iACast: Recent Episodes
The iACast Team
In this episode, we dive deep into the recent Apple event that has everyone buzzing, aptly titled “It’s Glow Time.” Our hosts, Michael Doeys and Taylor Arndt, share their reactions and insights about the exciting new products and features unveiled during this significant launch. With a focus on artificial intelligence and advancements in accessibility, the duo discusses how Apple’s commitment to innovating for all users is more evident than ever.
Kicking off with the introduction of the iPhone 16 lineup, we explore the various models released, including the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro. Taylor highlights new specifications, including the updated A18 chip and the introduction of USB-C charging, something that many tech enthusiasts have been eagerly anticipating. Michael adds his thoughts on the aesthetic changes, particularly the camera bump reminiscent of earlier iPhone designs, while both hosts express excitement about the new color options available.
Transitioning to the Apple Watch, our hosts discuss the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 10, which brings enhancements such as sleep apnea detection and an improved screen display. The conversation turns to the accessibility implications of these updates and how a better camera can also enhance scanning and optical character recognition capabilities, much to the excitement of the visually impaired community. With a commitment to usability, both hosts recognize the significance of improved health features, especially for users who rely on these devices for fitness tracking and health monitoring.
The new AirPods Pro also take center stage, with Taylor sharing his personal experiences and preferences relating to audio features. The introduction of hearing aid capabilities intrigued both hosts, as they discuss the broader implications of offering such features to a wider audience who may not have access to traditional hearing aids. They appreciate Apple’s effort to make these tools more integrated and socially acceptable as wearable technology.
As the episode progresses, Michael and Taylor address the mainstream narrative on visual intelligence and AI integration in everyday applications. They discuss how new features will enable users to take pictures of objects, receive detailed information, and even connect apps like Be My Eyes and Aira to enhance accessibility. The discourse around these capabilities reflects a shared enthusiasm for the potential of technology to bridge gaps and improve the quality of life for users traditional platforms may overlook.
In conclusion, the hosts wrap up the episode by touching upon the representation of accessibility within Apple’s event, praising the company’s continued commitment to inclusivity across its product lines. The episode emphasizes the significance of these announcements for the community, understanding that technology must evolve to be both powerful and accessible. Tune in for an informative discussion that encapsulates the intersection of technology and usability, as well as the ongoing narrative of creating a world that works for everyone.
1
00:00:00,017 –> 00:00:04,537
Hello, everybody, and YouTube. Well, everybody and YouTube.2
00:00:04,757 –> 00:00:08,217
Oh, that’s interesting. Welcome to another IACast episode.
3
00:00:08,880 –> 00:00:24,080
Music.
4
00:00:22,937 –> 00:00:28,157
Episode. All right, I’m Michael Doeys, and yet again, I’m here with Taylor Arndt.
5
00:00:28,297 –> 00:00:30,317
Feels like we just did this yesterday, Taylor.
6
00:00:31,377 –> 00:00:36,597
Yeah, I really think we did. I mean, gosh, today’s been a crazy
7
00:00:36,757 –> 00:00:40,177
day it has been non-stop and
8
00:00:40,177 –> 00:00:43,317
crazy action you michael maybe you should use that
9
00:00:43,317 –> 00:00:47,617
and youtube thing in your next podcast greeting because you always you know
10
00:00:47,617 –> 00:00:55,897
want to change it up yes that was a new accidental one so we’ll go with that
11
00:00:55,897 –> 00:01:03,217
so today was a very amazing event and pretty exciting Exciting stuff was announced, I think.
12
00:01:04,037 –> 00:01:10,897
Wouldn’t you say? I mean, was. Okay, so yesterday we did our podcast called It’s Pre-Glow Time.
13
00:01:11,357 –> 00:01:13,457
Today, it’s Post-Glow Time.
14
00:01:14,817 –> 00:01:18,577
And Apple had an event called It’s Glow Time.
15
00:01:19,137 –> 00:01:22,717
It did. I couldn’t find my mute button, so that was fun. Anyways.
16
00:01:22,937 –> 00:01:28,977
And Apple, do you know why it’s called Glow Time, Taylor? Is it because of the colors?
17
00:01:30,241 –> 00:01:36,041
It’s the colors of, you know, when you activate the new Siri, it glows.
18
00:01:36,161 –> 00:01:39,661
The rim of your phone glows. Oh, interesting.
19
00:01:40,401 –> 00:01:44,261
So that’s why it’s called it’s glow time because it uses a very similar animation.
20
00:01:44,561 –> 00:01:47,661
And they really did bring out the glow today.
21
00:01:48,941 –> 00:01:52,621
I’m pretty excited about this event. Oh, me too.
22
00:01:53,141 –> 00:01:56,801
So, Taylor, why were you excited? just as a we’ll go
23
00:01:56,801 –> 00:02:00,061
into all the details soon but why were
24
00:02:00,061 –> 00:02:02,901
you excited well y’all know my
25
00:02:02,901 –> 00:02:05,781
first thing ai a lot of
26
00:02:05,781 –> 00:02:11,301
ai today there’s also a new feature called visual intelligence where basically
27
00:02:11,301 –> 00:02:15,061
you could take a picture of something and it will tell you what it is like for
28
00:02:15,061 –> 00:02:18,841
example a restaurant menu right it could tell you you know all the different
29
00:02:18,841 –> 00:02:24,341
things about that or even like let’s say you have I don’t know, something you bought.
30
00:02:24,481 –> 00:02:27,981
I think they used a bike in the demo, right?
31
00:02:28,081 –> 00:02:31,521
But you’re like, oh, I want to see what this is. You could take a picture of
32
00:02:31,521 –> 00:02:32,941
it and then it would search the Google.
33
00:02:34,181 –> 00:02:41,461
Really? Search Google to find a suitable bike or item that you could buy.
34
00:02:41,521 –> 00:02:42,641
That’s the exact same thing.
35
00:02:42,941 –> 00:02:48,241
So a lot of different AI happening. And I love this. And a lot of it’s actually on your device.
36
00:02:48,841 –> 00:02:54,841
Of course, there’s other things too, mainly with like camera stuff.
37
00:02:54,981 –> 00:02:57,261
And now I want to talk about this for just a second, Michael.
38
00:02:57,321 –> 00:03:01,061
I don’t want to go on a huge tangent, but I’ve been seeing people in math and
39
00:03:01,061 –> 00:03:03,741
be like, oh, well, the camera stuff’s not very important to blind people.
40
00:03:03,981 –> 00:03:07,741
And sometimes it is. But the other thing that people have to realize is that
41
00:03:07,741 –> 00:03:11,901
a better camera means better scanning and OCR, optical character recognition
42
00:03:11,901 –> 00:03:13,101
for those who may not know.
43
00:03:13,341 –> 00:03:17,021
And that helps us to be able to recognize things better and maybe make the AI
44
00:03:17,021 –> 00:03:20,021
better for cameras Reservoir Register. I just want to put that PSA out there, folks.
45
00:03:21,203 –> 00:03:26,023
Yeah, so I guess to start us off, watches.
46
00:03:27,063 –> 00:03:34,943
Yes. So we got, really, we only got one new watch this time, right?
47
00:03:35,623 –> 00:03:43,543
We got the 10 in two different sizes. Yep. But we didn’t get an Ultra. We didn’t get an Ultra 3.
48
00:03:44,123 –> 00:03:49,003
That’s interesting because, like, I don’t know if the sources were incorrect
49
00:03:49,003 –> 00:03:50,063
on articles that I’ve read,
50
00:03:50,063 –> 00:03:53,623
but it basically said we got an ultra three so that’s very interesting folks
51
00:03:53,623 –> 00:03:59,663
no we did not get an ultra three we got an ultra two with a new color oh so
52
00:03:59,663 –> 00:04:01,183
that might be confusing for some,
53
00:04:01,903 –> 00:04:07,303
yeah so it’s the same watches last year but with a new black i think they’re
54
00:04:07,303 –> 00:04:13,203
calling it like a satin color finish so that’s that’s all we got that’s why
55
00:04:13,203 –> 00:04:16,783
why would they only do that because Because it’s a sports watch,
56
00:04:16,843 –> 00:04:18,403
it lasts a little longer,
57
00:04:18,623 –> 00:04:21,923
you know, it does a bit more than the other watches do.
58
00:04:23,043 –> 00:04:30,523
But I think the Apple Watch 10 looks really nice and it will do all the same features as before.
59
00:04:30,883 –> 00:04:37,963
We did not get word on the blood oxygen sensor, what’s going to happen with that.
60
00:04:38,303 –> 00:04:45,263
But we did find out that it does have sleep apnea detection with sensors, right? That is correct.
61
00:04:45,983 –> 00:04:49,623
There are new bands that you can look up and things like that,
62
00:04:49,783 –> 00:04:54,523
but new screens with new brightness.
63
00:04:55,143 –> 00:04:59,423
30% more than previous models with OLED.
64
00:05:00,103 –> 00:05:03,463
Yeah, and they look great. Very nice looking screens.
65
00:05:04,383 –> 00:05:07,823
And always on display with the one second refresh rate, if I remember correctly.
66
00:05:08,123 –> 00:05:11,443
Yeah, and that’s been the case on other watches, but I think they’re brighter.
67
00:05:11,443 –> 00:05:19,203
And okay now the interesting thing is the 10 does have an 18 hour battery life that they claim i i,
68
00:05:19,883 –> 00:05:25,423
want i think i want a 10 the problem is i’m so used to my ultras 36 hours of
69
00:05:25,423 –> 00:05:31,723
battery life i’m gonna miss that well i mean let’s break that down a little
70
00:05:31,723 –> 00:05:35,443
bit though because like i hate like sitting and you know charging stuff like
71
00:05:35,443 –> 00:05:39,643
it’s just annoying is the 10 worth it enough to
72
00:05:39,723 –> 00:05:43,903
do that because like you’re going from 18 to 36 that’s a half life and that
73
00:05:43,903 –> 00:05:50,363
18 is not even a full complaint complaint confirmed number yeah so i don’t know
74
00:05:50,363 –> 00:05:53,503
that i would even do that if i were you i understand you want the new features
75
00:05:53,503 –> 00:05:59,543
but is sacrificing battery life that worth it well and but that’s the question.
76
00:06:00,543 –> 00:06:04,803
You know, the funny thing is, I typically charge my watch every day if it can
77
00:06:04,803 –> 00:06:09,903
last that 24 hours, which my Series 7 used to do.
78
00:06:10,363 –> 00:06:15,283
Then that’s fine, and you can just put it on the charger for 30 minutes and you get 80% battery.
79
00:06:15,583 –> 00:06:19,283
So I’m wondering if that’s going to be enough for me, you know?
80
00:06:19,443 –> 00:06:22,343
I don’t know, Michael. Knowing you, I don’t know that it will be.
81
00:06:22,543 –> 00:06:28,223
Just being honest, like, I don’t… Yeah, I but I want the one of the cool features
82
00:06:28,223 –> 00:06:33,903
is the fact that the new watches will play audio out of the speaker in the music
83
00:06:33,903 –> 00:06:35,823
app and do a few things like that.
84
00:06:36,003 –> 00:06:40,723
We don’t know if that’s backwards ported on the new on the Ultra 2.
85
00:06:41,003 –> 00:06:44,763
The sleep apnea stuff is on the Ultra 2 and the 9.
86
00:06:45,343 –> 00:06:48,283
You wouldn’t just get an Ultra 2, would you? Would that be better?
87
00:06:48,623 –> 00:06:57,243
No, I don’t know that I would. I have an Ultra 1, and I like my Ultra 1, but it’s, I don’t know.
88
00:06:58,023 –> 00:07:01,983
It’s getting older, and there’s starting to be some things that the Ultra 2
89
00:07:01,983 –> 00:07:07,583
can do, and the Watch 10 can definitely do, that mine cannot do.
90
00:07:08,383 –> 00:07:12,243
So I think that I’m probably going to be upgrading.
91
00:07:13,103 –> 00:07:16,023
I just don’t know that a 10 is going to be enough for your battery life.
92
00:07:16,263 –> 00:07:19,763
That’s my only concern. And I don’t know. I don’t do a lot of work with my watch.
93
00:07:19,843 –> 00:07:23,763
I do a lot of workouts and fitness stuff mainly and notifications, so it might.
94
00:07:24,883 –> 00:07:29,303
But it just depends. So, you know, I mean, if I don’t like it,
95
00:07:29,343 –> 00:07:30,643
I could always send it back, you know?
96
00:07:30,703 –> 00:07:33,903
Yep. And get an Ultra or get some else. Yep.
97
00:07:35,863 –> 00:07:39,883
So, anything? I mean, I know that they have new watch faces, new watch bands.
98
00:07:41,243 –> 00:07:44,483
There’s the new Hermes Apple Watch Ultra bands. Yes.
99
00:07:45,636 –> 00:07:49,336
Did I miss anything that you mentioned in your article? I don’t think so.
100
00:07:49,376 –> 00:07:52,016
I don’t really have it open right now because I don’t want voiceover to come
101
00:07:52,016 –> 00:07:54,156
through the podcast. I’m just kind of doing everything from memory.
102
00:07:54,976 –> 00:08:01,356
So we know that it has additional, you know, the charging stuff that we mentioned,
103
00:08:01,436 –> 00:08:06,056
new screens, new rounded edges to make the screens bigger.
104
00:08:06,896 –> 00:08:10,076
And this is 10 years of Apple Watch, folks. It’s pretty exciting.
105
00:08:10,816 –> 00:08:14,756
Yes, it is 10 years of Apple Watch. So, yeah, very interesting.
106
00:08:14,756 –> 00:08:17,676
Thing i mean apple watches last a long
107
00:08:17,676 –> 00:08:20,416
time because remember when we were doing some stuff
108
00:08:20,416 –> 00:08:23,396
on discord or zoom one of our friends has series 2
109
00:08:23,396 –> 00:08:27,256
and it just gave out so like eight years i think it’s still running it’s just
110
00:08:27,256 –> 00:08:32,956
running very slow oh okay well yeah but i’m just saying like it can last a long
111
00:08:32,956 –> 00:08:39,416
time yes it can try to say apple watches can last a very long time so i don’t
112
00:08:39,416 –> 00:08:40,536
I don’t think I have anything else on my goal.
113
00:08:41,156 –> 00:08:45,196
Yeah, I mean, the watches are cool. They start at $399, I think.
114
00:08:45,936 –> 00:08:50,776
$399. The watch I won is $699, and the Ultra 2 is still $799.
115
00:08:52,036 –> 00:08:59,516
So, the Ultra 2 does not have the depth. The Watch 2 does not have.
116
00:08:59,816 –> 00:09:05,176
Let me start that. The Ultra 2 has the action button, whereas the other watches do not.
117
00:09:06,076 –> 00:09:10,596
But you want that, though, don’t you? Believe it or not, and it also has the
118
00:09:10,596 –> 00:09:13,856
advanced compass and GPS and all that stuff that is in the Ultra 2.
119
00:09:14,536 –> 00:09:18,476
Believe it or not, I have not used any of that stuff.
120
00:09:20,096 –> 00:09:25,916
Well, then yeah, go to a 10. I mean, the simpler, the cheaper, the better.
121
00:09:26,676 –> 00:09:30,496
Now, there’s not a new SE watch this year, is there? Not yet, no.
122
00:09:31,136 –> 00:09:35,696
Not yet, but there’s also, didn’t they upgrade from stainless steel to grade 5 titanium?
123
00:09:36,316 –> 00:09:42,316
Yeah, there is titanium, polished titanium, they say, on the new Apple Watch Series 10s.
124
00:09:42,716 –> 00:09:46,996
So I don’t know. We didn’t look to see if they have titanium and stainless steel.
125
00:09:47,216 –> 00:09:50,276
I imagine that they do because they have like 10 different colors.
126
00:09:52,536 –> 00:09:56,296
So, yeah, there’s still a lot to unpack from this.
127
00:09:57,616 –> 00:10:05,236
So let’s move on to AirPods. pods now Taylor with your situation with your ears
128
00:10:05,236 –> 00:10:10,156
did any of this interest you at all maybe a little bit just because like I love
129
00:10:10,156 –> 00:10:13,836
aftershocks but again you know I don’t know like.
130
00:10:16,190 –> 00:10:19,390
It’s kind of hard just because like i don’t know if they’ll fit and i don’t
131
00:10:19,390 –> 00:10:23,770
want the same thing that happened that you know earlier so i don’t know it’s
132
00:10:23,770 –> 00:10:26,210
gonna be kind of a maybe situation i,
133
00:10:26,730 –> 00:10:32,890
time will tell so they came out with airpods 4 and the airpods 4 with advanced
134
00:10:32,890 –> 00:10:38,630
noise cancellation they start at 129 i believe and 179 is the more expensive
135
00:10:38,630 –> 00:10:40,630
i picked up the anc versions
136
00:10:40,950 –> 00:10:47,710
the is it the 79 179 yeah it’s i guess advanced noise cancellation i think that’s
137
00:10:47,710 –> 00:10:51,850
what the a stands for yeah like what’s antsy yeah so you picked those up already
138
00:10:51,850 –> 00:10:55,530
were they already in pre-order yes they’re already up for pre-order so are the
139
00:10:55,530 –> 00:10:57,250
watches and they’ll be out on the 20th.
140
00:10:57,810 –> 00:11:00,510
Were the airpods it seems like they were
141
00:11:00,510 –> 00:11:03,170
cheaply priced or moderately priced is that right because that’s what
142
00:11:03,170 –> 00:11:06,010
i wrote well they’re moderately priced i mean
143
00:11:06,010 –> 00:11:08,950
there’s two levels of those you know i’m really
144
00:11:08,950 –> 00:11:11,630
excited about the the anc because they also have
145
00:11:11,630 –> 00:11:15,150
transparency and and with an open ear design no ear
146
00:11:15,150 –> 00:11:18,890
tips that’s kind of exciting to me yeah it
147
00:11:18,890 –> 00:11:21,990
is and i mean how are they going to fit all those different kinds
148
00:11:21,990 –> 00:11:25,210
of like small ear bigger ears i know they did the ml where
149
00:11:25,210 –> 00:11:28,310
they took a bunch of samples and things but time will
150
00:11:28,310 –> 00:11:31,150
tell folks but i did not like your
151
00:11:31,150 –> 00:11:34,870
tips because they fall off and they you know roll over well
152
00:11:34,870 –> 00:11:37,770
and these can still fall out of your ear these are more like the ear pods
153
00:11:37,770 –> 00:11:41,310
yeah i’m not sure which there
154
00:11:41,310 –> 00:11:44,090
was a rumor that they’d be no longer selling those and they
155
00:11:44,090 –> 00:11:47,510
still are so i’m happy to see that i know
156
00:11:47,510 –> 00:11:51,050
a couple of my friends would you know purchase like a whole bunch of them at
157
00:11:51,050 –> 00:11:54,910
once make sure they have those because they’re pretty valuable me personally
158
00:11:54,910 –> 00:12:04,210
i’m not really a fan so we have the we have the air AirPods Pro 4 and the 4 with ANC.
159
00:12:04,370 –> 00:12:07,310
We also got updates to the AirPods Pro.
160
00:12:07,970 –> 00:12:11,570
And that’s kind of exciting because they added a bunch of hearing features.
161
00:12:12,550 –> 00:12:17,670
With a hearing test. That’s really cool. A clinical hearing test.
162
00:12:18,470 –> 00:12:22,230
And a few other hearing features. But I think the coolest thing that they added
163
00:12:22,230 –> 00:12:28,270
was the hearing aid features that’s coming out later this year.
164
00:12:28,270 –> 00:12:30,570
That will make the AirPods into a hearing aid.
165
00:12:32,370 –> 00:12:36,790
So, does that mean the hearing aid business has been basically disrupted?
166
00:12:37,966 –> 00:12:43,006
Pretty much, because the neat thing about these is they’re headphones.
167
00:12:44,106 –> 00:12:47,846
So instead of it looking weird to have a hearing aid in your ear,
168
00:12:47,966 –> 00:12:50,366
they’re more accepted because, like, oh, well, everybody’s wearing headphones,
169
00:12:50,526 –> 00:12:51,566
so I can just wear my AirPods.
170
00:12:52,126 –> 00:12:55,826
And your hearing aid profiles on your AirPods Pro, too.
171
00:12:56,566 –> 00:13:02,506
Won’t your health out? No. What will happen is you could use those for audio on your phone.
172
00:13:02,986 –> 00:13:06,466
So they can enhance the audio on your phone based on your hearing aid profile.
173
00:13:06,466 –> 00:13:09,386
File that i think is one of the coolest
174
00:13:09,386 –> 00:13:12,586
features yes and the clinical health your
175
00:13:12,586 –> 00:13:15,666
test will go into your health app yes that will yep yep
176
00:13:15,666 –> 00:13:21,366
i like that and i also like the noise isolation see some of these things i don’t
177
00:13:21,366 –> 00:13:24,286
know like i’m just so torn because remember michael that feature where that
178
00:13:24,286 –> 00:13:29,446
the people are in a noisy environment and it got rid all that noise yes that’s
179
00:13:29,446 –> 00:13:32,926
and they’ve been They’ve been doing some of that already, but…
180
00:13:32,926 –> 00:13:35,646
That’s only on the Pros, right? Yes.
181
00:13:36,586 –> 00:13:40,866
Yeah, I don’t know. Because the Pros, I can’t do it. I’m pretty sure it’s only on the Pros.
182
00:13:41,746 –> 00:13:46,506
I’ll have to look. I’ll go look and I’ll give you guys more information once I figure that out.
183
00:13:47,226 –> 00:13:49,786
Yeah, there’s still a lot of information unpacked from this.
184
00:13:50,626 –> 00:13:55,726
And then we got the AirPods Max update that we’ve been waiting for forever.
185
00:13:56,646 –> 00:14:00,186
Yeah. And it looks like the only thing they did was USB-C.
186
00:14:00,666 –> 00:14:05,866
But you don’t know. We even really looked on Apple’s website and we can’t find
187
00:14:05,866 –> 00:14:08,066
it. I don’t feel like they’re prioritized.
188
00:14:09,446 –> 00:14:13,926
I know. I don’t feel like they’re prioritized as much as they used to be.
189
00:14:14,066 –> 00:14:16,486
Man, I don’t like Airpods Max.
190
00:14:16,666 –> 00:14:20,846
The only reason I don’t like them is because they were not reliable at all.
191
00:14:21,386 –> 00:14:24,566
You know, I had to send them into repair for like two or three times.
192
00:14:24,966 –> 00:14:27,466
And I finally I’m just like I’m not dealing with this anymore,
193
00:14:28,820 –> 00:14:33,320
Because they just kept rebooting themselves and things like that. Yep.
194
00:14:35,040 –> 00:14:41,640
So, the next thing, and the AirPods Max are still $450. $450?
195
00:14:42,920 –> 00:14:47,500
$550. $550. Sorry about that. Yeah. I was like, oh, man. Maybe that was me wishing.
196
00:14:48,580 –> 00:14:52,040
Yeah. Wishful thinking, Michael. Yeah. I wish.
197
00:14:52,500 –> 00:14:56,260
I know. That would make it very nice. For that price, you could probably get
198
00:14:56,260 –> 00:14:58,220
Beats, but not AirPods Max.
199
00:14:58,220 –> 00:15:01,800
Right so i mean they’re
200
00:15:01,800 –> 00:15:05,080
good headphones guys i would i probably will buy another pair eventually
201
00:15:05,080 –> 00:15:09,860
eventually yeah would not be on my priority list i mean i might give them another
202
00:15:09,860 –> 00:15:13,440
shot especially because they’re usbc i’m trying to get rid of lightning and
203
00:15:13,440 –> 00:15:18,980
frankly yeah i don’t like lightning my goal is to get rid of everything lightning
204
00:15:18,980 –> 00:15:24,740
me too okay so So iPhones,
205
00:15:25,140 –> 00:15:31,540
this is really where I think a lot of people are going to be excited. I’m excited. Me too.
206
00:15:32,520 –> 00:15:36,120
So we got new iPhones with several different colors.
207
00:15:37,540 –> 00:15:41,480
And, oh, two things I want to go back to, Apple Watch.
208
00:15:41,680 –> 00:15:46,600
The new watches have translation from one language to another built in now on the new models.
209
00:15:47,060 –> 00:15:53,440
So that’s important to note. and the AirPods now have where you can shake your
210
00:15:53,440 –> 00:15:56,860
head yes or no to answer or end calls. Very important.
211
00:15:57,520 –> 00:16:02,180
And this is on the AirPods 4. I think the Pros already have this,
212
00:16:02,780 –> 00:16:06,280
which might be why I’ve answered and hung up on calls without knowing,
213
00:16:06,360 –> 00:16:08,640
you know, I had AirPods Pro.
214
00:16:08,980 –> 00:16:12,320
Because I wear those all the time and didn’t know that that feature was even there.
215
00:16:12,800 –> 00:16:15,660
Well, do they just do automatic firmware updates or how does that work?
216
00:16:15,940 –> 00:16:17,920
You know, yeah, they do. They do.
217
00:16:19,100 –> 00:16:27,640
So then we have the phones. We have the iPhone 16 and 16 plus pro and pro max.
218
00:16:28,220 –> 00:16:32,040
The 16 has a new a 18 chip in it.
219
00:16:32,100 –> 00:16:36,780
And I’m really happy to see guys that Apple is back on the track of,
220
00:16:36,880 –> 00:16:41,640
it’s not using the a 17 pro last year.
221
00:16:42,060 –> 00:16:47,960
And then the pros using the a 18 they’re back on the, the a 18 is in the.
222
00:16:49,769 –> 00:16:54,629
In the regular phones, in the A18 Pro is in the Pro and Pro Max phones.
223
00:16:55,809 –> 00:17:05,149
And the iPhone 16 has some very cool colors like teal, aquamarine,
224
00:17:05,149 –> 00:17:08,149
and I think there’s a white, a black.
225
00:17:09,029 –> 00:17:13,329
Yeah, I think those are the colors. Jet black? Jet black. Yeah.
226
00:17:13,809 –> 00:17:16,249
Well, it’s jet black on the watch. I think that was on the watch.
227
00:17:16,749 –> 00:17:19,869
Oh, I thought there was both. I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t have my notes in front of me.
228
00:17:19,929 –> 00:17:24,409
And then the camera bump on this phone is only two cameras, but it looks like
229
00:17:24,409 –> 00:17:25,889
the iPhone X’s camera bump.
230
00:17:25,989 –> 00:17:30,209
I really like it. It looks really cool. I like smaller camera bumps.
231
00:17:30,909 –> 00:17:33,769
They’re kind of going back to the iPhone X days, huh? Mm-hmm.
232
00:17:34,509 –> 00:17:40,829
And I like the, this one has the action button, just like the 15 Pros did.
233
00:17:41,249 –> 00:17:47,509
And it now has a better ceramic shield screen and other things like that.
234
00:17:47,509 –> 00:17:51,989
And it also has a new button called camera control we’ll get into camera control in just a bit,
235
00:17:52,489 –> 00:18:00,369
it has usb charging usbc charging with usb2 which is still perplexing why they’re
236
00:18:00,369 –> 00:18:09,209
using two and not three on all their phones oh yeah and yeah the the blue colors
237
00:18:09,209 –> 00:18:10,649
are very nice on these phones i will
238
00:18:10,689 –> 00:18:13,449
say they have ray tracing they
239
00:18:13,449 –> 00:18:16,609
have a lot of features on the baseline phones
240
00:18:16,609 –> 00:18:19,309
at $799 that are pretty nice for a
241
00:18:19,309 –> 00:18:22,849
phone man i you know
242
00:18:22,849 –> 00:18:26,589
for a while in that apple event i’m like oh i have to upgrade you a pro this
243
00:18:26,589 –> 00:18:30,889
year pro you know it’s like but then of course the lidar the lidar thing is
244
00:18:30,889 –> 00:18:35,569
kind of difficult because like you know i don’t know like the lidar is important
245
00:18:35,569 –> 00:18:40,369
but who knows what What are your thoughts, Michael, or do you have anything else to say?
246
00:18:40,869 –> 00:18:46,009
Well, on those phones, that’s about it. But I almost went for,
247
00:18:46,129 –> 00:18:50,369
I almost was convinced on the 16 lineup because it has so many great features
248
00:18:50,369 –> 00:18:51,729
and it’s cheaper. Me too.
249
00:18:52,149 –> 00:18:55,289
That’s what I was going to say. I almost was like, hmm, I could just spend,
250
00:18:55,389 –> 00:18:58,289
you know, a lot less money, but I’m like, oh, crap.
251
00:18:59,049 –> 00:19:04,029
But the Pros, so the Pros are very different this year.
252
00:19:04,109 –> 00:19:09,229
They do not have a blue phone. they have a like a like a slate it’s like a black
253
00:19:09,229 –> 00:19:16,249
they have a natural titanium they have a.
254
00:19:17,069 –> 00:19:24,069
White which is the color that michael is going to go for and they have a desert
255
00:19:24,069 –> 00:19:31,829
color that’s kind of like a gold sand kind of color not a fan personally but
256
00:19:31,829 –> 00:19:36,149
i haven’t been been able to see it so I’d have to like go in the store and look at it,
257
00:19:37,229 –> 00:19:40,409
But I like, and I don’t think, guys, we’re going to see a big,
258
00:19:40,489 –> 00:19:43,249
I mean, I could be wrong, but I don’t think we’re going to see as big of a pre-order
259
00:19:43,249 –> 00:19:46,969
season this year because much of the features, like all the AI stuff they’re
260
00:19:46,969 –> 00:19:50,589
talking about, Apple intelligence and everything is not coming till October.
261
00:19:51,469 –> 00:19:55,609
See, that’s part of my dilemma is, of course, my charging port is out.
262
00:19:56,569 –> 00:20:01,049
So, you know, I’d like, I have to wireless charge, which isn’t a huge deal except when I’m developing.
263
00:20:01,429 –> 00:20:05,449
But it’s like, man, do I wait till October to upgrade or, well, I don’t know.
264
00:20:06,149 –> 00:20:08,389
What are your thoughts, Michael?
265
00:20:09,289 –> 00:20:13,389
Yeah, I think it’s worth it.
266
00:20:13,609 –> 00:20:17,809
Well, I try to upgrade as soon as I can because the iPhone is so powerful.
267
00:20:17,929 –> 00:20:21,429
You can do so much with it. It’s like your main computer when you’re not at
268
00:20:21,429 –> 00:20:23,709
your computer, right? Yep, I agree.
269
00:20:24,749 –> 00:20:28,629
I’m a huge iPhone fan, and I’m going to be very curious what these studio mics
270
00:20:28,629 –> 00:20:34,089
will allow us to do, especially on VOIP apps like Discord or others.
271
00:20:34,089 –> 00:20:37,069
And they showed off a feature at the event where
272
00:20:37,069 –> 00:20:39,909
somebody could play a
273
00:20:39,909 –> 00:20:43,489
track out the speakers and voice memos would allow them to record their voice
274
00:20:43,489 –> 00:20:48,749
over it and they can lay the two tracks on each other and it would sound natural
275
00:20:48,749 –> 00:20:54,629
that is kind of amazing stuff yeah so i’m sure for the acb karaoke when people
276
00:20:54,629 –> 00:20:57,469
have to do their tracks every week i’m sure they will love that feature Yeah.
277
00:20:57,949 –> 00:21:03,709
And then they talked about doing like spatial video where you would have the
278
00:21:03,709 –> 00:21:05,329
spatial audio in the video.
279
00:21:05,549 –> 00:21:07,609
So that’s binaural audio.
280
00:21:08,289 –> 00:21:11,529
Really? Yes. So you don’t need those ambios.
281
00:21:11,809 –> 00:21:18,069
So a lot of things that, you know, we’ve wanted in an iPhone we can do now with audio.
282
00:21:18,909 –> 00:21:23,729
That is really, really amazing. You know, and I really like that they focus
283
00:21:23,729 –> 00:21:27,089
a lot on audio and cameras. It wasn’t just camera, camera, camera.
284
00:21:27,229 –> 00:21:31,409
Again, I wouldn’t mind that because that would help make our OCR better.
285
00:21:31,669 –> 00:21:35,209
But it’s always great when they focus on the audio and other sides as well.
286
00:21:36,266 –> 00:21:42,586
Yeah, and they did talk about 4K 120 hertz recording, which is absolutely crazy
287
00:21:42,586 –> 00:21:45,866
for video recording. So I’m very excited about that.
288
00:21:46,526 –> 00:21:51,766
And I mean, so much better for Apple intelligence. I think every phone this
289
00:21:51,766 –> 00:21:53,946
year is getting Apple intelligence, which is incredible.
290
00:21:54,326 –> 00:21:59,626
And that is my favorite feature. I just upgraded my Mac to the beta because
291
00:21:59,626 –> 00:22:01,626
my current phone, I can’t do Apple intelligence.
292
00:22:01,626 –> 00:22:04,286
But hopefully i you know
293
00:22:04,286 –> 00:22:07,406
so far my mac hasn’t decided and we’re going to just upgrade to
294
00:22:07,406 –> 00:22:10,326
the new beta so that’s good because it would have just shut down
295
00:22:10,326 –> 00:22:13,466
that would not have been good for podcasting but man i’m excited
296
00:22:13,466 –> 00:22:16,706
to play with apple intelligence this is my first time playing with it yep i’ve
297
00:22:16,706 –> 00:22:19,546
mainly written about it as well summaries and writing
298
00:22:19,546 –> 00:22:22,426
tools are what i’ve used mainly but yeah it’s
299
00:22:22,426 –> 00:22:25,426
going to be pretty cool yes and you can audio record
300
00:22:25,426 –> 00:22:28,126
notes then we’ll transcribe it and make summaries out of
301
00:22:28,126 –> 00:22:30,926
it that’s a game changer for me
302
00:22:30,926 –> 00:22:35,186
a lot of great features so the pro
303
00:22:35,186 –> 00:22:39,766
models they start at 9.99 they go to 11.99 for
304
00:22:39,766 –> 00:22:50,586
the bigger model the pro max the lineup up is 6.1 and 6.7 inch for the 16 and
305
00:22:50,586 –> 00:22:56,706
16 plus 6.3 and 6.9 inches for the pro and pro max,
306
00:22:57,926 –> 00:23:02,026
wow yeah i’m glad you remembered those numbers because i had them reversed.
307
00:23:03,286 –> 00:23:12,966
Then the pro max is slated for a 33 hour battery life oh it’s almost three days No, not quite.
308
00:23:13,526 –> 00:23:16,046
That’s a day and a half. I don’t know how to math.
309
00:23:17,646 –> 00:23:19,406
And then we have…
310
00:23:20,908 –> 00:23:25,008
The action button just as normal, but we also have the camera control button,
311
00:23:25,188 –> 00:23:30,688
which will let us do visual intelligence, which will let you point at something,
312
00:23:30,788 –> 00:23:34,208
hold the button down and get more information about what you’re looking at.
313
00:23:34,948 –> 00:23:40,348
I’m very excited about this. I think this is going to on device kind of challenge
314
00:23:40,348 –> 00:23:41,768
what the meta Ray-Bans do.
315
00:23:41,948 –> 00:23:46,888
But I mean, the Ray-Bans will still have a place because they’re on your face, their glasses. Right.
316
00:23:47,748 –> 00:23:51,468
So more options is better. Right. more
317
00:23:51,468 –> 00:23:54,208
options is always better and we’re going to have so
318
00:23:54,208 –> 00:23:56,828
much choice it’s going to be
319
00:23:56,828 –> 00:24:00,768
an incredible and and you’ll be able to have apps so
320
00:24:00,768 –> 00:24:07,328
you know ira or be my eyes can tap into that with their ai wait really yeah
321
00:24:07,328 –> 00:24:13,288
does it mean like techopolis my app can tap into it absolutely it’s amazing
322
00:24:13,288 –> 00:24:18,848
i did not know that i could tap into that as a developer yep they said that during the event,
323
00:24:19,368 –> 00:24:22,928
Well, it looks like my prospective AI vision is going to be on hold for now
324
00:24:22,928 –> 00:24:24,888
until I can get a 16 and make it better.
325
00:24:25,568 –> 00:24:35,768
Yeah, in a few weeks. So a lot of new features, a lot of great changes coming to these lines.
326
00:24:35,868 –> 00:24:40,928
Again, I’m getting the white, probably 512. 512 is going to be great on a phone.
327
00:24:42,487 –> 00:24:46,967
You can take those spatial videos. You can even take spatial videos on the 16.
328
00:24:47,167 –> 00:24:49,567
That’s why I was first like, hmm, do I need a pro?
329
00:24:50,127 –> 00:24:54,527
But with all the studio mics and recording and all that kind of stuff, oh, yeah.
330
00:24:55,167 –> 00:24:59,567
Oh, yeah. It’s like a little mini recording studio in your pocket.
331
00:25:00,227 –> 00:25:03,907
But if you think about it, we have Zoom devices that can do that,
332
00:25:03,987 –> 00:25:07,667
like the Zoom H4E and all those that we just bought.
333
00:25:08,207 –> 00:25:13,187
We’re starting to get that kind of stuff in our phones, where you can like move
334
00:25:13,187 –> 00:25:15,127
subjects around in audio.
335
00:25:15,667 –> 00:25:19,287
And I think that that’s where we’re going with this AI stuff.
336
00:25:19,467 –> 00:25:25,287
So I think it’s going to be just incredible to see what happens, right? Stay tuned.
337
00:25:26,447 –> 00:25:30,867
So Taylor, what was your takeaways from the event? What really got you excited?
338
00:25:31,747 –> 00:25:34,307
Visual intelligence by a long shot.
339
00:25:35,187 –> 00:25:40,427
Can you explain why? Because if I can be able to, well, for one,
340
00:25:40,647 –> 00:25:43,527
tap into it as a developer and make my app even better than
341
00:25:43,527 –> 00:25:46,187
it currently is probably have to rewrite it but that’s a
342
00:25:46,187 –> 00:25:50,947
whole other story the fact that i could just hit a button and be able to get
343
00:25:50,947 –> 00:25:56,027
information about things around me is incredible i mean yes i’m a meta rebrand
344
00:25:56,027 –> 00:26:01,067
but combining the two like combining my meta rebrand and the phone like for
345
00:26:01,067 –> 00:26:05,527
more precise finding is absolutely a game changer.
346
00:26:07,367 –> 00:26:12,907
Yep. So, is there a device that has you more interested?
347
00:26:13,067 –> 00:26:16,467
Watch, AirPods, or phones? Phone, by long shot.
348
00:26:17,507 –> 00:26:22,107
And what phone are you going to get, do you think? The Kings Pro. What color?
349
00:26:22,747 –> 00:26:27,527
I have not decided. Okay. Well, awesome.
350
00:26:27,707 –> 00:26:30,907
I think that that’s kind of the highlights of everything today.
351
00:26:32,567 –> 00:26:36,547
They They went over all the software and things like that that you’ll find on these new phones.
352
00:26:36,927 –> 00:26:42,707
IOS 18 drops next Monday, so does macOS and iPadOS and VisionOS and all the
353
00:26:42,707 –> 00:26:45,107
things. So it’s all pretty exciting.
354
00:26:45,787 –> 00:26:49,547
I’m sorry. So stay tuned for more IA coverage of all those. Yeah,
355
00:26:49,567 –> 00:26:51,587
we’ll come out with more coverage on these things.
356
00:26:51,707 –> 00:26:55,867
And other blindness podcasts have done a really good job showcasing this stuff. off.
357
00:26:56,487 –> 00:27:04,507
So I accessibility has some really exciting news to present to everybody.
358
00:27:04,887 –> 00:27:08,047
And we’re going to use this podcast as our way to do that.
359
00:27:08,167 –> 00:27:14,607
The website is officially online and launched. I accessibility.net is completely usable and online.
360
00:27:14,787 –> 00:27:19,307
We have our forums up and I accessibility.net you can click forums or go to
361
00:27:19,307 –> 00:27:24,967
forums that I accessibility.net sign in first to the accessibility webpage and
362
00:27:24,967 –> 00:27:27,127
then you can go to the forums and go talk.
363
00:27:29,056 –> 00:27:33,196
Conversations happening there and you can even add it to your home screen and
364
00:27:33,196 –> 00:27:37,336
get push notifications I just removed it from my home screen today and added
365
00:27:37,336 –> 00:27:41,536
it again you’ll see ia forums right on your home screen so it’s really exciting
366
00:27:41,536 –> 00:27:48,156
to see that and then our website is up with all of our podcast episodes there I
367
00:27:48,456 –> 00:27:54,636
cast net goes to I accessibility net and you can still use our links like I
368
00:27:54,636 –> 00:27:59,956
iAccessibility.net slash listen and iAccess.net slash listen for iAccess Radio.
369
00:28:00,476 –> 00:28:03,536
You’ll find us on YouTube, all of our social media channels.
370
00:28:03,736 –> 00:28:08,156
But also, we have our app directory. It is online.
371
00:28:08,476 –> 00:28:11,576
You can search through it. You can submit apps.
372
00:28:11,896 –> 00:28:16,536
You can even submit blog posts. And soon, we’ll even have the ability to submit resources.
373
00:28:17,736 –> 00:28:21,956
IAccessibility wants to be your one-stop place to find all the resources and
374
00:28:21,956 –> 00:28:26,456
discussions you want to have with other users using the same things.
375
00:28:26,616 –> 00:28:31,256
And the cool thing is we have a low, like we cater to low vision as well.
376
00:28:31,376 –> 00:28:36,556
So we try to add graphics and of course alt text and make this website be very
377
00:28:36,556 –> 00:28:42,736
useful for everybody, whether you’re totally blind, legally blind, sighted, anything.
378
00:28:42,856 –> 00:28:46,116
If you want to find what’s accessible and what’s not, what’s usable, what’s not,
379
00:28:46,116 –> 00:28:49,376
and ways to use things on the iPhone or iPad
380
00:28:49,376 –> 00:28:53,436
or Mac or Vision OS or a
381
00:28:53,436 –> 00:28:59,736
tvOS or Windows or even Android we want to be your place where you go for that
382
00:28:59,736 –> 00:29:04,636
so we’re very excited to have been launched Taylor also has a chat bot that
383
00:29:04,636 –> 00:29:11,696
you can use on the website so check that out we have so many great things and a surprise.
384
00:29:12,636 –> 00:29:18,536
We have a contest that we want to tell you about here on the podcast first.
385
00:29:19,156 –> 00:29:24,796
And it’s very exciting. The rules will be posted at the main page of the information
386
00:29:24,796 –> 00:29:29,056
about the contest will be posted very soon at iAccessibility.net.
387
00:29:29,296 –> 00:29:36,216
The rules will be linked. And this is all provided by the wonderful folks over at ComTech USA.
388
00:29:36,876 –> 00:29:42,916
So if you have not checked out their services, check out ComTechUSA.net and
389
00:29:42,916 –> 00:29:47,816
the contest will be ran in partnership with iAccessibility and ComTechUSA.
390
00:29:48,696 –> 00:29:52,656
They are fantastic over there. Highly recommend you check out their services,
391
00:29:52,856 –> 00:29:59,636
but we, for, for you using iAccessibility.net to be your definitive resource,
392
00:30:00,016 –> 00:30:06,876
uh, ComTechUSA will be giving away one orbit speak and,
393
00:30:08,176 –> 00:30:09,436
that will be.
394
00:30:11,025 –> 00:30:17,165
From the start of the contest, 90 days, and the rules of how to be eligible,
395
00:30:18,025 –> 00:30:23,305
will be posted at both ComTechUSA’s website and at the iAccessibility website
396
00:30:23,305 –> 00:30:25,065
pointing back to ComTechUSA.
397
00:30:25,805 –> 00:30:30,985
So once this is posted, that will be live on the website, so you’ll be able
398
00:30:30,985 –> 00:30:35,945
to find that at both of our places, and it’s gonna be very exciting.
399
00:30:36,245 –> 00:30:41,905
So if you are part of the iAccessibility community and or if you want to become
400
00:30:41,905 –> 00:30:46,325
part of the community sign up look at the rules and then,
401
00:30:46,985 –> 00:30:50,945
you know join us submit content
402
00:30:50,945 –> 00:30:55,785
based on the the rules that we have listed and it’s going to be a really cool
403
00:30:55,785 –> 00:30:59,565
opportunity to win something big and we’re going to have more contests as time
404
00:30:59,565 –> 00:31:04,605
goes on different companies will donate and and we will have different things
405
00:31:04,605 –> 00:31:07,725
on the website but you know We’re launching this website,
406
00:31:07,985 –> 00:31:13,865
and we’re so glad that ComTechUSA is there with us as we get things started.
407
00:31:14,665 –> 00:31:16,585
Absolutely. Couldn’t be more thankful.
408
00:31:17,825 –> 00:31:21,685
Yep. All right. Well, that’s going to do it for this episode.
409
00:31:21,905 –> 00:31:25,745
I think we’ve covered the basics of everything. If you want to learn more,
410
00:31:25,805 –> 00:31:29,405
go watch the Apple event. It was very informative and very good.
411
00:31:29,605 –> 00:31:31,845
It was one of my favorite Apple events, wouldn’t you say, Taylor?
412
00:31:32,285 –> 00:31:35,405
Yeah, Michael. Actually, one more thing that we forgot to mention.
413
00:31:35,405 –> 00:31:38,145
So at the beginning of
414
00:31:38,145 –> 00:31:40,985
the event did you notice that there’s a lot of
415
00:31:40,985 –> 00:31:43,985
accessibility focus like they had all these different people
416
00:31:43,985 –> 00:31:47,565
with disabilities doing different things and it was a lot of representation
417
00:31:47,565 –> 00:31:51,645
so that’s really good i know apple’s been doing this in the past but it’s always
418
00:31:51,645 –> 00:31:55,705
great to see a company that does the representation and of course you can’t
419
00:31:55,705 –> 00:32:00,285
forget about the audio description yes awesome as well and that was even on
420
00:32:00,285 –> 00:32:02,985
the safari web page for the the Apple event,
421
00:32:03,125 –> 00:32:06,945
not in the, not just in the TV app, but in the web page.
422
00:32:07,045 –> 00:32:09,125
So well done, Apple.
423
00:32:09,405 –> 00:32:16,765
Great event. You guys are, you know, why I love your events are one of the reasons
424
00:32:16,765 –> 00:32:17,705
why I love your products.
425
00:32:18,845 –> 00:32:25,645
Yeah. And there’s so many things I could say, you know, towards all of that. So I just want to…
426
00:32:27,508 –> 00:32:30,448
We’ve helped build Apple. Apple has helped build us.
427
00:32:30,988 –> 00:32:34,868
And I think that we need to recognize, you know, they, they have done a lot
428
00:32:34,868 –> 00:32:38,768
for our community and, and we’ve done a lot for them.
429
00:32:38,888 –> 00:32:45,248
So let’s keep on keeping on and, and really bring out the most of what we can
430
00:32:45,248 –> 00:32:48,008
do with our lives, with our products that we buy from Apple.
431
00:32:48,448 –> 00:32:53,948
And, you know, we have wonderful folks like Gabe and contact ComTech USA to
432
00:32:53,948 –> 00:32:57,768
train everybody on all of that. So it’s really exciting.
433
00:32:57,988 –> 00:33:00,848
We’re entering a new, you know, it’s funny.
434
00:33:00,988 –> 00:33:05,588
We’ve been talking about eras a lot and iAccessibility is in a new era and Apple
435
00:33:05,588 –> 00:33:07,468
just said this is a new era for iPhone.
436
00:33:09,168 –> 00:33:15,548
So let’s bring it. Let’s go and change the world with all this stuff and provide
437
00:33:15,548 –> 00:33:16,748
a resource, conversations,
438
00:33:17,008 –> 00:33:25,308
and all of those wonderful things that we need as users that use the iPhone accessibly.
439
00:33:25,868 –> 00:33:30,968
Michael, one more thing. Remember the iAccessibility Report is now in podcast form?
440
00:33:31,548 –> 00:33:34,828
Yes, we do have a podcast for the iAccessibility Report.
441
00:33:35,088 –> 00:33:39,868
So if you like to listen to your articles, like say you don’t want to have to
442
00:33:39,868 –> 00:33:42,868
read them, you want more of a human voice to read them, we have that.
443
00:33:43,048 –> 00:33:47,488
Subscribe to the iAccessibility Report podcast and your favorite podcatcher.
444
00:33:47,488 –> 00:33:50,748
We also have them on the website that are in audio and text.
445
00:33:51,208 –> 00:33:56,028
So those all come out to the website feed. So check all of that out.
446
00:33:56,388 –> 00:33:59,328
And that’s, but wait, there’s more.
447
00:33:59,748 –> 00:34:04,108
We have a new iAccessibility app update coming out as well that will let you
448
00:34:04,108 –> 00:34:08,188
search the app directory and will be a little cleaner of an interface.
449
00:34:08,528 –> 00:34:12,728
So all of that is very exciting. A lot of things coming up and changing for
450
00:34:12,728 –> 00:34:15,128
iAccessibility and our community.
451
00:34:15,128 –> 00:34:18,188
You know we have the whatsapp the discord just head
452
00:34:18,188 –> 00:34:21,168
to the website you’ll find ways to join all of those and we
453
00:34:21,168 –> 00:34:23,908
can’t wait to see you there and if you ever have any
454
00:34:23,908 –> 00:34:28,208
feedback don’t be afraid to let us know because we want to keep improving and
455
00:34:28,208 –> 00:34:31,968
iterating on what we have so that we can serve as many users as possible yep
456
00:34:31,968 –> 00:34:37,828
taylor how do people find you online well they can find me on iaccessibility
457
00:34:37,828 –> 00:34:42,248
i’m producing a ton of articles this is let’s see this is like the second article I’ve written today?
458
00:34:42,628 –> 00:34:46,468
I don’t even know. But basically, they can find me on iAccessibility.
459
00:34:46,668 –> 00:34:54,508
You can find me on Mastodon at TayArndt, T-A-Y-A-R-N-D-T, at Techopolis, T-E-C-A-R-N-D-T.
460
00:34:55,262 –> 00:35:00,522
Oh, my gosh. T-E-C-O-P-O-L-I-S dot social. And I keep messing that up.
461
00:35:00,702 –> 00:35:01,702
Yeah, you missed the H again.
462
00:35:03,562 –> 00:35:08,362
You can also find me on. T-E-C-O-P-O-L-I-S for people that are wondering.
463
00:35:09,942 –> 00:35:15,762
I always miss that H. Okay. You can also find me on Facebook at Taylor Arndt.
464
00:35:15,882 –> 00:35:19,022
You can find me on X at Tay Arndt.
465
00:35:19,482 –> 00:35:22,982
And you can just also search the web and you will probably be able to contact
466
00:35:22,982 –> 00:35:28,322
me. or, you know, you could always give feedback to iAccessibility and get passed on to me.
467
00:35:28,922 –> 00:35:33,182
And you can even find her in ChatGPT. It knows who she is.
468
00:35:33,602 –> 00:35:40,302
Oh, yes, it does. And the AI model. So, you know, if you ask who’s Taylor, it’ll ask you who I am.
469
00:35:40,702 –> 00:35:46,002
I think we even asked the new Siri and it was able to tell us who you are.
470
00:35:46,042 –> 00:35:46,882
No way. I didn’t hear this.
471
00:35:47,142 –> 00:35:51,322
Yes. Yep. Yep. When was this? In beta one of like iOS 18.1.
472
00:35:51,902 –> 00:35:55,362
Well, either way, y’all will be able to find me. Yeah, you’ll be able to find Taylor.
473
00:35:56,062 –> 00:36:00,402
All right. To find me online, I’m Michael Doeys on all the places.
474
00:36:00,802 –> 00:36:06,102
Mike Doeys at techopolis.social. I can be reached at mikedoes at icloud.com.
475
00:36:06,542 –> 00:36:12,622
You can find me all over the internet, and you can go to our website at iAccessibility.net.
476
00:36:13,002 –> 00:36:16,522
And again, for the contest, thank you, ComTechUSA.
477
00:36:16,522 –> 00:36:22,262
You can find them at com c-o-m-m-t-e-c-h-u-s-a
478
00:36:22,262 –> 00:36:25,642
dot net and i
479
00:36:25,642 –> 00:36:29,942
want to thank everybody for being here and listening to the podcast on youtube
480
00:36:29,942 –> 00:36:35,262
and in the podcast catcher of your choice and thank you so much and we’ll see
481
00:36:35,262 –> 00:36:41,942
you all on a very near future episode of the iacast thank you so much and we’ll
482
00:36:41,942 –> 00:36:44,582
see you next time bye everyone goodbye.
483
00:36:43,280 –> 00:36:49,520
Music.
484
00:36:47,262 –> 00:36:51,402
Thank you for tuning in to the IACast. We hope you enjoyed the show and found
485
00:36:51,402 –> 00:36:53,922
the conversation to be insightful and informative.
486
00:36:54,182 –> 00:36:57,322
If you have any feedback or comments, we’d love to hear from you.
487
00:36:57,382 –> 00:37:00,162
Please send us an email at feedback at IACast.net.
488
00:37:00,262 –> 00:37:04,442
You can also follow us on Twitter at IACastNetwork to stay informed about new
489
00:37:04,442 –> 00:37:05,862
episodes and other updates.
490
00:37:06,102 –> 00:37:11,522
Don’t forget to check out more great podcasts on the IACast Network, IACast.net.
491
00:37:11,742 –> 00:37:14,122
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you again soon.
492
00:37:15,600 –> 00:37:27,645
Music.
I recently discovered an article about speeding up audio messages, a feature that seems quite useful. Unfortunately, for those of us who rely on VoiceOver, this option is unavailable, as VoiceOver cannot access the control to adjust playback speed. You’re supposed to tap and hold the “play” button to bring up these options, but this doesn’t work with VoiceOver. We need to urge Apple to address this issue, as it remains unresolved in iOS 18.1.
The article also mentions the ability to rewind and fast forward through audio messages. Does anyone know if this is possible with VoiceOver? Please share your feedback or any workarounds you might have. You can find the referenced article here.
1
00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:01,464
By Jessica Dail.2
00:00:01,464 –> 00:00:05,904
I read an article recently, outlining how to speed up audio messages.
3
00:00:05,904 –> 00:00:08,856
I didn’t even know that such a task was possible.
4
00:00:08,856 –> 00:00:14,064
However,for those,like myself,who rely entirely on VoiceOver,
5
00:00:14,064 –> 00:00:18,840
this feature is nonexistent,as VoiceOver doesn’t even see such control.
6
00:00:18,840 –> 00:00:23,256
You’re supposed to tap & hold the, “play” button to bring up these options.
7
00:00:23,256 –> 00:00:28,680
What can we do, to urge Apple to fix this, as its still broken under iOS 18.
8
00:00:28,680 –> 00:00:29,496
1.
9
00:00:29,496 –> 00:00:36,408
Another thing which the below,article mentions,is the ability to rewind & fast forward through audio messages.
10
00:00:36,408 –> 00:00:40,176
Any ideas on if or how this can be done with VoiceOver?
11
00:00:40,176 –> 00:00:47,616
The article I referenced for this can be found at: https://9to5mac.
12
00:00:47,616 –> 00:01:08,904
com/2024/06/19/adjust-playback-speed-imessage-audio/#:~:text=And%20here%E2%80%99s%20how%20to%20do%20it%3A%201%20Open,
13
00:01:08,904 –> 00:01:19,104
button%204%20Choose%20the%20playback%20speed%20you%20want Comment below,
14
00:01:19,104 –> 00:01:22,944
if you have any feedback,or if there is a workaround for this issue.
Apple’s recent event at Apple Park was not just about new products; it was a showcase of how technology can empower, connect, and enhance the lives of all users, including those with disabilities. The event highlighted Apple’s ongoing commitment to accessibility, ensuring that its innovations are designed to be inclusive and usable by everyone. With major announcements around Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone, Apple continues to lead the way in integrating advanced technologies that redefine our interactions with the world.
Apple Watch Series 10: The Thinnest, Most Advanced Apple Watch Ever
Apple Watch Series 10 made its debut with a 30% larger, more advanced display, designed for enhanced readability and a sleek look in polished finishes like Jet Black and Rose Gold. Featuring a Wide-angle OLED Display, improved brightness, and power efficiency, the Series 10 redefines interaction by making it easier to view the watch from any angle. The Series 10 is Apple’s thinnest design yet, measuring just 9.7 mm, and incorporates advanced technologies such as the S10 SiP and watchOS 11. These features enable intelligent capabilities like sleep apnea detection, advanced workout metrics, and new water-based activity tracking, positioning it as the perfect companion for any lifestyle.
Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Ultimate Sports Watch
Apple Watch Ultra 2 was introduced as Apple’s most rugged and capable smartwatch to date. With new Black Titanium finishes, the Ultra 2 offers advanced GPS, extended battery life, and enhanced sensors for underwater activities, making it ideal for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.
AirPods 4: Redefining Personal Audio
Apple unveiled the next generation of AirPods, focusing on comfort, audio quality, and intelligent features. Powered by the H2 chip, AirPods 4 deliver superior sound with richer bass, personalized spatial audio, and new machine learning features like voice isolation and intuitive Siri interactions. For the first time, AirPods 4 come with Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode, adapting automatically to different environments. USB-C and wireless charging options further improve convenience.
AirPods Pro 2: Health-Focused Audio Innovations
Apple introduced revolutionary health features in AirPods Pro 2, including hearing protection, a clinically validated Hearing Test, and an over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature. These additions make AirPods Pro 2 a transformative tool for those with hearing challenges, providing accessible hearing support without compromising audio quality.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro: The Next Level of Apple Intelligence
The iPhone 16 lineup marks the beginning of a new era, integrating Apple Intelligence at its core. With the A18 chip and a 16-core Neural Engine, the new iPhones deliver enhanced on-device intelligence. Features such as the customizable Action button and advanced camera systems make the iPhone 16 the most capable and personal iPhone yet. The Pro models elevate the experience further with new Titanium finishes, larger displays, and superior gaming capabilities, all driven by the A18 Pro chip. Visual Intelligence was a major highlight, transforming the device into a powerful tool for everyday interactions, providing users with real-time information while ensuring privacy.
Commitment to Accessibility
From the outset, the Apple Event placed a strong emphasis on accessibility, with several speakers acknowledging the profound impact Apple products have had on people with disabilities. Apple’s dedication to accessibility was evident across all announcements, as the company showcased features like on-device intelligence that respects user privacy, the health-focused innovations in AirPods, and the Visual Intelligence capabilities in iPhone 16 that make information more accessible. The entire event served as a testament to Apple’s vision of technology that is not just cutting-edge but also inclusive, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can benefit from the latest advancements.
The Apple Event highlighted the company’s relentless drive for innovation, underpinned by a strong commitment to accessibility and user empowerment. From the thinnest Apple Watch ever to health-focused audio solutions and iPhones that redefine personal intelligence and accessibility, Apple continues to set the standard for how technology should integrate into and enhance our daily lives. Comment below and tell us your thoughts on the event.
1
00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,184
By Taylor Arndt Apple’s recent event at Apple Park was not just about new products;2
00:00:05,184 –> 00:00:09,360
it was a showcase of how technology can empower,connect,
3
00:00:09,360 –> 00:00:14,112
and enhance the lives of all users,including those with disabilities.
4
00:00:14,112 –> 00:00:18,216
The event highlighted Apple’s ongoing commitment to accessibility,
5
00:00:18,216 –> 00:00:23,424
ensuring that its innovations are designed to be inclusive and usable by everyone.
6
00:00:23,424 –> 00:00:27,096
With major announcements around Apple Watch,AirPods,
7
00:00:27,096 –> 00:00:34,632
and iPhone,Apple continues to lead the way in integrating advanced technologies that redefine our interactions with the world.
8
00:00:34,632 –> 00:00:43,272
Apple Watch Series 10: The Thinnest,Most Advanced Apple Watch Ever Apple Watch Series 10 made its debut with a 30% larger,
9
00:00:43,272 –> 00:00:51,168
more advanced display,designed for enhanced readability and a sleek look in polished finishes like Jet Black and Rose Gold.
10
00:00:51,168 –> 00:00:55,416
Featuring a Wide-angle OLED Display,improved brightness,
11
00:00:55,416 –> 00:01:02,400
and power efficiency,the Series 10 redefines interaction by making it easier to view the watch from any angle.
12
00:01:02,400 –> 00:01:06,912
The Series 10 is Apple’s thinnest design yet, measuring just 9.
13
00:01:06,912 –> 00:01:13,296
7 mm, and incorporates advanced technologies such as the S10 SiP and watchOS 11.
14
00:01:13,296 –> 00:01:17,928
These features enable intelligent capabilities like sleep apnea detection,
15
00:01:17,928 –> 00:01:22,368
advanced workout metrics,and new water-based activity tracking,
16
00:01:22,368 –> 00:01:26,280
positioning it as the perfect companion for any lifestyle.
17
00:01:26,280 –> 00:01:29,760
I am definitely considering purchasing this in the future.
18
00:01:29,760 –> 00:01:32,256
However, I want the phone first.
19
00:01:32,256 –> 00:01:40,560
Apple Watch Ultra 2: The Ultimate Sports Watch Apple Watch Ultra 2 was introduced as Apple’s most rugged and capable smartwatch to date.
20
00:01:40,560 –> 00:01:45,744
With new Black Titanium finishes,the Ultra 2 offers advanced GPS,
21
00:01:45,744 –> 00:01:50,568
extended battery life,and enhanced sensors for underwater activities,
22
00:01:50,568 –> 00:01:54,168
making it ideal for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.
23
00:01:54,168 –> 00:02:00,504
AirPods 4: Redefining Personal Audio Apple unveiled the next generation of AirPods,
24
00:02:00,504 –> 00:02:04,944
focusing on comfort,audio quality,and intelligent features.
25
00:02:04,944 –> 00:02:10,512
Powered by the H2 chip,AirPods 4 deliver superior sound with richer bass,
26
00:02:10,512 –> 00:02:17,448
personalized spatial audio,and new machine learning features like voice isolation and intuitive Siri interactions.
27
00:02:17,448 –> 00:02:23,160
For the first time,AirPods 4 come with Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode,
28
00:02:23,160 –> 00:02:26,256
adapting automatically to different environments.
29
00:02:26,256 –> 00:02:30,840
USB-C and wireless charging options further improve convenience.
30
00:02:30,840 –> 00:02:36,480
However, I’m hesitant to purchase as they may not fit well given my smaller ear size.
31
00:02:36,480 –> 00:02:39,048
I was impressed by the lower prices though.
32
00:02:39,048 –> 00:02:47,064
AirPods Pro 2: Health-Focused Audio Innovations Apple introduced revolutionary health features in AirPods Pro 2,
33
00:02:47,064 –> 00:02:51,360
including hearing protection,a clinically validated Hearing Test,
34
00:02:51,360 –> 00:02:53,976
and an over-the-counter Hearing Aid feature.
35
00:02:53,976 –> 00:02:59,520
These additions make AirPods Pro 2 a transformative tool for those with hearing challenges,
36
00:02:59,520 –> 00:03:04,152
providing accessible hearing support without compromising audio quality.
37
00:03:04,152 –> 00:03:06,720
I believe this is truly a game-changer.
38
00:03:06,720 –> 00:03:15,432
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro: The Next Level of Apple Intelligence The iPhone 16 lineup marks the beginning of a new era,
39
00:03:15,432 –> 00:03:18,240
integrating Apple Intelligence at its core.
40
00:03:18,240 –> 00:03:25,104
With the A18 chip and a 16-core Neural Engine,the new iPhones deliver enhanced on-device intelligence.
41
00:03:25,104 –> 00:03:33,528
Features such as the customizable Action button and advanced camera systems make the iPhone 16 the most capable and personal iPhone yet.
42
00:03:33,528 –> 00:03:37,968
My favorite feature is the visual intelligence, which is a standout addition.
43
00:03:37,968 –> 00:03:42,120
Visual Intelligence was a major highlight of the iPhone 16,
44
00:03:42,120 –> 00:03:46,752
transforming the device into a powerful tool for everyday interactions.
45
00:03:46,752 –> 00:03:54,240
The new Camera Control on iPhone 16 allows users to instantly learn about their surroundings by simply pointing the camera.
46
00:03:54,240 –> 00:04:01,464
This feature leverages on-device intelligence and Apple services to provide real-time information without storing images,
47
00:04:01,464 –> 00:04:03,120
ensuring privacy.
48
00:04:03,120 –> 00:04:07,656
For example,users can identify a restaurant,view ratings,
49
00:04:07,656 –> 00:04:13,056
check hours,and even add events from a flyer directly to their calendar with a simple click.
50
00:04:13,056 –> 00:04:20,664
It also integrates with third-party tools,allowing users to search for products online or get academic help with a single tap.
51
00:04:20,664 –> 00:04:25,440
The Pro models elevate the experience further with new Titanium finishes,
52
00:04:25,440 –> 00:04:31,560
larger displays,and superior gaming capabilities,all driven by the A18 Pro chip.
53
00:04:31,560 –> 00:04:35,280
Apple Intelligence integrates deeply into the system,
54
00:04:35,280 –> 00:04:42,648
enhancing communication,reliving memories,and even personalizing Siri to better assist with day-to-day tasks.
55
00:04:42,648 –> 00:04:51,576
The iPhone 16 Pro’s Camera Control not only enhances photography but also provides users with access to powerful AI-driven insights,
56
00:04:51,576 –> 00:04:56,112
making it an invaluable tool for visually impaired users and beyond.
57
00:04:56,112 –> 00:05:02,352
Commitment to Accessibility From the outset,the Apple Event placed a strong emphasis on accessibility,
58
00:05:02,352 –> 00:05:08,664
with several speakers acknowledging the profound impact Apple products have had on people with disabilities.
59
00:05:08,664 –> 00:05:13,656
Apple’s dedication to accessibility was evident across all announcements,
60
00:05:13,656 –> 00:05:19,104
as the company showcased features like on-device intelligence that respects user privacy,
61
00:05:19,104 –> 00:05:27,192
the health-focused innovations in AirPods,and the Visual Intelligence capabilities in iPhone 16 that make information more accessible.
62
00:05:27,192 –> 00:05:34,152
The entire event served as a testament to Apple’s vision of technology that is not just cutting-edge but also inclusive,
63
00:05:34,152 –> 00:05:38,088
ensuring that everyone,regardless of their abilities,
64
00:05:38,088 –> 00:05:40,752
can benefit from the latest advancements.
65
00:05:40,752 –> 00:05:45,072
The Apple Event highlighted the company’s relentless drive for innovation,
66
00:05:45,072 –> 00:05:49,632
underpinned by a strong commitment to accessibility and user empowerment.
67
00:05:49,632 –> 00:05:57,168
From the thinnest Apple Watch ever to health-focused audio solutions and iPhones that redefine personal intelligence and accessibility,
68
00:05:57,168 –> 00:06:03,720
Apple continues to set the standard for how technology should integrate into and enhance our daily lives.
69
00:06:03,720 –> 00:06:06,840
Comment below and tell us your thoughts on the event.
