Podcasts about blind bargains

The 39th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference took place from 18 to 22 March in Anaheim, California, hosted by the Centre on Disabilities, Division of Student Affairs at California State University, Northridge. There were many exciting braille product announcements at the conference, and the latest prototypes of previously announced braille products were also exhibited. In this episode, we are joined by a panel of braille experts who attended the conference. They will help us unpack the announcements and share their thoughts on the products they saw. If you are planning to attend any of the Sight Village exhibitions in the UK, this episode will help you decide which products you might like to see for yourself. Products discussed in this episode: Monarch from APH and HumanWare BT Speak from Blazie Technologies Orbit Speak, Orbit Reader Q20 and Orbit Reader Q40 from Orbit Research Cadence from Tactile Engineering Optima from Orbit Research and Access Mind BraillePen24 from Harpo NewHaptics Paige Connect from Paige Braille Braille eMotion from Hims OneCourt Various accessibility efforts from Procter and Gamble and Sony Braille guide dog name tags from Elegant Insights On the panel: Chancey Fleet (chanceyfleet@mas.to on Mastadon) from the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library J.j. Meddaugh (jage@mas.to on Mastadon) from A. T. Guys and Blind Bargains, home of the Blind Bargains Qast which is soon to return Judy Dixon, President of the International Council on English Braille

Today on the show, Steven and Shaun sit down with J.J. Meddaugh from the Blind Bargains podcast and AT Guys to discuss how artificial intelligence is getting smarter to the point it can become extremely useful in our everyday lives. The conversation comes after the launch of a new Open AI chatbot platform set up to find out how people interact with it and how it responds. Its possibilities seem endless, with the ability to write essays, code for programs and even skills for the Amazon Echo, all without much knowledge other than the question you wish to solve. Plus, there's more of your feedback and comments following the last few episodes of our show. Keep your feedback coming by emailing feedback@doubletaponair.com or calling 1-877-803-4567 and leaving us a voicemail. You can also catch up with us online across social media and YouTube @DoubleTapOnAir.

Today on the show, Steven and Shaun talk about living independently and whether technology can be a hindrance or a help. Plus, J.J. Meddaugh from Blind Bargains joins Steven to discuss what was on show at CSUN 2022 earlier this year, and what new types of specialist tech were available. Keep in touch by emailing feedback@doubletaponair.com or calling 1-877-803-4567 and leaving us a voicemail. You can also find us across social media @DoubleTapOnAir.

It's an all new That Real Blind Tech Show as Brian is joined in the That Real Blind Tech Show lair by Joe Steinkamp. Joe is here to discuss all the exciting news that came out of this year's Google IO.   We start off discussing Joe's tweeting habits during big tech announcement sessions, and then directly move in to why Talk Back still sucks so bad.   We then dive in to the big announcements that came out of this year's google IO. We start off discussing the upcoming Pixel Watch  and Fit Bit accessibility. We then discuss Google copying Apple, which leads us in to discussing Google Glass.   The word accessibility came up several times during Google IO, but not in the way we would have hoped.   The conversation then turns to Android 13.   Google announced the Google Pixel 6A, who is this device being marketed towards? And Pixel Tablets again.   We then discuss both Google and Apple's current business philosophies, and the state of accessibility development.   And of course it is more of Watcha Streaming, Watcha Reading.   You can keep up with Joe at Blind Bargains. And make sure to follow Joe on Twitter.   To contact That Real Blind Tech Show, you can email us at ThatRealBlindTechShow@gmail.com, join our Facebook Group That Real Blind Tech Show, join us on the Twitter @BlindTechShow , or leave us an old school phone message at 929-367-1005.    

Transcribed by Grecia Ramirez Directly, and actually in person, from Anaheim, it s blindbargains.com coverage of CSUN 2022. Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings; access technology book reviews and mobile apps; and how they can enhance entertainment, education, and employment, log onto AccessWorld. The American Foundation for the Blind s free online technology magazine. Www.afb.org/aw. Now, here s J.J. Meddaugh. J.J. MEDDAUGH: Blind Bargains virtual Exhibit Hall coverage, CSUN 2022 and beyond and across the pond. Hey. I rhymed myself. I will have an award for me later. No. I m just kidding. Ed Rogers, Managing Director, and Charlie Harding, Marketing Distribution Manager for Bristol Braille Technology. The Canute is alive, and we have updates to share. Welcome back to the podcast. ED Rogers: Thank you very much. It must have been a couple years. CHARLIE HARDING: Hi. JM: Yes. Absolutely. And this is your first time, I think, Charlie, on this? CH: It is my first time, so thanks for having me. JM: Yeah. Sounds great. And we ll get back to you in just a second, Charlie. Welcome. I want to talk to Ed first though because we ve been talking about the Canute for a few years, and you got a bit of a head start on some of the other multiline things that have been out there. The Canute has actually shipped. We ve seen units in hand. But why don t you go ahead and give an update on the current status of the Canute and what s going on. ER: Yeah. We started shipping right at the start of 2020, about the same time as the pandemic, actually. And JM: What a time. ER: -- we shipped perfect timing. We shipped a batch of machines out, our very first commercial machines. And then, again, at the end of 2021, we shipped another batch out. And what we are focusing on now is on making sure that the customers that have those machines can actually start to do some more interesting things with them. Because we built these machines and we sold these machines as eBook readers. This is a paperless Braille page, a full Braille library. And, of course, as it s got nine lines, you get the kind of context that you don t get on any other Braille Display because it s 40 cells by nine lines. That s a third of a Braille Ready File, a BRF file. So that was our initial focus. But we re now starting to think about varying the uses people put the Canute to. JM: So before we get into what some of the people are using the Canute for, let s just talk about that. The Canute, like you said, has gone through a couple different runs now. But I know there s been certainly, the part shortage has been affecting lots of different industries and such. How are things looking as far as the Canute users in so far as people who want to think about getting into the Canute? ER: Well, we ve been very heavily affected like many, many factory-owned businesses and like a lot in this industry. At this moment, the machines that are out there are the machines that are available, so there s very limited stocks for people wanting to buy them. But there s hope that the situation can resolve itself soon. These things are being worked and we re working through them. But meanwhile, we do have machines out there in the field being used, and yeah. We hope to go back into production very soon. Like I said, we finished our last one just at the at the start of 2022. JM: Yeah. I can realize that too. It s a product that is specialized and takes a certain set of parts, so I think there s an expectation that it s not the type of product that you re going to order today, and you re going to have these things delivered tomorrow; right? ER: No. One of the things which is making Braille Displays, especially multiline Braille Displays, such a challenge is that the Canute has of course that being 40 cells by nine lines, and each of those cells is a six-dot because it s a six-dot system. That is 2160 -- please write in if I ve got that wrong. That s a lot of moving parts. Now, we went for an approach which has enabled us to sell the Canute as approximately the same price as a 40-cell Braille Display, which is to use a very mechanical system where we actually have although we have something like 2 thousand pins, we only have about a thousand moving parts. I say only, but of course, that makes for a very complicated machine to build. As it is though, we re quite proud, to be honest if you ll forgive us we re quite proud for manufacturing it here in Bristol, in the U.K. We buy the parts in, we had a great team building these machines, and they re all, you know, hand-built, effectively, by us, and then sent out to the customers. JM: I think there s a lot of potential going forward. But let s talk about, first, what people are using the Canute for now. And, Charlie, you re a little bit newer to Bristol, and I think you ve talked to a lot of customers about what they are using the Canute for, so why don t you go ahead and give me a couple examples of what you ve been hearing from users. CH: Oh. Absolutely. It s been really nice, like, getting to know people that are using their Canutes. And like Ed was saying that we originally started making them as an E reader, but then, obviously, we found out that there s a lot more that can be done with them. So I mean, for example, we ve sold one to a girl who s headed off to university. She s doing an English literature degree, so not only can she use it to read for fun, she s using it to help her with her studies. Saves them a lot of paper as well. JM: Yeah. CH: Less to carry about in a bag. We ve spoken to an undergrad student who is doing simultaneous music and physics degrees. JM: Wow. CH: And what he really found helpful with the Canute is being able to read multiple lines of content when it came to reading music. So he was able to do the notes and see the lyrics, essentially. And so instead of having to keep cross-referencing, he was able to do that in one place. And he said that he d wished he d actually had access to it when he was doing his physics degrees because he probably would have carried on with that line of career sorry with that line of education now. It would have made his physics and Maths sets a lot easier to understand and to have done that work. And again, he mentioned that, like, not having to use as much paper was really, really good. And then, finally, there s someone that works with us now, one of our interns, who s been absolutely invaluable. And she s said how great it s been for using for Maths, again, with things like complex equations. And she s said that the you know, it s actually improved her calculation speed and her accuracy because she s able to read the Maths and use that data in a, just, much more effective way. So yeah. In all, like, we love people buying the Canutes and sort of reading for pleasure and catching up with all those books and things, but, before, they ve had to wait for them to be delivered and all this paper and these, you know, five-foot tall series of books. And actually seeing people really engaging with the technology and using it to help them with their education and their careers has been really, really lovely. And we re really happy to keep sort of pushing on and improving that functionality for people. JM: Yeah. The cost of paper alone, you re looking at $40, $50 for a thousand sheets. And I m sure that s just going to keep going up, you know, so I can see CH: Oh. I completely agree. I mean, this economy. JM: Absolutely. And that s just going to keep adding up, and, you know, when you don t have to buy paper, and you can have, essentially, a device that works as a refreshable embosser is how I ve described it to some people, that can just keep pumping out Braille over and over really can be beneficial. CH: Absolutely. And it s just one of those and I mean, even if you don t care about the environment -- and I, you know, waggle my finger at anybody that doesn t -- but it s, you know, it s just a space-saving thing, you know. I mean, we those books are pretty bulky, and just being able to set a Canute on your desk and sort of plug it and go almost is it s invaluable, really. Yeah. It s really freeing people up to get on with things that they want to do rather than sitting around waiting for deliveries, paying for paper, you know. It s really beneficial. JM: Great. So we ve talked for a long time about the other potential uses of the Canute, and, full disclosure, A T Guys, we ve sold the Canute as well. And one of the big things that keeps coming up is either how do you load in other types of books besides BRF and TXT files or will it have, quote, unquote, screen reader support? Ed, you ve been doing a little bit of work in these areas. ER: Yeah. We ve been doing a bit of work in those areas. It s been one of those relationships which has really grown during the pandemic, initially, thanks to the Google Chrome OS team, but later on, we ve had our -- we ve been working directly with the BRLTTY team. Now, for those who don t know, this is a screen reader led by Dave Mielke. And this is a screen reader that s used for lot a lot for very technical uses. It s a console screen reader -- JM: Yeah. ER: -- rather than a graphical user interface screen reader, and we ve seen some real improvements on it. And as a result, you can plug your Canute now into a computer into a Windows computer or a Linux computer, and you can then bring up a console and you can use text-mode programs. You can do your own programming. You can for those who use the CommandLine. This is a really powerful tool. And what we re really talking about here is for people who want to take make advanced uses of the Canute, who people who are very tech savvy. And this is still quite early days for multiline Braille being used in this way. So we are certainly looking for people to start dipping their toes in the water. People who are maybe who do something related to computer science for their work. It could be as simple as if you ve got a program that outputs logs, and you just want to be able to see that directly on your, you know in a columner format. You want to be able to see the actual columns of the log, you can plug a Canute in, run this program in the background, and have your Canute output those things. Like I said, these are very technical things. But some of these areas are areas where Braille readers can really excel, especially when given the same kind of context that you get with multiple lines where you can compare like Charlie was saying with the music. You can compare the results on one paragraph with the result on another paragraph. JM: I want to ask a really tech sorry. Sorry. Go ahead go ahead. ER: You were saying about users using different files on their Canutes. Now JM: Yes. ER: -- the Canute accepts Braille-ready format as its input like many Braille Displays like many stand-alone Braille Displays. That s its default format. What we re working on now and this would be for all existing customers is -- this does not require using a screen reader just a small upgrade that people can go on someone s SD card where they could put some of the more common formats like TXT on it, and it would convert that to a BRF that you can then read on the device without having to do the conversion on your computer. This has not yet been released, but it will be released, and that will be for all existing customers. So once we do that, we can start to play around a little bit because you can people can come in and say, well, I put my DOCX format on it, and it was great, but could you maybe change it so that there s some space between the header and the paragraph underneath it, and we can go, Sure. Well, let s change the format so it really fits with that. And you can t do that unless you ve got multiple lines. And for me, what s important as well is that you can t easily achieve the true, sort of, representation of white space unless you have 40 cells by multiple lines. Because when you get shorter than that, you can t represent most BRFs, and it becomes very difficult to do tables or tabular format and to do indentation. So for example, if you re trying to represent functions in code, then you need to be able to indent things quite far. And that s where things like having 40 cells with nine lines can mean you can see one function, and then you can see the next function underneath it. This is all stuff that s in that requires the this is future development, but what -- like I said, at the moment, what people can do is they can have a go at using the BRLTTY screen reader if they are very technically savvy. Otherwise, if they re just someone who wants to be able to read their documents on the Canute, they can get in contact with us and we can let them know when that s ready. JM: I m going to ask one really technical question, but I ll try to phrase it in a format I won t lose 99 percent of our listeners. So when you re connected to the screen reader, which is a console -- so CommandLine where you type commands and it would output something, is it set up in a way that everything that is output would come to the Canute, or is it set up that it will only output to Canute if you implicitly tell it to, as in like redirecting output to a printer or a text file? ER: Well, also attempting not to lose 99 percent of your listeners. There are two answers to that. The simple answer is when you re using BRLTTY as your main screen reader, everything which is on the console on the CommandLine will be output to the Canute. So if you use CommandLine programs and that outputs to the console, that will then output to the Canute once you ve set it up correctly. There is something called BRLAPI, which means that you can choose what to output to the Canute. So a program if a program has been built especially for it to support Canute, it can do that in a choosy sort of way, which brings us onto using Duxbury with the Canute, which is something that they ve been developing. And it s very exciting, the idea that you can plug a Canute in on a window s machine, have your Duxbury DBT latest version running, and the Braille output on DBT will be simultaneously output to the Canute. JM: And that s another way to solve the file format challenge as well because it s eliminates an extra step. ER: Yeah. And of course, Duxbury DBT has some of the most advanced ways of representing tables, for example, and has a the sort of support for conversion that in some ways, you can only get through that program. JM: These types of features I mean I think it s really important to show what s possible with Canute as you look towards creating more units, as you look towards, you know, going back into production, I do feel like it s important to show some of these things that have been kind of talked about as possibilities, to show them as reality as you try to go in to make more of these; right? ER: Right. That s very much what we re looking at doing over the rest of this year and early next year. JM: Charlie, you wanted to talk to a little bit about the future of Bristol and the Canute and kind of transitioning us to where that leaves us next as more of these software features come in, as more interest develops. Obviously, there s going to be a desire to create more units. So what s the near future look like for the Canute? And whoever wants to answer this I guess the other related question is how does the Canute fit in now with all these other multiline products and graphics products being announced? CH: I think well, I mean, I ll take the first question. JM: All right. CH: Thanks, Ken. We ve got some really exciting plans, actually, in the mix. We just we really want to get the Canute out to more users, essentially. That s the goal. And we really want to, sort of like what Ed was saying before, like, really expand what people are using the Canute for, and, you know, part of that, really, think further about what Braille can be used for. I think, sort of a people assume Braille reading yes. Absolutely. But, you know, as we ve been discussing, like, there s so much more that can be done with it. So what we re hoping to do is to organize some fundraisers and get the Canutes into some blind specialist schools and have them sort of set up to, again, specialize in certain subjects. We want to give kids, sort of, access to Braille, but not just traditional reading. You know, that s really, really important. You know, we want kids to read. Brilliant. But, you know, it s just really kind of giving them access to something even more exciting. And then, you know, with, hopefully, that becoming a success, we d like to expand that again and send it out to adult Braille users. And what we d like, actually, is for anybody interested in our, sort of, funding endeavors wanting to get involved, wanting just some more information is to sign up on our mailing list on the website. It s a super easy box just to fill in. We will be releasing this information in its entirety, hopefully, over the next, kind of, couple of weeks, once we ve got all our ducks in a row. And then hopefully, fingers crossed JM: Right. CH: And then on the 30th of April, in Bristol -- in the U.K., obviously -- we re going to be doing a demo of some of the work that we ve been doing with our group, the Braillists. So we re really looking forward to getting some hands-on feedback on what we re up to. We ve had a little bit of showing show-and-tell, as it were, in the last couple of weeks, and everyone s been really, really positive, which has been lovely. And then, fingers crossed, we should be making it out to the NFB convention this year in some way, shape, or form. So that s sort of a little laundry list of everything that we re hoping to get sorted in the next six months, I d say. JM: Awesome. Maybe -- I guess I ll let Ed take the other part of that before we go. ER: Yeah. JM: Lot of things going on. Lot happened at CSUN with tablets getting announced. And another thing that s related that I think applies to Canute is the new development of the EBRF format. So how does the Canute play into all of that? ER: Well, the EBRF format itself is an interesting development if it comes off the ground. This would be the what do I want to say necessarily the second attempt at this. But this is certainly tied with the portable embosser format, and I hope that we get further with this because I think it s very important that there is a Braille format -- or formatted Braille which can hold some metadata. So EBRF or XMLBRF would be an advance for spreading Braille around, and I look forward to getting involved in how that develops. On the CSUN, you were able to attend that, J.J.? I wasn t actually able to attend this year. But I gather there were some interesting new tablets being announced or being demoed or promised to be demoed. JM: Yeah. Oh, yeah. We did definitely did see a lot of that in various stages of development. Nothing that is being sold today, but certainly stuff that is being talked about especially from Dot and APH. ER: Yeah. And what I find interesting is the focus appears to be very strongly on graphics, which is interesting. And I suspect, in the long run, complementary to what we re doing. Of course, the Canute has been on the market now for two years. And our focus is very much on multiline Braille. And we do experiments with graphics on the Canute using contractions -- two-letter contractions -- to represent a grid of, for example, buildings. So you can sort of move around a map like that. These are experiments that we ve tried and we ve but these are very much focused on Braille itself. So some of these new tablets I ve seen are very focused on Vector graphics and on Bitmap graphics, and it ll be very interesting to see where they go with that. Like I said, our own focus is going to be kept strictly on a format of Braille which fits with high-quality formatted Braille that you would otherwise send to an embosser. It s like -- you said yourself, it s like a refreshable embosser. So that means 40 cells wide as opposed to 20 cells or 32 cells wide. That s very much an important fact for us. And I think where we would end up seeing this shaking out in a few years, if some of these tablets come to market and if they are a comparable price, is a split between tablets which are focusing on being able to output graphics and the Canute which is still talking more about tabular content. So that s tables and text which has where the focus is really on the context around each character and each cell. JM: Sounds fair. We look forward to seeing you perhaps in New Orleans if that happens. And of course, anyone who is in the U.K. can meet up at the end of April. Charlie, you want to give out the contact information if people want to sign up, get involved, help with fundraising, maybe express interest in buying one of these things in the future? What s the best way to do that? CH: Yeah. Absolutely. They can Email me direct. I love to get Emails. It s Charlie, C-h-a-r-l-i-e, dot Harding, H-a-r-d-i-n-g, at Bristol Braille dot ORG. That will come straight to me, and -- yeah. I will be happy to pop you in a mailing list, give you an update, have a chat, anything like that. No problem at all. (Charlie.harding@bristolbraille.org.) JM: Awesome. Thank you, Charlie, thank you, Ed so much for coming on the podcast. We always appreciate it. ER: Thank you, J.J. CH: Thanks so much. ER: Have a good rest of your week. For more exclusive coverage, visit blindbargains.com or download the Blind Bargains app for your iOS or Android device. Blind Bargains audio coverage is presented by the A T Guys, online at atguys.com. This has been another Blind Bargains audio podcast. Visit blindbargains.com for the latest deals, news, and exclusive content. This podcast may not be retransmitted, sold, or reproduced without the express written permission of A T Guys. Copyright 2022. An emerging theme from our CSUNATC22 coverage revolves around the future of Braille beyond a single row of cells. We've spoken to several A.T. makers about this over the years, specifically in BBQ 200, but a lot has changed since 2019. J.J. caught up with Bristol Braille s Ed Rogers, Managing Director, and Charlie Harding, Marketing Distribution Manager, to talk about what it has been like to release the multi-line display during Pandemic times. The trio then cover some of the success stories of canute users and how these successes have led the team to think beyond eBook reading for future updates. File conversion, Duxbury compatibility and Screen Reader support are discussed along with some thoughts about the EBRF format. To learn more about the canute in the U.S., visit the A.T. Guys website. For other inquiries, visit Bristol Braille on the web. Also, be sure to keep up with many things regarding Braille by heading over to the Braillist Foundation Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit https://www.afb.org/aw

The annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference was back in full swing and in-person for 2022. On show this year was a range of new technology such as the Dot Pad, a tactile image device, and a range of new notetakers including the Orbit Speak from Orbit Research and the new BrailleSense Mini from HIMS. Host of the Blind Bargains podcast JJ Meddaugh joined Blind Guy Steven Scott on the podcast to discuss what's new and what else was on show at the first in person event since 2020. Did you enjoy the event? Did you attend? Let us know by emailing hello@blindguytalkstech.com or call and leave us a voicemail on 0204 571 3354.

In late January the BBQ Crew reconvened in Clubhouse to talk about some of the trends they experienced in 2021. JJ, Joe, Patrick, Ricky and Shelly rolled through the year that was, before taking on the daunting task of their 2022 predictions. Tune in to find out if you agree with the viewpoints of the BBQ Crew. And sound off with your own insights in the comments section below or tweet us @blindbargains on Twitter. Note: The iOS Braille bugs mentioned in this program were finally addressed in a recent 15.3.1 patch. It is too soon to tell if this will resolve the issues mentioned in the podcast, however, the sentiment that there should have been a patch sooner in the iOS 15 release cycle still remains. For those who rely on Braille for their primary form of using the device, this was a devastating problem, not a mild nuisance that could be easily ignored. So, the remarks made are still valid for future iOS releases, and we hope this whole debacle results in stronger and tighter testing results before a future release to the general public. 3:30 COVID The group talked about their experiences when accessing the sign up pages for vaccines and boosters. Regional differences vastly impacted the Crew as there was no uniformity amongst the various rollouts from the local providers. Test kits were another topic discussed with the group noting the lack of access on that front as well. Visual interpreter services are helpful, but there is no direct way to read your test results privately at this time. 16:31 Supply Chain Issues Everywhere JJ tells tales of woe on what it has been like to stock, ship and work with his partners over the last year at our sister site A.T. Guys. Ricky noted the trouble Humanware had with comments on social media regarding meeting demand after the launch of their new BI-x Braille Displays. Joe echoed that Google ran into the same problem with the debut of the new Pixel 6 line. And sometimes the product might be in stock, yet the Amazon shipping time might be longer than you'd expect. Patrick stated that it was not just an electronics issue because he waited a few months for a specialized part made out of plastic. Shelly relayed that having an alternate choice in mind is crucial when making a big ticket purchase, like appliances, as the most popular option may take a few days after forever to arrive. She adds that luck and research may help when making those kinds of purchases. 22:20 NLS Braille Display Beta How are Braille Displays and Girl Scout Cookies alike? Well, it turns out that the model of display offered to you depends on your location in the U.S. This is kind of like the naming convention for a famous flavor of delectable cookie. We will not declare whether Zoomax or Humanware is a Samoa though. The conversation then turned to the reasons why someone would still buy a Braille Display in the commercial market if they already have an NLS badged model. Upsell features, like notetaking options and quieter operation, may still allow other models to stand out. Joe said that having familiarity with Braille gives someone better justification for moving up to a 40, or even an 80, cell model to complete tasks in education or at a work setting. JJ pondered if an open model approach may drive up commercial prices of displays as it has in some international territories. We then move on to a discussion about self-contained devices like the HIMS BrailleSense 6 and the APH Mantis. Ricky says that the idea of using a self-voicing all in one Braille notetaker is still a popular choice for some types of jobs and for students. The easy exporting of materials, along with wireless connections to the internet or a smartphone, are powerful tools to have on hand. Not to mention that having a backup display is incredibly helpful as well when it comes to using another display over the NLS model. 34:50 iOS Issues Patrick and Ricky go into depth about the problems they have been encountering for months with iOS 15 and Braille Displays. In some cases, the issues are severe enough to freeze or hard reset their iPhones. Joe noted that touch targets have been problematic too as he said that visually placing your finger on a button did not always correspond to Voiceover recognizing the correct focus point. Screen recognition was not a work around method either for interacting with explore by touch navigation. JJ added that it seemed like QA and the core development teams are not catching these things prior to release. 40:00 Windows 11 The Crew admit to who is running the shiny new OS from Microsoft. JJ submitted that there was no real urgency to take on 11, that Windows 10 still has some life left and Shelly mentioned that Microsoft has been signaling that through their upgrade statements so far. Ricky said that her 4 year old system was not compatible and that she was not going to lose sleep about it. Joe, who is crazy enough to have it on 4 computers, felt like there was not a compelling feature that was a must have at launch. But he did say that the OS was a work in progress and new features would be arriving in waves outside the traditional service pack delivery method. 47:40 Accessible Gaming On The Rise In 2020 Ricky finished her first Playstation game when she beat The Last Of Us 2 . Last year she completed her first Xbox game when she knocked out all the achievements in The Vale". JJ has been playing Harthstone and Wordle through the use of accessible mods. These games join a growing list of mainstream titles that are becoming more accessible by design or by a third party modification. People are playing the Jack Box games with screen readers on multiple platforms. Joe was thrilled that Microsoft was providing audio description in their gaming announcements, and he pointed out that their was a Most Accessible Game category at the Game Awards for the past two years. Sadly, Nintendo is the only mainstream videogame console on the market that does not have speech on board natively. Yet the most remarkable thing in gaming came from iOS and the incredible support the community provided to the developer of SwordyQuest. It has been seven months since the game launched and there are new features being added as a result of a dedicated, and very vocal, fanbase. A well-deserved Golden Apple from Apple Vis was an acknowledgment of not only the amazing efforts of a developer, but a tribute to a community who rallied around that developer when gamer toxicity emerged early on in the game s life cycle. Finally, both Apple Arcade and Google Play Pass seem to have no screen reader friendly titles to offer those looking for mobile all you can play gaming. 55:10 The Future Here are the group s predictions for 2022. Joe: a flood of new dongles but none will be accessible Ricky: Resurgence of fewer touch screen-driven devices; people will rethink things and return to more tactile operations Patrick: parts shortage may affect accessibility and future designs Shelly: augmented reality/virtual reality/mixed reality products; very expensive and prototypy, not likely accessible J.J.: A graphics tablet from a new source JJ is heading off to CSUN in March. And the BBQ will keep playing around with platforms like Clubhouse for listener engagement. But you might find that our little show may take on new topics from time to time. The truth is that the landscape is changing rapidly, but Assistive Technology is consolidating so much that there is not really a wealth of news to cover in the way we used to provide that to you in the past. Therefore, we are going to take the road less traveled and explore stories and things that interest the BBQ Team. We are not giving up our in person event coverage, and the mandatory Apple/Google/Microsoft event thingies, but we want to talk about things beyond our original tech focus. We hope you will find these subjects as interesting as we do and, as always, we appreciate your feedback along the way as we conquer new avenues of information and entertainment content. Related Links At-Home Coronavirus Tests Are Inaccessible to Blind People - New York Times (subscription required) Why many blind people can't take an at-home COVID-19 test - Texas Standard Sight Tech Global Returns for Year Two - AccessWorld The Holy Braille : The development of a new tactile display combining Braille and graphics in one experience - Sight Tech Global featuring Greg Stilson of APH and Andrew Flattres of HumanWare

The BBQ Crew has been talking about the joys of 3d printing for some time now. But J.J. really wanted to know more about the process and what it takes to make an idea go from CAD design to cake design. That is why he sat down with Matthew Suggs, Founder of 3D Wolf Paw Printing, to learn more about how one goes about printing materials on mass. Matthew has more than 10 3d printers of various size and type. He gives J.J. a crash course on the materials used, the time it can take to print something and how he enjoys the experience of holding the fully realized project. To commission a product, email Matthew at blind.grey.wolf@gmail.com. Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

We last caught up with AudioEye on the CSUNATC19 Exhibit Hall floor with news of their advancement into the kiosk access space. The internet has evolved a lot in the 2+ years since that interview and that is where J.J. starts with Dominic Varacalli, President, of AudioEye. The pair discuss the hot button topic of overlays, user testing and how the company is educating their customers to understand that access is a journey rather than a one and done service environment. If you are interested in joining the user testing program, visit this page for more information. Also, to obtain services, travel to the AudioEye website for more details. Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

It has been a long time since we ve welcomed back Earl Harrison, and HIMS, to our BBQ convention coverage microphones. A lot has happened since ATIA20, and a lot has happened to Earl specifically. JJ chats with Earl Harrison, National Account Manager for HIMS, about his return to the company after a scary bout with the virus in November of 2020. The pair then move along to a deep dive of the newly announced BrailleSense 6 notetaker. Topics discussed cover a wide range of questions that were sent in by our fans on Twitter. Tune in, or read below, to learn a physical description of the product and some of the general menu structure. Earl provides some insight into the new approach with the BS6, how this device differs from the Polaris, and he addresses the Android update elephant in the room directly. To learn more about the new BrailleSense 6, including transplant and trade-in options, visit the BS6 product page. Additionally, check out the HIMS YouTube channel as well for up-to-date information about the various lines of HIMS products. Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

The most articulate person in the world probably could not accurately describe a Despicable Me Minion character in great detail. Or at least not at a level that could be discerned at a quality that rivals the act of holding one in your hands. Caroline Karbowski, CEO and Founder of See3d, and Ian Matty, Manager Mountain Lakes Public Library Makerspace, sit down with J.J. to talk about how their organization lets people 3d print cartoon characters and so much more. See3d, with assistance from the OSU Innovation Center and the Mountain Lakes Public Library Makerspace, have created over 1400 3d models ranging from anatomy to astronomy and even famous geographical locations. Hear how the process works, or read the transcript below, for making a request for a design. And learn how others are working hard to make the tools involved with 3d printing better with access technologies. To make a request, or join the See3d community, visit their homepage Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

So, the title of this interview infers that there will be some discussion of audio description within this conversation. And there is, we promise. But can you really blame J.J. for being nostalgic when talking to the author of more than 14 NBP books, and soon to be a retiree, Judy Dixon? UEB and Web Braille are some of the topics covered before the pair move on to her latest book Audio Description: What It Is, Where to Find It, and How to Use It"". Listen in, or read below, as Judy talks about the "independence of Braille" and how it impacted her journey with technology throughout her career. To purchase the book, visit the National Braille Press Bookstore page And to reach Judy directly, send an email along to judy@judydixon.net Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

The Etch A Sketch and Spirograph are some of the most successful toys available for introducing young people to the world of art. However, there are not many touch friendly equivalents for those searching for a tactile based option that would offer a similar experience to those classic toys. Daniel Seth Lubiner, Founder and CEO, and Brian K. Edwards, President and Chief Operating Officer, of TouchPad Pro Assistive Technology are out to change that by creating new products like the Braille Doodle and the TouchPad Pro. Hear the pair tell J.J. how these products were inspired by Braille students, transformed into an Indi Gogo project and how that process is leading to eventual product distribution. To learn more about the TouchPad Pro, visit this link to hear an audio described video of the introductory model. Additionally, to learn more about the company, visit the TouchPad Pro Assistive Technology website Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

Steven Scott proudly proclaims to J.J. that he is indeed a "serial podcaster" during this interview. And it is hard to disagree with that statement when you consider the circumstances that led him to the place he finds himself with his career so far. Hear, or read the transcript below, as Steven regales J.J. with highlights from his more than 20 years of speaking into a microphone. Plus learn what is next for the RNIB, Double Tap and all-around Blind guy who talks tech. To keep up with Steven, and to get more information on his new podcast, follow him on Twitter @TechTalkerSteve Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

Blind and Visually Impaired job seekers often must play a guessing game when it comes to the determination if a possible employment avenue will fit within their specific needs for access. That is why J.J. was eager to sit down with Roy Baladi, Founder at Jobs for Humanity, to explore how his organization is looking to build healthy bridges between employers and those interested in employment. Tune in, or read the transcript below, to learn where the drive to assist others came from and where the trajectory may lead to in the future. To know more about Jobs For Humanity, or to browse their postings, visit the Blind.Jobs website Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

J.J. notes at the top of this interview that the BBQast rarely interviews people within the Remediation and Testing sector of A.T. unless the subject of the interview stands out in a very crowded field. That is why he sat down with Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist for Fable, to discuss their unique approach to commercially available User Centric testing. In this chat you can hear how A.T. users of varying degrees of knowledge can embark on a pathway towards obtaining testing experience through resources provided by Fable. Additionally, those who are seeking something beyond automated testing can find a talent base curated by Fable from their growing community. To learn more about services offered by Fable, visit the company website or Follow them on Twitter @Makeitfable Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

There are products on the market that are so well recognized for what they do that they truly need no introduction to fans of this podcast. But even long-time users of a phentermine for sale product might not be aware some aspects of their favorite Assistive Technology can undergo a slight change during a yearly release cycle. Shelly sat down with Matt Ater, Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Vispero, to talk about some of the recent changes that are coming in an update to ZoomText 2021. The pair discuss the importance of the new Zoomy digital assistant, how user settings now migrate between updated versions of ZT and Matt then demos the functionality of Background Reader. To learn more about ZoomText, Fusion or any of Freedom Scientific's Low Vision products, visit the FS website. Also, be sure to check out the Freedom Scientific Training channel on YouTube as it has tons of great resources on various Vispero products. Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit .

Our virtual convention coverage is in full swing, with a deep dive into the happenings at Humanware. Joining J.J. in the simulated Exhibit Hall is Peter Tucic, Blindness Products Brand Ambassador, for his first interview in front of the BBQast microphones. The pair discuss all the features in the new Brailliant BI 20X and 40x units along with how they differ from the APH models. They then turn their attention to the Victor Reader Trek and its most recent GPS update. But that is just the tip of the iceberg as they cover more ground, including the recent service outage. To learn more, join the BI-X mailing list at brailliant-bi-x-users+subscribe@groups.io or visit the Humanware website Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amoxil offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit www.afb.org/aw.

As we lead up to our exhibit hall coverage for 2021, we start with an extended interview and deep dive into GoodMaps. Thanks for listening. Sponsor; Goodmaps, Maps with a Mission J.J. interviews GoodMaps ™ CEO, Jose Gaztambide to learn about the evolution and exciting developments at GoodMaps. Tune in to learn more about GoodMaps ™ indoor positioning technology, the philosophy behind developments, and their vision for the next five years. J.J. also gives listeners a detailed demonstration of GoodMaps ™ free iOS and Android app, called GoodMaps Explore, with both outdoor and indoor functionality, by going through pieces of the audio tutorial that he and Mike May created. You can experience various features first-hand, to name a couple, location description, getting warmer, and customization settings. To learn more: Visit the GoodMaps website and join our newsletter to keep up to date with us (contact form at the bottom of the home page). Tune into the GoodMaps YouTube channel for product demonstrations. Follow GoodMaps on Twitter: @GoodMaps_A11Y Find GoodMaps on Facebook Email feedback to info@goodmaps.com

Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, and Jason discuss Apple's discontinuation of the original HomePod, and iMac Pro. News Apple discontinues the original HomePod and iMac Pro. For more info, see the links in the show description. Evidence that supports the eminent a-rival of Apple's AirTags was Found in the Find My app in the iOS 14.5 beta. Hims has launched the BrailleSense 6. Google released the Android 12 technical preview. Ad iAccessibility app development services Picks Jason: TalkBack version 9.1. Taylor: GeneratePress Michael: The Expeditionary Force Book Series Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don't forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you'd like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel. Show Transcription MICHAEL: Hello, everyone and welcome to another episode of the IA cast. All right, with me today, I have the usual group. We have Taylor Arndt, TAYLOR: Hello, everyone, MICHAEL: and Jason Earls. JASON: Hello, everybody. MICHAEL: All right, we have a great episode for you today. And you know, we've been gone for a few weeks. We had a kind of a crazy storm And then we wanted to get back on a regular schedule. So, we're back with a new episode to talk about all the interesting news that's happened recently and some rumors and news and a bunch of different things that have happened. So, let's jump right into it. Our main topic for today is the first news item, and that's the HomePod being discontinued. And I have very mixed opinions on this. JASON: I do too. I kind of understand why Apple discontinued the HomePod. Also, they discontinued the HomePod! It's okay, HomePod buddy, I still love you! As I pat my HomePod. MICHAEL: Didn't we have a hashtag for a while, pet the HomePod? JASON: I think we did. TAYLOR: Hilarious. JASON: I was just trying not to pat the screen because I didn't want music to happen, but that would have actually been really funny. MICHAEL: I think I have a picture of headphones sitting on a HomePod. JASON: Oh, yeah! The Andrea Cans! MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah. JASON: But yeah, on one hand, I understand why they did it because it was at launch a what, $350 Smart speaker that couldn't do terribly much more than play music. I mean yes, it sounded good, But you know, it's not what people were looking for in their smart speakers. Especially considering the likes of the Echo devices, the Google Home Hubs or Homes at the time. And you know, the HomePod's been around for like 4 years. So, in one respect, I kind of understand it. And you know, the HomePod Mini does have some features that the big HomePod doesn't have regarding the U1 chip and everything. But at the same time, the HomePod does sound so good! And as good as the Mini is and as great sales figures as the Mini is because of its price point and everything, you can't argue that it just does not sound as good as the big HomePod. TAYLOR: Right. But I think if we're thinking about it, the majority of consumers, they may not be in depth with audio and they may not understand that the HomePod sounds the way it is and that they want to pay for that. Because a lot of them just want to listen to music, and they want it to be portable. And so, that's where I think it's coming down to. Like, I understand why they they discontinued it, but yeah, it's kind of sad. I mean personally, I don't have a big HomePod, but that's because in a small apartment, I just don't have a lot of room. JASON: Right. And, you know, they did say that they are still going to push out software updates for the big HomePods and support the Apple Care which is good because I just got Apple Care last year. TAYLOR: Oh, that would stink otherwise. JASON: Right? But like, I really want them to come out with a bigger HomePod for 199. That's what I'm hoping for, even though they publicly said to I think it was like iMore or whatever that they were in fact focusing their efforts on HomePod Mini. Because let's think about it like this, the big HomePod — you know, Apple slash the price to 299, right? So, for $200. You could get two HomePod mini for less money than one bigger HomePod. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to have the bigger, basier sound of the HomePod, but at least you would get stereo audio and stuff. MICHAEL: Well, let's leave this part for the end because we're already kind of diving in. JASON: I know right? I like, I got thoughts I'm sorry. MICHAEL: But the other bit of news is the iMac Pro completely was discontinued and they're only selling them while supplies last JASON:That I'm not sad about. MICHAEL: In a way, I am. I think it was a great product, but I think we're about to see something new come from Apple. And as usual, we will be doing a live stream of that event. At least that's the plan. We'll be doing a live stream of the Apple event when it happens later this month. Because we do know for certain, right, that there is an apple event? JASON: I don't think we do know for certain. I just think speculations hide that there may be one, at least last I checked. But March 23 is the rumored date for the Apple event. I also haven't really looked at the news today. So things may have changed. But last I knew it was a hypothetical thing at this point. I mean, a highly likely thing at this point. MICHAEL: And I think it's because they're discontinuing these devices and the fact that we have so much information in the code about our next topic, and that's potential AirTags coming soon. Because there's mention of them in the find my app. TAYLOR: Yes, there is. MICHAEL: On the beta TAYLOR: Which is awesome because I've saw YouTube videos. Obviously, I don't have the beta myself, but I've seen YouTube videos that have mentioned it. Obviously, when you're on to prepare for the podcast just kind of looking at all the news. And but yeah, definitely pretty cool. And hopefully, hopefully they work. I mean, Tile's nice, but it'd be nice to have something built in and integrated for finding stuff. JASON: Right, and I guess Apple's opening up the FindMy protocol so that companies like Tile could take advantage of it as well. And it's nice to see that they are opening up more of their frameworks and things. MICHAEL: Well, and I think that's because there's been so much blame for antitrust and things between them and Google and things like that, that they're trying to make sure that they stay open — JASON: ahead of that, Yeah. MICHAEL: Because Google's had a lot of problems with that because they're in everything. The last bit of news that we have is, and I won't make any jokes, Jason, I won't do it, I won't do it. Those will be left for off the podcast, the BrailleSense 6. And I only make this joke because if you want to learn more, head to hims-inc.com/bs.6 . And I'm not kidding. Take all the jokes from that you can. JASON: Exactly. MICHAEL: Basically, we have the BrailleSense 6, and it was announced this week at CSUN. From what I've been able to tell, it was one of the biggest announcements because there weren't a lot of announcements this week. And the BrailleSense 6 dropped the Polaris naming. And it's Android 10, 120 Gigs of hard drive space, 80211AC wireless, a battery that while under load will drain 21% in an hour and a half if doing the max amount of work. That's the only battery statistic we can get. It has SD card slot, it has two USBA ports, a two USBC ports, a headphone jack, supports microphone, The, what is that called, Jason? JASON: I think it's TRRS, actually, I believe is the technical standard which is basically what this microphone that I'm using is, which is, think the older headphone jacks on the iPhones or the the headphone jack on the Mac. So it's that single microphone combo jack. MICHAEL: And it has all that, it has new software installed. And the person doing the presentation was using Zoom on the BrailleSense. So that's pretty promising. The only concerns I have are if it's going to get Android 11 and up, and how well the software is going to work because the Polaris had a lot of issues with deleting documents and things like that. JASON: Yeah, the BrailleSense Polaris is a very interesting device. I think it also actually Michael, in addition to the headphone jack, I think they said it also has a stereo line in Port as well. So you could connect music things to it, you know, binaural microphones really would work I would imagine to it. MICHAEL: Nice! JASON: Did you mention that it has 6 Gigs of RAM? MICHAEL: No, I did not. TAYLOR: Nope, you didn't JASON: So yeah, it's got six Gigs of RAM, an 8 core CPU. I don't remember if they announced the clock speeds of it, but — MICHAEL: It didn't. JASON: So, it really does seem like a very interesting device and — MICHAEL: And it's gonna cost 5799, come out in June. TAYLOR: Yeah. Wow. That's a lot of money. JASON: So we do know, the battery will be user replaceable though because they talked about that at the CSUN announcement I think MICHAEL: they do offer financing and trade ins for your older devices, so those are options to get you a lot closer in price to those devices. So JASON: Yeah, it's a very interesting device. I do worry what the battery life is really going to be like, TAYLOR: Right, and also if it can — like some note takers have a problem where they fall behind mainstream. And so that's the other concern too, is that like, you buy the $6,000 device almost. Well, it's already running two versions behind of Android almost at this point. 12 is beta. So that's the other thing too. These notetakers I mean, they're great for what they are, but you know, it's a specialized thing, and they're not always up to date. JASON: Like I said to you guys, I think off the show, if I were to get a note taker, it would probably be the BrailleSense. You know, the BrailleSense 6. It's so weird that they don't have a name for it now. TAYLOR: I know. MICHAEL: Alright, you know, and we could have a whole episode on notetakers, but I think we would want to have somebody on that can talk more about Braille and mainstream versus notetaker because I think that would be a very cool discussion. So TAYLOR: Yes. JASON: Yeah, I do too. Because I mean, I've used the BrailleSense in the past, but the BrailleSense I used was, I think, even before the U2. So, it was definitely not any of the Android based BrailleSense devices. So MICHAEL: Another thing that's happened, the last news topic I really could think about, is Android 12 is in technical preview. We really haven't talked about that. And I hear it brings a whole lot of user interface changes, but not a lot of — you're not going to be able to notice it very much with Talkback. JASON: Yeah, that's true. I have been playing a little bit with the beta. After a couple false starts, I eventually got it on my Pixel. I accidentally installed the version of Android, that AOSP version, so it didn't actually have a screen reader which is why I wasn't getting speech. TAYLOR: Oh, no. How did you fix that? JASON: I pre flashed it — MICHAEL: Very carefully. JASON: I was — TAYLOR: Yeah, very carefully. JASON: Yeah, very carefully. So yeah, I reflashed it, because you can actually go to the Google developer site, and you can actually use their online flash tool, and it will basically do all the work for you MICHAEL: Online? That's cool! JASON: It downloads the image to the device, you have to enable some things like OAM Unlock, and whatnot, it'll download the image to the device, and it will tell you when it's safe to unplug your phone at which point it should be booting into the beta of Android. MICHAEL: That's fancy. JASON: I know. MICHAEL: And talk about the security implications there. I mean, it's Google, and they have all the security keys and all that. But could you imagine if somebody were to spoof that, and be able to put a knot legit version of Android from a website? JASON: Yeah, I know. I did actually think about that. And then I stopped thinking about it. TAYLOR: That might have been a good idea. JASON: But like I said, I do have Android 12 installed. I don't notice too much of a difference. Although honestly, my Pixels not my primary driver, my primary driver's my iPhone. So what I can say though, is that 12 does seem to be relatively stable. And along with the introduction of Talkback 9.1 which is not specific to Android 12, I do think that the Android experience is going to improve a bit which is nice and awesome to see. MICHAEL: Yeah. So, it's really cool that, you know, we have the ability to flash these devices remotely. I think it's really neat. But we'll have more information about what's in the beta for Android 12 in a future episode, but I think it's really cool that we have the ability to do that, and to try these things before they come out, you know, iOS, Android, Windows through the Windows Insider program, and things like that. JASON: I think the one thing that was kind of annoying to me though is — and maybe it's just I did it in a way that made this happen. But it ended up forcing me to reset my phone to flash the version of Android 12 on to it. And of course, when I had the version without talkback, I didn't mind resetting my phone. And I think if you downgrade back to Android 11, I believe it will make you reset as well. They do tell you that. So MICHAEL: you know, I love how my watch made a noise even though I have — typically if I mute my phone, my watch will mute with it, but not this time. JASON: Oh, interesting. MICHAEL: Yeah, usually it mirrors but not this time, that's interesting. All right, so for our ad part of the show today, I want to talk to you guys about app development services that's offered by iAccessibility. iAccessibility offers app development services for iOS and Android at $50 an hour where we will build your app from the ground up based on your website or however, whatever app you're trying to build. And the app will be accessible and usable by all users. Unless it's a game that you really need specific use cases. We'll still try to make it as accessible as possible, though. So,, we've built apps like VO Starter, we've built apps like Pocket Braille, Blind Bargains, ACB Link, And that's just a few of the different apps on a lot of platforms that have been created. So $50 an hour minimum of $1,000 and you can have your app in the iOS and Google Play app stores. So you can go to iaccessibility.net to learn more, and we will be promoting that more on the website. So, people look out and we'll have more information. So thanks for listening to the iACast. And now on to our main topic for today. And we've already talked a little bit about that, and it's Apple discontinuing products like the HomePod. And you guys, I — this is — I feel like this is the most products that Apple's discontinued at one time. And you know, Microsoft has done it. I mean, they discontinued a whole store line. Google, Google is the project killer, they are known for that. Do you guys think Apple's kind of jumping on board that train, JASON: I think in a way they are. I really think what they're trying to do is they're trying to streamline their product line, and you know, not have so many variations of things around. Especially in the case of the iMac Pro. I keep wanting to call it the MacBook Pro. That is a different product. But the iMac Pro because they really want us all to move over to Apple silicon, which, you know, I'm personally fine with. So I really think that's part of it. And, you know, as far as the HomePod, I like to think that they have something new planned to replace this beautiful, soft, lovely mesh, big HomePod that I'm totally like rubbing a finger against right now because it just, it's fun! MICHAEL: Hashtag pet the HomePod. JASON: Exactly. But you know, I really hope that they do have something to replace the bigger HomePod with at some point soon. Because, yeah. TAYLOR: Yeah. So the thing with that is that, I think, like I said, a lot of these companies are doing that right now. They're just trying to streamline. And you know, Google has been doing it for years. Microsoft kills things. But Apple, like I said, this is really a first. They don't really do this all that often. And so, either one of two things, they either have a lot more products coming and they need to get rid of stuff, or they're just trying to streamline because a COVID and everything, obviously, but we've been in COVID for over a year now. So who knows. You know, they're just trying to get things streamline. Or if they are trying to add new products, but they need to get rid of some first. MICHAEL: And it might be — it might just be that they don't plan to update. Oh, well, actually, you know what? I think the Home Pod runs on the processor that the iPhone seven runs on. Isn't it, Jason? JASON: The big HomePod? Yeah, it's the A8. MICHAEL: Oh, wow. And I think that's the next on the chopping block this year, guys. TAYLOR: iPhone seven, you think next? JASON: I think well, the seven has the A9, right? MICHAEL: I don't remember — JASON: No, wait a minute. No, I think the A8 is from the iPhone 6. Actually. MICHAEL: But I remember the 6S is the last version — iOS runs on the 6S. And so I bet the iPhone seven will be the final version that 15 will run on. JASON: Oh, that's possible. I mean, at the same time, they did actually change the foundation according to some tech sites. They did change the foundation of what HomePod OS was. So for a while it was based on a foundation of iOS. And then I don't remember when this happened. But supposedly they ended up changing the foundation from iOS to TV OS so that it wouldn't have as much code and things in in the OS that isn't really needed and used by the HomePod. So I was kind of not expecting to see the cancellation of the big HomePod for another year or two yet. I was a bit surprised. But maybe — I mean, I was going to say maybe this has something to do too, with the silicon chip shortage. But that would probably be more to do with the Mac, I would think maybe then the homePod. MICHAEL: Well, it's interesting because I'm wondering if they're going to rename the HomePod Mini eventually to something else. Or if we're going to have the HomePod Pro, come out and then put a new device in later on in the HomePod category JASON: Right, or the HomePod Max. TAYLOR: Right, or the HomePod Pro Max. JASON: I don't think they'll do Pro — well, I lie, 12 Pro. — MICHAEL: If you think about it, on the Mac, we don't have a MacBook, we have the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. We don't have a Mac Book or the Mac. TAYLOR: Oh, right. MICHAEL: So that might be kind of the landscape we're looking at for HomePod for a while. JASON: Maybe. MICHAEL: Because if you notice the mac book that came out like 2015-2016– JASON: 2015-2016, I think 2016, yeah. MICHAEL: It was short lived as well. So you know we have the air and the pro that are still around but the flagship name was was discontinued quick on that line too. So that's kind of interesting to think about. JASON: Yeah, it really is. And I think the one thing that's keeping me from being complete and utter 100% distraught that the big HomePod is being discontinued is just the fact that the — and I think I said this before, that Apple did say that they are still going to issue software updates for the big home pods for the time being, and supported still through Apple Care. MICHAEL: I'm wondering if you put two HomePod minis in a room, if you get the same quality sound as one big HomePod, JASON: I think you would get the same overall quality sound, because the HomePod Mini does seem like it sounds very similar to the big HomePod just without that deep low bass that the big ones can hit. MICHAEL: Yeah. And I don't know, it's to the point where when we look at these devices, it's hard to it's, and you know, maybe I'm just, my train of thought just keeps going all over the place. But the more I think about things, maybe this is a way for tech companies to dispel rumors and leaks by just saying, we're going to discontinue this, we're going to change this. And so it kind of throws people off to know what the next step is going to be. JASON: Yeah, maybe. I think though, in the case of the iMac pro being discontinued, we all know, it's most likely going to be because we're going to be seeing an apple silicon based iMac. Now whether we see that on March 23, which I personally don't think we'll see. I will say that on the show. And I'll be very happy to be wrong. But I don't think we're going to see that on the 23rd. MICHAEL: I think we will, I think that's going to be the focus is iMacs this year. JASON: I don't know, I think we might see things about AirTags and iPad pros and stuff, but we'll see. If I'm wrong. I'll be happy. Michael: See, maybe we need to come up with the accessibility pool. Because what I think we're gonna see and take your bets people. TAYLOR: Okay, MICHAEL: I think we're gonna see iMacs, colored iMacs, I don't think we're gonna see iPads just yet. But that's just me. Now, in saying that, iPads have come out in March before. So it's not out of the norm. But IMAX used to be used for education as well. And so if they bring out the colored iMacs like they had for education in the past and kind of marketed towards that, I could definitely see that being a march thing. And plus, iPad Pro has typically has an 18 month life cycle. It's only been 11 months since iPads have come out. So in other words, this is Michael trying to say please let my iPad be relevant in April. TAYLOR: Well, I have to agree with Jason on this one, Michael. Because, like I said, with all the evidence and stuff, I think it's gonna be AirTags and stuff. But again, if I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to admit it. But I really think I have to agree with Jason, Michael. MICHAEL: And who knows, we may see all these things. I doubt it but TAYLOR: That'd crazy. JASON: no, you know what's really gonna happen. Apple's not actually going to have a product event on the 23rd, they're going to just announced their new products quietly on their site. And then we'll all be wrong. MICHAEL: And it could happen, it could happen. JASON: I do think though regardless, as sad as I am to see the big HomePod be discontinued, and like I said, me personally, I'm not terribly upset about the iMac pros cancellation and we're excited because, you know, that just tells me to watch out for the iMac. Not that I'm going to get one but it's still always fun to see what they're going to come out with. I still enjoy my HomePod. You know, I still plan on using it until something happens. Like, if nothing else using it until Apple decides they're not going to update it anymore. Whenever that may be, so. MICHAEL: Well, and that shows me that them discontinuing these things that just, especially on the iMac side it means that they have something new coming around the corner and they may decide that the pro line of iMac just isn't needed anymore because of what the A1 and A1x will do for these devices. I mean — JASON: You mean the M1? MICHAEL: Yeah, the M1. JASON: It's a processor, Michael it's not steak sauce. TAYLOR & MICHAEL: Right. MICHAEL: That needs to be the name of an episode sometime. Our previous episode title we came up with it is going to be it. JASON: Yeah, but that would be hilarious. 156 It's a processor not steak sauce. MICHAEL: All right. And you know, I wonder if that's why they started with a4S. JASON: I don't know. MICHAEL: Because Could you imagine Apple naming, now introducing our first processor line, the A1. JASON: and then Could you imagine the hilarity in covering the lawsuits, if that would even happen. That'd be funny. MICHAEL: Anyway, would that'd be a coprocessor for for Intel the A1 because it has to go along with it to make it better? TAYLOR: I don't know, would it be? That's your call. MICHAEL: I mean, if we're comparing Intel to steak there would be A1 processor from Apple to JASON: They'll call it, I don't know, I was gonna say steak Lake, but that just sounds weird. Dinner Lake, MICHAEL: Dinner lake. All right, out there. There you go Intel. When you come out with that chip that everybody wants just say time for dinner. Like, JASON: Exactly. MICHAEL: Anyway, I think this is the most jokes we've told in a podcast. And I really think that the M1X will really be like, there's no pro version of that, there's no way to up the process or on that. So there's, on the Intel iMacs, you can get i5, I7, I9, and you have the better display on the Pro, which they can still do the better display. But if the display is already going to be amazing in these new iMacs with the new chips, then they don't have a need to do that. So, there may not need to be an iMac pro because the new iMac will just be able to boast that it's pro already with the built in Apple silicon. JASON: And that was kind of my thinking, when I first read about the cancellation of the iMac Pro, I was actually thinking as you were talking and I don't really think Apple's gonna do this, if they came out with instead of the M1x. Or the M1 2, having the M1 Pro, but I really don't think they would do that, considering they already have products in their pro line that have the M1 and that would confuse people. MICHAEL: Right. But, you know, I just think that they're going to, I think that they — now that we're looking at coming slowly out of COVID, they're going to be looking for the best way to sell their products. And if you could just say, look at the shiny new products we have in our stores aren't aren't these amazing, people are going to want them and especially if they start doing these colors, like they've shown on concept art and things like that, that that are rumored, that's just going to be amazing. JASON: I mean, look at how popular the new Macs have been already, you know, because working from home and they've got that long battery life and the slightly upgraded camera because of the ISP MICHAEL: And you know, I'm doing all this on an M1 Mac, the recording and Zoom, and all that. And I keep telling people it's the better of the two machines. I mean, this is still a terrible camera, but I'm looking at my face on here. And it looks a lot better than my other Mac did, by far. So Apple has really gone a long way with what they're doing. All right, do you guys have any final comments we want to give before we wrap up today? JASON: Steak! MICHAEL: Yes. TAYLOR: Oh my God! JASON: No, I'm kidding. But you know, it's very interesting to see these product cancellations. I keep flitting between I'm sad, especially for the HomePod. And it's because there's going to be something new, like, a lot of me is just like, This has to because there's something new. So it's going to be very interesting to see what actually ends up happening. MICHAEL: Well, you know, the interesting thing, I want to point this out. The interesting thing about the home pod Mini is you don't need to plug those into the wall. JASON: Right. MICHAEL: And that's really interesting. I mean, you could build a USBC — you could buy a USBC hub, plug it into the wall and have five home pod minis hooked up to that thing — TAYLOR: In a power strip. Yeah. MICHAEL: Well, not even a power strip, just a USBC hub. TAYLOR: Oh, wow. Oh, yeah because it doesn't even plug in to the wall. Wow, I'm not thinking JASON: Or a battery pack. MICHAEL: Yeah, you could hook it up to a battery pack. And so that makes it almost more usable than the echo. TAYLOR: Yes, Yes! MICHAEL: And so I think that's why Apple really wants to focus on that because they're like, there's so much possibility here. TAYLOR: I wouldn't blame them. MICHAEL: I mean, it sounds better than any echo. I'm sure. I don't know, I haven't heard one yet. But JASON: Review say they do. MICHAEL: So, you know you put a few in a room. You're gonna get good audio. The only thing that you can't do is use the standard stereo speaker — or TV speakers. JASON: You can, they just won't — I just don't think they'll do Dolby Atmos and stuff that the big HomePods do. MICHAEL: How would you do — oh, well, Apple TV speakers, but how would you use the standard TV speakers? JASON: Oh, okay. Yeah, I misheard. I thought you said Apple TV. Yeah, you can't use Well, you can't even use a big HomePod as a standard TV speaker. So that's not MICHAEL: It's not new. Could you imagine if they came out with the HomePod sub where you had 2 of the apple speakers of the homepod minis as your regular speakers? Now, that's a possibility. JASON: That's actually funny that you mentioned that because I was talking to somebody pre show about that. And what they had said is, Apple comes out with this sub and then gives it 2 USB C ports so that you can plug two HomePods directly into the wall or something. I don't know if that is what they're going to do. But that would certainly be interesting. It'll definitely help with the idea of, I want to have stereo speakers, but I need two outlets if they decided to go that route. So who knows? MICHAEL: Yeah, I'm really excited to see what they do. I mean, if they bring out a HomePod sub, I will press that Buy button immediately. I'm not kidding that if they did that, you know, I would buy a home pod sub. And it kind of makes sense, guys, I think that's actually probably what they're going to do. Because it would make money for them. If you had to buy two HomePod Minis and A HomePod sub. Let's price the sub at $200. They're making $50 more off of you then if you bought one HomePod. Now, granted, they're not going to make 600 or $700 if you had to buy two regular HomePods. But, who's gonna do that anyway? TAYLOR: Right. JASON: Yeah, that's true. I think though, the only downside to this is, as it stands right now, if you were looking to buy HomePods, new, that would do Dolby Atmos, you can't, because that was a feature specific to the bigger HomePods. And I don't know if it's because the eight is more powerful than the S5 or whatever CPU the minis have inside, I think it's the S5 or if it's just that the Mini. , I mean, the big HomePod has more microphones, and it's not limited to the chip. But as of right now, you can't buy new home pods directly from Apple. If you want to do Dolby Atmos. MICHAEL: actually you can for right now during the time of this recording, but. JASON: I didn't even see a link in the store for the HomePod when I last looked. MICHAEL: So I just looked, and they're still in the Apple Store app for 299. You can pick either one. JASON: Oh, they have the Space Gray ones back? MICHAEL: Yeah, they're showing both of them, at least when I looked it showed a picture showing both of them. JASON: Oh, that's interesting, because I knew for a while that they only had the white ones around. And it's very interesting then that I couldn't get to them. Because on the Apple Store, on Apple's website, if you wanted to see the HomePods, the only way it was able to find them is by going under the Apple Music link. And they talked about the HomePods and the AirPods and the AirPods Max. The only HomePod they listed was the HomePod Mini. Whereas the big HomePod used to be there. So that's interesting that they still show up in the Apple Store — MICHAEL: Yep, they are in the Aplle Store app. Yeah. JASON: And of course you can buy them from other retailers. It's not just Apple that sells the HomePods but MICHAEL: And since they're discontinued, I would wait so you can get them from Best Buy or somewhere else where they will be much cheaper. TAYLOR: Yep. JASON: Just keep in mind, if you're going to go that route, that we don't know how long Apple is going to support the big HomePods with software updates, even — All we know is that they are still going to support them. MICHAEL: Alright, well, that's gonna do it for our show today. Jason, to end us off for today, where can people find you online? And what's your pick? JASON: So my pick is, funnily enough, not an Apple product, but rather a Google product. MICHAEL: Ah, just wait. It'll be discontinued at some point. TAYLOR: Probably Well, next week. JASON: Specifically, my pick is talkback version 9.1. And I pick it because it enhances talkback by allowing you to use multi finger gestures. Finally, it has a Braille keyboard. Although, the Braille keyboards been there since 8.4 I think it was? But I really find I like the multi finger gestures. I like the new unified talkback menu. And it's just, I just love this version of talkback compared to the older ones, because I can disable the angular gestures and the proximity sensor silencing speech. I can turn that off now because you can now tap with two fingers to pause speech. MICHAEL: Oh, that's fantastic. JASON: And the magic tap gesture for iOS users is there. And so it's really nice. You know, they don't have the rotor as such. I mean, you can't rotate two fingers on the screen or whatever, but they definitely do have an easy way to navigate, granularity and stuff now and it's all customized Pretty much. So talkback 9.1 it's pretty nice. So that is my pick. As far as where people can find me, you can find me producing content for iAccessibility, you can email me at Jason@iaccessibility.net. And you can also follow me on twitter at jde 1. I know that I have been giving my Facebook out in past episodes, I have decided that I will no longer give that out. I no longer have the app installed. So yeah, those are the ways you can follow me, find me email emailing me and following me on on Twitter. And if you catch me in clubhouse, then feel free to say hi, MICHAEL: All right, Taylor, what's your pick for the week? And where can people find you online? TAYLOR: Okay, so my pick is a little technical. So I'm going to explain it. I pick generate press. And for those who don't know, Generatepress is a WordPress theme. And a WordPress theme is basically a thing that will help enhance the visuals of your site. So it basically helps make your site look the way it looks. In a short version. I mean, like a short description. So what it will do is it is really awesome, because you can customize every part of your site. And the cool part is that it's fully accessible. There are two versions free and premium. The free theme is literally just you go download it from wordpress.org theme directory, and the paid one is a paid plugin. I believe it's 59 a year or what? I can't rember the lifetime of like 249 lifetime Michael? MICHAEL: I didn't see a life. Yeah, I think it's 250 lifetime TAYLOR: Okay, so I really love Generatepress thanks to Michael Babcock and dimasi Thomas for mentioning those to me in a Clubhouse room. Where you can find me online, I'm all over the web. Literally, I have a YouTube channel that I would like you guys to check out, Taylor's Tech Talks. And that also has a podcast now. So if you like hearing from me, you can hear from me and both of those places. I also am on Twitter and clubhouse you can email me at Taylor@iAccessibility.net. And follow me on Twitter, Taylor_arndt22. And I am also producing content for iAccessibility. MICHAEL: Alright, so my pick for this week is a book series I'm reading called Expeditionary Force. And the first book in this series is called Columbus Day. The author is, I believe his name is Craig allanson. And he he has written several books in this series. And it's an awesome, awesome book series, The sci fi series about aliens taking over Earth, and about how humanity kind of steals a ship and goes out in the galaxy to kind of protect Earth. So there's an AI That's hilarious. And I'm not going to give anything more away about the series. But check it out. Highly recommend it. I'm on the third book right now. And I've been reading it for about two weeks and each books about 15 hours on Audible. So that tells you how dedicated to this series I am. So highly recommend it. As for where you can find me. You can find me producing content for iAccessibility. You can email me at mikedoise@iAccessibility.net. I'm Mike, always on Twitter, and on Facebook, just search for Michael Doise. And you go to Michaeldoise.com from my website, and I have a YouTube channel that I'm trying to make time to work on. And you know, I have content everywhere. And yeah, just very excited to be on clubhouse. I'm there as well. So find me on clubhouse. Just search for Michael Doise, and we even now, here's an announcement. We have a club. We're all fancy and everything we have the iAccessibility network club. In fact, after this recording, we will be on clubhouse doing a after episode kind of a discussion to talk about these things. So come hang out with us on clubhouse as we talk about today's episode. So we hope that you have enjoyed this episode of the IiACast. And we'll be back in two weeks for another episode. And it's been awesome getting to talk about all these things with you guys, Jason and Taylor. Want to thank everybody that's been on the stream and everybody that will listen once the episode comes out. And we will be back next time for new episodes. So until then, take care and keep playing with new technology. JASON: This show has been brought to you by the IACast Network. We love hearing from you. Email us at feedback@iaccessibility.net. Got twitter? Follow us at iaccessibility1. Facebook, search for IAccessibility. Download our free apps for IOS and Android and keep up with all of our content at iaccessibility.net. If you'd like to donate to our show, hit the payPal button on our website, and get early access to our outtakes with a donation at patrion.com/iacast. Thanks for listening

Over the past decade, audio description has become much more prevalent for TV shows, movies, and streaming content. But often, current events, especially those that unfold live, don't get that same treatment. This is just one of the areas which is covered by Talk Description to Me, an informative, dynamic, and casual podcast from Christine Malec and JJ Hunt. As the hosts put it, the podcast is "Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed-out in description-rich conversations." Listen to episode 222 to learn much more about the podcast, their background, and some of the amazing episodes that have been produced. From breaking political and social issues to descriptions of various dance styles, there's sure to be something you ll find interesting. To learn more, visit the Talk Description to Me website. You can also follow them on Twitter: @TalkDescription or find them on Facebook or Email feedback to TalkDescriptionToMe@gmail.com support the podcast on Patreon Christine also has a personal Patreon for her projects. Blind Bargains now has a club on the Clubhouse app. Be sure to follow us for engaging conversations about technology and much more. And be sure to stay tuned for much more coming veryy soon.

