One Thousand Issues Of Top Tech Tidbits. Publisher Updates For January 30, 2025. Where We've Been, Where We Are And Where We're Going.

⬇️ Introduction: One Thousand Issues of Top Tech Tidbits 🚀️
⬇️ Subscriber Counts: Top Tech Tidbit and Access Information News Surpass 35,000 Weekly Readers 🔢️
⬇️ Sponsorship Package Pricing 💸️
⬇️ Change in Submission Time for All Content in 2025 ⌚️
⬇️ How To Read Top Tech Tidbits or Access Information News as a Blind or Low-Vision Person 🦯️
⬇️ Removing “Visually Impaired” From Our Verbiage ♿️
⬇️ Why You May Not Want To Provide Readers With Links To MP3 or MP4 Files Directly 📁️
⬇️ I Ran An Advertisement In One Of Your Newsletters and It Didn’t Sell My Product or Service. Can I Have My Money Back? 📢️
⬇️ A Future Built on Access, Empowerment, and Community 🤝️
⬇️ Still Have Questions or Concerns ❓️

⬆️ 1.) Introduction: One Thousand Issues of Top Tech Tidbits 🚀️

On January 30, 2025, Top Tech Tidbits published its one thousandth issue. One thousand issues, at one issue per week, works out to approximately 19.23 years of weekly information, published and delivered to date. How long have you been reading?

If you find yourself reading this right now, chances are that you’ve had a hand in making the Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News email newsletters into what they are today. The world’s #1 online resources for current news and trends in access technology and information, respectively.

One thousand issues ago, back in 2004, there were no Top Tech Tidbits. Adaptive technology folks (as they were more often referred to back then) still had their own communities, but they could be difficult to find and keep up with, especially for the uninitiated. Enter Dean Martineau, who decided to do something about the complete lack of trusted information about ongoing developments in access technology. He started a small Outlook email group named Top Tech Tidbits. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Today we have Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News, both of which now serve their very own access-specific audiences and interests. Spun off from Top Tech Tidbits and releasing its first issue on November 7, 2022, Access Information News has published approximately 116 issues to date. About one tenth that of Top Tech Tidbits. Let’s see where we are today, at issue 1,000.

⬆️ 2.) Subscriber Counts: Top Tech Tidbit and Access Information News Surpass 35,000 Weekly Readers 🔢️

Both Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News have surpassed 35,000 weekly readers as I write this. For those who wish to know how we’ve been able to fuel this growth I can give only one answer: partnerships, partnerships, partnerships. I heard a saying once that I believe may be more true today than it has ever been before. “No one needs access folks like other access folks.” When I first heard it I thought, “Wow, how true,” and then I immediately thought, “Wow, how sad.” But in business truth wins over sadness, so we figured that there had to be many more access folks out there who needed this kind of ongoing information and exposure to the access community. Something that turned out to be very, very true. And so, we continue to grow, for the readers that need this information, for the sponsors and advertisers that need to reach these audiences consistently, and above all for persons with disabilities everywhere who do not yet know that this information exists.

⬆️ 3.) Sponsorship Package Pricing 💸️

When Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News reach 40,000 weekly readers, the cost of a Sponsorship Package will increase from $150 / month to $200 / month, in keeping with each publication’s standard not-for-profit rate of $50 / month per 10K readers. A cost that is $150 / month per 10K readers on average for leading mainstream publications. Sponsors who currently pay $100 / month or $150 / month will keep their current rate for the duration of their sponsorship. Again, this is our way of saying thank you for supporting the publications early on. I know that Top Tech Tidbits is full as I write this, meaning that it already has 24 Sponsors in place, and therefore has no packages currently available. But Access Information News does still have packages available as of this writing. I encourage anyone interested in supporting the access community, as well as reaching it with your message each week, to consider joining AIN prior to the 40K reader mark in order to enjoy this ongoing discount.

⬆️ 4.) Change in Submission Time for All Content in 2025 ⌚️

As of January 1, 2025 there is a new deadline for all content submissions for both Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News. This new deadline is 3:00 PM Eastern Time on the day before the issue is to be released. Previously this time was 6:00 PM Eastern, but as the newsletters have grown, they now require more time to publish than ever before. Please be sure to note this new deadline. It applies to all content submissions including articles, Classified Ads and Featured Ads. Content submitted with a timestamp later than 3:00 PM ET will be included in the next week’s issue, if approved.

⬆️ 5.) How To Read Top Tech Tidbits or Access Information News as a Blind or Low-Vision Person 🦯️

We recently published an article titled, “How To Read The Top Tech Tidbits And Access Information Newsletters As A Blind or Low-Vision Person” that I have been meaning to write for quite some time. Special thanks to Daniel Lubiner of the TouchPad Pro Foundation (maker of the Brailledoodle) and Donna J. Jodhan for their push to get this done. If you are a blind or low-vision reader of Top Tech Tidbits or Access Information News, I encourage you to read at least the first paragraph of this article. It may just change the way you read these newsletters going forward. For the better.

