Top 10 Apps for the Deaf for iPhone for 2011

On August 12, 2010, I had guest blogger Andrew Hall, who also has guest blogged for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on online schools for Guide to Online Schools, write a post on The 10 Most Useful iPhone Apps for the Deaf. This post was extremely popular and has gotten the most pageviews on this blog. I decided that we needed an update since it has been a year since the last post! 

The iPhone has been hugely useful for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. As a smartphone with an enormous library of applications, a number exist to better facilitate communication and make it possible to place and receive audio and/or video calls, among other things. As such, here are the latest ten apps to enhance one's iPhone experience and life in general.

Now I would like to take it up a notch once again, but this time, write a post on The Top 10 Apps for the Deaf for iPhone for 2011. 

1) Z4 Mobile: Z4 Mobile allows you to make both point-to-point and VRS calls on your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch (4th Generation). It turns iPhone 4 or iPod Touch into a mobile. By far, the best one that has the least amount of glitches and superior video clarity. 

2) Subtitles: Subtitles provides access to movie subtitles to use in real-time when watching movies on other devices, making it easier to follow dialogue when seeing films in theaters or in other settings. Note that the application's content is user-generated, so the quality of subtitles may vary. 

3) Captionfish: Historic mobile application is the first to offer streaming captioned movie trailers for the deaf and hard of hearing community on the iPhone. Here are some of the great features you can enjoy on this app: Effortless search, ability to find all the accessible show times playing at theaters within 60 miles of the selected area. You can watch movies trailers with captions as well as get the synopses for all current and upcoming movies. Lastly, you can find theater addresses and view their upcoming schedules!

4) Purple Communications: Unlike TTY or TDD systems, Purple Communications allows you to make phone calls and even better, video phone calls. You have the option to be connected to an operator who then reads your messages to the recipient and transcribes their messages back to you. Or better, you can video call your friends/families yourself and communicate via sign and if they're not there, you can leave a video message in ASL. 

5) Clear Captions: Clear Captions transcribes phone calls, as they happen, in English or in Spanish. Using a headset, Clear Captions allows you to see the text of a phone call in real-time while hearing it, making it much easier to understand conversations. ClearCaptions is a free captioning service that works together with your phone and your Internet-connected computer. ClearCaptions on your phone call is similar to closed captions on your TV; you can hear AND read what's being said. This takes the frustration out of hearing on the phone. Instead of asking people to repeat themselves or guessing at what was said, you can read the person's words which display during your call. 

6) Tap Tap: Tap Tap is designed to produce alerts when loud noises are made around the phone. With Tap Tap on, the iPhone will vibrate and flash to alert you that there's been a loud noise or that someone has spoken in your direction. It could provide hugely useful information -- that someone is knocking on your door, that an intercom has gone off, that you are being addressed -- might otherwise go unnoticed. 

7) Netflix: While this might be a controversial choice, along with various missteps within the company and a lawsuit against discrimination because Netflix does not provide subtitles for all tv shows and movies, Netflix has significantly increased the availability of subtitles during 2011 significantly. Plus Netflix has come close, or near their goal of having 80% of their streaming content having subtitles. That's a 50% increase since 2010! 

8) Tango: Will  you Tango with me? Nah, not dance, just chat. :-) This video chat is so easy and one of the best video chat out there. All  you need is a smartphone and a number and you can Tango with anyone who has a smartphone with a camera. Send and receive high quality video messages on Tango. Save money with free international calls to other Tango members. Start a phone call with Tango and switch to a video call when you have something to show by tapping the camera icon. Tango automatically find the friends that already have Tango. Plus, no log in and password - create an account in less than five seconds! Only downside is that you have to pay .99 cents if you pass the video message limit. 

9) TuneWiki: TuneWiki is a fun and entertaining free app that not only displays the lyrics of the song playing, but also highlights the line being sung – amazing for people who are deaf or hard of hearing– even more amazing-it even translates the words into any other language. Fun, free and deaf-friendly...can't get better than that!

