tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10592849452762429202024-03-12T00:50:15.724-04:00Michael Feir's BlogA digital record of my blessed and unusual life and pursuits.Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-11378317442492491982022-04-28T21:50:00.100-04:002023-09-15T11:30:42.086-04:00The Second Edition of Personal Power<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The Second Edition of Personal Power</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Hello everyone. It's been a long and strange couple of years. A whole lot of people out there seem to have found the first edition, with all of its many imperfections, to be of some help. Given the very positive feedback and so many earnest hopes expressed that I would update this guide, I have indeed done so.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">For any newcomers, welcome. My objective was to create an ebook to teach totally blind owners of iPhones how to make the most out of their devices. I go right from the beginning with a section on setting up your device even if you're totally blind and have never felt an iPhone before. From there, I explain the VoiceOver screen reader built into every iPhone. I also explain the iOS operating system and much else besides. One major objective was to point beginners to more accessible apps so that their starting experience would be less full of frustrations. Hopefully, I've managed to offer something which will be informative and enjoyable.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">As before, the guide is completely free to all. I encourage you to share it with whoever you wish. Provided the guide remains unaltered and freely given, I have no issue with this. If anyone is willing to make the guide available in other formats, such as DAISY, Braille, etc, you have my sincere thanks for making that effort. I would request you share that effort with me so I can make the files available to everyone along with the other versions of the guide.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">I have placed copies of the second edition of the guide in four different formats. For most readers, I recommend the EPUB version. It has an interactive table of contents and should be the best in most cases. Many people requested a version in Microsoft Word, so I've put the DOCX version in the directory. I've also created a PDF version thanks to that option being available in Pages. It works well in the Voice Dream Reader app, but I think EPUB is still better. The final version is a plain text Markdown format version of the guide. In it, there is sadly no table of contents. However, you can search for headings denoted by one or more number signs or hashes. This could be helpful for people who find that the EPUB version fails to work for them. I also hope that people will find ways to use this, or the other files, in the creation of versions with active tables of contents, or other advantageous format aids.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">For ease of use, I have place these files in a shared Google Drive folder. I hope this method of distribution will prove less troublesome for people than prior attempts. Here are direct links to the various files:</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Thanks to the efforts of Harrison Tu, we now have a zipped MP3 audio version of the guide. It's recorded using an Elevenlabs female voice at a speed which is easily understandable. The link to the zipped file is:</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AhXs9c9H93tOgmKrKpJSXH5RfGWHfLYp/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AhXs9c9H93tOgmKrKpJSXH5RfGWHfLYp/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Daisy Audio format: This is for people using Daisy players. It is read by synthetic speech at a slow rate which people can use the player controls to increase if they wish.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XFaSVkOsDRp3YjW-vvh8aTQgi1GLVgBv/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XFaSVkOsDRp3YjW-vvh8aTQgi1GLVgBv/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">EPUb version: This has an active table of contents and is recommended for most people.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kB3kLVSEFYS_9PnFmt71MRJ4cl_-96t5/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kB3kLVSEFYS_9PnFmt71MRJ4cl_-96t5/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Microsoft Word format: People find this useful for making other formats.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/1gP2ZqASC863PsMQo60Z7C8lK1TQIzn1C/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword">https://docs.google.com/file/d/1gP2ZqASC863PsMQo60Z7C8lK1TQIzn1C/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msword</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">PDF format: This seems to work reasonably well and has an active table of contents.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AQlZbqq1IYEybK7o9Slk6GysIQbqR4K2/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AQlZbqq1IYEybK7o9Slk6GysIQbqR4K2/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Markdown plain text: This version has no table of contents but has numbersigns or hashmarks indicating headings.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--pDFDqtC_65XyXAzg2RIbJwkvMQRNcc/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--pDFDqtC_65XyXAzg2RIbJwkvMQRNcc/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Braille .brl UEB format. This should preserve formatting and is likely the best for Braille readers at present.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MaZrpwXV1CpIHRE_-fy2eM-FmUX9emHH/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MaZrpwXV1CpIHRE_-fy2eM-FmUX9emHH/view?usp=drivesdk</a> </p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Braille .brf format: This doesn't preserve formatting but might be preferred for people who don't like UEB.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xXorjD4SU0u8lM2yPf-Nc9Y8yaoSbZn5/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xXorjD4SU0u8lM2yPf-Nc9Y8yaoSbZn5/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">Single web page .mh format: This will open as a single page with headings.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1up0TqvuFg9iaWAhS3fO5-7uplQn9VGW1/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1up0TqvuFg9iaWAhS3fO5-7uplQn9VGW1/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">A TouchScreen Unseen: This was a lecture I presented at the 2020 Connecting The Dots conference.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ww8HmITcPeJmxZrFbaOF5AmcjW-J4ZMc/view?usp=drivesdk">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ww8HmITcPeJmxZrFbaOF5AmcjW-J4ZMc/view?usp=drivesdk</a></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;">The link to the folder is:</p>
<p style="color: #468bdf; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px 0px 0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-1GAc2-HM1drA0GEj4fEBgQxIh4bHSKC">https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-1GAc2-HM1drA0GEj4fEBgQxIh4bHSKC</a></span></p><div><br /></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-39337213608495938982019-03-06T15:06:00.001-05:002019-03-06T15:06:41.141-05:00The Camera Which Helped The Blind;<h1>What Is This;</h1>
<p>Identifying Objects, People, and More with Apps and The Camera in Your iOS Device:</p>
<p>Handkerchiefs are splendid things to have handy when you need to wipe off messy fingers so you can then use your iPHONE without getting guck all over it. They have made my day more bearable on many occasions when I couldn’t come up with facial tissue when allergies got the better of me. They are, however, the most unbelievably frustrating objects on Earth to try finding once dropped. They make no sound at all when landing on apartment carpet or even hard floor for that matter. I had ben given a dozen handkerchiefs and slowly lost most of them over the past six or seven years since. Eventually, I would step on the thing or else vacuum it by mistake and have to dig it out of the fluff if I even had the good fortune to realize this happened. Of course, there was always the possibility that it had fallen on hard floor and was now a hazard awaiting my unwary footfall to send me slipping or sprawling headlong into an apartment wall. At least, this time around, I was pretty certain that the handkerchief was lost somewhere in the apartment. I couldn’t be certain how many days ago it had fallen from my pocket though so that meant it could have been in any number of places.</p>
<p>There are, of course, time tested methods for dealing with searching for dropped objects. The grid pattern search is the most thorough and laborious. I resigned myself to goodness knows how many minutes or hours of doing such a search of my entire apartment by feel. And then… it dawned on me.</p>
<p>Around the time I got my first iPHONE, my father had gotten an iPAD. We had chatted using the FaceTime app. I remembered that I could switch it so it used the rear-facing camera. Rather than fruitlessly crawling around the floor searching, I called my father on FaceTime. He began telling me where to point the camera so he could see the apartment floor and furniture where it could have fallen. It literally took him no more than a couple of minutes to look over the floor through my phone’s camera and tell me where to reach down and retrieve the handkerchief. He didn’t even have to leave his living room to help with finding stuff or reading printed documents. A few times, he even helped me restore my obstinately silent computer to working status by telling me where to point the camera and what was on the screen.</p>
<p>Finding my lost handkerchief was my first mind-blowing experience of how very useful the tiny camera in the corner of my iPHONE could be to blind people. Over time, it became habit to FaceTime my father whenever I needed his eyes for tasks requiring working eyes. For quite a while, that was where things basically stood regarding useful applications of the camera. It took a while for the technology to get better and for Apple to give enough camera control to app developers before the really awesome stuff started. Slowly, the first specially built apps started to appear which were designed specifically to help blind an visually impaired people through use of the camera. These apps made use of artificial intelligence, big data, and the ability to connect people in need of sighted help with sighted people willing to help when called. In this section, we’ll look at the most popular apps which attempt to bring aspects of sight to blind people through the technology built into every iOS device.</p>
<h2>Object Identification:</h2>
<p>Sadly, not all blind people have sighted friends or family in their lives who are so willing to lend their eyes when needed. There are also times when, for instance, due to the lateness of the hour, it would be inadvisable to call upon one’s friends to quickly find out what kind of cake you pull from the fridge in order to partake in a midnight snack. Being able to have the benefits of sight for crucial moments here and there without inconveniencing people has always been a strongly held desire among blind people. Tapping into the capabilities built into your iOS device, app developers have now largely made this dream a reality.</p>
<h3>Digit-Eyes:</h3>
<p>Apps such as Digit-Eyes attempt to identify objects using the bar codes most objects are now adorned with. The user must simply move the camera over the surfaces of an item until the software detects the bar code. The app then taps into a database which is usually online. The bar code is matched to an entry in this database and the blind person is then informed what the object is. Being managed online, the database of bar codes an app like Digit-Eyes can tap into is always kept up to date and takes no storage space on your device.</p>
<p>Although still available in the app store, this app hasn’t been updated in over two years. It has existed for nearly a decade and was the first app of its kind that I experienced. The database of codes which the current version can identify stands at over thirty seven million. The ability to purchase and/or create labels to be attached to objects and speak or type text which is spoken when the labels are encountered might well make this somewhat older system a good choice in some circumstances. Since the text or recordings you create are stored on your device, this system can work even when you’re not connected to the Internet. This approach may also be less intimidating and easier to master for people les skilled with technology or fearful of giving away information to large corporations. It is, however, quite slow by the standards of today’s apps.</p>
<h2>Tap Tap See:</h2>
<p><a href="https://taptapseeapp.com">https://taptapseeapp.com</a></p>
<p>Another approach is used by apps such as Tap Tap See. Rather than using a bar code which can be hard to find on some objects, the app assists blind people in taking a good enough picture of the object to allow artificial intelligence or a human assistant to identify the object. The user is then informed, usually within seconds of taking the picture, what the object is. This app detects when an object is clearly in focus and emits a short beep to inform the blind person that an object is firmly in focus. You must go into the “more” tab and then double-tap the “settings” button to access the configuration area of this app where this feature can be enabled. This can help tremendously if people have never had occasion to take a picture before. Tap Tap See can also analyze up to ten seconds of video in order to identify objects in the camera view.</p>
<p>Tap Tap See was king of the proverbial block for quite some time. It was once a paid service where you had to keep re-stocking the amount of pictures you could have described for you. It has long since become free for all users to use as much as they like and still comes in handy every now and then.</p>
<p>For my wife Sara and I, Tap Tap See was well worth paying for photos while that was actually necessary. To just be able to pull out one’s phone, snap a picture of a bottle of beer, box of crackers or cup of noodles and find out what kind it was within seconds, that was absolute unadulterated magic. No longer was it necessary to label so many things that would only be used once. No longer did we have to be so very careful about where we put which soup cans. Provided we had our iPHOnEs, we could make informed choices without having to open something to find out what it was.</p>
<h2>KNFB Reader;</h2>
<p>A Reading Revolution In Your Pocket:
<a href="https://knfbreader.com">https://knfbreader.com</a></p>
<p>Being able to read print easily wherever you might happen to encounter it has been another long-standing ardent wish for many blind people. My second truly mind-blowing experience with the camera on my iPHONE happened on September 18, 2014, on the same day as the Scottish referendum. Thanks to the generosity of John Morgan, a philanthropist who I’ve had the honour and good fortune to call friend, I felt able to afford the most expensive app I’ve ever acquired. for quite a while, I had been hearing about a remarkable new app called KNFB Reader. An early demonstration of its capabilities involved someone taking a picture of a screen at the front of a large auditorium and having the print on the screen read out perfectly. This app could also help guide your hand as you positioned your iPHONE above a sheet of paper to get that optimum shot for best recognition results. It was one of those things that felt either too good to be true or too revolutionary and life-changing to be available to ordinary people like me.</p>
<p>I was using an iPHONE5S by this point so I had the capability to run it. People were almost too ecstatic about what it could do. I heard stories of people effortlessly photographing even large poster-sized documents and getting nearly perfect OCR results. People talked of snapping pictures of signs on the street and learning what they said. It all sounded too good to be true. The price of over $100 Canadian certainly gave me pause. I could buy a good portion of a month’s groceries or a lot of Kindle books with that sort of money. I would, in all likelihood have ultimately made the purchase. However, what decided me that day was an email and donation from John Morgan. He had heard of this remarkable app and wondered if I’d be interested in taking it for a spin an telling him what I thought of it. Naturally, at that point, I agreed. I purchased the app from the app store without difficulty and it installed without any issues.</p>
<p>I opened the app and read through the instructions. For an experienced user like me, or even a beginner, it all struck me as very simple and well thought through. I could use a feature called “field of view report” to get a sense of how well a document was in the camera’s focus. Once I had gotten it in good position, I could take a picture and the document in focus would be read out to me. This would apparently happen within seconds of my taking the picture. Testing it out on some smaller flyers I had gotten in the mail, I happily found that the app was as good and easy to use as people said it was. To really put my new app through the ringer, I found a large poster-sized paper that the Ontario government had sent me. I had used my older version of Kurzweil 1000 and the OCR scanner on my desk to partially scan the document. It wouldn’t all fit in the scanner but I had gotten enough read out to know it wasn’t something I needed to wrestle with in order to hear the rest. However, if this new app worked like people had raved about, it wouldn’t be nearly so hard and time consuming to get the full document readable.</p>
<p>I laid out the large sheet on my dining room table and made certain the room light was on. For once, it would actually be helpful to me rather than the occasional sighted visitors I had. Using the field of view feature as well as vibrations which gave me a sense of how tilted my iPHONE was, it took a number of attempts before I found a position which let the camera take in the whole paper. Moving my iPHONE farther above the paper and then getting another report, I was able to hone in on the perfect position for my iPHONE. Then, I carefully double-tapped the “take picture” button. The camera sound played and I waited hoping I hadn’t disturbed the position of the iPHONE by tapping too hard. It took around ten seconds. I was just beginning to wonder if I had crashed the app when a synthetic voice began reading the document. The contents were about as deadly dull and unimportant to my life as humanly possible. Nevertheless, I was still absolutely spellbound. The paper was read out absolutely perfectly. I had never read anything like this without there being a number of OCR recognition errors. You’d encounter them at least once every couple of sentences. There’d be a couple of nonsense characters or letters instead of numbers. It had been this way since my days in secondary school when I had gotten my very first scanner. That still certainly happens even with KNFB Reader but it’s a lot less frequent. However, on that day, the stars must have been right. I stood there at the table utterly amazed waiting for a mistake that never came as perfect sentence followed perfect sentence. I couldn’t help but think back to the weekend I had spent scanning a copy of The Elements of Style so I’d have it in time for my creative writing class in university. A good portion of my ongoing perhaps unfair seething hatred of that book can be traced back to the wrecked weekend of effort it took to get a far from perfect but useable copy scanned into my laptop one page at a time. How much easier and less painful it would have been with an app like KNFB Reader.</p>
<p>The implications for today’s students are absolutely profound. It might actually be useful for them to go to a library, borrow a book and find the information they needed in it. They could read through forms and merely need sighted help to fill them in properly. All of the work of character recognition happens on your own device. This means that your data is kept absolutely private and doesn’t need to travel anywhere for processing. You can also export the text to other apps and share documents when you want to. The vibration feedback plus the field of view report features makes the process of learning to take good pictures of sheets a lot easier to master than with apps which cost less.</p>
<p>Compared to other apps in the app store, KNFB Reader is one of the most expensive purchases you’re likely to make even if you manage to get it while on sale. However, consider this more carefully. I needed government funding to obtain the Kurzweil 1000 software I had been using for over a decade. Each time I wanted to get the latest update, I needed to pay over $100 in order to have it sent to me. The government agency spent over $1000 initially to purchase my user license for the software. However, for the cost of a single update for Kurzweil 1000, I had gotten an app which consistently yielded results as good as or better than Kurzweil 1000. These results were obtained in a fraction of the time that software and scanner took to even scan a sheet let alone interpret what it saw. Rather than a bulky scanner taking up desk space, I could pull my iPHONE out of my pocket and read print anywhere. I’ve never had to pay once for updates to the KNFB Reader app. They just keep coming every so often. While there may be less overall need to read print as more documents become electronically available, I’m still very happy to have this app for when I need a full and accurate scan of something in print. I use this app every day to read my physical mail and notes from the staff of my apartment building. The KNFB Reader app was and still is an absolute game changer.</p>
<h3>App Store Expedition:</h3>
<p>Prizmo Go; A Cheeper Alternative Reading Solution:</p>
<p><a href="https://creaceed.com/prizmogo">https://creaceed.com/prizmogo</a></p>
<p>While KNFB Reader was certainly the first really noteworthy print reading app, it wasn’t the only kid on the block for very long. Other apps appeared attempting to offer OCR capabilities more affordably. These days, unlike when I picked up the app, KNFB Reader has some good competition. By far, the most successful of these is one called Prizmo Go. It was designed to cater more to the sighted user. However, Creaceed SPRL, the app developer, took great care to incorporate support for VoiceOver and special guidance to help blind users orient their cameras to get good pictures of text. You can try the app free of charge enough to get a sense of whether the app would suit your needs. Should you need more of its capabilities, you can purchase some outright such as the ability to export and share text. Other capabilities take advantage of cloud-based processing to offer enhanced accuracy above and beyond the already superb performance of the built-in OCR capabilities. Prizmo Go also offers language translation capabilities. If you hesitate to pay an ongoing subscription, you can instead pay for a limited amount of cloud-enhanced accurate scans and/or translations. Otherwise, simply pay a one-time fee to unlock the exporting capabilities of Prizmo Go and you’ll have yourself a very robust and portable OCR solution.</p>
<p>This illustrates the power of large-scale economics. While you won’t find quite the same level of intuitiveness as with KNFB Reader, Prizmo Go offers very comparable OCR results for people who are comfortable and proficient with using the camera of their device. The “scene description” button at the bottom right offers similar guidance to the “field of view” report feature of KNFB Reader. It also gives a sense of the number of lines of text in view. There are VoiceOver hints throughout the app as well as other help offered in the “app settings” button found at the top left. For a lot of people who feel comfortable using the camera, Prizmo Go will be more than sufficient to meet their OCR needs and will cost them a whole lot less money. For plenty of others, the more intuitive feedback and guidance that only an app designed from the ground up for blind users provides will be well worth the extra one-time expense. I’m happy that we as blind people can now regularly make such choices in the iOs ecosystem.</p>
<h2>Seeing A I:</h2>
<p>Putting It All Together:</p>
<p>Www.seingai.com</p>
<p>To really propel things forward takes a partnership. This partnership is between blind people who own iOS devices that need to know about things in their lives and a gigantic globe-spanning company working on cutting edge artificial intelligence with mind-boggling resources. One Summer, the blind community was absolutely stunned when the Seeing A I app from Microsoft appeared in the app store. As a means of conducting ongoing research into accessibility and artificial intelligence, Microsoft had managed to leverage its artificial intelligence, massive image database and computing power to come up with what is still the current must-have app for blind people. It’s called Seeing A I. This app is the Swiss army knife of handy tools making use of the camera. It has a number of channels which each perform different tasks. The channel you start on is for reading short text as the camera sees it. Touch the channel selector in the bottom right and flick up or down to get to other channels. More are added as new features are deemed ready for public experimentation. Other available channels include ones for reading larger documents, identifying objects or people, identifying currency, detecting the level of ambient light, describing scenes and even reading hand writing. Some of these features are still in what is called “preview” status which basically means they’re available for you to try but not yet judged fully developed. This app is available free from the app store and using it is free of any charges other than possibly cellular data.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to properly convey the tremendous usefulness of the Seeing A I app. Nor can the impact on the social media using blind community be overstated. All through the first months during which the app was available, it seemed that there were torrents of tweets, Facebook posts and podcasts about this small but monumental app. Nothing could knock Seeing A I off of the five most recently recommended app slots on the Applevis home page. And this despite the fact that users in the UK weren’t included initially. The envy from across the pond was thick enough to cut.</p>
<p>When you first run the app, you are presented with tutorials which pop up as you explore. They have videos produced by the app developers at Microsoft which explain how the various features work.. Once you’ve gone through those, the app will open into the default channel for reading short text. Touch the channel selector on the bottom right and flick up or down with one finger to change to different channels. The next two channels above short text reading are for reading whole pages and product identification via bar codes.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that Seeing A I is a research project. Basically, this means that you’re paying for the assistance you receive with the data you’re generating. You are the product. As Microsoft’s artificial intelligence assists you by reading text or describing people or objects, it learns from the images. Human app developers working on Seeing A I and other Microsoft products might make use of the image of a coffee cup you take a picture of and have described to improve the ability of products using artificial intelligence to recognize coffee cups. A blind person might well have taken a picture of a coffee cup from a different unusual angle than most images in an image library. I feel pretty safe in using it for most things but wouldn’t use it to get the security number of my credit card or anything sensitive like that. Always be aware of where images and data are going and mindful of the motivations of people or companies who have access to it.</p>
<p>Speaking of being aware of who gets data, consider the case of my mother in law. Soon after my wife Sara and I began using the Seeing A I app, we visited with her family and showed them the app. With her eager permission, we decided to try the person description channel and take a picture of my mother in law. Upon examining that picture, my iPHONE calmly informed her that she was a good couple of decades older than was actually the case. She was less than thrilled with that description and jokingly warned me not to leave my iPHONE unattended in her presence. </p>
<h2>The Eyes have It;</h2>
<p>Bringing Willing Sighted Help Where It’s Needed:</p>
<p>Lets face it. There are times when no amount of fancy artificial intelligence will do the trick. You need to hunt for something, complete a process, figure out where to write on a form, etc. There are problems which require an ongoing dialogue with a sighted person to be solved efficiently. With FaceTime, you must have someone in your family or circle of friends willing to help when needed. Not everyone has an iOs device. Nor are the sighted people in our lives always free or knowledgeable enough to help. There are currently a number of apps which seek to remove these limitations. We’ll focus on two very popular apps which attempt to connect those who need sighted help with people who are willing and able to assist.</p>
<h3>Be My Eyes:</h3>
<p>Www.bemyeyes.com</p>
<p>The Be My Eyes app connects you via a video call similar to FaceTime with the first available volunteer who has made him or herself available to assist. The app shows the volunteer what the camera on the back of your device sees. The real utility in the Be My Eyes app is its ability to connect people needing help with available volunteers who have time to offer assistance at any given moment. This is great for finding lost objects or picking out clothes that look good on you.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that these are volunteers. All they have to do is a simple tutorial about how the app works. They aren’t vetted for security and are unpaid. Don’t use them for anything requiring sensitive information. While it is unlikely that people would volunteer with sinister motives, You never know. Someone could, for instance, se and make use of a credit card number you had the volunteer read to you. There are certainly ways in which this app and the blind people who use it might be abused by unscrupulous people.</p>
<p>To write this section of the guide, I wanted to test out the Be My Eyes app for myself. I found signing up to be very easy. You do need to agree to the terms of use and use the app in abidance with them. Volunteers are never responsible for your safety. Nor can the developers of Be My Eyes be held liable for any misuse of the app. Once I had signed up, I placed a call by finding and double-tapping a button called “Call first available volunteer”. I have a collector’s coin which I got after participating in a documentary called Get Lamp. It’s available on Youtube and is about text adventure games. I asked the volunteer to describe each side of the coin. She did a nice job of it and told me how to move my iPHONE so she could read me the small writing on the coin as well as describe the pictures. She had time for a brief chat and was curious about the documentary. I asked what she had to do in order to volunteer and she described the simple tutorial she had completed.</p>
<p>The experience was very simple and unhurried. However, one is certainly conscious of taking up a volunteer’s time. Personally, I wouldn’t want to use them for anything too lengthy. That call certainly gave me an idea of the ability of the camera on my iPHONE7 to focus on small images and what feels to me like tiny writing on the coin faces.</p>
<h3>Aira;</h3>
<p>Competent Secure and On-demand Visual Help For Rent:
Www.aira.io</p>
<p>Aira, pronounced “eye”ra, puts everything on a business footing. Aira hires agents who help blind people with everyday tasks. These people are vetted for security so you can feel safer about sensitive information. Also, you as a blind client pay a subscription for a certain number of minutes each month. You can use them for whatever you like without feeling guilty for taking up somebody’s time. The software used by Aira agents is more sophisticated and allows them to pull up maps or tap into your social media to recognize faces of people. Aira agents are trusted with your data due to their having been vetted for security and this makes Aira potentially much more useful depending on your individual needs. Aira can be used in conjunction with smart glasses giving a head level hand-free view more similar to eye sight to Aira agents. Imagine walking down a street and a voice in your ear telling you about a restaurant sign coming up ahead. The agent could also tell you that your friend John is approaching you from the left. That’s what happens in one of the promotional videos you’ll find on their web site. Because these agents can access your location and other information, they can help you make travel decisions. During the setup process, Aira makes it very clear that they aren’t responsible for your safety. They won’t help you while you’re travelling unless you are using a mobility aid like a guide dog or cane. They can, however, describe your surroundings and suggest different routes. They could tell you about signs of businesses you’re passing, where a taxi stand or bus stop is, or any number of details which might prove useful. They could help you operate and otherwise inaccessible ticket machine or read information from a restaurant’s display.</p>
<p>While writing this guide, Aira offered a free trial for everyone which gave you thirty minutes that had to b used in seven days or les once your trial started. I took advantage of this to take Aira for a casual spin. Some of my thirty minutes were taken with going through the rules and answering some questions to set up my profile. After that, the agent asked what she could help me with.</p>
<p>In advertising the trial, people were encouraged to knock something off their bucket list. During the years I’ve lived in my apartment, I had often been told that I had a “good view” from my balcony. I decided to have the agent who took my call describe for me the view from the balcony of my apartment. I figured this would give me an idea of how wide an area could be seen from my iPHONE’s camera as well as a sense of how well Aira trained its agents in the art of description. She spent a few minutes describing what she saw and answering some questions I asked. I was impressed by how much could be seen and with the detailed description I was given. She agreed to type up some descriptive text and attach it to a picture she took and shared with my iPHONE. Unfortunately, to access such pictures, you need to be a paid subscriber to the service so I couldn’t access this little souvenir. however, I at least got an idea of what it was like to stand and look out on a snowy afternoon from my balcony.</p>
<p>As things currently stand, using the Aira service is an expense your bank account will feel the sting of even for people with steady working incomes. As of March 2019, a standard subscription without smart glasses would cost around $100 US per month giving you 120 minutes of Aira time which can be used for nearly anything you want to do with the assistance of an Aira agent. This doesn’t cover any costs you’d pay for the cellular data used. Those could be prohibitive if you don’t have a high or unlimited amount of data in your monthly plan.</p>
<p>Putting things on a business footing has a more profound psychological effect than you might think. While you might hesitate to use a volunteer’s time for anything lengthy or complex, the mindset changes when you’re paying for a service. As fate would have it, a friend of mine posted a perfect example of this on Facebook while I was working on this section of the guide. Michelle McQuigge doesn’t consider herself particularly handy with tools or good at assembling things. However, she had bought a heavy-duty laundry cart and decided to use an Aira agent’s help to try assembling the cart without help from her more mechanically inclined sighted friends. The agent was able to find the assembly instructions on the Internet and then talk Michelle through the process of putting her new cart together. That just floored me. I can’t count the times in life where I’ve sat still or stood out of the way while someone sighted has tired him or herself out putting some piece of furniture together for me. An experience common to blind people is that sense of bing more than willing to do the work for oneself if a sighted person would just patiently say what needed to be done and where things were. For Michelle, Aira made that dream come true.</p>
<p>The idea of attending an event and being able to get to your seat or know what’s around at a festival independently is very compelling. You could tour a convention haul or have paintings in a gallery describe to you. Aira really pushes this active and engaged lifestyle in its advertising. The company is doing a lot to try and lower costs and make Aira useful for people who can’t afford to subscribe to one of their plans. Businesses can sign up so that blind people can be helped by Aira agents while in their establishments at no cost other than cellular data. Airports and other places can be designated free for Aira use by anybody. Also, people can use Aira for job hunting tasks at no charge and without losing minutes if they’re subscribed. There’s an entry level plan for $30 US per month for 30 minutes. That might be useful for a few quick tasks around the home but you wouldn’t want to go on an expedition with that plan.</p>
<h2>Camera Conclusions:</h2>
<p>Over the past eight years, I’ve continued to be delighted by the many ways in which the camera in my iPHONE has proved a vital part of my everyday life. As the costs of artificial intelligence, computing power, internet connectivity and camera technology go down, the possibilities for even those of us on low incomes will continue to grow. Thankfully, ways are being found to tap willing people and the vast resources of companies to improve lives not only of blind people, but of everyone who gains from artificial intelligence made smarter about identifying things for us.</p>
<p>These are still very early days. Things are moving quite quickly. This section of guide may very well be the first to become obsolete due to changes in this area. I’m fascinated to see where both the charitable and business efforts to put the cameras on iOS devices in the service of improving the lives of blind people end up going over the next decade. There’s quite a lot of potential for amazing helpful ideas. What really excites me is how all of this is done through a piece of technology commonly used by all sorts of people be they blind, sighted, disabled in other ways, or fully able-bodied. This brings large scale economics to bear on problems which formerly relied on smaller niche markets and special charity or government economics. That in itself is a massive game changer whose implications are still very much in their infancy.</p>
<p>Sadly, I things there is some cause for worry about an increased divide between blind people who succeed in finding steady enough employment to tap into what paid services like Aira offer and those who aren’t as successful. On lower income levels, you quickly hit a catch22 where you spend so much on the service that you have no money to go places to put it to good use. However, I think the costs will fall over time as more businesses join as sponsors or partners. I’m also hopeful that these services will have a trickle-down effect through changing public attitudes about the possibilities for blind participation in spheres of life.</p>
<p>The fear surrounding what governments and massive corporations will do with the data we generate is still, I believe, a limiting force on what’s possible. Personally, I think a lot of that fear is misplaced. People aren’t really weighing up the benefits and hesitate to reach for the ready help that artificial intelligence can provide. For blind people, I seem more of a danger from the one-on-one connections between them and the sighted people they connect to. It’s far more likely that an unscrupulous person would take advantage of a bank account number accidentally revealed while trying to bring a package of oatmeal on a cluttered countertop into focus or something of that nature. In such a case though, is that very slight risk more or less dangerous than not knowing whether that package of oatmeal contains ingredients you’re allergic to? Might it be worth trusting a volunteer or paid agent to help you use that otherwise inaccessible vending machine to get a snack or pay for a ticket you need in a hurry? In exchange for a bit of mindful sensible trust, that help is now available through your iOS device.</p>
<p>Above my discussion of each app covered in this section, you’ll find a link to the web site about it. There are all kinds of podcasts, videos and other information for each app so you can get a sense of whether it suits your particular needs. A simple Google search can yield more independent reviews and demonstrations of these apps. People tend to talk a lot about things which have positive impacts on their lives. Take advantage of that to get a good sense of what’s possible and how you might use that little round camera in the corner of your iOS device.</p>
<p>Remember to think out of the box. Nothing stops you as a Blind person from using the camera for the same social purposes as a sighted person. From pictures posted to online dating sites to Facebook photos, blind people are getting up to all kinds of social activity. There are even blind Youtube stars who have lots of sighted followers. We’ll cover that in greater detail in the section dealing with social media. There are lots of implications for making friends and sharing experiences with that little camera and other technology in your iOs device. new possibilities are emerging all the time so keep an ear out for them.</p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-53827716743043201622018-12-31T15:08:00.001-05:002018-12-31T15:08:18.051-05:00year end reflections<p>Year End Reflections for 2018
Hello everyone. I haven’t done a personal blog entry in ages. The Personal Power guide I’ve been working on plus segments I’m doing for Kelly and Company have scratched that blogger’s itch. The rest of life certainly hasn’t been uneventful. I just don’t have the same need to document everything as I once did. However, I feel a need to take stock today at year’s end.
Where to begin? Married life seems a good place. Sara and I are enjoying a largely stress-free and happy marriage. We’re both pretty good communicators and overall positive people. We certainly have disagreements but have typically managed to talk through them without inflicting pain on each other. Both of us have our own separate spheres of life and share enough interests to value our time together. It’s hard to believe we’re i our fourth year of marriage.
The work I’m doing for Kelly and Company on AMI Audio has proved to be very rewarding and also quite challenging at times. How to cram all the information I want to impart into fifteen-minute segments isn’t always easy. However, it has helped organize my thinking when it comes to working on Personal Power: the iOS Edition. Increasingly though, it’s harder to make the two projects dovetail as the guide enters what I hope will be the last stretch of work. It’s been a very long haul and my initial enthusiasm for the guide is fatigued. There’s still quite a lot to get done before it’s ready for release. I’ve done way too much work to cut corners or just walk away from the project. It’s got to get done right.
Financially, AMI Audio has continued to compensate me for the segments I prepare and I’m ever so thankful for this opportunity for paid work. It still feels precarious despite this being my second year of producing segments. I’ve just passed the 100 segment mark. I didn’t imagine it would last so long and there’s still the niggling dread that one day, it’ll just snap off like a switch and vanish. That keeps not happening though. Because of this income, I’ve been able to acquire a lot more apps and try things that I simply wouldn’t hav felt free to without it. The guide will be a far better resource due to this. My library of legally owned books and audio dramas has certainly gotten larger.
So far there haven’t been any issues with ODSP or Peel Housing. I don’t think the upcoming changes to social assistance will cause us any trouble. However, I have a distrust for Conservatives and their tendency to dismiss and devalue people who haven’t managed to become self-sufficient. I worry tremendously about our new premiere and his habit of ignoring science in favour of ideology. It’s a case of scrapping every bit of long-term thinking the other side did regardless of merit. There’s already a stupid amount of that going on south of the border. Greed and self-centred short-term thinking is sadly winning the day right when the planet needs the exact opposite. I don’t think Trudo has much of a chance of surviving the next election. Too many mistakes made and too many badly needed initiatives promised which take god damned time that the other side will wipe out before they can realistically have any long-term results. That deeply frustrates me.
This year’s politics really leaves me angry and wanting drastic world change which seems impossible right now. It feels like it’ll take some catastrophic disasters to really get people to change and ditch this us versus them crap. It sounds like those might even occur in my lifetime if the UN scientists are right. I hope we don’t waste all twelve of these next apparently crucial years we have to get at least some kind of grip on climate change. It should be the kick we need to start doing something about societal equality but people keep finding ways of dismissing or fighting against that kind of thing.
I keep thinking there must be more good news out there that I’m just not coming across. Part of that has to do with how long working on this guide has dragged on. It makes me feel more stale than seems warranted given all the interesting apps and things I’ve learned and found while working on it. Another big milestone was that I’ve reached a point where I’ve gone completely legal in terms of the books I have. I now own every book I’ve wanted to own since my teenage years. I’ve done this without breaking the bank thanks largely to Kindle and Audible. Knowing how very hard it is to write the stories which have done so much to shape me over the years, this feels tremendously good. Once my guide is finished, I might well take another stab at writing a short story collection. Alternatively, thanks to the Voice Dream Reader app and sites like Storybundle, I have a substantial collection of books about creative writing and game development. Those will help whether I pursue rpg creation or story writing. But first, there’s the guide to finish before it drags me under creatively speaking. I still feel that it’ll fill a gap in the help that’s available for people who have or contemplate getting iOS devices. That hasn’t changed.
I’m still using my iPHONE7. Unless my carrier offers me a super deal, it’ll stay that way for potentially the next couple of years. Sara upgraded to an iPHONEXR at far less expense than I had thought possible. So far, she’s pretty happy with it. Understandable coming from a 5S. It’ll be interesting to see what she does with so much more room and other advancements. The guide will be a better informed document taking her experience of these advancements.
I’ve invested in some new peripherals. A great new Bluetooth speaker called a Fugu Tough has proved to be an excellent addition to my travel kit. Sadly, the Go Duo speakers didn’t last as long as I had hoped when I backed them. The Tough seems rugged and even has speech prompts about charge levels and connection status. The other major acquisition was another successful Kickstarter. It’s a Hexgears X1 mechanical keyboard. It’s being used to type this entry. The key feedback feels very nice and it’s far more comfortable to type on than the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard I’ll still use and deeply appreciate when travelling. However, there’s a noticeable lag and occasional missed keystrokes. I think this is a bluetooth issue and wouldn’t be surprised if these issues went away in time. I’m still getting used to the new keyboard and its quirks. It’ll certainly stand up to the amount of typing I do. The keys are rated for seventy million clicks.
The Lifepack Hustle has been a very nice travel pack for longer expeditions. It just got another bit of use on our Christmas visit to sara’s family. Plenty of room for a home base away from home and I love the shock protection. It should last ages with the possible exception of the internal mesh pockets. I can see those tearing eventually although they haven’t at all yet.
The apartment continues to be a good home for us. No serious issues at all to deal with. There are maintenance projects and that sort of thing but they really take care of the building and us renters quite nicely. Sara knows far more people here than I do these days. That’s largely due to her guide dog Aladdin. I really have to get out more this Spring and get into the habit of walking more like I used to. It’s less fun with hearing loss and the hearing aids being rendered useless by too much wind or background noise. Still, I’ll need that motion and different place to help deal with the race to finish this guide in the time frame I’d like to.
I’m a deacon at my church now. That happened in September and so far, I think I’ve done alright in that role. I’m still learning a lot as I go but people seem largely happy with me. It’s a three year commitment that I mean to see through barring any unexpected life-changing opportunities. Going to different churches continues to be a source of interesting talk and reflection for Sara and I. It hasn’t proved anywhere near as divisive as I once would have expected. She remains the choir director at her church. I frankly never thought of myself as deacon material but when the call came, I couldn’t turn it down. My church has been there when I’ve needed them as much as that kind of organization can be. It’s only right that I do likewise.
In a few hours, our New Year’s party will begin. I think it’ll be a good one. I haven’t seen as much of any of my friends as I should have. I plan to work on that a bit more this year. 2019 should be a more social and less isolated year if I can manage that. Hopefully, it’ll also see a new creative chapter begin. I’m at last close enough to finishing this guide that I can realistically hope to get to the end before iOS changes yet again. Just not as far before that happens as I would have liked.
