Green Dragon

The green Dragon is a brew pub in bungay and the beers take the
same name as the pub. We found a good selection of the brewery's
beers on draft. The Chaucer bitter was my selection and tasted
of grain and dark chocolate. The Gold was also tried and was
flat with a rice taste. Bridge Street Bitter was my last sample
was a highly hopped and stronger version of the Chauser.

Naomy took Jaid for a walk and Jaid is just back now and they are
both nackered.

Not a bad pub but our little group wanted to move on.

I think that because the triangle had been so good we wanted more of the same but sadly the Green Dragon though good as it was just didn’t deliver, on any other day maybe.

theWheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

But I hope they don't go round all day because we have many
pints to slurp and swig over today's real ale run about to the
more interesting pubs of the Suffolk Norfolk boarders.

The usual suspects are aboard our lovely Ipswich Bus that is now
in the process of trundling to our first destination with Chris,
Steve, Dez, Matt, Peter G and naomy making up a younger part of the
crew.

I will attempt to blog after each pub though one suspects the job
will get more trying as I consume local beers and generally
refresh myself. Still at least the wheels should keep on
turning.

This was scribbled yesterday but for some reason Orange's smtp
server was not working so I could not get them to post. the
below are a little scrappy but maybe of interest. It was a really first class day in every way.

Tryangle Tavern the Home of Green Jack Brewery

The Triangle Tavern is a lovely pub with a good range of ales.
The pub is propper spit and sawdust in a modern stylee and the
posters adorning the wall were all beer related. Belgium ales
are on tap and they even had some rum aged cider which was
Chris's choice.. I went for Mahseera ipa which was on good form
and went down too well. My second choice was the Canary from
Green Jack this to me was malty and to me a little tasteless. I
did keep away from the beak you'll be glad to know. Green Jack
Brewery do some really good beers and the pub which is the
brewery tap is a must try if in this area.. They put some loud
music on when we went into the second room of the large pub I
guess because we were a bunch of youngish trendy types
together; And if you
really believe that you are so foolish!

this pub is surely Lowestoft's treasure. br> They even do a yard of ale drinking competition and the Triangle
Tavern yard of ale champion 2007 is Doski who finished it in 18
seconds which is not to be sniffed at.

Bar snacks included pickled eggs and rollmops. mmmm, what more
does a bloke require at half 12 on a Satterday afternoon.

Later in our short visit we went around the back of the pub and
had a look around the brewery. Green Jack had a 10 barrel plant and
apart from the St Jude’s brewery in Ipswich it is the smallest Jaid and I
have ever been in. In fact the brewer told us they produce more
beer per square foot than any other British brewer. they use
challenger and pioneer for bittering, then a large selection of
others including steerian and goldings hops. The brewery is
computer controlled and they tell us that this keeps consistency
to a rather better degree than the old manual plant. The water
quality is good for brewing and it is a little hard so this is
adjusted. The success of Ripper has rased Green Jack's profile
over the last year but because it is an 8,5 percent beer they
don't shift large volumes.

Good touch before we moved on we were given nibbles. Warm and friendly pub. Will go back.

Queen's Head Bungay

On entering this fine pub we were greeted by a lovely warm fire.
The Queens Head is another brew pub and as to be expected they
had a range of beers on. The East Coast Mild is a little beauty
and nice and dark. A second beer was called rather funnily the
Whippet Strikes Back but I didn't like it too much.

The pub was packed and people were watching the rugby when we
arrived at just after 5 in the evening.

A third beer was called Old Boy and a rather hoppy concoction it
was to be sure.
Next we would move on to the home of St Peter's, well that was
the plan but the manager who's worked in the pub for 2 weeks
didn't want us because they now run a restaurant rather than a
pub. This is a bloody bad show for a small brewer in this county. I won't be drinking St Peter's beer for a few months but I'll never say never.

Artichoke Broome and a Springbank 21

The artichoke is a flagged woodsmoky and foody pub with a
selection of beers and our first was Oakgrain from Norfolk
brewery. this was a lush and creamy mild and to easy to put
back. I think I could have done a few of these. The tap room
had beers from Peterborough's finest York Brewery and Adnams. Chris and
I went for the Bishop's Farewell.

Black Dog mild from Elgoods was also on offer.