10) imo: Best Multi-Chat Client Messenger of 2011! With imo instant messenger, it's easy to stay in touch with friends on your existing IM accounts on Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Skype, MSN, ICQ/AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, and Myspace, Vkontakte.ru, Hyves. Best feature: No need to create an account with imo. Here's some other perks: concurrent sessions on different devices, chat history search and browse, voice IMs, group chat, photo sharing in group chats, and lastly, but not withstanding, multimedia attachments - audio, video, files! 

An App Review: CC

Ah yes. Thank you very much! Your services will be remembered forever...

As you can see, I decided to see if Clear Caption would caption a phone call to a radio station that plays the radio when you call their number. (Which is the number above; yes, go for it, give that number a call and see for yourself). Yet, as you can see, I found myself a lazy captioner Or maybe just not amused with the service they were giving in the first place. Nevertheless, I could care less. You'll see why..

As you can see, I decided to call a radio station via the number at the top and they captioned word for word. I called the number for AP NewsPulse and the captioner did an excellent job. I didn't want to hear all of the news since I was only testing this, but as you can see, I got the new using my phone and this app to understand what's being said even thought I might not understand word for word what the radio announcers is actually saying...now, I don't ever have to worry about that. Feel free to check out Clear Caption and let me know what you think! :-) 

Clear Caption Website
 http://www.clearcaptions.com/
 Get Clear Caption for Android: https://market.android.com/details?id=us.purple.cc&feature=search_result 

Get Clear Caption for iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clearcaptions/id410263692?mt=8

Thanks for signing up for ClearCaptions, Thomsen

I had a lot of fun using this! Will post more info later.

Time to start writing again....

I'm going to start blogging again, but I need some ideas about what would like me to blog about. Sure, I can come up with my own ideas, but I rather focus on what my audience would like me to blog about! Without you, my readers, there's no way I would of reach over 23,000 pageviews. So, help me to help you!

Fw: Voice Message

Strangest voicemail I ever gotten. Check it out. (Feel free to translate since I have no idea what they're talking about!)

Featured on TeachStreet!

Hi all! I just wanted to let you know that I've been featured on TeachStreet.com main webpage! I was just informed via email this morning and I thought I share this with you all!

Check it out!

Via TeachStreet.com:

Hi Thomsen Young, Your blog Young Thomsen is currently being featured on the TeachStreet Homepage by our team. We thank you for being a part of the Featured Blogger Program and building a blog resource for the TeachStreet community. Your blog has been chosen from hundreds of Featured Bloggers that join TeachStreet everyday. Feel free to share this wonderful news with everyone through your blog, Twitter, or Facebook. Thanks, Team TeachStreet

long beach ocean life from ty young on Vimeo.

aquarium of the pacific 2011

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aquarium of the pacific

On July 16th, 2011, I went to Aquarium of the Pacific with my dad. Too cool. If you ever have the chance, check out Aquarium of the Pacific! 

The Missing Flame

Continuation of the previous story: 

The rest of night flowed beautifully 

Plenty of beers. A good long heart to heart talk with a close friend. Three to four hours of Call of Duty on Xbox. Losing. Twice. Blame it on heavy intoxication. 

Passed out. 

It is these memories that will last forever in our minds and within our hearts.  

An chance to live life. An opportunity. Should be not taken for granted. Every single day. 

Without regret. 

That should be the goal for every human being in the world. 

Today, I got to witness one of the most amazing experiences every human being should experience. 

The ability for two people to share with their friends and family the beginning of a new life. 

An experience when two hearts come together on a special day to become one.  

I had the honor, at the last possible minute, without any previous knowledge, to attend one of my closest friend’s brother wedding.

God must of smiled that day. Clear skies, near perfect temperature, and I was nudged awake by my close friend. My eyes slowly opened to find him ushering me to get up. If there’s one thing that close friends should know, or should already know about me is that I’m a major sleepyhead. I love sleeping.

