Tuesday 28 July 2015

Talking Tech for July 28 2015

Dreaming of Streaming reminder

 

Quick reminder of Dreaming   of Streaming happening this Wednesday the 29th at 7:30PM EST.

http://www.visionaustralia.org/about-us/events/event/2015/07/29/default-calendar/register-now-for-dreaming-of-streaming

 

 

 

Applevis Celebrates its 5th birthday with a week long celebration of give aways

 

Applevis 5th Birthday celebrations.

 

http://www.applevis.com/blog/applevis-competitions-news/updated-applevis-turning-5-and-we-would-you-celebrate-us 

 

Twenty Fifth Birthday of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA): from CNN

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/24/living/ada-25-anniversary-disability-rights-feat/index.html?sr=fb072615ada25anniversarydisabilityrightsfeat3pStoryGalLink

 

Apple Celebrates 25 years of the American’s with Disabilities Act with Accessibility app list

 

From the iTunes page: For more than 20 years, Apple has provided innovative solutions for people with disabilities. Built into iOS, VoiceOver is the world’s first gesture-based screen reader, allowing people who are blind or have low vision to enjoy the touchscreen simplicity of iPhone and iPad. Using VoiceOver, you can interact with objects on the screen and intuitively gauge their location and context from audio cues. These popular apps deliver a great VoiceOver experience for all users.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/collection/popular-apps-using-voiceover/id31932?fcId=1017541608&mt=8&app=itunes&ls=1 

 

Apple launch’s page to highlight apps that take advantage of iOS VoiceOver

 

From the iTunes page: We’re proud to have an App Store full of tools that improve lives. Using the Accessibility features on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, these apps help with everything from routine tasks to communication and language skills.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewFeature?id=1018438149&mt=8&app=itunes&ls=1 

 

Some of the Biggest tech company’s want more  app Makers to Consider accessibility a Bigger Priority: from the Virge

 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/23/9022709/teaching-accessibility-microsoft-facebook-yahoo-dropbox 

 

Apple releases new iPod nano, shuffle, and iPod touch -blog from Applevis

 

A blog post on the new Apple iPod nano, shuffle and iPod touch updates from Applevis.

 

 

http://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-ipod-touch-news/apple-releases-updated-ipod-touch-shuffle-and-nano-models 

 

ABC Drama: Glitch: running on ABC iView with Audio Description

 

Just a reminder that the ABC iView Audio Description trial is still going on and if you like a show with a bit of a twist of people coming back to life after climbing out of their graves, then this great 6 part series is for you.

 

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/glitch/DR1419V001S00 

 

Podcast highlights

 

Another new section where (again) every two weeks we will be highlighting from various adaptive technology (and perhaps main stream) podcasts, interviews or demos of particular interest to our listeners.

 

Here are a few to kick us off.

 

ACB Main Menu

Accessing Windows 10 with the newly released JAWS 16.3048.

 

Applevis

An introduction to apple music 1 July

A taste of what you can ask Siri to do with Apple music 9 July.

 

Blind Bargains Audio featuring the BBCast

 

Always has good general and blind or low vision related news items on the BBCast plus audio interviews and demos from conferences such as the recent Sight Village conference in the UK, and the NFB and ACB conventions in the US.

eg Sight village auto demos over 12 interviews, BBCast 23 conversation of the NfB and ACB conventions, a number of demos from NFB and ACB etc.

 

FSCast

 

Freedom Scientific excellent podcast on what is going on with FS products.

eg: FSCast 111 post convention round up for NFB and ACB, and a jam I discovered, a two part interview with Ted Henter the Father of JaWS 104/104, and 100 a discussion of Leasy.

 

 

July AccessWorld

 

Evaluation of the Leasey

Running Galaxy Talkback on the Galaxy s6

 

http://www.afb.org/aw/main.asp

Monday 13 July 2015

Talking Tech for July 14 2015

In this weeks show, we have a guest speaker: Adam Morris” to speak about his two Mailing Lists (the iOS and AusTech mailing lists), and Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) Computer Users Group.

 

iOS Mailing List

 

Discussion of iOS (iPhone, iPod touch or iPhone) from beginners to experts on hardware, apps or 3rd party devices.