In this episode, I’m joined by Taylor Arndt as we dive into an array of exciting tech updates and Apple news leading up to tomorrow’s much-anticipated Apple event. We share our excitement about the event, themed “It’s Glow Time,” which hints at significant announcements for the new iPhone lineup, particularly the introduction of Apple Intelligence in Siri. Despite a busy weekend filled with work, the upcoming reveals have us buzzing with curiosity and speculation.
As we discuss what to expect from the new iPhone models, Taylor shares her anticipation for upgrading to the iPhone 16 Pro, highlighting the potential shift from lightning to USB-C as a game changer. We both weigh in on the anticipated features, with Apple’s latest AI developments taking center stage. We debate whether the new Siri will make a significant impact on user experience and whether the timing of hardware announcements aligns with software releases, particularly with iOS 18.1 on the horizon.
We also touch on the Apple Watch and AirPods rumors, discussing the possibility of new health sensors and designs that cater to a variety of user needs. Taylor raises a crucial question about whether to invest in a new Apple Watch based on her current fitness goals and swimming activities. Our conversation acknowledges the decade-long journey of the Apple Watch and ponders how much the product has evolved in terms of accessibility and health monitoring features.
Shifting gears, we share our excitement about the progress at iAccessibility, where we have successfully revamped our website, making it fully functional for users to engage with our app directory and forums. I highlight how we’ve incorporated AI features into our site, allowing for seamless navigation and resource discovery, and Taylor elaborates on her contributions to our AI articles that aim to educate and inform our audience about the latest trends and tools.
Moreover, we emphasize the importance of having multiple accessibility resources within the tech community, celebrating the collaboration with platforms like AppleViz and Be My Eyes. As we look ahead to the future, we touch on the idea of creating a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting accessibility and remaining transparent about our goals and initiatives.
In closing, we both express our eagerness to reconvene after the Apple event to provide insights and reactions to the announcements. We wrap up by inviting listeners to share their thoughts and experiences regarding the announced products and the evolving landscape of accessible technology. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s discussion packed with fresh news and our reflections on all the latest from Apple!
1
00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:20,240
Music.2
00:00:20,366 –> 00:00:24,266
Alright, I’m Michael Doeys and I’m here with Taylor Arndt. Hi Taylor, how are you doing?
3
00:00:25,226 –> 00:00:29,506
I’m doing pretty good. It’s been a crazy weekend around here.
4
00:00:29,706 –> 00:00:33,486
I don’t know, it’s just been a long weekend, but we’ve got a lot of news and
5
00:00:33,486 –> 00:00:36,686
things to share. So I’m pretty excited, but I’m also like kind of tired.
6
00:00:36,846 –> 00:00:41,366
Not gonna lie. Yeah, we both have been working a lot this weekend and we’ll
7
00:00:41,366 –> 00:00:44,466
get to all of those things in a moment.
8
00:00:44,546 –> 00:00:47,046
But Taylor, tomorrow, Apple event.
9
00:00:47,186 –> 00:00:50,686
Are you excited? excited you know usually i’m
10
00:00:50,686 –> 00:00:53,546
really excited about apple events and this time i’m actually
11
00:00:53,546 –> 00:00:56,866
excited as well but to be completely honest i’ve been
12
00:00:56,866 –> 00:00:59,786
so slammed with ia stuff in my own day job
13
00:00:59,786 –> 00:01:03,886
that i haven’t even really thought about the apple event like you know if i
14
00:01:03,886 –> 00:01:08,186
actually really step back and think about what i’ve been thinking about so i
15
00:01:08,186 –> 00:01:12,626
guess i’m excited but i’ve not even given any thought whatsoever usually i’m
16
00:01:12,626 –> 00:01:18,926
like thinking about it like two weeks in advance but nope not this So this year,
17
00:01:18,986 –> 00:01:22,426
the whole theme is called it’s glow time.
18
00:01:23,086 –> 00:01:30,826
And the it’s an Apple symbol that has a lot of neon and a lot of different colors glowing.
19
00:01:30,926 –> 00:01:34,486
And it’s like animated pulsating, like glowing Apple logo.
20
00:01:34,626 –> 00:01:39,926
And it looks really neat. And what it looks like is the new animation that surrounds
21
00:01:39,926 –> 00:01:46,126
the phone on Siri. Siri and I have a feeling all of the iPhone 16 line of phones
22
00:01:46,126 –> 00:01:49,606
possibly may have Apple intelligence in the new Siri.
23
00:01:50,266 –> 00:01:53,186
That’s cool. I’m probably going to upgrade my phone.
24
00:01:53,906 –> 00:01:58,906
So what would you like to see on a new iPhone? Well, okay.
25
00:01:58,986 –> 00:02:05,426
For one thing, you have an iPhone 14 Pro, right? And you’d be going to a 16.
26
00:02:05,926 –> 00:02:10,426
So do you know the biggest thing that you’re going to get by making that upgrade?
27
00:02:10,426 –> 00:02:13,446
Apple Intelligent. No, I mean, that’s big.
28
00:02:14,026 –> 00:02:17,226
That’s the biggest thing for me, Michael. Remember, the biggest thing is subjective.
29
00:02:18,466 –> 00:02:23,586
Well, I think one of the biggest things for you is it will be another device.
30
00:02:24,546 –> 00:02:30,806
Well, actually, I think for you, you will now be completely off lightning at
31
00:02:30,806 –> 00:02:33,386
this point. Oh, that. Yes, yes, yes.
32
00:02:33,946 –> 00:02:40,526
See, I’m so excited about AI. Yeah. Yeah, but you’ll be dropping your lightning to go to USB-C.
33
00:02:42,366 –> 00:02:43,166
About time.
34
00:02:45,726 –> 00:02:50,786
Man, considering the shape of my phone right now, like, oh, I don’t even want to talk about it.
35
00:02:50,806 –> 00:02:54,646
I have to charge for it when I’m out, and then I have to do wireless charging. Yep.
36
00:02:55,346 –> 00:02:57,166
Life has been fun lately. Yeah.
37
00:02:58,626 –> 00:03:00,606
So Taylor has that going on.
38
00:03:02,206 –> 00:03:04,286
And yeah, so…
39
00:03:06,349 –> 00:03:10,549
You’d be getting that and possibly the new Siri, which is very exciting, right?
40
00:03:11,389 –> 00:03:15,029
Yes. And sorry if everybody’s devices are going off.
41
00:03:15,329 –> 00:03:19,589
Well, we’re not saying, hey, S-Lady, do a thing. I know, I know.
42
00:03:19,589 –> 00:03:23,049
It still goes off with the S word. Sometimes.
43
00:03:23,469 –> 00:03:28,409
But you’ll be getting that. But are you going to go with the regular 16 lineup
44
00:03:28,409 –> 00:03:31,309
or the Pro lineup? Pro. I need LiDAR.
45
00:03:31,789 –> 00:03:35,649
Mm-hmm. And as an app developer, I’m making apps that have LiDAR.
46
00:03:36,309 –> 00:03:41,649
Yep. So what are you hoping, besides Apple Intelligence?
47
00:03:42,249 –> 00:03:45,749
Well, I think Apple Intelligence is kind of the big thing this year, right?
48
00:03:46,509 –> 00:03:51,029
Yes. In my opinion, it’s the best thing and the biggest thing.
49
00:03:51,489 –> 00:03:54,969
So what I’m really curious about, though, is they’re going to be releasing these
50
00:03:54,969 –> 00:04:00,489
new phones before 18.1 is even out. I’m wondering how that’s going to work.
51
00:04:01,009 –> 00:04:06,329
I think it’s going to be a hard sell until October when the 18.1 comes out.
52
00:04:06,409 –> 00:04:11,509
I think it’s going to be a hard sell to actually get the phones without the Apple Intelligence.
53
00:04:11,729 –> 00:04:15,149
Because, right, it doesn’t come out until 18.1. So I don’t think a lot of people
54
00:04:15,149 –> 00:04:16,369
are going to buy it before October.
55
00:04:17,069 –> 00:04:21,489
Yeah, I think they’ll get it with 18.0. But it’s funny because the whole event
56
00:04:21,489 –> 00:04:28,269
is really focused on the new Siri and Glow Time and all that kind of stuff instead
57
00:04:28,269 –> 00:04:30,409
of Showtime. I feel like that was kind of poor planning.
58
00:04:30,689 –> 00:04:35,309
Yeah, I kind of feel like they should have done this a little differently.
59
00:04:35,469 –> 00:04:40,289
But I think they want to show people before they get it what they’re going to have.
60
00:04:40,909 –> 00:04:44,549
I guess. Yeah, I don’t know.
61
00:04:44,969 –> 00:04:48,429
Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. This podcast is being recorded,
62
00:04:48,529 –> 00:04:54,209
and then it’s going to immediately go right out to distribution after editing the beginning.
63
00:04:54,809 –> 00:04:59,889
But it’s very interesting. interesting couldn’t they have showed all this off
64
00:04:59,889 –> 00:05:04,469
at dub dub though or they did they showed off a lot well but they didn’t have
65
00:05:04,469 –> 00:05:09,929
a lot of demos right oh see that’s where i don’t know.
66
00:05:11,049 –> 00:05:15,029
Because they’ve been doing a lot of demos like online right i’m like apple like
67
00:05:15,029 –> 00:05:19,249
you know they’ve been promoting stuff but i don’t know for apple intelligence
68
00:05:19,249 –> 00:05:22,449
they’re going to do a lot of demos tomorrow they’re going to be showing people
69
00:05:22,449 –> 00:05:25,649
using this in all different ways how developers have
70
00:05:25,729 –> 00:05:28,349
used the betas but interestingly we don’t even
71
00:05:28,349 –> 00:05:31,809
have a lot of the genmoji and in the generative the
72
00:05:31,809 –> 00:05:39,589
image playgrounds and all of that stuff yet no we don’t but now taylor you have
73
00:05:39,589 –> 00:05:43,309
an ipad that can run apple intelligence have you played with it at all yet you
74
00:05:43,309 –> 00:05:49,589
know to be honest with you i just have not had time to sit down and mess with,
75
00:05:50,425 –> 00:05:54,445
Yeah. It’s go time for me instead of it’s blow time. Yeah. Yeah.
76
00:05:54,945 –> 00:05:58,265
So I think it’s going to be interesting to see what we get with these new phones.
77
00:05:58,365 –> 00:06:02,805
I mean, obviously they’re going to have all the usuals. It’s going to be the 16 and 16 pro.
78
00:06:04,185 –> 00:06:07,545
Now with some things that happened to you that over the year,
79
00:06:07,725 –> 00:06:11,725
we’re having some, we’re hearing about some new AirPods that will not have that
80
00:06:11,725 –> 00:06:14,765
AirPods for, I think they are.
81
00:06:15,325 –> 00:06:18,785
And these may or may not have the tips. would you still not
82
00:06:18,785 –> 00:06:21,505
buy them or would do these fascinate you
83
00:06:21,505 –> 00:06:24,305
at all no i do not want to repeat what
84
00:06:24,305 –> 00:06:27,985
happened in june that was crazy
85
00:06:27,985 –> 00:06:33,385
yeah taylor had an ear infection from using airpods yeah and it was pretty severe
86
00:06:33,385 –> 00:06:41,265
so it’s it’s i’m gonna be getting some airpod 4s i know you will those are definitely
87
00:06:41,265 –> 00:06:45,945
i like the ones without the tips on them from i don’t the pros are fine and
88
00:06:45,945 –> 00:06:47,205
my airpod Pros are great,
89
00:06:47,285 –> 00:06:52,165
but the original ones like the AirPods are amazing.
90
00:06:52,385 –> 00:06:55,985
I like those. It still sounds good and you can hear around them.
91
00:06:56,625 –> 00:07:01,345
So that’s in the rumors tomorrow. We have Apple Watch rumors.
92
00:07:01,805 –> 00:07:03,585
Well, we know we’re going to get watches tomorrow.
93
00:07:04,105 –> 00:07:09,105
And so we may see the Ultra 3, which has my name on it.
94
00:07:09,465 –> 00:07:13,145
May have some new health sensors, more accurate sensors, possibly
95
00:07:13,465 –> 00:07:16,165
sleep apnea checking which will be
96
00:07:16,165 –> 00:07:23,285
interesting so i’m curious what we’re gonna get yeah me too i mean with phones
97
00:07:23,285 –> 00:07:29,265
we know we’re gonna get usual devices you know with all of the features that
98
00:07:29,265 –> 00:07:34,765
we’re used to on the phone but i don’t know me either.
99
00:07:35,958 –> 00:07:39,498
So, are you interested in a new watch, Taylor?
100
00:07:40,398 –> 00:07:45,918
You know, I don’t know. It will depend on a couple factors. So, maybe, maybe not.
101
00:07:46,878 –> 00:07:50,898
I’m not exactly sure because usually I use it a lot for swimming and I plan to start that again.
102
00:07:51,078 –> 00:07:54,758
But it all just depends on, you know, there’s been a lot of crazy stuff going
103
00:07:54,758 –> 00:07:56,498
on at the gym that I usually go to.
104
00:07:56,598 –> 00:08:00,078
So, I got to see if that can clear out first. Right.
105
00:08:03,698 –> 00:08:07,638
So, I’m really excited about the event. I want to see what we’re going to do,
106
00:08:07,738 –> 00:08:10,598
what we’re going to get. I always get very excited before these.
107
00:08:10,738 –> 00:08:13,858
But I want to see what the new watches are like.
108
00:08:14,238 –> 00:08:16,598
This is, let’s see.
109
00:08:17,098 –> 00:08:21,978
Oh, it is. I believe this is 10 years of Apple Watch. Wow.
110
00:08:23,098 –> 00:08:26,258
10 years of Apple Watch. That is crazy.
111
00:08:27,378 –> 00:08:31,678
And, you know, we’re even not mentioning the fact that macOS,
112
00:08:31,918 –> 00:08:37,918
Vision OS, and all the other OSs are coming out very soon, possibly next week as well.
113
00:08:40,058 –> 00:08:43,538
So we’ll talk about those when they come out. But before that,
114
00:08:43,618 –> 00:08:46,638
Jonathan Mosen has a great podcast, three-hour-long podcast,
115
00:08:46,778 –> 00:08:48,558
I think, where he goes over all the new features.
116
00:08:49,258 –> 00:08:52,578
Yeah, I haven’t quite had enough time to listen to those. I feel like with those
117
00:08:52,578 –> 00:08:55,938
kind of podcasts, I really need to have AI summarize them or else I just fall
118
00:08:55,938 –> 00:09:00,298
asleep in the middle of them and never can get through them because they’re so long. Mm-hmm.
119
00:09:00,818 –> 00:09:02,878
See, another use case for AI, people.
120
00:09:03,418 –> 00:09:06,558
Yeah, Taylor, it’s all about the AI. Oh, yeah.
121
00:09:08,358 –> 00:09:11,998
So we’re going to see all of those things, and then we’re also going to see…
122
00:09:11,998 –> 00:09:14,238
I mean, there’s been rumors about AirPods Max.
123
00:09:14,578 –> 00:09:17,478
I’d like to see USB-C AirPods Max. That would be great.
124
00:09:19,142 –> 00:09:22,622
The rumors are that stock is going low on the iPad minis.
125
00:09:22,922 –> 00:09:28,122
But I think we’re going to see events in October, maybe November, too, guys.
126
00:09:29,362 –> 00:09:31,442
So we’re going to see a lot of events this year.
127
00:09:33,582 –> 00:09:38,682
So I’m really predicting. So I would like to think that the phones are going
128
00:09:38,682 –> 00:09:43,802
to have a lot of new colors and all that kind of to go with the It’s Glow Time event theme.
129
00:09:44,122 –> 00:09:48,662
But who knows? We will have to wait for tomorrow, but I’m pretty excited to see what we get.
130
00:09:49,242 –> 00:09:52,002
But again, it feels like if you really want the color phones,
131
00:09:52,102 –> 00:09:53,682
you got to go with the regular, not the pro.
132
00:09:53,842 –> 00:09:56,382
But if you need features, you got to go with the pro. So I was like,
133
00:09:56,462 –> 00:09:57,882
OK, color versus features.
134
00:09:58,242 –> 00:10:01,722
Yeah. And I wish they would put more colors on the pro phones.
135
00:10:02,702 –> 00:10:07,022
Because sometimes those colors make it easier to see your phone. You know.
136
00:10:09,022 –> 00:10:13,622
Totally understand. And there’s also rumors that the iPhone SE 4 may come out
137
00:10:13,622 –> 00:10:17,542
tomorrow as well with a new OLED screen.
138
00:10:17,542 –> 00:10:20,542
Screen yeah again i don’t really
139
00:10:20,542 –> 00:10:23,542
look at rumors because i want to be surprised and more than
140
00:10:23,542 –> 00:10:26,722
half the time the rumors are not correct my opinion
141
00:10:26,722 –> 00:10:31,562
yeah i mean it varies you know so we
142
00:10:31,562 –> 00:10:34,682
will wait for tomorrow we’re going to do another podcast tomorrow evening it’s
143
00:10:34,682 –> 00:10:42,002
very exciting and it’s going to be really cool to see what we get on to some
144
00:10:42,002 –> 00:10:46,462
other news for eye accessibility iAccessibility is very exciting to announce
145
00:10:46,462 –> 00:10:49,022
that our site is up and running.
146
00:10:49,162 –> 00:10:56,702
The iacast.net website has been moved over to the main site of iAccessibility.
147
00:10:57,242 –> 00:11:00,642
The app directory is fully functional. You can post in it.
148
00:11:00,702 –> 00:11:08,822
You can view apps by category, name, and ranking in there, and the latest app directory post.
149
00:11:09,062 –> 00:11:15,922
And we have our iAccessibility forums. So that’s all working as well. It’s very exciting.
150
00:11:16,682 –> 00:11:22,142
So also don’t forget, you can follow us on Mastodon, iAccessibility at Mastodon.
151
00:11:23,742 –> 00:11:28,262
IAccessibility at iAccessibility.social and we’re iAccessibility1 on Twitter.
152
00:11:28,462 –> 00:11:30,262
All this stuff is coming back.
153
00:11:30,522 –> 00:11:33,442
And it was funny because I was looking through pictures on the iAccessibility
154
00:11:33,442 –> 00:11:38,742
website, looking at all the like, Being nostalgic and looking at like pictures
155
00:11:38,742 –> 00:11:41,602
that we had for different posts over the years, it’s like, man,
156
00:11:41,702 –> 00:11:43,842
that takes me back a good while.
157
00:11:44,042 –> 00:11:48,382
I miss some of that stuff. So we’re coming back. We’re going to be doing all
158
00:11:48,382 –> 00:11:50,862
the things that we used to do. New reports.
159
00:11:51,522 –> 00:11:56,022
Taylor’s written some fantastic reports. We even now have a podcast called the
160
00:11:56,022 –> 00:11:59,022
iAccessibility Report where you can listen to our articles.
161
00:11:59,242 –> 00:12:01,382
Isn’t that cool? I think it’s amazing.
162
00:12:02,102 –> 00:12:07,082
Have you listened to it, Taylor? I have. what are your thoughts it’s really
163
00:12:07,082 –> 00:12:09,462
really nice interesting TTS voice.
164
00:12:10,672 –> 00:12:14,092
But it’s cool. Yeah, and we’re doing all of this through Podbean.
165
00:12:14,492 –> 00:12:19,472
And for people that may not have heard our interviews at other places,
166
00:12:19,832 –> 00:12:22,472
we are starting a nonprofit organization.
167
00:12:22,672 –> 00:12:29,672
We’re working on the details with our board and our team to finalize the details on that.
168
00:12:29,972 –> 00:12:32,172
But stay tuned. We’ll have more
169
00:12:32,172 –> 00:12:35,692
to come on that. The goal is to be very community-driven and transparent.
170
00:12:36,532 –> 00:12:42,892
So we’re very excited. I also didn’t share our app directories cover iOS and
171
00:12:42,892 –> 00:12:49,712
iPad OS, Mac OS, Watch OS, Vision OS, TV OS, Android, and Windows.
172
00:12:50,252 –> 00:12:55,892
So we’re very inclusive of all different kinds of operating systems.
173
00:12:56,272 –> 00:13:01,652
And, you know, it might even be interesting to have an operating system accessibility category.
174
00:13:02,212 –> 00:13:03,452
It’d be kind of fun.
175
00:13:04,292 –> 00:13:06,972
That’s fascinating. like how
176
00:13:06,972 –> 00:13:11,832
accessible is mac os like let’s rate voiceover like how well can you use,
177
00:13:12,472 –> 00:13:15,672
linux different linux distributions how accessible are
178
00:13:15,672 –> 00:13:18,392
they if you’re in the community reach out
179
00:13:18,392 –> 00:13:22,872
let us know what do you think about that just mention us on social media or
180
00:13:22,872 –> 00:13:29,492
send an email to us feedback at iaccessibility.net will be up soon and it’s
181
00:13:29,492 –> 00:13:35,952
very exciting stuff we’re making leaps and bounds The other thing I wanted to mention,
182
00:13:36,092 –> 00:13:38,492
if you have been following,
183
00:13:38,772 –> 00:13:42,932
AppleViz has been saved by Be My Eyes. Very cool.
184
00:13:43,132 –> 00:13:47,232
It’s good to have multiple resources out there. So we will be there.
185
00:13:47,992 –> 00:13:53,832
AppleViz will still be available. And then we will be updating the iAccessibility
186
00:13:53,832 –> 00:13:59,292
app as well. Well, so there’s going to be so many resources available to the
187
00:13:59,292 –> 00:14:01,372
Blank community for all of these products.
188
00:14:01,492 –> 00:14:07,372
So we’re very happy that we have a vibrant community of websites and resources that people can use.
189
00:14:07,812 –> 00:14:12,892
But, you know, we’re there. Apple Viz is there. Be My Eyes. You know,
190
00:14:12,912 –> 00:14:15,552
Aira has all of their, you know, their services.
191
00:14:16,552 –> 00:14:22,132
ACB, you know, NFB, all of these places you can find great resources to get started. it.
192
00:14:22,152 –> 00:14:25,492
So it’s very excited, very exciting stuff.
193
00:14:27,272 –> 00:14:30,572
I think we’re going to have a longer podcast tomorrow, but we wanted to put
194
00:14:30,572 –> 00:14:35,612
out some content today so that we can kind of get everybody ready for all the
195
00:14:35,612 –> 00:14:36,652
very excitement tomorrow.
196
00:14:37,572 –> 00:14:41,652
I’m a little more excited now that the work on the iAccessibility website is
197
00:14:41,652 –> 00:14:45,312
behind me. I mean, obviously, it’s going to, you know, still evolve.
198
00:14:45,632 –> 00:14:53,012
Oh, yeah. And there’s also one little thing that is kind of exciting that’s on the new website.
199
00:14:53,132 –> 00:14:56,192
Taylor, you want to talk about that? up yeah well i
200
00:14:56,192 –> 00:15:01,012
was gonna say michael you’re forgetting something so basically you
201
00:15:01,012 –> 00:15:04,872
can now use ai to search the
202
00:15:04,872 –> 00:15:10,072
entire i accessibility website and you can search and it will bring up episodes
203
00:15:10,072 –> 00:15:15,912
you know podcasts or apps in the directory or things like that and i made this
204
00:15:15,912 –> 00:15:22,712
by myself in wordpress and it’s fully accessible on the front and back end and
205
00:15:22,712 –> 00:15:23,772
apparently it looks Looks good, too.
206
00:15:24,012 –> 00:15:27,952
Yes. And that’s the really neat thing. Taylor is a screen reader user,
207
00:15:28,152 –> 00:15:31,652
has some vision, but she made a plug in that looks really nice visually.
208
00:15:31,792 –> 00:15:35,612
I love it. I’m really excited about it. Yeah. And I’ve been making plug ins
209
00:15:35,612 –> 00:15:38,352
for just over a year now. So it’s kind of crazy.
210
00:15:38,692 –> 00:15:42,152
And we’re going to have some really cool AI articles. So, Taylor,
211
00:15:42,212 –> 00:15:46,212
do you want to talk about what you’ve posted before and what you plan on posting?
212
00:15:46,992 –> 00:15:51,932
I’ve posted a MetaRabians article where I talk about like an introduction and
213
00:15:51,932 –> 00:15:56,872
give some commands. And then I’ve posted a Google Gemini versus Chagibouti article.
214
00:15:57,372 –> 00:16:03,192
And I also did a Be My AI, Access AI, and something or other comparison.
215
00:16:05,132 –> 00:16:09,532
And then I did a Google Gemini versus Chagibouti.
216
00:16:10,032 –> 00:16:13,412
Those are the main AI articles. I plan to do some more Meta Ray-Bans content
217
00:16:13,412 –> 00:16:15,872
once this website work slows down a little bit.
218
00:16:17,640 –> 00:16:22,460
Fantastic. So I think that’s going to do it for this short podcast today.
219
00:16:22,800 –> 00:16:25,060
We’re going to have a lot more tomorrow, like I said.
220
00:16:25,620 –> 00:16:27,520
Taylor, where can people find you online? line?
221
00:16:28,160 –> 00:16:31,420
Well, you can find me on iAccessibility.
222
00:16:32,300 –> 00:16:46,180
You can find me on Mastodon, T-A-Y-A-R-N-D-T at Techopolis, T-E-C-H-O-P-O-L-I-S.social.
223
00:16:46,660 –> 00:16:52,300
You can also find me helping with the iAccessibility website.
224
00:16:52,620 –> 00:16:56,620
So if you have questions about that, please let me know. Or if you decide you’re
225
00:16:56,620 –> 00:17:00,520
You’re going to break one of my, you know, find the AI plugin and you put something
226
00:17:00,520 –> 00:17:02,060
in there that you don’t like and it breaks it.
227
00:17:02,140 –> 00:17:05,660
Well, let me know, too, because I’ve been testing it, but people broke it.
228
00:17:05,720 –> 00:17:11,520
So anyways, we always try to find ways to break stuff. Oh, yeah.
229
00:17:13,380 –> 00:17:19,260
When Taylor writes plugins, she hates it whenever I get a hold of it because I find ways to break it.
230
00:17:21,000 –> 00:17:23,940
Including that thing that we won’t talk about that happened yesterday. That was.
231
00:17:24,340 –> 00:17:27,900
Oh, yes, we will talk about that. Oh, we will, huh?
232
00:17:27,980 –> 00:17:34,120
So one of the things that, you know, when you use ChatGPT, and don’t get any
233
00:17:34,120 –> 00:17:39,440
funny ideas out there, audience, but when you use ChatGPT, you have a lot of
234
00:17:39,440 –> 00:17:42,620
guardrails and things that, you know, you can and cannot talk about.
235
00:17:43,422 –> 00:17:48,482
When you actually use the APIs, though, like the programming interfaces that
236
00:17:48,482 –> 00:17:55,902
let you directly talk to OpenAI and GPT-4, those guardrails are not there.
237
00:17:56,322 –> 00:17:59,442
As strict. There’s some, but they’re not as much. There’s some,
238
00:17:59,462 –> 00:18:03,082
but they are not nearly as strict as chat GPTs.
239
00:18:03,922 –> 00:18:11,462
And you can get it to come out with some very inappropriate answers. Answers.
240
00:18:12,062 –> 00:18:19,122
So you actually have to build moderation into your project whenever you’re working with OpenAI.
241
00:18:20,302 –> 00:18:26,302
So for all of you guys out there that want to play with unhinged chat GPT,
242
00:18:26,442 –> 00:18:29,622
learn the APIs. You could do all kinds of stuff.
243
00:18:29,802 –> 00:18:32,622
But, I mean, do or do not, that’s your discretion.
244
00:18:32,882 –> 00:18:35,542
We’re not encouraging any bad behavior here.
245
00:18:35,842 –> 00:18:40,782
But, you know, don’t try to do that bad behavior on our site. Right.
246
00:18:41,122 –> 00:18:45,502
Because it won’t work. It will not work. Because Taylor had to fix it. Yes.
247
00:18:46,462 –> 00:18:52,342
So, okay. Well, thank you, Taylor. As for me, you can find me online as Michael Doeys.
248
00:18:52,382 –> 00:18:54,782
Mike Doeys at techopolis.social.
249
00:18:55,262 –> 00:19:00,922
You can email me, Mike Doeys at iCloud.com. You can find me on Facebook as Michael Doeys.
250
00:19:01,022 –> 00:19:03,902
And I’m always posting articles at iAccessibility.
251
00:19:04,462 –> 00:19:09,522
I’ve talked about iPhone mirroring currently not being accessible.
252
00:19:09,522 –> 00:19:15,762
And how to use notification summaries with Apple intelligence and a lot more is coming.
253
00:19:16,162 –> 00:19:20,842
So very exciting stuff. And you could find me all over the web. Just search for me.
254
00:19:21,202 –> 00:19:28,522
And I am very excited that we’re doing more content and we’ll be back tomorrow with another podcast.
255
00:19:28,742 –> 00:19:30,802
But I want to say thank you, Taylor, for being here.
256
00:19:31,282 –> 00:19:37,202
This has been a great shorter episode of the IACast and we’ll see you all next time.
257
00:19:38,062 –> 00:19:42,762
Bye, everyone. Bye-bye. Thank you for tuning in to the IACast.
258
00:19:42,782 –> 00:19:46,942
We hope you enjoyed the show and found the conversation to be insightful and informative.
259
00:19:47,222 –> 00:19:50,382
If you have any feedback or comments, we’d love to hear from you.
260
00:19:50,442 –> 00:19:53,202
Please send us an email at feedback at IACast.net.
261
00:19:53,302 –> 00:19:57,502
You can also follow us on Twitter at IACastNetwork to stay informed about new
262
00:19:57,502 –> 00:19:58,902
episodes and other updates.
263
00:19:59,122 –> 00:20:03,062
Don’t forget to check out more great podcasts on the IACastNetwork.
264
00:20:03,702 –> 00:20:07,062
IACast.net. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you again soon.
265
00:20:06,960 –> 00:20:20,695
Music.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses combine style with advanced technology, offering unique benefits for blind and visually impaired users. These glasses are equipped with AI-driven features that provide hands-free accessibility, making daily tasks easier. However, it’s important to understand their limitations and how they fit into your overall accessibility toolkit. In this guide, we’ll explore the styles, key features, available commands, and important considerations when using these glasses.
Where to Buy and Available Styles
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses are available at the Meta Store, Ray-Ban’s website, and major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. Prices start at $299, with additional costs for custom lenses such as prescription or polarized options. The glasses come in various styles, including the feminine Skylar, the classic Wayfarer, and the retro Headliners, each offering different color and lens configurations.
Key Features and Accessibility Commands
The glasses are equipped with a 12MP ultra-wide camera, open-ear speakers, and advanced AI. Here are some essential commands:
- “Hey Meta, look and tell me what you see”: Identifies objects or people in view.
- “Hey Meta, look and give me a detailed description”: Provides a detailed analysis of what the camera sees.
- “Hey Meta, look and tell me everything you see”: Offers a comprehensive overview of all visible elements.
- “Hey Meta, look and read this”: Reads text aloud, ideal for reading signs, menus, or documents.
- “Hey Meta, translate this”: Translates foreign text into your language.
Limitations and Features Under Development
While Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses offer many useful features, they currently do not support popular accessibility services like Be My Eyes or Aira. Meta is working on expanding the AI capabilities, but these features are not yet available. You may come across commands online that claim to offer extended functionality; however, results can vary. This is because Meta often rolls out new features gradually or tests them with select users, meaning not all commands will work consistently.
What Not to Use These Glasses For
These glasses are not designed to replace critical tools like canes or guide dogs. They are not suitable for recognizing medications, people, or performing tasks related to health and safety. The glasses’ AI is not intended for precise navigation, identifying health hazards, or making decisions about personal safety. They should be viewed as a supplementary aid rather than a primary accessibility solution.
Important Tips for Using Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses
- Listen for the Beep: After a command response, a beep indicates that Meta is ready for your next command.
- Experiment with Commands: The AI’s performance can vary, so it’s important to try different commands and learn which work best for your needs.
- Be Aware of Limitations: Always use these glasses as an additional tool, not as a substitute for traditional mobility aids.
- Avoid Using for Health and Safety Tasks: The AI is not equipped to handle critical safety-related identifications or medical advice.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses provide a stylish and accessible solution that enhances everyday experiences for blind and visually impaired users. With continuous updates and evolving features, these glasses are poised to become even more functional. However, it’s crucial to recognize their current limitations and use them in conjunction with traditional accessibility aids.
Browsing the web on iOS devices has long been synonymous with Safari, but options like Firefox and Google Chrome are now available. However, are these third-party browsers truly different from Safari?
All iOS web browsers are built on Apple’s WebKit technology, the same engine that powers Safari. This is due to Apple’s restrictions on third-party apps running code like JavaScript in a way that is needed to render web pages. While this might change if Apple allows Just In Time (JIT) code execution, for now, all browsers must use WebKit.
Despite sharing the same technology, third-party browsers like Chrome and Firefox offer unique benefits. They allow users to synchronize bookmarks across different devices, a feature that Safari limits to the Apple ecosystem. This flexibility is a significant advantage for users who do not exclusively use Apple products.
In conclusion, while third-party browsers on iOS perform similarly to Safari when it comes to web browsing, they provide additional features that may enhance the overall user experience, especially for those who prefer cross-platform compatibility.
When Google announced Gemini, it promised a revolutionary AI assistant to enhance productivity and simplify daily tasks. However, my hands-on experience with Gemini revealed significant shortcomings that fell short of expectations set by Google’s marketing.
High Hopes from the Google Event
Google’s event painted Gemini as a cutting-edge AI capable of managing calendar events, understanding complex queries, and offering seamless integration. I eagerly incorporated it into my workflow, only to find it lacking in several key areas.
Disappointing Performance with Calendar Integration
Gemini’s ability to manage Google Calendar events was unreliable, often misinterpreting commands or failing to respond. Its heavy reliance on Google Assistant further complicated tasks, while its poor contextual understanding hindered seamless interactions.
Coding Challenges: Gemini Falls Short
As a coder, I was disappointed with Gemini’s limited code understanding and poor debugging assistance. Its inconsistent code formatting made it an unreliable tool for serious coding tasks, especially when compared to ChatGPT’s polished performance.
Why ChatGPT Outshines Gemini
ChatGPT consistently outperformed Gemini with its reliable contextual awareness, seamless integration across platforms, and superior command and code handling. It remains my go-to assistant for delivering consistent results and adapting to my needs.
Despite Gemini’s potential, it has a long way to go before matching the reliability and ease of use offered by ChatGPT. I look forward to future improvements in both AI tools. For now, ChatGPT is the tool that truly supports my day-to-day tasks with reliability and precision.
AI-powered accessibility tools like Meta AI, Be My AI, and Access AI from Aira are significantly enhancing how visually impaired users interact with the world. Each of these tools has distinct approaches, features, and benefits. Below, we compare these solutions in detail, including Aira’s new AI initiatives that are shaping the future of accessible technology.
Meta AI
Meta AI is a broad, general-purpose AI assistant integrated into Meta’s platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It leverages advanced language models like Llama to offer generative AI capabilities, including text, image recognition, and chat-based assistance. Meta AI’s strength lies in its powerful generative features and widespread integration, which makes it suitable for a wide range of everyday tasks beyond just accessibility. However, Meta AI is not specifically tailored to the needs of visually impaired users. It focuses on general interaction improvements, and while it offers high-level image descriptions, it lacks the accessibility-specific refinements that specialized tools provide.
Be My AI
Be My AI is a feature within the Be My Eyes app that uses AI, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 Vision model, to provide detailed descriptions of images. This tool complements the live assistance offered by sighted volunteers, allowing users to access quick and descriptive feedback on visual content. Be My AI’s strength is in its conversational style, where users can ask follow-up questions to gain deeper context about what is being seen. The focus of Be My AI is on providing accurate and responsive descriptions specifically for visually impaired users. It excels in making AI interactions feel personal and relevant, offering a straightforward, user-friendly experience tailored to individual needs.
Access AI from Aira
Access AI is part of Aira’s broader vision of integrating AI into its existing visual interpreting services. It allows users, known as Explorers, to capture or upload images and receive instant AI-generated descriptions. What sets Access AI apart is the optional human verification through Aira Verify, where a professional visual interpreter can review and confirm the AI’s responses. This combination of AI and human input ensures that the service remains highly accurate, secure, and reliable. Access AI also includes features like multi-photo upload, verbosity controls, and chat history, which enhance user interaction and personalization.
Each of these AI tools offers unique benefits, catering to different needs and preferences. Whether you’re looking for a general-purpose AI assistant like Meta AI, a visually impaired-focused tool like Be My AI, or a hybrid solution with human verification like Access AI, there’s a tool that can help enhance accessibility in your daily life.
Apple is integrating artificial intelligence in iOS 18.1, specifically for iPhone 15 Pro models and any devices that support M series processors. One of the exciting new features is the ability to have notifications summarized on the Lock Screen using Apple Intelligence.
Sometimes, an app may show several notifications on your Lock Screen, requiring you to expand the group to see all the details. This can be time-consuming, especially for users with low vision. Notification summaries will display a concise summary of your notifications at the top of the stack, with a number next to the app icon indicating how many items are in that stack.
For instance, if you have a Discord bot that announces new members in a text channel, Apple Intelligence can summarize these notifications by stating that multiple people have joined, making it easier to understand without scrolling through each notification.
Notification Summaries are set to be extremely beneficial for iOS users, marking a significant improvement through AI. We are excited to see how this feature evolves in the full release. Have you tried Apple Intelligence or this new feature? Share your experiences in the comments or within the community.
Today's conversation features Taylor Arndt and Michael Babcock, where we dive into the world of AI capabilities, particularly focusing on the potential of utilizing GPT 4.0 for content creation within the Technically Working podcast. We explore the intricate details of how AI can enhance content creation, touching on transcription capabilities and the advantages it brings to content creators seeking efficiency and innovation.Transitioning to the evolution of iAccessibility, we trace its journey from a blog to a full-fledged website catering to the blind community. We discuss recent developments, such as the expansion of resources and the notable growth of the iAccessibility Mastodon account, emphasizing community engagement. Our discussion extends to website management strategies, including the adoption of discourse for forums and the seamless integration of Memberful for login services, ensuring a user-friendly experience.Delving into the future plans of iAccessibility, we shed light on the formation of a nonprofit organization, team restructuring endeavors, and the envisioned app directory. Emphasizing the significance of providing a unique resource while coexisting harmoniously with existing platforms like AppleVis, we delve into accessibility features and community engagement strategies, exploring integration possibilities with Discord and WhatsApp to foster a dynamic community space.Navigating through the registration process of iAccessibility.org and discussing expansion plans, we underscore the paramount importance of customization to meet community needs authentically. Our focus remains on complementing existing platforms while offering distinctive value, fostering inclusivity and vibrancy within the assistive technology space. The dialogue concludes with a shared optimism for creating an inclusive and resourceful community, dedicated to empowering individuals seeking assistive technology resources.Throughout the episode, we delve into a myriad of technological topics, ranging from preferences in equipment like Zoom recorders to discussions on productivity tools and Apple Intelligence features. Sharing personal insights and experiences, we encourage community engagement and collaborative learning to enhance platform functionality and user experience. Our passion for accessibility and continuous learning shines through, driving us towards a vision of a diverse and vibrant community space for all individuals seeking to navigate the world of technology and innovation.
In this episode, we had a deep discussion about the closing of AppleViz and the future of accessible resources for the blind and low vision community. We reflected on the valuable work done by AppleViz over the years and the importance of maintaining a positive and respectful community culture. We highlighted the need for transparency, inclusivity, and support within the community. Moving forward, we emphasized the importance of building new resources, being innovative, and focusing on community involvement to create valuable and sustainable platforms for users. The episode also touched upon the recent acquisition of Zoom H4 Essentials devices and plans to utilize them for unboxings and podcasts. Overall, we look forward to a future of collaboration, interaction, and information-sharing within the accessibility community.
In this lively and engaging conversation, Michael Doeys, Taylor Arndt, Lauren, and Jay unpack the features and functionalities of the Rabbit R1 and Meta Ray Bands devices. Michael emphasizes the practicality of the Meta Ray Bands with advanced AI features, making them a game-changer, particularly for blind and low-vision users. The group delves into the detailed functionalities of both devices, discussing everything from voice command capabilities, camera features, search functionalities, to the limitations and strengths of each device.Taylor expresses her preference for the convenience and usability of the Meta Ray Bands, citing their transformative potential in navigating various environments such as conventions and airports. Jay, on the other hand, highlights the unique features and potential applications of the Rabbit R1, acknowledging its novelty and affordability compared to other devices in the market. Lauren resonates with Taylor in rooting for the underdog but acknowledges the appeal and cool aesthetics of the Meta Ray Bands.The group discusses the capabilities of AI assistants in identifying objects, providing descriptive information, and the potential applications in various scenarios, such as locating objects, identifying businesses in malls, and improving accessibility for blind and visually impaired individuals. Michael underscores the affordability and functionalities of the Rabbit R1, particularly in enabling tasks like ordering food, transportation, and music playback.Overall, the conversation showcases the diverse perspectives on the Rabbit R1 and Meta Ray Bands, highlighting their unique features, practical applications, and potential impacts on accessibility and convenience for users. The episode concludes with appreciation for the insightful discussion and anticipation for future unveilings and discoveries in the technology realm.
In this conversation, we delve into the world of assistive technology, discussing various devices showcased at a convention. The discussion begins with a focus on Glide, a navigation device for the visually impaired, and transitions into a comparison with WeWalk, exploring the practicality and potential drawbacks of these devices. The conversation then shifts to the BT Speak and OrbitSpeak devices, analyzing their features, usability, and potential market appeal. The speakers touch on various aspects such as loud braille, speaker quality, pricing, and the future trajectory of these devices in the assistive technology landscape.As the discussion evolves, the speakers express their observations and opinions on different devices like the Graffiti, Mantis, and Orbit Rider, highlighting design elements, functionality, and potential user experience. They engage in a dialogue about the evolving role of AI in assistive technology, emphasizing the need for open conversations and innovation to adapt to the future needs of users. The speakers acknowledge the fast-paced evolution of technology, uncertainty about future trends, and the importance of continuous adaptation and improvement in the field.The conversation exudes a sense of optimism and excitement about the advancements in assistive technology, promoting a collaborative and forward-thinking approach towards innovation. The speakers encourage listeners to stay informed, adaptable, and engaged as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of technology for individuals with visual impairments. The dialogue concludes with a message of unity and resilience, highlighting the shared journey of exploration and progress in the realm of assistive technology.
In this episode, Taylor and I discuss our experiences at the ACB convention, focusing on the latest developments with Aira. We delve into Aira's new Access AI feature, which is a free competitor to Be My AI, offering a range of innovative services. Additionally, we explore Aira's plans to integrate features into Meta Ray Bands, bringing advanced capabilities to mainstream tech at an affordable price point.Furthermore, we highlight Aira's Build AI service, which provides free minutes for users to engage with visual interpreters. Taylor and I share our thoughts on Aira's shift towards obtaining funding from businesses rather than individuals, showcasing a strategic move to enhance accessibility without burdening end-users financially.We also touch upon Aira's Agent Verification feature, a valuable tool that allows visual interpreters to verify AI-generated information for accuracy. The evolution of Aira's services reflects a commitment to user privacy and satisfaction, as evidenced by their transition to Claude from Anthropic for AI training data.Additionally, we explore the benefits of JAWS and the PictureSmart feature, emphasizing Freedom Scientific's dedication to user privacy by leveraging OpenAI and Claude technology. This privacy-focused approach enhances the user experience and underscores the commitment to safeguarding sensitive information.Overall, our conversation sheds light on the exciting developments in assistive technology at the ACB convention, showcasing how innovations like Aira and JAWS are revolutionizing accessibility for individuals with visual impairments. Stay tuned for more updates on these groundbreaking technologies in future episodes of the IACast.
In this episode, we discuss our experiences at the ACB convention in Jacksonville, Florida. We explored new technologies in the exhibit hall, focusing on two particular devices, starting with the WeWalk smart cane. The WeWalk cane integrates Google Maps and other mapping technologies, offering features like obstacle detection through vibrations and directional cues. While some attendees saw value in the device, the complexity of its interface and high price tag raised concerns about its overall usability compared to a smartphone for navigation.Next, we examined the Glide device, designed to assist with obstacle avoidance and navigation. Despite its promising concept, the prototype demonstrated significant shortcomings, including erratic movements and challenges with tracking. The device's reliance on pre-orders for funding highlighted the need for further development before it can effectively replicate the capabilities of a guide dog. Our observations indicated that the current iteration may not meet users' expectations, requiring more refinement to achieve its intended functionalities.Our discussions at the convention underscored the importance of user-friendly design and practicality in assistive technologies. While the WeWalk and Glide devices show potential for enhancing mobility and independence, addressing usability issues and refining functionality will be crucial for their success in the market. We look forward to future advancements in assistive technology that prioritize user needs and offer reliable solutions for individuals with visual impairments. Stay tuned for more updates from the ACB convention as we continue to explore innovative technologies and initiatives in the accessibility space.
In this episode, we delve into the unboxing of the new iPad Pro M4 13-inch with Michael Doeys leading the discussion. The excitement is palpable as the iPad arrives, boasting impressive features like one terabyte of space, 16 gigs of RAM, and a sleek silver design. The unboxing process is meticulous, with observations on the thickness of the box, the satisfying sound of unpackaging, and the remarkably thin and lightweight iPad itself.Members like Ashley Coleman join the conversation, sharing insights and opinions on the new iPad and its accessories. The unboxing of the Magic Keyboard adds another layer of excitement as the keyboard's design and features are explored. Comparisons are made between the new Magic Keyboard and the previous model, regarding key travel, key noise levels, and overall construction.Michael and Taylor examine the differences in design and functionality between the new iPad and the older model, pointing out the noticeable variations in thickness, hinge construction, and port movements. They discuss the keyboard's typing experience, key contrasts, trackpad size, and brightness levels, highlighting the enhancements in the new model.Interactions with the audience, including a message from Ashley, add a personal touch to the unboxing experience. The episode concludes with a plan for Michael to test the new iPad's microphone and overall sound quality by joining a meeting hosted by Taylor, offering listeners a chance to experience the iPad in action. The unboxing session wraps up with gratitude for the audience's participation and an invitation to continue following the discussion on Taylor's YouTube channel or Twitch stream.
In this latest episode of the IACast News Update, Michael Doeys expresses gratitude for listeners' support of the IACast and shares his excitement about the success of iPads. Michael discusses contemplating purchasing the nanotexture display based on positive reviews but ultimately deciding to stick with the current version for now, looking forward to trying out the iPad, Magic Keyboard, and Apple Pencil.Moving on to the main news of the day, Michael reports on OpenAI's new chat model, GPT-4.0, which enables multimodal conversations with capabilities for visual inputs and emotional responses. He highlights the introduction of new desktop apps with demonstrations on Mac and anticipation for a Windows version coming soon. Additionally, Michael mentions the inclusion of GPT-4.0 for free users in the chat GPT and enhanced features for Chat GPT Plus subscribers, showcasing the remarkable advancements made by OpenAI.Looking ahead, Michael expresses curiosity about the extent of interactions with GPT-4.0 and anticipates further developments in this technology. He invites listeners to tune in to the upcoming IACast episode where they will delve deeper into the OpenAI announcement and conduct unboxings of the new iPad, Magic Keyboard, and Apple Pencil upon their arrival. Moreover, Michael teases the upcoming Google I.O. event and encourages feedback from listeners via email.As the episode draws to a close, Michael reflects on the exciting week of tech news and signs off, expressing gratitude for the audience's support and promising to deliver more insightful content in future episodes.
In the latest IACast news update, Michael Doeys expresses gratitude for the positive response to the podcast episode. Mentioning the success of iPads, Michael shares reviews of the latest models including the nanotexture display which many are praising. Anticipating the arrival of his own iPad along with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, Michael is eager to explore the new features.Moving on to the Tech News segment, Michael discusses OpenAI's launch of GPT-4, a new chat model that allows for multimodal conversations. GPT-4 can process visual cues and show emotions, offering a unique interaction experience. The introduction of desktop apps for Mac and Windows users, with free access to GPT-4 for ChatGPT users and additional features for ChatGPT Plus subscribers, highlights the innovation OpenAI is bringing to artificial intelligence.Excited about the possibilities GPT-4 presents, Michael looks forward to delving deeper into its capabilities and exploring its potential for communication. With more updates to come on the next IACast episode, including unboxings of the new iPad, Magic Keyboard, and Apple Pencil, the week promises to be eventful. Michael teases upcoming coverage of Google I/O and invites listeners to share their feedback for future episodes. As the episode concludes, Michael thanks the audience for their support and bids farewell, promising more engaging content in the future.
In this episode of IACast, we dive into the recent Apple event where new iPads were announced. We discuss the various models, including the iPad Mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro, along with the range of colors and storage options available. The conversation delves into the pricing, with the iPad Air starting at $599 and the Pros reaching up to $2299 for the maxed-out version. The speakers express excitement about the new features, such as the improved camera placement for better landscape use, increased storage capacities, and the introduction of the M4 chip for enhanced performance.The discussion touches on the potential limitations of iPadOS compared to macOS, with hopes for future updates and improvements at WWDC. There's a mention of the desire for more Mac-like features in iPadOS 18, and a possible book subscription service in the future. The hosts also address criticisms of the new iPad ad campaign showcasing the device crushing objects, urging listeners to take it lightly.Concerns about durability due to the thinner design of the new iPads are highlighted, along with the need for AppleCare for such expensive devices. The conversation ends with a preview of upcoming episodes, including further discussions on the new iPads, the Pixel 8a, and the anticipation for WWDC. The hosts sign off, encouraging feedback and interaction from the audience.
In this episode, we dive into the latest tech news, particularly focusing on the upcoming Apple event scheduled for May 7th. Tim Cook announced the event, hinting at the unveiling of new iPad Pro and Air models, along with the highly anticipated Apple Pencil 3. Speculations suggest the potential inclusion of OLED displays in the iPad Pros, adding further excitement to the mix. Moreover, there are whispers of larger iPad Airs, possibly extending up to 12.9 inches, creating a buzz of anticipation among tech enthusiasts.Additionally, we explore the recent setback faced by Spotify, as their attempts to introduce new builds with external links in the App Store were met with rejection. This development has sparked discussions within the tech community, with Spotify expressing their concerns about the situation. As we monitor the unfolding events, it remains intriguing to see how this scenario will evolve and impact the app's future endeavors.Looking ahead, we highlight the upcoming Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), an occasion often marked by Apple's significant announcements in the realm of accessibility features. This event serves as a pivotal moment for tech enthusiasts and advocates alike, as we eagerly anticipate the innovative strides that Apple is poised to unveil. Moreover, the subsequent release of beta versions in the following month promises an exciting phase for early adopters and testers alike, setting the stage for a dynamic period of exploration and feedback.As we conclude this episode, we reflect on the dynamic landscape of tech news and the forthcoming developments that continue to shape our digital experiences. Stay tuned for more updates and insights in the ever-evolving world of technology. Thank you for joining us on this engaging discussion, and we look forward to sharing more exciting updates with you in the future.
In this news update, I discussed recent developments in the tech world that caught my attention. Firstly, Meta's decision to open up their operating system on devices like the Quest to third-party manufacturers for creating VR headsets is a significant move. It appears to be a strategic step towards competing with the Vision Pro, which adds an element of competition and innovation to the VR market. The implications of this decision will undoubtedly shape the future of VR technology, and I am curious to see how it will unfold.On another note, it seems that Apple might be discontinuing their fine-woven cases, which has stirred mixed feelings within the tech community. The fine-woven cases were popular among users, and their potential departure raises questions about Apple's future accessory offerings. As a fan of these cases myself, I share in the uncertainty surrounding this development. It will be interesting to see what Apple has in store to replace or enhance their accessory lineup following this decision.The news surrounding Meta's open-source operating system and Apple's potential discontinuation of fine-woven cases reflects the dynamic nature of the tech industry, where companies constantly strive to innovate and adapt to changing market trends. These updates serve as a reminder of the rapid pace at which technology evolves and influences consumer experiences. As we continue to track these developments, I aim to provide listeners with timely updates on emerging tech stories through our midweek news segments. Your feedback and thoughts on these news pieces are always welcome; feel free to share your opinions with us at feedback@iacast.net. Thank you for tuning in, and stay tuned for more engaging discussions in the future.
In this discussion, Taylor Arndt and Michael discuss various tech topics, starting with the review of the Humane AI Pen by Marques Brownlee. They delve into the features and issues of the pen, such as its functionality, pricing, and potential shortcomings. The conversation shifts to the impact of tech reviews on companies, highlighting the importance of constructive feedback over harsh criticism.They also touch on the upcoming WWDC event and the potential changes Apple might make to their virtual assistant, Siri. The conversation then steers towards Android 15 Beta 1 and the introduction of HID Braille support for Bluetooth Braille devices, bringing up the pros and cons of sideloading apps. Taylor and Michael then discuss the relaunch of the iAccessibility community, the release of the iAccessibility Android app, and future app developments involving artificial intelligence.They share exciting updates about various projects and apps in the works, such as Perspective Meetings, a tool for organizing virtual meetings across different platforms. The hosts express their enthusiasm for upcoming podcast content and encourage listener engagement for topic suggestions. They also highlight the introduction of a new microphone and recommend the TV show "Fallout" on Amazon Prime. The episode concludes with a preview of potential future content and a teaser for a new AI podcast.
Mike discusses his experience with the Vision Pro headset in this episode of the IACast. He shares his excitement about the headset's capabilities and its impact on his interactions with others. Mike details his observations about the headset's features, such as voice memos, FaceTime, Messages, and more. He praises the headset's ability to enhance his visual experience, especially during FaceTime calls, where he can discern facial expressions better. Mike acknowledges the criticisms surrounding the Vision Pro's price compared to other headsets but emphasizes its value for individuals with low vision like himself.Furthermore, Mike speculates about the future of the Vision Pro, anticipating advancements in spatial computing and accessibility. He reflects on the potential for the Vision Pro to inspire other companies to enhance their products' accessibility. Mike concludes by announcing the launch of a new podcast, Spatial Insights, focusing on spatial computing and Vision Pro content, which will complement the IACast feed. He encourages listeners to engage with him on various platforms and provides contact information for feedback. Mike expresses gratitude for the opportunities and advancements brought by the Vision Pro, highlighting the importance of uplifting and supporting tech companies. Finally, he wraps up the episode, thanking listeners and ending on a positive note.
In this episode, we are joined by Taylor Arndt to discuss Microsoft Loop, a program that serves as an alternative to Notion. One of the main advantages of Loop is its accessibility for blind users, addressing the accessibility issues that Notion has. Loop offers features such as workspaces, pages, and ideas, allowing users to categorize and organize content effectively. It also seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Office and allows for copying loop components between applications. Loop can be used for personal projects as well as collaboration, with a clean interface and support for various formatting options. Taylor highlights the potential of Loop for copying information between applications and as an idea collection tool. They also mention using Loop for their crafting business and Techopolis-related tasks.Loop provides various functionalities, including journaling, embedding audio files, sharing, and collaboration. Multiple users can edit the same page simultaneously, and there are real-time alerts about each other's actions. It is an ideal platform for teams working together on projects, as it stores and provides access to information in one centralized location. Loop also offers the ability to create to-do lists within content, making organization and task tracking more convenient. The platform is visually appealing and can be used for scrapbooking, photo albums, or organizing thoughts and data. It is recommended to try copying and pasting information into mail programs to test compatibility.Loop is available as a web app for Mac users and integrates well with Office products. It is cost-effective compared to Notion, as there is no charge for creating workspaces. However, the business basic plan does not have access to workspace support. We discuss the AI capabilities of Notion and the more expensive Copilot for Office, expressing the desire for an AI solution that is missing. Loop is viewed as a potential automation tool and is preferred over Google Workspace due to accessibility limitations. Additionally, we discuss the Vision Pro, expressing mixed feelings about it. The absence of full camera support and limited scanning capabilities are mentioned, with speculation that regulatory issues may be the cause. We express excitement for trying out the Vision Pro and promise to report on it in the future.At the end of the episode, we thank the listeners for tuning in and consider involving them in future content choices. We share our personal recommendations for the week - a knitting machine and the TV show Halo. Contact information is provided for connecting online, including the creation of a new community on WhatsApp and changes to the YouTube channel. The engagement of the chat room is appreciated, and feedback and comments from listeners are encouraged. The episode concludes by promoting more great podcasts on the IACast network and expressing gratitude for the listeners' support.
In this episode, I'm joined by Jeff Bishop, the President of Blind Information Technology Specialists (BITS). We discuss the accomplishments of BITS as an organization and their mission to promote accessibility and education in the field of technology for the blind and low vision community. Last year, under Jeff's leadership, BITS saw significant growth in their membership, reaching over 650 members. They have also formed partnerships with organizations like Numis Solutions and Bookshare to provide additional resources and opportunities to their members.Jeff highlights the importance of collaboration and partnering with others to achieve success. He shares that BITS has started offering Python training courses and is exploring other areas of training, such as office training, web accessibility, and web development. Jeff also expresses his vision of bringing modern web capability to the organization and sharing it with the broader community.The conversation shifts towards employment opportunities, with Jeff mentioning the idea of bringing employers and organizations to interact with BITS members for potential job opportunities. The importance of networking and creating connections within the community is emphasized.Jeff also discusses the communication strategies employed by BITS, mentioning the introduction of topic-based email lists and the implementation of a Discord server for text and voice chats. The organization is actively seeking feedback and making adaptations to ensure effective communication and scalability.Towards the end of the conversation, I extend an invitation to join BITS, highlighting the benefits of membership, such as access to training courses and networking opportunities. I also suggest the Copilot Pro tool from Microsoft and discuss my struggle with learning to use certain technologies for office tasks. We touch on the challenges of managing email lists using the Groups.io app and discuss troubleshooting and problem-solving.I conclude by sharing my contact information and thanking the guests for their participation. We invite listeners to provide feedback and inform them about other podcasts available on the network.
In this segment of the conversation, I start by discussing recent tech announcements. I mention the Samsung event and the release of the S24 series, which includes the S24, S24 Plus, and the Ultra. I note that these phones resemble iPhones in terms of their design, with squared-off edges and matte colored sides. I also mention the addition of AI features and speculate about the practicality of these features.Moving on, I talk about the possibility of Google partnering with Samsung for their phones, as discussed on another podcast. I highlight the continuous changes in the Android landscape and the stability of Samsung as an Android developer. I then return to discussing the S24 series, mentioning the different colors available and expressing my opinion on the current trend of muted colors in phones.Next, I mention the S Pen and the new features and chip in the S24 series but question the constant need for upgrades. I also discuss Samsung's other phone models, like the Fold and Flip phones, and the competition between Apple and Samsung.Shifting gears, I share my excitement about the Vision Pro, a headset for the blind and low vision. I mention the drawbacks of current headsets and express hope that the Vision Pro will provide a better viewing experience. It is a pair of glasses that allows you to take good shots and capture moments, with apps and features that make it more versatile compared to other specialized headsets. I then discuss the Rabbit R1, a device with GPT agents that can run actions in your apps. It has its own hardware and operating system, which makes it intriguing, but I question if it actually works as advertised. I believe it's a step towards having more actionable results from AI, which I think is where the future is heading.For the pick of the week, I recommend the Marvel series Echo on Disney+. Lastly, I invite listeners to check out our website for free membership or to support our shows. I mention the IACast plans and the community on Discord, where listeners can engage with us during the show.I conclude by thanking the audience for listening to the latest episode and assure them that we will be back soon with our panel. I encourage feedback and comments via email or on Twitter. I also promote other podcasts on the IACast Network and thank the audience for their support.Thank you for tuning in to the IACast network.
In this episode of the podcast, we have Michael Babcock and Ashley Coleman as guests. They discuss the recent tech news and one of the biggest changes, which is the applications key being replaced by the chat GPT key. Michael shares his opinion, stating that he's not as upset about it because he's already found workarounds. He also questions whether Microsoft can prevent Sharp Keys from changing the key. Ashley mentions that it will be disruptive for people who rely on the applications key and may cause problems for those who are learning. They discuss the purpose of the dedicated key and its connection to AI. They speculate that AI has the potential to be something big in the future.
We believe that AI will continue to be present in our lives for the foreseeable future. While current AI advancements may make our devices seem outdated, AI is here to stay. As podcast producers, we have recently discovered AI tools that make our job easier and fill in the gaps where we lack knowledge or expertise. Ideally, AI would become seamlessly integrated into our devices without the need for the term itself. Apple, for example, avoids using the term AI and instead focuses on machine learning and computer vision. This approach may make AI more relatable and appealing to a wider audience. We discuss the concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI), which represents when AI surpasses human intelligence and can independently perform tasks beyond machine learning. However, the term AGI is often confusing and its definition varies. We mention a show called AI Name This Show, where they discuss future possibilities of AI. They predict that wearable technology and AI will merge by 2024, with devices like the Humane pen and the Rewind device utilizing AI to enhance our experiences. As for hardware integration, we foresee AI being folded into various devices, and more offline AI applications to cut costs. We also mention the newly announced OpenAI Chat GPT store, which allows users to access the GPT model for a subscription fee. This service has been helpful for tasks like writing emails and creating content, and its availability in customized and additional products will further contribute to AI's growth in 2024.
So, we keep hearing every few months that AI is getting smarter and will start taking jobs away from people. However, we personally don't believe that. We think AI is only expanding the possibilities of what we can do in our jobs. While some argue that AI will replace customer service professionals, we don't think that will happen. AI voice systems, like the one AT&T uses, have limitations and struggle with complex scenarios. So, instead of taking away jobs, we believe AI will simply shift the way we work and make us more productive. There may be companies that want to replace chat agents with chat GPT, but there are concerns about whether AI can accurately represent company values and handle edge cases. As for smartphones, we don't think we'll see any drastic changes in their form factors, although there might be advancements in voice assistants like Google Assistant with the introduction of Bard. While accessibility and AI can work together, we don't expect major shifts in phone designs.
In this part of the conversation, I discuss the possibility of having a chat GPT button on the Microsoft launcher for Android. I mention the partnership between Samsung and Microsoft and wonder if we'll see a co-pilot button on One UI for Samsung. I also speculate about the potential for a bar button or customizable AI button on Samsung phones. We talk about the gamification aspect of Bixby and how it rewarded users with points. We then shift to discussing Android and the improvements we would like to see, such as better braille display support and enhanced web views within applications. My co-host mentions not getting along well with Android and switching back to iPhone. I share my plan to spend most of the year on Android and mention the upcoming release of the Pixel watch. We briefly touch on the design of the Apple Watch and anticipate software changes for Android at Google I/O. We also touch on the possibility of AI being added to Amazon's Alexa. Finally, I make a prediction about mainstream apps combining into a single platform.
I just accidentally knocked my coffee cup off my desk, but luckily it didn't spill thanks to the good lid my father-in-law gave me. I believe that many mainstream apps will eventually combine into one to reduce the number of apps we need to download. Elon Musk's company wants to be that one app. We are already seeing this trend with streaming services, with Disney and Hulu merging into one, and other companies like One Max looking to purchase Paramount. This consolidation is happening because the prices of these apps are increasing, similar to what happened with cable TV. People are already starting to cut out some of these subscriptions. However, I have noticed that some services are restricting access outside of their own platforms, which is disappointing for users who prefer to have options. I think the future of apps will involve combining different services into one, as well as introducing new ways to interact with them, such as voice or text. In terms of technology, I expect to see improvements in headphones like AirPods, with new audio settings and possibly the release of AirPods 4. Additionally, new Macs will likely be introduced with added features to justify their high price range.
It is rumored that new iPad Pro models will be released this year. I wonder if these new iPads will be worth upgrading to. We discuss the previous upgrade to the M1 iPad and wonder if the new M3 iPad will be the one to get. The topic of foldable iPads is brought up, but I express skepticism about their usefulness. We talk about the desire for multi-user accounts on iPads, similar to what the Mac can do. I believe it is a necessary feature for iPads to be considered equivalent to computers. We discuss the limitations of iPads in educational settings and the lack of flexibility in sharing devices among students. The conversation takes a detour as we encounter technical difficulties with using the Bard screen reader. We also briefly discuss the timeline for AI development and express frustration over the limitations and inconsistencies of Google Workspace accounts compared to regular Gmail accounts.
I seem to be frustrated with the passkey feature on Google accounts, as it shows as unavailable whenever I log in. I express my confusion and disappointment regarding the functionality of passkeys. I also discuss my interest in the upcoming Vision Pro and how I am skeptical about investing in it, considering my limited use of wearable technology. I mention the inconvenience of the long boot-up time and the need for Wi-Fi connectivity. Battery life is also a concern. Despite these reservations, I am intrigued by the potential benefits for low vision individuals. I mention my plan to bring the Vision Pro to a convention to explore its capabilities further. I predict that 2023 will be a year of reacting to technological shifts and wonder if Mastodon will become the preferred social media platform for the blind and low vision community. I believe that Mastodon will likely retain its user base due to established communities and connections. However, I acknowledge that the discovery aspect and finding new people to engage with on Mastodon may pose challenges for growth. I jokingly mention my high number of followers, accusing the other person of cheating by importing a group of people.
In this part of the conversation, we discuss the updates on social media platforms and their timelines. We talk about how my timeline is not as fast-paced and constantly changing like Twitter. I appreciate the true timeline and lack of algorithm. The conversation then moves on to discussing the potential traction for threads and blue sky on social media, with my skepticism about threads while not having enough information about blue sky. We also discuss my personal preference for automation and finding ways to make tasks easier. I mention my lack of interest in joining more social media platforms like blue sky because I already have a LinkedIn account that I don't use. I also mention my curiosity about accessibility advancements and predictions for the upcoming year, particularly in AI and screen reader technologies. I express a desire for AI to make things more accessible and for screen reader tools to help people navigate inaccessible content. I believe that technology vendors can utilize existing technology to achieve this. The conversation wraps up with our anticipation of companies pushing the boundaries of technology, and we pledge to continue discussing these topics throughout the year. Finally, I share my pick, Mac GPT, a downloadable app for Mac users that allows chat capabilities with GPT and other features like file attachments. We provide our contact information and invite listeners to check out our podcast.
In this part of the podcast, we discuss the use of MacGPT and the accessibility of custom GPTs through an API key. We talk about the options available for viewing custom GPTs and the confusion surrounding API keys. We also share our personal picks for the week, including Todoist app and the TV show "Marvel's What If." We provide our online contact information and invite listeners to join our Discord server. We conclude by thanking our guests and announcing upcoming changes to the podcast. We encourage feedback and promote our Twitter account and other podcasts on the IACast Network. We sign off and thank listeners for tuning in.
Episode NotesJoin Michael as we discuss things like Beeper Mini, and latest technology during the holiday season.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/fb5dc376-f5d9-450b-93af-d59434f15ab2
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode of the iACast, we reflect on lighthearted and entertaining moments from our show. Setting ourselves apart from other tech podcasts, we emphasize not podcasting too seriously. We plan to diversify our platforms, explore emerging technologies, and promote accessibility. Join us for valuable content and engaging discussions in future episodes.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/16ba8b7d-132f-410f-8d3e-c9fe2ae2ec54
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode, we discussed the highly anticipated M3 MacBook Pros, and the new M3 iMac The These powerful machines will be available for order at the end of November, adding to the anticipation surrounding their release.
