NFB-NEWSLINEŽ News

Communications from the NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Team

June 30, 2010

The NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Team has been busy working on service enhancements over the past several months. We have added numerous magazines and have rolled out our new feature called PODABLE NEWS that allows subscribers to create their own customized newspaper based on their personal preferences. More information about that is available at our PODABLE NEWS web page .

As far as our new content additions, we now have the following magazines: Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, Men's Journal, Vanity Fair, Vogue, New York Review of Books, Glamour, PC World and Mac World.

Look for more exciting additions over the next several weeks.

ZIP File Feature Added

Based on the request of subscribers, you can also download an entire publication as a ZIP file that contains the DAISY-formatted files. While on our Web News On Demand website, and within a newspaper or publication, simply select the DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE OF FULL PAPER link.

NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Is Now On Twitter and Facebook

You can keep up to date with exciting links to interesting news articles, new features and other exciting developments - HOT OFF THE PRESS! FOLLOW OUR TWITTER PAGE or link to our Facebook page . Some may find the Mobile site for Facebook easier to navigate. If so, you can go to the Mobile website.

Audio Demo of New Features Now Available

Listen to Scott White, Director of NFB-NEWSLINEŽ along with Bob Watson, Content Manager, as they go into detail about the newest enhancements to the service. You can DOWNLOAD THE MP3 File sit back, relax and learn!

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NEWS - Updated March 25, 2010

We have just added two publications to the service, they are:
The New Republic - covers issues before they hit the mainstream, from energy to the environment, from foreign to fiscal policy. By publishing the best writing from a variety of viewpoints -- including those from arts and culture, with literary criticism that sets the standard in the academy and among general readers alike -- The New Republic continues to be America's best and most influential journal of opinion.
Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind - since 1907, a well rounded blend of general interest news and blindness related information specifically made for the blind and visually impaired.

Just Announced! A New Way to Manage your Favorites

We are now pleased to offer you even more flexibility in using nfb newsline. Taking into account your many suggestions, you can now manage your favorite publications via the internet, all while enjoying the ability to create different favorite lists, depending on the way you want your content delivered.

To further explain this, consider this:
In the past, subscribers were limited to having 6 favorite publications, available by telephone, via WEB NEWS ON DEMAND, email or IN YOUR POCKET.

Now, you can have an unlimited number of favorites on the web, in your pocket, or via email. For users who may use several delivery methods now or wish to expand the way in which they receive their content, you can create lists of favorites that could be the same or completely different, depending on your preference. Each of the delivery methods is independent of each other. The choice is completely up to you.

Please note however, that current telephone only users, you are still limited to 6 favorites and no changes or actions will be necessary on your part. We will be reviewing the option to lift the restriction of 6 publications with a future service enhancement.

And that's not all. We have also given you the ability to establish your favorite TV channels over the web. For those users who are using the telephone only, you can still manage your favorite channels just like you have done in the past.

Ready to explore these groundbreaking enhancements? Simply go to Web News On Demand and log in. At the main page, navigate to the link for MANAGE ALL YOUR FAVORITES. From this page, you can simply select the appropriate link to manage that favorite delivery method.

A few things to remember. If you had not already requested the NEWSPAPERS BY EMAIL option previously, you must complete the online request form .

Also, if you already had favorites established, we have carried these over as a convenience to you and these publications will show up in the appropriate delivery option. You can modify these as you wish.

It's that simple. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 1-866-504-7300 or email us .

A Recent Bit of News from early March 2010

We have just added a few more magazine to the service:
Smithsonian Magazine - A monthly magazine created for modern, well-rounded individuals with diverse interests. It chronicles the arts, history, sciences and popular culture of the times.
Parade - PARADE needs no introduction to its 72.775 million readers, who value it for the fun and information of Personality Parade, for the challenge and wit of Ask Marilyn, the currency of ideas in Intelligence Report and, above all, for its relevance.
Time - Created to be the great American magazine, reflecting the interests, the values and the ambitions of America and her people. Covers national and international developments in politics, social and hard sciences, government, industry, business, the human condition and people in the news.
USA Weekend - Appearing in more than 700 newspapers with a circulation of 22.6 million, it reaches up to 48 million readers every weekend. Complete with general interest articles, interviews, contests and other exciting features each week.