I closed my eyes for another precious few seconds…

Forcing myself upright, I gathered my stuff and headed back to the groom’s apartment and decided that it was far too early to be awake, I decided to lay on the sofa and get another hour of sleep before getting ready for the day.

Sleepyhead.

I awoke again for the second time at the buzzing of my phone alarm. Perfect. Now it’s time to get ready to celebrate the joining of two hearts to be melded onto one. Since the wedding came to my attention at the very last minute, I really didn’t have much time to get a fancy suit, so I had to do with what I brought with me for my month and half long trip, yet, I still looked good.

The groom wanted me and his bride’s cousin to stay to help him get his apartment ready for his special night. We helped him prepare his room with candles and rose petals all over the apartment. After working for the last hour and half, we knew we had the place just the way the groom imagined it and we knew it was going to be a special night for the newlyweds.

We then headed out to where the groom and the bridge are getting  married. The bride’s cousin and I jumped into his 1986 Honda Accord and we headed to Snohomish. I never ever heard of Snohomish before and I bet most of you who are reading this never heard of this little town either. Nevertheless, we were about ten minutes away when I decided that I needed a coffee fix badly. So, the bride’s cousin and I stopped by one of those small coffee drive thru that you find in the middle of nowhere in the country.

Got my coffee fix.

Ah. Now, time to go to the wedding! While we were a little early, as I was told by the groom that we could not go inside until 12:15pm since if we did, he would be charged extra. So while we waited, in the parking lot near the place where the wedding would be taking place, I ended up meeting some new people and meet the photographer. As time passed on, the photographer wanted to get some shots of the groom’s best men and they decided to go to the historic park that was nearby to do some memorable shoots.

While we waited for the photographic session to be completed, I decided to help out with the wedding by helping out watching my close friend kids. They are simply quite adorable, smart, and without a doubt, tons of work! The kids and I totally connected. I read books. I watched them play on a iPhone playing kids games. Some of those apps are quite fascinating to watch them figure out!

While watching the kids, we got some news that quite a few people were stuck in traffic. So, the wedding had to be delayed by an extra two hours. Nevertheless, when the time came, the wedding started beautifully. I guess I was moved when they wrote of their vows to each other. I had a tear coming down my right eye…

The missing flame finally became enlighten with a beautiful dip of the bride with their eyes connecting when they gave each other a passionate kiss that will last forever in their minds and within their hearts.

Lonely Thought

Continuation of the previous story: Forty-five minutes later, I was in an apartment with my friend’s family, the future bride-to-be, and with two other bridesmaids. What conspired in the next twenty-four hours turned out to be an adventure that I would never forget.

The tiniest details should be the very moments that one should remembers. For it is these memories that will last forever in our minds and within our hearts. After arriving to the apartment, I learned that the future groom still had some last minute errands to do. Not only that, but one of his bride’s cousin still needed to do some last minute shopping for the wedding. After a quick snack/light dinner, we met up with them outside of the apartment complex.

In front of us, there waited a 1986 Honda Accord with the groom, his bride cousin and the groom brother. I quickly recognized the groom in the front seat and quickly entered the back seat of the car. The groom introduced me to the bride cousin and from there, we set on to get business done: a professional trim.

The drive took about half an hour, but according to the groom, it was worth the drive since the guy that done his trim before did such a good job that when he told him that he was getting married that he’d love to do it again for him. What we all didn’t realized was just how good this guy was until we got there. Of course, the groom went first. So while we waited, three of us decided to check out the local area to see if there was any liquor stores around for the second bachelor party for that night.

Two obvious truth were discovered: Liquor stores are never open on Sundays and because of Washington State Law, major distribution stores such as Fred Meyers, Safeway, etc, were forbidden to sell hard liquor.

Bummer.

We headed back to the Barber Shop. I must say that I was extremely impressed with the work they did on the groom, so impressed that I decided to get one for myself. I believe, at that point, that there was no question, without a doubt, that I would be attending the wedding. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of what I had looked like prior to the trim, but if I had done so, you would of totally noticed the significant changes afterwards and you know what? I looked good :-)

Next, we went to several stores to get last minutes stuff that I do not really want to go into details about since, well, it’s meaningless.

