deafbiz.com

Rabbi says deaf ‘ineligible for conversion’
DeafBiz When I attended a Jewish Day School (called Yeshiva), I remember a class lesson on conversion. Rule #1 in conversion - You cannot convert to Judaism to just marry someone you love. Being Jewish is more than just a piece of paper. It means keeping kosher, attending the synagogue, educating your children in Judaism, [...]
Audism Culture Wed, May 28 2008 hide this blog

Fallen IDF soldier Banai defied deaf parents to join combat...
DeafBiz Another brave Israeli soldier killed. This one is different - his parents are deaf. At first glance, the hundreds of mourners gathered at the Ashkelon military cemetery Sunday for the funeral of Israel Defense Forces Staff Sergeant Liran Banai seemed to display both agility and morbid curiosity as they climbed every available surface in a scramble [...]
Mon, Mar 10 2008 hide this blog

Magen David Adom launches new service for the hearing...
DeafBiz Magen David Adom is Israel's equivalent of Red Cross. They just came out with a new services allowing deaf/hard of hearing to call for help by texting MDA dispatch, as reported in Ynetnews. Text messages received at Magen David Adom's central dispatch will be immediately displayed on a plasma screen along with a vocal [...]
Tech Wed, Feb 20 2008 hide this blog

Laws of Unintended Consequences
DeafBiz The Case of the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker A few months ago, a prospective patient called the office of Andrew Brooks, a top-ranked orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles. She was having serious knee trouble, and she was also deaf. She wanted to know if her deafness posed a problem for Brooks. He had his assistant relay a [...]
Legal Mon, Jan 21 2008 hide this blog

Pinkberry
DeafBiz Kokonut Pundit hits another homerun with his posting titled “Pinkberry“. Of course, being a UbiDuo seller, my opinion may be biased The key operative word is WORK, as in what works? What faciliates communication between the deaf and hearing in the most effective manner? Besides sign language and lipreading, what else works in face to face [...]
Tech Fri, Nov 09 2007 hide this blog

Modern Day Deaf Printer Union?
DeafBiz Just an observation that I'm seeing so many deaf people working for Relay Services that it just reminds me of deaf printers union.
Language Tech Culture Fri, Nov 09 2007 hide this blog

No. 10 B.S. Job - Relay Services Operator
DeafBiz Found it at CNN's Money section where readers submitted bulls**t jobs and I didn't expect to see Relay Services Operator on the list. Relay is supposed to be a service for the deaf, hard of hearing, and speech disabled where a person using the Internet, cell phone or text telephone reaches an operator, I dial a [...]
Sun, May 06 2007 hide this blog

Deaf Customer Complaints
DeafBiz I found this website via LifeHacker which focuses on Informercial Scams. I see DirectBuy TV commercials all the time. I recalled a very similar high-pressure sales pitch when we first bought our house. I can't recall the company name except it started with “C”. At the sales pitch, they told use we must join today or [...]
Tue, Apr 24 2007 hide this blog

An "alternative" to the UbiDuo
DeafBiz Recently I received an email promoting an “alternative” to the UbiDuo. I gotta check this out, after all I should know the competition, right? (Disclosure reminder: I am manager of WinfreePCS.com which sells UbiDuo). I contacted this person (our email path has crossed before and our conversations were never pleasant), and he sent me the link [...]
Tech Fri, Apr 13 2007 hide this blog

Girl Dies of Bacterial Meningitis, maybe related to...
DeafBiz Here's another story that will add fuel to the fire about Cochlear Implant debate: Girl Dies of Bacterial Meningitis Doctors said bacterial meningitis is not contagious. They believe it may have been caused by Katie's cochlear implant. They said it could have been prevented with a vaccination.”I had tried and they were always out,” Engle said. “After [...]
Thu, Feb 08 2007 hide this blog

New Voice to Email or SMS
DeafBiz Found a new free services that will transcribe voice calls to email or SMS Jott  It has a very eye-catching Flash animation demonstrating what it can do. I contacted customer services asking if this would be suitable for a hearing person to call Jott and leave a message to be transcribed for a deaf person to read via [...]
Fri, Feb 02 2007 hide this blog

Adding subtitles and captions to your video
DeafBiz Ever have a video that you want it to be captioned or subtitled but turned off by the high price? Or have you watched any deaf video and wanted to add funny comments? Go to BubblePly and sign up. Works with YouTube, Google Video, ifilm, etc. If you wish to “Bubble” your own video, you will [...]
Wed, Jan 31 2007 hide this blog