App Picks* Marty: Dark Noise * Alisha: Canva * Taylor: Square * Michael: Buffer
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/10cd2a0a-6f0d-4f6f-ad8c-6ab9c002377a
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode of the iAcast, we discuss rumors of new Apple products, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, platform shaming, messaging platforms, shortcuts on iPhones and Android phones, recommended software and devices, and upcoming podcast updates. The overarching theme is respecting individual choices and staying connected to tech trends.
Picks* Angie: Concept 2 rower * Marty: NetNewsWire * Alisha: Ferrite * Michael: DEVONThink
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/f359b937-45bf-4871-99b9-6a820aaaa62a
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode, we discuss the recent Google event, highlighting the Pixel Watch 2 and its Fitbit influence. We delve into the pricing, design updates, and concerns about Google's data collection practices. We also touch on new announcements like the Pixel Buds 2 and AI features in the new Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. The conversation extends to our thoughts on Bluesky, and our radio station's improved accessibility. Don't forget to subscribe and leave reviews for the podcast!
Picks* Alisha: Soundcore Motion Plus * Taylor: iACast Radio on Radio.co * Michael: Loki Season 2
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/7e9e3793-77c5-4a99-8f66-f2fafd765745
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode, we discuss the American Council of the Blind National Organization embracing Mastodon and a bug in the latest iOS beta. We also talk about password managers, integrating NPUs into computer processors, on-device processing, and the costs and privacy implications of cloud storage. We touch on smart speakers and wrap up with our picks and where to find us online.
Picks* Marty: Friday Finds with Lynn * Alisha: Senheiser Profile * Michael: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/83cf2d86-30d0-4390-b3df-ef16b1580fa2
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode of the iACast Alisha, Taylor and Michael Doise discussed the following topics.
- Twitter/X owner makes statement that platform may require all accounts to become paying members
- Announcements from the Amazon Event
- Announcements from the Microsoft Event
Picks* Alisha: Minecraft Dungeons on Nintendo Switch * Taylor: Spotify * Michael: iPhone 15 Pro Max
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/67166487-3923-4fe7-a92e-48f29c0b8bff
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn Episode 195 of the iACast, we are joined by Michael Babcock, Marty Sobo, and Lynn Schneider. Michael and Marty discuss their recent work on the Unmute podcast, including their Friday finds and their thoughts on music and podcast apps. They also mention their recent live iACast show on the Apple Keynote event and the new websites for Friday Finds and Unmute. They tease an exciting announcement about the iAccessibility app.
Moving on, we delve into leaked information about Apple's new phones, specifically the use of tetraprism technology. We express frustration with misleading titles in tech journalism and praise Apple for their transparency. We also appreciate Apple's innovative use of titanium in their products. We are particularly excited about the blue titanium iPhone and plan to do a large unboxing video. However, we are frustrated with Apple's decision not to sell standalone cases for AirPods, which forces customers to buy new buds even if they don't need to. We discuss the environmental impact of this decision and speculate about reselling the cases separately.
Next, we address conflicting rumors about lossless audio support and contemplate buying USB-C EarPods for compatibility with our Macs. We discuss the convenience of recording high-resolution videos directly to a USB-C SSD hard drive and the potential for connecting iPhones together and transferring files using the Files app. We note that the cable included with the phone is slower and explore other options for faster speeds. Additionally, we mention the ability to charge other devices with the phone and discuss the lack of quick charge capabilities.
Shifting gears, we share our own purchases and storage needs for the new phones. We discuss phone storage capacities, the pricing of higher capacity models, and the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch. We also delve into medical technologies and the potential impact of smartwatches in healthcare. We talk about the importance of checking spam folders, the upcoming features of the Apple Watch 9, and the possibility of glucose meters. We discuss the potential insurance coverage for smartwatches used for medical purposes and their role in medical monitoring and well-being.
Moving on, we share our frustrations with the iPhone pre-order process and compare the perspectives of Android users and iPhone users. We note the high demand and congestion during iPhone launches and how Apple has hired more retail staff to address this. We discuss the convenience of pre-ordering online and Michael's plan to upgrade through their carrier. We mention the preference for financing through carriers and the distinction with Apple financing. We advise listeners to do their homework and choose the best option for themselves.
We mention concerns about iOS 17 bugs and advise against early upgrading. We talk about the importance of knowing one's tolerance for problems and waiting for stability before updating. Finally, we discuss the new ringtones and alert tones in the upgrade, including the replacement of the tritone for the system alert sound. We encourage listeners to check out the new sounds, back up their data, and share our personal backup process.
We wrap up the episode by asking for listener feedback and sharing our personal picks and where to find us online. Listeners can find more information about the show at iacast.net and reach out to us via email at feedback@iacast.net. They can also follow us on Twitter at IACastNetwork and check out more great podcasts on the iAcast network at iacast.net.
Picks* Marty: Apple Keynote for September * Lynn: Friday Finds * Michael: Maestral for macOS * Michael: iOS 17 ringtones
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/6e7cc7db-0e10-4f1b-96c2-7f6a8dbf2833
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Episode Notes Join Michael Doise, Marty Sobo, Lynn Schneider, and Taylor Arndt as we discuss everything that was announced at Apple's September 2023 iPhone Event.
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
- AirPods 2 with USB-C
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Pro
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/a9fbed4e-b021-4350-91d0-a3a40be8b00b
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode of the iACast podcast, we have a group of hosts including Jeff Bishop, Marty Sobo, Lynn Schneider, Taylor Arndt and Michael Doise. We start by discussing our excitement for the upcoming Apple event and the release of new iPhones. We express differing opinions on whether we prefer the software or hardware announcements and mention the prevalence of rumors before Apple events. We then move on to discuss our hopes for what we would like to see on the new devices, including the possibility of a “one more thing” announcement.
Next, we decide to discuss non-iPhone topics first before diving into AirPods and the rumors of a USB-C case. We express our desire for a single cable to charge all our devices and discuss the possibility of waiting for the next generation of AirPods Pro. We propose the idea of buying just the case for the original AirPods Pro 2 that we already own and consider the environmental impact of releasing a new case with USB-C.
Moving on, we talk about the potential release of AirPods 4 and discuss the features we would like to see, such as volume control and better transparency. We also speculate whether the new U2 chip will be included in the AirPod 4s or the iPhone 15/16. We mention the possibility of AirPods being able to unlock devices and discuss the potential for health-related features like temperature monitoring. We anticipate that there will be a focus on vision-related technologies and discuss the potential release of new iMacs and a new M3 chip for Macs. We debate whether a separate Mac event will be held in October and consider the possibility of an ultra version of a product.
In the next part of the conversation, we shift our focus to the upcoming Apple Watch release. We express our hope for blood glucose monitoring to be included in the watch and discuss the lack of significant changes in the watch’s performance since the 6th version. We debate whether it’s worth upgrading from the 8th version to the 9th and mention the possibility of adding a button for assigning tasks or apps on the regular versions of the watch. We briefly touch on the iPhone and express our desire for longer battery life. We conclude the discussion by mentioning the upcoming Tuesday release and pondering how much money Apple will make us spend. We briefly touch on skipped iPhone models and discuss the iPhone X as the best one ever made. We briefly mention the increasing prices of iPhones and move on to discuss iOS and the possibility of changes in the HomePod.
We don’t expect Apple to release any new hardware for the HomePod mini but anticipate new software and added capabilities. We describe the round shape of the mini HomePods and mention their ability to be paired. We note that Siri only speaks out of one speaker when paired. We discuss the better audio quality of the mini HomePods for movies compared to TV speakers. We also mention the possibility of a journaling app in iOS 17.1 and new Mac software releases.
Picks* Lynn: Hurricane Track Youtube channel * Jeff: OpenShell for Windows * Taylor: New apartment * Marty: HomePod Mini * Michael: Starfield
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/1907d706-b940-4bf5-821f-8e891e314fe4
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode of the iACast podcast, we have a group of hosts including Jeff Bishop, Marty Sobo, Lynn Schneider, Taylor Arndt and Michael Doise. We start by discussing our excitement for the upcoming Apple event and the release of new iPhones. We express differing opinions on whether we prefer the software or hardware announcements and mention the prevalence of rumors before Apple events. We then move on to discuss our hopes for what we would like to see on the new devices, including the possibility of a "one more thing" announcement.
Next, we decide to discuss non-iPhone topics first before diving into AirPods and the rumors of a USB-C case. We express our desire for a single cable to charge all our devices and discuss the possibility of waiting for the next generation of AirPods Pro. We propose the idea of buying just the case for the original AirPods Pro 2 that we already own and consider the environmental impact of releasing a new case with USB-C.
Moving on, we talk about the potential release of AirPods 4 and discuss the features we would like to see, such as volume control and better transparency. We also speculate whether the new U2 chip will be included in the AirPod 4s or the iPhone 15/16. We mention the possibility of AirPods being able to unlock devices and discuss the potential for health-related features like temperature monitoring. We anticipate that there will be a focus on vision-related technologies and discuss the potential release of new iMacs and a new M3 chip for Macs. We debate whether a separate Mac event will be held in October and consider the possibility of an ultra version of a product.
In the next part of the conversation, we shift our focus to the upcoming Apple Watch release. We express our hope for blood glucose monitoring to be included in the watch and discuss the lack of significant changes in the watch's performance since the 6th version. We debate whether it's worth upgrading from the 8th version to the 9th and mention the possibility of adding a button for assigning tasks or apps on the regular versions of the watch. We briefly touch on the iPhone and express our desire for longer battery life. We conclude the discussion by mentioning the upcoming Tuesday release and pondering how much money Apple will make us spend. We briefly touch on skipped iPhone models and discuss the iPhone X as the best one ever made. We briefly mention the increasing prices of iPhones and move on to discuss iOS and the possibility of changes in the HomePod.
We don't expect Apple to release any new hardware for the HomePod mini but anticipate new software and added capabilities. We describe the round shape of the mini HomePods and mention their ability to be paired. We note that Siri only speaks out of one speaker when paired. We discuss the better audio quality of the mini HomePods for movies compared to TV speakers. We also mention the possibility of a journaling app in iOS 17.1 and new Mac software releases.
Picks* Lynn: Hurricane Track Youtube channel * Jeff: OpenShell for Windows * Taylor: New apartment * Marty: HomePod Mini * Michael: Starfield
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/1907d706-b940-4bf5-821f-8e891e314fe4
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
This episode discussed CleanFeed, mishaps with recording, Double Tap, Steven’s TV show, connecting with our community, Slack notifications, package deliveries, video challenges for the visually impaired, and upcoming changes.
NOTES: To remove applications from the Blindshell Classic 2, start by pressing and holding the back button. Then, press the down arrow, followed by number 4, OK, and up once, OK. Go to “Browse Catalog” and select option number 2,
Read transcript
Episode Notes In episode 193 of the iACast, a lively group consisting of Michael Doise, Angie Fisher, Michael Babcock, Marty Sobo, and Lynn Shneider discuss various topics. They start by talking about the joys of food delivery and share their experiences attending the American Council of the Blind conference. They also announce that the iACast network is expanding with new content from Unmute Presents. There was a 30-minute episode on Thursday with all the details. Marty and Michael mention their behind-the-scenes work to bring the teams together, and Lynn gives an overview of the topics covered in the latest Friday Finds episode, including iOS 17, changes in social media, a headband for blind swimmers, and Google's robotic dog.
The conversation then shifts to the topic of robotic guide dogs. The main speaker, as a guide dog user, expresses curiosity about trying a robotic guide dog and discusses the potential time-saving benefits of not having to take care of a real dog. They acknowledge the necessary training for both the robotic guide dog and its user and decide that this topic deserves its own episode to explore the opinions and reasons for and against using robotic guide dogs. They also tease a special announcement coming in the next episode.
The hosts briefly mention the topics covered in previous episodes of their podcast/show and highlight the diverse content available in the IACast network feed. They then discuss the upcoming tech events, such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google events, and announce that they will do event episodes for these events. They invite listeners to join their membership program to access these episodes. They also talk about the Threads social media platform and its accessibility on the web, as well as the possibility of switching to Mastodon once Threads supports ActivityPub.
Michael then discusses the different devices available for blind and visually impaired users, specifically the BlindShell Classic 2 and the Smart Vision 3. They mention the pros and cons of each device and emphasize the importance of considering individual needs and preferences when selecting assistive technology.
The discussion continues with a focus on the needs of elderly individuals when it comes to technology. They mention the complexity of smartphones and the importance of simplicity for older users. They also discuss the potential social considerations and the importance of prioritizing individual needs and preferences.
The hosts then talk about the importance of thinking about how different phones might affect the ability of sighted people to assist individuals with visual impairments. They emphasize the importance of listening to the individual and understanding their preferences and needs. They also discuss the social considerations and the need to prioritize the individual's needs.
Michael expresses his desire for an iPhone and mentions the Slingers as a neat device he saw at a conference. They discuss the advantages and disadvantages of specialist devices versus mainstream smartphones and highlight the importance of personal choice and requirements.
Next, the hosts share their picks for the episode. Michael recommends the HumanWare NLS E-Reader, Marty mentions his presence on Mastodon and the IACast network, Lynn recommends the Sennheiser Ambio Smart headphones for stereo recording, and Angie shares her pick, the Be My AI app for detailed picture descriptions.
Finally, the hosts share their TV show recommendation, Invasion Season 2 on Apple TV+, and end the episode by thanking the audience and announcing their upcoming move. They encourage feedback and following them on social media.
Picks * Angie: Be My AI * Michael: Humanware NlS E-Reader * Lynn, Sennheiser Ambeo Smart headset * Michael D: Invasion season 2
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/f327c4f3-def9-4a30-a091-46afd06e5669
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
In this episode of the State of the Union podcast, we discuss the merger of IACAST and Unmute Presents to create a unified network. Listeners can now access all shows through the IACAST Network feed, and exciting new projects are on the horizon. We have revamped our website and developed the IACAST radio for a seamless listening experience. Join us as we build a strong community around our technology-focused content. #IACast.Read transcript
In this episode, we cover a range of topics and make exciting announcements. We ask listeners for shout-outs to Doug, introduce a new segment, and discuss our smartphone experiences. We talk about fitness competitions, pizza, food delivery fees,
- Introduction:
– Discussion about the inspiration for this episode from the latest DoubleTap show where host Sean talks about recording applications that may not be fully accessible. - Main Content:
– Detailed walkthrough on how to record an iPhone screen and include voiceover, a useful tool for developers to understand accessibility challenges.
– Topics covered:- Navigating an iPhone 12 without a home button.
- Adding the screen recording feature to the control center.
- Reordering controls in the control center for screen recording.
- Starting and stopping screen recording.
- Sharing the recorded video with developers.
- Conclusion:
– Recap of the process and its potential benefits for app developers and users.
– Invitation for listeners to reach out with any questions or comments. - Contact Information:
– Encouragement for listeners to reach out on Mastodon at payown, P-A-Y-O-W-N, at unmute.community with any questions or feedback.
Remember to tune in to Unmute every Sunday for more insights and discussions on accessibility and technology!
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Read transcript
In this episode of Friday Finds, we share good news about the resolution of the iOS 17 braille display bug. We also discuss a smart headband called EYECAN, designed to assist blind individuals in navigating swimming pools. We explore the changing landscape of social media and the emergence of platforms offering more control. Additionally, we mention the development of a language model for robotic dogs and express gratitude to our listeners.# You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.
Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Read transcript
Welcome to this episode of the Shell Phone Show. Today, we are discussing how to reset your Blindshell Classic 2 phone to factory defaults. This is a useful last resort troubleshooting technique but be warned,
Welcome to this episode of Unmute! We address listener questions and concerns, covering a range of technical issues. We discuss the new Sense Player from HIMSS, provide tips on managing messages across Apple devices and smart TV troubleshooting.
In this episode, we discuss defining success on our own terms and avoiding comparisons. We highlight podcast hosts’ unique success stories and mention our oversight in sending files. We invite listeners to follow us on Mastodon and briefly touch on pro...
In this episode, the Send To feature in LaunchBar is explored. Learn how to quickly move files to specific locations with just a few keystrokes and navigate through folders efficiently. Stay tuned for more productivity tips.
In this episode, we delve into two different issues that arise with the advancement of technology. First, we discuss the limitations and decreasing effectiveness of CAPTCHAs. Lynn Schneider, the host, highlights that as AI technology becomes more sophi...
In this conversation, we stress the importance of securing your organization’s web presence. We discuss the significance of having a domain name for verification and business integration. We provide tips for maintaining control over your domain,
On this episode of the Unmute Presents Community Call, we address a range of tech-related questions. We discuss tips for saving attachments in Outlook, generating QR codes, troubleshooting computer issues, muting messages on WhatsApp and GroupMe,
Read transcript
Episode Notes In this episode of the IACast, the main speaker, Michael Doise, introduces the rest of the group and mentions that they are now doing a pre-show before recording the episodes live on IACast radio. They also talk about their new travel and tech show that will be coming out soon. Michael and Marty give an overview of what they have been doing on Unmute, including a preview episode of the travel show.
They discuss various topics, including the changes happening on Twitter and the potential downfall of the platform. They mention that Twitter is no longer the same and that blocking users will no longer be possible except in direct messages. They also discuss the chaotic nature of the platform and the possibility of bringing back blocking behind a paywall.
There is a discussion about the use of different social media platforms and the need to reach a wider audience. The main speaker emphasizes the importance of serving the audience wherever they are, mentioning that Mastodon has a significant blind user base. They encourage content creators to consider using Mastodon to broaden their reach and engage with a larger audience.
The main speaker also mentions the issue of tools not supporting other platforms and the challenge of transitioning to new tools. They express frustration with companies serving people with disabilities using platforms that are not accessible. The main speaker advocates for open conversations and collaboration to find solutions. They praise the customization options and user-friendliness of the Mastodon app, emphasizing its potential for individualized experiences.
The main speaker also highlights the complexity of various social media platforms and acknowledges the limitations of some apps. They share their own experiences with Facebook and the limitations of the Threads app.
They discuss the rumors surrounding OpenAI's potential bankruptcy, expressing skepticism and mentioning that someone will likely buy their technology or invest in them. They caution against unnecessary panic created by media reports and emphasize the importance of managing expectations and transparency. They mention their excitement about the Be My Eyes Be My AI beta and the new Bing app feature that uses OpenAI. They discuss the user experience of both apps and the challenges they have encountered, highlighting the limitations of AI technology.
They also discuss the importance of seeking education and assistance from pharmacies for individuals who need to take medications. They caution against over-reliance on technology and stress the need for caution and cross-referencing information.
The main speaker introduces the app picks for this episode, including the Mercury weather app and the Phind AI-based programming assistant. They also discuss their preferences for TV shows to watch.
The main speaker provides their contact information and encourages listeners to provide feedback and share their thoughts and preferences. They express gratitude to the other speakers for being part of the show and thank the listeners for tuning in. The episode concludes with an invitation to stay updated on new episodes and explore more podcasts on the IACast network.
Picks * Marty: Mercury Weather * Michael B https://phind.com * Jeff: Concept2 ErgData * Taylor: Bing for iOS * Michael D: Ahsoka on Disney Plus
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/517a1734-048e-4712-aa93-93f25ea273bf
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode Notes In this episode of the Programatic podcast, host Michael Doise explores the topic of accessibility in programming. He brings on expert Taylor Arndt to lend her insights and expertise to the conversation. Together, they delve into various aspects of accessibility in programming, covering both desktop applications and websites/mobile apps. The discussion kicks off with Taylor sharing her background in digital accessibility and programming, providing valuable context for the conversation. Michael mentions that future episodes will dive into more advanced topics, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the subject matter. One key point of focus is how desktop applications are audited for accessibility compared to websites and mobile apps. They examine the application of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to desktop apps, particularly those developed with Electron. This discussion sheds light on the challenges and considerations involved in ensuring accessibility in different platforms. The conversation then turns to specific challenges faced by developers when implementing accessibility features, such as dark mode, in their apps. They discuss the Blindshell Classic 2, an Android phone with its own app system that does not support dark mode for Android apps. This prompts an exploration of the need for exceptions in accessibility audits and the processes that companies have for granting them. Additionally, they touch on the fact that many accessibility professionals may not have a development background, highlighting the need for collaboration between developers and accessibility experts. Moving on, they tackle the technicalities of incorporating images in websites and mobile apps with regards to accessibility. The concept of decorative images, their purpose, and how best to handle them for screen readers is explored. They emphasize the importance of considering keyboard users and discuss whether hiding images from screen readers using ARIA is acceptable. The differences between handling images on mobile apps and websites are also considered, with a focus on best practices and exceptions to accommodate specific app needs. Conveying information through alt text and accessibility labels is highlighted, particularly for images that are critical to app functionality and flow. The speakers then explore the topic of profile images on social media timelines and discuss the accessibility and usability implications of different approaches. They suggest that using a person's name as a description for the image may be more accessible than relying solely on alt text. They also compare the accessibility and usability of Twitter and Threads posts, noting that Threads can be technically accessible but pose usability challenges due to navigation complexities. Heading into the next segment, they analyze the differences in headings between websites and mobile apps, presenting their reasoning for specific heading levels and mobile-specific considerations. Collaboration with developers is emphasized as crucial for creating accessible apps, and the misuse of headings is cautioned against. The podcast then turns its attention to the usage of audio in mobile apps, addressing autoplay, interruptions, and the importance of uninterrupted audio sessions. The layout and distinction of images, buttons, and links in mobile apps are also examined, stressing the need for clear differentiation between buttons and links. Accessibility features such as underlined text for links are highlighted as essential components of an accessible design. Criticisms are voiced towards companies that fail to properly differentiate between buttons and navigable items in their mobile apps, and the importance of mobile-specific expertise in app accessibility is reinforced. The conversation wraps up with a discussion on the importance of code-level recommendations from developers who understand mobile platforms. Buttons, list items, headings, and images are emphasized as crucial elements to consider when comparing mobile and web accessibility. The necessity of captions and transcripts for audio content, as well as proper linking of web pages, is highlighted. Color contrast and adherence to WCAG standards are underlined as vital aspects to bear in mind. With a final message of programming being a creative and artistic career, the speakers emphasize the long-term benefits that good accessibility practices can bring to programmers. Listeners are encouraged to provide feedback and questions, with contact information provided for Taylor and Michael. The episode concludes, leaving listeners with valuable insights into the importance of accessibility in programming and how to approach it effectively.In this episode, we explore accessibility in programming with expert Taylor Arndt. We discuss auditing accessibility in desktop applications versus websites/mobile apps. We also cover challenges faced by developers in implementing accessibility features and handling images. Other topics include profile images on social media, heading structures, audio in mobile apps, and code-level recommendations. We emphasize collaboration between developers and accessibility experts and the importance of adhering to WCAG standards. Contact information for Taylor and Michael is provided for feedback and questions.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/383ff034-0c6e-442b-8ed1-90aa3cdd2f8e
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode Notes In this episode, Michael Doise flies solo as the host and kicks off the conversation by expressing his appreciation for the audience and his enjoyment of doing the podcast. He updates listeners on the upcoming changes and news in the iAccessibility and Techopolis realms, including the re-release of the VO Starter app with more lessons and content for iOS 17. He teases a surprise and mentions that the app will be available for free. Michael also talks about the success of iACast Radio, with over 100 hours of listening in the past week. He welcomes Michael Babcock to the discussion, and they briefly chat about TV shows they have been watching.
Moving on to their podcast, Unmute Presents, Michael mentions the great content they have been producing and their progress in catching up with publishing episodes. He highlights various shows and recommends checking out their podcast on the radio station or subscribing to their podcast feed.
Shifting gears, Michael addresses the recent stir on Mastodon caused by an article from The Verge about SanDisk SSD drives losing files despite a firmware update. He shares his personal experience with such drives and expresses concern about Western Digital's handling of the situation. He commends the speed of the SSD drives but emphasizes the importance of considering other brands with reliable drives.
The discussion shifts to the ongoing debate between iPad and Android tablets. Michael shares his experience as a blind individual, finding the real estate on an iPad overwhelming and the keyboard support not ideal for his needs. However, based on limited experience with Android tablets, he believes that the iPad is the better choice overall. He compares features and functionalities, highlighting advantages and disadvantages of both platforms.
The speaker also discusses their use of iPadOS and the improvement in navigation with the item chooser feature and keyboard commands. They emphasize the need for good backup solutions and prioritize the importance of backups. The speaker then dives into the topic of keyboard support, noting the inconsistency across different brands of Android tablets and the standardization of keyboard shortcuts on iPad apps.
Michael touches on the limited storage space of Android tablets compared to the massive storage capabilities of iPads. They mention the advantages and disadvantages of both platforms, such as better sound quality on Samsung tablets and the convenience of accessing specific content on iPads. The speaker recommends considering individual needs and usages when deciding between tablets.
In closing, Michael expresses their enjoyment of having guests like Michael on the show and shares their pick for great content, Foundation Season 2 on Apple TV. They provide their contact information and encourage listeners to send feedback and stay tuned for future episodes.
Picks * Michael B: Hijack on Apple TV+ * Michael D: Foundation season 2 on Apple TV+
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/98e15eea-9a5d-4409-b12e-c8bd833e62f4
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Episode Notes In this demo, Michael shows how to use the Bing Chat Image Search feature in the Bing for iOS app.
Bing for iOS
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/10d9fa28-a969-446a-90fb-a3f84a564b24
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Read transcript
Episode Notes In this episode of our podcast, I am joined by Marty Sobo and Michael Babcock as we approach our 200th episode. We ask our listeners how long they have been with us and tease some upcoming changes for episode 200. We discuss the tech news coming in September, including new iPhones and betas. We also dive into our show "Unmute Presents" that Michael and Marty do, where they go live every Tuesday on the ACB community to answer tech questions. We mention the iACast Radio, a radio station for all iACast and Unmute Presents content, and explain how to access it. We talk about our plans for live content on the radio station and an upcoming podcast called "Technically Working." We also discuss the excitement around iACast Radio and our goal to provide interesting content for listeners. We then delve into the different platforms we use for our content, such as YouTube, radio, and podcasts, and how the way we upload and share our content has evolved over time. We move on to discuss a news story that excites us, a new superconductor discovered in South Korea that can operate at room temperature without protection or a vacuum. We discuss its potential impact on battery technology, faster charging, maglev trains, and power lines. We express our enthusiasm for technological advancements and their potential to improve transportation. The conversation then transitions to the potential of the superconductor in extending battery life and enhancing battery performance. We highlight its key aspects and discuss an article about the decline in traffic for the platform Threads. We address a technical issue with the X app and offer a solution. We move on to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of having a centralized town square or platform for social media. We share our experiences with Twitter and Mastodon, emphasizing the desire for decentralized federated content and connecting with users across different platforms. We acknowledge the challenges in determining a central gathering place and the issues surrounding hate speech and inappropriate content. We mention the monetization and convenience factors and express a desire for an easy way to post on multiple social media platforms. Next, we share our excitement about the Beats Studio Pro headsets we recently purchased. We discuss their foldable design, lightweight nature, and impressive sound quality. We talk about their ability to function without battery power, Bluetooth connectivity, transparency mode, and noise cancellation. We mention their compatibility with Android and iOS devices and recommend getting AppleCare for added protection. We discuss using the headsets for gaming and compare them to the AirPods Max, highlighting their value and comfort. We touch on upcoming releases of iOS, iPadOS, and Mac, highlighting the features we're excited about, such as the journaling app in iOS 17. We discuss the stability of the beta versions and address some persistent issues with Bluetooth connectivity and Siri. To end on a positive note, we share our personal recommendations. We mention Audio Hijack, a tool for audio customization, and Marty recommends the Belkin MagSafe iPhone stand/mount for streaming video. We provide our online presence and contact information for further engagement. We thank our guests, Marty and Michael, for joining us and wrap up the episode by expressing our appreciation for the listeners and excitement for the next episode. We encourage them to explore other podcasts on the iACast Network at iacast.net.
Picks * Michael: Audio Hijack * Marty: Belkin MagSafe iPhone desktop/laptop stand for iPhone * Michael: Beats Studio Pro
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/967334a8-d70c-4dbf-92c5-ba00175ae515
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Episode Notes In episode 188 of the IACast, we begin by discussing the recent passing of Kevin Mitnick, a renowned hacker who later turned into a white hat hacker and worked with companies to defend against cyber attacks. We highlight his influence on the tech community and how his story inspired many to pursue careers in cybersecurity. We then shift our focus to the news that Apple may remove FaceTime and iMessage from the UK if new laws are passed that compromise end-to-end encryption in messaging applications. We emphasize the importance of user privacy and the potential impact this decision could have on the messaging landscape in the UK. Moving on, we delve into the topic of router systems and specifically discuss mesh routers. We share our personal experiences and preferences, with some of us using Eero and others transitioning to Ubiquiti. We compare different router models, including Google Wi-Fi, Eero, and Ubiquiti, and discuss the reasons behind our switch in routers. We highlight the challenges we faced with our previous routers and explain our decision to switch to Eero or Ubiquiti. Some of us praise Eero for its reliability and ease of use, while others appreciate the flexibility and customization options offered by Ubiquiti. We discuss specific features of each router and the benefits they bring to our network setup. We acknowledge that the decision ultimately depends on individual preferences and the specific needs of each user. Additionally, we touch on the topic of HomeKit routers and the importance of securing connected devices. We share our experiences with different router models and their compatibility with HomeKit Secure Router. We discuss the advantages and limitations of various routers in terms of security and customization options, providing insights into the features and functionalities of each model. To conclude, we express our final thoughts on mesh systems and encryption. We discuss the convenience and adaptability of mesh systems for home networking, highlighting the benefits they bring in terms of expansion and flexibility. We also briefly touch upon encryption issues and the ongoing debate surrounding privacy and backdoor access to encrypted messaging services. As we wrap up the conversation, we recommend our picks of the week and share our social media handles for further engagement. We invite listeners to reach out with feedback and encourage them to explore more podcasts on the IACast Network.
Picks * Damashi: UniFi DreamRouter * Michael: WatchOS 10 * Marty: Pedometer++ for iOS * Michael: SanDisk Extreme Pro 4TB USB-C Drive
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/2717bc1b-b6f3-4834-b57b-a80b365f082a
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Read transcript
Show Notes In episode 187 of the iACast podcast, Michael, along with Taylor and Lynn, kick off the episode by giving a brief recap of the previous episode. We also mention the WayAround booth at a convention and our participation in the Tuesday Unmute Presents call for the ACB community. Moving on to the news segment, we delve into the limitations and negative press around ChatGPT, an AI language model, and discuss its potential future developments. We also touch on Meta's recent release of the app called Threads and its potential impact on Mastodon and accessibility. We express our curiosity about the interconnectivity between different platforms and raise concerns about possible restrictions and their impact on advertising revenue. We also mention the ongoing legal dispute between Elon Musk and Meta related to Threads. Next, we talk about rate limits on Twitter and share our experiences from conferences in the blindness and low vision community. We emphasize the importance of accurate resolution wording and discuss biases in AI models. Additionally, we shed light on the challenges that blind individuals face with services like Uber and Lyft and advocate for effective advocacy and communication. In the latter part of the episode, we touch on the decline in technical skills and discuss AccessiBe's web accessibility tool. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay a certain individual as they requested the content to be taken down. Nonetheless, we share our great experience at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) conference, where we discussed accessibility. We spent a considerable amount of time in the exhibit hall and were intrigued by devices like the Sense Player and the Monarch. The Sense Player is an Android book player with the ability to control both iOS and Android devices. It also has its own Android apps in the works. On the other hand, the Monarch is a compact device with features such as braille refresh, image zoom, regular braille, buttons, and a lamination screen. It includes USB ports and HDMI as well. We express our excitement about the Monarch and eagerly await its pricing details. We also mention the Graffiti as another favorite device, although it lacks the ability to display braille in line with graphics like the Monarch does. We appreciate advancements in braille technology such as the modular Optima braille display and the use of Orbit Braille cells. The Optima display offers HDMI and customizable USB ports, and we anticipate its release. It is encouraging to see companies like Humanware advocating for accessible devices like the Monarch. We believe that innovation and the resolution of supply chain issues will lead to a brighter future for braille technology. We then discuss our experience at the Way Around convention where we showcased our public token signs and distributed tokens with NFC tags. The feedback has been positive, and we continue to improve and expand our platform. To wrap up the show, we each share our picks of the week. Taylor recommends Squarespace, a user-friendly website builder, despite its accessibility issues. Lynn recommends the Lookup app for word enthusiasts. I, on the other hand, recommend the Stormbox Blast speaker and express my excitement for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy 3 movie. We thank Lynn and Taylor for joining us in the discussion and point out that we are approaching the two-hour mark. Stay tuned for the outtake show. Lastly, we express gratitude to our listeners and encourage them to check out our YouTube channel and other podcasts on the iACast network.Episode Notes
Picks * Taylor: Squarespace * Lynn: Lookup for iOS * Michael: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, and the Tribit Stormbox Blast
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/c195d47e-8b09-4b35-a4d3-1bd579505c60
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode Notes In this episode, I introduce Lynn and Damashe and announce some changes to our podcast, including the addition of chapters and breaking the episodes up into segments. We delve into some legislation in the EU that will make it easier for users to change their tech devices' batteries, reducing e-waste. We question what "easy" means and have concerns about the impact on creativity and safety. We also discuss the potential for manufacturers to market devices with easily replaceable batteries. Continuing that topic, I talk about repairability in iPhones and the potential impact of new legislation on the industry. I note that while Apple has improved the repairability of their latest models, other handset makers have not followed suit. I consider the potential consequences of making devices more easily repairable, such as increased repair costs and potential difficulties with waterproofing. We argue for guidance that promotes repairability without being overly specific in the law, which could stifle innovation. Later, we talk extensively about the EU's attempt to regulate technology with the aim of protecting consumers. We mention that the EU's regulations can have consequences for companies outside of the EU. I compare the Vision Pro to the first generation of the Apple Watch, with numerous features that may or may not be widely used. The goal is for the device to eventually become a pair of glasses with augmented reality. Additionally, we mention how developers can help extend the device's capabilities and make it even more exciting. Later, we discuss Apple's new Pro Display XDR and its potential abilities. We talk about the challenges of implementing passkeys for online security, expressing concern for edge cases and those who may be locked out of their accounts if they lose their device or forget their password. We emphasize the need for flexibility in implementing new security measures and the importance of considering the needs of all users. We recommend trying out passkeys as long as they work for each user. Towards the end of the episode, we suggest some recommended books for those interested in how technology is affecting our lives and how companies are exploiting our biases. Lastly, we discuss entertainment picks, including the Snoopy watch face on watchOS beta and the Marvel TV show "Secret Invasion," which we recommend checking out. The episode also includes some outtakes and a discussion of the Unmute call on the ACB community.
Picks * Lynn: The Loop by Jacob Ward * Damashe: Daemon by Daniel Suarez * Michael: Marvel Secret Invasion on Disney+
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/1dc6dd3f-cccf-42ba-86fe-96f7dbaed899
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Episode Notes On this episode, Michael speaks with Lynn, Marty, and Angie about the following topics.
- Angie tried Android and gives her thoughts.
- We discuss the latest Reddit news where Reddit is now replacing various subreddit moderators with their own people to bring the service back online.
- We discuss the best travel gear, and how to work through an airport accessibly.
Picks * Marty: News Explorer for iOS * Lynn: Palabra Cadabra for iOS * Angie: Google's Android experience * Michael: Streaks for Apple Devices
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/57d2a678-e0db-424f-96b0-656e66b21e95
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode Notes On this episode, Michael tasks with Marty, Lynn, and Angie about the following topics.
- Apollo for Reddit shutting down June 30, 2023
- We give our thoughts to everything announced at WWDC 2023
- WayAround released on BLindShell Classic 2
- You no longer need to pay for the Apple Developer program to install iOS Developer Betas
Picks * Marty: ACB Link for iOS * Lynn: Nebula * Michael: Minecraft 1.20
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/e39910a2-9229-4d94-bc84-58b457d1a658
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode Notes On This episode, Michael, Taylor, Marty, and Lynn discuss everything announced at WWDC 2023's keynote.
MacRumors - WWDC 2023 Recap
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/6efb1e03-fab6-446e-8edb-7609aaea804d
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesJoin Michael Doise, Lynn Schnyder, Taylor Arndt, Angie Fisher, and Michael Babcock as we discuss the following topics.
News* Reddit proposes new API pricing * WayAround version 4.3 is now available. Learn more about this release, and listen to how you can use WayAround in your home, office, or while out in public spaces. * CrossOver 23 will support some DirectX 12 games on macOS and Linux
TopicWe discuss what we think will be released tomorrow at this year's WWDC 2023 conference.
- Apple AR/VR Glasses
- Changes to Siri
- iOS and iPadOS 17
Picks* Michael: Ubiquity DreamRouter * Taylor: MacBook Air M2 * Lynn: Aiko app for audio transcription * Michael: Diablo IV for PC and Xbox
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/7703904c-4a5e-4584-8b0b-9b56575dc37e
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this UnboxCast, Taylor Arndt unboxes the Humanware Victor Reader Stream 3rd Generation, and sets it up.
Victor Reader Stream 3rd Generation
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/3d8eca99-cf97-430d-b0e7-9e757cc2e635
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Angie, Lynn, Marty, Jeff, and Michael discuss Logic Pro for iPad, Final Cut Pro for iPad, and the changes that are coming in streaming services like Max, and more.
Picks* Marty: Goodlinks * Jeff: Silo on Apple TV+ * Michael: Apple TV Device
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/3ecd51de-27a6-4eea-b0df-c6bc42f9649b
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Summary: In this episode of Unmute Presents, host Marty dives into the world of external hard drives. Marty explains the different sizes of drives, including the standard 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch drives, highlighting their uses and benefits. He then explores the difference between platter drives and SSD drives, shedding light on their performance and durability. Marty also discusses the various connection types (USB-A, USB-C, and Thunderbolt) and how they affect data transfer speeds. Whether you’re looking for a drive for simple file backup or more demanding tasks like video and audio editing, Marty provides insights to help you make an informed decision.
In this episode of Friday Finds, Marty and Lynn discuss some recent stories involving AI and fake news, such as the hoax explosion near the Pentagon and the misuse of alt tags on social media. They also talk about the upcoming WWDC and some app updates that you don’t want to miss.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Michael discovers how well Logic Pro for iPad can be used with VoiceOver.
Logic Pro for iPad
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/dc7f91ac-075e-443d-945b-332f3104ce67
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Michael discovers how well Final Cut Pro for iPad can be used with VoiceOver and the touch screen. This is the second Final Cut episode
Final Cut for iPad
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/67932ddc-39b5-42c0-900a-882bee220b35
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Michael and Taylor explore Final Cut on iPad with the use of the Magic Keyboard and VoiceOver. Another podcast will be done with the touch screen as the primary input method.
Final Cut for iPad
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/491bd698-33b0-4401-ba71-d261e83bbe84
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Michael talks to Marty, Lynn, and Angie about the following topics:
- Apple announces new Accessibility Features for iOS iPadOS and macOS 17
- Apple announces Beats Studio Buds.
- OpenAI announces ChatGPT for iOS
- Amazon announces Echo Pop
- Amacon Announces Echo Show 5 2023 Release.
- Amazon announces Echo buds for $40
- Twitter removing accounts after 30 days
Picks* Marty: Backpack Studio * Lynn: ChatGGPT for iOS * Angie: Sennheiser Profile Mic * Michael: Spotify
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/ce8adeb9-b329-4108-8d33-b26e127df37c
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this first DiscoverCast, Michael Doise demonstrates the ChatGPT app from OpenAI with VoiceOver on the iPhone.
ChatGPT on the App Store
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/9d73901f-1d30-4cb5-998a-ee6f56d45ab2
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesIn this episode, Michael Doise explores game controller functionality in Mona for Mastodon in macOS. This feature will work in iPadOS as well as iOS versions of the app.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/54290001-ee11-4e03-92e6-6fa4f353865b
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Episode NotesOn this episode, Michael talks to Marty, Angie, and Lynn about the following topics
- Apple Announces Logic Pro and Final Cut for iPadOS
- Google announces new versions of their AI products like updates to Bard and Generative Google Search
- Google Announces Google Pixel 7a
- Google Pixel Tablet is released after a year
- Google releases the Pixel Fold
Picks* Marty: Ferrite for iPad * Lynn: Google Bard * Michael: Star Trek Deep Space 9 Season 3
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/d874a8f2-8255-4474-8695-0ee5977ff68c
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Read transcript
Show NotesOn this episode, Michael speaks with Marty, Lynn, and Angie about the following topics:
Tech News* We discuss latest rumors about WWDC and 15 inch MacBook Air * We predict what's going to happen at Google I/O 2023 * Will BlueSky Last? We discuss this on the podcast as well.
Main DiscussionWe discuss the Mona for Mastodon app, and how to manage your digital subscriptions. This includes SetApp, and others.
Picks* Marty: Just Press Record * Lynn: MacWhisper * Angie: Mona for Mastodon * Michael: Nintendo Switch OLED Edition
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/0fd63239-e8cb-4a43-9ad1-1335d10ec3a2
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
In this episode, we explore the power of using third-party apps like Hazel to automate tasks on your Mac. We take a deep dive into how to set up rules and conditions to move files from one folder to another automatically. Whether you’re looking to keep your downloads folder organized or need to move client files to the right folders, Hazel can save you time and headaches. We also discuss the next step in automation, which is creating a keyboard Maestro macro to send emails to clients with links to their files. Tune in to learn how to streamline your workflow and be more efficient with your Mac.
Show Notes:
- Ed Sheeran’s copyright lawsuit and its potential impact on creators.
- Balancing the rights of creators with the flexibility needed for creativity.
- The importance of staying safe in the digital world and using common sense.
- Accessible Mother’s Day cards for moms with low vision.
- The potential dangers of AI and its effects on society.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
In this episode of the Unmute Presents podcast, Marty and Michael are joined by Sheila to discuss audio description. Sheila breaks down what audio description is and how it is similar to captioning for the deaf population. Michael shares his personal experience with audio description and how it has become a staple in his movie and TV watching routine. The group also talks about a free service called Audio Vault, which offers audio-only downloads of movies and TV shows from the ’70s to current releases. They also mention the ADP website, which lists all the audio-described options for streaming services and movies. Finally, they provide tips on how to turn on audio description on various devices.
Welcome to this episode of Unmute Presents, where we bring you a community call from the American Council of the Blind. In this episode, the hosts discuss a range of topics, including how to report issues with apps or programs to the company, such as Zoom, to ensure that they are aware of any problems and can work on fixing them. They also talk about the recent collaboration between Apple and Google to standardize tracker devices and provide tips for navigating Zoom, including how to find the raise hand button under reactions. The hosts also answer questions from listeners, such as how to check for updates on Zoom and how to set it to automatically update. If you’re new to Zoom or experiencing issues with any app or program, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now on your favorite podcast platform.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Transcript:[Music]
This is an ACB Community Call presented by American Council of the Blind.
[Music]
This unmute Presents Community Call was hosted on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023.
[Music]
Appingions expressed on ACB media are those of the respective program contributors and
do not necessarily reflect the views held by the American Council of the Blind.
It’s elected officials support its staff.
[Music]
Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to another Unmute.
Just want to give you a couple of reminders here at the top.
First is we’re going to get through all first-hands,
and if we have time, then we’ll go through second-hands.
Make sure you give everyone the same respect.
What their question is, you would want with yours.
If you have any questions, comments, or anything else,
you can reach us at feedback@unmute.show.
Michael, how’s it going? What you got for us today?
It is going well.
I don’t have anything for you today, Marty.
- Nothing at all. – No, bummer.
- Yeah.
No, I am super excited.
I’ve got some feedback from Chanel last week.
So on Sunday, we published not a comprehensive,
but a quick overview of using Mac GPT on the Mac.
And hopefully that answers some questions.
And of course, if you guys have any questions,
feel free to ask them after checking that out.
And then on Friday, we posted our Friday finds,
And that was an intriguing episode that I’m frantically trying to get logged into because
I forgot that we were going over these as we were starting.
And then on Thursday, we also, what did we talk about on Thursday, Marty?
What did we or what are we going to?
What did we?
No, what did we?
See, that’s just my quick pop test to let you know that I don’t know what we’re talking
about.
So we talked about USB security, don’t plug and play with the MOSC and why you should
track of that, what you’re plugging your devices into. And then Lynn and Marty, now that I got
logged in, that’s, that’s our, we’re, we’re, we’re getting days mixed up. So Lynn and Marty on Friday
talked about subscriptions, scams, and privacy, exploring the latest in tech news on Friday find.
So that was a fun episode. And then again, Sunday we talked about Mac GPT and Marty did,
do you have anything you want to talk about related to some of the content that we published?
because I know I’ve gotten some contacts about some of that.
Yeah. Well, we definitely have been hearing from people overseas,
which is kind of surprising.
And that sort of blows me away because it’s really difficult
to schedule studio time with people who are in another content overseas.
Time zones are upside down, so we’ll figure it all out.
But we got some good surprises coming up for some,
let’s say, some awesome apps that you guys will get to hear about
in the next probably week or so.
So I’m excited about that.
And if you guys have questions, go ahead and raise your hands
and we’ll start knocking the questions out.
I have a question for you, Marty.
Have you gotten stuck in Zoom under the apps dialogue
and you can’t see other things in Zoom?
Has that happened to you?
No, not yet.
Oh, well, enjoyable.
What that is because I have not heard about this yet.
So what I just discovered, and it looks,
and I’m sure Herbie probably has a way to correct me,
but it looks like the F6 keystroke does work on the Mac as well.
But I got stuck in a window where all I could read about was
Kahoot and AI smart business cars.
I’m like, what is this?
And then I realized where my focus had moved to.
So if you do get stuck in that and all you hear is like Kahoot
and you’re using your arrow keys and random things aren’t quite working for you,
then try your hitting your F6 key, which takes you to
different places inside the interface.
So I will ask you about this.
And this has actually been a topic that’s been out for quite a while,
and there’s a lot of controversy over it.
But what it looks like is that Apple and Google are going to team up
and they’re going to try and give more settings, more options,
more ways to control how people track your tracker devices,
such as air tags and the like.
So what do you think about that?
And if anyone here has their thoughts on that, go ahead, raise your hands.
and love to hear what you guys thoughts are on this,
but Michael, what do you think?
- So from understanding correctly,
because I’ve not heard of this,
and then we’ll go over to the single hand that we got raised.
So we’ll get to you in a moment.
But my understanding is,
so Google and Apple, and I imagine probably Tile
and these other device trackers
are looking to team up together,
so that way they can work interchangeably.
Is that what you’re saying?
Yeah, and also giving people, like for example,
if you have a tracker, you have more options
to be able to figure out how it’s working,
what it’s doing, how it’s tracking you,
or if somebody else has a tracker around you
that maybe isn’t yours and they’re trying to do something
kind of shifty, let’s say,
then you would be able to see or know about it
because it would be not within the safe zone, basically.
I think it’s about time then, because, you know, the safety of these devices, you don’t
think about, and hopefully you don’t find yourself in that scenario, but it’s about
time that we’re talking together and that information is interchangeable between platforms.
Monica, whose hand is up?
Chanel.
Hey, Chanel.
Hello.
Well, it’s funny because I checked the podcast this, like, go, I don’t know, an hour or two
ago, and there, I didn’t see the one with Mac GPT.
I go to check it again. Sure enough, it’s there. So go figure.
I will listen to it later. And I just,
I didn’t know that F6 worked in Zoom on the Mac.
It doesn’t seem to work in mine.
Interesting. Yeah. It’s switching me between different panes.
I do command accent that kind of does the same thing.
Yeah. That’ll switch you between the actual windows and zoom though. Right. Okay.
I think when I’ve got stuck in that apps thing before,
Maybe I just tried to do escape or command W.
Um, I just wish zoom didn’t make it.
So we had to be in there, but I want, yeah.
So appreciate that there Chanel because, uh, yeah, F six is now it’s not working.
That’s interesting.
Cause it was on the Mac.
Cause I’m like, why is it not working?
And I thought that my FN key, cause that gets me all the time.
- Right. – And with this external keyboard,
for some reason, Mac OS sometimes honors
my respect in system settings, sometimes it changes.
- So, okay.
- But yeah, give that a listen, Chanel,
and hopefully it gives you some ideas.
One of the things that we did talk about,
well, that I did demonstrate later on in the podcast,
is the importance of prompting
and actually constructing the prompt to chat GPT.
And the example I used is,
instead of just saying, write me show notes for a show,
Let Chat GPT know something like, you are an assistant to a podcast host on the unmute
presents podcast. Here are the details we covered in today’s episode. Please provide me show notes,
a title and the promotional paragraph for this episode. And I found that when you, when you
craft your prompt that way, it, it gives you more usable information than the generic info you might
get from Chat GPT. So I demonstrate that in the audio. So intrigue next week, or of course,
if you send an email about your thoughts on that.
Thanks.
No problem. Monica, who do we have next?
Abraham is next.
Hello, Abraham.
Abraham, how’s it going?
Hi, I’m good and you yourself?
Good, thanks.
Zoom acting weird.
So besides your app issue, which I think I had before,
when people are sharing audio, it is you are sharing audio,
and I have to Alt+F4 to get out of that window,
and every time I tab to something,
open the Participants panel,
it goes back to that window, you are sharing audio.
- Does F6 work in that window?
Have you tried that by chance?
- No, I tried that.
- Okay.
- And what’s happening now?
I don’t know if I have scripts installed.
I think that Doug Lee made my Zoom scripts.
And I’m I Alt-Wise, I’m not raising my hand.
I had to go into the reactions menu.
Interesting. It would almost be worth–
so since you said scripts, I’m assuming you’re meaning JAWS.
It would almost be worth finding out
if you temporarily go back to JAWS factory defaults
and suspend those scripts if your Alt-Y works.
Because I wonder if it’s looking for the placement of Ray’s hand
on the screen, but when they moved it under reactions,
then it may not–
that’s probably why it’s happening there.
I enabled help and said,
“Accept call when I pressed Alt-Y.”
But I switched to NVDA and you are sharing computer audio.
Yes.
I’m still stuck on that.
Yeah.
I don’t think that’s good.
It’s funny, I was reading an article while I was
actually lurking in the background of Herbie’s cooking call this morning.
And someone shared their screen and it popped up on in the middle of my article.
I’m like, I really, there’s nothing users can do, but it is really frustrating how
Zoom just takes over everything when you’re trying to do other things.
Yeah.
There’s a suggestion too, and this isn’t just for Zoom, but it will work with Zoom.
If you ever have an app or a program, something like that, that you’re having
issues with and you’re continuing to have issues with it, you know, register a
complaint with the company, whether it’s Zoom or any other app, this way, they at
least they know. And the more complaints they get about things that aren’t
working or problems, maybe you could create a ticket with them, whatever they
allow you to do, let them know so that they’ll know that you’re having these
problems. And I’m sure if you’re having these problems, other people are having
the same or similar problems. So the more they know, the more they’re aware to
look at a fixing. So if you don’t say anything, then maybe they don’t know. So
If you’re able to take a few extra minutes to register a complaint or a suggestion
that something’s not working, go for it.
Okay.
We’ll do things.
Alan.
Hey, Alan, how’s it going?
Hello guys.
I’m wondering if the same problem going to work in Windows as well as the
same messages might come up in Zoom regarding the trackers.
Yeah.
It’s well, currently what they were talking about was the Apple air tags,
which works with any Bluetooth device.
So, I think that they’re trying to get everyone to jump on board so that all of the trackers
kind of work with the same technology so they’re not used in ways they shouldn’t be used for.
Yes, I know sometimes they’ve got a button sometimes disappears, so I have to use the F6
button to get it.
Right.
Yep, yep. Sometimes that F6 button will move that focus for you and that’s a good tool to
have in your back pocket.
Perfect, Alan.
Well, thank you and feel free to reach out with another question.
Monica, do we have any other hands right now?
Yes, Jane.
Hi, Jane.
Hello.
My question has to do with Zoom also, but I have an SE 2020 iPhone and today
I was on a Zoom call and I tried to raise my hand to ask the question and
it wouldn’t let me.
What?
So wouldn’t let you, meaning when you went to go to the button to raise
your hand, it didn’t let you?
It wouldn’t let me.
It wouldn’t do, when I said, so I flipped left and right
and it told me settings, a couple other things,
but I didn’t find the raise hand button under the wall.
- Do you remember if you heard something that said reactions?
- I don’t know.
- Because I think what happened is
the raise hand button is under reactions.
And so if you don’t-
- Okay, I’ll try that again.
Try that next one, Carl.
So you think it’s under reaction
because I know when you guys, ACB gives the instructions,
yes, the more buttons in the right-hand corner
and the mute button in the left-hand corner,
but you kind of have to click left and right to find them.
- Right.
- No, they really aren’t there
if you’re using an SE 2020 or an SE new version, whatever.
- Well, that is good to know.
And maybe we can play with that.
I know the raised hand button from the recording
has been moved out of the more tab for most users.
Although we do still run into some users like this.
So look for reactions and then it should be under there.
- Okay, ’cause I went into settings
and I got something else and I was like, okay.
So I got all the way out.
- Do you ever check to make sure
that your Zoom is updated all the way?
- What’s that?
- Do you ever check to make sure
that your Zoom is getting updated?
Do you check to make sure your Zoom doesn’t have any updates
that you’ve updated it to the most current version?
- How do you do that?
would go into the app store.
And then on the top right corner,
there’s a button that says accounts and you click on that.
And then you would scroll down,
you would see updates,
anything that has apps on your device
that need to be updated will show.
- Oh, okay, I thought you meant,
because I was wondering if I went into my Zoom app,
would it say if I’m updated?
- No, no, no, you gotta go into your app store
and then go to accounts
and then you’ll see it down there at the bottom.
if there’s an update for it, it’ll be there.
And if you don’t see it right away,
you can do a three finger swipe down to refresh it.
And sometimes that’ll pop and then you’ll see updates.
- Thank you very much.
- Marty.
- Yeah, you can go to your my account under your Zoom.
You can go to my account under Zoom
and you can check what version you have.
And you can also set it to automatically update.
- Okay, thank you.
I’m new at this, but I thought I managed to master Zoom,
But like I said, when I went into Zoom today to raise my hand, it wouldn’t let me.
So I’ll check that out.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, EG for the chip.
All right, Monica.
Thanks, you have Kim.
Hello.
Just to confirm what the previous lady was saying, it’s funny because my iPhone
made, um, it made Zoom look different without me even telling to it updated.
And so what you need to know is now on the bottom of your screen,
instead of there being five little pictures or whatever they are, there’s six.
And yeah, the one that says reactions, double tap on that and raise hand will
be the first thing you hear double tap on that.
And so, uh, a boy in that line, kind of, I also have a question about Siri.
I just recently updated to 15.4.
I waited forever.
And one bug that Siri now has,
I used to be able to hold down my home button.
I have an FV20, I think, yeah.
So I hold down my home button,
I used to be able to say on the app store, find,
and then I’d name the app.
On this new update,
Sperry won’t go to the App Store.
She’ll say, “Here’s what I found on the web for go-to divine office,” or whatever.
I tried it two or three times and then I said, “Okay, be that way.”
So I went into the App Store on my own and I wrote it in with my Braille device.
The app that I was looking for,
it popped up right away.
But Siri is, I think my smartphone is getting stupid as far as she’s concerned.
Well, a couple of things here.
The first thing is you’re not the only one that’s having issues with Siri.
Everyone in this update has had issues.
We’re hoping that they are going to start resolving these issues
in the next operating system, which should, they’ll probably talk about it in June at WWDC
and probably they’ll release it sometime end of the year,
September-ish, maybe October, just all depends.
But a workaround for that would be,
you could also go to the App Store,
go to search and then in the search box,
once you have the VoiceOver cursor in there,
you could dictate what you’re looking for
using the dictate button on the keyboard.
And I know it’s not a perfect situation,
but at least if you don’t wanna type it
and you wanna dictate it, that’s a workaround for you.
Yeah, I keep forgetting about Duketay too.
If you don’t see the little microphone on your keyboard,
you can go into your settings and turn it on and then it will show up.
Okay.
I have a suggestion if I may.
Go for it, Chanel.
Yeah. Sometimes it’s just a matter of the syntax you use with Siri.
Like you might have to say search for in the App Store instead of GoTo,
or on my Mac now if I want to open anything with Siri,
which usually I don’t,
but I have to demonstrate that for the class.
I will say open the text edit app.
If I just tell her open text edit,
she’ll be like, “I can’t do that.”
But if you say open the text edit application,
then it’s just a matter of fooling her to get what you want.
But honestly, 99 percent of the time I don’t use her.
But the one percent that I do, that’s what I’ve found.
One other quick tip I will tell you really quickly is that in this update as well,
one of the issues is it doesn’t always pick up what you say from the very beginning.
So what people do is they’ll activate Syrian, wait a second,
then they’ll say what they’re looking for.
And when they’re done talking, they’ll wait another second and then turn it off.
That way you’re sure that it’s going to get,
hopefully it will get all of what you’re saying.
But a lot of people are having problems because it doesn’t pick up the first part of what they’re saying
because they activate Syrian and it starts right away talking.
and then it doesn’t pick up everything you’re trying to say.
- Okay, thank you guys for your help.
- Yeah, no problem.
All right, Monica.
- Okay, next we have Sheila.
- Hey, Sheila.
- Hey guys, how are you?
- Good, how are you?
- I am doing just fine.
My question is not Zoom.
- Good.
- Way totally not Zoom.
And Outlook, which is what I use for my mail email.
How do you request a red receipt for someone
that it’s an important email that you want to know that got.
And I know I’ve done it before,
but I went the other day and couldn’t find it.
- I will tell you for sure,
because I don’t remember off the top of my head
and my favorite keystroke in Microsoft products,
unfortunately does not work in Outlook.
So for those who did not know,
Alt-Q will let you search the menus
for what you’re looking for in every product but Outlook.
So Sheila, if you stay tuned,
I will look up that keystroke or where to go to get that,
unless someone else has an idea and they can chime in
because I don’t know.
- Okay, thanks.
- No problem.
Who do we have there next, Monica?
Why look, she loves Antara.
- We have Kristy next.
- Hey, Kristy, how are you doing?
- Hello, how are y’all doing?
- Good, good.
- Good, I have a question about the Alexa Kindle voice.
Like, okay, you can change Alexa voice,
you know what I’m saying, for the whole operating thing.
but when you’re trying to get it to read a book to you
from Kindle, is there any way to change the voice
to the male voice or not yet?
- Have you tried switching your main voice to the male voice
and then does that work?
- No, well, the male voice, I have the main,
I actually have the main voice as my male voice
and that’s what I want.
- Gotcha, but it’s still reading with the female voice.
- Yeah, it’s still the Kindle stuff.
my Kindle books that I read on it, it still reads in the female voice. So I didn’t know if there was
something separate I had to do, or if that’s just a fluke and it doesn’t work, if the Kindle
reader doesn’t have the male voice. I don’t have an answer for you on that, but we can reach out
and see if anyone does on that one because, yeah, that’s a good question. I think the Kindle reader
is determined by whoever the book is written by and the person that is doing the recording.
They don’t make a male version and a female version, I don’t think.
Well, the Kindle Reader actually, EG, uses the text-to-speech for Amazon. So it’s not,
I think what you’re thinking of is the Audible Whisper version of the book,
which would be pre-recorded, but the Kindle Reader itself should be the Amazon TTS. So it should
switch over to the mail-wise if your default is now.
Yeah, my default default is mail, but no, it doesn’t do that.
Yeah. Yes, and thank you for that. And, you know, we are gonna I’m gonna ask Lucy if she knows all
send her an email if she has any ideas because she’s who I go to for a lady tips unless someone
else has an idea. Okay, thank you. Real quick before we move on, Monica, I did want to follow
up with Sheila and Sheila, I’m going to email these or text these directions over to you so you have
them. And it looks like you go into the message itself when you create it in Outlook, go up to
the file menu and then choose options and then mail. And when you’re in mail, you can pick if you
want a read receipt or if you want a delivery receipt, and then that will apply to that specific
message. And as it’s explained in the Microsoft documentation, and again, I’ll text you. So if
So if you don’t, didn’t catch them,
then you’ll have them in a moment.
As it explained in the Microsoft documentation,
they suggest only sending read receipts
for important messages or people will stop sending them,
which is why I stopped sending them back myself years ago,
but I see the importance of it for sure.
- Oh yeah, there are occasions as a state president
that you need to know somebody got your message.
- Yes ma’am.
- Thank you, Michael.
- No problem, thanks a lot Sheila.
Who do we have next Monica?
I don’t know who EG is. Hey, EG.
Thank you, Michael.
How’s it going?
Fine. I just wanted to add one other thing on
the Zoom that I’ve experienced,
I think maybe others have too,
is that when like for unmute presents,
I always go in and I click on my calendar,
and I’ve got the link there,
and that’s how I get into unmute presents.
The issue there is that if I do that a bunch and I don’t
actually go in and sign in to Zoom,
then some of my settings in Zoom will go away.
So for example, how I have myself named will change.
It’ll revert to my Google setting as opposed to my Zoom setting.
So sometimes you may find that your Zoom settings change
without seemingly doing anything,
but it’s because you haven’t gone into Sign In.
If you go in and sign into your account again,
you can reset your, whether you have a photo or whether you have
a naming or any of those conventions.
- Great tip.
And often what I have found is you get signed out
when Zoom updates.
- That is correct.
At least when they do a major, when they do.
- Yes, yes.
Not every update, but every once in a while,
when you’re like, why am I, what do you mean iPhone?
That’s probably me.
And then something that if you didn’t know this,
if you’re like, am I iPhone?
I’m on an iPhone.
If you tap that participants tab
in the middle of the bottom of the screen,
you are always the participant at the top.
So if it says iPhone at the top thing, you are iPhone.
So thank you, Eiji.
Did you have a question or did you just want to share that tip?
- I just wanted to share the tips since we were talking about Zoom a little bit,
but you guys do a great job.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks Eiji.
Appreciate it.
- Thanks, Eiji.
Judy.
- Hey, Judy.
How are you doing?
- Hey, guys.
So getting back to complaining about Siri, because I’ve definitely fallen out of love
with Siri since iOS 16.
And I don’t really know that anybody’s got an answer for this, but one of the–
I have often used Siri to send a quick text
and my conversation will appear on the screen
or it used to appear on the screen.
So I could look to see if Siri understood everything
or if I wanted to change it and there’d be a send button,
nothing appears anymore.
And I think that started actually with iOS 16.
I don’t even think it was one of the updates to 16.
So I don’t know, have you guys heard about them
doing anything about that at all?
I mean, have you experienced that at all?
Siri has just been not great in this update, I would say, in 16.
They’ve been trying to make improvements and fixes sort of throughout each time they do
a point update, you know, 0.1 to those ones.
But it’s still not great.
We’re hoping that in 17, all these issues will get resolved.
But unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do with Siri and making any setting changes
or adjustments to make it work.
Right, yeah, I know.
It’s kind of one of those things where it is what it is.
Yeah, I know.
It sounds like my dryer is here, so I am going to step away for a quick moment to deal with
that delivery real quick.
But one thing to think about, Judy, with Siri is in the Siri settings, there is an option
that you can enable or disable that says confirm action from Siri.
And so it might be worth playing with that as well.
Okay.
All right.
Thanks for that.
Appreciate that.
And Judy, one other thing before you go, I will say also, you could actually go into
your messages and go to the person.
And once you have the body of the message open for whoever it is you’re trying to text,
you can use the dictate from the keyboard and that might work a little bit better for you.
Right.
Yeah.
No, I have just always found Siri faster that it, you know, pick up the phone, send off
a quick text and then I could see right then and there if it, you know, if he understood
it.
But yeah, I mean, I know I can, I can do that from the messages app as well.
Even though it doesn’t show up on your screen.
So say like you’re going to pick up your phone, you activate Siri, send a text message.
Does it at least repeat back to what it said or is it not doing that either?
No, it does.
But sometimes I’m wondering, like for example, this morning, I always put the punctuation.
So I said, “question mark.”
He repeated back, “question mark.”
And I wanted to be sure that he actually was, that it didn’t say the words, “question mark,”
because it doesn’t always do that.
He’ll usually say, you know, question and it was saying, “question mark,” and there
were a couple of other things in a text that I just wanted to be sure that it came out
okay, and I used to be able to look at that and see what you know what Siri was actually understanding
and it just doesn’t yeah it doesn’t show up at all. Like I you know I’ve told I’ve said this a
lot of times but you know with this particular round in 16 for whatever reason Siri doesn’t pick
your voice up right when you activate it so you know activate Siri try waiting a second then start
speaking, you know, and then when you’re done, wait a second, and then we’ll stop
Siri and see if that helps at all.
Because I wonder if it’s missing the beginning of what you’re trying to say.
Yeah, well, it’s not just that, like, I mean, I understand that it said it doesn’t
show up on the screen at all, or it used to, you know, the conversation with Siri
used to show up on the screen if I was texting.
So, I mean, that was the point.
But yeah, I appreciate that.
And I will often go into messages if I’m just annoyed with Siri, I’ll just go into
the app and just do it that way.
So, thanks.
All right, well, good luck. Hopefully we’ll hope we’re better in 17. Right?
Exactly. Thanks a lot. Yep. Petra is next. Hey, Petra, how’s it going?
It’s going, it’s going well. Thank you very much. My comment is about the weather app. I just
use the native weather app that comes with the iPhone. And that is totally messed up lately
since the last update. I have about nine cities that I would keep track of my sisters, my daughters,
local wherever I am at the moment and then my home city and so forth.
And when I open the weather app, it comes up and first of all,
we’ll say Wi-Fi off or something like that.
And I’m thinking, heck, I’m not even in the status bar.
Why is it telling me that?
And then it will give me entirely the wrong city and it takes forever to get back
to the city that I want to be in. And then when it’s there,
Sometimes it will say left justified error or something,
or it goes into the precipitation
by every second of the day.
And I can’t get out of there.
Is there a better weather app
or does anyone use the native Apple app?
And can you tell me how to navigate that better?
- So a couple of things.
The first thing I will tell you is they did break
the weather app and it was having all kinds of issues
for a little while.
They did for the most part resolve it,
although it still does have some bugs.
If you’re looking the way the map,
do you have any vision at all
or are you not able to see anything at all?
- No, I don’t have no vision at all.
- Okay, well in the weather app at the very top,
that’s gonna be where it’s gonna tell you the city
and the weather currently in your city.
And if you have voiceover on,
it will also tell you what the high of the day
and the low of the day will be.
If you scroll or move your finger down,
the next thing is gonna be like every hour or every,
you know, minute or whatever,
how it kind of goes across the timeline.
The five day forecast or the seven day forecast
is gonna be under that.
And so you would have to get under that
to see what that would be.
Now I’m also gonna say it is still a little bit buggy.
So if you’re looking for some other suggestions
for weather apps, I can give you two.
Both of them work with voiceover
and both of them have free and paid versions.
A lot of people really, really like Weather Gods,
which does work with Voiceover and people love that a lot.
And number two would be Carrot Weather,
which people also like a lot
and it also works with Voiceover.
