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On this episode of the iA Cast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, Allison, Scott, and Chelsea discuss the different ways of finding a job and starting a career. Topics include the job application, writing a resume, and going for a job interview. Let us know what you think, and what job searching strategies you use by emailing us at feedback@iaccessibility.net, or by using our Twitter hashtag which is #iACast.
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On this episode, Aleeha, Matt, Lauren, Allison, and Buddy discuss strategies for managing convention with a Guide dog.
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On this episode of the iA Cast, Michael, Jason, Aleeha, Allison, Scott, and Matt discuss all of the headphones we use All podcast panelists use their equipment for recording, so each person will sound differently based on what they use. Here is the news for this episode. Michael discusses the Google Pixel 2. Microsoft adds Tab Sets to Windows insider preview rs5 Here is what each person used for this episode. Matt recorded with the Apple AirPods Allison recorded with the Andrea Recording Cans Aleeha recorded with the Beats Studio 3 headphones with audio cable Michael recorded on the Beats Studio 3 headphones without the cable. Jason used the Sennheizer Ambio headphones Scott recorded using the Bose QC35 headphones. Please give us feedback by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net, or by following us at twitter @iaccessibility1. You can also tweet our hashtag at #iACast.
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On this episode of the iA UnboxCast, Michael unboxes the Google Pixel 2 with guests Aleeha, Lauren, Chelsea and Jason. Michael takes us through initial setup and talks about the basic features of the phone. Don’t forget to contact us with any feedback at feedback@iaccessibility.net or by following us on Twitter @iaccessibility1. Also, please donate to our Patreon at patreon.com/iacast.
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On this episode, Michael and Jason discuss changes to Twitter’s APIs that may affect the functionality of third party applications. We also talk about a rumor that Apple may be moving away from Intel chips for it’s Mac products, as well as our thoughts on progressive web apps. If you would like to leave us feedback, you can do so by following us on Twitter @iaccessibility1 or sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. Finally, if you enjoy our content, please consider donating by visiting patreon.com/iacast.
A 14-cell braille display is not new. We have seen these before with devices such as the Focus 14 Blue from VFO group and the Smart Beetle from HIMS.
HumanWare, makers of the popular Brailliant braille displays that come in 32, 40 and 80 cells, have announced a smaller model of the display called the Brailliant 14.
This device contains the following hardware specifications. There is an 8-dot braille keyboard and a 14-cell braille display. Across the front of the display, there are the four HumanWare signature thumb keys found on all of their other Braille products.
One unique feature of this display is that there is a touch strip above the braille cells rather than physical cursor routing buttons. To use this touch strip, you simply slide your finger above the braille cell that you want to move your cursor to, and the cursor will be moved to that position in your document.
The display also has the ability to connect 5 Bluetooth devices and 1USB device via its micro USB port. That, again, is something we have seen in other products like the Baum VarioUltra and the HIMS Smart Beetle.
Here is where this device differs. The display features a built-in editor that one can take notes in without being connected to any device. Then, when you pair your iOS device back to this display, if you have the brailliant sync app set up, all notes that you take on the brailliant will go back into iOS and your Gmail account.
This is, on the surface, an interesting concept. With this feature, one can take notes in a meeting and not have to worry about Bluetooth or Apple’s translation issues. After your notes are synchronized back to your Gmail account, one can access them on any number of mainstream devices. With a 15 to 20-hour battery life, taking notes for an extended period is now a snap. A user wouldn’t have to worry about suffering battery issues on the display or on the iOS device, since Bluetooth would not be a factor.
We are entering into interesting times as far as Braille. We not only have this product coming out, but we have the new Orbit Reader 20 produced by the Transforming Braille Group, which will be below $500.00, not to mention a new 16 cell option coming out from Handy Tech, the Actilino, which will be distributed in the US by Triumph Technology.
The market as far as braille displays is getting very competitive, starting as low as under $500.00. It will be interesting to see this new HumanWare display and how it will fare in the market. I plan to attend the 2017 NFB convention, and I am sure I will get to check out this display and have some hands on with this product.