My response to ?Low- and no-cost Communications Devices?
DeafBiz A post was made at deafness.about.com regarding the high price of UbiDuo and that he has a low-cost alternative. I've posted my response in the forum but I'm going to reprint here because not everyone is registered at the forum. Robert,Your contraption for a low cost communication tool is a good and worthly alternative for those [...]
Tue, Jan 16 2007 hide this blog

Ubi Duo now available for sale!
DeafBiz Need a better tool than “paper and pen”? Frustrated trying to get an interpreter in an emergency? Miss out conversations at family reunions? Ubi Duo is your answer to your communication problems. Ubi Duo is now available for sale at WinfreePCS.com . Got questions? Go to WinfreePCS.com for answers! Now, let me go to Part Two [...]
Wed, Jan 10 2007 hide this blog

Deaf B/Vlogging Conference
DeafBiz It's about time to have a conference on deaf blogs and vlogs. The theme is ?Vlogging/Blogging the Future of Gallaudet? I think this will be the official website for the conference to be held on February 3, 2007 at Gally: Coalition for Critical Inquiry I hope it will be an annual conference and I hope sometimes RIT/NTID will be [...]
Sun, Jan 07 2007 hide this blog

NBC Nightly News Story on Relay Scams
DeafBiz I'm a little late on posting this but I'm glad that Relay Scams are coming into the National Spotlight. NBC Nightly News Story on Relay Scams. It's probably not a bad idea to set up a subscription services but it's sad that we have to give up privacy, security, and convenience just to have “equal access”. [...]
Wed, Jan 03 2007 hide this blog

Deaf in Rochester, NY
DeafBiz Where Sign Language Is Far From Foreign Since I live in Rochester NY, I do have a unique perspective. Recently DeafNation held it's show in Rochester, NY. How many attended? I don't think it even hit 3,000. How does this square with 90,000 deaf or HOH that the NY Times claims? And there's a lot [...]
Tue, Dec 26 2006 hide this blog

Podcasting and Video Relay Services
DeafBiz I'm getting really frustrated that there are podcastings available that I NEED to listen and there's no transcription available (yeah, yea it's all about the money). Has anyone come up with a creative solution to use VRS to interpret a podcast? Or is that a no-no?
Thu, Dec 21 2006 hide this blog

Podcasting and other Hearing Imparied Issues in the Real...
DeafBiz Back then, I wrote about podcasting and the deaf . Thanks to Digg, a real estate agent with hearing loss wrote about how podcasting is gaining a wider acceptance in selling real estate, while forgetting about their potential deaf customers. Podcasting and other Hearing Imparied Issues in the Real Estate Industry
Thu, Dec 14 2006 hide this blog

Noisy Christmas toys can damage hearing
DeafBiz Traditions! Oh, how we love them! Christmas parties, Christmas cookies, Christmas tree catching fire that burned down a house, etc. Same usual stuff that happens every year. Here's a new tradition: Annual warnings that Christmas toys are too loud. Noisy Christmas toys can damage hearing As if Ipods weren't dangerous enough. [...]
Thu, Dec 14 2006 hide this blog

T-Mobile Email Spam Cleaner
DeafBiz I had several friends with Sidekicks that had to notify everyone on their mailing list of their new @tmail.com address due to spam. A Sidekick owner got fed up with this spam problem and did something about it - he wrote a simple free program: T-Mobile Email Spam Cleaner This simple Windows utility pulls mail from your My [...]
Thu, Nov 30 2006 hide this blog

Hamodia Magazine: ?Hearing: Their Silent World?
DeafBiz Hamodia Magazine is the only Jewish Orthodox daily newspaper covering a wide range of topics of interest to the Jewish Community. Hamodia does NOT have an Internet Edition. Hamodia recently printed an article about the Orthodox Jewish Deaf Community. Jewish Deaf Community Center was gracious to host a scanned copy in .pdf on their website. Hearing: Their [...]
Wed, Nov 29 2006 hide this blog

Muslims cabbies banning guide dog, Part 2
DeafBiz This issue will not disappear. Only a matter of finding just one sympathic city that will allow Muslim taxi drivers to ban assistance dogs. And if one city allows, then it goes to follow that other cities will have to deal with this issue as well. This is now a “human rights” issue in Vancouver [...]
Sat, Nov 18 2006 hide this blog

