Blind Moble Tech

blog moved

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:22:06 PDT

As discussed in my last post last week, the blog has moved to the following URL.

http://blog.blindmobiletech.com

Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds as soon as possible. The new blog is much more accessible for both you and I. Hopefully, I'll be updating it more often about my personal thoughts and experiences with various technologies. This blog here on Blogger will be deleted sometime this coming week.

Blog to Move off of Blogger in one Week

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:45:48 PST

Hello Everyone,

In an effort to make sure this blog gets updated, and to make it easier for me to post and control, I am going to be bringing this blog onto my own server. As some of you probably know, this blog can now be accessed from blog.blindmobiletech.com which redirects to blogspot. Starting next Saturday, the blog will run off of my own server and will only be available at the blog.blindmobiletech.com link. Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly, and let any other blog readers you know that this blog will move next Saturday in an effort to allow me to post more technology related tips, tricks, and thoughts.

See you next week.

This blog should go.... where?

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:13:32 PST

It's come to my attention more and more over the last few weeks that I really neglect this blog. When I originally created it, it was to be a place to blog about the latest technology news. That's not a bad thing in itself, but there are so many blogs ran by both sighted and blind individuals all over the web that I can't really post about much more than what's posted about else ware. Plus, with my work with Main Menu over on ACBRadio.org, I am kept pretty busy. Part of what I do over there is a weekly Tech Update 5 minute segment that covers both the latest Mainstream and assistive technology news. SO, I discuss it there, and then I never get it written over here on this blog. In the past, I've blogged about my newest podcasts, training videos, etc but now, with the Blind Mobile Tech announce list and the Blind Mobile Tech Twitter feed, you can keep up with the latest in that department there. You can find all that info on the home page at:

http://www.blindmobiletech.com/

which has been recently revamped.

I like the world of blogging, the little I've done with it anyway. So, what I am wondering is, where should this blog go? Should it stay? Should I delete it? What should be discussed? I don't feel that I can attract new readers if I just post the same news and topics that every other site does out there. SO, do I post here once every few weeks when I have something to say about an announcement or a particular unique experience? DO I not post anymore and just leave the archives up? If I'm going to blog, I want it to be something all of you want to read, and something that you can't get from 50 other sites. So, if you have an idea, just leave a comment below or email me at my Blind Mobile Tech email address, listed on the home page of:

www.blindmobiletech.com

Readers, the future of the Blind Mobile Tech blog is up to you!

Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to taking this blog in a new direction!

Chase

My Recent Verizon Store Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:13:11 PST

I very recently purchased an iPhone 4s from Verizon wireless. I had been looking forward to getting it for over a year, but I had an experience at the Verizon store that I was not expecting.

I walked into the store and found a rep. All the usual happened, I said what phone I wanted, he checked the stock in the store, we looked at my plan upgrade, bought a case, etc. While paying for the phone the rep talked to me about how he had heard from others that the iPhone was the best in terms of accessibility for visually impaired people. I said yes, and talked a little bit about how I was looking forward to using the iPhone, especially over my old phone which was an accessibility nightmare. Five or so minutes later when it came time to set up the phone, I asked if my contacts could be transferred from my old phone to the iPhone since I couldn't get my contacts through Active Sync and into iTunes to push to iCloud. The rep took my phone and transferred over my contacts. When he said that they were all over on my iPhone, I was just about to ask if he could please enable Voice Over. Suddenly, I hear the rep saying "here you go, sir" and then Voice Over Samantha saying "Voice Over On". I was shocked. Sure, I had heard that the reps had a little training on those aspects, but for the store staff to go out of there way to turn on Voice Over really touched me and surprised me. Once Voice Over was on, the rep asked me if I needed any of the other accessibility options on, and if I needed him to make sure any settings were changed. I said no, and said thanks! My iPhone was placed in my hand, with accessibility running, the case put on, and the screen protector applied. Verizon also had a list of phones that they had and how much accessibility each one had for blindness, hearing, etc, so if you didn't know, you could easily look up which phone was best for you.

There is a huge difference between reading about the training Verizon staff receive and having a fully accessible device, with the screen reader running, pressed into my hand while others were purchasing the same device and receiving help with their set up. It was a very neat experience to know that the Mainstream does know about us, and that they will go out of their way to make sure we can use the phone before they let us leave the store. I would like to say a huge public thank you to the Verizon staff for this. This is the first time I've seen a Mainstream person know about the screen reader and enable it easily in a store.

I am now a happy iPhone 4s user. However, it was a huge stress off my shoulders to know that accessibility was working from step one and not have to explain how to turn it on, why it needed turned on, etc. I am very pleased with the service I got from Verizon this weekend, and am glad I visited that particular store. Needless to say, I will use that store as my preferred store, because I know those staff members know how to help me as a blind individual. Thank you, Verizon!