This is kind of funny. Our last show, episode 220 from December, was in 2020. And now BBQ 221 starts off 2021. Okay, it was funnier when we said it out loud during this show than in print. It s a good thing we have a couple of demonstrations of a new speaker and the Chromecast with Google TV to fall back on instead of us relying on calendar-based humor. There is even an actual honest to goodness real news section for the show this go around. Plus, there is a bit of Sound Off and we ignore all food based New Year s Resolutions in the Last Word . So, charge up those Bluetooth remotes and join us for a new installment of the BB Qast. 0:02:50 In The Impromptu News: I.D. Mate Is Being Discontinued It's Back! Accessible Apps releases Chicken Nugget version 4.71, bringing AI image descriptions, new sounds, and More Humanware introduces new line of Brailliant BI ex Braille displays Victor Reader Trek updated with new GPS features and more December's Sight Tech Global Archives are worth the read GoodMaps Explore starts their navigation journey Larry Skutchan: Access Tech Visionary Retires 0:19:27 Demonstration: Tribit Stormbox Pro 40-Watt Bluetooth Speaker; 360-degree Sound Its the largest and loudest speaker from Tribit yet. Everything you love about Tribit's high-quality speakers in a supersized, yet compact form. 40 watts of power, XBS bass technology, 360-degree sound, and more. Buy two and pair them together for room-filling stereo sound. Want portable with a punch? With one independent subwoofer and two, mid-high frequency drivers, this 2.1 system is unique for it's combined portability and power. You'll notice the beautiful, full-spectrum sound thanks to AptX decoding and AKM7755 DSP. It's the highest fidelity sound, bolstered by strong bass and all with less than 0.5% distortion. Bass You Can Feel What's a great speaker system without full-bodied bass to bring the feeling alive? You can't miss the Tribit XBass Technology it will get your foot tapping and the party moving. It's the kind of bass you actually feel, not just hear! Excellent Connectivity Stay connected to your music. Supported by Bluetooth 5.0 and a Qualcomm QCC Bluetooth chip with ultra-low latency, the speaker prioritizes top-notch audio quality. Plus, you can even connect 2 devices to the speaker at the same time for multi-point functionality! No Fear in the Pool Meet your new pool pal! A little splash is nothing to the Stormbox Pro, which is waterproof (IP 67) up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. Hey, life happens, right? This speaker will stick with you through waves, drops and more! 2 Speakers, Triple the Fun One speaker runs the party, but two blows it through the roof! Imagine getting concert-like, stereo sound when you pair 2 speakers together. Maximum sound for an unbeatable auditory experience. Boosted Battery Life Nothing kills the party faster than a dead speaker! Behind the curtain is a beefy 10,000mAh battery, giving the Tribit StormBox Pro up to 24 hours of power. Plus, you can charge your phone or other devices on it! Features APT-X decoding function Charge other devices from the built-in battery 40 watts of power with high power, X-bass 2.1-channel sound system, independent woofer 360-degree sound Stereo mode (when two speakers are connected) IPX67 Waterproof Playtime up to 24 hours To learn more about this device, and many other new tech offerings, head on over to the A.T. Guys product page 0:25:17 Demonstration: Chromecast with Google TV J.J. and Joe discuss the good, the bad and the very ugly sides of the new Chromecast with Google TV. The device was released in October and for something that is so round it has a lot of rough edges. Does the duo think this new entrant in the streaming wars can stand up to the various amazon Fire Sticks or the Apple TV? Short answer, um no. Check out the below links to know more. Chromecast with Google TV at the Google Store Chromecast with Google TV: An Accessibility Review The Best Settings to Try on Your Chromecast With Google TV How to access the full Play Store on the Chromecast with Google TV Tip: THE 5 BEST CHROMECAST REMOTE SHORTCUTS Joe had J.J. perform some of these helpful shortcuts live during the Chromecast demo. Note, some of them require some memorization with Talkback. 0:57:08 Sound Off: Long time listener Jan Brown wrote in about Braille issues in iOS 14.3. While we recognize that there are some outstanding issues with displays in 14, none of them really compare to the big one that was introduced in 14.4. Read the Apple Vis article below to know more and please turn off automatic updates until you can verify that it is safe to upgrade in the future. [Updated With Important Warning for Braille Display Users] Apple Releases iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4; Bringing a New Direct Touch Setting for VoiceOver Users 1:00:17 Last Word: Joe and J.J. note that the Pizza Hut Detroitt Style Pizza is not real Detroit-style pizza Taco Bell Fire Chips REVIEW: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Ice Cream Girl Scout Cookie Season Begins The 7 Best King Cake Delivery Services of 2021 222 sounds like a nice round number for an episode. And we ll be back with more in the future.

Brian and Ed discuss the waging war between Zuckhead err Facebook and Apple as the great privacy debate of the impending iOS 14.5 ramps up. Do you care if apps are tracking you and targeting advertising to you?   We then welcome in Trailblazers long time tech enthusiasts and podcasters Ricky Enger and Joe Steinkamp. Joe and Ricky walk us through the early days of Serotek podcasting and how all their different shows came in to existence. Ricky and Joe then catch us up in what they have been involved in since they left the Serotek podcast network. The conversation then moves to a passion of Joe’s accessible gaming for the low vision and totally blind. We discuss the game of the year for 2020, The Last of Us 2, not to worry as Brian butchers the name of the game several times. This is Us is a TV Show and The Last of Us is a video game. Ricky and Joe then walk us through their earliest experiences with assistive technology. Brian then gets his long awaited answer to why Joe is not a huge Apple fan boy, and the answer really catches Brian by surprise. We get Joe’s opinion of gaming from a low vision perspective in 2021 and Ricky’s opinion from a totally blind perspective. Joe then gives us the latest on what is going on with Blind Bargains. And we finally get an answer to the question ancient philosophers have been asking for years, what’s the meaning of the rickey Enger wake up song.        ,    Ed then discusses his experience getting vaccinated as a visually impaired blind peep.   You can reach That Real Blind Tech Show by email at ThatRealBlindTechShow@gmail.com, join our Facebook Group That Real Blind Tech Show, tweet us at @BlindTechShow, or leave us an old school phone message at 929-367-1005.  

Behold, our 800th piece of audio content on the site. We originally planned this outlandish over the top celebration thingy, but 2020 being what it is, we have opted out of that and we shall just strike our best couch potato poses while binging out on some audio described content instead. Good thing John Sweet and Petr Kucheryavyy, Senior Managers of Accessibility at Charter Communications, are on hand this episode to tell us how we can start our A.D. feast with the free Spectrum Access app. Tune in to hear about the app, the Born Accessible approach the team is taking towards their services and hear demos of Spectrum Access and Spectrum News. Additional Information: If you would like to learn more about the products mentioned in this episode, visit the Spectrum Accessibility Page and view the Spectrum Mobile Accessibility Options site You can also email the teamspectrumaccess@charter.com or call theSpectrum Accessibility Customer Support Team at 1-844-762-1301 Holiday Gift Guide Extra Don's Photo Blanket can provide you with the warm fuzzies this winter by adding your favorite picture to a blanket. To learn more, call 409 333 0432 or Email myphotoblanket@icloud.com

Welcome to our 6th annual Blind Bargains Holiday Shopping Guide. Once again, we've brought the deals straight to your audio feed. Sit back and relax as some of your favorite merchants, or perhaps some that are new to you, tell you about their latest products and services as well as some holiday deals. We'd like to sincerely thank all of the companies who were apart of this show. Below you'll find information about each company in the order they appear in the show. We hope you have a socially-distanced, safe and fulfilling Thanksgiving weekend. Ending the year with a boom at Envision Working around the clock, led to a final boom at the end of 2020 where Envision can proudly present the Envision App as the best text recognition app on the market today and our Envision Glasses have officially hit the market. Best text recognition app out there! We have met all of our (and your) development milestones for 2020. You know us as a great recognition app, but we have put all of our powers together to create the best text recognition app out there. Let's start at the beginning. We started 2020 with adding dynamic type support and the jump to page feature in document scanning. We then went on to many much-requested features like adding support for more file types like Word and ePub and topped it up with the library feature. This means you can import types of documents read them and save it within the Envision app itself. We're rounding off the year with two more unique features - firstly column detection, so now newspapers, recipes and many more documents with columns are easy to read. And you can also translate entire documents to in over 50 different languages. For everyone who has not had a chance to (re-)try Envision after all implementations, we give everyone 14 days Envision for free, also those who have already tried Envision before. After the free trial, you receive 35% off our annual subscription! Please try everything out on iOS or Android and get yourself the discount from December first onwards until the 31st Start your trial now And now on to even bigger news in 2020, Envision has officially launched the Envision Glasses. Envision Glasses are now worldwide available. "Now Shipping Worldwide: Envision Glasses, the Most Advanced AI-powered Assistive Glasses Ever Made for the Blind and Visually Impaired". This is the headline of the press release Envision sent out this week. For those who haven't heard about the Envision Glasses yet, this is what our co-founder Karthik Kannan mentioned: "We're delighted to bring Envision Glasses to market and empower blind and visually impaired people worldwide with greater independence and a hands-free, easy way to see' the world around them through the spoken word." We invite you to visit our Envision Glasses website and explore what the Glasses can do for you. No matter where in the world you are, we've got you covered. iOS Access for All I'm thrilled to announce the forthcoming release of iOS Access for All: Your Comprehensive Guide to Accessibility for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch (iOS 14 Edition). It s the most comprehensive iOS accessibility resource anywhere! iOS Access for All guides you step-by-step through Apple tools designed or people with blindness, low-vision, hearing impairments, and motor disabilities. Readers also learn how to make the most of all apps installed by Apple, along with iOS. You will also find reviews of over 100 outstanding App Store apps that happen to be accessible. Visit www.iosaccessbook.com to get your copy and save 15 percent for a limited time. A. T. Guys This is my favorite message of the year to write, because we get to talk about holiday shopping and deals. It's also exciting because we just rolled out a brand new website. If you just want to see all of the deals in one place, Go here to view all of our holiday specials. We'll be adding and rotating deals from time to time, but most deals are good through December 6. Yes you can order over the phone as well starting on Monday at 269-216-4798. I know we are running a bit behind on phone calls lately, and we truly appreciate your patience as we work to provide an enhanced level of customer service. Aftershokz Huge Sale Aftershokz is known for huge holiday discounts, and this year's may be the best ever. Get the high-end Aeropex bone conduction headphones for $124.95 with free shipping, a $35 savings. Or check out the brand new OpenMove, the latest entry-level pair, available now for $79.95. Aftershokz makes some of the highest quality headsets on earth, and we think you'll love how lightweight and versatile they are. Go here to browse all Aftershokz products WayAround AIRA Sale Did you know? WayAround and AIRA have partnered for a huge promotion, and this means you can get tags on sale. Enter coupon code AIRA for 10 percent off any order of WayAround products such as stickers, buttons, clips, or magnets through the end of 2020. There's no limit to the amount of tags you can get with this deal. Go here to apply the WayAround coupon and save 10 percent. Upgraded Victor Reader Trek Now Available Humanware has just released a big software update for the Victor Reader Trek, their standalone book reader and GPS. The new update gives more accurate maps, and a host of improvements to help you travel or explore your surroundings virtually. The update is free for current owners, or you can get a brand new Victor Trek now on sale. Get the Victor Reader Trek now for $649 More Deals Here's some of the other great deals we have for you. Be sure to check our website for everything we have to offer. Tribit QuietPlus Active Noise Cancelation Bluetooth Headset $69.95, Save $10. This over-the-ear headset can connect via Bluetooth or a headphone jack and gives great sound and peace and quiet. Xfactor -Karaoke Microphone & Bluetooth Speaker

It's been awhile since we did a full-on cooking show, and many of our regulars have acquired a growing amount of cooking gadgets and essentials. So we decided to do our biggest cooking show yet, with Shelly Brisbin, Ricky Enger, J.J., and the podcast debut of regular contributor Tangela Mahaffey. In the Kitchen with the BBQ Crew This episode brings you audio from our test kitchens and homes across America as we endeavor to cook a variety of meals. No matter your cooking experience, we trust there will be something in this episode for you. Here's links to many of the products and services we mentioned: All prices from Amazon are as of the time of posting. Shelly says you need to be a bit patient for sous vide cooking, but it can be well worth the wait. She uses the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano - $129 JJ recommends the Secura Air Fryer XL 5.3 Quart 1700-Watt Electric Hot Air Fryer - $69.45 You can cook healthy dinners, or just make lots of bacon. Ricky, who has a knack for finding awesome products that are about to be discontinued, makes hummus using the Braun FP3020 12 Cup Food Processor - $174.56 It still looks to be in stock as of this writing, so you may want to jump on this one quickly. You can also get the hummus recipe from Inspired taste that inspired Ricky. Tangela gives us a Blue Apron accessibility review. You don't need to be an expert cook, and that, in fact, is one of Blue Apron's strengths, if you can fit the cost of their meals into your budget. It slices, it dices. No actually, the Ninja Foodi just does a lot of things, and Ricky is a fan, as long as you remember the preset times for various functions. She uses the Ninja OP301 Foodi 9-in-1 Pressure, Slow Cooker, Air Fryer and More - $147.60 Check out these ULTRA Crispy Air Fryer Chickpeas from SWEET PEAS AND SAFFRON. Shelly speaks highly of the Cuisinart CSB-79 Smart Stick 2 Speed Hand Blender, Stainless Steel/Black - $89.99 And we bring back the old debate. Regular InstantPot, or a Wi-Fi model. With the price of the Wi-Fi model much lower than before, it gets a bit more interesting. Ricky has the Instant Pot Smart WiFi 8-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker - $89.99 J.J. stands by his trusty Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker - $79 So we've shared what's cooking at our house. What are you having, and what's your favorite accessible gadget? Sound off in the comments.

In order to be more environmentally friendly, we at the BBQ decided to combine our October and November Apple event wrap up shows. It is the podcasting equivalent of removing the charger plug from the box. Okay, seriously, we changed things up a bit and invited Greg Stilson on to talk about the new Macs and iPhones. Greg has launched a few products over the years, and we thought he could speak at longer length about what it takes to do that than J.J. and Joe could. Plus, he brings along the bonus of saying a bunch of new stuff that you have not heard from us on the many hours of wrap up shows we have done in the past. And to borrow an Apple turn of phrase, we think you re going to love it . Discussion Topic: Apple s One More Thing Event Here s a whole lot of links that we touched upon during our conversation. Picking Apart Apple's "One More Thing" Announcements Here's how to rewatch Apple's 'One More Thing' event Here s everything Apple didn t announce at its November Mac event Love or hate Apple silicon, this is just the beginning The Inside Story of Apple's M1 Chip How Intel lost Apple Here's what you need to know about the first three Apple silicon Macs Apple announces its first new laptop with its own chip instead of Intel s The biggest difference between the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is a fan Apple M1 Chip Revolution: Apple Silicon for MacBooks and Mac Mini Reasons to switch to Apple silicon right now and why you might want to wait How Apple Silicon on a M1 Mac changes monitor support and what you can connect New MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Still Have 720p Camera, But Apple Promises Better Quality From M1 Apple Silicon M1 Emulating x86 is Still Faster Than Every Other Mac in Single Core Benchmark Parallels, VMWare confirm Apple M1 support amid silence from other virtualization companies Microsoft: Office will be about 20 seconds slower initially on Apple Silicon, Rosetta 2 All the apps and games Apple promises for Arm-based Macs There s a question mark hanging over Apple s Arm Macs Sorry, but the new MacBook Air is not faster than 98% of PC laptops iOS apps will run on Apple Silicon Macs, but major developers have already opted out of the Mac App Store The New Features, Changes, Improvements, and Bugs in macOS 11 Big Sur for Blind and Low Vision Users What's new in MacOS Big Sur in under 3 minutes macOS 11.0 Big Sur: The Ars Technica review macOS Big Sur: The MacStories Review macOS Big Sur 11 top features the Mac gets a new UI, Control Center, 4K YouTube, & more 11 Things You Can Do in macOS Big Sur That You Couldn't Do Before Don't bother trying to update to Big Sur if you have a 128GB Mac macOS Big Sur launch appears to cause temporary slowdown in even non-Big Sur Macs Does Apple really log every app you run? A technical look Apple Responds to macOS Privacy Concerns, Explains Why Apps Were Slow to Launch Update Apple explains and addresses Recent server outage reveals potential Mac privacy concerns macOS Big Sur update is bricking some older MacBook Pros Native Instruments warns macOS Big Sur can damage its music hardware Big sur and recovery mode problem What happened during the troubled Big Sur launch, and why Apple can't let it happen again Your Computer Isn't Yours Apple's remaking Mac computers, and it's taking control to do it How to run Aperture, iPhoto, and older versions of iTunes on macOS Big Sur Hands on: iPhone 12 Pro Max in the real world The iPhone 12 Pro Max Is Entirely Too Much Phone, but It's So Good iPhone 12 Pro Max It's all about that camera iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro Max hands-on: How they compare with the 12 and 12 Pro Hands-on: iPhone 12 mini versus iPhone 12 Pro Max design First Impressions From New iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max Owners The iPhone 12 Pro: Why It Felt the Right Choice for Me, and Early Impressions iPhone 12 - Unboxing and First Impressions Review: The iPhone 12 mini is a lot of iPhone in a tiny package iFixit shares first part of its small-bodied iPhone 12 mini teardown iPhone 12 mini teardown shows what Apple shrank to make a tiny flagship Apple Says Hearing Aid Sound Issues With iPhone 12 Models Will Be Fixed in Future Software Update Fix coming for iPhone 12 MFi hearing aid static issues Apple confirms iPhone 12 MagSafe problem what you need to know iPhone 12 mini owners report unresponsive lock screens Group SMS issues plague iPhone 12 upgraders See what lidar can do on the iPhone 12 with this 3D-scanning app Apple Adding Customizable People Detection Capability to LiDAR-Equipped iPhones and iPad Pro with Upcoming Releases of iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 How to tell which aspect of 5G you've connected to on iPhone 12 How to manually manage 5G to optimize for speed or battery life on iOS How to force restart your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro YouTubers can't stop destroying the iPhone 12 Brazil has by far the most expensive iPhone 12 in the world, at least for now Apple TV app is now available for download on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 Side note We were deeply saddened to learn that friend of the show, Tom Dekker recently passed away from cancer. Tom s views on training and technology came from his ability to be kind and compassionate. And that is something that is in short supply these days. Here is our interview with Tom from 2015 s ACB Summer Convention coverage. Also, we mourn the loss of Jeopardy host Alex Trebek who ended his bout with Pancreatic Cancer earlier this month. As J.J. notes during this episode, Jeopardy is one of the more Blind friendly game shows on T.V. today. Moreover, it was recently announced that the Contestant application process has been made more accessible to those who would like to test themselves against the Big Board .

October is a time for ghouls, ghosts, and game demos. Yep, keeping with a long-standing tradition that happened somewhat organically without us realizing it, we give you another reason to break out the earbuds in order for you to experience life beyond The Vale . And speaking of new experiences, Ricky dropped by the office of beeping and talking to discuss the Nuraloop earbuds with Joe. Lastly, but technically in the middle of the show, we hear from the new voice of the Amazon Echo. Listen in to hear the first ever F bomb hiding somewhere within the minutes of BBQ 216. Links to topics mentioned in this episode We go over the Nuraloop at the top of the show. To skip to the Alexa bits, go to 32:30 or jump to the 40 minute mark to hear "The Vale" demo. Nura wiki Nuraloop product page How It Works | Music in full colour | Personalized sound Review: Nuraloop brings personalized audio to people on the go Nura NuraLoop review: The sound of custom earbuds without the price NuraLoop - The Worlds First Earphones To Automatically Learn and Adapt to Your Hearing Samuel L. Jackson - celebrity voice for Alexa How to talk to Samuel L. Jackson using Alexa 10 Funny Things To Ask Samuel L. Jackson On Alexa Official page for THE VALE | fallingsquirrel Falling Squirrel on Twitter Jessie Anderson's The Vale Beta (audio game) Mixer archive Orbit Writer Premium TPU Snap-on Case SNL New Normal

Summertime is the perfect season for going to the beach, camping, and of course buying computers. Okay, that last one is more geared towards the tech sector who aren t necessarily going to readily engage in the first two activities mentioned. Join Patrick, Joe and first timer Alex Hall As they discuss how each one of them navigated the computer buying process. Listen in as the trio breakdown what access issues they encountered and what tips they recommend for those about to consider the addition of their own shiny new laptop or desktop. Additional resources Here are some links to aid you on your new computer buying adventure. Feel free to add more in the comment section below or tweet us on the Blind Bargains feed Should You Build a PC in 2020? Where You Should Splurge When Building a PC (and Where You Shouldn t) Build a pro-level PC gaming setup in three steps Graphics card zombies: 7 GPUs you absolutely shouldn't buy now Gaming TV or gaming monitor: which screen solution is best? How to buy a gaming laptop Why laptop integrated graphics aren't terrible anymore Buying a laptop docking station? Avoid these 5 mistakes TinyPilot Overview TinyPilot: Build a KVM Over IP for Under $100

New Products from Google   Two New  Pixel phones, new Nest Audio (update to the original Google Home), and Chromecast with Google TV.     Because it sounds interesting, I’ve ordered myself a Google TV which I should get in a few weeks, a plug in stick to any TV with an HDMI port, with it’s own Remote, and as I’ve been assured, it will have Talkback.   Now my little 24 inch LED TV now has both the Apple TV, and soon the Google TV plugged in to it.   good links on the Blind Bargains webpage on the Google Announcement at:   https://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=22013   Vision Store is now on Social Media and we’d like you to help build our following. We are generally known as Vision Store VA.   So please follow and like us on the following platforms:    Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/VisionStoreVA     Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/visionstoreva/   Twitter:   https://twitter.com/VisionStoreVA     YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS-YhQt9EmZ6Nl-w8kWZbjA     GoldWave on the iOS App Store   This app where you can both record and edit with Voiceover looks extremely interesting. Free with in-app purchases.   https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/music/goldwave?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter   Exploring Technology with David Woodbridge   This is a new series that I’ve started via the Vision Store looking at various suppliers and technology.    - This webinar for September 2020, was looking at the relationship between Vision Store and the Good Guys along with some interesting products that I have also purchased.   https://s181.podbean.com/pb/606aedd2747c7f68c7b6d43ffb810a63/5f794165/data4/fs145/4313470/uploads/Vision_Store_Webinar_The_Good_Guys7dpmn.mp3?pbss=ed30dcb7-f7ea-531a-99da-081096fd9cd4   Upcoming Presentations from Me   Newcastle Tech Friday October 9 10AM You are invited to a Zoom meeting. Topic: Apple, Android, and Security. Andraes, Ray, and David will be covering this topic. Date and Time: Friday 9 October. 10:00AM Sydney time to join the Zoom Meeting activate the below link to attend the meeting on pc, smart phone or Mac. Join Zoom Meeting https://visionaustralia.zoom.us/j/97123337881   ATUG October 14 7:30PM You are invited to a Zoom meeting. topic: All about iOS 14 and other Apple recent updates. David Woodbridge will be speaking about the recent software updates to Apple devices. Date and Time: Wednesday 14 October. 7:30 pm Sydney time Anyone is welcome to join, only members of ATUG receive recordings of meetings. to join the Zoom Meeting activate the below link to attend the meeting on pc, smart phone or Mac. Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/814228683?pwd=WTR6L0RLRHB1Nk53dmhFRE5wNUZzUT09 Meeting ID: 814 228 683 Password 200200

The ninth month on the calendar brings along Pumpkin Spice and another Apple event. Refreshingly the event focused on things that were not the iPhone For a change. Somehow, despite 2020 being well 2020, the event was full of interesting news. Join the BBQ Crew as J.J., Joe and Shelly Brisbin Break down the staggering number of iPads and Apple Watch editions in this mandated by Tech Podcast Law required Apple event wrap up show. Discussion Topic: Apple s Time Flies Event Another wrap up show, another pile of links that inspired the conversation. Everything Apple Announced at Today's iPad and Apple Watch Event in Just Seven Minutes All About Apple's "Time Flies" Event Apple posts ASL interpreted recap video of its September event 5 things you may have missed from Apple's September 15 event Comment: No iPhone 12 keynote this month, and that s a good thing Apple TV+ and gaming made a huge splash last year. We haven't heard much from them since Apple hid an AR Easter egg in its September event announcement All the things Apple got rid of at Apple's September 15 event Comment: Yesterday s Apple event was a solid one Apple will now give customers an entire year to buy extended warranty for products Apple just made AppleCare Plus way better with more coverage and lower replacement fees Apple One Subscription Plans Announced Apple One bundle includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and more Introducing Apple One, Apple s subscription bundle answer to Amazon Prime Here's how much money you can save with an Apple One services bundle Is Apple One a bargain? It s complicated Spotify levels antitrust criticism over Apple One subscription bundle, Apple responds Apple says its new Apple One services bundle isn t unfair to Spotify Apple Releases iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 With Home Screen Redesign, App Library, Compact UI, Translate Apple launches iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7 on just one day s notice 17 Things You Can Do in iOS 14 That You Couldn t Do Before The Accessibility Bugs Introduced and Resolved in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 for Blind and Low Vision Users What s New in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 for Blind and Deaf-Blind Users Apple surprised iPhone users with a next-day iOS 14 release. App developers are pissed iOS 14 vs iOS 13 vs iOS 12 vs iOS 11 Speed Test iOS 14 on the iPhone 6S and SE: Performance is fine, other stuff is not iOS 14 default app settings automatically reset to Mail and Safari after reboot A bevy of new features makes iOS 14 the most secure mobile OS ever Quick Tip: A Workaround for the VoiceOver 'Lag' in iOS 14 How to add, remove, and customize widgets How to Use the App Library on iOS How to Send an Audio Message with Siri How to Setup Back Tap on iOS How to Access and Use the New Back Button Menu on iOS 14 9 best new iOS 14 hidden features we found for your iPhone 6 iOS 14 features to try as soon as you install Apple's update on your iPhone New iOS 14 widgets you can try today YouTube s website now blocks iOS 14 s picture-in-picture mode unless you pay for Premium What's new in HomeKit in iOS and iPadOS 14 Apple quietly adds new streaming device categories to HomeKit in iOS 14 iOS 14 MAC randomization privacy feature may cause Cisco enterprise network issues Google tells Chromecast users to grant apps Local Network permission in iOS 14 iPadOS 14 Review: A welcome refinement of the iPad experience Apple has sold a total of 500 million iPads in the last 10 years Apple Introduces Redesigned 10.9-Inch iPad Air With A14 Chip, All-Screen Design, Touch ID in Power Here s all of the essential info on Apple s brand new iPad Air 4 Apple's redesigned iPad Air sports 10.9-inch display, A14 Bionic chip The new iPad Air goes all-screen, adds Magic Keyboard support Apple Unveils New 8th-Gen 10.2-inch iPad With A12 Chip, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Support Apple updates eighth-generation iPad with A12 processor Apple iPad (2020) hands-on: A better kind of basic Apple addition: How a $329 iPad can grow to almost $1K Compared: 2020 iPad Air versus 2019 iPad Air Compared: 2020 iPad versus 2019 iPad and 2018 iPad How to Use VoiceOver Recognition on iOS and iPadOS How to Setup Headphone Accommodations on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 for Supported AirPods and Beats headphones How to Use Real-time Headphone Audio Level Measurements and Adjustments on iOS and iPadOS How to Set Default Email and Browser Apps on iOS and iPadOS Apple Releases watchOS 7 With New Watch Faces, Family Setup, Sleep Tracking, Handwashing Help and watchOS 7 Review: Not some sleepy software update Apple Releases watchOS 7; Bringing Sleep and Handwashing Tracking, New Faces, Complication Enhancements, and More Checking the Health of Your Apple Watch Battery watchOS 7: How to Use Optimized Battery Charging on Apple Watch Apple Watch Series 6: 7 Things The Keynote Didn t Mention Apple has discontinued the Ceramic Apple Watch again Apple Watch Series 6 reviews: Brighter always-on display stands out, mixed results for blood oxygen Apple Watch Series 6 Reviews Roundup: Brighter and Faster, Blood Oxygen Measuring Requires Precise Apple Watch SE First Impressions: Good Price for Surprising Similarity to High-End Models Apple Watch Series 6 vs. Apple Watch SE: Hands-on first impressions Apple Shipping New Apple Watches Without Power Adapter, but iPad Air Includes 20W USB-C Charger Apple Watch Series 6 is the first to include the U1 chip, here s how it could be used Compared: Apple Watch Series 6 versus Apple Watch SE versus Apple Watch Series 5 What's the difference between Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6? What's the difference between a cellular and GPS-only Apple Watch? Apple debuts one-piece Solo Loop, Braided Solo Loop along with Apple Watch Series 6 How to measure your wrist for Apple's Solo Loop bands What you need to know about the Apple Watch s new Family Setup feature New Apple Watch Series 6 has blood oxygen sensor & bright new colors Apple Watch Series 6 Blood Oxygen Monitoring Available in Most Countries Worldwide What Is VO2max? Apple announces health studies, partnerships focused on Apple Watch Apple Fitness+ will offer workouts on any screen Best Buy and CVS offering free Fitness+ access to Apple Watch owners, more Peloton CEO says that Fitness+ is a 'legitimization' of fitness content Peloton launches new Bike+ exercise bike featuring Apple Watch GymKit support Comment: Without smart exercise hardware, Apple Fitness+ is no Peloton killer Fitness+ a glimpse into Apple s future How the Fitbit Sense plans to beat the Apple Watch with health data, not features Fitbit has one big advantage that Apple can't match when it comes to sleep tracking Apple mocked for Apple Watch 'Deployment Buckle' gaffe Apple s new Family Setup aims to make Apple Watch a kid tracker Apple Watch SE & Family Setup aims for a slice of the kids GPS tracker market Apple Cash Family will let parents securely send money to their children Apple Releases tvOS 14 Function101 Apple TV remote review: Better design than Apple s, with a few drawbacks How to stop strangers from connecting to your AirPlay on Apple TV Strategy Analytics: Apple TV holds 2% market share in fragmented streaming devices industry Does the Apple TV have a future? Apple TV+ Ranks Last in Interface, Content & Overall Satisfaction in Recent Study See : Apple TV+ s Jason Momoa Drama To Resume Production In Toronto In October SEE: Recruiting and Auditioning Instrumentalists and Vocalists How to sign into CBS apps and CBS com with your Apple TV Channels subscription Apple will roll out 'offer codes' for app subscriptions with iOS 14 Apple Renames Apple Beats 1 Apple Music 1, Not to Be Confused With Apple Music or Apple Music Four wins and three misses for Apple Card in year one One year later, the Apple Card is a huge but controversial success Apple Pay Was Not Disruptive But Apple ID Will Be Apple Releases Safari 14 for Mac Ahead of macOS Big Sur Launch Apple respectfully trashes Chromebooks Apple is making Shazam a bigger part of your iPhone Apple refining Siri to cut down on mistaken activations, and to draw less power Apple wins fresh patent for under-display Touch ID How to set up a second shared Apple ID for the App Store Apple once again loses retail staff bag search case Apple Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Powerbeats 2, Agrees to Pay $9.75 Million Lawsuit claims Apple Maps infringes on navigation patents Apple let the FBI access iCloud account of protester accused of arson | Business Insider Australia Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Apple's App Store Apple settles antitrust lawsuit in South Korea with 100 billion won worth measures Developers highlight more anomalies in Apple s 30% cut Major news publishers ask Apple what can get them an App Store deal like Amazon s Italy is investigating Apple, Google and Dropbox cloud storage services Apple's antitrust fight could spell the end of iOS as we know it Apple And The IDFA: Privacy Power Move Or Cash Grab? Apple rejects 3rd-party Tesla app update as it strictly enforces written consent for third-party Ten years ago, Epic helped to legitimize iOS as a gaming platform with a small demo Ridley Scott flattered by Fortnite s 1984 parody, but didn t love the message Today, Apple made changes to its app review process to save face with devs Apple apologizes to WordPress, won t force the free app to add purchases after all Apple issues new rules for App Store that will impact streaming game services from Google and Microsoft Microsoft snubs Apple s olive branch to cloud gaming: a bad experience for customers Google Maps is back on the Apple Watch after abandoning it three years ago What Android gets right that the iPhone gets so wrong 9 things I learned switching from the iPhone SE to the Google Pixel 4a I did the unthinkable: I traded my Mac for a PC Apple Losing Wireless Earbuds Market Share Even as AirPods Sales Grow Russian roulette with Airpod Pro Firmware, thoughts and Woes Mark Zuckerberg on why he doesn t want to put an Apple Watch on your face Is Apple's Smart Ring a future nobody asked for? Amazon, Apple, and Google s open-source smart home standard is on track for a 2021 launch iPhone users: Do this simple thing every week How to Find Your Mac s Screen Resolution Twelve years later, Apple is still trying to erase mac.com email addresses Six years ago Apple and U2 upset people by giving them something for free Apple's New iOS 14 Will Have A Pickup Truck Emoji Designed By Ford But It Has A Big Problem. Truck Where is the iPhone 12? Sadly, we did not cover IFTTT Or HDMI Handshakes In this episode. However, if you want to hear more Shelly And J.J., roll over to The Parallel where they talk Android 11 In episode 35. Also, to bring balance to The Force, we will talk about 11 once Google has their upcoming Chromecast event on September 30th. Followed by yet another Apple event in October. That s right, more wrap up shows are on the way stay tuned?