I was happy to find out that Springbank 21 year was part of the
extensive malt list and I nearly came when it was only £3.50 for
a large measure.

nose- coconut and pine, salt and briney sherry.

pallet salty, sweet and smooth really good.

finnish- long lingering and salty. lots of Spanish oak. What
an experience.

comments the notes are sparse and it was the end of the bottle
and from a tumbler. Chris and I cleared the bottle out. too
easy to drink and what pleasure. This bottle would sell for over 200 quid today.

Another good pub and I will return with no hesitation ASAP.

The Bell

The pub was welcoming and the smell of smoked bacon pervaded and
made me hungry. as Steve noted prices were reasonable and they
had 5 Oulton ales on.

I rather enjoyed the gone fishing and the wet and windy.
Though the beer names were interesting I found them a little
similar. nice pub though and the log burner warmed the place
splendidly.

Victoria and Rap-up

Thanks to the nice man from St Peter's we made a detour to Earl
Soham and gave the Victoria a try. The victoria was at one time
the home of the most fine Earl Soham brewery but now this has
changed because the brewery expanded and moved away. I am used
to drinking the beer from these guys so my expectations were
high.

Not a bad establishment at all but more a food reliant place.
Rustic seeling, Victorian artifacts good beers but some posh
nutters who were drinking wine and eating the beautiful food.
Good place and we cleared a percentage of the foodys out.

The beers were in top form and I enjoyed the Porter and Victoria
Bitter. Our driver delivered us safely back to Ipswich and the
wonderland that is the Dove. A pint or 2 was all we managed
before hunger took over and we found ourselves within the gently
spicy embrace of Ipswiches newest South Indian restaurant My
Keralam. I am pleased to report that the food was very good if
a little expensive and they were ok with Jaid going in.

A short walk later and with a bit of a pissed stumble we pushed
through the doors of Nigel's domain and entered the quiet world
of the Rose and Crown. A good end to a beery day.

The triangle was the best new pub I've been in for a long time
and the others in our group agreed with this sentiment.

This and That

The contractor from Ladbrokes came today and fitted some glossy new laminate for us so the kitchen is back to it’s former self now though the shade of flooring is perhaps a little too dark. Never mind, the place isn’t ours anyway.

This week has been a long one but our CEO of Humanware Gilles came over to the UK on Monday and gave a good presentation and showed some really cool new products that are just round the corner. Watch this space. He is a down to earth kind of bloke with a strong engineering background and crucially he understands blind people and the market. I am very happy that he is our CEO.

Clare and I should be going to Colchester tonight to watch PHIL NICOL, do a drop of standup then I’m off for a CAMRA day out around the Norfolk Suffolk boarders to visit brew pubs and brewery taps including Green Jack a really smashing brewer in lowestoft.

Whisky Exchange

I popped over to do some business with Sukhinder of the Whisky Exchange London this week. A nice chap and he pored me two good drams. A highly sherried Glen Grant costing around 90 quid a bottle and a refill sherry springbank at half the price.

Springbank 1993 / 13 Year old / R. Sherry Butt / 70cl / 58.7% / Speciality Drinks Ltd

A bit of sherry on the nose with fruits. Soon smoke overtakes and I had what I call farm yard on the taste. One good drop of springbank. Shame I had to down this as the taxi was arriving.

Glen Grant 1972 / 34 Year old / Sherry Cask

Christmas cake wooden boxes and all that comes of first fill sherry and age. Lovely stuff and deservedly award winning.

Both these drams can be ordered from the Whisky Exchange.

I walked out with a pocket full of cash 5 bbruichladdich 17s in the post plus two bottles for a friend and was happy with the profit I’d made from 5 Ardbegs and a Laphroaig. I may have been able to get more on ebay but I didn’t want the hassle.

The Life of a Serial Killer

Well he's behind bars now and found guilty. Maybe the media will all go home and stop cluttering up the streets of Ipswich?

HE was the quiet man in the pub, the neighbour that no-one knew. No-one ever took
much notice of Steve Wright.
The twice-divorced, father-of-two appeared to be a shy, homely man. He kept himself
to himself. He gave one word answers to questions. If you asked the people who lived
in his street who Steve Wright was, not many would be able to tell you.
But that was until the early hours of Tuesday, December 19, 2006, when news of his
arrest broke around the world.

Happy Days

Yesterday went with a bit of a bang. I really enjoyed my trekker
training in the south west and then went to Epsom as I am working
in Croydon today.