Well I think I’ll leave you here for the moment. Perhaps, I’ll get back into more of a blogging groove. Only time will tell. Have a happy new year, everyone. </p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-90972158643984306182018-12-20T07:08:00.001-05:002018-12-20T07:08:49.612-05:00Maps, Taps and GPS Apps<h1>Maps, Taps and GPS Apps;</h1>
<p>Getting Around The Real World;</p>
<p>Independent travel and gaining awareness of what’s nearby have been tremendous stumbling blocks for me in life. A lot of that difficulty is due to what caused my blindness. I was born prematurely. Doctors follow what was then a common practice of providing extra oxygen to keep me alive. This oxygen certainly had that beneficial effect. However, it also destroyed my retinas and damaged part of my brain responsible for geospatial awareness. Solving spatial puzzles, comprehending geography and geometry, keeping routes and mental maps have all proven impossible for me beyond a certain level. Things are now complicated further by moderate hearing loss requiring me to use hearing aids. They’re very helpful but don’t give me a reliable sense of distance to sounds. Even walking through relatively quiet parkland, I’ve had many occasions where people have suddenly appeared in front of me when it was too late to move around them. They weren’t standing still or walking especially quietly either. Too much wind renders my hearing aids utterly ineffective. All of this is very unsettling when you’ve been accustomed to hearing everything effortlessly for most of your life. Crowded noisy places are now things I’m likely to avoid as too much noise can render me unable to hear what people say or hear moving hazards like bikes or cars.</p>
<p>I thought it was vital that I explain these circumstances to you before discussing the navigational options your iOS device makes available so you can put my thoughts in proper context. I have used one of these apps called BlindSquare quite extensively and have done more limited exploratory testing of other apps I’ll discuss here. Just be aware that this is one section of this guide where I’ll be relying more on what the app makers say the apps can do and on what I’ve heard other people’s experiences have been like. For a number of my friends, these apps are all they need to feel very confident in exploring their surroundings and going to new places completely on their own. For me, they are more helpful in finding out what’s around me than it actually getting to places. Using them, I can at least be confident of eventually getting home unassisted if necessary. That in itself is quite a marvellous relief.</p>
<p>Having access to GPS navigation doesn’t solve all of the mobility and orientation problems for any blind person. Nor does it replace the need for a cane or guide dog and good mobility skills. These apps don’t use your device’s built-in camera to gather information and aren’t aware of what’s happening around you. They won’t warn you of oncoming cars, bikes, or other hazards. They receive a GPS signal from satellites in low Earth orbit and match what’s detected to information stored on your device or retrieved from online sources. The information may not always be fully up to date. Businesses close or change locations. Any objects such as benches, garbage cans, etc, that you might put into the information as personal points of interest to keep on track could be moved. GPS signals can be blocked by structures, cloud cover, and other things. Defence department regulations don’t allow civilian GPS receivers to be as accurate as technically possible. This is to prevent them being used to precisely guide weapons. For all these reasons, it’s not a good idea to completely rely on it as some drivers have who suddenly found themselves approaching a large body of water rather than the route they presumed was there. Use your own senses and common sense.</p>
<p>To help offset these difficulties, GPS apps may draw data from more than one source. Your iOS device can also tap into information received via the Internet and cell towers to help figure out where you are. Provided you are connected to WiFi, these apps are even useful to owners of iPADS which don’t come with GPS receivers included. These receivers can be bought separately so it’s perfectly possible, if somewhat more awkward, to use these apps with iPADs while moving. While stationary, iPAD owners can examine maps and virtually explore areas prior to going there exactly like they could on iPHONEs. In fact, some people may find the larger size of an iPAD helpful when exploring maps.</p>
<p>Using these navigational apps takes a toll on your battery. As you move, the app constantly tracks your position indicated by the received satellite signals and checks for things to notify you of against available information. When necessary, it will check for and download online information presuming this is possible. All of these activities require processing power. You may also incur data charges if you go over what your cellular data plan allows for. To minimize this, download any maps, points of interest, etc to your iOS device while you’re connected to WiFi. Check the settings for the apps you use for possible ways to govern the circumstances under which data is downloaded. Investing in an external powerbank is also a very good idea for people making frequent use of GPS apps.</p>
<p>Another thing to consider investing in is a means of hearing information conveyed by these apps while on the move. Some people hold their iPHONEs in their hands while travelling. This can be useful as it allows you to point the top edge of your device in directions of interest and make use of the “look around” or “geobeam” features common to GPS apps designed for blind people. This tells you what lies in the direction your device is pointing to. Most people that I talk to prefer to have their iPHONEs in their pockets and use small Bluetooth speakers, earbuds or bone conduction headsets to keep informed while their hands are free for other duties. Some apps offer support for use with Braille displays. I’ve never attempted this but would presume these displays would be small and light enough to wear around the neck or over the shoulder for easy access while on the move.</p>
<p>There are two types of apps we’ll be discussing here. The first kind are apps which are made for use by the general public and are also made accessible for blind people. There are a great many choices here. We’ll look at the two most popular ones. These are the Maps app which comes included in iOS, and Google Maps, its primary competition available free from the app store. We’ll also look at some apps for the general public which seek to aid their users with aspects of travel. For instance, there are apps which focus specifically on travel via public transit systems. Other apps, such as Uber, attempt to facilitate travel by connecting would-be passengers with people willing to take them in their personal cars for a fee. Other apps help with more long-range expeditions booking flights and planning itineraries.</p>
<p>There are also a number of GPS apps designed specifically for blind people. These apps try to offer extra information which is helpful for blind users as well as facilities to help make orientation easier. Again, we’ll focus on the two most popular of these apps in North America at least. Neither of these apps is free. In fact, one costs over $100 Canadian. It takes extra effort and expertise to make apps which are as maximally built for blind people as these ones are. They typically combine functions of two or more apps into a more seamless single app, provide information tailored to be maximally helpful for blind people, and are designed with efficient accessibility from the ground up. It can be a lot easier to master the use of one of these apps than to juggle two or more apps designed for sighted people in order to gain similar information that is by nature more minimal.</p>
<p>One thing you should always keep in mind when using any of these apps is that they are designed around car travel. Points of interest included in the maps and data these apps draw from will be located at parking lot entrances or driveways to places. When an app tells you that you’ve arrived, you’ll still need to find the actual entrance to a place. Nothing stops you from creating a point of interest precisely at the doorway or path you need to be at. However, it is up to you to perform this task and create the position markers helpful to you. It’s a good habit to get into. Just be ready to still possibly have to search a little if there’s GPS interference. Don’t ever presume exact precision. Also, keep in mind that when you’re told that a destination is a distance away at such and such o’clock, that’s as the crow flies. In other words, it’s a straight line to your destination that doesn’t take into account obstacles you’ll have to cross or get around. </p>
<p>You might wonder what kinds of special facilities and capabilities navigation apps designed specifically for blind people might have. Users of BlindSquare who wear earbuds or headsets will notice that the indicator sounds which immediately precede being told about points of interest are directionally positioned. You’ll hear the indicator beep in the direction the point is located from your position as much as this is possible. Another often used example is upcoming intersections. Apps designed for blind people will typically give more detailed information about these before a user reaches an intersection so he or she has a better idea how to safely cross it. Those are just the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<p>Rather than going step by step through the features and operation of each app I discuss, I have chosen to concentrate more on what these apps make possible and when they might be advantageous. There is excellent help available for each of these apps already. I see no advantage in reinventing the wheel. You can also find audio and video reviews and demos. I feel more comfortable leaving you in the hands of this expertly written help than trying to explain what I haven’t used extensively. Your safety might hinge on being familiar enough with an app’s capabilities that you have the mental space to focus more on your surroundings. Presuming you’ve read previous sections on using VoiceOver, browsing the web, etc, you’ll have the skills needed to master these navigation apps using the help provided.</p>
<h2>Going Mainstream;</h2>
<p>Using Apps Designed for Sighted Users:</p>
<p>Thin, light and portable, it’s no wonder that iPHONEs and iPADs have been turned into powerful navigation aids by clever app developers. Many apps designed for sighted users have been made accessible to blind people using VoiceOver. This has been done thoughtfully. However, blind people simply aren’t the core focus for these apps. Information these apps provide is designed to give maximum aid to drivers and other people with sight who can quickly look at the screen while on the move. They have been set up to be operated as easily as possible by people with sight. In contrast, apps designed especially for blind people are carefully crafted to give extra information and easy control by touch gestures or audio menus rather than tools found at a glance. This can make quite a difference. For a lot of people, the Maps app or Google Maps will be quite sufficient to their needs as blind travellers. One major difference is that mainstream apps don’t volunteer information. You need to use VoiceOver and seek out what’s nearby or find out how far away places might be. Other than directions to destinations, sighted people typically wouldn’t appreciate being told about everything they’re passing as they move along. You’ll need to have a good grasp and proficiency with VoiceOver to make effective use of these apps while travelling. You’ll need to take your iOS device out frequently if you want to consult a mainstream app for information other than spoken directions that comprise a route.</p>
<h3>Apple Maps:</h3>
<p>The Maps app is designed by Apple and comes already on your device as part of the iOS operating system. It taps directly into data maintained and collected by Apple. It isn’t supported by ad revenue of any kind. It is a service meant to enhance the value of Apple products. For people concerned about privacy, this may be a better fit. You can view maps of areas and get directions to places. Apple is also integrating the Maps app with other apps like Uber and Lift to provide maximum convenience. It also supports Apple Pay and Siri. I recently heard a video which pointed out that the pricing information and ride booking procedures were better in the Apple Maps app than in Google Maps. In an effort to rival Google Maps, Apple is investing a lot of resources into collecting geographical data. This new data is slowly being added to the Maps app as it is ready. This includes indoor maps of popular places like shopping centres and airports.</p>
<p>Apple Maps lives up to its name. The screen is dominated by an interactive map. Blind people are actually able to explore this map by dragging their fingers along roads. They can also use the VoiceOver rotor to flick up or down between points of interest double-tapping on an item to open an information card about it. You can choose how much of the screen is taken up by these information cards. You also have current local weather, a tracking button and settings button.</p>
<p>The information cards have quite a bit of material on them drawn from various apps as well as the address. You will also find buttons to get directions, call or visit the web site of a place. If an app is associated with a place, there’s a button to get that. Apple really plays to that strength of integration. The information cards are where that’s most evident.</p>
<p>Moving your finger around the screen allows you to explore the area around you and even follow streets. You can also find out about any nearby points of interest via the rotor by turning it to the “points of interest” setting. Flick up or down between points of interest and double-tap on any which interest you. It is also possible to mark points of interest on the map.</p>
<p>The Maps app is a springboard for many other apps which can incorporate aspects of it into travel aids. This might allow an app focussed on restaurants to offer the ability to give guided directions to a restaurant or show a map of where it is. It also allows Siri to give guided directions to places of interest when asked. You might never go into the Maps app itself but will still very likely have made use of it without even being aware.</p>
<p>To find help using the Maps app, the first place to look is inside the user guide for your iOS device. You can get this for the Books app. I’ve given instructions on how to do this in the “Quickstart” section of this guide.</p>
<h3>Google Maps</h3>
<p>Google is and has always been the information king. This is leveraged heavily to provide maximum contextual knowledge about places. Apple initially was going to simply tap into Google’s data and pay for using the information on its products. However, the companies had a falling out and are now competing with each other in this particular sphere of interest. The map is almost secondary to the information in Google Maps. When you enter it, you’ll find a “Menu” button, a search field, and a bunch of further options including checking traffic, getting directions, and entering compass mode. Below, you’ll find a heading called Explore your local area name. In my case, Explore Mississsauga. Flicking right below that heading brings you to buttons which are categories of places. Double tapping on one will show you local places in that category. For instance, double-tapping on “coffee” will bring up places where you can enjoy coffee which are nearby. When you drill down like this, there will always be a “back” button to get up to a higher level.</p>
<p>If you double-tap on a location in Google Maps, Google finds and displays everything from the web site, buttons for guidance to the location, a button to call a place, and all kinds of reviews provided by users of the app or from other places. You can learn a great deal about restaurants and places of business just from what comes up on a place’s information screen. Don’t forget to scroll down with a three-finger swipe to the left. There are usually a number of screens full of information. More than you’d get on Apple Maps.</p>
<p>Google Maps has a lot of features including a compass mode as well as the ability to download a local map for offline use. If you use this latter option, be aware that some features depend on having a data connection and you’ll miss out on those if you’re completely offline. All of this is explained in the app itself. To find the extensive help available from within the app, double-tap on the “menu” button at the top left. Next, flick right until you come to “help and feedback”. Double-tap on that and then flick right until you get to “help” and double-tap this. You will arrive at a web page with extensive help and instructions.</p>
<p>If you use other apps in the Google ecosystem, you may find that they can interact with Google Maps when this is advantageous. This certainly includes any Google searches you’d perform with the Google app. This app is supported by businesses and advertising. You may encounter ads while using Google Maps if you explore the information provided thoroughly. Also, keep in mind that Google and Apple have different philosophies when it comes to privacy and sharing data. With Google, the data you generate is a product for businesses and other interested parties who have agreements with Google.</p>
<p>Google Maps also has facilities to make sharing information such as possible locations easier using social media, messaging, or email. This can make working out what restaurant to meet up with friends at easier. People can look at reviews, visit the web site and access the menus that restaurants make available online. This can be extra helpful for blind people since it provides a menu that you can examine without someone sighted having to read it to you. This way, when your friends are ready to order, you can be too.</p>
<h2>Optimal Perspective;</h2>
<p>Using Apps Specifically Designed For Blind Travellers:</p>
<p>While it’s certainly quite possible to make good use of the Apple and Google Maps options, there are alternatives which have been designed from the start with blind users in mind. They tap into the same sources of data as other mainstream GPS apps. However, they present information in ways to maximize the benefit to a blind traveller. For one thing, they announce nearby points of interest and other information automatically. You don’t have to constantly interact with the app to find out what’s around or how close you are to an important landmark. What’s more, the interfaces of these apps have been thought through very carefully to make them as easy as possible to use from the perspective of blind people. This can make a very big difference.</p>
<p>There are numerous GPS apps designed specifically for blind users. They all cost money unlike the mainstream apps we examined previously. There are a number of reasons for this disparity. For one thing, there are research and development costs associated with making these apps as easy to use and beneficial as they are. The potential user base for these apps is a lot lower than apps designed for sighted users. This reduces how attractive they are to advertisers and other ways that enable mainstream apps to be free to their users. There are often fees for developers of these apps to make use of the geographical data they tap into. Rather than having consumers pay an ongoing subscription, many developers choose to charge a higher price for their app up front and absorb the ongoing fees.</p>
<p>We’ll look at the two most popular apps in this category. Remember that there are other choices out there. We’ll briefly examine two of these in an app store expedition later on.</p>
<p>BlindSquare costs $54 Canadian in the app store. It’s a very popular option with a loyal following and frequent updates. Meanwhile, a more recent arrival from APH called Nearby Explorer bills itself as the premium navigation app. It can be yours from the app store for $109 Canadian. I won’t be going too deeply into how to operate these apps. In both cases, you can find a very detailed user guide right from within the app. The guides are also available online at the web sites for BlindSquare and Nearby Explorer. Go to:
Www.blindsquare.com
For help using BlindSquare. You’ll find all kinds of help including podcasts demonstrating the app, frequently asked questions, a link to contact the developers, and the user guide.
You can visit American Printing House to get similar resources for Nearby Explorer. Go to:
Www.aph.org</p>
<h3>BlindSquare:</h3>
<p>BlindSquare is an app that leverages data from the FourSquare database. FourSquare is a social app and game which lets people check into places they visit in the real world telling people where they are. They can earn badges for visiting places often or visiting many places in areas being certain to check in using the Swarm or FourSquare apps when they’re present. They can also rate and review places. This data is tapped by BlindSquare to find points of interest so that it prioritizes more highly rated and popular locations when they’re in your area. It also draws data from the Open Street Maps service which provides information about streets, paths, intersections, etc. Combining these two sources gives a very useful picture of your surroundings which is constantly updated by people checking into places and uploading GPS coordinates.</p>
<p>Rather than taking up space on your iOS device with pre-loaded maps and a geographical database, BlindSquare frequently checks for data as you move and nothing is stored on your device other than points of interest which you create. As a result, BlindSquare takes up a small amount, around 100 MB of storage space, on your device. This small footprint makes BlindSquare quite manageable even on devices with low storage capacities. Especially considering what you’re getting in terms of capability. You absolutely need cellular data to make use of this app while travelling and not connected to WiFi. It regularly checks for new points of interest to report to you as you’re moving around.</p>
<p>Using BlindSquare, blind people will be alerted to points of interest which come within a radius and category of interest which they can specify. It is possible to filter what BlindSquare announces so that there is time to hear more of what’s around you that you’re actually interested in. For instance, you could have it only announce restaurants within your search radius. By default, all categories are active and BlindSquare tries to find the most popular and closest places to tell you about. Being able to focus in on what you want is a key capability.</p>
<p>Another special capability of BlindSquare is the ability to use 3d sound if you use a headset to sonically indicate the direction of points of interest it tells you about. As you walk along, you might hear a short beep sounding like it’s ahead and to the right. That will be immediately followed by an announcement of a donut shop which has been detected. There are many other short audio indicators which can clue you in to where things are whether or not you use a headset and perceive the 3d positioning. This has come in very handy for me when navigating the path around the man-made lake near my apartment. I have added in benches, large rocks, and other points of interest which make good landmarks and hearing the direction they’re in as I approach has enabled me to find them more easily after I’ve become disoriented.</p>
<p>You can also access and control most capabilities via an audio menu that you access with the play/pause button on your headset. This allows you to have your phone safe in a pocket and still control most of the tools BlindSquare offers. To access this menu, simply press the play/pause button of your headset or earbuds. A menu of options will then be cycled through and announced one by one. You merely use the play/pause button again to indicate your choice. This simple and consistent interface lets you easily adjust the radius, activate sleep mode while you stop and talk with someone, find out what’s around you, announce where you are, etc.</p>
<p>You can also use voice commands to control BlindSquare. This is similar to asking Siri or another digital assistant to do something. There is a list of commands specific to BlindSquare which you can find out by asking the app for help. Using this feature costs you command credits which you must purchase from within the BlindSquare app.</p>
<p>The app has been designed for maximum ease of operation using VoiceOver and was extensively tested by blind people. It can also give information from beacons which may be placed in or outside of venues. The CNIB community hub in Toronto has such a beacon.
BlindSquare also has a “look around” feature which lets you point the top edge of your phone in a direction and find out what’s there. There are options to get weather information about a place, an option called “what’s around me” to announce nearby points of interest, a “nearby intersections” listing option, and many other options. For instance, when visiting a restaurant, you can call the place, get directions via a third-party app, view the menu, and much more. You get at these options by double-tapping on the location whether it’s in your favourites or in a list of search results. BlindSquare has also been designed to work with Braille displays. You would presumably wear a small Braille display in a sling bag having it on your chest or over a shoulder for easy access.</p>
<p>BlindSquare packs everything onto one screen and into menus accessed from that one screen. At the top is a toolbar featuring buttons to let you access tools, settings and other features. Beneath that row of buttons at the right edge of the screen is a radius adjustment slider. This lets you quickly increase or decrease the area around you being checked for landmarks or that will be used during searches. Below this are a plethora of category search options as well as a button giving access to announcement filtering. This lets you fine tune what is announced as you move around. The more familiar you are with the layout of this screen, the better your experience will be while on the move. It is absolutely possible to flick through all the options but so much quicker if you have a rough idea where they are and can touch a point on the screen that is close or right on the option. At the bottom of the screen are other options including the “Sleep mode” button near the bottom right. This lets you put BlindSquare to sleep during a conversation with someone or while you don’t want it checking for information and announcing things.</p>
<p>This approach means that you would go into the “Tools” button which you would then flick through to reach options such as “Look Around”. If you’re wearing a headset, you would more likely take advantage of the audio menu by using the “play/pause” button on your headset. Options would then be spoken and you’d just hit the button again when the one you wanted was spoken.</p>
<p>BlindSquare cannot plan routes and give turn by turn directions on its own. However, it has been designed to interact with other apps operating in the background while using another app like Ways, Google Maps, or the Maps app which comes on your iOS device, etc. These apps can be given coordinates by BlindSquare and can then plan routes and give directions. BlindSquare can also hook up with transit apps like Transit or Move It and give information such as bus stop and arrival times. Tying into these apps, BlindSquare can provide quite a comprehensive navigation service making things as easy as possible for blind people. That’s because it can run in the background while other apps have focus. You need to give permission for BlindSquare to be able to do this.</p>
<h4>Example of Travel Using BlindSquare:</h4>
<p>I find that BlindSquare is what I turn to for when I’m walking around my local area. Once I had the app, I got a mobility instructor to walk with me around the path which encircles the man-made lake near the building I live in. Around the path, there are a number of benches, garbage cans, paths leading in other directions, etc. As we came to suitable landmarks, I stood as near as possible to them and added them to BlindSquare. I didn’t set them as destinations so they don’t clutter up my menu of those. However, they are announced automatically as I approach them. I am therefore warned of both bridges on the path well before I come to them. These are somewhat narrow crossings of small creaks so I know to slow down and make certain there’s room for me to cross safely. There are enough landmarks recorded so that I can tell when I go off the path quite quickly. My apartment is also marked in BlindSquare so I can determine how to head towards it and return home.</p>
<p>July 1st is Canada Day. There are fireworks lit off in a park on the path around the lake. Prior to getting my first GPS system, I couldn’t attend these events on my own since the chance of getting lost was too great. However, I knew that with BlindSquare, I could find my way home even without sighted help. I had the confidence to head out into the night using BlindSquare which announced the landmarks I was passing while I walked along. I wore my Aftershokz bone conduction headset so I was alerted to landmarks while being able to listen for people or other things in my environment. The night was quite enjoyable and I had many interesting conversations. During these, I used the audio menu and activated sleep mode so that BlindSquare wouldn’t keep speaking while I was trying to engage in conversation. When it was time to move, I merely turned off sleep mode and quickly began receiving information from BlindSquare. When it was time to head home, I set BlindSquare to track the entrance to my apartment complex off of the path around the lake. It periodically announced how far away it was and in what direction as I walked. This information was enough to help me get back home and avoid straying off the circular path around the man-made lake.</p>
<p>When I have friends over, I often take them to a Symposia Cafe which is a restaurant in a local mall. BlindSquare announces the many landmarks along the route as I walk from my apartment. Once I’m there, I can also access the restaurant’s menu from inside BlindSquare. While this menu isn’t always kept as current as might be wished, it gives a good idea of what kinds of things are available. I can then put BlindSquare to sleep while having my meal and then wake it up when I leave the restaurant so it can help me navigate home.</p>
<h3>Nearby Explorer:</h3>
<p>The American Printing House for the Blind, APH, financed the development of this navigation app. It has been available on Android devices for quite some time and had garnered quite a good reputation before making its way to iOS. In order to offer better assistance, it takes a very different approach to BlindSquare. When users run the app for the first time, they are asked to download maps and geographical data for their area. So far, things are divided up by country. Nearby Explorer works in the US and Canada. The geographical data for Canada takes up around 2.5 GB of your device’s storage space. It is decompressed after being downloaded. You definitely want to be connected to WiFi when making this large download. However, you don’t need to do this very often as this massive database isn’t updated too frequently. There are millions of points of interest and associated information about them in this database. Navtek, the company responsible for maintaining this data, is highly regarded and widely used by GPS apps. This is one major reason why Nearby Explorer is twice the price of BlindSquare. This data can be used even when you don’t have cellular data or a WiFi connection. It’s always there.</p>
<p>Because all of this data is on your device, Nearby Explorer is able to offer route planning from within the same app rather than piggybacking from other apps. It provides very good information about upcoming intersections in timely fashion drawing on this data. Transit information and indoor exploration facilities via beacons are also made available from within the same app. This means that everything is easily accessed in a consistent manner.</p>
<p>the Nearby Explorer interface differs greatly from that of BlindSquare. At the top and bottom of the home screen are two toolbars with frequently used options. The top toolbar contains buttons for pause, compass, geobeam, radius, and level adjustment. The geobeam feature is like the “Look around” feature in BlindSquare. The bottom toolbar has buttons for streets, search, favourites and transit information. In between these toolbars are a number of indicators which can be set to automatically announce information or not as desired. For instance, you can have street numbers announced or not. All of these options have context menus providing even greater control of when they are spoken or not. This gives you the ability to quickly tailor the feedback from Nearby Explorer to best suit your current situation without ever leaving the home screen of the app.</p>
<p>There are four tabs across the bottom of Nearby Explorer for accessing less frequently use features like settings, help, and an accessible map view. This map view comes from integrating the Apple Maps view into the Nearby Explorer interface. This means that you can use Nearby Explorer’s home screen settings to determine what gets announced on the map. You can also do things like simulate being in a location, turning on a “watch” on a location on the map and then scroll around while hearing where you are relative to the marked location. You could also use features like the geobeam to explore areas before actually going there in person. People might well prefer Nearby Explorer’s tabbed approach which more thoroughly separates those less frequently used options giving them separate areas of focus. It can be a lot easier for people to master more features when things are consistently done in one app. Procedures are the same and the way things are presented is also. When you deal with different apps, be prepared for different philosophies of what’s important and how things are accessed. APH has thought through every piece of this app very carefully to maximize its usefulness for blind people specifically. That makes a big difference especially for people who might not be experienced enough to easily deal with too many different apps.</p>
<h4>Reflections on Nearby Explorer:</h4>
<p>The higher price of Nearby Explorer forces one to pause and ask whether it’s worth the money and hefty chunk of storage space the Navtek data takes up on your device. I think the answer ultimately boils down to personal preference, how much you pay for cellular data, and where you’re travelling. Personally, BlindSquare is powerful enough to meet my current needs. However, if I had to go to an unfamiliar city and find my way somewhere, I would appreciate having the Navtek data and other features of Nearby Explorer at my disposal. Beginners may find an app like this to be a bit overwhelming. You’ll want to spend time reviewing the instructions and examining the options before making serious use of this powerful navigation tool. I don’t find that this app does as well with off-road travel such as around a pedestrian path or in a park. I entered a bunch of landmarks in but could never get them to be called out as I passed them. Nearby Explorer tries to minimize the amount of chatter and doesn’t have the same approach to places which aren’t destinations that BlindSquare offers. However, it is able to give better information about intersections according to a friend who uses it extensively. If you needed to do a lot of urban travel in unfamiliar cities, Nearby Explorer would definitely shine and prove its worth. You would never be without geographical data even while offline. That’s a potential downfall of apps which don’t store geodata on your device. Nearby Explorer also makes it far easier to quickly change which information is spoken having everything you’d likely want to adjust rapidly right on its home screen. This includes such things as streets, transit information, and much more.</p>
<p>Don’t worry if, like me, you aren’t able to make good use of the virtual exploration capabilities. This app has a tremendous number of navigation tools. Find what helps you the most and master those options.</p>
<h3>App Store Expedition:</h3>
<p>Other Navigation Options:</p>
<p>For a couple of cheeper navigation apps designed specifically for blind people, consider Ariadne GPS or Lodestone. Ariadne features a map which is totally accessible with VoiceOver and can be explored by touch. This app has been around for a long time and hasn’t been updated recently. Another alternative which is still being updated as of 2018 is Lodestone. It is produced by blind developers and allows local information to be downloaded for offline use. It is much cheeper than the two apps I focus on below and was originally developed for Android smartphones. One particular advantage it offers is the ability to be far more specific about the categories and geographic regions you choose to store on your device. For devices with lower storage space, this is a very attractive capability giving the best of both worlds and making certain you’re never without local information.</p>
<p>Other apps to obtain are not made specifically for blind people but may help with travel. TripIt is an app for managing the details of a trip. You give it information such as flights and hotel bookings and everything is kept track of in that app. It offers numerous perks to frequent travellers and is said to be accessible for blind users.</p>
<p>For more local travel, consider obtaining the Uber app. Many taxi companies also have apps. These can help with ordering rides, make payment easier and more secure, and much more. These apps generally work well with VoiceOver and can be very useful.</p>
<h2>Final Thoughts on Navigation:</h2>
<p>It’s incredible to think of how much choice we have in terms of our approach to getting around. Even the more expensive options are cheeper than the devices designed for blind people that I’ve heard of by a long shot. If you take the time to get confident with using VoiceOver, you can have very thoughtfully designed accessible apps which do just as much as those more expensive devices. That iPHONE in your pocket can be a life saver if you get turned around out there. BlindSquare has certainly helped me get back home when I’ve gotten disoriented walking outdoors. GPS apps aren’t perfect but they open up a lot of possibilities for blind people. When you’re not using GPS apps for a while, it’s best to close them so they don’t continue needlessly using data and resources in the background while you don’t need them. I’ve had more than one occasion when I discovered I hadn’t done this and therefore had less remaining battery power than I thought. While travelling, please be mindful of how much hearing blockage and/or distraction you’re incurring. Earbuds and over-ear headsets block your natural hearing to a high degree. There are plenty of reports of fully sighted people wearing these and failing to hear oncoming cars and other sometimes lethal hazards. Personally, I use a bone conduction headset while travelling. I have the volume as low as possible while still being able to reliably hear information. I never ever play music while walking. The only thing I want to hear besides my environment and people around me are the navigational announcements from my GPS app of choice. Some people worry that their iOS devices might interrupt the announcements at a critical moment with something unrelated to travel like a notification that somebody tweeted you. I usually set my iPHONE on do not disturb while I’m travelling so nothing else intrudes on the announcements and operation of my GPS app. This mode has become very flexible in iOS12. You can add contacts to your favourites list so you won’t miss a message or call from people who are important to you even when in do not disturb mode. Don’t forget that while in this mode, your iOS device can still receive information. Just check the notification centre when you get where you’re going and find out anything you missed on the way. Normally, in the event that I need to make or answer a call, I’ll move to one side of the path and stand still until the conversation finishes. I take as much responsibility for my own safety and that of others as I possibly can. Safe travels, everyone.</p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-45071006522074789272018-06-12T11:54:00.001-04:002018-06-12T11:55:49.153-04:00Going Dotty: Refreshable Braille on iOS Devices:<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I never really appreciated what a gift to organized thought that learning to read Braille was while receiving my own education. Braille was always bulky and heavy. The army surplus backpack I carried through the halls earned me the nickname of Fifty. People thought that it either had fifty things in it or else it weighed fifty pounds. If they were too close behind me while I turned a corner in the hallways of my school, they were liable to get crushed up against a wall. I doubt any of them suspected that the Braille volumes which added most of the weight to that pack were mere fractions of the text books and novels they could easily carry whole under an arm or in a pocket. In early grade school, the class of blind students I was in made use of a copy of the "American Vest Pocket Dictionary". It was comprised of seven thick volumes despite the pages being double-sided. Each volume was thicker than a phone book and the whole dictionary completely filled a long shelf stretching across a wall. For years, I thought the title was someone's idea of a joke. Eventually, on a pure whim, I asked to feel a dictionary carried by one of my sighted classmates. You couldn't quite stick it casually inside a pocket, but it was light and easily carried in hand. For the first time in my memory, I was brought up against the reality of what a profound and massive difference having eye sight could actually make in one's life.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There's also the cost of producing Braille to consider. I walked around grade school with a solid metal contraption somewhat like a typewriter. It was a Purkin's Braille writer which weighed around fifteen pounds and cost at least fifteen hundred dollars. Braille embossers designed for mass production are even more expensive. This has drastically restricted what is made available for blind people to read. The paperback book you can buy for under $10 would cost hundreds to produce in Braille. Until audio and Ebooks recently hit their stride, I've been quite restricted in my reading choices compared to a person who had eye sight.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I'm part of a generation who has learned Braille naturally as part of my school experience while there was really no other credible alternative. However, we have now been liberated from the cost, bulk and weight of Braille by the advent of synthetic speech and more widespread accessibility to mainstream Ebooks and computing. In everyday life, now that I know how to read, I haven't felt the need to constantly use Braille. Quite the opposite in fact. While reading for entertainment and even when referring to books as references, speech output has proved more than sufficient and ever so convenient.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While I can fully appreciate why one might think Braille was no longer needed, I would contend that mastering the art of reading is essential to everyone's education be that print or Braille. If sighted parents faced the prospect of their children not being tought to read and write due to a lack of resources, they'd be horrified and never stand for it. Parents of blind children should feel no qualms about insisting on Braille literacy. The many lessons I learned while gaining literacy have served me well in countless ways. Like riding a bicycle, literacy is one of those things you never forget even if you don't read Braille beyond signs and labels for years. The lessons it teaches about proper use of punctuation, sentence structure and other aspects of writing have stayed with me. As a result, I have been able to use my writing and language skills to help others and express my thoughts clearly and with confidence.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was never a particularly fast Braille reader and don't feel I've lost what speed I achieved. The same applies to writing. I'm far faster on a QWERTY keyboard than I ever was on a Braille one. In most circumstances, text-to-speech access has proved far supperior in terms of portability and actual access to books. Other than my spelling having deteriorated over the years, I don't feel that the absence of Braille has done me much harm. And yet, I'm profoundly thankful that I was taught Braille reading and writing. The lack of actual literacy would have had a strongly negative impact on my quality of life. Now that you have and idea where I sit in the great Braille debate, lets continue.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Who would have thought that a device with a smooth surface might prove to be an amazing conduit for Braille? Apparently, Apple did. Right from the start when VoiceOver first appeared, there has been support for Braille displays. I never thought much about it when I got my iPHONE4. It was so intuitive and easy to use speech and the capabilities of the platform made learning how to use Braille on it far less attractive than it would be currently. Before embarking on writing this guide, I hadn't given the implications a whole lot of thought. As I've taken the time to dig into what iOS offers in terms of Braille support, the implications become very apparent.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You may wonder why I've chosen to give the Braille experience its own somewhat lengthy section. I have several reasons for doing this. First of all, if people don't intend to use Braille displays, all of the extra commands are out of their way. Those who wish to learn how to use refreshable Braille will find all they need in this section which isn't covered elsewhere. Experiencing iOS through a refreshable Braille display is markedly different than via the touchscreen and speech output. Rather than a whole screen surface which can be explored with a finger plus immediate speech feedback, using a Braille display may change your approach. You can explore the screen in a similar way with one hand operating the iOS device and another on the Braille display. Alternatively, you could operate entirely from the Braille display using all the key commands to navigate. That will feel very different and be more similar to using a traditional screen reader. People who struggle with using a touchscreen may well find this mode of operation to be preferable. In either case, you will find that the Brailledisplay gives you a window in the form of a line of characters whose length depends on that of your display. The position in exact focus, such as the current character in a document being written, is shown by two dots on the bottom of the cell which tick up and down repeatedly.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another advantage to separating the Braille-specific information in this way is that people can more easily grasp how much support there is and how integral Braille can be if you wish or need it to. Those who might think to presume that Apple has paid mere lip service to Braille support do Apple and themselves a serious injustice. There's a whole lot of ground to cover, so lets begin connecting the dots.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over time, Apple has gone to considerable lengths to support the use of refreshable Braille with its devices. In fact, it's possible to purchase a Braille display from the Apple Store app which you can obtain for your iOS device. If you already have a Braille display or a Braille notetaker capable of being used as a display and connecting via Bluetooth, you can pair it with your iOS device. VoiceOver has been designed to allow complete access via Braille throughout the operating system. While you can't completely avoid using the touchscreen, you can certainly minimise the need to. Doing this requires the learning of commands making use of key combinations or other buttons which your Braille display may have.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IOS has support which allows far more then simple Braille input and output. Similar to an ordinary Bluetooth keyboard, you can take full control of your device using only your Braille display. There are key commands to do everything you can do with gestures. If you can memorize the commands, you could have excellent and accurate control of your device. This includes things like summoning Siri, controling the volume, and much more all without lifting your fingers from your Braille display.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The catch is that there are a heaping ton of commands to know if you want that kind of complete control. People may find that these commands feel less intuitive and easy to learn than the touchscreen gestures they are designed to replace. Personally, I find a middle of the road approach works best where I still use the onscreen gestures but learn the commands of particular use to me.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"> Byebye Braille Book Bulk!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ebook sellers are starting to get onboard making certain that the apps everyone uses to read them offer support for accessibility. What this means for someone with an iOS device and Braille display is that they are completely liberated in their choice of reading. Braille books used to take hours and hours to translate and be very costly to produce. They also used to weigh quite a bit and take up a lot of space. I mentionned a vest pocket dictionary earlier which serves as a perfect example. Now, that same dictionary would take up a tiny fraction of the data storage available on even the cheepest iPHONE. A Braille display which you could comfortably carry in one hand would let you access that dictionary and thousands of other books on that iPHONE in perfectly readable and translated Braille.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One thing to keep in mind is that the apps you'll use to read these books are designed for people who can see. They're fully accessible but things are done in such a way as to maximise reading pleasure for people who can take in a lot of a page at once. Current Braille displays only present one line of text at a time. There may occasionally be slight problems as the apps and book formats are updated over time. Also, it may be eeasier to use the touchscreen when accessing menus and other functions which reading apps have. For instance, it's far quicker to learn the locations of tabs across the bottom of the screen or use menus which appear when you double-tap on the screen. In exchange for putting up with these small issues, you can read damned near anything you want as soon as it's published and at the same cost as anybody else who buys and Ebook.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Always a Catch;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pitfalls to Consider with Braille and iOS:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are some possible trouble spots for those who choose to acquire a Braille display and iOS device rather than opt for a more traditional Braille notetaker or other solution made especially for blind people. There may be times when your Braille display will disconnect since the Bluetooth software is always trying to save battery power. If this happens, simply lock the screen with the power button on your device and then unlock it again. This should result in your display reconnecting. Some displays can be more problematic and require more steps to get them reconnected. This kind of thing also happens with other Bluetooth devices such as keyboards or even Apple's own AirPods. The AirPods are designed to reconnect quite quickly and do so automatically nearly all of the time. There are so many different Braille displays that having the same kind of Bluetooth reliability would be impossible. This is very similar to my having to press a button on my Aftershokz Trekz Titaniums to make them reconnect if I stop hearing things through them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We saw an instance of another potentially major pitfall when iOS11 was released. People who updated suddenly found that they couldn't enter text quickly on Braille displays. Words would simply be lost and not be recorded in the document or edit field on the iOS device. Because people's fingers were busy typing in Braille, they couldn't immediately realize there was a problem if they weren't also using speech. You can't read Braille while you're in the act of typing it. Muting speech while using a Braille display is a very common practice. The issue was reported by testers but not addressed prior to the release of the update. Braille display users would be a very small percentage of the overall number of users of iOS. Every so often, their issues won't be dealt with in time and may take a while to address.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This happens with other things as well. It's not just a problem for blind people. At one point, an iOS update was released which resulted in iPHONEs being unable to make phone calls. This problem was addressed extremely quickly as you might well imagine. However, it can be especially devastating if you rely completely on having Braille input since issues in that area won't be regarded as being so dire. Apple tries to only release updates when enough improvements have accumulated that receiving the updates will be noticeably helpful to a good portion of users. This practice can leave things hanging for periods of time. It took around two months for things to be fixed so that people could type productively on their displays once again. That kind of delay could be especially inconvenient for students and employees who rely on having Braille access for input and output.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I can also use speech so Braille isn't absolutely essential for me currently. However, if you're utterly reliant on Braille working correctly, keep in mind that there may be periods of time where things don't go smoothly. iOS is a very complex operating system. The more unusual your particular needs are, the higher the chance that problems like the example above will be encountered for hopefully short periods of time. Apple has learned from these mistakes and has introduced public testing of upcoming iOS updates in an attempt to catch major issues.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When looking for pitfalls, I spent some time putting myself in the worst possible case. For people who are deaf and blind, Braile had better work because there's no other way. If you absolutely can't hear speech or see enlarged print, touch is your ownly pipeline of information. In such circumstances, you may well want to look for alternatives or have a backup plan such as sighted assistance if things go wrong.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are some things which might require sighted assistance to resolve. Certainly, you'd need such help to set up your device and then connect your Braille display initially. I don't believe there's any way to get at the Braille settings in VoiceOver until after the setup process is complete. Another thing which might be troublesome at first is entering your passcode in order to unlock your device. I have an older Focus40 display so more current displays may simply allow you to type in the passcode on them. Mine didn't so I had to enter it using standard typing mode on the touchscreen. I had one hand on the Braille display feeling which number was highlighted as I used my other hand to find and then enter the numbers using the split tap method. This is the best way I've found for making certain you enter the passcode correctly. You can, of course, find the delete key at the bottom right of the virtual number pad on the touchscreen and get rid of mistakes. I found this process somewhat nerve-racking without speech output but I think it would become second nature after a while. There's really no avoiding the need to enter the passcode every so often and after any time you shut down and turn on the device. Once that's been done, you can then use easier methods to unlock your device most of the time like Touch ID or Face ID.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While Braille focus will jump to where new messages are displayed, other things such as choices or controls may need to be more actively searched for by Braille users. Everything will be reachable but without such proactive exploration on your part, you might not realise there are choices or controls present in some apps. The ability to actively explore the screen is a key part of iOS accesssibility which works differently from other screen-readers that may look for and announce more things automatically.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Mainstream Economics and Wider Horizons;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Advantages of iOS Over A Traditional Braille Solution Tailored For Blind People:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are several advantages that iOS devices bring to the table for blind people wanting to make use of Braille in daily life. Braille notetakers work extremely reliably and typically have excellent battery longevity. However, they are also very limited in what they can do. They offer a set number of highly perfected functions which work flawlessly, but they don't offer much ability to grow beyond those. On the other hand, IOS gives you very good but sometimes imperfect access to an ever expanding ecosystem of apps, ebook markets, and other things available to sighted people. Even though only a fraction of the total apps available for iOS are accessible to blind people, that still far surpasses anything you'll find elsewhere other than perhaps on Android devices. No Braille notetaker will let you do your shopping and banking with apps designed by the bank and grocery company you and potentially millions of sighted customers select. This access to the same apps used by sighted people could be very helpful socially to blind students and other Braille users. It's an option they've never really had before the iPHONE gained its VoiceOver screenreader. You could read news articles on an app or web site in Braille while talking about them with friends. And then, there are the specialised apps which take advantage of hardware built into your iOS device. Presuming you opt for a small portable Braille display, you could use an app like KNFB Reader to take pictures of the pages of a restaurant menu and then read it in Braille while conversing with your dining companions. There are all kinds of situations like that where you want access to information but also want your ears free.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Braille is especially useful when it comes to the study of Mathematics. It can be tremendously hard to picture how an equation is laid out while using synthetic speech. A Braille display supported with software such as the VoiceOver screen-reader will let blind students and others feel the positions of part of equations. This can make solving them a far easier process. There are other instances where having the ability to feel the position of information is critical such as when examining charts or tables. How practical that is will depend on the length of your Braille display or feeling a table one-handed while the other hand is reading the Braille display.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Braille displays are very costly items and are built to last. I've had the same Focus40 display since I got my first iPHONE in 2010 and it still works great in 2018 with my current iPHONE7. Barring disaster, I expect my display to see me through potentially five to ten more years. The core of my system is my iPHONE and I can have the latest features without upgrading the far more expensive Braille component. Also, I can use my display with more than one device. If something happens to my iPHONE, I could still use the display with my iPAd for instance. If your notetaker breaks down, you need to repair or replace a very expensive device and be without all of its functions while you're taking care of that. If my display breaks, I still have my iOS device which can be used with speech.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you already have a Braille notetaker, fear not. Most of them can connect via Bluetooth and act as Braille displays for iOS. You have the best of both worlds. Some notetakers are designed to integrate with apps on iOS devices making them an even more powerful combination.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Attention Please;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When Notifications Pop Up:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You're reading along when all of a sudden, the Weather Gods app decides to reveal that it's raining heavily outside. Perhaps, a friend has chosen to send a message asking how you're doing. Unless you have your device on "Do Not Disturb" or have notifications turned off, you will eventually be interrupted from whatever you might be doing by a notification from another app running in the background. In such a case, the same sort of thing happens with the focus of Braille as happens with speech. The interrupting notification automatically gets focus for a short time which you can determine before focus returns to what you were doing. Also, if you pan through the notification while it has focus, you should be able to read it in an unhurried manner. Remember that if they do disappear on you, you can always find them in the notifications centre.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Commonly Used Commands:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This guide won't go through every single command. The set of commands available to you depends on which Braille display you're using. The place you want to reach is a page called Braille Displays Supported by iPHONE, iPAD and iPoD Touch. Below that heading, you'll find a series of links to specific Braile display command lists. Additionally, below this, you'll find a link to a set of universal commands which should work on any display. At the time of this writing, this helpful resource can be found at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202514">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202514</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The lists of Braille Commands are comprehensive well-organized lists divided into headings and tables. Apple might change one or more of these commands at any time so it's best to get them directly from Apple's own documentation. However, this subsection should go through the commands you'll need to start trying things out.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most Braille displays come equipped with some basic control buttons or other things like wheels or rocker switches. These minimise the need to take your hands off the display in order to control the computer it is connected to. Pretty much all displays include a Braille keyboard to facilitate input. Presuming you've gotten your display paired, you should feel Braille pop up as you move your finger over the screen. The controls on your display should do what the instructions which came with your display indicate. For instance, panning buttons will move left or right through text. Navigation rocker switches and advance bars should behave in logical ways. To start finding out what all the buttons do, you can use the keyboard help command. That's the space bar plus the letter K, dots 1 and 3. Think of the space bar like a control key. Once you've entered keyboard help mode, try other space bar and character combinations. You will be told via speech what they are. This also applies to any other controls on your particular Braille display. VoiceOver has full support for at least 70 different Braille displays at the time this guide is being written in 2018. Even if your display only has a Braille keyboard, there will be enough space bar key combinations for you to control your iOS device with reasonable proficiency.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Navigating Important iOS Areas:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Any time you want to reach the home screens, just use the space bar and letter h [dots 1,2, and 5] This should work from anywhere in iOS. While on the home screen, you can start typing in the name of an app you want to get to and matching items will appear in a list which can be quickly scrolled through. You can scroll through this list or through all apps on the current home screen in order via the space bar plus dot 1 or 4 for previous and next item respectively.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Braille Settings in VoiceOver:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Within the settings for VoiceOver inside Accessibility settings, you'll find a subgroup simply called "Braille". The VoiceOver screenreader is doing all the thinking while your ultra-expensive Braille display simply moves dots up and down in perfect obedience. Your overall experience should be similar regardless of which display you use. This certainly holds true for the group of settings we'll discuss now. However, be aware that there is another group of settings called "Braille commands" which we will discuss later that allows for total customisation of what buttons and key combinations you enter on your Braille display will do.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These settings let you set things such as the particular code of Braille to be used with input and output. For instance, you might want six-dot uncontracted Braille for input and contracted Braille for output. You may not want to use UEB Braille if you aren't yet familiar with it. That's perfectly possible. Also, you can choose whether you want word rap on or off. Word rap determines whether lines end with the last possible entire word or whether they can contain the beginning of a word completed on the next line. You can also decide whether or not to have the panning buttons automatically proceed to the next page when you reach a page boundary and pan further.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Connecting a Braille Display:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first thing to do is pair your Braille display with your iOS device. Make certain the Braille display is ready to be paired via Bluetooth and then flick right through the Braille settings until you come to "choose a Braille display." You should then find a list of any detected Braille displays. Be careful since it may think ordinary keyboards are Braille displays. When you come to the name of your display, double-tap on it to initiate pairing. You may be asked to enter a pin number using the Braille display to help secure the pairing and make certain input coming from the display is recognised as that. There may be other Bluetooth devices connected to your device or operating close by. The number you enter sets up a secure and easily identifyable connection. Once a display has been paired, you shouldn't have to go through this process again in normal circumstances. If your display loses connection, simply locking the screen and unlocking it again should restore the connection.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After you have successfully paired your display, the Braille on it should change as you move your finger around the screen. It will be showing the labels of apps or information on the screen as Braille when you touch it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Braille Screen input:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You need not have a Braille display for Braille to be a part of your iOS experience. The Braille screen input lets you use a virtual Braille keyboard by positionning your fingers on the touchscreen as if you were writing on a braille writer. You need to enable the option in the VoiceOver rotor settings. The dot position can be calibrated to your natural finger positions on the screen surface. This kind of input can be very useful and people may find it easier than dealing with the ordinary onscreen keyboard. The Braille screen input setting lets you customize whether you want contracted or uncontracted Braille. You can also decide to reverse the positions of the outer dots so dots three and six are closest to the imaginary space bar rather than have the dot numbers increase the farther away from the space bar you get as they traditionally do.