It finally happened! Enough stuff has transpired for us to do a proper old school news filled episode. Or as we now call it during the After Times , a retro inspired BBQ show. Join J.J., Joe and Patrick as they learn how to do a thing again that they have spent 10 years already doing prior to the release of this particular audio program. Breaking news talk of Audio Description, a tip, a bunch of Sound Off and the return of the Last Word will give you that nostalgic feeling for sure! In The News: Breaking: AIRA Scales Back its Free Five Minute Call Offer Breaking: With Nearly Seven Months Before the Event, #CSUNATC21 has Gone Virtual Humanware news from the NFB Convention There was a lot to parce from Humanware's Summer Convention announcements. Joe asked Andrew Flatres for a quick summary in July and here's what he sent along. Head on over to Humanware if you would like to know more. "Briefly showcased some low vision products, including the Reveal 16/16i, Explore 5 and 8 and Prodigi connect. New route preview mode for the Trek, that allows you to walk your router virtually. Future "HERE" MAPS are coming. BrailleNote Touch Plus recent update includes a new scientific calculator, allowing both UEB and Nemeth entry. One-handed mode Learning tables, assisting your braille learning between uncontracted and contracted. PDF and OAuth is coming soon. A NEW Brailliant BI-40 is coming to the market. Take the opportunity to get a free BI-14 now when ordering the BI-40. HW buddy application - an application available on ios and playstore free of charge. The app allows you to stay updating with what is happening at HumanWare, and contains how to guides on HumanWare's products to make learning easy, simple and enjoyable." JAWS/ZoomText/Fusion 2020 August Update Is Live Hadley launches new look WayAround update brings Multi-User Support in version 3.1 for iOS EnVision America updates the I.D. Mate for background server changes How to Use Google's Android Braille Keyboard for Typing Making the most of your Zoom Audio: Presentation Recording now Posted New Orbit Writer has been updated Discussion Topic: Even More News Yeah, we have not been blathering on about the news in a good long while. Yet there was not really anything going on to wrap a podcast segment around lately until all that stuff at the top of Show Notes arrived. Still, we have been reading and listening to what is out there in case something came along. Joe has compiled a few metric tons of info that occurred since late April and you can read his summations in the 4 articles below. BBQ In Review: A pile of news to smooth things over until our next podcast BBQ In Review: A pile of interviews to smooth things over until our next podcast BBQ In Review: A pile of helpful tips to smooth things over until our next podcast BBQ In Review: A pile of Last Word items to smooth things over until our next podcast Joe and J.J. also discussed Audio Description, or the lack there of, in some prominent streaming launches that have come about since March of this year. HBOMax and PeacockTV both sported difficult to navigate user interfaces and did not contain Audio Description at launch. Apple announced a new bundle of services that features Apple TV Plus, CBS All Access and Showtime. Showtime does not offer A.D. currently, however, Apple TV Plus and CBS All Access do have it for newer titles. Joe mentioned the quiet launch of Audio Described tracks on Microsoft Movies and TV Making our previous recommendation of using Movies Anywhere timely to get the most out of your movie purchases on various services. Lastly, not mentioned on the show but still noteworthy, Quibi also launched with no description tracks available. The pair noted the controversies surrounding Twitter s mistakes with launching Audio Tweets and Facebook s Avatar features. Each launch had some silly access self-inflicted avoidable issues. And each Social Media Giant had to make some public apologies after the debut of the feature on each of their respective platforms. Tip: Silence Notifications In Zoom Chances are that you might have had to use the Zoom Conferencing software recently. Furthermore, you might have never wanted to use it again because of all the notifications it will kindly inform you of in a meeting with a lot of participants. If so, then you need to review the Screen Reader Alerts under the Accessibility Options area of Zoom as it has new features based on a bunch of feedback from users. J.J. walks us through the current slate of Windows Web browser options and highlights a few of them that help him keep his sanity during Zoom meetings. Sound Off: Angela writes in to tell us "Bose frames are not discontinued" "Bose is augmented reality related projects have been discontinued, not the Bose frames themselves." In June, when Angela sent along this email, Joe would have disagreed with her as the multiple versions of the Frames had been heavily discounted at Best Buy and other retailers. However, since that time, the Bose Frames have returned to their original price and the replacement lenses have been restocked. It appears like they may even get a second run now. Or a possible scaled down Frames option If this recent FCC filing harkens a restart for the Frames line. No matter what happens, Angela is right that the AR portion is discontinued with some apps dropping those features or off the App Store all together. Roger has some questions aftr listening to BBQ 212 "Hi Thank you for this podcast which was interesting, especially the stuff about Narrator. I am a JAWS user with JAWS 2020 home edition. A couple of questions that I can t get answers to: How can I tell which version of windows I have. Can you talk me through the key strokes to find out this information. When I use Narrator it talks far too much. When I am in Excel it gives the cell and row information before giving the content of the cell. How can I get it to read the information in the cell first and most of the time that s all, I don t need the cell and row details. Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks. Roger" J.J. notes that you can do a Windows Key and type in System Information to learn about your version of Windows. You can also perform a Windows Key plus the letter I to go to your Settings Panel, then Choose the System option and go to the About tab. Either will help you find out more about your computer and Windows version. As for the Excel question, we do not know what version of Office is being referenced here. That is why we recommend using the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk As things get rather strange if you have a boxed copy of Office or if you are subscribed to Microsoft 365. Jan Brown, long time listener, sent along a relateable email aptly titled "How I ate my way through house arrest" "The day before the Governor issued the shelter in place order, I went for coffee with two friends. We hugged and then joked about it. I believe this state of affairs has brought us closer in a good way. We have listened to Bard books together. We started with Stephen King's The Stand which we thought was particularly right for this situation. We always try to have great home meals, particularly on Sunday nights. We try to have a great red wine from one of our wine clubs on Sunday evenings. We often have a good steak with various sides depending on whim and what we have purchased. I go to Safe Way, our big food emporium on Thursdays. The wine guy there was able to locate both paper towels and toilet paper when we needed both the most. I go with a friend as I have for at least a decade. Yes, I certainly pay her. At the end of the shopping trip, we get coffee either from the in-store Starbucks or the Peet's down the way. One staff member from this particular Safe Way contracted Covid 19. No, of course they didn't tell us the identity of that person. I tend to go out for an early morning latte to the coffee place a couple of blocks away. One of the baristas there gave us a couple of masks and when I tried to pay, was told it was her way of giving back. A friend came to our county the other day and asked if she could bring in and out burger with fries and milk shakes to our house. How could we refuse? She brought these lovelies over and then left. The same day, an organization in our town which tries to serve senior types like us, I reckon, dropped off flowers at our house. They came from a group of folks who garden and have more flowers than they can use. I was really touched. We are not isolated any more than anybody else, but I was still touched and my husband was too. I have been doing Zoom family meetings and church meetings and have found them a lot of fun. I do it on my i-Phone 11 and still have trouble pointing the camera correctly. I have also done a couple of gym trainings through zoom. My Guide Dog immitated me and went up and down and made the trainer laugh. So, you see, This is not a bad thing for us. I hope all is well with you. Thanks for the interesting podcast and enjoy life Jan Brown" Last Word Just a quick note here, instead of the usual food oddities that occupy this space, please support your local restaurants. The native eateries provide uniqueness to your city, township, or community. Check out the local online editions of the newspaper or Business Journal for recommendations. Most of them have been highlighting the best places to find your favorite foods that are not served by a chain brand. And, if all else fails, open Google Maps and do a search to see what Local Guides in the area are saying. You can even check if the place you have in mind has a favored delivery option as they get more of the sale that way. Windows 95 turns 25 A History of Windows 95 Development We would sincerely like to thank everyone for reaching out to us on Social Media, email, and other methods to find out if all of us on the BBQ Crew are okay. It really does mean a lot to us. We touch on this at the end of the program. We really are not sure how the podcast flows in the future. Although it may feature more BBQ Bytes, Bites?, as the A.T. Industry at large begins to figure out how to offer things in this new disrupted economy. We know there will still be some hardware and software announcements on the horizon. So those of you out there who are a fan of our wrap up shows are covered. The rest of our typical programming will be an interesting and exciting challenge for us. And after 10 years of podcasting, in various forms and places, we are actually fine with having to reinvent our way to providing you the content you have become accustomed to from Blind Bargains. Be safe, be well and wear your mask to help others if not yourself. Until next time thanks for listening!

Orbit Writer Update   We spoke about the orbit  Writer a few weeks ago, my ordered unit is still sitting in the US waiting to be shipped, so when it gets here we will talk about it.  However, Hamish (smile) may be getting his earlier than me, so we may have him on the program again soon.   Speaking of orders being delayed, just reminding folks that this also apply’s to orders from the Vision Australia Vision Store even within Australia.   We have also been advised, that Apple orders from the Va Store are also running at a 4 to 6 week delay due to supply constraints as well.   Sunu Band and Aftershokz Deal still available    For $300 you can still pick up the Sunu Band and Aftershokz. I still find the Sunu Band is great for social distancing when I’m out and about in public, particularly when shopping. When coupled to my iPhone with the Sunu Band app, the Aftershokz still let me listen to my environment.   https://shop.visionaustralia.org/shop/product/sunu-band-and-aftershokz-trekz-air-wireless-headphones-special-offer   A Reminder on Two Products from Quantum RLV   I noticed the other day that some folks weren’t aware that Quantum RLV has the Inside One Windows 10 Braille tablet, and the Canute 360 multi line Braille E-Reader.   Https://www.quantumrlv.com.au    Aira updates: City rail, and change to 5 Minute free access minutes.   Just a correction to last week show about Aira on Sydney City Rail, its all Sydney transport - train, light rail, bus, and ferry.   Aira has also changed its 5 minute free access time limit, 5 minutes every 4 hours for subscribers and 5 minutes every 24 hours for guests.  see this Blind Bargains post.   https://www.blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=21995   cSUN 2021: going virtual.   This is great for people that can’t afford to get to the US for the CSUN Conference.  I still find it odd that in this day and age, it took a world wide crisis for people to realise that you could run events virtually as well.   https://blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=21996 https://blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=2199   Untold RPG Text Adventure with VoiceOver support:   Excellent Text Adventure RPG.  Play the text based adventure for free up to a point, and then pay if you wish to continue.   https://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ipados-gaming/untold-rpg-now-official-support-voiceover?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter   New Ballyland Magic Plus app to Teach VoiceOver Gestures   Update to the original Ballyland Magic app with more gestures and better visuals.   https://apps.apple.com/tt/app/ballyland-magic-plus/id1510039691?ign-mpt=uo%3D2   Apple renames Beats 1 to Apple 1   So if you are looking for Beats 1 within the iOs Music app, it is now called Apple 1.   https://9to5mac.com/2020/08/18/apple-music-radio/

The summer brings the heat and the box fans out from their hiding places from within the closet. We have been laying low to stay cool. And there is nothing like lying under the ceiling fan on a lazy summer day with a big pile of Braille to keep you company. In this episode, courtesy of J.J., you will find two demos and an interview with Jared Rimer discussing Braille Translation. Grab a cool beverage and relax in your best outdoor lawn furniture while you enjoy BBQ 212. Demonstration: Windows Virtual Desktop The latest update to Windows 10 is not a groundbreaking release, however, there is a lot to unpack if you rely on Narrator. One area that saw improvement with speech was the Virtual Desktop feature of Windows. In this demonstration J.J. will use Narrator to customize and give a brief tour of the virtual spaces he inhabits. Interview: Jared Rimer - Braille 2000 J.J. notes at the top of the interview that it has been 10 years since we last discussed the Braille 2000 product at CSUN. A lot has changed in a decade and we learn that The Talking Edition is the only known tool that can read contracted braille files as naturally spoken prose. Jared Rimer, Accessibility Consultant for Braille2000 LLC, takes us through what has come along in the new Braille 2000 Talking Edition for Windows. The pair chat about the issues that can arise from converting text to Braille, the mysteries that come from Back Translation and there is even a demo of the training materials that are available that can assist you in learning the product. There is an evaluation trial available and you can find out more by heading over to the Braille2000 website Demonstration: V7 Deluxe USB Stereo Headset with Microphone, J.J. demonstrates one of the new summer products over at our sister site A. T. Guys. The V7 USB stereo headset with microphone is ideal for Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and other video chat applications. They feature high quality sound output and a noise -cancelling microphone, perfect for busy environments. The microphone also has 300 degrees of range to move out of the way when not in use, and it can be worn on the left or right side. The Headset has an adjustable headband and memory foam ear pads for all day comfort. The USB powered Headphones also feature a nearly 6-foot cable that has convenient in-line volume and mute buttons Compatible with most desktop and laptops PCs through a standard USB port. Simply plug the USB cable into your Windows or Mac computer, no drivers required. On the cable, you will find three buttons. The longer, rectangular button near the top will mute or unmute your microphone. Below this are two smaller buttons for Volume Up, then Volume Down. All buttons are easily found by touch. This is an on-ear headset and quite comfortable. It does not go over the ear. To learn more, visit the A.T. Guys V7 Deluxe product page for the headset. Tip: Narrator Scan Mode J.J. notes that the recent Windows update brings tones and more to Narrator's Scan Mode, that's Modifier Key plus Spacebar, for browsing in Edge, Chrome and even Firefox. Give it a try if you have updated to the latest Windows that arrived recently in the 2004 update. The next episode will find us talking about news and new hardware. Then it will be all fun and games for a while.

Apple filmed their annual keynote for WWDC in Apple Park, not in front of a live studio audience, where many upcoming changes were announced for software and hardware. J.J., taking time out from gathering requests for Orbit Writer Braille Keyboard Smartphone Companion Preorders, and Joe, trying to steal back the PS4 controller from Ricky so he can play the Blind friendly The Last Of Us 2 , asked Jamie Pauls, who was editing a new episode of the Eyes Free Sports Podcast , to join them in this summary of the event s big news. Expect there to be info dumps a plenty as this is a wrap up show after all. And be sure to learn more about what was discussed in the copious pile of links down below. Enjoy these additional resources from the internet on the subject of WWDC 2020. WWDC 2020 Apple TV page Apple WWDC 2020 keynote in 18 minutes WWDC 2020: New Software and Fresh Chips Apple's exceptional WWDC 2020 keynote should be a model for future shows After virtual WWDC, Apple should never go back to live keynotes Comment: I d like pre-recorded WWDC keynotes every year, but we won t get them IoT sensors, machine learning and chips were the real stars of Apple s WWDC 2020 Six ways the pandemic was on display at Apple s WWDC Boot Camp Is Dead on New Macs and 8 Other Things Apple Didn't Say at WWDC Here s everything Apple didn t announce at WWDC WWDC: VoiceOver Gains New Image Description Capabilities among other Changes New Apple accessibility features coming this fall make technology usable and more accessible to all Apple packs iOS 14 with new accessibility features, like AirPods Pro audio tweaks VoiceOver efficiency with custom rotors Creating an Accessible Reading Experience Create a seamless speech experience in your apps Make your app visually accessible App accessibility for Switch Control iOS and iPadOS 14: The MacStories Overview iOS 14 beta: It's complicated finally iOS 14 accessibility feature performs actions by tapping your iPhone Here's how to assign a shortcut to iOS 14's new Back Tap feature New iOS 14 feature lets the iPhone alert you if it hears sounds like a doorbell or fire alarm Sound Recognition is a powerful new Accessibility feature in iOS/iPadOS 14 Apple details hand and body pose detection in WWDC 2020 session iOS 14: Developers can now take advantage of the U1 chip thanks to new 'Nearby Interaction iOS 14 s new Home screen widgets aren t as powerful as you might think Phone Calls Will Finally Stop Taking Up the Entire Screen in iOS 14 Apple s new iOS 14 home screen brings Windows Phone Live Tiles back to life Several new iOS 14 features take inspiration from Samsung s One UI If iOS 14 was Android 11, it would be coming to the Samsung Galaxy S6 With iOS 14, Apple once again crushes Android makers on software update support App Library is here to help you sort through your app clutter Apple gives in: iPhone and iPad users can finally change their default mail app and web browser this fall iOS 14 will let you change your default email and web browser apps Someone, Please, Explain: WTF Are App Clips Exactly? App Clips could be a Trojan Horse for Sign In with Apple App Clips could be just the start of a new approach enabled by 5G iPhones First take: With iOS 14, Apple changes the very idea of an app Messages is so much better in iOS 14 and here's why Siri Suggestions might just be iOS 14's greatest widget Apple adds encrypted drive support to Files with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 Apple gets it write with Scribble on iPadOS Why Apple still refuses to give the iPad a calculator iOS 14 protects your privacy in important new ways TikTok to stop reading user clipboards after being exposed by iOS 14 privacy feature TikTok and 53 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data iOS 14 includes revamped Podcasts app with curated suggestions AirPods and AirPods Pro Updates Coming With iOS 14 iOS 14 and tvOS 14 bring all-new Game Center, expanded Xbox and Playstation controller capabilities iOS 14: HealthKit expands ECGs with new API, new symptom tracking and mobility types Video: 9to5Mac Watch Time 26: What s new in watchOS 7? Sleep tracking, face sharing, hand washing watchOS 7: Hands-on with native Apple Watch sleep tracking Apple is killing Force Touch on the Apple Watch with watchOS 7 watchOS 7 now supports DRM audio streaming, opening the door for music apps You can run Shortcuts locally without your iPhone in watchOS 7 macOS Big Sur: The MacStories Overview The Mac s iconic startup chime is back in macOS Big Sur macOS Big Sur improves battery insight, retires Network Utility tool macOS moving from skeuomorphism through flat design to neumorphism designer Apple Silicon Mac mini dev kit looks like a desktop iPad Pro How fast are Apple s new ARM Mac chips? It s hard to tell The Mac s future is on a collision course with the iPad WWDC 2020: the iPadification of the Mac is coming, no touchscreen required Accessibility design for Mac Catalyst If Catalyst Apps Are the Future of Mac Software, the Future Currently Doesn't Look Too Bright for Voiceover Developers must opt out if they don't want their iOS apps on Mac Messages looks different yet familiar in macOS Big Sur Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak Discuss Apple Silicon Transition, Lack of Boot Camp Support, and More Apple's Rosetta won't support virtualization software like Parallels Here s what s happening to Boot Camp amid the Apple silicon transition Apple s new ARM-based Macs won t support Windows through Boot Camp Tech Tent: Apple says goodbye to Intel Microsoft vague on the future of Windows virtualization on Mac following Apple Silicon transition Losing Boot Camp for Arm Macs is no great loss Intel promises to support two-year transition to Apple Silicon Former Intel Engineer Explains Why Apple Switched to ARM Intel s Skylake Processors Was The Tipping Point For Apple To Finally Transition Away From Intel Apple's new tools can help developers port Chrome extensions to Safari Apple is bringing Face ID and Touch ID to the web with Safari 14 Apple adds WebP, HDR support, and more to Safari with iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur What's new in HomeKit in iOS 14 DOJ 'taking the first steps towards' Apple antitrust probe in the U.S Department of Justice Takes Hard Look at Apple's 30% Tax Apple approves Hey email app, but the fight s not over Hey founder on Apple's app approval process following fee backlash Hey opens its email service to everyone as Apple approves its app for good The App Store is coming under increased scrutiny in U.S. antitrust probe Apple will soon let developers challenge App Store rules Comment: This week s keynote quietly tackled five of Apple s antitrust issues Apple Just Castrated The IDFA, Sending An $80 Billion Industry Into Upheaval Apple's new Find My accessory program goes beyond iPhones and tracking fobs Fleetsmith customers unhappy with loss of third-party app support after Apple acquisition Gaming on Apple platforms is set for some big changes here are a few Five of the best new features coming to Siri Launch Google Assistant on Your iPhone as Quickly as Siri You Can Saddle Up Your Mac Pro For $400 but You Still Can't Ride It Sound Off: Here is a couple of comments from Twitter captured from our BBQ feed during recording. @pitermach From the event itself? Home screen widgets are cool. Running iOS apps on a Mac might be if they give more care to the platform's accessibility as a hole. What excites me more is the stuff that was revealed later. Stereo recording on iPhones, the watch getting rotor and Braille... @ed_edwardson Not being able to run VM s on their new CPU s is going to be a major productivity killer for me. I hope Apple will finally put serious resources into improving Mac VoiceOver. It s way overdue. Last Word: Shout outs to our friends over at ACB Main Menu for turning 20 years old. Check out their earlier festivities commemorating this milestone over at the Main Menu Archive

It is time for another BBQ Bite, or Byte as we have not really settled on that yet, as we keep delving back into our pile of holiday tech gifts to talk about on the show. In this episode Ricky will talk about what Joe gave her, Sennheiser Ambeoes, and Joe will converse with Ricky about the Bose Frames she provided him. There is a whole lot of moving in stereo in this virtual audio extravaganza. And you may want to listen in a good pair of headphones for the full effect of the cat and construction. Confused? Tune in and all will be revealed in 3d audio. Links to information and products mentioned in this episode Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset - Mobile binaural Now Discontinued Virtual Haircut Bose Frames Official Site Bose Frames, Apple AirPods 2nd Generation, and Plantronics M180 Headset: A Practical Guide to Three Bluetooth Earphones for People with Visual Impairments Bose Frames | How to Change Bose Lenses Bose Radar on the App Store - Apple OverHerd on the App Store - Apple EarPlay on the Apple App Store Travelear Official Site

usually our first "In Studio" episode after convention coverage is the traditional wrap up show where we dissect and discuss a particular event 20 minutes longer than we really should. But, as you already know, these are strange times and we find ourselves amongst the BBQ Crew reflecting on life after CSUN instead of our normal post con conversation. J.J. and Shelly talk about their return travel adventures while Joe remarks what it was like to watch the goings on from home. We do talk some tech this week, however, it is scattered throughout the run time of the show in between tips and musings about what has to be considered for future gatherings within the Blind and Low Vision communities. Sound Off and the Last Word find their way in towards the end of the program. So, we did not deviate too far from the norm. Or at least our version of that. Links To Information Mentioned COVID 19: Mask Sewing Instructions 5 Considerations for Running a Virtual National Convention during COVID-19 Aira updates policies after Corona Virus outbreak Tyler Littlefield creates accessible Covid-19 statistics tracker Free Basic Scripts for the Zoom Conferencing Platform Mosen Consulting Offers Free Audiobook about the Zoom Meeting Platform Hadley Presents: COVID-19 and Vision Loss - Hadley Institute ... COVID-19 and Vision Loss Part 2 Apple Launches New $399 iPhone SE With 4.7-Inch LCD Display, A13 Chip, and Touch ID Star Trek Discovery, and Picard, now have Audio Description and are perfect for lockdown binge watching Zoom Call - SNL Tip: Our Suggestions For Online Shopping Depending on the service you utilize locally, build your cart ahead of time that way you can jump on any available delivery times. Joe notes that Instacart tends to be better at finding open slots in the morning, as shoppers log in that day, while J.J. has better luck with Shipt the night before he makes an order. Think about making an order that will last at least a week with ingredients that can make more than a single meal. Some on the panel talk about how they became spoiled with 2 hour delivery and "in the moment" menu making decisions. You do not have to buy in bulk, unless you want to, if you plan out your food choices in advance and consume your most perishable edibles first. If using contactless delivery, the more detail you can give a delivery person the better. You can avoid mix ups by describing your apartment complex, home and outside markings in the optional areas in the check out or delivery note sections of the app. For example, "Street numbers are on the curb and our mailbox is missing a door". Remember that the person bringing your stuff needs this information and if your area has bad lighting, a large dip at the end of the driveway or some other hazard, it could impact their ability to provide you with good service. Loyalty cards can save you money! Sam s Wholesale adjusts their prices if you have a membership number entered in Instacart. And Shipt does the same if you have entered your Costco account info. Local grocery chains may have some benefit as well, but you will need to check which ones are on offer in your app of choice. Subscribing to the Express, Membership or Delivery Pass yearly membership thing does save money. You can avoid many fees, skip some delivery costs and possibly gain other perks by having a Door Dash, Postmates, Shipt or Instacart subscription. If you plan on using these services more often, beyond say twice a month, you really should break down and join up with that service because it is way more expensive to try and get by with an "as needs dictate" approach. Tip your shoppers and delivery people. Some services are rating you in the same way you rate their delivery experiences. Just like Uber, you can get a bad reputation and this may cause you to wait longer for an order. Recently Instacart had to address a situation regarding people removing large tips after a delivery was completed so they could jump the line in the customer pool. Shoppers and food delivery drivers do not make much and not tipping them for their time and effort is wrong. Besides, it is way cheaper to tip than take a Rideshare back and forth to the same store. We discussed these tips on Twitter recently. Some out there feel strongly that announcing that you are Blind can result in better service or a more detailed description of a replacement product for a missing item. Others who do not wish to disclose their vision status state that they can get the same level of interaction if they tell their shopper that they are using a device that doesn't show pictures, like an Apple Watch, when in the same scenario. many of these apps do not have a share sheet option for exporting a picture to Seeing AI or Visual Interpreter services. Go for what seems to be the more comfortable option when it comes to interacting whit your shopper. Lastly, due to higher demand, these apps are updating constantly to scale up to meet the needs of their growing customer bases. Providing helpful feedback about the app's access, process and experience is really important as you could be helping others out there who could run into the same bottleneck you encountered. For the most part these services work well on PC, iOS and Android. But that does not mean they work well all the time every time. Sound Off: Reginald George left these remarks in the Comment Section of ep 206 "Why does no one comment on these great podcasts? And if they are, why don't you post them? I have seen Blind Love, and listened to the interview here. He was very lucky to be able to pull them altogether to be on the show. The movie is absolutely fantastic, and this podcast gives good incite into how five strangers can become friends after working together on a project like this. It was quite a refreshing departure from the typical technology fare, and I commend you for making it happen. Reginald George CATIS Washington Services for the Blind" We really appreciate the kind words. We were already starting to gear our little podcast to cover topics beyond our original scope pre Pandemic. And now we think we can talk a bit more than tech around here in future. That is not to say we are going to abandon the horse that got us here, we just like to ride a few others out of the stable from time to time. Last Word: yeah, what a surprise, its food related. Polar Pizza Ice Cream Treats | Baskin-Robbins MY COOKIES ARE POPPING! Trolls OREO Cookies REVIEW Oreo Tiramisu - 12.2oz : Target And go back to BBQ 176 for more snack suggestions that J.J. still finds palatable today We are not sure what, or when, 210 is or will be at the time of this writing. We have a few ideas. In the meantime, may we suggest that you reread your copy of the most infamous book in the galaxy and take some comfort from those friendly letters on the cover by saying to yourself... "Don't Panic"

In Episode 191 of The Maccessibility Roundtable Podcast, our knights discuss: Shelly’s CSUN experiences Changes to WWDC What’s new with Orbit Research New iPads Pro the new MacBook Air OS updates The Graffiti and Comic Books Our Picks Knights on this episode: Darcy Burnard Holly Anderson Eric Troup Shelly Brisbin Robin Christopherson Links For This Episode Orbit coverage from Blind Bargains

We've interviewed makers of Smart Cane tech before on Blind Bargains, however, not many of those previous interviewees were featured in Time Magazine for tech innovation. That's why Shelly caught up with Kursat Ceylan, Cofounder of WeWalk, to discuss what sets this approach apart from others. Tune in, or read below, to find out more about the companion app and features for this mobility aid. Have you ever needed a light for night travel or a "find my cane" option? This just might be the ideal travel item for you. To learn more, or purchase the cane, visit the company's website CSUN 2020 coverage is Brought to you by AFB AccessWorld. For the latest news and accessibility information on mainstream and access technology, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon offerings, access technology book reviews, and mobile apps, and how they can enhance entertainment, education and employment, log on to AccessWorld, the American Foundation for the Blind's free, monthly, online technology magazine. Visit www.afb.org/aw.

We first teased our intent to take a look at the ColorStar during BBQ 188 during our summer convention wrap up show. now, a scant half a year later, the deep dive into the color identifier has arrive. Join Ricky Enger as she demonstrates the color, light and pattern detection modes of the device. Hear the speech of the unit in both the Universal and Artistic settings while Ricky tests them against an actual human's perception under various lighting conditions. And listen in as Ricky discovers what colors her holiday tree is... because that was the time in which this particular portion of the show was recorded. Visit the manual page for the ColorStar to learn more about the specs and more detailed aspects of operation. Or, journey over to the APH page for the ColorStar if you would like to purchase one yourself.