⬆️ 6.) Removing “Visually Impaired” From Our Verbiage ♿️

We no longer use the word “impaired” in any form in any of our posts, newsletters or communications. This language is now considered deprecated by us as the Publisher of these newsletters and as such it will no longer be used in any form. That said, we can only dictate the rules for our own messaging. We cannot modify the messaging of others provided to us for publication. And I know for readers it can be difficult to tell the difference. In short, we are not permitted to change the verbiage that someone else submits for publication. We can reject it, and request that it be resubmitted, but we cannot change it ourselves. Each entity must make these decisions of their own accord. Someone recently asked me, “well can’t you just replace all instances of ‘visually impaired’ with “blind and low vision” prior to publication?” Functionally, yes, we could. Legally and ethically, we cannot. As this is not our decision to make on behalf of other entities. And I don’t feel comfortable rejecting submissions over these kinds of semantic nuances. Finally, there is one more factor to consider. Search and SEO. The phrase “visually impaired” has been used for a very long time, in a lot of different contexts. Some companies and orgs still have it in their name. And that is something that is not immediately going to go away. Consider the acronym, BVI. Still very widely used, in search, in SEO and in conversation. I like BLV in its place, but let’s be honest, that’s not going to overtake BVI anytime soon. In short, change takes time. Lifetimes in some cases. For us early adopters, this is critical to understand.

⬆️ 7.) Why You May Not Want To Provide Readers With Links To MP3 or MP4 Files Directly 📁️

Please note that we do not publish direct links to MP3 or MP4 files because they can lock up a reader’s machine for an inordinate amount of time, depending upon the user’s system settings. Some systems will immediately try to download the entire file, with no indicator of progress, which can appear as though the app or system is frozen. In addition, accessing MP3 or MP4 files natively introduces security concerns for users. I know that many blind and low-vision persons prefer to have a native file that they can download and listen to anywhere. Something we understand and appreciate. In this case, we recommend providing a ZIP file instead. This way the file is automatically downloaded, with progress indicated, no matter what. Providing a link to an MP3 or MP4 file via an online cloud service can also introduce additional difficulties for certain readers on certain systems. Most importantly, many enterprise systems block these links for security purposes, even if the permissions were set properly to share the file without needing an account with that particular cloud storage provider. So what is the best solution? As in, most cost-effective and most accessible? YouTube. Hands down. No downloading. No buffering. No security issues. No waiting. And, it’s free. Best of all, we can publish it for you and blind and low-vision readers can enjoy it without issue. Hope this helps to get your podcast or video into more reader’s inboxes!

⬆️ 8.) I Ran An Advertisement In One Of Your Newsletters and It Didn’t Sell My Product or Service. Can I Have My Money Back? 📢️

I’m afraid you cannot. For that is not the guarantee that we provide. In fact, that is not the guarantee provided by any (reputable) advertiser. We guarantee you TRAFFIC. And lots of it. But NOT SALES. Sales are up to you. Traffic is up to us. Our job is to carry you to the doorstep of each reader. Once there, and the door is opened, it is up to you to make the sale. We simply prepare to whisk you away to the next doorstep once your pitch has been made. In short, we are purely a transportation service for your sales message. Let’s run a quick hypothetical scenario that is often taught as a response to this specific feedback in beginner-level marketing courses. To the advertiser who ran an advertisement, but received no sales from that advertisement, we pose the following question. If you ran that same advertisement announcing that you would pay anyone who emailed you back $100 USD via PayPal that same day, how many responses (sales) do you think you would receive? My guess is that almost everyone on that list of 35K readers would reach out to claim that free $100. Or, at the very least, a very large percentage. (Hypothetical Marketing Campaign Cost: About $3.5M.) This proves, beyond any doubt, that reader interest is there. It is up to you to harness it with your marketing. How do you craft a marketing campaign with the same appeal as a free $100 bill? Well, it isn’t easy. Even for marketing professionals like us. It requires iteration (trial and error) in order to figure out what resonates with readers. And unfortunately, iteration costs money. Which is why we offer Sponsorship Packages and recommend them over one-time advertisements. Making a sale of any kind requires trust. Trust is a very difficult thing to build with a single advertisement, unless you are already well known. Sponsorship Packages have been designed from the ground up to provide your brand with this kind of trust and authority over time. And all at a cost that is just ONE THIRD of the the mainstream cost for the very same service. I encourage you to learn more about them today. Top Tech Tidbits | Access Information News | AI-Weekly

⬆️ 9.)
A Future Built on Access, Empowerment, and Community 🤝️

As we look forward to the next one thousand issues, my hope is that Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News continue to serve as more than just unique sources of information. It is my sincerest hope that many more readers will discover them as the beacons of empowerment, accessibility, and community for which they were always intended. The work we do is not just about technology, it’s about ensuring that knowledge remains free, accessible, and ever-expanding for those individuals who need it most. Every article we publish, every innovation we share, and every new subscriber who joins us represents another step toward a world where disability is never a barrier to opportunity.

To our readers, supporters, advertisers and sponsors — thank you. Your unwavering belief in these publications is what allows them to grow, to reach more people, and to push the boundaries of what access journalism can achieve. As we move forward, I invite you to stay engaged, to share these resources with those who may benefit, and to continue advocating for the free flow of information that changes lives. Because in the end, our mission is not just to inform — but to uplift, connect, and inspire. Until next time.