During 2010 we plan to add several new newspapers and magazines to the service so that we can offer our subscribers the top one hundred newspapers in the US. We want to hear from you about what magazines you'd like to see offered; to put in your vote, please email Bob Watson.

Remember to check back often for updates on this page!

Voices! Voices! Do You Hear Voices?

We sure did at our NFB NEWSLINE offices! After tallying almost 300 votes, we now offer two new more human-sounding voices -- Paul and Kate, from Neospeech. A Spanish voice, Violeta is also available for Spanish content publications. As a subscriber, you can use one of these new voices for your news presentation or you can continue with the traditional, classic Eloquence voice, a long time fixture on the service. The choice is YOURS!

Articles on Demand Service Now Available

Have you ever been listening to an article on the phone and thought, "wow, I sure would like to have this article emailed to me..." Well, now you can with the POUND 9 Feature. While listening to an article, simply press the POUND SIGN (#) followed by the 9 key on your telephone and that article will be sent to the email address we have on file. If your email address is incorrect or you need to provide an email address to us, please call 1-866-504-7300.

Did You Know?

In most screen readers, pressing the letter "H" will move you from heading to heading, so that you can jump from article to article when reading your publication on NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Online using Web News on Demand.

You can ask the agency or organization (known as the sponsor) who administers the NFB-NEWSLINEŽ service in your state to put your organization's newsletter, or any other helpful and relevant content, on your local information channel. E-mail Renee West, Marketing and Outreach Manager, to find out who your state's sponsor is and to learn more about how you can help your sponsor utilize your state's local information channel to its best effect.

NFB-NEWSLINER

Read the latest edition of NFB-NEWSLINER, the newsletter for NFB-NEWSLINEŽ subscribers! Get all the news, ideas and updates for NFB-NEWSLINEŽ by subscribing to our list; send an e-mail to Scott White to subscribe.

Archives of the NFB-NEWSLINER are also available, below. Archived copies of NFB-NEWSLINER will be placed on this page approximately one week after the date of issue.

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NFB-Newsliner for March 2010

The Newsletter for Subscribers All aboard the Newsliner!

Greetings, subscribers! 2010 has only recently docked, but we've been making headway with our efforts to improve our service and have some exciting developments to share with you.

First, have you meet Paul, our new, more human-sounding voice? Paul from NeoSpeech, who, as you may recall was subscribers' top choice in our recent poll, is now available! Along with Paul, Kate (as the female version), and Violeta (who provides our Spanish-language menu voice), we'll still have Eloquence for those of you who love the ability to ramp up the speed. If you'd like to use Paul or Kate as your reading voice, just choose option number eight when reading an article. For those of you who are new to synthesized speech or who experience slight hearing loss, "yacht" to check out Paul or Kate!

Another "slooper" development is also newly available: when accessing the news via the telephone, you can now make an on-demand request to have an article sent to your e-mail inbox! This is great news, and "ferry" helpful if you want to read an article again for research purposes, or if you find you don't have time to fully read or appreciate a complex or lengthy piece. With this article request service, you can cruise through the paper and net just those articles you want! To use this feature, simply press #9 (pound nine) during the reading of an article, and the article will be sent to the e-mail address on file for your account. Naturally, this means that you need to have provided us with your e-mail address. If you are unable to receive an article that you requested, please call (866) 504-7300 and ask us to enter your e-mail address to your subscriber account. Also, if you are not receiving these e-mails, please check your junk mail folder as these e-mails can get snagged by your spam filters. At this time, this feature only works for articles appearing in newspapers and magazines; you will not be able to request content appearing in State Information Channels. Please remember that we provide these articles to you for your use only, and that this content, provided to you for your benefit, should not (for legal reasons) be forwarded or shared with other individuals or listservs.

Also, a special note to you BookSense users: You are now able to easily download your favorite publications to your device via NFB-NEWSLINEŽ In Your Pocket! Many subscribers have purchased this small digital talking-book player and have asked us to create compatibility with their device so that they could enjoy the quick and easy download process, and we're excited to offer this access method to those individuals. To use this access method, visit www.nfbnewslineonline.org, log in, choose "NFB-NEWSLINEŽ In Your Pocket," and download the appropriate application. We are "stow" happy to provide this great feature to our subscribers!