This is going to sound weird, but its our first news show of 2020. And wow do we have some news to talk about. So much news that we needed Scott Davert to sit in with us. He also hangs out with us while we go over the biggest stories that came from our ATIA 2020 coverage last month. Get ready for tech, talk and even a baseball story towards the end. In The News: Breaking: Aira Tech Corp Acquired by Southern California Investment Group RT @airaio We re excited to welcome all @Target locations to the Aira Access Family! Shop @OnYourTerms. Be My Eyes announces funding to grow community and expand Specialized Help service Be My Eyes closes $2.8M Series A funding to connect blind people with normal sighted volunteers via live video calls Announcing the 2020 Touch of Genius Prize Winners NLS bard for iOS introduces new features including simultaneous downloads, airplay, braille display autoscroll Leasey Pricing and What's Coming in Version 5! Nvda Version 2019.3.1 released, bringing support for new braille displays, screen curtain, more In-Process 19th February 2020 Updated Eloquence and Vocalizer Expressive Add-on for NVDA NVDA Remote Updates For Python Changes The Feb 2020 Update Has Been Released For JAWS/ZoomText/Fusion Thanks to Top Tech Tid Bits for mentioning the 300+ hour archive of the classic A.T. Playback Magazine Hindsight Is #CSUNATC20: Or, How The Top Stories Of The Past Can Shape The Future Discussion Topic: ATIA Wrap Up The trio talk about the stories that peeked the most interest from our ATIA 2020 coverage. ATIA 2020 Wrap-Up: What's New and Noteworthy at the Assistive Technology Industry Association #ATIA20 Audio: A Menagerie Of Braille For Humanware And APH #ATIA20 Audio: Q Is For Qwerty But That's Not All For HIMS #ATIA20 Audio: Orcam Expands Into Assisted Reading And Hearing Devices #ATIA20 Audio: Bookshare Balances The Equation With Accessible Math #ATIA20 Audio: Speaking To The Power Of Braille Literacy With Objective Ed #ATIA20 Audio: Absorbing Audio Information Into Meaningful Ways With Glean Last Word: Oddly enough, in more than 200 shows, this particular story has kind of come up before. Students assist with 'super flush' at Texas Rangers' new stadium Next week, no kidding, it is that long awaited often mentioned deep dive into the Color Star... we think. No really, it's happening in BBQ 208!

This week J.J. sits down to talk with the makers of "Blind Love", a new documentary about dating in the modern age. Tune in to hear about the genesis of the documentary, what it was like to catch it on camera and some key details about the film now that it is completed. Tune in to hear stories from the four prospective romancers, and the film's Director, about what it was like to navigate the dating scene. A word of warning for the show this week. This episode has some frank discussions of dating and romance and strong language. We wanted to allow the participants to be candid with their experiences, which may not be suitable for younger ears. You can watch Blind Love on YouTube Also, Blind Love is available on YouTube with Video Description To learn more about the film, visit Blind Love on Facebook Or, Blind Love on Instagram To learn more about Patty Zagarella, Director of the project, visit this page And you can follow the subjects of the documentary through their social media Joni Martinez on Facebook Twitter: JoniMZ86 Simon Isakov on Facebook Solomon O'leary on Facebook Instagram Mario Bonds on Facebook Instagram Next week, in episode 207, we sum up ATIA and discuss a whole lot of A.T. news.

Our introspective look at ourselves, and the 5 year history of the show, must have inspired Patrick. Not only do we have a return to our mistakes of the previous year, but our illustrious audio chronologist has pulled some recordings from a time long forgotten by everyone except our oldest fans. This one is for those who really want to know how the BBQ sausage is made. And it is sure to cause some indigestion for any who have crossed Patrick s microphone prowess as a host, guest or even a pet of those involved with our podcasts.

In Episode 187 of The Maccessibility Roundtable Podcast, our knights discuss Fixes in Catalina Ringtones with iOS 13 Problems with Dark Mode and Smart Invert Colors FlickType changing their pricing structure Our favorite Apple stories of 2019 Last year’s predictions for 2019 This year’s predictions for 2020 Knights on this episode: Darcy Burnard Holly Anderson Steve Sawczyn Shelly Brisbin Robin Christopherson Links For This Episode Post from Blind Bargains on the pricing changes for Flicktype

Welcome to the Technology podcast, podcast 335. On this edition, we do talk about a few things including security, transportation, and braille, but in a different light. Translation software was talked about in the talk, but nothing too specific. Here are the topics. On our first segment, Trend Micro's 2019 report and 2020 predictions. I talk about the numbers and what sticks out with me. Incidently, the webinar that they'll do this month is dealing with the predictions for 2020. I'll blog about that after I get a chance to read the email. If you want to read my blog post about the threat report and predictions please go to the blog post entitled: Question: Are we looking for more or less threats this year and if so what kind? from blog The Technology blog and podcast and it links to the article in question. On the second segment, we talk about the automated voice announcement system. Every bus here is supposed to call stops and every train is to call stops too. While it is technology, and it fails, the failure is also within the drivers. It has to work both ways, and my talk which will be presented on Thursday, January 16th, at an Accessibility Awards Luncheon will talk about this. At some point, we must have drivers and passengers work together to get passengers to where they need to go safely. How is it for you in your area? How is the AVA specifically for you? Lets talk! Finally, the canute 360 is discussed. This blog post which was posted on the 10th talks about where to go and links to Blind Bargains. I attended this forum, and what I learned was quite interesting. I didn't stay long for the questions and answers, but the presentation was quite interesting. Its supposed to be made available for listening at some point. I do want to catch this so I can take the time to listen to the rest of the questions in case there is something else I can learn. Finally, what is coming up on future podcasts and contact information. I hope you will enjoy the program as much as I have putting it together for you. I look forward in hearing from you! email/imessage tech at menvi.org text/whats app 804-442-6975 If you have other social media, you can use that. The Jared Rimer Network has all contact info made available and links to social media as well. Thanks for listening!

The long road trip with no bathroom breaks that was 2019 has reached its destination in the form of our annual wrap up show. This year s panel included J.J., Joe, Shelly Brisbin, Scott Davert and Rookie of the Year Lisa Salinger. Read on, and tune into the podcast, to discover what trends and stories the group found to have the biggest impact on the year. Also, if you want a good laugh, see how right or wrong we were with our 2018 predictions Conventions At A Glance The entire panel attended at least one of the major Blindness and Low Vision A.T. events in 2019. You can hear what we thought were the big stories at CSUN And the Summer Conventions To gauge if those introduced products had an impact on our discussions for this episode. But we ll let you in on a little secret. What you, the readers and listeners of this site, peruse from our coverage often determines who we interview the following year. Therefore, behold the top 5 downloads of our various coverage in order of their event calendar appearances in our podcast feed. ATIA 2019 1 #ATIA19 Audio: Command Multiple Devices With The HIMS QBraille XL 2 #ATIA19 Audio: Humanware s New Braille Note Touch Plus Is One Tough Cookie 3 #ATIA19 Audio: Aces Are Hight For The Acesight And Zoomax 4 #ATIA19 Audio: IRIE-AT Is Totally Your Braille Buddy When It Comes To Phones And Video Magnifiers? 5 #ATIA19 Audio: Point Your Finger At The Books You Want To Read With BraiBook CSUN 2019 1 #CSUNATC19 Sponsored Audio: APH Is Bringing The Community Together To Impact The World At Large 2 #CSUNATC19 Audio: LS&S Would Like To Report A U.F.O. Sighting Over Anaheim 3 #CSUNATC19 Audio: A Deeper Dive Into The Process Of Updates And NV Access 4 #CSUNATC19 Audio: Feel Books And More With Feelif 5 #CSUNATC19 Audio: Row, Row, Row your Code Jumper Summer Conventions 2019 1 #NFB19 Audio: Humanware Flips The Card To Reveal Updates For Keysoft And Victor Reader Trek 2 #Sponsored Blind Bargains Convention Coverage: AIRA with Big Deals, Big Presence at #NFB19 and #ACB19 3 #Sponsored Convention Audio: APH Creates A Fun Pathway To STEM With Code Jumper 4 #NFB19 Audio: Seeing The World Wirelessly With OrCam 5 #ACB19 Audio: There Is Always Something New Over At Guidelights And Gadgets Our listeners landed on a story that we didn't cover during our look back at the past 365 days. With new products, and a new direction, APH had an abundance of announcements and our audience noticed. We additionally saw some new names make the list as well as a real interest in what Humanware brought to the Exhibit Hall tables. Off The Shelf Growing Pains A lot of the conversation that powered this discussion came from stories featured in our Mainstream Mayhem article. Of course, iOS 13 dominated the talk and Joe said with all sincerity that he admired Shelly for her work on iOS Access For All and the plight that comes along with so many updates to this year's version of the operating system. J.J. and Scott felt like Apple has too many operating systems these days to support and they should look to our friends at Apple Vis for a better understanding of what is and isn't working along all the various product lines. Even new features like Dark Mode are breaking on a system level when Smart Invert is active. And Scott noted that issues with Bluetooth audio, Switch Control and wireless Braille Displays made him glad he kept a device back on iOS 12 for employment access concerns. But Apple Park wasn't the only company with some setbacks in 2019. Joe and J.J. steered the group into the aspects of what disappointed them about Google this year. J.J. felt like Talkback regressed, Scott noted that if BrailleBack support was better he would have considered a serious switch to the Android platform and Joe talked about how Google's culture war seemed to be an underlying theme of the lack of focus for the company. Joe also stressed that the way Google releases features into the wild had him spending more time troubleshooting his Google services than enjoying them. Perhaps the easiest way to summarize the year in Google was how many in the tech press declared the Pixel 3a as their choice for Android phone of the year after the release of the 4 series of phones. Audio Description On The Rise On a much more positive note, as emphasized by our AD news article, 2019 was the year where we became Audio Described Couch Potato aficionados. A lot of titles that took flight in pop culture this year happened to have AD tracks. However, as Shelly stated, Amazon Prime Video has been steadily adding support for older titles that you might not have realized needed description. Lisa also said that it's surprising when a new movie or show isn't described these days. And she urged that we need to support these legal ways of obtaining the content we want in order to foster more content in the future or support Blind/Low Vision creators and actors with their projects. Here's an email from BBQ Crew Member Jamie Pauls that places the substantial jump for AD in context. Hello, all. JJ and I were talking last evening about adding the huge influx of audio-described content in 2019 to our end-of-year show. With JJ's blessing, I reached out to the AD project for some stats comparing the end of last year to now. They actually gave me some stats comparing the first of this year until now which is probably close enough. I am sharing the information with everyone. Copied tweets follow: 1/1/19 SUMMARY: 2418 unique described videos and TV Series. 985 videos were duplicated in more than one service. Titles From: 41 Current Movies; 1029 DVDs; 926 iTunes; 811 Netflix; 440 Prime-Video; and 197 TV Series, broken down as follows: 30 ABC, 13 CBS, 25 FOX, 20 NBC, 23 DISCOVERY, 10 HGTV, 25 HISTORY, 18 TBS, 11 TNT, 22 USA. 12/16/19 SUMMARY: 3534 unique described videos and TV Series. 1719 videos were duplicated in more than one service. 31 Current Movies; 1194 DVDs; 12 Apple TV+; 291 Disney+; 65 Hulu; 1178 iTunes; 1080 Netflix; 1508 Prime-Video; 5 Other; 228 TV Series: 35 ABC, 16 CBS, 2 CW, 24 FOX, 21 NBC, 25 DISCOVERY, 18 HGTV, 34 HISTORY, 18 TBS, 13 TNT, 22 USA. When Cameras Took More Than Pictures 2012 saw the splashy debut of Google Glass at Google i/o. So, it seems fitting that the Explorer Edition finds itself entering the Graveyard in 2020 just as others begin to really lean into smart glasses technology. AIRA and Be My Eyes both gained more partnerships and expansions into the services they provide. Seeing AI and Envision AI were joined by the addition of VoiceDream Scanner in the field of On Device OCR apps. We summarize many of these stories in our Visual Assistance article in the news section of the site. And Lisa gives us an idea of how helpful many of these tools were to her when adjusting to life in a new apartment. Scott lays out the pros and cons of using many of these tools as a Deaf Blind person. J.J. notes, as you can read below, that there are some things you must consider if you rely on these methods of viewing the world through a camera lens. Keeping Private Things Private As cool as many of these new ways to access the environment are, they do have some serious aspects to consider while using them. Lisa describes a situation she came across in a public area in her apartment building and Shelly talked about data storage and where it resides if a company is sold or acquired. J.J. illuminated upon some misgivings that could come about with public transportation adopting more open policies towards the Visual Interpreter services as seen in Boston and New York. And Joe mentioned about how some visual concepts are becoming more apparent to the community as they encounter these access options in more settings. Here are links to some of the specific items discussed during this portion of the show. Dark Patterns in Accessibility Tech The next Big Tech battleground is your ears Hey Alexa: How can we escape surveillance capitalism? An Update About Face Recognition on Facebook Stalker 'found Japanese singer through reflection in her eyes Oh, What A Tangled Web We Surf Our conversation about hacking our disabilities came about from each panel member noting a barrier to web access they met recently. Relying on one Screen Reader and one web browser seems like an illusion of the information superhighway s glory days as a combination of tools may work better for shopping, banking or even searching the web. Plus, don't even get us started on various mobile browsers on iOS or Android. J.J. noted that the latest Web Aim survey seemed to reflect the changing trends in web access and how players like NVDA are changing with the times. Lisa and Scott compare Windows Narrator to a gawky teenager growing into their own and that's a good thing for the built in technology moving forward. Joe thought it was interesting that JAWS was rapidly gaining more support for Google Chrome and G Suite products to stay relevant in the Enterprise sector. Additionally, Shelly and Scott mused how some have made the switch from mac back to Windows as a result to the modifications made to the Mac OS through the annual upgrade cycles. Pizza and music played a huge role in web access this year. Beyonce.com Lawsuit Reminds Us How Shitty the Web Is for Users With Visual Impairment BIG WIN FOR WEB ACCESSIBILITY IN DOMINO S PIZZA CASE Browser vendors win war with W3C over HTML and DOM standards The internet's accessibility reckoning Mozilla to release a new Firefox version every four weeks starting next year Here are the results of the latest Web Aim Survey The US Supreme Court Domino s Pizza delivery case rejection, dished out Accessibility, the future, and why Domino s matters What Domino s Pizza got wrong about internet accessibility Add Vimeo to the Growing List of Large Websites Taking Accessibility Seriously Miscellaneous Musings Just as some may not be aware of some of the technical aspects of using a camera for access, others are becoming more familiar with other disabilities outside of Blindness that come with aging. Lisa and Scott engage in a lively conversation about the cost of Hearing Aids and how many of their companion apps are not Screen Reader friendly. Joe expanded upon that and offered that this lack of access also falls onto apps that control the Smart Home and various appliances that tout their connectivity. Lisa found that there is a need for individual research for major purchases in that arena, over buying whatever everyone else in the community is snagging up. Tailoring your expectations, as well as concentrating on your specific needs for access, can possibly bring about a better solution than "following the herd". Joe added that apps are constantly being updated and that could break or fix access from month to month. Relying on reviews may not be the best course of action either because appliance makers are manufacturing products in smaller runs in order to offer new features at a faster rate. J.J. said that the push for outreach is still needed to bring about awareness and change with products that add Voice Assistant and app related features. And the group all noted how more televisions are coming with Speech on board, how the Instant Pot made their apps more Screen Reader friendly after Community advocacy and we do have more powerful technology on hand for navigating the gaps in access than we did in 2018. Shelly and Joe touch upon the rise in off-the-shelf tablets being used as the display on many portable Video Magnifiers. Shelly followed that up with how some in the press enforce the narrative on how well the big mainstream companies are doing with their access solutions and what impressions that can send to those who are unfamiliar with other Assistive Technology. Joe noted that some in the Community also misconstrued these messages to a point where they shun traditional technology that was designed by A.T. makers. He specifically noted discussions he heard at various events for the desire to not use something like AIRA's Horizon in favor of a possible future set of Apple created smart glasses. Finally, and ending on a high note, Lisa and Scott celebrate the fact that more people had the opportunity to compare the Braille me to the Orbit Reader in the battle of the low cost Braille Displays. Additionally, now that phones cost more and iOS is constantly influx, the traditional note taker may still have a place in being a more stable option for some tasks. Sound Off We asked trepidaciously on Twitter for ideas about what the big stories were and Jim Denham sent along his feelings in the below email. Hey guys: Just wanted to chime in with what I believe is the biggest news story of 2019. That would be, the Amazon Echo Show identifying products. This is a big deal b/c its not using the bar code, it is just identifying the product by visual appearance. Amazon is obviously using individuals who are blind or visually impaired to help develop this feature, with the long term goal to provide people the ability to reorder products just by holding them up to the Show. In this case, all involved win, as it is a great and really useful feature for individuals with an Echo Show. I also believe this is just the starting point. As machine learning continues to develop at a mind blowing pace, this will certainly grow much bigger in 2020 and beyond. Thanks for all the great audio and podcasts in 2019, you guys do an awesome job and your work is truly appreciated. Jim Last Word 2019 saw the BBQ Crew cross the 200th episode mark and place our 750th audio program into our vast archives. We have been thrilled, honored and humbled to bring you our brand of news and entertainment on a weeklyish basis for 5 years. This would not be at all possible if it weren t for our guests, interview subjects, sponsors, and most of all you, the listeners. We are not sure just what 2020 holds in store for us all in A.T. news. However, we look forward to bringing it all to you in the upcoming year! Thanks for listening!

A holiday stocking crammed full of news, a lively discussion on audio description options and a browser tip to aid you on your post shopping surfing successes. And most of all, in the Last Word, a continuing tradition helps us end our final regular show of 2019 on a high note. Grab that hot cocoa and fire up that Yule Log channel on Netflix before you settle down for a long winter s nap with episode 203. In The News: NVDA 2019.3beta1 now available for testing December updates for JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion 2020 have been released JIM THATCHER, ACCESSIBILITY GIANT, DIES AT 83 Phil Raistrick, Founder of En-Vision America, Dies at 78 Code Jumper wins CES award for best app inovation The AppleVis Community Names Seeing AI and Dice World as its Golden Apples of 2019 Microsoft updates Seeing AI,bringing new languages,currencies, and support for Siri shortcuts Register now for the 2020 AFB leadership conference Write and Preview Markdown with ease with IAWriter A Blueprint for Time Management: A Dozen Suggestions for Improving Apple's Screen Time Feature Choose the perfect gift, find the best food, or get help finding the perfect holiday decorations with Aira Access World features articles on Amazon Audio Description, microwaves and more Hulu app gains support for audio description tracks to help the visually impaired Casting Call: Apple TV+ Series "SEE" Season 2 Tip: Deleting Cached Files And Cookies In Firefox Or Chrome The new image description feature in Google Chrome sure is a lot of fun. However, it can eat up a lot of resources if you have it scan every picture on every page you encounter. To delete this weighty data, and we suggest you do this once a month if you aren t using this feature full time, press the Control plus the Shift and Delete keys at the same time. From there, choose the amount of time you want the browser to delete from your history. Notice you will find options like cookies and such as you make your way down to the Cache checkbox. Select the options you want and then choose the clear data button. The same hotkey works with Firefox if that is your browser of choice by the way. Sound Off: Rebecca Skipper writes in about something Joe knows very well. "Hi, I really want to read both the Star Trek 2009 countdown comic and the Picard prequel comics, but I can t get Openbook or JAWS OCR to scan the text properly. I purchased the 2009 comic in print, and I am so disappointed in the poor OCR results I got. Is there any way I can get accessible versions of these comics? Thanks. Rebecca Skipper" The great thing about the internet is that whatever you can think of... it's possible someone else has thought about it and posted the answer online. Fans of movies and shows do this a lot. Joe notes that there are dedicated channels on Youtube that wil dissect just about every aspect of a movie, show or comic. Check out these two links for major breakdowns of the first title in the prequel comic. Star Trek Picard - Countdown Comic #1 | Review, Breakdown & SPOILERS! Star Trek Picard news - Countdown Comic 1 analysis! IDW review reaction Lydia Alverson writes in to help Joe with something he doesn't know well. "Dear BBQ team, First off, I just want to let you know that I just finished listening to the 200th episode of your podcast on my Mac via Safari. The web player is great. Joe, I don't blame you about not being all that good at math. It isn't my favorite subject either. When I was a freshman in high school, my math teacher showed us a very catchy song and video to help us memorize the quadratic formula. To this day, I still can't get it out of my head. I will post a link to the video with a song below. The Quadratic Formula" Thanks again for another great podcast. Sincerely, Lydia Alverson" Last Word: Our sincerest thanks go out to the gang at Snyder Hall at University of Illinois For their fantastic Dial A Carol service. We appreciated their holiday spirit and we were thrilled to have them on the show again this year. To hear their holiday cheer from 2018, tune in to episode 169's "Last Word" section. Just know you may not want to do this if you want to survive Whamageddon unscaved P.S> Stay past the credits for a special musical treatment from Patrick. BBQ 204 has our A.T. Avengers assemble for the trends that emerged during 2019. Until then, Happy Holidays everyone!

After the Thanksgiving break and our holiday cast, we return this week with a two pack of interviews and a tip, all sandwiched together for your convenience. Lisa Dalton from Candoable stops by to talk about what happens when you accidentally rearrange a blind person's pantry. Later, Andrea Guidice from UNAR Labs which offers a way to make maps and other drawings accessible through vibration feedback. Plus we have more Alexa goodness with regular contributor David Ward. So grab a can, or grab your phone and saddle up for BBQ 202. Interview: Candoable Much of what we talk about is high-tech, but sometimes it's the littel things that can make a huge difference. Candoable offers labels for soup cans, spices, soda (we call it pop around here), and beer which are reusable and produced with contracted or uncontracted braille and print. The idea is the brainchild of Lisa Dalton, who joins us on the podcast to talk about where she got the idea for these labels and all of the different products you can attach them to. Check out the website linked above to get some for yourself, starting at $3. Tip: Take Note: David Ward from the Echo Tips podcast is back to demo the notes feature on the Amazon Echo, a handy way to remember those pesky things you are always forgetting. Interview: UNAR Labs We've come across a few solutions for presenting graphical information using haptic feedback, but Midlina seeks to take this idea further by automating the creation process. In their own words, "Midlina is a software service that will assist visually-impaired people with accessing graphical information in digital media using smartphones and tablets." Think access to a hotel diagram, or a spacial map in a game. J.J. caught up with Andrea Guidice from UNAR Labs at the NFB of Colorado state convention who explains more in this interview. You can send Andrea an Email with your feedback at andrea.unarlabs@gmail.com You can also try out their free Tic Tac Toe game, available on iTunes for your iOS device. As always, you can comment on this post to let us know what you think, and please share with your friends. What do you think were the defining trends of 2019 in access technology? Let us know. Our year-end review podcast is coming soon.

Welcome to our 5th annual Blind Bargains Holiday Shopping Guide. This year, we've brought the deals straight to your audio feed. Sit back and relax as some of your favorite merchants, or perhaps some that are new to you, tell you about their latest products and services as well as some holiday deals. We'd like to sincerely thank all of the companies who were apart of this show. Below you'll find information about each company in the order they appear in the show. We hope you have a safe and fulfilling Thanksgiving weekend and we'll be back with a new episode next week. Mystic Access Mystic Access wishes to make your holidays brighter with gift ideas that educate, empower and take the intimidation factor out of learning assistive technology. We wish to make your learning journey far less stressful and way more fun. Whether you're searching for comprehensive audio documentation, one-on-one training, or accessible electronics which can be enjoyed by sighted and blind loved ones alike, we have your gift-giving covered. Our comprehensive audio tutorials are professionally recorded, produced, and created from a blindness perspective. We offer tutorials on a variety of topics, including deep dives into the Amazon Echo, Victor Stream, Apple Watch,, Google products such as Docs, Sheets and more, and many others. All of our tutorials are available as digital downloads in both DAISY and MP3 formats, and on physical media for $15 more. If hardware is more their thing, we offer several Bluetooth products, including speakers, headphones, and earbuds, most with voice prompts, and, yes, all with included audio documentation. Click here to check out our selection of hardware, and to hear samples of the tutorials. Unsure What to buy them? A virtual gift card could be the perfect way to brighten someone's holiday season. Mystic Access looks forward to supporting and empowering you. Check out our bi-weekly podcast, free downloads, free monthly free teleclasses, and contact us if you wish to order via phone, or to ask any questions. (716) 543-3323, or info@mysticaccess.com. We wish you a beautiful and safe holiday season filled with joy and love. RGA Tech Solutions For the Holidays Did Santa bring you some new tech during the holidays? Do you perhaps already have some tech from before the holidays and want to know how to use it? Or maybe, you need a few tips and tricks on how to better use your screen reader, computer, tablet, smart phone, smart TV, or smart speaker? No matter what the situation is, we can help by providing personalized one-on-one tech solutions. Technical Support. For only $20 per session, you can have up to 30 minutes of one-on-one time with a technical support specialist to help you get stuff fixed. Maybe you need a new email account added to your computer. Maybe you need help connecting a new smart speaker. Maybe you need tips and tricks on navigating the Internet with your screen reader. One-on-one tech support can be a quick and affordable way to accomplish these tasks. Want an even bigger discount? For just $150, you can have up to 10 separate 30-minute sessions. That's only $15 per session, an even better bargain. Custom Training. If you require a bit more than mere technical support, you can take advantage of one-on-one training at a more than 30% discount. $50 will get you one hour and $400 will get you 10 hours. These offers are good through February 20, 2020. Contact Stacie or Raul at 832.639.4477 or training@rgats.com if you have any questions or want to make your holiday purchase. iOS Access for All I m thrilled to announce the release of iOS Access for All: Your Comprehensive Guide to Accessibility for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch (iOS 13 Edition). It s the most comprehensive iOS accessibility resource anywhere! iOS Access for All guides you step-by-step through Apple tools designed or people with blindness, low-vision, hearing impairments, and motor disabilities. Readers also learn how to make the most of all apps installed by Apple, along with iOS. You will also find reviews of over 100 outstanding App Store apps that happen to be accessible. Visit www.iosaccessbook.com to get your copy and save 10 percent for a limited time. A. T. Guys We've started our Black Friday sale early, with some huge discounts and never before seen deals on some of our most popular items. Never be without great wireless sound when you need it with options to fit any budget. get our powerful accessible power bank at our lowest price ever. From stocking stuffers under $10 to braile displays, there's a sale to fit any budget. Check back, as new items may be added throughout the weekend. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional flash sales throughout the holidays. Go to our A. T. Guys Black Friday Page Note: Our phone lines are closed over the weekend while we indulge on turkey, but you'll still be able to place orders online via our secure shopping cart. Please E-Mail us with any questions and we'll do our best to respond as soon as possible. You may call us on Monday to place orders over the phone at (269) 216-4798. Please leave a message if we don't answer, as our lines will be busy. Thanks, and have a great Thanksgiving. Save 15% on WayAround WayTags Our biggest sale of the year. WayAround is a new system that you can use to tag the important items in your life. Mark your clothes using buttons, your food using magnets or stickers, or your office using magnets or clips. Using the free WayAround app for your iPhone or Android, simply touch your phone to the tag and easily record or hear information you have saved. Some tags, including the buttons, can be used in the laundry. Go hear to order WayAround products for 15 percent off Save on our Accessible Portable Power Bank and Battery Charger Have you heard, or rather have you felt the vibrations? The Energrid 15,000 mAh Power Bank is a powerful portable charging solution for on-the-go. It includes 2 fast charging ports and will either vibrate or beep to indicate the level of charge. For instance, 4 vibrations means a full charge, 3 vibrations for 50 to 75 percent, etc. Get yours today and never be stuck with a dead phone again. Get the Accessible Energrid 15,000MaH Battery Pack, now for $65 All Aftershokz on Sale; Trekz Air, our Lightest Bone Conduction Hedset Ever Our full line of wireless and wired Aftershokz headsets are on sale at their lowest prices ever. We've been using the Trekz Air from Aftershokz and we must say the comfort and convenience has just blown us away. These are much lighter than the bone conduction headsets from a few years ago. Check out the new Trekz Air on sale for $99.95 Browse our entire selection of Aftershokz Open Ear Headphones, all on sale High Quality Voices for your Screen Reader Love NVDA, but not the voice that comes with it? Or are you using narrator more often but wish you could have a familiar voice to go along with it? We are official distributors of the familiar Vocalizer and Eloquence voices. Either get the $69 package that gives you voices for NVDA, or choose Eloquence or Vocalizer voices which can be used with multiple screen readers. We're happy to help you find your voice, just ask. Check out screen reader voices, now on sale starting at $59 Braille Me 20-cell Braille Display - Intro price through December 31, $499 Features 20 refreshable braille cells with cursor routing, a built-in text editor with braille translation, and Bluetooth and USB support. It can connect to your iOS or Android device as well as the NVDA screen reader. SoundTrax Bluetooth Headset - Sale! $49.95 From the same company which produced the popular SoundPods speaker comes a Bluetooth stereo headset with the same great features. Wirelessly connect to your phone or play music using the built-in Micro SD card slot or a headset adapter. These comfortable on-ear headphones featured padded cups and deep bass. Works for up to 30 hours on a single chaarge. Aluminum USB External Stereo Sound Adapter for Windows and Mac - On sale! $6 A simple way to add an additional audio device to your computer. Separate your screen reader from your music so it doesn't go out over your speakers. Tribit 360-degree Bluetooth Speaker - $69.99 360-degree sound, waterproof, and loud. Check out the speaker that has people talking. A lot of bang for your buck. SoundPods Bluetooth Wireless Portable Speaker - On sale! $35 One of our classics. This little speaker puts out big sound! The SoundPod by Blue Tiger is a wireless or wired heavy duty speaker with exceptional sound quality that fits in the palm of your hand. With long battery life, the SoundPOD will be putting out your tunes all day long. Also features a Micro SD card slot to play music directly from the speaker. iOttie iON QI Wireless 10W Fast Charging Stand - $44.95 If you have an iPhone 8 or newer, or a modern Android device, you can now charge it without plugging it into a cable. Keep one by your bed or on your desk for a simple charging solution. Matias Alumina Bluetooth Keyboard - Sale! $95 The Matias Aluminum Bluetooth Keyboard feels just like an Apple keyboard and also includes a dedicated numeric pad and arrow keys in the familiar layout. Plus, connect the Matias to up to 4 devices at once and switch between them with the press of a key. Also, charging your keyboard all the time is a thing of the past, as the Matias features up to 1 year of battery life on a single charge. Plugable Bluetooth Keyboard - $54.95 A compact, trifold Bluetooth and USB keyboard with nearly full-size keys and great battery life. Comes with a case which doubles as a phone stand. Tactile Screen Protectors - Starting at $8 Featuring the full line of SpeedDots tactile screen overlays for iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, and iPod Touch, including the iPhone 8 and X. Choose tempered glass for additional protection. Several styles to choose from. Type with confidence. Reversible 4-foot Micro USB Charging and Data Cable - Sale! $4.99 This ain't your standard Micro USB cable. This one plugs in both ways so you don't have to worry about breaking cables. They're compatible with many of the other gadgets we sell. Micro-Speak 8gb Digital Recorder - $59.95 Record with the press of a button and playback immediately via the built-in speaker. High Definition recordings in WAV format ensure impressive results for unlimited speaking and listening activities. Victor Reader Trek

Many things have changed since our first show Five years ago. This week is proof of that as Joe has a new profession He has embarked on; Patrick has a new ongoing feature for the BBQ and J.J. has some amazing news about a new Braille Display coming to A.T. Guys. Travel, animals and an acknowledgement of what came before rounds out this 200th, of the numbered shows, installment of the Blind Bargains Qast. In The News: Fusion 2020 Is Live And Will Soon Have A December 2019 Update Apple Releases iOS 13.2.3 and iPadOS 13.2.3 with Mail, Messages, and Search Fixes and Background App Performance Improvements It s here! Get iOS Access for All (iOS 13 Edition) in ePub format. It s fully updated for iOS 13, with coverage of dark mode, voice control, enhancements to VoiceOver, and lost more. Get it now and tell your friends! Orbit research introduces a chat app for the deaf-blind Aira, Microsoft, and Moovit make public transport more accessible for the visually impaired The Continued Significance of the National Library Service for the Blind: Expanding Braille and Implementing the Marrakesh Treaty Audio Wizards Update Brings 5 New Levels To Android And iOS For Free Access World For November Brings The Annual Holiday Gift Guide And More Interview: Ed Rodgers and Liam Smith of Bristol Braille A milestone like our 200th BBQ needed something just as huge at the center of the proceedings. Ed Rodgers and Liam Smith, of Bristol Braille, thought the same. The pair sat down with J.J. to discuss how the Canute is moving from the pre-order phase to an imminent full-fledged product launch. Hear some stories about the construction, the support and the open source nature of the project. And, if that wasn't enough, visit our A.T. Guys product page for the Canute 360 Braille Multiline E-reader to order yours as they become available Stateside. Be sure to visit the Bristol Braille site for more information about the launch windows outside the U.S.. Tip: Make Math Easier With Calcute J.J. knows that Joe's Kryptonite is math. But things may change as Calcute allows you to easily perform math in an "adding tape" notepad style. This program lets you review your work, rearrange your functions and edit problems on the fly. It might not help Joe; however, it might just be the right thing for helping you out with your calculations. Sound Off: This email, entitled "Two hundredth episode of the BBQ podcast.", was sent in the night before we recorded this show. "Hi Joe, and JJ, My name is Jeremy Levy and I have been a fan of your podcast since 100. I was also a fan of the Sero Talk podcast. I really enjoy the coverage you do for the different blind conferences. I also really enjoy the different episodes that you talk about. I would love to start my own podcast with in this next year. Thank you very much for showing me that blind people can do podcasts. Congratulations on your 200th episode. Sincerely, Your loyal fan, and loyal listener, Jeremy Levy" Thanks for writing in Jeremy. Here is a bit of behind the scenes trivia. We recorded this episode on the five year anniversary of the news That broke about our previous podcasts. We are extremely proud of all our previous work and we appreciate those who have stayed with us all these years. Joe, J.J. and Patrick have been working together a long time over hundreds of hours of audio. And we could not have done it without our friends, sponsors and most of all our fantastic fans along the way. Last Word: It seemes only fitting that cats and travel found their way into this week's oddness from the web. Trapped Under The Megabus A black cat got loose on the field for Giants-Cowboys, and Twitter lost its mind Episode 201 will feature our big Black Friday extravaganza! Tune in to hear more about deals and products that may just make your gift giving a little bit easier this holiday season.