After dropping my stuff at Andrews I went for a quick beer in the
Rising Sun. Apparently my person being in that particular
establishment is no longer acceptable to the ponsy management who
are slowly killing this once great pub. They didn't like my
Beerintheevening review so have put a bar on me. I don't care
but its the first pub I've ever been bard from and after the
thousands I have spent in the place. The pub was empty when I
went in. The place will be a block of posh apartments in a few
years I would wager. I told the manager this on my way out and
it didn't go down at all well.

Jaid and I then took a walk to the King's Head a bustling little
pub and I enjoyed 3 pints of landlord bitter before Andrew and I
went to Mint for the best curry it's been my pleasure to eat this
year.

Steve then dropped the largest bombshell of the evening by
informing me that Action For Blind People wish to get out of
housing and are selling Swaile House in EPSOM and the other
similar projects they run around the country. This saddens me a
bit since to be honest Swail gave me the leg up that was really
necessary after my last year in Preston.

we then went to the White Horse and met up with Don as well as
others from the old days of the Riser. What a good laugh plus
They had a good selection of ales including beers from Brains,
Batemans Gk and another I forget now. we had a cracking evening
and the landlord along with the French barman made a good double
team.

Moving on a few hours the Braillenote training went really well
today and afterward I went out for a beer with the customer and a
lass who worked for him. some days are so good when your
training, I forget that sometimes. The pub which was on Cherry
Orchard Road had Harvy's's, Adnam's and Lancaster Bomber plus did
some monster home made burgers.
I'm now on my way back to Ipswich and will probably get together
with Chris for a beer in the Dove.

Clare and I may be going into London tomorrow and should we do
this I shall send an update from the train about our day.

It's really cool that you can email to the blogger account which
then gets replicated in my Facebook notes.

Flood Update

It took a plumber, carpenter, electrician and a nice bloke from Anglia water to fix the mess of yesterdays deluge.

As a result we now have a nice new bit of pipe and a concrete floor in the kitchen. We wouldn’t choose pure concrete as an esthetically pleasing flooring choice but since the old was damaged beyond repair it will have to do for a few days/weeks. It has to be re laminated so I hope they won’t be too long in getting it done. It will probably take another day for everything to properly dry out though and I can still smell damp. Yuck.

Drip Drap Goes the Dripping Tap

After yesterday’s flood of posts we had our own flood in the kitchen today. We’ve had a problem with a dripping pipe in the scullery for a few months now but it has been kept in check with promises from the landlord that it would be dealt with.

Well today I came down just after 5 to have a brew before work and had to paddle through the kitchen inn order to start bailing out with buckets and mops.

Basically Colin came around and had to use a wrench on the stopcock which has turned off the water but we’re still dripping from that damned pipe. I’m staying at home today and will hammer the bleeders at Ladbrokes and hope that for once they can sort this out in a professional fashion. Well, I’m sure if it’s dripped through the floor in to the shop below they’ll actually do something.

More as it unfolds today. I’ve had to take a day off work which isn’t the best because I was looking forward to a few pints with Seann tonight.

PORT CHARLOTTE PC6

Nose: treacle peat Christmas cake and, sorry, cow shit sweetness. I’m back filling MADEIRA casks with grant and the crew. A moving experience. Look out for these 1998 casks to be thundered out this year.

Pallet: hot, somehow musty and earthy with lots of lovely oak livening things up. Toffee kipper but no salty notes.

Finnish: lingering. The grape shines in this bourbon and MADEIRA combo adding interest for me at least. With water we lose the grape but it’s still a good drop.

Comment: worth 60 quid? No, not on a qualitative scale, I could have purchased 3 bottles of Ardbeg 10 for the same this Christmas but well, I was not the one buying. Dave did and for this I will be for ever grateful. We bottled some of this hooch with the lads and girls at the distillery, distilled a part of the 2007 vintage and sweated over the x MADEIRA casks that I would wager had disgorged the licker in to the bottling hall and now hold 1998 spirit. Thanks is all I can say. It was worth every penny. Yes I will show MADEIRA as I love it and think it will be the next sherry as far as whisky goes. Lovely.

Bruichladdich Links Royal Troon 14yo 46%

Aaah, second fill sherry casks with a dash of port and a spot of sweet dark and lovely Pedro Ximénez. Heaven. I love Spanish oak in it’s second fill state.

Nose: gooseberry apple and spring flowers beautiful freshness. Opens in to quiet dried fruits. Clare detects marzipan. I can’t bring myself to water this. Just wait it unfolds. Magnificent,.

