Over the next month, I am going to be closing BlindSoftware.com forever. That’s right, forever. And you are thinking… and that is good news? Actually, yes it is… keep reading!

When I opened up BlindSoftware.com back in 2001 , I was 28 years old and single. Today, I am 40 years old, married, and have 4 children all under the age of 11! So what exactly does that mean? Well, not only am I blind, but being a father of 4 lovely children (and a dog) has also caused me to go bald! The joke in my home is that dad is bald and beautiful! Lol.

Simply put, now that I am a father and husband I just do not have enough time to devote to the company anymore so I am going to close it. However, before I close the doors on it, I wanted to contact you with a very special offer that I think you will appreciate.

The software that I currently offer through BlindSoftware.com includes:

Games

• Classic Pipe – a $24.95 value
• Classic Troopanum – a $24.95 value
• Troopanum in Spanish – a $24.95 value
• Hunter – a $34.95 value
• Blast Chamber – a $34.95 value
• Troopanum 2.0 – a $34.95 value
• Word Strain Volume 1 – a $14.99 value
• Word Strain Volume 2 – a $14.99 value

Ok, as if that isn’t enough… here are more programs (not games) that I offer on the site too:

• Day By Day Professional Calendar/Appointment/reminder program – a $29.99 value
• BSC Talking Clock and reminder program – a $19.99 value
• Pulse MP3 player – a $14.99 value

Wow… that is a ton of games and software if I might say so myself! Collectively, if you were to purchase every single program I just listed, it would cost you a hefty $285 (including tax). But, I am not in this to get wealthy. I make my living as a computer programmer working for a large corporation in the United States. So, before I close BlindSoftware.com forever, I want to help you have all these programs for your personal enjoyment and entertainment.

So, I’m not going to ask $285 of you – In fact, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that I’m not even going to go anywhere NEAR that.

By taking action today, you can get all of this… everything mentioned above for the low, one time investment

of only…

$200…no – $150…no – $100… no – $90… no – $75. Yes, that’s right… If you order today, you will be guaranteed the incredibly low one time price of just $75 for all of the games and programs offered on BlindSoftware.com.

*** Free Bonuses (valued at over $85 ***

When you make the smart decision to grab your own copy of all the BlindSoftware.com programs, you’ll also receive these Thank You gifts, valued at over $85.

Your bonuses include…

Free Bonus # 1
Value $57

BSC Unlock Code Generator Program: Create Your Own Unlock Codes

This powerful program will allow you to generate your own unlock codes for all of the games and programs that you purchase. Even though the BlindSoftware.com company is closing down forever, you can use this program to continue to create your own unlock codes. So your computer dies and you get a new one? No problem, use the BSC unlock code generator program to create your own new unlock codes for all the games and programs. You had to format your hard drive? No problem, use the BSC unlock code generator program to create your own new unlock codes for all the games and programs. Want to install all the games and programs on more than one computer that you own? No problem, create your unlock codes for the other computer, register the games and programs on the other computer, and enjoy hours of entertainment and fun.

Free Bonus # 2
Value $15

Enjoy 5 more computer games.

• Bobby’s Christmas
• Crazy Darts
• Deekout
• Finger Panic
• Sonic Match

Free Bonus # 3
Value $15

Enjoy four more programs.

• Funk in the Trunk MP3 player
• Cookie Muncher
• Internet Alarm Clock
• Sweet Midi

It’s all here, waiting for YOU.

“This Is A Limited Time Offer…”

On May 15, 2013 I will be closing Blindsoftware.com forever. Once the company is closed, you will no longer be able to download or purchase any of the games or programs from the company. Furthermore, if you already own any of the games or programs, you will not be able to get any replacement unlock codes from the company.

Please understand that I cannot keep this offer available forever. I can only keep this offer available up through May 15, 2013. At $75 it is a complete steal. Act now while it is still available.

Use the following link to purchase your own copy of the games and programs for only $75…

purchase this special offer

PS: Once your order goes through, I will email you a secret link that will let you log into the BlindSoftware.com website so you can download all of the games, programs, the unlock code generator, and all your free bonuses.