But they both have free versions
and then they also both have paid versions.
So you’ll have to decide what you want there.
But those would be the two suggestions
for alternatives that I would recommend.
- And I will second that.
Weather Gods is a great application,
especially if you just want to hear what the audio or what the weather is like.
Uh, that’s what I use weather gods for.
And then, um, with carrot weather, if you Google carrot weather, you’re going to
see it’s the snarky weather app, which is fine.
And that’s all good.
You can calm that down if you want, but what I find to be the most valuable
thing about carrot weather is carrot weather allows you to completely
customize the interface.
So let’s say you don’t really care about what the, what the precipitation
is over the next six days.
you can take that out and not even see that information
and only see the information you want.
So for someone who’s looking
for a very customizable application,
it does take a little bit for you to get it set up
and configured the way you like it,
then definitely check out Carrot Weather.
And then if I remember right,
I think you can even set different views
for different cities.
So if your kid lives in a city that gets a lot of rain
or has more storm alerts,
you can get those information too.
So I hope that helps a little bit.
- My only question about that,
And I’m not sure if you know this or not, Michael,
is the customization behind the paywall
or is that in the free version?
- Yep, it is behind the paywall.
- Okay.
- Well, you know, the weather app,
the way you were describing it used to work that way.
It’s not working that way anymore on my phone.
But the sad thing is about two years ago,
Apple bought a dark sky.
- Right.
- It was a really, really good weather app.
- Yes, it was.
- And I thought, wow, in fact,
My daughter who uses an Android had dark sky
and had to pay for it.
And then I was gonna get it for free.
And it was so good that I could be on the paratransit
and the driver could be looking for a particular address.
And dark sky would actually tell me the address
of where we were and what the weather was.
And Apple bought it and they’ve taken dark sky away
and they’ve ruined the weather app.
- Well, I’ll try one of the other options,
see if there’s work anybody for you.
- I think you’ll be super happy with carat weather
if you used to use dark sky, I would definitely check it out.
- All right, thank you very much.
- All right, have a good one.
- Next.
- Hello, Marie.
- Hi, I have one quick comment and one question.
First quick comment is I don’t know about a Mac,
an Outlook, but Outlook on a Windows PC,
the Alt-Q absolutely works perfectly
’cause I use it all the time.
It works very reliably. – There’s a security word
not on Windows, so thank you for letting me know
it does work.
I thought you might be talking about on a Mac,
because, and I don’t use a Mac,
but no, it works really good on my Windows PC.
My question is, I have a three year old laptop
that I’m thinking about passing along to somebody,
and it’s running Windows 11.
Do you know, they say that the reset feature
in Windows 11 will absolutely reset everything,
and will wipe out all of your data.
Do you know if that’s true?
So for Windows 11, if you go into settings
and you do the reset PC, it will offer you to just reset
or to erase all of the files and reset,
and that will cleanly erase the files.
Of course, when you erase files on a computer,
anyone who kind of knows what they are doing
and needs to, could get access to them,
but that is the most efficient way to just give it away
or to sell the computer.
- Okay, do you know, this originally came with Windows 10,
but if you do the reset,
it still will be running Windows 11, correct?
- Yes. – It won’t go back to 10.
- Yep, you can make it so it’s still on Windows 11.
- Okay, thank you very much.
That’s it. – No problem,
Marty, I’m gonna step away for about 20 seconds.
- Okay, who do we have next, Monica?
- We have Melissa next.
- Hey, Melissa, how’s it going?
- I sent an answer on mute with this, Eric.
- Hey, Eric, how’s it going?
- Last hand for now, unless Melissa can unmute.
She’s not here, so.
- Eric can go ahead with his question if he…
I did send it.
OK, I’ve sent it a couple of times, Marty.
OK, let’s move on.
If either we’ll go to Anne.
All right. Sounds good. Hey, Anne.
Can you hear me?
We can hear you. There I am.
Oh, there we go.
OK, go ahead. Wow.
Go ahead, Eric.
This is my first time and I’m on the iPhone
and I download it 16 and I’m having all kinds of bugs.
Don’t forget to do all the updates once you get 16 on your phone.
You might want to go back and make sure that you have all of your updates there.
You can get rid of as many bugs as you can get rid of.
Okay. I know that I do need to do another update.
I have two questions.
One is with the rotor.
Since I did the updates,
I lost part of my editing rotor functions.
It doesn’t seem like it is where usually go to reset it.
Has anybody had that issue?
I think what they do is there’s
some things on the rotor that
are things that they just put on there,
but you could customize a rotor.
So you could take stuff off or put other stuff on,
to kind of customize it to whatever suits you.
So if you want to mess around with the rotor
and either add, change things with it, whatever,
you would go into settings, then accessibility,
and then voiceover, and then rotor.
And then once you’re in the rotor,
then there’s a bunch of settings and changes that you can do.
- I know, but when you get in there, for example,
before you could go in there and tell it
to like give you, right now,
it won’t even allow me to set a link on the rotor
or where you would be able to do the rotor to set a format.
So it would be easier to do like an application.
Right.
I thought that that was weird and I did
send a message to Apple about it.
Well, did you go into the settings for the rotor and see if you can add back the things
that you would want to have on your rotor?
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been fighting with for the past two days.
So I mean, I’ve been trying to work around it, which is a pain, but you know, if it’s
not working for you, did you try calling Apple Disability and see if they can help you get
the rotor set up?
It should not be this difficult, but if you are having issues, actually the first thing
I would say to do is to update, do all your updates first and then see if you’re able
to do it because there could be some bugs with the updates.
So make sure you get all your updates all the way as far as you can go.
And then if you’re still having trouble with it, I would try calling Apple Disability because
it shouldn’t be this difficult.
My other one is on the Messenger app.
When you want to go into one of the chats,
how exactly do you do that now?
- Are you talking about like text messages basically?
- Like, you know how you get alert
that you have a chat message?
- Right.
- When you belong to a community.
- Are you talking about,
This doesn’t sound like the Apple Messages app.
This sounds like something else.
- It’s part of, I think it’s more or less
part of the Facebook.
- Oh, Facebook messages or whatever they call it.
- Yeah, yeah.
- It’s pretty much works the same way
as the Apple Messages app.
You would need to open that app up.
So you have to have that app installed on your phone.
It’s a standalone app on iPhone.
So do you have it installed on your phone right now?
- I thought I did.
I guess I better double check.
- Yeah, so the first thing is you would need
to have it installed if you don’t,
but once you have it installed,
then you would do a single finger double tap to open it up.
And then the first thing you’ll see is a list
of all of the people that you message with.
And if you have any groups or whatever,
you click on the one that is the group.
And when you do a single finger double click,
it’ll open up the body of that message.
and then you can actually reply in the message,
just like you would on Apple Messages.
There’ll be a box you can type in or dictate in
and it’ll put your message into the chat.
- And is there a voice command for that?
- You could try, if you know exactly what it’s called,
you can try saying or using Siri to say open Facebook
messages or messenger,
I don’t remember exactly what it’s called,
but that’ll only work if you have it installed on your phone.
And if you say something like open messenger, which will, that’s the fastest way to open
Facebook messenger is just to say messenger.
If you don’t have it on your phone, and I was going to drop this as a comment too earlier,
the most reliable way I’ve found for Siri to actually prompt you to go download the
app in the app stores to say open and then the app name.
And if it can’t find it, it’ll say, would you like to search the app store for this?
And you can just double tap on the search button and it takes you right to the page.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, no problem. If you have any issues, come back and let us know.
All right. Thank you.
All right. Ann, go for it.
Can you hear me?
We can hear you.
Okay.
Sorry about that. Thanks for being nice to me.
Okay. Okay. I’m glad he got in.
There is a new update that came out, what, a couple of days ago, I think.
And a friend always tells me about it. I’m glad she does because I wouldn’t know.
But she said, when you’re downloading it, you download it and then it asks you the same thing again and again and again.
And then she restarted her phone and it worked.
Should you have to do that in the middle of that particular or this particular update that has just come out?
Well, I would think you would never want to turn off your phone or restart at the middle of an update.
That wouldn’t be good.
Well, she had to because it wouldn’t, it wouldn’t let her go forward.
And she said it worked perfectly. So now I’m scared.
Interesting. Uh, I haven’t seen that issue personally, Michael,
you’ve seen this update that came out two days ago or whatever.
Um, so I am on the latest update.
The only time that I’ve ever been told to restart my phone is it’ll,
it’ll walk me through restarting it. And, uh,
then I just double tap on restart and that tells me that it’s fine.
Is it telling, did it tell her to actually go and restart her phone or what?
No, she said it kept telling her to update.
I mean, once she got in the middle of it, whatever that prompt is there, it kept
giving it to her, but it wouldn’t do it and wouldn’t move.
And she figured after three tries, she would, she would just restart the phone.
She restarted the phone and it worked.
So I went through fine.
Yeah.
So, so that sounds like it was just kind of a glitch.
Uh, technology can be technology sometimes.
So I definitely recommend not restarting your phone while you’re doing an update.
But in those instances, sometimes you just got to make a judgment call.
I mean, you can either do it or you can call Apple and they may have you do the
same thing and then you have the reassurance if something does go wrong.
But I definitely get her concern because you, you don’t, you’re always told,
don’t turn it off while it’s updating.
So yeah, I have not seen this though.
No, I’m going to wait till I have siding systems to do this one.
There you go. Whatever makes you comfortable for sure.
Thanks.
No problem, man. Thanks a lot. Who do we have next there, Monica?
Abraham.
Hi there.
Hi. How do I go about uninstalling a JavaScript?
How do you go about uninstalling a JAWS script? Okay, so I am, I may need to follow up with
you via email if I can’t remember off the top of my head, but what you can do is go
into the JAWS utility menu and there’s a option to show JAWS settings path and that will open
the proper JAWS settings path in File Explorer and then in there is the JAWS script files.
But you want to remove the script files and the keyboard manager file as well. And if you
need more directions, I can send that to you via email because I know I kind of butchered it.
This is Chanel.
Okay. Hey, Chanel. Thank you.
Yeah, some of the like the Zoom scripts actually show up and they’re from, if you have the ones from
Brian Harton at least, they show up in the in your you know ad remove and there have been quite a few
updates to the scripts so it may be worth you know making sure that I just double checked and
I only have Teams scripts here.
Oh, okay.
I’m thinking maybe Teams is open in the background and
it’s trying to answer the problem.
That could be your problem, yeah.
Because I think Alt-Y in Teams does answer a call, right?
No, I think it’s control-shift-J.
Oh, okay. Because you were saying it was saying answer call.
I don’t know what’s going on. It’s weird.
But it’s not to fix it on my laptop, only my desktop.
So another thing to try, Ibrahim, is in Zoom, do JAWS Key Q and C1.
Oh, I checked all my hotkeys default.
Okay.
Well, I was reading JAWS Key Q to see what version of scripts the JAWS was loading on your laptop
versus the desktop to see maybe there’s different version numbers on each of the computers.
So we can have Zoom in focus if you do JAWS Key Q, it’ll tell you that.
Okay.
Hopefully that helps a little bit or drop us an email and we can try to send you
some follow-up directions for manually removing scripts. And it might be worth playing with
Brian’s scripts because you can download those for free to see if they work.
Brian Hartchen from Hartchen Consultancy. If you just search for H-A-R-T-G-E-N
Zoom scripts, you’ll find it right away. He has a free version and a paid version of JAWS scripts
that provide additional functionality for Zoom individuals using JAWS.
And actually the free version is already built into JAWS now.
But the paid, I’m trying to remember the paid basically allows you more
customization of your alerts and there’s a couple other things I just can’t remember.
So, yep.
Thanks so much.
Thanks, Janelle.
Thanks, Abraham.
Appreciate it.
Uh, we have about 10 minutes left.
Who do we have next, Monica?
Bell Mills is next.
Hey, Bill.
Hi.
Can you hear me?
We can hear you.
Good.
I have a Zoom concern here.
It seems like today is a lot of questions about Zoom.
This one, I’m a member of a Bible group.
Every week they send an ID and a password.
do not send out a link and all every week it’s it’s a different ID and password. So
this time I could only enter the ID and and you know I went to join meeting and so on and I just
and I went into settings and couldn’t make heads or tails out of anything. You know I just don’t
know what to do and I’m scared to death to do they only send out the phone number or do they send out
I’d click here. Oh, they just all they do, they don’t, they just send you the number, they send you
them, like they say ID, and they’ll give you a number, and you have to put it in. And this is on
this week, I worked with my computer. Sometimes I go to the iPhone. Oh, oh, I tried both, both. So,
this week, and I never could get in. So I don’t understand it. I have tried to get them,
or I talked to somebody about, please send me a link.
(laughs)
And I think a lot of people would be happy with that.
- They don’t send you one that says join now?
- Join, no, no.
- There’s a lot of times when they send out
a Zoom invitation, they’ll send like a link
and then also the phone numbers.
- This is a separate thing from the community.
This is here in town.
- So they just send you the participant code?
- They just send the codes.
- Or the meeting ID.
Yeah. And so you have to, so what to do.
So, bell, are you trying to access this on the blind shell or the iPhone?
Cause I know you’re on both.
Well, the blind shell, I just can’t seem to get that going.
So I have the iPhone and I do some zooming on that, but I have to use my keyboard,
you know, Apple keyboard.
I hope nobody criticizes me for that.
But anyway, so, but this time.
I was not able to get anywhere.
So send us an email.
First of all, thank you for your email about pricing.
I definitely, that was a good read.
Appreciate you sharing that with us.
Um, and, and send us an email as well though, because, uh, apparently
I accidentally turned dictation on.
And so my wife was getting a dictated message of what I was saying.
Anyway, send us an email and I’ll test it on my end because I think, uh, the, first
of all, I want to see why you can’t use zoom on the blind shell.
Let’s troubleshoot that.
So that works for you.
And secondly, um, I think if you go to join meeting, it should just ask you for
the passcodes or for the meeting ID.
So if it’s not, let’s figure out why it’s not.
Well, see it asked for the ID, but it won’t give me, it, it won’t let me put in a password.
Even after you hit ID and then join.
And, and yeah, that’s when you hit join, it should prompt you for the passcode
then and it’s not, no.
Okay.
Yeah.
Shoot me an email.
Let’s play with that one.
Weird.
Okay.
Yeah.
Thanks.
No problem.
Thanks for coming.
- Thanks. Have a good one.
Monica.
- Yes, we have Malcolm and Herbie
and you got six minutes.
- All right.
- All right, let’s try and knock these points out.
- Let’s make it make Malcolm.
How’s it going?
- Good, good, good.
I have a question about an update
that you were just speaking about.
On my iPhone 13, it has iOS security response,
16.4.1 parentheses, little a parentheses.
Is this an update we should do?
It says the rapid security response update.
- Anytime there’s an update,
especially regarding security, I would suggest doing it.
- Yes, yeah, yeah.
And there’s not a major update,
so you’re not going from like 16.4 to 16.5.
So the point updates, the 16.4.1 generally,
obviously not all the time,
doesn’t fix accessibility problems
that may have already been broken or vice versa.
So those are typically safe to do
and it keeps your stuff secure.
OK, thank you.
No problem, Malcolm. Thank you.
All right, Janet.
Hello, Janet.
Hello. Yesterday, Apple was having a bug
when people tried to install the 16.4 point A.
But I think today people might be might be able to get
get the install, get it, get it, get it to install because you got
verify, verify the secure or whatever in it.
Kept saying it was failing and it was it was it was on it was on Apple site. Okay. Good to know
Updating yesterday try to get and should be able to install the update today
Perfect because they were they were I guess they were
Rolling it out and it was rolling out slowly
So like five percent of the people would get it and then another hour ten percent or what, you know, whatever
So, yeah, I just thought I’d mention that and y’all have a great day
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot.
And so if you had problems updating yesterday or recently, then try the update again and
hopefully that’ll fix it.
Marty, look at that time.
We did great.
And I got a dryer installed during the hour and signed the papers and everything.
There we go.
And we wrapped it up with four minutes.
So you want to tell people how to get in contact and close it out?
And thank you, Monica.
Sure.
Thanks everyone for being here for another Unmute.
And thanks Monica and Herbie for helping us out today.
If you have any questions, comments, or anything else,
you can reach us at feedback@unmute.show.
And we’ll see you guys next week.
Thanks a lot.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(upbeat music)
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Read transcript
Show NotesOn this episode, Michael Doise talks to Damashe Thomas, Michael Babcock and Marty Sobo about the following topics:
Tech Headlines* SpaceX Starship test rapidly disassembles (explodes) * Many rumored changes to iOS and WatchOS at WWDC
TopicA new security issue has come up where people are watching iPhone users enter their passcodes. They then find a way to steal the person's phone, and then change their iCloud password. Find out how to avoid this and other security related topics in this episode.
Picks* Marty: Anker GaN 4 port wall charger * Damashe: MacWhisper * Michael: Reaper * Michael: Sennheiser Profile microphone
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/2fb67d35-3b14-4b95-b8c9-cf2a99ebcd37
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Show Notes: In this episode of Unmute Presents, we explore the capabilities of Mac GPT, a powerful chatbot that can assist with content creation and more. We discuss how to set it up, demonstrate its use, and showcase how it can be integrated into your workflow for increased productivity.
Unmute Presents – Mac GPT
Transcript
Michael:
[0:04] Hey there, and welcome to this Unmute Presents podcast. I want to thank Chanel for coming to our Tuesday call and asking that we do this.
If you have something you’d like to hear from us, remember we’re live in ACB community every Tuesday at 10am pacific time.
[0:21] That’s 1pm eastern visit acb.community for more information.
So on Tuesday, Chanel wanted us to talk a little more about what is Mac GPT?
How are we using it? And can we give some quick demonstrations of what we’re doing to get it to work? So I’m going to go over the app. I’m not going to go fully in depth, but I’d love to answer any questions after the show.
And if you have any questions, reach out to feedback at unmute.show or ask us live on Tuesdays.
In order to use chat GPT with Mac GPT, I know a lot of letters.
You need to either have a premium account through chat GPT or an API key.
I don’t think for your council work, and I’m sure someone will correct me on that if that is incorrect.
I am using the API key method. If you Google Mac stories SGPT, then you’ll find a great article which will give you some explanations of how to set up your API key and how you can go ahead and make sure you don’t get overcharged because this can become very addicting.
Now, once you do that, you can put your API key or log in to Mac GPT.
So get it all set up. And once you have that set up, you’ll see something like.
Voiceover:
[1:41] Application, Mac GPT, Mac GPT, window, edit text.
Michael:
[1:44] And that says Mac GPT window, edit text.
Now, if you just open the app, you don’t have to do this, but I want to show you something that I think can make a big difference to people.
If we do VO home toolbar, and we locate that toolbar and we interact with it.
Voiceover:
[2:00] Until bar five items, native selected radio button.
Michael:
[2:02] One of two, we have a couple of options that you can pick from.
If you signed in with the web, then just leave it on web. I leave mine on native experiment and see what works best for you. But I’m going to go to the end of this toolbar clear button group. And we’re going to press VL space on that.
This is a brand new conversation with ChatGPT and me.
So I’m going to stop interacting with the toolbar, go to the end of the page, and then press VL left arrow once, twice to the edit text. And I’ll go ahead and select that.
And now I’m going to prompt chat GPT, and I’m going to say, you’re a chat bot that is being demoed.
Oh, comma and say hi to Chanel. She’s the reason we’re doing this episode this week, period.
Voiceover:
[3:01] Oh, and say hi to Chanel. She is the reason we’re doing this episode this week.
Michael:
[3:04] And I’ll hit enter. And now if you press VO end, you’ll hear stop button.
Voiceover:
[3:09] Here, stop button.
Michael:
[3:10] That means it’s still working. If you don’t hear stop, then it’s all the way done. So let’s press VL left arrow because we don’t hear it.
Voiceover:
[3:17] Send a message, edit text.
Michael:
[3:19] And then press VL left arrow one more time. And this is a list.
This is where our conversation is. So we’ll interact with this. Enlist.
Voiceover:
[3:26] You’re a chat bot that is being demoed on a podcast. Say hi to the listeners and remind them to stay subscribed to unmute presence. Oh, and say hi to Chanel.
She is the reason we’re doing this episode this week.
Michael:
[3:33] And we’ll press VL right arrow to hear what the chat bot came back with.
Voiceover:
[3:37] Hello listeners. I am a chat, but being demoed on this podcast, thank you for tuning in and listening to the show. Don’t forget to stay subscribed to unmute presence for more interesting and informative episodes and a special shout out to Chanel for making this episode possible. Thank you.
Michael:
[3:46] If we press via right arrow, 63 tokens, $0.00.
Voiceover:
[3:49] 0 1 2 6.
Michael:
[3:51] That’s how much money I spent for that specific transaction.
And that’s a very important thing that is not shown to you by default.
So let me show you two more things. If we stop interacting with this list and we press via left arrow, top button image toolbar to the toolbar and interact with it in toolbar five items native selected radio button one of two we now have some additional options that are available including web rate your shape fill copy button group copy which will copy the entire conversation Now, let’s clear this.
And I’m going to go show you in preferences, a couple of things you might want to be aware of. So like you can on any other Mac app, well, any other well-designed Mac app, you can press command comma.
Voiceover:
[4:37] Now in general window GPT 3.5 turbo API model pop up button.
Michael:
[4:41] And this lets you choose the GPT model 3.5 turbos, what most users have.
But the one thing that I wanted to show you is toolbar.
If you go from the toolbar at the top of the screen to show tokens per message, check checkbox.
By default, that’s unchecked, so you won’t see how much you’re spending, but if it’s something you really want to pay attention to, then you can go check that checkbox and you’ll see those tokens with the amount of money that’s been spent. Let’s command W out of here.
Voiceover:
[5:08] Map GPT, window, toolbar.
Michael:
[5:10] And as I recommend, go poke around in the settings because you can make some preference changes and one of which you’ll see here in a moment. Oh, launch, launch bar.
Voiceover:
[5:20] Application.
Michael:
[5:21] Press and hold D for drafts.
Voiceover:
[5:23] Drafts, drafts, draft, blank, window, edit text, beginning of text.
Michael:
[5:26] And now I’m going to blank edit text. If I press up arrow, beginning of text, nothing there. If I press down arrow, end of text, nothing there.
So now I’m going to type the first change that you’ll notice that’s different than default.
If I type slash GPT followed by, and I’m going to dictate this.
Say hello to all of the listeners of the unmute presents podcast period.
You’re being demonstrated in a live, well, I guess, pre-recorded show period.
And I’ll tap the control key to stop the dictation.
And if I hit shift enter, you’ll hear a sound and then And I didn’t edit any of that out because I wanted you to hear what voiceover would do.
Now if I press my down arrow.
Voiceover:
[6:24] I’m at the bottom and there’s some new stuff on this text.
Michael:
[6:31] So let’s do command up arrow. And I’m going to read this entire screen.
Voiceover:
[6:36] Misspelled GPT say hello to all of the listeners of the unmute present podcast.
You’re being demonstrated in a live. Well, I guess prerecorded show.
Hello to all the listeners of the unmute present podcast. It’s a pleasure to be a part of this live demonstration. And I hope that I can be of assistance to you all. If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to ask.
And I’ll do my best to assist you. Thank you for having me on the show.
Michael:
[6:51] And as you can see that auto filled and your prompt was still at the top of the draft.
So if you wanted to rewrite it or readdress that thing, you can again, by default, you use plus GPT for me. I prefer slash and I went in and changed that in the preferences.
So how do I use chat GPT? Well, let me give you one last example.
And it’s something that I think might be good for you to observe.
And I opened map GPT by using command space, typing MA and holding C.
So this is a way that I use it. I’m going to go through my workflow and just dictate what I’m doing. If it doesn’t make sense, then just assume that I’m dictating.
You’re an assistant to a podcast host who needs to promote their latest episode.
Period. Create me some marketing messages I can post on LinkedIn, comma.
[7:50] Ideas for pictures I can post on Instagram with captions, comma.
And then what I’ll do is I’ll go ahead and let it finish typing that out.
And then I’m going to hit shift enter.
I’m going to paste this in and then here’s what we’re going to see is something.
When I hit enter, um, it’s going to start working and I’m going to VO left arrow.
And I think you’ll hear the sound. I’m not sure if you will, but voiceover will be freaking out and I’ll show you that here in a moment.
Voiceover:
[8:23] Okay. So I’m going to hit enter. freaking out and I’ll show you that here in a moment.
Michael:
[8:24] So this is it typing away and you can verify that by pressing V O N. Stop button.
Voiceover:
[8:29] And it says stop generating stop button.
Michael:
[8:34] It still says stop. And I’ll show you what it gives me here in a couple of moments with the material that I gave chat GPT, which actually chat GPT gave me in the first place.
So let me play for you everything that it heard and what it came back with and what we spent.
Voiceover:
[8:50] In list. youtube short idea. three tech stories with. you’re an assistant to a podcast host, who needs to promote their latest episode. create me some marketing messages. i can post on linkedin. ideas for pictures. i can post on instagram with captions. and some ideas for short form blog post to promote this episode.
Overall episode title. subscriptions, scams, and privacy. exploring the latest in tech news on Friday finds.
Episode show notes. On this week’s Friday Finds episode, we’re covering a range of topics in the tech world.
First, we discuss the recent changes to the popular app, Voice Dream Reader, and the impact of a new subscription model on users. Then, we dive into the flood of ScamChat GPT apps on the Mac App Store and provide tips for staying safe while browsing. Finally, we explore the rumor of app sideloading coming to iPhones and the potential privacy and security implications for users.
Join us as we delve into the latest in tech news with an accessibility view.
Promotional paragraph. Friday Finds is a weekly 30-minute tech story review show brought to you thanks to Unmew Presence.
This week on Unmew Presence Friday Finds, Lynn, Marty, and Damash are bringing you the latest in tech news with an accessibility view, from the recent changes to the popular app, app, voice dream reader to the flood of scam chat, GPT apps on the Mac app store and the rumor of app side loading coming to iPhones.
We cover it all. Join us as we explore the potential impact of these changes on users and provide tips for staying safe and informed in the digital marketplace.
YouTube short idea, three tech stories with an accessibility view.
Friday find episode preview, a quick 30 second teaser that highlights the three stories covered in the episode and emphasizes the accessibility view perspective. LinkedIn post ideas.
Michael:
[9:51] And so that was the data that it gave me. And now here’s some LinkedIn post ideas.
Voiceover:
[9:56] Are you up to date with the latest tech news? Check out our latest episode of Friday finds where we explore subscriptions, scams and privacy with an accessibility view. Join us for a deep dive into the latest changes in the tech world.
Our latest Friday finds episode covers everything from voice dream reader to app side loading on iPhones.
Want to stay informed and safe in the digital marketplace. Tune into our latest episode of Friday finds where we provide tips, Instagram, caption ideas.
Police car revolving light, new episode alert, police car revolving light.
This week on Friday finds we’re exploring the latest in tech news with an accessibility view tune in for insights on subscriptions, scams, and privacy, and that is some ideas that it gave me and I cut some of those out because there was a lot in there.
Michael:
[10:27] And as you can see, this is how I can use chat GPT, and then I can go in and copy some of these use the clipboard manager and launch bar to be able to get back to them.
And hopefully that helps you a little bit with being able to leverage max GPT in your workflow and be more productive when it comes to producing.
This is Michael again with unmute presents available as a replay on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on Tuesdays, 10 AM Pacific time. And that’s 1pm Eastern.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Read transcript
Show NotesHere are the Tech headlines for April 27, 2023
- Google Authenticator not end to end encrypted
- Microsoft acquisition of Activision and Blizzard Entertainment blocked by UK Regulators
- Report shows there may be three new Desktop Macs at WWDC 2023
- USB-C Apple EarPods
- Microsoft Loop now in beta for iOS and Android
- Google I/O for 2023 approaching
- Multiple phones for one WhatsApp Account
- iACast+ Premium content now on the iACast Network
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Support iACast by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/iacast
Find out more at https://iacast.pinecast.co
Send us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/iacast/0d17d3ac-bf29-4975-a961-3518229d6d2a
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
In this episode of Unmute Presents, we’re joined by tech expert Damashe, who shares valuable insights on USB security. With the convenience of charging our devices in public places, it’s easy to fall into the trap of plugging and playing without considering the potential security risks. Damashe breaks down the dangers of using public USB ports and provides practical tips for staying safe while charging on-the-go. Tune in to this informative episode and learn how to protect your devices and personal information from potential threats.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
In this episode, we explore the powerful Mac app called Mac Whisper, which allows you to transcribe audio files into text with ease. Our host Damashe takes you through the application interface and demonstrates how to use it to transcribe a YouTube video into text using the Tiny model.
You’ll learn about the different models available in Mac Whisper, how to select the right one for your needs, and how to use the app to transcribe audio files from your computer or record app audio.
Whether you’re a content creator, a journalist, or simply someone who needs to transcribe audio files on a regular basis, Mac Whisper is an essential tool that can save you time and effort. So tune in to learn more about this amazing app and start transcribing like a pro!
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
[MUSIC]
Hey, all. Marty here. Today,
we’re coming at you with our Friday finds.
With me, I’ve got Michael.
Say hello, Michael.
Hello, Michael.
Lynn, say hello, Lynn.
Hello, everybody.
Lynn, why don’t you kick us off with our first story?
Sure. Well, I’ll just quickly introduce myself.
I’m Lynn Schneider, and you may know me as
Kane Prince around the Internet.
And I am a right now sort of an intern, I guess you could say.
I’m interested in branching out
and becoming a content producer.
And I decided to ask the best teachers that I could find.
- We’ll do our best to learn to use something.
- And so I’m really excited.
I love technology.
You guys probably know me.
I do the ACB crafters on Fridays.
I’m involved in lots of different,
I’m totally blind from birth from anaphylmia.
I was born with that eyes. Yeah.
I’m really excited to be here
and to share some news stories with everyone.
My first news story of the week has to do with
the freestyle libre readers
that many people use for diabetic control,
blood sugar control monitoring.
Why don’t you tell everyone who may not know what a freestyle librarian is exactly just so they understand what it is?
So these readers actually help people
Monitor their blood sugars
without having to stick themselves with needles all the time and
Many people are doing this that they will sync up with your phone
so that you can have access to your readings and
It will tell you if you need insulin or
Actually, I think that they they even you can even get insulin
Injectables that they will actually do the injection for you
So you don’t have to poke yourself with a needle.
So the new technology, the old technology actually,
what people used to have to do if they didn’t have these,
you know, digital phone apps was they would have to take
either a little needle, poke themselves,
and then they’d have to use a little strip,
put that in another machine,
they would have to get a little drip of the blood
and then suck that into the little strip
which goes in the machine and tells you
what your glucose level or what your sugar level is,
which is glucose at that exact moment.
And it would reach you on the screen,
whatever the number is.
And some of them are accessible and some of them are not.
And the ones that are accessible will speak
the what’s on the screen, your glucose number
or sugar number at that moment out loud to you.
Now the new technology, which what Lynn is talking about is you get this little tiny
sticker which you stick on and it goes under your skin just enough so that it can check
your blood and you don’t change it.
It sits there constantly.
And then what happens is you have an app on your phone, which you open up and then when
you hit the app, it automatically draws your blood sugar for you and then gives you the
reading on your phone on the app and then it will keep track of all that information
so that the next time you go to the doctor they can see what your trends are and you
can also obviously look and see what your trends are and see if your blood sugars are
high low and different whatever the case may be.
So with all of that being said so Lynn now what is the problem that they’re running into
these machines?
Well, basically what’s happening is that the lithium ion batteries in the readers, some
users are reporting that they’re swelling and that they’re overheating and sparking.
Wow, really?
Okay.
In rare cases, they’re even catching fire.
So in response, the manufacturer has, which is the freestyle libre, the manufacturer has
is advise people to do a few things.
Basically, they want you to use the adapter that it comes with.
Because what’s happening,
they say is that people are not using
the adapters with the right power wattage.
So this is specifically the power adapter, is that correct?
Right.
So people are using
different power adapters that didn’t come with the machine
and that’s causing the machine to do wacky things, correct?
- Right, right, that’s right.
- And so they’re fixed to this is use the power adapter
we send you in the box and don’t use any other one.
- Right, and they do have some,
there’s like four, they say there’s like
tons of these devices out there.
You can still use them, but there is a recall.
So you should just be aware that there is a recall out there
and you just want to contact the manufacturer.
- Visit freestylebattery.com.
- Marty and I were discussing this yesterday.
We’re talking about the Bookshare price increase.
And if you’re a Bookshare member who like me pays
for their own Bookshare membership,
you know that Bookshare membership was always $50.
So let’s give them a primer on what Bookshare is exactly,
’cause I guarantee you a lot of people are gonna be,
well, wait, isn’t Bard Bookshare or isn’t Bookshare Bard?
So let’s give them a little primer on what Bookshare is.
- Right, yeah, that’s good.
And so there are lots of ways
that blind people can get books, of course.
The traditional NLS National Library Service,
NLS tends to sort of cater to
The people that like to read for relaxation, and that’s fine.
Casual readers.
Of course, you have to have a qualifying print disability.
The thing that separates Bookshare from NLS is that
Bookshare tends to have more academic content.
It tends to have more,
for people who like me are into lifelong learning,
students use it, they get their textbooks that way.
And, you know, students get Bookshare for free.
The problem is it caters mostly to students, but adults like me really like it because
I’m a lifelong learner.
I like to have access to academic things.
And unfortunately, they are increasing their annual fee from $50 to $80.
It’s actually $79.99 or some crazy thing like that.
So basically $80.
So that’s a pretty steep increase, I think, for people who pay for their own membership
like me because I’m not a student, so I don’t get a free membership.
And I guess this is just my little mini rant.
I feel that for people like me, in the email they sent to all the members, they say that
they feel like the people in richer countries should be able to afford the price increase.
And of course, I’m considered being in a high income country.
I am not a high income person.
I can guarantee you that.
certainly everybody is suffering from the effects of inflation.
Yeah, definitely.
We know that every prices of everything are increasing.
They’ve said that they’ve not increased their prices
despite the fact that their costs are going up.
My little mini rant here is to say that many people like me who buy their own,
For example, I bought my own Mantis.
I think people might look at me and say,
“Oh, well, you have the money.”
But it was a hardship for me to do that.
What is the Mantis exactly, just so people know?
It’s a Braille display.
So it allows me to read my screens in Braille and read books in Braille.
It’s just a wonderful device that I hook up to my phone or my Mac,
and it allows me to have braille output.
And the reason that I wanted that
is because I do a lot of volunteer work.
And unfortunately, volunteer work is not considered work.
So I’m not a student–
- No, it’s considered work, but for free,
you don’t get paid.
- Yeah, exactly.
By the way, this is National Volunteer Week,
so this, you know, as an aside.
- I get a 30% price increase,
which is what it comes down to is drastic.
It’s shocking to anyone.
But the other thing that I consider full transparency, I do not currently
pay for bookshare, so I will be open about that, but is the value you get
from bookshare still worth $6 a month?
And when you break it down monthly, it’s like, oh, that’s for all the books
that I get, that’s not a lot, but when you go and take the pricing, almost
double it, it’s sticker shock to people.
It is.
In fact, I was almost wondering, cause I take allergy medicine and it makes
me have really weird dreams. And it was at night when I saw this,
I’m like, I just see that up, it’s going to increase 30 bucks.
So I think that’s interesting about this too, is definitely
like I agree with Michael, it’s going to be sticker shock when
you first hear how much the increase is. But even at the new
number, like if you’re paying, you said what is it 80 now,
Lynn? Is that what you said it was?
It’s going to be 80. Yeah, right. So next time it comes up. Yeah.
Even if you’re at $80 a year, if you were to go to a bookstore and you were to buy
Five books that’s going to cost you on the average $20 a book
And that’s going to be way more
Than $80 a year if you were to go and buy books from the bookstore
You know at right full pop so on one hand. Yes, it seems to
be like a very expensive pay raise or monthly fee raise to the membership. But you could go on there
and you could download 10 books a day, 15 books a day if you want. I mean, you can’t go into any
bookstore and down or purchase and let us see you have tons and tons of money, you know, 15,
20 books a day. There’s just no way. It would be far, far, far more expensive.
Right. So, and I think that there’s this also this mythology out there that blind people don’t want to pay for anything.
And that is in my case, that is certainly not true. I do not mind paying for things. I don’t expect to be given everything for free.
Now, they do say that if you find that it’s a hardship, you can go on the website and ask for a
a discount.
So if you, I mean, they are allowing that, but I just wonder what happened to me, the
cost go up so much.
And I am not sure how many of us pay for our own bookshare because so many people get it
paid for some states, even I think California actually is one of the states where you can
get it the membership free.
So there are, I guess they’re kind of figuring that it won’t impact a lot of people.
But unfortunately, it does impact me and because…
And you know if it impacts you, it’s going to impact other people.
I am sorry to report that if you guys get your discs by mail, well, you’re going to
have to find another way to get your discs sent to you by mail because Netflix is going
to end that program. And the interesting thing is that I didn’t really, I didn’t even know
that Netflix still sent out stuff by mail. I mean, I know that that’s how they started,
but I had no idea that they were still doing it. And the funny part about it is I saw the
story on AOL.com. I was going through my Google news and I saw it there and I saw that it was,
the story was carried on in several outlets, but one of them was AOL and I’m like,
“Gosh, I didn’t even know AOL still existed.”
I know. That’s pretty weird, actually.
Yeah, that was weird. I felt like I was going through a time warp or something.
But yeah, so that’s, they say that people, the people that get their DVDs by mail, they like it
because some of them don’t have really good internets, you know, internet access. I know,
it’s interesting as being on the Zoom calls, how many people just really don’t have good internet.
You know, they’re always breaking up.
It actually does. There’s a few things here. And one is, Les, we were just talking about in the last story, you know, there’s inflation, right? So you look at a digital product opposed to a physical product, right? So a digital product, they put it up there. It’s endless. It’s never going to run out. It’s always there. People can stream it, stream it, stream it. You know, there’s no, there’s no love loss there, you know?
You know, right. Sorry about the physical product. What happens with the physical product? Someone has to, you know, pick the DVDs they want.
Then you have to have people going around and packaging up those DVDs, putting them in the mail, sending them to the people.
And then the people watch the DVDs and they got to turn around and they got to send them back.
And a lot of times I think when you send it back, Netflix was eating the cost of the postage both ways.
Right. Exactly.
So when you look at the money that they’re spending on doing just the shipping alone
and paying people to pull the DVDs and put them back when they come back in, and how
many people really are watching DVDs at this point?
I mean, if you go to a store, like an electronic store, it’s even hard to find a DVD player
anymore, you know?
I don’t own one.
I think I have one on an old laptop somewhere in the house,
and I think my mom has an older TV
that has a DVD player on it.
But what they said was that people still like it
because they say that some films,
like some esoteric sort of unusual films,
they are not allowed to be streamed
for copyright reasons.
And so they could–
You go back to when Netflix started
and their whole business model was, you know,
sending out DVDs to people,
they’d watch them send it back, get more, right?
But as a couple of years into the business,
they decided to start doing a small feature
where some TV shows or some movies
would be available for streaming, right?
And they were kind of the first ones
to really kind of start that.
And in the beginning, it went well, people liked it,
and then they were able to add more and more
to the choices of things that you could stream
because nobody else was doing it.
And as years went on, all of these companies went,
well, wait, why are we giving all our content away?
We can have our own platform.
And then it started all of these companies popping up
with their own platforms and their own streaming services.
So you lose a lot of those shows due to licensing and all this other stuff on Netflix.
So I thought it was funny the other day they were saying, I was looking at the article and it was talking about how one of the founders, there were two founders and one of them wanted to test whether he could send a DVD through the post office.
So what he did is he got a Patsy Cline.
It’s DVD and send it to his friend. I’m like some friend like
Okay, just send me a Patsy Cline DVD
But um, yeah, that was interesting and then
Of course, that’s how they sort of were able to beat blockbuster because people liked
The idea of getting these movies in their mailbox and stuff like that
It was kind of it was interesting and new and of course now it was convenient
I mean, what if you work on Wednesday and you go,
“I’m going to be at home with the kids,”
or, “We’ll have a date night at home,” or whatever it is.
You can order your DVDs, they’re there,
and you don’t even have to go anywhere or do anything.
They just show up in your mailbox and there you go.
Now I will say with them discontinuing the DVD service,
which is not something companies usually do,
but they’re giving you an actual bonus.
And the bonus is they’re not going to change the price
of anyone’s plan,
but they’re going to bump up the quality of the video
that you’re gonna be able to stream at no extra charge.
I think it’s a little bit of a higher quality video.
It’s not huge.
And this could be good or bad.
It may not make a huge difference.
I feel like the only way it’s gonna make a huge difference
is if you’re one of those who still has a giant TV
in your living room and you wanna watch movies that way.
But majority of people are watching movies
like on their phone or their iPad.
And really in those scenarios, I’m not sure that that high quality video is going to make that much of a difference really.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I mean, it’s sort of an end of an era, you know.
Right.
Now, with all that being said, there’s another story coming out of Netflix and Lynn, what’s that?
Well, apparently they are going to crack down on you guys who are sharing your password.
Right.
So what this means is, let’s say I have an account and I pay and I go, “Hey, Lynn, here’s my username and password.”
And, “Hey, Michael, here’s my username and password. You guys can log on and watch whatever you want, whenever you want. I don’t care.”
Or let’s say you’re a parent and you’ve got kids, right? And you don’t want to pay multiple accounts.
You give your kids the username and password and say, “Get on there and watch whatever you want.”
You know, you guys can just use my credentials to get in there.
Well, they’re cracking down on that because they don’t want to have five people using
one account.
That’s not the point.
They want to have everyone paying for an account or get a family plan or something like that.
So, I’m just wondering, do they have family plans?
I mean, do they have things where you could conceivably?
I believe that they do have something.
I’m not exactly sure what the price structure is or exactly how it works, but I’m pretty
sure that there is a way and I think it’s more money where you can go in and you can
choose a family plan, which would be more expensive than a one person plan or a single
user. And then you have up to, you know, five accounts that you can assign to people. So,
you know, you can assign, you know, account to you and then your three kids can have their
own and your husband can have one or whatever the case is. Right?
Right.
And I’m not sure how their pricing structure works on that.
It would be a kind of a similar thing to other companies
that do the same thing.
Like for example, both Spotify and Apple Music,
they have what’s called a family plan.
And so for example, with Spotify, right?
You can either pay a flat rate for a single user
and then you can have unlimited usage for that flat rate
to listen to as much music as you want.
If you have family and you want to have all your family, kids, whatever,
you pay a little bit more money and then you get to sign up to five
accounts total. I want to say, I think it’s five for Spotify.
So then each kid would get their own login and then they have their own
library, their own, all the things, right?
And that’s not sharing with the whole family.
Only you see your individual plan and everybody else only sees their individual
So that’s how it works for Spotify.
I believe Apple Music is pretty much a very similar way.
And I’m not sure how Netflix is doing it,
but I think they do have something similar.
And I think that’s everything for this week.
Yeah, I think so.
And I really want to thank everybody for tuning in.
And it’s good to be here.
I’ve got awesome teachers and that’s a good thing.
Good thing for me and I hope to see you guys again in another podcast pretty soon.
Sorry about that.
Yeah.
All right.
Thanks so much Lynn for being here.
We so appreciate having you.
And with that being said, if you guys have any comments, feedback, we’re going to try
and do this news thing on Fridays.
So if you have any ideas, if you have a story you want to hear, or if you have any comments
or anything like that, feel free to email us at feedback@unmute.show.
And we hope you guys have a great weekend.
Michael, say goodbye.
Goodbye.
And Lynn, thank you very much and say goodbye.
Goodbye, everyone.
Have a great week.
And I’m Marty.
Yep.
And I’m Marty, and we’ll see you guys next time.
Awesome.
[MUSIC]
(music fades)
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
[MUSIC]
Hey all, Marty here and we are back with another Unmead episode.
Today, we’re going to be talking all about Chat GPT.
With me today, I’ve got Michael.
Say hello, Michael.
Hello.
I also have Lynn with us today and say hello, Lynn.
Hello, everybody.
Why don’t we start this out with what exactly
is chat GPT for those who don’t know.
So Michael, why don’t you kick us off?
- Yeah, so I will share it the best way
that it’s been explained to me
and then hand it over to Lynn
to fill in anything she wants to with it.
The best way that chat GPT or the technology
that is text generation is explained to me
is it is auto-correct on steroids.
Instead of just tapping that middle word
in the middle three words that are above your keyboard,
if you didn’t know if you start typing and you leave it on
above your keyboard on iOS and Android,
three words show up that you can tap to auto fill
and your phone can auto guess what the next word’s gonna be.
Well, this is that on steroids because A,
the prediction of the next word actually makes sense
based on the context of the information
that you prompt the AI with,
and B, it then will fill it in
and automatically form sentences
because it’s aware of proper English grammar,
and conscious of it a lot more than I am.
And that’s the best way that I have learned
to explain what chat GPT is.
What about you, Lynn?
- All right, so to me, chat GPT is a brain helper.
It’s a thought helper, it’s a creativity helper.
It thinks very fast.
We don’t like to typically say that AI thinks,
but for the purposes of understanding what it is,
have you ever sort of stopped and think,
gosh, if I could just tell this computer what I want,
if I could just tell this word processor what I want to say
and then have it say it for me.
- Work processor, write me a paper.
- Exactly, exactly.
- Work processor, write me a paper on,
insert subject here.
Yes. When we think about AI, artificial intelligence,
basically what we’re talking about is a tool that helps us.
I like to say, some people would say that it takes over our thinking.
In my opinion, from my use of it,
it helps my creativity, it boosts it.
It helps me to think in different ways.
A lot of times, I will ask it a question,
and it will come back with an answer,
and it was like, “Wow, I didn’t even think that.
I wasn’t even thinking from that angle.”
So it really does help,
I think, to broaden your horizons when you’re doing your work.
One time, I had to write a customer service letter,
and I was really angry,
and I wrote all this stuff into the chat box.
Then I asked GPT to write a professional-sounding letter,
and it came back with a letter that would be written by a person that wasn’t crazy angry.
[LAUGHTER]
It did a beautiful, beautiful job of coming back,
and here is a letter that you could actually send to a customer service.
There’s a lot of processes that you can use for chat GPT.
I mean, really anything, right?
I mean, you can use it for a paper
you may be writing on a certain topic.
You can maybe do it on a marketing project you’re doing
if you’re trying to market something.
I mean, there’s so many different use cases for it.
It’s endless.
So Lynn, what would be like a workflow?
You would start out with some kind of an idea,
you’re writing something.
How would you do your workflow?
You would start out and then go from there.
I think what’s really important and Michael and I are going to probably emphasize this
over and over is something called prompting.
And prompting is the philosophical question, what’s more important?
Having the right answers or asking the right questions?
And when it comes to AI, when it comes to chat GPT and others like it, the important
thing is how you ask the question and you will get better as you use the system.
And so, for example, when I was doing a presentation for bits, which was, I messed up because I
was just had just gotten a braille display and I wasn’t sure what the heck I was doing,
but I had asked it to write a public service announcement about why or how people should
behave around guide dogs. And it wrote basically an introduction, and several bullet points
explaining why you should do this, that, or the other thing, and then an ending. So it
was like, it did that in five seconds. Something that might have taken me a long, long time
to do, especially since I don’t have a guide dog and I really don’t really know a whole
lot about guide dogs, but it cuts the crap. I mean, I like to say that, but it really
gets to the point of what you’re trying to do.
And let’s take a step back for one second. Maybe Michael, you want to explain what prompting
is.
Yeah, so it’s interesting. I’ve fallen into the trap of having a conversation with the
AI when I actually just wanted to go experiment.
So firstly, if you are like, I’ve heard of this, you know, at its time,
I want to go play with this after I hear this podcast from Unmute present.
Uh, I really understand it a little more.
Just, just be aware that you might suck a little bit more of your
time than you expect to.
Um, so be conscious of that.
So a prompt is your information that you share with the AI itself.
For example, I sent a prompt and said, who is Michael Babcock?
And that prompt, my question to it is, is what it came back with a response of.
And it responded and told me as an AI language model, I’m unable to search
the web to tell you who Michael Babcock is.
I followed up with that and said, you are a AI assistant to Michael Babcock,
a founder of a company called PayOnMedia LLC.
We publish podcasts and help small business owners share their voice with the world.
And then I said, ask me some questions about, or ask me some questions that I can answer
to help you better assist me.
And then I hit enter and it asked me, it started asking me questions.
So now I’m going to keep this specific chat open and answer these questions and then
start asking the AI model itself for assistance that I might need.
For example, going back to what Lynn was talking about, can you provide me a
response to a customer service email?
The customer is upset because the product was not provided to them in a timely
manner, explain to the customer that we are sympathetic with the problems that
the customer is having with delivery.
And we are going to resolve their issue to the best of our ability.
Here’s the tracking number and provide them with this USPS tracking number and,
and giving them that information.
That’s a lot of rambly information that the customer is going to be like,
that’s not professional, but Chat GPT wrote a professional email.
And the only way that I have found to be able to really modify the way that the
email comes out, especially the tone, that’s important.
And that’s what will help you stand out from what other people are doing with
Chat GPT is that customer service email.
I said that I said, write me a customer service email.
I started that prompt with write me a customer service email in a polite, but
professional and casual tone, and then gave it the information
that I needed to convey in that email. And that’s how it came
up with the email that I was happy with. And then the last
thing, and then I’ll stop talking and hand it to Marty
Orlin is, I, I think this is a way you can get into building
some interesting things. And when you start, I’ve been adamant
about telling people to start from the end and work backwards.
When you start from the end and work backwards with automation,
and you run into a place where you need a computer program
to automatically rename a file.
So that way it can match a certain file type.
So you can move that file.
Think about how open AI can help you.
And I hear, and I know how I’m gonna transition this,
that chat GPT 4 is better with writing code
and stuff like that.
So Lynn, can you, what is chat GPT 3.5 and 4?
Right, 3.5 is the, it’s sort of an incremental development between 3 and 4.
Right now, 4 is, I guess they consider it under training or that they want to make sure
that it’s good enough before they, I guess, release it to the general public.
I have access to it because I have GPT Plus, which I pay $20 a month for, but I am addicted.
So is chat GPT 4, is that only behind a paywall and everyone else gets 3.5 or how would someone
want to utilize 4 opposed to 3.5 if that’s the newer out of the current technologies
that are out there?
This is a good question and if you don’t have a paid account, I’m not sure.
There’s a combo box on mine because I have GPT Plus and it lets me choose which model
I want to use.
3.5 is only available.
You have 3.5 and 3.5 Turbo for the free customers.
Some paid customers have access to four and some people can get access to four on the
API.
So if you’re using an app that I can talk more about in the near future, then you can
leverage that.
And if you want to try the difference in chat GPT 3.5 and four, and you don’t want to pay
anything, Bing is using a version of chat GPT four.
So if you ask the same question to both chat GPT and Bing, you can see the difference in
responses. So we should explain to people here, you know, how this works because you have regular
chat GPT in a web browser, you have other apps that you can install on your computer, you have
a big other technology companies such as Google and Microsoft that are implementing it into their
software. And I think with all the headlines, people are going what you know, it’s a little bit
kind of hard to follow. So we have it in the browser. So you could go to chat GPT, and you
could just use it strictly in the browser. And then we have, for example, if you’re a Mac user,
you can use what’s called the Mac GPT. And Michael, you want to give a little primer on that?
Do I ever? So Lynn, are you on the Mac? I forget you’re on the Mac, right?
I am. Yes.
Yes.
Yes. So I’m using Mac GPT. This does require a little bit more setup, but you had to go get
API key and there’s some good directions that we can point people to on how to
build a to get this and it’s very accessible to do but you put that API
key in and then you have an app that runs on your Mac and you open it up and
there’s a prompt right there a edit field that you can type it and you hit
enter and then if you VO left arrow once there’s a list there that you can
interact with and go and see the response that chat GPT gave you. Pass the
response is a copy button. So you can copy the response from
chat GPT, which is amazing. And what’s even more awesome about
this is if you are using chat GPT for I believe you can use GPT
for with the Mac app, you’ll have to try it by following the
sign in process. But if I’m in a tool like drafts or text edit,
and I type slash GPT space and then my prompt followed by shift
enter, GPT will fill in the rest of, like it fills in the answer of the prompt right there.
So I don’t even have to pop you and paste it does inline GPT filling. And then I go delete
the prompt at the top. By default, the keystroke is plus GPT space. And so that’s Mac GPT in a
nutshell. And it is it’s awesome. Right. And they do have APIs, right for developers. And there was
was a little shortcut called Super Siri. You would say Super Siri and it would actually
give you a chat GPT prompt. So it’s pretty awesome.
That’s pretty cool. In the same sense, there was I believe Federico Petici from App Stories
had a shortcut that he built that he put out. Michael, I think you played with that a little
bit, right?
Not a little bit. I’m actually racking up a slight bill on my API usage. I’m at 27 cents right now.
Better be careful. It might break the bank. Yeah, I use SGPT quite regularly. That’s the article
I recommend people going to to follow to learn how to set up your API key. So you invoke Siri,
you say SGPT. It says, “What would you like to ask GPT?” And it gives you a hint of some ideas.
What’s really nice is if you give it access to your clipboard and stuff, for example,
you can copy a URL on your clipboard on the Mac, send it to SGPT and ask it for a summary
of the article, which can be really helpful. And then SGPT also has the ability to access your
calendar. So if you tell it, analyze my calendar and tell me how many meetings I have, it can
process that information too. Okay. I could talk a little bit about Google Bard. Okay.
If you want. So, Bard has just opened,
Google has just opened up their AI to the public,
and it’s in beta.
I am on a list, David Goldfield’s list.
I don’t know if anybody knows about his list,
but it’s for the blind,
but he does a lot of stuff with AI on there.
It turned out that Google has released it.
It’s, if you guys hear something, something about Bard,
just don’t get confused.
It’s not the same thing as the,
as the library service reading material.
- I heard they’re actually gonna be changing the name
actually.
- Okay, I hope so.
Cause it’s kinda, you know.
- It’s confusing.
- Chat GPT is kind of a yucky name too.
Let’s get a better name guys, you know,
type it in and see what it says.
The problem that Google’s gonna have is that,
you know, Google sort of thrives,
lives and dies by advertising.
So right now it’s free.
Right now there’s no advertising in it.
But most of the reviews that I’ve seen,
the tech reviews say that it really has some work to be done.
What I think is unfortunate about BARD is that with chat GPT,
when it gives you an output of a prompt that you give it,
it will have a thumbs up and a thumbs down.
But if you hit thumbs up,
it’s going to ask you what you liked about it.
You hit thumbs down, it’s going to say, “What happened?
Why didn’t this go right?”
Unfortunately, on a board,
you just get a thumbs up and thumbs down.
I wish they would have a prompt that says,
“Here’s the problem with this output.”
I asked about French fries and I got something else.
Onion rings.
Onion rings, yeah. So I think that having that response,
being able to tell the model and
the NChat GPT or OpenAI that this prompts,
this didn’t work, something,
it gave me an answer that was not right.
In this way, I think people can train it more because they can really give more feedback
about the answers that it gets.
One thing that I have a lot of fun doing with AI is writing stories.
If you are somebody who is creative, you can type in, you’d say, “Write me a creepy story
about a vacuum cleaner.”
It will write you a creepy story about it later.
Some of them are really fun, but it can be just fun just doing that.
Say you have two sides of a political debate, you can ask it to be one side and ask you
questions.
So you’re kind of having a debate with it and it’s presenting the side that you want.
And then you can come back with your own arguments.
So it’s sort of, it is interactive.
It’s very interactive.
I have used it for therapy.
- Wow.
- You know, I–
- Yeah, I would have never even thought about doing that.
- Sure, yeah, I’ve used it.
Like, I am so mad at my sister because da da da da da.
Now, obviously you don’t wanna give it sensitive info, right?
You want to sort of be aware and also it gets its facts wrong. They all do. So if you know
I wouldn’t like use it to do an appendectomy on somebody like
You want to make sure I’m right now it does, you know, they even give you a warning that says that it may give
Factually inaccurate info so I
I would say if you’re going to use it to do your graduate thesis or whatever,
you might want to really check your facts.
Yeah. So Michael, do you know how it’s going to be implemented with Microsoft and how they’re
going to be using it?
No, but it’s my understanding that it’s going to be a pretty streamlined system in Microsoft.
And I explained how inline on the Mac at least works. So I could see them doing something similar
or just having a keystroke that you press that you prompt it. And then it could put
put that information into word.
The possibilities are limitless with this technology.
I wanna emphasize a couple of things that Lynn said.
One is, check your facts,
check the information before you just run with it.
I think that’s something that was reiterated to me
when I learned about Spouse Check when I was younger.
Listen to what it says, the computer’s not always right.
And I think that’s important.
And then secondly, it can definitely be a good
mental support tool. Obviously, seek professional assistance if
you need if you need it, but it can’t hurt to ask some of these
questions and get information. Well, let me rephrase that. It
can’t hurt dependent on the the way you use the information
Marty, you mentioned earlier, I couldn’t imagine an angry GPT.
I heard about the other day called a chatbot called chaos GPT.
that’s prompted with the sole intention of creating a plan to destroy humanity.
So like anything, that sounds great to me.
That’s just crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like anything, a butter knife can be used to spread butter on toast or
stab into someone’s chest.
Yeah.
All about how you use your tools.
So another way that chat GPT is being implemented is into an app, for
example, called Be My Eyes.
And what Be My Eyes is, is that if you need assistance
and you’re someone who’s visually impaired or blind,
it opens up an app on your phone,
somebody on the other end connects with you,
they can utilize your camera on your phone
and you point it at whatever it is you’re looking for
and they can tell you on the other end what exactly it is.
So for example, if you’re in the grocery store
and you’re looking for the chicken noodle soup,
you’re on the aisle, there’s a hundred cans of soup up there
and you can’t figure out which one,
You can get your phone out, you can connect on the app.
Somebody will come on and use your camera and tell you,
“Oh, that one right there, that’s the chicken noodle soup.”
And they can tell you which is the name brand.
And so you know exactly what you’re getting.
So what Chat GPT is doing and what the app company is doing
is they’re gonna implement this technology into the app.
And so what that means is this technology is going to be able
to do the same thing on its own using the technology
without having an actual human come on the line.
Now, if you do have a failure with the technology,
you still can ask it to connect to a human,
but this is gonna be really cool to see
how as this goes along, how smart it gets,
how accurate it will be and all of those things.
So I’m kind of excited to try that technology out
and see how well it works and where we end up with it.
- Yeah, they call it the virtual volunteer.
And I think right now it’s only being rolled out to certain people.
I think they’re still testing it and stuff, but yeah, it’s slowly being rolled out.
I’m on the, you can get on the wait list.
And I’m still on the wait list.
I thought I had it, but I had the tab, but I don’t have the, I’m still waiting for
the, there’s a tab that’s this virtual volunteer.
And if you go in there, you can sign yourself up to be, you know, to have that virtual volunteer.
I’m still waiting.
So, but yeah, well, as you get it and you play with it, you can report back and let us know, you know, your
experience and how it works and stuff.
And I really, I just love that we’re having this conversation because I think right now when people talk about
AI, it’s always, you know, it’s gonna, you know, take everybody’s job and eventually
it’s gonna destroy humanity and all that. And the way I look at it, well, that may happen,
but until then, I’m gonna write a mean essay.
There you go. And you know, we’re gonna be coming back to this topic because there’s
going to be continuous new information quite a lot, you know, there’s going to be different
companies, you know, they’re going to be doing stuff, different apps, and it’s going to be
be implemented all over the place.
So we’ll make sure that we keep you guys updated
and kind of let you know what’s going on
as we hear things and figure it out moving forward
and all that good stuff.
So, and in closing, we’ll keep you all updated.
If you wanna reach out to us,
you can reach us at feedback@unmute.show
with questions, comments, or anything else of that matter.
And Michael, anything in closing?
Just stay subscribed. Don’t forget to share this episode with someone if you found it to be useful.
We really appreciate you joining us, Lynn. Thank you for coming today.
Oh, it’s been real. Yes.
Thanks, Lynn. And thanks, Paul. And we’ll see you guys next time.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
[TONE PLAYBACK]
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
[Music]
This is an ACB Community Call presented by American Council of the Blind.
[Music]
This Unmute Present Community Call was hosted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2023.
Thanks to Script Talk for visiting us.
[Music]
The opinions expressed on the ACB Media Network are those of the content providers and should
not be viewed as an endorsement of any product or service.
Nor does it reflect the views of the American Council of the Blind, its elected officials,
or its staff.
Welcome everyone back to another Unmute.
We want to just as a quick reminder here at the top, remind everyone that we’re going
to take first hands.
If we have time, we’ll take second,
but also we want to remind everyone to be respectful.
If you wanna get all your questions answered,
be respectful to everyone,
the same as you would want yours to be respected.
Also, if you need to get ahold of us,
questions, comments, anything like that,
you can reach us at feedback@unmute.show.
And today we’re gonna be doing all things script talk,
so that’ll be fun.
And in the meantime,
Let’s get Michael to give us a couple of quick announcements.
How’s it going, Michael?
- It’s going well, Marty.
I appreciate it.
And I appreciate each of you for taking time out of your day
for joining us either in the podcast live stream
or here in Zoom.
So as you know, I like to go over some of the content
that we’ve recently published in case you have missed it.
And one of the pieces of content that you probably heard
when you were in the,
when you are subscribed to the podcast feed
is the advertisement that Marty and I threw together
pretty quickly.
I think it turned out okay,
but I do kind of have a biased opinion.
In addition, after that,
we published a interesting piece from a voice,
community members already know very well,
and that is Lucy,
and she came and graciously shared with us
a breakdown of the A-lady devices,
specifically with a screen.
So if you’ve ever been curious, why would I want a screen?
Why do I need to interact with my A-Lady device?
I can just use my voice well worth the listen
to listen to Thursday’s episode,
search for a mute presents on your favorite podcast platform.
And then Marty did a demonstration of a new tool
to about a hundred starts at about $130
and it’s a USB microphone that he bought
and he really likes because it’s quick and easy
to get a decent sounding recording.
It’s called the Sennheiser profile microphone.
and you did a review of it and a recording.
And if you’re interested, you can go listen to that.
That was published on Sunday.
So that’s a quick recap of what we’ve published recently.
And remember, you can search for unmute presents
on your favorite podcast platform.
Marty, why don’t you introduce our guests today,
which people are excited to hear from?
- Yes, I would like to introduce Jenna Reed,
director of marketing to talk to us all about script talk.
And Jenna, thanks for being here and take it away.
- Thanks so much, Marty.
Welcome guys.
If you have any questions, let’s try to wait till the end.
But if something I say is not loud enough
or it’s confusing, please don’t hesitate to jump in
and I will answer and try to clarify.
So our company, we’re fortunate,
we’re based on the West Coast of Florida.
So we’re down in Florida.
We’ve been around now for over 25 years.
A lot of people might not know that, but yeah,
we started out in Veterans Affairs.
We’re still available with our script talk station,
with veterans to help them.
And that’s where we got our start.
So we’ve since branched out to,
oh, I think we’re in over more than 20,000 patients
are now using script talk
and more than 7,000 pharmacies throughout the country
are now using script talk.
So you might ask, what is script talk?
Some of you might have one, if you do, yay.
If you do not, I’m gonna go through it
and I’ll tell you the easiest way possible
to get one if you don’t have one.
So, Scriptalk is a free service, absolutely free guys.
I promise, no charge for the labels,
no charge for the device.
There is no charge and it does not run
through your insurance company.
This is a free service that is provided by the pharmacies
to ensure your independence and safety.
So what they will do is they will do a small circular,
it’s called RFID, Radio Frequency Identification Label.
So they have a simple software program
that we provide them right in their computer system
where they are gonna program this label
with all of your information.
So you will be able to hear doctor’s name, dosage,
medication, everything that’s gonna be on this label.
So without further ado, you know you’re getting
a demonstration.
So let me turn on the device.
Device, if you don’t have one, it’s similar,
I would say to an old school CD Walkman.
It’s about the same in size.
It’s white, it’s got a smooth surface.
And on the side of it is a little spinny wheel,
and you’re gonna spin that to turn it on
and to control the volume.
I’m gonna crank it up,
so hopefully it doesn’t blow anybody’s ear drums out.
- Script taxation ready.
So that little circular label that they’re going to give you is typically on the bottom of your prescription bottle. I’m topping it.
So I’m going to set that down right on top of this machine.
And then in the front of the machine are three buttons.
You’ve got a circular read button and then beside that are your next and your previous buttons.
So say you only want one piece of information or you want your doctor’s name or the prescription number.
You can quickly jump through to access it.
But for my purposes today, I’m going to go ahead and play the whole thing for you.
Patient John J. Smith, medication, homoxysil in 250 milligram capsule instructions.
Take one capsule three times daily. Quantity 30 capsules. Prescription date January 10th,
2020.
expiration date January 10, 2024.
Refills remaining zero prescriber.
Dr. Ben Casey scriptability pharmacy to reorder this prescription dial 800 555 1212 prescription number 123456 warning important finish all this medication unless otherwise directed by prescriber.
Warning, this medicine may be taken with or without food.
Warning, may cause diarrhea during treatment.
If it persists or becomes severe,
tell your doctor or pharmacist.
Warning, persistent diarrhea due to colitis
may rarely occur weeks or months
after using an apionis.
- All right, you guys are getting the hint.
The cool thing about this device is it runs on batteries
or you can plug it in.
And how do you get this device, you might ask.
Well, basically when you tell the pharmacist
that you want this, they are gonna fill out a simple form
with your information and they are gonna send that to us
in Vision America and Florida,
and we’re gonna ship this device out to you for free.
You can keep it as long as you need it, no cost.
All we ask is when you’re done with it,
if you’ll send it back to us
so that we can pass it on to the next patient.
Now, for those of you who are a little more tech savvy,
we have apps too.
Now I’m bad, I have an Android,
I know a lot of you guys are going to have iPhones,
but I’ve gotten the Android.
So I’m going to open it up.
It’s yelling at me.
Now, if you have an iPhone, it’s going to automatically
have your NFC near-field communication enabled,
so you don’t have to worry about this.
For my phone, I have to go in and enable it.
And so it’s going to walk me through doing that.
I’m going to turn that on.
So the cool thing about–
Please bring in prescription tag.
Because it’s a slightly different voice,
but it works identical to that station.
So you have two options with the app.
You have a full scan feature, which is cool.
It’s gonna go through all that info,
just like that station did,
or you have a quick scan feature,
which is just gonna hit that high level info.
So if you have an iPhone,
you’re gonna take that medication
and that label on the bottom
and you’re gonna hold it up
to the top screen of your phone
and it’s gonna pick it up.
Now I have an Android, so mine’s a little different.