Pallet: creamy. Heat at the front which is unexpected because of the nose but the fruits and custard keep it all in check. Hell, what a dram. The laddi new make is in control and sound. The mouth watering flavors the nose suggested really control the show. Yes oak is in the background but really only hints through
as in a fine wine.

Finnish: give me another sip. Seriously Clare got coffee on the slightly bitter finish. I’ve just tried this with some 80 percent coco dark chocolate and boy, what a combo.

Comments: the best of the links series I’ve tried. Still available from the whisky exchange at 40 quid a pop though I didn’t pay this for the two I purchased. Jim M really put some good casks in to this vatting.

DREAM THEATER'S GREATEST HIT (...and 21 other pretty cool songs) Two-Disc Set Available April 1st, 2008

DREAM THEATER COLLECT THEIR GREATEST HIT
(...& 21 other pretty cool songs)

The Acclaimed Band's First-Ever Best-Of Compilation Spans 14 Years
of Progressive Hard Rock and Includes Rare Edits and B-Sides

Features Three New Remixes by Kevin Shirley of
"Pull Me Under," "Take The Time" and "Another Day"

After recently celebrating the band's 20-year
anniversary, Dream Theater returns with its first-ever best-of
collection. Spanning 1991-2005, the two-disc set contains rare
single edits, B-sides and a trio of new remixes that spotlight
that band's nonpareil musicianship, complex arrangements and
amazing songwriting. Referring to Dream Theater's first and only major radio hit,
"Pull Me Under," the compilation's tongue-in-cheek title is a
testament not only to the band's sense of humor but also
highlights the acclaimed New York-based quintet's ability to
make music and cultivate a legion of fans on its own terms,
without help from radio or MTV. The collection features more
than two hours of progressive hard rock from James LaBrie (vocals),
John Myung (bass), John Petrucci (guitar/vocals), Mike Portnoy
(drums/vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards).

The collection contains three newly remixed versions of tracks
from Dream Theater's breakout 1992 album, Images And Words: the
aforementioned "Pull Me Under" as well as "Take The Time" and
"Another Day." Portnoy says this album presented the perfect
opportunity to give the songs a bit of a facelift. "The original
mixes always sounded a bit '80s' to me, so we had our good
friend and longtime mixer Kevin Shirley give the tracks a bit
of an update to sound more like the rest of the Dream Theater
catalog. The songs remain the same (no pun intended-Kevin just
mixed that album as well), but there are little nuances in the
tracks that I forgot were originally there, and it's very cool
to hear them again."

The collection's 22 songs are split evenly between two discs,
which are divided into "The Dark Side" (the metallic) and
"The Light Side" (the melodic). Filled with some of the band's
most sinister sounds, the first disc lives up to the billing
of "The Dark Side." Longtime fans will appreciate the abundance
of alternative versions of classic tracks, including single
edits of "Lie," "Home," and "Misunderstood." Disc One concludes
with two tracks from the band's 2005 album Octavarium:
"The Root Of All Evil" and "Sacrificed Sons."

The second disc, "The Light Side," spotlights the band's melodic
side and features an alternate mix of "Through Her Eyes,"
a single edit of "Solitary Shell" and "To Live Forever,"
a 1994 B-side from the U.K.-only single of "Lie."

A grassroots phenomenon for 20 years, Dream Theater continues to
record studio albums acclaimed for award-winning musicianship as
well as artistic vision. To meet the demands of a demanding
global fan base, the band also maintains an active touring
schedule that regularly includes sold-out performances around
the world.

Useful Beer Links and a Whisky one too

I’ve been finding the Oxford Bottled Beer Database rather useful over the last few years but don’t think I’ve mentioned it on this blog. It’s a place to review and read reviews of bottled beers
http://www.bottledbeer.co.uk

Beerintheevening is also a handy set of beery recources aimed at reviewing pubs. My few entries are posted under the name mproberts.
http://www.beerintheevening.com

Single Malt TV is a new way of getting your nerdy whisky fix online in the form of well, online tv showing malts, feckers who drink them, food and all kinds of other whisky related programming.
http://www.singlemalt.tv

Lepps and Snakes! Animal!

I’ll be returning to the 80s musically in June of this year when Seann Sam and I go and watch Def Leppard and White Snake duke it out in Sheffield arena.

This will probably be the last time White Snake tour plus the Leppard are all pushing 50 so it’s really a throw back to my childhood and I can’t wait. Now if only I could find a few pints of Samson before the gig and appen a marathon bar we’d really be talking. Hey at least I won’t feel out of place with long hair in this crowd though I guess most of the fans will be thinning now.

Lazy Sundays

Aaah, a lazy Sunday. We’ve had a juice prepared by Clare and myself earlier, apple, pear and Ginger, went down really well. Clare’s making a vegetable soup at the moment and I think it’s stuffed chicken for tea tonight.

I plan on grabbing some ale from the coop and plopping down a whisky tasting note or two this afternoon. What better way to spend a Sunday ay?

I’m off up to Yorkshire on Monday for a spot work so will stay with the family and hopefully take ina pint of Barnsley bitter or two.

Mumbai Ipswich

2 Coachman Court, Old Market, Ipswich, IP4 1DX

Clare and I went along to the Mumbai Indian buffet last night for a few cold ones and a spicy snack or 4. It’s basically like one of those Chinese eat all you can for 10 quid jobs but an Indian version in the centre of Ipswich. This has the advantage of more chilies and less MSG.

Papadoms came out first and these were warm and snapped well.

The starters were all very good in particular the chicken tikka with lots of fresh fried onions and reshmi kebab. Special mention must also go to the aloo Pakura and onion bhajis which weren’t at all greasy. They had about 8 choices of starter and I went a little mad at this stage which is precisely what they want you to do in these places. I kept away from the Samosa and other battered delights as I find these just fill you up and take away from the delectable process of masticating meet.

I had a mildly spiced garlic chicken dish with garlic rice which was rather enjoyable if a little salty, once again lots of meet and lovely fresh garlic. My attention was then drawn to the chicken tikka Jalfrezi which was in fact excellent. A medium sauce with plenty of chilies to keep things lively. They had plenty of side dishes of which I was too full to partake and plenty of different rices and breads. Clare tried the lamb balti and chicken bhoona both of which were average takeaway fodder but in the context of the place rather acceptable if a little mild.

The puds were the usual suspects, fruit, ice-cream ETC.

The beers on draft were kingfisher, cobra, carling and Tetley’s and I went for the two pretend Indian beverages.


Service was verry good and the staff were attentive and polite. The guide dogs were also made welcome.
It’s not as good as say the Jorna in Ipswich but still packs a punch if you really want to get stuffed. It would be ideal for a birthday or something similar. It came to around 20 quid a head and was worth the money. The drinks were a little on the expensive side and this is really what bumped the price up.

I would return.

Cambridge for a quicky

Last weekend was rather fun even though I didn’t get in until late on Friday evening so was not at all up for going out.

I decided to pay a visit to Paul in Cambridge on Saturday in the Radigan. He’s now working in this most salubrious of pubs and I enjoyed a few pints of Milton beers with him and shot the brees for a few hours as he toiled. He’s going to be ordained in a few months and Clare and I have been invited to the occasion. This should be more than interesting and definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity for me as none of my other friends are so dedicated to a faith.

Paul gave me a bottle of 1976 Glentauchers malt which I’ll crack open with Dave sometime as it was distilled in October of that year and twas the same month that the chappy came screaming to the earth with a bare backside and totally unable to feed or look after himself. Well, I guess some things take a bit to change then.

I arrived back home and Clare and my good self had a lovely Chinese.

Sunday was typical really. I went to the Rose and Crown to partake of one of Steve’s curries and chat to Emma, Dale and the other regulars. Naomi brought her dogs and with jaid plus another canine or two the pub was puppied out.

I took some of Steve’s really cracking curry home for Clare as she was unwell and then made it to bed before the week of work at last crept up on me.

Andrew should be coming over this weekend so I look forward to that.

Brora 22yo 1981/2003 (46%, Signatory, unchillfiltered collection

Brora distillery was closed down in 1983 and now it's malts are highly prized. This specimen is from a refill sherry butt and set me back 47 quid a few years back.

Nose: wet straw, cow stable and earth. With time fruit in the form of apples comes through. Peat.

Palette: lovely gentle smoke and pleasing citrus notes. sweet with balancing oak.

Finnish: mouth watering. long with an orange skin bitterness.

Comments: The more I try whisky from second fill sherry butts the more of a fan I become. Lovely whisky from a sadly gone distillery.