Finally, we've added a hull, oops, whole bunch of new publications to NFB-NEWSLINEŽ recently to improve the variety for the benefit of our subscribership. We've added many new state newspapers, including the Helena Independent Record of Helena, Montana; the Watertown Tab and Press of Watertown, Massachusetts; and the Northwest Arkansas Morning News of Springdale, Arkansas. We've also added a raft of new magazines as well, including Parade, Popular Science, Science News, Smithsonian, Time magazine, and USA Weekend. Do you have ideas for a newspaper or magazine you'd like to see offered on NFB-NEWSLINEŽ? If so, please write to Bob Watson, our helpful Content Manager, at bwatson@nfb.org.


Portholes

Did you know that newspapers can help you in your own galley? It's true; many newspapers regularly offer an excellent food section or column. If you want to get some ideas for what to make for scupper, oops, supper, here are some reliable recipe resources:
* Washington Post offers a great Food section on Tuesdays
* Chicago Tribune's Good Eating appears on Wednesdays
* New York Times' Sunday Magazine usually features a recipe or two

What about you? Is there a place you tend to go to get swell cooking tips and tricks? If so please contact Renee West, Marketing and Outreach Manager, at rwest@nfb.org or (410) 659-9314, extension 2411, so that she can feature your favorite(s) in the next issue of NFB-Newsliner!

Take a Bow!

Our usage numbers are above deck recently, and we wanted to share these good statistics with you, because you are the ones who make it happen. In January, we had the highest numbers of minutes of use ever in our history: subscribers enjoyed over three million minutes of use! In 2009, you made a total of 1,772,046 calls to NFB-NEWSLINEŽ, and requested a whopping 1,833,343 e-mails! We are happy that so many people derive true benefit from NFB-NEWSLINEŽ. If you need some help in getting the most out of our service, or want to try a new access method but need some assistance, please give us a call at (866) 504-7300.

(Broad)casting Off

Are you involved in a support group, a technology user group, or a chapter of a nationwide consumer organization? Are you a member of a civic organization or church? If so, you may be in a quay, er, key, position to help spread the word about NFB-NEWSLINEŽ! If you'd like to help inform members of your community about this service, please contact Renee West at rwest@nfb.org.

Making Waves

Many State Information Channels contain information that you might find really useful, even if you don't personally live in the state managing a particular channel. One terrific example of truly beneficial content is the availability of the Hadley School for the Blind course catalog available on the Illinois Information Channel. These listings cover all courses available (organized by course type) and allow you to easily determine what types of classes are offered. You can access this excellent content by navigating to the Illinois State Channel online by selecting "Illinois" from "Publications Organized by State" from the main menu, or on the phone by selecting Illinois from option number five from the main menu. From there, look for the "Illinois Information Channel" and from there select the "Hadley School for the Blind" option. The availability of this and other valuable content on the channel is due entirely to the constant good works of Mr. David Meyer. He is truly an excellent asset to NFB-NEWSLINEŽ, and is also truly appreciated; thank you, David, for all that you do!

Give us a "Squall!"

Don't forget about our after-hours number we've established to alert us to major service issues. This number, (410) 609-7081, is expressly to be used to alert us about issues on a global system scale. This means that the issue affects subscribers at large, such as problems with a national publication or the TV listings, or if the system as a whole is impacted in some other way. For issues regarding an individual paper (a smaller state paper, not a newspaper like the New York Times) or your individual subscriber account, it is best to call our regular number, (866) 504-7300, during business hours. We want to hear from you if there is an issue affecting the system so that we can resolve it as soon as possible. We appreciate your assistance in helping us to provide a top-notch service!

Until next time...

The NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Team wishes you Smooth Sailing!

NFB-NEWSLINEŽ: On the Phone, On the Web, and On the Go!

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NFB-Newsliner for September 17, 2009

The Newsletter for Subscribers All aboard the Newsliner!

