I previously posted about the demo I did for the Apple TV using VoiceOver in early Feb 2014, but I have added it in here as well to complete the 3 demo set for iOS, Mac, and the Apple TV.
A post on Cult of Mac:
http://www.cultofmac.com/267847/apple-releases-os-x-10-9-2-fix-ssl-vulnerability/
has information concerning the 10.9.2 update including a full list of all of the updates: particularly the SSL connection bug which is now fixed (with the same issue on iOS 7 being fixed last week with the 7.06 update).
For VoiceOver users in the 10.9.2 update, improvements were made in Finder, Mail, Safari, and fixes for specific HandyTech Braille displays.
To get the update for Mavericks, just use the Apple menu, choose Software Update, and select the update.
This security update provides a fix for SSL connection verification. This is a very serious bug particularly when you are using say a wi-fi connection at your local Macdonald's or coffee shop as it can let someone access what you are doing: i.e. logging in to your bank web site for example.
If you haven’t noticed the update on your iOS device, go in to Settings, General, Software Update and check yourself to do an over the air update.
For users of OS X (Mac) this bug still exists, use Firefox or Google Chrome to make sure your safe for the moment.
A post on Applevis explains it quite well and refers to a good blog article on the bug.
http://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ios-app-discussion/ios-706-and-616-are-very-important-updates
The Mobile World Congress is underway in Barcelona Spain.
What has caught my attention so far is the Nokia announcement of the Nokia X, X+ and XL using a version of Android which is capable of running most Android apps: yet to see if Talkback etc will work.
Samsun’s announcement of their new Galaxy S5 that has a finger print sensor, and their new gear 2 wearable tech.
A great training course on those wishing to switch from JAWS For Windows and Window-Eyes For Office.
http://www.blindtraining.com/shop/guides/WE8Guide-toc.html
Bluetooth customised keyboard for users of iOS devices specifically for Voiceover navigation/input.
Just posted to my iSee podcast site a demo of using Apple TV with iTunes Radio using VoiceOver.
I thought since this was the first time that iTunes Radio was officially available in Australia, that doing a demo was probably a good idea.
I’ll also be doing short demos like this one for iTunes Radio on iOS (iPhone, iPod touch or iPad) and the Mac soon as well.
Here is a direct link to the Apple TV demo from the iSee site itself.
As I said in the radio program yesterday I hadn’t received my audible.com copy yet of Like a Mighty Army by David Weber, but I did receive it in my library after the show was aired.
So here is the link to the audible.com version which is cheaper than the iTunes audio version:
I’ve been waiting for this 7th book in the SafeHold series for quite a while, and now its finally here.
I stuck in the search in iTunes “SafeHold” and got all the books in the series for both iBooks, and audio books.
Basically Humans escape being destroyed from earth by aliens who want to destroy everyone besides themselves. Get to new world (called SafeHold) after long time in hyper/sleeping. Whilst new world being established, sleeping colonists having minds wiped (forgetting technology), and Church has control over all aspects of life and anti technology (which sort of made sense to begin with as it meant the the aliens couldn’t find them). 900 years after SafeHold established, main character Merlin appears who is an Avatar of a long dead woman who as an officer in the old earth Federation, battled against the aliens, and wants to bring back technology and help humanity get back what they have lost before these mad aliens turn up again.
Some times a bit wordy, gets bogged down in places, but an overall good read.
For those that have read the series up to now, here is the link for Like a Mighty Army in the iTunes Store for the iBook:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/like-a-mighty-army/id689716070?mt=11
and the audio book (but be warned its $74)
https://itunes.apple.com/au/audiobook/like-mighty-army-safehold/id808209733
It is also supposed to be available on Kindle and audible, but they haven’t appeared in my library yet: perhaps the Australian iTunes Store was operating on Aussie time not US (as of posting, its still the 17th of Feb in the US smile).
I’d love to see these nasty audio puzzles go away, I can’t believe anyone actually believes you can hear what the numbers are to authenticate you when logging in to a new service.
Looks like another year before eBook readers have to be made accessible.
This is an Excel spreadsheet that you can download and lists quite a few phones plus their accessibility features for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows Phone.
http://mediaaccess.org.au/latest_news/general/accessible-smartphone-buyer’s-guide-released
Amazing what you can do as a science project, its open source, and hopefully taken further: well done, and great if picked up by people who can’t afford usually expensive Braille printers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57618878-1/12-year-old-builds-low-cost-lego-braille-printer/
This article lists quite a number of functions you can turn off on your iPhone in Settings to save your battery, and get a little bit more out of it. The main items they listed were:
Wi-Fi: off.
