Sometimes I'm getting this error with #IBMTTS in #NVDASR:

ERROR - logHandler._threadExceptHook (11:58:21.253) - Thread-3 (17956):
Exception in thread Thread-3:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "threading.pyc", line 1044, in _bootstrap_inner
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 183, in run
raise e
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 180, in run
self._run()
~~~~~~~~~^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 218, in _run
processEciQueue()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 266, in processEciQueue
func(*args)
~~~~^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 467, in index
dll.eciInsertIndex(handle, x)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_proxyEci.py", line 68, in eciInsertIndex
return self.client.call(HostIds.ECI_INSERT_INDEX, handle, index)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ipc.py", line 265, in call
return parse_response(self.send_request(pack(func_id, *args)))
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ipc.py", line 193, in parse_response
raise Exception("Host error", resp_data.decode('utf-8', errors='ignore'))
Exception: ('Host error', 'unknown id: 28704')
ERROR - eventHandler.executeEvent (11:58:21.362) - MainThread (15996):
error executing event: focusEntered on <NVDAObjects.IAccessible.mozilla.Mozilla object at 0x000001A405A13F00> with extra args of {}
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "eventHandler.pyc", line 354, in executeEvent
File "eventHandler.pyc", line 120, in init
File "eventHandler.pyc", line 129, in next
File "NVDAObjects_init.pyc", line 1366, in event_focusEntered
File "speech\speech.pyc", line 822, in speakObject
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\instantTranslate\globalPlugins\instantTranslate_init.py", line 349, in _localSpeak
self._speak(sequence, *args, **kwargs)
~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "speech\speech.pyc", line 1187, in speak
File "speech\manager.pyc", line 269, in speak
File "speech\manager.pyc", line 440, in _pushNextSpeech
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers\ibmeci.py", line 288, in speak
_ibmeci.setParam(ECIParam.eciDictionary, 1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 513, in setParam
post_message_to_eciThread(WM_PARAM, val, param)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 173, in post_message_to_eciThread
raise RuntimeError("IBMTTS Engine thread is not running. Synthesizer failure.")
RuntimeError: IBMTTS Engine thread is not running. Synthesizer failure.
INFO - synthDriverHandler.findAndSetNextSynth (11:58:21.502) - MainThread (15996):
Falling back to next synthDriver oneCore
INFO - external:synthDrivers._ibmeci.terminate (11:58:21.502) - MainThread (15996):
Error terminating the IBMTTS thread
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 492, in terminate
post_message_to_eciThread(WM_KILL, 0, 0)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "C:\Users\david\AppData\Roaming\nvda\addons\IBMTTS\synthDrivers_ibmeci.py", line 173, in post_message_to_eciThread
raise RuntimeError("IBMTTS Engine thread is not running. Synthesizer failure.")
RuntimeError: IBMTTS Engine thread is not running. Synthesizer failure.
INFO - NVDAHelperLocal (11:58:21.545) - MainThread (15996):
Thread 15996, build\x86_64\localWin10\oneCoreSpeech.cpp, ocSpeech_initialize, 215:
ocSpeech_initialize

It makes me angry, perhaps unreasonably so, that teachers are now resorting to mandating the use of handwriting on exams, at least in part in response to students using LLMs to cheat.

I have enough usable vision that I *can* handwrite, but it was unusually tedious for me, and I was glad to be mostly done with it when I got a laptop. I thought the days of students like me having to handwrite, and fully blind students having to do something different from their sighted peers, were over.

1/?

Gonna be one of those days where everyone goes "<insert name of service> is bad and we should all leave," then I go "To where? PS: must be screenreader accessible" and then everyone goes *crickets*

Cosimo beta 9 is out. [Edit: re-released with a bug fix, check boxes didn't get the appropriate accessible name.]

Improvements:

Menus and learning dashboard have been redesigned, hopefully to make them more intuitive and informative.

Exams have been given an optional time limit, and better integration with audio for grading and reviews.

Quizzes are a new type of study tool, similar to exams, but multiple choice.

Two new card filters: problem cards and reversed asymmetry, to help find particularly difficult cards.

Better card diagnostics.

Export and backup system for full decks (including audio and optionally review database).

Deck metadata setting to protect audio from being overwritten by automatic generation.

And various bug fixes.

Get it from the usual place: https://modulus.isonomia.net/cosimo.cgi/uv/cosimo.zip

Trying to learn Indonesian, one of the bits that was hardest for me so far was the tidak/bukan distinction. As far as I understand it (which is not very well) tidak is the more common form of negation, negating an action, relation, etc. Bukan denies identity. So you often can say things in both ways:

Saya tidak punya rumah itu. (I don't own that house.)
Rumah itu bukan saya. (That house isn't mine).

But it's not as simple as do not versus simple not. For example if you say he's not intelligent, dia tidak pintar, you still use tidak, because it's negating the adjective. If you said dia bukan pintar it would (apparently) have a different connotation: he's not the smart sort (or something like that).

Estoy buscando un libro para regalar a mi madre d 80 años y el azúcar alto que le explique de forma asequible cosas básicas del metabolismo , por qué algunos alimentos suben el azúcar aunque no sean dulces, no sé, cosas sencillas que pueda entender porque no sabe que comer y se agobia. Pero es frustrante, llevo dos horas y todo lo que encuentro o son tochos o manuales rollo influencer casi magufos (algunos sin casi). ¿Alguna sugerencia?

A few years ago, I bought a 40-cell display on Ebay. It didn't work. I don't know what it is. It's as deep as it is wide, has a serial port next to a rocker switch for power, and has a whole lot of buttons on the front. Again, it doesn't work, at all. I hate to toss it in the electronics recycling bin, but I can't fix it and don't know what else to do with it. If you pay shipping you can have it, but again, it doesn't work in the slightest. It's also really big.

