On this episode of the iA Cast Aleeha Jason and Michael discuss the Microsoft’s latest update to Windows 10 which is called the Windows 10 Creators Update. Here is what we covered during the episode.
Microsoft adds accessible installation of Windows through Narrator
Narrator gets Braille support for corded Braille Displays
Microsoft adds new voices to Narrator
Cortana is added to the Windows setup process for voice enabled setup
During the podcast, we also discuss bugs we have found during the creators update process.
Michael found issues with HDMI in games on ASUS ROG G752VL laptop along with touchpad driver issues
Aleeha had issues with the keyboard not keeping up with letters being typed and letters would appear in the wrong order. This bug appears to have been fixed in a later Insider patch.
For the longest time, games have not been accessible for blind and low vision users. Today, gamers have more choice in what games they play, and Michael Chad and Aleeha discuss their preferences in games on this episode of the iACast.
During this podcast episode, we discuss progress made by AbleGamers and how other game companies are making games accessible. We discuss how games could be more accessible, and we encourage everyone to contact game developers and discuss how much they want games to become accessible.
Game console text to speech was discussed in this episode and how this feature has allowed gamers to navigate the Xbox and the PlayStation consoles to buy and play games.
Amazon has been working on accessibility in their products lately with their Fire tablets and with their e-readers, but they have started in other areas as well. Recently, Amazon has made their Kindle application for Windows accessible with NVDA, and this is a big deal for users and the assistive technology industry.
Kindle with NVDA?
Amazon chose to make the Kindle application for Windows accessible with the NVDA screen reader from NVAccess. While it is great that the Kindle app is accessible for Windows, I think it is the latest application that makes NVDA a major screen reader for users which puts it in the same playing field as JAWS or Window-Eyes
NVDA compared to JAWS or Window-Eyes
NVDA is a free screen reader funded by the community of users and other organizations that keep the project going. Because of this, it is never certain how long NVDA will stay funded. This means that NVDA could stop being developed by the developers if funding runs out. Fortunately, NVDA is open source, which means that anyone can continue the development of the project and the community would oversee its development. JAWS and Window-Eyes are developed by an organization that makes a profit by selling their products to those who use screen readers so their products will continue to receive updates in the future.
NVDA and Kindle
The fact that Amazon chose NVDA to make the Kindle app for Windows accessible means that NVDA has become a household name in screen readers enough for Amazon to think that enough people will use NVDA to read books over other screen readers at home. I think that every time NVDA gets recognized like this by an organization the project gets more recognition in the community, and that means that it is more essential for NVDA to stay around and for it to continue to receive feature updates and new features.
If you are an iOS developer then accessibility should be high on your list of priorities so that all users can utilize your app. Apple has added accessibility traits that are like Aria roles to determine what each element in your app can do. Some of these traits may include Titles, Headers, buttons and more. One that I find interesting is the UIAccessibilityTraitAllowsDirectInteraction trait. This allows the element to be interacted with without having to double tap on that element.
For more information on these traits, head over to the UIAccessibilityTraits documentation from Apple.
Blind Bargains reported that Amazon’s accessibility help desk will allow users to get product descriptions, which means that any product images on their website will be described on this help line. You will still have to purchase the item from their site but you can now get a description of how the item looks. This line is open from 6:00 AM to 1:00 AM Eastern time
Amazon just announced that the Amazon Tap would be updated soon to support a new feature known as hands free mode. This will allow the device to work more like the traditional Echo or Echo Dot where you can just say, “Alexa” to activate the Alexa voice system, so all you would have to do is ask it questions as if you were using an Echo or Echo Dot. Here is how to turn this feature on.
Enable Hands Free mode on Amazon Tap.
To Enable Hands free mode, you will need to have the updated device software on your Tap. At the time of this post I do not see this software update, but here are the steps if you were to have this software update which rolls out over the air as long as the device is on Wi-Fi.