I’m gonna hold it on the back of the phone
the camera. Amoxicillin 250 milligrams capsule. So that’s your quick scan. It’s just going to
give it to you really quick. Now the full scan feature, let’s do that real quick. Tag is not
valid. Do you want your report? I’m not supposed to do that Doreen. Obviously the tag is valid,
it just read it. Prescription information, patient name, John J Smith, medication, amoxicillin 250
milligrams capsule instructions take one capsule three times daily so as you can see it does the
exact same thing it’s just a lady’s voice instead of the man’s the cool thing about the app as well
is it has a my meds button so under that my meds anything that you full scanned on this app
is now on a list for you so say you’re going into your doctor’s office you have an appointment
coming up. And I know personally, I can’t print out some of my medications. I don’t even try.
I just everything’s the same. But if you’re going to a new doctor or a specialist, and they want to
know what you’re taking, you know, you can pull up this MyMeds and just hand your phone over and
they can see everything that you’re on. So that’s a cool thing about that feature. And also have a
pharmacy. So say you’re on the road, and you need to find us for talking to you at a local pharmacy,
it’s got a lookup function so you can find the pharmacies near you. And then as a side note,
our website and visionamerica.com also if you scroll down to the very bottom of the front that
homepage also has a pharmacy lookup. So you can go in and you can enable it to automatically know
what your zip is and it’s going to pull up within I think like five, ten, twenty mile radius of you
all of the pharmacies that offer script talk.
And then this app also has a help feature
that will walk you through how it works.
So that is the gist of it.
So basically there are two ways to get signed up.
You can go to your pharmacist and you can request it.
I can say that some of the big ones that we’re in,
we’re in all Walmarts.
If they’re not aware of it, they should be,
or you can call us directly.
And we will work behind the scenes to get you set up.
So think CVS has spoken Rx, Walmart has script talk,
depending on what area of the country you’re in,
their chances are very good
that you’re gonna have a pharmacy near you
that does offer it or can offer it.
Now, if you’re using a smaller mom and pop
independent pharmacy, we obviously can’t guarantee that.
But what we can do is if you give us a call
and give us their information, we can call and educate them
and explain to them that they have patients
that are interesting in getting this
so that we are more than happy to set them up.
It is a very cost-effective program.
We’re not looking to make a ton of money on it,
so it’s cost-effective for your pharmacist to offer this.
And at the end of the day, to me, safety is priceless.
So I think that is pretty much all of my information.
We do have it available in translation.
So if you or a friend or family member
or your neighbor speaks Spanish,
if the pharmacist has a translation key,
that’s a separate service,
we can also provide the script talk station unit in Spanish.
We actually do a total of 25 different languages.
So that’s pretty cool.
If you do have some musical vision
and you just want large prints, we can also do that.
We work with a lot of the mail orders
and the bigger pharmacies to provide,
it’s a large print label, Booklet Style,
that’s physically attached to that bottle.
And it’s like a wave or flag that comes off
and it’s got up to 22 point font.
And it’s gonna have all that key information as well.
So we do that.
And then probably not as applicable,
but I’d like to mention it is our dual language labels.
So that would have English as well as
one in 25 different languages.
Again, that’s a Booklet style label that’s attached.
And then we also have Braille, which is nice.
We do the grade two contracted Braille.
So it’s just kind of like a cheat sheet
to let you know what medication you have in front of you.
And then I know a lot of folks that like that Braille,
also like having that RFID or script doc tag on the bottom
so that they can access all of that information
whenever they need it.
Finally, we offer controlled substance safety labels.
These are for your stronger medications.
There’s a lot of risks inherent with taking those.
So that one is kind of cool.
Again, it’s a booklet style label that attaches.
It’s gonna have all those warnings and key information.
But the cool thing about that label,
it also has a QR code so that when you scan it,
it’s got a pretty cool audible video associated with it.
That’s gonna kind of remind you, take it during the day.
Don’t take it with alcohol.
Just those key reminders of how to take
those stronger medications safely.
- Awesome, thanks, Jenna.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, we really appreciate that.
- Go ahead, Michael.
- We really appreciate that.
And I think Marty has some questions.
I have some questions.
And if you listening on Zoom or Clubhouse have questions,
raise your hand and we’ll get to those.
What were you gonna ask, Marty?
- So I guess my first question would be
when it comes to scanning the bottles,
I know that you can put it right on the machine as well as have the app.
Do they always put the labels in the same place?
So you’re not fun,
the laying around with the bottle trying to figure out where the label is to get
the machine or the app to read it.
They do typically, um, because it is circular,
they’re going to gravitate to put that on the bottom of that prescription bottle.
Now, if you have a package, that’s not a traditional bottle,
they will put it on there as well. A lot of times,
there’s like a little hang tag that they’ll stick on.
So it’s gonna stick out.
So you’re gonna feel that sticking out
and it’s gonna have that label on it.
So it should be pretty easy to locate it when you’ve got it.
- I guess my second question would be
if you have a medication that may not come in a bottle,
for example, like either eye drops
or maybe a medication that’s like a patch
or something like that,
would do they put the sticker on the outside of the package,
not directly on the actual eye drop bottle
or whatever’s inside the box if it’s like a patch
or something like that, right?
- Typically it will be on the outside of the package.
You can talk to your pharmacist and see if they’d be willing,
like if it’s an eye dropper or something like that,
if they’d be willing to put it right on that little bottle.
Now it depends on the size of the bottle
as to how easy it is for them to get it on there.
But you can always talk to your pharmacist
and make a request if you’d like.
Cool. Awesome. Michael, what do you got?
Yeah, I do see we have a couple of hands, so I will jump over to Sheila and get
those here in a moment, but I have one question that I bet one, maybe a couple
of listeners are wondering about.
You mentioned that you work on the iPhone and you work on the Android.
Do you guys have any plans or are you in the process of working on the
blind shell classic two at this time?
We are, we’re actually in touch.
We are not on them yet.
I think the real Sam is one we’re working with.
I want to say, what is the other one?
I think there’s another one out there too.
And of course I’m drawing a blank who we are in talks with those developers.
So we’re looking to get integrated in their systems so that when you, you know,
we’ll be a part of their, um, their operating system so that you can
find us on there as well.
Beautiful.
Thank you very much.
Sheila, who’s our firsthand today?
Yes.
Go ahead, Beth.
Yeah.
Okay.
Um, I was when, uh, can you hear me?
Yeah.
Yeah, we can hear you.
Yeah, yeah.
I was wondering, like with the device, you were saying that you wanted us to send it back
when we’re done, but how are we going to remember which medication is what
if we don’t have the device?
No, as long as you’re on the medications and you have the labels,
you do not have to send the device back.
You know, for some reason, you’re not taking those medications, or perhaps you’ve changed pharmacies
one of the rare pharmacies that does not offer script talk and you’re not actively using it,
then we request that you send it back. But as long as you’re actively taking those medications
with the script talk labels on them, we will touch base with you every six months and we’ll
touch base with you like right after you get your labels just to make sure everything’s going
smoothly, but we’re not going to like hound you or anything like that to send it back to us.
Because my, I have Lewis family drug that’s the, because I’m in Northwest Iowa that’s in,
I think it’s in South Dakota, so I don’t know, I hope they use Scrip Talk, but
yeah, that I would have to give them your number, I guess.
Yeah, so you can ask them. I would also encourage you, if you want to give us a call, and I will
give it out now, I’m sure it’ll come up. Our phone number, you can find us, obviously our website,
is E-N-V-I-S-I-O-N, america.com.
- Okay.
- There’s a pharmacy lookup in there by your zip code.
And also you can call us at 1-800-890-1180.
And we have a wonderful patient advocate care team
that works the phones.
We’re here Eastern time from 8.30 to five weekdays.
And they’re great.
- Okay.
And if you guys want to get that as an email,
you can email us feedback@unmute.show
and we can shoot you off an email
with all the pertinent information that you would need.
- Yeah.
So if you call us, we can talk to your pharmacy.
If for some reason they do not offer it,
we can educate them.
Or we can now look for a pharmacy in your area, Beth,
that might offer it.
I know you’re tied into them and you love them,
but if for some reason they do,
you do our best. – Yeah.
- Thanks a lot, Beth.
Who do we have next?
- Thank you. – Hi, Diane.
- There we go, I think you can hear me now.
- Yeah. – Hey, Diane.
- Yeah, I think that certainly from my experience,
the issue with this program and maybe others like it
seems to be, I gotta get my phone,
quiet down, hold on.
It seems like advocating to get pharmacies to sign up for it is the issue.
I’ve been trying to work on my mail order pharmacy for years and I know that someone
named Caroline, I think her name was Caroline, has told me that she had been in touch with
them and that they were interested, but that it was going to take several months for them
to work out the contract.
So apparently, if they’re still doing it, if they really are interested, it’s been a
long time.
I haven’t heard anything.
And I’m kind of wondering about your use of the word “rare” to describe the number of
pharmacies that don’t have this.
I would think there would be quite a few if you’re looking at small, independent pharmacies,
large chains.
you know, I understand but I, you know, is it really that difficult to get to convince these
smaller pharmacies that they should do this? I guess it must be.
We do our best to educate them and bring them on board. Some of the smaller pharmacies,
we can get them signed up quickly. Some of the larger ones like mail orders do take a little bit
of time and longer. But what I can say, if there’s a particular pharmacy that you’re interested in,
The more patients that want this service, the more we can push them to offer it.
To us, it’s an easy sell. We believe in independence and safety. To us, we will push
and we will advocate. You guys can advocate. We’ll give you brochures. We do everything we can.
But at the end of the day, these pharmacies, we do what we can, but we can’t make them.
Yeah, and well, the website is loaded with information, especially that the pharmacies
can look at. You know, and I’ve, by the way, mine is pharmacy advantage, if anyone’s interested in
advocating. So I guess that’s my concern is that it seems to be a hard sell for, you know, some of
the pharmacies. Diane, um, gosh, you’re probably not comfortable giving your phone number. I was
gonna say, if you want to call us, we can update you on what’s going on after the fact.
Diane, if you want to email us at feedback@unmuedotshow,
I can get your information to
Jenna and she could contact you.
Yeah. I’ll reach out to you.
Because is that a hospital system?
Yeah, they operate through a hospital system.
I’ve been working with them on the marketing side,
so I can say they are coming along.
Okay.
As far as I know, it’s soon.
So I mean, when you were talking about a big system like that, yes, unfortunately, sometimes
some of the contracts take a little while to work through.
But we are getting there and we are equipping them with brochures and all that kind of good
stuff.
So they’re coming, I promise.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
Who do we have next, Sheila?
And thank you, Diane.
Darcy.
What have we got in Clubhouse?
We have Janet here in Clubhouse.
Go ahead and unmute Janet.
Hey, Janet.
Hello, everybody.
Good morning or afternoon, Twel.
Hey, M&M.
I just wanted to say a great job, Jenna.
I’ve had my script talk for, I don’t know,
a couple of years from my pharmacy.
And the question I have is, if you use the app on your phone,
do you need to sign in or anything?
Or how’s it going to know that it’s from you?
Basically, the best way I can describe it
is it’s a basic platform.
So it doesn’t have to have your name or your information.
All of your information is in that actual tag.
And this is just a reader.
This is just going to understand what’s on that tag.
So it’s gonna have all your–
- Oh, okay, okay.
- So once you have it downloaded on your phone,
it will ask you to register with us
just so we know you’re using the app
and we have your basic info,
but you should not need to sign in every time.
So unless there’s an update or something like that,
you should just be able to keep rolling with it.
- Okay, I was just curious as well.
So thank you very much.
- My pleasure.
- Y’all have a great day, good job.
- You too, thank you. – Thank you.
- All right, EG, you can unmute.
- Thank you.
- Hey, EG, how you doing?
- Hey, Michael.
I had a quick question.
I tried to look up.
Alexa, stop, sorry.
For example, who is your reminder?
What’s your name?
I tried to go to the website, and I must have done something wrong because I got a bunch
of envisions but not yours.
Is there, what was the website again?
It’s E-N-V-I-S-I-O-N-A-M-E-R-I-C-A.
Okay, that’s the part.
Okay.
Yeah, there’s a lot of Envision Healthcare and Envision is a lot of different things.
Yes. Yeah. Now, if you’re putting us into the search engine, I would say E-N hyphen,
Vision America. We’ve got a hyphen in our official name, which throws us off a little
bit.
All right. Having a hyphenated last name, I understand that well. The second part is
I talked to my pharmacy about, and I use a large regional grocery store chain pharmacy
here in Texas, and I have talked to them about doing large print, and they said they don’t
do that. But so I wanted to go to your website and see if I could see if they were in at the
corporate headquarters in San Antonio if they if they were based. It’s a TB food chain. And I
don’t know if that’s one that you would recognize or not. So yes, it is one that I recognize in one
of our big, bigger partners. So yeah, okay. Because then it hasn’t gotten down to the store
level yet. So thank you. Yeah, I have actually a question to extend on eg’s question. So if they
are in the system and they’re a large format pharmacy like you say and they’re working with
you, if they’re not accommodating him at the local level, is that something that he can do to
go through you to help him get the labels or whatever he may need?
Well, we can do is if they don’t have the large print labels, I do not believe HEB offers them.
However, what I would encourage is if you are with one of these pharmacy chains and you want
want an option that they are not currently offering, call us.
Give us your information.
Because we are in constant discussions with these guys.
And we can tell them, look, we have all these patients that
are interested in getting it.
So the more of you guys that we can say need this,
the easier it is for us to justify it for them.
Because some of these pharmacists
are going to understand it right away.
But at the end of the day, it’s a business.
So we want to do everything in our power
to push them in the positive direction.
So the more information that we have,
the more of you that want it at that pharmacy,
the easier it is for us to educate them,
that there is a demand for it out there.
- One last question if I could,
and that is there’s a big push right now
with my Part D provider to do by mail.
But some of the things like they have to stay refrigerated,
I dropped, I don’t wanna do by mail.
So if I’m actually using two pharmacies at once,
is that an issue or not?
- As long as both pharmacies are set up with script talk,
you can get it from both.
It’s not a problem at all.
Basically the only thing yeah, we do is we equipment,
put them with the software to do it.
And then the programming device,
whether it’s a specialty printer
or it’s basically that demo unit that I
demoed for you earlier, that script talk station device,
they can also use that,
the smaller ones to program your labels.
So that’s all they need.
- Thank you very much.
It’s a great project.
- My pleasure and give us a call if you need any help.
As I said, call us and give us your information
and we’ll let HEB know.
And I’m not seeing any other hands at this time.
Are you Sheila?
- No.
- Okay. Well, if you have a question,
feel free to raise your hand.
I have a question that came up to me, Jenna.
Well, I was thinking about it
and I appreciate you coming and sharing this.
If I was to have the script talk application
on my phone and I use an iPhone and Android and a blind shell,
so any of those devices,
and I went and I was visiting a friend
and they use script talk as well.
Is that information available to me using the app
or is it tied to a device specific?
- Basically it’s just the reader.
So your phone, yeah, your phone or your device is,
like if your friend is visiting you
and they don’t want to bring their device with you
and you have one,
they can use your device to read their medications.
- Very good, okay, perfect.
Thank you very much.
- But it doesn’t store the information.
Now the only thing that it’s gonna store it
is your app is gonna store that basic information.
So if they use your app to do it.
- So Jenna, just to maybe clear up a little bit
of confusion, can you speak to what the difference is?
And when you scan, it just gives you the basic information
and then it’s gone after that?
- Correct. – Or if it’s gonna save
the information on your device as a history
of all of your medications, what would be the?
- Correct, so when you open up that app at the top
or it will, when you swipe through the functions.
- Please present prescription tags.
- She’s yelling at me, she wants food.
So there are two options at the top.
Your first option is gonna be your full scan option.
That’s the option that’s gonna read everything
under the sun that’s on that label.
- And is that where it saves that information
on the device?
- That’s where it’s gonna save that information
under my meds.
And then you can swipe through and you can click on it.
So anytime you want to go back and look or hear that information,
say you have a friend visiting you, hopefully they have this on their phone
for privacy concerns.
I probably wouldn’t encourage them to use your app to scan their medications
unless they don’t care. So, or they can use the quick scan prescription.
The quick scan function is that quick function,
it’s not going to remember.
Okay. I was just bringing that up only for the sake of,
If you’re using the app and someone else is using the app,
you wanna make sure that you’re not getting
your medications mixed up with somebody else’s medications.
So that’s really what I wanted to kind of get clear
to make sure that if you’re gonna help someone
with your own device,
make sure you’re not saving their medications
into your own device,
and then you don’t know which is theirs and which is yours.
- And just remember that the script talk station reader
is not equipped to remember anything.
So you’re not gonna get that list
or any of that info on there.
- Oh, okay, great.
And I think we have another question.
- You do, Beth.
- Welcome back, Beth.
- Oh, thank you.
Yeah, I was wondering,
it doesn’t read over the counter meds or no?
- Not over the counter.
Now, if you wanted to ask your pharmacist
if they would be willing to program a label
for your medications, you are more than welcome to.
But our system is more geared
for your prescription medications.
right. Because sometimes I do like buy things like Tylenol and you know, sometimes I like know the
bottle, but just say if I forget like if it’s Tylenol or leave or whatever. I can’t make any
promises, but you could have a conversation with your pharmacist and see if they’d be willing to
help you. You know, it can never hurt. The worst they’re going to say is no, but I have suspicion
that they might be willing to help. Oh yeah, yeah. Because they’re nice over there. I think they
They will. And the Braille, you just send the tags, the pharmacy puts it on. Is that
like with the Braille, you don’t need any really, you don’t need the app or the device,
right? No, no, the Braille, it’s a clear overlay that goes over top of that traditional label.
so that your doctor, if anybody needs to see that medication, they can still read it.
But it’s, yeah, it goes right over top. Now, if you choose to get that electronically,
both RFID in conjunction or in addition to, so that you can use it with script talk too,
then that you would need the device for. But for the braille itself, you don’t need it.
So the pharmacy, like, who brailles it? Like, I’m confused.
They do. We equip them with a printer. And now this is not one of our most popular offerings,
because I know a lot of folks don’t read Braille. If you do, that’s awesome. But we have some mail
orders, I believe that offer it. But we equip them with a special printer that’s going to print that
Braille and then they stick it on that label for you. Oh, okay. So yeah, right in the software that
that we offer them, it’ll translate it into Braille for them.
Does that make sense so that they can print it right to their Brailler?
Oh, kind of like the Braille printer on a computer.
Only this would be smaller, right?
You got it. You got it.
It’s actually a decent size.
It’s called Braille RX.
It’s a decent sized printer, but it’s going to print
basically specific for that label.
So, yeah, we just came out with a new one.
Oh, OK.
Okay. Sounds good. Yeah.
Thank you, Beth. Appreciate that question.
I do have a question for you though, Jenna, real quick.
With the script talk software and everything,
when you’re adding information to the labels,
like when the, I’m sorry, I got distracted.
When the pharmacist is adding information to the labels, that works out great.
But is it possible for the consumer to add information to labels or modify
those details. No, unfortunately it is not. It is specific for pharmacies. You have to have that
programmer and that software and that equipment in order to do it. So once it’s programmed,
now if you have a special request that you want the pharmacist to include on that label, you can
talk with them. You know, if there’s something on there that you want added, you know, they might be
able to work it into the system that they can add it on for you. But once that is put on your bottle
And once you leave that pharmacy with it, there’s nothing. Yeah. Unfortunately,
there’s nothing that you can do. It’s not editable. That’s the word edible. Changeable.
I think I like that word better. Changeable by the patient.
Yeah, sounds good. Thanks a lot. I appreciate that.
My pleasure.
Who do we have next?
Dane.
Hey, Jane.
Changeable is easier to say.
I know.
I know. Editable does not sound right. Edible.
No, no, it does not.
something but edit edit yeah no we’re not okay go ahead hello I like that too uh so I have a
couple questions with do you guys label um insulin vials and if so I know you guys do
insulin pens and um I used to be a insulin pen user and now I’m on this patch system but
Do you label vials and if I am dealing with another pharmacy that doesn’t use you, how do I convince them to use your labels?
Jane, what I would recommend, I don’t want to answer your question incorrectly. I don’t know that we do work with pharmacies to do the vials, but I don’t want you to quote me. I don’t know.
And I don’t want to give you wrong information.
So what I would encourage you to do Jane is give us a call or email Marty or Michael and with your information and have them forward it to me.
And we will reach out to you after to talk to you about this and to work with you on your pharmacy, because we can educate them on our end and see what we can do for you.
And again, I just, I don’t think that they do,
but I can’t say that for sure.
That’s an instinct response.
That’s not a, I don’t know for a fact response.
Does that make sense?
- Why would something like insulin be unsure
just out of curiosity?
‘Cause the way they make them,
it’s hard to put labels on something like that.
- It might be, it’s just, you know,
the pens I know for a fact,
but I just haven’t had a lot of requests.
I do a lot of the shows and the events
and the things like that.
that hasn’t come across my desk that I don’t want to say one way or the other.
And there’s probably a way that they can do it.
I just don’t want to give them accurate information and say yes,
when I’m not 100% sure.
I don’t know how do they come in boxes.
I’m not diabetic and I don’t have, you know,
well, okay. So yes, these, uh, vials, they come in boxes when it looks like a
regular, um, well, kind of a small medicine bottle.
And I guess the reason there is no reason that can’t put the label on the box.
Okay.
I mean, it sounds like it would be, as I said, I think it would be, you know,
they might be able to do it.
I don’t see that they wouldn’t.
I’m just,
the only thing I would say is I would maybe go on what you said earlier about
something like eyedrops, where they put it on the outside of the box instead of
the actual, you know, eye drop bottle or actual insulin pen, just there may not be enough
room I’m guessing.
Yeah.
That would be my guess.
That’s the way I want this to put it on the, because it’s never going to come out of the
box unless you have to use it, but that’s a different story.
So forgive my ignorance guys.
I haven’t dealt with that a whole lot.
But we’ll put you guys in contact if you want there Jane, just to find an actual resolution
because that could be something that may not be available, but could be available.
And so we appreciate you asking for sure.
We want to get your pharmacy set up with it.
And once they’re set up, then we’ll see about getting it on there for you.
And you said you had a couple of questions.
Were those all of them?
Jane.
I’m assuming so.
Oh, she saw us.
Yes.
Okay.
Perfect.
Thanks, Jane.
Thanks, Jenna.
Marty, do you have any other questions or does anyone else have any other questions at this
time for Jenna before we let her go?
We greatly appreciate you jumping in to share information.
I live in Oregon and a legislative imperative back in 2019
that I was first part of was mandating
for prepared individuals accessible labeling systems.
And that’s the first point that I had heard
about script talk and how script talk works.
So I was excited when Marty mentioned
that he had talked to you.
- Yeah, yeah, no, at the federal level, there are guidelines,
But I think it helps tremendously with awareness
and knowledge when the states get active in it as well.
I know Nevada has done something,
Oregon’s done something,
Maryland just pushed something through
that’s waiting the governor signature.
So a lot more of the states are getting active.
Once it’s on the state level and the pharmacy board
can work more specifically with the pharmacists,
that helps bring this into play a little bit more
and helps convince the pharmacists
the importance of it as well.
So one thing I would love to add is if you guys are online on social media at all,
you know, I have fun running our social media accounts.
I look for stories, both entertaining and educational.
So if you’re on any of the social media, I would love for you to look us up under Facebook,
Twitter, we’re also on LinkedIn.
So if you’re not already following us, I’d invite you to do that as well.
And then again, our number real quick, if I may, is 1-800-890-1180.
And do reach out to Marty or Michael.
If you have questions that I didn’t address or I couldn’t give a specific
answer, you know, connect with me after the show, they’ll give you my information
or I can reach out to you directly.
And we will definitely get you taken care of.
Okay.
Hi, Beth.
I see your hand going off.
Go ahead, Beth.
- Shanda’s becoming a real professional at this.
- Yeah.
So we just went for an Envision American Facebook.
Do we talk to you directly?
- I’m sorry.
- Have you messaged you directly, I mean?
- If you want a message,
I’m the one that usually gets all those messages.
So if you want to say hi to me, you can.
But we have a page that you can follow on there.
Let me pull it up real quick.
And right now, I can do my handle.
My handle at spacebook.com/envisionamerica.
- Oh, okay.
- And then if you follow us, you know,
like I think Pennsylvania just launched a pro,
yeah, if I can talk right, Pennsylvania just launched
a program to teach students disability inclusion,
which I thought was pretty cool, of something brand new.
You know, Wegmans, we just rolled out
a pilot program at Wegmans.
So if you’re in the New York area, guys,
Five stores are piloting script talk right now.
That’s a new one.
I was recently and did a podcast with a VA or BVA,
I should say.
So that’s on there.
A health system just picked up our dual language
translated prescription labels.
So that’s like a hospital system.
Similar to what I think Diane was asking about earlier.
Not the same one, no, but this is a different one.
But yeah, give you an idea of some of the stuff
that I look, I’m always,
So if you have a story or something you’d like to share,
don’t hesitate to poke me
because I’m always looking for good stuff.
Not just promoting who we are and what we do.
I like to, you know, look for good educational,
fun stuff to share with you guys.
- ‘Cause you sell other products, I’m sure, right?
Or just-
- Actually, our specialty is accessible labels right now.
- Oh, cool, yeah.
- Now that’s our specialty.
You might’ve heard of the ID main in the past.
We still-
- Oh, what?
The ID mate is a barcode scanner, a UPC scanner.
We do not sell it anymore.
We just recently with COVID, we were looking at rebuilding it and the parts were harder
to get.
It was getting really expensive, but that was our bread and butter.
What we founded our company on was a barcode scanner that could help you tell the difference
between like peas and carrots in your cover or, you know, and if we didn’t have it in
in our database that go out to Amazon or jet.com.
I think Walmart might acquire a jet, like Walmart.com.
And it could tell you how to cook stuff too.
- So, okay.
- We used to sell that, but right now,
our primary focus is accessible prescription labels.
So right now, the same area of growth
is a dual language translation.
So a lot of folks, if you don’t speak English
as your first language, you can get a little scary.
and other sending problems with these medication labels
that you can’t read and understand,
which so many of you guys would be aware of.
So.
- Jenna, this is Michael here.
Is Envision going to be at the ACB convention in Schomburg
to allow people to check out the devices in person?
- You know it, we will be there.
Charlotte will be there for us this year, I believe.
And then Dave’s son, David Reistrick,
who’s one of our founders, his son Ben,
who now serves as an attorney,
We’ll probably be popping around to help out as well.
So please give them a hard time.
If you go stop by the booth,
there’ll be his first big show for us,
but I didn’t tell you that.
- Awesome.
Marty, are you still there?
And thank you again, Jenna, from me.
And unless anyone has any other questions,
I think we’ll go ahead and wrap it up.
- Yeah, I just want to say thank Jenna one more time.
We really, really appreciate it.
If you guys need any information about how to contact Jenna,
you send us an email, feedback@unmute.show
and we’ll make sure we get you all the pertinent information.
Other than that, everybody have a great week
and we will see you next time.
Thanks Sheila and Darcy for helping us out today
and we’ll talk to you guys soon.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael talks with Michael Babcock, and Jason Castonguay about the following topics.
News* First public Beta of Android 14 released * HBO Max now renamed to Max * iOS 16.4, MacOS 13.3, and other software updates released from Apple
TopicWe discuss if the community will be excited about the Optima from Orbit Research coming in 2024. Stay until the end for a surprise!
Picks* Michael Babcock: MacGPT * Jason: Debit and Credit App * Jeff?: Gentler Streak Health app * Michael: Eero Pro 6E routers from Amazon
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Automated TranscriptIACast 176 Do we Need another Braille ComputerEdit TranscriptRemove HighlightingAdd Audio FileExport...?
[0:00] Music.
[0:20] All right, I'm back with two wonderful folks this time. We have Michael Babcock. Hello, everyone. And we have Jason Castingway back with us. Is this your first time on the show, Jason? This is my first time on... No, it isn't. I was on previously with the Apple HomePod. You were on the unboxing, but this is your first time on the IA cast. So, yeah, brand new. So, welcome. Thank you very much. Great to be here. Yeah, we're glad to have you and I think we have a pretty interesting show today and I'm really glad to have you here to get your thoughts on our topic today. So it's going to be very exciting, but as we always do, we're going to start with some tech news. But before we even do that, Michael, you and Marty have this little thing called Unmute Presents. So, um, and it's been a little while since you guys have talked about it. So why don't you kind of refresh people on what that is and what topics you guys have been talking about?
[1:24] Sure. So that little thing called unmute presents keeps growing. It's like a kid. And thank you for the reminder, because as I realized, I need to get the episode that goes out tomorrow, edited, uh, putting it off to the last minute.
[1:35] Just a little bit. Anyways. So unmute presents is live on Tuesdays at 10 AM Pacific time. That's 1 PM Eastern. and you can get details about that by going to acb.community. We're also typically streamed on ACB Media 5 if you'd rather just listen in, but we answer your tech questions and hopefully we're able to provide you with a solution or a resource to help come to a solution so those tech issues don't have to stand in your way anymore. On Thursdays, we publish content more in depth about a topic and those topics typically come from questions we've been asked, and we're starting to produce some more regular content on Thursdays. So for example, the last Thursday of the month, you're gonna get a security update, and the second Thursday of the month, you'll hear more about A-Lady and what's going on in that arena. And then on Sundays, we teach you something. I wanna teach you how to do something, get a task done with your technology in five minutes or less. And yeah, I've noticed they're starting to creep out to about 10 minutes, but the point is, keep them slow, keep them quick, go through it and don't slow down and teach people how to use their screen reader, but teach you how to get the job done with the technology you're using. So thank you for asking, Michael, I appreciate it.
[2:54] Yeah, of course. And throughout all of the IACAST network, you guys can hear Unmute present on our live 365 radio station. So keep tuned into that. and we have more on that later on in the show. Really exciting news, so I'm excited to talk about that.
[3:17] But we have some interesting tech news. And Michael, you found a few things that were interesting today. Do you want to kind of talk about those?
[3:28] Yeah, so I can just give a quick overview because I haven't really done much digging into it. But the news articles that I found that we can talk about is the fact that Google launched Android 14 public beta 1 today, as of the time of recording. Note that on through unrelated resources in this article, it's been made apparent that there's not any immediate changes to talk back or improvement. At least that's what I've heard. I haven't tried it myself. There's also the additional information related to HBO deciding to drop HBO from their name for their streaming service and come, I believe it's May 21st, will now be known as Max. So I'm not sure what my credit card's going to show. Is it going to just show that Max charged me? That's a weird charge. And so that should hopefully give more representation of what type of content HBO is providing, especially with acquisition of Discovery and the other channels that go along with that. Jason, do you watch HBO Max at all a lot? I do not, actually. We pay for it and I don't watch it, my wife did, and we keep paying for it. Well, I think what they're probably looking at doing is, they don't want to call it HBO or Discovery, they just want to call it something right in the middle, and I think that's a good trade-off.
[4:53] It would be interesting if they called it Discovery Max, kind of just bringing those two properties together, but I think they're just calling it Max.
[5:01] And, you know, I'm totally fine with that because that's kind of what the app icon is, is the word max and they just dropped HBO off of it. So, yeah, I did not know that. So maybe that maybe they knew that was coming ahead of time. Yeah, the word max is very much imposed over the HBO on the icon from what I can remember. I watch HBO Max a lot. Unfortunately a lot of my shows are ending on there. The Last of Us of course is not ending but his dark materials just ended and you know Westworld was not just ended but removed. So, you know, some of the DC Comics stuff has been up in the air, so I don't know.
[5:46] Game of thrones is still you know they're making shows and spin offs of that so i have a lot to watch but i'm a huge fan of HBO and as for the android stuff have you noticed the last couple of versions of android really haven't been big updates it's just kind of been. New version number, a few minor things, but. That's funny, one of the headlines I just read was that the back button in Android will now match your wallpaper. And I'm like, yay. Yay. That's something I've always wanted. I'm a visual person and I don't know how much I care. No, that was just a headline. I did not read any details, but I thought that was interesting. Yeah, yeah. Did you know that Microsoft is also rumored to be changing the print screen key to open it snipping tool. So it'll be the first change to the print screen key in like 30 years. Wow. I mean, and you know, we have tabbed notepad and all those things and.
[6:46] And I know people have mixed thoughts on that, but I'm really excited about this Windows having eventually or possibly having the phone link app work with iPhones. If people haven't heard about that, that's pretty exciting. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And you know, one thing we ought to do either here on the IACast feed or on unmute, if you haven't heard about it, I've been raving about it everywhere, that I love it, is the Windows Package Manager. Have you guys used that? No. So it's a little lesson here on the IACast, folks. There's an app you can get in the Microsoft store called Windows package manager. It installs a program that you use on your command line and it's called Win, W-I-N, get, G-E-T. And you can type WinGet install and you can type zoom.zoom or NVaccess.NVDA or any number of applications and it doesn't pull them from the Microsoft store. Goes out and gets them from the websites.
[7:53] Hmm. So like I can install steam for playing video games or discord just from Winget. That is clever. Oh, nice. It is fantastic. It's almost like homebrew. But for windows. Yes, nice. It's wonderful. Like I, I had to reset my computer recently and like I'm not going like because you'd have to go to the steam web page, find install steam. Do you? Uh huh. When you get involved in that valve dot steam, it's fantastic. Oh, and I imagine there are all sorts of commands you can invoke after the wind get command. Oh, for sure. Probably one of which update. Right. I was gonna say one of which you could search for something. I wonder if wind get has this thing. Yes, you could do a little search. Cool. And if there's like, if you type wind get install zoom, it'll tell you there's multiple packages with the word zoom. And so you can see which one, you know, like, like I was saying, zoom.zoom installs the proper zoom chat. I mean, zoom meetings platform. So it's really neat. I want to do a demo showing this off. So I'm really excited about Windows Package Manager. I'm always looking for content on Sundays, just saying. Oh yeah, we may have to do that. So, pretty excited.
[9:22] So, one other thing that has happened in the news that I want to point out is Apple did come out with new versions of iOS, Mac OS, TV OS, even a new update for the studio display.And it's like the 16.4 and I guess 13.3 for Mac OS.
[9:48] I want to caution people when you install these, they are not the smoothest of installs. In fact, my studio display for a short time became a studio brick. That's not good. It, um... It doesn't even offer the ability to retry the update. It just kind of happens occasionally. It tries again occasionally while it's plugged into a computer. So it just and it's inaccessible. And all it said was go to app support dot apple dot com slash, studio display slash restore or something like that. It was like, oh, no.
[10:29] That's that's disconcerting. Yes. So So that did happen on for me last Friday during the workday, so that was not fun. So be aware when you're doing these updates that things, even though they're stable, things can go wrong. I was using, I'm using Xcode 14.3, and there's a huge bug in that that makes it to where most libraries will not build, and your apps will not run or be distributable to the App store. So, you know, even though Apple and all these companies put out new software, it doesn't mean they're stable, guys. So, fortunately, I was able to downgrade to 14.2. I just can't run my iPhone apps from like on my phone from that. So, those are all things to keep in mind when you update the your software. You know, a lot of times we think it's justaccessibility problems that we have, but there's a lot of other things that can happen too. So just be aware that when you may think something may be an accessibility issue, it could be something else as well. Have you guys had any experiences where you update something and it just completely tanks or has issues? Not in years. I used to, but not in years. It's been pretty smooth for me.
[11:55] Yeah, it's been pretty smooth for me as well, but there have been times when I've been about to go live with a broadcast and something requires updating. I'm like, oh yeah, I have time. I know it's going to be quick. Oh, well, there was one time in the past where, yeah, it was quick, but it broke a lot of things and I couldn't go live. I've learned, let's not do updates just before going live. Yeah, I totally understand that. Mmm.
[12:29] So, you know, it's like I was saying, it's just be careful, be cognizant of what you're doing and, you know, don't do things whenever you're right in the middle of a work day. Yes. Yes. Fortunately, it wasn't a big deal. And I unplugged and plugged back in several times and it did the update one other time it failed and then the next time it succeeded, which was great. And all of a sudden I had a working glowing display again. So that was very nice. Xcode is still broken. And interestingly, there is not an Xcode 14.4 beta, to support the new versions of iOS and macOS that are in beta right now, guys. And I find that very interesting. It sounds like something really got broken on Xcode, that they're having to really fix. Or is there something big coming in June that... Well, it's interesting because you would think if they have the second beta now of iOS 16.5.
[13:40] There would be an Xcode version now to go along with it and there's not. Because technically Xcode 16, I mean, 13, no, 14.3, there's so many different version numbers. 14.3 cannot test the beta software. You cannot hook up the betas of the phone to Xcode and test them. So that's the first time I've ever seen that happen. So I think, like you said, either something big's coming or they broke something really good. Or both. Or both. We'll see. Yeah. This is very true. It could be both.
[14:24] So, just be very, you know, if you decide to update, be very cognizant, read and all those kind of things. And talking about iOS and all those things is kind of a good segue to talk about our big announcement for iAccessibility and everything we're working on. We just had two apps approved today at the time of the recording, the day of the recording at least. Our iAccessibility app is back in the App Store on iOS. So you can, it's now working much better. It doesn't crash like it used to. Has a much, works much faster, Very speedy. So check it out. download the iAccessibility app and check out the live button.
[15:13] Earlier we talked about our radio station with Live 365 that plays all of our content, between iocast and Unmute Presents. And if you tap on our live button, you will be able to hearthat in real time through the app. It even has player controls and all those things. So you can enjoy that. You can even get the Unmute Content, Unmute Presents content in the app as podcast form. And the neat thing is you can, if you don't like Michael or Marty talking, you can speed them up to three X so you can make them talk really, really fast. And we're okay with that. Yeah. I mean, that's really a way to get through a lot of content. I agree. It's the only way I keep up with my content. I don't know about you, Jason, but I have to have my content sped up. I even edit sped up content. Really? Wow. Wow. Yes. Wow. You know, it's interesting, you know, I think I use kind of the, there's a mechanism that can do what Overcast does and it does, it sounds completely natural at 3x and so that makes it kind of nice. Apple has a built-in algorithm to do really good spoken content very fast. So the app works great. We'll be working on push notifications. And there was a little feature that is no longer working that will be coming back eventually, where you can start and stop our live feed from ASERI Shortcut.
[16:43] There's some kind of a bug that's making that not work, but that will be working in a future, bug fix version. So I'm pretty excited about that. And I also updated the Pocket Braille app, which is the first Braille reference app in the App Store. The original version came out probably 2012, 2013. And my watch wanted to talk. And I don't know how I get my watch to talk because I don't have voiceover on, so it's very interesting. It just happens randomly. It's so weird.
[17:24] So Pocket Braille was the original Braille reference app in the store. It has had several versions and it's been out for a long time. We just updated it to support newer iOS versions, newer interfaces. And what's really neat, and people may not know this, it has an Apple Watch component. So you could look up every contraction for UEB on the Apple Watch. Ooh, that is cool. We've had a VI teacher actually go, TVI go through and create a Word document with all the contractions which have been gone through and meticulously explored. And they're all in the app, on the paid version, in the regular app and the watch app. You get them in both places.
[18:17] That's great. I really enjoyed looking around it this morning because I had seen it, originally on the Amazon devices Am I correct in remembering that? I mean, yeah, I haven't on Amazon. I don't remember if I put it on the Amazon App Store or not, Okay, so just scratch that entire thing.
[18:38] Because I remember there was some kind of braille I thought it was pocket braille that that I could ask what a certain letter or contraction was and it would come back It is on the echo, isn't it, Michael? I thought you and Lauren were working on a skill on the echo, maybe. I made a braille quiz skill. Oh, that's what I'm thinking of. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. So it's not exactly pocket braille. Right. It's a little different. This one has the alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and contractions for UED. Yes. And that's what I was looking at this morning, because when you posted the link, I went and grabbed it. It and I love how everything's right there accessible through the different tabs on the bottom but you have this nice little about section which explains a lot as well. Very nice little history button within the about section that explains a lot. And that was written a long time ago so I hope that it's still valid and still good information. Oh, okay. It was more than just a little, you know, few phrases. It was very nice to just sit there and listen to it, listen to my phone tell me exactly the chronology, so to speak, of Louis Braille, and then coming into the popularity, but then dropping again slightly because of the.
[20:01] I'm trying to remember exactly everything I heard, but different...
[20:09] Yeah, let me just stop right there. Well, I'm glad that it's useful and that's the whole reason it's there is to be a useful resource. So the interesting thing is, unless something's changed or there's more contractions or things that I don't know about that have been added since 2018, 2019, it's still really current and that's what I think is really great about the app. It doesn't have to be updated. The content doesn't have to be updated that much. Right. So, um, and that is also on Android. The neat thing is it's on iOS, Android, and Mac OS for Apple Silicon Macs. So both of those apps will run on the Mac as well. So that's pretty exciting. That is cool. Cause that means you can listen to the live stream on the Mac. And if you use my favorite tool, which is not my picks, I'm going to shout it out anyways right now called Sound Source on the Mac, you can adjust the volume of the app independently with a couple of keystrokes so you can always have the live stream playing in the background and listen to us. Yes, and we do have a good schedule every day. Yeah, yeah, I was listening yesterday for a couple hours. nice.
[21:27] So, you know, going back to Braille, I guess, to the topic of today, you know, we've heard a lot of excitement about this new device that was announced at CSUN, and that is theOptima from Orbit. And I'm personally very excited about this device, especially learning a few things about it. One being that it's going to be built with the modularity from framework computers, and they make laptops that are completely modular. I think this is the best news we could hear all year long for assistive technology. What do you guys think?
[22:12] At first when I heard it, or heard about it, I was feeling like, okay, is this going to be another braille device that is the size of a laptop and now am I going to have the ability to leave the braille home if I need to or do I want to be taking braille around with me all the time and then as I read further I, learned about the modularity so I'm thinking there is a lot that is going to be very advantageous having a machine where you can switch things around or opt to leave the braille home. I'm guessing you can. I don't know fully about how the braille aspect works other than that it's 40 cell and you can opt for the technology that the orbit readers use or you can opt for the piezo, electronic cells that are, I hope I got that term right, in the typical refreshable braille displays that we've all come to know where they're pretty silent. Right.
[23:31] So I would love to see one, but I think it just has the opportunity to put braille into more hands and have it with someone on the go.
[23:51] I agree. Yeah, what are some thoughts that you are having, both of you?
[23:59] So I first heard about Framework on Daily Tech News show a few months ago. It might've been a year back, but it's been a little while. And I didn't think anything of it until I heard about this announcement. And I said, what was that computer that I heard about Tom talking about that you could just build to your specifications? often when.
[24:23] I'm thinking about this from a VR counselors perspective. Often when a client has equipment purchased from them, their situation changes. Maybe not right away. Maybe not six months down the year down the road or a year down the road, but that 18 months, 24 month mark, maybe they've graduated school or maybe they've moved on to a new position in either their current workplace or they move somewhere else. And maybe your previous situation required you to have an HDMI port, and now having multiple USB-C ports is more important to you. Instead of having to go out and purchase new equipment, the same equipment the client is already using, comfortable with, and already has in their hands can be upgraded or modified,and you can just swap out the ports. And maybe as a VR counselor, you know that because your client's needs will likely change in the not too distant future, you purchase them the device with all of the accessories so they can swap out and fit the best scenario while you're in that situation. So I'm super excited. I want to see what it's like.
[25:35] Full transparency, AT guys, we do sell Orbit products. I have no additional information on on this product. I haven't actually gotten to see it. I don't know future sales plans. I don't know if we'll be selling it. I suspect we will, but I'm not certain. But the whole concept of it though is really exciting because what will this allow a blind user to do in the future? Because it's running full fledged windows and it has an attached Braille display. Right. Now, I guess my question is, I mean, this is the whole topic of the show. We've had the Pac-Mate, we've had the Elbrail, we've had all these things in the past.
[26:17] But do you think that this one is going to make a splash or do you think it's gonna be like the others? And do we really want or need something like this? I mean, we have all these tech devices, like we have VR, and yes, there's the niche that buys VR devices. We have all these different things that are very nice to have, but they don't really make a big splash. Like, you know, everybody buys a note taker, but no, you know, but when it comes to like the Pac-Mate or the El Braille or things like that, they just don't measure up to the same qualityor quantity as the note taker. So do you guys think that this will, you know, you know, be the one braille device to rule them all or not at all.
[27:08] Do we know if, for example, the processor can be modular? I believe so, yes. Now see, that... So you can start with an i5, go up to an i7, and they say they're going to support i9s. Okay, now see, that to me just answers the question, because it's not static. You're not stuck with a device that quickly becomes obsolete because it just doesn't have an upgrade path like that. And with this, you have the ability to keep up with everybody else. Maybe you can—I just think it's kind of amazing that you can keep the same laptop, just switch things out like that. That is really cool. That's the whole concept of the framework environment. So it makes sense that they've partnered with framework to, make this happen because it's a way to keep electronics out of the landfill that become out of date and keep your technology upgradable and be able to swap it out. Maybe this week you need your computer to be more powerful than you do next week when you're just consuming media.
[28:21] I guess my big question is, though, when we talk about this modularity. Let's call the main system with the keyboard and all that the Optima core, right? The main part with I guess the motherboard, the keyboard, and, any other main parts and then everything else is modular, right? But what happens when we get like, I don't know, DDR6 memory or the next generation of the processor lines and framework has to come out with new parts with faster bus speeds for the modular components. How will that affect you know like maybe you could go from an i5 to an i7 to an i9 of the current generation but will you be able to go to the next generation of those parts, the faster, you know.
[29:14] Versions of those that are coming out in 2024, 2025, 2026. Is that going to be an issue? And I think that's one question we're going to have to ask closer to time. As the upgradability to newer specs, you could always upgrade from i5 to i7, but is it going to be limited to that one year's group of parts? Hopefully, the display itself is modular. So if you do have to upgrade the main device, you don't have to purchase a new display. So it makes it a lot more affordable upgrading path.
[29:50] So those who don't know, this is not available right now. It is not going to be available until January of 2024. So things could change. And in fact, things are changing because originally they had no cursor routing. A note that originally they had no thumb keys and it was made apparent after they got feedback from listeners that, Hey, we want thumb keys. So they're taking that feedback and going back and, and, and designing it the way that, that the consumer actually wants it. So hopefully they produce that one product that gives us what we've all wanted in a, in a modern day Braille display and can make it affordable. That's what I'm curious about is what are we looking at for a price point? I've not looked at framework computers. I don't know what the price of a framework is. Hopefully it'll be slightly cheaper than that because you're gonna have to tack on the price for the braille display. So you're gonna be paying more than the base framework anyways. So yeah, we'll see. I'm real intrigued by it. I'm guessing it's gonna be the price a note taker at least.
[30:56] And there will be that difference between the Orbit Braille technology and the traditional. So that might factor into people's spending as well. So would you guys replace your Windows laptops or your Mac laptops with one of these?
[31:15] Not replace it. I might get one to go alongside, but I'm not going to replace it because you don't have Hazel on Windows yet. Right. Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to replace it, but I would definitely love to have one. I have an older Windows machine, and I think this would be, at least since Mac is my primary OS of choice, the Braille, the Optima would serve as a nice Windows replacement. Maybe we're not the best audience to ask that question to. I think most of us are all Mac users. Well, it's so I'm using Windows on a regular basis on my Mac with parallels. And if I could eliminate that, I will tell you, a parallels has been the best experience with Windows that I've ever had on the Mac in the entire time that I've used it. But if I could have a dedicated Windows machine, I think this would be an amazing one because a if I had a display hooked up to this Mac Mini, I could just swap it out over to this other other device. B, I'm like, I'm envisioning it. Hopefully it has some decent Bluetooth on it or it'll have the USB A port. So I just swapped the dongle and I'm still using the same keyboard and I just have it sitting on the back part of my desk. So I would definitely be interested in one of these. Although maybe it wouldn't be in the back of my desk because if I want the Braille, huh, I have to rethink that actually.
[32:44] And I guess that's the big question, especially for Mac users. You know, how can we integrate this into our workflow? Can it be used as a terminal mode for our iPhones or Braille or Macs? You know, it's very interesting because if you can, then you'd have like the best of all three worlds, iPhone, Mac and Windows all with your devices and you know, your Braille display would be a Windows computer. Yeah, that would be actually kind of cool. Uh-huh. So I guess kind of the short answer is, yes, there is a place for this device. Where, but my thought is, what makes this stand out compared to the L-Braille beyond just the modularity? I know this is a hard question, but beyond just being modular, what stands out about this to you guys compared to those other devices? I'm thinking so far the fact that it is not tied to any specific screen reader, as far as I understand it. And, Oh goodness, what else? Um, it is integrated. So are the other devices, but it's, it's, uh.
[33:58] It's mainstream attention, I think, because it's using mainstream hardware that yes, you set aside from the modularity, but really that, that is a big thing too, because you can't upgrade the Elbrail once you get it. I was looking at the Mantis Q40 because I'm really interested in that device. Maybe not looking at that anymore, especially if we can get information about pricing, because honestly, I'd rather a full-fledged Windows computer in my Braille display. Like that's just intense to think about. Yeah, you know, I would love to see how big this is. I wish I was at CSUN because I'd have loved to see how big this device is compared to the Mantis Q40.
[34:40] I've seen a Mantis here, you know, it has a full keyboard. So I'd be curious to see what the difference is in the sizes. Yeah, that would be interesting. I have a Mantis here and I use it. Just more recently started using it with my Mac. I used to use it independently to write things up. And it is really, really nice to have a braille display right there while you're computing, doing all sorts of things. The other day, I went to spell something. And I'm thinking, why am I asking the speech to spell it when it's right in front of me in braille? It's like obvious that I'm still kind of new at this because I'm used to using in other ways. So, and a part of the reason why, if anyone cares, is because I just didn't have the workspace to accommodate the laptop and a braille display. And more recently, I got one of those add-onkeyboard trays. So I was able to enhance my workspace. It was pretty cool.
[35:42] Yeah, you know, and it's very interesting because I think that's kind of the big thing. I've always looked for a good Braille display and see, I would love one personally that I could just put near my Mac that is just a line of Braille, like, or, you know, two or three lines of braille, that'd be nice too. But no buttons, maybe thumb keys, but no routing buttons, no nothing. I don't wanna edit, don't wanna do anything with it, just want to use it for reading. Uh, and I feel like even like the, um, some of the smaller devices that I've seen are way too big to almost be like if you wanted a, well, pocket-sized Braille device, pocket Braille. They're all a little too big for that. And so I feel like we just don't have, a good size for that, but I think what's really happening is we're trying to get one size fits all with these computers and Braille. I mean, anything to get people to use Braille is the way I look at it. But I think that the options for Braille is very limited. And I think that this is just going to add that one more king size, candy bar to the assortment of candies. You know, just was Easter. So, you know, candies.
[37:07] It just adds one more mix. To the mix of devices, and I think that's a good thing. Choice is always a good thing when people are looking at devices to purchase and I think that this is going to be a good device. You know, I think that other devices were too, the Elbrail and the Pacmate were too static as to what they did. So I think that this is going to be a very dynamic, very modular, very innovative device that I think people are going to really enjoy, as long as the longevity and the pricing can keep up with it. Yes, and we hope for good support too, because I think that's some of the problem too with some other devices where people get them, they're all excited, but when they run into problems,it's pretty slow going to get resolution. Right.
[38:14] You know, I think it's just time is going to tell where we go from here and we'll just have to really watch it. But I think the interesting thing is that we've decided, I think from this podcast, we've decided this is going to be a useful thing and we're going to be able to really from it, but it's just going to have to be one of those wait and see things. With any of these big projects like this, I just worry that people invest a lot of money. I still don't know anything, and if you guys do, I'd be very curious.
[38:56] We don't know anything about what's going to happen with Envision with their glasses because the Google Glass was discontinued. So what does that look like for the future of the Envision users? I know they're going to probably have to look for more hardware choices, but you know, those are always big things to worry about and to think about, you know, what happens if themanufacturer stops making the item. So yeah, it's, I think it's as those of us who are enthusiastic, you know, tech enthusiasts, we sometimes pay the price for being on that leading edge. It's like, oh no, this didn't work out too well, but it sounded really cool. But I have high hopes for this. I think, especially if the display can be removed and used in other ways, and then—or left in and used in all sorts of ways—I just think that gives it a whole range of motion that maybe wasn't available before. In previous kinds of iterations like this. Exactly. I agree. Do you have any thoughts on this, Michael?
[40:11] I'm just intrigued to see where it goes. I think technology, I think accessibility being in the mainstream form, like in the mainstream of technology is just going to result in positive changes for all of us. And I think we just all need to have a voice during that change to ensure that everyone is accounted for when accessibility is brought up.
[40:35] I agree and you know i think we brought it up on the show before but it feels like accessibility in mainstream. Is still very prevalent but i feel like you know with blind shell and other devices were starting to see the specialist companies take a big seat back at the table and say. Look you've gone the mainstream route it works for some but it doesn't work for everybody so let's. Combine mainstream and AT and see what we can do with it. Wouldn't you guys agree? Definitely. Yes. I think that's where we're seeing the most power out of all this is, when we combine all of these things together, like Android on the blind shell, or framework with the Optima, or things like that. That's where the intersection of mainstream and specialist or assistive technology is really going to change the industry. You know, and we even see that with Be My Eyes and OpenAI. I'm still very excited to try that out. Me too. Me too. You know, Be My Eyes, if you're listening, my email is. I want to I want to throw this out at you guys, because there's something I don't think anybody on any podcast has really thought about with that technology. And it might blow your mind. So Taylor and I go bowling every Sunday.
[42:01] And what is the most inaccessible of thing about bowling? Entering your name on that stupid machine. Entering your name, but also viewing your scores. And why is that?
[42:18] Because it's all visual. It's all visual, but it's a huge table. Ah, right. It's a huge table that shows frame by frame what the score is in the total at the end. It's like a big spreadsheet. Now how can OCR, typical OCR technology, even come close to interpreting that? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You get a couple of pictures of that table, tell Be My Eyes to give me the score for Taylor and break it down frame by frame and it will give you each frame how much she scored and what her total score is. So, and it's very like with the, what we were talking about with bowling, you know, you could ask, be my eyes to look at and say, like you're saying, Michael, uh, what is Taylor's score in the eighth frame? And, you know, that's powerful stuff. And that kind of goes back to what we were saying with the intersection of mainstream and AT really coming together, because I never thought about that until last weekend when I thought, you know, I bet being my eyes would be fantastic for this. Mm-hmm.
[43:32] Well, it's not my pick, but I will say SGPT gives you a glimpse into how things can be, processed with GPT and then handed back to your phone. And all of that data can be, can be presented to the user in an easy to consume audible way. And that's just with version 3.5 of GPT. So I, uh, yeah, uh, again, be my eyes. My email address is, have you used SGPT, Michael? I, it is a everyday tool that I'm using. Yes. I need to use it. I need to try. Yes you do. Yes you do. Me too. Yes you do.
[44:11] Well, but I think you're going to try out my pick first. Just saying. Well, with all that being said, let's move on to that. So Michael, do you want to go and give us your pick and where people can find you online? Certainly appreciate that. My pick is a wonderful tool called Mac GPT. And I don't know if you've played with this yet, Michael, you do have to create an API key and I followed the directions that Federico provided in the SGPT article. Yeah, that's right. I actually read an entire article before going and doing something and everything's working well. The reason I like SGPT is for the inline ability. So I can be in drafts or in email and by default it uses the plus but I switched mine to slash because that works with my workflow better. So I type slash GPT space and then the prompt. For example, write me a professional but casual email that lets this person know that we appreciate their feedback. However, unfortunately, the workflow that we have for our chapter meeting is going to be this moving forward. Hit shift enter. Take your hands off the keyboard, wait about 30 seconds and you have a email you just delete the prompt off the top and there's your email and you do it right there inside the mail. Again, that's with the Mac GPT. Just Google that real quick and you can get it. You can find me at payom, P-A-Y-O-W-M on any of your favorite social networks. Check out Unmute, Present, and Technically Working wherever you're getting this podcast out.
[45:37] And you'll find me after this episode downloading MacQPT. All righty then.
[45:43] Jason, what is your pick and where can people find you online? Sure, my pick for today is something that helps me a lot in the financial aspect of my productivity and it is called Debit and Credit. It's a Mac and iOS app, helps with all finances, finances, keeping track of your expenses, does all sorts of other things that I haven't played with yet because I'm still pretty new with it. But I've actually replaced the Checkbook Pro app that I was using. I loved it, but it was Mac only. This is Mac and iOS. And if you perform an operation, it syncs across to your other devices. So it's very easy for me to jot down an expense while I'm out. I don't have to worry about trying to remember it when I get back home. And you can find out more about the app from debitandcredit.app. You can find me, Jcast, on Facebook, Jcast432 on Mastodon, and Jcast is spelled J-C-A-S-T. And I'm also Jcast on Twitter.
[46:58] Fantastic. And, you know, I have to throw this in here because he came and crashed the party, the podcast party. We have Jeff Bishop with us and, hey Jeff. Hey guys, I know I figure you know, I figure I should at least come late to the party right right, As long as there's still food left over, right? There's food left over but none for you. Jeff. I see you just wanted to come and share your pay.
[47:29] Yeah, well, you know I was kind of working you know, it's one of those things yeah, So yeah Since you are here. Um, do you have a pick for us and where people can find you online? I do actually and you know, I am a big proponent of Supporting the developers that do the right thing, right? We know that that accessibility is really important and inclusion and and,Making sure that apps are accessible and all of that. And one of the things that's also really important is, Health and doing things for our health. Well, there's a new version of gentler streak that's out.
[48:06] You know about this app guys. No, I do not Yeah, well it is a app that really simplifies tracking of health data and it presents it to you in a way that's really more human understandable. And they have gone through and made both their watch and iOS apps fully accessible both for low vision and for voiceover users. So much so that I went ahead and bought a lifetime subscription to the app. So yeah, it's good. I really, really like it. I'm just really starting to use it. And it's got a little bit of a learning curve to it, although it kind of guides you through the process. It sort of will start examining your health data and it asks you about your specific goals and then it gives you prompts and guidance on what it thinks you might want to do. And it's really, I think it's all said in the name. It's a gentler approach to exercise and health.
[49:08] So if you haven't taken a look at it, give it a try. I think you'll be really impressed, especially if you're using a voiceover or a lot of the low vision features on your iPhone. So that's my pick. You can find me on all kinds of places, Twitter and Mastodon and all kinds of things. But best way and probably the quickest way to reach me via email, jeff at jeffbishop.com. That's probably the easiest and quickest way and probably the one that you'll remember most quickly. So jeff at jeffbishop.com. Thanks guys. Thanks Jeff, and I'm sure I'll be talking to you tomorrow morning about a certain TV show that we talked about on last IACAST. Oh don't even get me started on that. Oh my god. Oh, I know. I can't wait. I will be up tonight. I have a meeting until 1030 tonight, and then I will stay up for half an hour, and I'll stay up to midnight watching episode nine. Yes, episode nine. It'll be great. Yes, it kills my productivity early in the morning when I get to work, but that's all right. It's worth it. It is. It very much is. So and Jeff, stick around, because I think you're going to enjoy my pick for this episode. And that is, there's a little story to it. We've started with the Eero 6 routers, and I love Eero, great routers.
[50:27] But because of our apartment and the saturation of Wi-Fi and whatever they build these walls out of, we don't get full saturation of internet throughout our apartment. And so we thought, well, let's try something else. So we tried the Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro. Don't do that, don't do it. It had worse reception in the apartment. And so I said, let's go back to what we know mostly works. And so we got the Eero 6e Pro routers. We got a two-pack. It says it's supposed to cover up to 4,500 square feet, which sort of, I guess if you have line of sight and not as much Wi-Fi saturation, it will do much better. But these do a much better job. they're bigger than the other Eros I've seen. They look just like the smaller Eros. But you get that Ero Plus subscription that is fantastic, one password, and encrypt.me and all these other things. They come with Ero and you get more control over your network than you do with the Google routers.
[51:37] Just always a huge fan of the Eero's and the pros, both the base station and the extender, have ethernet ports unlike the regular Eero 6's. So and come to find out the Eero 6 only had 500 megabits per second that they guaranteed these go up to a gigabit of Wi-Fi. So you know the one thing thing I like about Eero, I look at the Ubiquiti stuff, it's hard to find in stores, it's hard to get your hands on. So Eero, they got them there the same day from Amazon, it works with the A-Lady, just a very good experience. I've always had good luck with them. So huge fan, check out Eero Pro 6E routers. They are the more expensive ones, but they will do a really good job at giving you the internet you need and you can hardwire into them and just fantastic routers.
[52:39] Did you get the 25% off coupon by trading in any Amazon device? I did not, but there was a discount that they were doing already on them, so I did get somewhat of a discount. Okay, okay. Because you could turn in an old first generation Echo Dot and get 25% off a three pack of the six E's. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah. Wow, that's really neat. So if you're out there listening, that's a very good deal that Jeff just mentioned. So good stuff. I'm such a fan of Eero devices, and they have, you know, that dynamic DNS where you can set up your home network with a with DNS that won't change. And you can do all those things with that plus subscription that you pay yearly for. And it's just fantastic. great, great deal.
[53:33] So, as for people can find me online, I'm Mike Doeys on most of the socials, Mastodon, MikeDoeys.social, sorry, the other thing's my website. And you can find me on Twitter, Mike Doeys, and I'm on Facebook as Michael Doeys all over the place. So, you know, it's easy to find me and you can email me at MikeDoeys at iCloud.com. And check out my other show, Programmatic. I record usually Friday nights and it's out the next week. We just did episode five and we'll record episode six this Friday. So very excited about that. And a lot of good things. So we talked about our apps, you know, iAccessibility and Pocket Braille all out. So really a lot of news this week and it's been a great show. So I want to thank Michael, Jason, and our party crasher, Jeff, for coming this time. It's been great having all of you guys and we'll see you all in about two weeks. So thanks everyone.
[54:34] Music.
[54:41] Thank you for tuning in to the IA cast. We hope you enjoyed the show and found the conversation to be insightful and informative. If you have any feedback or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email at feedback at IACast.net. You can also follow us on Twitter at IACastNetwork to stay informed about new episodes and other updates. Don't forget to check out more great podcasts on the IACAS network. IACAS.net. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again soon.
[55:08] Music.
Transcript
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
In this episode, we explore the Blind Shell Classic 2 and how to navigate it. We start by discussing how to check for notifications, including a high-pitched beep that indicates when you’re at the bottom or top of a menu option. We also cover how to use the number pad to cycle through options and how to delete notifications.
Throughout the episode, we provide step-by-step instructions on how to access and navigate the various menu options on the Blind Shell Classic 2. We also share some tips and tricks for using the device, such as pressing and holding the back button to hear new notifications.
Whether you’re new to the Blind Shell Classic 2 or a seasoned user, this episode is a great resource for anyone looking to improve their navigation skills and get the most out of their device.
Transcript:
[Music]
On the Blind Shell Classic 2, if you press and hold the back button, you’ll hear something like
[Music]
One new notification, 7.18 pm.
That tells me that I have one new notification, the time and the fact that I am back at my home screen.
In most places on the phone, you can press the top left button to hear something like
[Music]
One new notification, one of six.
You hear that there are six options.
We’ll use the number pad and tap the numbers two through six to cycle through the options.
7 18 PM Friday, wifi state, not connected.
Bluetooth enabled, no connected devices.
Signal strength, 50% 4g battery state, 100% six of six.
So that high-pitch beep means that you are at the bottom or top of a menu option.
I want to go back up and see my notifications.
We’ll press number one.
One new notification.
One of six.
We’ll press okay.
Message sending to five, four, one, four, three, five, one of two.
And though I only have one notification, it said one of two, because if you press
the last option that’s available or the up button once, delete all two of two, you
can press okay to delete all.
No item.
No notifications.
One of six.
[MUSIC]
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Transcript
[0:01] This is an ACB Community Call, presented by American Council of the Blind.
[0:10] Music.
[0:17] This Unmute Presents Community Call was hosted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2023, and I did something a little different to the podcast file.
Did you notice? The opinions expressed on the ACB media network are those of the content providers and should not be viewed as an endorsement of any product or service, nor does it reflect the views of the American Council of the Blind, its elected officials or its staff.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another Unmute. We wanna remind everyone here at the top, we wanna have everyone have their first questions answered.
So we’ll get through all the hands first. And once we get through everyone’s first go around, we will take second hands.
Also remember to be respectful to everyone as you would want your question respected as everyone else. So be kind.
[1:08] Also, we have a big announcement today. We wanna let you know that on the 18th of April, we’re gonna be having a special event with Script Talk.
They’re gonna be coming and demonstrating their devices and talking about how you can get involved in getting a Script Talk for yourself, if that’s something that you want or need.
So that’s gonna be April 18th right here. So stay tuned for that.
And as always, if you need to get ahold of us, you can reach us at feedback at unmute.show for questions, comments, or anything else.
And Michael, what do you got for us today? I always have something as Marty mentioned, raise your hand if you have a question, we’ll get to your questions in a moment.
Actually we have a hand raised right now, just so you know.
[1:53] All right, thank you very much, Patricia. Appreciate that. I do want to go back and let people know that on Sunday, Marty and I chatted with you briefly about the new voice isolation functionality, which is one of the several new features available in iOS 16.4 that was released on last Monday.
And then on Thursday, we sat down and we chatted about multi-factor authentication with my friend Damasi and talked about the different types of multi-factor authentication.
He did a, in my opinion, great job at breaking down why you need to use multi-factor authentication and some things that you might want to be aware of, especially when you’re wondering, well, what’s right for me?
What do I need to use with the tools that are available to me?
And then we did also break down that elucid YubiKey, which is something we often talk about.
And that’s available on the Unmute Presents podcast feed.
Last thing that I will mention before we jump in and ask Patricia who our first hand is, Because we…
[2:58] Have a new thing and I will personally shout out the first person who goes over,
Keyboards
[3:03] and connects with us over there cause we’re going to start pushing it more.
So if you’ve, if you have an Instagram account, you’re interested in Instagram, we have no content over there right now. Uh, but the first person who follows us there, I will say hi to you. And uh, yeah, that’s, that’s all I got for that. So Patricia, who do we have first on the list today?
All right, Jewel, you are first up. Go ahead.
Hi, Joel. Nice. Hi. I have a question I’m not sure that you can help with since it’s a keyboard command question for iOS.
I switched from an iOS, from iPhone SE to an iPhone 12, like I mentioned.
And when I did so, the voiceover command switched on me.
So it was control option, so the far left and the one right to the left of the spacebar, but now it’s using the one to the left of that, the first and the third keys.
And I’m wondering if there’s a way to change that back, because it’s still doing the same with the old phone, but it’s doing this new command with the new phone.
And it’s driving me nuts because I’m so used to the other command.
I wonder, because I’ve had this happen to me on the keyboard before, and all keyboards can be different.
Is your keyboard specifically in iOS mode?
[4:25] It is a Logitech K380. So I don’t know that it is specifically in iOS mode, but it’s the same keyboard with both phones.
Right. That’s strange. I’m not changing anything between the two phones.
Yeah, I’ve not heard of that. So what you’re saying is like the command and option keys are swapped on the other phone?
Yeah. So with the SE, it’s the one, the far left was control, and the one just to the left is a space bar.
But with the, 12, it moves over to the third key, which is the one to the left of that other one that’s being used, which I thought was the function key. So it’s confusing me. Yeah. Unfortunately, I’m not 100% sure on that one. If someone else has an idea, Marty, do you have an idea? Because I don’t.