Warm Regards,
Justin Daubenmire

If you didn’t know, a cool feature put in place last year was the ability for customers to regenerate their own unlock codes in the event of a system crash/reformat/new pc etc. etc. You can always recreate your own unlock code (any time of the day even if you are in your pajamas!) using this link to recreate your own unlock code.

This way people do not need to wait for a response from Tom in case he is, well, drinking large amounts of coffee and playing with his iguana. Yes, Tom loves lizards and has several of them!

Ok, you may be wondering “well, is there any new software things brewing over there?” Honestly I’ve opened up visual studio 2010 several times over the past year to start programming a new blind friendly software program. But right in the midst of me starting to program, the dog barks wanting outside, my son jumps on me to wrestle, my wife wants to go to guitar center and purchase a new Fender acoustic (super cool she is playing guitar now and I’m teaching her), or my daughter throws her Barbie doll at me and says “play with me daddy!” So yes, I’ve tried, and yes, I’ve not been able to. Did I mention I actually work full time as a programmer too? Check out my linked in profile.

Ok, with all that out of the way, if I was to start programming something for the blind masses (the key word is *start*) what kinda windows application would you find helpful or useful or fun? Post me your idea and let me know.

Thanks and keep on computing!

For now though, don’t forget that you can score a 20% discount off of classic troop and troop 2 for only a few more days. You’ll want to take advantage of that yummy savings right now! The sale ends on Monday, June 13, 2011.

Oh and make sure your computer collects lots and lots of dust this summer. Here is a really really crazy thought. Are you ready? Maybe go outside and have fun in the sun with family and friends? I know, totally unreasonable but…

Have a safe and fun summer, ok?

Talk soon,
Justin

• The boss on level 4 used to be invincible!
• DirectX and Direct Input… can you please speak English?
• Boss’s get more difficult in version 1.5
• Clones of Troopanum hit the scene
• Simple game play… hit the control key and take names later!
• There’s a picture on the main Troopanum screen?
• Meet Dan’s dog sparky
• Don’t play Troopanum in school or else!
• Let’s go retro… fire up your modem and post your score
• Only one score board in classic Troopanum… you’re kidding me!

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast, and of course, post a comment, ok?

And, just a reminder, during this podcast series, I’ll be offering a 20% discount off the regular price of both Classic Troopanum and Troopanum 2.0. You’ll want to take advantage of that yummy savings!

Click this link to listen to the second podcast…

See you next week for part 3!
Justin

• How me and Dan met
• Troopanum was originally called Paratroopers… oh my!
• Our arcade gaming backgrounds
• Dan cheats on his programming test!
• Justin’s programming background
• What releasing the first version was like… mistakes and all!
• Dan blows off programming tasks to play Troopanum… really?
• Judy, Justin’s wife, recorded the first voice overs using a high quality microphone from Radio Shack… not!
• What was up with unpacking game files?
• The system requirements for Troopanum 1.0

Be sure to listen to the entire podcast, and of course, post a comment, ok?

And, during this podcast series, I’ll be offering a 20% discount off the regular price of both Classic Troopanum and Troopanum 2.0. Make sure to take advantage of it!

Note: the BlindSoftware.com site shows the regular prices of the games but when you go to the secure order form you will see the 20% discount taken off of the regular price.

Click this link to listen to the podcast…

See you next week for part 2!
Justin

In last week’s post I talked about the Solona Captcha Service and how it can help you solve visual captchas as a blind or low vision person. In this post I am going to show you another software tool that can help you solve visual captchas. It’s called WebVisum.

Unlike the Solona Captcha Service which requires a human to help you solve the captcha, WebVisum is automated and uses the internet and optical character recognition (OCR) technology to try to automatically figure out the captcha for you. What does all that OCR mumbo jumbo actually mean? Simply put, it’s automatic and doesn’t require a human to figure out the visual captcha for you. WebVisum is an add on that you install into Firefox. Firefox is a free web browser that for the most part, is pretty accessible. Be aware though, how useable Firefox is for you is based on your brand and version of screen reader. So how does this actually work under the hood?

