DB Techies Newsletter No 7
5th May 2000
The Deafblind Techies Newsletter Number. 7
IN THIS ISSUE
++ 1, Editorial.
++ 2, Accessing the Internet by E-mail.
++ 3, Eudora security warning.
++ 4, Oxford English Dictionary E-mail Address.
++ 5, The Archives of the DB Techies Newsletter.
++ 6, To subscribe and unsubscribe from DB Techies.
++ 1. Editorial.
By James Gallagher
Right here we go again with another DB Techies. I hope that you will enjoy this issue, it is a bit smaller than the others because I have been a little busy over the past weeks with my web sites and keeping the old brain going with reading some books on my braille Lite.
I had a great day at the Seminar/Conference, it was called Access Denied?.
It was held in the
Caledonian University which is in Scotland in the United Kingdom. I
was there with my guide/communicator from Deafblind UK, Margaret was a
great Guide/communicator for me throughout the day and a great help to
me as well. I also took Wilma with me as well, Wilma being my guide Dog.
I was a little taken a back to learn how many people where there in the Seminar, I thought that they would not be that many people there, But was I wrong Yes as usual I was. There where two other people there to speak at the Seminar. both gave great speeches on how one can make the net more accessible and on equipment that helps all people with disabilities to access computers. this was interesting as I not know very much about equipment that help others to use a computer. I learned a lot that day myself.
I was the first person to give my little talk, I took with me to the Seminar my Dell Laptop computer and my Powerbraille 40 Braille display to show them how people like myself can access a computer and the net. I also had made information FAQ sheets with info about information about Deafblindness, And how a sighted hearing person can communicate with a Deafblind person using the Deafblind Manual Alphabet. I used the images of the Deafblind Manual Alphabet that is on my site.
As we all know the sighted learn more easier if they have pictures than words, This is going to get me into trouble, I just know that it is. In all I made five FAQ Sheets the others where, Access For All info about making an accessible website, RALPH A Fourth Generation Fingerspelling Hand, What is a braille display, this was for people who had never seen a braille Display before. Deafblind Information on The Net this one had info about sites on the net about deafblindness.
I made all these FAQ sheets available in all formats that being on,
Paper, Large Print, on Disk
as plain old ASCII text, and using my Mountbatten Brailler I made braille
copys for deafblind and blind people at the Seminar. At the end of the
day all these FAQ Sheets where taken away so some of the people at the
Seminar must have been interested in them. That was good as I had put a
lot of time into making them and it was not all a waste of time in doing
so.
Lets just hope that in a little way we can make the sighted hearing more aware of making the net a little bit more accessible for us all.
Well I will stop talking about the Seminar now and get started to what
you have downloaded this
DB Techies for "information" so without a further ado here we Go.
There will not be a DB Techies in June as I will be going away with
my family for two weeks holiday in the middle of May, So the next DB Techies
will be on the 7th July. Sorry about this.
++ 2. Accessing the Internet by E-mail.
A little time ago we did an article about accessing the net through
E-mail it was in DB Techies number 5, In that article we talk about how
one could do this just by sending an e-mail through
the e-mail software we use.
Well this is a bit further than that now. This software will do all this for you. here is the information about it.
-- Start of info --
"Surf the Web without a browser" Not long ago, the World Wide Web was a hyperfantasy. Users had to rely on e-mail and newsgroups to stay current with the latest 'Net happenings; am I the only one who misses Yanoff? Today, our browser gets used (almost) more often than any other installed application, but you can 'surf' and retrieve information without it. How? You'll learn more by reading this series of documents: e-mail is your taxicab.
-- End of info --
Now down to the real information, this software is one of the biggest I have read about for some time, I was going to try and download it but at 13.1 MB this would take me quite some time to do so, here in the United Kingdom we pay by the minute for surfing the Net so I thought about downloading this, and after a little thought about my Mother bringing in the telephone bill to me I thought to my little self I better NOT do it, I playing safe.... Am I a coward YES I am.
If anyone downloads this software I would be grateful for your thoughts about it.
