth.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Starred Reviews. Bestsellers, Timely Topics. All in Large Print!
Starred Reviews. Bestsellers, Timely Topics. All in Large Print!
This gives the November Hot List from ReadHowYouWant.
This gives the November Hot List from ReadHowYouWant.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Humanware and ReadHowYouWant Free Chapter Downloads for November
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PLEXTALK and ReadHowYouWant Launch Monthly DAISY Book Giveaway
PLEXTALK® and ReadHowYouWant Launch Monthly Giveaway of Literary Classics in DAISY for Visually Impaired Readers
November 2, 2009 by ReadHowYouWant
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Bradi Grebien-Samkow: bradi@readhowyouwant.com
971-340-9853
Contact:
Deana
310-693-7629
PLEXTALK® and ReadHowYouWant Launch Monthly Giveaway of Literary Classics in DAISY for Visually Impaired Readers
Sydney, Australia, November 2, 2009—PLEXTALK®, the producer of the PLEXTALK® Pocket and other digital talking book players, and digital accessible publishing innovator ReadHowYouWant are partnering to help visually impaired readers discover literary classics in a convenient format that works for them.
Beginning in November, each month readers will be able to go to the PLEXTALK® website, www.plextalk.com to download five free titles from ReadHowYouWant’s Classics collection. November’s selected Classics titles are The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, The
“We are very pleased to be able to partner with ReadHowYouWant,” said Deana Valdez, Sales and Marketing Manager for PLEXTALK® North America. “Through our PLEXTALK® Pocket partnership with ReadHowYouWant, we are able to offer even greater access to and increased mobility for reading thousands of books available for download from ReadHowYouWant’s extensive library.”
ReadHowYouWant will be demoing the PLEXTALK® Pocket DAISY reading device at book industry events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, the
“We are delighted to be partnering with PLEXTALK®. The monthly giveaway program of ReadHowYouWant titles at the PLEXTALK® website furthers our mission to make more content accessible and easily available to all kinds of readers,” says Tricia Roth, CEO of ReadHowYouWant.
Readers looking for more great books can go to www.readhowyouwant.com/braille where they will find over 2,000 titles in the Classics Library in DAISY 2.02 and NISO/2005 formats, as well as synthesized audio MP3 books for $9.99 each. In addition, ReadHowYouWant offers thousands of classic and bestselling titles in downloadable ASCII and Visual braille book files for $4.99 and $9.99.
About
Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd. is responsible for the development and manufacture of digital talking book players and other products sold under the brand name of PLEXTALK®. Shanano and PLEXTALK® assistive products are created to improve the
About ReadHowYouWant
ReadHowYouWant Pty Ltd and its R&D parent company, Accessible Publishing Systems Pty Ltd are both Sydney, Australia-based privately held companies founded in 2004 by electronic publishing pioneers Christopher Stephen and
After more than four years of testing, ReadHowYouWant has successfully developed award-winning conversion technology that reformats existing books into the widest selection of on-demand, alternative format editions on the market today. Each edition has been optimized for maximum readability. The company’s goals are to make reading easier and more enjoyable by delivering formats that suit the reader and to give people with reading difficulties access to books in the formats of their choice—at an affordable price, and as soon as the book is published. For more information visit www.readhowyouwant.com.
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