 

To subscribe to the list, send an email to:

 

ozios-subscribe@damorris.com

 

AusTech Mailing List


Discussion of any technology that people who are blind or have low vision may find useful or have questions about.

 

To subscribe to the list, send an email to:


oztech-subscribe@famorris.com

 

BCA Computer Users Group

 

BCA Computer Users Group currently meets Monthly at Vision Australia Kooyong with people being able to Skype or phone (Melbourne number)in.

 

To access the BCA Computers Users Group, you must be a member of BCA.

 

For more information, send an email to:

 

secretary@bcacug.org

 

Contact Adam Morris at:

 

adam@damorris.com

 

Monday 6 July 2015

Talking Tech for July 7 2015

Along with Apple music and Beats 1 being available last week, iOS 8.4 was also released.

 

Apple music available in iTunes on Mac and Windows, and iOS devices (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad).

 

iOS 8.4 bringing some more stability improvements along with the previously mentioned Apple music.

 

Info on Apple music from Applevis

 

http://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-ios-news/apple-music-and-beats-1-launch-release-ios-84

 

FAQ about Apple music from iMore

 

http://www.imore.com/apple-music-faq

 

First Audio Described Movie in the Australian iTunes Store: Home

 

Just thought I’d let everyone know that the Movie Home was released on the iTunes Store On July 1 with audio description.

 

This appears to be the first AD movie in the iTunes Australian catalog.  Whilst CC (Closed Captioning)is mentioned in the iTunes Store, AD is not, I’ve already feed this back to Apple.

 

On the Mac (iTunes), iPhone/iPod touch/iPad or Apple tv, if video description is on in Settings within Accessibility, the movie will start with AD running.

 

In Windows (iTunes), under Languages for the movie, you’ll see United States Audio Described.

 

Here is the description of the movie: rating is PG.

 

Based on the critically acclaimed book "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex. In "Home" an alien race invades Earth and uses it as a hideout from their mortal enemy. When one lowly alien accidentally notifies the enemies of his whereabouts, he is forced to go on the run with a teenage girl. The two become unlikely buddies and embark on a comical globe-trotting adventure to right his wrongs, in which our alien hero learns what it really means to be human.

 

The link in the iTunes Store:

 

https://itunes.apple.com/au/movie/home/id967412755

 

Apple quietly pulls the iPad mini 1

 

This was of course the original iPad mini without a retina display, now gone.

 

Briefly, iPad mini 2 Retina 16/32gb, and iPad mini 3 retina with Touch ID 16/64/128gb.

 

http://www.iphoneinformer.com/25655-apple-quietly-pulls-1st-gen-ipad-mini/

 

Google Maps with haptic turn by turn feedback when walking

 

This sounds great.  Of course this is very similar to what the Apple watch does, but you don’t need an Apple watch and an iPhone to do it (smile).

 

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/tips/comments/getting-haptic-feedback-for-walking-directions-in-google-maps

 

Register now for Dreaming Of Streaming” July 29 at 7:30PM ESD

 

On July 29 at 7.30pm Vision Australia will host a webinar on accessing online streaming. The Dreaming of Streaming webinar will focus on how people who are blind or have low vision can access online video streaming services such as Netflix, iView and Apple TV.

 

The webinar will be run as a panel Q&A and will be live-streamed. Participants will be able to watch the session and ask questions live.

 

For more information/contact details go to:

 

http://www.visionaustralia.org/about-us/events/event/2015/07/29/default-calendar/register-now-for-dreaming-of-streaming 

Or email:

 

webinar@visionaustralia.org

 

NVDA Remote Access available

 

Haven’t  tried this yet, but this is really exciting news for those of us who use the free Windows screen reader NVDA, and now with remote support.

 

http://nvdaremote.com/download/

 

Great episode from FSCast 109: Windows 10 and comments from Dr Denise Robinson

 

Great information about Windows 10 released on July 29, and some interesting comments on using screen readers to prepare oneself for the work place.

 

http://www.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/rss.xml

 

Considerations for upgrading to Windows 10 for screen and screen magnification users from the Microsoft Accessibility blog

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/accessibility/archive/2015/07/03/windows-10-upgrade-considerations-for-screen-reader-and-magnifier-users.aspx