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You’re invited to pull up a chair at the Braillists’ Christmas party, where a friendly cast of characters will be talking about the games they play after Christmas dinner.

Card games, board games, dice games and everything in between, we’ve got you covered. We’ll discuss where to buy specially adapted games and how to adapt your own.

And because it’s Christmas, the whole cast will be in the same room!

We want to hear your ideas too, so grab a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine and celebrate Christmas with us.

Register for Games Galore here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 828 4625 8343
• Passcode: 123456

Join Peter Tucic and Andrew Flatres for HumanWare’s introduction to version 2.4 webinar, introducing the new 2.4 version for Brailliant BI X series and Mantis Q40. Find out how to connect your braille displays with audio devices, search for words on Wikipedia and much more.

Register for the 3:00 PM GMT HumanWare Webinar

N.B. HumanWare are offering two live sessions. You may register for whichever is most convenient for you.

Join Peter Tucic and Andrew Flatres for HumanWare’s introduction to version 2.4 webinar, introducing the new 2.4 version for Brailliant BI X series and Mantis Q40. Find out how to connect your braille displays with audio devices, search for words on Wikipedia and much more.

Register for the 9:00 PM EST HumanWare Webinar

N.B. HumanWare are offering two live sessions. You may register for whichever is most convenient for you.

As the third and final part of their mini series on braille music, Sound Without Sight are excited to announce their next Monthly Meet-up, featuring a presentation and Q&A with James Risdon!

As part of the celebration of 200 years of braille, James will take a holistic look at how braille music fits into the practices of a modern-day classical musician.

The session will cover a range of topics, including:

• Sources of braille music and how to access them, including libraries, collections around the world, and helpful email lists.
• Ways of getting music transcribed, including using transcription services, dictation, or a support worker.
• How James uses automated transcription tools himself.
• Tips for making braille music files as useful as possible.
• How and when James uses braille as a tool alongside audio and other approaches to learn music.

Read the full announcement and register

From HumanWare:

We’re thrilled to announce the release of our latest firmware update for the Brailliant BI X and Mantis braille display! This update introduces highly anticipated features, including text-to-speech support on the Mantis Q40, EPUB 2 compatibility, Wikipedia and Wiktionary access, as well as an offline dictionary.

Watch the video

Here’s what’s new:

Explore knowledge with one tap

Access Wikipedia and Wiktionary directly from your device with the new search feature that is tailored to your selected braille table language. With a single keystroke, instantly look up the word under your cursor for quick and convenient information.

Wikipedia Search:

• Brailliant: Press Enter + W
• Mantis: Press Ctrl + Shift + W

Wiktionary Search:

• Brailliant: Press Enter + Dots 2-5-6
• Mantis: Press Ctrl + D.

This feature works seamlessly in the Editor, Braille Editor, or Victor Reader/Library, making it easy to explore and learn as you go!

New offline dictionary (English only) & EPUB support

The Mantis Q40 and Brailliant BI X now include an offline English dictionary (Wordnet), allowing for word lookups no matter where you are, even without internet access. To activate the offline dictionary (Brailliant) press Space with D (Mantis) Press Ctrl + Shift + D. We’ve also added support for unprotected EPUB 2 files, further expanding your reading options!

Text-to-speech and audio support comes to the Mantis Q40

You can now connect Bluetooth headsets or speakers to your Mantis or Brailliant BI X. To enable Text-to-Speech and audio features on your Mantis Q40, connect a Bluetooth headset or speaker. Similarly, if you’d like to use a Bluetooth headset with your Brailliant BI X, you can pair the device using the Bluetooth Pair Audio option. Once paired, you can easily access your list of audio devices using a quick shortcut, making it simple to switch between connected devices.

(Brailliant) Press Backspace + Enter + A (Mantis) Press Ctrl + FN + A

Performance upgrades and fixes

This version includes support for Apple TV, header navigation for ODT files, Danish OctoBraille, Hebrew and Finnish keyboard integration and support for the upcoming Braille HID for Android.

View the complete release announcement

As part of the Braille 200 campaign, RNIB completed research on the impact of braille on the lives of blind and partially sighted braillists. Speaking to adults who know braille, the report looks at experiences of learning and using braille and braille technologies and revealed more about how braille improves independence, employment and education opportunities and enhances social relationships.

View the report page on the RNIB website

Sean Randall recently posted this message to our Braillists Forum and we thought we would share it here too:

Hello everyone

A recent discussion on social media about the fact that I enjoy doing Braille puzzles on paper prompted a thought about producing them to share more widely. Crosswords, wordsearches, Sudoku and so forth.

If anyone is interested, please feel free to fill and share my expression of interest form. We used to enjoy Conundrum from the RNIB, and I’m sure we’re not alone!

No promises at this stage, but it seems silly to make them for me and not share them more broadly.

Every year, the Benefact Group awards donations to UK-based charities through their Movement for Good initiative. During December, they will award £120,000 to 120 nominated charities during their 12 Days of Giving celebrations.

If you like what we do and want to support us, please nominate the Braillists Foundation before 19 December. The more nominations we get, the greater the chances of receiving an award. There is only one nomination per charity per person, so please share far and wide!

Thank you for your support.

Selvas BLV wishes to announce this upgrade patch for BrailleSense 6, V2.5.

This patch release fixes several issues discovered since the release of the major 2.5 upgrade. It also adds the ability to OCR image-basedPDF files, just by pressing “Enter” on them in the File Manager.

We would also like to announce that the issues signing in to new Google mail and Google Drive accounts have been remedied. This fix does not depend on the firmware upgrade, but applies universally, as it is implemented via the Google sign in portal.

Please find the complete list of fixes and improvements in the attached release note here.

View the full release announcement

Links to offline installation files:

• BrailleSense 6 V2.5 patch
• BrailleSense 6 Mini V2.5 patch
• BrailleSense 6 V2.0
• BrailleSense 6 Mini V2.0

The next stop on RNIB’s Braille And Beyond library tour is:

Clitheroe Library, Church Street, Clitheroe, BB7 2DG

No registration required.

The event will feature presentations from Chris Wakefield and Chris Tattersall.

Read the full press release