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In this episode, Jason, Michael, Aleeha, Jade, and Anne discuss what we possibly can expect from Apple’s event on Tuesday. We have posted this episode before Wednesday as a special to prime everyone for the upcoming event.
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On this episode of the iA Cast, Aleeha, Matt, and Michael discuss what sports teams each person likes, and which apps they use to track their favorite teams. We also look at which personal assistants work best with finding sports team and player statistics and we compare them to see which ones are the most efficient.
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On this episode of the iA DemoCast, Aleeha demonstrates the following apps for scanning print to digital text as OCR. Find out which apps work the best on different forms of text.
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On this episode of the UnboxCast, Aleeha and Michael unbox the ever popular Apple TV 4th generation from Apple. Aleeha goes through initial setup of the device, as well as its settings. We also demonstrate downloading and setting up an app from the App Store.
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On this episode of the iA Cast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, Matt, Anne and Meaghan discuss the current status of artificial intelligence in consumer technology products.
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Welcome to the latest in new shows from the iACast network. It’s called the PawdCast, and it will be a monthly show featuring topics of interest to service animal users, with a focus on guide dogs. What a better way to start off the show than to talk about identification and its implementation in the United States and Canada. To do that, we brought in Aleeha Dudley, Anne Currie, Buddy Brannan, Dan Hart, Lyn Frison, and Matt Dierckens. We begin by discussing the many different forms of legislation surrounding service animals. In the US, there is the Americans with Disabilities act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Air Carrier access act. We also discuss legislation in Canada, but this podcast by no means describes the law for every province, as that is how the legislation has been constructed. A helpful resource for researching this legislation can be found here. The second part of the podcast deals with identification and its implementation, and how that could be catastrophic for handlers in the United states, as well as how it works in Canada. Buddy mentions an article on Growing Up Guide Pup that discusses this issue. Finally, we wrap up with a couple of resources. NAGDU Guide & Service Dog advocacy & Information on the App Store (don’t worry, the app will receive an update prior to iOS 11)
Frequently Asked Questions about Service Animals – ADA.gov. Credit goes out to Andre Louis for the intro and outro for this episode. We hope you enjoy this new show, and please feel free to email us at feedback@iaccessibility.net with suggestions for future pawdCasts.
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On this episode of the iA Cast, Michael, Jason, Aleeha, Dan, Matt and Anne discuss the different music streaming services and which ones everyone uses and why. Here is the list of services.
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On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Jason, Michael, and Anne Currie discuss the accessibility of eReaders developed by Amazon. Discussion primarily focuses on the Kindle Paperwhite,an eReader commonly used in the educational system. It has a unique accessibility system, requiring a blind user to purchase the reader as a Bundle. We discuss the pros and cons of this method of accessibility implementation, alternatives to it, and ways that it could be improved. Some helpful links related to the accessibility of Amazon eReaders follow.
Amazon expands VoiceView accessibility tool for visually impaired
Amazon.com: Accessibility for Kindle: Amazon Devices & Accessories
The State of Amazon Device Accessibility, an article published in the May 2017 NFB Braille Monitor
On August 21, 2017, millions of people will get the chance to see the total solar eclipse as it passes through the United States. However, not everyone will be able to enjoy it. Those of us with impaired or no vision will certainly miss out on this great spectacle, or will we? As Apple adds use to say, “There’s an app for that.” No, seriously!
The app, called Eclipse Soundscapes, aims to give it’s users “a multisensory experience of this exciting celestial event.”
The Eclipse Soundscapes Project app is specially designed so that people who are blind and visually impaired can share in the awe and wonder of astronomical events in real time with their sighted peers. The app is a joint effort between The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), NASA’s Heliophysics Education Consortium (HEC), the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), and the National Park Service (NPS). Features include an interactive “Rumble map”; audio descriptions of key features of the eclipse; a play-by-play description of the total solar eclipse as it is happening in the user’s area; and a countdown clock to the next upcoming eclipse. The “Rumble Map” gives the user the sensation of “feeling” the Sun during an eclipse. Our technology translates images of key eclipse features into a series of unique frequency modulated tones that map out variations in light and dark as the user explores the image with their fingertips. These tones are specially designed to make the user’s mobile device shake, or rumble, in response to the changes. After the eclipse, the Eclipse Soundscapes app will provide access to a database of soundscape recordings from U.S. National Parks and other urban and rural locations so that users can experience how eclipses change the behavior of different species, including humans. During the next five years, the app will expand to include other eclipses and astronomical objects of interest giving people who are blind and visually impaired – and everyone else – a new way to engage with the universe around them.
You can grab it from the App Store for free.
You can find out more about the Eclipse Soundscapes project here.
I’m really excited to see an app like this because I’ve always had an interest in what events like this looked like. I can’t wait to use it during the eclipse. I think it’s going to be a really neat experience! Don’t you?
Let us know what you think.
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On this episode of the iA UnboxCast, Michael, Jason and Aleeha talk about, and Michael unboxes, the Samsung Galaxy S8+. Michael goes through initial setup with TalkBack, and describes and demonstrates some of the features of the device.
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the iA Cast has made it to episode 50! On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, and Matt talk about where we came from and where we are going.
Michael begins the podcast talking about the history of iAccessibility and how our products became what they are today.
Aleeha discusses what projects she is working on and her plans for new shows on the iA Cast podcast network. Her plans are to review the game Cyclepath by Dragon Apps.. She also discusses ideas for a guide dog and career related podcast.
Matt states that he wants to review the app MacID. for iOS and Mac.
The group talks about the interviews that we conducted at the NFB convention with the Hooke Verse Headset.
During the show, we mention again that 32-bit apps will not launch on iOS 11…
We discuss our newest products which include
Jason closes the show with a live performance of our new podcast theme.
Today we decided that VO Starter should provide training to all iOS users who want to learn VoiceOver, so we decided to make VO Starter a free app. One reason we did this is because everyone should know how to use their device, and the other app that helps with this training is now 2 years old and could use an update. iAccessibility hopes to provide the best training opportunities for students with the use of VO Starter and future VoiceOver training apps, so from this point on, VO Starter shall be a free app. If you are a trainer of the blind then this will be a great asset to your students and to all who need some extra training on iOS devices.