BlindSoftware.com has a planning calendar called Day by Day Professional. This program is created by a blind programmer, and all the features are fully accessible via screenreader. He even has some really easy-to-remember hotkeys programmed in, such as CTRL+A for adding a note for an appointment and CTRL+N or P to go forward and backward in the calendar by day, week, month, or year. And you can always press CTRL+t to go back to today. This calendar has a great reminder system that is quick and easy, and also acts as an address book. Plus, you can download four audio tutorials created by the programmer that give step-by-step directions for using Day by Day Professional. At $40, this program is an inexpensive way for students to keep track of classes, study groups, sport events, and homework assignments, for families to keep track of who has what activities when and who’s turn it is to do what chore, and for professionals to keep track of employee meetings, appointments, and due dates for projects. Speaking of families, by the way, purchasing a single copy of Day by Day Professional gives you the ability to create multiple accounts. Thus, each family member can have their own planning calendar and their own reminders, and each person can have a password for access to that calendar. With a 15 day trial, there’s nothing to lose, but I bet once you try it, you will wonder how you survived without it; I know I do! I’m getting my copy very soon.
A complimentary program is called Talking Clock. This program works like your standard talking watch that announces each hour, except for one thing…it can also announce half hours or every fifteen minutes. I have been a lot more aware of how long I spend on the computer since I started using this program. My favourite option is the Big Ben mode. I always wanted a grandfather clock that chimed the hours, and with this program, that’s just what I have! The extra advantage to having this program over a real grandfather clock (other than the lower price of $20 and the lack of upkeep requirements) is that when you don’t want to be interrupted by the chimes, you can just turn it off and presto, no more clock. This program is also on an atomic clock, so keeps perfect time. It will even change for daylight savings time. I never realized that my clocks were all five minutes off; not any more!
Both of these programs can be downloaded as a 15-day demo or purchased via the website,
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