Clarifying GW Micro's sails of HIMS products

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:02:59 PDT

I recently took the opportunity to email GW Micro about there sails of the HIMS products. As you may remember, GW Micro posted in late 2010 that they were no longer going to sell, support, or develop the HIMS Sense products as HIMS opened a US office in Austin, TX. However, many people noticed that though HIMS sells supports and markets there own products in the US, the products were still listed as available on the GW Micro Website. GW Micro stated in an email to me last week that they are still allowed to be the distributer for all HIMS magnifiers, book players, and Braille displays, however they are restricted on selling the HIMS Notetakers (Braille and Voice Sense), and can only sell those in the state of Indiana. This means that you can still buy most HIMS products from GW Micro directly, but only as a distributer.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion about the products. Feel free to post with your comments.

Introducing the Orion 18 Braille Tablet by LevelStar

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:19:47 PDT

Orion 18 Braille Tablet by LevelStar – So much more than a notetaker

LevelStar LLC is proud to announce the powerful Orion 18 Braille tablet, developed in partnership with American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Sporting an 18-cell Braille display with router keys, and speaking with the stunningly natural Ivona Speech, Orion 18 is The World’s first notetaker for the blind powered by Android, the mobile environment that is taking the World by storm. With its highly ergonomic and quiet Braille keyboard, and packed with the most advanced features ever integrated into a Braille notetaker, the sleek Orion 18 Braille tablet is compact enough to fit in a purse or coat pocket.

Discover the Orion 18 Advantage

· Talk with your friends, family, and colleagues from virtually anywhere, with Orion’s integrated cell phone.

· Slide Orion 18 into its handsome carrying case, and then walk to work, to school, along busy city streets, or explore quaint vacation spots, assisted by its powerful GPS navigation.

· Take a quick snapshot of a printed menu, a magazine, or even a book page with Orion’s built-in 5Mp camera, and then read them on the go.

· Stay connected! Orion’s fast wireless and 3G broadband let you work, study, and play virtually anywhere you are.

· Find and download your favorite Bookshare EBooks on the go; conveniently read them on Orion’s refreshable Braille display, or let Orion’s human-like speech read them to you.

· Play your favorite music on Orion’s stereo speakers.

· Quickly record a short voice note, or an entire lecture, with Orion’s integrated microphone.

· Jot down notes for meetings and lectures, or comfortably write documents with Orion’s intuitive word processor, and then save files in popular formats.

· Thanks to Orion 18’s staggering 32GB of internal solid-state storage, Experience the full power of Android, and enjoy third party programs.

Product availability: 4^th quarter 2011. Pricing to be announced.

Learn More

Join the LevelStar Orion discussion group: send a blank email to

Orion-discuss-request@freelists.org?subject=subscribe

For more information about Orion 18, and one chance to win an Orion 18 Braille tablet, E-mail Orion at orion@levelstar.com. Include your name, address, and phone number, or call LevelStar toll-free: (800) 315-2305, extension 1.

Visit LevelStar at http://www.levelstar.com/

Guido D. Corona

Director Marketing

Levelstar LLC.

685 South Arthur Ave. Unit 1A

Louisville, Colorado

80027

Toll free: (800) 315-2305, x.706

Email: guido@levelstar.com

Feedback, from the beginning!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:29:01 PDT

In this post I will address feedback I have received. I have not acknowledged any feedback yet, so this will be feedback going all the way back to the first post.

LeAnna says:

Glad you are up-and-running, again! Nice!

Glad you are reading!

On the post relating to the HTC Ozone with Talks, the following comments were maid.

Tyler Said:

Hi chase, I'm interested in hearing how the phone works.

Could you do a podcast and post it here?

I am not happy with my samsung intensity!

Hi Tyler,

I was planning to do a podcast, but now with the announcement of Windows Phone 7 and the lack of accessibility in it as well as the release of other accessible phones on Verizon including the Samsung Haven and iPhone I do not feel like a podcast at this point would be helpful since most people have lost interest in this phone. If anyone still would like a podcast about this phone, please leave a comment and let me know.

Patti Said:

Hello Chase,

I to, am happy with my HTC Ozone and talks. I was so happy to finally have a phone that I could do what I wanted it to do.

Having said this, I am disappointed in the fact, that although the people at Verizon are indeed helpful, I asked for the manual in Braille. I received it just today, and after going through the index, and table of contents, I have not found a list of commands relating to talks. Mostly all of the things that I have learned have either been from on my own, or through some sighted assistance.

I know how to surf the web, send texts, but as far as reading the whole text I can't get it to read correctly. I do have my phone set to the recommended layout, and did use the practice mode. I have no idea, as to how I can download media, and e-mail while I set it up, I can't seem to read the whole message.

Sorry for such a long post, but I am so happy to have found someone who I can relate to.

Having said all of this, I am so amazed with my phone. For the first time in life, I have assistive technology that does not cost thousands of dollars, and for the most part, I am extremely pleased with what I have learned so far.

Hi Patti,

I hope you are still enjoying your phone. I do not have the manual that comes with the Ozone in Braille, so I can’t help you there. However, if you go to the Talks website, which is at http://aboutus.vzw.com/accessibility/talks.html you will find other documentation about the key commands with talks. The easiest way to read a whole webpage or email is to press the talks key followed by down arrow. You then can here the whole screen. When it is finished reading, press the back key to exit reading mode. Also, don’t ever worry about leaving long comments. The longer the better!

Anonymous says: *note this comment has had the email address removed*

Hi, if you got troubles on purchasing Talks license, I can help you and give considerable

price.

Just email me at

______________________________

I am assuming that this is not legal. Beings you gave your personal address and offering a discount, I will assume that this is an illegal way of purchasing talks. Illegal material is not permitted on this blog. Talks for Windows Mobile licenses are available from Verizon for $99.

Joni says:

I am thinking about purchasing this for my dad, who has been blind for over 40 years. He has only used a cell phone for about 2 years. This was a big step. He has taken computer typing classes several years ago, but doesn't use the internet, yet. One of my worries is that he wont be able to feel the keys. We glued little pieces of plastic to a few key on his current phone so he could navigate the buttons.

I called Verizon. They said the phone is $100 and it would be $10 to add him to my account. I forgot to ask them if there is an internet charge. I looked at smart phone one time previously and they told me there is a $30 charge monthly whether you use it or not.

Joni

Hi Joni,

I believe that $30 is for the monthly data plan.

The buttons on the Ozone are fairly small, as it has a full QWERTY keyboard. If your dad has trouble feeling the buttons I would not recommend this phone to him, especially with no computer or internet experience. Verizon offers a much cheaper accessible phone, called the Samsung Haven, which allows you to make and receive calls, manage your contacts, and send and receive text messages. This phone has larger buttons with a standard telephone keyboard, so this might be easier for your dad to feel. This phone is totally accessible. I think either way you go will be great for him. Good luck!

On the post about how to comment, the following comment was made.

Anonymous says:

Thanks for showing us how to comment.

You are welcome. This is something that many people struggle with. I am happy to help anyone who still has trouble commenting.

On the post about the new NLS digital book players, the following two comments were maid.

Barbara says:

Hi, I have been downloading books from BARD for my mother and I am having trouble getting her reader to find more than one book on the blank cartridge we purchased. When I loaded the books onto the cartridge I put each in a folder. When I hold down the Play key only one book and the user manual is found. When I tried to move the files out of the folders I windup with duplicates of three files. These .dtd files appear with every book.

Can they be overwritten? Should the player recognize the books in the folders?

Thank you

Hi Barbara,

I keep all my books in folders and I do not have a problem. You might want to update the player to the newest version of the firmware. If you log onto BARD there is a link and instructions for the update. This might fix your problem. If not, try sending the comment you made here to the support address at the bottom of the site. The NLS should be able to help you. I am sorry I can not be of more assistance.

Tyler says:

Hi Barbra,

I do not own this blog, but if you put the files in the route of your flash drive, or other removable media, they should play just fine.

If you need more help, email me at tylerpolkaman@gmail.com

Hi Barbara and Tyler,

Putting everything in the root works, but if you go to delete a book you can’t tell which files go with which book. I would recommend updating your player and contacting support as I said above.

Comments from the Apple Store post:

Anonymous says:

Hi. Just wanted to point out that I think you meant to use the word model, not mottle.

Sounds like you had an interesting visit.

Regards,

Yes, it was a great visit. Thanks for the comment and correction.

Lachlan says:

Hi, I'm Lachlan.

I just want to make a few comments on your post, you really gave a fantastic description of your experiences with the Apple products, it was very descriptive and I understood everything you were talking about. My little brother who is sighted got the new iPod Nano for Christmas, he loves it. On Boxing Day my brother let me have a play with his iPod, i have some useable vision, so I was able to make some progress with using the touch screen. I eventually found VoiceOver and turned it on, I've not an iOS device user, so I'm not at all used to the touch screen gestures, but with the very scant help shown on the VoiceOver start screen I was able to use the iPod to some extent. I enjoyed using my brother's iPod and playing around with it, it's just too bad my brother listens to the kind of music I cannot stand. I've got this feeling that VoiceOver on the iPod Nano seems to really use up battery power, the iPod over half charged when I started playing with it, but after a few hours, maybe an hour and a half or 2 hours, the battery went flat. VoiceOver announced the battery was flat, so I docked the iPod into Mum's new Panasonic stereo system in order to recharge the battery. About a week ago I bought a 21' iMac with a 1 TB hard drive in it, I've been using Windows XP until now, and I really love my new iMac, it's the best thing I've bought in quite a while. Because I have some vision I mostly use Zoom when I use my iMac, that's what I'm using now. My parents bought an iMac about 3 moths ago, and when I saw it I decided that I wanted one of my own, my parents iMac has a wireless keyboard and mouse which I personally don't like very much because they naturally use batteries, and I'm the only one in my family who remembers to turn the keyboard and mouse off to preserve the batteries, so I decided that I wanted the standard USB keyboard and Mighty Mouse when I bought my iMac. Interestingly enough when I told the people at the Apple Store my wishes, they were perfectly willing to bundle the USB keyboard at no additional cost, but I had to pay extra for the mouse. Because the USB keyboard and mouse are cheaper than their wireless versions I was hoping Apple would take a few dollars off the price tag of my Mac, but they were unwilling to take the wireless keyboard and mouse out of the package and replace them with the USB ones, I'm not too fussed about that, but it means I have a set that I won't use. As for the Mac, I sometimes use VoiceOver, I like VoiceOver, I wish all screenreaders came with the interactive getting started tutorial that you hear when you first start VoiceOver. My desk is so clean and tidy now, no more clutter and cables and bulky equipment on my desk, there's so much space available to me. I used to use a monitor arm with my old Acer monitor, but I don't need it now, besides, sometimes I would bump the stand and it would move about, that would be bad for the heard drive in the iMac, so it's just as well that I no longer need the monitor arm. I hope i haven't board you with the comment, i realize my comment is very long, I'm not sure if I can post comments this long.

Lachlan from Melbourne Australia.

Hi Lachlan,

I really like Voice Over both on the iPod and on the Mac. The getting started tutorial is really nice and detailed. I do not have the new Nano, so I do not know if Voice Over drains the battery, but on my iPod Touch Voice Over doesn’t really seem to shorten the battery. I am glad you are enjoying your iMac. It is a great computer. Great comment, and it’s not too long at all. I don’t think there is a limit on this blog.

On the Refreshabraille18 podcast, Tyler said:

Hey Chase, It's been awhile since I listened to that podcast, but I really enjoyed it!

Keep up the great work!

I’m glad you liked it and that s helpful!

This is all the feedback that I have received. Feel free to comment with any comments, questions, or suggestions. I will try my hardest to answer comments in a more timely fassion.

Chase

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:17:14 PDT

Hi Again Faithful Readers,

I thank all of you for staying subscribed. I have been crazy busy these last few months and haven’t had time to work on the blog. So, if you are still subscribed, I thank you. Stay subscribed as I will now try to set time aside to get at leased one blog post out per week. Here are the topics, both relating to me and to technology and general.

Website:

As many of you know even though I haven’t posted it here, Blind Mobile Tech now has a website. On the website, you can find this blog, mailing lists, links to all of my Youtube Videos, links to all of my podcasts, a text transcript of my latest tech update for Main Menu, links to other helpful sites, and more. Visit the site by visiting blindmobiletech.com on your computer or mobile device.

Contact:

A few of you have left very nice comments on the blog, thank you. I will address all the comments in a future blog post. I would like to thank you for commenting. Commenting allows you to give me feedback as well as to help other readers. Feel free to comment on any post. If you are not comfortable using the comment interface on this blog, you can leave an audio comment by calling this US based number. 1-206-337-4383

What’s changed in Tech?

Since my last blog post, many exciting technology has been released and updated. Here is a brief overview of what I consider the most important, but it is not in anyway a comprehensive list of the tech news in the last 6 months.

1. iPhone on Verizon. The iPhone 4 is now available on Verizon Wireless. This is a very nice smart phone from apple that includes a fully functional screen reader, called Voice over, which lets you use all aspects of the phone and many 3rd party applications. Formerly this phone was only available on the AT&T network in the US, now it is also on Verizon, which allows many more potential customers to get this very accessible phone.

2. LevelStar and APH have announced there new devices to succeed the Icon and Braille Plus. These devices will be called the Orion Smartbooks. They will run Android, a mainstream operating system. They are not considering these note takers, as they will be much more and the term is way over used. We do not know very much info about these exciting devices at this point but when we know more, I’ll post more.

3. The Apple TV is now accessible with Voice Over. This is not an actual TV but a TV box where you can watch iTunes content and stream it over your network as well as many other features.

4. GWMicro is no longer selling, repairing, or supporting the Braille Sense, Voice Sense, Book Sense, or Sense View products. There only product now is the Window Eyes screen reader. These products are now sold by there manufacturer, HIMS in the US.

5. Microsoft has released their newest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has said that there will be no way at this point to make this OS accessible. This shrinks the available accessible phones considerably, as many visually impaired people use Windows Mobile powered phones. For those of us using Windows Mobile 6 phones, this means we are stuck on a dead platform and will not be able to upgrade to a phone of this type. However, we can still use the very accessible iPhone, Android Phones, and Nokia phones which have seen accessibility enhancements in there two screen readers, Talks and Mobile Speak. It will be interesting to see how this new inaccessible platform affects future phone technology, mobile accessibility, and the note taking products based on this technology.

6. The iPad 2 has been released by Apple, featuring a front and a back camera like the newest iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iPad is also considerably thinner.

7. The Book Port Plus and Plextalk Pocket both now have the ability to stream internet radio and download podcasts over wi-fi with there built in 802.11B/G wi-fi chip.

Like I said, there is tons more, but that is the major news. Stay tuned to the blog for more tech news, reviews, ramblings, thoughts, questions, and anything else that might arise.

Until next time,

Chase Crispin

Refreshabraille18 Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 20:00:25 PDT

Thoughts on my Apple Store Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:54:28 PDT

Yesterday, I took a trip to the closest Apple store to look at all the new Apple devices. It had been almost a year since I’ve visited, so it was definitely nice to see the changes in the devices.

I’ll start with the full computer systems. The Mac Mini seems the same; it has not been updated for a few months. The actual Mini is still the same size as it was last time I was there. I didn’t really spend too much time at the Mac Mini area.

The new iMac all in one computers came out a few weeks ago, and are definitely fast. For those of you not familiar with them, they are an all in one desktop, meaning that your web cam, microphone, CD/DVD RW drive, hard drive, RAM, processor, speaker, etc are all inside the monitor. It is actually quite thin, just .5 inches or so thinner than my Samsung LCD TV. The only thing you have to connect is your keyboard, and if you wish mouse. Everything else is connected and in one housing. Physically, the new iMac looks the same as usual, but it is definitely faster. Voice over came up the instant I pressed the key command to start it. I was looking at the low end iMac, too! If you want a powerful, but not to powerful, all in one, accessible, computer, I would go with the iMac.

The Mac Pro is definitely out of my price range, at some $2500 for the really good mottle. The Mac Pro is your high end, multi media production mottle. It is a tower mottle computer, and the tower doesn’t seem to have changed, as far as the outside. The internal components are more powerful now, though. The Mac Pro tower is none to small, unlike the tiny Mac Mini. It is large, but if you have money and are doing a lot of Video work, it’s great. That price doesn’t include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, or anything. In fact, the Apple Store set up had a $2000 monitor, $800 speakers, $100 keyboard, and $70 mouse. Definitely an expensive computer, but just by playing around with it for 5 minutes or so you can tell it’s built for power.

I didn’t even pay a visit to the laptop section, as I have the latest mottle of the Mac Book, and the Mac Book Pro and Mac Book Air haven’t changed since I last visited.

I went over to look at the iPad. I actually met a very helpful Apple Store rep, who was a lot of help, even finding headphones so I could try out Voice Over in such a noisy place. I have played with the iPad before, but was still impressed. The on screen keyboard in landscape mode was even bigger than my laptop keyboard. I am not, at this point, interested in an iPad, though, because I have an iPod Touch, and don’t see spending hundreds of dollars for just a bigger screen.

Next was the iPod Nano table, which was a big hit. The new Nano’s, if you don’t know, now have a touch screen, and no buttons except for power and volume. They are tiny, about half the size of the previous Nanos. They are also now square, instead of the rectangle we have become used to. The 6th generation Nanos include voice over, but a different type of voice over than what you might be used to on the older Nanos. When I had the 4g Nano, Voice Over was just a collection of Audio files, sent from your PC using your default Sapi 5 synthesizer. That meant that if something on the iPod changed with out recyncing Voice Over, that item wouldn’t speak. The new touch screen iPod Nanos have true voice over. It is turned on settings, general, accessibility, voice over, like on the IOS devices, and uses the Samantha voice. This Voice Over read the home screen, read all the music, time, battery status, and settings. It was easy for me to figure out as it uses mostly the same gestures as the IOS devices. If you want an accessible iPod, and not the iPod Touch, I would highly recommend the new Nanos to you. Remember that the camera and microphone have been removed from the new Nanos, but the FM radio is still there.

Next was the iPod Shuffle stand. If you don’t know much about the shuffle, it is tiny, with no screen. It has Voice Over that announces songs and play lists. This isn’t Voice Over just for Visually Impaired people though, as it is the only way sighted people can navigate the shuffle, too. Unfortunately, the only working shuffle had not been synced, so there was no music, there for nothing for VO to speak. All the other Shuffles at the stand were just samples of the colors, and were glued to the countertop and had no ports at all. If you want a cheep, low end, iPod, go with the Shuffle as it is only $49 for 2 GB.

My primary visit to the Apple Store was to check out the new iPod Touch. The new touch has a front and rear facing camera, built in microphone, better screen, and a few other things. I really would like to get one of these. I thought the 4th generation Touch’s would be rectangular like the iPhone 4, but they are the same shape as they always have been. Apple claims that they are thinner, but comparing with my 3rd generation iPod Touch, which I had with me, it didn’t seem to be any thinner. I turned Voice Over on and took a few pictures of the front door of the store, took a quick video, and recorded a brief Voice Memo with the built in microphone, and all that was accessible with Voice Over. This was definitely exciting!

I got to see the iPad docking keyboard. This is a small laptop like keyboard that docks to the iPad so you can have an external keyboard. This is the only keyboard usable with the iPad at this time as it doesn’t yet include IOS 4. Interestingly enough, docking the iPad, with Voice Over on, and attempting to type didn’t work. I docked my iPod Touch to it and could use it. So, if you want a docked keyboard for your iPhone or iPod Touch, this dock works for those, too.

Finally, I tried out the Magic Track Pad with the Mac Pro desktop. I have a Mac Book with multi touch, so I knew how to work this. I enabled Voice Over and enabled the Track Pad commander. I was using safari using the IOS device gestures, and everything worked. If you have an older Mac Book or Mac Book Pro, or a Mac Mini, iMac, or Mac pro, this does definitely make navigating much easier, especially if you are familiar with the gestures used with the IOS devices.

*Note: When I say IOS devices, I mean the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad*

Disclaimer: Views and facts in this post do not reflect the opinions of the staff of the Apple Store or Apple incorporated. Also, any facts or prices that are incorrect here are expressly the mistake of the writer of this post, Chase Crispin. To learn more, visit the apple website at apple.com

If you have feedback or questions about this post, please leave a comment or call my comment line at (1-206-337-4383).

Until the next post.

Some Tips and Tricks for the new NLS Players

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:41:50 PDT

As you may know, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has started to send the new NLS Digital Standard and Advanced Players to many of the participants in the program. You might be wondering what you can do with your large NLS talking book player beings you probably have other devices to read books. Here are some advantages and tips for the players.

Advantages:

1. Battery: the NLS/BPH player has a phenomenal battery. You can get at least 30 hours out of a charge, sometimes more. Plus, the player has a high quality battery that should keep running for years to come.

2. Speaker: for anyone that is hearing impaired, you will really like the player’s speaker. With a tone control allowing you to control the bass and treble sound, and a speaker that can go quite loud, it is a very high quality speaker.

3. Built in cartridge support: You don’t have to have cables, simply put in a cartridge and it will begin playing.

Some Tips:

1. You can have more than one book on the media! Put as many books as you like on your drive and they all play. To choose which book plays, hold down the play key to open the bookshelf. Use the left and right keys to move from book to book, and then press play to begin playing that book. Note: The NLS player can’t play books from audible.com, nor can it play any text based books as it does not have a built in text to speech engine.

2. You are not limited to the cartridge slot. If you don’t have your own blank cartridge, you can plug in a flash drive in the side of the player. The USB port is covered by a little cap on the right side of the player a little farther away from you than the headphone jack. Take off the plastic cover, plug in your flash drive, and begin reading.

3. You are not limited to NLS books! Not only can you download books from BARD you can also obtain a key from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic to play those books on your player.

4. You can play more than books. If you make a folder on your drive called:

Audio+podcasts

You can put music and other .wav and .mp3 audio files and listen to them on your player. Note that the NLS player will only show the audio files as one book, and you will use the navigation commands to move from audio to audio file.

I hope these tips and tricks are useful. Be sure to check out the BARD Talk website and mailing list for all kinds of FAQs and other information about the NLS players and BARD. Also, if you have your player, be sure to take a listen to the user guide. If you have the standard player, hold down the play key until you get to the bookshelf, and press play on the user guide. If you have the advanced player, hold down the info key and the user guide will begin playing.

New Comment Line, New Video, New Mailing List!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:03:23 PDT

Hi Again, Readers.

I know it’s been a little while since I’ve posted last; I was having some technology problems. I think everything is fixed now. As you see from the title of the post, this blog has all kinds of new stuff!

First, I have created another Youtube Video where I show how to pair the Refreshabraille18 to the Mac using both USB and bluetooth. You can watch it by Clicking here !

I have created a Mailing list on Google Groups where you can compare and discuss all digital talking book, DTB, players, as well as note takers that play specialized books for blind and visually impaired people. If you are interested in the list, you can subscribe by sending an email to This email address .

That’s all for this post, I hope you enjoy both the video and the list.

` As usual, your feedback is welcome. You can leave a comment here on the blog, or you can call the brand new comment line! The address for the comment line is 206-337-4383. Note that if nobody calls this comment line in 30 days, it will expire.

See you on the next post.

Main Menu this evening

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:00:17 PDT

This is just a quick note to let all of you know that I will be presenting a short segment on ACB Radio Main Menu this evening. I will show how to connect the Refreshabraille18 to the Icon and Braille Plus , though this will apply to other Braille displays, too. I don't know when I will be on during the show, but it is an hour long. There will also be a segment this evening on about Bookshare so you might want to listen to the whole show! Main menu begins at 8:00 PM central time.
Also, I have a couple of posts ready to upload, but I am having some technical problems. Hopefully, I will fix the problems and have some exciting new posts!

New Youtube Video and Main Menu segment

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:46:51 PDT

Hi Again, readers. If any of you are familiar with my Youtube Training Videos on APH Technology products , you will know that I make short, 10 minute, segments on APH products. I have just uploaded a new video covering the Refreshabraille18 Braille Display. This is the fourth video we have done on this product. This video shows how to pair the display with the iPhone and iPod Touch from Apple . You can watch it by Clicking Here .

If that isn’t enough, I will be introducing the Refreshabraille18 on ACB Radio’s Main Menu on Main Stream this evening. The segment is 15 minutes long, and will be followed by several more short segments in the coming weeks. Today’s segment will be on sometime on Main Menu tonight, which airs from 1:00-2:00 GMT. Be sure to check out the ACB Radio Main stream schedule !

Special thanks goes out to Jamie Pauls of Access Watch for letting me air this segment!

As usual, please leave comments in the comment form below and I’ll get back to you. All feedback is appreciated, even if you just comment that you are reading the blog.

How to comment on blog posts

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:28:17 PDT

Hello again, blog readers. It has recently come to my attention that some people are having trouble with the comment interface to post comments to me on the blog. I apologise for this, but there is only so much I can do. Beings I use Blogger which is owned by Google , I am limited to Blogger and Google’s options. I have done everything I can to make commenting easy, but it is still confusing to some. So, in this post, I will give a brief written tutorial on how to comment on this blog. This will also apply to other blogs on Blogger.

The first thing you need to do is to make sure you are on this blog’s page and looking at a post. At the bottom of each post, you will see a comment link. The link will say the number of comments that exist for that blog. E.G: 0 comments. You need to click on this link to get to the area where you can comment.

You will need to navigate around until you here your screen reader tell you that you are in the comment editor frame. The first edit box is where you type your comment. Type as little or as much as you like.

The next control is a combo box, labeled as comment as. This allows you to select how you are going to comment. Depending on what you are signed up for, and what you want to post as, you will want to pick any of these options. You can choose to comment using a google account Live Journal , anonymous, and other options. The annonomous option allows you to comment without leaving your name on the blog. There are also several other choices to choose from. Choose what option you want. With any choices except for the anonymous option you will have to provide your username for that service. Type this in correctly and click the button to submit the comment. If you want to see how it will look before you submit it, click on the view comment button. Also note that I turned off the captcha, so you will not need to use a service like Solona to be able to comment.

I hope this post explains the blogger comment interface to you.

As usual, please leave comments. I enjoy getting your feedback and I’ll respond to your questions.

HTC Ozone with Talks

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:24:40 PDT

The HTC Ozone is a smart phone from Verizon Wireless in the US. It is a Windows Mobile smart phone running Windows Mobile 6.5. It doesn’t have much internal memory, but supports the ever popular micro
SD cards. The advantage to this phone is that it comes with Talks. You may have heard of Talks for Symbion phones. Verizon and Nuance partnered to make a special version for Windows Mobile Verizon Phones. The HTC Ozone can be bought and activated, and then you add talks on it for $99, or you can buy the phone from the Verizon online and talks will be included when it ships.

Note: If you get the mottle with talks from the VZW online store, you need to make sure you get the HTC Ozone with Talks, not just the plain HTC Ozone.

As far as the phone itself, it’s not too big, and the edges are rounded so the phone isn’t boxy. On the face of the phone facing away from you there is the earpeace and the screen. Below the screen you will feel some buttons. On the top left of the keyboard, there is a long thin key. This is your voice command key and your talk key. Next to that, you feel a smooth button that is actually two buttons. The top of this button is the left soft key and the bottom is the home key, which also functions as the Talks key. To the right of that you find your standard arrow pad with the up, down, right, and left arrows with the select or enter key in the center. To the right of that you feel another smooth button that is actually two buttons, again. The top is the right soft key and the bottom is the back key. Finally to the right of that, you find the end key.

The actual keyboard is slightly different than you might be used to. The Top row of the keyboard has the letters in the standard row, q, w, e, r, t, y, u, I, o, and p. The second row contains the a, s, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, cama, and backspace keys in that order. The second to the bottom row contains function, z, x, c, v, b, n, m, period, and enter. Finally, the bottom row contains shift, *, 0, number sign, command manager, space, mail, and mute. The left side of the phone contains a volume control, and the back contains the battery cover and the camera.

I will cover the actual phones functions in a future blog post if anyone is interested. What I want to cover here this evening is the talks screen reader.

Talks is in a very early version on Windows Mobile. In fact, the latest version as of today (Saturday, July 17th, 2010) is 1.10. This means Talks isn’t as full of features as you might expect and has it’s bugs. Verizon wireless is very interested and helpful in my experience with feedback on Talks, so I’m confident that they’ll improve it. Talks at the moment doesn’t work perfectly in the browser, you can open pages, read pages, click on links, download, etc, but you really can’t do a lot of in depth navigation. Talks doesn’t work with the camera, sending MMS messages, and the email program is a little quirky but doable. I do use the Ozone as my only phone, and beings I went from a completely inaccessible Samsung phone on Alltel to the Ozone, I don’t have very high expectations, and Talks does what it needs to do for me for now. Plus, as far as anyone that I’ve spoken to knows, the talks upgrades will be free, so you will get the updates. The biggest complaint that I have with Talks right now is you can’t use it with Braille Displays.

Talks works wonderfully for checking what calls you’ve mist, dialing, adjusting your settings, sending and receiving text messages, writing email, browsing basic webpages, listening to audio files, etc. I am happy with it, though many users are not.

For those of you that don’t like Talks or don’t think it sounds all that great based on my description, Mobile Speak works with the Ozone. I have a trial of Mobile Speak on my phone at the moment, but I will not be able to afford it when the trial ends, so I’ll go back to Talks. If you are a current Mobile Speak user, the Ozone is a great phone that works well with Mobile Speak, and if your in the market for a new Verizon smart phone that works with Mobile Speak, I would go with the Ozone. You don’t have to get the version with talks preinstalled, either, you can get the plain version and than put Mobile Speak on it. The Ozone is compatible with Mobile Geo and Mobile Magnifier, too.

The reason I’m happy with Talks is that it does what I need. I think Mobile Speak almost tries to do too much. The folks over at Code Factory do a great job with it, but I, as a first time smart phone user, don’t need that many features. Plus, I could take the phone out of the box, plug it in to it’s AC power and it came up speaking. I could even start it’s key learn mode to learn the keypad without sighted help. I had the phone out of the box, plugged in, activated, and speaking with in seconds. This was truly a awesome experience for me.

If you want to learn more about talks, I would encourage you to take a look at the
Talks information page

Please leave comments with your thoughts, questions, and comments! I look forward to reading your feedback, and I will answer any of your questions!

Welcome to the blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Chase Crispin) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:03:50 PDT

Hello Everyone,

You might recognize the name of this blog. I had a blog with the same name from January of 2008 until about March of 2009. Not many people read it and I didn’t update it that often. Google unexpectedly shut it down, so that was the end of that blog. There are many things I would like to talk about such as opinions on products and tips on products, and I wanted to write them down. So, I started this blog up again.

I won’t promise that I will update it a ton, but I will try to make it unique. I might post something that the more popular blogs have covered, but I will also try to make this helpful so you are not just reading, your getting some good out of it.

I am very fortunate; I have a lot of technology that I use. So, I will post tips about technologies, as well as a lot of other things. I won’t limit this to blindness specific technology, either. If there is mainstream technology that happens to be accessible, I’ll cover that, too.

I set the comments so there is no captcha, and I also allowed anonymous commenting. If this blog begins to get spammed, I will not allow anonymous commenting, but I will never add the captcha. One of my main goals with this blog was to have everyone that is reading feel free to comment on any post with there thoughts, suggestions, etc. I will respond to comments with questions and comments, too. Keeping the captchas away will allow all of you to have an easy way to leave me comments.

With that, I’ll close out this blog post, as it has been quite lengthy for an introductory post. Leave comments with your thoughts, and I’ll see you on blog post number two!

Chase Crispin