Open the Alexa app on your mobile device
Find the menu button at the top left
Find Settings in the menu
Find and select your Tap in the list of devices. It should have the name similar to Your Name’s Tap
find the setting for Hands free mode and activate it
While using Hands free mode you should still get 8 hours of battery from your Tap. You can also press the power button on the back to put the device to sleep so it keeps charged longer.
Conclusion
Many have said that the Tap was a useless device because it did not have hands free use with the Alexa platform. With this software update, Amazon has gone a long way to make this device more useful in making it a battery powered alternative to the Echo Dot and to the bigger Echo device.
I personally plan to use this device now while I travel and at convention season this summer.
Welcome to the very first iA DemoCast! In this episode, Matt Dierckens will walk you through updating software on macOS Sierra, using Apple’s built-in screen reader, VoiceOver. We hope you find this demonstration useful; if you have topics you would like to see covered on the DemoCast, please let us know! As always, thank you for listening!
I recently have been looking for good time tracking apps for iOS and Android to keep track of my project hours. I went to the App Store business section in iOS and found the app Hours which promised to do just that. As a visual user I found the app to be appealing and would do what I wanted, but I fired up VoiceOver, and received a completely different experience.
How does Hours work
Hours lets the user create a new project, with basic text fields. Once you create your project you can track how much time you work on that project. One nice thing about this app is that it lets you track multiple projects at the same time so you can record your hours for multiple projects.
Accessibility Issues
Once I downloaded this app I was happy to see a mainly text interface, but my happiness stopped there. Once I enabled VoiceOver I only received, “Button” on any graphical button. To make matters worse, the buttons would not work while VoiceOver was on, which makes the app unusable to VoiceOver users. Beyond this presenting a problem to VoiceOver users, sighted users with partial to low vision will have a difficult time using this app because the buttons to me at least, do not tell me anything by just looking at the pictures, so I would need to use VoiceOver to gain perspective on what I am doing, so this makes this app fairly useless to low vision users as well.
Conclusion
While it is a great concept, Hours is not the app for blind and low vision users. Its lack of labeled and usable buttons with VoiceOver makes this app be unaccessible, and I urge the developer to take a look at the accessibilityHint and accessibilityLabel attributes to make these buttons accessible. It is also on Apple because they are featuring these apps which not all users can use.
In this episode of the #iACast, which was recorded on January 11, 2017, join Michael, Daniel, Ashley, Jason, and Matt as they discuss the impact Apple’s iPhone has had on the world, and on their lives.
A Note about Capacitive Touch Screens
There was some confusion about how capacitive touch screens work. Touch input on the iPhone has nothing to do with body heat; instead, capacitive touch screens can work with anything that holds an electrical charge, including human skin. When you touch your iPhone’s screen, an electrical circuit is completed, and then the coordinates of that touch are translated by the iPhone. For more information, check out this helpful article: Okay, but how do touch screens actually work?
Jessica’s iPhone Story
In this episode, everyone explained how they found out about the iPhone, and their journey as it relates to smartphones. Since I, Jessica, was not on the podcast, the group asked me to detail my experiences in the show notes.