New Maestro and Trekker Builds Available with new features

Maestro 2.1 now available:

Blind people can now surf the Web from the palm of their hand!

Longueuil, February 5, 2008 -- HumanWare is proud to announce the release of the new version of Maestro, expanding the capabilities of the first off-the-shelf accessible PDA. Visually impaired can now surf the Web from the palm of their hands and in a 100% accessible environment.

Maestro consists of a standard PDA (handheld computer) with a tactile overlay allowing people to use commands and enter data intuitively by touch. The information is sent to the user in audio form using integrated voice synthesis. Maestro users can therefore organize their appointments and address books, consult and edit text documents, record voice notes, read books, organize e-mail, listen to music and even get GPS guidance with the Trekker option… all in the palm of their hand.

As with other Maestro applications, the Web browser offers a set of features maximized for an efficient navigation experience while on the go. Through a robust engine, our clients can quickly navigate links, headings, frames, and fill out forms on web pages. They can enjoy using familiar screen reader commands and read pages as if they were on a desktop computer. The Maestro built-in Wi-Fi with simple wizard makes it easier to find and connect to preferred networks.

"As we promised over the last year, we now bring the extra functionalities of Maestro to our existing and future loyal users," said Lucia Gomez, Product Manager for Maestro and Trekker. "With this new version, Maestro offers the applications currently available in a Notetaker, at a fraction of the price and size."

Maestro can be complemented with Trekker, the most popular GPS orientation tool for visually impaired and blind people. With Trekker, users can pinpoint exactly where they are, learn about area attractions, and find out how to reach specific destinations. As both applications are compatible with each other, Trekker users can install Maestro on their system, and Maestro users can install Trekker.

Maestro 2.1 is now available for free upgrade on our Web site. A detailed list of the new features is also available at the following address:
www.humanware.ca/web/en/maestro-trekker-upgrade.html

Window-Eyes Scripting Announced

As you most likely know by now, the scripting cat is out of the scripting bag. At
ATIA, GW Micro introduced one of the most requested features in Window-Eyes: support
for a scripting language. Not only is Window-Eyes providing a scripting support,
but the method being used is by far the easiest available in the market today. As
time goes on, we will provide more information. For now, I'd like to provide you
with a small section of the introduction in the Window-Eyes Scripting documentation.

Free Accessibility for All?

This looks rather interestings.  Only time will tell though.

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

 

Nonprofit Launched to Bring Free Accessibility Worldwide

 

The AIR Foundation committed to 'accessibility is a right'

 

Orlando, Florida – January 31, 2008 – The AIR Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. was announced today at a press conference held during the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) 2008 National Conference at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. The mission of the foundation is to promote universal accessibility so that every blind and low-vision person in the world has access to digital information over the Internet and Worldwide Web.

            The foundation's executive director, Art Schreiber, also announced that the organization's first offering will be free usage of a Web 2.0 accessible screen reader. The product is provided through an exclusive license in perpetuity granted to The AIR Foundation from Serotek Corporation, the leading provider of Internet and digital information accessibility software and services. The screen reader is called SA To Go and is powered by Serotek's award-winning System Access software which provides immediate text to speech, magnified visual, and Braille access to digital information presented through the Web or other means, while the user is directly connected to the Internet.  The software does not remain resident on the user's computer when the connection to the Internet is interrupted or terminated. Users can obtain access to the free software by calling 877-369-0101 or visiting www.AccessibilityIsaRight.org.

"The basic tenet of The AIR Foundation is that accessibility is a fundamental human right, regardless of financial or geographic constraints" said Art Schreiber, executive director of The AIR Foundation, "by allowing the blind and visually impaired to have equal access to computer and Internet information through the free use of an advanced screen reader like SA To Go, we have already taken great strides toward our mission."

The AIR Foundation will solicit funds and contract development of product enhancements including availability in other languages.  The organization's first priority is to make SA To Go available in Mandarin Chinese. 

"SA To Go is highly intuitive and requires minimal training to use," said Serotek CEO, Mike Calvo, "the user not only has access to information displayed on Web pages, but to Web-based applications such as Internet telephone service, and to applications resident on the host computer. The user can also access PDF files, fill out forms, and otherwise interact with information with the same facility as a sighted person."

The AIR Foundation will operate through the generosity of organizations donating their time, expertise, and funds. It invites other nonprofits, assistive technology vendors, mainstream hardware and software companies and anyone interested in promoting accessibility as every person's right, to align with the AIR team.