While you are on a page with a visual captcha, you press control+alt+6 and then the WebVisum add on looks for a captcha on the web page. If it finds one, it submits the captcha on the web page to the WebVisum OCR service. The OCR service then uses OCR technology to try to figure out the captcha for you. It then returns the final result to you. The WebVisum add on puts the solved captcha text onto the clipboard for you to paste into the captcha box. All of those steps take around 30 seconds.

As of the writing of this post, according to the WebVisum website, it’s recommended to use Firefox version 3.5 together with the latest version of the WebVisum add on. However, I installed Firefox version 4.0, the latest version of Firefox, and it worked fine. Ok, enough with me rambling on about it, let’s give it a whirl! Follow these steps.

• Install Firefox onto your computer.
• Request an invitation code to sign up for the WebVisum service… this is a way to prevent spammers from abusing the service. It took 1 day to get my invitation code emailed to me from the company. This part of the sign up process is not automated and an actual human must read your request and send out the invitation code via email to you so please be patient!
• When you get the invitation email, click the link in the email, or copy it to the clipboard and paste it into the run prompt (windows key+r) and press enter. This will jump you to the registration form. You should complete it by filling in all required fields.
• You’ll get an activation email with a link in it to confirm your account. We are almost done so hang in there! If you do not see the email, check your spam or junk folder. Click the link or copy it to the clipboard and paste it into the run prompt (windows key+r) and press enter. Your now active… sweet!
• Open up Firefox and navigate to www.WebVisum.com and download and install the WebVisum add on.
• You’ll be prompted to restart Firefox so go ahead and restart it.
• When Firefox restarts, you will be prompted for your WebVisum user name and password so type them in and tab to ok and press enter. Note: the automatically log into WebVisum option is checked by default so just leave it at that so you do not need to log into the WebVisum service each time you open up Firefox.

Now that you’re totally freaking out from the 900 steps that you had to complete to get WebVisum started, let’s try it out. Go to my blog and choose any post. In fact, feel free to test with this post you are reading. I use a visual captcha on the leave a comment form. You can get an audio challenge instead of a visual challenge but for testing purposes, let’s leave it at the visual captcha option. Press control+alt+6 and WebVisum will find the visual captcha and submit it to the OCR service. IN around 30 seconds, you will hear a result message and the solved captcha code will be on the clipboard. Paste it into the visual captcha box and Walla! There you have it. Oh and leave me an actual comment, ok?

WebVisum cannot solve every visual captcha out there so that is one thing to keep in mind. For a list of frequently asked questions about WebVisum, see this page.

Do you use WebVisum? If yes, please let us know what web site and visual captcha it successfully solved for you or which web site/visual captcha it could not solve for you. Leave us all a yummy comment on it, ok?

Thanks and talk soon!

Justin

This little run in situation between me and Sadie got me thinking though. As blind or low vision people, we often run into situations that we cannot see or are not accessible for us. One of those annoying situations is the visual captchas out there. You know the graphical letters and numbers we gotta type in to submit a form to sign up for some service or website.

The other day I went through a lot of steps on a website to sign up for a service and at the very end – step 9000 – it asked me to key in the graphical captcha and there was no audio challenge option to use… ugh! This got me thinking about a service that is pretty sweet so I wanted to share it with you.

In case you did not know this, there is a free service out there for blind or low vision individuals to help you fill in the visual captcha. The company is called Solona. Solona is headquartered in Texas in the United States. Solona’s Captcha Solution Service is a real-time service. Whenever a blind or low vision user submits a Captcha to be solved, a sighted volunteer operator receives that image, and returns the text to the user within one minute. Solona’s Captcha Service is compatible with all Operating systems, all browsers, and all web pages. Windows, Apple, IE, Fire Fox etc.

Because the Solona captcha service is ran by volunteers, you may experience the captcha service not being available all the time. In other words, the more volunteers they have on staff, the more available the captcha service is for everyone. So the opposite is true too, if there are very little volunteers, the captcha service will be unavailable. Solona has a link on their site for volunteers to sign up. If you know of any sighted person that may enjoy helping out, maybe consider passing on this blog post to him or her to read.

For more info on Solona, head over to www.solona.net and register for a free account. Once you register, just log in, choose captcha in the drop down and click the continue button. If there is no volunteer available to help with the captcha service, the captcha option in the drop down will be unavailable. Once you have chose captcha in the drop down and you have clicked continue, on the next page there are instructions on how to use the service.

