FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jamie Principato
Director of Public Relations
Phone: (239)810-4951
E-Mail: [email protected]
MOST AFFORDABLE E-BOOK READER FOR THE BLIND HIT'S THE MARKET
Blind Readers Can Access eText for Less than the Cost of an
Evening Out
Mar 2, 2012: In the age of technology, when most people turn to
the
Internet for information, and a laptop is practically a necessity
in
the workplace or at school, the e-book is rapidly becoming as
common
and important to daily life as its paper-bound counterpart.
Access
to printed information for the Blind is more important now than
ever, and though there is a variety of software available to make
electronic books and documents accessible, it either comes
complete
with a price only few could afford without assistance from a
school
or rehab agency, or does not allow the reader to open even a
minority of the various eText formats. Christopher Toth, a blind
software developer, aims to change that with QRead, the first
e-reader for the blind that is affordable even to the average
college student.
QRead is a program that provides blind users with fast and
efficient
screen-reader access to most common e-book formats, including
both
PDF, the industry standard for textbooks, ePub, a format popular
for
technical titles and fiction as well as many others. Users can
open
and tab between an unlimited number of books, place an unlimited
number of bookmarks, and return to their current place in each
book
even after a session has ended. QRead offers the ability to read
continuously, "skim" through a text by percentage, and even
search
for specific passages with its "Find" feature.
QRead interfaces directly with all major screen reading software,
including JAWS for Windows, Window-Eyes, Super Nova, System
Access,
and the free and open source NVDA.
The program goes on sale today for an introductory price of $20,
and
is expected to retail for $30. Its nearest competitors are
available
for upwards of $80.
Mr. Toth says his software offers a unique benefit in addition
to
affordability.
"Historically, access to PDF, ePub and other eText formats has
been
cumbersome, difficult or even impossible. I invented QRead to
fix
this, and in the process have created a tool which will vastly
improve your reading experience, regardless if you're a casual
reader, student, or professional", he states.
For more information about QRead and other accessibility software
developed by Toth, visit http://q-continuum.net/ .
###
ABOUT THE DEVELOPER:
Christopher Toth is a freelance software developer in
Tallahassee,
Florida. His projects focus primarily on breaking down the
access
barriers faced by blind consumers of technology on a daily basis.
He
is the creator of Hope, the accessible Pandora Radio client, and
contributes regularly to various open-source projects. Toth has
been
blind since early infancy as a result of Retinoblastoma, and
started
writing software while he was in high school. He founded Q
Software
Solutions as a means of distributing his ideas and his code to
those
who will find it most useful.
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ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology