deafbiz.com

One time about 2 years ago, I forgot to set up a VCR taping of the “Amazing Race” second to last episode to find out who was eliminated. The only place to find the episode was on BitTorrent. I managed to download the show (really huge file!) and watch it on my PC. Only one problem. It wasn’t captioned or subtitled. I guess the person who was gracious enough to upload the show was either hearing or there’s really no simple way to burn CC on the shows.

Fast forward to today:

BitTorrent to Launch Movie, TV Downloads

So when I see this news making the big splash today, I just had to write to BitTorrent to inquire if the movies and television shows will be closed-captioned or subtitle. I’ll keep you posted if they replied to me.

If anyone else has the inside scoop please spill it out in the comments.

Update: As soon as I submitted the email, I got an instant notification that someone is going to read my email. A minute later, I got another notice that the matter is solved and is now closed. I guess is that there’s no closed-captioning or subtitle available. I will neither spend my time nor $$ to test it out.

Ever have a video that you want it to be captioned or subtitled but turned off by the high price? Or have you watched any deaf video and wanted to add funny comments? Go to BubblePly and sign up. Works with YouTube, Google Video, ifilm, etc.
If you wish to “Bubble” your own video, you will need to host it on one of the approved video hosting or community web sites and then come back to BubblePLY.com with the URL.

Oh, and do you know that it’s free?

If only there’s a similar service for podcasting

Did a Google search on “deaf podcast” and this is what I found:

DeafSpot’s Podcast - nothing there
Deafstation podcast- nothing there
 
Podcast tagged with deaf -There’s two listings, neither which has to do with deafness.

On the other hand, here’s what was offered:

The DisabilityNation Podcast: Podcast Transcripts fo Deaf/Hard of Hearing
- Just have to ask for a transcript ahead of time. And of course there’s the cost factor.

Being Deaf Part 1 : Time Lost (transcript available) - very recent and does the job right!
Being Deaf part 2:  Deaf and Proud (transcript available) - I was listening and reading the transcript and it was very clear and easy to follow because they spoke neither too fast nor slow.

Kudos to Tecnhocato.com  which offers closed caption podcasts. The latest podcast has a transcript available. Now that’s how to do podcasting the right way!

Of course, if you have a podcast and want to reach (marketing) to the deaf community, here’s one service: CastingWords

I’m curious to know if deaf customers are more likely to buy from one company that offers transcripts of their podcasts vs. the competitiors.

Coming soon on your Computer Screen - Captioned RADIO!

Call for Beta Testers to View New Radio Captioning Technology of Earize Communications Providing Streaming Text on National Public Radio (NPR) “Talk of the Nation” Radio Show June 12, 2006 (2:00 — 3:00 P.M. EST)

Many of you have been asking for radio shows to be accessible.  Now we at Earize think we’ve developed an inexpensive way to stream radio show text on the Internet — as it happens.  But we need your members help to test the technology and find out how many people can reliably use the system at any one time.  As well, this technology can be used for emergency situations where television is not an option.

For the last year, Earize Communications has been quietly developing high volume “one-to-many” text streaming technology at its own expense.

Over the last year, the development team has grown to include what we think we think are some of the best minds and most experienced people from across the nation — Idaho, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Florida, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

But now it’s time to take the technology out of the laboratory and into the real world.  The big questions are: “How many people can use the system at any one time?” and “Will captioned radio really be useful?”

We are hoping that TDI’s members will help us answer these questions.

Two test sessions were planned.  One session already took place on June 6, 2006.  At least 7,500 people are needed to log-in at the next test session at http://earize.com, in which Earize will display real-time captioning text from NPR’s Talk of the Nation show at 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
EST on June 12, 2006.  There is no sign-in, no personal information will be collected, no software or cookies will be downloaded on any computer, and your members will have the satisfaction of knowing that they helped make a higher level of accessibility possible.

Please encourage your members to participate and to share their comments and questions about the test with us at Info@Earize.com.  Thank you so much for helping to make this innovative and exciting technology possible.

Sincerely,

Lorraine Carter, RPR
President

[P.S. Not one cent of taxpayer money was requested or used to develop this much-needed technology]

Another day, another way for lawyers to rake in big bucks and for deaf consumers to get screwed:

DVD ‘CC’ Labeling Class Settlement Announced

Follow the money:

• The Settling Companies have denied liability, but have agreed to settle
  this action to avoid litigation by, in the future, providing captioning
  or closed captioning of bonus material on major categories of DVDs they
  distribute over the next five (5) years,
• paying $275,000 to certain
  non-profit organizations dedicated to advocacy for deaf
  and hard-of-hearing persons,
• and paying attorneys’ fees and costs
  (including any incentive award to named plaintiff) up to $1,300,000 in
  exchange for the release of claims, as more fully specified in the
  settlement agreements.

And who is the plaintiff? Someone named Boltz. And where is $275,000 and $1,3000,000 gonna come from? You and me everytime we buy or rent DVD.