J.J. is on the road this week and that means Joe is left to his own devices. Thank goodness Ricky Stopped by to talk about the initial four episodes of the new Apple TV Plus series See . Otherwise this show would have ben more of Joe chatting with himself about smart lighting, which he does anyway, and another game demo. David Ward Also appears in the line up to give us an overview about an Amazon Echo skill. Think of this one like a BBQ plate with some sides. And don t miss the EOL food suggestions as they might liven up your upcoming holiday parties! Stuff Mentioned In This Episode Approach this big pile of links as if it were the napkins, condiment s and plastic silverware that came in the delivery bag with your BBQ plate. Behind the Scenes of SEE from Apple TV+ See : The Apocalyptic Apple TV+ Drama Sets the Standard for Inclusivity A Professional Actor Training Program for Blind and Low Vision Actors My Pod Amazon Alexa Skill Command LED Desk Lamp with Voice Assistant Circus Master s Revenge page from Apple Vis INTRODUCING COCA-COLA CINNAMON M&M'S Holiday White Peppermint Chocolate Christmas Candy KIT KAT PUMPKIN PIE FLAVORED MINIATURES Candy Corn PEZ - 6 Pack Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry Practical Help for Low Vision

BBQ 194 Was the last time we rolled through a proper news section. We thought it was time for it to emerge from the shadows this week. Plus, to continue with the idea of a traditional format show, J.J. demos the Blind Shell Phone. A tip, several emails in Sound Off and fun audio treats are waiting for you at the end of the episode. It s a return to yesteryear for the team in 198. In The News: Apple Releases iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2; Bringing Many Bug Fixes for Blind and Low Vision Users The US Supreme Court Domino s Pizza delivery case rejection, dished out Accessibility, the future, and why Domino s matters What Domino s Pizza got wrong about internet accessibility Add Vimeo to the Growing List of Large Websites Taking Accessibility Seriously At Long Last, ScripTalk Mobile Now Available on iOS EnVision AI Releases v2.0 for iOS And New Region Based Pricing Be My Eyes Welcomes the National Federation of the Blind to Specialized Help Orbit Research introduces the Orbit Teacher Platform There's a national shortage of Braille teachers and the situation is dire The Tap Strap wearable keyboard gets better with airmouse gestures We Found uno Braille at a Local Target, and it's Exactly What you would Expect it to Be From London, #GAConfEU 2019 Product Overview: Blind Shell Phone BlindShell is a intuitive and simple cell phone with big, tactile buttons and lots of features. In addition to making phone calls and sending text messages, you can get the current weather forecast, listen to Internet radio, or find out your current location. BlindShell works with AT&T and T-Mobile as well as other GSM networks. VOICE CONTROL With voice control you can give the phone voice commands without having to use the keypad! With Voice Control you can:: Call and send a message to a contact Open any application in the phone Get information about the weather Get your location. Address and GPS VOICE DICTATION Instead of using the keypad to input text, just simply say it. The phone will write it down as a text! Among others, you can use voice dictation for these actions: SMS dictation Email dictation Taking notes Dictating your agenda PHYSICAL KEYBOARD This phone has a physical keyboard with big, well spaced tangible buttons. We wanted the BlindShell Classic to have a premium keypad, and we believe that we succeeded. The spacing between the keys makes orientation on the keypad very easy, so you will be able to distinguish between the keys right away. No need to fumble with your fingers around to find the right button. No need to be worried about pressing the wrong button either. HIGHLIGHTS Many useful applications BlindShell includes a variety of useful features. With the Email client, you can write and receive emails from your friends and colleagues. With Internet radio you can listen to thousands of radio stations from around the world. The weather app will tell you the current weather and forecast for the next three days. The location app can tell you your current GPS location or hte nearest address. SOS emergency button If you get in to a situation where quick assistance from someone else is needed, you can use the SOS emergency button. Pressing the button for at least 3 seconds will call your emergency contact. (This contact can be set whenever you want). The outgoing emergency call needs to be confirmed by you, so you do not need to worry about making the call accidentally. APPLICATIONS & FEATURES BlindShell Classic is packed with features. You can just make calls and send messages, and nothing else. But, if you want to use the full potential of the phone, there is nothing in your way to make the most out of it. Main features Calls Call log SMS text messages SMS to multiple recipients Contacts Backing up and importing contacts Alarm Calendar Minute timer Notes Voice recorder Advanced features SOS emergency button E-mail Object tagging FM radio Internet radio Audio player Book Reader Service menu Weather forecast GPS location Color recognition If you would like to know more, or order a Blind Shell of your very own, visit the A.T. Guys product page Tip: iOS 13 Low Data Mode Low power mode can help you out of a jam when your battery is in those smaller percentage numbers. In iOS 13 the same idea can be applied to your data plan as Low Data Mode will let you conserve your precious megabytes when you start approaching the high end of the data cap allowed. Simply visit Settings, Cellular Data Options and explore the section labeled "Low Data Mode" to activate this tool. Sound Off: David Partrick starts us off with this question. "Greetings. I have heard Joe talk about his experience with the Surface Go. I now find myself in possession of one, and I am looking to find a way to use it. It came with a third party cover and keyboard. It s nice, and small, and I can type on it, but, I cannot get the function keys to work with either JAWS or Narrator. The Function modifier key appears to be ignored. I am wondering what keyboard Joe is using, and, if the folding keyboard Joe and JJ talked about on a recent BBQ would be a good match for the Surface Go. Thanks in advance. David" The Pluggable Keyboard is the one Joe was using in that episode. You will still need to seek out a case to protect the Surface's screen if you plan to travel with the device. Georgia has some insight about a previous show. "Hi J.J., Please have dean back on blind bargains. I was glad to hear about his chrome book coing out. Pizza with potatoes on it, and pizza with sweet potatoes. Pineapple, oh yes had it many times. It is good as well. The show notes--are they on the app? I could not find them. Having trouble getting to the bargains part of the app. Like the tips also. Do you put them in the notes? I am going to see if I can find those notes. Georgia kitchen" Greg Portch writes in with this question... "Hi, Joe was talking about older devices. Is an iphone 6s or Se fast enough for ios 13 if you are a voice over user I mean will the phone be sluggish, not asking about the current bugs in 13. Thanks, /Greg We haven't had time, what with all the Apple updates for 13 lately, to put the 6s through testing. But we've seen others say that it isnt horible. Probably not desireable for the long haul however. Next, Richard writes in with this comment. "The two of you talking over and or interrupting Constqantly makes listening to your pod cast extremely cringing! I started counting and perhaps every 5 seconds one or the other does a talk over so that neither ones comment can be understood. Check it out and perhaps you will see just how irritating this is to a person trying to listen to every word spoken. Nuff said and hope I don t have to type to you again." We posted this email because we like to be transparent about our craft and we do appreciate all remarks about our show. Podcasting is like cooking. A recipe can change according to the talent and background of the person, or people, cooking the ingredients. We never set out to conform to the NPR style or the bombastic over the top formats of morning radio or sports talk programs. Our idea, as it has been for almost a decade, is to make the listener feel like they were smack dab in the middle of a group discussion at a major convention. Technical limitations, such as the delay in voices traveling back and forth through the internet, also play a role in how tight we edited our vocal tracks. Over the years we ve managed to turn those delays into seamless conversation, however as noted by the email above, we recognize that not everyone likes this dialog flow. That is why we try to post our companion show notes in broadcast order for those who don t want to listen to the entire episode. Our audience can skip directly to the portion of the show that interests them by using our notes as a guide. Or, by design, they can just read the notes instead of listening to the show if they prefer. Over hundreds of recorded hours of us blathering on at one another about stuff, we re most proud of our consistency in tone and sound. We experiment with our format, our focus and formula from time to time. But our style is what we believe sets us apart from others in the field of podcasting. We have the amazing Patrick perdue to thank for all of this as he has been the bedrock of this audio endeavor. And by no means do we diminish his accomplishments out of fear that he has the power to make us look like idiots with the flick of an editorial finger. Nope, no worries at all about that end of year out takes. Episode. Shudder Last Word: The upcoming holidays have us thinking about travel and these two links seemed to fit that mindset. Traffic lights worldwide set to change after Swedish engineer saw red over getting a ticket 9 Healthy Travel Snacks eat smarter on the road

Ghouls and ghosts will soon be taking to the streets in search of pre-wrapped delicious treats. The BBQ Crew has faced zombies Before and lived to tell the tale. However, will that be the same result for joe this time around? Listen in on an audio demo from him and one from Jesse Anderson's Illegally Sighted channel. Retreat to the safety of J.J. and David Ward as they discuss some Digital Assistant features for Google and Amazon respectively. Most importantly, put on a pair of earbuds or headphones or place your skull between some stereo speakers... Because this one is going to be frighteningly good! Demonstration: Audio Wizards We've spoken about the fantastically crafted My True Sound "Audio Wizards" game previously on the show. Joe runs through the tutorials and first level to provide our listeners with some idea of how the game works. Audio Wizards is out for both iOS and Android, if you like what you hear, visit the official website to learn more Demonstration: Google Home Hub Google Home, Nest?, Hub's original model featured a smaller display and no camera. And it features Chromevox as the unit's screen reader engine. Hear J.J. as he uses the power of the Google Assistant, and its voice, on this quick demonstration of the unit's controls. Check out this CNET article on the Google Home Hub that details 9 things you can do with the device. Demonstration: Echo Show And Tell The "Price Is Right" has pricing games. However, you might be playing a guessing game each time you stand in your kitchen pantry when trying to decide if that can you are holding contains cat food or tuna. David Ward, from the Echo Tips podcast drops by to give us a demonstration on how the new image recognition feature works on some models of the Echo Show. Remember, to keep up with the ever changing face of Amazon Accessibility, visit the official webpage Demonstration: Pitch Black This one would normally land in the "Crowd Funding Of The Week" section of the news if this was a traditional format kind of episode. Jesse Anderson laid his hands upon the keyboard to provide a quick look at a new audio game that is seeking funding for a pending release next year. "Pitch Black: The 'AAA' Audio Game" is an immersive experience that is slated to be released on PC, Mac, iOS and Android. The full version of the demo came from Jesse's YouTube channel and we thank him for his permission to use a shortened version of it in this episode. You can nab a copy of the demo, fund the project or just keep up with the status of Pitch Black by visiting the official Kickstarter page Tune in next week to see if anyone in this show has been spirited away across the river Styx by an audio engineer. That's our Halloween way of saying that this show would not be possible without the tremendous talents of Patrick and his devilish ways of bringing this audio to life. Trick or audio treat everyone!

This show marks the 750th piece of audio content to arrive on the site. It also so happens to be the 9th year for J.J. and Joe to discuss Blindness related Google accessibility. That s why we thought it wild that this episode features our 2019 Made By Google event wrap up coverage. Trains, another grocery order and J.J. taking us out for a walk are some additional points of interest to notice along the route that is BBQ 196. Discussion Topic: Made By Google 2019 Event Here is some more background information on what Google is about to unleash upon the world. Accessibility for the digital world and beyond Action Blocks: one tap to make technology more accessible Voice guidance in Maps, built for people with impaired vision Using AI to give people who are blind the full picture If it has audio, now it can have captions Google rolls out real-time captioning starting with Pixel 4 Google announces Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL Pixel 4 and 4 XL hands-on: Google ditches fingerprint scanner for face unlock Pixel 4: Sorry, you're not actually using radar to unlock the phone with your face Pixel 4 hands-on Thumbs up for 90Hz, thumbs down for Project Soli The Pixel 4's Gestures Might Be a Gimmick But At Least They Actually Work Pixel 4's 'Face Unlock' works even if you're asleep or dead -- and that's a problem With the Pixel 4, Google's smartphones have to grow up Pixel 4's Live Caption feature coming to Pixel 3 and 3a in December Google is bringing the Pixel 4's improved Night Sight to the Pixel 3 and 3a Google is fleecing previous Pixel owners on trade-ins Google Nest Mini hands-on: Barely new in all the best ways The new true wireless Pixel Buds are always listening New Pixel Buds: The complete lowdown on Google's 'floating' wireless earbuds Google announces the Pixelbook Go in Just Black and Not Pink, starting at $649 Google announces the Pixelbook Go, a premium, MacBook-style Chrome OS laptop Google takes another stab at headphones with new, totally wireless Pixel Buds Google announces Pixelbook Go, a cheaper Pixelbook The Pixelbook Go is the back-to-basics Chromebook you've been waiting for Nest Wifi announced at Made by Google 2019 Google unveils Nest Wifi Router and Point with built-in Assistant speaker' The Nest Wifi is a boring product with some brilliant ideas Google defends its use of Wi-Fi 5 in Nest Wifi New Nest Aware can use your smart speakers and displays to listen for smoke and CO alarms Google Home app is getting a new event feed for Nest Aware subscribers The new Google Assistant will be U.S. only, English only at launch Google s Stadia cloud gaming service will launch on November 19th Google's Daydream VR experiment is over Google s AI explains how image classifiers made their decisions Better privacy and more flexibility with Nest devices Report: Home builders ditch Nest products after Google takeover How to Use Google Maps' New Detailed Walking Directions Why I WASTED my time at Google's Android TV event The next Big Tech battleground is your ears Sound Off: Thanks to these fine folks for sending in tweets about the Made By Google event. cyclops_22Has anyone tried the nest hub with any kind of screen reader? Is TAlkBack even their? @ChangelingMx: I personally felt it was the most boring keynote I've ever watched. Also, extremely disorganized. @ed_edwardson: For the last few years they really keep trying to push Chromebooks on the general populous. Yet I've not seen them take hold outside of education. Do consumers use these things? The Hub line does have screen reader support. You can always check the Google Accessibility page, or the device's specific online manuals, if you want to learn more. Last Word: A blast from the Internet's past pings into the final segment this week. A series of mysterious bleeps and bloops defined the early days of the internet Yahoo is deleting all content ever posted to Yahoo Groups Understand what's changing in Yahoo Groups If we are lucky, that was the last big hardware event for the show. If we are not so lucky, and the rumors are true, we may have one more from Apple before we can hang up the wrapup format for the year. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.

Oreos are amazing. Two solid cookies with something flavored in the middle. Think of this episode like an Oreo. This is the middle bit between two tech wrap up shows. Last week, in 194, we covered the Microsoft Surface event. And in 196 we ll cover the upcoming Google Hardware announcements. J.J. is traveling this week. Which left Joe to fly solo with this Features Format show. Just a word of warning, for those listening in on or near Google Assistant phones or devices the Google wake phrase gets used a lot this week. Information And Helpful Links Here are some resources on the technology featured in this episode. Move your music between rooms with stream transfer And Chromecast Set up & manage Routines With The Google Assistant Our previous look at the Vizio 55 P from BBQ 166 Game on: Your Xbox One now works with the Google Assistant Airplay 2 & Homekit On Vizio Tvs SEGA Genesis Mini Official Site The Sega Genesis Mini is getting its own ridiculous mini tower DF Retro: Sega Genesis Mini/ Mega Drive Mini Review: The Ultimate Nostalgia Trip

This show comes to you a little later than usual because, to J.J.'s chagrin, we wanted to cover the Microsoft Surface event. Was it worth the wait or was joe wrong in thinking there was news to talk about? Well, Joe was wrong about something as you will see in "Sound Off". but the BBQ Crew was right about the future of pet transport as can be seen in the "Last Word". Catch a train while you wonder if we can get an episode recorded before J.J.'s groceries can arrive in episode 194. In The News: Mattel's Uno Braille Hits Target Shelves, But Does It Miss The Point? Here are the results of the latest Web Aim Survey NVDA 2019.2.1 Released What's New In The JAWS September Update APH Taps Humanware For Partnership Of Code Jumper More Features, No Cost: Nearby Explorer Upgrades are Coming Discussion Topic: 2019 Microsoft Surface Event J.J. was skeptical that Joe could find something he would care about during these announcements. And then the talk of the Microsoft Duo came up. Here's a bunch of links that fueled the fires of conversation. Windows 10 1909 Coming Soon, Here Are the New Features Microsoft's 2019 Surface Event In 10 Minutes Everything Microsoft announced yesterday and when you can get it Microsoft Announces New Surface Pro X, Laptop 3, and Surface Pro 7 The Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 Revamps Are One Port Short of Ideal Microsoft Will Still Make It Hard for You to Repair Its New Repairable Surface Laptop Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro X SSDs aren't 'user removable' How does the new Surface Pro 7 compare to the Surface Go? We compare the Surface Pro 7 with the Surface Pro X Here's why Microsoft wanted a custom chip for the Surface Pro X's brains Check out our hands-on look at Microsoft's Surface Pro X Hands On: Surface Pro X Surface Earbuds: Microsoft's answer to Apple's AirPods Surface Earbuds look weird, but they feel great Hands On: Surface Ear Buds What the heck is Windows 10X? What Windows 10X Is and Why It's the Future of Microsoft Software Windows 10X OS will work with new dual-screen Surface Neo devices MICROSOFT SURFACE NEO FIRST LOOK: THE FUTURE OF WINDOWS 10X IS DUAL-SCREEN Surface Neo and Duo hands-on: Our dual-screen future Microsoft is making a high-end phone running Android Surface Duo unveiled: A folding Surface phone that runs Android No, Microsoft won't make another Windows phone Is Microsoft's Surface Neo too little too late? The Surface Neo, not Duo, is the path back to Windows Phone MICROSOFT S DUAL-SCREEN PHONE WILL LIVE OR DIE BY THE APPS Tip: Close Safari tabs on your iPhone to save memory and battery Yep, iOS 13 is buggier than a Las Vegas hotel room mattress. Yet the consistently being patched mobile operating system does have some new features worth noting. Anyone who has performed a fun festival of troubleshooting for their family and friends during the holidays might be familiar with Safari keeping tons of tabs open. Old open tabs can drain battery, use data and drag on memory the longer they stay around. Apple knows this and that is why you can set iOS to automatically close them after a period of time. Go to Settings, then down to Safari. From there look for a Close Tabs option. In this control you will find that you can set Safari to close tabs after a day, a week or a month. Don t worry, this is set to the manual option by default. However, for some relatives, you might just want to move it to a month rather than see their browsing history when trying to fix their iOS devices. Sound Off: First, Dave Van Der Molen asks a question in his email "Indoor Navigation and GPS Apps" "Hi Joe and J.J. Absolutely love your BBQ podcasts! They're informative, timely, and I love the banter!! I have two topics on which I'd love to hear a discussion: One is that I wish there was an iOS or Android app out there that had similar capabilities to the Trekker Breeze or the Victor Reader Trek (i.e., you would be able to record a route as a sighted person is guiding you and also vocally record points of interest as you're recording that route). Then you should be able to play the route back and walk it independently with your guide dog or cane. I've found an app called MyWay Classic that's supposed to be able to do those things, but the manual is badly written and the app is poorly organized. Having said all of the above, however, I'm wondering why blind and visually impaired people can't access the same navigation/location apps as land surveyors who get get location accuracy to within inches. My second issue I'd love to hear discussion on is whether it's reasonably easy and affordable for individuals to set up indoor navigation systems in small buildings that they frequent, and I'm thinking that the person setting it up would be the only one using it. For example, I'd love to be able to put up stickers or something, so that I could more easily be able to navigate my church or the office building in which I work. To do the navigating, I'd want to be able to use my phone. Thanks so much for the podcast and all the work you do in testing various apps and devices that may or may not be blind-friendly! Dave Sadly, to the second question, we don't have any recommendations due to the way that indoor beacons work at the time of this recording. Shan Noyes writes in with the subject line: "Adaptive technology history & podcast 173 corrections!!!" "Hi Blind Bargains team! First of all I would like to say that I listen to your podcast all the time. Although I do get behind sometimes or skip some podcasts and listen to them later and have to do a binge listening to catch up. I really enjoy the interviews that the podcast covers there is lot of good information. However, during my latest binge listen to catch up on missed podcast I heard some incorrect information that was given. The podcast in question from podcast 173 Alien probing cane, . It appears in the podcast in the section where JJ is talking about the single braille cell device that is kind of mouse size its called braibook. This section takes place just after the 48 minute point of the podcast. Joe makes the comment The first braille displays were one cell. Of course that was back in the 80s. and I was using an optacon There are two problems with this statement. First of all The Optacon did not display what the camera picked up in braille. Yes the display that the optacon user had their finger on was a tactile representation of what the camera was picking up, but it was not braille. It was raised print. A cool device and was a challenge to learn how to use. Actually I received an Optacon in the mid 70s and took 2 weeks of 40 hours of training per week to learn how to use it. It was useful because this was in the days before scanners and optical recognition systems existed for the general public. And Yes I was enough of a crazy kid to actually read a couple of novels with it. Got pretty fast with it as well. However, the Optacon joined the world of that famous bird the dodo in 1996 because scanners and reading machines came along and the Optacon just wasn t fast enough for reading. The second problem in this statement was concerns the first braille displays were single cells. Actually again the company who brought the Optacon to market also brought us a refreshable braille device in the late 70s called the Versabraille, and it had a 20 cell display. When the Versabraille first came out it was a stand a lone unit that one could print from. The next generation of the unit had the ability to act as a terminal and so could be interfaced with Apple 2 e computers and mainframes. I had one of these as well in the early 80s and did a lot of main frame work with it. Anyways, just wanted to set the record straight because people who are not familiar wit the history of adaptive equipment would be mislead by Joe s statement. For an interesting read do a google on the optacon and versabraille. The write up on the Optacon and its early days and how it was developed is very interesting. Yes, the history of adaptive technology is a very very interesting one. I was not only fortunate enough to be using some of the early days stuff, but also was heavily involved as an adaptive technology adviser for the CNIB from 1986 through 1992. To day there are some pretty good systems like NVDA or Jaws, but in the early 80s we had a lot more variation of choice available to us. My first personal speech program for the IBM xt personal computer was Freedom1. A speech program that was very very customizable. Another cool speech program that the developer of Freedom1 wrote was called ISOS . Sure there were speech programs like Vertplus and SoftVert, but ISOS was the first speech program that I had seen that one could set up monitoring windows and when something changed in that windows have the computer trigger something else to happen. IBM also was in the game starting out with a speech program called PCSAID. Which evolved into Screen Reader. An extremely powerful speech package. I still lament the death of IBM Warp and the IBM Screen Reader program. Again one could have it monitor areas of the screen and based upon what it saw perform different computer tasks. Oh well, I m getting off topic. Just wanted to clarify the 2 items in the podcast 173. Guess my only point really is before making such historical statements research them. Because as podcasters Your word gets taken a the undisputed truth. For a description of the Optacon check out" this link "another interesting link is" this one Have a good day. Shan Noyes Last Word: We ponder the future of food and transport this week. REVIEW: Mystery Oreo (2019) Solve the Mystery Flavor for a chance to win $50,000 We podcasted the future... here's our 2016 April Fool's show promoting the fictitious UberWoof And now this; Uber for dogs startup aims to make pet travel easier 195 will probably see a return to the Features format. And ep 196 will contain our coverage of the Google event that is set for October 15th.

We were not sure we would have enough news to talk about this week. Then, thankfully, Amazon decided to announce a metric ton of stuff. This fits in perfectly with our topflight interview with the man himself at Top Dot, Dean Martineau. And we end the show with an all comment section filled "Sound Off", a new tip for Chrome along with food and an auditory odd link in the "Last Word". In The News: A New Feature makes the Amazon Echo Show More Useful for Blind Users All of the headlines from Amazon s big hardware-focused event Related to the talk about voice assistants, Celebrities Will Say Almost Anything on Cameo For The Right Price KeySoft Version 3 for the BrailleNote Touch Plus brings more powerful tools to your fingers First Public Beta of JAWS 2020 Posted with Improved OCR, Form Control Handling, More FSCast 174 Eric Damery previews the first JAWS 2020 public beta, Mozilla to release a new Firefox version every four weeks starting next year Apple to Release iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1 on 24 September; Bringing Many Bug Fixes and Some New Seeing AI adds dark mode, Siri Shorcuts and more Interview: Dean Martineau, Trainer and Author, Dean Martineau, , has been providing the Blind and Low Vision Community with helpful information for more than 700 issues of the "Top Tech Tidd Bits" newsletter. He sits down with J.J. to discuss his new book entitled "windows Keyboard Power User Guide". Hear why Dean feels that these materials are important for refreshing, or maintaining, your skill levels. And don't be frightened by the titles mentioned during the look back at Dean's previous guides, historical documents?, he has produced over the decades. You can find more about Dean, and his training options, at the Top Dot Enterprises website. And you can purchase a copy of the book in the various formats mentioned during this interview. Tip: Open Things Faster In Chrome Chrome is a powerful browser. And it even gets better if you utilize other Google tools and services. J.J. tells us that you can open a new Google Doc by simply typing "docs.new" into the address bar. The same goes for Sheets, Slides and other G Suite services. Joe also passed along this tip about how to force Google Chrome into Dark Mode Sound Off: This week we feature three entries from our comment sections from an article about Talkback, a thought from episode 189 and a viewpoint about episode 188. Airshock has this to say about Talkback and the ability to start it easier on Android devices. While this is a step forward, it's also sad that a simple feature like enabling or disabling your screen reader using voice control is just now coming to Android devices when iOS devices have had this feature for many years, and even macOS has had the same feature ever since Siri was introduced to the operating system sin 2016. Greg Epley had this to say about our conversations on episode 189. I was so disgruntled to hear J.J.'s difficulties signing up for CBS All Access. I myself started with them back in May 2016. I was most likely using IE as my browser of choice then, or perhaps Firefox; anyway, one of those. I am not always the most patient person in the world when it comes to poorly designed web forms since I once created websites. As recently as a few days ago, I went in and changed my payment method and password, and the only problem I ran into was forgetting that not all special symbols are available on TvOS remote keyboard. But I got it straightened out. I am hoping CBS gets this audio description thing worked out in time for Star Trek: Piccard in 2020, but I'm not holding my breath. I didn't really care for Discovery, or Enterprise, for that matter, but I also don't like absolutely everything Star Trek. Orko returns to our feedback section with this comment regarding episode 188. Hi Joe! I was very interested to hear that Ricki (I hope I spelled that correctly) got a Color Star color identifier because I had bought one several months ago. I agree that it is a bit over priced at $450, I also agree with Ricki in that I do not regret the purchase. It quickly became my favorite color identifier, so much so that I sold off all of the other color identifiers I had collected over the years. I will be looking forward to hearing what she has to say about it. Last Word: Things that can go in your ears, things that will make you cover up your ears and something you can put behind your ears. Okay, maybe not that last one. Worst... Cover... Ever! New Device Could Let People Unlock Smartphones With Their Ears Candy Corn Pizza: The Halloween Treat You Never Asked For (Bonus: The first 15 seconds of this track was the stuff of nightmares each time you entered the elevator at the summer NFB convention in Las Vegas This week Amazon brought the fire, and a whole lot of other products, to the news section. Next week, in BBQ 194, we'll see if Microsoft can do the same.