Do you use Solona’s Captcha service? If you have used it, post a comment and let us all know what you think of it, ok?

Thanks and talk soon,

Justin

So why am I up so early anyhow? I’m up super early this morning to record a quick podcast on how to use Backblaze to restore your files, minus the kids screaming in the background. In this podcast I show you hands on how to restore your files from the Backblaze server/website and back onto your own computer.

If you kinda have no clue what Backblaze is, you will want to check out my prior post on backup software for the blind – Backblaze. I explain what Backblaze is and how it is used to backup your files on your computer.

Ok, here is the podcast…

Oh let me know what you thought of it and leave me a comment, ok?

Talk soon,

Justin

When I got back on my laptop, I noticed that Cason had somehow deleted several of my word documents, mp3 files, and some of my programming source code! How you might ask? I don’t have a clue nor can I figure out how he crawled up to the top of our entertainment center the other day but the little rascal did it!

However, I didn’t freak out because I have all of my files on my computer backed up offsite… phew man! I use the Backblaze service. For 50 bucks a year, or for 5 bucks a month, you can back up all the files on your Mac or Windows pc that are important to you… documents, pictures, music, and pretty much anything else. You might be wondering, how does Backblaze actually work?

You download a tiny application that installs onto your Windows PC or Mac in three clicks and doesn’t require a credit card or any information to start using it. This internet backup application automatically finds all your photos, music, documents, and other irreplaceable files—no matter where they are on your hard drive—and compresses and securely encrypts them. When you’re not using your computer, it sends them over the Internet to the remote Backblaze datacenters.

So you go to the Backblaze website and download the free 14-day-trial backup program. When you install it, it will ask for an email address and a password. The email needs to be your real email address but the password doesn’t have to be your real email password. This information will be used to log into the Backblaze website so you can restore any of your files. I’ll cover how to restore your files in my next post so stay tuned.

After you supply your email address and a password, the Backblaze program will instantly start backing up everything on your computer to their secure offsite server… it’s that easy! They use your email address and password to encrypt your personal data as it streams in the background over a secure connection to their offsite servers so it’s totally safe. They give you unlimited storage. In addition to your regular computer, you can even backup an external USB drive plugged into your USB port. Oh and Backblaze works both on Windows and Mac… sweet!

The guys at back blaze are pretty cool. I worked with their programmers to make the back blaze program accessible for blind or low vision users. I’ve used back blaze for over 2 years now and I have never had a problem with it. The other day I had to format my computer and had no stress over it. Once my computer was back up and running I just simply restored all of my files from Backblaze onto my computer. 

I’m an affiliate for the guys at Backblaze so if you decide to sign up for it, please come back to this blog post and click a back blaze link on this page prior to paying for the service. It will toss a cookie on your computer so when you order Backblaze, the guys can say “sweet! Justin sent us an affiliate so let’s give him a few pennies for helping us out.” What will I do with those few pennies? Simple, I’ll purchase a kid proof safe to keep my laptop in so Cason cannot get to it anymore!

In my next post, I’ll show you how to restore files from the  Backblaze server. For now though, get backing up! Oh and if you try out Backblaze let us all know what you think of it. Leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all, ok?

Talk soon,

Justin

Recently a company named Ipplex released a program called LookTel. It is for the Apple iPhone 3G S or later, the iPod touch fourth generation, and the iPad 2. LookTel performs the exact same operation as the adaptive device I have sitting on my nightstand. So what’s the difference? LookTel costs $1.99 and the adaptive device cost $300. That’s almost unbelievable, but it’s true!

The LookTel software uses the iPhone, iPod or iPad’s built in camera to take a picture of the bill and then speaks it aloud. It can recognize all United States currency. It can identify and read $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. You just wave your iPhone, iPod or iPad over the bill, with no need to flatten or straighten it out, and a voice quickly tells you the denomination. You can watch a youtube video of this product. While you cannot see what the person is doing, the person is waving an iPhone over bills. The voice then speaks what bill it is. 

If you are using this software, let us all know what you think of it. Post us a comment below and share your experiences with us all, ok?

Thanks!

Talk soon,

Justin