Bluetooth: off.
Cellular/Cellular Data: off.
Privacy/Location Services: off.
Wallpaper and Brightness/Auto Brightness: off.
General/Background App Refresh: off.
General/Accessibility/Reduce Motion: on.
Sounds/Vibrate on ring: off.
Sounds/Vibrate on silent: off.
Messages/iMessage: off.
Mail, Contacts, Calendars/Fetch New Data/Push: off.
Just remember as the article states, you won’t be able to send receive data, but you can still SMS, answer calls, and access apps that don’t require a data connection.
http://www.tuaw.com/2014/02/06/how-to-stretch-your-iphones-battery-as-far-as-it-can-possibly-g/
You can find this great new feature in the Music app (Radio tab) on iOS, in iTunes Music/Radio tab on Mac/PC, and in iTunes Radio from the main menu on the Apple TV.
Listen to preset or customise your own music.
Add songs to your wish list or check your listening history to purchase songs: wish list available on all devices via iCloud.
Edit, delete, like or dislike songs.
Use Siri to control iTunes Radio.
For iTunes Match subscribers, you will not get any ads.
Requires iOS 7 or later, oS X 10.7 or later, , Apple tV 2nd or 3rd generation, and Windows XP or later.
http://www.apple.com/au/itunes/itunes-radio/
Main features:
Access to 36 thousand radio stations: search by Ootunes or use the Humanware default playlist from around the world including Australia).
NFB-Newsline (not available in Australia) for accessing newspapers.
Bookshare: browse and download books from Bookshare.
Wikipedia and Wiktionary: reads articles from Wikipedia, and get meaning of words from Wiktionary.
Humanware Newsletter about the 4.3 update:
http://www.humanware.ca/web/en/Newsletter/2501141705.html
Demo of the 4.3 update from Humanware itself:
Listening to ACB Radio Main Stream from the Victor Reader Stream:
Even though these instructions are for ACB Radio Main Stream, you can use the same ins ructions to access Vision Australia Radio in the English Australia radio playlist as well.
This drove my son crazy when his brother was navigating the Apple TV with the Apple TV remote which kept turning the volume up and down on the Macbook pro my son was using trying to play his games etc.
Now over the weekend, I finally found out how to stop the Macbook pro responding to the Apple TV remote.
Go in to System preferences, Security and Privacy, unlock settings for admin access, choose the General tab and select Advanced. In this window you will find the Disable Remote checkbox which will stop the Mac reacting to the Apple TV remote.
Easy when you know where to look (smile).
This is the Youtube link I found which gave me this info.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzclCMpmBtc
Story that caught my a tension was an evaluation of the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 with Narrator.
https://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp
As a follow-up to last week, the main Fleksy app is no longer accessible. When you run the main app, it is reassuring to read that it recommends that VoiceOver users use Fleksy VO and that it is a temporary thing whilst accessibility is worked on.
So for the moment, remove the main Fleksy app and replace it with Fleksy VO. Here is the link in the App Store for Fleksy VO:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/fleksy-vo-for-voiceover-users/id793539091?mt=8
Microsoft 60 second ad concerning a person using Eye Tracking software with a Microsoft Surface Tablet.
Always good to see Assistive Technology promoted.
http://mediaaccess.org.au/latest_news/general/assistive-technology-promoted-at-the-super-bowl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOvHKG0Tio
Released code to bee incorporated in to a website to make it easier for low vision users to use magnification and Text to speech to read a website independent of screen magnification software.
This article speculates that perhaps the Apple TV is in for a major update with the ability to play games, run iOs apps in general, and have increased TV content. Previously it was in the iPod category, but now is proudly listed on the same category level as the iPhone, iPad etc.
In this blog article, Kirk McElHearn writes:
In Apple’s Q1 earnings, iPod sales dropped 52 percent compared to last year,
iPod functionality becoming part of smart phones in general,
iPod shuffle and nano hasn’t been updated since September2012,
Apple still sold 20 million last year, and
May still hang around for a bit longer.
http://www.mcelhearn.com/is-the-ipod-finally-dead/
Still using my iPod nano watch band, and enjoyed listening to the Australian cricket season which completed on Sunday.
1. The Atari Console.
2. The Dot matrix printer.
3. The floppy disk.
4. The Commodore 64.
5. The PDA.
6. The Palm Pilot.
7. the CD-Rom bundle.
8. Symbian mobile phones.
9. MS-DOS.