Some things just fit into place when it comes to podcasting. Kind of like how you can easily snap together a pile of Legos into a nifty completed construction project. This week J.J. learns more about how to do just that with new accessible tools that will make him a Master Builder in no time with Matthew Shifrin , a consultant from Lego. There is also a ton of news, a few long time listeners in "Sound Off" and the "Last Word" is for the dogs. Look through your blocks for that elusive small blue two studded piece, it was just in our hands a minute ago we swear, while consuming BBQ 192. In The News: The Accessibility Bugs Introduced and Resolved in iOS 13 for Blind and Low Vision Users What's New in iOS 13: Part 1, Changes for VoiceOver Users What's New in iOS 13: Part 2, General Features WayAround 3.0 launches soon CSUNATC20 Opens Its Call For General Session Papers Latest Braille Blaster includes Graphics Support, LaTeX Math Features Tech It Out For September Features Smart Kitchen Gadgets Access World for September is now online Blind Abilities interviews the team behind Audio Wizards The Games Accessibility Conference2019 videos are now up on YouTube Interview: Lego Consultant Matthew Shifrin Before the days of 3d printing, if you wanted to know what a famous landmark felt like, you would have to turn to a crate of Legos in order to learn the details about how a particular object might look. That could be a really daunting task if you didn't have guidance or a great set of instructions on how to go about the act of building your architectural wonder. Matthew Shifrin, Consultant with Lego, tells J.J. about his enjoyment of building things out of blocks with his family and how that grew into his desire to share that process with others. Listen as Mathew explains how a family friend provided him with a large box with hand-embossed Braille instructions on how to create a castle. And how that experience aided him in showing the team at Lego how they could improve the ability for future Master Builders out there to construct their own creations. Visit the official Lego site for the accessible instruction to learn more. Also, venture over to Matthew's Legos For The Blind website to learn more about his Lego sets Matthew is involved with other aspirational projects including Project Daredevil which seeks to provide immersive experiences using the body in ways that have not been realized before. Tip: Turn Off Automatic Updates Apple releasing iOS13, and the soon to be released on September 24th dot 1 update, might not be worth the effort as both releases have some hefty bugs. Sure, you can roll back to iOS 12, but remember Apple locks out the ability to do so not too long from the release of a new version of iOS. Sometimes it is just better to let others work out the problems while you wait for a verified stable version to come down from Apple Park. Head to Settings, General and then Software Update. From there look for the option to turn off automatic updates. Now repeat these same steps when you are ready to get your desired upgrade. Also, you may want to do the same in the App Store. Joe told the story about having Instacart broken for 72 hours while the company worked to fix the Voiceover compatibility they broke in one of their recent changes to the app. If your iDevice is your primary way of interacting with the world... you should do this to ensure that you don't lose your access to critical apps and settings. Sound Off: Our first email is from Rebecca Skipper. "I loved the last three episodes, but I have a lot to say. I had a very hard time using CBS All Access on IOS or TVOS due to unlabeled buttons. I was able to sign in and watch Star Trek Discovery using Firefox and Amazon Prime. You can watch CBS All Access content through Amazon Prime. I am really annoyed at the fact that we can t get audio description right now for CBS All Access! I put up with this because I am a Star Trek fan, but I want every series and movie described! The issue with Dominos really disappoints me, and I do not understand why companies can t treat customers and potential employees as individuals who are fully capable of working for them or buying their products. I ve read lots of articles recently suggesting that a company s branding and bottom line improves when they are dedicated to diversity and inclusion. We should keep in mind that there are more people with invisible disabilities so we shouldn t just focus on the obvious physical disabilities. I m glad we have devices left with the home button and fingerprint censor, but I am disappointed with the McDonaldization of the cell phone market. It seems to me that Apple is telling us what we will get rather than giving us choices! I m sticking to my SE for as long as I can an have an iPhone 7 as a backup. I still like Apple because of Voiceover, and I even have an iPod Touch because of the headphone jack. This doesn t mean that I will go out there and buy a phone I don t want. In my view, Microsoft does a much better job in promoting consumer choice. I think the visually impaired community has a responsibility to support disability friendly businesses and products when possible. This is why I will stick with Microsoft and Apple even with my disappointment over no refresh on the iPhone SE. Rebecca Skipper" Juan had a little convention feedback and information on Ride Hailing outside the U.S.. "Hello Blind Bargains, Once again thanks for an amazing podcast. I really enjoyed the convention wrap up show. I enjoyed hearing about how things happened at the conventions, like how you needed to press a button to make the elevator's talk, or how you had to go to an underground parking garage to get Uber. When I went to Mexico, Uber is an option, but you cannot get it right outside of airports or some hotels, as these places have their own taxi services, and if you do want to get Uber, you must go across the street. Also, here in California, we have the chirps And coocoos, which are sometimes confusing to understand street light direction, and we also have streets with other sounds. In Woodland, my home town we have to press the button for more than five seconds to invoke the sound guidance, which can maybe burn or freeze your hand. I think the street sounds should be more understandable to everyone, and say which street you are crossing out loud. I wanted to ask you, when downloading NVDA will it come with all the add ons from past versions, like dictation bridge or do you have to remember to download these separately? Also, , can someone script NVDA to work with proprietary apps in a job setting? I also wanted to mention about the last word, that when I go buy a burger to go, I like reaching to the bottom of the bag and finding extra french fries. Also, in Old Sacramento; a tourist section of Sacramento, they used to have a tradition in one of the popcorn shops where they will give you a crumb bag. They would make bags out of the bottom of the popcorn pile, and sell it to people for $.75. I am not sure if they still do this. Keep up the good work! Thank you, Sincerely, Juan Manuel Avila" Keep the NVDA Blog bookmarked to learn more about the changes on the way in the upcoming 2019.3 update. Next, Stan Littrell dares to mention the spice that has no name for J.J.. "a couple comments on your latest bbq Since Envision AI was selling at a 75 percent discount over the regular lifetime buyout price I decided to make a purchase. I would never even get a subscription before this. I feel that this app represents just one more tool to put in the tool box. I still use Seeing AI for certain tasks. I think that Envision AI is a great up and comer to have in the tool kit. I still enjoy using the Galaxy IDMate for barcode scanning because it is easier to line up and find the barcodes. Since I already have the ID Mate it doesn't make sense not to use it. I use these other apps for testing purposes. I like the fact that we have options that we can use. We are now in everything pumpkin pie spice mode. I love pumpkin pie but I don't think that I will ever understand pumpkin pie spice flavored spam. That sounds so nasty." Last Word: Something witty usually occupies this space to warn you about the impending links below. Except, well, we got nothin' for this week's oddness. Yours Apefully: The Planet of the Apes Live Arena Show, 1976 Poop with us Hopefully some news will transpire before we record episode 193. We at least have an interview lined up and ready to go. Have a great week everyone!

Everyone knows the drill by now. Apple does a big event in September, new iPhones are announced, and tech podcasters gather together to talk about what the company did or didn't do with their new shiny iThings. Do three little letters mean a better iPhone? Is it time to upgrade or buy an Apple Watch? The Shelly Brisbin joins the BBQ Crew who goes over the event in their own way that you have come to expect some five years running. Discussion Topic: Apple's September iPhone Event J.J. takes the lead, with Shelly and Joe alongside, to cover the news from Apple Park. Some of what they spoke about in this episode is listed below. However, per our usual when it comes to wrap up shows, you can learn far more from articles and links compiled after the event has concluded. Editorial Summary of Apple's "by Innovation Only" Event on September 10 11 things you may have missed at Apple's iPhone 11 event iPhone 11: First look at Apple's entry-level iPhone iPhone 11 Pro: Hands on with Apple's new flagship iPhone 11 Pro first hands on impressions Apple s new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro cameras: what they do iPhone 11 vs. iPhone XR iPhone Naming Conventions Are a Mess With the iPhone 11 Pro, what does it even mean for a phone to be pro ? Apple launches new 10.2-inch 7th generation iPad with Smart Connector Apple iPad 2019 hands-on: A 6th-generation iPad in a 2019 iPad Air s body Apple Watch Series 5: Always-On Display, Built-in Compass, More Finishes, Available for Preorder Now Apple Watch Series 5 Brings Software Upgrades, Not Much Else Apple Watch Series 5 Starts With 32GB of Storage Apple continues health push with three new medical studies AppleCare+ Plans Lasting Service Life of Product Arrive Quietly Apple just turned its extended warranty for the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch into a monthly service Apple TV+: Launches Nov. 1 for $4.99/month You'll only get Apple TV+ free once, no matter how many devices you buy Apple TV Plus is trying to be HBO, not Netflix Apple Arcade price, games, and release date announced at Apple event Apple Arcade: Narrowing or widening the gap? Everything Apple killed after the iPhone 11 event Review: Apple Card is more of an experience than a reward generator Apple s new iPhone finally sacrifices thinness for battery life Apple is playing catch-up with the iPhone 11 camera The Most Important iPhone 11 Upgrades Are the Ones We Didn't Get What Is Apple s TV Plus Strategy? Apple is bringing back crazy colors after years of minimalism. Here s why Why Apple s HomePod Is Failing Everything new with VoiceOver in iOS 13 DB1 Need balance to the force? Shelly and J.J. also went over the new access that came with the recently released Android 10 on the Parallel podcast.

We're gearing up for the big Apple event on September 10th which undoubtedly will contain lots of hardware, software and TV announcements. The need for greater focus on all things Apple park has placed the BBQ Crew into "Research Mode" as a result of this impending Innovation presentation. It also means it provides us a great opportunity to trot out the "Features" format for this episode. Join us as J.J. deep dives into Voice View, David Ward returns with a look at the Guard Mode for Echo and Joe missed the memo about Amazon things but shows off his spiffy new USB C dock. Fire, Echoes and a cube await you on BBQ 190. Voice View For Fire OS J.J. takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Voice View basics with a nod to the pros and cons of using the Amazon screen reader within the Fire's native as well as third-party apps. Additionally, we get a look at his Netflix and Prime Video playlists. To learn more about Voice View, including the compatible devices it works with, visit the Amazon Accessibility page Amazon Echo Guard Mode David Ward, from the Echo Tips podcast, is back to inform us about how the Echo's new Guard Mode can work for protecting your home. There are a few ways to access the information it records. So be sure to note the steps he takes in the Alexa app during this demo. Plugable Cube USB C Dock Joe, Ricky and Lisa have all raved about their Surface Go devices during the summer. But one of the downsides to the small Windows hybrid is the fact that it has only one USB C port. The pluggable Cube is a dock that contains an Ethernet port, HDMI and three USB slots in a very small box. The tiny size means it can fit in many a tech bag. And it can even charge the Surface Go in a pinch or if you forgot the proprietary adaptor. Joe notes that it is a perfect companion to the plugable Keyboard that we have available at A.T. Guys Shelly hops on board to discuss Apple stuff for 191. If the leaks and rumors are true, we think they will be releasing a new watch and a phone... or three phones. Tune in to hear the BBQ Crew break it all down in what annually ends up being one of our top five most listened to episodes of the year.

The BBQ Crew returns with news, an interview and that gut-wrenching "Last Word" just like the good 'ol' days of yore. In other words, we've run out of summer convention coverage and now it is back to work. Tune in to hear Greg Stilson speak about the free AIRA plan and we think this week's tip will help you live your life online to the max. Fire up the grill and BBQ with BBQ 189. In The News: NVDA 2019.2 is now available Two August JAWS Updates Fix Slack, Skype, Windows 10 Start Menu Bugs Cracking down on crackers CBS All Access offering some shows with audio description Google Pixel Users can Now Toggle TalkBack by Voice Google Docs 'live edits' feature helps the visually impaired The internet's accessibility reckoning It's Back: WebAIM's Screen Reader Survey Number 8 Can Help Shape Industry Best Practices Oops, this would have been our "Survey of the Week" but it is now closed, Boston Museum of Science is looking for opinions about accessible services Lego Providing Accessible Instructions for Some of its Sets Interview: Greg from AIRA Greg Stilson, Director of Product Development, is no stranger to our microphones. And he has told us about various free AIRA free promotions before. Except, here's the thing, he has not come on the show to discuss how AIRA is now free for everyone. No kidding. Joe gets the scoop from Greg about the new 5 free minute calls news announced by AIRA in August. Listen in as the pair cover some common questions regarding limitations, frequency of calls and how easy it is to use these new free minutes. Tip: Maximize your life and your Windows It might seem like a silly thing to say, but maximizing your active windows is just as important to troubleshooting as the classic "have you tried turning it off and on again?". You can make sure that browser, and other windows, open in their screen-filling goodness by doing these steps. Find the icon, or file location, where the desired program resides. Hit the Alt key and Enter at the same time, or right click with the mouse, to get to the Properties box. Once there, find a combo box labeled "Run". Make sure that it says Maximized instead or Normal or Minimized. Then click OK to save any changes. Also, remember to go back and check the status of these changes after Windows, or that particular program, updates as the program may shift back to the previous mode after the update. Sound Off: Here are a couple of tweets that caught our ears when prepping for this episode. RT @JesseTregarthen @blindbargains Thanks J.J. You also convinced me to buy tiles. Pro tip, don't put one in your wallet and then put your wallet in your back pocket. You'd be amazed how easy it is to accidentally double push that button and ring your phone. RT @reevesman @blindbargains Do you have the interviews for the 2020 conventions up yet? Patiently waiting. Last Word: The summer may be over; however, the Last Word remains constant with its offering s year round. The audience is listening... in 3d audio Planters Cheez Balls Is Giving Away Shakers Full of That Orange Dust And from Hai, Behold: The Blooper Burger. Your Arteries Will Clog Just Thinking About It We aren't sure what is in store for episode 190. 191, well that looks like it will cover the recently announced Apple event on September 10th. Because, as everyone knows, the trees turn a lovely shade of rose gold each fall around early September.

You could probably tell that we have been enjoying our summer break a little too well with this being a convention wrap up show in August instead of July. You may even detect a little podcast rust coming off J.J., Joe and Lisa Salinger during this recording. And you might even think that you have heard all we had to say about the NFB and ACB conventions from the coverage we have already uploaded. Yet, believe it or not, this isn't a typical rundown of our earlier interview s kind of episode. Tune in to hear stories and information not covered from the exhibit hall floors in this "better late than never" convention wrap up show. Sponsor: American Printing House For The Blind APH designs innovative learning solutions for people who are blind or visually impaired. They believe in the power of breaking down barriers and creating a future that belongs to everyone. Visit APH on the web to learn more about their products and services. Discussion Topic: Summer Convention Wrapup 2019 Both shows may have been impacted by the summer heat, however, there were a few trickles of news raining in from above. Here are just some of the things that caught our attention in, and out, of the Exhibit Halls. #Sponsored Blind Bargains Convention Coverage: AIRA with Big Deals, Big Presence at #NFB19 and #ACB19 #Sponsored Convention Audio: APH Creates A Fun Pathway To STEM With Code Jumper #NFB19 Audio: Seeing The World Wirelessly With OrCam #NFB19 Audio: What To Expect When You re Expecting News From Be My Eyes Seize the Day Innovations Braille Wear Custom Embroidery #NFB19 Audio: Fantastic Feeling Fashion With Two Blind Brothers Danielle by Ray Kurzweil Islam By Touch RTB Safe Traffic WayAround #ACB19 Audio: The Magic Is In Learning With Mystic Access JW.org Bibles For The Blind Braille Design #NFB19 Audio: Updates, Changes And Consumer Choice At HIMS VP EMBraille Bristol Braille Canute 360 Kyoui Toothbrush #ACB19 Audio: Grace Your Dinner Table With Hand Painted Glassware From Loving Touch Connections #NFB19 Audio: Charm Those Around You With Elegant Insights Jewelry If you haven't gotten your fill of the Summer shows yet, might we suggest you check out the coverage from iAccessibility and Blind Abilities for more convention news and information

Each spring, all the accessibility tech nerds go to the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in Southern California. At the end, a bunch of us do a wrap-up podcast for Blind Bargains, which covers the show from soup to nuts, Braille to navigation. I'm bringing you that show in hopes that it gives you some insight into how what's happening in accessible tech matches up with the wider world.

Each spring, all the accessibility tech nerds go to the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in Southern California. At the end, a bunch of us do a wrap-up podcast for Blind Bargains, which covers the show from soup to nuts, Braille to navigation. I'm bringing you that show in hopes that it gives you some insight into how what's happening in accessible tech matches up with the wider world.

Each spring, all the accessibility tech nerds go to the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in Southern California. At the end, a bunch of us do a wrap-up podcast for Blind Bargains, which covers the show from soup to nuts, Braille to navigation. I'm bringing you that show in hopes that it gives you some insight into how what's happening in accessible tech matches up with the wider world.

Two Interesting Workshops Coming Up In The Tech Hub At Parramatta   This week it is iOS Verses Android, and the following week its Windows Verses Mac - which one should you choose.   I will be hopefully recording these and posting them on the VACast podcast feed at: https://vacast.podbean.com/feed   Product Highlight From the Vision Store   Talking Blood Pressure Monitor.   Sometimes it is just as easy to use a talking device than going via your smart phone.  This talking blood pressure monitor works extremely well and is easy to use.   https://shop.visionaustralia.org/shop/product/talking-blood-pressure-monitor   cSUN Conference 2019 March 11 to 15 2019   As with the ATIA conference, I'm sure we'll see interviews again from Blind Bargains.   http://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/2019/sessions/index.php/     Just Trying Out Chirp Twiter app On My Apple Watch Which Now Supports FlickType   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chirp-for-twitter/id1397430041?mt=8   Just A Tip Warning If You Update To The Latest version of the Samsung Smart Things App   You'll have  to delete and re-install if you are a VoiceOver user as the new app comes up with an interface that is initially not accessible with VoiceOver.  Deleting and re-installing (plus logging in) fix's at least this issue.   Using.An iPhone X R For A Few Weeks   Just some thoughts so far about using the iPhone X R with the iPhone X style VoiceOver gestures and Face ID.   The Blind Friendly Tag To The Google Play Games App   Within the Play Games app, this will make it easier to find accessible games.   https://www.google.com/accessibility/blog/post/accessible-play-games/   100 Apps That Work With Siri Short-Cuts   Haven't tried these out, but it should give you some ideas.   https://www.imore.com/apps-work-siri-shortcuts?utm_source=im_tw&utm_medium=tw_card&utm_content=48272&utm_campaign=social   The Sensibo iOS App Gets Siri Shortcuts   This is the app to turn your AC on or Off and a few other things, but at least with these Siri Shortcuts you can turn the AC on or off.   Best Apple Watch Bands For Extra Large Wrists From iMore   https://t.co/2Q84kliZJH   Great Website Which Lists HomeKit Compatible Devices   Only issue with this website, you can't tell what is actually available in Australia.   https://www.apple.com/ios/home/accessories/

Apple Apologises for its Eavesdropping FaceTime Group calling Bug   In short, its fixed and an update version of iOS 12 coming out to fix the issue.   FaceTime calling group server down until fix, but FaceTime to FaceTime direct  calling not affected.   https://www.cultofmac.com/604180/apple-apologizes-for-its-eavesdropping-facetime-flaw/?utm_campaign=news&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter   From Macworld - 5 Things We Learned from the Apple Financial Report for the Last Quarter   Ok iPhone numbers we down, but given what is happening in the rest of the world it isn't to surprising.     https://www.macworld.com/article/3336140/apple/5-things-we-learned-from-apples-latest-quarterly-results.html   New Sessions At Apple Stores - Today At Apple   Via the Apple Store app it is easy to book in to these many free sessions across Apple Retail Stores and learn about the various things you can do with your Apple products.  I'm particularly excited about sessions on the Health app and getting the most out of the Apple Watch for fitness.   https://www.apple.com/au/today/?afid=p238%7Csu9u6uTvB-dc_mtid_18707vxu38484_pcrid_273646997652_&cid=aos-au-kwgo---slid--product-   Microsoft Office Now Available on the Mac App Store   At last, you can get Microsoft Office from the Mac App Store.  Makes it much easier to access Word, Outlook etc.   https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/24/18196087/microsoft-office-apple-mac-app-store-download   Yes It Is Now Here - Commonwealth Bank of Australia Has Apple Pay     Finally, another of the major banks in Australia is now supporting Apple Pay which is great for blind or low vision folks particularly with an iPhone or Apple Watch.   https://www.commbank.com.au/digital-banking/mobile-payments-wearables/apple-pay.html   Apple's New Accessible Coding Resources for Swift Playgrounds   Whilst this is currently available in the UK and US, hopefully we will see the same material provided in Australia, watch this space.   http://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/posts/apples-new-accessible-coding-resources-swift-playgrounds   The Just Completed ATIA 2019 conference   It's been hard to track down much information on this years conference, but Blind Bargains has apparently a number of interviews coming out over the next few weeks.  Visit Blind barons website or download their app.   http://www.blindbargains.com   High Tech Batons Allow Blind Musicians to Follow the Conducter   This is what technology is all about for me, breaking down barriers, musicians who are blind can now play in an orchestra.   As I said on the program, I'm not sure if this product is available commercially yet.   https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/15/hi-tech-batons-allow-blind-musicians-follow-conductor-first/