At this point, no pricing or a release date has been set for this product. To learn more, see the link below, which will take you to the HumanWare web page for more information.
We want to thank Stuart Lawler (@StuartLawler) on Twitter for correcting one slight error in the above post. The touch strip that is featured on the Brailliant also can be found on the
BraillePen Touch produced by Harpo.
As we start 2017, we are at the start of a year where I know we will see new developments in all types of technologies. From smart phones to tablets to audio and more. But in this post, I want to look back at 2016. We saw lots of cool devices introduced including new watches, phones and even a low-cost Braille display being announced. If however I had to choose one device that I use every day that I bought in 2016, it would have to be my Bose Quiet Comfort (QC) 35’s active noise canceling Bluetooth headphones.
The first time I tried these on at a Best Buy I was very impressed. From the build quality to the sound, I was like “wow.” Even with active noise canceling turned off, in wired mode, the headphones had great bass and highs. I also liked in Bluetooth mode, you had controls on the side for play/pause, using Siri, volume and the ability to skip tracks.
When turning on the ANC, it was just me and music. This is great for when you are in planes or cars and have a lot of engine noise in the background and you want all of that to just disappear. In my opinion, Bose truly has the best ANC technology.
When I did get a pair of these in October 2016, taking them out of the box, Bose includes everything you need. You get the headphones, a micro USB cable for charging, a detachable cable to use them in wired mode and a very sturdy case to put them in when transporting them.
All the controls are on the right earcup. You have a micro USB port to charge the battery. You have three physical buttons on the side. They are volume down, a multifunction button, which acts as play/pause and skipping tracks, as well as using Siri and a third button, which is volume up. A single tap of the multifunction button will pause the music. A double tap will skip forward, while a triple tap will go back to the previous track. You can also hold down these buttons to rewind and fast forward within a track. Hold the button in until you hear a beep to engage Siri.
On the top of the right earcup is a slide switch. A sound indicates when the headphones are turned on while another sound indicates when the headphones are turned off. The headphones also feature text to speech. It can pair with two devices at a time. When using them in Bluetooth mode,
And you turn them on, you get the battery level announced as well as what device or devices it is going to auto connect to.
The case has a pocket for holding all cables. The earcups of the qc35’s which are made out of a very soft comfortable material, , fold down into the case and lie flat.
As stated above, I love this feature. I fly a lot as well as travel in cars. I love being able to not have to hear the sounds of engines in the background and just focus on the music. These headphones I feel really have to be worn and listened to to get the full appreciation of there sound.
Two cons I would have to say at this point because afterall no product is perfect, is that I wish you could use the headphones with ANC turned offf sometimes. For there are times where your working and don’t want to have ANC turned on while using them in Bluetooth mode. The only way around this is to use a wire mode and turn power off. I hope Bose can address this in the future. Battery life is 20 hours using Bluetooth and ANC and 40 hours using ANC with a wire. I charge these at least once a week over the past few months. It is also worth noting that when the battery dies, you can use these in wired mode with no Bluetooth or ANC.
You can make calls from the headset. You can hold down the multifunction button to engage Siri and make calls. In my tests, callers said I sounded clear to them.
The headphones cost $350-pricy but worth every $. With great sound, great ANC and battery life, your getting great value and performance for the price.
For more information, check out the Bose website at
We are entering a market where the internet connected products that is controlled via voice is starting to get competitive. Up until now Amazon’s Echo has been the well-known product on the block. Now, in November 2016, Google Home is released. In this review, I hope to talk about how Google Home stacks up against Amazon Echo.
Unboxing the device, you find the unit, the power cable and some printed cards telling you about the Google Home app which you can download for iOS and Android. Physically, the device looks like an enlarged air freshener. You have one button on the back which controls if the microphones are on and off. You also plug in the AC cord on the back of the device. The base of the device is removable should you want to purchase additional bases. The base attaches magnetically and it covers the area where the speakers are located. On the top, you have a touch panel that you can use to adjust volume by moving your finger in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction, also you can start and stop media via this touch panel by tapping the touch panel with one Finger.