Remember, this is about the tiny, important memories that you want to remember.

Thus, after all the last minute shopping, the groom had to drop off some ‘important, critical’ items at a friends’ place. On the way there, well, let’s just say that the groom had a few surprises up his sleeves for his buddies! Taking the poor Honda Accord (remember, it’s old!), up to 50 mph in a 30 mph zone and then deciding to turn off the headlights in a area with no lamps on the road! (Note: we did tell him to slow down and reminded him that he was going to get married the next day!) You know what? I’m just glad I had my seatbelt on and there was a handlebar that I could hold onto for dear life! But, after that we dropped off the ‘items’, he decided to go into a church parking lot and do some major burning of the tires (now, that was fun since we were going in circles!)!

Good memories.

Zooming through the parking garage, zipping past parked cars, my mind watched the variety of colors of cars pass by, my eyes slowly turned to the left to the front of the car and in front of us, large grey bricks seems to become larger and larger by the minute. My eyes started to widen ever more slowly. He jerked the car to the right and slammed on the brake, the loud squealing of the brakes echoed in my left ear, and within that moment, I took a breath and sighed with relief.

The rest of night flowed beautifully.

Plenty of beers. A good long heart to heart talk with a close friend. Three to four hours of Call of Duty on Xbox. Losing. Twice. Blame it on heavy intoxication.

Passed out.

It is these memories that will last forever in our minds and within our hearts.

The Rising Return

This post was met to be written on July 5th, 2011, however, I got busy with life and now I’m trying to play catch up with my blog!

An chance to live life. An opportunity. Should be not taken for granted. Every single day. Without regret.

That should be the goal for every human being in the world.

Today, I got to witness one of the most amazing experiences every human being should experience.

The ability for two people to share with their friends and family the beginning of a new life.

An experience when two hearts come together on a special day to become one.

I had the honor, at the last possible minute, without any previous knowledge, to attend one of my closest friend’s brother wedding.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to go, but a day after the conference, yesterday, I met up with one of my closest friends in Seattle, WA along with his adorable family. On the waterfront, outside Starbucks, for the last time while I was in Seattle, sipping my Passion Iced Tea Lemonade, my phone rang and I was notified that they were being the pink tour bus. I gathered my laptop bag and walked behind the pink bus. Within a second later, a green Toyota van approached. He jumped out of the car and got reacquainted.

Ten minutes later, we pulled into the Seattle Mariners parking garage and headed over to SafeCo Field. At first, we weren’t sure we would  be able to get tickets because an hour earlier I had gone online to see if I could be able to purchase online; after searching, all tickets were no longer being sold online since most ticket agencies tend to close the venue either one or two hours before the venue starts. Nevertheless, as we approached the ticket booth, I was quite pleased to discover that there were plenty of tickets and got four tickets for everyone (kids under 3 is free!).

I must say that the staff are terrific when it comes to making sure that families are accommodated. As we walked to the line to enter into the gate, we were approached by a staff member that allowed us to enter through a different gate since we had three kids with us. The staff were so good…they were getting spoiled by baseball cards! Gate 329. That’s where our seats were, so while my friend took the kids to get a quick restroom break, I entered the gate a spoke to an pleasant gentleman who appeared to be well past his prime. He gave me some excellent advice as to check at the guest services to check in my friend double stroller and then since it was the kids very first game, that they would create a memorabilia to commemorate their first baseball game, free of charge!

San Diego Padres vs. Seattle Mariners. Honestly, as I write this I still have no idea who won. When we left in the top of the eighth inning, the Seattle Mariners were ahead by two. As much as I love the game of baseball, normally, I would of stayed until the game ended, but this was far from normal circumstances. Three kids. One three. One two. One six months. They were bound to become a nuisance for the parents; besides, they’re just doing what kids are suppose to do. Nevertheless, we decided to leave early since the kids needed to sleep and my friend had some major responsibilities as the Best Man for the wedding.