The only thing I could suggest is or ask, I would say is both phones are updated to this equal same operating systems and all that good stuff? Yes, both are on 16.4. Hmm. This is Chanel.
[5:27] Yeah. So one thing you can actually do is use the caps lock key and that should work irregardless of the keyboard layout, regardless of what they’ve changed, you know, the bottom look keys to, um, by default voiceover, you know, is set to use both caps lock and control an option. I, Well, I don’t know if it’s that way on iOS, but I would think and Caps Lock is, you know.
[5:53] I use that on my Mac all the time and I know it works on iOS as well.
Okay. Either way, it will take some adjustment. Do you know if the Caps Lock, if I use that, is it going to affect how Caps Lock works?
You just double, you just double tap the capsock real quick.
And like Chanel, I use it on my Mac as well, because a lot of the web apps that you come across will use control option as modifiers.
So that way you don’t have to do control option tab followed by control option in the keystroke.
And so you can navigate web apps. So that’s a, thank you for bringing that up Chanel, but yes, that might be.
And then that will, as you said, work consistently across.
Navigation
[6:34] And I do believe by default, it will work without having to make any changes. So thanks Julie.
Thank you. Before we go on to the next question, I do want to say that about 90 seconds ago, Blaine Anthony followed us on Instagram. So I promised I would shout out whoever followed us. So if you are Blaine, thank you for following us and being the first follower. Who do we have next, Patricia?
Next we have Desi. Go ahead.
Hi Desi. How’s it going?
Good morning, Michael, Marty, and everybody. As everybody has probably heard, I’m heading to Nauseam by now.
I am moving from Phoenix to Franklin, Tennessee, toward the end of the month.
And I’m going to be needing to learn a lot more routes that are very unfamiliar to me at this point.
[7:21] And I do have Bose Frames to use with any of the GPS apps that I might decide to use.
But I’m just really kind of looking for an opinion on what is the best GPS type app to use for getting walking direction routes that seem to be reasonably accurate.
My first suggestion would be BlindSquare because you can set it to identify what’s around you as you’re walking.
So for example, you’re walking down a block and it will say, you know, 100 feet to your left is whatever coffee shop you know 200 feet to your right is once you figure out the area you can turn it off or tame it down so it has a lot of options to be able to to adjust how much information you wanted to yell at you or not yell at you.
[8:14] But that is a good one for a new area and definitely cruising around and figuring out what’s what.
You could even have it on while you’re driving around or maybe on a bus or in a cab or Uber Lyft, any of those things. And it’ll identify what’s around you.
And you’ll be able to get familiar without necessarily having to be walking everywhere.
So it has some good use cases for, you know, learning your way around the area.
Yeah, that’s good. And also, what about the Explore app from GoodMaps?
Has anybody used that?
Well, the thing about GoodMaps is, as far as I know, it’s indoors.
I think they do have one that’s outdoors also, but I just don’t know how good it is, actually. I’ve never used it.
[9:03] Well, I would assume, and you know what, assuming Mike got a person, but because Mike May’s involved with it, I would think that it’s probably pretty good since he’s a blind user himself.
But yeah, okay, well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Yeah, no problem. Good luck. And we’ll have to hear how it goes once you move and how it all goes.
The thing is, you know, contact your local, you know, whatever council of the blind or
Instagram
[9:34] whatever is in that area, get a mobility coach and have them teach you the routes you need to do while you’re there.
That’d be the best way to start out.
Yeah, well, while I’m there, it’s probably going to be pretty permanent.
So I’ll be there for a while.
So, there you go. Thanks a lot. Good luck. Thanks.
Before we go on to Sharon, are there any hands in Clubhouse?
There are, Herbie has his hand up.
[10:01] Okay. I’m mute.
And we’re just not hearing her be able to hear him in the other room.
Yeah, we’re not hearing. Are you hearing me now? Yes, we are.
OK, there we go. I need to know how to use my loopback anyway.
Can anybody teach me? They’re just kidding. So I was going to be good and not to say ask anything.
But then, Michael, you mentioned the I word Instagram. So I have two questions. One, you can easily answer, probably. And the other one is going to be a bit more involved.
A, how exactly do you follow somebody over on Instagram?
And B, how exactly do you use Instagram in the first place? Because I have that app and it’s always confused me quite a bit.
[10:45] So, let me be fully transparent with you there, Herbie. Firstly, to follow someone, if you, there is a search edit field, I believe that you can type in their username.
And then one of the first elements on their actual profile is going to be a follow button.
Or when I went and followed Blaine, I hit the, it actually said follow back because they were already following us.
I don’t know about using Instagram and I will endeavor to share some thoughts slash tips next week if someone reminds me, because I will forget, because I am using this as an opportunity to learn to use Instagram myself and hopefully reach a wider audience and experiment with it.
So I will share my findings with you in the future, Herbie.
All right, so is that the search under the followers and following, or is there a different search? I believe that is the correct search. Yes.
Updates and Reading
[11:36] And then are you under unmute presents? Yes. If you just search unmute presents, all one word, you should find it right away.
All one. That’s what I did wrong. Okay. Yep. All one word.
Cause Instagram works a lot like your other social media.
Right. You can use at to tag people. So it’s at unmute presents all one word.
All right. Very good.
I was lucky to get that.
[11:56] Who is next?
All right, next we have Sharon. Go ahead. Hi, everyone. First of all, I want to say thank you for the scroll bar tip that you gave.
Oh, yeah. No problem.
Yeah, that was really helpful. I’m using that all the time. So, I have two quick questions.
I don’t know if there’s a way to have Apple notify me when they’re going to do a minor update.
I just go in the settings and look periodically, but it seems weird to me that they don’t have a notification for that.
And the other thing is, I got a summary, a news summary from CNN every morning, and I do a two-finger swipe down very gently to get it to start, but every once in a while, I lose it and I get popped into Apple News, and then I can’t get back to it, and I don’t know what to do about it.
Well, addressing the first question about the notifications on updates, I would suggest following one of the big Apple websites.
You have a bunch of them, 9to5Mac’s really good, MacRumors is really good.
[13:06] They will always tell you when things come out pretty immediately and you’ll know right away.
They have a lot of other good information on there as well on a daily basis.
That’s typically what most people do. So that’s why Apple themselves don’t really do it all that much because everyone does it kind of for them.
So I would suggest- again on the website please. The first one I said was nine so it’d be like the number nine.
[13:31] Two and the number five so it’s nine t o five mac mac.com and just you could go on there and you’ll see they have tons of stuff if you have an rss reader you could put it in that another one I would suggest would be mac rumors they’re really good as well uh and there’s a bunch of others so Okay. Those two will get you where you need to go.
They got tons of great information and things like updates that are coming out.
They’ll tell you right away as soon as it comes out.
Okay. And then the other part about the news.
So were you trying to use the app switcher? I didn’t really get what you meant about the second you keep popping into news.
And then what happens? I’ve opened up a link to CNN. It has CNN morning news or whatever.
And I get over to where it starts to read heading one, and I want to read all, and I do two-finger swipe down, but if I do it too, not gently enough, somehow it jumps me out of it, and I’m back in Apple News, and I don’t know why.
[14:36] Yeah, I think you just got to be a little bit more cognizant about your gestures.
That’s the only thing I can really suggest. Michael, you got anything?
Yeah, go for it. Yeah. And this happens to me all the time. Sometimes when I do the flick down, the two finger flick down to read, it accidentally triggers the back gesture, like the scrub gesture to go back a previous page.
And I think that’s what’s going on for you. Oh. That happens to me all the time.
Windows Shutdown
[15:04] Okay. You’re not alone. So, and if that happens, how do you get back to where you were?
You pretty much just have to find it again.
There’s not really a forward. Yeah, it’s just kind of like, you know, noodling around it just to get yourself back.
It’s kind of unfortunate, but it’s kind of what we all have to do and different.
But I think that’s what’s happening for you.
Okay.
Have a good day. Yep. Thanks. Good luck to you. Thank you. Next, we have Beth. Go ahead. Hey, Beth.
How you doing? Yeah, I was wondering if this is a Microsoft question.
A lot of times I had a problem when I do Alt F4, it seems like my computer has not shut down.
So I then turn the power off and then try again, but it hasn’t been shutting down lately with Alt F4.
I don’t know if that’s a Microsoft question, if that’s what that is.
If… Yep.
[16:06] So I can help you with this, Beth. And I didn’t know that people were doing this.
So full transparency and I will help.
I’ll tell, explain to people what’s going on and then the best way to shut your computer down to make sure that it’s shut down.
It came to my attention probably about two or three weeks ago that a lot of times what people have been taught to do is to go to their desktop and then Alt F for it.
And then this pops up a dialogue that asks if you want to shut your computer down, restart, go to sleep, whatever you want to do.
And you press up. He doesn’t do that.
Right. So you press up arrow to shut down and you press enter.
What often happens at this point, if an application is open that’s preventing the computer from shutting down, you may not be notified dependent on the screen reader.
So what I suggest to people is after about 10-15 seconds, you sit there and wait for a second, press your Alt Tab key.
What’s going to happen is you’re going to see something that will set, well, you’ll be told something that will say something like, Notepad is preventing Windows from shutting down.
Then you can tab to the Okay button, and that will allow you to shut Windows down, and it will not save anything that you have in Notepad.
[17:20] If you tab to cancel and you press Cancel, that will cancel the shutdown process.
I think that’s what’s happening with you, Beth. So try after a couple of seconds after you hit Enter on Shutdown to Alt-Tab and see if there’s something that’s preventing it from shutting down.
Another way, if you don’t want, for people who are like, I don’t want to go to the desktop to Alt F4 out of the desktop, which it makes sense why people have been taught to do that because you quit applications with Alt F4.
So why not quit Windows with Alt F4? But Windows key plus X, like X-Ray, anywhere within Windows will pop up a menu.
And on this menu, you can go down to shut down or sign out is what it says. And it’s a submenu.
Press enter on that sub menu and you can go down to shutdown, restart, sign out, sleep, whatever you want to do.
That will allow you to do it right there from that menu as well.
Like with a lot of things in technology, there’s a lot of ways to accomplish things.
Hopefully, Unmute will be teaching a bit more about Windows in the near future.
Wink, wink. Yeah. I’m thinking of maybe with system access, It seems like they have these users for them, but if I have a problem, they don’t respond.
[18:38] Like, oh, no replies. I’m thinking of kind of in my head, kind of thinking of getting JAWS, because it seems more people know about JAWS like if I have problems.
System access. A lot of people don’t know about it. A lot of them do.
Yep. And I discovered too, if you pay $99, right, a year, that’s cheaper than getting JAWS than system access.
[19:04] So I have to think about that. Yeah, so JAWS does offer the home user license, which is $99 a year.
So that can be a lot more affordable too for some users.
Right. Yeah, because I’m just thinking system access has like bunch of described movies and shows And I’m wondering if you can do that with with jaws because I don’t want to get rid of something that you know I’m gonna miss like those shows like all in the family and some of those old.
Be My Eyes In Canada?
[19:36] Descriptive ones so those are separate from Jaws, so you would still need to pay for access to the Saro tech network in order to get access to those So yes, that is separate.
Okay. Okay, thanks. I’ll try that. Try that exiting and see how that works.
They’re shutting down.
Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Do we have any hand in clubhouse? We do.
Andrew, you can unmute and talk.
Thanks for bringing me up on stage.
I have a couple of questions. One is I just found an article a couple of weeks ago.
I think it was like March 14th in regards to Be My Eyes out of Denmark.
And their movement towards incorporating AI into their app.
And right now, at least according to the article, it will only be available in the UK and the US, I’m in Canada.
I’m just wondering, have you seen that? Are you familiar with it?
And is there any more information that I could gather about how that would work?
There was. Perhaps no. Yeah, actually, they are implementing it.
I’m not sure how long it’s going to take for them to get into all of the different countries, but they are currently working on implementing it.
The short version of this story is They were approached to use the software in their app, and they worked out something where.
[21:03] They’re not getting charged to use it.
There’s a great 30-minute story with those guys on Blind Abilities, which came out, I wanna say, about a week or two ago.
It’s probably pretty close to the top of the feed, but it’s a great conversation with them, and they give you the insider on the whole new app that’s coming out. So I would check that out and you’ll be able to hear probably most of what you’re looking for there.
Yeah, I appreciate that. The other quick question I had is, I recently got an iPhone 13 mini, and I find that and it seems to kind of almost remember a gesture. For instance, I might tap the phone once with two fingers and it turns off the speech. Or I might do another gesture and it’s not really performing that gesture, it’s scrubbing out the screen or what have you.
And I’ve increased the time interval between a double tap or what have you to what I think is appropriate. It seemed like that’s what I was doing on my other phones.
But it still seems to… It’s like you said, it’s almost like it remembers that I’ve tapped it once, and then if I tap it again, it’ll perform that double tap back or what have you.
I’m wondering if you’ve experienced that.
[22:25] What it sounds like to me is that you may be accessing or activating an action that might be on your rotor. You might want to go in and take a look at your rotor and see what’s on there.
And if there’s something that you want to stop it from doing when you’re using gestures on the the screen, you can just take things off the rotor, add things to the rotor. A lot of people will hit the rotor and not realize they hit it and then they activate something they didn’t mean to activate. So I would take a look at that and see if there’s something that’s happening
Changes in Zoom
[22:58] there and you can either eliminate or add things to the rotor.
Yeah, I’ve had that happen in terms of… It changes my English to whatever, a different voice and I’m like, okay, I get the road or somehow. So I’ll try to look at that and see if that may be causing. So I thank you very much. Appreciate you letting me speak.
Yeah, no problem. Have a great day. Good luck to you.
Okay, we do have some hands in June. But I want to make sure are we cleared in clubhouse? Darcy? We are. Okay, good. All right. So next we have Roberta followed by Rachel. Roberta, go ahead.
[23:31] Hi there. Um, I have a question about the zoom app on my iPhone using voiceover. I used to have in the upper left area of the screen, it would show my avatar or the avatar of the person speaking.
And that is not there anymore. Now I have a button that says tap to speak. Any thoughts?
It changes zoom way too often. And it’s like a grocery store. When you figure it out, they change it all around on you. I don’t know. Wait.
Yeah, I mean, I have not seen this. It might be worth looking at in your settings Why? Oh, I see. I see. Oh, so that’s how it works. Yeah, so that’s how it works.
At when you’re not in a Zoom meeting under meetings and see if there’s an option to always show I like that. Oh, and then you guys are going to be doing everything with us, right?
Yeah. And then, yeah, I’m going to be going back to my office.
I’m going to be doing all the work and doing all the stuff. And then, you know, I’m going to be doing a lot of stuff.
Keyboard on iPad
[24:14] The view that you want versus a tap to speak view So, yeah. So, yeah, I’m going to be doing all the work.
And then, I’m going to be going back to my office. And then, I’m going to be doing all the stuff.
Because that is strange and it sounds like a view got changed.
So, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. So, I’m going to be doing all the work.
Now, in order to actually change settings in the Zoom application, when you’re not in a meeting on a mobile device, you do have to be signed into a Zoom account.
So if all you see is sign up or sign in, then go ahead and sign up or sign in, and then you should be able to modify any settings.
Okay, I’ll take a look. Thank you. Hey, Rachel, go ahead. Hello, my question is, I have a new iPad.
[24:49] And I don’t remember the model, so I apologize, but it is one of the newer ones.
And I have a Logitech keyboard that came with it. It’s part of the cover.
Um, my problem is when I hit the enter key, it is automatically putting me into the calendar.
Doesn’t matter if I’m in pages, typing, putting me into the calendar and my up and down, right, and left arrows are not working, are not working the way they are supposed to work.
Do I double tap each one of these or what am I doing wrong?
Um, so I, I might have something for you to try and Marty might as well.
But I’m gonna jump in here real quick with the arrow keys.
I don’t know why the enter key is dropping you into calendar, but it would be interesting if you press your left and right arrow keys together, does, and I don’t expect you to know right now,
AudioVault
[25:40] but try that and if voiceover says quick nav off, then try navigating and see if things work the way you expect them to.
Okay, and then how do I turn it back on again?
[25:52] That’s a toggle, so you simply press left and right arrow keys again. Okay.
Yep, give that a try and see if it helps with your navigation on iOS with a keyboard.
Gotcha. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yeah, let’s give that a try and we’ll see if that works. Who do we have next, Trish?
We have Maria. Go ahead, Maria.
I’m sorry, it’s Marie. Marie, go ahead.
Hi, Marie. You are muted right now, I believe. Yes, she is.
Okay, I hit it again. I hit it twice, I guess. Okay, I have actually a comment for Beth and some other users.
There is a website called audiovault.net and it’s free and there are multitudes of both TV shows
Comment on phone
[26:35] and movies all audio described. They’re mp3 files and you can download a plethora of movies and TV shows for free. Perfect, well thank you. Again that’s audiovault.net correct? Correct. All right well we appreciate that and uh who do we have next there Trish? We have no one in Zoom. Is there any everybody in class.
[26:56] Not currently. Oh, righty. Whoa. Let’s go ahead and, uh, Marty, do you… Oh, go ahead, Trish.
We do. See, we appreciate it. All we have to do is say there’s no hands and then people raise their hand.
It’s that stuttering couple of seconds to fill that 10 seconds for someone to raise their hand.
Go ahead. That’s how it always works. Go ahead, Chanel. Yeah, sorry.
And then it, well, it took me a…
I’m on my phone and I’m not very good with finding things on the touch screen, but I But I just wanted to say, speaking of phone, if you have your phone set to receive automatic updates, that will also help.
Now, I know some people may not like to do that. I think it was Sharon who wanted to be able to know, you know, what Apple releases, even the minor updates.
And I would, for me personally, the best way to get that is to have automatic updates on.
[27:51] And your phone will notify you as well. when I just forget where I turn that on.
I can go look real quick, but I didn’t have a chance to look before.
I think it’s in. It is under settings, general software update, and there’s a checkbox to turn on automatic updates. Is that the one you’re talking about?
Yeah, that’s the one I’m talking about.
Yep, and in iOS 16.4, there’s also a separate checkbox there.
If you’re familiar with the Apple TV, this will be familiar for you.
Now, if you’re interested in getting beta software for your iPhone, You simply check the box that says that you want to get beta software.
And then there’s three radio buttons. There’s none, developer, and public.
If your phone is enrolled in the developer program, then you’ll get developer betas when they come out in June.
If you are getting the public betas, then you’ll get the public betas in July-ish, which
Homekit
[28:43] is what historically they’ve been available.
Or you can just skip all that beta nonsense and just wait until the new 17 comes out in September, but it’s a faster and easier way to be able to opt into Baydals now.
That’s a lot faster. And if you’ve never seen that before, it’s because it just came out in this last update.
[29:00] So that’s a new feature. Awesome. So you want to go turn that on if you’re interested.
Yeah, I’ll go check that out.
Who is next, Trish? All right, we have Jeff. Go ahead, Jeff.
Hey, Jeff, how’s it going?
Hey, it’s going well, good. I guess if I didn’t have a question, it would be going better. However…
This is only kind of loosely related to, you know, computer stuff.
[29:24] So I added a smart plug, it was successfully able to add it to the home app, used to be called HomeKit, I think.
And the switch itself, the plug, you know, I can tell the S-Lady to turn it on or off.
However, the item that I have plugged into it still needs me to use that app to do the powering on and off.
It sounds like all of the things that you have aren’t all compatible with the same system.
Yeah, like now it’s an AV receiver. So the only other thing I can think of is maybe there’s some sort of power limits or whatever.
Go ahead, Darcy. You’re probably going to bring up the same thing I was thinking of.
Well, I was thinking, I mean, not all devices. I mean, you can imagine, like, if you think about all the devices that you have and you unplug them and then you plug them back in, they don’t always turn back on right away, right? Like that you have to turn them on. And when you use a smart plug, you’re essentially doing that, right? You’re essentially unplugging it and plugging it back in. So you actually, you’re better off with a smart plug to use devices that are always on.
Like for example, I have a smart plug and I have it plugged into a fan, right, in my bedroom and I have that to come on at night. But it’s an old fan with like a physical switch. So when it, when the.
[30:47] The smart plug comes on, then it comes on. But if it was something that had to be turned on with a remote control or whatever, it’s not going to necessarily do that. All that happens when you when you turn on the smart plug.
Is the device gets power. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to turn on.
And one thing that I can suggest, and funny you bring this up because we, Demasi and I talked about on another show we host called Technically Working.
Recently, we were talking about HomeKit and home automations.
If you have an app for the AV system, as Darcy was saying, the HomePlug might not be the best solution.
But if that AV system doesn’t show up in home app, look into something like home automate, home automation or home bridge.
That’s the word I was thinking of, because those tools could bring third-party services into the home app that would connect to your AV app possibly and allow you to control the power through the home app with automations as well, if you need to automate some of that too.
Right. And even if you’re talking about something that doesn’t actually have an app, like some sort of AV thing, you might be able to get like what they call an IR blaster, which is basically something you can point to your device and it can mimic all the remote control codes.
Old Speaker Tech
[32:05] So there’s there’s other options, but I don’t think as far as an AV receiver goes, the smart plug is probably your best bet, like Michael said.
All right. Well, thank you for your help. Yeah, no problem. Thanks for bringing the question. We appreciate it.
And Home Assistant is the other one that I was thinking of that I couldn’t get out.
So home home bridge or home assistant or pool tools.
Who do we have next? Trish? We have Jesse. Go ahead. Hey, Jesse.
This is my day for asking questions.
[32:33] I have a pair of Sonos play one speakers that I bought like in the oh, maybe 2017, I want to say.
So they’re still being supported right now. But, you know, I’m cringing at the thought that before too long, they won’t be supported anymore.
And I’m wondering at that point what to do with them. And also because I am moving, I also have a pair of the original HomePods, the big HomePods.
And my thought is to keep the HomePods because I’m pretty much an Apple person.
I’ve got my iPhone 14 Pro.
I have an iPad Mini 6 and I have my Mac Mini.
So it would seem like it would be smart to keep my HomePods.
[33:34] But does anybody have any thoughts about when these things do become obsolete?
What is the best thing to do with them? I do specifically for Sonos because I’ve been watching this and it’s been an interesting adventure to watch, especially with Sonos’ transition from the S1 to S2 software, which is their new app that they released, I believe, mid last year.
Two things. Number one, if you decide that, hey, I like Sonos, I like that ecosystem, and if you were unaware, I actually have HomePods and Sonos playing together with each other, So I can use the advantages of Siri, but also push audio to the Sonos Ones that I have throughout the house as well, and listen to that all with my voice using Siri, which is pretty cool.
[34:21] And so what you can do with the Sonos Play Ones, if you’re like, hey, you know, I do want to upgrade to this new speaker that Sonos released that’s a competitor to the HomePods themselves, at least that’s what a lot of tech people are saying, is Sonos offers a trade-in program.
So you can take your older Sonos devices and trade them in for about 20 to 30% of the value.
So it’s not a lot, but it gives you a little bit of money and it puts newer devices in your home and allows you to, to responsibly send those other devices and get them disposed of and save you a little bit of money.
That could be a solution. A lot of times what I will do is I re-home electronics.
I have an audio mixer here that I am advertising at a very low cost to someone on Facebook because I know that there’s people out there who need this $500 mixer, but they might only have $150 and it’s literally just sitting behind me doing nothing.
So that’s another solution as well.
And then of course you can reach out if it’s something that has batteries, obviously I do recommend reaching out to your local waste management facilities and ask if they have any recycling programs for batteries and other electronics.
[35:31] Yeah, okay, but now what about my home pods? Mm-hmm, Kikos.
Is that what I’m… Yeah. Well, you know, any electronics that you have, you can always, you know, hand me down to a family member or possibly a good friend.
And you can also check with, you know, other organizations that may not have funds to buy all that stuff.
So a donation to a nonprofit that’s using it towards helping people in whatever way that you may support, we might love to have a couple of donations to use with whatever they’re doing.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Apparently, on one of my HomePods, I have it sitting on an end table and I must have spilled coffee at some point or other.
There’s a little bit of a coffee stain on the bottom of it and I’m trying to figure I don’t think people are going to mind too much about a small coffee stain or something like that on them.
Oh, probably not.
Yeah. But the other thing about the home pods though is won’t they also eventually become obsolete?
The older ones, because now they’ve got the new big ones out and.
[36:40] Well, here’s the thing is yes. In terms of the software, it may not be running the current version of the software.
So it’s not going to be running the current version of the software.
Because yes, in terms of the software, it may not be running the current same software that’s on the new ones, but you can still connect them and use them to play music, which is going to be far better than what majority of people probably have or can afford in their home.
So they might just love them just for the fact of being able to play great sounding music on them.
[37:12] Yeah, yeah. Because I’ve been wondering, but you know, this is the really sneaky thing about having everything be connected by your phone or whatever, or the home app, because they do become obsolete.
Back in the day when you could play your records on your stereo, this is aging me, I know, you could keep your speakers and stuff for as long as they would play for you.
I’m having a hard time adjusting to this culture of…
After four or five years having to upgrade to whole new speakers when the ones I have are working perfectly fine,
Back to GPS
[37:55] but I want to be able to do the latest and greatest stuff.
Well, there’s technology for you in a nutshell. Thank you very much.
Who do we have next, Trish?
I can definitely relate to that though, Desi. So we do have three hands.
Before we move on to Beth, is there anyone in Clubhouse?
There is not.
Okay, Beth, go ahead and unmute that.
[38:20] Yeah, I know you were talking about, or somebody was talking about GPS.
Is that blind square or whatever? Is that in iOS or is that just in Android?
You can see I tried Soundscape a long time ago, and it didn’t seem to work really good.
Like it wouldn’t say this is on your left, or do you have to program it to work like if you want.
I want to get to say to like an apartment in my complex and I’m not sure where it is.
[38:53] Okay, to answer your first question, it’s definitely on iOS. So you can get it in the app store. I don’t have an Android device, so I’m not sure if it’s on Android or not, not, but I’m sure you could easily look it up. Yeah. You can just ask Michael and he’ll tell you.
[39:08] Yeah. The other thing is, you could go into the settings and you could adjust it to whatever your needs are.
If you’re in a new place, you can have it giving you lots of information all around you so you can get familiar.
And once you’re familiar with the area, you can tame it down and not have it giving you so much information.
I will say that if you are trying to navigate and you’re trying to get from point A to point B, you may want to tame it down a little bit because otherwise it can be a little overwhelming that it’s throwing everything at you while you’re trying to navigate to somewhere.
So if you’re just cruising around and you’re just trying to identify yourself, it’s great.
Shokz QUick Tip Multi Point Pairing
[39:55] But if you’re trying to actually navigate from point A to point B, you might want to tame it down because it can be overwhelming otherwise. Yeah, yeah, I have iOS. I just thought that, you know, there’s certain apps in Android that there’s not in iOS. So it’s called Blind Square. I had that name right, correct? Correct. Okay. Okay, thanks. Yep, no problem. Good luck. Okay, next we have Jewel. Go ahead. Welcome back, Jewel. Yeah.
[40:25] I just had a quick tip for everybody that I found out recently.
If you have Aftershock headphones, they can connect to more than one device.
So when I switched to the iPhone 12, I decided to keep my SE because it is busted on the back and it has a bad battery so it’s, you know, no trade-in value.
So I’m keeping it as an iPod touch. However, I tried switching my headphones over to it and found that it will connect to both.
[40:57] So I’m keeping the old phone as an iPod Touch basically as a dedicated book player because it has 128 gigs of storage and the new one only has 64 gigs. So it’s going to be all my books and stuff.
So you can connect to more than one device. You’ll want to connect the one that is you’re going to want to use like Siri and phone calls and stuff for second because that way when you hit the side button on the headphones, it will connect to the second device.
But then you can use the first device to listen to things and just pause it from the device.
[41:36] So just that I mentioned that. And if you need assistance with doing that with your aftershocks headphones specifically, because the procedure can vary dependent on the model itself, feel free to reach out to either shocks or the individuals who you purchase them from, or look up the Aftershocks manuals, several of which are available at atdais.com.
And that is great. I do, I forget about that because I just use it with my Shox quite regularly.
So what I do is I have my iPhone, well, I have the blind shell connected to my Shox headphones, and then I have my iPhone connected, and then it will not play audio from both devices at once, but it will switch between devices, and it is almost like magic.
Iphone 12
[42:21] Yeah, it’s really cool. And you don’t even notice it.
Yeah. Thank you, Joel. Appreciate it.
I’ll mention that the steps that I mentioned are for the open move.
So I’m not sure what would be for other models.
[42:34] Yeah, they’re very similar, but button placements can can alter.
So appreciate you sharing that with us. And thank you, Joel.
And we do have someone in Clubhouse now. All right. Let’s jump over to Clubhouse real quick.
[42:46] All right, Cindy, you’re up. Hello. Hello, how’s it going? Good, how are you?
Good, good. Um, okay. I have a iPhone 12 question.
[42:57] My iPhone 12, when I’m like typing or calling somebody, the voice is real slow.
How do I change that? Because I tried to go into settings and stuff.
[43:11] And I couldn’t figure it out.
You have to go to settings, accessibility, voiceover, And then there’s going to be a voiceover speed.
Shuting Down WIndows
[43:21] Down there and you flick up or down or you can slide it to adjust how fast or slow you want voiceover to speak.
Okay. So one more time, it’s settings, accessibility, voiceover, voiceover speed. Okay.
Thanks. Yep, no problem. Thank you. Hey, next we have Doc. Go ahead, Doc.
Hey, Doc, how’s it going? It’s going pretty good, but I understood you had a different way to shut down Windows.
Yes, sir.
So instead of going well, it depends. How do you currently shut Windows down?
I do Windows M followed by old F4 and then enter on shut down.
Beautiful. Okay.
The other way that I was mentioning to people is if you hold the Windows key and you tap X like X-Ray, anywhere inside of Windows OS, this will pop up a menu and going towards the bottom of the menu, I believe it’s the second option from the bottom, is a sub menu that says sign out or shut down.
[44:31] And if you choose that sub menu, then you can sign out, shut down, restart your computer, put it to sleep, whatever you want. And then of course, because it’s a menu, you can get familiar with the quick nav keys to be able to quickly type the letter to take you to sign out or shut down and then open that menu and then choose the option you want on that menu screen. Okay, so you can go right straight to Windows X-Ray. Yes sir, hold Windows key down and tap the X like X-Ray. Okay, yeah because what I was having to do sometimes in the other way it would not shut down certain programs.
[45:12] And then what I was, you know, it would say pause, canceled to go back and save your work and stuff?
Mm-hmm.
And then what I do is to hit Windows and start typing Task Manager.
But then the list got, like for Outlook, for example, is one that famously wouldn’t close completely. It would be so far down the list, it was very laborious to try to find it that way.
So did you try hitting Shift-Tab by chance when you got that screen that told you that the apps were preventing you from shutting Windows down and there should have been a shut down anyway button and press enter on that.
And that should skip. Oh yeah, sure.
Okay. Yeah, I know I had to bypass that, but Windows help desk suggested doing the task manager.
Question About BlindSquare
[46:09] And actually closing whatever program was not functioning properly.
Gotcha. And I appreciate that. So yeah, give that a try. Try Windows key X, go down to sign out and see if that- I’m gonna try that.
Perfect. And in the last 10 minutes we have here, do we have any other hands in Clubhouse? Darcy, thank you.
It doesn’t look like it. Nope, not right now.
Alrighty, what about Zoom, Trish?
All right, we have two hands. Chanel, go ahead. And you’re right, we’re almost at the 10 minute mark.
So I was just wondering again, I’ve heard you talk about BlindSquare And I thought that only told you what’s around.
Does it also give you point by point directions?
I mean, turn by turn or whatever, sorry, using wrong terminology.
As far as I know, it does, used to anyway, unless they’ve changed it.
It has a lot of functionality.
All of the features of being able to tell you what’s around you was kind of a secondary feature too, that it also will navigate you around.
[47:11] There was a lot of controversy in the beginning because people got annoyed with how much information it would throw at you and they didn’t realize that you could turn things on and off.
Yeah, I kind of got frustrated with that too.
And I turned, yeah, so I, and I thought it, okay. Anyway, it’s been like a year since I’ve used it.
Yeah, it’s been years since I’ve used it also. And so who knows how much it’s changed since I’ve used it last.
This is Joel. The BlindSquare app itself does not do turn by turn.
However, if you have a P.O.I., you can send it to another app from there,
Thermostat inquiry
[47:46] like Apple Maps, Google Maps or Open Maps Outdoor.
So and then they’ll do it simultaneously. Oh, good to know.
So so Blind Square doesn’t actually have the navigation directions, but you can send the direct or you can send the point of interest, which will then give you the turn by turn directions with Blind Square running at the same time.
Perfect. Thank thank you for clarifying that, Joel. Appreciate it.
Trish, who do we have next?
Marie, go ahead. Hi Marie!
[48:18] Okay, I have a question this time. My beloved VIP talking thermostat recently bit the dust, and I’m using one now.
It has a digital display, but it also has buttons. And I’m using it fairly well, but occasionally I have to call Be My Eyes and say, okay, what’s the setting?
Because I have it too high or too low.
[48:40] Of all the ones that are controlled with the apps, like the Alexa ones and the Nest thermostats.
[48:50] Are there any of them that if your wifi goes out, is there any way that you can control them manually or directly from an app, maybe through cellular on your phone?
Only if it would connect over data.
So what that means is a lot of times when you’re not home, so say like you’re traveling to visit a family member, and you want to log onto your thermostat from their house and set it so that by the time you get home it’ll be the temperature you want it to be. If the thermostat has that capability, you could turn off your Wi-Fi and see if you could log into the thermostat over cellular data.
Okay. I really don’t like being dependent on having a Wi-Fi device without some kind of manual or or are different.
Like on the Nest, it used to have a manual control on it where you would rotate it right or left to do the adjustments and then push the button.
But I don’t know about all the other ones. A lot of them are flat now and some of them have buttons, some of them are touchscreen. They’re all a little bit different.
So you’re gonna have to just kind of check and do your research.
I mean, another thing too, is you can call your power company.
A lot of times they have grants where they’re giving them away for free they come install it for you.
So you might want to see what they have for those options. Then you wouldn’t even have to pay for it.
If there’s one that’s compatible with your needs.
[50:16] But I’ve heard the power companies a lot of times, they can then program those devices on their own without your control.
They’re trying to get you to save power. And I don’t know if that’s true or not. I just heard that. It could be just a rumor.
Just a quick back to the Sonos speakers. I have a house full of Sonos speakers and I have a Play 5 and two Play 1s.
No, four Play 1s that are probably 10 years old. They still work fine. There’s no reason.
There’s no reason they may be obsolete, but that doesn’t stop them from working.
And I have a Sonos One that is three or four years old and it works with the new software, it works with the new assistant, everything.
[50:55] So I wouldn’t be concerned. I love my Sonos speakers. Yeah.
I mean, if you like the Sonos speakers like you, I’m really fond of Sonos ecosystem.
As I said, you can upgrade your older speakers to get those newer ones, which will then play with the HomePods.
For example, if I tell Siri right now to play what’s currently playing here on my desk in the living room, it’ll play it on the Sonos that are in the living room because they’re all tied together with AirPlay.
So yeah, Sonos is great. And I’ll tell you, if you send us an email to feedback at unmute.show, and if someone listening to the podcast has some ideas, we can help facilitate sharing that information along with you about accessible thermostats.
I’ve heard great things about the EcoBees, but I’ve never asked if they have buttons or knobs.
So if you listening have any ideas, then we’d be glad to share that information along and you can send an email to feedback at unmute.show as well.
So thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys very much. You’re welcome.
No problem. I have an idea. Okay. Hey, this is Ann. Hi Ann.
My thermostat, it just so happened that my company had it. I didn’t even know, but I really liked my thermostat because every time I switch from 78 to 80, and then 80 to 82, or whatever, the way it’s made, it just clicks.
And so when I click.
[52:20] And then at the top of it, you can feel little indentions. So then I know when I click it to this particular indention, it’s on 80, or I click it back to this other indention, it’s on 70, and that’s just five clicks. So I don’t know what kind it is, but.
[52:43] If you can look around for, if you don’t want everything talking to you, you. Um, you know, um, that that’s just clicks.
It’s not talking to me. It just clicks when I turn it.
That is the statement of the day that I really appreciate. And I can’t express to you how much, if you don’t want everything talking to you, that is why I’m learning how to use a Braille display right now. So I agree. Sometimes it’s annoying when you have things talking all over the place.
Yes. Yes, it is. Well, thank you for that suggestion, Anne, and definitely appreciate everyone.
Marty, it looks like we are coming up on the top, so I will let you wrap things up.
All righty, well, thanks everyone for coming. We wanna remind you that two weeks from today on April 18th, we’re gonna be having a special event, which is gonna be Script Talk.
So if you’re interested in hearing all about how you can get your medication bottles to be read out loud to you, then come check that out. It’ll be a good one.
Also, if you want to get ahold of us, feedback at unmute.show is our email address and questions, comments, or anything else. You can reach us there.
Everybody have a great week and we will see you.
[53:56] Okay, go. So real quick, going back to this windows X shutdown thing.
So does that shut down the computer differently than shutting it down from the desktop? No, no. Okay.
It’s just an alternative way to get there. The Windows X menu has some other options in it as well, but it’s a similar process.
It’s actually closer to going to the start menu, pressing up and then going over to shut down.
OK, one of the things I will mention real quick, too, if you are wearing USB headphones when shutting down your computer, most of the time, another indicator you will get is it will make clicking sounds like it’s turning off.
So that’s another indicator to know if your computer has shut down properly.
So just throw that out there as well. It’s quick. And I have one quick question, if I may.
If you use the Windows X, will it shut down all the programs that are open?
Or is it still the same process if you were to use the Alt F4?
Yeah, it’s still the same process. It’s just a different way of getting to the same menu.
Okay, thank you.
Yep, no problem. And appreciate everyone joining us. We’ll be back next Tuesday.
Again, feedback at unmute.show. And we look forward to having Script Talk on the 18th.
Have a beautiful day.
You.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
In this episode of Unmute Presents, hosts Marty and Michael discuss a new feature called voice isolation, which can help you get better audio quality by blocking out background noise while on a phone call. Michael demonstrates how to enable this feature on iOS 16.4 and provides a step-by-step guide to activate voice isolation. He also shares some useful tips on how to re-enable this feature on every phone call. Tune in to this informative episode to learn how to master voice isolation and get crystal clear audio quality during your phone calls. Don’t forget to share your feedback at feedback@unmute.show and visit acb.community for more information about their weekly live show every Tuesday at 10am Pacific Time (1pm Eastern).
Transcript
Marty:
[0:05] Hey all, Marty and Michael here. Today we’re going to show you voice isolation.
This is a new feature that was released in this previous update that just came out a couple of days ago.
And what it is, is if you have a lot of noise around you and you need to really get better audio out of your microphone, this will block out the sounds around you such as outdoor sounds like if a fire engine goes by or if there’s a lot of traffic anything like that.
So Michael is going to show you how to enable this and Michael take it away.
Michael:
[0:44] Full transparency initially I was going to bring my phone into the recording but well I kind of lost my adapter so I’m going to walk you through the process of enabling voice isolation on iOS 16.4 while on a phone call.
Out by making a phone call. So what we’ll do is we’ll start by telling Siri to call someone real quick.
Call 458-666-3342. Calling plus one 458-666-3342.
This will now call a number and the phone is on like I’m making a phone call to someone. Now if I take the phone away from my head, you’ll be switched over to speaker.
[1:29] So what I need you to do is find the time in the top left corner of your screen.
Three finger flick up and you’ll hear that you’re in your control center.
If you explore the screen you’ll see something that says Video Effects towards the top of the screen. If you slide your finger to the right it’ll say Off.
[1:47] Continuing your finger to the right will say Selected Phone.
And if you slide your finger or flick to the right again you’ll hear Standard.
If you double tap on Standard this says Selected Standard button.
And then you can flick to the right and there’s an option that says voice isolation button. Double tap on voice isolation button and this will then be selected.
Wide spectrum, as of the time of recording, is not available on actual phone calls. So, though it shows, you can’t actually enable it.
Do a scrub gesture. This is two fingers sliding fluidly from the right back to the left and then to the right again.
Or use your single finger and swipe up from the bottom to do a home gesture.
Press your home button if you have an SE and this will take you back to your control center. Do this again to get back to the in-call screen and now people can hear you a lot more clearly on their phone.
Quick note, it appears that you do have to re-enable this every phone call that you want to use it on. We hope you found today’s demonstration to be helpful.
If so, please Please feel free to share your feedback at feedback at unmute.show.
Remember every Tuesday at 10am Pacific Time, that’s 1pm Eastern, Unmute Presents is live. Visit acb.community for more information.
[3:15] Thanks to Andre Louis Shorts Collection for the music used throughout this podcast and zap splat sounds for the sound effect used as the transition.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Transcript
[0:07] Hey there and welcome to another Thursday episode on the Unmute Presents podcast.
Michael here, and I’m joined by a commonly heard voice around, well, around my voice and around the unmute parts.
This is Demasi and today we’re talking about two-factor authentication, second factor authentication, or 2FA.
And Demasi, have you heard people call it something else aside from that, that people might want to keep their ear out for and listen up on?
[0:37] Yeah, sometimes you may hear it referred to as well as a multi-factor authentication, which in some places those terms actually do mean different things, but it’s sort of like, you know, Googling has become a generalized term for searching the internet.
People often use all of those terms that you mentioned as well as multi-factor to mean the process of putting in a username, putting in a password, and then having something that you are, uh, that you either have or that you’re given at the moment of needing it to act as a second factor or a, uh, extra additional layer to your logins on the internet.
[1:16] And people hopefully have a form of this on their bank accounts at minimum bank accounts and email addresses. I would say, is there any other minimum things you would say? Of course, ideally anything that, that offers it, but what at minimum would you say people have it on?
My bank forces me to have it and my email forces me to have it.
[1:36] Yeah, so I and I would start with those two actually like anything that touches any kind of money any kind of financials where if someone was able to access that maliciously, it will cause you serious pain.
You want that on so any financial institution and as Michael said my bank forces me to have it on.
And there’s also extra safeguards in place with most banking you know applications and websites where if you’re logging in from from an unknown location like there’s gonna be some extra hoops you have to jump through which is good it can be annoying when you’re in a rush but it’s good because they’re protecting you it’s not just like oh we’re gonna let you sign in for South Dakota even though we’ve never seen you anywhere in that part of the country before.
We don’t want that to happen. Other places, right.
[2:25] Email of course and the reason you want it on your email account is simply because that is kind of the key to everything else.
If people are able to access your email, they can easily one just by perusing your inbox and deleted an archive folder depending on which email service you’re actually using.
They’ll be able to see prior emails from services that you use, which just gives them a direct connection like, oh you’re a Dropbox user, okay.
So now I’m gonna go to Dropbox.com, I’m gonna put in your email address and say I forgot my password and because I’m in your email, well look I can get in.
So that’s another reason to have email set up.
I would say any accounts also that allow for direct drawing, so it’s not directly a financial institution, but anything that can directly draw from your financials.
So think your iTunes account, for example, right?
You don’t really have a whole lot of authentic. I mean, you do, but once you’ve set things up to your liking for your convenience, you know, just run up a tab in the Apple store or the app store.
So, you know, you want that to be protected things like, you know, I’m trying to think of other services.
[3:39] You’re a better seller for that.
[3:40] Your play store, your, yeah. You know, your internet account bill.
Because again, you know, or cable bill, cable account, because again, those things can easily cost you money because you have payment information stored on file. And there are things people could potentially want that they will make you pay for. So, you know, if you ever…
Internet provider or cable provider that you use and somebody wants to watch that big fight coming up or the next You know Wrestlemania or whatever like, you know, they’ll just charge it to you or watch it and you know now you got a Extra $57 charge you weren’t looking for or I mean you can even charge an Apple TV because they’re pushing their app so you that is a concern that people have an all-in-all of your a lot of your Um, cable providers are also enforcing a form of two FAA and not calling it that.
[4:32] So what we talk about today may sound familiar. And if it’s something you’re familiar with, hopefully some of the knowledge will help you be informed so you can explore additional options in more secure ways.
And I’ve seen this happen to mossy with spectrum, sending me a text message to my phone number that’s registered with the account.
And then saying, we can’t make any changes until you give us that code.
Now I called spectrum. So I knew who I was calling. I verified my pin number, which is our security pin that we have. But in order for me to make another change, I have to give them that code that they text to the number.
That would be a form of two FAA, right?
[5:10] Yep. It is in a sense, because you still can’t do an action without that, you know, external piece of information, right?
Like it’s not just, Hey, what do you know? like give me your birthday and then we’ll let you do whatever you want to.
It’s like, no, we’re going to send this. And if you don’t have access to that phone in order to give them the code and you don’t have that, which means nothing’s going to happen. So that is a form of that.
I see this oftentimes, too. sometimes we’re just logging into services that don’t directly offer.
2FA, but however they are providing a form of 2FA, I just didn’t have an opportunity to set it up and choose what method I would like to choose.
You know, I log in, I put in an email, and I put in a password, and then they’re like, oh, you know, you’re logging in from a different device.
Here’s, you know, we just emailed or texted a code to your number on file, and you need to enter that.
So those are all things that you will generally see, and oftentimes companies are trying to make that process of two-factor or or multi-factor, that’s really where you’re getting kind of to the actual meaning of multi-factor authentication because we’re making you verify in several different ways that you are the person that should be able to access this account and do whatever, you know, changes, upgrades, et cetera, that you wanna do inside of that account.
I wanna go back one second, because one place that you really should probably have two-factor on your account, and they’re kind of enforcing it on a low-level way, I’ve seen with a lot of people, is Amazon.
[6:34] Because again, once your payment information is in Amazon, if someone gains access to your account, they’re buying whatever they want to buy.
Like Amazon does not ask you to authenticate yourself a second time.
Like go into Amazon and purchase something.
The minimum they’re going to ask me for may be to log in again if I’m on the website.
If I’m in a mobile app that I’ve managed to add to my Amazon account, or as a malicious person I’ve managed to gain access to Michael’s Amazon account through an app, they’re never gonna ask me again for a password or anything like that unless Michael goes and changes it.
So therefore now I’m just buying stuff with Michael’s card. I can add a new address to have it shipped where I want it to.
So Amazon for sure. And what I have seen with Amazon, again, this is a form of multi-factor authentication for you where you have to put in your username and password, but before you can continue on into your account, they’re either sending a code to your phone, or now what they’re doing a lot with people is just sending a link that you have to click that verifies like you got this and you also approve this.
And they’re giving you information as to where the log in occurred, the type of device, et cetera.
[7:43] So those are all things that.
A good company that either one, if you want to look at it from an altruistic standpoint, they really care about their customers and their safety.
Or if you’re more cynical, like I am, you’re going to look at it from the standpoint, they’re cutting down on customer service, support requests, and, you know, having to having to replace a whole bunch of money that somebody maliciously, you know, basically stole from someone by forcing you to have to go through a few extra hoops, especially when signing in from an unknown device.
[8:12] So you mentioned something when we were talking about multi-factor authentication and how if you had a choice, you may pick, you may have picked something different, but you were in a hurry. So you just got a text message to verify that you were who you were.
What type of choices does someone have?
[8:28] What choices does someone have? So, generally speaking, the most broadly found options out there are going to be SMS messages where you’re going to give them a phone number and they’re going to send you a text with a code that you have to enter.
This also can be done in some places I’ve seen where you can use an email address, so they’ll just email you the second factor code and you have to type it in.
Bye. Thank you for watching. And I’ll see you in the next video.
Next, I would say, would be in a more secure, would be an app of some sort, a 2FA code generator.
[9:04] And that takes the form of probably the most widely known of these at this point is Google Authenticator, where you scan a QR code.
And basically what’s happening on the backend, on a very high level is your phone that scans, the QR code contains a secret that your phone stores.
It basically is matching up the time on your phone with the time of the server.
And that way, because these codes change every 30 seconds, in most cases, some I’ve seen do 60, but usually it’s 30 seconds so that they match up.
And they’re called time based. Wow. One time.
These were the call time based authentication is really what it is.
So you want the server time in your phone’s time to be matched up because your phone will generate a code that says 1 2 3 4 5 6 and the computer on the other end that you’re authenticating to the server that the website is on or that the app is you know connected to also needs to be to verify that code and they’re using some cryptography in the background to kind of generate what should the code be at this you know during this 30-second interval.
[10:11] Generally although it’s not widely spoken about you usually have about 35 seconds for those codes so if you catch it say at the three seconds when you see it and there’s three seconds left in that 30 second cycle most systems will honor the code you know a few seconds over because obviously you got to look at it and then type it in right and it would be horrible if we just get caught in this weird loop where you can’t get the code in because you keep timing out so most cases you will have a couple of seconds over that 30 seconds but thereafter that is not gonna matter if you punch it in or not because it’s no good to you and no good to the server because it’s not calculating anymore.
[10:52] That is more secure than text messages for a couple of reasons.
It does not make you bulletproof. Let’s be clear, nothing about two-factor is bulletproof.
There are several situations here recently where companies have been breached due to social engineering practices and people have been tricked into typing in, say, their six-digit code that was generated by an app.
So it’s not bulletproof. You still have to be aware of what you’re doing.
But it is more secure because, one, it’s on a device that you have versus a text message, which if someone is able to hijack your SIM, most of us honestly probably are not targeted for that, but the easier those things become, the more likely it becomes more widespread.
So let’s say if you happen to breach a cell phone carrier, for example, and you’re able to access customer records, well, why not do a little SIM swapping while you’re in there? I mean, you’re already in there, right?
Might as well have some fun.
But generally speaking in the security industry, time-based one-time codes are considered to be more secure than text messages because text messages are just sent in the clear.
Like there’s no encryption on them. There’s no nothing. So they can be, there are different ways people can impersonate you or insert themselves in the middle of that conversation and be able to grab a code via a text message.
Email, I think, would be a bit more secure because most times the connections between your email client and this server and the mail server are going to be encrypted.
[12:21] But time based one time passwords tend to be more secure. And again, Google Authenticator is an app for that.
Authy is a pretty decent app for that. I’ve not personally used it, but I know a lot of people that have and they liked it. And it offers the ability as well to sync across devices, which can make life a little bit more convenient.
Their security seems to be fairly well, you know, fairly pretty good as well. I hope so.
[12:45] That’s dangerous. Bye.
[12:49] Microsoft Authenticator is also another option that a lot of people have used, especially if you’re in the Windows world.
Not being a full-time Windows user, I’ve never used that as well myself, but hear good things about it from people in the security space.
So, you know, I tend to trust their opinion because they’re managing other people’s security.
Also, a lot of the password managers, I can’t say all of them because there are a lot of them out there that I’ve never even heard of, But for example, one password and bitboard and both offer the ability to store one time passcodes in your vaults alongside the items that you’re using to log in with.
And there’s a bit of a, you know, it’s a personal perception situation.
I do have some of my I have a lot of my two factor codes stored right alongside the login item in one password because it makes filling those in easier.
I’m still going through the steps. The security level is still there protecting my account, but it just makes it a bit more convenient for me.
[13:50] However, my Gmail or Workspace account two-factor code is not in one password.
I keep that out in a whole separate app.
Similarly for say my bank, or at least a business bank I use, because they allow me to do this.
I don’t have those codes stored there as well. The next level up I would say for this would be YubiKeys, or I say YubiKeys and what I really mean, YubiKeys have kind of become the Google of security keys because everybody just refers to them as YubiKeys.
There are other brands out there that exist, but security keys are the next level up in security.
And what makes these a little bit better than the other two options is, one, you have to have this device in your hand so it lowers the opportunity, the risk of phishing, because even if, let’s say someone gets you to go to, PayPal with two Ys, P-A-Y-Y-P-A-L.com, and you have two-factor setup with PayPal, but it’s just a six-digit code.
If everything looks okay to you and you don’t check that URL, you could give the attackers all the information they need, your username, your password, and your two-factor code at the moment for them to turn around and immediately use it to log into PayPal, right?
This could happen. It has happened to people, not with PayPal necessarily, but it has happened.
Whereas with a security key, if you were to go to payypal.com.
[15:14] And let’s say you put in your username and your password and now it’s asking for the security key because that’s what they see on their end, it’s not going to work because the security key that you have connected to PayPal, they’ve exchanged a cryptographic secret that’s only held on your device and held on PayPal’s server like you know you have a secret key that signs a thing PayPal has a key that signs a thing and the only way to decrypt it is to have the the opposing private key so it’s not gonna work simply because the security’s gonna be like well I don’t recognize you don’t have a site stored for you don’t have a entry stored on your key for this site so it instantly red flags if nothing else has thrown anything up now security keys are not the most easiest thing to deal with Not every site that offers two-factor even offers it as an option.
And, you know, they can be a little expensive to buy into because recommendation, including my recommendation, is if you’re going to go down that path is using security keys, have a minimum two.
Because and I’ll tell you a good reason why there is the, I have one on my key ring, Michael has one on his key ring.
And you lose your keys or you can’t find your keys. Or as Michael did one day, you know, you hand your wife your keys because it has the Jeep key on and she drives off and then he’s like, oh crap I can’t get into my stuff.
[16:30] One day?
[16:31] My YubiKey’s on my key ring. Where’s the one day I knew about it where it’s like oh, oh my, no.
But another reason is, so one of the security keys that I have had, and I’m gonna say it was the second one I actually bought. The first one I bought, I bought a $25 YubiKey.
[16:50] Works quite well, has NFC and USB-A. I bought a second one as a backup, and when I switched computers, just to give you a little bit of background.
So I switched computers. I have a Mac Mini that’s now running as a home server.
I have a laptop now, a MacBook Air.
So I stuck the YubiKey because this computer never leaves my house.
And it was one of the small nano keys that’s meant to stay in a USB port.
This one happened to be USB-A.
They also make USB-C versions of this. You do not want to put these in a computer that moves.
Right, this Mac Mini does not move. It’s not leaving my house.
And if someone breaks into my house and has physical access to the Mac Mini, I promise you I got a lot bigger problems than that they’re gonna look at this weird USB thing and be like, oh, I guess I can log in as this guy now.
They’re like, oh, I got a new Mac Mini.
But I had this key out for some reason one day, I think I had been moving the computer around or something. I dropped it and it cracked.
So that key is no longer working.
If I only had one key, I would be locked out of a lot of things at the moment.
So you always want to have at least two now my recommendation if you want to go down to YubiKey or the security key path I do purchase YubiKey.
I keep saying YubiKey They are not the only brand that exists But they are the one that I am most familiar with because they are what I have owned All right, they they are what I do own.
[18:09] You’ll see good Tyson, which is a similar thing if you’re looking for something That’s not YubiKey So actually the Google Titan Google Titans keys were available.
[18:18] I don’t think Google is actually selling those anymore There was a hardware vulnerability discovered in their keys that they were selling.
This is about four years ago. So if you see Google Titan security keys anywhere, and they’re not being sold direct from Google because they may fix it and bring them back, I don’t know. But as of what I know right now, they’re not for sale by Google. Don’t buy them. Don’t ever buy a used key.
Do just don’t do it. Buy them brand new.
[18:47] YubiKey does have keys that are 25 bucks and they have a and these are the Yubikey security series is what I believe they are called.
But you can very easily determine whether they’re the right key or not, because they will have either USB-A or USB-C as the connector for plugging into a device, and they will also have NFC in them.
Those are good. I have one of those is one of the first ones.
That’s actually the first one I bought, because I was like, I don’t know about a security key thing. I’m not going to spend 50 bucks on them.
And then I don’t like it. Or is it accessible or does it work?
Like, how do I use this thing? I got a touch a disc. Where’s the disc?
I don’t know any of this stuff So here’s the thing. They basically look like little very very thin flash drives And there’s a little circular indentation.
That is where you put your finger when you plug it into a computer or tap it on the back of your phone For NFC to authenticate and it says touch the disc on your thing.
So they are very usable. There’s no screen there there are nothing like the What were commonly referred to as like the footballs back in the day where you would have a little token on your keyring that?
Generated the code on the device and you will have to look at it Like I was terrified at one point when I was getting a job.
Dealing with IT that they were going to give me one of those things and I wasn’t going to be able to sign into anything because I couldn’t see the code on the thing because nobody made a talking one.
Not sure you would have wanted that anyway, blaring out your code.
Your code is 123456. It’s like, oh, we just own that guy.
[20:14] But security keys are a reasonable solution if you want to go there again, I really suggest buying two.
[20:22] Now, just for anybody that is really interested in them, you don’t have to go out immediately and buy two.
Because most services, and I’m thinking Google, Dropbox, many other services, GitHub, if you happen to use GitHub.
[20:36] But a lot of services will allow you to add a key, and I’ll take this from the Google standpoint, because just about everybody has a Google account of some sort.
You can add a key and still have other means of providing two-factor, right? You have to actually go through some Herculean steps to force Google to only allow the use of security keys on your account.
So even though I have a security key, two security keys on my Google account, I can’t always fall back to a six digit code with the app that I have that code saved in.
Or if I had my phone number in there, I can have them send me a text message.
I don’t have that turned on.
So you can start with a single key to see if this is something, a part of your life that you want to start to, you know, implement tighter security if a security key is going to be the way you want to go. You can’t buy one.
Spend 25 bucks and try it out with something like Google or Dropbox or any service that doesn’t quickly restrict you to only using security keys.
Now, there are some systems where once you put a security key in, you’re done. Like there’s no more fallback failover solutions like your security key is going to get you in or you ain’t getting in.
So if anybody’s interested, you can definitely try that. There are a couple of middle tier.
[21:53] I’ll say middle tier. I kind of feel like they sort of fall in between the two-factor apps with the code generators and a YubiKey or a security key, excuse me. I keep saying YubiKey.
A security key. Those are systems sort of like Duo is one that comes to mind for me as well as Microsoft Authenticator has this capability as well.
You’ll see this with Google if you have a Google app installed on your mobile device and you sign in from an unknown browser or something, it will send a push notification to your device where you just approve it.
It says we’ve detected you’re trying to log in near and it’ll give you a location and sometimes a browser type and all of that device that you’re signing in from and then there’s a yes or no button or approve or deny button depending on the application.
That is still multi-factor authentication or second factor authentication because you still had to put in the username and password to get there.
Those are definitely more convenient.
[22:49] Again, sort of like security keys, not every service is going to support that, however.
And even the ones that do tend to use their own applications for this.
So you’re not really going to have that integration with push across the board for a lot of your services unless you’re working in an enterprise or you set this up in your own small business or something like that.
Because, yes, Microsoft Authenticator will send you a push for your Microsoft account. Google’s gonna want to use their app to send you a push for their service.
EBay wants you to use the eBay app to get a push for their service and so on and so forth, right?
That kind of reduces the convenience especially if you’re like me where I don’t have Microsoft Authenticator installed anywhere. I barely have any Microsoft apps installed at all. So no pushes from them.
Security keys are what I use for my Microsoft account.
So those are the kind of the different, you know, methods of two-factor authentication.
And there’s some others that, you know, are more stringers that really aren’t common, but the most common ones are going to be get a text, get a code via text message or link.
You know, also usually sometimes you will have the option to use email as opposed to a text message.
[24:00] A one-time code or general six-digit code authenticator, such as the Authy app or Google Authenticator or you know adding it to your password manager.
And then security keys are going to be the primary ways and the primary choices that you’re mostly going to see. Security keys less so than the other two options.
Text messages and authenticator apps are the most common ways.
If you have an option go with the authenticator app. Some services only give you text messages. Take the text messages. You may hear people say oh it’s so insecure and is, you know, there are a lot of gotchas in that situation.
One, you have to be targeted enough for people to really go through the effort to try to SIM jack you. Hasn’t happened to me yet.
Highly unlikely that it ever will, unless doing this on mute show really makes me famous and people can have more money than I actually have.
You know, they’ll be sadly disappointed if they get into anything, but hey.
[24:58] But any kind of security is better than none. Locking your door is better than not locking your door. Think about it that way.
Also, use what you’re comfortable with is the main piece of advice I give people.
If you’re most comfortable with a text message because you know you’re never going to possibly lose your phone, you’re always better to recover, hey, do that.
If you’re going to do an authenticator app, investigate options for backing up that data or storing that data in a secure location to recover.
Times with the security, with the apps, with the authenticators, you’re gonna get you know anywhere between 5 to 20 recovery codes from the service that you’re setting that up with.
Save those somewhere secure, password manager, encrypted disk, print them out and stash them in a safe.
Do something because those are your backups to get you in if you you know drop your phone in the lake and now you don’t have your authenticator app but you still need to log into Google so that you can initiate the process to recover your phone. Right. You know, you want to be able to do that.
[26:02] I’m glad you brought up the security codes because I was going to mention that.
Um, and so if you get that opportunity, definitely download those, save them and explore what multifactor authentication works best for you to mostly before we wrap it up today with our very interesting show, and I say that in twofold, how the editing comes out and all the content is, um, do you have anything else you want to share?
[26:31] I don’t just generally, you know, set up two factor wherever you can, whenever you can make use of it. Because here’s the thing, if nothing else, you know, you can’t be held responsible for what a company decides to do with their data and how they handle it.
You know, you can do all of the right things, have a great, super strong password and all of those things.
And if somebody gets breached and is able to, you know, if they’re storing your password and securely on their server, that’s not your fault.
There’s nothing you could have done about that. and in most cases we have no way of knowing it until they get breached.
But if two factor is in place for you, at least it offers another layer of protection for your online account in case your password is ever leaked in any sort of breach.
And it makes you less, you know, you’re not as low hanging a fruit as those who don’t have it on.
So, you know, lock your door. It’s like you go out in public, you lock your car doors because people walk by and they just yank on car door handles. If a door opens, they’re in there. If a door doesn’t open, they tend to keep walking.
[27:33] Stay secure. And we will check in with Demasi next year and see if that statement about not having a lot of Microsoft apps is still accurate, uh, give him a year with parallels and maybe he’ll start using them.
Check out Technically Working for more information on that. Unmute is live on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. Pacific time. That’s 1 p.m. Eastern Sundays.
We bring you something to teach you. And then Thursdays we go in depth with people like Demasi. Thanks for joining us, Demasi.
And how can people reach out to you if they’re interested?
[28:11] You can check me out at bedrockinnovations.com slash contact.
If you are on Mastodon, Uh, do me a favor and just go to, uh, demasi.yourownpay.com, and that’ll get you to my masternown location. Uh, if you mentioned me on Twitter, I still will get a notification. So, uh, I may reply.
[28:33] Thanks for joining and thanks for listening.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Introduction:
•
Marty shows how to share an article from Safari using VoiceOver
Steps to Share an Article:
•
Open an article in Safari
•
Go to the bottom toolbar
•
Locate the Share icon in the center
•
Do a single finger double tap to open the share sheet
•
Choose from different ways to share the article from Safari
•
Options include texting or emailing the article, saving it in notes, or in a read it later app
•
Other options include copying, printing, and more
•
Peruse the share sheet and enjoy exploring the different options
Conclusion:
•
Following these simple steps will allow you to easily share articles from Safari using VoiceOver
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Below is a auto generated transcript:You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.
Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast, Michael talks with Taylor Arndt, and Jeff Bishop about the following topics.
News* Be My Eyes adds virtual Volunteer with GPT 4 features to interpret images. * Optima modular Braille laptop from Orbit * Magna Magnifier from Orbit Research * Aira Explorer App replaces Aira Legacy * Google Glass 2 enterprise discontinued. * WayAround 4.2 released witht new translations and Android bug fixes.
Picks* Jeff: Ninite Pro * Taylor: iPad Air for note-taking * Michael: Star Trek Picard Season 3 episode 5
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
[0:01] If you’d like to set up a list of favorites for ACB media, these directions should help you while using the Blindshell Classic 2.Press and hold your back button. 7.45 PM.
We’ll press down. Call. One of seven. I want option number four, so I’ll tap that.
Applications. Four of seven. Press OK.
Internet browser. of eight and I’m looking for media that’s option number four media four of, eight will press ok camera one of six and then option number four internet radio four of six press ok popular stations one of five and you can check these different categories out but what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna go down to search search hit ok search that sound means I can type so I’m gonna write a by pressing the number two once.
Capital A.
Wait for that click. So I’ll write C, which is the number two, three times.
If you press the down button, you can get it to click sooner.
So that way you can press B, which is the number two twice.
Press okay. After you hear that last click.
Loading.
[1:18] ACB mainstream. One of 14. Now there are 14 streams for some reason, multiple ACB media of some of the channels are showing up. So here’s the process I use.
Because the favorites works in a last in first out model, I have to add the favorites backwards.
For example, if I add ACB media 10 now, it’ll be at the bottom of the favorites list, and then I add ACB media nine through ACB media one, if you want ACB media streams to be the top of your favorites, then you will need to consider what order to put your favorites in.
Note though, putting your favorites in order won’t be changed at all.
You may just have to go down to get to the first ACB media option.
So I’m going to go ahead and put these together by finding ACB media 10.
ACB media 10 convention information, which at the time of this recording is option number three.
I’ll press okay. That’s going to start the playback of the audio playing ACB Media 10 convention information told you three of 14.
[2:34] You want to hear some audio from the stream because it might take a couple of seconds You want to make sure that you’re favoriting a stream that would be something that is working. So we’ll press OK The media stops and you hear save to favorites.
Press OK.
Playing ACB media 10 convention information. Three of 14.
The phone then repeats the name of the channel and it tells you that it’s playing.
So after 10, I want to put nine.
I’m going to go ahead and jump to ACB media nine. Playing ACB media nine live to 14 of 14.
And within this application, I know that ACB media nine is option zero.
In the Internet Radio application, you can press 1 through 0 to jump to the search result and start playing that after you’ve started playback.
And now all of the favorites have been saved in the proper order.
[3:34] Music.
TranscriptSupport Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
You can tune into this call live every Tuesday.Visit acb.community to learn more about what is up coming.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Damashe:
[0:04] How’s it going everybody? This is Demasi Thomas. Based off of a recent conversation on, as of the time of recording at least, a recent episode of the Unmute show that me andMichael Babcock recorded, go check that out at Unmute.show, including to get the episode to hear more about the situation that this tip here is going to help mitigate.
Now before I get into showing this screen time tip here, I do want to mention that since recording that original episode of Unmute with Michael, it has come out that there is a potentialworkaround to putting this in place.
However, I’m gonna continue and record this tip anyway for a couple of reasons.
Number one, I said I was gonna do it. And Mike’s depending on me to record it so that he has some content, all right?
Number two, I do expect that Apple will probably close off that workaround if that is being put in place by someone intentionally. So we’re going to get into it here. I’m going to unlockmy iPhone.
Voiceover:
[1:07] 220 APM. Settings. Search.
Damashe:
[1:10] Search field. I’m already in Settings. So I’m going to go to Screen Time.
Voiceover:
[1:13] General. Button. Screen Time. Button. Settings.
Damashe:
[1:17] And also feel free to make use of this tip for managing any other screen time stuff and putting it behind the passcode.
I have some experience with this simply by managing my kids’ iPads and restricting some of their activities and setting down time. Now what we’re gonna do, I’m gonna quickly navigatethrough here.