Capital One Hates Deaf People
DeafBiz Capital One Hates Deaf People Why? Because a deaf person filled out an application for a credit card and ran into relay services hell. (Something that I’ve experienced myself as well).Holy crap. Just went through hell trying to finalize my application for a credit card when they wouldn’t even accept the relay calls for some reason [...]
Wed, Nov 15 2006 hide this blog

I Hate (fill in the blanks) Network Marketers So Much
DeafBiz This was written by an Indian living in Northern California, but subsitute “Indian” for “Deaf” and it’s a pretty good description of what MLM does in the deaf community. I Hate Indian Network Marketers So Much Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think all Network Marketing (MLM) is bad. I’m in one myself. However I don’t [...]
Tue, Nov 14 2006 hide this blog

Low-decibel earbuds keep noise at a resonable level
DeafBiz A mom figured out a fool-proof way to prevent iPod from playing too loudly:Christine Ingemi got tired of telling her four kids to stop blasting their iPods. So she did something about it. The 38-year-old mother of four has a patent pending on iHearSafe, the only low-decibel earbuds that she says solve the hearing-loss problem [...]
Fri, Nov 03 2006 hide this blog

Why is federal deaf college such a circus?
DeafBiz From the Department of Ouch Even with the unpopular quagmire Iraq war, American college campuses have been rather calm in recent years. With one glaring exception: Gallaudet University, the federally-funded, somewhat-federally-run deaf university in Washington. As of this week, confrontations between authorities and protesting students at Gallaudet have resulted in [...]
Sat, Oct 28 2006 hide this blog

Deaf Community Targeted By Scam, Again
DeafBiz I’ve added a new category in Deaf Resource Center : Deaf Scams I’m starting with a link to the ABC7 report because it merits a permanent status in the directory. In the past, I used to run information on Deaf Scams in the past until I got threatened and removed the information. So this time, let someone [...]
Tue, Sep 26 2006 hide this blog

Relay Services - caught in the act
DeafBiz On one hand, many hearing people are turning down accepting relay calls because they think it’s telemarketing or a scam. On the other hand, for those that do accept relay call, be very careful not to say anything you don’t want the deaf caller to hear. Here’s a tale of a Ford dealership bad-mouthing a deaf customer [...]
Mon, Sep 25 2006 hide this blog

Irony alert - deaf podcast
DeafBiz Did a Google search on “deaf podcast” and this is what I found: DeafSpot’s Podcast - nothing thereDeafstation podcast- nothing there Podcast tagged with deaf -There’s two listings, neither which has to do with deafness. On the other hand, here’s what was offered: The DisabilityNation Podcast: Podcast Transcripts fo Deaf/Hard of Hearing- [...]
Mon, Sep 25 2006 hide this blog

A Taste of Israel for Deaf Singles
DeafBiz It was a long way to go for a singles event. But for the 16 deaf American Jews who recently visited Israel, the chance to mingle while touring Israel offered a unique opportunity to meet other deaf Jewish singles from around the United States and Israel. Read the rest [...]
Thu, Sep 07 2006 hide this blog

Deaf Iraqi girl to get Cochlear Implant
DeafBiz Guess where? Guess who’s paying for it? Supposed there was no Iraqi liberation? Then what would her life be? I dare those that are opposed to Iraqi liberation tell her to her face that she would’ve rely on Saddam Hussein and Iraq’s antiquated health care to help her hear. Deaf Iraqi girl to receive care in U.S. [...]
Sat, Aug 05 2006 hide this blog

How to communicate with the iPod-impaired
DeafBiz There’s more examples here [...]
Wed, Aug 02 2006 hide this blog

Path of Dreams Cross
DeafBiz Ain’t this a small world? sComm and Greg Gunderson are on the roll, getting major media coverage. Here’s another news article: Path of Dreams Cross [...]
Wed, Aug 02 2006 hide this blog

Vote for Greg Gunderson
DeafBiz Greg Gunderson has moved up to #4. Wouldn’t it be cool for him to finish at #1? Voting ends on July 31. Vote for Greg NOW! Use Firefox browser and select Greg Gunderson button first and scroll down to press the “Vote” button on the bottom. Be sure to see the Thank you page and then hit [...]
Sat, Jul 22 2006 hide this blog