Bellevue, Washington.

From what I’m told, the most famous person in Bellevue, Washington is Bill Gates. Not is only the most famous person, but most likely, the most richest man in Bellevue, and for sure, one of the most richest man in the world. Now if you did not know that, well, for sure you learned one new thing by reading this blog. I’ll admit, I had no idea that Bill Gates resided in Bellevue, Washington, since most of his work has been done in Seattle, Washington, but I did know that he, for a long time, has been one of the richest men in the world. Plus, I’ve always been a big fan of his since college because of my background working with computers.

Forty-five minutes later, I was in an apartment with my friend’s family, the future bride-to-be, and with two other bridesmaids. What conspired in the next twenty-four hours turned out to be an adventure that I would never forget.

The Seventh Teacher

This morning the sun shined its ray through the hostel window and started to annoy my eyes, yet, I knew that it was more than that, it was time for me to wake up early in the morning. 6:09. That's the time that my phone indicated and I just couldn't help rolling my eyes and stare at the ceiling in utter disbelief. You see, I couldn't sleep last night. Just tired as hell, but my mind was utterly unstoppable. I'd probably burned more brain cells than fat alone altogether last night. Is that even possible? If some scientist is reading this post, could you please inform me and my audience?

The warm rays on my skin felt nice after I pushed the hostel door open and stepped outside. Something in my gut told me that I was gonna be missing out of part of a beautiful day since I was heading to the hotel for my last day of the ASLTA conference. The other night I had planned on stopping by Starbucks in the morning before breakfast was going to be served at the hotel, but I totally forgot one important factor: today is Saturday (Most Starbucks in the downtown Seattle area are closed on Saturday except for afew popular places). So, behold, the surprise on my face when after a fifteen minute walk to the hotel that Starbucks, was, indeed, closed. 

I love my memory. Two days ago, I remembered seeing another Starbucks not far away down the hill from the hotel that was close to Seattle Best Coffee. I love my memory. I love knowing that businesses always compete against each other. I love my memory. I love knowing that for every Seattle Best Coffee, Starbucks always has one either next door or across the street. 

Speaking about memory, yesterday, I was walking down Pike street in downtown Seattle and there were people starting to gather around. I got curious and this is what happened (watch the video!)

Nevertheless, the morning is now back to normal since I have my favorite Starbucks coffee fix! I can take on anything now! First to business, I entered the hotel and immediately took the elevator stairs down to the courtyard room and meet up with Terry to get my receipt to prove that I paid for the conference in cash. Nothing felt better than having that piece of paper to make sure that I got reimbursed by my employer. I, then, headed to grab some food for breakfast. This morning, I surprised myself by only eating fruits for breakfast: banana, strawberries, and grapes (along with grape fruit drink!). After about ten minutes of enjoying my breakfast along with my coffee, I was surprised to have company at my table. :-) 

First session: How to Develop a ASL Teaching Portfolio: This session provided some excellent feedback and understanding how you can, by using the web, create a portfolio to track everything that you've been doing to demonstrate your experience as an ASL Teacher/Professor. Not only did they gather information on their experience, but also incorporated topics such as teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, teaching sample, assessment, and presentation. It appears that as ASL increases it influences as a foreign language option in high schools and colleges that the bar in standards will be raised for ASL teachers/instructors as well. Thus, having a ASL Teaching Portfolio will demonstrate to potential employers your creditably in what they're looking for.

Second session: The Implementation of Required Lab as Part of ASL Interpreting Curriculum: This session provided some interesting ways of how you incorporate a lab section as part of your classroom curriculum. The concept of the lab is threefold: provide labs as teaching and learning tools to practice and

enhance ASL skills; educate students in ASL used by the Deaf community; and practice what they learned at ASL Labs during ASL course work. The instructor indicted that if this became a requirement for all ASL classes, this would raise bar in standards and significantly increase the student's skills in ASL!