I did go to the site to read about it but all that I could find was six very large files with the executable manuals for the software.
Right where does one find these files is what you are asking yourself
so with out a further
ado here are the URLS.
Accessing the Internet by E-mail version 2.4 it is for windows 95 and 98, and it is freeware.
URL to download the software:
http://www.geocities.com/emai24/emai24.zip
URL to download the executable manuals:
http://internettrash.com/users/executablemanuals/
++ 3. Eudora security warning.
If you are a Eudora or Eudora Pro e-mail software user like myself I would read this.
I use Eudora Pro to read and send my e-mail letters and have used it for many Years and I think that it is great software and easy to use. But I was very much taken a back to learn that there is a serious security hole exists in all versions of the Eudora e-mail software.
I found this information in the Tourbus newsletter, There web site is
at:
http://www.TOURBUS.com
Right here is the article with the Eudora security warning.
-- start of info --
Bennett Haselton, software bug hunter and proprietor of Peacefire.org, has reported that a potentially serious security hole exists in all versions of the Eudora e-mail program.
In a nutshell, a malicious user could send an e-mail with a hyperlink that executes an attached program instead of opening a website as expected.
Normally Eudora warns the user before running any executable files sent in an e-mail attachment. But this exploit uses a trick involving a Windows shortcut (.LNK file) to fool Eudora into running the program.
There are no reports that this security hole has been exploited by Evil Hackers, but if you use any version of the Eudora e-mail program on a Windows PC, you really should understand this problem and take corrective action to prevent the problem from affecting you.
The first link below is from a CNET article, and it describes a simple
patch that you can apply to your Eudora configuration file:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1773077.html
The second link is from Bennett Haselton's site, which describes how
the exploit works in impressive technical detail:
http://www.peacefire.org/security/stealthattach
-- End of info --
I have read the information which is on this site on how to fix this
problem with my version of
Eudora Pro 4.2 but can I understand how to fix it, well the answer
is No, but you may be able to understand it better than me. ho Ho the old
brain can not take it in.
here is the URL to Eudora's web site: http://www.eudora.com
++ 4. Oxford English Dictionary E-mail Address.
In the last issue of the DB Techies I had a little article about Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
I was sent an e-mail from one of the members of the DB Techies asking for an e-mail address for the OED.
I have to say that I am very sorry to this person because I was not able to send a reply to them. Over the past weeks my computer has been crashing and I have been losing e-mail letters and information on my PC. I think that it may be time for me to ask my brother to reinstall Windows 98 SE again.
But to the person who sent the e-mail letter I am very sorry about this Please for give for this.
If I can remember you asked if I had the Oxford English Dictionary e-mail address, well i have been up to the site again and this was the only e-mail address that I could find support@oed.com
I hope that this may help you. And once again I am sorry about this.
Well that's it for this month remember that the next Issue of the DB Techies will be on the 7th July.
Take care
Yours James
++ 5. The Archives of the DB Techies Newsletter.
I have included a page on my site which will archive this copy of the
DB Techies Newsletter,
and the last issue of the DB Techies has already been put on to my
site, so if you missed the other Editions of DB Techies Newsletter you
can get them at
http://www.deafblind.com/dbtechies.html
++ 6. To subscribe, send a message to dbtechies-subscribe@egroups.com or go to the e-groups's home page at http://www.egroups.com/group/dbtechies/
To unsubscribe from DB Techies send e-mail to: dbtechies-unsubscribe@egroups.com You must send the e-mail letter from the same e-mail address that you used to subscribed from.
Please remember that any suggestions about any equipment that would Be useful to Deafblind and blind people, or any information, which would be useful to the readers will be welcome.
Until the next issue which will be on the 7th July 2000.
"DB Techies" newsletter will be published monthly on the first Friday of each Month. And will be e-mail to the Subscribers.
I wish all the very best to all of you, And Thank you for taken the time to read this little newsletter.
All the very best to you all.
Yours
James
James Gallagher
E-mail James@deafblind.com
End of DB Techies.