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Status Cells:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can choose to have a cell on your display be used for showing status information rather than a character of normal output. Each dot in that cell indicates something such as that your battery is low, there is more text on the current line, a message awaits your attention, etc. You can choose whether the status cell is on the left or right side of the display. You also may choose whether it shows general information like I described above or text information such as format, font, etc for the current character. This would be useful when writing a document. If you're using a status cell, you can turn the rotor to a status cell setting and flick up or down to find out what each dot on the cell means.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Math and Equations:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is a setting where you can choose whether Nemeth code is used for equations. Increasingly, Ebooks and other documents which contain mathematical equations are accessible through reading apps and VoiceOver. If you encounter mathematical equations while using a Braille display, one of the settings deals with whether you want the Nemeth code designed to represent mathematics in Braille to be used.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Word Wrap:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Because iOS has full control of formatting what is sent to your Braille display, it can decide when lines end. The word wrap setting lets you choose whether words rap neatly onto lines or whether a line can end with a partial word that's completed on the next line when you pan over. The first choice may help to clarify all words encountered at the end of lines. However, the other choice which allows lines to contain all possible text which can be accommodated by your Braille display may allow for faster reading.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Crossing Page Boundaries:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another setting lets you choose whether panning over a page boundary automatically moves onto the next or previous page. I have it automatically advance but can appreciate the utility of having panning stop at page boundaries. Keep in mind that some Ebooks don't always give you printed page position. Kindle books provide a location number which you can use to instantly jump to a precise position if you know the number.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Input, Output, and Braille Codes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are different styles of Braille much as there are different forms of writing. Depending on when and how people learn Braille, their needs and comfort with the various forms will be different. The input and output settings let you choose whether you want six dot, eight dot, contracted or uncontracted Braille. IOS can support any of those choices quite well. You can also switch between these modes as needed. You might, for instance, wish to read in contracted six-dot Braille but write in uncontracted Braille.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In addition to the type of Braille, there is a separate setting from the input and output settings that lets you choose the overall code of Braille to be used. You can choose between US, UK, and UEB Braille codes. The UEB Braille code is the recently introduced code of Braille which Braille libraries all over the English speaking world are now using to produce books. Thanks to the Marrakesh Treaty, this will allow institutions and library patrons to take advantage of books already produced elsewhere provided the countries have ratified the treaty. By eliminating the need to duplicate work already done elsewhere, institutions belonging to countries which have signed this treaty will free both time and money to broaden their selection of books. The ability to use this new code or, at the user's preference, the older US and UK Braille codes, lowers the bar for people who may not be familiar with the newer UEB code. They will still be able to read and enjoy the latest books in Braille provided they can afford to purchase them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Hiding the Onscreen Keyboard:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you're not using the onscreen keyboard, you are able to hide it. This is useful if you're using a Bluetooth keyboard or a Braille display which typically has a built-in physical keyboard. A setting lets you choose whether the onscreen keyboard is shown or hidden. If you don't want the onscreen keyboard shown, that space will be re-purposed and used to display more of whatever is on the screen such as a document or page.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Braille Commands:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Taking Full Control Using a Braille Display</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Controlling two separate devices at once can be taxing on the brain and on productivity. In iOS11, Apple eliminated the need for this for people using Braille displays. There is a somewhat hidden group of settings which lets you customize what all of the key combinations and extra buttons on your Braille display will do. We will now explore this group of settings Apple has chosen to. call Braille Commands.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To reach these options, you need to go into the VoiceOver settings and into the "Braille" subgroup of settings. Next, flick right through until you reach the "Choose a Braille Display" area. Flick right until you reach the "more info" button to the right of the name of your display. Double-tap on that. The very first button you come to in the "More info" area will be "Braille commands". Double-tap that and you'll have found your way in.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This seems like a strange place to stick such a powerful bunch of settings. However, it fits with how Apple has chosen to handle other Bluetooth devices. Beside any connected device in Bluetooth settings, there's a similar "More Info" button. Any connected Braille displays are Bluetooth devices so they're keeping to an established pattern. This means that you can have a different series of commands for any additional Braille displays you might need to connect with. For instance, you might have a different Braille display to use at work versus at home. In such a case, the correct set of Braille commands will be ready when you need them with no extra effort on your part.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are seven categories of commands each with their own button. There are a good many commands and most are rather self-explanatory. Rather than exhaustively going through each one, we'll take a quick tour of each of these areas. I'll give you an idea of what you'll find and why you might want to use what's there.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Braille:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Braille area is where you can set commands that relate directly to Braille control. For instance, you can set a specific key command like space bar and dotsfive and six to let you change quickly between output modes. This would be useful if you wanted to quickly go into uncontracted mode to feel how something was spelled and then go back into contracted mode. You may want to set a command to turn word wrap on and off depending on what you're reading. For quick progression through a novel, contracted Braille with word wrap off might be the best way to go. However, when editing document, you may want uncontracted Braille with word wrap on. Settting up commands in this area lets you do that from whereever you may happen to be. Such key combinations saves you having to go all the way into Braille settings any time you want to do this.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Device:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lets say you're sitting on a bus listening to some nifty tunes when someone sits down beside you and says something. You could be rude and ignore him or her. Alternatively, you should pause the music. A third possibly preferable option might be to use the keys on your Braille display to turn down the volume on the music so you can hear both it and the person near you. That's the kind of thing the commands in this category are for. It's where you go to customize commands letting you control your iOS device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can set the command which simulates pressing the Home button. Another might take you to the control centre, the Notifications area, or summon Siri. There are commands which simulate rotating your device left and right. Others would let you easily adjust the volume using only your Braille display. All the while, your iPHONE is safely tucked into your pocket.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Interaction:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes, especially while using BRaille, you don't want to take your hands off the display but need to perform a gestures such as a double-tap. This area has commands which let you simulate doing things like a single or double-tap. They allow you to come up with commands on your display which eliminate the need to touch your iOS device to do simple things like a long press, use 3d touch, etc. In normal circumstances, I find it easier to just touch my device and use the normal touchscreen gestures. However, if people struggle with using the touchscreen or have other hand mobility issues, these commands might make the difference between being able to use an iOS device or not. They offer a kind of precision that only a keyboard and numerous key commands can deliver. Given the relatively short time I've used a touchscreen extensively compared to the decades during which I delt with my computer via such key combos, I'm gobsmacked at how positively old-school this now feels.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Keyboard:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This area lets you set commands to perform special things such as selecting text, copying, cutting, deleting, etc. Options to perform these tasks would normally be present on the virtual keyboard. This lets you access these options right on your Braille display using commands which you choose yourself. Many apps include extensive toolbars with these sorts of options. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Navigation:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This area lets you set up commands that help you move around. There are commands for moving to the next or previous line, paragraph, app, message, and much more. If you have an iPAD, there's even a command letting you switch between apps running on the same screen. If you want to get somewhere without having to use the touchscreen, this is definitely the category to visit and make use of.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Rotor:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The rotor is so important that it has a separate area from the VoiceOver area right beside it. There are just five setable commands here. Next rotor option, previous rotor option, rotor up, Rotor down, and speak current rotor item. This will be especially welcome news for Braille users who have trouble with using the VoiceOver rotor gestures. People can use similar commands on a normal Bluetooth keyboard to control the rotor.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">VoiceOver:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this last category, you can set commands letting you make use of VoiceOver functions. This includes turning the screen curtain on or off, openning VoiceOver settings, speaking fhints, muting speech, and many more. These commands can be key combinations or use extra buttons on your display if this is more advantageous to you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Making It Work:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Controlling Apps With Your Braille Display:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now that we've theoretically covered how to set everything up, we'll discuss what it's like to control your iOS device using a Braille display. To get a proper sense of how things work, we'll examine the Google News app and make use of it completely through the Braille display. This isn't how I normally operate. Ordinarily, I would use speech output or else use the touchscreen to control apps and my Braille display for reading. However, approaching things completely through the Braille display demonstrates the possibilities for taking full control should that be necessary or perferable for you. This is the only time in the guide where this will be demonstrated. All other instructions for using apps will presume that speech output and the touchscreen are used. The techniques demonstrated here should be sufficient to help Braille users figure out how to make use of the majority of other accessible apps. The app I have chosen is available in the app store and has stood the test of time. It is a third-party app developed by people who have used Apple's accessibility tools to include blind people. Google News is very highly regarded by blind users.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You will need to make use of the app store to acquire Google News. Searching the app store and obtaining apps are covered in detail elsewhere in this guide. One easy and quick approach is to invoke Siri and say "find Google News in the app store". You would then purchase the app by using the "get" button and then completing the identification process that occurs whenever things are acquired in the iOS ecosystem. This is explained more fully later in the guide. Lets proceed with the assumption that the Google News app is acquired and present on your iOS device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Using Google News With A Braille Display:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Google has produced a number of very useful apps for the iOS operating system. It has made certain that these apps offer support for users of the VoiceOver screen reader built into iOS. At the time this guide was being written in 2018, Canadians were still not able to make use of the News app produced by Apple. Alternatives are quite plentiful but they don't come pre-installed with iOS. The Google Nes app should prove useful regardless of which country you happen to live in. It is also free to download and use. The more you use the Google News app, the more it learns about what you're interested in. This will effect the contents of your personal briefing which is the section of the app that you start in upon opening it. To open Google News, find your way to the app and double-tap on it. Alternatively, tell Siri to "launch Google News".</span></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt;">Panning Left And Right:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You start out on the personal briefing screen. Try using the panning buttons on your display. One thing which becomes immediately apparent, especially if you're using speech output as well as Braille, is that more is read back to you via speech than is obvious via Braille. The length of your display dictates how much is displayed at once. After the app has opened, it focusses on a title line which also happens to be a heading. This line indicates that you're in the personal briefing section and gives the user's name. That briefing contains the top five stories that Google believes will be of particular interest to you at the moment and also has the current weather. That's too much information for most Braille displays. To read the rest of what you would hear and continue through the briefing, use the right panning button or key combination. You'll be using the left and right panning keys a great deal to look around. If you pan left as far as possible, you'l end up finding a "search" button which wasn't spoken as the app opened up. It pays to explore. Spend some time on this initial screen getting the hang of panning around. Next, do the same with using the next and previous item button or key combinations. With the standard set of Braille key commands, these are space bar plus dot 1 to go to a previous item or space bar plus dot 4 to go to the next item. This is much faster than panning since items may contain text requiring several presses of the panning button to go past. It also brings you to things such as "read more" links, buttons, and other things which might not be obviously functional given their text.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt;">Getting Quickly To the Bottom or Top of Things:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lets suppose you want to get quickly to the top or bottom of a screen to then start exploring from that end of it. You'll eventually want to do this to get back to the top of a story you've read to reach the "back" button in order to leave that story. You may want to reach the bottom of a screen to locate tabs so you can quickly get to another tab in the app. To do this, use the commands for reaching the top or bottom of screens. These are space bar plus dots 1,2,3 for "top" or space bar plus dots 4,5,6 for "bottom". Note the logical progression from the earlier previous and next item key combinations. There are helpful patterns such as this in the default set of commands which will aid you in masterring them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">During your explorations, you'll have come across a number of elements such as "read more" links, buttons like the "search" button near the top of the app, and tabs leading to different areas. The Google News app is chock full of things like this making it an excellent app to practice exploring with. To activate an item, use the key combination of the space bar plus dots 3 and 6. This is the "activate" command and will cause any of the buttons, links etc, to be interacted with provided you're directly upon them. Now, you can explore to any depth you wish when it comes to items discovered in the app. There will be plenty of news and articles of interest for you to read and explore.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt;">Search Me!:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remember that little search button we found while panning around? That packs some serious finding power. We are, after all, talking about an app made by Google which is world famous for its search capabilities. Make your way to that search button and then use the space bar plus dots 3 and 6 combination to activate it. A new dialogue wil appear. You will automatically be placed within an edit field where you can type in whatever words you wish. You can use the space bar plus dots 3 and 6 activation command when you're finished typing to proceed to results matching your terms. You can then use the commands for panning and moving between next and previous items to look through these results. Use the activation key combination to select a result and you will be taken to it. When finished, use the "back" button to return to the list of search results. Pretty simple, isn't it?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt;">Writing and Editing Using Braille:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While you're typing in search terms, feel what's there after you've written a word or two. Below a cell in what you've written, notice a pulsing couple of dots presuming your display has eight-dot cells. These pulsing dots beneath a character are used to indicate precisely where your cursor is so that you can edit effectively. The commands to edit a piece of writing comprise the rotor commands to move around and the delete key for removing what you don't want. The delete key using the default Braille command set is space bar plus the lettre d which is dots 1, 4 and 5. In iOS, remember that the character which is deleted is to the left of the delete key so move one character to the right of whatever lettre you wish to remove.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px 6px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 16pt;">Rotor Turning by Remote Control:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While editing larger documents or doing many other things, you would be using options on your rotor. A set of commands lets you turn the rotor without ever having touched your iOS device. While editing and writing text, you must use the rotor to move around by various amounts through text. The rotor also gives you options for selecting and operating on blocks of text. The Braile commands to turn the rotor are as follows:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 18px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Turn rotor left to previous item: space bar plus dots 2 and 3.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Turn rotor right to next item: space bar plus dots 5 and 6.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Flick up: space bar plus dot 3</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 6px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Flick down: space bar plus dot 6.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">By default, there is no command to speak or display the currently selected rotor item but you could set one up for yourself in the "Braille Commands" settings.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Concluding Thoughts About Refreshable Braille:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Exploring the iOS operating system through the lens of its support for Braille has been an interesting journey. I came into this not knowing about most of what I discovered. Adding to my struggles was my lack of speed in both reading and writing Braille. I kept having a sense that things should have been quicker. Indeed, they are much quicker for people who are used to operating Braille displays with other screen readers or using Braille notetakers. People who are more proficient than I at reading and writing Braille will find a lot to like and take advantage of in terms of efficiency. I don't think they would find learning the commands and what various options did to be anywhere near as frustrating as I did.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While doing research for this section of the guide, I felt that it was important to approach People who used Braille with their iOS devices on a regular basis. I wanted to see if my intuitions on when and how they used Braille were correct and what I had doubtless not thought of at all. I found more than one helpful forum thread on the Applevis site. Many people have found using Braille displays very advantageous when they need their ears free for participating in conversations while operating their iOS devices. Also, while in noisy environments where VoiceOver was hard to hear, Braille proved to be a very useful alternative.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Typing in Braille on a display was also quite often sighted as a distinct advantage rather than using the onscreen keyboard. One lady mentionned that she used text adventure games to improve her Braille typing in a less stressful way than doing homework and fretting over every mistake. Provided one is proficient enough, Braille can at times be even quicker than speech when it comes to reading or getting things done. Also, it leaves your ears free for listening to music while reading a good book.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Proof-reading is another excellent use for Braille displays. Now that word processing has become practical on iOS, people are able to read their own writing which can give a different sense of it than having it read to you. Formating information can be conveyed without breaking the flow of reading by means of the status cell.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Braille is especially useful when it comes to the study of Mathematics. It can be tremendously hard to picture how an equation is laid out while using synthetic speech. A Braille display supported with software such as the VoiceOver screen-reader will let blind students and others feel the positions of part of equations. This can make solving them a far easier process. There are other instances where having the ability to feel the position of information is critical such as when examining charts or tables. How practical that is will depend on the length of your Braille display or feeling a table one-handed while the other hand is reading the Braille display.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are use cases, and then, there are well designed Braille display cases which let you hang the display so it's in front of your chest. You can then make use of it more easily while on the move or even while standing. My wife Sara has a very old Braille notetaker which has such a case letting her direct the choir of her church while referring to notes. Presuming you mastered the necessary commands, you could operate apps on an iPHONE in your pocket without needing to hear it speak while having your display hanging at chest level leaving your hands free for reading or other tasks. GPS apps might be operated using Braille in this manner while on the move. While recording the lecture series which accompanies this guide, I made use of a large 40-cell display on my lap along with some notes on my iPHONE to keeep me on track. Braille displays can be a powerful advantage when it comes to public speaking and presentations.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Overall, Apple has developed a remarkable and powerful platform for Braille users. This is especially true now that the ability to customise what buttons and key combinations on your Braille display will do. With that power comes the danger of making a real mess of your interface. You might make so many changes that you forget what they all are and then discover that you can't remember what the original default options were. The only solution I've found which gets you back to square one would be to make use of the "forget this device" button in the "more Info" area for your Braille display. You could then re-pair it and the settings would all return to the default ones since your customisations for the display would have been forgotten. At that point, you could begin to set custom commands again. The good news is that once you have a command set that you like, it should stay there until you use the "forget this device" button.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">People may feel overwelmed with the need to learn all of the various commands and options. I certainly did. Don't forget that it's never an either/or choice. You are always free to use the touchscreen gestures you may be far more comfortable and familiar with. I think the real strength of combining refreshable Braille and iOS is when you use some of the commands but mostly use the touchscreen gestures. You don't have to memorise and use all of the commands unless they work better for you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One thing which I have tried and can't recommend was using a Bluetooth keyboard as well as a Braille display. I had a number of instances where this seems to have caused some confusion. I found that the only way to fix this was to forget and then re-pair the Braille display with my iPHONE. Thankfully, I hadn't customized a whole bunch of commands. Had I done so, this would have been quite frustrating. The majority of Braille displays have Braile keyboards included and I suggest using those exclusively to avoid this setback.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Braille literacy isn't something which should just be thrown away. However, people who advocate for it need to make certain they come at the problem from realistic angles. One thing which I fervently hope happens is that opportunities to have fun using Braille are as strongly encouraged as possible. I learned how to type and use access technology largely by playing games. IOS presents some unique opportunities in that apps which support VoiceOver are also perfectly accessible to sighted people. Look for games which are text-based and not dependant on visual hand-eye coordination. I'll make some recommendations in the section of this guide which is dedicated to games and their benefits. There was a series of game books which did a lot to encourage young teens to read more than they were inclined to. It was called Fighting Fantasy and combined reading with choices and dice rolling. So far, the apps which are bringing these games into the modern digital age do not include support for VoiceOver. This shuts blind people out of games which they could otherwise play quite easily. I would dearly love to see this situation change and perhaps have an organisation fund the addition of accessibility to these games and other similar apps which are currently inaccessible. The excuse most frequently given for this state of affairs is that the app developers lack the funds to make this economically viable. If people really want to see Braille thrive, steps like making these sorts of games accessible could really help. I don't have many fun memories of Braille other than the occasional enjoyable book. That needs to change. I can easily envision multi-player party adventure, board and card games played on equal terms with sighted and blind players. IOS certainly allows for this but nobody has yet taken up the challenge extensively. This should and could easily change. Over time, more companies will make their apps accessibile to VoiceOver and hence, to Braille users. Rather than having this Braille access be an accidental biproduct, I would very much like to see such efforts funded and requested by blindness organisations on the lookout for opportunities for this kind of thing. There are many circumstances in both work and play were having our ears free to focus on what others are saying can be absolutely crutial. Those sorts of circumstances are where Braille can really have a meaningful impact even to people like myself who are used to speech output.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have high hopes for greater Braile literacy thankts to the journey I've taken with Apple and Braille. It has drastically widened the scope of possibilities when it comes to the circumstances in which Braille might be used in modern life. We're stil in the early stages of exploration. There are two sources of momentum which must come into play. The piece of this puzzle which Apple does not control are affordable Braille displays. As I write this guide, serious efforts are underway to lower the financial barrier to refreshable Braille. Initiatives like the Orbit Reader and Braille Me hope to dramatically lower the cost to individuals of reliable refreshable Braille. The second piece of the puzzle is somewhat under Apple's influence. It can take measures to facilitate and strongly encourage app developers to support VoiceOver accessibility when creating apps and to keep Braille users in mind. As more apps are made intentionally accessible to users of speech output and Braille, awarenesss will spread more widely and things will get better. Future generations won't be driven away from using Braille for lack of portability and convenience. The case for inclusion has at last reached a kind of critical mass. There is a long way to go, and in the case of Braille, the breaks have been on for quite a while now. However, technology has now taken off those breaks, started the car and started us moving again. There is the potential to take Braille to some very innovative new places.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div> Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-29386945793390176412018-02-27T15:10:00.001-05:002018-02-27T15:16:56.325-05:00Digitally Defending Yourself; Keeping Your Information Safe and Secure<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These days, the selection of music, audio books, ebooks, apps, movies and more that you can enjoy on your iOS device is staggerring. So is the amount of personal information you'll soon have stored on the device if you make good use of it. Everything from addresses and contact information to health and other data. I remember reflecting after a year with my iPHONE about how much of my personal information and other things were store there. You don't tend to think about it in totality as you slowly start adding information so you can do this or that more conveniently. And then, one day, it hits you. The stuff of your life is contained in a light flat slab of high technology no thicker than a payne of window glass.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is also in "the cloud", as people tend to think of it. In reality, that cloud is a bunch of theoretically secure data storage and servers where you can retrieve it whenever needed rather than storing absolutely everything on your device itself. This reduces the amount of storage space you need to have on your device. For as long as I've owned an iOS device, I have only heard of one case where someone's iCloud was hacked.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These devices are designed to be as light and portable as possible. They're supposed to be your digital companions at home and while on the go. This very portability makes them tempting targets for theft. It's in Apple's best interests to protect all that information from theft or abuse by others. This goes beyond personal information and extends to making certain that other people can't steel the books, apps, movies and music you choose to have on your device. To this end, Apple has gone to great lengths to provide a safe and secure environment for iOS users and those who provide digital content. These measures extend far beyond the obvious. For instance, all apps found in the app store must be checked and approved by Apple staff who are on the lookout for trouble-makers. Incidents of malware and viruses are very rare in the iOS ecosystem. No security is fool-proof, but Apple has done a remarkably good job in that department. All data on your device and stored in iCloud is encrypted in a way that even Apple can't break. In order to gain access to a dead terrorist's iPHONE, the FBI was forced to engage the services of a security company who were able to hack into the iPHONE at a high cost. Doing so is no trivial exercise. Apple was willing to go to court and refused to create any kind of universal back door to unlock iOS devices suspected of containing valueable information. They can and will help law enforcement in any way possible which doesn't reduce the security of innocent owners of their products.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This section will focus on elements of information security over which it is possible to exercise some direct control. These include privacy settings, passwords, passcodes, and restrictions you can activate or deactivate. This may seem a bit daunting for the non-technical people who might be reading this. By its very nature, security nearly always means a degree of inconvenience. In today's world of information, having at least a basic grasp of these measures is absolutely essential for a safe and happy experience in the iOS ecosystem. Apple keeps everything pretty simple from a user's perspective. You don't need to be a technology expert to put security features to good use. What I tend to worry about the most is for people who have a hard time rememberring passwords or numbers. You only need a few such items to be easily remembered when asked for. However, having them easily recalled and ready to be used is absolutely vital. I would strongly erge anybody with these difficulties to keep a recording or text file handy with that information clearly written or announced. Also, provide a copy of that information to someone who you trust. That will make it much easier to resolve security issues quickly and painlessly with a minimum of inconvenience and/or involvement from others who might not be as trust-worthy.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over all, I have had a very positive and safe experience with iOS. Not once have I had to contend with a virus or data theft. While I don't go out of my way to court danger, I don't hesitate to follow links to search results which point to new items of interest. Having been online for over 25 years, I have a pretty well developed but not infallible sense of what's safe and what likely isn't. Were I ever to have my iPHONE stolen, I would be far more annoyed at the massive immediate inconvenience this would cause than concerned about my information falling into the wrong hands. I think Apple does a good job with security. There's a balance that needs to be struck between protection and annoyance. Apple has done a good job of minimising that annoyance while maintaining a good level of safety. Some people find the thought of Apple keeping an eye on things and limiting the apps available for your device to what they approve distasteful and worrying. Personally, I'm quite happy they're doing this. I have yet to be stopped from doing anything I personally wanted to do on my device. I have, on the other hand, been saved from having to deal with some of the nasty surprises people using other operating systems such as Android have found lurking on their devices.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Setting up or Changing Security:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you don't skip the steps during initial setup of your device, you'll be putting security in place while completing the overall process. The steps wil be appropriate to the technology included in your particular device. At a minimum, you will be asked to create an Apple ID if you don't already have one. If you're setting up a secondary device or upgrading to a new one, you should use the same Apple ID. This gives you access to any personal information stored in iCloud plus apps or other things you've already purchased from Apple. For each device you own, you'll have the option to set a passcode. Next, depending on the device you have, you'll be able to set up Touch or Face ID. Apple strongly encourages the use of security features. However, it is possible to skip some of these steps during setup. You can always change your mind and turn on features later once you're more comfortable with using your device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some people will get these devices and then refuse to create an Apple ID or use other features due to a paranoia of big bad corporations watching their every move. Honestly, if you're that concerned about big data snooping on you, save a lot of money and get an oldfashioned dumb phone or cheeper Android tablet. In fact, you could theoretically get one of each if both were on sale and still come out ahead financially. Choosing not to create an Apple ID or not bother with a passcode will place drastic limitations on what you can do with your iOS device. Other than using the apps included on the device, you won't be allowed to get more apps, update the software on your device, etc. Also, any information stored on such an unsecured device would be available to anybody who got their hands on it. You're not saving time or protecting yourself from the big bad corporation. You're just being very stupid. Either the benefits of participating in activities one uses these devices for is worth the risk to your information privacy or it isn't. Don't shoot yourself in the foot over misplaced fear. Provided you're not doing anything criminal with an iPHONE or iPAD, Apple really doesn't care what you're up to. Take precautions using the security tools discussed here and enjoy what owning an iOS device will let you accomplish.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After setup is complete, you can go into areas within the Settings app in order to change security. These include the first item in Setttings labelled with your name, the Touch ID and Passcode area, the Privacy area, and the "restrictions" area found in "General" settings. Also, there is the "Autolock" setting found in the "Display and Brightness" area.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Your Apple ID:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the process of setting up your device, you'll be asked to log in with an Apple ID you already have or create one if it's your first device. Ideally, each customer should have one Apple ID. It's your central account with Apple. When you create an Apple ID, it is used to keep track of all information of your dealings with Apple. You use it in the app store when you buy apps and in iBooks when you buy books. It's also used when making subscriptions to services like Apple Music. Any information you store in iCloud is also tied to your Apple ID.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">An Apple ID consists of an email address and password. It is absolutely vital that you remember these. They're your way of prooving to Apple who you are. The email address should be one you actually check because there may be occasions where Apple contacts you. Also, you are sent receipts for any purchases via This address. The password you choose needs to be something you can recall while still being hard for someone else to figure out even if they know you. When deciding on a password, you should err on the side of it being easy for you to remember rather than being some complex alphanumeric sequence which confounds everyone including yourself. I've spent hours helping people start from scratch after forgetting their password or the code they've used to lock their devices. Apple's tech support staff cannot circumvent security. While there are recovery steps, they take time and are done by a separate department. Apple would rather deny you access than risk all of your information getting into the wrong hands. Remember your Apple ID and the password you picked for it. They're your ultimate key. Keep it handy and safe like you would do for the key to your home. These devices will be like a digital home.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When asked to enter your Apple ID and password, a form will appear on screen with separate fields for each piece of information. The email address will typically be filled in already and occupies the first field which is near the top of the screen.. You can double-tap on a field to go into edit mode allowing you to enter or change information. When in edit mode, you can find the "go" or "done" button which should be double-tapped to indicate you're finished with that field. The "delete" button will be above the "shift" and "go" buttons near the bottom right corner. The next field will be for your password. Enter that and then find the "go" button on the bottom right when finished.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Having a Passcode:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A passcode is a number or alphanumeric sequence which you can use to lock your device. Think of it as your first line of defence or the lock on your front door. A passcode also incripts mail messages and other data on your device so you can only access it if you know the number. You should choose a number which you can remember easily. Apple recommends a six digit passcode but you're not stuck with that. During the passcode setup process, find the "passcode options" button to opt for an easier four-digit number or a totally customised alphanumeric code of your choosing. Even if you use Touch or Face ID, you'll still need to use the passcode if you restart your device or don't unlock it for a while. You can set things up so that after ten failed attempts to enter the correct passcode, all of the data on your device is erased. If that happens, you'll either have to set up your device as a new one or restore from a backup. For the latter course of action, you'll definitely need to know your Apple ID and password.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Make certain you pick a number you can remember easily. This is especially important if you have things set so that everything is erased after ten failed attempts. I can't help people who are completely locked out of their device. Remember your passcode, Apple and password. They're your keys to everything.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To enter a passcode, input the digits using the number pad which appears on screen. There is a delete key near the bottom right if you make a mistake. If you touch a bit below near the top of the screen, VoiceOver will announce how many values you have entered. For instance, it might say "three of six". Once you've entered the correct number of digits, wait a moment. If you've entered it correctly, your device will be unlocked. If not, you'll be informed that the code was incorrect and may try again.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Touch ID:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Beneath the home button, there is a sophisticated fingerprint scanner which reads your fingerprint and unlocks your device if it matches one that you've authorised. This is what is known as "Touch ID". Instead of enterring your passcode to unlock your device or approve purchases all the time, you can simply touch the home button with a finger. You can set up more than one fingerprint for Touch ID. All prints are stored in a secure place on your device called a secure enclave which even Apple can't access. Apps and services using this data receive only pass or fail information. You can use Touch ID to approve purchases, use Apple Pay, and many other things. The chances of someone else having a print similar enough to your own is said to be one in fifty thousand.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To set up a fingerprint, place your finger on the home button and then lift it as VoiceOver instructs during the setup process. It will have you place and lift the finger several times and then have you change your grip before continuing this process. This makes certain that your device has an accurate recording of your finger. I have done this for one finger on each hand for greater convenience so I can unlock my phone using whichever hand works better at the moment. When asked to use Touch ID, simply touch your finger to the "Home" button on your device maintaining the contact until you hear a ding and feel a vibration. If you are inaccurate in your placement, it is possible that your finger won't be recognised and you'll have to make another attempt. I've never had to do this more than once to be properly recognised.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Overall, I've had a pretty good experience with Touch ID. It's handy to be able to unlock your iPHONE while it's in your pocket using one hand. I can then do things without ever removing my iPHONE from my pocket if necessary. For simple tasks like reading books or navigating music, this is a nice convenience. Also, it speeds up things like purchasing books or apps marvelously. Instead of enterring in passwords, you just touch your finger to the home button and your purchase is approved. I also use Touch ID a lot in combination with an app called Assist Eyes Wallet. This makes it possible to have sensitive information like passwords on hand while still having them require my fingerprint to access. One issue I do occasionally find annoying is that after I wash dishes or if I have wet hands, it becomes almost impossible to use Touch ID. Especially if your hands were in hot water. I often need to resourt to my passcode to unlock my iPHONE until my hands return to a dry normal temperature. Cold weather doesn't help either. You either have to remove a glove to unlock your device or have cold fingers which may not be recognised by Touch ID.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Face ID:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This technology is said to be more convenient and far more secure than Touch ID. On the more high-end advanced devices such as the iPHONE10, a group of cameras and sensors can recognise your face allowing it to be used instead of a passcode and Apple ID. It can even tell whether you're actively paying attention presuming you're capable of actually looking at your device. The chances are one in a million that anyone else's face will be similar enough to yours to fool Face ID. The chances are somewhat better if they're related or you're twins. Every so often, you'll still need to use a passcode to unlock your device such as after you restart it or if you haven't used Face ID in over 48 hours. The same is true for other things like approving purchases. For sighted people, it is very convenient since they need to look at their devices in order to use them. For blind people, it's easy to use but less convenient than Touch ID since you need to actually face your device rather than touch the home button while the device is in your pocket or pack.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple has taken blind people into consideration when designing this security feature. If you have VoiceOver enabled, it will guide you through the setup process telling you how to move your face so it can be properly scanned. It will also disable the part of Face ID which looks for attentiveness so that you just need to face your device rather than look at it. This does reduce how secure Face ID is. Someone could knock you out and hold your device up to your face for instance. However, take this in proper context. If somebody threatened you with bodily harm or worse, you'd probably much rather unlock the device for them anyhow. These things are only as secure as you are.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As I have no direct experience with Face ID, I can't offer additional guidance about its use. However, Jonathan Mosen has ample experience and has posted it on his web site and in his excellent book iOS Without the Eye. This is an excellent resource for keeping up to date with the latest changes and features in iOS. I highly recommend it for those familiar with iOS but needing to know about the latest changes quickly. To obtain this book and other resources, visit:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Www.mosen.org</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Two-factor Authentication:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Designed to protect your Apple ID from theft rather than your device, two-factor authentication sends a verification code to trusted phone numbers or devices. If a new device tries to log in with your Apple ID, it will be asked for a verification code. Blind people will need to memorise this code long enough to enter it correctly when needed. If that number happens to be for the iPHOnE which has been stolen, it won't do much good. However, you will receive an email which would let you know of this occurrence. It would stop someone trying to log in via a web site and cause trouble using your Apple ID. They wouldn't have the verification number and you would be alerted to the danger. You could then change your password or take other precautions. You can use the verification code to recover control of your Apple ID and reset your password if you believe you've been compromised. Since only trusted devices and phone numbers can receive the verification code, you no longer need to remember the answers to security questions. You can have more than one trusted phone number or device set. Parents could have their phone number be a trusted number for their child's device. This would also be useful for people who have difficulty remembering things.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Taking Charge of Security with Settings:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To have a worth-while experience on iOS, it's vital to have a good idea how to set and manage security so that it doesn't inconvenience you unduely. The Settings area is where this management can be accomplished. Options related to security are concentrated in a few key areas of Settings. Lets begin our tour with the very first item past the search field.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Presuming you've set everything up and haven't skipped steps, the first item after the search field will be labelled with your name and email address you used to create your Appple ID. This is where you manage things having to do with your Apple ID, password, payment information etc. Think of this area is having to do more with your identity in the Apple marketplace rather than about securing your device. In the "passwords and security" area, you can change your password and also choose whether you want to use two-factor authentication. Unless you have major difficulties remembering a six digit code, I strongly recommend having it turned on. This way, you can use services which require top security like Apple Pay.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Device Security Settings:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To secure your device and its contents, you'll want to manage your passcode and Touch or Face ID settings. Those settings can be found in the "Touch ID and Passcode" area of Settings. If you have an iPHONE10, it's called "Face ID and Passcode". To enter the area, you'll need to enter your passcode. That's where you can set or change your passcode and make use of Touch or Face ID. For Face ID, you can only store one face on the iPHONE10 at a time. VoiceOver will guide you through the setup process. I don't have an iPHONE10 so I can't speak from experience here. However, Jonathan Mosen's book iOS11 Without The Eye takes you through the process. It sounds like it may be a little tricky for people so be patient with yourself and take it slow and careful. For Touch ID, you can store multiple fingerprints for unlocking your device. Touch ID also can be used to approve purchases without having to type in your password. Other apps can also use it. As with Face ID, VoiceOver will guide you through the process of scanning your fingerprints. You'll find headings in this area so the rotor set to headings may help speed you to where you want to be. You will first find options to determine what to use Face or Touch ID for including unlocking the device, paying for purchases, and Apple Pay. Below that, you'll find a heading to where your fingerprints or face data is stored. You can remove these if you wish or add new ones. Further down, there's a heading where you can choose what can be accessed while the device is in a locked state. For instance, you can choose whether recent notifications, the control centre, the Apple Pay wallet, home controls for lights and other smart household appliances, etc, can be accessed without unlocking the device first. This gives you lots of choice regarding how secure versus how convenient you want things to be.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Emergency SOS:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Emergency SOS feature is built into iOS and is used on iPHONEs. It is supposed to make it easy to contact emergency services if necessary. The exact method to trigger it differs between iPHONEs. Clicking the side button five times quickly on my iPHONE7 would initiate the distress mode. It would start a siren sound and a countdown before calling 911 automatically. You can turn off that automatic call if you want to. Otherwise, if you trigger it accidentally, you'll need to manage to cancel the countdown before the call is made. You can also add contacts who will be notified via text message that you've called emergency services. This way, if you're incapacitated or are in need of trusted help from people you know, they can be automatically alerted that you've called emergency services and may need them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The autolock feature:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To prevent battery drain and improve security, the Autolock feature will cause an iOS device to lock itself after a short period of inactivity. This setting can be found in the "Display and Brightness" area of settings. You can set it between 30 seconds and 5 minutes or set it to "never". Normally, I have it set to never lock automatically. It gets annoying having to unlock your phone to continue doing something after merely pausing for a moment's thought. It won't suddenly lock while you're reading a book since the cursor is constantly scrolling while that happens. As long as you're actively doing things, the autolock won't inconvenience you. I'd use autolock if I felt at all nervous that my iPHONE might be stolen or misplaced. That way, there would only be a short time before your device locked itself and required your fingerprint, face or passcode to be used.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Screen Curtain:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To help protect your privacy, VoiceOver contains a feature called Screen Curtain. Since anybody using VoiceOver is likely to be totally blind and not looking at the screen, you can invoke this feature to make certain nobody else can see what you're doing without you knowing this. It will cause your screen to be blank. This doesn't save battery power so you'll still need to reduce display brightness in order to achieve that. I have mine set to 0 and maximise my battery life. However, you may be in a situation where you often want sighted people to be able to assist. In that case, having brightness set to around 30% or lower might be a good compromise. I don't mind having to go into the control centre and raise brightness on thos rare occasions I want sighted people to see what's on my screen. You turn screen curtain on or off by tapping three times quickly with three fingers. A three-finger trippletap.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Privacy Settings:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Privacy settings are used to allow or prevent access to information. For instance, you might choose to prevent an app from accessing the microphone or camera or access your social media accounts. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the Settings app, you'll find the "Privacy" button just past the Battery" button and before the "iTunes and App Store" button. These are all past the "General" button.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first settings in the privacy area deal with access to data. Location services, contacts, microphone, camera, health, and other sensitive information each have a button. These buttons lead to lists of apps which have requested access to that specific data. You can permit or deny these apps access to the information and may determine cercumstances when this might be allowed. For instance, you can let apps only use location services when they're in focus and being used. No decisions made here are carved in stone. You can change these settings whenever you wish.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Below a note which explains that preceding options deal with access to data, you'll find a further set of buttons dealing with access to social media accounts. These work similarly to the buttons dealing with data. You can decide which apps may access your Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms you might be using. For example, a game called Dice World has an option allowing me to post tweets about my victories in the various dice games it lets you play. If I chose, I could block this capability using privacy settings dealing with Twitter. Before a particular social media platform will appear, the app for it may need to be present on your device. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Finally, you find two buttons dealing with advertising permition and whether to let Apple have data used to improve the user experience. I don't have a problem with this and hope my data will help app developers and Apple fine-tune things in future iOS updates.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don't tend to adjust these settings often. IOS asks you as soon as an app requests access to these services so I don't need to go into the Privacy area unless I change my mind from my initial decision about what access an app should have. I mainly prefer apps to only use location services when I'm actually using them so I've adjusted those settings the most. I would certainly appreciate the capabilities they offer if I were going into a risky situation where I knew the danger of theft was greater.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Restrictions:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Restrictions are used to prevent actions from being taken without your permition on your iOS device. You can use these to prevent children from making purchases while they use your iPAD to play a game. You can also prevent people from browsing the Web or using iBooks among many other things. This can give you peace of mind of you allow someone else to use your device that they can't do anything potentially harmful to you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To manage restrictions, go into the "General" area and flick right until you come to restrictions. The button is found to the right of "background app refresh" and to the left of "date and time". Double-tap on restrictions to enter the area.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first thing you'll find in this area is a button which lets you enable or disable restrictions. When you double-tap it to enable restrictions, you'll immediately be asked to enter a four-digit restriction passcode. Choose a four-digit number you'll remember. You'll need to enter it a second time to confirm. Once that's done, you'll need to know that code to disable restrictions. The only other way to get rid of the restrictions would be to restore your iOS device from a backup. This isn't a step to be done lightly especially if you haven't backed things up in a while.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The restrictions area is divided up into headings. These are "Allow", Allowed Content", "Privacy", "Allow Changes", and "Game Center". Within these headings, flicking left or right will scroll through a series of buttons. Double-tap what you want to restrict and you'll either switch it from on to off or else get to different options. For example, double-tapping on the safari button in the "allow" heading will switch between on and off. If you leave it on off, you won't be able to even find the Safari browser since the icon for it disappears entirely. If you double-tap the "movies" button under "allowed content", you can choose the rating of movies which can be viewed on your iOS device. You can specify which country's ratings you want to use. It defaults to US.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All sorts of different kinds of content can have restrictions placed upon its consumption. Everything from podcasts to books to music to news. You don't always have a lot of flexibility. Choices are more often between allowing everything or disallowing things entirely. For instance, you can restrict explicit content in books so that your child won't even come across books featuring such material. However, you can't do more complex things like eliminate violence or taboo topics. Web sites are similar. You can restrict explicit adult content or only allow visits to certain sites you approve of. For apps, you can restrict apps by their age appropriate ratings. Using these restrictions, parents could make their children's iOS devices quite safe while still allowing for some exploration on their part. Without knowing the four-digit passcode, they may not even see what they're not allowed to access.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The setings under the "Privacy" heading withing the "Restrictions" area are the same as the ones in the "Privacy" area of Settings. However, if you use the settings within the "Restrictions" area, you will need the restriction passcode to change them later.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The options under the "Allow Changes" heading are six buttons which deal with important areas and give you the power to disallow any changes which might cost money or compromise safety. For instance, you can use the "accounts" restriction to prevent any changes being made to account information. This prevents anybody from adding a new user account to your iOS device to get around restrictions. Other areas include cellular data, volume limit, bakcground app refresh, and TV provider. A change in cellular data, for instance, might result in you inadvertently using expensive cellular data for things that you didn't want to be able to.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The settings under the "Game Center" heading allow you to restrict things like adding friends or playing multiplayer games. This will be especially useful for parents who don't feel their children are ready to deal responsibly with this unsupervised contact with strangers. There are three settings here. You can disallow playing multiplayer games entirely. You can disallow adding new friends. Lastly, you can disallow screen recording. Screen recording is often used in games to share proof of noteworthy accomplishment or other information during group play. However, it could also reveal sensitive information if used carelessly.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Parting Thoughts on Security:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Don't use extra security you don't need. I can't count the number of people I've been powerless to help because they've set restrictions and then forgotten the four-digit code. They'll disallow Safari and then wonder where their web browser went. They'll want to purchase an app or an in-app purchase but discover that they've restricted that ability on their iPHONE and then forgotten their code and can't disable the restriction. I've even had one fellow restrict his GPS app from using location services. There's simply no point of having a GPS app to help you get around if you prevent it from knowing where you are. People do some really stupid things getting all paranoid and hung up on security and privacy concerns. Take reasonable precautions but don't go overboard with this stuff.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-56590923886149289092017-06-23T12:23:00.001-04:002017-06-23T12:23:49.818-04:00Communicating with Others using iOS Devices <p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Your iOS device can make communication with others on your own terms very easy to do. This is especially true once you have mastered typing, dictation using Siri, and navigating apps using VoiceOver. No matter which iOS device you get, it can be used to communicate with others. This includes the iPOD Touch which is basically and iPHONE minus the phone. There are a set of apps included in iOS especially for this purpose. In addition to these, there are more apps for various social media such as Twitter available in the app store. All of these apps tie into contact information and most of the time, tie into Siri as well. This makes communicating as effortless as possible even when you're just getting started.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Contacts App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Contacts app on the home screen is your first stop. This is where you should put any contact information you have about people who you want to communicate with. iOS can then make use of that information via other apps. The more information you put in this repository, the better your iOS device will serve you as a communications aid. It is quite possible to add contacts to different groups such as for personal and work. Personally, I just have them all in a single list within the app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Unless you change settings, contacts will be kept in alphabetical order. By using the VoiceOver rotor and turning it to headings, you can then flick up and down to the next or previous lettres. This makes for a quick and efficient browsing experience. For more control over how contacts are displayed and organised, go into the Settings app and doubletap on "contacts". You'll see settings for whether contacts are sorted by last name first or by first name. There are also settings regarding the use of short names and/or nicknames. For some languages, these settings won't apply since names are always ordered the same way.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to Add Contacts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Beginners may find it a chore to enter contact information. Dictation can certainly help but often, the virtual keyboard is simply the best way to do things. However, the rewards of this labour will very quickly become apparent. There is an "add" button near the top left of the screen. Double-tapping this button takes you to a form which you fill in. There are edit fields for all sorts of information. You can also use the "insert" buttons next to fields to add more things like additional phone numbers or email addresses. It's very comprehensive. You can specify different ringtones for contacts if you desire. My parents have a different ringtone assigned so I always know when it's them calling.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some apps such as Facebook will present you with opportunities to integrate your contacts. This adds information from companies like Google and Facebook where you may have contact lists into the library of contacts on your iOS device. They will then populate your list in the "Contacts" app. Before this step is ever taken, you will always be asked to be certain you want this to happen. Generally speaking, iOS is very careful when it comes to your privacy. On that note, look in the "privacy" settings and you'll find a "contacts" category. This lets you control which apps have access to your contacts. Further along, you'll find similar buttons for Facebook and Twitter. No decision you make is ever written in stone regarding contact integration.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to access and edit contact information:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As your contact list grows, you may want to use the "search" field near the top left of the app to quickly narrow down the selections. Type any part of the contact name into the field and you'll likely see it pop up. Flick right through the choices to arrive at the contact. Double-tapping on a contact opens it giving access to its information. You can then perform actions such as sending a message, initiating a Facetime call, sending an email, etc. The "back" button gets you out of that contact's information back to the general pool of contacts. Before doing that though, notice the edit button near the back button. This lets you access and edit the information. You can also completely delete the contact.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once information is in the Contacts app, iOS will start using it to make the social part of life easier in many different ways. If you have an iPHONE, the first result of these efforts you're likely to notice is that you'll know who's calling. Phone calls will be identified by name. You will also be able to make use of that information from within apps like the Phone app, mail, Facetime or Messages apps. Also, Siri can use this information. This lets you order Siri to do things which is lots easier than swiping and typing especially as you're masterring the basics of VoiceOver. You can teach Siri about relationships. For example, it knows that Sara is my wife and Dan is my brother. This lets me say things like "Tell my wife I'll be late for dinner" and be understood. You can dictate text messages, emails, and Facebook posts without having to go into the respective apps first. A lot of work has gone into making Siri a good communications aid. The Contacts app is how you give your iOS device and Siri what they need to help you keep in contact with people who matter to you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Any time you need address information, chances are you'll find an option to get it from your contacts. For instance, I sent my mother a gift from the app store and quickly got her email address thanks to the information about her in the Contacts app. Contact information is also used by the Maps and other GPS apps. This lets you ask for directions to reach addresses stored in the Contacts app. This can include transit, walking and driving directions via the Maps app, BlindSquare, or other apps which can take advantage of this pool of information.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Phone App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">People who have iPHONEs will be happy to know that the Phone app is very comprehensive and easy to use. It was originally one of the centrepieces of the iPHONE. Making, receiving and managing calls are all very easily achieved presuming you have mastered operating the touchscreen with VoiceOver. Siri is fully integrated with this app so you can call anybody in your contacts by simply asking Siri to call the person's name. Indeed, it is perfectly possible to ask Siri to call a number which you recite. Just don't pause for too long or it will presume you've finished and won't realise you're having trouble remembering the rest of the number.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are five tabs across the bottom of this app. They are Favourites, Recent, Contacts, Keypad, and Voicemail. Double-tapping on a tab takes you to that particular area which will occupy the rest of the screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Dealing With Calls:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a call comes in, a screen pops up with numerous options. If you simply want to answer it, just double-tap with two fingers anywhere on the screen. This is also how you hang up. If you're wearing wired earpods or other headsets, there should be a button you can press to answer or end a call. On the Earpods which come with your device, it's the long indented section which fels like it's been carved out of the remote in between the two round parts which can raise or lower volume. If you're wearing AirPods, double-tap either one to answer or end a call.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can also do other things. At the top of the incoming call screen are message and remind buttons. These will make a reminder to return the call later or respond to the call with a message you can type in. Declining a call will pass the caller on to your voicemail where he or she can leave a message. At the bottom left and right corners are decline and accept buttons. Double-tap the button you want to use. You can press the sleep-wake button twice quickly to decline a call. Pressing that button once will allow you to lock your screen so you don't hit keypad buttons.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Favourites:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Having contacts added to your favourites has a couple of implications. First of all, you can call them by going into the Favourites tab flicking through the list of names and simply double-tapping on the one you want. Your iPHONE will then make the call for you. Nice and speedy. Also, there are different rules regarding favourites when it comes to Do Not Disturb settings. You can have these set to always allow people on your favourites list through when they call even when in Do Not Disturb mode. I'm rather thankful for this as I would typically rather not miss a call from afamily member, good friend or my landlord.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">REcents:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Any calls you have missed, made or received are all shown in this tab. They are organised in chronological order with the most recent call at the top. Flick right or scroll up with three fingers to quickly move through the list of calls. It is a handy way of easily returning calls especially if the number hasn't yet been added to your contacts. Simply double-tap on the number or name to return the call. Alternatively, flick right and you'll find a "more info" button next to each item in the list. Double-tap this button to obtain any known information plug find options to add the number to your contacts thereby creating a new contact. There are other options similar to what you'll find in the Contacts app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Contacts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab is basically like the Contacts app. Double-tapping on a contact name will move you into that contact's entry where you'll find the usual options.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Keypad:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab gives you access to a virtual phone keypad. As you input a number, you'll even hear touchtone beeps as you would if using an actual telephone. This is good for blind people as you'll know when you've successfully entered the right digits. If you need to delete a digit, You'll find the button you need near the top right of the screen. Just below the numeric keypad but above the row of tabs, you'll find a "call" button in the middle. It's right above the Contacts tab. Double-tap that button to make a call.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">During a call, the keypad is display so that you can make use of touchtone systems. There are occasions, however, when this is less than desireable as it's possible to accidentally press keys with your cheek. There is a button which hides the keypad if you wish. You'll find options right below the keypad to end the call, mute, or hide that keypad.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Voicemail:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This last tab is a very nice addition presuming your carrier supports it. Not all phone plans come with what is called visual voicemail. Presuming you have it, this tab will be where you to go receive your messages, set your greeting, etc. Messages will be downloaded to your phone for you to easily review at your leisure. I've become quite attached to this feature and pay a small fee for a package of additional features which includes visual voicemail as part of my phone plan.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If, for whatever reason, you don't wish to use this or can't get a plan which has it, you are still able to use the normal voicemail offered by pretty much all phone companies. You simply use the keypad discussed earlier to enter your passcode and operate the menus as you would with an ordinary touchtone phone. This may prove stressful for beginners as they have yet to gain proficiency with finding and enterring digits on their touchscreens. Visual voicemail eliminates this hastle and does away with any time pressure.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To use visual voicemail, double-tap the tab and you'll find a "greeting" button near the top of the screen. This lets you record your voicemail greeting which people hear when you miss or decline their call. I don't recall needing to do any other things to set up visual voicemail. I got it some years ago and have kept it ever since. You may need to get help from your carrier. When you receive messages, they are put in a chronoligical list with the most recent messages at the top. You can simply flick through them and double-tap on a message to start it playing. Double-tap on the "more info" button next to a message if you want to get to the same contact page as you'd arrive at though the Contacts tab or the "more info" button found in the Recents tab.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can pause a message during playback, move back or forward through it, and do other things like return the call, delete the message, etc. This makes it easy to manage messages even if you have yet to deal with the rotor and flicking gestures. It makes for a very efficient stress-free way of dealing with messages.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are other options such as call waiting, ending a first call and receiving a call that has come in while you're on a first call, adding people to calls, etc. I suspect that carriers need to support these features. In appropriate circumstances, options will appear on the screen displayed while you are in a call.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is also possible to be in a call while still using other apps. Simply press the home button to get out of the phone app. Your call will continue even as you do other things. There is a bar near the top left of the screen which you can double-tap to return to the call screen if you like.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">FaceTime:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app is used to make audio or video calls to others who use iOS devices or computers supporting FaceTime. To use FaceTime, you need an Apple ID for yourself. Presuming your device has been set up, you have already created your Apple ID. You'll also need to know an Email address and/or phone number of people who you want to contact via FaceTime. This information may be found in the Contacts app or added in directly from within the FaceTime app. Once done, that person will be found in the Contacts app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to make a FaceTime call:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can do this in a few ways. From inside the FaceTime app, you can double-tap on the "audio", or "video" buttons near the top of the screen. Next, double-tap a contact's name. This will make a call to that person. You can also use Siri from anywhere on your iOS device to make a call. Simply invoke Siri and then say "FaceTime" or "FaceTime audio" followed by the person's name. This will initiate a call. Also, you can initiate a FaceTime call from within the Contacts app. Simply go into the contact entry you're interested in and flick right until you reach the "faceTime call" button. Double-tap to initiate the call.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are options you can use during a FaceTime call. Video calls can make use of the front or rear-facing cameras built into your iOS device. You'll find buttons to choose which camera to use on the call screen which appears. You can also end a call in progress, sswitch to an incoming or waiting call, or mute your microphone. Double-tapping with two fingers will accept or end a call. You don't have to be in the FaceTime app to receive a FaceTime call. A two-fingered double-tap will accpt the call from anywhere. Also, a menu pops up giving you options which you can flick over should you want to decline the call for example.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Near the top of the screen, you'll find an edit button letting you delete FaceTime contacts. You'll find a search field letting you look for contacts by name, email or number.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Also, look in the Settings app where you'll find specific settings for FaceTime. These let you turn the feature on or off, choose which information people can use to contact you through FaceTime, and more. To specify whether FaceTime can use cellular data look in the "cellular" setting. Remember that FaceTime must use either WiFi or cellular data. Also, video calls use more data than strictly audio ones.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have found FaceTime to be especially useful in a few ways of particular interest to blind people. I've used it to show distant relatives what my apartment was like using the ability to switch to the rear-facing camera on the back of my iPHONE. This has also been a useful way to have a sighted person help read things my OCR apps can't understand. Also, they can help me look for lost items. You could also theoretically use FaceTime to have someone sighted help you navigate somewhere or at least see where you were in order to find you more easily.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">A Closer Look at Do Not Disturb:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As we learn how to communicate with people, it is important to make certain that we remain in control of when we communicate. The "do not disturb" mode is extremely useful when sleeping, attending meetings, visiting with friends or at other times when you don't want to be interrupted by your device. Airplane mode is easy to activate but completely cuts all transmition to and from your device. Most of the time, this isn't what you want. We often don't want to be distracted but still want to be able to make calls, check email, shop online, or surf the web. Do Not Disturb mode makes certain that no external calls or messages nor any alerts generated by apps on our devices will interrupt us. Unlike airplane mode, your device remains connected. You can still use Siri, receive calls and other information. This means that you don't miss out on notifications. They wait for you when you're ready to deal with them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to turn on Do Not Disturb mode?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can simply tell Siri to do it. You can also go to the control centre by touching the status bar at the top of the touchscreen and swiping upward with three fingers. Flick right until you find the "do not disturb" button and double-tap it to turn the mode on or off.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"> Adjusting how Do Not Disturb works:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Go into the Settings app and flick right until you come to a "do not disturb" button. It's right before the "general" button completely separate from Privacy settings. In the Do Not Disturb settings, you'll find options letting you do several things. You can schedule a time of day when your device will audomatically go into Do Not Disturb mode. This is useful for sleeping. I schedule my iPHONE to enter this mode at 11 PM and come out of the mode at 6 AM. You can also control who is still able to reach you even in Do Not Disturb mode. I allow contacts in my favorites such as my landlord, family members, etc, to reach me. There's also a setting to allow repeated calls through. If people call more than once within a few minutes, they'll be allowed through. You can turn this off if you don't want that to happen. Another option lets you choose whether your device will be silent always or just when it's locked.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Messages App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is where any text, video or audio messages are sent, received and managed. You can send messages to groups or individuals. These are organised as conversations. Messages are sent through Apple's service if they're to other Apple devices. These can be Mac computers or other iOS devices. You need to be connected to the Internet to use the Messages app. These go through WIFI or cellular Internet connection and don't count against your texting plan. Otherwise, if they're to non-Apple phones, they are regular text messages and will use your texting plan. You can attach media from other apps, record audio or video messages, and decorate your text messages in all sorts of ways.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">True to form, Apple keeps things as free of complexity as possible. There are no tabs in this app. At the top, you'll find edit, compose and search buttons. Between the edit and compose buttons is the app title which is a heading. You can always turn your rotor to headings and get right back to the top easily. Flicking right past the compose button, you come to a search field. This lets you look for contacts and conversations. Useful as you have more of these. Past the search field, you start with the main area filled with the names of groups or people and previews of the most current messages of each conversation. It is organised with the most recent conversation first. This keeps expanding as you communicate more. Double-tap on a conversation to enter it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to send a message:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are a few ways to send messages. The easiest is to simply use Siri. Say something like "Tell Norman I'll be late for lunch." Siri will compose the message, ask if it understood you correctly, and then offer you a chance to cancel or change the message. Otherwise, you can just say "yes" and it'll send the message. You can also ask Siri to read messages to you. This would be especially useful for beginners still getting used to VoiceOver.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Double-tapping on the compose button opens a screen letting you make full use of the app's capabilities. You can add one or more names from your contacts. Typing a partial name will cause likely candidates from your contacs to be listed. You can flick right to get to these and double-tap the one you want to add. There are plenty of possibilities when it comes to creating your messages. You can type and edit your message in the edit field after double-tapping on it. Flicking over the field when it's ready to receive input, you should hear VoiceOver say "is editing". You can type your message or find the dictate button to the left of the space buttton on the virtual keyboard. Double-tap and speak your message finishing by double-tapping again to stop. Messages can have more than one line so use the return button if you want. When finished, flick right to get to the "send" button and double-tap it. Recording an audio message is also very simple. Double-tap with one finger and hold on the "record audio" button. While doing this, speak your message and release your finger when you're done. You can then play what you've recorded to make certain it's correct before sending the message via the "send" button.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Receiving messages and viewing conversations:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When messages arrive, VoiceOver will read them to you presuming you haven't changed any settings in notifications to stop this from happening or have do not disturb mode turned on. This makes it possible to carry out conversations without ever typing or swiping. All fine and good for curent simple stuff. When you want to look back through a conversation, double-tap on it and go into that conversation's screen. You can then flick right through the messages from oldest to most recent. At the end of the messages, you'll find tools to compose your next reply in that conversation. This will always be at the bottom right. You can also see if messages have been delivered and whether any additional content has been added such as stickers, files, etc. Near the top left by the contact name, you'll find a "more info" button. This shows you anything you've entered about the contact and gives you a series of optionssuch as making a FaceTime call, sending an email, etc.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Participating in Group conversations:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you've added more than one contact to a message you've composed, you will start a group conversation when you send that message. You can also receive a message which involves you in a group conversation when you reply to it. You can name groups once they're created. To do this, go into the group conversation and use the "more info" button. Flick right from the top left and you'll find a "name" field. This is where you can enter a group name. The "more info" screen also has other options letting you add new group members or leave a group conversation you no longer wish to participate in.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Concerning Emojis:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">VoiceOver will describe any emojis other people use in their messages to you. If you want to use them yourself, while you're in an edit field, find the space bar at the bottom of the keyboard and flick left past the dictate button. You'll find a "next keyboard" button. One such keyboard is full of these emoji immages. Once you've switched to that keyboard, you can find whatever emoji you want and double-tap it. Use the "next keyboard" button to cycle through any keyboards you've added and get back to your normal preferred keyboard. Descriptions for emojis are generally well thought out and brief so this is perhaps the easiest way to clarify your meaning through imagery for sighted people. It also doesn't cost anything.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Settings Associated with the Messages app:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Go into the Setttings app and double-tap on messages. These let you control a lot of aspects about how the Messages app behaves. For instance, you can choose whether subject fields are shown. You can also turn on a setting which sends images in low quality in order to save data. You'll also find a "blocked" button which lets you manage blocked contacts you don't want to hear from. There's another setting letting you choose not to be notified when people not on your contacts list send you messsages They are kept in a separate list for you to review at your convenience. There are many more settings. Also, remember that settings in other areas like privacy can influence how the Messages app functions. It's one of those central apps which ties into a lot in iOS.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">More To the Messages App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple has built considerably more capabilities into their Messages app. The Digital Touch aspects allows people to add drawings, backgrounds and things to their messages. That was what I used to accidentally send my good friend an angry fireball. I haven't had any success using this effectively with VoiceOver. The sketching and drawing aspects seem to be the real core of digital touch. If you receive messages with drawing or digital touch elements, you'll be told the elements are there but not what they are.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Using Background Effects:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are a set of effects you can attach to your messages. They can either be contained in boubles or else occupy the whole screen along with your messages. To use these, write your message first. Next, double-tap and hold on the send button or press firmly on it if you have 3d touch enabled. This adds a panel to your message screen containing choices. There are a more limited number of choices for bouble effects. These include slam, gentle, loud, and invisible ink. It may be possible to add more choices here. Screen effects include lasers, balloons, confetti, and many more. It will default to one effect but if you flick right past this, you'll come to a page slider which changes the effect to be sent. After choosing the desired effect, find the send button and double-tap it. If you get a message with an effect, you may hear appropriate sounds as the message is read. The effects have descriptions which VoiceOver will read out in addition to your message.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Adding Stickers:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of the easier elements to make use of for blind people are stickers. Think of these like stamps. Using them is just as simple as sticking a stamp onto paper. Next to the "digital touch" button, you'll find a "messaging apps" button. Double-tap on this and more options will appear on the touchscreen. If you're already in a message, you need to flick left to find a "show more" button and double-tap that. Then, you can access the "messaging apps" button. This gives you access to a whole lot. Once you enter this area, a slider moves you between pages of options. You start on a "recents" page but if you've never used messaging appps and stickers before, nothing will be on it. Go to the next page and you can look through options. Near the bottom of the screen, there are buttons for browsing apps and stickers. You default in the stickers section which will contain any stickers you've acquired. Some apps come with stickers. For instance, the Weather Gods app is popular among blind people and it has a number of well-described weather stickers. There are also stickers you can purchase depicting favourite movie characters, locations, and much more. Flick right through the stickers you have and double-tap the one you want to add. It's possible to add more than one sticker but I don't think you can position them manually.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Stickers are designed for decoration whereas emojis are images carefully chosen and constructed to make the emotional context of messages clear. Think of stickers like stamps and emojis like psychological punctuation marks. There are a far more limited number of emoji symbols. They are all included in the Emoji virtual keyboard included as part of ioS. Emojis are free and available for use in any app capable of accepting typing. You won't find a Luke Skywalker emoji since Star Wars images are trademarked and don't clearly convey emotional meaning to people unfamiliar with that fictional universe. One emoji is a slice of pizza. While this is a food of western civilization, you can easily tell that it's food and conclude that the message sender may be expressing he or she is hungry. You can realise this even if you've never encountered pizza before. Emojis can certainly be use decoratively and often are but that isn't their primary purpose like it is with stickers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The messages app store and Integrated Apps:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These apps plus others you already have are capable of enhancing your messages or making use of the Messages app to let you do things. Once you acquire an app with this kind of capability, it will be put in your app drawer. This is also where you'll find your stickers. You can manage the contents of this app drawer. Find the "manage" button and you can hide what you don't find useful removing it from the drawer. You can also re-order contents of the drawer. The first time you visit the messages app store, you can choose to automatically add apps which integrate with Messages into the drawer. I recommend doing this. Presuming the app in question is accessible, the part which integrates with the Messages app should also be.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One good example is the Music app which comes with iOS. After finding it in my app drawer, I was able to send a message to my wife Sara and add a clip of the song I was listening to. She could hear that music as she read the message. I only had a short poke around but it looks like I could have also sent clips of recently heard songs and not just the one I happened to be hearing as I wrote the message. The Dropbox app lets you send links to files you have uploaded to that service sharing them via messages. There are lots of other apps. Many of them are free. I urge people to experiment with people who know you as you try these apps out. Before spending any money, look on</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The forums and app recommendations will be helpful in avoiding spending money on more visual apps or on stickers which haven't been labelled accessibly. Exploration of screens is key. Take time to flick and feel around to get a sense of what's possible with messages apps in the drawer. VoiceOver doesn't read out all your choices but encourages you to explore and find out where they are on the touchscreen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">The Mail App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple has created a good simple app for dealing with email which is completely accessible. It can organise your mail by thread which can really help if you get a lot of email. You can also make use of different mail boxes to make certain you get to all your important mail. As with all of Apple's included apps, it covers the basics well and steers clear of too much complexity. It pays to have the rotor gestures mastered as they are helpful in reading and editing messages.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to Set Up The Mail App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Go into the Settings app and flick right to get to the mail settings. Double-tap on that and you'll be where all the setup and preference options are. You can then enter the needed information if it isn't there already. Presuming you've created an Apple ID, you'll have already given it an email account or have had one created for you by Apple. You may need information such as your smtp server, password, etc if you want to use an email account from another email service like Gmail.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are settings for deciding how messages are organized. You can have them grouped into threads or simply placed in your mailboxes in chronological order. You can also choose how many lines are shown as a preview of messages. You can decide whether you want to be warned before deleting messages. There are options in the account area to decide how frequently new mail is checked for and pushed to your iOS device. There are also composition settings which include the ability to create an email signature which is automatically included below every message you send.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Layout of the Mail App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is another case where Apple didn't separate everything into tabs. Everything is on one main screen with various options like composing email taking you to a separate screen focussed on a given task. At the top, you'll find the mailbox selection. You default to the inbox but double-tapping the mailbox back button takes you out of that and into the mailbox list. Presuming you're in the right box, flick right and you'll find an edit button. This lets you do things like select a bunch of messages and move them to another box, delete them, etc. There's also an edit button near the top of the list of mail boxes. This lets you re-order, add and remove boxes as your needs change.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Right of the edit button is the search field. This lets you search for specific messages. Next comes the main area where messages are listed. You can flick through messages or threads if you choose to deal with messages thread by thread. Double-tap to go into a message fully. There's no limit to the size of your message list.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">How to Browse messages within a thread:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Turn your rotor to the messages setting and you'll be able to quickly navigate through messages by flicking up or down. This lets you get a handle on discussions easier letting you quickly skip over to the next or prior message within a thread.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Composing emails:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The bottom right corner always contains the compose button. Double-tap this to get to the message composition screen. There are various fields. Getting around the screen is pretty simple. Double-tap to go into a field. You default in the "to" field where you can enter a full or partial name or email address. Flick right after typing some of a contact's name or email and you'll be presented with any options which might be who you're trying to contact. Double-tap on the ones you want to add to the message and their names will be added. Flick to the right past any such options to get to other fields like CC, BCC, subject, and finally, the message body. Remember that rather than flicking, you can feel around the screen to find out where fields are and double-tap on them to enter them. When done composing, feel around the top left of the screen and you'll likely find yourself on the "back" button. Flick right and you'll come to the "new message heading. To the right of that is the "send" button. Double-tap that to send your message.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Filtering Messages:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Touch the bottom right corner to find the "compose" button. Flick once to the left of this and you'll come to the "filters" button. This lets you filter messages so that only messages you're particularly wanting to focus on are shown. For instance, I have my filter set to unread messages so that I'm not bothered by ones I've already read. There are many more possible filters so take the time to look around the options after double-tapping the filters button.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To get back out of areas, simply check the top left corner of the screen for a "back" button. You'll never be trapped anywhere. There should always be a back button. Also, one of the drawbacks of the Mail app is that there doesn't seem to be any way to simply delete all mail in your inbox. You have to actively delete or archive messages individually. This is by far my biggest gripe with the app. Once you're done with a message and have archived or deleted it, you are automatically taken into the next messages. For more of an overview to pick what to tackle next, double-tap the back button to return to the mailbox you're working with.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One other gripe is that it doesn't look like you can compose a message and then deside to attach something later. Instead, you have to go to the file you want to attach, use the "share" option to and choose "mail". You'll then be put in the composition field and the file you want to share will be attached.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">App Store Expedition:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you want to expand your communications reach beyond what comes included on your iOS device, the app store has you well covered. For contacting people with devices other than iOS ones, there are always options like Skype,. That's a very popular communication method now owned by Microsoft. They have a very accessible app for iOS users. For private group conversations, there are apps like Zoom which again have software available for Android, Windows, and other platforms. Beyond these, for more public widespread communication, there are a whole range of social media options with often many different app choices to use them. We'll discuss social media in depth later in this guide.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Personally, I mainly use the Gmail app created by Google. I find this works better for me than the Mail app which comes with iOS. There are many other email app choices in the app store. These will offer different options and ways to help you manage your inbox without going nuts. For instance, Google created the Inbox app which automatically organizes your messages into related bundles. Your email provider may have created a special app for its customers to use. Also, other developers have taken their own crack at doing email differently. I haven't seen much discussion of different email apps regarding how accessible they are. People seem happy with things in general. As always, people interested in finding something different should look at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Look in the app directory. It's well categorized. You can also search by keyword on the Applevis site which will also look into discussion forums where people talk about their experiences with different apps.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Conclusion:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I hope this helps get people started using their iOS devices to communicate with others. It's one of the primary ways these portable and powerful flat objects have changed many lives for the better including my own. Whether I'm stuck in an elevator, in a car, or walking around the man-made lake near my building, I can be in touch with whoever I might need to. Should I drop something onto a patch of carpet where I couldn't hear it land, I could use FaceTime to contact a sighted friend or family member to literally look around for the object without leaving his or her home. There are just so many implications.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you bring in apps made by others and offered in the app store, the possibilities grow vast indeed. There are special apps made to help deafblind people communicate more easily with others. There are apps like Google Translate which can render words spoken or written in another language understandable in mere fractions of a second. Combine these sorts of capabilities with the stupendous amount of information available from the Internet, and the implications for collaborative creativity seem endless. Once you've mastered the mechanics of VoiceOver and using a touchscreen, there are no other barriers to expressing yourself well.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-71065833384640329752017-05-24T17:22:00.001-04:002017-05-24T17:22:58.891-04:00Lifestyle Apps<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With their extreme portability, iOS devices are uniquely positionned to be of help in many ways. From working out your share of a bill at a restaurant table with the handy calculator app to keeping track of appointments with the included calendar app, you'll be surprised how much you can do with apps that are automatically included with iOS. These are useful in everyday life and are helpful for students. These apps are simple and offer basic functionality. Beginners can feel comfortable practicing their skills using VoiceOver and exploring the screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Should you need more functionality or a different approach to these everyday tasks than the included apps offer, fear not. Chances are that you can get a more suitable app for your needs in the app store. I've found a number of apps offerring alternative approaches which suit me better. Later in this section, we'll go on two app store expeditions. I'll tell you about a couple of these alternative apps. I'll also explain how I found out about them. For lack of a better category term, I'm calling these lifestyle apps since they are useful in everyday situations. Calling them utilities just doesn't seem quite right.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Before we take a closer look at the various apps, remember that you can use Siri, Apple's built in personal assistant, to perform many of the tasks these apps can do. In fact, Siri makes use of these apps on your behalf. If you tell Siri to create a reminder or appointment, it will be done using the Calendar or Reminders app which come standard in iOS. Beginners who struggle with navigating and typing will be able to use Siri to enter appointments, create reminders and check what's due or coming up. More on Siri later. pause or cancel timers, do calculations for you, etc. Try asking it math questions. You can do quite a lot without ever going into the Clock and Calculator apps. Siri isn't as versatile when it comes to reviewing information in detail. If you want an overview of your scheduled events for the month, you are well advised to become familiar with the Calendar app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Calendar App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The calendar app has a reasonably simple layout keeping everything on one screen. There are no tabs separating different areas like you'll find in other apps. Starting at the very topleft of the touchscreen below the status bar, you'll find Search and Add buttns. These let you search for and add events to the calendar. At the bottom right are "Today", "Calendars" and "Inbox" buttons.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So far, so good. However, things get a little tricky in the middle. The rest of the screen is taken up with a scrolling calendar. Years are separated by headings. Setting your rotor to the "headings" setting will therefore let you scroll easily through years. Each month is a button so flicking left or right goes backward or forward by month. You can scroll indefinitely backwards and forwards to past or future years. Touching a month at the top of the screen and flicking left won't get you to the search and add buttons. It will just keep scrolling. The same goes for when you're at the bottom of the screen and flick right. It takes a bit of getting used to. To reliably get to the option buttons, it's best to touch the top left or bottom right corners landing you on the "search" and "Inbox" buttons respectively. You then flick right from the "search" or left from the "inbox" buttons respectively to reach the additional buttons.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you're at a month you want a closer look at, double-tap on it. You will be taken into that month's calendar. The current month and day are always indicated when you go over them in their respective levels detail. There are no headings in the month calendar. However, each week has its own row of days. Turn the rotor to "vertical navigation" to move quickly through the weeks of a month by flicking up or down. This keeps you on the same day of the week. Double-tap on a day to see events taking place on it. They appear at the bottom right just before the "today" button when the day is highlighted. However, you can get into an even more detailed daily view where any events in a day are shown along with their times. You can navigate this list by heading or by a special "event" setting which appears on your rotor. Double-tapping on an event will show all its details and any notes. For instance. St. George's Day is a holiday celebrated in some parts of Canada on April 23. A note included in the Canadian Holidays calendar indicates that it may not be celebrated in your area. Double-tap and hold on an event to change its start and end times.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> You can scroll through different weeks by three-finger swipes left and right.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The calendar gives good functionality but takes time and experimentation to really master. I only learned about some included capabilities while preparing this section of the guide and consulting the user guide written by Apple as part of that process. That's something you'll find as you use iOS extensively. Unless you take the time to read the user guide, there's not always a lot to point you towards useful features. It really pays to take the time to do that and also explore within various apps you use.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To add an event, double-tap the "add" button. An entry screen will appear with a number of edit fields and options. You can get around it by flicking lef and right. Double-tap on an edit field like "title" in order to enter information about the event. Once you're satisfied with the contents of the fields, find the "add" button at the top left of the screen right below the "New event" heading. Once you've entered sufficient information, this button will become active and nno longer be dimmed as it was when you began creating your event. Once you double-tap the "add" button, the event will appear in your calendar. Nothing is carved in stone. It is quite possible to change an event. Double-tap on it while in the day view where events are listed. You can also search for it and double-tap on it in the search results. You can then edit it easily and/or remove it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Reminders App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This gives you the ability to create and deal with reminders. These can be repeating or once-only reminders. You can group reminders in different lists. For example, a list for work-related reminders and a separate list for home or personal reminders. This app is very basic. There's a heading at the top to get you back there quickly with the rotor. This app has no tabs. There are buttons to edit reminders, add a new reminder, and show your different lists.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Creating a reminder involves double-tapping the "new reminder" button. Type information into the edit field and flick right. Double-tap on the "more info" button to get to the details section. This lets you specify time, location, and other details needed to trigger the reminder. Otherwise, the reminder will merely contain the text in the preceding field. You can put a checkmark when you're done with a reminder to mark it as completed.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reminders can be location specific. You could have one trigger when at the grocery store to remind you to get certain foods. Reminders which have completed or which you don't need anymore can be set to checked. This puts a checkmark beside the reminder and marks it as complete. As with the calendar app, you are able to edit and delete reminders when you need to.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">App Store Expedition: Fantastical 2 and VO Calendar:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Whzat if it were possible to combine the information accessed through the calendar and reminders into a single app? All of your time management would be right there in the same place. While producing this guide, I was a regular contributor to a show called Kelly and Company. So was my colleague Tom Dekker. He runs a web site and service well worth checking out at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.ihabilitation.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">By complete coincidence, both of us use our fifteen minutes of fame that week to discuss different apps which approached simplifying personal organization on iOS devices in two different ways. This provided a golden opportunity to illustrate a major advantage of the iOS ecosystem; The ability to choose and develop approaches suitable for people with varying abilities and skill levels. There's almost never just one way to do things.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sadly, spreading the word about these choices, particularly ones designed for smaller markets, is tricky for app developers. Word of mouth is priceless advertising. Sites like:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">are an essential resource for app developers and new users looking to learn about and make the best app choices with their limited funds.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Fantastical 2:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For those who are comfortable with VoiceOver and wish to use an app designed for sighted users, Fantastical is one attempt to combine calendar and reminder into something greater than the sum of its parts. This app is made by Flexibits and costs $7 Canadian. It uses the data from the calendar and reminders apps giving you a better univfied organizer. It also has a natural language parser capable of understanding event or reminder-related sentences you can type or speak into the app. At present, this works even better than Siri when it comes to understanding naturally phrased events and reminders.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To dictate an event, you must first use the "new event" button. Once you're in the edit field, find the "dictate" button on the virtual keyboard on your iOS device to the left of the space bar. If you're using a Bluetooth keyboard and want to dictate an event, you need to deactivate that keyboard so the virtual one pops up on your iOS device. The virtual keyboard is only present once you've entered an edit field. Fantastical doesn't replace Siri so holding down the "home" button or saying "hey Siri" will still behave as always. This lets you stil use Siri when you're hurrying through your day. However, if you can get into the habit of going into the Fantastical app and using its "new event" button instead, you gain the advantage to speak or type very naturally about the event or reminder and have Fantastical understand you perfectly and do the right thing. Once you're certain you've been properly understood, find the "add" button near the top left of the screen and double-tap it to complete the operation.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fantastical has all the control buttons at the top of the screen. Below is the day ticker which displays days with events or reminders. You can choose whether empty days are shown or not. Each day starts with a heading so turn the rotor to headings to scroll quickly through days. You can scroll infinitely back or forward. A two-finger swipe downward while on the top of the day ticker will transform it into a month calendar. You can then turn the rotor to vertical navigation to examine days and weeks flicking up or down through weeks and left or right through days. Use a three-finger swipe left or right moving back and forth through months. On the day ticker, flick right to go over each event or reminder within a day. Flick down when on an event or reminder to accesss a context menu allowing you to select the default action, "more", or delete it. Double-tap on your choice to execute it or flick right or left to leave the menu.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Creating events is very intuitive with Fantastical. The "new event" button is to the right of the "go to today" button. Double-tap it and you'll be in an edit field. Type or dictate your event in sentence form. If it's repeating, you need to be specific. For example, it doesn't automatically know that birthdays happen every year so you have to say: "Michael's birthday is on October 29th each year". It will then fill in all the fields for you. If you're happy with the result, flick right to get to the "add" button. You can also edit details to get exactly the event or reminder you want. If you want a reminder rather than an event, include the words "reminder", "todo", or "task" in the sentence.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the buttons at the top are "settings", "go to today", and "new event". There are also buttons allowing you to sort and filter what is displayed by "title", "location", and "invitees". All of these buttons will always be displayed at the top of the screen starting with "settings" at the top left.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">VO Calendar:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For some people, a better approach to combining calendar and reminder into an easier overall app would be the Vo Calendar app. Produced by Devista D.B. in partnership with a Dutch agency for the blind, this app will cost you around $14. This app is only useful to people who make use of the VoiceOver screen-reader. It cannot be used without it by sighted users. The aim was to make it as simple as possible for blind users to use the built-in calendar and reminder functions of iOS. Like Fantastical, it makes use of data stored in other apps included with iOS. You can therefore share the data with other users of not only Fantastical but any apps making use of the same data sources. You can share events with friends and family who can incorporate them into their own preferred calendars. Calendar events shared by others can also be incorporated into your own calendar.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What really sets this app apart is the screen layout and ability to summarise your events so you don't need to go through them one by one. The screen is divided in two halves so you can use one hand to scan events and your other hand to tap and activate things. If you prefer, you may also use ordinary VoiceOver gestures to operate the app. Those who find it hard to master typing can record events thanks to Vo Calendar being able to tigh into the Voice Memo app included in iOS. You can hear events in your own voice.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">App Store Expedition Souvenirs</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This glance at two very different approaches to simplifying personal life organization demonstrates the value of looking beyond what is included in iOS. People have taken the basic building blocks Apple came up with and have produced some very innovative tools which greatly enhance your capabilities. Beginers who struggle with the basic calendar and reminder apps have alternative ways of keeping life on track. These apps could make a very big difference to people who have frequent appointments to attend and need reminders every day to take various medications at regular times. Students whose lives are filled with assignments, deadlines and social engagements will also appreciate having calendar and reminder functions enhanced and accessed in a single app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It pays to take the time to see if apps exist which may do more of what you want with greater ease. All apps in the store have reviews and descriptions. These are quite helpful but are generally written with sighted users in mind. Not all apps offer good support for VoiceOver. This is especially important for beginners who are still learning VoiceOver gestures and getting used to how things are supposed to behave. I strongly recommend that before you make a purchase, take the time to look at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There, you can check the app directory to see if the app you are interested in has an entry. These entries are written with blind users in mind typically by blind users. You'll find plenty of accessibility information including any discovered workarounds for elements of apps which are less accessible than they could be. As you become more experienced, you might eventually want to try apps which have yet to find their way into the app directory, podcasts and reviews on Applevis.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once awareness spreads through the blind community about a particularly good app, it doesn't take much effort to find out about it yourself. I first heard of Fantastical 2 through online acquaintances I've made over the years. I wasn't much interested at the time and took no immediate action. However, it seemed to keep coming up in reviews of other apps and in conversation. Comments were pretty much always favourable. I did quite well with the calendar and reminders apps which came with iOS. However, when working on this guide, I thought I should get it and see how good an example it would make of an alternative and better accessible approach to personal life organization. Ever since, I've been using Fantastical 2 exclusively. I wish I had gotten it much sooner. The app developers are very responsive to ideas and/or accessibility issues.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Due to my skill level with VoiceOver, I felt no need to acquire VO Calendar. It doesn't really offer anything other than greatly simplifying calendar and reminder tasks. Others could easily come to the completely opposite conclusion especially if they struggle to use the touchscreen in general. The work which has gone into minimising the need for navigation is somewhat lost on me. However, for people just getting started or those who have motion difficulties, it could make all the difference.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">The Calculator</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app is included in iOS and will likely fill the mathematical needs of most people. The calculator works well with VoiceOver. It has two different modes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Basic Calculator:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If your iOS device is in portrait mode, you will have access to a basic calculator. Functions include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and percent.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You'll find a numeric keypad at the left of the screen covering most of the surface. Lower digits are at the bottom and higher are at the top. Decimal is right of 0. Equals is right of decimal.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Above the equals sign, you'll find functions proceeding up the far right of the screen. Adition, subtraction, multiplication and division at the top. Above the 7, 8 and 9 keys are clear, plus-minus and percent keys. Above this is where the results are shown. Voiceover automatically announces results. You can also read them more carefully with the rotor after touching the result space.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The layout is simple enough to be mastered quickly. Very handy for most day to day stuff.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Scientific Calculator:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As long as orientation is unlocked, turning your device sideways transforms the basic calculator into a scientific calculator with many more functions.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The basic stuff is all still there but is condensed onto an area at the right side of the screen. To the left of the numbers, you'll find the rest of the screen taken up by all sorts of higher math functions. This includes parentheses, geometric functions, exponents, and lots more.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This layout will take longer to master as it crams a lot more onto the screen. I recommend the use of touch typing mode. Set this with the rotor. This way, nothing is entered until you lift your finger from the surface of your device. This gives you a chance to feel around for the right digit or function and makes entry mistakes less likely.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Clock App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app packs a bunch of handy time tools into a single app. It includes a world clock, an alarm clock, a "bed time" sleep analysis, a timer, and a stopwatch. Each of these functions have their own tab. From a blindness perspective, there are a few unfortunately missing abilities. There is no way to tell time through vibrative tactile feedback like with the AppleWatch. Also, there is no facility to set chimes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The World Clock:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The left most tab on the bottom of the screen accesses this clock which can display current time in many different cities around the world. The "Edit" button is found at the top left of the screen. Double-tapping this brings you to an edit mode which lets you arrange the order cities are displayed in as well as delete cities you don't want. Double-tap and hold on the "re-order" button next to a city's name and slide your finger up or down to move it. Hit the "done" button when you're finished.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The "add" button is one flick right of the words "world clock". It lets you add new cities from a large list. You may not find your particular city but you'll find one close enough. I have Toronto, Cupertino California and London England on my world clock. Helpful for catching online events like Apple presentations.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Alarm Clock:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is a very easy alarm clock to operate. You can have multiple alarms for various days and times. For each of them, you can choose which of them are on or off. You can add new alarms with the "add" button. There's an "edit" button at the top left. Use that to change the characteristics of alarms by double-tapping on an alarm and flicking right through the various options. There are plenty of options including snooze, sound choice, etc allowing quite a bit of latitude in constructing your alarm. You can select different sounds, any ringtones you have, or songs from your music library.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Bedtime:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This lets you schedule a reminder to go to bed plus a wakeup time. You can select from a number of attractive wakeup sounds as a more gentle approach to wakefullness than the alarm clock. Also, you can set things so you're not woken up on weekends. It's pretty flexible. It analyzes your usage of your device to help determine when you're actually sleeping or when you might perhaps have gotten up early. Data is recorded and placed in the Health app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Stopwatch:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can perform all stopwatch functions easily. No automatic reading of time is done but you can easily check it by touching the screen near the middle. There's a heading at the top so you can set the rotor to headings, flick up to get to the heading and then flick right to get quickly to the stopwatch time. Double-tapping the "lap" button will quickly give you the current progress reading the exact moment the button was pressed. There are also stop and reset buttons.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Timer:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is your basic timer. There are no announcements as the timer counts down. You can set duration and choose the sound which plays when the timer expires. Also, you can choose to have it stop playback of whatever music, podcasts, etc that you're listening to. Handy if apps don't have their own sleep timers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like the stopwatch, you can check timer progress while in this tab of the clock app. Also, presuming nothing eclipses it, you can find the timer on the lock screen. Music track information can have this effect as track information seems to get priority.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">App Store Expedition:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If the clock and calendar functions aren't quite meeting your needs, Look on Applevis and the app store. There are some useful discoveries. For people needing more flexibility or a different layout approach to calculating, Adam Croser has developed three different talking calculators. These can read out large numbers better than Voiceover and have other accessibility considerations such as different contrast modes. Functions are divided up into panels rather than being all crammed onto one screen. To get these, look for "talking scientific calculator", "talking statistical calculator" or "talking calculator" in the app store search field. All of these support VoiceOver. Price for these calculators is around $6.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The clock is great for basic use. However, many blind people would very much like to be reminded of the time by hourly chimes or tactile vibration. I have yet to hear of an app which gives tactile feedback helpful for keeping track of time. The Apple Watch will do this but purchasing one for this ability alone seems crazy. However, my Twitter followers pointed me to "Westminster Chimes Full", a $1.39 app made by LutherSoft. This gives audible chimes in five different traditional English styles. The app fully supports VoiceOver and is quite simple to use. The developers are well aware of VoiceOver and have taken stepts to make their app fully accessible. Even beginners will have little difficulty setting the chimes how they prefer.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For timers with more capabilities, I have an app called Timeglass. I can build more intricate multi-stage timers with that app. For instance, I schedule work time and breaks for when I'm working on these notes, blog entries, or my guide. It has the ability to construct timers with multiple stages which can have spoken or sound cues. As I go through my work time, I hear signals letting me know when it's time to take a break. The app includes many pre-made timers for everything from doing laundry to safely cooling beer in the freezer. How epically thoughtful is that? Some timers can be had for free. However, to unlock the full functionality of the app requires an in-app purchase. To complete this, you'll need your Apple ID and password plus around $6 in available funds.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">App Store Expedition Souvenirs:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Again, we see that it pays to keep current on what's out there. I found out about Timeglass through word of mouth. Somebody else stumbled on it and let his Twitter followers know. Thankfully, I happened to be one of them. Quite often, you won't be able to find precisely what you're after. You'll have to make do with what the included apps offer or choose between apps which each do part of what you want. That's when it might very well pay to let developers of apps which come close to meeting your ideal about what you wish their app would do. Developers are often eager for feedback and open to suggestions. These two app store expeditions have yielded some powerful extentions to capabilities included in iOS. There are many more treasures to be found. Keep an ear out for more app store expeditions in this guide.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-54309600133568871572017-04-06T16:34:00.001-04:002017-04-06T16:34:55.699-04:00Leaving the Laptop Behind: Accessories For iOS Devices<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As iOS devices and apps have improved, the notion of leaving the laptop behind and using your iOS device plus portable accessories grows more tempting. I have now crossed over that line. My laptop is used only at home while my iPHONE7 and a small light bag of accessories comes along with me. Generally speaking, I don't miss the laptop at all. However, part of the reason for this is that I'm very familiar with how to do things on iOS. If you're just learning the basics, keep the laptop handy until you've grown comfortable with iOS and any accessories you choose. To achieve the same speed as when using a laptop, you need to know VoiceOver gestures as well as what your options are. This isn't a transition made overnight. You will initially take longer to do things until you become more proficient with the iOS environment.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are an overwelming number of accessories and plenty of choices in all categories. These include different cases, external batteries [often called power banks], speakers, headsets, earbuds, keyboards, etc. Accessibility for blind people is not often a consideration when these are designed. However, there are devices which are more accessible than others by shere accident. Below, we'll look at some accessory choices I've made and how I approached them. Your travel kit will likely differ from mine depending on your specific needs, budget and priorities.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Adding to the difficulty of selecting the best possible gear, it's hard to try before you buy when it comes to accessories. Sometimes, you can go to a store and find demo units available. However, most often, there won't be that option as stores don't want to open items and then not be able to sell them. This is especially true for less expensive items. Much of the time, you'll be orderring accessories online and relying completely on reviews and descriptions found there. This is especially true if you include devices which are being crowd funded on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. You can come across some very innovative ideas there. For instance, the Power Cap, funded on Kickstarter. It's a hat outfitted with solar panels and small rechargable battery. A good thought in theory. Just because a large company hasn't thought of exactly what you might want, that doesn't mean someone with the skills and resources isn't trying to fund production and get started. Crowd funding has proved to be a very effective way of funding products aimed at niche markets including devices more accessible to blind users.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thankfully, there are reviews and descriptions of pretty much everything on the web. Mine them for the info you need to make the most informed choices possible when selecting your gear. Written reviews, podcasts, and video reviews are all very useful tools. Even if you can't see the video, reviewers tend to describe important tactile aspects in passing. You might also hear any sounds made by accessories such as how keys or buttons sound when pressed or voice prompts spoken by accessories. Look beyond what the manufacturers say. Chances are good that someone has tried what you're interested in. Learn from their experience whenever possible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Why not a Notetaker or Laptop:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Inevitably, people will ask why you'd go through all the bother of acquiring accessories to overcome shortcomings of your iOS device rather than just taking a laptop or notetaker. It all comes down to portability, ease of repair, and economics. If something goes wrong with your laptop, you're completely out of action digitally speaking. It's a single unit which will need repair. Meanwhile, your iOS device is already a powerful enough computer for most student or travel needs. The iPHONE further gives you a fully accessible smartphone plus GPS capability in a single pocket-sized device. Information is stored in the cloud so the risk of information loss is very minimal should disaster strike your iOS device. The accessories are individually far less expensive to replace if necessary. If you send a keyboard away for repair, you aren't missing the rest of the capabilities of your iOS device while it's being worked on. Also, there are utually inexpensive accessories, like the Amazon Basics bluetooth keyboard for instance, which you could purchase if desperate. Accessories such as batteries, speakers, and keyboards typically last a long time so need not be replaced when you upgrade to a new iOS device. When it's time to upgrade a laptop or notetaker, you're generally replacing the entire device paying a substantial amount of cash in order to do this. Having external accessories last potentially long enough to be used with several iOS devices maximizes economic efficiency so you can pick your moments when it comes to upgrading various components of your overall system. Very good for people on tight budgets. For example, I'm waiting for improvements promised by Bluetooth version 5 to make their way into the next generation of speakers. Once that happens, I'll think about replacing the speaker I currently cary.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The iOS ecosystem is far more economical than others. Apps are often far less expensive and take advantage of the work Apple has done adding accessibility features to the operating system. You can make use of many of the same apps everyone else does. They need not be specially produced for blind people. That lowers the cost of adding capabilities to your iOS device like you wouldn't believe. It also makes relating to sighted people who use the same iOS devices easier. Sharing information, communicating, and tapping into the same markets for digital goods like books, music, and apps as everyone else are huge advantages blind people simply haven't experienced before iOS devices became accessible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Bluetooth Keyboards:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Typing fast enough to take class notes on an iPHONE or iPAD is pretty much impossible for most of us. People with very good muscle memory might possibly manage. Feeling around making certain you have the right character slows me down considerably. Don't even think about trying to use Siri to dictate your notes in a classroom setting. Touchscreen keyboards are good for writing short emails, notes and contact info but for serious rapid sustained writing, a tactile keyboard is a must.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic; font-size: 12pt;">Step 1</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Think about what your ideal keyboard would be like. Have a firm grasp on what you're after. You won't likely get exactly what you want but it gives you a starting point.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My ideal keyboard would be rigid enough to use on my lap when necessary. It wouldn't be too compact and would stick as closely as possible to a Qwerty design. Good tactile key travel and function buttons were important. I didn't want situations where I accidentally invoked a function like muting sound which was controlled by a flat pad I couldn't distinguish by touch.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic; font-size: 12pt;">Step 2</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Pick one or two characteristics and start looking for keyboards which have them. Alternatively, think of what kind of person might want a keyboard like your ideal one. For me, that was authors. It had to be comfortable to do serious lengthy writing on. That comfort clearly trumped smaller size. It also had to be rugged so it would withstand bumping against things. If I go through the trouble of getting used to a keyboard, it had better last a long time. This thought exercise gives you plenty of good ideas for words to include in online searches. Google is very good at dishing out meaningful results from a few well-chosen keywords or phrases separated by commas.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic; font-size: 12pt;">Step 3</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: Go through reviews your initial criteria pointed you to and narrow down the prospects by what you read about them. Think long-term satisfaction here. It's worth paying a little extra if you plan on living with your decisions for as long as possible like I do most of the time. I would even go so far as waiting until I had the money to obtain a really critical part of your kit like a good comfortable keyboard.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic; font-size: 12pt;">Result</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">: I chose a Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard. I read reviews and descriptions of many different Bluetooth keyboards. However, the Microsoft one kept coming up as being the closest thing to what I wanted. Video reviews let me hear the sound of the keys in use and also described aspects like the power button on the side. It had a rigit magnetic cover which folded open like a book and could be removed to be used as a stand. It would also serve as a tray to put my iPHONE on while typing with it on my lap. Reviewers praised its comfortable size of 85% of a full keyboard and good tactile feedback. Battery life was excellent letting people go at least a week of average use without charging. Closing the cover turned the keyboard off automatically. It was still one of my more expensive investments but I found it on sale and pounced.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the keyboard arrived, it turned out to be a bit too short for totally comfortable use on my lap. It was perfectly possible with my knees close together. The keys felt good and it was nice and sturdy. The function buttons have turned out to be an even more valueable addition now that I'm using AirPods which lack volume and playback controls. I've been very happy overall with this purchase. For increased comfort and efficiency, I later acquired a Grifiti lapdesk designed for tablets and small keyboards. This let me set my iPHONE in portrait mode beside the keyboard with both items being very stable and comfortable in my lap. A very nice combination which fits into a small shoulderbag along with other items.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Beware The Lag:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When it comes to speakrrs, earbuts and headsets, blind people have a major concern which superseeds all others. That is to minimize or completely avoid Bluetooth lag. Blind people require VoiceOver's responses to their actions to be as close to instant as possible. Even a split second delay can be very frustrating. If you're sighted, imagine having to wait a half-second before the character you typed appeared on screen. Sound delay doesn't matter as much for listenning to music. It's just ear candy. However, lag becomes bothersome when you rely exclusively on sound to function. To avoid lag, look for a highg Bluetooth version number. Don't get anything using Bluetooth 4. Bluetooth 4.1 is as low as you should be willing to go. Higher is better. Bluetooth 5 is ready and products that use it will shortly enter the market. This will give better speed, more reliable connectivity and range. Bluetooth 5 should make dealing with lag a thing of the past. Until then, look for 4.1 and 4.2. Apple uses its W1 chip to enhance Bluetooth connectivity solving many problems. My AirPods have no lag, are dirt simple to pair and have good battery life. For me, lack of volume and other control on the AirPods was a small price to pay for completely wireless operation and extreme portability. I don't mind using my iPHONE to perform these functions. Also, when I'm using my Bluetooth keyboard, it has those volume and playback functions built in. AirPods work wonderfully for me along with my hearing aids and combine unexpectedly good sound with extreme portability. However, I wouldn't use AirPods while walking outdoors. They are tiny and it would be too easy to lose them if they ever fell out of your ears. Also, earbuds block too much of your ability to hear your surroundings. Concern is growing even for sighted people about this constant quest for sound isolation. For blind people, it's vital to hear what's happening around us.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These conserns lead me to seek a good outdoor alternative. Aftershokz offers wired and Bluetooth bone conduction headsets. Basically, transducers positionned in front of your ears send sound through your bones leaving ears free to hear what's around you. These have tactile controls, voice guidance, and don't block your ears leaving them free to hear your surroundings. They also are very unlikely to fall off. You lose some sound quality compared to other headsets or Airpods but it's worth the trade when outdoors or while your ears are wet after swimming or taking a shower.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The shopping procedure is the same for audio accessories as with the keyboard. Think about what you want and then look for options which give you as much of what you're after as possible. Think long-term. Many accessories can get firmware updated. This allows manufacturers to make improvements after products are in the field. AirPods can receive such updates so Apple can improve them taking customer feedback into consideration. I expect my AirPods to last years and made my choice with long-term satisfaction in mind.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be mindful of power required by these accessories. Apple AirPods last around 5 hours but have a charging case which contains enough for multiple charges. I likely won't have to use an external battery to recharge them between opportunities to plug in most of the time. You can use and charge them separately charging one while using the other. That won't be an option with headsets. While they're charging up, you're out of action unless you have a backup plan like using Lightning earpods which come with iOS devices or a spair Bluetooth headset or earbuds.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes, you can find devices with nice extra features. For instance, there are Bluetooth speakers with built-in FM radio capability. The USB charging cable which comes with the device serves as an antenna allowing good FM reception. Read reviews carefully to help determine how easy to operate and how tactile the controls on devices are. If devices use buttons that are hard to feel or touchscreen controls, you may not be able to use them. Also, there are companies who are more aware of accessibility issues. Aftershokz are a good example as they equip their headsets with voice prompts and have tactile controls.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Extra Power:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Blind people can put heavy demands on the batteries in iOS devices. Setting the screen brightness to 0 helps conserve power so blind people should do this. The VoiceOver screen curtain feature doesn't actually turn off the screen. It merely obscures the contents. Setting screen brightness to 0 saves a nice bit of power. However, GPS, cellular and Wifi connectivity, Bluetooth and constantly producing audio drains power. You can turn off things like Wifi if you're not using it. Airplane mode shuts down all transmition of any kind from your iOS device and is helpful when you want to recharge your device rapidly. However, if you turn off Bluetooth, AirPods and other Bluetooth audio accessories won't work. You'll likely need Bluetooth on all the time. The more connectivity you turn off, the less potentially useful your iOS device is. You can't receive a phone call or text message while in airplane mode unless you specifically turn on the needed capabilities. Same goes for handy apps like Identifi which need Internet connectivity. These devices are so helpful that we want them to be ready whenever we need them. Extra portable power doesn't cost a fortune and just makes sense.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple sells cases which contain additional battery power for their products. For people likely to forget extra gear like external batteries, this can be a very good idea. They offer an additional advantage of communicating their level of charge to your iOS device so you can know how much you have remaining. However, cases built for your current iOS device might not be useable on future ones. Changes in size and the position of ports can easily render a case useless once you trade in your old iPHOnE for a nice new one.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Going with external batteries, you will almost certainly be able to use them on future iOS devices for as long as the batteries can keep recharging. All rechargeable batteries will eventually ware out. However, they are relatively inexpensive to replace when that's necessary. I have yet to hear of a talking external battery or one which communicates it charge level to your iOS device. Short of asking a sighted person with you or using an app like Be My Eyes, there's no way to know how much charge your external battery has. Therefore, you need to get into the habit of charging them up regularly. Get more power than you need so that if you forget to charge the battery or are away from power sources for longer than expected, you'll be ready to cope.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another thing to remember is that most of these batteries can serve as relatively powerful flashlights. This usually involves pressing a button located on the battery. A handy feature for sighted people but a liability for blind people who can't tell when they've accidentally activated the flashlight. One way for blind people to deal with this independently is to have a light detector app and use your iOS device's camera moving it near where the flashlight in the battery is. This is usually on the top near the power ports.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Batteries have a capacity measured in MA. An iPHONE7 has an internal battery which holds roughly 2000 MA when fully charged. An iPHONE7 holds 2900 MA. An iPAD Air2 holds around 8000 MA. An iPAD Pro has a 10300 MA battery. The general premise is that these batteries should last a day of typical use. In practice, this pretty much never happens. Talk of people running out of charge during their day is constant. Accessories are also prone to this need for additional power. My Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headset has around 830 MA and lasts around 6 hours of continuous use. Were I to use that for a full day, I'd have to recharge the headset at least once. The iPHONE would need at least a full charge and possibly more presuming heavy constant use. If you're using it as a laptop replacement, reading audio books, navigating with GPS and actually <gasp> talking on the phone, that qualifies as heavy use. You would easily burn through around 3500 to 4000 Ma or thereabouts over a long busy day.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The tradeoff is normally power available versus weight and size of a given external battery. You can get batteries holding around 27000 MA which weigh a couple of pounds and easily fit in a purse or bag. However, they're too large to fit easily into a pocket. At the other end of the spectrum, you can get batteries the size of credit cards which offer around 2000 MA of charge. Most of the time, you'll have opportunities to charge daily. Given that, I recommend a 10000 MA battery. These can easily fit in a pocket along with your iPHONE and AirPods. Anker makes good reliable light and portable batteries. They also produce other charging equipment like durable Apple-certified lightning cables. Most external batteries don't automatically come with a Lightning cable included so keep that in mind. Use the one which came with your device plugging the USB end into the battery and the lightning end into your device. Spare cables are quite inexpensive. I recommend you obtain one to be kept with your external battery at all times.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Cases:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's generally a good idea to get a case to protect your iOS device. You will eventually drop it, knock it off a desk, or worse. Considering how much you'll come to rely on your device, investing in a case is a no-brainer. Picking the right one requires some care. Shape matters. The battery case for iPHONES has a hump on the bottom where the battery is. The extra power is certainly handy. However, the hump protruding from the bottom might destabilize the phone when it's on a flat surface. Some cases are thicker than others. There are cases designed to be extra rugged for adventure travel. Others offer built-in collapsable Bluetooth keyboards. Many offer extra battery capacity. Some offer extra data storage operating like flash drives for computers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Keep in mind that unlike other accessories, cases are likely not going to be useable when you eventually upgrade to a new iOS device. The thicknesss, port positions, size and shape of iPHONES and iPADS has changed enough to render many cases totally useless on more current iOS devices. That makes me stick with rugged simplicity. I use cases for protection only and find other accessories which I can continue to use after upgrading. I chose an Otterbox Defender case. It's thin, flat and offers reasonable protection. Lifeproof makes cases which are waterproof and offer even better protection. However, they had a reputation for muffling the sound coming from the speakers of your device. This might be an issue when not using headsets or other audio accessories. Some cases have slots for Lightning cables which are less forgiving of cable ends with thicker material surrounding the lightning end of the cable. That might prevent you from using some lightning-connected accesssories or docks. Most good cases these days have built-in screen protectors. If the case you're looking at doesn't have that, don't even consider it. Sticking on screen protectors is annoying and utterly unnecessary given the affordable protective cases available.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Conclusion:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are plenty of choices in your approach to accessorizing your iOS device. For starters though, don't forget the basics. You should obtain a spare Lightning cable and power brick from Apple so you're never without the ability to charge your device. A spare set of EarPods is also a good idea. These are very inexpensive items and are widely available. You can put together a travel bag which is easily slung over a shoulder and weighs far less than ten pounds. This weight could even include an external battery which could keep your system fully chared for a week's activity. This kind of easy portability and reliability is incredibly liberating. Particularly since most of the actual core capability can fit in a pocket presuming you use an iPHONE or iPOD as your computing power. iPADs are larger but are very light and thin devices. Their larger screen size can be tremendously helpful to people with useable vision.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Going beyond these basics, have a clear idea of what capabilities you want. If you're planning on doing a lot of adventure travel, you may want to look into ways of keeping your devices powered while off the grid. There are external batteries capable of handcrank or solar recharging. If you attend parties, you may want a Bluetooth speaker capable of allowing multiple users to easily pair and play songs. Such speakers absolutely exist. Most Braille displays can pair with your iOS device over Bluetooth and work with VoiceOver. Should you live with other disabilities, there are all sorts of switch controls and other accessories which may be helpful. There are even game controllers for hardcore players. New and better accessories appear all the time.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Manufacturers of accessories are quick to advertise if they work with iOS devices. As long as you take the time to read descriptions carefully, you won't end up with something that is completely incompatible. For blind people, it's very important to pay attention to details of interface. How easy is it to operate a given accessory strictly by touch and hearing? That's where it can really pay off to check out reviews from people who have used the devices you're considering. A good place to start is:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They have a growing number of accessory reviews in addition to their extensive information about apps. Often, there are even podcasts available where people discuss various accessories. In addition to Applevis, check out:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.blindbargains.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.coolblindtech.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-89795035902657395372017-04-05T14:17:00.001-04:002017-04-05T14:17:01.795-04:00Acquiring and Reading Books on iOS Devices<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Your iOS device is a wonderful key to reading books accessibly as a blind person. I do the majority of my reading on my iPHONE and have done so for years now. For most of my life, the choice of what I could read and when I could read it depended on the efforts of libraries for the blind. By the time I got to read a best seller, let alone something more obscure, it was years after my sighted friends and family had read it and stopped thinking about it. If you were truly desperate to read a popular book while your friends were, you could pay five times as much as your friends paid for a paperback book to get an audio edition on CD. Over the past decade, a great deal of change has taken place. Thanks to the rise in popularity of ebooks and audio books, those days are gone for good.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apps like iBOOKS, Kindle, Audible, and Voice Dream Reader let blind people tap into commercial sources of books paying the same as everyone else does for precisely the same books while they're still brand new to everybody. These books can be read on a Braille display, high-quality synthetic speech, or narrated by a professional human reader depending on your choice of book provider and personal preference. No extra work need be done by charitable organisations to make this astounding historic change possible. Instead, the work is done by the companies providing the books in Ebook or digital audio formats. They invest in making certain their apps are accessible to Voiceover, Apple's built-in screen-reader. This allows the accessing of Ebooks by reading them out loud or translating them into Braille on the fly and sending the result to a Braille display.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Twenty years ago, I walked the hallways of my school weighed down by a backpack containing around forty pounds of Braille volumes containing what I hoped were the right fractions of my text books for the day's classes. People too close behind me when I turned a corner were apt to be crushed into a wall. It's now possible for blind people to own a vast library far exceeding 1000 accessible books and cary it with them in a pocket. This has profoundly liberated me. Now the books I read are precisely the books I wish to. Although I still make use of a digital library for the blind, the bulk of what I read are books I have purchased paying the same price as any sighted reader would. Below, I'll discuss the various sources of audio and Ebooks which I make use of as well as the apps needed to acquire and read books.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">iBooks: Bookstore, Shelf and Reading Room Combined</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple tends to favour convenience and simplicity. You see this in all of its stores and apps. Using the iBooks app, you are able to purchase and read books including audio books all from within the same app. The interface is very accessible and intuitive. There's no need to have mastered browsing the web or to register accounts with different book vendors. Everything is handled through your Apple ID. For new users, this is especially compelling. Well over a million books are made available on iBooks. Keep in mind, however, that publishing isn't Apple's core business. You may find that the book you want isn't available as an iBook. This is especially true for books which are off the beaten path of best sellers. Also, other book vendors are far more aggressive with pricing and offering bargains. This makes a tremendous difference if you're buying books all the time. There are free books as well as ones you pay for. Like other ebook publishers, there are special sales and offers. However, obtaining a large library of ebooks will cost you more than it would on Amazon Kindle or other venues. You can get audio books as well but they can be gotten more cheeply elsewhere presuming patience and discipline.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are tabs across the bottom of the screen which, when double-tapped, expose different areas of activity. In this case, from left to right, they are: "My books", "Features", "Top Charts", "Search", and "Purchased". At the top of the screen, there is an action area containing options which change contextually depending on the tab you're in.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">My Books:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the "My Books" tab where you start initially, you will first encounter a "grid view" button. This toggles between showing your collection as a list or a grid of books. Double-tapping the button will cause it to change to a grid view. I recommend leaving this alone as a list view with books in a sequential line is easier to navigate. Flicking right of that button, you will come to a series of buttons concerning which of your book collections you want to focus on and how to organize them. Tooks in a series will be grouped together. Double-tapping on the series will take you to a list containing only the books in the series. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Features:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the "features" tab, the action area at the top contains a "category" button and two further buttons allowing you to select between regular books and audio books narrated by human readers. This is a busy area with headings and buttons giving quick access to books being currently featured. Think of it as special displays and sales found in a traditional bookstore. Set the rotor to headings to make navigation faster and easier. Flick up and down to reach different headings. There are more headings than you think. Flick right to move off a heading and flick down to another heading. Flick left and right to explore item by item. There will be books and also buttons giving access to selections of books. The main features page attempts to show as many different things as possible so these buttons give access to more content belonging to a certain collection. Look especially for "see alll" buttons. iBOOKS is full of them. They let you see all of the books in a feature of interest. This lets the "Features" area pack a whole lot more variety in a confined space.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Top Charts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab lets you look at what books are currently the most popular. There are charts for top paid and free books. Use the "see all" button under the heading to get access to all entries in the top chart you're interested in. Also, note the "categories" button at the top left. It lets you choose a category such as history, reference, science fictionn. You can then look at the paid and free top charts of books in that category. Looking at the various top charts under the "free" heading seems to be the best way of browsing free titles. There must be thousands available but other than using the free top charts, there seems to be no way of restricting your searches to free titles.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Search:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This lets you search for specific titles or authors. After double-tapping the "search" tab, touch the top left of the screen and flick right. You'll come to an edit field where you can input one or more terms to search for. Double-tap this to indicate your intention to type in that area. Voiceover will say "is editing". A keyboard has now appeared on the screen and you may type text into it. To the left of the space bar, there is a "dictate" button. Double-tap on this and listen for the short beep which lets you know that your devices is listening. Say the book title or author's name you're interested in and then wait or double-tap anywhere on the device to end dictation. When done typing or dictating, use the "search button which appears at the bottom right of the virtual keyboard. Because you're in an edit field, the tabs are not shown. Once you double-tap the "search" button, your device will execute the search.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Instead of enterring and typing anything in the search field, flick right and you'll discover a list of trending searches in the form of buttons. Double-tapping on these will execute the appropriate search as if you had typed it into the field at the top left. It's always good to be able to know what others are looking into.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After executing a search, touch the top left of the screen and flick right. You will soon be flicking over the results of your search. When you find the title of a book that interests you, double-tap on it. This puts you in the book's entry in the store. Think of it like focussing on a book rather than the rest of the store. The book entry will have a description and other information about the book. There will be reviews, ratings, and lots more. To obtain a book, find and double-tap the "get" button or the price of the book if the book isn't free. This price will be a button just like the "get" button. Follow the rest of the purchase procedure to acquire the book. It will then be downloaded into your library.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Reading iBooks:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To read your book, find and double-tap on the "My Books" tab. Touch the top left of your screen and then flick right until you come to the title of the book. There are buttons to help organise and search through your collection as it gets larger. Books will be automatically organised. If you have books in the same series, they'll be grouped under the series name. Double-tap to go deeper into any group or to open a book.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After double-tapping on a book title, you are placed inside the book. The "library" button found in the top left will take you out of the book and back to your library. While in book-reading mode, the action area at the top left of the screen below the status bar has buttons to help you navigate your book. Flicking right from "library" once gets you to the "table of contents" button. Double-tap this in order to browse through the sections flicking right to scroll through them in order. Double-tap on the section of the book which interests you. Had you kept flicking right, the "search" button would let you search for key words to quickly find areas of particular interest. Once you've selected a section, double-tap on its link to be taken to it. The final button in the action area is the "page bookmark" button. It can be on or off. Flick right once from that and you'll be on your book in the reading area. Using two fingers slightly spaced apart, flick them downward together on the screen to start your book reading continuously. Double-tap anywhere on the screen to pause or resume continuous reading. Using the rotor, you can also read by character, word, line, etc. This can be useful to determine how things are spellt. You can also jump to any notes, headings or links. You can create notes by turning the rotor to "edit" and flicking down to the option. You can also search for words or look up words once you've used the "text selection" rotor setting to highlight them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes, you need to find text of a book by feeling around below the top of the screen. Once you find text from the book, flicking downwards with two fingers will start continuous reading. Swiping left or right with three fingers will move to previous and next pages. Books can have pictures and illustrations which aren't always described. Patience and exploring the screen and various options can really pay off.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Kindle Books:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was absolutely overjoyed when word reached me in 2013 that Amazon had decided to make its Kindle app accessible using VoiceOver. There had been a way to read these book on Windows PCs but it was annoying and poorly implemented. Thankfully, the iOS app received some real loving attention from someone who understood what was needed to make it not only workable but a downright attractive means of reading books. All at once, over a million books including all the popular best sellers were rendered completely accessible and enjoyable.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The main business of Amazon is selling products made by others. It was selling ebooks long before Apple came up with iBOOKs. The books are read using VoiceOver which means you can use any of the voices available to the screen-reader. This includes extremely high-quality voices like Alex, andy of the Siri voices, and other well-known options. Prices of Kindle books are equal to or lower than iBOOKs prices. There are many more book sales and special bargains on the Kindle bookstore than on iBOOKs. Because VoiceOver is used for reading Kindle books, people who have Braille displays can use them to read any Kindle books in Braille translated on the fly into the format of their choice. Amazon also owns Audible. A feature called whispersync lets you buy the Audible book at a reduced price and then keeps track of your position in both the audio and ebook copies. Blind users can then switch at will between hearing a human narrate a book to reading it themselves in Braille. We've never had that flexibility before.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kindle books are quite small files. I have nearly 1000 books and they take up just over 3 GB of space.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Amazon Website:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You need to use the Amazon website to obtain Kindle books. Be certain to register with the correct Amazon site for your location. For Canadians, amazon.ca and for Americans, amazon.com. Some books are only offered in certain countries. Also, book deals and special offers may differ.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">First, register an acount with Amazon on the appropriate site. Next, get the Kindle app from the app store on your iOS device. You can then open the app and will be presented with an option to register your device with the acount you created on the web site. Once that process is done, you will be ready to acquire and read Kindle books.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can use your computer as well as your iOS device. The NVDA screen-reader, as well as other popular screen-readers like Jas for Windows, support reading Kindle books on the PC.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The layout of the Amazon web site will differ since there is a special mobile version which will be used on your iOS device. You can request the full desktop site be used but I don't recommend this. Better to get used to how both sites work or else just use the mobile site on your iOS device doing all your purchases with it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you're logged in, find the "shop by department" link. This brings up a menu of links leading to different departments on Amazon. Go to "Kindle store". Once there, flick right and you'll cross lings which lead to Kindle devices and will come to "Kindle books". Activate that link to go to the entrance page to the Kindle books area. Now, any searches you do with the search facilities on the site will be focused on Kindle books.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You'll find headings highlighting various featured books and links to different sections and categories of the bookstore. If you find a book you want to buy or obtain if it's free, double-tap on the title to go to the book's entry on the site. Once there, you can read the book description, reviews, and other information. You can also buy the book. Free books require the same process as ones which cost money. You simply won't be charged. Search for a clasic book like Treasure Island to try obtaining a book. Many classic books are free and so are some modern ones. I haven't found a way to limit searches to free books or any way to browse all free books on the site. There are doubtless thousands.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be sure to sign up for the Kindle Daily Deal newslettre. Also, each month, look through the Kindle monthly deals. You can get great books for very low prices. I've bought many great books by adding them to my wish list and waiting until they went on sale. You can sort your wish list by using the "list actions" link. Hitting that brings up options which you flick right through. Sorting is one of them and you can sort by price from low to high.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There's never a rush. Take your time and really explore the Amazon site. It pays off.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Kindle App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kindle takes a different approach to interface than the iBOOKs app. When you open the Kindle app, you will either be in your library or else the book you were last reading when you closed the app. Most of the screen is used to display your collection of books or the book you're reading. The menu button at the top left gives access to options which you can then flick left and right through. Double-tap on the one you want. Just to the right of the menu button, there's a place to double-tap in order to dismiss the menu without choosing any options. If you haven't activated the menu, flicking right takes you to the name of the collection you're viewing such as the default "all items". Flick right again to get to the book browser. This lets you search for books in your library and in the Amazon catalogue. You can't purchase books directly from the app but you can add books to your wish list from this book browser.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While in your library, the menu gives options to search your library for a specific title or author, go into various collections of books and documents, accesss help and settings. Flicking left or right gets you through the options and double-tapping executes the one you're currently on. Touching the bottom right corner of the main library screen will get you to another small group of options. You can choose between viewing your full collection in the Amazon cloud or only the books on your device. You'll also find sorting potions there rather than in the menu.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Double-tap on a book title to enter the book.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Reading Books:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The first time you open a book, you'll be presented with information about it. You can go through this or close it. At that point, the whole screen is taken up with the book itself. Swiping down with two fingers starts continuous reading. Double-tapping anywhere on the screen will bring up a small menu of options plus a menu button. There are options in the small menu to leave a bookmark, change viewing options for the current book, access your notebook, and more. Hit the menu button to move from the internal book menu to the larger main menu. This main menu will be what you use most often. It includes a "library" button. Double-tap that to get out of a book and back to your library. It also provides access to the table of contents and lets you jump around in a book. Keep flicking right and you'll eventually get to the table of contents. Flick left to get to the option to return to the book and/or dismiss the menu.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Just remember that if you don't find an option you want in the menu you'reflicking through, find and double-tap the "menu" button to get to the main menu.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While reading, you can use a three-finger swipe left and right to turn pages. You can also use the rotor and all normal Voiceover controls to read by character, word, line, etc. The double-tap and hold gesture brings up yet more options to highlight things in a book, create notes in a digital notebook, look up definitions, share and copy passages of text and more. Great for study notes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The app packs a lot of options into those three menus; the larger main menu, the minor menu reached by double-tapping and not holding, and the hidden menu accessed by double-tap and hold. If Voiceover hints are enabled, you'll get enough instructions to get you going. Exploration is rewarded. For example, the X Ray option is available in many books. This presents you with information about characters, people, and other important things like terms and concepts in books. Better than Cole's Notes but not available for all books. Another hidden gem is "popular highlights" which shows what others have taken the time to share as being particularly noteable.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Other Sources of Ebooks:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are many smaller online stores and ebook publishers. This gives independant and new authors a lot more capability to sell their works. It also allows for different methods of funding and different selling arrangements. This makes books from independant authors and books on less popular topics accessible to blind people. I have many books on game creation and design which I've obtained from different sources of ebooks. I paid no more for these accessible books than any sighted customer would. It's exceedingly unlikely that any of these books would turn up in the CELA library, Bard, or other accessible libraries.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Keep in mind that these ebook providers don't have the same kind of resources as Amazon or iBOOKs. They are often very small businesses or even individual people with the skill to set up and run an online site. Depending on their skill and awareness of accessibility issues, their websites may be very different or tricky to use. Also, books may be less navigable due to lack of proper accessibility tags in the files. This won't matter as much for pleasure reading but would make referencing and study more difficult. People should be very comfortable with browsing the web if they want to take advantage of these different sources for books. The rotor is very useful getting to headings, links, buttons and other elements. I also recommend they obtain the Voice Dream Reader app from the app store. While not strictly necessary, it can make certain that you'll be able to navigate your purchased ebooks with relative ease and choose from a wide range of voices for reading.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When downloading using Safari, Once ou click on a download link for a book, flick right and you come to "open in" options. There is also a "more" button which lets you import the file into the app you want to use to read the file. You need not stick with the default options. The Voice Dream Reader app is great for dealing with EPUB, PDF and other formats provided there is no digital rights management or DRM protection. Kindle books usually have DRM and cannot be read outside of their own special app. However, these alternative sources of books don't use proprietary formats making for more options for reading.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Payment is easier if you have a credit card. Many places accept Paypal which can work directly from your bank acount if you set that up. This is useful for people who don't have credit cards. Applepay may be available in more places as time goes on. It can be used on Kickstarter. As with Paypal, you can add a bank card and use it rather than a credit card.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Some Sources of Ebooks:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Story Cartel:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.storycartel.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Story Cartel offers free Kindle or PDF copies of books in exchange for your honest reviews of them. These reviews can be published on Amazon, Goodreads, or your own blog if you have one. The purpose is to form relationships between readers and authors. Remember that you have around a month after obtaining a book to post a review and give the link to that review to Story Cartel by completing the form related to the chosen book. You won't be able to obtain more books until you provide links to your reviews.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kickstarter and Indiegogo:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.kickstarter.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.indiegogo.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kickstarter and Indiegogo are often used to fund books which may be of interest. For example, role-playing game books are often funded through Kickstarter and released as pdf or epub files. These can be read using apps like iBOOKS or Voice Dream Reader. Many labours of love are crowd funded though these sites. For instance, a couple of books entitled You Are The Hero were crowd funded and written by Jonathan Green, a very knowledgeable author of Fighting Fantasy books. These books examined the history of this very popular series of adventure game books.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">CRC Press:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.crcpress.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is a great place to get text books. Books sold as ebooks use the Vital Source bookshelf app and are in a proprietary format. You need to use the Vital Source bookshelf app to read these books. The Windows PC app is also very accessible. Both are designed to work with screen-readers. People looking for any sort of academic book should check this site out before giving up hope. They even go to the trouble of describing pictures and more visual items.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bundle of Holding</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.bundleofholding.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is a great resource for people interested in roleplaying games, game design, and creating believable fictional worlds. Books are offered in bundles reducing the cost and typically contributing to charities at the same time. Bundles have basic and bonus content depending on how much you decide to spend.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drivethrough Fiction</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.drivethrufiction.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This site offers a wide range of lesser known books including mysteries, romance, fantasy, horror and science fiction among other genres. Books are offered in PDF and other popular formats. They are watermarked to identify you as the purchaser. Annoying to hear read out loud on each page but makes it easy to move by pages searching for your own name.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Storybundle</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.storybundle.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is a favorite source of books for me. Books are sold in themed bundles. These are written by indie authors and curated by people including authors who have a strong knowledge and interest in the genre or theme of the bundle. Bundles have a basic collection as well as a bonus tier which can be unlocked by paying more than a minimum amount which increases as more people purchase the bundle. Books are free from drm of any kind relying on the honesty of customers not to share books they've purchased. They are in pdf, epub and Kindle formats so there's certain to be one you can use with your favorite reading app. Once you've created an account with Storybundle, you can always download bundles you've purchased previously. A link to your personal download page is sent via email when you purchase a bundle. Usually, there's one bundle being featured on the site. If you click on the covers of books which interest you, a dialogue pops up letting you read about the book whose cover you double-tapped. Finding the "close" button requires feeling around on the screen. I often turn to Google to find out about books within a bundle but the dialogues are fully readable using Safari and Voiceover. Patience and exploration are rewarded here. There's an edit field where you can put in the amount you want to pay. The amount automatically in there is just a suggestion. Look at the bundle to see what the current minimum needed to unlock the bonus is. As long as you're a cent above that, you'l get all the bonus books. It changes as time passes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Voice Dream REader:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Voice Dream Reader is an app which makes reading different kinds of documents simple and accessible. It can handle ebooks in pdf and epub formats provided they aren't protected by digital rights management or DRM.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It can't read Kindle or iBOOKs since these ebooks are protected by DRM. Many government forms and other documents are available online in PDF format which Voice Dream reader can handle. While reading forms is possible, filling them out isn't. While basic text editing is possible, think of Voice Dream Reader as a reading tool. It can handle zipped audio books including mp3 files and Daisy format books like those from the CELA library.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A real strength of this app is that you can treat documents like music literally playing them in the background. This would let you use your EarPod controls to play a book while on a bus without having to have your iOS device out of pack or pocket. It can work with the screen locked just like you can play music with the screen locked using your headset or earbut controls. For greater control, you need to unlock the screen and have your device handy. The app is designed to help more than just blind people. There are ways to change how documents are display so reading is easier for visually impaired people and people with other reading difficulties. These are found by double-tapping the "visual settings" button. This button is only revealed once a document has been opened for reading. Similarly, the "audio settings" button lets people customize how documents sound. Different synthetic voices can be acquired and managed. Speed, pitch and volume can be set. This app makes extensive use of pop-up menus. Clutter is kept to a minimum. For instance, the "add" button at the top left of the library reveals a pop-up menu of the many ways to ad documents to your library. The same holds true for settings, sorting options, and more.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Library:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Whenever you open the app, you arrive at your library of documents available on your device. This library can be backed up to iCloud and/or stored and synched on iCloud drive and other devices where you have installed Voice Dream Reader. At the top left is the "add" button. This lets you add documents from different possible sources such as Dropbox, etc.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Filter" is to the right of "add". You can organise documents into groups, view only documents from a certain source, or look at only flagged or unread documents. For a large collection of documents, creating folders is best. That's done in the "by folder" button in the "filter" pop-up. AFter hitting that, you'll find options to add folder and edit their order or names. You cannot create folders from the initial library screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Edit" is found to the right of "filter" and lets you re-order, move, flag or delete documents. Double-tapping on a document selects it. This lets you select and move or do other things to many documents.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Search" is found to the right of "edit" This lets you search for documents within whatever filter you're currently in. If you haven't created any folders or selected a certain group of documents, this would searrch the names of all files in your collection displaying those whose names contained what you typed in the search field.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After the search field, you reach the start of your collection of documents or what is within and filters you selected. This can be flicked through or scrolled through with three-fingered upward or downward swipes. Very useful with large collections containing many rows of documents.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The bottom right of the screen contains further options including:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Sort": Lets you sort documents in different ways such as by date added, length, etc. Doubletapping this causes a pop-up menu of options to appear. Flick through them and double-tap what you want.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"List view" and "grid view": These two option arrange your collection of documents into a grid or list. I find the list view more useful.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Settings": This causes a pop-up menu of settings to appear. These let you choose and manage cloud synchronisation, set up content sources like Bookshare, and manage or acquire voices to read your documents. You can also obtain help and a copy of the user manual if needed. The manual is short and takes under half an hour to read through. It is organised into headings. You should read this to get the most out of the app. There is also a shorter quick start guide.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Now Reading": This will always take you directly to where you left off in the last document you were reading. It is always at the bottom right corner of the library screen. Double-tap it to use it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">When Inside a Document:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are many more actions available from within a document.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Home": This gets you back to the library screen and is found at the top left of the screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Actions": This presents you with a series of choices letting you export or share the document. You can also edit the text and title of the document with the "edit" option found at the right end of the "action" pop-up menu.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Reading settings": There are various reading modes to specify whether you stop after finishing a document, keep going through your collection, read by touching text with your finger, or other options. A timer is available which you can use to stop reading after a given time.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Audio settings": This is where you can choose your preferred voice, obtain new voices, increase or decrease speed, volume and pitch. This lets you quickly make adjustments. Flick up or down on the audio setting button to adjust speed. Double-tap it to get to other options used less frequently. There are many voices available for $3 up to $6 Canadian. Purchased voices will be downloaded to your device and installed. You can always remove and download them again as needed once they've been purchased.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Visual Settings": There are many options including colour, font, how many lines are visible, cursor position, and much more. These can help people with learning disabilities as well as vision impairments. Pac-man mode is said to help increase reading speed by eliminating words the cursor goes over.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Add bookmark": You can add as many bookmarks to documents as you like. This can be useful when a document isn't well formatted and doesn't have headings to help navigate quickly through. Once bookmarks have been placed, you can move back and forth using the "headings, bookmarks and highlights" option or via setting the navigation unit to bookmark and then fast-forwarding or rewinding flicking up or down with the play button.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reading and navigating through a document is done by easily operated controls. Under the area where the text is displayed, there are controls. Touch the bottom right of the screen and flick left or feel around on the lower left of the screen to find them. You can treat your document like it was music. Play and pause with the play button by double-tapping it or with your earpod controls. Flick up or down on the play button to move back and forward. Flick right of the play button to find a "navigation unit" button. This also responds to up or down flicks letting you choose how much flicking up or down on the play button moves you. This can depend on how well the document you're reading is formatted. Some don't have headings but still let you move by sentence, paragraph, page, etc. You can also move to the prior or next bookmark if you've created them in the document. If nothing else, you can always move by percentage of the document.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The CELA Digital Library:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This service offers a vast array of resources to people who are blind, visually impaired, or have other print disabilities such as learning difficulties preventing them from reading print. These include audio books, magazines, newspapers, and much more. There is no charge for library patrons to use these resources. To register with the web site, people will need to know their library account number. If they don't know their account number or need assistance, they should call:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a dir="ltr" href="tel:1-855-655-2273" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="9">1-855-655-2273</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is a "help" link near the top of the site. This gets you to tutorials and instructions very useful for newcomers to the service. Calling the number given on the site will put people in touch with helpers who can talk you through any initial difficulties and explain things.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anybody who used the CNIB digital library before in became the CELA library will have a valid library account number. They will likely find they are already registered in the system.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">AFter registration is complete, you can make use of the library and services. People who haven't logged in may still explore the site and gain a good grasp of what is there.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">General Overview:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">People need to be comfortable browsing the web to make good use of the site. Provided beginners take their time, it is a good site to learn how to browse the web on. No risk of accidental purchases since there's nothing to buy. It has been designed for maximum accessibility and is very easy to navigate. Flicking left and right will get you through the various elements. There are headings marking different key portions of the site and the rotor is very useful for getting around quickly.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">My Library:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Near the top of the page is the "My Library" link. This gets you to where you can customise and manage your service. You can view information on any loans or books you've placed holds on. You can create reading lists. Also, you can change your personal information and password. There are links and heading to help get around. You can change search preferences here including which accessible formats to include in search results. I did this when I heard about Daisy Text magazines being made available the same day they're published in print. By ticking a checkbox, I added the format to my results. I unticked many formats which don't interest me such as Daisy CDs and other physical ones. If you own a Braille display, books are available in electronic Braille formats. However, I have yet to find an app which makes reading them easy. Voiceover tanslates regular ebooks into Braille. You could therefore use Voice Dream Reader to read Daisy text format books on your Braille display.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After adjusting preferences or other settings, keep flicking right and look for a "save" button which you can double-tap to save any changes you made.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Recommended:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This area features popular books and recommendations based on current community favorites. Headings separate different groups of recommendations and make browsing through possible next reads very easy. There are best sellers, books focussed on a current area of public interest, community picks, and reader suggestions. There is also information on how you can suggest books for recommendation to others as well as suggest titles to be added to the collection.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Searching for and Checking Out books:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On the home page, you'll find a form which lets you do simple searches. If you know the title or author of the book you're interested in, type it in that form and flick right to the search button and double-tap it. This will perform the search. Wait around five seconds for the first page of results to load. Each found entry is under its own heading.Turn the rotor to headings flicking down to get to the next entry and up to go backwards. Flicking right will let you read any information displayed about the entry. This will include a description. You will come across a "play" button letting you hear samples of audio books in Direct to Player format. You'll also come to a "get it" button for each entry. Double-tap on this to check out the book. Direct to play titles will be added to your bookshelf. For other titles such as the new magazines in Daisy Text format, you'll need to download them to your reading app of choice. In Safari, you'll fine an "open in" button with a default app which may be what you want. If not, there's a "more" button. Double-tap that for additional options to appear in a pop-up menu. One of these will be "import to Voice Dream Reader " if you have that app installed.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To the right of that "search" button used with the simple search form, there are "advanced search" and "browse by category" options. These let you perform more detailed searches or simply look at what fantasy, science fiction or non-fiction titles are available. When using the browse by chategory option, a search is performed after you choose a category and results are ordered by date added. Some categories have subcategories. Take time to examine the site and learn your options.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The Newsstand:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This gives access to newspapers and magazines. Headings indicate the start of different areas. There are headings for newspapers, audio magazines, Daisy text magazines and other sources of news. Once at a heading of interest, flick right to go through the contents of that area. There's plenty of help available. For instance, when looking through newspapers, you'll find a "help with newspapers" link right above the list of available newspapers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Direct To Player:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Direct to Player app lets people read a large and growing collection of Direct to Player format audio books in the CELA library. The app is very simple to use. Books in Direct to Player format are typically read by human narrators. People who struggle with browsing the web can have librarians automatically keep their bookshelves stocked with titles suiting their interests. The Direct to Play format makes it possible for other devices made solely to play these books more easy to keep stocked as they can receive books automatically.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Overall, this app is relatively easy to use. You don't even need the rotor gesture but it can get you quickly to the top of your bookshelf if it's set to headings. The other key gesture to master is the double-tap and hold. Tap twice and after the second tap, don't lift your finger. Wait for a popup menu to appear with useful options. Since your bookshelf can be stocked automatically by CELA librarians based on your prefered interests, you don't even need to browse the web to get books. Learning to do this and access the CELA library by yourself will increase your enjoyment though.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Your Bookshelf:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are two tabs found on the bottom right. The one you start out in is "books". This has your bookshelf. Double-tap on a book to open it for reading. Double-tap and hold after the second tap to access options other than reading the book. These include getting details about a book, downloading a book to read while unconnected to the Internet, removing a book from your bookshelf returning it to the library. You can only have a certain number of books checked out at a time so it's important to return them when you're done reading them. To do this, Double-tap and hold on a book title. Hold your finger down until a beep is heard followd by the book's title. Flick right to go over options until you come to "remove from bookshelf". Double-tap on this option. If you've downloaded the book, it will be deleted from your device. Next, when you double-tap the ok button that appears, the book will be removed from your shelf and is no longer checked out to you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Reading and Navigating a Book:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Double-tap on a book to open it. Once a book is opened, you'll find options letting you hear it and navigate. At the top left is the "back" button which returns you to the library. Flick right to reach other options. The book title is next followd by a "contents" button. Double-tap this to get into the contents screen which lets you get to any section in the book. Flick right to go through this screen. Double-tap on what interests you to jump to that part of the book which will begin playing automatically. Next to the contents button, you'll find the label of whatever section of the book you're reading.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next to that is a button letting you select a unit of navigation. It might be labelled "chapter", "sentence", "paragraph", "time jump", etc. Double-tapping it toggles to the next setting.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Next is "player settings". You can set playback rate and time jump amount in this area. Previous, next and play buttons come next. These do what their names say. The play button is just above the home button in the centre of the lower edge of the screen. Double-tap it while a book is playing to pause reading. A two-finger double-tap anywhere on the screen will also pause and resume playback.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is also a sleep timer. You'll find it to the right of the "play" button. Double-tap this and then flick right to find the number of minutes you want reading to continue before it stops.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Last is create bookmark. You can have as many bookmarks as you like in books you have currently checked out. They are deleted when the book is removed from your shelf.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">The "More" tab:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In here, you'll find other things like settings. The "help" button is a few flicks from the top left and gives instructions for using the app. The "app settings" button lets you choose whether or not to have hints on. These give extra guidance as you move around the app. Another important setting is whether to allow cellular data to be used to stream and download books. I recommend people use their WIFI when available as books can be large. Some are half a gig.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 40px 0px 6px; font-size: 20px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">Quirks to Be Aware of:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes, you'll try to open or play a book and it won't work. You'll hear repeated beeeping. You may also find that a book fails to be returned when you try that. If these things happen, close the app, re-open it, and try again. You may also find open dialogues saying "server error". These only occur when Direct to Player is running. Just hit the ok button and it'll go away. It's a free service so don't expect the same level of polish and perfection you experience using a commercial service like Audible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Conclusion:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For me, this new ability to tap into digital libraries and make use of the same commercial sources of ebooks available to the general population has been one of the most astonishing and liberating expansions of capability I've every experienced. I hope what I've written here helps others to become more liberated in their reading as I have. Even on a fixed income, it's possible to enjoy what your friends and family are reading at the same time as they are. Over time, you can build a staggeringly large collection and have it with you whereever you happen to be. Pick your moments and keep a sharp ear out for sales. There are doubtless many sources I have remained unaware of. Those whichf I've covered above have kept me well supplied with books. May they serve you well also.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-66295780977818699012017-03-31T09:56:00.001-04:002017-03-31T09:56:01.336-04:00The iOS Device as Writing Tool and Student Companion:<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Twenty-five years ago, I walked through the halls of my secondary school carrying a fifteen-pound Braille writer in one hand and wearing a bag weighing around forty pounds containing the Braille volumes that were fractions of the books I'd need for classes. Later on, I got a well-designed Australian computer called a Eureka A4 which, weighing four pounds, freed me of considerable weight. The battery wasn't reliable enough to get you through a whole school day. Also, Ebooks had yet to arrive on the scene so I still crushed people into walls carrying my forty-pound pack of fractions of books if they got too close behind me when I turned a corner. That experience stays with me. Whenever I receive new accessible technology, I'm always tempted to see how much it can do for students. How much might this or that new device be able to do? How much lighter might it make one's school bag? Might it also help in social ways giving opportunities for relationship and play with others? My equipment tended to baffle others who couldn't read or write Braille. They mostly had a hard time understanding the Australian voice of the Eureka A4 and it had no screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Contrast this with an iOS device. These are extremely portable and easily powerful enough for average day to day tasks. They're easily kept charged with a very small and affordable external battery. A battery no larger than a deck of cards can store 10000 MA of ready power. That's enough to easily recharge a modern day iPAD Pro. Smaller iOS devices like the iPHONE7 I write this on have internal batteries which hold around 1800 MA when fully charged. Accessories like Bluetooth keyboards, bone conduction Bluetooth headsets or Apple's AirPods make it possible to operate completely without wires other than those used to recharge what you're using. Nothing protrudes from your back. You don't even have to worry about wires getting snagged on things or pulled out of their ports. Pretty much every student on the planet has heard of your iPHONE, iPOD or iPAD. If he or she doesn't own one, a friend or family member will. You can use these devices to play some of the same games, read the same books, share favorite songs. You didn't have to pay any more to make this device accessible. You might well have gotten it at the same store as your classmate. Here's the stupendous part. Most of this equipment could be carried in a pocket. You'd have enough storage for thousands of accessible books, your favorite music, any apps you needed, and much more. Presuming it was an iPHONE, or you acquired a GPS receiver, this device would also help you navigate. It would serve as your handy communication device and credit card, identify objects and even read print pages for you. Provided you had Internet connectivity, you could dictate notes or obtain answers merely by asking.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The only part of this setup which wouldn't fit in a pocket would be the extremely light and thin Bluetooth keyboard and/or a portable refreshable Braille display should you wish to write something substantial or read without needing synthetic speech. This can be handy when in class situations or trying to read notes as you give a presentation. There are smaller keyboards which are said to collapse to pocket size. However, these smaller keyboards are cramped and lack rigidity so couldn't be used on one's lap.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All this is very compelling. However, students need to be able to write more than just notes effectively. They need to tackle assignments. That's why a Bluetooth keyboard small enough to be portable but spacious and rigid enough to be used comfortably and quickly anywhere comes in handy. Most Braille displays have their own relatively comfortable keyboards. Braille is useful but not necessary at all times. Ordinary Bluetooth keyboards are universally far less costly than even the most inexpensive Braille displays.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Writing presentable documents in iOS has been problematic for blind people. Back when I first got my iPHONE4, I never would have dreamed of creating anything important or lengthy on it. Using the on-screen keyboard was anything but fast and efficient. It just made sense that one's phone was simply not designed for authorship. A laptop served that role. Attempting anything longer than a brief email was just begging for a first class trip to insanity. The same holds true for attempting to keep up with a lesson taking notes at high speed.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The issues extended far beyond the small completely flat virtual keyboard. VoiceOver initially didn't have an easy method for selecting text to be moved or copied. The finger spreading and pinching technique left much to be desired. Also, it can be difficult to get a proper sense of how a document will look visually due to many things such as how lines rapped on such small screens and how documents were moved through. There was also the whole question of trying to avoid jumping accidentally to a different part of a document than you intended. Sighted people literally see their documents as if on a page or as close as the sise of their device permits. Blind people hear their documents in a more linear sequential fashion. While spellcheck was possible, it remains an annoying and finicky process. Autocorrect can prove more troublesome than helpful with its presumptions regarding what one meant to type being far from actual intention. Who hasn't heard jokes about people getting into trouble because they trusted autocorrect and didn't look before sending that fateful text message?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over the years, things have slowly gotten better. As VoiceOver and iOS have improved, these problems have begun to be addressed. Selecting text is a crucial example of this. The process now relies on the rotor. Set it to text selection, flick up or down to choose the unit of measure, [character, word, line, page]. After that, flick right to move forward by the unit of measure or left to move backward. You can even do things like select a line of text, flick upward to change the unit of measure to words, flick left to remove the two or three words you don't want selected when you press the delete button, and then remove precisely what you regret having written. It's the sort of solution that you wonder why nobody thought of originally even while overcome with gratitude that someone finally has. The lack of an efficient easy way to select text was the largest impediment stopping me from adopting iOS for serious writing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bluetooth keyboard support has gotten much better than it used to be. Instances of dropped connection are quite rare. Also, the horrid lag which formerly made Bluetooth headsets useless for blind people needing snappy responses to their gestures from VoiceOver has been reduced to near non-existence. Pairing multiple devices is a lot more reliable and easier than it once was. Energy efficiency has also greatly improved.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These improvements make it easier to use various word processing apps on iOS such as Pages or Microsoft Word. Spellcheck in particular is still harder than it has to be. However, you can now at least get your words in the right order and type them easily. Also, the spellcheck functionality built into iOS will at least tell you when it thinks you spelled a word wrong as you read over it. Proofreading and formatting documents accurately remain troublesome issues when using the more popular word processors with VoiceOver. Most word processors operate on a principle called WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get. This is perfectly sensible for sighted people who can look at their documents seeing how they will appear when printed. This presents problems for blind users. Even when VoiceOver announces formatting or other visual information, it can be hard to grasp how the end result will look or where the influence of commands such as emphasis, line breaks, etc begins and ends. What is immediately obvious to the eye is not so for the ear or fingers if Braille is used. I needed to find a better solution before leaving my laptop behind and using my iPHONE to do serious writing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A big part of the solution was suitable accessories. Over the years, I've found a good sturdy Bluetooth keyboard from Microsoft designed specifically for mobile devices. It's compact and rigid enough to be used on one's lap. Even better, a small lapdesk that was just large enough to fit the keyboard and my iPHONE next to each other. An Aftershokz Trekz Titanium bone conduction headset serves me well when I'm travelling outdoors and don't want to lose my AirPods from Apple. These Airpods are far more portable, longer lasting wireless earbuds which deliver far better sound. A pair of external batteries completes the basic load. One is a 3500-MA battery the size of a lipstick. It fits easily in a pocket. The other is a far larger 26800-MA battery which would easily keep all my gear powered for a week or more. All of this fits in a small shoulder-bag along with a Bluetooth speaker if I'm going somewhere I might want to share what I'm listening to. In total, it weighs well under ten pounds. Far less if I ditch the large battery and speaker as I would on most day trips.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The very last stumbling block was a good writing solution. I needed an app which would let me write easily and have full control over the formatting of what I produced. For me, the Ulysses app was a pricy but very compelling possibility. The big equalizer is the use of Markdown XL. This is a set of formatting and other commands you insert using standard punctuation symbols. These commands are easily read by Voiceover giving you full and accurate control of formatting. They are acted upon when you export your document into a chosen format. For instance, hash signs indicate headings so text following one or more hash signs within a paragraph will become a heading in a pdf or html document. There are simple commands for doing everything from underlining text to adding footnotes or links. With everything in text characters VoiceOver can detect, nothing gets misplaced or forgotten and proof-reading becomes possible. Spellcheck at least tells me if something is spelled wrong. I hope this situation improveds, but thanks to dictionary/thesaurus apps like Wordbook and Terminology, I can easily live with that slight compromise.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">The Ulysses Writing App In Depth:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app won an Apple award at last years WWDC, a conference for app developers. Shortly after this, the app was made accessible using VoiceOver. The app is designed to be a writing tool which scales from short documents through to novels. Simplicity and no clutter are key design principles. Writers can focus on actual writing. Using Markdown language to insert formatting instructions removes the need for toolbars and other things which clutter and distract writers using other word processors. Other features include the ability to set writing goals, keep your writing nicely organised, and much more. Everything you write is instantly backed up to iCloud so no need to worry about saving progress.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app rewards mastery of the rotor as well as exploration of the screen. Accessibility is good in most areas but a work in progress for less critical things like goal setting. It's still possible but somewhat harder than they might be. To keep clutter to a minimum, options are nested within others. Exploration and experimentation pay off handsomely when learning to use this app to its full potential.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Basic Concepts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A sheet is what this app calls a document. You don't need to give a sheet a title. A single sheet can contain as much text as you want it to. Therer are no imposed sise limits. Sheets can be put into groups which can be organised in many different ways. For instance, each major section of my guide to iOS is a sheet. I can duplicate, delete, export or change the order of these sheets easily at any time. I can cut, copy and paste text into sheets. Also, I can atach writing goals, notes, and keywords to sheets. Groups of related sheets can be exported as a single document. It is ideal for creating books. This is a very flexible powerful organizational system. Groups can have goals assigned to them. Groups can be sorted in the best way for their specific contents. My group of AMI Audio files is organised by date while the group of sheets comprising the guide I'm writing is organised manually.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Getting to Help:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are instructions and help available in the app and on the developer's web site:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.ulyssesapp.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The instructions are in special groups of sheets found in the main library. You'll be going into the editor to read any sheets which interests you. The first group of instruction sheets is called "first steps" Double-tap on this to enter the group of sheets. Flick right until you pass the "first steps" heading and you'll be at the first sheet which is "quick overview". Doubletap on a sheet to open it. Flick right until you hear instructions being read. Once this happens, you can simply leave it to read the full sheet of information. No action is necessary. When finished, hit the "back" button at the topleft of the screen and proceed to find the next sheet or group you want to look at. The rotor is your friend. Set it to move by character, word, etc, and/or to select text for sharing or movement. Once a sheet is opened, you'll find a counter which may display total characters, words, sentences, etc. This is only visible when the keyboard is dismissed and not on the screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Ulysses Editor:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The heart of Ulysses is the editor. Once you open a sheet, you're viewing it in the editor but not able to write or change the contents. From this external view, you can set goals, change editor settings, and export the sheet if you wish. Buttons to do all these things are found at the top of the screen to the right of the "back" button. Buttons are "editor settings", "export preview", "new sheet", and "attachments". Next comes the text field. To start writing, double-tap on the text field. Now, when you move onto the text field, it will say "is editing". This remains the case even if you move off the text field to use the on-screen keyboard. To leave this writing mode, double-tap the "dismiss keyboard" button which is one move to the right of the text field. Think of it like capping your pen. The app takes advantage of the autocorrect and spellcheck facilities built into iOS. These are useable but can be annoying. To minimize this, I have autocorrect turned off and simply use spellcheck. It will tell you if the word you move onto is spelled wrong. Navigate through the document using the rotor setting it to character, word or line as desired. Use the rotor to select, cut, copy and paste text.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Move past the edit field while you're still in editing mode and you'll find a "dismiss keyboard" button, a "search" button" and a sort of toolbar. This contains "undo/redo", paragraph tags", "inline tags" "special characters" and left/right buttons. The "tags" buttons give you access to the Markdown language commands you'll use while writing if you can't memorise them. You don't have to use this toolbar equivalent at all. I never do but it's there if needed. I recommend learning the Markdown XL commands and simply typing them in when required. Find them in the Markdown XL group of introduction files. This is immediately past the "first steps" group.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Attachments Button:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While editing a sheet, you can push the "attachments" button one flick to the left of the text field. The "attachments" button lets you attach keywords, goals and notes to sheets. It is the most difficult area of the app to use with VoiceOver at this point but the developers are aware of the difficulties. You need to explore the screen with your finger and do some experimentation to figure this out. Feel for the buttons related to goal setting. The "at least" button can be double-tapped and will change to "at most". There are six sliders which are possible to increase or decrease. Each represents a digit which can be set from 0 to 9. You can use these to attach a goal to a group or sheet of a target number of words to achieve or not to exceed. Very useful for motivation or school assignments. It's just annoying to have to deal with sliders rather than an edit box letting you just type in a number.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Ulysses Completes The Student or Writer's Toolkit:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Things have at last reached a point where producing professional good-looking documents is possible on iOS for blind people willing to learn some extra commands. We can know precisely where formatting is applied and what will happen when documents are exported for distributing or printing. the use of a Markdown language plus VoiceOver improvements combine to make this a truly viable option. This is especially the case when you add a good Bluetooth keyboard into the equation. Ulysses has extensive support including many keyboard commands. Find these in the "details" group of introduction files. To round out your writing toolkit, other apps can address spellcheck challenges and research capabilities. I recommend the Wordbook app or the Terminology app. These are fully accessible apps which combine dictionary and thesaurus.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don't use Ulysses for jotting down quick notes. It takes a little time to get in a sheet and double-tap on the edit field. Another app called Drafts happily solves that problem by dumping you instantly into an edit field whenever you open it. Much more convenient for quick notes. The calendar and calculator built into iOS plus the Timeglass, Google and Wikipedia apps available from the app store round out my primary writing tools. Most of these apps are free. Timeglass is an app which allows the creation of timers which can have multiple stages and alert you with sounds when each stage is reached. This can be very helpful regarding time management. Ulysses costs around $34 Canadian but is well worth the price for people who need the portability of an iOS device but want the full power of a serious author's workstation.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-65192903923773745422017-03-16T13:48:00.001-04:002017-03-16T13:48:08.993-04:00Enjoying Music on iOS Devices<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Music on iOS Personal Blog Post</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Your iOS device is a wonderful and accessible way to explore and enjoy music. I've been adding to my collection ever since I got my iPHONE4.Apple has its own proprietary music file format andyou can't just fill your device with MP3 files unless you get an app which can handle them. Again, it's a case of convenience versus cost. If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, I think you'll find that music is an area where Apple treats its customers handsomely.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are two ways to get music from Apple for your iOS devices. It is delivered in a format especially designed to sound good on iOS devices. You can either buy music on iTUNES which is yours to keep, or subscribe to the Apple Music service. This gives you access to over 30 million songs, curated playlists, and many other benefits provided that you pay a monthly subscription. If you don't pay, you lose access to any music collected which you haven't bought from iTUNES. These options are not mutually exclusive. You can own iTUNES music and still subscribe to Apple Music without forfeiting anything. We'll look at the merits of each option.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The iTUNES Marketplace:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The iTUNES Store app gives you the ability to purchase music as well as movies and TV shows. You can also rent movies. Many now have audio description. Look right after the title and rating for images which are announced by Voiceover to make certain a movie or show has closed captionning and/or audio description. Have plenty of storage space. Movies are quite large. Songs and albums comprise only sound and take far less space. Records are kept of all purchases made so you can remove content from your device and re-download it as needed. Everything is tied to your Apple ID. Remember it and your password always.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Use the "music and "search" tabs found across the bottom of the iTUNES Store app to find and purchase desired albums or songs. In the "iTUNES and App store" settings found in the Settings app, you can customise whether you want to use cellular data when downloading new purchases. Also, you can choose which kinds of purchases to download automatically when you make them. Also, you'll see whether you've set touch ID to be able to authorise purchases or whether you must simply use your password all the time. It's a good idea to look through those settings as well as the Touch ID and Password settings and be familiar with your options. If you have concerns about others accessing your device, you may prefer Touch ID so that your fingerprint can authorise purchases and people won't see you enterring your password.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you open the iTUNES Store app, you default to the "Music" tab. It's at the far bottom left of the screen. At the top of the "music" tab is an options area with Genre, "Featured", "Charts" and "Item list" buttons. The "Item list" is a wish list you can add to using the "share" button in an item's entry. For instance, "share" an album and choose the "add to item list" button from the menu that appears. The iTUNES store works just like the app store. Double-click on an item title to go to that item's entry. Use the "back" button at the top left to back up one level. Use the button with "get" or the purchase price of an item of interest to obtain that item. You will be prompted to authorise the purchase by password or Touch ID.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can also find spoken word material which is treated the same as music on iTUNES. The CBC or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation puts up many of their audio drama productions and popular radio series as albums for sale on iTUNES. It really pays to search and explore. I've found some very good audio drama made available through iTUNES. If you have a computer, you can get iTUNES software and authorise it to download and play content. This makes it possible to more physically back up what you have purchased if you wish.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The music app will be what you use to play music or other audio content purchase from iTUNES Store. Don't worry about there being any sort of capacity limits outside of the storage space on your device. Provided you have a WIFI connection or are willing to use cellular data, you can always download anything you've purchased but deleted from your device to save space. These things don't count against your iCloud data. It's a separate thing. I have far more content than would ever fit on my iPHONE or in my personal iCloud space at once. Every now and then, I delete and download albums as desired.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Call me a digital dinosaur but I like to actually own a collection of music I enjoy. I therefore make occasional use of the iTUNES store slowly expanding my permanent collection. As more features have been added to Apple Music and more people in my social circle opt for these music services, I have decided to give this new flexible model of music collection a long-term try. There's something really compelling about being able to have access to so much music without spending a fortune. Below, we'll take a closer look at the Apple Music service.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Apple Music:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This subscription service lets you access any music in Apple's vast collection of over 30 million songs. They offer many ways to do this including creating radio stations based on music you like on the fly, curated playlists and recommendations tailored to you specifically, and much more. You can store favourite albums and songs on your device so you're not streaming them using up ddata when you hear them. You can use an optimise music option to remove songs not played often from your device. It still remains a part of your library. As long as you pay the roughly ten dollar per month charge, you have access to the music you want.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Taking this approach, you need not use the iTUNEs app at all. Everything is integrated into the "Music" app found on your device. The "For You", "Browse", "Radio" and "search" tabs let you take advantage of the many aspects of the Apple Music service. This brings the number of tabs across the bottom of the Music app to 5 with "Library" at the far left and "search" at the far right. The "Connect" tab disappears and is incorporated into the contents of the "For You" tab. You are buying access and guidance. There are also other perks such as special early releases, videos and interviews by artists. One of the largest perks is the yearly Apple Music Festival. This is a series of concerts put on by popular musicians during September which any subscriber to Apple Music can listen to free of charge. Events are streamed live and videos are made available soon after. Other special events like album releases and special shows happen from time to time.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When unsubscribed, the "Radio" tab gives access to Beats1, an internet radio station broadcasting 24-7 with people like Elton John and other famous musicians providing programs. This is internet radio with serious money put behind it. Subscribing to Apple music gives access to many more expertly run stations in that tab. Also, it is possible to create radio stations on the fly based on the song you're currently hearing. One of the options revealed by double-tapping the "more" button in the music player is "create station". Using this will instantly create a playlist featuring the artist you're hearing plus similar artists and songs. If you hear something which catches your interest, you can easily check out the artist and add songs or albums to your library. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">New subscribers get a three-month trial before they must start paying.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Music App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app is how you play music purchased from Apple or available through Apple Music subscription. If you subscribe to Apple Music, this app will be all you need to enjoy, obtain and manage music on your device. If you don't intend on using Apple Music, you'll still use the Music app for enjoying what you purchase from the iTUNES store. Either way, you should go to the "Music" settings in the "Settings" app. There, you'll find a setting to show or hide Apple Music. Switching this to "off" will remove many elements only of value to Apple Music subscribers so they don't clutter your experience. Also, you'll find some nice goodies like an EQ setting, volume limiter and more. I like the Late Night and Lounge EQ settings while using my AirPods. However, other settings may be preferable when using AirPlay to play music on various Bluetooth speakers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tabs across the bottom are:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Library:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is where music you have purchased or added to your collection resides. You can sort and manage it. There are buttons across the top. Edit, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and "Downloaded Music". These let you focus on the part of the collection which interests you. Pressing "Downloaded Music" reduces what is shown to only that music you've chosen to store on your device. Use this button when you're offline or don't want to use cellular data streaming music. Otherwise, any music you want to hear is simply grabbed and streamed for you. Competing with other priorities, the music on my device is slowly whittled down to what I most treasure.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Connect:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab provides a way for artists and fans to connect. You can follow artists and receive their updates. Also, you can post your own comments on what artists post. You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to take advantage of this. Note the "following button at the top left. The default behaviour is that any artist whose songs you add to your library are automatically followed. You can change this behaviour and/or search for specific artists to follow in the area opened up by the "following" button. This tab will not be present if you have the Apple Muic elements shown because its contents are placed in the "For You" tab.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Browse:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab appears to the right of the "For You" tab and left of "Radio". lets you explore the gigantic collection of videos, interviews, extras, albums and songs made available to Apple Music subscribers. It has all kinds of curated paths to help you get to the kind of music you want. Great for when you don't know specifically or can't remember artist or song names. This tab and the "For You" tab contain the expertise you invest in when subscribing to Apple Music. Knowing how to use the Voiceover rotor is useful since there are headings dividing what the "Browse" and "For You" tabs contain.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Radio:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab will always have BEats 1 radio station. This is Apple's flagship music station featuring famous personalities and DJs. It streams 24-7 and has a wide variety of shows. Subscribing to Apple Music will grant access to a great many more specialized stations whose music is curated by experts. Past shows are also made available here.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Search:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab gives you the ability to search for artists or songs both inside your library or in the larger Apple Music collection. Double-tap the edit field and type in what you want to look for. Note the buttons near the top which let you choose whether to look in your library or the entire Apple Music collection. Flick over the rsults and double-tap on any that interest you. If it's a song or album, you'll be focussed in on that content. Use the "back" button at the top left to get back to the broader search results.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Now Playing Screen or Mini Player:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This element of the app is crutial to your full enjoyment. While albums or other contents are displayed, the mini player will be available right above the tabs at the bottom. It's easiest to touch the tabs and flick left essentially moving up onto it. There are pause and skip buttons plus the title of the track you're hearing. Flicking left gets you to a place where you double-tap to expand the player. This puts you in the "now playing" screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The "Now Playing" screen puts the focus on what you're listening to now. The tabs will be unavailable until you dismiss the "Now Playing" screen. The button to do this is always on the top left. Next, there are next, previous and pause buttons. You'll find a handy volume slider, shuffle and repeat buttons. "Playback destination" lets you switch to other connected speakers, headphones, etc. Great for quickly sharing music if you have a Bluetooth speaker paired and turned on. Any artwork associated with the album or song is displayed. The "More" button is important. It gives access to options to remove, download, or perform other actions like adding the song or album you're hearing directly to a playlist. I use the "more" button often when I want to remove tracks I don't currently want stored on my iPHONE when they come up. This way, they just disappear but are still in my library in the cloud should I ever want them again.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Final Thoughts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For people on tight budgets wanting a fully accessible way to enjoy music, Apple now offers an extremely compelling option with the Apple Music service. This is even more the case if your iOS device doesn't have much storage space. To take full advantage, you need a good WIFI or cellular data plan. This is vital if you're going to stream your music or listen to the Internet radio stations. Provided you have that, you're good to go. Hard core fans will appreciate the many extras like connection with their favorite artists, curated playlists and collections, etc. You'll never run out of new things to listen to. New albums, playlists and more are added all the time. If you hear something cool while out and about, chances are you can add it to your personal library without paying anything beyond your subscription fee. Another nifty addition has to do with Siri. You can ask Siri to play the top songs of a time period, shuffle the album or playlist, add songs or albums to your library, skip songs, and much more. It's like having your own personal DJ. If you don't recognise a song, you can ask Siri what it is. You can tell Siri to rate songs from 1 to 5, and tell it what you do and don't like. This improves songs selected for you and influences the contents of the "For You" tab.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've come somewhat late to this music party. There's a lot to explore. I've already grabbed a bunch of albums which have languished on my iTunes wish list awaiting funds. I need not wait anymore. I must confess to still beeling a bit uneasy about renting access to damned near everything rather than acquiring a smaller selection of what I like and outright owning it. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Music on iOS Personal Blog Post</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Your iOS device is a wonderful and accessible way to explore and enjoy music. I've been adding to my collection ever since I got my iPHONE4.Apple has its own proprietary music file format andyou can't just fill your device with MP3 files unless you get an app which can handle them. Again, it's a case of convenience versus cost. If you buy into Apple's ecosystem, I think you'll find that music is an area where Apple treats its customers handsomely.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are two ways to get music from Apple for your iOS devices. It is delivered in a format especially designed to sound good on iOS devices. You can either buy music on iTUNES which is yours to keep, or subscribe to the Apple Music service. This gives you access to over 30 million songs, curated playlists, and many other benefits provided that you pay a monthly subscription. If you don't pay, you lose access to any music collected which you haven't bought from iTUNES. These options are not mutually exclusive. You can own iTUNES music and still subscribe to Apple Music without forfeiting anything. We'll look at the merits of each option.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The iTUNES Marketplace:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The iTUNES Store app gives you the ability to purchase music as well as movies and TV shows. You can also rent movies. Many now have audio description. Look right after the title and rating for images which are announced by Voiceover to make certain a movie or show has closed captionning and/or audio description. Have plenty of storage space. Movies are quite large. Songs and albums comprise only sound and take far less space. Records are kept of all purchases made so you can remove content from your device and re-download it as needed. Everything is tied to your Apple ID. Remember it and your password always.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Use the "music and "search" tabs found across the bottom of the iTUNES Store app to find and purchase desired albums or songs. In the "iTUNES and App store" settings found in the Settings app, you can customise whether you want to use cellular data when downloading new purchases. Also, you can choose which kinds of purchases to download automatically when you make them. Also, you'll see whether you've set touch ID to be able to authorise purchases or whether you must simply use your password all the time. It's a good idea to look through those settings as well as the Touch ID and Password settings and be familiar with your options. If you have concerns about others accessing your device, you may prefer Touch ID so that your fingerprint can authorise purchases and people won't see you enterring your password.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When you open the iTUNES Store app, you default to the "Music" tab. It's at the far bottom left of the screen. At the top of the "music" tab is an options area with Genre, "Featured", "Charts" and "Item list" buttons. The "Item list" is a wish list you can add to using the "share" button in an item's entry. For instance, "share" an album and choose the "add to item list" button from the menu that appears. The iTUNES store works just like the app store. Double-click on an item title to go to that item's entry. Use the "back" button at the top left to back up one level. Use the button with "get" or the purchase price of an item of interest to obtain that item. You will be prompted to authorise the purchase by password or Touch ID.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can also find spoken word material which is treated the same as music on iTUNES. The CBC or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation puts up many of their audio drama productions and popular radio series as albums for sale on iTUNES. It really pays to search and explore. I've found some very good audio drama made available through iTUNES. If you have a computer, you can get iTUNES software and authorise it to download and play content. This makes it possible to more physically back up what you have purchased if you wish.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The music app will be what you use to play music or other audio content purchase from iTUNES Store. Don't worry about there being any sort of capacity limits outside of the storage space on your device. Provided you have a WIFI connection or are willing to use cellular data, you can always download anything you've purchased but deleted from your device to save space. These things don't count against your iCloud data. It's a separate thing. I have far more content than would ever fit on my iPHONE or in my personal iCloud space at once. Every now and then, I delete and download albums as desired.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Call me a digital dinosaur but I like to actually own a collection of music I enjoy. I therefore make occasional use of the iTUNES store slowly expanding my permanent collection. As more features have been added to Apple Music and more people in my social circle opt for these music services, I have decided to give this new flexible model of music collection a long-term try. There's something really compelling about being able to have access to so much music without spending a fortune. Below, we'll take a closer look at the Apple Music service.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Apple Music:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This subscription service lets you access any music in Apple's vast collection of over 30 million songs. They offer many ways to do this including creating radio stations based on music you like on the fly, curated playlists and recommendations tailored to you specifically, and much more. You can store favourite albums and songs on your device so you're not streaming them using up ddata when you hear them. You can use an optimise music option to remove songs not played often from your device. It still remains a part of your library. As long as you pay the roughly ten dollar per month charge, you have access to the music you want.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Taking this approach, you need not use the iTUNEs app at all. Everything is integrated into the "Music" app found on your device. The "For You", "Browse", "Radio" and "search" tabs let you take advantage of the many aspects of the Apple Music service. This brings the number of tabs across the bottom of the Music app to 5 with "Library" at the far left and "search" at the far right. The "Connect" tab disappears and is incorporated into the contents of the "For You" tab. You are buying access and guidance. There are also other perks such as special early releases, videos and interviews by artists. One of the largest perks is the yearly Apple Music Festival. This is a series of concerts put on by popular musicians during September which any subscriber to Apple Music can listen to free of charge. Events are streamed live and videos are made available soon after. Other special events like album releases and special shows happen from time to time.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When unsubscribed, the "Radio" tab gives access to Beats1, an internet radio station broadcasting 24-7 with people like Elton John and other famous musicians providing programs. This is internet radio with serious money put behind it. Subscribing to Apple music gives access to many more expertly run stations in that tab. Also, it is possible to create radio stations on the fly based on the song you're currently hearing. One of the options revealed by double-tapping the "more" button in the music player is "create station". Using this will instantly create a playlist featuring the artist you're hearing plus similar artists and songs. If you hear something which catches your interest, you can easily check out the artist and add songs or albums to your library. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">New subscribers get a three-month trial before they must start paying.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Music App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This app is how you play music purchased from Apple or available through Apple Music subscription. If you subscribe to Apple Music, this app will be all you need to enjoy, obtain and manage music on your device. If you don't intend on using Apple Music, you'll still use the Music app for enjoying what you purchase from the iTUNES store. Either way, you should go to the "Music" settings in the "Settings" app. There, you'll find a setting to show or hide Apple Music. Switching this to "off" will remove many elements only of value to Apple Music subscribers so they don't clutter your experience. Also, you'll find some nice goodies like an EQ setting, volume limiter and more. I like the Late Night and Lounge EQ settings while using my AirPods. However, other settings may be preferable when using AirPlay to play music on various Bluetooth speakers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tabs across the bottom are:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Library:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is where music you have purchased or added to your collection resides. You can sort and manage it. There are buttons across the top. Edit, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and "Downloaded Music". These let you focus on the part of the collection which interests you. Pressing "Downloaded Music" reduces what is shown to only that music you've chosen to store on your device. Use this button when you're offline or don't want to use cellular data streaming music. Otherwise, any music you want to hear is simply grabbed and streamed for you. Competing with other priorities, the music on my device is slowly whittled down to what I most treasure.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Connect:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab provides a way for artists and fans to connect. You can follow artists and receive their updates. Also, you can post your own comments on what artists post. You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to take advantage of this. Note the "following button at the top left. The default behaviour is that any artist whose songs you add to your library are automatically followed. You can change this behaviour and/or search for specific artists to follow in the area opened up by the "following" button. This tab will not be present if you have the Apple Muic elements shown because its contents are placed in the "For You" tab.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Browse:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab appears to the right of the "For You" tab and left of "Radio". lets you explore the gigantic collection of videos, interviews, extras, albums and songs made available to Apple Music subscribers. It has all kinds of curated paths to help you get to the kind of music you want. Great for when you don't know specifically or can't remember artist or song names. This tab and the "For You" tab contain the expertise you invest in when subscribing to Apple Music. Knowing how to use the Voiceover rotor is useful since there are headings dividing what the "Browse" and "For You" tabs contain.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Radio:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab will always have BEats 1 radio station. This is Apple's flagship music station featuring famous personalities and DJs. It streams 24-7 and has a wide variety of shows. Subscribing to Apple Music will grant access to a great many more specialized stations whose music is curated by experts. Past shows are also made available here.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Search:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This tab gives you the ability to search for artists or songs both inside your library or in the larger Apple Music collection. Double-tap the edit field and type in what you want to look for. Note the buttons near the top which let you choose whether to look in your library or the entire Apple Music collection. Flick over the rsults and double-tap on any that interest you. If it's a song or album, you'll be focussed in on that content. Use the "back" button at the top left to get back to the broader search results.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Now Playing Screen or Mini Player:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This element of the app is crutial to your full enjoyment. While albums or other contents are displayed, the mini player will be available right above the tabs at the bottom. It's easiest to touch the tabs and flick left essentially moving up onto it. There are pause and skip buttons plus the title of the track you're hearing. Flicking left gets you to a place where you double-tap to expand the player. This puts you in the "now playing" screen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The "Now Playing" screen puts the focus on what you're listening to now. The tabs will be unavailable until you dismiss the "Now Playing" screen. The button to do this is always on the top left. Next, there are next, previous and pause buttons. You'll find a handy volume slider, shuffle and repeat buttons. "Playback destination" lets you switch to other connected speakers, headphones, etc. Great for quickly sharing music if you have a Bluetooth speaker paired and turned on. Any artwork associated with the album or song is displayed. The "More" button is important. It gives access to options to remove, download, or perform other actions like adding the song or album you're hearing directly to a playlist. I use the "more" button often when I want to remove tracks I don't currently want stored on my iPHONE when they come up. This way, they just disappear but are still in my library in the cloud should I ever want them again.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Final Thoughts:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For people on tight budgets wanting a fully accessible way to enjoy music, Apple now offers an extremely compelling option with the Apple Music service. This is even more the case if your iOS device doesn't have much storage space. To take full advantage, you need a good WIFI or cellular data plan. This is vital if you're going to stream your music or listen to the Internet radio stations. Provided you have that, you're good to go. Hard core fans will appreciate the many extras like connection with their favorite artists, curated playlists and collections, etc. You'll never run out of new things to listen to. New albums, playlists and more are added all the time. If you hear something cool while out and about, chances are you can add it to your personal library without paying anything beyond your subscription fee. Another nifty addition has to do with Siri. You can ask Siri to play the top songs of a time period, shuffle the album or playlist, add songs or albums to your library, skip songs, and much more. It's like having your own personal DJ. If you don't recognise a song, you can ask Siri what it is. You can tell Siri to rate songs from 1 to 5, and tell it what you do and don't like. This improves songs selected for you and influences the contents of the "For You" tab.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've come somewhat late to this music party. There's a lot to explore. I've already grabbed a bunch of albums which have languished on my iTunes wish list awaiting funds. I need not wait anymore. I must confess to still beeling a bit uneasy about renting access to damned near everything rather than acquiring a smaller selection of what I like and outright owning it. However, it's still very early days. Perhaps, in a year's time, that disquiet will go away as I get used to this new paradigm.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">However, it's still very early days. Perhaps, in a year's time, that disquiet will go away as I get used to this new paradigm.</span></p> Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-50822810794190950542017-02-17T10:07:00.001-05:002017-02-17T10:07:44.073-05:00Accessible Gaming on iOS<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> I've always found that games are an excellent way to gain real comfort and competence with new technology. People who are hoping to vanquish their friend in a game or solve a murder mystery have a vested interest above and beyond mastering something which seems new, dificult, and disconnected from their everyday concerns. As a boy, I basically tought myself to type fast and accurately in order to find out what happened next in text adventure games playable on the Apple computer I had. Whenever I've gotten new and different accessible technology, one of the first things I do is look for opportunities for play. I might grudgingly spend an hour trying to figure out how to use the screen review capabilities of my screen reader. This sort of effort is necessary at times in order to grasp the basics. On the other hand, I'll cheerfully spend a whole weekend trying to win an adventure or master a game I can play with other people. Good games feel neither daunting nor dull. They pull you past their interface and mechanics right into their captivating headspace. While you're playing, figuring out how to operate your device or review the screen transform from dreaded chores into the means to an exciting and desirable greater end. I've always encouraged beginners to obtain and play games with their new technology. It helps get past feelings of intimidation and gives them a compelling reason to use their devices which they will enjoy. In far too many cases, people have a grudge against technology simply because they don't find ways to enjoy what they have. While technology is often portrayed as a means to fun for sighted people, it is largely touted as a means of accomplishing things independently for blind people. The sad disadvantage of this is a kind of grudge against the very things which can make meaningful change in our lives. We learn best when we're too busy having fun to realise we're learning at all.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think that it's very important that we go into this area with realistic and reasonable expectations. Many games simply require sight to play. Any attempt to make them accessible would so fundamentally alter the game experience as to constitute a completely different game. Ian Hamilton is a strong advocate for accessible games based in Australia. He points out that all games involve some sort of challenges and that this essentially means that standards for accessibility must differ from other industries. Games often simply can't include everybody and remain true to themselves. For instance, some games can induce seisures in people who are epileptic. Others demand a level of visual perception. Games reliant on audio are splendid for blind people but exclude those who cannot hear or who have poor hearing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bearing this in mind, we're in a paradoxical position as blind consumers of iOS games. On one hand, we still face the classic situation where around 95% of games are inaccessible to completely blind players. It would be foolish to presume that a game picked at random from the app store was accessible. At least one blind person thought to try Super Mario Run from Nintendo when it was released in late 2016. Very quickly, an entry on Applevis chronicles the disappointment possible when expectations exceed the reality of where we stand. Thankfully, the game was free to try. It takes a special effort and careful well-considered use of sound to make arcade-style games accessible. There's a big difference between using sound as ear candy and a minor source of information and using sound as the only source of critical information. Don't expect even large companies like Nintendo to put in that level of extra effort. I believe it would be quite possible to make a similar audio arcade game fully accessible to blind people. However, it would take expertly considered audio design and extensive testing by blind gamers. It's more than simply adding sounds and spoken textual information. The small number of blind people who would be at all interested in a given specific title makes it hard to justify the costs involved. The odds are far better with smaller app developers especially if accessibility is brought to their attention early while they're working on their app. It is much easier and les costly to plan accessibility from day one than to add it in later. The same goes for instilling the kind of thinking that leads to a real desire to put in the effort to make games as inclusive as possible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The iOS platform greatly lowers the resources and effort required to make many kinds of games accessible. At the same time, the economic environment set up by Apple is a favourable one for smaller developers or even single individuals skilled in programming. There has never been a situation where the economics and potential for being included in less complex time-sensitive games has been better. There are a great many accessible games for iOS devices. An exciting aspect of the iOS platform is that Apple's included accessibility tools make it easier for app developers to design mainstream apps and games in a more inclusive way. This lets blind people play some of the same games their sighted friends and family are enjoying. At times, you'll potentially find that a game you like is ranked highly in the top charts of the app store. That's a very new experience for blind gamers. It has simply never happened before on any computing platform. It usually took until after a game stopped being popular for people to figure out how to make it accessible. Different economics and fundraising tools like Kickstarter are presenting blind people who have iOS devices with new gaming opportunities and unique experiences. It is now possible for us to leverage our dollars to make developing accessible entertainment more attractive and/or possible. It is also more economical on iOS for people to use the accessibility features built into the iOS operating system to make apps accessible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's not all roses and light though. There are sadly many instances where games which could quite feasibly be made accessible simply aren't. This is due to a lack of awareness on the part of app developers as well as higher up the chain. Platforms like Unity which are used to develop apps don't always make it easy for developers to add accessibility using Apple's built-in tools like Voiceover. This isn't out of malice. Rather, it is due to a lack of awareness and lack of economic inscentive. Blind people make up a very small percent of users of iOS devices despite how widely they have been adopted by the blind community. This results in developers having to make choices favouring ease of construction over others which might allow for better accessibility but be more costly and difficult to work with. You therefore run into games which sound from their descriptions like they should be fully playable. They may be described as text-based games not even requiring typing and yet be utterly useless to blind people. Efforts are underway to change this sort of problem but change is slow in coming. Economics is a big part of that. We've seen some of the best audio games ever created disappear from the app store due to the inability to justify the cost of keeping them updated to work as the iOS operating system changes how it handles sound. These games were well-advertised, perhaps too low-priced, and had famous actors doing voice work. Despite all those advantages, they simply didn't sel enough. Keeping them working on successive versions of iOS would cost too much for too little return on investment. They have sadly disappeared from the app store.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Due to Apple's commitment to accessibility, we've never been in a better position. A lot of potential for different game experiences begs for exploration. Boardgames which provide audio and tactile feedback are possible. Audio experiences taking advantage of sensors built into iOS devices have been created already. Economics are such that independant game developers can create more inclusive games and experiement with new ideas. Awareness of what's happening and polite timely communication are the keys to greater inclusion. This is an area where being an active informed consumer can really pay off. If you hear about a game you're interested in, find out as much as you can about it. Have an idea how an inaccessible game might be made accessible when you approach its developer. They often don't know where to begin with accessibility. People are still discovering the possibilities of iOS and there's a willingness to experiment. It's important that we be aware of what we're asking for and that economics can be very tight for smaller developers. They may not have the money to spend on the time and effort needed to make games accessible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've long felt that organizations of and for blind people could be a lot more supportive in this space than they have been. Games are not just frivolous wastes of time and money. They're tools which can teach, unify and reach people far beyond the classroom. They're also the dominant art form pulling in more revinue than movies and music combined. Innovations like 3d touch combined with vibration and oral feedback could help make it possible to play board, card and strategy games. Back in the 1980's, a series of adventure gamebooks called Fighting Fantasy won awards for encouraging children to read. Teens who didn't like to read were drawn into the worlds of these books which were as much games as story. Blind people completely missed out on this and many other phenomena since it would have been very costly to transcribe these books into Braille. The books would have spanned multiple thick volumes even if they didn't include tactile pictures. Finding the correct next paragraph to read would have been somewhat more cumbersome than it was for sighted readers who had all of the text in a single paperback volume. Technology has now reached the point where much of the cost and bulk could be removed entirely. Text based games combined with iOS devices and affordable Braille displays like the Orbit Reader 20 could make a tremendous difference for Braille literacy particularly among blind youth. Paragraphs can be linked. Portability is no longer a factor when thousands of full-length books can be carried easily on even a cheep smartphone. For me, Braille was simply never exciting or fun. In hindsight, the advantages of learning and reading Braille seem obvious. However, unless the story was interesting to me, the motivation to practice just wasn't there. In Braille, I read what I was forced to. On the computer and through tapes and CDs in those days, I listened to what I actually wanted to in far more portable forms. Organisations like CNIB, RNIB, AFB and others could support game development economically. They could provide advertising space in their publications so blind people know what's out there. They could also put time and resources into making game developers aware of the potential blind audience and of the tools and techniques required to make games accessible when this is possible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Before obtaining a game from the appstore, do a bit of research to avoid disappointment. Check on the Applevis site to make certain games which interest you are in fact accessible and suitable for your level of skill. Go to:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The app directories are full of descriptions and reviews of games which have turned out to be either inaccessible or accessible. The deck is stacked in favour of accessible games. People tend to want to share positive experiences leading others to them. However, there are thankfully some people brave enough to try apps and report back to the community when they face the disappointment of discovering that an app is inaccessible. Don't presume that just because a game has an entry on Applevis that it is accessible. Take the time to actually read the entry. Do the homework and you won't spend money on apps you can't use. To help get you started, here are some games which are fully accessible and safe to acquire:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Games from Kid Friendly Software:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Type Kid Friendly Software of even just the word Blindfold into the appstore search field and you'll come across Blindfold games. These games are programmed by Marty Schultz who took a keen interest in developing games for blind people using iOS. There are over 50 titles so far. The games all use similar gestures and feature spoken help and instructions. They are easy for beginners to pick up and start playing. Titles include Pinball, Wild Card, Breakout, Travel Cards, Racing and many more. Games tend to be simple overall and are either card/puzzle games, games relying on ball physics like Pool and Pinball, or other simple matching or word guessing games. The developer, Marty Schultz, is quite eager for any feedback or suggestions. His games are free to try but you can purchase upgrades for them including unlimited play if you find a game you espeically like or want to support future efforts.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dice World: Developers have done a great deal to make their app accessible. They have reached out to the blind community and are eager for any suggestions and feedback. They are also committed to making certain that future games they create are accessible to blind people. It's a great one for beginners. The games are simple to play and not time sensitive. There is penty of hep and tutorials for beginners.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Interactive Fiction Games:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These are made by several developers and are based on stories where players must make choices effecting the outcome. Easy examples for beginners would be Timecrest, Delight Games, the Choice of and Lifeline series of games. The Lifeline series are all accessible with the exception of Whiteout. Don't get that one but all other Lifeline games are fully enjoyable with Voiceover support. In all these games, you can flick left or right to read text and choices double-tapping on the choice you want. There are also likely tabs across the bottom giving you access to different areas of the game like a screen with inventory or statistics on your progress. This easy-to-handle format has proved popular among sighted players wanting a change from the arcade or picture-heavy experience. The developers of Lifeline Games respond eagerly to suggestions and feedback and value their growing good reputation among blind players.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Audio games:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are numerous audio arcade games. These include Ear Monsters, Audio Game Hub, A Blind Legend, and many more. You typically need to play these games with Earpods or some other headset on. This is because most of these games take advantage of sterio sound. For some audio games, however, hearing where a sound is coming from isn't really important. One noteable example is a puzzle game called Stemstumpers. In it, you try to help a vine grow across a garden avoiding obstacles and eating food. By moving your finger acrosss the screen, you can hear the various terrain and items. Double-tapping on a square causes your vine to grow towards it as far as possible. There are also a couple of audio games which are like audio dramas with choices. Code Name Cygnus is the best example of this. You play by literally talking to the game saying key words to indicate your choices. The developer, Earplay Inc. Has another app called Earplay which features demos of what they're working on next.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Invisible Puzzle: MIT wanted to study possibilities of audio interfaces and put out this collection of audio puzzles where you need to draw shapes on your device. An economical way to provide fun and help research audio interface possibilities which could potentially benefit anybody whose eyese need to be focussed elsewhere.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A Blind Legend: A game developer teamed up with Radio France to produce this fully accessible audio adventure game. It's still being updated and is free from the app store. You don't need to use Voiceover to play the game. It requires headphones or earbuds and uses stereo sound. You need to fight enemies, ride a horse and make your way through dangerous environments as a blind knight attempting to rescue his wife.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some big names are experimenting with audio games using iOS and the results are usually accessible. Those lucky enough to have grabbed Papa Sangre II before it disappeared from the appstore are treeted to Sean Bean as the narrator of a unique horror game. Sadly, Something Else, developer of Papa Sangre II went out of business and all their unique audio experiences were removed from the appstore. They're releasing their audio engine so there's hope that others will put it to use in the future.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Audio Game Hub is another recent development worth checking out. You get 8 audio games in the app and they've just done a Kickstarter to fund games for PC Mac and iOS now being worked on. The first appearance after this Kickstarter was a game simulating Cricket as played by blind people called Blind Cricket.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Advanced Games:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For people wanting a stiffer gaming challenge including more of a need to use Voiceover's review capabilitys, typing or dictation practice, there's Frotz. This interpreter lets you download and play stories like the old Infocom adventure games such as Zork. There are hundreds of free games you can get from the interactive fiction database. Should you have copies of Infocom game files, you can actually transfer those to the Frotz app and play them. The app fully supports Voiceover which means you can play text games using a Braille display if you have one. Also, you can dictate your commands using the "dicatate" button fond near the space bar on the virtual keyboard. Double-tap on the "input command" found at the bottom of story text. The virtual keyboard should appear including the "dictate" button. Try typing "help" if you're stuck. After typing or dictating a command, find and use the "return" key. You may also use a Buetooth keyboard to type in commands that way.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">King of Dragon Pass is a complex combination of choose your own adventure meets rpg and strategy simulation. The controls are quite simple. The game is fully accessible with Voiceover. Actually winning is very hard and starting again means a whole different set of circumstances and outcomes. You need to be competent with Voiceover to play this game at a reasonable pace but the game waits for your move and never rushes you. Great for taking out when briefly unoccupied and making a move or two.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">A Dark Room: Elements of the experience are timed. It is a text game with statistics, resource management, a map, and other complexities but the author has made certain that it's all fully accessible through Voiceover. After being made aware of interest from blind players, he has become a strong advocate for making games accessible where it's possible to do so. He built an alternative ending section of his game so blind people could complete it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Hanging with Friends: This game by Zinga is less popular than it used to be. It's a form of competitive Hang Invisible Puzzle: MIT wanted to study possibilities of audio interfaces and put out this collection of audio puzzles where you need to draw shapes on your device. An economical way to provide fun and help research audio interface possibilities.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">man played with your friends or other gamers. The developers have made the app accessible to blind players. It's turn-based so there's no rush. Not all games by Zinga are accessible but they are at least aware of blind players and will accommodate where possible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Theta Poker: This is a very popular single-player Poker game pitting you against artificial intelligence said to be the best available on iOS. Other players are simulated and you can play through a whole simulated career of a professional Poker player. The developers have gone to extensive lengths to make this game fully accessible through Voiceover.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Audio Game Hub: This team of a game developer and two universities have formed a group to produce high quality audio games and just completed a successful Kickstartercampaign to fund their next efforts. Their 8 initial audio games include a version of Tetris and are free from the app store. They're working on an audio action role-playing game called Whispering Tunnels.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-86851396025301842472016-12-08T16:41:00.001-05:002016-12-08T16:41:38.107-05:00Going to the App Store<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ON this week's segment, I discussed the app store. This is an absolutely crutial area to be familiar with if you want to make optimum use of your iOS device. It is where you can find and obtain software that lets your iPHONE, iPAD or iPOD do an incredible array of things. There are a mind-boggling number of apps. Hundreds of thousands of them. Many of these are accessible to blind people since they support Voiceover. These include everything from ebook or print reading apps to cooking recipe apps to games to word processors to item identification and GPS apps. As an owner of one of these devices, you do yourself a criminal disservice if you fail to take advantage of the app store and limit yourself to the small collection of apps which come installed on your device. I cringe when I hear about people who are so afraid of shopping online that they fail to even create an Apple ID or get set up to make purchases. It would be like moving into a large house or apartment and then, for fear of being robbed, failing to furnish it living in just the bathroom. It's very much worth your while to explore the appstore and see if there's an app which will help you do something more easily or entertain you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be aware that not all apps are accessible. These devices are designed primarily for people who have sight. Hence their flat screens. The vast majority of games and other apps really require eye sight to use. However, when you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of apps, even having only ten percent of apps fully accessible still makes for something on the order of thirty thousand useable pieces of software. I'm a pretty heavy computer user but I don't believe I've ever heard of anybody owning anywhere near that many programs. I have around two to three hundred apps with around eighty of them being accessible games.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Due to the high likelyhood of finding an inaccessible app, I always recommend that blind users try to learn about it before purchasing it. Read reviews of the app as well as its description. If you come across a mention that an app supports Voiceover, it's at least going to be useable for you. Before spending money on an app, it's a good idea to see if there's and entry about it in the app directories at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This web site has become the best place to go for guidance and information especially for blind people making use of Apple products. It's well worth checking out thoroughly. In particular, there are directories with descriptions and reviews of apps. You will also find podcasts which demonstrate apps in audio form so you can hear what it's like to use them. Do your homework and you'll avoid disappointment.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are five main areas of the appstore each having a tab across the bottom of the app to help you get there quickly. From left to right, these areas are:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Featured": This is where Apple directs your attention to apps, categories of apps or new arrivals in the appstore. Keep a lookout for the free app of the week. These are occasionally accessible to blind users. It's an interesting area to browse but you're relatively unlikely to discover apps which are accessible. You'll also find buttons to send and redeem gift cards. You can do both quite accessibly. This is very useful especially if you get iTUNES gift cards or want to give email gift cards to people. It is also quite possible to give specific apps as gifts.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Categories": Double-tap on this tab to explore the available apps by categories. These can go many levels deep. To back out of an app description or level onto the prior one, use the "back" button found at the top left of the screen. That "back" button is ubiquitous throughout apps and areas of iOS. The array of categories makes it possible to poke around and see if there might be an app suitable to your needs. Within categories, there are subcategories. Also, you'll find recommendations of popular apps or editor's picks which may help steer you towards some of the better apps. Everyonce in a while, I'll look into various categories of interest to see if anything nifty has popped up.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Top Charts": Here, you can find out what the most popular paid, free and top grocing apps are. Note the "category" button near the top left. It lets you find out what the most popular apps are within a given category. This area gives you an idea of what everyone uses their devices for these days. Increasingly, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that apps which are accessible to blind people actually end up on these top charts. Apps that are useful to me are some of the most popular for everyone. It makes me feel welcome in this new world. It's a very refreshing change of experience after decades of using specialised software nobody outside the blindness accessibility community has heard of. Apple has lowered the barriers to making apps which are accesible and more developers are taking notice.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Search": This area lets you search for specific apps by the app's title, keywords or the name of the developer. Just type it in the search field found near the top left. Flick right through the results until you come to one that interests you and double-tap it to be taken to the app's entry. In my experience, this is the most frequent area I use to track down and purchase apps. Typically, I'll hear about an accessible app from a happy customer or read about it on Applevis. This happens more often as you become connected to a wider community of blind users. Word of accesible apps travels very fast once they're announced or discovered. Type the name of that nifty new app into the search field and double-tap on its title in the search results. You can then read about it in the app entry and decide whether to get it. If the app is free, there will be a "get" button. Otherwise the button will state the app's price.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Updates": This important section lets you learn about and obtain any updates made to apps you have purchased. There is a handy "update all" button near the top left. Also, the "Purchased" button lets you look through any apps you have ever purchased even if they aren't on your device any longer. Some apps might eventually be made more accessible and this is how you easilly get them back onto your device. You never have to purchase anything more than once as long as you remember your apple ID and password. Those pieces of information are the keys to your kingdom and the ability to purchase new apps. Remember them always. It's better to have a password you will remember than one that nobosy including you has a hope of remembering or guessing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To purchase an app, double-tap on its title to enter its space in the appstore. There, you'll find description, reviews, screenchots and perhaps a video demonstrating the app. There is also a "get" button if the app is free or else a button with the price of the app. Double-tap this to begin the purchase process. You'll then need to confirm your identity via Touch ID or via apple ID and password to complete the purchase. Even free apps must be authorised in similar fashion. The app will then download immediately and appear on your homescreen.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You will also want to go into the Settings app and into the "iTUNES and App stores" settings. There, you can make decisions on how you want to identify yourself and other choices related to the experience of shopping in Apple's ecosystem. For instance, you might decide to not require your password to be entered when acquiring fre apps. You can choose to enable Touch ID which means that you can use your fingerprint rather than entering your password in order to make purchases.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Your device can either be an occasionally used expensive paperweight or it can grow into the most handy and affordable piece of accessible technology you've ever owned. After five years of use, I've reached the point where I've found the best apps to do all manner of things. I don't even carry a laptop anymore when I travel. I simply take a small bag of accessories and my iPHONE. The heaviest thing in the bag is a battery which could recharge my gear many times over and keep me going for around a week if necessary. I have reached this point through learning about and acquiring apps. These are typically far cheeper than similar software on my Windows laptop. Combine that with stupendously useful stuff like KNFB Reader for reading print and BlindSquare for getting around, and you begin to see the possibilities for people on lower incomes. It simply doesn't get more portable, affordable and powerful.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Another thing which the appstore makes easier is contacting the developers of apps. As people gain confidence in using Voiceover, they may start experimenting with buying apps which sound like they should be accessible. This is how many happy discoveries of apps which are quite accidentally useable or nearly useable by blind people have been made. In many cases, developers simply need to be contacted and made aware of the need or desire for their app to be made accessible and they'll find a way to do it. King of Dragon Pass is a splendid example of how this can happen. Sadly, other lesss complex games which could have been accessible are not since their developers were unaware of the potential market of blind users. Be polite and make your case. You might just do a big favour for many hundreds of thousands of people.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-62756670178511021392016-12-07T16:37:00.001-05:002016-12-07T16:37:11.488-05:00Kelly and Company Segment 5: Podcasts<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Feeling penny-pinched and short on audio entertainment? Ever wish you could have a constantly renewing fountain of interesting stuff to listen to on your iOS device? You absolutely can. The only things it may cost you are storage space on your device and the data used to download episodes. I've enjoyed podcasts for years and have made some fabulous discoveries. They're great for when you don't really want to dig into a book or can't afford to. I download a bunch before a trip so I have lots to listen to.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I've often been surprised at just how much excellent listening gets put out there and completely escapes public notice. One show which attempts to rectify this is Podcast Playlist. Each episode features a number of different podcasts connected by a common theme. The hosts of that show have introduced me to many new favorites. The show itself is also a podcast. Check out a few episodes and get a better idea of what's out there for your listening pleasure. It can be found on CBC Radio or online at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.cbc.ca/podcastplaylist</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There's no regulation when it comes to podcasts. Anything goes. Ordinary people can just decide to record podcasts on their computer or smartphone and stick them out there through a podcast hosting company. Some popular podcasts are sponsored or produced by companies as advertising vehicles. It's a very diverse and wide world to explore. Gifted amateurs often attract audiences as large or larger than corporate produced efforts.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To listen to podcasts, you need a podcasts player. There are many good ones in the appstore. Three very popular ones are:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Podcasts: This app is made by Apple. It is available free from the appstore. There are no ads or in-app purchases. It's a very bare bones uncluttered experience. A very good choice for absolute beginners still struggling to get used to operating their iOS devices. There are tabs across the bottom. My Podcasts is on the far left and where you'll find any podcasts you've subscribed to. The "Featured", "Top Charts", and "Search" tabs make it easy to find podcasts you're interested in. There are settings for this app but you need to go into the iOS Settings area and find the Podcasts settings. If space is tight, you can tell the app not to automatically download new episodes so that they won't fill your device storage. Episodes can then be streamed over Wi-Fi or cellular data.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Overcast: This app is very popular and offers more advanced features including speed control and an option called voice boost which clarifies speech. It is free from the appstore but is ad supported. A premium subscription can be paid for which gives additional features and keeps the ads away. Even without paying for this, Overcast is an excellent podcast player. Just be familiar enough with navigating around using Voiceover so the ads don't trip you up. It's not rocket science and you get a far more flexible and powerful podcast player for your troubles.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Downcast: This is my favorite. It costs $3.99 in the appstore. You get everything for that low one-time fee. No ads to worry about. A very rich set of features including the ability to import podcast lists. Look in the "More" tab, you'll find settings, tools, all sorts of help, and other options. Go to the "add" tab to search for and add podcasts. For the most part, I find things are explained quite well in context. Learning what options are available is straight-forward.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All three of these apps are fully accessible to Voiceover users. There are more options out there in the appstore. A new one called Youcast is starting to make waves. Nothing says you can't have more than one podcast player. Just keep in mind that each of them might download any podcasts you subscribed to unless you change the settings for the app so that it doesn't download anything automatically. I use Downcast for my podcast listening needs but also preferred Overcastfor a while before they went heavier on the ads. Each podcast player will have its own approach to things like displaying new podcasts, managing downloads, etc. Find what works best for you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All podcast player apps will have facilities for finding podcasts. In Downcast, go into the "add" tab. There, you'll find the ability to search for a podcast you might know the name of. You will also find directories of popular podcasts which you can browse and subscribe to any podcasts which interest you. Once you do that, you will be informed of any new episodes of that podcasts. They apps will typically default to the behaviour of downloading the new episodes automatically. If you subscribe to a lot of podcasts, this isn't such a good thing. I have Downcast set to mark all new episodes for streaming. I then simply browse through them and convert the one's I'm interested in to downloads. These are added to my download queue. I then have my settings such that I need to enable the download queue for the episodes tow download. That way, I don't need to have several gigabytes set aside for podcasts I don't end up listening to. Most podcast players have setting to automatically delete older episodes so your device doesn't get filled to the brim.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There's so much good audio made available in podcast form that it boggles the brain. I'll never run out of new ones to try. Much like beer in that regard. There are only so many hours to listen in a day though. I subscribe to around 100 podcasts and will comb through new episodes when I want something interesting to hear. Other people simply subscribe to a low enough number of podcasts that they can listen in order or make playlists to hear and keep up with them all. They're all free for the taking.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To help you get started, I've listed some podcasts below which I quite like. Just type the name of the podcast into the search field of your podcast app of choice and you should be able to subscribe and tune in. As new episodes get released, your podcast player can keep you informed. Take the time to learn options and settings the available in the app you've chosen. The time spent pays off as your lisetning priorities and circumstances change. Some great podcasts to start with are:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Dinner Party Download: A fun informative podcast modeled on the structure of a dinner party. Jokes, etiquette tips, interesting guests, etc. They once had the actors who played Geordy from Star Trek TNG and Gandalf from the LOTR movies as guests. Awesome!!!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Spark: This CBC radio show, like many others, is also available in podcast form. Spark discusses technology and how it efects society. It has been on air for around a decade and has maintained a very high standard of quality. If you want to understand technology and how it might impact your life, tune into this one.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Snap Judgement: Glynn Washington and crew provide thematically linked interesting stories both real and fictional. They've kept the podcast going for around 7 years and there are hundreds of hours of well-produced and curated stories. They have some great special episodes including Spook specials around Halloween and other holiday specials. Shows have a theme which links the stories they contain.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Applevis Podcast: This branch of the Applevis web site and community offers audio demonstrations and tutorials produced by community members for blind users of Apple products. Stay up to date with this podcasts and you'll be well informed about accessible apps and know how to get the most from your Apple gear. This can be very useful and motivating for beginners who may find navigating web sites and documents to be harder as they get used to Voiceover.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Overnightscape: A favorite of mine, you just never know what Frank will get into. Frank Edward Nora records his thoughts on all sorts of pop culture and other aspects of life while travelling through New York or other places. Lots of things are described as he encounters them. He sometimes meets up with friends and family who join in the adventure. At the end of episodes is a section called The Other Side where you'll find independentmusic or publically available sounds from the present and past. A most interesting listening experience. Be aware that this podcast is relatively large and usually spans around two hours per episode.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Good Job Brain: A show for trivia buffs where a group of friends dig into all things fascinating. These friends get together each week for pub trivia and have kept the podcast going past 198 episodes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-59130226615025272342016-11-27T14:41:00.001-05:002016-11-27T14:41:57.991-05:00Kelly and Company Segment 4 nov 24 iOS Settings<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This week on my contribution to Kelly and Company, I talked about the Settings area of iOS. The conversation went quite well and I felt good about actually covering all of the key points I intended to. I hear a good many complaints from people who feel that iOS won't let them do what they want. Whenever I've probed deeper, I usually find that what they want is perfectly possible. They just didn't know where to find the choice they were after. Chances are that the choice they were unaware of was in the Settings area of iOS. It really pays to invest time in getting to know the many choices presented through this application. You can do things like choose which apps can interrupt you with information. All options regarding how Voiceover behaves are in the settings app. Storage management, security settings, connectivity choices and many more choices effecting how your iOS device works are also found in Settings. You'll want to drop in often as your situation changes.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are a great many options. Rather than try to cover absolutely all of them, I'll leave that to the user guide Apple has already created for your iOS device. You can use iBOOKs to read it. Instead, I'll explain how to get around in setings and cover some key areas in detail.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Overview:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Think of the Settings app as a kind of tree. There is a long trunk with major branches spaced out along it. The trunk and branches can be navigated like straight lines with left or right flicks using one finger. Three-finger swipes upward to advance or downward to scroll up towards the top can be used to skip through settings faster. Double-tapping on a setting or area of settings will cause you to either change the setting if it's a toggle or else enter the branch of related settings. Double-tapping on settings within a branch might lead to branches of more specific related settings off the preceding level of specificity. For example, the "general" branch contains settings effecting the behaviour of your iOS device. The "accessibility" branch contains an impressive array of options to make iOS devices useable by people with disabilities. The "storage and iCloud Usage" branch allows you to view and manage how much capacity you are currently using on your device and in the cloud connected to it. Having all these options spread out in what seems an endless line can be daunting. Once you understand how it's all organised, you'll appreciate the thought which went into making things intuitive and simple. Let me show you around.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The settings are organised with the first </span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">options letting you control communication methods your device uses including WIFI, Bluetooth, phone carrier, etc. Double-tapping on the desired option takes you onto the branch related to that area. For instance, double-tapping on "Wi-Fi will take you to where you can turn Wi-Fi on or off, choose which network to connect to and whether it connects automatically to networks it finds. Similarly, the Bluetooth option takes you to where you can pair your iOS devices with a wide range of accessories like keyboards, speakers, headsets, etc. You can also choose to deactivate Bluetooth when you don't need it. This can save battery power.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Past these settings are options related to the behaviour and appearance of your device. This range begins with Notifications and ends with Photos and Camera. This is the patch which is most crutial to really know thoroughly. The "Notifications" branch lets you determine which applications can alert you to things which happen. while you're otherwise occupied. It also lets you choose which aps can place notifications in an area called the Notification Centre for later review. The "Do not disturb" option lets you schedule periods where you won't be interrupted by incoming calls, messages or alerts from various apps you may have. The "Privacy" branch is another important stop if you have concerns about what information is shared by your device. Of particular importance is the "General" branch of settings. Perhaps "limb" would be a better description as there are a multitude of branches packed into this area. The "Accessibility" ranch will be of special interest to blind users as it is where you'll find settings to control Voiceover. Options related to Braille are also found in the Voiceover branch of settings. The "General" limb also contains settings related to device storage management, region and language settings, and other important options you'll want to change every so often.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Past the "General" settings, you'll find branches related to display brightness, sound, and things like mail, calendar, and music. I often go into the "music" branch of settings to change the EQ option. The Lounge preset works great with my Earpods. Also, given my hearing loss, I appreciate the Late Night preset.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These are followed by settings related to services Apple provides or third-party companies provide which are tightly integrated into iOS. For instance, you'll find settings dealing with Facebook, Twitter, iTUNES, etc. The Vimeo service is the last of these third-party services. It provides a means of storing and sharing videos taken using your iOS device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After that, any other settings will relate to apps you acquire. For the most part, they determine whether apps are allowed to access things like the microphone, camera, etc. Most often these days, apps will contain a "more" tab which will have nested within it a "settings" button. This lets developers spare users the need to visit the Settings app. As you acquire more apps for your device, the Settings area can grow very large indeed. However, all the really important branches wil remain close to the top.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Getting Around:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Starting at the top left, you'll find a search field. This can be used to search for specific settings which may be deep into the tree. You just need to know a word related to what you want to do and type it in. You can also flick left and right using one finger to make your way through the options or branches in order from top left to bottom right. There are a great many options so this can be rather cumbersome when in a hurry. To move past many options at once, you can use three-finger swipes upward to go deeper or downward to go towards the top. Over time, you'll learn how many swipes will take you near a setting you're interested in. You can then flick left or right to move precisely to the setting you want. This is how I most often get around in Settings.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Siri can also get you quickly to settings of interest. For example, hold down the home button to activate Siri and say "show voiceover settings". While it can get you to settings fairly specifically, it can't always control them. You can tell Siri to turn Voiceover on or off but can't tell it to connect to a Wi-Fi network. You'd have to tell Siri "sho Wi-fi settings" and then use the touchscreen and Voiceover to attend to connecting to the network yourself. Also, you can't do things with Siri like turning Voiceover hints on or off or setting the speaking rate. Remember that Siri is meant to be a personal assistant. It was never designed to let people do absolutely everything by speaking to their iOS devices.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you're in a branch or subsection of settings, you'll always find a "back" button located at the top left corner of the screen below the status bar. This lets you exit that branch and move back towards or onto the main trunk. For instance, Voiceover settings are three levels deep. Level one, "general". Level 2, "accessibility". Level 3 "Voiceover". Using the "back" button while in Voiceover settings returns you to Accessibility settings.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Within branches of settings, things are often divided by headings. This speeds up navigation once you turn the rotor to "headings". Flicking up or down with one finger will move you to the next or previous heading if they are present. For instance, headings within the "Accessibility" settings include Vision, Interaction, Hearing, Media, and Learning. Once you reach a desired heading, flick right to go to options related to the heading. The first option under "Vision" is Voiceover. Double-tapping on this will bring you into Voiceover settings.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Some settings are toggles while others are branches. If a setting is a branch, it will always say "button" after the name of the setting and status information. For example, flicking right onto the Voiceover button, you'll hear "voiceover on button". Double-tapping on this brings you to Voiceover settings. The first button you come to within Voiceover settings will say "voiceover on". After a short pause, presuming hints are enabled, you'll hear "double-tap to toggle setting." If you double-tapped this button, you would shut off Voiceover. Airplane mode is the first option in the main trunk of Settings and is also a toggle. Double-tapping it instantly activates or deactivates airplane mode. This mode instantly turns off all transmitions from your iOS device such as bluetooth or Wi-fi making it safe to use on airplanes. Among the various settings, you will also find sliders. You can change the value these are set to by flicking up or down with a finger while you're on them. Brightnes and volume settings are examples of sliders.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Accessibility Shortcut:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One thing I tell blind users of iOS devices to do right away is to set their accessibility shortcut to Voiceover. The accessibility shortcut makes it easy to turn on or off an accessibility feature that is most important to you. Once it is set, pressing the home button three times rapidly will toggle the feature on or off. Set the accessibility shortcut to Voiceover to easily be able to turn it on or off at will.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">1: Go to settings, general, accessibility.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2: Go to the very last setting. Using the rotor to move to the "learning" heading will speed this up. Once there, flick right to the last setting; "accessibility shortcut"</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3: Double-tap on this button and flick right. You will soon reach "voiceover". Double-tap on this to set the accessibility shortcut. Provided you've done this correctly, when you flick left or right through the options, you should hear "selected" when going onto the Voiceover option.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">4: Try it out by pressing the home button three times rapidly. If you hear "voiceover off", press the "home" button three times again to turn it back on.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, you can easily recover from when Voiceover crashes or quickly turn it off so that a sighted person can use your iOS device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Key Branches to Visit:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 18px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Explore the Voiceover settings thoroughly. You can add functions to the rotor, adjust the voice, download different voices, and much more. This is where you sculpt how Voiceover behaves so it best serves you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The "Cellular", "Privacy" and "Password and Touch ID" branches are a good trio of stops to make. They let you secure your iOS device and determine what information to share or not share.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Become familiar with the "general" branch of settings. It includes many branches of interest in addition to accessibility. Examples, software update, storage and iCloud usage, language and region, restrictions.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Look in the music settings. There are pretty nifty EQ options which change how your music sounds tucked away under the Playback heading.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 6px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Look in the "Sounds" settings. One important thing to choose here is whether you want to be able to change the volume of alerts and phone call rings using the up and down volume buttons. I find that I prefer not to have this happen so that the ring of a phone call is always loud enough to attract my attention. You can choose a ringtone which suits your personality as well as sounds for events like receiving messages. This can make your device feel more like it belongs to you. For sighted people, there's wallpaper.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remember that apps will often contain settings unique to them which won't be found in the Settings app we're discussing today. Those special settings will be found in a section of apps like Twitter. Often, they are found in the "more" tab. Examples include the Audible app.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Users of iPADS will find things laid out differently. Down the left-hand portion of the screen are the various branches of settings. Double-tapping on one will open it on the right-hand portion of the screen. The other branches which normally disappear for users of smaller devices remain easily accessed. and visibible on the left side. Personally, I find this somewhat more annoying as a blind user. For sighted people, I appreciate how convenient this must be. Given time, blind people will learn roughly where to touch in order to get close to a branch of setting they want to focus on. When this happens, they will be better able to take advantage of the larger screen space tablets like iPADS make available.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I hope this helps you get a good start taming your iOS device. In general, it's pretty safe to explore and try out different settings. Apple has designed iOS to be pretty good at warning you before you do anything you can't easily undo. The more familiar you become with the settings choices available to you, the better your overall experience with iOS will be. Too many people don't take the time to learn what options they have and then get all frustrated to the point of giving up altogether. Given the tremendous economic and other advantages these devices can offer blind people, this is a real shame. If I had my way, any blind person who came into possession of an iOS device would be directed to a tutorial where they would learn about how to use Voiceover, key areas in Settings, and the wide range of accessible applications available. I hope the guide I'll eventualy complete plus these show segments and blog entries will go some way to helping newcomers to iOS enjoy what I have come to treasure. There's such a drive to do away with the need for instruction manuals. In this instance, blind people are hit hard by this trend. For most of us, using a touchscreen was a notion not even worthy of a pipe dream a mere half decade ago. Now, these devices are everywhere and also very affordable even without government assistance. They can take the place of a whole lot of expensive accessibility devices provided you can comfortably use the touchscreen through Voiceover. I've advocated for Apple to include a Voiceover tutorial at a bare minimum. Blind people would then at least know how to navigate their devices and find options like Settings. They are apparently considering it.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-13604748412344876382016-11-17T19:20:00.001-05:002016-11-17T19:20:23.067-05:00Kelly and Company Segment 3 Entertainmment Nov 17<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><br></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This week, I thought I'd change geers and crack open my audio drama collection. It has been growing for over twenty years. To enjoy some of it will require you to have a good handle on skills like browsing the Internet, extracting files, etc. In some sad cases, what I have isn't currently for sale anywhere. You can count on me not to torture you with anything you simply can't get. I'm starting out with one of the easiest and best-run places on the Internet to find excellent audio drama. You can enjoy and use this site with your computer as well as your iOS device.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Before we get started, let's make one thing very clear. Please note that I don't condone piracy and won't share freely what I myself have paid for over the years. Obtain your copies legally and help these companies keep afloat. The more we do this, the more ambitious creations we are likely to enjoy as they are able to make livings through their labours. Big Finish estimates that it loses around 75% of potential revinue from their work because of people illegally sharing files. Frankly, I appreciate them being considerate enough of their legitimate customers not to employ file protection. As someone who has been unable to find work but who has insisted on contributing things anyhow, I feel for these artists who often have to abandon their art just to make ends meet. Things are changing. Prices for digital copies of books and audio dramas are more flexible than they used to be. Often, these sites will put selections of their offerrings on sale. Watch for these. Follow them on social media and sign up for newsletters.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Big Finish has existed for 15 years and is most famous for the Dr. Who dramas they have created. They sell their material as digital files and as physical CDs. Operating from the UK, their stories aren't necessarily confined to there. They sell unabridged audio books which can be hard to find elsewhere in addition to their staggerring catalog of audio dramas. After finishing this blog post, check them out for yourself at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.bigfinish.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are literally hundreds of titles in their catalog and new ones are released monthly. To keep everyone entertained and up to speed, they are quite active on Twitter, Facebook, with posts to their blog and podcast, and through Vortex, a regularly published ezine. I discovered them quite late since I never have been a Doctor Who fan. Even after I had heard of them, I never stopped by to check them out because I thought that Dr. Who dramas were all they did. I was so very wrong. They do so much more! Their catalog includes audio books narrated by famous actors.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Many audio drama ranges are based on licensed TV shows like Blake's 7, Torchwood, and Dark Shadows. They also dramatise classic books like The Wizard of Oz, Dracula, Treasure Island, etc. In a partnership with Paizo, makers of the Pathfinder roleplaying game, they have dramatised adventure campaigns in the Pathfinder Legends series.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Currently, the range of stories based on The Prisoner is getting lots of attention. So are the Torchwood and Dark Shadows ranges of stories.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Over the years, Big Finish has done a whole lot of Christmas specials. My particular favorite is called Ghosts of Christmas Past where Dorian Gray and Sherlock Holmes join forces to thrwart an evil plot involving Dorian's past. Big Finish respects the characters they use but isn't above having fun bringing various worlds together. Dark Shadows and many other series feature special Christmas material. Look around for it.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Part of the costs of the audio dramas is to pay for licensing fees needed to produce dramas about commercial intelectual properties like Dr. Who, Torchwood, Dark Shadows, and more recently, The Prisoner. They are also able to pull in top talent in terms of voice acting usually including actual cast members from TV shows being made into audio dramas. Sound and music is typically top notch.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To obtain these fine dramas and audio books, you need to go to the site and register an acount with them. Once that's done and you've got a payment method sorted out, you then add items of interest to your basket and then place your order. They will show prices in your local currency so there aren't any exchange rate surprises. They accept Paypal which may be useful to people without credit cards. Paypal can draw directly from your bank acount. It doesn't reveal bank or credit card information to online merchants you choose to deal with. I've used Paypal for well over a decade without any issues.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Once you've ordered titles, they are made available to you in your personal library on the site. You can then download them to your computer. To get the dramas onto your iOS device, get the Big Finish app from the appstore and run the app. Log into your acount with the email and password you used to register on the Big Finish site. Once that's done, you won't have to do it every time you use the app. You can simply open the app and retrieve any dramas your device has room for. To recover space, delete the dramas you're finished listening to. You can download dramas as often as you need to.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">The Big Finish App:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I very much like the app for iOS Big Finish has available. It's free from the appstore and works wonderfully with Voiceover. This was intentional as Big Finish is very aware of having blind listeners. They have clearly taken steps to make their app and web site fully accessible. You can sort and search for dramas. It is also easy, using the "device" and "cloud" buttons, to look at what you have stored on your device and what is available to you in the cloud. You can delete and download dramas as often as you need to. If you suddenly need to close your app, don't worry. Your position will be saved. There are buttons to easily navigate, play and pause, set a sleep timer, etc. It behaves like a music app and you can therefore do the usual pause, play, and track skipping with the control on your headset.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These dramas are large files. Most need to be downloaded as complete series which are often well over half a gb. To make certain you don't accidentally use cellular data to download dramas, double-tap the "info" button at the top left of the screen in the app. Next, flick right until you come across two buttons called "allow cellular data". Switch both buttons to off. You can then only download dramas when connected to WIFI.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are "cloud" and "device" buttons which let you view what you have on your device separately from what is in the cloud.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What you have in "the cloud" is what you have purchased but is not on your device. You can download anything in the cloud to your device as long as you have cellular or WIFI connection. This counts against your cellular or WIFI data so be aware if you have limited data. It need not be your WIFI. For instance, a friend or Internet cafe or library could supply a WIFI connection.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The app has filter and search functions to help you browse your collection and find what you're interested in.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is a good example of convenience versus cost. Apple gets no profit from Big Finish sales but Big Finish isn't allowed to make an app like iBOOKS which includes a store. Audible works the same way. You can either use a PC to do your purchasing and browsing or you can learn to use Safari or another browser on your iOS device. Firefox works well and is fully accessible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Note:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All cast and synopses below are taken directly from the Big Finish web site. They have tons more stuff. Check them out at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.bigfinish.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Please engage with them via social media, email, etc. Let them know you're out there and appreciate them. They're very eager to engage with their audience.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">The Confessions of Dorian Gray:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dorian is a character created by Oscar Wild. This series posits that he is in fact real and so is the deal with dark powers he made to have all the marks and physical consequences of age and sin appear on his painted portrait rather than on himself. The whole Dorian Gray range is now completed consisting of five series. These range from creepy to moral issues to comedic. Many look at interesting historical events which Dorian has lived through. Each series is hours of drama. Also, Big Finish likes to provide extras like music from the dramas and cast interviews.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Often, early stories are sold separately. This is true for series 1 and 2 of Dorian Gray stories. The final 3 series are sold as complete collections and each are well over 600 Gb. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">This World Our Hell</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">link to drama main page:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/this-world-our-hell-832">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/this-world-our-hell-832</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Trailer:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/this-world-our-hell-832">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/this-world-our-hell-832</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Synopsis</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Paris, 1900. One of Dorian Gray's oldest friends is on his deathbed, locked away in a room at the notorious Hotel D'Alsace, where he is fighting a duel to the death. And when Dorian comes to visit him one last time, both men realise they may never be allowed to check out…</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Note: The Confessions of Dorian Gray contains adult material and is not suitable for younger listeners.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Written By: David Llewellyn</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Directed By: Scott Handcock</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cast</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Alexander Vlahos (Dorian Gray), Steffan Rhodri (Oscar Wilde), Marilyn Le Conte (Genevieve Moreau), David Blackwell (Robert Ross), Sophie Melville (Isabelle)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Sherlock Holmes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Big Finish has done amazing Sherlock but it took a while for them to find their stride. Earlier dramas just didn't have the same level of atmosphere and polish.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The best Sherlock begins with the Adventure of the Perfidious Mariner. By this point, Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl have really found their acting stride as Holmes and Watson. Also, the sound atmosphere has been honed to a wonderful degree. This story followed by the Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes, The Judgement of Sherlock Holmes and The Sacrifice of Sherlock Holmes comprise a large story arc. Gaps in Sherlock's biography left by Doyle are filled in and unanswered questions are given satisfying answers. The trailer for The Perfidious Mariner just lacked any real punch so I went with the trailer for my favorite of the boxed sets: The Ordeals of Herlock Holmes. It had the largest scope reaching back before the beginning of Holmes and Watson's first meeting and forward past where Doyle leaves off after His Last Bow. A real epic journey done in splendid style.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Ordeals of Sherlock Holmes:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">link to drama main page:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-ordeals-of-sherlock-holmes-918?range=27">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-ordeals-of-sherlock-holmes-918?range=27</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Link to trailer:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/the-ordeals-of-sherlock-holmes-918">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/the-ordeals-of-sherlock-holmes-918</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Synopsis</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">'Briggs and Earl now a definitive audio Holmes and Watson' Scifi Bulletin</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">'Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl are, as ever, sublime in the roles that they have made their own' Tim, Mass Movement</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">'Messrs Briggs, Earl and Barnes, director Ken Bentley and the rest of the fine cast are to be congratulated' Roger Johnson, Sherlock Holmes Gazette</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">'Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl, now a firmly established team...' Sherlock Holmes Journal.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Four decades. Four cases. One solution.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the plains of Afghanistan to the alleyways of Victorian London, from the dark heart of the English countryside to the ruin of Europe after the Great War, join Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson in a quartet of astonishing new investigations which span their lifelong friendship, and beyond…</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Written By: Jonathan Barnes</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Directed By: Ken Bentley</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cast</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Nicholas Briggs (Sherlock Holmes), Richard Earl (Dr Watson), John Banks (Inspector Lestrade), Derek Carlyle (Wherry), Blake Ritson (Christopher Thrale), Michael Cochrane (Winchester Bartley-Gower), Eve Karpf (The Gracious Adelina/Mrs Chaunt Maclise/Mrs Hope), Amy Ewbank (Eliza Hinderclay/Judy), Ken Bones (Jim Hinderclay), Caroline Keiff (Tess Dorno), Tracey Childs (Mrs Edgar Curbishley), Marek Oravec (Griesser), Andrew Fettes (Tlitzlmann Blench)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>