Third session: ASL Cinesthetic: my favorite workshop/session of all time while attending ASL Now! ASLTA Conference 2011! Basically, in simple words, it's the evolution of ASL literature and the technology of film making are creating a new perspective on ASL literature. Since I'm a huge fan of watching film, this session was a no-brainier for me. Best quote of the session, quoted by Marika Kovacs-Houlihan,

"ASL cinematic techniques are a brilliant way to create a story or poetry using the ability to visualize just like in the film.  The art of ASL story/poem and cinematic share astoundingly similar features. A great storyteller will enable the audience to visualize his/her story in our heads by sensing the environment, mood, and intensity—Just like how a movie editor would have made their film." 

You should watch: Deaf Ninja and Fastest Hands in the West!

Last, fourth session: ASL-English Bilinguals as Snowflakes: This session provided  some information on how being bilingual is better than being monolingual. Basically, it demonstrated with fact and figures why it's important to have more than one language has showed that your child will be able to understand language concepts and will have a more balance approach when it comes to understanding language(s). Basically, the presenter advocated that both: English (read and write) and ASL (visual communication)  language should be incorporated into the curriculum for students who are deaf/hard of hearing.

There you go! Now, since you actually read through until the end (or if you're smart and lazy, you skimmed down to the end), I have a surprise for you. If you can find me in this video, and tell me how many times I'm in the video, I will send you a free $10 Starbucks Gift Card! Please leave a comment if you have the answer, now, for some of you who do not know what I look like, I highly suggest that you "Like" me on Facebook to increase your chances of winning.

May the best man or woman win!

ASLTA 2011 CONFERENCE DAY THREE from i DEAF NEWS on Vimeo.

Door in the Future

Such a beautiful day today. What can I say? This day is off to an excellent start. Right now, I'm sitting in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle, WA. First word that comes to mind: fancy. You know if I was rich, then that would be a different story, but guess what? I haven't gotten there yet ;-) Even with a discount, the cost a night for a room at this hotel is around two-hundred a night. Some of you are wondering, "Why are you in Seattle in the first place?" To be honest, there's two reasons: first, I missed the city and always love being anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. Second, there's a conference that I have to attend to help me improve my already amazing skills teaching American Sign Language.

I still haven't decided which session I want to go to...there's so many great options! I guess I'm gonna go with these two: Assess Student ASL, HOW? presented by Kim Pudans-Smith and Overview of ASL Teaching Methods presented by Dr. Keith Cagle and Kim Brown Kurz. However, before I went their presentations, I decided to go check out National ASL Standards Overview that was being presented before those two sessions. I think the National ASL Standards Overview was extremely informative since they simplified quite a bit from last time and the 5C's made it that much more to understand. I'm not really going to elaborate too much, but if you want to learn more, feel free to check it out here.

Of the two sessions, I really found that Kim Pudans-Smith to be much more engaging. It seems that many ASL teachers were having a difficult time finding ways to assess the ASL skill(s) level of their students. Kim believe that having a well-organized rubric is the key to making not only the teacher job easier, but as well as it gives students a better understanding of what the teacher expectation(s) are. 

Although, I do wish that the question(s) should have been saved for the last half an hour of the presentation because she was still unfinished with her presentation when we were running out of time. Again, it just strictly time management that could and should improve for next time. 

Lunch: Ivan and Starbucks. No additional comments! Check the photo! 

Again, the presentation, Overview of ASL Teaching Methods (actual presentation, part 1, part 2), was informative, organized, and extremely detailed. Almost too detailed. Yes, it is true that we read faster than when we're listening, but when you have that much information, it's easy to get distracted. I noticed that some of my colleagues were getting bored, lost, or trying to catch up to be engaged in the presentation. Again, it's a matter of personal taste and your learning style. As for me, I typed notes in my laptop, when that died, I took out my iPod Touch and continued to take notes to help me remember and recall what I learned. 

Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience and I'm looking forward toward to learning more tomorrow! It's gonna be a long day too! 

The Top 10 Android Apps for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Note: On June 20, 2011, I wrote a post called Updated: The 10 Most Useful iPhone Apps for the Deaf, which was an instant hit. The post received over 2,000 hits and still counting. Prior on August 12, 2010, I also had guest blogger Andrew Hall, who also has guest blogged for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on online schools for Guide to Online Schools, write a post on The 10 Most Useful iPhone Apps for the Deaf. This post was extremely popular and has gotten the one of the most pageviews on this blog.

The Android has been hugely useful for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. As a smartphone with an enormous library of applications, a number exist to better facilitate communication and make it possible to place and receive audio and/or video calls, among other things. As such, here are the latest ten apps to enhance one's Android experience and life in general.

1. Handcent SMS - An excellent application for managing text message Handcent SMS also has a wide array of customize abilities such as changing your font, color background and how you preferred to be notified. 

2. Purple Communications (Purple VRS): Like the iPhone app, Purple Communications has done it again! Purple VRS allows you to make phone calls and even better, video phone calls. You have the option to be connected to an operator who then reads your messages to the recipient and transcribes their messages back to you. Or better, you can video call your friends/families yourself and communicate via sign and if they’re not there, you can leave a video message in ASL. Also recommended to download PurpleMail as well! Only downside, no group video yet.

3. Z4 Mobile: Z4 Mobile allows you to make both point-to-point and VRS calls on your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch (4th Generation). It turns iPhone 4 or iPod Touch into a mobile videophone.

4. Fring: Fring is the only free mobile Group Video Call service in the world! Video call/Call any other Android devices, iPhones/iPod touches/iPad, Nokia and see your friends real-time status; you can chat with your friends before video-calling them. Best feature: Fun and easy to use.

5. eBuddy: a multi-function messaging application that makes it possible to make free calls as well as live IM chats from an iPhone or iPod touch over either a WiFi connection or a 3G one. It interfaces to many services, like MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Twitter, and AOL Instant Messenger, and for consolidating all of these into a single application, it could be quite useful.

6. TED Air: You can watch TED talks with subtitle in your language, watch TED talks that 'Best of the Web', and you can search using both English and your language. This app also gives you the ability to downl TED talks and watch later without WiFi connection. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. - (http://www.ted.com)

7. Speak It: this application talks for you. You basically write the text (whatever you want!) and click on the Play button. The program has a TTS engine that will generate voice from the text that your write. With this app you also have the ability to create your own ringtone and alarm, all you have to do is write the text and set it as your ringtone. Lastlly, there's a Home Screen widget that give deaf people more functionality by saving a urgent warning/message on the home screen and all you have to do is take out your phone and press the button.

8. Google Voice: a multi-function voice mail application that makes it possible to make free calls using your phone as well as live IM chats from either a WiFi connection or a 3G. Make cheap international calls with your Google number. Send free text messages. Place calls and send text messages showing your Google number. Listen to voicemail and read transcripts if you not able to understand the voice mail (extremely useful for deaf/hard of hearing customers).

9. MoboPlayer: Simply, one of the best video player on Android! (They claim to be the best, and I believe them, but I always remember that someone can always come up with something better!) Watch any of your videos on a phone without conversion, anytime and anywhere. They feature of of the best playback experience and quality that I have ever seen. Guess what? They include popular subtitle formats such as SRT, ASS, and SAA, which is excellent for those who are deaf/hard of hearing!

10. Dragon Dictation (known now as FlexT9): The Dragon Dictation app is a voice to text app. It's made by Dragon Naturally speaking and it's free. Dragon Dictation  turns spoken speech into text. There are several advantages for using this app, first, if you’re having a hard time understanding what your friend is saying, they can say it again using this app and bingo, you know exactly what they said. Secondly, if you’re hard of hearing, you can use it to practice your speech. Only one downside: it's not free. $4.99