Greetings, subscribers! The NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Team has been cruising along during the past few months and it is certainly time that we connected with you again. Since the last newsletter was sent out we have added six new publications to our service. They are:
Washington State -Seattle Times
Washington, DC - Washington Examiner
Tennessee - Knoxville News Sentinel
Massachusetts - Boston Herald
New Jersey - Bergen Record
and the magazine for National Active and Retired Federal Employees - NARFE

In our last missive we reported on the launch of NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Online. In that time we have seen a great swell in usage, and have introduced new compatibilities that we wish to share with you. When we first created NFB-NEWSLINEŽ In Your Pocket (an easy-to-use feature that allows you to quickly download favorite publications to a digital talking book player) it was only made available for use with the Victor Reader Stream. Now those subscribers with either an Icon or a Braille Plus can make use of this exciting initiative. We are presently seeking to create compatibility with other digital-talking-book players, and we will certainly advise you when we do. If you aren't familiar with or haven't used NFB-NEWSLINEŽ In Your Pocket, please visit our website . If you would like more information, you can also listen to a CD we created that gives very detailed information on the two new features currently available (NFB-NEWSLINEŽ In Your Pocket and Web News on Demand). The CD fully describes our new Web site (www.nfbnewslineonline.org) and walks you through the steps of installing and/or using the new features so that interested subscribers can easily begin using the initiatives on their own. If you would like to receive these new promotional items, please contact Carylin Walton by email or call (410) 659-9314, extension 2333. To hear it schooner, er, sooner, you can also hear the audio demo on our website . We have also appeared on several Internet radio or radio-reading-service programs; you can listen to one by visiting Thru Our Eyes or Serotalk to hear us discuss these new features.

We are getting ready to release our third revolutionary new initiative, Podable News! Podable News provides publication content in audio files and allows you to choose, cafeteria-style, particular publication sections so that you can cobble together a "paper" that is comprised of only that content that is of interest to you! You can then hear these files on your computer or download them to a device like the Victor Reader Stream or an MP3 player. We'll have more information about that in our next Newsliner!

Many subscribers have asked us if they need a new or different set of subscriber identification codes to use the new features, such as Web News on Demand. The answer is no, your current subscriber codes will allow you to access the new features. If you have jettisoned your codes from your memory bank, please contact Carylin Walton ; or she may be reached by phone at (410) 659-9314, extension 2333.

Portholes

We've heard from subscribers who "galleon"tly shared their favorite columnists and sections, and we want to pass those along to you. One excellent column, says Tim from Alexandria, Virginia, is the Day in History feature offered by the national Associated Press. Ginny in California really enjoys the Datelab column in Sunday's Washington Post. Datelab joins two individuals unknown to each other on a date and reports on their activities and whether sparks flew or just fizzled betwixt these Post-cross'd lovers. I must confess an affinity for the Book Review section in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. Reading excellent reviews of interesting new books by thoughtful writers on a lazy Sunday over a nice cup of tea...heaven!

There are many fish in the sea, and there are many newspapers and magazines in circulation. In an effort to create a publication list that is catered to our subscriber bass, er, base, we are asking you to please let us know what are the three publications you would most like us to add to our roster. To make your request, please e-mail Bob Watson, Content Manager . Poll results will be made available in the next newsletter.

With over 300 publications offered, there are sure to be some top-deck columns that you read on a regular basis. Why not share your favorite section or columnist with us? Also, let us know where you go to get good recipes and business news and why; we'll share this information so that others can likewise be in the know. Please send your recommendations to Renee West at rwest@nfb.org .

(Broad)casting Off

Do you have a page on a social networking site like Facebook or LiveJournal? Do you participate in discussion boards such as System Access Mobile Network's? If you are, you can help us to inform members of the print-disabled community about NFB-NEWSLINEŽ and its new features. If you'd like, we can even provide you with language that you can use as well as an image that links to our new Web site so that you can spread the word to your mates. Send an e-mail to rwest@nfb.org to get the sloop, oops, scoop on how to cast a net on the 'Net!

Making Waves

Attention buoys and windlasses! Do you want "moor" of the latest news about NFB-NEWSLINEŽ? Do you anchor, er, hanker, to know when we've added a new publication? You can get onboard by following us on Twitter ; and sign up so that you can be in the know.

Until next time... The NFB-NEWSLINEŽ Team wishes you Smooth Sailing!

NFB-NEWSLINEŽ: On the Phone, On the Web, and On the Go!

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