Voiceover:
[1:37] Words, headings, family, heading.
Damashe:
[1:38] There’s the family section and I’m gonna scroll past that and I want to find.
Voiceover:
[1:45] Use screen time passcode.
Damashe:
[1:47] Use screen time passcode. Now this is for my device because I didn’t tap into one of my family members devices. I’m gonna double tap on use screen time passcode.
Voiceover:
[1:56] Passcode, zero of four values entered.
Damashe:
[1:57] And I’m gonna enter my passcode. Yes, yes, I know you’re hearing my passcode.
Trust me, it will be changed.
Voiceover:
[2:02] Five, two. So we’re going to enter. enter.
Passcode zero four values entered.
Damashe:
[2:10] I’m going to re-enter that passcode again. This is just a four digit pin.
Voiceover:
[2:14] One, one, five, two, one, eight.
Text field is editing. Screen time passcode recovery. Heading.
If you forget the screen time passcode, you can use your Apple ID to reset it.
Apple ID. Text field is editing. Email. Character mode. Forgot Apple ID or password.
Damashe:
[2:29] Button. Now I’m going to choose to skip this particular option.
Because the idea here is that I want to make sure that no one will be able to recover this passcode from me.
Let’s see if they offer me an option.
Voiceover:
[2:48] Don’t let me skip, let’s tap OK.
Damashe:
[2:51] Okay, so hitting OK didn’t work, let’s hit cancel. Alright, yes I’m sure.
Voiceover:
[2:58] Apple ID gives you a secure way to reset the screen time passcode if you forget it. Skip. Button. And I want to skip. Passcode. Four values entered.
Damashe:
[3:04] So hitting cancel there is what allowed me to not put in that recovery step.
Now, this is where the temporary workaround that I think Apple will patch will come up.
People have said, and it’s been reported I have not yet tried this, but however, people are saying that even if you take the step that I just did that says I don’t want to use recovery, skip thatstep, it still gives you the option.
So be mindful of that, but I do feel that that is probably an unintended behavior that Apple will fix.
So now I have my Screen Time Passcode set. I’m going to go to the settings.
And we want to go to Content and Privacy Restrictions. I’m going to double tap there.
Now I have a profile in place that already has preset some of these options here.
So I will show you where you need to go. I’m going to scroll all the way to the bottom.
Voiceover:
[3:58] Background activities. Allow.
TV provider. Driving focus. Reduce loud sounds. Cellular data changes.
Passcode changes. Allow. Demd. Button. Account changes. Allow. Demd.
Damashe:
[4:06] Button. Now this is currently demmed out because of a profile that I have installed.
But this is what you will want to activate in order to protect this is you want to use your screen time passcode to prevent account changes.
Right now what this does just so you’re aware is it’s gonna dim out a lot of things for you that you’re gonna have to go to screen time and unlock using your passcode before you can saygo change your Apple ID information or anything like that.
But that is a way to mitigate against someone’s taking your phone having learned your passcode steal your phone because this will be a malicious activity.
Activity and then using your phone’s passcode to reset your Apple ID password thereby locking you out of your Apple account, So that is the tip that I shared in the Unmute episode withMichael.
That is how you do it. Unfortunately, I can’t take you all the way through the process because I already have this particular feature locked down using a profile on my device. Maybe I’ll doa video on that one.
[5:08] But there you go. Just to repeat those steps, you’re going to go on the screen time. First, you’re going to scroll to the bottom and select choose use screen time passcode.
Use a good four digit code that you don’t share with anyone.
Mine just happened to be my month and day of my birthday, but I’m gonna change that as soon as I start recording.
For my cases, I did not want to use my Apple ID to recover my screen time passcode, so I hit cancel and I hit skip again.
Right now there is a workaround that is allowing, still allows that password recovery or that PIN code recovery to happen via your Apple ID, even though you’ve said that you don’t wantthat.
That is what I expect Apple to patch up and tighten that up.
There’s probably unintended consequences.
From there, then you’re gonna go to content and privacy restrictions and scroll all the way down to the bottom. And I started at the bottom and worked my way up backwards. So flickingleft if you’re flicking.
After you get to the bottom of that screen and you want to toggle account changes to on so that it’s protected by your screen time passcode.
Hopefully this tip is helpful and we’ll catch you next time.
Be sure to check out the Unmute Show at Unmute.Show.
[6:22] Or tune in live on Tuesdays on the ACB Community Call at 1 p.m.
Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, or just visit acb.community.
TranscriptSupport Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
In this episode, Michael and Damashe share tips on how to protect your personal data while socializing. They start by discussing how to protect your phone from being accessed by strangers, such as by using screen curtains and setting up a screen time passcode. Damashe emphasizes the importance of not handing your phone to anyone and instead relying on others in your group to take pictures if necessary.
They also discuss the benefits of using screen time to prevent unwanted account changes, and how to set up a separate passcode for screen time. Damashe shares his experience using screen time to secure his kids’ iPad and notes that this added layer of security can also be applied to iPhones.
Finally, they discuss the importance of using a strong passcode to unlock your phone, and how to make it more complex by using alphanumeric passcodes. Damashe shares his own experience of using T9 input to create a word-based passcode. They remind listeners to keep their passcodes for screen time and phone pin different for added security.
Overall, this episode provides useful tips on how to protect your personal data while socializing and enjoying your time with friends and family.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Notes:
In this brief announcement episode, Marty informs listeners that there will be no live Tech Talk call today. He emphasizes that this is just a reminder and encourages listeners to check out previous episodes, such as Lucy’s discussion on A-Ladies and the quick tip on scrolling with voiceover.
Marty also mentions the upcoming episode with Michael and Damasi, where they will be discussing safety and security. However, the main purpose of this episode is to let listeners know that there will not be a live call today.
Listeners who were looking forward to the live call will appreciate this timely and clear announcement from Marty. Tune in to this episode for a brief update on the Tech Talk schedule.
Support Unmute Presents by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unmute-presents-on-acb-communi
This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-e4dc67 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Unmute Presents.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast, Michael talks with Michael Babcock, Marty Sobo, and Debbie Hazelton about the following topics.
News* Bing AI gives incorrect information or gives outrageous answers * Netflix looks at rausing prices for users that share passwords. * We discuss what can happen if you are reported on Mastodon
AdThe iACast Network Live Stream
TopicTechnology is expensive, and so it is important to research technology before spending your money on it. This episode goes over some techniques for making informed choices when buying a technology based device.
Picks* Michael: Servant on Apple TV+ * Marty: iOS Access for All by Shelly Brisbin * Debbie: OKO by Ayes on the App Store Neck pouch - Guide Lights and Gadgets * Michael: Star Trek Picard Season 3
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Michael speaks to Marty, Debbie, and Michael about the following topics.
- Twitter removes access to their api for free users.
- Google and Microsoft implement their own GPT AI solutions as The New Bing and BARD
AdCheck out Debbie's podcast, This Time Around.
TopicThis week we discuss whether theblind community should purchase mainstream devices, or look at new assistive technology solutions. Devices that are mentioned include:
- Victor Reader Stream 3rd generation,
- BlindSHell Classic 2
- Ruby by Freedom Scientific
- Compact 10 by Optelec
- iPhone
- iPad
Picks* Marty Peak Designs Tech Pouch * Michael Babcock: Vocaster 2 * Debbie Mantis Q40 and Zoom Podtrak P4 * Michael Doise: All New HomePod
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
DescriptionIn this episode, Michael unboxes the 2023 HomePod with Michael, Debbie, and Jason.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Transcription[0:00] Music.
[0:16] And welcome to another unboxing on the IACast network. All right, we've got a few folks with us today. I'm just going to go through names because some folks are here, but listening and they'll come in in a bit. We have Michael Babcock, we have Debbie Hazelton, and Jason Castingway. Did I say that right, Jason? Jason You did. Jason Great. And we have Lauren Flinner listening out on Team Talk. We're back on team talk, folks. Imagine that. So we're here to unbox a new thing. And I've been excited about this. I got it yesterday. I have put off unboxing it for a day, which is amazing for me. So it's a home pod. It's a white home pod. And the shipping box, I took it out of the shipping box, but it was interesting. The shipping box from Apple doesn't have tape, guys. It just has a little cardboard pull tab that you pull apart and then the box just splits down both sides. You pull it down. I was like, wow, that's cool.
[1:30] I think my iPhone, I think my 14 Pro might have been that way. And it looked like it would look like it was in a flat rate box, but it wasn't. Right. interesting, isn't it? Yeah. And then, you know, Apple started putting these pull tabs, on all of their products. It's very interesting. And so there's no tape. And all you got to do is just find one of these pull tabs and yeah, gotta love that binaural sound right there. You know, oh yeah, Apple packs things in such a way that I often say they could pack my lunch. I wish they would. I would love for Apple to pack my lunch.
[2:13] You guys are hearing this in binaural audio, or you should be. If you're not wearing good headphones, I would. So I just pulled these two pull tabs off, and that's all I had to do. Like no tape, no nothing, just pull tabs. Then I turned the box over to be right side up because the pull tabs are on the bottom and then all I have to do is lift up and the top part of the box comes off and there's a home pod underneath. The inside of the top part even has some supports to hold the home pod in place so it doesn't move around in there too. Now the top of the home pod where the screen is so it is, is definitely indented and it has a little pull tab. You pull the little protective area off. And the difference on this HomePod is I've heard that it has two volume buttons, but I can't see those.
[3:16] Hmm. It says they're engrained or engraved or something, but I can't visually see those. But it's definitely in, like, it's in the screen is definitely like indented into the machine, into the HomePod. And it is definitely shorter. It's not as tall.
[3:42] Okay, so that's interesting. And the bottom also has a pull tab as well. Now I have heard reports, there we go, just something satisfying about that. I have heard that these home pods have a different base to them. So they're not supposed to leave a white ring on wooden surfaces. However, I've heard that after a day or so they still do. But this is definitely a bit smaller. It's still pretty heavy, but it has two less speakers and two less microphones and a slower processor and Wi-Fi. Maybe not so a processor, but an older Apple watch processor. So below the home pod, we have where it sits in the box. We have a little removable plate and the power cable is wrapped around this little area. Under the box, like where the instructions would normally go.
[4:41] So you just open this up and I don't want to rip this because I don't like ripping Apple boxes. There we go. You do that and then you have the power cable, which is completely detachable by the way, folks. It does not come attached to the HomePod. And what I like is it's very easy, once you get everything out, to put everything back in the box, way it belonged. That's really nice because sometimes boxes you get stuff out and it's just difficult to put back in. Also, yes one thing that's interesting, that's true, is there's no twist ties or cable ties on this cable.
[5:28] The other thing that's interesting is this cable looks like it belongs like when you plug it in, the end of it looks like it's built into the home pod so it's to mimic how it looked on the previous home pod. Kind of like they would do with the iMacs too the the cable was molded in such a way that, when it was plugged into the iMac it would look like one piece. Right. They're so smart. There are Apple. Does this go in? They are. Now it does appear to only go in there one way so you cannot reverse it. It will go in, from what I can tell, only one way. Yeah.
[6:20] Yeah. But you plug it in and it just feels like it belongs with the HomePod.
[6:27] Okay. Very nice. So I mean, it's smaller. Let's see. I'm going to put this down and I'm going to go try to get the other HomePod if my headphones once we'll let me go that far.
[6:47] And it's interesting, you can squeeze it and it does have some give.
[7:00] Oh, that's interesting. The base on the old one is... ...declined. Like, it's inset.
[7:13] And the cable feels very similar. And this one's quite old and it looks a little off white with age. And are they using a power cable that looks proprietary or at least it's not USB-C I'm guessing right? No it's kind of that figure eight kind of look. Oh okay. So I've, officially stacked two home pods one on top of the other to compare them and the.
[7:56] They are very similar in size they really are. The old one has a screen on on the top, like it just looks like they slapped a plastic, piece down on top, whereas the new one, it's kind of inset into the device. The old one has more of a hole at the bottom, kind of like you would expect, like a subwoofer to kind of have that little area to kind of breathe bass out of. The new one does not. So I think that the reason why I've heard the old one is a little more bassy, is because it has that room to have that base come through. Have that base come through. The old one is definitely heavier, which is interesting.
[8:49] Also, interestingly, the mesh has a little more give on the new one than the old one does. Like, if you press on it, it will kind of give a little more. Hmm. Hmm. But the bottom of the old one is definitely heavier. That's very interesting. Okay, so... We're gonna see if we can plug these things in. Have you ever heard two HomePods together, like two of the originals together? I've heard that's really cool. I have not. I'm never gonna.
[9:32] I have not heard that yet. Jason, you don't have one, do you? I don't, unfortunately. Okay, so we're going to plug in the new one first and we're going to set it up. Oh, can't wait to hear the sounds. I know. It's all about the sound. It's booting up.
[10:29] Okay. Did y'all hear that? Yep. Yes. That very bassy sound. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
[10:44] We've got so many cables over here for work management and all that kind of stuff, so, So just trying to move things around.
[11:01] .
[11:08] My voiceover is acting kind of strange, so I'm just letting you guys know it's reading all my punctuation. I wonder if I turn this on. Oh, she. Close button. More info button set up button. Center the home pod in the frame period heading home. Home pod heading. Well that was funny. I just had it pointed at the home pod. I wasn't really playing it anywhere. Yeah, it picked right up on it. Mm-hmm. Living room three continue,button use home pod as Apple TV speaker question mark heading close button close button close, button. Apple TV will use home pod for all audio output period. You can change this later in HomePod or Apple TV settings period. Uses Apple TV speaker button. I don't know that I want to do that just yet. Not now button. HomePod heading voiceover on. Eero common now common new device common a new Apple common incorporated period device has joined to Chopolis. Oh, it is reading.
[12:21] So it turned on voiceover on the HomePod. Yes, I heard that. And it got your Wi-Fi info and everything. Well it yes it does that just like a new iPhone and my eero, Said a new device is joined your network Yep Close fuck, Home pod is ready heading close fucking done fucking, Batteries widget comma staff and that's all guys, That's amazingly fast. I just set up a home pod. I mean, how long does it take to set up a Google speaker or anything like that? Yeah, there's a little more involved. Uh huh. So let's see.
[13:14] Play.
[13:24] Let's see play play play play okay so flicking is not doing anything.
[13:35] Okay hey siri turn off voiceover voiceover okay try again i turned voiceover off, Yeah, ours uses a Siri voice.
[13:51] What's the weather? I can't tell your location because of your settings. Where would you like to hear the weather for? Austin, Texas. It's currently clear and 17 degrees. Temperatures are heading down from 17 to 10 degrees tonight. I think it's set to Celsius.
[14:14] Don't know what happened there. That's kind of interesting. Cause I don't have my home set up like that. So fun times, right? We thought it was, we thought we were free and clear. Guess what? Maybe a couple, or maybe it's still catching up in the background or something. I wonder. Yeah, that could be. Maybe ask if it's Celsius or Fahrenheit, see if it knows. What's the temperature set to? Oh, it cancelled. That won't work. I found some web results. Are you set to Celsius or Fahrenheit?
[15:00] Oh, okay. What is the weather temperature set to, Celsius or Fahrenheit? It's 62 degrees right now. Okay, now I did it. Oh! What's the weather in Austin, Texas? It's currently clear and 17 degrees. Temperatures are heading down from 17 to 10 degrees tonight. Okay, well. That's interesting. Thank you for sharing. Oh my gosh.
[15:36] So, let's see if I can fix that in the home settings.
[15:42] Wow, you know from my job I do a lot of testing with You know different things and so I think my my devices are just confused, Hmm So let's see if I could find the HomePod. And be thinking about, you know what? I know something we can play. We can play.
[16:24] I know what we'll play. We will play this one show called Unmute Presents.
[16:48] OK, so I've got that playing on my phone. So we're going to airplay it. This is the real Michael, it says. Right. With the fake Michael and my TTS friends.
[17:15] I go here and I decided in this unmute presents podcast to put together something a little different. If you didn't listen to the past Tuesday's episode, our live call that we had on February 7th, go back and listen. One of these voices, maybe both of these. It's got some good bass.
[17:37] It does, yeah. We don't get something more Lollaping recorded for Thursdays. And in about 30 seconds, it'll be the Fake Michael. Should we try this? Let me know what your thoughts are. Is this something that you could listen to, especially when it comes to audio books or, I don't know, for you affiliates out there. Newsletters? Good morning and welcome to Unmute Presence. There's the Fake Michael. Yup. I'm your host, Fake Michael. Oh, that's so funny. Hi everyone. It's great to be back for another exciting episode of Unmute Presence. Presence. I really like that voice. Yeah. She's very articulate. Is that Lauren? No, that's the text to speech. Okay. That's Bailey on 11 AI. Or 11 Labs. and smart glasses to get home. So that's how it sounds with voice and some music. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And it was just, it was so easy to set up. Now let's see if I could plug in and get set up the old HomePod. This might be your shortest unbox cast. I know. Because they made it so easy to set up.
[19:00] It took longer to set up for the unbox cast than it did for the unboxing.
[19:09] I got too many cables.
[19:15] I am tangled in cables over here. Oh, the other home pod is sad. It fell over somehow. Oh, it's feeling left out. Right.
[19:37] Yeah, the new one is definitely lighter. Like the color on it is definitely, it's not much taller, it might be the same. They look different for sure. But the new one is definitely a lot lighter in color. I don't know if that's an age thing, or a, you know, this thing is just been used a lot, moved a lot, you know.
[20:08] Okay, this one's booting up now. I see that and I don't see anything happening yet.
[20:19] It's jealous, you got the new one. It's like, I'm not gonna turn on for you. Right. What's the weather? It's currently clear and 64 degrees. Today's high. It knows how to do it. That's right. It's like I'm going to outdo that new one. But the other one, the new one did say that until you asked about your city and state, and that's when it went back to the Celsius.
[21:07] Interesting.
[21:21] Now that's interesting. It did let me pair them up as two speakers, even though it was not a stereo pair. It says living room. That is interesting. I wasn't. I didn't know it would do that. Wow, I wasn't. Yeah, I wasn't sure if it would do that either because they're different. It's an AirPlay 2 thing, I think. So, let's hear what it sounds like having both of them paired up together. It's kind of hard to tell which one's which. But I think they're slightly out of sync with each other. Yeah, I thought I was hearing just a little bit of that. Yeah. So, it might be good if one was in one room and one in the other, but if they're together, you can hear that difference. Right. Let me see if I can just have...
[22:31] How do you... Okay. Let's stop that. Come on now. Let's stop that. Come on now. I don't know how to un-pair them.
[22:54] You know Apple tries to make everything so simple, but.
[23:00] You know, Okay, I think I got it. See that's a lot more low end heavy. If you didn't listen to the past Tuesday's episode, our live call that we had on February 7th, go back and listen. And one of these voices, maybe both of these voices, will sound very familiar to you.
[23:29] Music.
[23:35] This is what happens when we don't get something more long form recorded for Thursday's episode, and Michael gets bored and decides, should we try this? Let me know what your thoughts are. Is there something that you could listen to? Okay, so let's go turn that off and let's go turn on the other one.
[24:00] And we'll just play the same thing again.
[24:10] So this is the real Michael here and I decided in this unmute presents podcast to put together, something a little different. If you didn't listen to the past... Maybe a little less space but not, detrimentally so and more clarity more high end. Yeah more clarity for sure. I think it sounds better. Yeah, you could hear it too. Yeah, I think I'm... Oh yeah, and there's a tambourine there that I forgot about.
[24:48] Thank you to André Louis for the music, by the way. Oh yeah. So do y'all want to hear the music again through the old one and compare them one more time? Sure Cuz I think it's very fascinating I like hearing my voice.
[25:09] Cuz like like you guys said I don't know that I heard the tambourine on the old one very well Right? Hmm, interesting. Yeah. It just wasn't out there like it was in the new one. I kinda forgot about it.
[25:31] Or, I don't know, for you affiliates out there. Newsletters? Good morning. Real Michael here, and I decided in this Unmute Presents podcast to put together something, a little different. You can hear it. If you didn't listen to the past Tuesdays... Yeah, but it's a lot more suppressed. ...call that we had on February 7th. That's interesting. Go back and listen. One of these voices... Well, there it is. ...both of these voices... Yeah. ...wasn't very familiar to you. This is what happens... Yeah, it's almost like... Yeah, it's almost like... It sounds compressed. Yeah, yep, I'm gonna use that word too. Mm-hmm. For Thursday's episode, Michael gets bored and decided, should we try this? Let me know what your thoughts are. Is there something that you could listen to, especially? So what are your thoughts? It's not much of a difference, I don't think. I think, yeah.
[26:24] Yeah, somehow I didn't think there'd be much of a difference, but it is noticeable, especially what I'm hearing through your binaurals. Yes. It somehow is very obvious that way. And although the new one is smaller, I'm still hearing a very decent amount of bass. And there's more clarity in the high end. And yet it's brighter. Yeah. Right. More clarity. Yeah, it's brighter in a way. I mean, I think it might have less bass on certain songs. But I think that it's definitely, I tried to keep it to, Michael, do you have any other recommendations of things we could try playing?
[27:12] If you give me a second, I can just send you that song without the voice. OK, that'd be great. Just give me a few minutes, let me find it. That is very interesting though. Yes. And I thought somehow the setup was going to guide you through, you know, having it go through some sort of audio thing where it wants to listen to itself in a certain area to like perfectly equalize itself, but it didn't seem to bother itself with that. Or maybe it's... It does that when you're as you're... if you move it, it will do it. It doesn't do that. It didn't do that on the original one. It learns no matter where you put it, which is amazing. Wow. So it's not anything the user has to worry about. It's just a background sort of learning thing or adaptation. Wow. Cool. And I wonder, have you ever tried moving the original to a smaller room or a bigger room, to see if it sounds different? I've never done that. It does. And different surfaces make it sound different.
[28:29] Okay, so I've got this file from Michael.
[28:35] Tell me if you need it a different way.
[28:43] Okay, so we got it. Let's see.
[28:51] Apple, this is one of your flaws. I can put it in Dropbox or email it if that makes it easier for you. I don't, they need an AirPlay button. Well let's see, I wonder if I can just go to my control center and really guys, it's, It's set to bedroom, but you're playing through the iPhone speaker. Apple. Come on, guys. Apple fail. But hang on. Hang on. There's supposed to be a feature. Oh yeah. Where you can center. Wow. There you go.
[29:34] Oh yeah. Where you can send it. Wow. There you go. Oh wow.
[29:40] Music.
[29:45] Very clear. And of course, it's in the foreground now. It's not being ducked by Michael's voice.
[30:00] So we're really getting to hear it now. Right. Sounds great.
[30:07] Nice.
[30:10] Music.
[30:30] Touching it to the top, it should.
[30:34] Okay, now that I have it open here, can I pick the device? So it said on the living room.
[30:46] Let's set it back to...
[30:56] It does not wanna change it. Okay, I'll just close the app and I'll open text messages. Problem solving at its best, folks.
[31:10] And it went back to the living room home pod. It says you want to listen on this home pod, because it sounds better.
[31:23] I really like that little track. Yes. That is a nice I can put it in Dropbox Michael if that has AirPlay features if you can't I don't know if I have Dropbox set up let me go back to my, iPhone speaker.
[31:42] Music.
[32:01] I'm going to restart it from the beginning.
[32:09] Music.
[32:23] You know, interestingly enough, I don't feel that the difference is so much that I'd say, hey, I want more bass and I want to hear it on the old one, I think I would just stick, with the new one. Yeah. And some of that high end is muffled a little bit on the old one. Which is strange. Not what I'd expect.
[32:49] Music.
[32:57] I actually guys, I feel like there's a little bit of low in... I feel like there's a little bit more sound on the old one, but I could be wrong. But I'm going to de-pair these two again and see if we can do that. So I'm going to go iPhone speaker. A little more sound on the old one? Hmm. I mean on the new one. Yeah, I feel like there's more on the new one. Yeah, I do too. It's more precise. Yeah, it's more full. Yeah, yeah. I hear the tambourine more on the new one. I feel like the lows are a little more defined too.
[33:46] They may not be as low, but they're more defined in my opinion. I'll tell you what, Michael, you can buy me one and send it to me and I will tell you if the lows are more defined. Yeah, I want to start going, buy me a home pot. I tell you what, Michael B, I'll send you those two items and you can, we'll have a trade. You can buy me one. Hmm. Now I gotta see if I really want those, you know. So what do you guys think? Do you think that we're losing anything from the old HomePod? Nope. Oh, wait. We're supposed to be able to get the temperature in here. Let's see. Oh, yes. What's the temperature in this room? Sorry, I can't do that. Yeah, you can. It may need a firmware update. Oh really? I don't know if that's for sure, but I believe I read somewhere that you need an update for it.
[34:57] It's currently 17 degrees. Nope. Hahaha. And on that note, I'm going to jump off and go make some dinner. So I'll catch up with y'all later. I don't think I keep my apartment that cold. That's cold. Hahaha. Yes. Alright folks, that's going to do it for this unboxing. I want to thank everybody for being here. I think this was a lot of fun. And we're curious what you guys think. So reach out to us online and let us know which HomePod do you feel is better, the old one or the new one? We'll have this out to you guys in the IACast feed soon. So stay tuned and we're very excited to have new content, back at you. So thanks, Debbie, Jason and Michael for being here and we'll see you on yet another Unboxed Cast soon.
[35:46] Music.
[35:53] Thank you for tuning in to the IACast. We hope you enjoyed the show and found the conversation to be insightful and informative. If you have any feedback or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email at feedback at IACast.net. You can also follow us on Twitter at IACastNetwork to stay informed about new episodes and other, updates. Don't forget to check out more great podcasts on the IACast Network. IACast.net. Thanks for listening and we'll see you again soon.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Michael speaks to Marty, Lauren, and Michael about the following topics.
- Twitter bans 3rd party apps.
- Microsoft makes Soundscape open source.
AdCheck out the Unmute Presents podcast also on the iACast Network.
TopicThis week we discuss the latest in AI, which include Auphonic, DALL-E 2, Whisper AI and ChatGPT
Picks* Marty Play for macOS * Michael Babcock: Launchbar 6 for Mac * Lauren Adjustable Laptop Stand from Amazon * Michael Doise: The Last of Us on HBO
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast Michael Doise, Michael Babcock, Lauren Flener, Marty Sobo, and Taylor Arndt discuss CES and the latest items from Apple that were announced this week.
Resources from this episode:* MacBook Pro 14 and 16 inch refresh * Mac Mini * New HomePods
Picks* Michael Babcock: Hazel for Mac * Lauren Flener: HEB Coffee * Taylor Arndt: ATR2100-X microphone * Marty Sobo: Lookup for iOS * Michael Doise: The Last of Us on HBO
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast Michael introduces Marty Sobo, and Michael Babcock who discuss their podcast called Unmute Presents, which is joining the iACast Network.
During this episode, we discuss the removal of Microsoft Soundscapes from the app store, and the fact that it is now open source.
Microsoft Soundsape on GitHub
One interesting news topic that we discuss is the new AI voices for Apple Books.
Digital narration for Audiobooks - Apple Books
Out last news topic was that Amazon may evaluate what Echo devices they sell as Alexa costs them $10 Billion a year.
We also discuss our tech predictions for this year in this episode.
Picks* Marty Sobo: AirBuddy for Mac * Michael Babcock: BARD Mobile for BlindShell Classic 2 * Lauren Bradford: DCanes * Michael Doise: ChatGPT
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iacast.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast recorded in September of 2022, Michael Doise, Michael Babcock, Taylor Arndt, Leslie Dickson, and Jim Barbour discuss the latest tech news, and compare the OrCam devices to the Envision Glasses.
Links* OrCam * Envision
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Episode Notes Show Description On this episode, Michael and Taylor discuss Apple’s event. The Apple Watch 8 and altra , iPhone 14, new airpods pro, and more were all anounced.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On the latest IA Cast episode, Taylor Arndt, Michael Babcock, and Michael Doise talk about the week of tech events in October while going in depth with thoughts on the new Macbooks.
Links mentioned in this episode * ◄ Samsung Galaxy Unpacked recap * ◄ Pixel 6 event recap: Android 12's release, Tensor chip, 5G and more - CNET * ◄ Pixel Pass, an all-in-one subscription for Pixel - Google Store * ◄ HomePod mini is available in bold new colors starting today - Apple * ◄ Introducing the next generation of AirPods - Apple * ◄ Apple unveils game-changing MacBook Pro - Apple * ◄ Matter is the foundation for connected things. * ◄ Beats announces Fit Pro earbuds with wing tip design and $200 price - The Verge
Taylor Arndt’s Contact information and Pick * ● AirTag - Apple * ● @Taylor_arndt22 on twitter * ● @taystechtalks on Twitter * ● Taylor’s Tech Talks Community
Michael Babcock’s Contact information and Pick * ● AKG K240 Studio Circumaural Stereo Headphones | zZounds * ● @Payown on Twitter * ● The Your Own Pay Podcast Network
Michael Doise Contact information and Pick * ● Foundation | Apple TV+ * ● @Mikedoise on Twitter * ● Techopolis – YouTube
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Resources * Techopolis YouTube Channel * Taylor's Tech Talks
Show Description On this episode, Taylor Arndt, Michael Babcock, and Michael Doise talk about the latest apple event while sharing news about what's publishing around the network.
- The next episode of Hands on Safety will be on home security
- Can You Upgrade Windows 365 To Windows 11 In September 2021? by Techopolis Streamed 1 week ago 2 hours, 45 minutes 34 views
- Accessible Final Cut Pro Intro And My First Impressions Unedited by Tay's Tech Talks Streamed 6 days ago 1 hour, 12 minutes 63 views
- DM78 – Say Yes To Answer
Main Topic We discussed the Apple event on this episode of the iACast.
The following items were covered at this apple event.
- iPad
- iPad mini
- Apple Watch Series 7
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 Pro
Taylor Arndt's Contact information and Pick
- Final Cut Pro - Apple
- @Taylor_arndt22 on twitter
- @taystechtalks on Twitter
- Taylor's Tech Talks Community
Michael Babcock's Contact information and Pick * Pixel 5, The ultimate 5G Google phone * @Payown on Twitter * The Your Own Pay Podcast Network
Michael Doise Contact information and Pick * Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - Goodreads * @Mikedoise on Twitter * Techopolis - YouTube
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha, Leslie, Amy and Jason play through Swordy Quest. From the App Store: "Imagine waking up with no name, food or supplies. Where are you? Lake to the East, Mountains to the South. It doesn't matter now. YOU NEED TO SURVIVE. Set in a Fantasy and Living World, your goal is clear: Save humanity. Find water and food while fending off the habitants of the world. Gather, craft, hunt & cast magic for rewards and progression. Can you unlock the secrets of Swordy Quest?"
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Resources * Techopolis YouTube Channel * Taylor's Tech Talks
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Lauren Bishop, Taylor, and Jason discuss what they feel are the best and worst moments of the iACast throughout the years, as we say goodbye to Jason. He will still be behind the scenes, so we aren't fully getting rid of him.
News FlickType will no longer be available on the App Store due to continued rejections by Apple.
Apple will be implementing iCloud child safety features intended to help stop the spread of CSAM online. You can find more information here.
Picks Taylor: Her apartment. It just might be bigger than Michael's.
Lauren: The QBraille XL.
Michael: The Satisfactory Game.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Resources * Techopolis YouTube Channel * Taylor's Tech Talks
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor and Jason discuss using Windows 365 from an accessibility perspective.
News The iACast is changing its format. We will be expanding the show's focus to encompass a wider range of accessibility topics. Topics include: cooking, health care, and safety. and we'll also be bringing you news from other shows on the iACast network, so stay tuned.
Picks Jason: Expeditionary Force, by Craig Alanson
Taylor: 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro
Michael: the 12.9 inch M1 iPad Pro
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Resources * Techopolis YouTube Channel * Taylor's Tech Talks
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Show description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, and Jason talk about Microsoft's new Windows 365 service. This article has more info on the requirements for Windows 365.
Picks Jason: AirPods Max
Taylor: the original version of Apple's AirPods
Michael: The ATR2100x from Audio-Technica
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages.
Resources * Techopolis YouTube Channel * Taylor's Tech Talks
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, and Jason discuss the differences between Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Workspace. We also talk about why we made the switch from OneDrive and Microsoft 365 for business to Google Workspace. If you'd like to check Workspace out for yourself, then Taylor's Google Workspace Link Will get you 10% off for the first year. Also, don't forget to check out Taylor's Tech Talks.
News Audacity, a free and open source audio editor, has been accused by some to be spyware due to changes to it's privacy policy.
Microsoft has released the second beta of Windows 11.
Nintendo announces a new OLED version of its Switch gaming console.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, in partnership with Taylor's Tech Talks, Taylor, Michael Doise, Jason, and Michael Babcock give there thoughts on Microsoft's Windows 11 event. If you'd like to find more great content, check out the Taylor's Tech Talks Youtube channel.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Jason, Taylor and Lauren recap WWDC with a conversation about all of the features announced.
Picks Lauren: XCode 13
Taylor: Google Workspace
Jason: macOS Monterey
Michael: West World
Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha and Jason unbox the Sonos Roam.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description On this episode, Michael Doise, Taylor Arndt, Jason Earls, Michael Babcock, and Lauren Flener discuss Google I/O and their impressions of it.
News Last week, Google held their Google I/O event. For more information, see the link in the show description.
Picks Jason: The Touch Bar
Taylor: iPhone 12 Pro
Michael Babcock: Auto Hotkey
Lauren: Canva
Michael Doise: Toshiba Fire TV
Providing feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Jason, Taylor, Lauren Flener, and Michael talk about what to look for when buying a new computer. They also go over some computer terminology, what it means, and why you should care.
News The Epic Games v. Apple App Store antitrust trial is still developing, and we'll keep an eye on the result and what it might mean.
Picks Jason: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Lauren: Logitech Slim Combo for the 10.5 inch iPad Pro
Taylor: Auphonic
Michael: AirPods Max
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jeff, Taylor, and Jason discuss the announcements from Apple's Spring Loaded event. We then all try to answer this question. If you could only have 10 apps on your iPhone, what would they be?
News Apple's product announcements at the Spring Loaded event. You can find a full list by clicking the link in the show description.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, and Jason discuss several tech news stories, the increasing number of apps that Are implementing Clubhouse like features, and the Supreme Court overturning Oracle's copyright win over Google.
News Razer has confirmed that it will manufacture the RGB Smart Mask.
Microsoft is in talks to purchase Discord.
Discord has launched a Clubhouse like feature called Stage Channels.
Twitter is rolling out Spaces to everyone this month.
Ad iAccessibility offers web hosting services. Find out more by visiting the web hosting site.
Picks Jason: Apple's 13 inch M1 MacBook Pro
Taylor: Gravity Forms
Michael: the Expeditionary Force book series
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha and Jason play Blind Drive. Please note that this episode contains adult language, so listener discretion is advised.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Leslie, Lauren, and Taylor unbox and set up the HomePod mini.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Lauren, Taylor, and Jason unbox and set up the Eero 6 router.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, and Jason discuss Apple’s discontinuation of the original HomePod, and iMac Pro.
News Apple discontinues the original HomePod and iMac Pro. For more info, see the links in the show description.
Evidence that supports the eminent a-rival of Apple’s AirTags was Found in the Find My app in the iOS 14.5 beta.
Hims has launched the BrailleSense 6.
Google released the Android 12 technical preview.
Ad iAccessibility app development services
Picks Jason: TalkBack version 9.1.
Taylor: GeneratePress
Michael: The Expeditionary Force Book Series
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Transcription MICHAEL: Hello, everyone and welcome to another episode of the IA cast. All right, with me today, I have the usual group. We have Taylor Arndt,
TAYLOR: Hello, everyone,
MICHAEL: and Jason Earls.
JASON: Hello, everybody.
MICHAEL: All right, we have a great episode for you today. And you know, we've been gone for a few weeks. We had a kind of a crazy storm And then we wanted to get back on a regular schedule. So, we're back with a new episode to talk about all the interesting news that's happened recently and some rumors and news and a bunch of different things that have happened. So, let's jump right into it. Our main topic for today is the first news item, and that's the HomePod being discontinued. And I have very mixed opinions on this.
JASON: I do too. I kind of understand why Apple discontinued the HomePod. Also, they discontinued the HomePod! It's okay, HomePod buddy, I still love you! As I pat my HomePod.
MICHAEL: Didn't we have a hashtag for a while, pet the HomePod?
JASON: I think we did.
TAYLOR: Hilarious.
JASON: I was just trying not to pat the screen because I didn't want music to happen, but that would have actually been really funny.
MICHAEL: I think I have a picture of headphones sitting on a HomePod.
JASON: Oh, yeah! The Andrea Cans!
MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah.
JASON: But yeah, on one hand, I understand why they did it because it was at launch a what, $350 Smart speaker that couldn't do terribly much more than play music. I mean yes, it sounded good, But you know, it’s not what people were looking for in their smart speakers. Especially considering the likes of the Echo devices, the Google Home Hubs or Homes at the time. And you know, the HomePod’s been around for like 4 years. So, in one respect, I kind of understand it. And you know, the HomePod Mini does have some features that the big HomePod doesn't have regarding the U1 chip and everything. But at the same time, the HomePod does sound so good! And as good as the Mini is and as great sales figures as the Mini is because of its price point and everything, you can't argue that it just does not sound as good as the big HomePod.
TAYLOR: Right. But I think if we're thinking about it, the majority of consumers, they may not be in depth with audio and they may not understand that the HomePod sounds the way it is and that they want to pay for that. Because a lot of them just want to listen to music, and they want it to be portable. And so, that's where I think it's coming down to. Like, I understand why they they discontinued it, but yeah, it's kind of sad. I mean personally, I don't have a big HomePod, but that's because in a small apartment, I just don't have a lot of room.
JASON: Right. And, you know, they did say that they are still going to push out software updates for the big HomePods and support the Apple Care which is good because I just got Apple Care last year.
TAYLOR: Oh, that would stink otherwise.
JASON: Right? But like, I really want them to come out with a bigger HomePod for 199. That's what I'm hoping for, even though they publicly said to I think it was like iMore or whatever that they were in fact focusing their efforts on HomePod Mini. Because let's think about it like this, the big HomePod — you know, Apple slash the price to 299, right? So, for $200. You could get two HomePod mini for less money than one bigger HomePod. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to have the bigger, basier sound of the HomePod, but at least you would get stereo audio and stuff.
MICHAEL: Well, let's leave this part for the end because we're already kind of diving in.
JASON: I know right? I like, I got thoughts I’m sorry.
MICHAEL: But the other bit of news is the iMac Pro completely was discontinued and they're only selling them while supplies last
JASON:That I'm not sad about.
MICHAEL: In a way, I am. I think it was a great product, but I think we're about to see something new come from Apple. And as usual, we will be doing a live stream of that event. At least that's the plan. We'll be doing a live stream of the Apple event when it happens later this month. Because we do know for certain, right, that there is an apple event?
JASON: I don't think we do know for certain. I just think speculations hide that there may be one, at least last I checked. But March 23 is the rumored date for the Apple event. I also haven't really looked at the news today. So things may have changed. But last I knew it was a hypothetical thing at this point. I mean, a highly likely thing at this point.
MICHAEL: And I think it's because they're discontinuing these devices and the fact that we have so much information in the code about our next topic, and that's potential AirTags coming soon. Because there's mention of them in the find my app.
TAYLOR: Yes, there is.
MICHAEL: On the beta
TAYLOR: Which is awesome because I’ve saw YouTube videos. Obviously, I don't have the beta myself, but I've seen YouTube videos that have mentioned it. Obviously, when you're on to prepare for the podcast just kind of looking at all the news. And but yeah, definitely pretty cool. And hopefully, hopefully they work. I mean, Tile’s nice, but it'd be nice to have something built in and integrated for finding stuff.
JASON: Right, and I guess Apple's opening up the FindMy protocol so that companies like Tile could take advantage of it as well. And it's nice to see that they are opening up more of their frameworks and things.
MICHAEL: Well, and I think that's because there's been so much blame for antitrust and things between them and Google and things like that, that they're trying to make sure that they stay open —
JASON: ahead of that, Yeah.
MICHAEL: Because Google's had a lot of problems with that because they're in everything. The last bit of news that we have is, and I won't make any jokes, Jason, I won't do it, I won't do it. Those will be left for off the podcast, the BrailleSense 6. And I only make this joke because if you want to learn more, head to hims-inc.com/bs.6 . And I'm not kidding. Take all the jokes from that you can.
JASON: Exactly.
MICHAEL: Basically, we have the BrailleSense 6, and it was announced this week at CSUN. From what I've been able to tell, it was one of the biggest announcements because there weren't a lot of announcements this week. And the BrailleSense 6 dropped the Polaris naming. And it's Android 10, 120 Gigs of hard drive space, 80211AC wireless, a battery that while under load will drain 21% in an hour and a half if doing the max amount of work. That's the only battery statistic we can get. It has SD card slot, it has two USBA ports, a two USBC ports, a headphone jack, supports microphone, The, what is that called, Jason?
JASON: I think it's TRRS, actually, I believe is the technical standard which is basically what this microphone that I'm using is, which is, think the older headphone jacks on the iPhones or the the headphone jack on the Mac. So it's that single microphone combo jack.
MICHAEL: And it has all that, it has new software installed. And the person doing the presentation was using Zoom on the BrailleSense. So that's pretty promising. The only concerns I have are if it's going to get Android 11 and up, and how well the software is going to work because the Polaris had a lot of issues with deleting documents and things like that.
JASON: Yeah, the BrailleSense Polaris is a very interesting device. I think it also actually Michael, in addition to the headphone jack, I think they said it also has a stereo line in Port as well. So you could connect music things to it, you know, binaural microphones really would work I would imagine to it.
MICHAEL: Nice!
JASON: Did you mention that it has 6 Gigs of RAM?
MICHAEL: No, I did not.
TAYLOR: Nope, you didn’t
JASON: So yeah, it’s got six Gigs of RAM, an 8 core CPU. I don't remember if they announced the clock speeds of it, but —
MICHAEL: It didn’t.
JASON: So, it really does seem like a very interesting device and —
MICHAEL: And it's gonna cost 5799, come out in June.
TAYLOR: Yeah. Wow. That’s a lot of money.
JASON: So we do know, the battery will be user replaceable though because they talked about that at the CSUN announcement I think
MICHAEL: they do offer financing and trade ins for your older devices, so those are options to get you a lot closer in price to those devices. So
JASON: Yeah, it's a very interesting device. I do worry what the battery life is really going to be like,
TAYLOR: Right, and also if it can — like some note takers have a problem where they fall behind mainstream. And so that's the other concern too, is that like, you buy the $6,000 device almost. Well, it's already running two versions behind of Android almost at this point. 12 is beta. So that's the other thing too. These notetakers I mean, they're great for what they are, but you know, it's a specialized thing, and they're not always up to date.
JASON: Like I said to you guys, I think off the show, if I were to get a note taker, it would probably be the BrailleSense. You know, the BrailleSense 6. It's so weird that they don't have a name for it now.
TAYLOR: I know.
MICHAEL: Alright, you know, and we could have a whole episode on notetakers, but I think we would want to have somebody on that can talk more about Braille and mainstream versus notetaker because I think that would be a very cool discussion. So
TAYLOR: Yes.
JASON: Yeah, I do too. Because I mean, I've used the BrailleSense in the past, but the BrailleSense I used was, I think, even before the U2. So, it was definitely not any of the Android based BrailleSense devices. So
MICHAEL: Another thing that's happened, the last news topic I really could think about, is Android 12 is in technical preview. We really haven't talked about that. And I hear it brings a whole lot of user interface changes, but not a lot of — you're not going to be able to notice it very much with Talkback.
JASON: Yeah, that's true. I have been playing a little bit with the beta. After a couple false starts, I eventually got it on my Pixel. I accidentally installed the version of Android, that AOSP version, so it didn't actually have a screen reader which is why I wasn't getting speech.
TAYLOR: Oh, no. How did you fix that?
JASON: I pre flashed it —
MICHAEL: Very carefully.
JASON: I was —
TAYLOR: Yeah, very carefully.
JASON: Yeah, very carefully. So yeah, I reflashed it, because you can actually go to the Google developer site, and you can actually use their online flash tool, and it will basically do all the work for you
MICHAEL: Online? That’s cool!
JASON: It downloads the image to the device, you have to enable some things like OAM Unlock, and whatnot, it'll download the image to the device, and it will tell you when it's safe to unplug your phone at which point it should be booting into the beta of Android.
MICHAEL: That's fancy.
JASON: I know.
MICHAEL: And talk about the security implications there. I mean, it's Google, and they have all the security keys and all that. But could you imagine if somebody were to spoof that, and be able to put a knot legit version of Android from a website?
JASON: Yeah, I know. I did actually think about that. And then I stopped thinking about it.
TAYLOR: That might have been a good idea.
JASON: But like I said, I do have Android 12 installed. I don't notice too much of a difference. Although honestly, my Pixels not my primary driver, my primary driver’s my iPhone. So what I can say though, is that 12 does seem to be relatively stable. And along with the introduction of Talkback 9.1 which is not specific to Android 12, I do think that the Android experience is going to improve a bit which is nice and awesome to see.
MICHAEL: Yeah. So, it's really cool that, you know, we have the ability to flash these devices remotely. I think it's really neat. But we'll have more information about what's in the beta for Android 12 in a future episode, but I think it's really cool that we have the ability to do that, and to try these things before they come out, you know, iOS, Android, Windows through the Windows Insider program, and things like that.
JASON: I think the one thing that was kind of annoying to me though is — and maybe it's just I did it in a way that made this happen. But it ended up forcing me to reset my phone to flash the version of Android 12 on to it. And of course, when I had the version without talkback, I didn't mind resetting my phone. And I think if you downgrade back to Android 11, I believe it will make you reset as well. They do tell you that. So
MICHAEL: you know, I love how my watch made a noise even though I have — typically if I mute my phone, my watch will mute with it, but not this time.
JASON: Oh, interesting.
MICHAEL: Yeah, usually it mirrors but not this time, that's interesting. All right, so for our ad part of the show today, I want to talk to you guys about app development services that's offered by iAccessibility. iAccessibility offers app development services for iOS and Android at $50 an hour where we will build your app from the ground up based on your website or however, whatever app you're trying to build. And the app will be accessible and usable by all users. Unless it's a game that you really need specific use cases. We'll still try to make it as accessible as possible, though. So,, we've built apps like VO Starter, we've built apps like Pocket Braille, Blind Bargains, ACB Link, And that's just a few of the different apps on a lot of platforms that have been created. So $50 an hour minimum of $1,000 and you can have your app in the iOS and Google Play app stores. So you can go to iaccessibility.net to learn more, and we will be promoting that more on the website. So, people look out and we'll have more information. So thanks for listening to the iACast. And now on to our main topic for today. And we've already talked a little bit about that, and it's Apple discontinuing products like the HomePod. And you guys, I — this is — I feel like this is the most products that Apple's discontinued at one time. And you know, Microsoft has done it. I mean, they discontinued a whole store line. Google, Google is the project killer, they are known for that. Do you guys think Apple's kind of jumping on board that train,
JASON: I think in a way they are. I really think what they're trying to do is they're trying to streamline their product line, and you know, not have so many variations of things around. Especially in the case of the iMac Pro. I keep wanting to call it the MacBook Pro. That is a different product. But the iMac Pro because they really want us all to move over to Apple silicon, which, you know, I'm personally fine with. So I really think that's part of it. And, you know, as far as the HomePod, I like to think that they have something new planned to replace this beautiful, soft, lovely mesh, big HomePod that I'm totally like rubbing a finger against right now because it just, it’s fun!
MICHAEL: Hashtag pet the HomePod.
JASON: Exactly. But you know, I really hope that they do have something to replace the bigger HomePod with at some point soon. Because, yeah.
TAYLOR: Yeah. So the thing with that is that, I think, like I said, a lot of these companies are doing that right now. They're just trying to streamline. And you know, Google has been doing it for years. Microsoft kills things. But Apple, like I said, this is really a first. They don't really do this all that often. And so, either one of two things, they either have a lot more products coming and they need to get rid of stuff, or they're just trying to streamline because a COVID and everything, obviously, but we've been in COVID for over a year now. So who knows. You know, they're just trying to get things streamline. Or if they are trying to add new products, but they need to get rid of some first.
MICHAEL: And it might be — it might just be that they don't plan to update. Oh, well, actually, you know what? I think the Home Pod runs on the processor that the iPhone seven runs on. Isn’t it, Jason?
JASON: The big HomePod? Yeah, it's the A8.
MICHAEL: Oh, wow. And I think that's the next on the chopping block this year, guys.
TAYLOR: iPhone seven, you think next?
JASON: I think well, the seven has the A9, right?
MICHAEL: I don't remember —
JASON: No, wait a minute. No, I think the A8 is from the iPhone 6. Actually.
MICHAEL: But I remember the 6S is the last version — iOS runs on the 6S. And so I bet the iPhone seven will be the final version that 15 will run on.
JASON: Oh, that's possible. I mean, at the same time, they did actually change the foundation according to some tech sites. They did change the foundation of what HomePod OS was. So for a while it was based on a foundation of iOS. And then I don't remember when this happened. But supposedly they ended up changing the foundation from iOS to TV OS so that it wouldn't have as much code and things in in the OS that isn't really needed and used by the HomePod. So I was kind of not expecting to see the cancellation of the big HomePod for another year or two yet. I was a bit surprised. But maybe — I mean, I was going to say maybe this has something to do too, with the silicon chip shortage. But that would probably be more to do with the Mac, I would think maybe then the homePod.
MICHAEL: Well, it's interesting because I'm wondering if they're going to rename the HomePod Mini eventually to something else. Or if we're going to have the HomePod Pro, come out and then put a new device in later on in the HomePod category
JASON: Right, or the HomePod Max.
TAYLOR: Right, or the HomePod Pro Max.
JASON: I don’t think they’ll do Pro — well, I lie, 12 Pro. —
MICHAEL: If you think about it, on the Mac, we don't have a MacBook, we have the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. We don't have a Mac Book or the Mac.
TAYLOR: Oh, right.
MICHAEL: So that might be kind of the landscape we're looking at for HomePod for a while.
JASON: Maybe.
MICHAEL: Because if you notice the mac book that came out like 2015-2016–
JASON: 2015-2016, I think 2016, yeah.
MICHAEL: It was short lived as well. So you know we have the air and the pro that are still around but the flagship name was was discontinued quick on that line too. So that's kind of interesting to think about.
JASON: Yeah, it really is. And I think the one thing that's keeping me from being complete and utter 100% distraught that the big HomePod is being discontinued is just the fact that the — and I think I said this before, that Apple did say that they are still going to issue software updates for the big home pods for the time being, and supported still through Apple Care.
MICHAEL: I'm wondering if you put two HomePod minis in a room, if you get the same quality sound as one big HomePod,
JASON: I think you would get the same overall quality sound, because the HomePod Mini does seem like it sounds very similar to the big HomePod just without that deep low bass that the big ones can hit.
MICHAEL: Yeah. And I don’t know, it's to the point where when we look at these devices, it's hard to it's, and you know, maybe I'm just, my train of thought just keeps going all over the place. But the more I think about things, maybe this is a way for tech companies to dispel rumors and leaks by just saying, we're going to discontinue this, we're going to change this. And so it kind of throws people off to know what the next step is going to be.
JASON: Yeah, maybe. I think though, in the case of the iMac pro being discontinued, we all know, it's most likely going to be because we're going to be seeing an apple silicon based iMac. Now whether we see that on March 23, which I personally don't think we'll see. I will say that on the show. And I’ll be very happy to be wrong. But I don't think we're going to see that on the 23rd.
MICHAEL: I think we will, I think that's going to be the focus is iMacs this year.
JASON: I don't know, I think we might see things about AirTags and iPad pros and stuff, but we'll see. If I'm wrong. I'll be happy.
Michael: See, maybe we need to come up with the accessibility pool. Because what I think we're gonna see and take your bets people.
TAYLOR: Okay,
MICHAEL: I think we're gonna see iMacs, colored iMacs, I don't think we're gonna see iPads just yet. But that's just me. Now, in saying that, iPads have come out in March before. So it's not out of the norm. But IMAX used to be used for education as well. And so if they bring out the colored iMacs like they had for education in the past and kind of marketed towards that, I could definitely see that being a march thing. And plus, iPad Pro has typically has an 18 month life cycle. It's only been 11 months since iPads have come out. So in other words, this is Michael trying to say please let my iPad be relevant in April.
TAYLOR: Well, I have to agree with Jason on this one, Michael. Because, like I said, with all the evidence and stuff, I think it's gonna be AirTags and stuff. But again, if I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to admit it. But I really think I have to agree with Jason, Michael.
MICHAEL: And who knows, we may see all these things. I doubt it but
TAYLOR: That’d crazy.
JASON: no, you know what's really gonna happen. Apple's not actually going to have a product event on the 23rd, they're going to just announced their new products quietly on their site. And then we'll all be wrong.
MICHAEL: And it could happen, it could happen.
JASON: I do think though regardless, as sad as I am to see the big HomePod be discontinued, and like I said, me personally, I'm not terribly upset about the iMac pros cancellation and we're excited because, you know, that just tells me to watch out for the iMac. Not that I'm going to get one but it's still always fun to see what they're going to come out with. I still enjoy my HomePod. You know, I still plan on using it until something happens. Like, if nothing else using it until Apple decides they're not going to update it anymore. Whenever that may be, so.
MICHAEL: Well, and that shows me that them discontinuing these things that just, especially on the iMac side it means that they have something new coming around the corner and they may decide that the pro line of iMac just isn't needed anymore because of what the A1 and A1x will do for these devices. I mean —
JASON: You mean the M1?
MICHAEL: Yeah, the M1.
JASON: It's a processor, Michael it's not steak sauce.
TAYLOR & MICHAEL: Right.
MICHAEL: That needs to be the name of an episode sometime. Our previous episode title we came up with it is going to be it.
JASON: Yeah, but that would be hilarious. 156 It's a processor not steak sauce.
MICHAEL: All right. And you know, I wonder if that's why they started with a4S.
JASON: I don't know.
MICHAEL: Because Could you imagine Apple naming, now introducing our first processor line, the A1.
JASON: and then Could you imagine the hilarity in covering the lawsuits, if that would even happen. That'd be funny.
MICHAEL: Anyway, would that'd be a coprocessor for for Intel the A1 because it has to go along with it to make it better?
TAYLOR: I don't know, would it be? That’s your call.
MICHAEL: I mean, if we're comparing Intel to steak there would be A1 processor from Apple to
JASON: They’ll call it, I don't know, I was gonna say steak Lake, but that just sounds weird. Dinner Lake,
MICHAEL: Dinner lake. All right, out there. There you go Intel. When you come out with that chip that everybody wants just say time for dinner. Like,
JASON: Exactly.
MICHAEL: Anyway, I think this is the most jokes we've told in a podcast. And I really think that the M1X will really be like, there's no pro version of that, there's no way to up the process or on that. So there's, on the Intel iMacs, you can get i5, I7, I9, and you have the better display on the Pro, which they can still do the better display. But if the display is already going to be amazing in these new iMacs with the new chips, then they don't have a need to do that. So, there may not need to be an iMac pro because the new iMac will just be able to boast that it's pro already with the built in Apple silicon.
JASON: And that was kind of my thinking, when I first read about the cancellation of the iMac Pro, I was actually thinking as you were talking and I don't really think Apple's gonna do this, if they came out with instead of the M1x. Or the M1 2, having the M1 Pro, but I really don't think they would do that, considering they already have products in their pro line that have the M1 and that would confuse people.
MICHAEL: Right. But, you know, I just think that they're going to, I think that they — now that we're looking at coming slowly out of COVID, they're going to be looking for the best way to sell their products. And if you could just say, look at the shiny new products we have in our stores aren't aren't these amazing, people are going to want them and especially if they start doing these colors, like they've shown on concept art and things like that, that that are rumored, that’s just going to be amazing.
JASON: I mean, look at how popular the new Macs have been already, you know, because working from home and they've got that long battery life and the slightly upgraded camera because of the ISP
MICHAEL: And you know, I'm doing all this on an M1 Mac, the recording and Zoom, and all that. And I keep telling people it's the better of the two machines. I mean, this is still a terrible camera, but I'm looking at my face on here. And it looks a lot better than my other Mac did, by far. So Apple has really gone a long way with what they're doing. All right, do you guys have any final comments we want to give before we wrap up today?
JASON: Steak!
MICHAEL: Yes.
TAYLOR: Oh my God!
JASON: No, I’m kidding. But you know, it's very interesting to see these product cancellations. I keep flitting between I'm sad, especially for the HomePod. And it's because there's going to be something new, like, a lot of me is just like, This has to because there's something new. So it's going to be very interesting to see what actually ends up happening.
MICHAEL: Well, you know, the interesting thing, I want to point this out. The interesting thing about the home pod Mini is you don't need to plug those into the wall.
JASON: Right.
MICHAEL: And that's really interesting. I mean, you could build a USBC — you could buy a USBC hub, plug it into the wall and have five home pod minis hooked up to that thing —
TAYLOR: In a power strip. Yeah.
MICHAEL: Well, not even a power strip, just a USBC hub.
TAYLOR: Oh, wow. Oh, yeah because it doesn't even plug in to the wall. Wow, I'm not thinking
JASON: Or a battery pack.
MICHAEL: Yeah, you could hook it up to a battery pack. And so that makes it almost more usable than the echo.
TAYLOR: Yes, Yes!
MICHAEL: And so I think that's why Apple really wants to focus on that because they're like, there's so much possibility here.
TAYLOR: I wouldn't blame them.
MICHAEL: I mean, it sounds better than any echo. I'm sure. I don't know, I haven't heard one yet. But
JASON: Review say they do.
MICHAEL: So, you know you put a few in a room. You're gonna get good audio. The only thing that you can't do is use the standard stereo speaker — or TV speakers.
JASON: You can, they just won't — I just don't think they'll do Dolby Atmos and stuff that the big HomePods do.
MICHAEL: How would you do — oh, well, Apple TV speakers, but how would you use the standard TV speakers?
JASON: Oh, okay. Yeah, I misheard. I thought you said Apple TV. Yeah, you can't use Well, you can't even use a big HomePod as a standard TV speaker. So that's not
MICHAEL: It's not new. Could you imagine if they came out with the HomePod sub where you had 2 of the apple speakers of the homepod minis as your regular speakers? Now, that's a possibility.
JASON: That's actually funny that you mentioned that because I was talking to somebody pre show about that. And what they had said is, Apple comes out with this sub and then gives it 2 USB C ports so that you can plug two HomePods directly into the wall or something. I don't know if that is what they're going to do. But that would certainly be interesting. It'll definitely help with the idea of, I want to have stereo speakers, but I need two outlets if they decided to go that route. So who knows?
MICHAEL: Yeah, I'm really excited to see what they do. I mean, if they bring out a HomePod sub, I will press that Buy button immediately. I'm not kidding that if they did that, you know, I would buy a home pod sub. And it kind of makes sense, guys, I think that's actually probably what they're going to do. Because it would make money for them. If you had to buy two HomePod Minis and A HomePod sub. Let's price the sub at $200. They're making $50 more off of you then if you bought one HomePod. Now, granted, they're not going to make 600 or $700 if you had to buy two regular HomePods. But, who's gonna do that anyway?
TAYLOR: Right.
JASON: Yeah, that's true. I think though, the only downside to this is, as it stands right now, if you were looking to buy HomePods, new, that would do Dolby Atmos, you can't, because that was a feature specific to the bigger HomePods. And I don't know if it's because the eight is more powerful than the S5 or whatever CPU the minis have inside, I think it's the S5 or if it's just that the Mini. , I mean, the big HomePod has more microphones, and it's not limited to the chip. But as of right now, you can't buy new home pods directly from Apple. If you want to do Dolby Atmos.
MICHAEL: actually you can for right now during the time of this recording, but.
JASON: I didn't even see a link in the store for the HomePod when I last looked.
MICHAEL: So I just looked, and they're still in the Apple Store app for 299. You can pick either one.
JASON: Oh, they have the Space Gray ones back?
MICHAEL: Yeah, they're showing both of them, at least when I looked it showed a picture showing both of them.
JASON: Oh, that's interesting, because I knew for a while that they only had the white ones around. And it's very interesting then that I couldn't get to them. Because on the Apple Store, on Apple's website, if you wanted to see the HomePods, the only way it was able to find them is by going under the Apple Music link. And they talked about the HomePods and the AirPods and the AirPods Max. The only HomePod they listed was the HomePod Mini. Whereas the big HomePod used to be there. So that's interesting that they still show up in the Apple Store —
MICHAEL: Yep, they are in the Aplle Store app. Yeah.
JASON: And of course you can buy them from other retailers. It's not just Apple that sells the HomePods but
MICHAEL: And since they're discontinued, I would wait so you can get them from Best Buy or somewhere else where they will be much cheaper.
TAYLOR: Yep.
JASON: Just keep in mind, if you're going to go that route, that we don't know how long Apple is going to support the big HomePods with software updates, even — All we know is that they are still going to support them.
MICHAEL: Alright, well, that's gonna do it for our show today. Jason, to end us off for today, where can people find you online? And what's your pick?
JASON: So my pick is, funnily enough, not an Apple product, but rather a Google product.
MICHAEL: Ah, just wait. It'll be discontinued at some point.
TAYLOR: Probably Well, next week.
JASON: Specifically, my pick is talkback version 9.1. And I pick it because it enhances talkback by allowing you to use multi finger gestures. Finally, it has a Braille keyboard. Although, the Braille keyboards been there since 8.4 I think it was? But I really find I like the multi finger gestures. I like the new unified talkback menu. And it's just, I just love this version of talkback compared to the older ones, because I can disable the angular gestures and the proximity sensor silencing speech. I can turn that off now because you can now tap with two fingers to pause speech.
MICHAEL: Oh, that's fantastic.
JASON: And the magic tap gesture for iOS users is there. And so it's really nice. You know, they don't have the rotor as such. I mean, you can't rotate two fingers on the screen or whatever, but they definitely do have an easy way to navigate, granularity and stuff now and it's all customized Pretty much. So talkback 9.1 it's pretty nice. So that is my pick. As far as where people can find me, you can find me producing content for iAccessibility, you can email me at Jason@iaccessibility.net. And you can also follow me on twitter at jde 1. I know that I have been giving my Facebook out in past episodes, I have decided that I will no longer give that out. I no longer have the app installed. So yeah, those are the ways you can follow me, find me email emailing me and following me on on Twitter. And if you catch me in clubhouse, then feel free to say hi,
MICHAEL: All right, Taylor, what's your pick for the week? And where can people find you online?
TAYLOR: Okay, so my pick is a little technical. So I'm going to explain it. I pick generate press. And for those who don't know, Generatepress is a WordPress theme. And a WordPress theme is basically a thing that will help enhance the visuals of your site. So it basically helps make your site look the way it looks. In a short version. I mean, like a short description. So what it will do is it is really awesome, because you can customize every part of your site. And the cool part is that it's fully accessible. There are two versions free and premium. The free theme is literally just you go download it from wordpress.org theme directory, and the paid one is a paid plugin. I believe it's 59 a year or what? I can’t rember the lifetime of like 249 lifetime Michael?
MICHAEL: I didn't see a life. Yeah, I think it's 250 lifetime
TAYLOR: Okay, so I really love Generatepress thanks to Michael Babcock and dimasi Thomas for mentioning those to me in a Clubhouse room. Where you can find me online, I'm all over the web. Literally, I have a YouTube channel that I would like you guys to check out, Taylor's Tech Talks. And that also has a podcast now. So if you like hearing from me, you can hear from me and both of those places. I also am on Twitter and clubhouse you can email me at Taylor@iAccessibility.net. And follow me on Twitter, Taylor_arndt22. And I am also producing content for iAccessibility.
MICHAEL: Alright, so my pick for this week is a book series I'm reading called Expeditionary Force. And the first book in this series is called Columbus Day. The author is, I believe his name is Craig allanson. And he he has written several books in this series. And it's an awesome, awesome book series, The sci fi series about aliens taking over Earth, and about how humanity kind of steals a ship and goes out in the galaxy to kind of protect Earth. So there's an AI That's hilarious. And I'm not going to give anything more away about the series. But check it out. Highly recommend it. I'm on the third book right now. And I've been reading it for about two weeks and each books about 15 hours on Audible. So that tells you how dedicated to this series I am. So highly recommend it. As for where you can find me. You can find me producing content for iAccessibility. You can email me at mikedoise@iAccessibility.net. I'm Mike, always on Twitter, and on Facebook, just search for Michael Doise. And you go to Michaeldoise.com from my website, and I have a YouTube channel that I'm trying to make time to work on. And you know, I have content everywhere. And yeah, just very excited to be on clubhouse. I'm there as well. So find me on clubhouse. Just search for Michael Doise, and we even now, here's an announcement. We have a club. We're all fancy and everything we have the iAccessibility network club. In fact, after this recording, we will be on clubhouse doing a after episode kind of a discussion to talk about these things. So come hang out with us on clubhouse as we talk about today's episode. So we hope that you have enjoyed this episode of the IiACast. And we'll be back in two weeks for another episode. And it's been awesome getting to talk about all these things with you guys, Jason and Taylor. Want to thank everybody that's been on the stream and everybody that will listen once the episode comes out. And we will be back next time for new episodes. So until then, take care and keep playing with new technology.
JASON: This show has been brought to you by the IACast Network. We love hearing from you. Email us at feedback@iaccessibility.net. Got twitter? Follow us at iaccessibility1. Facebook, search for IAccessibility. Download our free apps for IOS and Android and keep up with all of our content at iaccessibility.net. If you’d like to donate to our show, hit the payPal button on our website, and get early access to our outtakes with a donation at patrion.com/iacast. Thanks for listening
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason, and Taylor compare Clubhouse, TeamTalk, and Discord. The show was recorded on Feb 14, 2021, and we were still figuring out how Clubhouse works. Please keep in mind that the app and service are developing all the time, so our thoughts and opinions expressed in the show, as well as the app itself may be different by the time you listen to this podcast. Finally, during the first part of the show, it is stated that the 16 inch MacBook Pro may feature an Intel chip manufactured with a 10nm process. It appears that the chip was in fact made with a 14nm process instead.
News Intel responds to Apple’s M1 equipped computers with its own hand-picked benchmarks for its processors.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason and Taylor discuss their favorite product announcements from CES 2021. Jason's pick is Sony's SRS-RA5000, a speaker able to deliver what Sony calls 360 Reality Audio. Taylor pick Samsung's new robots. One is a combination security camera and vacuum. Taylor also found a great article from Wired, that has highlights from the whole show. Michael picks the Smart Mask from Razer. We also discuss Apple's new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. Finally, we discuss Samsung's Galaxy S21 announced at it's Unpacked event. You can find a full list of specs for the S21 line in this article from Tom's Guide.
Ad Check out Logic Pro X Gaming's Youtube channel, and learn how he plays Minecraft as a blind player.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason, and Taylor talk about their latest tech projects and purchases. Jason discusses the Philips SHP9500 and the V-MODA BoomPro Microphone. After recording the show, he has decided to return the headphones and purchase another closed back pair. He also has been able to get the microphone working with his Mac.