That Blind Tech Show Rolls Again. Bryan brings Allison and Jeff back to the sho to talk about some of the latest Tech news, gidgets and gadgets and the latest from Sonos. We are proud to announce that Twitterrific for the Mac is Back, Downcast just got an update and AOL Messenger is no longer. Jeff gives us an update on the fire that hit Enchanted Hills Camp above Napa, CA and how we can all contribute and support #RebuildEHC. Be sure to check the links below to learn more about what the heck we were talking about. :) Check out the Twitterrific Blog and Subscribe to keep up with the latest from iConFactory Google Bought Apple or Did they! Twitterrfic for Mac is here How to get apps back in iTunes 10 Safari Long Press Shortcut Gestures. Do you remember to ever long press? Read more about Enchanted hills Camp #RebuildEHCand contribute what you can and lend your support. Give by phone: Call Jennifer Sachs at 415-694-7333   See Transcription below.   Thank you for listening. Send us Feedback via email Follow us on Twitter @BlindTechShow   That Blind Tech Show is produced in part by Blind Abilities Network.   You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Transcription: That Blind Tech Show: Twifferrific on the Mac and Downcast is Back andSonos Gets 1 Bigger. (Transcription provided) [Music] Alison: Sonos One's which are the newest iteration of the play one, are the ones that have Lady A built-in. [Music] Alison: I did put the Eyes Free Fitness app on my phone and I'm hoping that you know buying some of the workouts for that, I will literally have no excuse not to, not to do it because my phone is always with me no matter where I go. Bryan: Somebody in New Zealand had something about unboxing one very early before the rest of the world which..... Alison: Oh yes Jonathan was very very happy that you know when he get, when these items come out he gets them a day ahead everyone else because New Zealand is a day ahead. Bryan: He should let people know that. [Laughter] Alison: He really doesn't gloat about that enough, but yeah. Jeff: So Alison you use your phone on a daily basis. [Laughter] Alison: The face ID, I'm still, I find myself still kind of getting used to this new thing called face ID. Jeff: I want to see the Grinch again this year. Bryan: So you want me to come visit? [Laughter] Big smiles okay, three, two one, welcome back to yet another episode of that blind tech show. I know it's been a very long time since we've been here in fact you've probably heard a lot of us on other great technology podcasts. I know our friend Allison Hartley recorded one of her regular tech doctor podcasts as well as she was on with the great people over at main menu. And you may have heard Jeff Thompson on with AT Banter and I believe he's got another podcast coming out with the good folks over at Mystic Access and you may have heard me on Blind Bargains but we finally got the band back together again and we're here to talk you through some of the holidays and the goings on now, so I'm going to go ahead and say yeah how you doing over there Allison. Alison: I'm doing okay, it's the day three of a four-day weekend so I'm just kind of milking the the time off work for all it's worth, I've been reading good books that I'll talk about later and eating lots of food, lots of pie, so much pie. Bryan: There's never such a thing as too much pie. Alison: No never. Bryan: What about you Jeff, how has your Thanksgiving holiday been? Jeff: Well pie is a continuum. Alison: Yep. Jeff: It's been great here, I've been bacheloring it, the family's been gone, and I'm living it here with the dogs, happy Thanksgiving, it's Thanksgiving everyday now. Bryan: I'm actually down in Florida still recording you see, we're all about bringing you the show. Holidays don't stop us. One thing I was very excited though on the plane ride down here, I was very excited some of you might have heard about therapy pigs getting kicked off planes. [Pig noises] I'm happy to report there was no therapy pig on my plane down here, just get old Nash in me. How about you Allison, have you ever been on a plane with a therapy Pig? Alison: I have never been on the plane with anything more exciting than another guide dog, I have to say. Bryan: What about you Jeff have you ever traveled with any pigs? Jeff: No but it, it would wouldn't be that bad if it was therapy bacon. Alison: Oh yeah. Bryan: That is true, that is true and for those of you not hear about that story it's actually not the first time a therapy pig has gotten kicked off a plane so, go ahead and check that out, it was one of the more humorous stories and, you know, it's great that they stand up for our rights as guide dog service dog users, but seriously, therapy pigs. [Pig noises] Now Allison, I think you're probably the only disappointed one because I'm hearing the Soup Nazi said no soup for you, no home pod for you this year? Alison: Yeah I mean I have really no reason to be disappointed. I have speakers coming out of my ears. [Spring noise and laughter] Alison: Quite literally right now cuz I'm wearing headphones but, I am, I am still interested in getting the home pod when it comes out, home pods I should say, cuz I want to get a stereo pair. I have my Lady A controlled Sonos speakers now, and I'm finding that that is honestly filling a lot of my needs in terms of playing satellite radio and playing any song that I could possibly think of. I do still want to get the home pods because I hear that the sound quality is gonna be even that much better than the Sonos speakers, but I'm not, I'm not tearing my hair out, if these new Sonos hadn't come out I might have been a bit more disappointed, but I'm okay. Jeff: Now you said they're gonna be better sounding than the Sonos? Alison: They are, they're going to have more tweeters and better far-field microphones for understanding you, the only limitation in my opinion it's gonna be Siri, I know this is a controversial subject on an Apple themed podcast but, Siri is terrible. Bryan: You will get no argument out of me, Siri and I, we're not even dating anymore, the relationship is over and.... Unfortunately this is not surprising news, Apple you know when they used to meet their deadlines, we talked about it this summer, it was a little odd that Apple was talking about this, it almost reminds me of you know back 10 years ago when they used to say there's an attack coming, it's not coming today, it's not coming tomorrow, but it's coming, and I kind of feel that's the same thing with (inaudible) Alison: Yeah. Bryan: Apple pod, they're not gonna be out today, they're not gonna be out tomorrow, but they will be out, probably around the same time that the Amazon app comes to the Apple TV. Alison: I would, I would say you're probably right there, and I would say that when they do come out they're gonna be a couple of years behind all of the other smart speakers with better AI. It's really, it's kind of gonna be sad almost. I really I want to see Apple push forward in this arena, but unfortunately you know, I, I've played now with Google assistant, I've had a Lady A in my life, I have been playing even with Bixby on a, on a Samsung phone, and yes you give something up in terms of your data, and in terms of your privacy, but when you're putting security above all, the AI, and the assistance itself becomes very limited in what it can do, and it's really starting to show in Siri when there are so many more worthy competitors. Bryan: Yeah, the Apple really missed the boat on the the home assistant and you know, Tim Cook was wishy-washy on it for several years and now it's just gonna be a speaker, I really have no interest, I mean I'm very happy with my Echo devices, heck, I got a small apartment you know, I've got one in the living room. They're $30.00 now over you know, the weekend... Alison: God Yeah. Bryan: I just don't have, I'm like, well do I really need another one, and I'm like, I've got one in the living room, one in the bedroom, and I don't spend much time in the kitchen so you know it's, there's no point really in getting another one but I, you just can't say no at that price and, how was the Google assistant, did you like it? Alison: I do, I actually I have a Google home speaker that I don't have plugged in at this point but on the Galaxy I mean it's just, you can just ask random questions and instead of saying, let me check the web for that, here's what I found, it actually just gives you the answer to your flipping question. Bryan: Yeah. Alison: It's really amazing and then you can ask like follow-up questions and it jives with what you were talking about and it answers intelligently. I just, you know maybe the home pod speakers will come out and something about Siri will blow us out of the water or something out of the speakers, about the speakers will blow everything else out of the water because they've had a little bit more time, but I'm starting to get a little impatient with Apple's obsession with, I know they want to get it right, and I know they want to have a really polished user experience, but that user experience is starting to suffer because of that need to be so meticulous, and so perfect. Jeff: Well I think they've actually, having it come out next year might be a good plan for their stocks in a way because people are buying the eight, or the ten, those are big items, and you're talking about $349.00 here. It's hard to comBryan when everybody else is you know flooding the market with these $29.00 minis, and dots, and Amazon, what do they have seven different items now in this department? The Look, the Show, the Tap. Alison: Now Google has three, I mean, it's a lot. Bryan: And, I'm hearing about headphones, Bose, I think there is a set of Bose headphones which you know, I couldn't afford those, but that have the Google Home built into them so we're starting to see more and more even headphones with these kind of assistants built into them and, I think Apple, you know, they've just been left behind and, not every company needs a home assistant so, I really don't see what the marketplace unless you are a big music listener, you know, or have capitol to spend, I really don't see the point to it, I guess I don't have a fine ear for music because I think the Echo speaker sounds fantastic and everybody I know that's into music says, "Are you kidding?" Alison: Oh no, oh God, no no no no no. Especially the Dot. The Dot is barely passable for spoken word, but even the big Echo, drives me crazy because it tries to simulate fake stereo, but it doesn't quite get it right on the one speaker so, it's, it drives me nuts. Bryan: What's the opposite of perfect pitch? Because that's what I have. [Laughter] Jeff: Either you have it, or you don't. Alison: Yeah. [Laughter] Jeff: So with the Sonos, you have two of them, that's the Sonos one you have two of them. Alison: Yep. Jeff: That does perfect stereo? Alison: It does, yeah I have them equal distant from each other on a table, and the stereo separation is amazing, it's really beautiful. Jeff: Oh that's great. Bryan: Are there multiple different kinds of Sonos? I've just heard phenomenal things about Sonos speakers, or is there one product line or are there different kind of product lines for the Sonos speakers. Alison: There are in the non smart, non Lady A connected Sonos products, there are three, well four technically different tiers of Sonos products, and it all depends on the number of tweeters that are in each speaker, and with all of them you can pair to get a stereo pair with the Play Ones, Play Threes, and Play Fives, but they become very expensive, and they have a sound bar, and they have a subwoofer for the television, but you couldn't pair Lady A with a skill now, to make all of your Sonos products somewhat controllable via Lady A, but the Sonos One's which are the newest iteration of the Play One, they look exactly the same except they have microphones, are the ones that have Lady A built-in. Bryan: Yeah well everything, everything seems to be getting smarter except Apple News, which you know, I often go through Apple news and my subscriptions when I'm putting this show together and, lately I've been noticing there's about two articles and then everything goes back six weeks, and they just don't seem to be coming out with a lot of content and as Jeff and I were talking about, a lot of ads you'll see an article, title of an article, title of an article, then an advertisement, and then a bunch of text, this is something about Apple and an ad and everything. Jeff have you been using Apple News, and have you noticed how down hill it seems to have gone? Jeff: I've noticed it's changing a little bit at first, the ads you can't even read the ads because that, all it does is give you description of it, and you have to skip over it, so they're not trying to sell to the blind. The thing that I noticed about Apple News is Apple shuts down at about four o'clock on Friday, there's no new news, they just kind of rehash the same stuff until Monday, and it's just like looking for an app update. If I get one on on Saturday/Sunday, someone paid extra to have that pushed out. Bryan: Yeah maybe I should go back to Newsify and actually reading my RSS feed for technology news. I'm not seeing that much content coming through there, I was I was really excited when Apple news came out because I thought it was gonna be great and I enjoyed it at first, I was using it all the time, but now I'm seeing less and less content and a lot of that content, there's nothing worse than when you're reading an article and like a paragraph into the article, all of a sudden advertisement is starts being read to you... Alison: Yep. Bryan: It drives me absolutely bonkers, and Jeff you actually said, and I'm curious because I read a lot of television recaps in Safari, where I'll say, Arrow episode, season six episode three recap, and it will, I'll find an article that will describe the action and a lot of times these articles, a paragraph in it starts reading an ad to me, you just got a pop-up blocker, now do you think those pop-ups might block those in article advertisements, or just really block pop-ups. Jeff: Actually it's not a pop-up blocker, that is native to the Safari app where you can turn that on or off and it blocks pop-ups. Now some colleges, if you're a college student, they use pop-up so you might want to beware that you might be shutting off something and not being able to gain access to so, try it out. What I got was Purify and that's P U R I F Y, it's a content blocker, and when you get that you, you purchase it, and I got it for a dollar ninety nine, I don't know if that was a Black Friday deal or a special over the holidays but, a dollar ninety-nine, it's very popular app according to Nick, my buddy up in Canada, and what it does is it works on your browser. So what you do is you purchase it and then you have to go into your Safari app settings, go down and just below pop-up blocker, you're gonna find content blocker, and then you have to enable it by turning it on. Bryan: Allison, have you ever used any kind of pop-up or ad blockers or anything? Alison: I do also use Purify and I find that that eliminates a lot of the ads on the websites that I use. What I love now also is reader mode for specific websites in iOS11, if you activate reader now, it's an actionable item and you can go to Auto reader and you can tell it that I either want reader to be active on this website all the time or, all the time for everything, so I have some very specific websites for which I just have reader all the time and I never have to worry about any extra crap on the webpage. Bryan: Where is that setting where you could set it specifically for an individual website? Alison: When you actually turn on reader and you've got reader selected, then there's an actions available, it might even be available for you to select it, and one of the actions is automatic reader when you flick down. You double tap that and then it comes up with a message that says do you want to enable reader for all websites or just on this domain and, you could turn it on for just on this website, and so like 9 to 5 Mac for example and a couple of other more the, more of the busy Apple news sites, I have since I do so much Twitter reading on my phone, I've got automatic reader turned on and it's changed everything. Bryan: Yeah that's something I'll have to, you know I I use the reader all the time, but I, and I remember hearing about, that you know, you hear, about so many new settings but I've never played around with it so, that's something I'm really gonna have to make use of, and by the way if you're out there and if you know of any specific ad popup blocker that might work in individual apps, let us know, you could tweet us in at BlindTechShow or shoot us in an email at thatblindtechshow@ gmail.com, let us know about that. This next thing is really interesting because I was down here listening, I have an app where I'm able to get any NFL audio feeds and everything, and the one thing that drives me bonkers because my dad's a little older so sometimes he forgets is I'm watching the Washington Redskins game here on Thanksgiving with him and I'm listening to the Redskins radio, the only problem is streaming audio is a good minute and a half to two minutes behind real time, and he keeps commenting about what's on TV and it's just driving me insane, I'm like Dad, remember it hasn't happened again you know, so, one thing that would be nice is if FM radio actually just worked on your iPhone which supposedly it could according to this article, we'll put in the show notes that it's built into the phone but Apple just will not activate it. Have you guys been following this story? I know it's been in the news a lot lately. Alison: I've heard two things about this, I've heard that Apple for whatever reason has just decided not to activate it but then I've also heard that the newer modems actually don't have the FM radio so it's a moot point. Bryan: Mmm okay, what about you Jeff if you've been following along to this? Jeff: Yeah I have but, you know it's to me it's like, is it, is it, am I dying for it, I don't know, I really don't know. Bryan: I think it'd be nice, just, you know to be in real time. I don't understand why they can't get streaming audio to be at least maybe you know a second or two behind. I mean it's just such a significance difference, I've got it put on do not disturb, otherwise I'll get notifications about a score in a game, you know, before it happened. The fascinating thing is during the, the Yankees playoff run, I went to my local bar with a pair of my head with the headphones with FM radio, and sure enough FM radio would get it like 30 seconds before television would. [Laughter] Alison: So there's no perfect solution. Bryan: No, there's not, I'd be like, I'd yell out "damn it" and people were like "What are you talking about, they've yet to throw the pitch". [Laughter] So yeah, there's there's no perfect solution. Jeff: I like tuneIn radio, I like stuff like that. Alison: Yeah. Jeff: If there's an emergency or something we got those alarms that go off and everything. I don't see myself turning it on, I don't know, it's just, it so interesting, there's so many resources, so many different avenues that I can get information that, just one more to be on the phone and then, where's my antenna. Alison: Yeah. Jeff: You know it's, now that we're Bluetooth everything so, do we have to wrap it in tinfoil? I don't know. Bryan: You just hold it up in the air while you're walking down the street like an umbrella. [Laughter] Am I getting a signal now? Damn it, the signal is better over here. You know it's funny because the one thing my headphones don't get is AM radio. Jeff: I think it's just as important to think about this. Now do we really want that on there because everyone was so excited when like your Amazon device could make phone calls. As soon as you make that phone call you're standing there for about two minutes going I can't walk away. Alison: Yeah, yeah. Jeff: It's not fun. Bryan: No no no, like I've said for a very long time, the worst app on the iPhone is the phone, and it's also my least used app. I wonder if I could take it out of the dock and put it on like page nine. [Laughter] Alison: You could yeah. Bryan: Yeah, you know it's funny yeah I've been down here in Florida like I said for a week and everything, so I've been in a lot of automobiles which in New York City you know I'm not in cars a lot, and I've noticed my phone still thinks I'm driving sometimes. Alison: My phone thinks I'm driving when I'm not even in a car, like I'll be laying in bed and all of a sudden that do not disturb while driving thing will pop up and I'll be like I'm just reading a book, can you go away? [Laughter] Bryan: But do you have a waterbed so maybe you're moving. [Laughter] Jeff: Too much coffee. Alison: Unfortunately no waterbed, but it's crazy I wish, I have it set on activate manually, so it should not be popping up at all, but it's driving me nuts. Bryan: Real quick for a millennial crowd, water beds were beds with water in them in the 1980s. [Laughter] Look them up. Jeff: California has regulations on waterbeds. Alison: Yeah. [Laughter] Right. Jeff: The other thing is someone told me about the notifications you know that, while you're in a car if you turn it to what is that the Bluetooth setting in your car mode, that that's supposed to trigger it, I don't know sometimes that some things are on, some things are off, I don't know. Bryan: Yeah, and I've got mine set the manual where I'm supposed to be able to turn it on, I have read in a lot of places and I think we may all be running different versions of betas, or some people may be having this problem, others may not and supposedly some people claim it's fixed in a certain beta. I don't even know if I'm running that beta, I think I'm one update behind, you know there's been so many betas out that I can't keep up with them, and a lot of updates coming out too, I notice all the time I seem to have like 80 to 90 updates every few days cuz, I self update, what about you? I know you guys self-medicate, do you self update? Alison: Well I'm constantly working on self improvement, self updating, oh oh you mean apps, yeah. [Laughter] Bryan: The apps, I like to make sure tha,t I like to read those little release notes, and the worst is we update our app fairly regularly, we're not going to tell you what we're doing. Alison: Nope. Jeff: If you get a self-improvement app, would that be self defeating? [Laughter] Bryan: I don't know, you know what, email us and let us know what you think. You know a lot of people are big fans of the Star Wars saga, but have you guys been following the blindfold game saga. Alison: It's been it's been rather epic. Bryan: It has, there's been multiple parts you know. We had, we even had my favorite was Blindfold game Strikes Back you know. Alison: And they did to their credit. Bryan: They did, they struck back hard. I'm a, you know I am a big fan of the games. Blindfold Uno, I've bought plenty of them, I know some people don't like them, I think Marty does a phenomenal job and, God I love the trivia games, and there's nothing like when you've got a, you're sitting in the store you got a few minutes to kill. I've actually set my Blindfold Uno to unlimited scoring so I've got like thirty thousand points in there, it just keeps... [Laughter] Every time the computer gets within ten thousand points of me I think it's cheating you know, but, he really does a great job with a lot of those games. Marty is a businessman and he makes these games you know, out of his love of making games for the community as well as to make money and... Alison: Sure why not. Bryan: I couldn't believe what, when Apple was telling him he needed to roll them into tab less apps in the App Store. It really seemed like Apple didn't know what they were talking about I, you know you could Google Marty's website, I'm not sure the exact site but blindfoldgames.com probably, or just google it, and he's got a blog that'll explain everything that happened if you're not aware of it but, I was really shocked at the stance Apple took against him starting out. Alison: I can summarize briefly if you'd like. Bryan: Sure. Alison: I've been fairly involved in reading about it. So essentially what happened was, and there's a whole detailed timeline on the website. Bryan: Start with episode 1. Alison: In episode one Apple was going through the review process for some iOS11 related updates for Marty's games and they noticed that a lot of the games used the same template. Now Apple technically has a rule that apps cannot be clones of one another, and not looking at the content of the games which are all different decided that these games are too similar and so we're going to have to reject these updates because they have the templates are too similar and you have to make the the gameplay different. Well the whole beauty of the blindfold games is once you know how to play one, you can pretty much figure out you know, several more, so Marty defended himself and said look while these templates are all very similar, the content within them is very different, but Apple didn't want to hear it, they heard, they're like 80 apps is too much. You have to compile them into less. Bryan: A handful, yeah. Alison: Amounts of apps. So Marty's stance, with which I agree, is that then that would make the apps too large to download because they all contain different voice files, and sound effects, so they're already you know pretty sizable downloads anyway, and it would hurt discoverability. For example if all the card games were in one app, somebody might only play one or two, and that might hurt his chances at making more revenue, and the man has got to be able to make some sort of money off it. Bryan: Sure. Alison: I get it. So eventually it came down to a lot of members of the community myself included, advocating with Apple to make them understand that this is a different type of situation than just the average you know, Yahoo up there trying to clone a bunch of flappy bird apps for example. And it worked, they understood, they eventually understood and had a conversation with Marty about, hey we understand that these games are different and now it's it's okay, when the review was passed and Marty at one point he was going to be taking down the games because he just didn't have the resources, either financial, or time wise to do the rewrites that Apple was starting with, so I'm really glad that this ended up, ending happily, and I got into some, some real Twitter spats with a couple of people who really think that, that oh, it's just blind people whining. No, it's, it's people advocating for games, which are truly different in the App Store, and yes blindness does have a little bit to do with it because we have a shortage of accessible games as it is, so don't take our choices away. Bryan: Would you summarize saying basically that Marty basically after the the Clone Wars beat the Empire? Alison: He did. Bryan: Yes. Yes. [Laughter] A Star Wars theme, yeah, no, not to make light of it, it was great that Apple reversed it's course and, Jeff, any comments? Where you following along on the Blindfold saga? Jeff: I was more or less following Allison on Twitter, I'm stalking again Allison. Alison: Oh no. Jeff: But Jonathon Mosan wrote a letter, other people in the community got going on, it was nice to see everybody come together for that you know, like some people were pretty negative, they were saying like "oh yeah, they come together this, but not for jobs" Alison: Some people were jerk faces about it, and I will call them out for that. Jeff: Other people were saying like "Oh Apple, they played the blind card to Apple" it's not that, it's like Allison just explained, it's more like that. It is kind of neat to sit back and watch how different people rise up to certain things and other people take sides, you know the bottom line is the guy is doing something. he has to make money. If he bundles them all up, and you only like one of them, you're not going to buy 8 you know, it makes sense, business sense for him, and I'm glad Apple saw it that way. Bryan: I think he's got a great price plan, because you know, yes, he's got a ton of games you know, nobody buy them all. You could test them out, you know he gives you a free amount of games with each one which I think is fantastic. How many mainstream games out there allow you to test it out before buying it? Alison: It's true. Bryan: So basically what we are saying Marty, "Stay Strong!" Jeff: And may the Force be with you. Bryan: You know something that just came to the app store new and I, I've gotta actually take a look at this, because I haven't exercised since last millennium, The Eyes Free Fit, you know Blind Alive some of you may know it as, I looked up Blind Alive, i couldn't find anything related to exercising. But if you look it up under Eyes Free Fitness, and this just came to the app store last week, and I looked through it, you gotta buy the programs, but it looks like they got a ton of different exercises in there, and I know they've been around for quite a while and on a lot of podcasts. Have either of you guys ever done any of their exercise programs? Alison: A long time ago I bought Cardio Level 1, and it is really great, and really descriptive. I did it a couple of times, I'm really bad with sticking with exercise routines no matter how accessable they are. So, it's really a motivation issue, its not an issue with the workouts themselves, but now I did put the Eyes Free Fitness app on my phone and I am hoping that, you know buying some of the workouts through that, i will literally have no excuse not to do it because my phone is always with me no matter where I go. Bryan: Yeah. How about yourself Jeff? You're an outdoor mountain man, have you ever indoor exercised? Jeff: I was actually testing her website with her so I got to get a few of those and she was next to me in the booth at ACB in 2016. It was in Minneapolis, it was really fun, it's really great that she's taken it to this level now that, you can even hook it up to your health app inside your phone too so.... Bryan: Wait a minute, there's a health app in the phone? [Laughter] Jeff: Page 9 Brian, Page 9. Alison: Page 11 yeah. [Laughter] Bryan: It's next to all of my pizza services. [Laughter] Jeff: So I suggest if people want it, it's Eyes Free Fitness, it's well described, that's the whole intent of it. She uses people who are professionally trained to come up with these exercise routines, but then there's also some stretching ones, and all that stuff. So it's pretty versatile, and they got some Yoga stuff in there, and then there's.... Alison: Pilates. Jeff: Yeah, lots of good stuff in there. Bryan: Yeah, yeah, my only complaint about this app and what she does, is she makes the rest of us look lazy. [Laughter] Can I set a New Years resolution in November, where that's my plan is to, exercise and, you know, a lot of people say they want to get in better shape. I would just like to get into a shape so.... [Funny sound effect and laughter] Alison: See it's a good time for me to get back into this because now I'm walking everyday with Gary with our neighborhood in Napa being so walkable that I actually am in a little bit better shape, so I feel like these exercises would be really great, you know especially if on the weekends when we walk less, it would really help me to get in even better shape. I'm still a far cry off from where I want to be and I still eat to much, but that'll never change. [Laughter] Bryan: I don't even eat that much, I just eat all of the wrong things, I've learned if I like it, it's bad for you. Alison: Yeah, that's kinda where I'm at too, I don't find that I eat these ginormous portions, I mean although I do like a healthy portion of food, but yeah, it's not the good things. It's a little light on the leafy green vegetables and such, although I like fruit. Jeff: You know one of the main things about exercise and all this stuff that we're talking about is the mindset and it takes a while to get your mind wrapped around it. I've been using a trainer for, it'll be coming up on a year and I finally got my mind wrapped around it after 10 months. I mean, it really takes something, I used to be in really good shape, I used to do a lot of stuff, I used to run and all sorts of stuff. But I am not being chased anymore so... you know. Bryan: It's may favorite line, "Do you still run?" "Only when chased" [Laughter] Jeff: Yeah, I think people who want to get back into it sometimes it takes a little commitment. You can buy these from $19.00 to $25.00 or something like that, but you have it, you can do it in the privacy of your own home, it's accessible, and it describes all of the stances, all the positions, well described steps, so if that's what it takes to get your mindset involved in it, it might be a good start for you. Alison: Yeah. Yeah can get as of out of breath or sweaty as you want, as quickly as, however quickly it takes and it doesn't matter because it's just you and yeah. Jeff: But make sure you have your phone notifications for driving set right. [Laughter] Bryan: Either that or in my kind of condition make sure you have 911 on speed dial. [Laughter] I got a good work out there, you know we're recording this the day after Black Friday, it's not even Cyber Monday yet but you'll hear this after Cyber Monday, and it was a low tech Black Friday for me because I got some clothes and everything, no technology but I wanted to ask you guys, what about yourself Allison was it a techie Black Friday Cyber Monday for you or no? Alison: No cuz I, I bought what I want throughout the year, I don't, I don't have the the impulse control to wait three months for something to go on sale on Black Friday, I just buy it when I, when I have the money and what I want it / need it. So Black Friday / Cyber Monday are always kind of a bit of a letdown for me cuz I'm like, oh this thing's on sale, oh wait, I already have it, this thing's on sale, wait I already have it. ]Laughter] Bryan: Got it got it got it got it got it need it you know. Alison: Yeah. Jeff: I just went shopping at Allison's place, I just walk to her house. [Laughter] I'll take that, that, that. [Laughter] Ain't got it, ain't got it, ain't got it. Bryan: You know it's not a big tech year for me because I'm not upgrading, I do need to get a new key chain cuz I have one of those key chains with the Lightning charger and for some reason the Lightning charger broke off of the key chain so, one of the things I heard somebody talking about was you know I've got all these kind of what I call lipstick chargers where you have to plug the cord into the charger. I heard they now got a charger out there that has the lightning charger built into it as well as a USB built into it and I think I'm gonna probably get something like that. Alison: Send me that when you find it. Because, send me the link, yeah because that is something, you know, I love my anchor batteries. I have the ones that are like even 20 thousand milliamps witch are a little bit bigger but I just put them in my purse, but yeah you've got to have the little the cables for your Apple watch and for your micro USB devices and your, your lightning cables all together and it's just it's a little bit much, it gets to be a little bit much to carry around. Jeff: Jack really makes a couple of these. One is a six thousand, one is a ten thousand fifty claiming that X needs more power so they made that one. They do have two cords, one is the Lightning port cord and the other is for all the Android stuff, your mini USB plug, and there's a third you can plug a USB into it so you technically you can actually have three by both outputs going at one time. My concern since their dedicated cables on there, are you committed to that if, what if the cable goes bad you know, I, I don't know but it does get a 4.5 out of 5 ratings on Amazon. Myself I like the big ones. Alison: Oh yes send me that one. Jeff: Cuz size does matter. Alison: It does. [Laughter] Bryan: Hey hey, this is a PG podcast. [Laughter] Alison: What, we're talking about, we're talking about batteries. Bryan: Oh. Jeff: I must admit I like big batteries. Bryan: I've heard that about you. Now Allison you've had the iPhone for a while now what are your thoughts? Alison: I basically really like it, it's nice and fast, I like the size, I have it in a leather case because it's glass on both sides and I do not trust myself with glass on both sides and I have dropped it and the leather case has saved me a couple of times. The face ID I'm still, I find myself still kind of getting used to this new thing called face ID. I find that it's very accurate. I find that even when it doesn't get your face it learns from the experience and it has been consistently doing better but it's not as fast as touch ID, the gestures for bringing up home and app switcher are pretty fluid and elegant I think. Bryan: Are you used to doing those after having the press on the home button for so long or does it take a little training yourself? Alison: I'm used to it now, I've had the thing now for a couple of weeks so I've gotten it back into my, into my muscle memory now that this is just what you have to do because there's no home button and luckily I'm not using any other older devices to confuse me, that's convenient but yeah it's it's never going to be as fast I don't think. Jeff: So Alison you use your phone on a daily basis? [Laughter] Alison: Pretty much almost every minute of every day. Bryan: Are you happy with the purchase, are you happy with the upgrade? Alison: I am because I wanted, I wanted the latest and greatest technology and now I've got it and I realized that sometimes that comes with some caveats so I am happy with it, there are some times though when I have just become resigned to entering in my passcode. For example if I'm laying in bed and I want to unlock my phone, I don't want to have to sit up put the phone all the way in front of my face, get face ID to authenticate me, wake up the husband, wake up the dog, so I just enter in the passcode and it's that's even become a little bit faster. Bryan: My dad was having trouble with his phone recently and I finally found out what the problem was. Alison: Yeah. Bryan: He's running an iPhone 4. [Laughter] Alison: Oh for goodness sakes. Bryan: Yeah, I said.... Jeff: Wait, you, you said it's running. Bryan: Yeah, barely, yeah he can make phone calls that's about it, I said no wonder you're having so many issues with everything else and yeah, he's getting ready to get a new one because my mom did order the iPhone 10 and he's gonna get the hand-me-down. I guess he's gonna move up to a 6 which is all he really needs. Alison: Yeah. Oh that'll be quite an upgrade for him. Bryan: Oh yeah, yeah, so but, my mom's got the 10 coming, she's got the, she ordered it online and has the two to three week wait so, I will not, not get to play around with it while I'm down here and everything but I've been you know listening to you on with Dr. Robert Carter not to be confused with Dr. Richard Kimble. Not that anybody but me. Alison: Not to be confused with John Kimble yeah. [Laughter] Bryan: I thought of Richard Kimble immediately but I'm probably the only one that did that so but you know you guys had a great walkthrough of the iPhone 10 and somebody in New Zealand had something about unboxing one very early before the rest of the world which... Alison: Oh yes Jonathan was very very happy that you know, when these items come out he gets them a day ahead of everyone else because New Zealand is a day ahead. Jeff: He should let people know that. [Laughter] Alison: He really doesn't gloat about that enough no but yeah. Bryan: Allison did I hear you do laundry every now and then? Alison: Every now then, you know I, the house-elves or my husband will not comply and I have to do my own. Bryan: Are you testing out that new GE, was it the GE product that you're testing out? Alison: Yeah so, so I have purchased the GE talking laundry box and actually we were in the market for a new washer and dryer anyway so we got the compatible washer and dryer and I've actually been doing a lot more of my own laundry and enjoying the heck out of it now that we have this talking machine because it's so easy to set all you really have to worry about is the start button and the little knob that controls the settings because the different wash cycles, because it verbalizes everything, you turn the knob, it verbalizes if you're on like cold wash, or towels and sheets, or casual wear, or bulky items, and you press Start and it says starting load on bulky items with an estimated 70 minutes remaining and there's a button on the box that you can press if you need an update of what, of time remaining and the dryer is much the same you just mess with the one knob, you can set your cycle and it just works. Our old washer and dryer we had the little arrows marked, but the one thing would spin, and there was another arrow that you could accidentally move, and Jeremy was really the only person who could set it without getting the other thing to spin, so I'm glad to be able to have some agency over my laundry once again. Bryan: And this works with all GE washer and dryers I believe right? Alison: So on the website it does say that it is, should be compatible with most, it should be compatible with the ones that have the ports in the back, the technician ports, but then it says these are the compatible models and it lists just a couple of different models. Slightly more expensive, that are compatible, I think that you can get this to work with older GE models if it has the port for technicians to hook up, but it's better I think in terms of the software working is optimally as it can if you can buy the the newer ones. Bryan: Yeah full disclaimer if your washer and dryers from 1974 and is GE..... Alison: Probably not going to work. Jeff: I do laundry and the thing on my washer and dryer mostly my washer is, there's that plastic cover that covers things up so you can't really tell the dial, so I took a needlenose pliers, it was excruciating sounds but I got that piece off of there, then I put some little markers on there, so now I just put my finger down there and I just turn it and everyone uses it that way so, yeah I don't recommend anybody to take a needle nose and tear that apart unless you know what you're doing but, yeah that's how I access that. Bryan: Yeah when you're like me and you live in New York it's great because I've got like fluff and fold where they pick it up and deliver it and it's pretty cheap and yeah I'm spoiled like that I think I've mentioned that on the show before. One of the things we did want to mention to the listeners if you do not have knfb reader you're just making your life harder, and it's a phenomenal app, I believe and don't quote me on this but I believe it's on sale at least through Christmas for about 50% off. Normally it's $100.00, I believe now it's $49.95. Go ahead and get that app, you'll make your life a lot easier if you want to read your bills or anything along that. Jeff: I really think if you're a student that that's the app to have. Seeing AI is a good app for a convenience, it's just a quick shuffle through the mail, but if you're gonna do bulk reading or if you want to save it and all sorts of things, you know, that's a workhorse the knfb reader app. Alison: I agree. Bryan: Yeah luckily I think all of us have easy names to pronounce, but I have a friend named Keith Strohak, and every time I tell Siri call Keith Strohak, it says did you mean Keith Sholstrum, did you mean Keith Beyer. It drives me bonkers, I have to go in and manually do it and I will put this link in the show notes. Did you know that you could teach Siri how to save names properly? Jeff: Mm-hmm. Alison: Yeah. Bryan: Okay I was the one who didn't. By the way ask Siri to pronounce Charlize Theron because I heard that's another name that she can't pronounce. Alison: Oh boy. Bryan: Yeah so if you're if you're one of those people and your name is Mustafi Mustafasin or something, go ahead and read this link and you know, maybe you could teach Siri how to read your name and everything. Jeff: The trick about it is that it asks you for the first name and then it asked for the second name, well I didn't know it was doing that so I said Laurie Thompson that's my wife, and then I said Laurie Thompson again. I wondered why it asked me twice, so every time she calls, are you sure you want to call Laurie Thompson Laurie Thompson? I left it I thought it was kind of cute. Alison: That is. Bryan: Now Jeff was a great guy and he posted you know happy holidays to everybody on the Blind Abilities Facebook page and I chimed in with my typical bah humbug and he thought that was you know the happiest he's ever heard me, and that's because he didn't hear how mad I was that my old Grubhub app that I've been running for several years because GrubHub has refused update is now officially dead. I finally had to update it and I don't know what I'm gonna do because this happened shortly before I left New York. I kept getting server error, server error, and I could not do anything so I had to update the app, GrubHub prepare for the barrage because I am gonna be hammering you every day now with fixing your heading navigation. I don't know. Alison: Now that your life depends on it yeah. Bryan: Yeah you know. Jeff: It's time to get that Blind Alive app, get that exercise going. Alison: Yeah. Jeff: Screw GrubHub. Bryan: I still gotta order dinner. I still gotta order dinner and everything. Alison: Try Postmates, try Doordash, you said Eat24 doesn't.... Bryan: Doordash I just heard about so yeah that's one I want to check... Alison: Yeah Postmates is also very good. Unfortunately in Napa our only choice really is Eat24, and that only has a couple of options. Bryan: Yeah you know one of the other things I plan to do when I get back from Florida is, because I've been running my old laptop here my Mac air, and it's so nice because it's running Sierra, and things have been running so smooth, as soon as I get home one of my first acts to do, I'm rolling High Sierra back, have you guys, I know Jeff's been playing High Sierra, Allison, are you still using High Sierra..... Alison: I am and for the limited number of things that I do on my Mac it's absolutely fine, I haven't really had any problems. Bryan: Editing text, when you're working with a lot of text and emails or documents and everything, it just befuddles me and everything, you know sometimes you gotta use the option key, and I did report this to Apple, quick nav does you know, when you use quick nav with words, it does not follow the insertion point, we did test it it is getting kicked up to engineers, there is a navigation problem with quick nav in Hi Sierra. Alison: That's unfortunate. Jeff: Yeah I'm using the beta's and you know it keeps on changing so I don't really complain about it I just keep using it and I know, I know it'll get better, so I just putz with it. Bryan: Yeah well Jeff you said you're running the latest beta and it's, you've noticed an improvement so, maybe it won't be the first thing I do when I get back to New York you know, maybe I'll give it one more update. I am not running the beta so I never run the betas on my computer and the word to the wise if you value productivity do not run those betas. Alison: Yeah, or have a partition on your hard drive or a separate hard drive on which to run them. Jeff: Oh my MacBook Pro [Inaudible] I'm not doing the betas on that so I can always go back to that if I need to but, you know I I usually forget that I'm slowly tweaking my muscle memory like you said Allison, and pretty soon I'm just readjusted. Changes happen and I don't know. Alison: Yep. Bryan: Chit chit chit chit oh wait, do we have to play now to use that song? In a more positive segment, I know we've rolled through some some negativity here, we don't want to be negative all the time but you know these are just some things that were pissing Brian off now because, Brian's been known to get pissed off. I always like to hear you know, what you guys watching, what you're reading, you know especially the holiday time of the year, there's a lot of great content out there. Netflix just seems to be piping everything out. Allison what you watching, what you reading? Alison: Well I'm still trying to work my way through Narcos, I have not had as much time for for Netflix recently, but I've been reading this really great book, I'm not sure if it's available on any of the freebies, unbarred or well book sure it's not free but it's practically free. I got off of Audible it's my Brandon Sanderson it's called "The way of Kings" it's part of the Stormlight archive series, it's an epic fantasy series, long long books, the first book I think is 45 hours long and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and it is absolutely amazing it's quite frankly taken over a lot of my life this holiday weekend. [Laughter] But it's amazing. Bryan: Well we're thankful that you were able to fit time in for the podcast. [Laughter] Alison: I did, I did have to interrupt my reading to.... [Laughter] Bryan: That 45 hours, that might take me 4 and 1/2 years to get through. Alison: Well I read at speed, I'm not gonna lie, I cranked it up to 3x and I can understand it just fine, so I'll get through it pretty quickly, but there's then two other main books, and then a little novella in the middle to read so. Bryan: That's a, that's a big.... Alison: It's gonna be ten books so... Bryan: Wow, wow, what about yourself Jeff, you been reading anything, watching anything? I know you've had some time alone there or are you just thinking in the dark? Jeff: I really got nothing, I guess I am thinking in the dark, family's been gone and I've been catching up on a bunch of other things that I hadn't been able to get back t,o and yeah, I got to get back to it so sorry you don't have anything to contribute. Bryan: That's okay Jeff. Jeff: Oh sorry. Bryan: I just finished down here with my parents you know I, they they were very nice and they watched, because their sighted with described video, the second season of Stranger Things, and the first season if you have not seen it as phenomenal I said to myself I don't know how they're gonna do a second season. It was really good so, it was very enjoyable, if you have not checked out Stranger Things on Netflix, you're definitely gonna want to check that out. I know we're gonna watch another series on Netflix that just came out I'm blanking on the name, the guy that was in Dumb and Dumber, not Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels is in it, it's a Western that just came out on Netflix. I'm hearing great things about it of course I'm, like I said, God, Godlessness, or Godless or something, it's a Great Western, and I've heard from other people it's very good and everything and, yeah I've still got the same four books. You know it's so funny I'm one of those people that loads up all the audio digital content to all the devices for the travel and then I end up listening to podcasts that I have on my phone. [Laughter] During the travels so, like I said this is a That Blind Tech Show, we're gonna wrap it up here. We are at Blind Tech Show on Twitter. thatblindtechshow @gmail.com if you want to email us in let us know what you think, let us know what you like. You can download our feed through the Blind Abilities podcast speed of your podcast player of choice, victor reader stream or download the Blind Abilities app. Allison what do you have coming up the next few weeks leading into what's that holiday Christmas? Alison: Just a quiet Christmas at home, gonna take maybe a couple of days off and just probably still be reading the Stormlight archive honestly, although I, although I may do a reread of Harry Potter, I lead such an exciting life. [Laughter] Bryan: Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that. What about yourself Jeff, family coming back or have they given up on you? Jeff: My folks for 17 years they've been going down the Texas but they stayed up this year for the holiday so I got to go to spend time with them Thanksgiving. We were all up there and so they're here so we're gonna have Christmas there and my daughter and grandkids will be coming up mid-December, we try and offset it each year and so yeah, a lot of lot of family holidays and I want to, I want to see the Grinch again this year. Bryan: So you want me to come visit? [Laughter] Yeah I'm not a big holiday person so Thanksgiving I guess is our big holiday and, we just wrapped that up down here and Thanksgiving, I'll be heading back to New York in the next few days and you know, it's funny I'm sitting here in shorts and it's 80 degree weather so it doesn't feel like November, and then I'll go back to the 30 degree weather and, yeah amazingly Nash is not even shedding that much here in Florida, you would think he would get rid of that winter coat, but he is panting like it's August. This is That Blind Tech Show, maybe we'll have one more before the year hopefully, you know, all of our schedules have been so crazy we haven't been on a regular schedule, we plan to hopefully eventually get on it, but for now we are out. When we share what we see through each other's eyes, we can then begin to bridge the gap between limited expectations and the reality of blind abilities. For more podcast with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter at BlindAbilities. Download our app from the app store Blind Abilities, or send us an email at info @blindabilities.com, thanks for listening.

Tim is joined by Shaun Preece to interview JJ Meddaugh from Blind Bargains about CSUN 2018. JJ talks about what he feels are the best… Read moreLife After Blindness Spotlight on CSUN 2018 and the Future of Braille and Wearables with JJ Meddaugh and Shaun Preece The post Life After Blindness Spotlight on CSUN 2018 and the Future of Braille and Wearables with JJ Meddaugh and Shaun Preece appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Microsoft Hack for Good Sydney  March 8 and 9 2018 (in conjunction with Social Ventures Australia)   I was lucky enough to attend and judge Hack4Good at PwC's Barangaroo offices last week with 12 of Microsoft's  partner organisations participating hosted by David Masters from Microsoft. The event focused on hacking solutions for people with disabilities. There  were three winning teams: Humanitix who are transforming their event platform so that those with a disability can clearly communicate their accessibility needs to event organisers, Clinic to Cloud who proposed a personal disability passport to easily communicate with service providers, and PwC who explored the use of Microsofts cognitive services to clearly communicate the emotions of users during a  Skype call for those who may not be able to see or hear. With one in five Australians living with a disability today, it was inspiring to see the commitment to accessibility from Microsofts  partner community.  A big thanks to PwC for hosting the event and to Leonie from the Deaf Society of NSW, Rocco from KPMG, Kenny from Microsoft, Dianne from Social Ventures Australia and David Masters for their invaluable guidance to Microsoft  teams over the course of the hack.   Skype Accessibility from the Skype Blog   From the Skype blog, Microsoft will be working hard to improve accessibility of Skype arose iOS, Android, Mac and Windows, and are urging people to give them feedback.   https://blogs.skype.com/news/2018/03/16/improving-skype-accessibility/#.WqxltA6wSJw.twitter   A Reminder the CSUN 2018 is on This Week   If you use Twitter and you want to follow what is going on with CSUN, follow the Hash Tag CSUNATC18. We'll have lots to talk about next week from CSUN. A great resource for news and audio interviews from CSUN 2018 is Blind Bargains who will be bringing us news and interviews.   Apple's first Coding Session for Blind or Low Vision Students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually  Impaired March 7 2018   Apple Experts visited the school and took students through coding in Swift Playgrounds to flying drones.   https://www.512tech.com/technology/with-assist-from-apple-visually-impaired-austin-students-learn-write-code-fly-drones/KbOaJnSwOoH2MHgTFNFAmL/   Apple's Education Event in Chicago on March 27   We have know idea what the event is about which is being held at a  school in Chicago and is aimed and creativity for students and teachers, , but chances are that because its education, we'll see new iPads, and MacBooks  announced.   https://www.macworld.com/article/3264007/techology-business/apple-is-holding-an-education-event-on-march-27-in-chicago.html   WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) Apple Set for June 4 2018   As this is a software developers conference, we'll see updates across all of the OS platforms - iOS, Watch os, TV OS, and Mac OS.  Rmour is that Apple will be focussing mainly on security and stability improvements in iOS 12.   https://www.imore.com/wwdc-2018   JAWS 20108 Update March 15 2018   I think the great improvements in this update of JAWS is that JAWS can now unmute the sound card via JAWS key plus Escape (JAWS's screen refresh), drivers for the Orbit reader, and added  a new layer command to turn Screen Shade  on/off JAWS key plus Space plus F11.   http://www.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/jaws/JAWSWhatsNew#Enhancements   Google Assistant now Available on the iPad   Just search for Google Assistant on the App Store on your iPad and you can start using the assistant the same way you can use it on your iPhone.   Tell Me About vision Australia Now on Google Home   Information about Vision Australia and our services can now be obtained from Google Home, just ask: Hey Google Tell me about Vision Australia.