Ojito, agárrense, que vienen curvas. Los vendedores de overlays ya se han dado cuenta de que a lo mejor eso de meter líneas de código no termina de funcionar porque destrozan la web y el usuario tiende a bloquear el script correspondiente, así que han dado un pasito más. La web sin scripts raros, pero que pase todo el tráfico por nuestros servidores y la apañamos aquí. Vamos, en resumen, el Cloudflare de la accesibilidad: https://accessibilityfirewall.com/

Buenos días desde la Administración Pública.

Tengo sueño.

It occurs to me this part of the Kalevala is sort of anti-AI? (Though I realise the traditional reading is as anti-idolatry.)

I shall never wed an image
Born from many magic metals,
Never wed a silver maiden,
Never wed a golden virgin."
Then the hero of the waters
Called together all his people,
Spake these words of ancient wisdom:
"Every child of Northland, listen,
Whether poor, or fortune-favored:
Never bow before an image
Born of molten gold and silver:
Never while the sunlight brightens,
Never while the moonlight glimmers,
Choose a maiden of the metals,
Choose a bride from gold created
Cold the lips of golden maiden,
Silver breathes the breath of sorrow."

Rather neat browser based formant speech synth you need to enter phonemes in.
@MutedTrampet bet you'll like this.
https://tgies.github.io/klattsch/

FediLearns Classifieds is a pretty neat project from @inherentlee that lets you find people offering to teach various skills.

And you can submit a listing yourself!

https://fedilearns.fyi

#fediverse #FediLearns

In-Process is out, featuring all the news on NVDA 2026.1 which is now available, as well as the recent NV Access all-hands, and a handy tip on copying the NVDA version number:

https://www.nvaccess.org/post/in-process-11th-may-2026/

#NVDA #NVDAsr #ScreenReader #News #Accessibility #Newsletter #Blog #Info

Buenos días desde la Administración Pública.

Hoy estoy de lunes, la verdad.

Do any English-speaking blind people use the RHVoice TTS engine? I vaguely remember hearing bad things about it, or at least that it wasn't that great. But it's one of the few mature open-source TTS engines, and it's not eSpeak, so I guess some might prefer it for that reason alone.

Los aficionados del Barça congregados han apedreado el autobús de su equipo pensando que era el del Real Madrid. 🤦‍♂️

Finalmente han conseguido apedrear el autobús del Real Madrid y han roto varias lunas. Parece que todos los miembros de la plantilla están ilesos.

Y por cosas como estas es por lo que digo que me apasiona el #fútbol tanto como me repugna todo lo que lo rodea.

#ELCLASICO

Reading about the new generation of Recaptcha requiring android phones to pass google play attestation and I'm thinking this will have accessibility implications for blind users. Beyond the point that this will lock out custom roms and mobile devices that aren't iOS or Android, at least where I live for example there's a lot of people who use Blind Shell phones (which are essentially an Android phone with a oldschool keypad to work more like a Nokia phone of the past.) And those don't have google services either which is increasingly causing more problems. How that OEM is handling the software aside, something else Google will apparently do is if you use a computer is a verification will require scanning a QRCode on a compatible phone and oh boy that's gonna be fun. Many blind people run their computer without a screen, and even if you do have one, scanning a QRCode can be a crapshoot. It might take a few seconds if it's big and you have enough lighting, or it might take a few minutes or not work at all if you don't or the code is obscured by some other window you're not aware of. And I bet the service will have a timeout so if you're not good at scanning QR codes you could just be locked out.

So yeah, things are going great. The service that used to previously be the most accessible might be far less so going forward. That then leaves cloudflare turnstyle, which is also very accessible but can really screw you over if you use a VPN and isn't liked by privacy concious website operators for very valid reasons. I hope this doesn't push more companies to adopt HCaptcha which advertises itself as the most privacy friendly ReCaptcha alternative... Unless you're blind in which case if you're lucky you might get a text challenge which has to be enabled by the website, otherwise you have to give them your Email address, send a text to a US phone number to request a cross-site accessibility cookie which now doesn't work in most web browsers. Things are going great!

I have bought myself an electric melting furnace. It has capacity to melt about 750g of aluminium (~250cm³). I have a pile of worn out aluminium bottom brackets from bikes.

Anyone got any suggestions of something interesting I can try and cast with my old bottom brackets ? Bonus if it's something cycling related that's useful.

Nunca dejará de ser gracioso leer a los ingleses del siglo XVII y XVIII decir que eran herederos directos de la cultura griega y romana PERO HIJO DE PUTA QUE NO HAS VISTO UNA ACEITUNA EN LA VIDA ANDE VAS FLIPAO

Bambulab is the perfect example of a dipshit company taking all the openly available prior art and then trying to privatize the shit out of it, making random patents around it to stop anyone else from competing when they couldn't exist without the previously existing open ecosystem.

They are now suing someone for the crime of forking an AGPL project

It's really a systemic issue, because the patent system's exclusive purpose is enforcing monopolies and it never helps actual innovators unlike its stated goal. And intellectual property law is a scourge on society.

I will however also blame everyone who kept buying bambulab printers after it was clear they will pull as much anticonsumer anticompetitive bullshit as they can get away with. The locked down firmware scandal should have been enough to never buy anything from that company. Instead they're thriving while burning down the ecosystem that allowed them to come into existence. And consumers give zero fucks about it despite alternatives existing.

If it's fine to shit on tesla owners for ignoring what elon musk has been doing with the profits from the company, I think it's only fair to apply the same logic to 3d printers where bambulab is suing out of existence the people that made this tech accessible for hobbyists in the first place.