When I first heard about the iPhone, I thought people were silly for running out and paying a bunch of money for a slab of glass. I couldn’t understand how anyone would want to use a touch screen phone, much less someone, like myself, who is low vision. I figured it would register a bunch of accidental touches, and that I would struggle to see the interface. I only knew one person with the first iPhone, and I had a brief experience with it when she showed me some pictures. As I swiped through the pictures, pinching to zoom in and out as needed, I briefly considered it as an option. However, that thought quickly vanished when I remembered how expensive the phone was, and that it was not available on Verizon. So, I continued for nearly 4 years on my quest to find a cell phone that would meet my needs as a low vision user. I constantly looked on Verizon’s website for new phones, and watched phone reviews on YouTube, looking for what might be my dream phone. I had flip phones, and messaging phones, and I even owned a couple of Windows Mobile smartphones. They all fell short. In 2009, when I heard the iPhone had a screen reader, I was blown away. I still couldn’t see how anyone who was low vision or blind would want to use it, but I was intrigued. I hunted down some podcasts, and listened to some demonstrations of people using VoiceOver. It seemed neat, but typing seemed slow and time consuming. Nevertheless, I purchased a 3rd Generation iPod Touch in November of 2009. I was slow to catch on, but by the end of 2010, I carried it with me everywhere. Then, it happened – Verizon got the iPhone in 2011, and I immediately upgraded to the iPhone 4. I’ve had an iPhone ever sense, and it has, without a doubt, changed my life. Thanks to zoom and VoiceOver, I can easily use my phone for anything and everything a fully-sighted person can do. I text, take pictures, send and receive email, use social media, and so much more. It is amazing! It has also made the world around me more accessible. I use it as a magnifier, to read my mail and cooking instructions, and I even use it to set my thermostat. I can use it to see things that are far away from me, and if I need some help seeing something, family members and friends are a FaceTime call away! The iPhone is a game changer for those of us with disabilities, and for the world as a whole.
iPhone Announcement
Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at Mac World on January 9, 2007. He said it was a phone, an iPod, and an internet communication device. Check out that announcement below.
As always, thank you for checking out #iACast! We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode! Please share it with friends, and come back to iAccessibility.net for more of your accessible technology needs!
This podcast was recorded on December 1, 2016, and it is hosted by Michael Doise. Accompanying Michael on this episode is Jason Earls, and Jessica Smith.
This episode covers the following topics:
Black Friday/Cyber Monday DealsIn this segment, we discuss our holiday spending and deals we found interesting.
W1-Enabled HeadphonesIn this segment, we discuss Beats and Apple’s AirPods.
Directv NowAll three of us subscribed to AT&T’s new Directv Now service. Listen to us compare its accessibility and ease-of-use to other services, and hear our opinion on the service as a whole.
Why Unlimited Data isn’t Always GoodIf you can stream Directv Now as much a you want as an AT&T cellular subscriber, why isn’t that good for consumers? What about consumers with other networks? What about other services that want to compete with Directv Now? Hear us discuss these issues and more.
iAccessibility NewsCheck out iAccessibility.net for all the details on app betas, our training program, and more.
We sincerely hope you enjoy the content covered in this episode of our podcast! We have more content in the editing process, and we can’t wait to share it all with you soon! Thank you for listening!
My Pick For Best Tech of 2016? Beats Solo 3
Next up, Jason wrote a post about the Beats Solo 3 headphones. The first thing Jason focuses on right off the bat is the battery life of the Beats Solo 3’s. Check out the article for more information.
Jessica’s Favorite Device of 2016!
Jessica wrote this really interesting post about the Ring Video Doorbell Pro If you’re looking for a security camera for your home or apartment, you might be interested in this post.
Ashley’s fav device of 2016
I, Ashley, wrote about the Amazon Echo Dot. I received my Dot at the end of 2016 so I had a short time to explore the Dots capabilities before I published my post. I suggested some great Alexa skills in my post.
Carlos’s Favorite Device of 2016
Carlos wrote about the Smart Battery Case from Apple that originally came out for the iPhone 6s in 2015, but was then updated in 2016 to work with the iPhone 7
Matt’s favorite Device of 2016 iPhone SE
Matt decided that the iPhone SE was his favorite device for 2016. Read his article to find out more and why he picked this phone as his favorite.
Witch of these devices is your top pick? Let us know in the comments.
iAccessibility saw tremendous growth in 2016, when compared to previous years. For this, we would like to thank you all for reading our articles, sharing our posts, listening to our podcasts, and following us on social media. To celebrate, we would like to share with you the posts that received the most traffic in 2016! That’s right, here are your favorite articles.
Note: This list is in reverse order, with the most popular post appearing last on the list.
There you have it – the most popular posts, as chosen by you, our readers! What do you think? Is this list accurate, or do you have a favorite that did not appear on this list? Let us know! And once again, thank you all for your support! We look forward to bringing you more content throughout 2017 and beyond!
