news

Cool Websites February Edition

ZoomText user Kathy Kalaluhi sent in a bunch of websites that she thought other ZoomText users would find interesting and helpful.  We liked the idea so much that it’s become a regular “column” in ZoomNews! 

Keep reading to see all her suggestions this time around!

ZoomReader App for the iPhone!

You may have heard the chirps of some little birdies on the internet, but just in case you haven’t, Ai Squared is Going Mobile. Now, try not to throw your computer out the window just yet - we are not taking ZoomText itself onto the mobile platform; there are just too many great features in ZoomText for mobile devices to handle them all!

ZoomReader will be a combination video magnifier and OCR app. It uses the built-in camera on an iPhone to zoom in on printed materials, apply color filters, and to take a picture of something and have the text in that image read out loud! One woman at ATIA even cried when she saw what ZoomReader could do; one of her family members has Down’s Syndrome and ZoomReader will open up a brand new world for him - one where he will be able to read street signs, restaurant menus, and any printed material that he would otherwise need help reading.

Read more for all the details!

December Survey Results

In the December issue of ZoomNews, we asked you to tell us about your computer use and the different ways you access the Internet.  First off, congratulations to Denis Roy whose name was chosen in the raffle from all the participants - he won a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate!

There was a lot of interesting information that came out of the survey:

• The most popular email client is Outlook.


• There was a tie between the iPhone and Internet connected TV for the most common other device you own that can access the internet.


• The majority of you said you spend between 51 and 90% of your time on the internet when you’re at the computer.


• Most of you use your computer to consume information and for entertainment.

If you want to take a peek at all the results, here’s a summary in a PDF document.

ZoomText Enterprise License

The new ZoomText Enterprise License is an opportunity for corporations to deploy ZoomText across every desktop PC at a very low cost per copy. 

After much external research and internal discussion, we are ready to hit the street with the ZoomText Enterprise License.  In a corporation where the CIO (Chief Information Officer) is responsible for thousands of computers, what is the best way to accommodate low vision users?  Up until now, the common practice has been to buy ZoomText for each individual who raises their hand to ask for assistance.  However, through the years, we’ve discovered that ZoomText is not just for those among us who are diagnosed with vision impairments.  For any employee who spends countless hours in front of a high-resolution computer screen, staring at small text and row upon row of tiny numbers, the gentle boost in magnification that ZoomText provides can make a huge difference in productivity.  This is especially true for our aging workforce.  So put away those reading glasses and use ZoomText at 1.5x magnification. 

Read on for all the details!

Buy an International ZoomText Manual!

Great news - We now print and ship the ZoomText Manual in all 20 languages that we support!!

Sure, we provide our international customers electronic documentation in their native language, but it’s nice to have a printed manual that you can reference when you need to look up something quickly.

Now you can! Through a cool website called Lulu, you can now purchase a manual in any of the languages that we support for just $20 + shipping and they will ship it anywhere in the world. Even if you have the U.S. English version you can order another copy - maybe you lost yours over the years and would like another one.

The text is large and easy to read plus there are screen shots so you can follow right along on your own computer screen. In case you were wondering, here is a list of all the languages that are available: Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, U.K. English, U.S. English.

Go to Lulu’s website and purchase yourself a copy today! 

October Survey Results

In the October issue of ZoomNews, we asked you to tell us what app you would most like to have on your phone to make your life easier.  First off, congratulations to Ruth Weber whose name was chosen in the raffle from all the participants - she won a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate!

You sent in so many great suggestions!  Here are the top five requests:

• ZoomText for my phone
• Magnifier app to enlarge whatever’s on screen
• Text-to-Speech (screen reader)
• Use my phone’s camera to make it into a video magnifier/OCR to read out loud
• Speech recognition (speech to text)

If you want to take a peek at all the results, here’s a summary in a PDF document.

ZoomText on Living Full Out Radio!

Premiering December 11, 2010 at 8 PM PST on KFWB News Talk 980, Living Full Out with Nancy Solari is dedicated to assisting and educating listeners in how to overcome life’s obstacles and live full out. And guess what?  She’s a ZoomText user!

Join the growing audience of fans and supporters who listen in for advice, inspiration and coaching from a woman who is legally blind and has faced life’s tough challenges and succeeded to tell her tale. Discussing a variety of topics people deal with on an everyday basis, Nancy will share her unique brand of motivation and inspiration.

We are one of the sponsors of the show!  Tune in for an hour of invaluable tips on succeeding in business, your personal life, and much more - including a ZoomText commercial!

For those of you who are not in the Southern California area and are not able to tune in live, you can listen online at KFWB’s website - you can either stream the show live or you can listen to a recorded podcast at your convenience.

Free Online Learning Opportunities

Are you new to ZoomText and want to know more about the product and its features?  Maybe you just downloaded the trial and would like some help figuring out the basics or maybe you’re a new ZoomText “owner”!

We’re here to help - we hold weekly webinars and we cover all the basics of ZoomText to get you up and running.  These are quick, 30-45 minute sessions, with an additional 15 minutes in case you’d like to ask questions.

These are free, but you do have to register for the session you’d like to attend.  Head on over to our training page to sign up today!  If you have any questions you can also email us at .

Pass It On Center

At the recent ATIA conference in Chicago, I came across one booth in particular that really caught my eye - it was for something called the Pass It On Center.  One reason might have been that they had the ZoomText Large-Print Keyboard right on their poster!

Click here to read more about the Pass It On Center.

Going Blind:  A Documentary

ZoomText user Lauren Tappen wrote to us a little while ago to let us know about a great movie called Going Blind that had just made its debut in New York City.  She thought it would be the perfect thing to share in ZoomNews and we agree!

Read on for a synopsis of the movie and where you can go for more information.