The Web Has Made Assistive Technology Amazing
People with visual, hearing, or other physical impairments are usually familiar with the assistive technology that helps them live, learn, and communicate with others. But not every home-based entrepreneur is aware that these technologies can help them communicate with the largest possible audience.
There are more than 30 million people with disabilities who can be affected by the design of computer software, according to Mike Paciello, founder and CTO of WebABLE, a Nashua, N.H.-based consulting firm that focuses on assistive technologies. In 1998, the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities reported that consumers with physical disabilities control more than $175 billion in discretionary income. “For SOHOs, that seems to be incentive enough to use these technologies,” says Paciello.
At the most fundamental level, your Web site can be specially coded to accommodate people with disabilities. Directions for doing this have been collected by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The organization’s Web Accessibility Initiative can be found at www.w3.org/WAI. “The guidelines cover everything from how to create …
How To Live Better With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis can affect the quality of life in many aspects. If you have this disease diagnosed, than you know the best what does it mean to live with RA. Pain that you may feel is probably stopping you from many activities, but it can also cause you anxiety. That’s why you definitely want help with rheumatoid arthritis. If you prefer natural remedies then you can find few ideas here about natural methods of easing the pain at rheumatoid arthritis. First thing is to protect joints from heavy lifting. Even if you don’t feel pain in joints, you should protect them. For example, do not lift heavy pots. If you read a book, hold it with your palms instead with fingers. These small steps may be of great help later. On the other hand, you should not stop being active. Exercise is still possible and preferable. It can give you energy and keep you in good mood. You don’t have to chose heavy workouts, but simple walking or swimming will …
Avoiding Scams Is Less Tricky Than You Think
A HOME-BASED BUSINESS OWNER, YOU HAVE A RISK-taking attitude that can culminate in great profits. Alas, this pioneering spirit can also tempt unwary home officers into the jaws of a wide variety of scams, schemes, and nefarious business deals spawned by modern-day Fagans. But if you’re forewarned, and exercise some caution and common sense, most of them can be avoided.
“The work-at-home, make-big-money, buy-large-cars, I-will-tell-you-how-to-make-it-rich-overnight multi-level-marketing offers are largely schemes, if not scams,” says Lindsey Krause, who worked in the corporate marketing department of a multilevel marketing company (MLM) for more than a year before she discovered its unsavory business tactics and quit. (Krause asked us not to reveal her real name for fear of reprisals.) She says hundreds of people left the company each month, disillusioned and broke, while a core group collected outrageous sums of money.
The bait comes in many forms-savings on office supplies, incredible sales, membership in exclusive trade organizations. And despite the dire warnings of attorneys general and consumer groups, people still fall prey to …
Who The Heck Are Animorphs?
There’s a scene at the end of an early episode of The X-Files TV series in which Agent Mulder says, “They’re here, aren’t they?” And the mysterious informant (a government insider most likely, though we aren’t told for sure) responds over his shoulder as he turns to walk away, “Mr. Mulder, they’ve been here for a long, long time.”
Personally, I don’t have any idea whether they’re here or not. My question is, why have we become so fascinated by THEM in the past few years?
The extraterrestrials-among-us craze began even before the fiftieth anniversary of the Roswell Incident last July, when the alien autopsy became a hot topic of conversation again. The X-Files and movies like Independence Day already had viewers glued to the screen (when they weren’t outside scanning the sky for suspicious weather balloons). Then children’s booksellers around the country began receiving cryptic messages from Scholastic: “The Yeerks are among us” and “Animorphs have invaded this store” and “Step inside a morph. It’ll change your world.”
Call …