Once I plugged in the Google Home, I got the Google Home app on my iPhone 7 Plus. Setup was simple, I signed into my google account and connected the home to wifi. I was also able to link my Google Home with Spotify for music playback.
You can do a lot of the same things you can do with Amazon Echo including ask for the time, the weather, tell me a joke, set alarms etc. You can play music and podcasts as well. You use “OK Google” as the phrase to wake it up.
Some things that are different include playing games like a trivia game show, it can walk you through the completion of madlibs and you can ask the crystal ball what your future holds. I found those quite fun I must say. The Home is also very conversational. For example when I asked it Who Is Donald Trump”? I then asked, “When was he born?” The Home knew I was talking about Donald Trup from my last question. That is something that currently, Amazon Echo does not do at the time of this writing.
I did not like the speaker. It was mono which to be fair, so is the large Echo. However, I found it muffled and just not suitable for my ears for any music playback. You do get some bass and some highs, but overall, I just did not like the sound of the speaker. I hope in future we see a new home with much better sounding audio or the ability to use your own audio like you can with the $50 Echo Dot.
I also think the platform needs to mature, which to be fair, the Echo had to as well. The Echo has a wealth of skills and other things you can do at this point. I hope we see developers embracing the home platform going forward. I found at this point in 2016, everything I tested on the Home feature wise, my current Echo and Echo dot can do. I will be watching this platform as time goes on.
The Google Home is $130 US. Below, find the link if you wish to purchase a different base.
The very popular HumanWare Victor Reader Stream has as of September 14, 2016 has been updated to include the following features. Below the summary, see descriptions of how they work in detail.
Now similar to subscribing to podcasts, you can subscribe to Newsline publications via your Stream’s wifi connection. In the past NFB Newsline users needed to handle the subscriptions using their computer’s internet browser and setting which publications they wanted to read on the stream via a a web interface into the NFB newsline online favorites section of the web site.
For those who didn’t have access to a computer, that proved to be an impossible task.
Today you can search for a news publication you want to always have on your Stream, subscribe to it, and you will always have the daily newspaper to read with just a few key presses.
To use this feature perform the following steps:
To subscribe to a publication, perform the following steps;
If you wish to save a copy of a publication it is possible to use the copy function by hitting the 3 key when reading the publication to copy it to the Talking Books bookshelf of the SD card. It is not possible to delete publications from the NFB Newsline online bookshelf as the automatic synchronization will remove old editions and add new ones as they become available.
You can choose to make an NFB publication persistent (the publication will not be removed) by using the “Prevent auto-deletion of an NFB Newsline issue” another option on the 3 key.
To unsubscribe from a publication:
3 key. Note that this will remove all books for this publication from internal memory, including books that were marked as persistent.
When playing Music you can press the 9 key to toggle between the following playback modes:
Shuffle Off
Shuffle On
Loop Folder
Loop Single
Shuffle On will randomize your music, while Loop folder will automatically start playback from the beginning of the current folder when the end of the folder is reached. Loop Single will automatically start playback from the beginning of the current file when the end of the file is reached.
After you update and connect to your Wi-Fi, first set your time to the current time in your time zone. After this initial setting is done, your Stream will always keep its time, as it is constantly validating its time with a network time server.
To enable this feature:
Enjoy version 4.7!!
Up until iOS 10, the process for a Voiceover user to move apps and organize them into folders involved some work. One had to use the pass-through gesture-the 1-finger double tap and hold to get into editing mode. Then one had to be careful and drag icons around the screen to be on top of each other to create folders. Now this is all new in iOS 10. The rotor now simplifies the whole process of moving apps around and creating folders.
To Move apps:
Note: To Move Apps to say the dock or a different page while in editing mode you can use your standard gestures to scroll to a different page. One can also navigate to the dock and move apps in one of four positions within the dock.
When one finishes editing, push the home button to get out of editing mode. Voiceover says “finished editing.”