Michael has purchased the M1 MacBook Pro.
Michael and Taylor are working on an accessible Markdown application that will allow you to preview your work in real-time.
Taylor is working on creating an accessibility LaTeX editor that will allow you to write and preview math equations.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason, Jeff and Taylor unbox Michael’s M1 13 inch MacBook Pro
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor and Jason discuss the technology they feel is the best to come ot of 2020. Picks include the 2020 iPad Pro, iPad Air, Apple's new M1 chip, AirPods Max, the Surface Book 3, the Razer Blade Pro 17, and more.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Taylor, Jason and Jim discuss their Thanksgiving activities, and any Black Friday purchases they did or didn't make. They also discuss methods you can employ that will help you keep your information safe online. Methods include using unique passwords, ensuring you have two-factor authentication enabled for your accounts, using a password manager and more. You can use a site called Have I Been Pwned to check if your passwords and email address have been compromised. They talk about 1Password and LastPass. Jason talks about the Web Authentication API, which allows you to log into websites with Face ID and Touch ID. Taylor talks about KeePass, an open source password manager. She also mentions Temp Mail, a service that lets you create disposable email addresses.
News For those who are interested in the ability to play Minecraft, there is a mod that includes some accessibility features.
Ad Perspective AI
Picks Jason: iPhone 12 Pro Max
Taylor: Perspective AI
Jim: iPad Pro 2020
Michael: A game called Prey.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael and Jason discuss Apple's new M1 Macs. Michael shows off his iPhone 12 Pro Max, prompting a discussion comparing the sound of the iPhone 12 line to the iPhone 11. Finally, they talk about the new Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Sony's new Playstation 5. They also discuss videos that have been circulating online showing smoke coming from the Xbox Series 5. These videos appear to have been Faked.
News Apple releases M1 versions of the Mac. The current lineup contains the 13 inch MacBook Air, the 13 inch MacBook Pro, and the Mac mini.
Ad Perspective AI.
Perspective AI is an app in development that will allow you to point the camera of your phone at text to have it read out loud. It will also be able to read currency, describe objects, and so much more. If you'd like to help test the app, you can get in touch with us, and we will add you to the TestFlight beta. We also have a WhatsApp group if you'd like to chat about the app and provide feedback there as well. If you'd like to join, let us know. We always want to hear your thoughts. You'll find our contact info at the bottom of this post.
Picks Jason: Network Effect by Martha Wells
Michael: Titans available to stream from HBO Max
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Leslie and Jason talk about upgrading to the new iPhones, and the accessories they would like to purchase for them. Leslie has already received her iPhone 12 Pro, and gives some of her first impressions of it. They also talk about the speculation of the iPhone 12 series having a secret reverse wireless charging feature that Apple may implement via a software update. Also mentioned was the ability to set default mail and browser apps in iOS 14, along with the latest price increase from Netflix. Jason talks about T-Mobile's new streaming service called TVision. Next up is Apple One, allowing you to subscribe to Apple News+, Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and more. Finally, we discuss the Charlie Brown Peanut Holiday specials moving exclusively to Apple TV+.
Picks Jason: iOS 14 Leslie: the iPhone 12 Pro Michael: Doom Patrol series
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael discusses the benefits of Python as a programming language, and how to get started with Python on several different platforms.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Leslie, Jason and Meghan discuss their thoughts about the new devices announced at Apple's October 2020 event. They also talk about whether they will upgrade this year.
Picks Jason: Tone Transfer Meaghan: The Bobiverse Series by Dennis E. Taylor Leslie: Battle Ground Michael: Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Leslie and Jason discuss the current state of computing, and where it could be headed. They also discuss Apple’s decision not to allow cloud gaming apps into the iOS App Store.
News Samsung unveils new phones and products at it’s Unpacked 2020 event. Google has discontinued the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, though they should still receive OS and security updates until October 2022.
Ad iAccessibility has a new website. This new website should be easier to use thanks to the new WordPress theme for 2020. It is still being updated, but please feel free to let us know what you think.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description George, Meaghan, and Leslie discuss what it means to not only be aware of your surroundings, but aware of your situation as well. Through stories of their own experiences, and the experiences of others, they talk about trusting your instincts, using your senses, and having the right mindset. George describes the Cooper Code, a method he uses to help his students develop their situational mindset before, during and after a situation and talks about evaluating a situation with the 5 W's and how.
Providing Feedback We want to hear from you, so please send an email to feedback@handsonsafety.net. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. . Soon, you will also be able to find us on the web, for resources and other safety related topics.
Check out our podcast host, Pinecast. Start your own podcast for free with no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-3bc504 for 40% off for 4 months, and support iACast.
Show Description On this episode, Jason, Leslie and Michael discuss their thoughts on Apple Betas and virtual conventions.
Ad Perspective AI. Perspective AI offers OCR from your devices perspective. You can test Perspective AI now. Just head to TestFlight, and install the beta. Please help us improve Perspective AI by sending us feedback. It really helps.
Picks Leslie: Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
Jason: Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews Michael: Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Leslie, Jason and Meaghan talk everything Apple WWDC 2020. They discuss their thoughts and all the new features of the new operating systems coming out later this year.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description: On this episode, Jason, Michael, Leslie and Aleeha discuss their expectations and their thoughts on WWDC and future Apple devices and features.
News Ambeos are no longer being produced. The Android 11 Beta is out.
Picks Jason: book series by Nathan Lowell Trader Tales
Leslie: The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey
Aleeha: Lacie Hard Drive
Michael: Text Expander
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description On this episode, Jason, Charles, Leslie, Michael and Jeff discuss all the ways they relax at home. Audible, Netflics, video games are only a few of the topics discussed.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description Leslie, George and Meaghan discuss setting up the fastest ways to contact people in the event of an emergency and providing medical information for first responders. Leslie demonstrates setting up Emergency SOS settings in iOS and talks about the settings for the Apple Watch app. George demonstrates adding emergency contacts for android users. The team also discusses setting up medical ID information, fall detection on the Apple Watch and third-party apps. Some of them listed as the Top 5 apps to keep you safe. For more details about the apps discussed, read Meaghan's review.
Providing Feedback We want to hear from you, so please send an email to feedback@handsonsafety.net. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. . Soon, you will also be able to find us on the web, for resources and other safety related topics.
Episode Notes On this episode, Michael discusses possibilities for making Minecraft accessible. Minecraft contains information that can be presented through text, which can allow for accessible software to be used to detect terrain changes and where blocks can be found in front of the player.
Links Learn more about Minecraft
Show Description
Leslie, George and Meaghan introduce themselves and the show. They also discuss statistics about crimes against people with disabilities, topics of future episodes, and [white cane[(https://www.acb.org/whitecane) laws.
Providing Feedback
We want to hear from you, so please send an email to feedback@handsonsafety.net. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter. . Soon, you will also be able to find us on the web, for resources and other safety related topics.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Jason, Leslie, Rose, Jeff and Charles discuss tools for working from home. They covered which platforms they use for meetings such as Skype For Business Zoom Web X Microsoft Teams. Other apps used for productivity were Fantastical Cardhop Microsoft To Do and the Calendar on IOS.
Picks
Jason: Discord
Jeff: 1 Timer
Rose: Telegram
Charles: Unigram
Leslie: Zoom
Michael: Fantasy Star Series from Saga
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Michael discusses the steps necessary to make Minecraft accessible.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, and Meaghan demo a really neat game called Sequence Storm from Special Magic Games LLC.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Leslie and Jason discuss new phones and devices released by Apple and Samsung. They also talk about a new app in development by iAccessibility called Perspective AI. If you'd like to get early access and help shape the future of the app, you can install the TestFlight version. Once installed, you will be able to send feedback.
News
Samsung releases the Samsung S20 Series Apple releases new iPad Pro, MacBook Air Mac mini, and Power Beats.
Picks
Michael: the video game Doom Eternal Aleeha and Jason: Google Pixel 4 Leslie: Victor Reader Stream
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Jason, Aleeha, and Michael unbox the Google Pixel 4
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, the PawdCast crew returns after a long break to discuss the U.S. Department of Transportation's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. We begin by discussing how the regulations have progressed, including the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. We then discuss various portions of the NPRM, including how to make comments if you wish to do so.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha and Jason demo a fun little game called Audio Rush.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, iAccessibility showcases the stumbles and fumbles which often occur when recording an episode. Sit back, prepare to laugh, and enjoy!
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Leslie, and Jason discuss apps that help them stay fit, productive, and safe online, as we enter the new decade. To that end, if you're interested to see if any accounts have been hacked, you can visit Have I been pwned. Just enter your email address, and hit the "Powned?" Button.
News
The coronavirus is upending the tech industry's supply chain, affecting the ability of companies such as Apple, to keep up with consumer demand.
Picks
Aleeha: AirPods Pro
Leslie: A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne
Jason: Locke And Key
Michael: Incase compact nylon sleeve Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, Leslie, Meaghan and Michael discuss some of the great technology released in the last decade. While talking about the Amazon Echo devices, the comical Echo Silver Video from Youtube came up and we thought we would share the link with you for your entertainment.
Ad
A new podcast will premier in a few weeks. Hands-On Safety will be a monthly podcast discussing topics pertaining to personal safety and awareness for people with disabilities.
Picks
Meaghan: Apple TV+ Leslie: Amazon Echo Show Jason: Beats Solo-Pro Aleeha: 2019 16 inch MacBook Pro Michael: Star Trek Picard
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Chris and Jason unbox the 2019, 16 inch [MacBook Pro](https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/(.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael and Aleeha talk about what iAccessibility has been up to lately, as well as what to expect in the future. They also discuss new apps, technology purchases, and new and interesting items in entertainment media.
News * The NosillaCast interviews a company called Aquark at CES 2020. They are working on the miniaturization of quantum technologies. You can listen to the interview on this episode. * Samsung has created a rolling robot called Ballie to help you control your smart home. * The PawdCast will return with a discussion on proposed amendments which the DOT is planning to make to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) regulation on the transportation of service animals by air. * It is speculated that the next phone in the Galaxy line may be called the Galaxy S 20. * The self-driving company, Cruise, has made a self-driving vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals.
Ad iAccessibility is ramping up its content on the website, which has been redesigned. You can look forward to returning shows, as well as some new ones; new training classes, and so much more. Stay tuned!
Picks * Aleeha: Apple Smart Battery case for iPhone 11 Pro. * Michael: 16 inch MacBook Pro.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback\@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Episode Notes Notes go here
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Jason, and Leslie talk about their Thanksgiving events and what they were thankful for this year as well as why we should be thankful for the tech we have now.
News
Apple Tv Plus has a new show out called Servant GoDaddy now charges for email addresses
Picks
Leslie: AirPods Pro Jason: book called Autonomous Michael: Apple TV Plus show called Servant and a movie called A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you. Feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net, or follow us on [Facebook]9https://www.facebook.com/iaccessibility/), and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our -PayPal](https://www.paypal.me/iaccessibility) and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts, please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, and Chris focus on the tech news of the past few weeks.
News
Apple releases the Beats Solo Pro. Apple released AirPods Pro. Apple TV+ has launched. Google launches Google Play Pass. Microsoft is set to discontinue the Cortana app for iOS and Android. Disney+ is now live, and you can check out our DemoCast, where we show off the apps for both iOS and Android. Apple releases the 16-inch MacBook Pro. You can listen to the sound of the built-in microphones and learn more by clicking on this Vector video.
Picks
Aleeha: Disney+ Jason: Apple TV+ Michael: AirPods Pro
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, Meaghan and Victoria demo the new Disney+ app for iOS and Android.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Leslie, and Jason discuss ways to prepare both you and your tech for a power outage. They also talk about some low-tech ideas that can help you insure you’ve got all you need to stay informed, entertained, and safe, until power is restored.
News
Apple releases AirPods Pro. Apple TV+ is here. Apple has released iOS and iPadOS 13.2, and an article from AppleVis goes into great detail about bug fixes that can be found in the latest versions. Google has purchased Fitbit.
Ad
Training services
Picks
Leslie: AMBEO Smart Headset Jason: iPhone 11 Pro Max Aleeha: NosillaCast
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Chris and Jason unbox the stainless steel Apple Watch Series 5.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, and Jason discuss the state of streaming services in 2019. They also discuss the services they feel are worth paying for, and why. Services mention include: Netflix, Apple TV+, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, and more.
News
Google announces new devices at it's 2019 Made by Google event.
Picks
Jason: Logic Pro X Aleeha: OpenStax Michael: Apple Watch Series 5
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Jason and Michael talk about Microsoft’s 2019 event, and all the new Surface products they announced.
Picks
Jason: watchOS 6 Michael: Dark mode in iOS 13
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.# Episode Notes
Notes go here
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, and Chris play through several levels of AudioWizards, a new game frommyTrueSound.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael and Jason discuss the wide range of new Alexa products announced at Amazon's September 25th event. These include the Echo Studio, Echo Buds, Echo Frames, Echo Loop, and so much more.
Ad
Online SwiftUI Training
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, and Michael unbox the iPhone 11 Pro.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, Meaghan and Michael talk about and demonstrate some of the new Voiceover improvements and bugs in IOS 13.
Ad
App development services
News
New iPhones are out. The release for IOS 13.1 has been pushed up to Sept. 24. Apple Care is now subscription based. Apple Care is now available for AirPods and Beats headphones.
Picks
Meaghan: IOS 13 Jason: Focus 40 Blue Braille Display Aleeha: Telegram Messenger Michael: iPhone 11 Pro Max
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Leslie and Jason discuss there thoughts and feelings on the latest Apple event, where the company announced the iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11, Apple Watch Series 5, and iPad. They also discuss the possibilities of the new U1 chip found in the iPhone 11 line.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode, Michael and Jason discuss the fundamental definition of an app. They also discuss some of the differences between Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android apps, and the methods for developing them.
News
Android 10 has been released. Apple's September 10th event will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater.
Ad
SwiftUI Training by iAccessibility
Picks
Jason: The Big Bang Theory Michael: The Powerbeats Pro
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Jason, and Victoria play through Circus Master Revenge from Mental Vision.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Meaghan, Victoria, and Jason talk about the current state of Mac and PC gaming from an accessibility perspective. They also discuss accessibility features of various gaming consoles, and what they'd like to see in the future.
News
Apple event to be held on September 10th. The PowerBeats Pro are available in all colors. Apple releases iOS 13.1 developer beta. Nintendo announces the new Switch and Switch Lite. Apple will verify third-party repair stores.
Ad
MUDAbility is coming to iOS and iPad OS through Catalyst.
Picks
Jason: Artemis by Andy Weir
Meaghan: Cad Audio U2 USB Headset
Aleeha: Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 5 Bluetooth speaker
Victoria: Off To Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
Michael: Apple Music for Android
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Victoria, and Jason demonstrate the game Crazy Party. This is a game with several mini-games in different worlds. You can also play battle card games.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, and Jason talk about upgrading from the iPhone to an Android phone and suggestions for those that are transitioning to Android. A discussion of what apps you use on Android was had and the outcome was that they mostly used stock apps on their Pixel devices. Michael likes Google Messages and the Google Keep apps. The Apple Music app works on Android as well and is a must have if you subscribe to Apple Music. Michael recommends Movies Anywhere. A files like app you will want to have is Total Commander. A Shortcuts type app is Tasker. The Outlook app works well on Android. To monitor your battery use BatteryBot. Read your NLS books with the BARD Mobile app.
News
Aira is Now Free, For Everyone. Android Q quits sweet naming tradition. Is now Android 10
Ad:
New iAccessibility app for Android is coming!
Picks:
Jason: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells Michael: Miriani Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason, Aleeha, and Lauren discuss what it would take for them to update their Apple devices. News Samsung announces new devices at its 2019 Galaxy Unpacked event. We discuss some Pixel 4 rumors. Apple has halted the practice of contractors listening in to users Siri conversations. The company has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over the practice. You can now ask Alexa to speak faster or slower. You can now use Google assistant to enable or disable TalkBack on Pixel phones. Ad Training services Picks Lauren: Instant Pot Jason: Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones Aleeha: The Complicated Apple Watch app Michael: Microsoft Surface Go Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Jason and Rose unbox the Microsoft Surface Go with Type Cover. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Jason, Aleeha, and Meaghan discuss Siri recordings being listened to by Apple contractors and the possible implications surrounding this controversy. News We discuss the latest on the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.. We then discussed a lawsuit against Dominos for website accessibility.. Although it is not a news article, this thread from Twitter does a great job of explaining why this lawsuit is such a big deal. We talked about upcoming possible product launches including the rerelease of the Samsun Galaxy Fold, and the Google Pixel 4.
We also mentioned the zoom feature that has come to the Nintendo Switch. Ad: For this week’s advertisement, we talk about the development of an app currently called Project Vision. We also touch on recent fixes for our podcasts and an upcoming Android app. Picks Aleeha: iGrill Meaghan: Echo Dot 3rd Generation Jason: Bobiverse Series by Dennis E. Taylor Michael: The stereo pairing of Apple Homepods
Show Description On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, and Leslie unbox the second generation Amazon Echo Show. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you. Feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net, or follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts, please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Aleeha, Anna, Jason, Meaghan and Michael discuss proper technology etiquette when in a session or presentation. Michael talks about some great stuff iAccessibility is doing. Listen to the show to find out more.
News
Zoom Communications security breach
Aira’s new stuff coming out in the fall
Discussed possible audio description for TV shows on Apple TV Plus
Picks
Meaghan: pixel 2
Anna: Q Braille from HIMS Inc.
Jason: first generation pixel XL
Aleeha: Amazon’s second generation Echo Show
Michael: Orbit Reader 20
Show Description
On this episode, Jason interviews Dave Wilkinson from the American Printing House For The Blind concerning the products on display at the 2019 National Federation of The Blind convention.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts, please join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, sit back and relax as we revisit the midyear point for all of iAccessibility’s podcasts with our semi-annual outtake show for 2019. For those of you that enjoy fruit or pizza listen closely for an outtake with Jeff’s favorite pizza topping. You will never know what you might hear on our outtake shows. Let the laughing begin!
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Jason, Jeff, and Sarah discuss ways to safely store your technology when packing for a conference or convention.
News
Google is exiting the tablet business
FaceBook is creating it’s own digital currency
Ad
iAccessibility community
Picks
Jeff: Bossjock Jr, and Backpack Studio
Jason: Powerbeats Pro
Sarah: Pocket Points
Michael: Canon Rebel T7i digital camera
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description
On this episode Aleeha, Michael, Jason, Jeff, Scott, Chelsea, Meaghan and Sarah debunk many of the myths about Aira.
News
Twitterrific 6 Launches on iPhone and iPad With Autoplay Videos in Timeline, GIPHY Integration, and Much More
GPS saves daughters life under a car
MacBook lineup likely seeing more updates this fall following Pro refresh
Ad
Find out more about iAccessibility Training.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show description
On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Jason and Michael discuss more about WWDC and how Apple compares with its competitors in the market place. They also consider what may need to be improved in the future. Additionally, they debate the comparability of Mac Os and I-pad OS.
Picks
Jason Alt Frequencies
Aleeha: HomePod
Michael: Avengers: Endgame
Show Description
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, Jeff, Victoria, Sarah and Meaghan discuss Apple’s upcoming WWDC 2019 event and give their predictions.
News Stories
iPod Touch 7th Generation is released Apple will shut down iTunes, ending the download era, report says Is Apple Really Killing iTunes? Picks
Jeff: Timery for Toggl Meaghan: Edeclaration Jason: Travelear Sarah: Bible Aleeha: Belcon RockStar Vicctoria: Harry Potter: a History of Magic Michael: Ingress Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha and Jason unbox the Canon Rebel T7i digital camera.
Providing Feedback
We love hearing from you. Feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net, or follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts, please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show NotesOn this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Michael, and Sarah discuss how to put together a website using WordPress.
NewsSamsung will be pulling their preorders for their foldable phones at the end of May while Best Buy has already started to cancel preorders for the phones.
Picks* Aleeha: OrCam * Michael: New 2019 MacBook Pro * Sarah: Sarah’s Blog
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Michael, Aleeha and Jason unbox the new 2019 15 inch MacBook Pro.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Michael, Aleeha and Jason unbox the Google Home Hub, which is now known as the Google Nest Hub.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionJason and Aleeha give an overview of basic navigation commands with the ChromeVox screenreader running on a ChromeBook.
Jason goes through the ChromeVox tutorial, visits the Options page, navigates a website, and demonstrates using ChromeVox inside an Android app.
If you’d like to learn more about Chromebooks and ChromeVox, you can visit the ChromeVox website, join the ChromeVox discussion group, and visit Google’s Chrome OS page. You can also check out Google’s Youtube video playlist on Chrome and Chrome OS accessibility.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Jason, Michael, and Sarah discuss the Google IO Event.
News U.S. Supreme Court rules that the lawsuit regarding the app store can proceed. The lawsuit claims that Apple has a monopoly and their 30% commission is inflating prices.
Google pulls the Android License for Huawei!
Google responded to concerns, although some news sources report that this is not a surprise. However, consumers who have Huawei devices should not fear being able to update their security due to an extension by Google of the Android License. This 90-day extension comes after the U.S. relaxed some trade restrictions.
Google IO
You may not be able to control your Nest Thermostat with your Echo. Google has rebranded the Home Hub as the Nest Hub, and there are concerns as to how this integration and brand will allow consumers to use their Alexa enabled devices to control current Nest gadgets.
Duplex is expanding to the web.
In Assistant news, you are now able to simply say “Stop” for an alarm or timer rather than “Hey Google, Stop”.
PicksSarah: iHeart Radio skill for Alexa as well as Google devices.
Jason: Netflix.
Aleeha: Anker Lightning to USBC Dongle.
Michael: The Secure Shelfish App
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha and Michael setup and demonstrate the ECOVACS DEEBOT N79S Robot Vacuum.
Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionAleeha, Michael and Leslie unbox the OrCam MyEye 2.0.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Michael, Aleeha and Jason discuss what they expect to see from Google I/O 2019 as well as expectations for the 2019 Microsoft Build conference. Please note that as of this recording, these events had not yet taken place.
NewsLyft faces a federal lawsuit regarding it’s handling of requests for wheelchair-accessible vehicles
Apple removes third-party screen-time apps from the App Store over security concerns
The New York Times article referenced in the show
New Pixel 3a XL box was sited at a Best Buy
AdCommunity member submissions to the iACast network
PicksJason: Talkback screen reader
Aleeha: Instant Pot Smart Wi-fi 6Ct
Michael: Pixel 3
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionOn this episode of the iAUnboxCast, Aleeha and Michael unbox and set up the Xbox One X
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show DescriptionOn this episode, Aleeha, Michael and Jason unbox the Instant Pot Smart WiFi 6 Quart Multi-Use Pressure Cooker.
Providing FeedbackWe love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode John Moore makes a guest appearance and discusses the Olympus LS-P4 digital Recorder. Thank you John for your contribution. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode Michael, Aleeha and Jason talk all about learning things using podcasts. The following podcasts are mentioned: CNET Podcast Central CNET How To The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast Programming by Stealth Taming the Terminal iSee - Using various technologies from a blind persons perspective Applevis This Week in Tech Tech it Out FSCast News Topics Samsung Delays Galaxy Fold Launch After Reviewers Find Broken Screens Apple says it removed parental control apps for security reasons, not competition Overcast introduces new clip-sharing feature Picks Michael: Xbox One X Aleeha: Sennheiser AMBEO Smart Headset Jason: Lock Down Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages. If you wish to interact with us during our podcasts live then please do join us on our Slack channel.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha and Jason play Ah da** it, a concept game developed by Sam Tupy. Listen as Aleeha encounters zombies, trolls, ghosts that will curse you if they get the chance, bats, balloons, and more. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
News Apple and Qualcomm reach a settlement agreement Intel to exit 5G Smartphone modem business Apple cancels AirPower Samsung Galaxy Folds are breaking Apple will provide free data migration service in store for new Mac purchases or repairs Beyond The Gallery Check out the Handwriting To Text shortcut. More information on this and other shortcuts can be found at the Beyond the Gallery website. For instructions on building shortcuts, check out our DemoCast. Show Description Aleeha, Michael, and Jason discuss a feature called Accessibility Events, and how it, along with other data developers have access to information that could impact your privacy. This feature is included with iOS 12.2 and macOS Mojave version 10.14.4. It enables the detection of accessibility features when you visit websites. As stated by Apple, “Accessibility Events is a sub-feature of the Accessibility Object Model (AOM) project, an emerging web technology currently under development as a joint W3C effort by Apple, Google, and the Mozilla Foundation.” You can find out more about Accessibility Events and how they are used by reading Apple’s support article. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha, Sarah, Michael and Jason talk about Project Marzipan and touch screen Macs. News Topics Dropbox limiting devices. Disney is creating their own streaming service. There are pictures of a super dense black hole in space. Israel attempted to land a space craft on the moon but it was unsuccessful. Weekly Picks Jason picks Slack. Aleeha picks the Braille Sense Polaris. Sarah picks the app called Group Me. Michael picks his new Surface Headphones. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode, Aleeha, Michael, and Jeff Molzow unbox the Lenovo Flex, a 2-in-1 laptop. Aleeha also removes the SSD from Jeff’s previous laptop, and installs it onto the Flex. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the PawdCast , Aleeha, Sarah, Lauren, Meaghan and T.J. discuss bringing a new dog home. News Stories Guiding Eyes CEO runs half marathon with guide dogs Ruffwear releases a new kind of guide dog harness Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode, Jason gives a brief overview of the Seeing AI app for iOS, and then he demonstrates some of the newer features of the app. These include person recognition, exploring photos, and reordering/hiding channels. You can find Seeing AI on the App Store. For a more in-depth look, check out or original DemoCast. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, Sarah, and our newest member Victoria, discuss the Apple event from March 25th. Apple releases Apple News Plus, Apple Card, TV Plus, and Apple Arcade. News Airpower is dead Picks Sarah: My Pollen Forecast – Allergies Aleeha: Voice Stream Scanner Jason: Apple Music for Android Victoria: Trivia Crack. Michael: Apple news Plus Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jeff, and Jason discuss their experience and findings from the CSUN 2019 conference. Also discussed are the tactile street maps from LightHouse for the Blind in San Francisco California. Please note that this show was recorded before the cancellation of AirPower. News Apple quietly releases new hardware before March 25th event Apple is said to be releasing an updated version of it’s Powerbeats headphones Apple has released iOS 12.2. This update adds support for AirPods (2nd generation) Ad iAccessibility Training program Picks Jeff: Red Robin and Eero Plus Jason: Google News Aleeha, Microsoft Soundscape Michael: Google Lookout Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this episode of the iA DemoCast, Aleeha and Jason set up Apple News+ and try to read a magazine on iOS and macOS. You can learn more about Apple News+ by checking out the Apple News website. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Jeff, Jason, Sarah, and Shelly discuss goals and expectations for attending the CSUN Assistive Technology 2019 Conference (meeting in Anaheim California). Sarah and Jason are unable to attend CSUN, and this year will be Aleeha’s first conference; so as veteran CSUN attendees, Jeff, Michael, and shelly answer their questions and provide advice for making the most of the CSUN experience. Don’t forget to check out Shelly’s book iOS Access for All, which is a great resource for getting the most out of your IOS devices. News Stories Senator Elizabeth Warren proposes splitting up big tech giants such as Google, FaceBook, Amazon, and Apple.. Picks • Jason: JBL EVEREST™ 710GA bluetooth headset • Jeff: The We’re Alive Podcast • Sarah: The News Break iOS app • Shelly: The Kingston Mobile Lite G3 Pro • Aleeha: Postmates • Michael: Tasker Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha and Jason talk all about foldable phones. News Stories Samsung and Huawei announce new phones. Micron and SanDisk announce 1 terabyte micro SD cards. New AirPods may be announced on March 29. New Apple software updates may be made available around the same time. iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility offers App development services. Picks Aleeha: Pixel 3 XL Jason: Google Pixelbook Michael: Pixel buds Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Chelsea, Scott, Michael, Jason and Jeff unbox and discuss the Tile Pro. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Aleeha, Michael and Jason unbox and discuss the Google Pixel Buds. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Aleeha, Michael and Jason unbox and discuss the Google Pixel Book. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Aleeha, Michael and Jason unbox and discuss the Google Pixel 3. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Aleeha and Michael unbox the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 + Type Cover, along with the Thule laptop sleeve. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Michael, and Jason discuss Amazon’s acquisition of the WiFi company Eero. News Several Apple rumors, including A march event to show off possible new services New AirPods possibly coming in black and white with rubber grips Several new rumored devices, including iPad mini, iPod touch, AirPower, and Apple headphones Apple launching video subscription service Google may announce Android Q in March Chrome OS 73 beta adds support for control of playback with media keys. Google is rumored to be launching a Pixel 3 Lite. Twitter is storing your deleted direct messages for years. Advertisement This week, we talk about our shortcut site, Beyond the Gallery. which allows users to submit helpful iOS shortcuts. Picks Jason: Blue Coil Universal Microphone pop filter Aleeha: 63rd and Wallace Echo skill Michael: Amazon Echo Skill Blueprints Coming Up Be on the lookout for tons of UnboxCasts from us this week! Providing Feedback We love hearing from you! Please send us an email at feedback@iaccessibility.net with your comments and suggestions. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason and Meaghan discuss accessible photography. News Stories Microsoft Super Bowl Commercial 2019: We All Win (Extended Version - Audio Description) Apple will pay the teenager who discovered the Group FaceTime bug iOS 12.2 will bring high quality audio messages when using iMessaging. Sprint sues AT&T over its fake 5G branding iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility offers a way to support our work by joining our Patreon. Picks Jason The Amazon App Meaghan: High Quality iMessaging with audio messages Aleeha: Goodreads Michael: iMovie Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, and Lauren discuss accessibility versus inclusive design. News Stories iOS 12.1.3 has been released with fixes as well as uncovering issues for Sprint customers. Michael brings up current rumors for iOS 12.2 including Hey Siri coming to Airpods. New iPad models may be coming, including a new iPad Mini 5th Generation device as well as a new iPod Touch. Microsoft Office 365 is now in the Mac App Store as a bundle. iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility offers Teamtalk hosting for $3 per month. Visit the iAccessibility web site for more details. Picks Jason: Garage Band Lauren: Instacart Aleeha: Clock In/Out iOS Shortcut Michael: iMovie Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Aleeha, Meaghan and Jason unbox and discuss the Orion TI-84 Plus Talking Graphing Calculator. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description The iAccessibility podcast team reveals their annual 2018 outtake show! If you think you have heard fun and laughs during the year, just wait until you hear this! Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, and Lauren discuss how to set up new tech you received during the holidays. News iPhone XS and XS Max Battery Cases Apple replaces more phone batteries last year compared to earlier years. iPhone Se now being sold on clearance Google Maps now shows speed limit information on iOS and Android Discussion We discuss the comments made on Windows Weekly episode 603. Want to Join the biggest community on WhatsApp to discuss technology? Use this link to join the iAccessibility WhatsApp Community Main Topic: Many gifts these days include new technology or gift cards concerning technology. On this episode we discuss possible tech gifts and possible ways to set those gifts up for use. We also reference our first VideoCast where Aleeha sets up an Insignia FireTV. iA VideoCast 1: Insignia FireTV Setup Picks Jason Picked the Apple Watch Series 4 Lauren Picked Aira Aleeha Picked the Insignia Fire TV Michael Picked Star Trek Discovery Season 2 We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description Michael, Aleeha and Jason bring a guest to the iAccessibility network. Shelly talks with them all about her new iOS Access for All book that covers iOS 12. There are a few surprises as well. This is one you don’t want to miss! News Stories The Somainnofit Smart Bra The Roland GO:PIANO Alexa enabled keyboard The new line of LG rollable televisions The Matrix PowerWatch 2 The Dell Alienware Area-51m laptop iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility Hosting Plans. Picks Jason: The Roland GO:PIANO Alexa enabled keyboard Aleeha: Minesweeper Deluxe Shelly: Avona Nano Sous vide Maker Michael: Audio Hijack Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description We hit the ground running for the new year and Michael, Aleeha, Jason and Jeff talk all about health and task related apps to get us started out on the right path for the new year for 2019. All of us use Apple Watches and find them to be a valuable tool in our progress for health and goals. Jeff and Aleeha talk a bit about gym equipment both at home and at fitness facilities. Apps mentioned in this episode include: Calm Microsoft To-Do MyFitnessPal Nature Space Oak Pedometer ++ Toggl Trello Wunderlist News Stories The Tech sector is being impacted by the stock market. Support for iTunes movies coming to Samsung TVs. The FCC comes up missing at CES. iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility Training. Picks Jason: Cnet Jeff: Backpack Studio Aleeha: The Great Toy Robbery Michael: The 2018 11 inch iPad Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description On this episode Michael, Aleeha, Meaghan and Leslie get together and unbox Michael’s new 2018 11 inch iPad Pro! Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description In this episode Aleeha and Jason demonstrate the game The Great Toy Robbery. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this episode, Aleeha, Michael, Scott, and Chelsea unbox the third generation Echo dot which has some amazing new features and a few drawbacks. Features The third generation Echo Dot has amazing sound for a small device. It is bigger than the original dots, but it has a brighter light ring. The buttons are also move tactile than the previous models. Drawbacks There are only two drawbacks to this device. The third dot uses the second generation Echo power block, which does not have micro-USB support, and may make it difficult to use with certain power strips. The third gen Echo Dot also does not have great bass at higher volumes. The speaker is definitely great and loud, but you will get the best low end sound at lower volume levels. Conclusion While there are a few drawbacks, this device will be perfect for anything even without a set of speakers connected to it. It will even work well as a good travel device. Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation
Subwords is a neat word search and trivia game where you have to put words together with different word fragments. The game is completely accessible, and it has classic levels and timed levels. You unlock new levels by gaining stars on previous levels. You obtain stars by completing a level within a certain amount of time. Subwords on the App Store
Show Description In this episode Aleeha demonstrates the game Minesweeper Deluxe. Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description In this episode Michael, Jeff, Jason and Aleeha talk all about identifying scams. Learn how to keep yourself safe on the internet. Use the Have I Been Pwned site to see if your email addresses or passwords have been compromised. In the News Michael and Aleeha have purchased an Echo Dot 3rd Generation. A podcast is coming talking all about their new device! Be careful about the new Aira update, especially if you are on release 1.1.3. Jeff fills you in on what is happening around this and gives hints about possible updates coming from Aira. Michael and Aleeha talk all about the new iPads and the MacBook Air after their visit to the Apple store. iAccessibility Ad It’s almost time everyone! Get ready! iAccessibility’s end of year out-take show is coming. Will we top the first part of the year? The bets are on! Stay tuned for that podcast! Weekly Picks Jeff: Surface Keyboard Jason: Start Trek Voyager Aleeha: Subwords Michael: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description In this episode Michael, Jeff, Jason, Aleeha and Allison talk all about maintaining your computer. We cover principles for Mac, Windows and mobile platforms. Learn how to keep your machine spinning like a top and keeping it at peek performance! In the News Changes to Aira’s Aira plans Aira has released a new Horizon update and Aleeha brings us up-to-date on what is new. Michael and Aleeha talk all about the new iPads and the MacBook Air after their visit to the Apple store. iAccessibility Ad iAccessibility believes that everyone can use technology, and our goal is to make technology accessible to everyone. With the new Android iACast app, you can read about new technologies, listen to our podcasts, and learn more from an amazing community of technology enthusiast. Weekly Picks Jeff: Disk Decipher Allison: BlindAlive's products are now free until December 31, 2018 Aleeha: The eufy Smart Scale Michael: Google Wifi - Mesh Wi-Fi Router Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description In this episode Michael, Jeff, Aleeha and Allison talk all about building a computer. They talk about everything from the case to the type of drives and enclosures you should use when putting your dream machine together. Are you the type of person that should take on this kind of project? Come find out what the team thinks! In the News New Aira plans All Walgreens locations and the Dallas Cowboys stadium are sight access locations for Aira. Apple no longer sails AirPort hardware BlackFriday.net for Black Friday deals iAccessibility Ad A new podcast will be coming to the network all about iOS Shortcuts. The new podcast will be called iAShort cast. We are open to suggestions if you have a better name for the podcast. Weekly Picks Jeff: Freestyle Libre glucometer Allison: Cubii elliptical Aleeha: The Vail Audio Game Public Beta Michael: Beats Studio III headphones Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
Show Description The holidays are coming and so on this episode Michael, Aleeha, Scott and Jason talk about what to look for when buying a computer. Whether you are buying a computer for yourself or a loved one it is a show you will not want to miss! Picks Scott: Expedia app Jason: 20000 hertz podcast Aleeha: Crime Hunter Michael: Diablo 3 Providing Feedback We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
We have made it to episode 100, so Jason, Michael, Aleeha, Matt, Scott, Chelsea, and Allison discuss our memories of the past 100 episodes of the show. We then discuss how we are doing now, and where we want to go in the future. This episode was the most fun podcast the team has recorded to date. Picks Michael: iAccessibility Jason: Code Factory Eloquence Voices Matt: BackBlaze Chelsea: Chick Fil-A Mobile App Scott: Postmates Allison: Spotify Premium Aleeha: Babbel We had an exciting time recording this episode, and we hope that you enjoy listening to it. We intend to make more of our episodes be just as fun and enjoyable, and we will keep providing content for more than the next 100 episodes. As always, you can send us feedback by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net, or by using our hashtag of #iACast.
On October 30, 2018, Apple announced several new devices. On this episode of the iACast special, Aleeha, Michael, Jason, and Allison discuss the new devices, and what we think about all of the devices that we're announced.
On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Michael, Allison and Doug discuss the idea of accessibility vs. usability. Also discussed are first impressions of the Surface Pro 6, the Surface Go, and the Surface Book from Microsoft. Our ad for this week is our Training services. Picks: Allison’s pick is the August Smart lock. Doug’s pick is the iPhone SE. Michael’s pick is the Invoke Smart speaker, and Aleeha picked Youtube TV. We love hearing from you, so feel free to send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also find us on Reddit, and all around the web. Also, don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, and for all things iACast, check out our iACast page. If you’d like to help support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this episode of the PawdCast, Aleeha and Meaghan first discuss some of the month's service animal news. First up, a woman was kicked off a flight due to the presence of her emotional support squirrel. Second, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization bill, which has some interesting implications for future air travel with service animals. Sponsoring our show this month is On the Go, a business run by Julie Johnson, which sells handmade nylon service dog gear and other useful items. Next, we enter a new segment for the show, one all about advocacy. This month is all about hotels, so be sure to give that a listen. Finally, we have the first of two interviews about international travel, this one from Texas resident Holly McKnight. She discusses her experiences with traveling overseas, as well as navigating on a cruise. If you like what we're up to or have any feedback for us, send an email to pawdcast@iaccessibility.net.
On this episode of the iA UnboxCast, Aleeha, Michael, Allison, and Meaghan unbox the Invoke speaker from Harman Kardon and Microsoft. If you’d like to send us feedback, you can do so by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net, following us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and all around the web, and don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel. For all things iACast, you can check out our iACast page. If you like what we do and would like to support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this episode of the iA UnboxCast, Meaghan, Allison, Aleeha, and Jason unbox the BrailleSense Polaris from HIMS Inc. Meaghan also goes through a portion of the tutorial that is presented as part of the setup process, as well as items you’ll find in the device’s menus. As always, if you have any feedback, we’d love to hear from you. You can send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and all around the web. Also, you can check us out on YouTube, and for all things iACast, you can head over to our iACast page. If you like what we do and would like to support us, you can do so via our Paypal and Patreon pages.
On this weekly episode of the iAcast, Aleeha, Jason, Matt, and Michael discuss the latest Google Event in the news section. In the main topic of the show, the panel talks about companies attempting to make home technology look apart of the decor of your home. For our picks this week, Aleeha chooses a parcel package tracker. Jason chooses Treasure Island musical. Matt picks Overcast, a podcast player. Michael’s pick is the Microsoft Windows Fall Software Update.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Jason, and Aleeha discuss the latest hardware releases from Apple. We also discuss techniques in using different technology devices News Apple releases their new devices and software iPhone XS and XS Max Apple Watch Series 4 Topic We discuss how to use different devices and we talk about how to determine if a device is right for you. Picks Michael: iPhone XS Max Jason: BBC Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Aleeha: Apple Watch Series 4 Please leave us feedback at feedback@iaccessibility.net or mention our hashtag of #iACast or our twitter name of @iaccessibility1
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha and Jason discuss techniques in determining which device is right for you before you even get to the store. News All-New lineup of Echo devices Picks Jason: Frequency Missing Aleeha: FEER on the App Store Michael: Shortcuts for iOS Search the gallery for Say Cheese Please leave us feedback by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net or by sending us a message on twitter at @iaccessibility1
Well, it has been a while since we have had a full DemoCast, but this one is pretty important. Apple has released their newest version of iOS, which has a new form of automation built in called Siri Shortcuts. They have also released an app called Shortcuts that replaces the app called Workflow. Shortcuts lets users chain together actions to complete a task, and the best part is that you can add these shortcuts to Siri. Download the Shortcuts app from the App Store During the show, we go through the Library and gallery tabs of the app, we download a shortcut from the gallery and even make our own basic shortcut with VoiceOver on. iAccessibility has also created a shortcut and a category called Beyond the Gallery for shortcuts that are useful that aren't in the gallery. Here is a link to the shortcut. About Beyond The Gallery Let us know what you think about the podcast by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net, or by tweeting us at @iaccessibility1.
On this episode of the iA GameCast, Aleeha and Jason demo a game called Feer. In this game, you are running from zombies, collecting lights and power-ups, and completing quests. The game is an endless runner which features both audio and visual elements. How many zombies can Aleeha survive? Listen and find out. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can do so by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and all around the web. Don’t forget to check out our Youtube channel and the iAccessibility iOS app as well. If you like what we do and wish to donate, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. Every little bit helps us to continue providing you with all the great content you’ve come to know and love.
On this episode of the Pawdcast, Aleeha, Jeff, Jade, TJ, and Matt have an open discussion and tell their own stories about retirement and transitioning to a new dog. We recommend you grab a box of tissues and enjoy the show.
On this special iACast, Jason, Lauren, Aleeha and Michael are at the Apple store to get a hands on look at the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4.
On this episode of the iA UnboxCast, Allison, Scott, Chelsea and Matt unbox and set up Apple’s just released iPhone XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can do so by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. Also, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel. If you like our content and wish to donate, you can do so via our PayPal and Patreon pages. Every little bit helps.
On this episode of the iA GameCast, Jason demos the first 3 chapters of an audio game called Frequency Missing. In this game, you are a reporter at a radio station who tries to uncover the mystery of her friend’s disappearance. Listen along while the radio reporter, Patricia, explores her surroundings, finds herself in some sticky situations, and heads out for her first radio interview.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, and Jason discuss what was announced Apple's 2018 iPhone event. Below are links to each of the product lines at Apple. Apple Watch Series 4 iPhone XS iPhone XS Max iPhone XR Thank you for listening to the iACast. Head to iacast.net to learn more, and leave us feedback by email at feedback@iaccessibility.net, or by using our twitter hashtag of #iACast.
It's that time of year again everyone. Apple has released details of its new iPhone and watches, So gather round and listen to the event with the iAccessibility community as we discuss what happened and experience all the new announcements with us. You will also get to hear our reactions to everything announced.
On this episode of the iA GameCast, Aleeha and Jason do a demo of a relatively new audio game called Echoes From Levia Soulbound. In this game, you play the roll of a blind young man named Seric, known in the village as the poor undertaker’s son. Pirates invade villages by the seas and Seric is faced with his first battle.
On this episode of the iACast, Aleeha, Michael, and Jason discuss whether or not Macs and PC’s are on an equal playing field when it comes to affordability for blind and low vision users. In the news this week: Apple MacBook Pros get update to fix crackling speakers Some iPhone 8 users are reporting faulty logic boards. Apple is replacing them at no cost. Google Home now supports more than one language Don’t forget, if you need training with any technology, head to our Training page! Finally, here are our picks for the week. Jason” the movie Cars 3 Aleeha: a high tech cooking option, the OptiGrill from T-Fal Michael: Swiss Gear Ibex laptop backpack
On this episode of the #iACast, Jason, Aleeha, Scott, and Michael discuss predictions for what the next Apple iPhones will bring in 2018. In the News, there are rumors of an update to the Mac Mini coming this fall. This week’s add features PocketBraille for iOS and Android. Our main topic this week was our predictions for what could be coming in the iPhone lineup for 2018. We discussed possible dates for the Apple unveiling event. We also talked about what we could see for other hardware and software upgrades this year. For our picks this week, Jason talked about the Bose SoundTrue headphones. Aleeha mentioned Seeing AI for iOS. Scott talked about his pick, Lyft, available for iOS and Android, Michael mentioned the sound production program Reaper Feel free to send feedback about the show by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also find us on twitter at iAccessibility1, and you can support our efforts to produce even more quality content by donating to our Patreon site.
On this episode of the #iACast, Aleeha, Michael, Matt and Jason discuss mobile automation. News of the Week Twitter makes a lot of changes to their APIs which went into effect August 16 along with a big protest called #deatiDay. Apple Music on Verizon free for 6 Months. Verizon launching 5G service for residential users in 4 markets Indianapolis Sacramento, Las Angeles and Houston. Samsung Galaxy Home Google tracks when location tracking is off Ad of the Week Michael talks to all of you all about the iAccessibility Mastodon Server. Mobile Automation The iAccessibility team talks to you all about Android’s Tasker app and iOS’s Workflow (soon to be Shortcuts) app. They share what automated tasks that they would like to have using Apple’s new Shortcuts app which will be coming out in iOS 12. Picks of the week Aleeha picks a very fun game called Word Rescue! Matt stays on the gaming theme and shares the site Audiogames.net. Jason tries to keep up to date on all the things happening around him and picks the Apple News app. Michael has been going geek again on us and is now playing with a new social platform called Mastodon. In fact, he encourages listeners to join the iAccessibility Mastodon instance. Getting in Touch If You’d like to get in touch with us, you can do so by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also check out our YouTube page. If you’d like to donate to us, you can donate to our Patreon and Paypal pages. Any donation you can make will help ensure that we’re able to keep providing you with great content.
In this iACast special interview, Aleeha and Jason talk with Joe Quirk from Mental Vision LLC about the brand new audio game Circus Master's Revenge.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha and Jason discuss the convergence of technology ideas and concepts between manufacturers and across operating systems. We also address pros and cons of a technological convergence, and how it might affect accessibility. News Google has released Android Pie. Some 2018 MacBook Pro owners are experiencing an issue causing the speakers to emit crackling noises. Samsung released the Galaxy Note 9. Movies Anywhere is now available in the Windows movies and TV app. Baum has been rebranded to VisioBraille. Ad Want to help iAccessibility LLC get off the ground? Consider donating to our GoFundMe campaign. Your donation will help us provide you with more great content. Picks Aleeha: The Dusk audiogame for iOS. Jason: The Fighting Fantasy Project online GameBook website Michael: The Avengers: Infinity War movie. Support and Feedback If you enjoy our content, let us know by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and don't forget to check out our YouTube page. Also, if you enjoy our content and wish to donate, you can by visiting our Paypal and Patreon pages. Every donation really helps us deliver great content and products to you.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha and Scott discuss apps you can use to manage your finances. These include: Chase: The app allows a Chase Bank customer to manage their accounts from a mobile phone. Apps are available for iOS and Android. Wells Fargo Mobile app: You can manage your accounts, check your balance and more if you are a Wells Fargo customer. You can install the app for both iOS and Android. Mint: This is a money manager and financial tracking app. It is available for iOS and Android. PayPal: This app allows you to send and receive money, make purchases, and keep track of your spending. It is available for both iOS and Android.. Zelle: This app allows you to send and receive money from bank account to another. Zelle is also integrated into apps for a lot of US banks. It is available for both iOS and Android. Apple Pay Cash: This is a feature of the Wallet app that is part of iOS. It is a virtual card that you can add money to or withdrawal money from. You can also send money to or request money from other Apple Pay Cash users. You can learn more about Apple Pay Cash from Apple's support site. Venmo: This app allows you to send and receive money. You can also use it to make purchases from online stores. It is available for both iOS and Android. Square Cash: This app also allows you to send and receive money. You can also have a debit card mailed to you that you can then use to make purchases. It is available for both iOS and Android. Credit Karma: This app allows you to keep on top of your credit scores as well as file your taxes with Credit Karma Tax. It is available for both iOS and Android. Google Pay: This app allows you to send money to friends as well as make purchases securely online. It is available for both iOS and Android. Apple Pay: With Apple Pay, you can send and receive money using Apple Pay Cash, and make purchases in stores, apps, and websites that support it. Apple Pay is part of iOS. You can learn more bi visiting the Apple Pay website. Samsung Pay: With Samsung Pay, you can pay for things from within apps and stores. You can also add gift and membership cards so they're there when you need them. You can download the app for Android if you have a qualifying Samsung device. Acorns: This is an investment app that allows you to easily grow your stocks and bonds. The app is available for both iOS and Android. IRS2Go: This app assists you with filing your taxes and more. You can check the status of a refund, and even make a payment right from your phone. The app is available for both iOS and Android. Also discussed is Apple becoming the first company in the U.S to be valued at one-trillion dollars. Our ad for this week is our Online Training program. This week's picks include: Scott's pick is the Whitdex evoke hearing aids. Aleeha's pick is the Yamaha Motif ES6 keyboard. Michael's pick is his repaired MacBook Pro. If You'd like to get in touch with us, you can do so by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. You can also check out our YouTube page. If you'd like to donate to us, you can donate to our Patreon and Paypal pages. Any donation you can make will help ensure that we're able to keep providing you with great content.
On this episode of the PawdCast, Aleeha, Meaghan, and Jenine Stanley discuss many different topics. First up, we wrap up everyone's convention experience by talking about the guide dog harness in development from Ruffwear. Next up, speaking of convention, is an interview done by Aleeha with the University of North Georgia regarding an exciting new study revolving around posture and guide dogs. After the interview, we discuss a decision made by Publix to post signage relating to service animals in grocery carts. Finally, our guest Jenine Stanley discusses service animals other than guide dogs, as well as two proposed certification systems that could be detrimental to service animal users' rights. Thanks for listening, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at pawdcast_show, and email any feedback to pawdcast@iaccessibility.net.
Episode NotesApple held their September event yesterday, and while we did not see anything as big as the Apple Watch this year, we still got some really cool devices. Here is what we saw.
- Apple announced new Apple Watch models and bands with all new colors.
- Apple announced iPad Pro with 4 speakers that adjust sound quality to how you hold the device, 12.9 inch screen, Smart Keyboard, Apple Pencil, and all new hardware inside. Device goes on sale in November.
- Apple announced new Apple TV with tvOS with new Siri remote that accepts gestures. out soon for developers.
- Apple announced new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus with new iPhone upgrade program. Pre-orders start the 12th of September. The phone comes with 3D Touch, Fully available, “Hey Siri” support, Live Photos, 12 Megapixel camera, and iOS 9.
Links to more informationiMore.com has some great stories on everything covered yesterday. They are listed below.
- Hands on with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus – iMore
- Apple TV to support MFI based game controllers – iMore
- Apple posts “Hey Siri” event keynote video announcing iPhone 6s, iPad Pro, and Apple TV – iMore
- Here are the details on Apple’s iPhone upgrade Program – iMore
- iOS 9 rolls out September 15 – iMore
- Live Photos to be included with iPhone 6s and 6s Plus – iMore
- iPhone 6s and 6s Plus coming September 25 starting at $199; pre-orders start September 12 – iMore
- 3D Touch allows for new interactions on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus – iMore
- tvOS Developer Preview for Apple TV launching today with hardware kit – iMore
- Here’s how much the new Apple TV will cost – iMore
- Apple makes the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus official – iMore
- Apps are universal across the new Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad – iMore
- New Apple TV to include Siri support for faster searches and more – iMore
- Apple announces tvOS, its platform for the Apple TV – iMore
- New Apple TV remote features a touch surface and Siri button – iMore
- Apple unveils the new Apple TV with a new look, an App Store, and Siri – iMore
- Here’s how much Apple’s new iPad Pro will cost – iMore
- Microsoft to launch updated Office apps for iPad Pro and iOS 9 – iMore
- Apple Pencil is a precision stylus made for the iPad Pro – iMore
- iPad Pro Smart Keyboard cover announced – iMore
- WatchOS 2 lands on September 16 – iMore
- Apple officially announces the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, available in November starting at $799 – iMore
- Facebook Messenger, GoPro and more Apple Watch apps announced – iMore
Gaming Accessibility News* Destiny gets version 2.0 * World of Warcraft adds brighter textures for finding required quest items.
Events* CapMac users group in Austin meets on second Tuesday of each month. New members are encouraged. for more details, go to cadmic.org * iAccessibility will be hosting the Photography Non-visually event on September 26th We will post the event shortly here at accessibility.net
Don’t forget to ask Siri to give us a hint while the hints are still there. They are pretty funny, and several are demoed during the episode.
Accessibility in Gaming1. Games have come a long way in recent years to support accessibility 2. Destiny has color blind mode, and constant sounds to help low vision players find items to pick up or activate. 3. Mortal Kombat X and Injustice made more accessible with audible cues thanks to blind gamer. 4. Mobile game accessibility becoming more popular with the Blindfold games and games like Trivia Crack and Dice World. 5. Trivia Crack needs to fix several buttons as they are no longer labeled.
Other ResourcesCheck out these resources online to further your technology knowledge.
- BlindBargains http://www.blindbargains.com
- Lynda.com http://www.lynda.com
- TWiT http://www.twit.tv
- iMore http://www.imore.com
Introducing iA Cast! On our first episode, we discuss what will be on each episode of iA Cast, and set the stage for discussions to come.
On this episode of the iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, Scott, Allison, and Meaghan discuss privacy concerns related to the use of technology. We also discuss computer hygiene and other tips to help us all stay safe in today’s digital world. In the news this week, Apple releases Macbook Pro OS update to fix overheating Aira is now available 24 hours a day Our add this week features iAccessibility’s Web hosting/development services. For more information on these offerings, please email iaccessibility@iaccessibbility.net For our picks this week, Jason talked about the Cad U2 stereo headphones Aleeha mentioned she had been reading the Dresden Files Scott talked about a new twitter client he was using for windows, OpenTween Allison introduced us to the James Potter series Meaghan talked about watching the Big Bang Theory Season 11 Michael talked about his latest gaming obsession, Minecraft Feel free to follow us on twitter at iAccessibility1. You can also support the show by ggoing to patreon.com/iacastt
On this episode of the iA GameCast, Jason and Aleeha review Sonarium. This audio adventure game is set in a cyber dystopia. You play as a discarded android who finds itself left on a trash heap. After running diagnostics, you find that you have no functioning optical sensors. You are compelled to search for components to repair them, while avoiding monsters in the process. If you have any comments or suggestions, you can send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating to our Patreon page, or you can also donate through PayPal.. Finally, you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and you can also check us out on YouTube.
On this episode of the iA GameCast, Aleeha and Jason review the audio flight simulator Eurofly . Please send all feedback to feedback@iaccessibility.net, and if you like what we are doing, please consider donating to our Patreon to help keep our content coming.
On this iA UnboxCast, Jason, Michael, and Lauren unbox the Nintendo Switch gaming console which can be used on the go, or while connected to a TV. Nintendo Switch™ - Official site – Nintendo gaming system
On this episode of the #iACast, Michael, Jason and Scott discuss the differences between the Apple, Microsoft, and Android beta programs. We also discuss an overheating issue that affected some 2018 MacBook Pros. While Apple has released a software update that is said to fix the overheating problem, the update was not yet available at the time of recording. We talk about Apple's release of the Shortcuts app as a TestFlight beta for developers, Aira shipping Horizon kits, the new photo description features found in the latest update to Seeing AI, and the release of the fourth developer beta of iOS 12. Our ad for this week is the announcement of iAccessibility becoming an LLC. Michael's weekly pick is the Nintendo Switch, Jason's pick is an app called My Contacts Backup. This app lets you export your contacts as a vCard that you can then import back into a contact manager or a service such as iCloud. Scott's pick is a food delivery app called MyTown2Go. We love hearing from you. Let us know what you think by sending an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and more. You can check out our content on YouTube, and you can also find our app in the iOS App Store. If you would like to support iAccessibility, why not consider donating to our Patreon page? Any amount you can give will help us bring you more great content in the future.
On this episode of the #IACast, Michael, Aleeha, Chelsea, Scott, and Meaghan discuss a lot of what the 2018 National Federation of the Blind convention had to offer. There was a lot that was discussed in this episode, so grab your favorite snack and settle in for a listen. In the news since we last spoke, there has been a lot going on. First up for discussion are the new MacBook Pros from Apple. There are a couple of convention related news items, including a ton of news from Aira, as well as KNFB Reader and NFB Newsline partnering to bring reading features to the Newsline app. Last, but certainly not least, we discuss the arrival of the Surface Go from Microsoft. In the middle of the show, we took a break to remind everyone of our training services, which are available for $18 per month. We also announced the availability of our help desk, information for which is being finalized. After the main discussion of the show, we discussed our picks for the week. Michael's pick is the SurfaceBook 2, a powerful laptop and tablet combo from Microsoft. For Anna, it's a new, inexpensive Braille display, being carried by National Braille Press, called the BrailleMe. Aleeha is back with another game pick, this one available for most common platforms, called Echos From Levia: Soulbound. Scott picks the Horizon glasses from Aira, which are rolling out to customers as we speak. Finally, Chelsea picks one of iAccessibility's newest apps, Current City. Don't forget to email us with feedback or suggestions at feedback@iaccessibility.net, and please consider supporting us at patreon.com/iacast.
On this interview, Michael and Aleeha speak with the creator of WayAround, a system that can read and write NFC tags with iOS as well as Android. WayAround
On this iA Cast special interview, Michael talks with John Palmer, the creator of the Patriot ViewPoint low vision glasses, which allow a person with low vision to see more than they have ever seen before depending on the person's visual disability. Patriot Vision Industries
On this episode of the iA Unbox cast, Aleeha, Michael and Meaghan unbox the new Horizon glasses from Aira while attending the NFB 2018 convention. Aleeha also takes a quick look at Chloe, the virtual voice assistant used to control the Horizon phone.
This episode of the iA Cast is not an actual episode, but our first outtake show. Some podcasts do an outtake show every year, but we have so many outtakes that we had to divide it up twice a year. Want to hear all of our outtakes whenever you want? head to patreon.com/iacast and become a patron, and all of what you hear will be yours whenever you want. Please be advised that there is mature content in this episode as these are uncensored moments in the podcast recording process. Want to leave us feedback on the episode? email us at feedback@iaccessibility.net, and let us know what you think, or use the hashtag of #iACast on Twitter or Facebook.
In this #iACast special, Aleeha interviews Greg from Aira at the 2018 National Federation of the Blind convention in Orlando. Topics include: the availability of the first 200 pairs of Horizon glasses, the release of Aira messages, Aira's partnership with VFO, Aira Live, the partnership with Intuit (makers of QuickBooks software), and Aira's new feedback websites.
This episode of the iACast is a combined episode with the iA CodeCast podcast where we discuss everything related to code. On this episode Michael, Aleeha, and Jason discuss how coding can be rewarding and an amazing career opportunity instead of it being a chore. News We start the show by talking about the new decision by the supreme court that forces Internet companies who sell products in the United States to charge sales tax. Article discussion from NPR Pics Each week our hosts pick something in technology they have used during the week. Aleeha iPhone 10 Jason: iOS 12 Michael: Android Studio We hope that you enjoyed this episode of the iA Cast and the iA CodeCast. Please let us know what you think by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net or by using our hashtag of #iACast. You can also follow us on twitter at @iaccessibility1
On this episode of the #iACast GameCast, Aleeha demonstrates a rhythm based audiogame called Beatstar. The game can be downloaded for both Windows and macOS by visiting the Oriol gaming zone. So, can you keep a beat? Let us know by sending us an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and don't forget to check us out on YouTube. Also, you can find our shows in the iAccessibility app in the iOS App Store. An Android app is coming soon. Finally, if you can, we ask that you consider heading over to our Patreon page. Any amount you can donate helps us to continue providing you with all the content you've come to know and love.
On this episode of the #iACast, Aleeha, Michael, Anna, Lauren, Scott and Chelsea discuss pre-NFB convention activities as well as your weekly dose of technology topics. The news this week was full of merger talks and Windows 10 Insider news updates. They discussed the AT&T and Time Warner merger, Comcast and 21st Century Fox merger plans and the changes announced in the new build of Windows that came out this week. Aira has also announced the shipment of their Horizon glasses. If you are one of the lucky 200 people to get them then be on the lookout for them to arrive soon! This week’s show is brought to you by the iAccessibility App The top picks this week included QuentonC’s PalyRoom which was picked by Aleeha, PocketBraille from Anna, Wunderlist which was picked by Chelsea, Credit Karma which was picked by Scott, The weather channel from Lauren, and Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12 beta from Michael.
On this #iACast special, Aleeha, Michael and Jason discuss all that went on at WWDC 2018. Be sure to send comments or suggestions to feedback@iaccessibility.net, and please support us at patreon.com/iacast.
On this episode of the #iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Scott, Aaron, and Jason discuss the importance of dealing with and adapting to changes in technology. We also discuss Apple and Microsoft Teaming up to help create new standards for Braille Displays, and the release of iOS 11.4 with AirPlay 2. Our featured ad is an app called Current City. This app makes it much easier to keep track of different cities you may pass through on your travels. Current City will be available on the iOS App Store soon. If you wish to beta test Current City, send an email to feedback@iaccessibility.net. Please note that you will need the Test Flight app installed on your device to test beta applications. Allison's pick for the week is Voice Dream Reader, a really great iOS app for reading books and other types of documents. Aaron's pick is the Sunu Band.The Sunu Band is a smart-band enabling you to travel with confidence. Using sonar, the band will detect objects up to 16 feet (5.5 meters) away. Hhaptic vibrations indicate your distance from obstacles. Use the promo code lp to save 10% when you order. Scott's pick is the Speedtest app by Ookla. This app is great for troubleshooting your internet connection, or just to see how fast your internet can go. Jason's pick is a really fun flight simulation game called Eurofly. You can easily find it by visiting the AudioGames.net webpage. Aleeha's pick is BeatStar, a Boppit style audiogame you can also find over at audio games.net. Michael's pick is the Current City app, arriving soon on the iOS App Store. If you'd like to get in touch with us, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and all over the web. You can also email feedback@iaccessibility.net. Finally, if you'd like to support our work, you can visit our patreon page. Every donation we receive helps us to continue providing you with the great content you've come to know and love. If you have trouble with the site, you can download the Patreon app to your device, which can be a more accessible experience. Speaking of apps, why not check out the iAccessibility app for iOS. It's a really easy way to find and listen to all of our content. An Android app is coming soon.
On this #iACast special, Aleeha, Jason, Allison, Aaron and Matt, with contributions from Meaghan and Michael, voice our thoughts and Opinions on what Apple announced at it's WWDC 2018 Keynote.
On this episode of the #iACast, Allison, Jason, Aleeha, Scott and Michael discuss what we would like to see announced at Apple’s WWDC 2018. In the news, we discussed a critical T-Mobile bug that allowed hackers to hijack users’ accounts. Another hack we talked about was the ability for Comcast routers to be exposed so that SSID’s and passwords could be compromised. For rumors, we discussed an article from AppleInsider suggesting delays on the shipment of Mac orders until June 6th, and rumors regarding Apple’s Project Star. We also discussed an article fromThe Verge asking if Apple will talk about its problems with the Butterfly keyboards on the Mac line. We also talked about issues using function keys in Windows on a Mac with touch bar. We ended by talking about issues experienced while trying to run Windows through Boot Camp after Apple switched to APFs. Our featured Ad was Michael’s book, “Finding Success in the Digital Age through Problem Solving”, which is currently being written. We discussed what we would like to see at WWDC from iOS 12, macOS 10.14, and watchOS 5. We also talked about hardware changes we’d like to see and the rumors that NFC might be unlocked on supported devices. We even touched on improvements we would like to see with Siri. For this week’s picks, Aleeha talked about Timecrest. Jason told us about his Logitech Slim combo case with keyboard for 10.5 inch iPad Pro. Scott talked about one of his favorite food ordering Apps, Grubhub. Allison mentioned an app she was playing with multiple games, Dice World. Last but not least, Michael told us about his latest purchase, the iPod touch. Be sure to send us feedback by emailing feedback@iaccessibility.net. You can also follow us on Twitter @iAccessibility1. If you enjoy what we are doing, please consider donating to our Patreon and help keep good content coming.
On this episode of the #iACast, Aleeha, Michael, Allison, and Jason talked about the degradation of Android tablets. They mentioned the top Android tablets from PCMag, and the fact that Google removed support for their tablets from Android P. In the news, they talked about: Google Duplex, New voices in Google Assistant Android P features Sign up for the beta versions of Android P. The also discussed an article from Giznodo about how tech demos are fake. This week's advertisement featured the iAccessibility training program. The show concluded with everyone's weekly picks. Aleeha talked about Flicktype beta, Allison talked about the West World TV show and Aira’s description of the royal wedding. Jason's pick was File explorer by Skyjos. Michael talked about his pick Movie Pass. Feel free to send feedback to feedback@iAccessibility.net or follow us at iAccessibility1 on Twitter.
On this episode, Michael, Aleeha, Jason, and Scott mainly discuss Google I/O and our predictions for what this year will bring. In the news, we talk about Siri providing an explicit definition of the word “mother” and the release of KNFB Reader version 3 for iOS. After the discussion of Google I/O, we give our favorites for the week. Scott’s pick is the Behringer 302 USB Mixer and Shure PG58A microphone, links to which can be found in our podcast etiquette episode. Michael’s pick is an audiogame called Sonarium. Jason’s is the ever popular food ordering app called DoorDash. Finally, Aleeha showcases the password management system 1Password. Don’t forget to send us any comments or suggestions to feedback@iaccessibility.net and follow us on Twitter at @iaccessibility1.
On this episode of the #iACast, Michael, Aleeha, Chelsea and Scott discuss the applications of Braille in their lives. Before we got to the main topic, we discussed the recent news that Sprint and T-Mobile will be merging pending DOJ approval. During our discussion of Braille, we discussed several resources, including iAccessibility's own PocketBraille app for iOS, which will soon be receiving a major update to include Braille contractions. We also discuss the Hadley Braille course, offered by the Hadley School for the Blind, the National Reading Media Assessment for students, and our training program, which offers courses in Braille. We also discussed the transition to UEB, and how it is important to keep one's skills up. Some of the Braille displays mentioned in this episode were the Focus 40, Braile Edge, Brailliant BI 32, Orbit Reader 20, and NeoBraille. here are our picks for the week. Aleeha: Woven Words Scott: Weather Informant Chelsea: Math Robot Michael: Glitch Dash Don't forget to send any comments to feedback@iaccessibility.net or to our Twitter @iaccessibility1.
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.
On this episode, Aleeha, Matt, Lauren, Allison, and Buddy discuss strategies for managing convention with a Guide dog.
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.
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.
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.