<p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Classics dramatized:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Big Finish does wonderful dramas of classic books. They recently released their version of Dracula and have also done Frankenstein. In general these are pretty faithful to original stories but always with their own focus. Dramas are hours long and come with extras like music and behind the scenes recordings. The next classic will be Jekyll and Hyde. I can hardly wait for that one. Choosing which trailer to feature was a hard one but I settled on Treasure Island.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">Treasure Island:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Very good work. Long John Silver was brilliant as was all the cast. Good sound and music. Cast often had multiple roles but it was far from obvious who they were. Very good voice acting. Generous extras. An all around excellent package I'll always treasure.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Link to drama main page:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/treasure-island-838">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/treasure-island-838</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Link to trailer:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(70, 139, 223);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/treasure-island-838">https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/trailer/treasure-island-838</a></span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Synopsis</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When young Jim Hawkins unexpectedly inherits a treasure map, he little knows what adventures await him. Pursued by pirates, betrayed by friends and beset by skulduggery, Jim must brave high seas and low cunning before he reaches the shores of Treasure Island.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">His fellow treasure-hunters include the inflexible Captain Smollett, the indefatigable Doctor Livesey and the irrepressible Squire Trelawney. And then there's the ship's cook: a seafaring man with one leg who goes by the name of Long John Silver...</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure is brought thrillingly to life in this brand new full-cast audiobook adaptation.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Written By: Barnaby Edwards</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Directed By: Barnaby Edwards</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Cast</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tom Baker (Long John Silver/Captain Flint), Nicholas Farrell (Narrator), Edward Holtom (Jim Hawkins/Young James), Tony Millan (Dr Livesey/Blind Pew/First Mate), Tony Haygarth (Billy Bones/Morgan), Nicholas Pegg (Captain Smollett/Black Dog/Redruth/Dick), Gareth Armstrong (Ben Gunn/Israel Hands), Nicholas Briggs (George Merry/Arrow/Lookout/The Real Flint), Barnaby Edwards (Squire Trelawney)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Producer and Script Editor Barnaby Edwards</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-28617852851336673572016-11-12T11:20:00.001-05:002016-11-13T09:07:57.093-05:00Kelly and Company Nov 6 Segment 2: The iOS Ecosystem<div><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello everyone. I covered quite a bit of ground in my second segment on AMI Audio's show Kelly and Company. Due to design constraints, AMI Audio cannot acomodate blog postings long enough to do these important topics justice. Of course, all of this will eventually be covered in Personal Power: The iOS Edition. That project is going to take quite a while to complete though. It doesn't seem right leaving newcomers to iOS devices hanging out to dry that long. I've decided to make a blog posting after each segment where I can give you my thoughts and important information in a less constrained manner. Some of this writing may end up in my guide eventually. Some parts of the guide might well end up in this blog before it is published in its complete form. I welcome feedback about anything I publish here. Most entries will be much shorter than this one. Most of my writing efforts will still go into the guide. In this case, I feel that there's simply a lot that people should think about even before they decide to obtain an iOS device. There's also a lot you need to know in order to get a good start with using an iOS device. Finally, I'm also taking this opportunity to cover this ground in a manner similar to what you'll find in my guide when it's finally released.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It's important to understand that by investing in an iOS device, you are investing in a marketing ecosystem. A lot of blind people rightly rejoyce that they don't have to pay extra for accessibility features like Voiceover. Apple has decided to include accessibility tools into their iOS operating system as well as the operating systems for their computers, watches and TVs. This is a far more progressive approach than any other company I'm aware of. They have invested seriously in making certain that the accessibility features work very well. They extend those efforts to doing a lot to help developers of apps which run on their products make their offerings accessible. This has scored Apple major points in the blind community who are long used to having to pay small fortunes just to have their brand new computers talk. The development costs of these features are born by Apple and by those who pay for Apple products. When you combine this with the low cost of most apps and the ability to buy iPHONEs from carriers paying the cost over a two-year contract, you can appreciate what a massive boon this is for often cash-strapped blind people needing some way of connecting to the Internet and leveraging technology to do other things.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple's iOS devices, especially iPHONEs, combine a whole lot of technologies like a camera, GPS, and other sensors that are also very useful to sighted people. This technology can then be leveraged by app developers for blind and sighted people alike. For instance, the Tap Tap See app, available free on the appstore, can help a blind person take a picture with the rear-facing camera on the phone which is then sent to artificial intelligence and human agents who can provide descriptions through the app for the blind person using it. All the technology necessary was already in every iPHoNE. Blind people who are able to master using these iOS devices no longer have to pay for a specialised device such as GPS systems or product identifyers when their iPHONES can do it all. I no longer have an OCR scanner on my desk. An app called KNFB Reader does a frankly better job in mere seconds rather than minutes. I have an old Trekor Breeze which I haven't touched in at least four years now. Apps like Blindsquare and Navigon do a better job, are easy to keep up to date and cost magnitudes less than standalone specialised devices. To obtain all of the best iOS apps helpful to blind people has cost no more than $300 even including the more expensive ones like KNFB Reader. Bought at full price, that was around $100 US. You'd pay far more than that for any well-known accessible reading software for Windows. Specialty GPS and product identification devices can set you back by hundreds or thousands. The iPHONE you bought on contract can perform all of these functions. In most cases, an iOS device can do just as well provided people take the time to practice and learn the ins and outs.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of this is truly marvelous, but keep in mind that Apple wants to make as much long-term profit as possible. The hardware you purchase lets you come into a carefully balanced array of services where Apple always gets a piece of the action. This has very strong benefits particularly for the disabled. However, there are some disadvantages to this radical inclusive approach. I think it best that people are made aware of these before deciding to get on the bandwagon.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Customer safety and enjoyable experience are top priorities. Apple puts a lot of effort into making as certain as possible that anything new they introduce will work well. They began with a very closed system which resisted third-party innovation. Slowly, when they have felt safe in doing so, they have slowly opened aspects of iOS to developers. Hardware and software are tightly integrated giving Apple complete control of performance and experience. This makes things work more seemlessly and makes it easier to build accessible apps.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple must approve any apps or app updates before they reach the appstore. This makes it an overall safer platform than others like Android. This security isn't fool-proof but is far better than other platforms. This careful scruteny makes it harder to attack or cheet consumers. However, it can cause delays in how quickly and often updates appear to various apps you might use. Developers try to fix as much as possible before submitting an update for their app since there is a delay while Apple ooks any changes over and approves the update. This applies to updates to iOS also. Before they are released to the public, Apple tests and refines things extensively. There have been some exceptions, but typically, a lot of improvements must be made before iOS and the apps which Apple itself develops receive updates. In short, you may wait a while for your particular problems to be addressed. Part of that wait will be while Apple evaluates and figures out what can be done. A lot of that wait will be for enough other peoples' problems are tackled so that more gets fixed with each iOS update released which all users are expected to download eventually. There will be times when something which strikes you as being absurdly simple to fix will remain unresolved for many iOS updates while other more complex stuff gets added or fixed. Being part of the larger picture is a new experience for blind tech users. We're not dealing with a company specialising in accessibility. We're dealinng with a company wanting to maximise the positive experience of all users of their products who has decided to develop accessibility tools in house rather than have customers pay third parties to do it.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We're all learning as we go. This is true for blind users of Apple products and for the engineers and programmers working on accessibility solutions at Apple. They have staff who are blind but that doesn't mean that everyone at Apple understands the needs of blind people. Same for other disabilities. These devices can be used by people with all sorts of disabilities requiring different interface methods. There have been several big "ahah!" moments which have drastically improved things for blind users. Here are two examples of long-delayed but ultimately brilliant solutions to long-standing problems. My first example was the ability to select and move around blocks of text. You might want to move a paragraph above another one in an email you're writing or select text from a web site and paste it into the email somewhere. Ever since I got my first iPHONE in 2011, I never seriously contemplated writing anything longer than an email on it. I'd insist on carrying my laptop with me. Editing text longer than a few paragraphs was simply not practical. Even doing something simple like selecting text from an email to copy into another was next to impossible using Voiceover. Sighted people could do it quite easily by pinching and opening their fingers but this didn't prove very practical for blind people. This basically made all the word processing apps the next thing to useless for any serious projects.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At long last in iOS8 or 9 if memory serves, Apple finally came up with a wonderfully intuitive solution. They added a "text selection" option to the Voiceover rotor. Anyone who could master this gesture could now at last easily move to the start of the area to select, turn the rotor to "text selection", flick up or down to choose between character, word, line, page etc, and then flick left or right to expand or contract the amount by that much. You could select a whole line of text, flick to the "word" setting and de-select the one word at the end of the line you wanted to keep before deleting the accurately and painlessly selected text. Alternatively, you could select a paragraph by expanding line by line until it was all included and then turn the rotor to "edit" where you'd find options to cut, copy, paste, etc. Suddenly, all those word processing apps became quite useful. I no longer take my laptop with me when I travel. I do all my writing on my iPHONE these days using an app called Ulysses and a Bluetooth connected keyboard made by, of all people, Microsoft. Go figure. By the way, I've changed the order of these examples via the process above at least three times before settling on this one being first. That likely took all of thirty seconds not including hemming and hawing.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now here's my second example. It used to be extremely hard to arrange apps on your homescreens the way you wanted them. You had to double-tap and hold your finger down on an app slowly dragging it over other apps to where you wanted it. Simple in theory but capable of inducing insanity in practice. Getting an app to the right homescreen was manageable but that was about as far as it went for me. For brief periods between iOS updates, there were times when it was simply impossible to move apps from the bottom of homescreens without first moving other apps into place which lifted the app you originally wanted to move. Of course, this left the apps used for this lifting stranded themselves. It turned the homescreens of my iPHONE into a very unwelcome and abtuse sliding puzzle of epic proportions. Finally, in iOS10 which is the current version, Apple came up with a wonderful solution. You could flick up or down on an app to get an "arrange apps" option. Double-tapping on this put you in an editing mode where you could easily delete or move apps around by selecting and double-tapping a "move" option and then going to where you wanted the app. Touching the app or folder nearest where you wanted the app moved to, you could then flick up or down to choose among options placing the app immediately before or after the app or folder you indicated as a destination. You could also create folders and add apps to them. A double-tap on the option selected completed the move and this was indicated by a small tick sound. It was further possible to move apps in the same manner within folders. All of a sudden, I could organise everything precisely the way I wanted quite easily. No more holding and draging apps around like a pack of unruly sheep. The solution was the kind of stunning brilliance you couldn't help but admire even while wishing to high Heaven they had thought of it when they first created Voiceover.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like other users, you will eventually reach a point where you can't get the latest iOS version on your device. It will simply be too old. Your device will continue to function potentially for a long time but you won't be able to take advantage of accessibility and other improvements until you obtain more current hardware. My father still uses my iPHONE4 as his basic cellphone. He doesn't even have a data plan for it. He's starting to see some performance degradation but this thing has been heavily used for six years now. I believe he's still running iOS6 being unable to go any further. Over time, the hardware will ware down. There aren't any moving parts other than the few physical buttons. The built-in rechargeable battery and the Home button are prime candidates for being the first victims of ware and tare. After three or four years, they've been through a lot presuming average to heavy use. Long before your device becomes utterly useless and obsolete, Apple hopes you'll want to upgrade because of new capabilities in iOS or in newer hardware. My iPHONE6 serves me quite well but new capabilities like 3d touch intrigue me. More battery life, better water and damage resistance, a built-in useable FM radio, and other hoped for improvements would be nice temptations. Money is tight so I need more to entyce me than many people. I also get comfortable and attached to my devices. As painless as Apple has made the upgrading process, it's still a process and I tend to procrastinate unless they hit on really big league temptations. Sooner or later, circumstances like damage not covered by warranty or too many useful new capabilities to ignore will appear and I'll decide to upgrade to a new iPHONE. Nothing lasts forever, but these devices will last quite a while if their owners protect and care for them. Be aware of what you're getting into and go in with the right expectations. You'll be happier overall.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The other part of the iOS ecosystem is the wide array of digital products and services you can acquire through using your iOS device. These include books, music, movies, cloud storage for all those things, and any apps you purchase from the appstore. Most of these services are self-explanatory. You can buy and read books, play songs, watch movies often with descriptive audio included, etc without any accessibility barriers you might encounter elsewhere. This itself is absolutely liberating as a blind person. If you've lived under a rock or totally out of the loop, you may wonder what on earth an app is. An app is a piece of software which will allow you to do something with your device. It might be a music player, a game, a productivity tool etc. Besides the Ulysses app I'm now using and mentionned earlier, another app called Nature Space is filling my Earpods with the sounds of an equatorial island at midnight. Meanwhile, operating in the background, another app monitors my Twitter account for new tweets and alerts me when necessary. It recently informed me that a CBC reporter named Connie Walker liked a tweet where I mentionned that I was listenning to her new podcast Missing and Murdered. I sent this tweet directly from an app I use to find and listen to such podcasts called Downcast. I prefer it to Apple's free podcast app.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Cost Versus Convenience:</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This brings us to another important aspect of the iOS ecosystem. Namely, the constant choices you'll make between cost and convenience. Apple allows competition in its ecosystem but stacks the deck in its favour largely by the element of convenience or customisation. You can do it Apple's way which is made very easy and convenient, or you can by all means do it someone else's way. The catch is that Apple puts some restrictions on how they can deliver their services if they compete directly with Apple's own. For an example truly near and dear to my heart, let's look at books. For most of my life, I have been restricted like most blind people as to what I can read and how long after people have stopped talking about a book it will be before it is made in an accessible format. You could purchase expensive narrated copies on CD or wait and hope for some library for the blind to decide more patrons than just you actually want to read it. You know that drill. Well provided you have a little spare money to your name, those days are at last gone. You can buy books which will be easily readable and completely accessible at the same time and cost as everyone else can. I can't begin to describe how liberating that single development has been. My bank acount can certainly attest to this. My father can tell me about a book he's reading and I can have it read in order to discuss it at our next brunch. Lets just say I'm profoundly glad I stayed away from smoking and more costly vices. iBOOKS versus Kindle.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Apple provides a way to purchase and read books quite nicely on iOS devices. They call it iBOOKS. The iBOOKS app is included right on your device when you get it. It combines both a bookstore and bookshelf plus reading facilities all in the same place. Five tabs across the bottom of the screen give access to "my books", "featured", "top Charts", "Search" and "Purchased". Just double-tap the tab to go to the respective section of the app. Explore the "featured" section to find out what's hot. For books not found here or in "top charts", use the "search" tab and enter the author, subject or title into the search field. Chances are you'll find the book you want. Double-tap on its title to go into its entry where you'll find all kinds of information about the book. Double-tap on he button that has either a price if there is one or "get" if the book is free. Prove you're serious and the rightful owner by double-tapping on the "buy" button which then appears and the book is yours. It immediately becomes available in the "my books" tab. You can then simply double-tap on the title to open the book. There are buttons to help you move around the book and you can of course read it very easily. This is all completely accessible with Voiceover. Whatever voices you have downloaded for Voiceover to use can be your narrator. Alternatively, you can use a Braille display if you have one around. Through a partnership with a company called Audible, you can purchase audio books read by human beings right in iBOOKs.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of this is very simple and extremely convenient especially for beginners who haven't ventured out onto the Web with Safari. The catch is that you will pay more overall for books purchased through iBOOKS than you would for books purchased through Amazon's Kindle store. Amazon tends to have far more frequent and extensive sales on their Kindle books. overall but Kindle books very often much cheeper. However, to use Kindle, you must learn to browse the web and register with Amazon. You purchase Kindle books from Amazon site and they are delivered to your Kindle app the next time you open it on your device.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This principle is found everywhere throughout iOS. It's always easier to use Apple's apps or services in some way but that convenience comes at a cost. There are times when paying for a different approach is worth doing. IE, the app I use for all my writing is Ulysses. Pages is free from Apple and quite accessible. However, Ulysses was designed specifically for authors of longer documents and I prefer its approach for many reasons.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like natural ecosystems, it is a carefully orchestrated balancing act on a grand scale. I'll be talking about the benefits and drawbacks more in future segments and blog entries. Unlike other companies, Apple has decided that it is worth their while to invest heavily in accessibility and has gained a loyal following of users whose lives they have changed in so doing. I count myself among these largely satisfied people.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Your Apple ID</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 12pt;"> NEVER FORGET YOUR APPLE ID!!! </span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Think of your Apple ID and password as the key to your safe. It's better to create something you'll actually remember and be able to type in reliably than to go for something ultrahard to crack. Your device will be of no use to you if you can't remember your Apple ID and password. All the information like contacts, emails, photos, etc, is stored behind that identification. Everything you purchase through Apple's shopping portals is registered under that information. This includes apps, books, music, movies, etc. It also includes in-app purchases. If the worst should happen and you need to get a new iOS device, you will be able to use the same Apple ID and password to gain instant access to what you purchased on the last device.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You will also likely use your fingerprint and a pin number to secure your device. Again, make this number something you will remember rather than something hard to guess. Don't make it absurdly simple for anybody who knows you but make it easy for you to think of clues to help you remember it easily. You don't want to lock yourself out of your own device. It's happened to lots of people and they must then contact Apple to fix the situation. Apple takes security very seriously.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 32px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 32pt;">Voiceover Basics:</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Voiceover is designed to let you literally feel the screen with your finger and hear what is underneath it as you move it around. Alternatively, you can explore things in left to right top to bottom order via simple finger flicking left or right. Unlike for sighted people, touching the screen won't make things happen. This lets blind people explore the screen safely. To have things happen, special gestures or taps must be used. A single tap is regarded as a touch and won't cause action. A double-tap lets Voiceover know you mean business. Once you understand the basic gestures and concepts, it will all seem very intuitive.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Tapping twice quickly with four fingers spaced slightly apart will activate Voiceover help mode. This mode lets you practice gestures and announces what they will do when performed outside of help mode. When you're finished with help mode, a four-fingered double-tap will exit. Pressing the home button also exits help mode but exits whatever app you might be working in bringing you to your current home screen. Voiceover should speak short instructions such as "double-tap to open" as you move around the screen. If you don't hear such advice, go to the "verbocity" section in the settings for Voiceover and enable hints.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Touching anywhere on the screen will speak what is displayed. To activate an item or choice, tap twice quickly on it with one finger. This is called a double-tap since you are performing two quick taps with one finger. Alternatively, you can examine the screen with one finger and select or activate things by holding your exploration finger on the desired object and then tapping anywhere on the screen with another finger. This is called a split tap. Tapping twice quickly using two fingers at the same time is called a two-finger double-tap. This answers and ends phone calls or causes audio such as music to pause or resume.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">You can explore the screen by flicking your finger left or right. Voiceover will move to each element starting at the top left and moving across and downward. Flicking downward with two fingers causes Voiceover to read continuously from the currently selected position. This allows continuous reading of books whose pages will automatically turn. During such reading, a single tap using two fingers will pause and resume progress. Flicking with three fingers left or right will scroll one page in the opposite direction of your motion. Flicking left or right with four fingers will switch between apps you currently have open.</span></p><p style="margin: 48px 0px 12px; font-size: 24px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">The Rotor:</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This gesture is essential for efficient use of Voiceover. Take two fingers and imagine there is a small knob on the screen. Place the tips of your fingers on the screen as if you were grasping a knob. Rotate your fingers clockwise or counterclockwise as if you turned a knob. This will bring different settings and options into focus. An alternative method for turning the rotor is as follows:</span></p><p style="margin: 18px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Place a finger from your left hand anywhere along the left side of the screen and a finger from your right hand across from it on the right edge. Your two fingertips should be pointing at each other.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Move one finger upwards while moving the other downwards. For example, move your left finger upwards towards the top of the screen while your right finger moves downwards towards the bottom. Both fingers should move at the same time. This will turn the rotor one selection to the right. Moving your right finger upwards while the left moves downwards will turn the rotor to the left.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>To interact with the option selected by the rotor, flic up or downward with one finger. This will change the value of the option. For example, if speech rate is selected, flicking upwards will increase the speed while flicking downwards will slow speech.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;">
</p><p style="margin: 12px 0px 6px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>While learning how to use your device, remember to leave the rotor on a safe option such as characters or words. This will prevent accidentally disabling hints, changing volume or speech rate.</span></p></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-3824413441677924372016-11-12T10:36:00.001-05:002016-11-13T09:11:35.711-05:00Kelly and Company Nov 3 Introduction<div><p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hello everyone. I'm Michael Feir. I'm 42 years old, happily in my second marriage, and living in Mississauga Ontario. It's been an interesting life. While I haven't found employment, I have a work ethic, a whole lot to be thankful for, time and talent to explore and share my discoveries. Instead of continuing to beat my way into a labour force which dismisses around 70% or more of us, I've chosen a different path. While unapologetically enjoying my life's many blessings, I look for ways I can help others enjoy their lives more. Over the years, I've volunteered at an organisation called The Dam which seeks to help troubled youth. I've also worked to address diversity and disability issues in the church I attended prior to my second marriage. I know what it's like not to have enough money to do what I want to and I've long tasted the frustrations of not being able to get around as easily as others.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Despite the efforts of governments and a whole lot of good people, attitudes take time to change. Our marginalisation and the prejudice of those who just can't imagine how they'd live without their sight won't just disappear any time soon. Some of us will have both the talents, gifts and connections to overcome this and find ways into the work force. Despite our best efforts, many of us will simply not have that experience. Just because we can't find ways to earn our livelihoods in the traditional sense doesn't mean we can't find ways to contribute meaningfully and live enjoyable lives. This is the information age. The Internet can give us a sphere in which many of us can make our presence felt at little or no financial cost beyond equipment such as iOS devices like an iPHONE. iPHONEs are particularly valueable since they combine so many things we as blind people can use to improve the quality of life. Just because you can't find work doesn't mean you have no value and doesn't mean your efforts to be a good person and contribute to society aren't deserving of respect. I've been able to find some truly extraordinary friends over the years and help people who others don't have the time for. We can despair at how fragmented our communities and society has become or we can be part of the glue which repairs it making the kind of communities we want to live in. Regarding the despair trip, I've been there and done that. Being angry all the time, even if it's justified anger, will push people away and leave you profoundly drained and utterly alone. I want as many of us to avoid that bitter fate as humanly possible.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The better path is one of engagement. Look for places where your particular interests or knowledge can help other people. Learn about what technology can help you do on your own and with others. That path lead me from the one around a man-made lake near my apartment which my iPHOnE guided me along via GPS to an encounter with a curious lady. That discussion lead me to a six-month volunteer opportunity at at multicultural centre helping older immigrants to Canada understand technology like Skype, smartphones, and Twitter. It has also lead me to contributing weekly to Kelly and Company. Kelly and Company provides a an excellent opportunity for people to contribute their expertise and talents. I hope to do a lot of good with my segments on air and through the blog entries I write to accompany them.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While I haven't given up finding ways to help in my local community, my major successes have been in helping people in the expansive online community learn to use and enjoy their technology. Around 8 years ago, I published a guide called Personal Power. Rather than approaching accessible computers from the employment angle as blindness agencies typically do, I took a different path. All that effort aimed at employment wasn't working for enough of us. Also, it left people with very little motivation or knowledge they could use to pursue fun and personal interests with their computers. I've encountered many people who have gotten and then totally forgotten very costly training because it simply didn't interest them. Their technology sat hardly used at all. Meanwhile, sighted people use their technology in all aspects of life. They have grown up playing games and having fun and don't regard their computers as mere engines of drudgery which might possibly give you more than a ghost of a chance at a job. Sadly, many blind people do. That can lead to a very bad relationship with technology. Skills and comfort with technology learned having fun pay off big time at work and throughout other spheres of life. Technology may not enable all of us to find jobs. It hasn't for me. However, through technology, I've been able to have a real impact on countless lives. The Internet has given me a place where I can share my time, knowledge, interests and talents in a far more unhindered way than in the less accessible so-called real world.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In a nutshell, the philosophy behind the Personal Power concept is as follows: People need to be personally motivated and engaged in order to truly absorb and make optimum use of technology. It's just as important to give people a clear sense of the possibilities a new technology offers in their everyday lives as it is to explain how to use that technology. Manuals are good at explaining the how but don't usually do justice to the why. This also holds true for the often rushed and narrowly focussed training cash-starved agencies give you attempting to meet narrowly defined goals which are not your own. The end result is that you simply don't know enough to care about what you're missing out on. The approach I take with Personal Power is to be certain to give you a sense of the possibilities and how they have impacted my own life and people I've known or heard about. This is included throughout the guide along with the explanations of how to do things. Stories help us learn better so I try to give personal examples wherever it makes sense to do so. The guide is written to incorporate aspects of what you'd have if you were fortunate enough to have an enthusiastic friend wanting to share what he or she has discovered with you. I was blessed to have such friends as I began my journey with my first iPHONE. Their excitement and patience took me places I might never have gone otherwise. I like to share blessings which I myself enjoy. Sadly, I can't physically be there in person to help all blind newcomers understand what they have in their hands by being that enthusiastic good friend. The Internet does allow me to write and publish a guide which is at least a big step in that direction. Combined with the ability to communicate at no cost, it's the next best thing to being there.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Personal Power was utterly ignored by the CNIB and other blindness agencies. However, people spread it around the Internet to those who needed it. The emails poured in after I published the guide making it freely available and sharable on the Internet. Emails from countries I had never heard of. I was written about in a South African newspaper. A lot of completely unexpected consequences happened. I was recently told that the original Personal Power guide was responsible for one disenchanted lady learning how to use her computer. She subsequently met and married her husband and now raise a daughter. Emails like that one are absolutely priceless. When you know your work has had results like that, the insults from people who equate unemployment with having no value to society hurt a whole lot less. Closer to home, I was interviewed on Contact, a show which you can hear on AMI all these years later.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My latest big project is to write a guide which takes the same Personal Power approach to iOS. My iPHONE has become one of my most useful and valued possessions. It lets me carry a thousand fully accessible books in my pocket. I can use it to shop, play games, navigate, listen to all sorts of stuff, write, communicate, and so much more. Had you told me that I'd be in this situation back in 2008 or so, I would have laughed long and hard at you. I still marvel at how a device with so few buttons and so much featureless flatness has become so indispensible. Apple has done a marvelous job making it possible for blind people to use their flat touch-screen devices. However, it has done badly at making it easy for blind people to learn to use them. Apple computers come with a tutorial that activates when the built-in Voiceover screen-reader is first run. It explains enough to get people started well. No such facility yet exists for iOS devices. This often leaves blind people at a profound disadvantage. Before you can obtain the user guide for your device, you need to be able to either browse the web or know how to use iBOOKS in order to read it on your device. The iOS experience for blind people is different enough from that of sighted users that it can be hard for them to offer assistance. Not all apps are accessible even when their description would seem to make it likely that they would be. These things can be large impediments for blind people wanting to learn.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All sorts of help is out there but you have to know where it is and how to reach it. Unfortunately, many blind people simply aren't connected enough to learn where to go and what they can do. By creating Personal Power: the iOS Edition, I hope to change that. Many people were very helpful to me as I made the leap to a flat touchscreen. As my way of paying that forward, I will create an ebook which serves as the friend and teacher people need to make the conceptual leap necessary to derive the maximum possible benefit from their iOS devices. The original Personal Power was over 50000 words. I fully expect this second guide to be far larger. There's a whole lot of ground to cover.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you do nothing else, check out:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">www.applevis.com</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is by far the best resource for blind users of iOS devices. Have a look through the app directories, podcasts and tutorials. Take advantage of an entire community of kind souls who have shared their time, enthusiasm, enjoyment and expertise.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While I'm working on the guide, I hope to use my time on Kelly and Company to share my knowledge and experiences using iOS. Areas of focus in my guide will inform the things I talk about in my segments. However, I'm very much hoping that feedback I receive from you, the audience, will serve to inform my work on the guide making it even better for everyone when it is at last ready for release. Creating the original Personal Power was a two-year journey. I'm hoping this one will go much faster but will take as long as necessary to make it as comprehensive as I can. Given the tremendous untapped potential of these devices and of blind people in need of affordable accessible connective technology, I feel that working on this project and contributing to this show are the best uses of my time and talents. Too many people are getting these devices and aren't able to make optimum use of them in their lives. With your help, I hope to change that in a big way.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and doesn't exactly do wonders for my frame of mind either. Intersperced with iOS talk, I'll be sharing information about things I enjoy in life beyond very supportive wonderful friends and family. For decades, I've been an avid collector of modern audio dramas. Folks, I'll happily let you know where the good stuff is. The same goes for good Internet radio, podcasts, and of course, accessible games. I'm perhaps still best known for creating and editing the Audyssey Magazine which covered computer games accessible to blind people. A community which grew out of the magazine readership still thrives online to this day. From 1996 through 2004, I was editor and community leader. I learned a whole lot about life in many countries, about responsibility, how to settle disputes and most importantly, make certain that those who contributed knew their efforts were appreciated. I take a more low-key approach to the accessible games community these days but step in where I think I can do some good. Games are a big part of my life and always will be. They're journeys of the mind which teach us about the world, ourselves, and those with whoom we choose to play. I learned to type around 80 words per minute by playing text games on my very first computer, an Apple II E. I did so because I wanted to find out what happened next in the stories the games put you in. We learn well when we're personally motivated and in pursuit of our own interests. However, we learn best when we're having so much fun we don't realize it's happening at all.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To keep things simple, I'll focus on games and other entertainments which can be enjoyed through using iOS devices. If you hear about it on my segment of Kelly and Company, you can get it for your iOS device of choice. Due to the widespread adoption of iPHONES, iPADS and iPODS, developers can and often will go out of their way to making their games and other apps accessible. There have been some spectacular audio experiences. Also, many games popular among sighted people have been made accessible to blind iOS users. For starters, look up "Delight Games", "Blindfold Pinball", "King of Dragon Pass", "Papa Sangre II" and "Diceworld" in the appstore. Have a blast. When you come up for air, please feel free to give me feedback. I welcome your input. You can reach me on Twitter by following @mfeir. Email is a good way to get me. I'm at:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px 0px 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">michael.feir@gmail.com</span></p></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-24891005673279950512016-11-01T10:48:00.000-04:002016-11-01T10:48:30.958-04:00Turning 42<p>Hello everyone. Another very early rise for me. I had a sort of nightmare. I don't get a lot of those these days although the one which has haunted me most of my life still recurrs from time to time. This seemed more like the beginning of something. I was a passenger in a plane from the 1940's. The pilot and I were flying over an area of ocean where something dreadful was under the surface. I was supposed to investigate this somehow. The plane was attacked by two fighters. The pilot shot one of them down. I could hear everything happening as the planes roared in and attacked. The pilot shot one down but the other got in behind us and got us. I heard the plane break up around me and then I was falling through a storm. This was all very vivid. I fell until I hit the rough ocean. As that happened, I woke up but there was a lingering sense of dread about what was under the water. It was something man-made and frightenning. I couldn't go back to sleep after that so I got up. My last impression was that my character somehow survived the fall and would continue. I'm torn between being curious about what might be under the water and the desire for a good sleep. It's been a long time since I've had a series of continuing story dreams. That sense of world-changing aweful dread has faded thank goodness. Not the most pleasant way to begin my last day of being 41.</p>
<p>Tomorrow, I'll be turning 42 years old. I'm in such a different place than I was two years ago. Work on Personal Power: The iOS Edition is going very well. Ulysses is proving to be a marvelous app. I can't wait to find out what the first update to it will contain. They're a sponsor of the National Novel Writing Month. Sara has decided to obtain Ulysses on her iPHONE and try to write a novel. One of these years, I may very well take a crack at it. For now though, I'll try and do an equivalent amount of work on the guide. It's a massive project and will keep me busy for ages.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, thanks to a connection Sara had, it looks like I'll be a consultant on a show called Kelly and Company. It'll be on the audio stream of</p>
<p>www.ami.ca</p>
<p>and I'll be speaking about iOS and apps useful to blind people. Also, they want me to talk about audio entertainment like accessible games, podcasts and audio dramas. I deeply appreciate the opportunity. It goes nicely with my own large project and gives me a sense of contributing to the world while I hammer away at it. I haven't found any way to volunteer in the local community. I haven't totally given up on that score but the opportunity will have to come my way. I now have plenty to do that I know will have a real impact. Socially, I'm feeling pretty good these days. I'm not seeing tons of people but seem to be getting enough interaction to feel balanced.</p>
<p>This weekend will be a great one socially. My friend Steve is coming over to spend my birthday weekend with us. We'll be having dinner with my family at my parents' house this evening. Tomorrow, at least a couple more friends will come over for a visit. Beyond that, there are no special plans that I know of. There don't need to be. I'd certainly enjoy some sort of special birthday outing one of these years but when you get down to it, people are far more important than place. Good friends and family are where it's at.</p>
<p>My first presentation on AMI will be on November 3 at around 4:30 PM. I very much look forward to begining this new adventure. It'll earn me a bit of extra money which is within the limits of what ODSP rules let me keep. That'll certainly be helpful. More importantly, it'll inject some routine and structure into my life. That'll also be very helpful. It's too damned easy to just drift along. I'm glad I've had the preceding drift period though. It has let Sara and I start our marriage off well and learn about each other at our own pace. Not many couples have time to do that in this frantic world. We've been blessed in that way.</p>
<p>As I work on the guide and try to help people with iOS and apps, I keenly feel the frustration of not being able to physically be there with them and show them correct gestures and where to touch the screen. The lady I'm helping who was the tipping point to starting work on this guide is way up north. I can't just pop over and help her get past these beginning stages where nothing feels natural and everything seems like a struggle. It would be so helpful if there were a network of local people who could be competent with Voiceover and iOS who could help blind users reach a basic level of mastery. At best, my guide will put a healthy dent in the ignorance out there of what's possible. In an ideal world, there would be a centre somewhere that I could work in where people would come for a couple of weeks guided exploration and instruction in the use of their devices and more importantly, the apps and opportunities these devices offer to pursue one's own interests outside of employment. That mentality of job being the only way of earning society's respect has just got to go! They can't have it both ways making it super hard even for really honest and skillful blind people to find secure employment. Sooner or later, society really has to recognise the heavy price we're all paying for that kind of attitude. As much as I like our current prime minister, I was glad that young people are objecting to this new work world where nobody should expect secure employment. People are starting families and settling down in communities later in life and that means more stressed families living in fragmented ill-formed communities. Sooner or later, those who are driving this ajenda out of a sense of greed and profit will frankly get what's coming to them. Way too many people are being left out and that is already leading to trouble. I'm known for my optimistic view of things and consciously look for good news. However, even I can't escape the conclusion that things really need fixing.</p>
<p>I'm still optimistic enough to think that they can be repaired. This really doesn't have to be a one-way trip to doomsday as some people would have us believe. Frankly, it seems like some of us need things to go that way in order to derive meaning. All the bad news gives them lots of amo for unrelenting dismal judgemental apathy. Thankfully, there are more discussions happening about this. People are waking up to the dangers and I think we'll ultimately manage to find a healthy way forward. For one thing, more good news needs to be dug up and shoved in everyone's faces. People going that extra mile to help each other, agencies succeeding in actually improving things, etc.</p>
<p>From this place of relative safety, I plan to do all I can to help other people enjoy aspects of their lives and see the good that's out there. Western society isn't a lost cause. It just needs a healthy moral and spiritual boost. Opportunities to help in small ways seem to keep appearing in my life. I plan to keep taking them while enjoying the blessings in my own life as much as possible.</p>
<p>It's tuesday morning. My birthday was great this year. A couple of friends ended up not making it over but a long-time friend Steve Murgaski was there. Sara and I had a great weekend with him. He also joined us for our family gathering at my parents' house. That was a lot of fun. My four nieces were very energetic as usual. Dan gave me some Scotish beer which was gleefully consumed by Steve, Sara and I. So was a bottle of champaign Steve brought to the gathering. It was splendid to have so much great conversation over the weekend. I always make certain there's plenty to listen to if we run out of things to talk about but we almost never do.</p>
<p>I received quite a bit of iTUNES and Amazon gift money as I hoped I would. This let me round out my book and music collection. On the music side, I got a couple Passenger albums as well as Nora Jones. I also added some new age instrumental music from Tim Janus, John Adorney and a couple others. As to books, the Dark Tower and First Law series are all now on my Kindle app as well as some other books I've wanted for a while. I've gotten through the first Dark Tower book and have nearly finished the second. There's so much I completely forgot about from my first reading of the books.</p>
<p>I've rearanged my desk surface again. I think I'll be using my Braille display to read bullet notes while I've also looked at the Ferrite recording app a little more closely. I've discovered that I can record with it while that app is in the background and it doesn't cause Voiceover to go quiet. That's going to be very useful for recording demonstrations of how to do various things with iOS. I can then send the recordings into AMI for inclusion in my contributions for the show. It won't work while wearing a headset though. Voiceover gets real quiet in that circumstance.</p>
<p>Sara has started another attempt at NANOWRIMO. It's where you try and write a novel in a month. They deem 50000 words to be a complete novel whether the thing actually has an ending or not. Sara wants to actually bring this story to an end though. Guess we'll see how that goes. I'm going to be inspired by her efforts and try to do as much work on my guide as she does on her novel.</p>
<p>I'm a bit worried about the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre. They're either in the midst of a big web site change or else having larger financial trouble. I fervently hope it's just the former. There's a rather splendid sounding big drama which was supposedly coming out soon based on an rpg campaign. I'm keen to get a digital copy of this. I have no use for the props or CDs. They're really going to town in that department this time apparently. Sara and I heard The Thing at the Doorstep last night for Halloween and it was quite well done as these dramas usually are. Great fun. We also heard the first Massey Lecture. Those will be broadcast on the show called Ideas which is at 9:05 PM on CBC Radio1. They are then made available on iTUNES. I prefer to try and catch the lectures live and then get the book based on them which is usually available on iBOOKS. On the bright side, Big Finish just released the final series of Dorion Gray stories. That'll make for absolutely splendid listening when Sara and I find the time. We've enjoyed all of Dorion's supernatural adventures so far and these last four stories will each be an hour long. That'll be splendid. There's also an extra Behind the Scenes disk worth of materials. I get the mp3 downloads but things are still divided up by disk.</p>
<p>I heard the first episode of Kelly and Company, the show I'll be contributing to. It was quite a good start they managed. It shouldn't be much of a problem providing enough notes to help them keep conversation going in my segments. I'll catch their second show this afternoon at 3:00 PM. I use the OOTunes app to listen to AMI Audio on my iPHONE. It seems to work well but I got a warning that the app needs to be updated for iOS10. Hope the developer will do that. It's a fantastic app and I'd hate to see it go under. Over the past while, I've gotten a few of those warnings. I've had some apps for ages which haven't been updated for a long time. There's talk that Apple might remove apps which are no longer compatible or being updated. Hopefully, nothing still useful will be lost in such a purge.</p>
Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-6991098193279785842016-09-16T13:42:00.000-04:002016-09-16T13:42:10.400-04:00A Splendid SummerHello everyone. It has been a truly enjoyable if somewhat unproductive Summer. Sara and I have gone on a couple of trips and caught up with friends. The weather became extremely hot at times forcing us to stay indoors. Thankfully, the air conditioner has stood us in good stead for yet another year.
Aside from the hot weather, we've had some construction take place in our local area. This should largely be out of our way now as the community centre is now finished and ready for use. I actually went over there around a week ago. It's a pretty big facility. The echo of voices off the walls makes it harder to keep oriented. Still, if some interesting organisation takes root in there, I may well volunteer. It doesn't get much easier in terms of walking there. I think I could do it even in Winter time. I think it'll be a good place for the community.
Hearing has been quite an issue for me these past months. I had my very first ear infection just as Sara and I were going to the W. Ross Mcdonald School reunion. I had no idea how painful ear infections could get and was within a hair's breadth of refusing pain medication the doctor I saw prescribed for me. I just couldn't conceive of an ear infection being anything like as painful as it would have been had I not taken it. That kept me from using my left hearing aid for quite a while. Doing everything with one ear was damned difficult and frustrating. Still, I had a most enjoyable time despite that. While Sara was busy helping with the event, I was able to catch up with a number of people I had never thought to speak with again. It was most enjoyable. We stayed for a visit with Sara's family afterwards and I was able to relax and read while my ear slowly got better.
Later, we went to a cottage for a week with Sara's family. It was a fun and mostly relaxing getaway. I went in the lake for swims a couple of times. It was good to spend a longer stretch of time with them while they were able to relax. Lots of time for reading, games of digital dice on our smart devices, fresh air and good food. Thankfully, I had gotten over my infection and had two working ears for that. I enjoyed the soundscape of the area and there was plenty of good conversation. My travel geer served me well. I didn't really miss my laptop at all. Increasingly, I'm using my iPHONE for damned near everything these days.
One experience which is still far superior on the laptop and speakers is listening to radio dramas. Sara and I have had a splendid time in that regard. We enjoyed Big Finish's production of Dracula. There was also Spiteful Puppet's Robin of Sherwood and some of their altogether different Hood series. Very different takes on the same British outlaw and company. There were other treasures too. I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Shadows Bloodlust. Both of us have been rather engaged in reading quite a lot of books. Our reading interests differ somewhat. However, there are points of overlap such as Steven King's Bazaar of Bad Dreams. That turned out to be absolutely splendid. Forty of his best short stories plus all sorts of nuggets of writer's wisdom and experience.
One unfortunate casualty of this Summer was my right hearing aid. I was playing with Aladdin and he managed to accidentally knock the thing right out of my ear. You really only have a few fractions of a second to recover something like that from his jaws. It took longer than that for me to realise it was gone. I had to go without my right ear for longer than I thought I would. Thank goodness the first replacements turned out to be free of charge. After that, it's a pretty stiff replacement fee. Needless to say, I'm a heeping a lot more conscious and careful when I'm near Aladdin and bent over for any reason.
Between the hot weather and construction blocking the path around the lake, we didn't end up walking as much as I thought we would. I've spent a good amount of time on the balcony which spends much of the day sheltered from the sun. Alas, the wasps are making that a less attractive place to be these days. My desk has long since lost that fresh wooden smell and witnessed many failed starts.
As Summer draws slowly to a close, things are changing. Both of us are immersed in creative projects. Sara has become a broadcaster on Mushroom FM. She has a Celtic music show called Come By The Hills. She prepares it ahead of time but participates in live discussion taking place on Twitter and via email with listeners. Things are going quite well so far. They've had her do more as time has progressed. She does quite a bit in our bedroom which has proved the better recording environment. I try to be as careful as possible not to disturb her. The door is good at keeping noise out as long as it's not too drastic.
Meanwhile, I've started work on Personal Power, the iOS edition. I really didn't see the need to do so until a volunteer happened to read comments I made about KNFB Reader. He thought I could possibly help a blind lady he helps and hikes with in northern Ontario. The CNIB worker they talked to had no idea about that marvelous app. Other people had inquired every so often whether I would consider writing a guide for iOS devices but I really thought people were aware of the resources out there. Spending time on Vorail, a social network with an accessible iOS app, showed me that lots of people really didn't know the half of what they could be doing with their devices besides talking to each other. It became clear to me that the most useful thing I can do over the next year or more is work on this guide. Similar to the original Personal Power, it will strive to provide a personal human experience-driven introduction to iOS and impart a sense of how it can make a personal difference in blind people's lives.
I'll also be contributing regularly to a show on AMI Audio. I'll be doing segments on iOS which dovetails nicely with my work on the guide. I'll also do segments on entertainment including audio dramas, podcasts and books. I might even get a bit of financial compensation for my troubles. That would certainly be welcome. It would help with holiday expenses for shure. These two projects will certainly add routine and interest to life. It feels good to be valued by wider society.
Apple has just released iOS10 plus their latest iPHONE. That always livens things up. iOS10 is so far proving to be downright marvelous. There are plenty of updates. Everyone is scrambling to update their apps in order to take advantage of the new capabilities. Things ought to settle down in a week or two. I'm glad this has happened so early in the process of working on Personal Power: the iOS Edition. I only have to change a few chunks of what I've written already to accommodate the changes. For writing, I'm very fond of an app called Ulysses. It won an Apple award and has been made accessible for blind people using Voiceover. It's specifically designed for writing longer projects like books. I like it even better than Jarte and can't wait to see what they add to it over the next while. They seem very responsive to user feedback. I've also begun to use an app from Agile Tortoise called Terminology. It's a dictionary/thesaurus app with online extensions that seems to work a bit more smoothly with Voiceover these days. Unfortunately, Wordweb isn't working quite as smoothly as it once did. Other good dictionary/thesaurus apps include the Merriam Webster dictionary, Wordbook and Wordvault. I don't find the dictionary.com premium app very easy to navigate. The Wikipedia app is still performing quite wonderfully. Now that iOS10 makes moving apps so easy, I've been organising my homescreens quite a bit. I'm far less averse to the idea of having apps in folders and may eventually do that. However, for now, they're on their proper pages.
It's another friday morning. I'll be participating in a trivia quiz on AMI Audio pretty soon now. Been up since around four. Fortunately, other than this quiz, there are no major plans. Just plenty of good listening. A lot is happening this weekend including my father's birthday, a meal out with Sara's parents, a church picknick and possibly more. Sara and I look forward to hearing Jonathan Mosen unbox his brand new iPHONE7+. I'm particularly curious how wel the lightning dock and adapter help him cope with Apple's decision to remove the headphone jac. Personally, I don't think it'll be a major problem for me. I'm not upgrading for hopefully a year and possibly longer. Still very pleased with my iPHONE6. I'm happy with pretty much all my tech gear at the moment. It's all about having the right apps. I've made some very good investments and discoveries in that area.
I had fun but did not prevail in this morning's quiz. I think that rules me out from the upcoming championship game in a couple of weeks. I'll have to listen to that day's Live from Studio 5 show to hear how it turns out. There's actually quite a lot of good programming on AMI Audio. I've tuned in every now and then and will do so more now that I'll be participating. Who would have imagined that a school reunion I never would have thought of going to were I not married to a board member would lead to this sort of opportunity? I know a lot but have found it hard to actually put it to use beyond enriching my personal life and hopefully my family and friends. Every now and then, something like this happens and what I know is, for a brief while, valueable to people. These days, with marriage going well and all of this new momentum, I haven't been feeling disconnected. There's enough social in life to give me a sense of balance. Having a big project nicely underway feels very good. Maybe, at long last, I've really found my stride and this can be a lasting stable state of being.
Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-89562482287273482192016-05-04T14:01:00.000-04:002016-05-04T14:01:05.893-04:00Life Marches OnHello everyone. It's been entirely too long since I wrote a blog entry or much of anything else. No real good reason for that other than enjoying my marriage and coming to better terms with my hearing loss. That last has been irksome at times. When I take my hearing aids out, it's like someone has rapped a bunch of cotton around my head. As Spring has arrived, one bright side of this is that the birds which used to annoy me so much are far less of a bother. I'm certainly counting my blessings over all.<br />Sara and I have enjoyed the last months together as social life slowed over the Winter. We can both keep ourselves and each other engaged. Games, books and audio dramas are enjoyable for us both. Now, we're both starting to think more about our projects and getting on with things. Now too, things are picking up again in the social life department. We're seeing more friends and look forward to a wonderful Summer as far as that goes. Aladdin hasn't had a whole lot to do but is very loyal to Sara. She's getting more used to his nature so very different from Rocky's. Playing with him is certainly a form of exercise for me, but I've got to get into a habit of walking around the lake again. I've gone on a few good walks and we'll be off again to Symposium Cafe for a dinner with Antony and Angela. It's been quite a while since we've gotten together with them but they're settled in Mississauga so I expect to see a lot more of them over the next while. Steve visited recently. As part of that visit, he joined us at a jam cession with people from my former church. Everyone had a good time. Mushroom FM had its sixth birthday bash. Sara and I caught as much of that as possible with other things happening over the weekend such as Palm Sunday and a visit from Mark and Wendy. Events piled wonderfully atop each other giving me a very nice sense of being connected. Mark and Wendy haven't been able to see us for a while due to a baker's cyst Mark had to cope with on his leg. They've been out of action for quite a while but that seems at last to be getting better.<br /><br />On the whole, my sleep hasn't been too bad lately. However, there have been some rough patches. I sometimes find myself at my most alert very early in the morning. I've been able to cope well for the most part. I'm hoping more fresh air and exercise will help as I spend more time outdoors with this gear. I'm using my iPHONE as my laptop replacement writing this on my bluetooth keyboard. Rather than using my Trekz Titaniums, I have a new bluetooth speaker in front of me which is able to keep up with my iPHONE thanks to its use of bluetooth 4.1. There's no annoying lag between a touch or swipe and hearing what Voiceover has to say. I can pug everything into my external battery and not worry about any extension cords. It's a nice way to operate. It should serve me well over the Summer and on trips.<br /><br />I recently had to replace my laptop thanks to a nasty bit of spywere which simply wouldn't let go and die peacefully. Thankfully, the money for a low-end but very serviceable laptop was there. I think it will do what I need for the next number of years. Hopefully, I won't have any more equipment needs for a good long while. Sara's Braille display is really old and that might well be the next major expense. It seems that organisations have banded together to produce an actually affordable 20-cell display. From the sound of things, the Orbit Reader 20 has rudimentary notetaking abilities and can read electronic Braille documents. It's not quite as snappy as a more costly display but is apparently quite durable. My Focus40 Blue will more than meet my needs for ages but I'd love to feel an Orbit Reader20 in action at some point.<br /><br />May should be a great month for gaming and audio dramas. Bigfinish will be releasing Dracula as well as what I expect is the final installment of this current arc of Pathfinder Legends. There also might be an anniversary Dark Shadows release. All great stuff. Add to that the Robin of Sherwood drama I backed all those months ago. I think it comes out this or possibly next month. Audible has just released a version of Alien with Rutgar Hower. That should be very good. Perhaps, this will finally be enough inspiration to get my EarThought blog going. Guess we'll see.Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-69377982777615245022016-02-03T08:06:00.001-05:002016-02-03T08:06:25.209-05:00Travel Gear Review 2016<div>travel gear 2016</div><div><br></div><div>Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since I've gone over my set of electronic travel gear. This past year has seen a lot of change in that department for a few reasons. I'll go over these as well as my selections for what I now regard as my equipment choices. Students and other readers have enjoyed this sort of review collective in the past. For those hoping for life news, wait a while longer. Winter can be a slow time of year especially right after the holiday season.</div><div><br></div><div>What has driven me from my comfortable laptop and accompanying equipment? For one thing, size. I have sleep apnea and need to bring my CPAP machine wherever I go. The machine isn't heavy or large but is thick and takes up pack space with the hose and power supply. You never want to put too much pressure on the hose. Another thing I've noted during my last few outings was that the laptop took up too much pack space along with other necessities and had to be carried separately. This meant I had two packs to potentially deal with while getting on and off busses and such. The other major change has been hearing aids. This makes wearing earpods uncomfortable while using hearing aids although they still are best for audio gaming and night time listening when I don't wear hearing aids. Hearing loss also makes carrying around various speakers and large headphones less attractive.. At a volume level where I would enjoy hearing music or other audio, other people would find it intrusively loud. Also, when I'm out and about, I like to have situational awareness. I don't want to be isolated from people or events happening near me even if I am doing my own thing. That happens a lot particularly when sports are being watched. Nothing other than fashion bores me more. In such circumstances, it's nice to have unobtrusive entertainment of one's own choosing to hand.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks to a warranty and a battery bulge of epic proportions, my trusty 32-gb iPHONE 5S has gone to iPHONE Heaven. I now carry an iPHONE 6 with 64 gb of memory. This affords me enough space for quite a lot. Compared to the 16-gb iPHONE 4 I started with around five years ago, it's positively luxurious. The speed and responsiveness has reached a point where switching between tasks and having things happen in the background is easy and smooth. In effect, my smart phone has become my laptop. This means my trusty laptop of many years is now my home base and desktop computer.</div><div><br></div><div>Having one's smartphone as a travel computer requires you to have some accessories on hand. I carry everything in a small carry-all bag I purchased from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It can be slung over a shoulder or carried in hand. I used it back when I had a netbook and it now comes into its own all these years later. It's sturdy, has several zippered compartments, is rugged and water resistant. I can't remember what its name was for the life of me but Mountain Equipment Co-op has many suitable bags. Visit them at:</div><div>www.mec.ca</div><div><br></div><div>While the ability to dictate is helpful, you really need a proper keyboard for any sort of sustained comfortable rapid writing. To that end, I have chosen the Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard. It works very well with my iPHONE. I can type quite quickly on it. The dimensions are 27.2 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm and its weight is around 12.875 OZ or 365 G. I find the keyboard's heft a good thing. It combines nicely with a couple of thin rubber strips on the bottom to keep it sturdy and still while you type. Key travel is very good especially when you consider how thin the keyboard is. There's a nice tactile response. I tend to do mostly typing with the keyboard and use the iPHONE to control Voiceover and do other things. Voiceover features many keyboard commands but I'm not quite as good at mastering a bunch of new key commands as I once was. The touchscreen is so intuitive that there really isn't any great need for me to do so.</div><div><br></div><div>Provided I plug the keyboard in every so often for a couple of hours, I need never worry about it lacking power. The battery can apparently last up to six months of average use. Tactile switches and buttons make controlling it easy. The keyboard is sturdy enough for use on one's lap. The hard keyboard cover provides space to lay an iPHONE flat and has ridges to let you stand a tablet at an angle provided it isn't in a thick case. This creates a small basic two-piece laptop. The top detaches which can be useful in tighter circumstances. It is magnetically held on and will turn off the keyboard automatically when folded shut. The top and keyboard are sturdy enough to withstand bumps and other mishaps. I paid under $80 for the keyboard in July of 2015 and doubt I'll need to replace it any time soon. There are switches and buttons controlling volume, music playback, muting, and more. I don't use all of the switches mainly because things are so easy to do on the iPHONE itself. You can acquire this and many other accessories at:</div><div>Www.amazon.ca</div><div><br></div><div>For listening privately to what comes out of my iPHONE, I now use the Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headset. This headset is light and is warn hung over the ears with the headband extending down behind the neck. Transducers rest in front of each ear sending sound through the cheekbones and skull. The transducers are about as big as an average thumb. In total, the headset weighs 1.45 OZ or 41 G. This leaves one's ears free for hearing what's happening around you. Also, you can wear the Trekz Titaniums without interfering with hearing aids. The hearing aid receivers and band of the Trekz Titaniums can both fit comfortably behind ones ears. I've found it more comfortable to wear the hearing aids on the outside and the Titaniums next to the skull.</div><div><br></div><div>In general, there doesn't seem to be any lag. I can touch my phone and get immediate audio feedback. The Trekz Titaniums use version 4 of Bluetooth and support many different profiles. The only fly in the ointment is that sometimes, calls aren't routed to the headset for a while. You can always answer them using the iPHONE itself provided you can reach it. This only happens once in a while. The battery life of the Trekz Titaniums is said to be six hours of constant playback. They have up to ten days of standby time. I've gotten whole days of heavy use with the battery still in the high or medium range. They require two hours for a full charge. Unlike other headsets, the Trekz Titaniums have built-in speech and can tell you their battery level. You can also check this right in the status line or battery section of your notification centre on iOS devices.</div><div><br></div><div>The controls are quite simple. A button on the left transducer lets you use smartphone features like SIRI plus has some added functionality. I found this out when I held it in too long and it called the last number I had phoned. Buttons on the right part of the ban will adjust the volume, turn the headset on or off, and holding both of them in for a second will toggle between two different equalization settings. The button which doubles as a power and volume up button has a slightly raised dot on it and is closest to the right transducer while wearing the headset. Pressing one of the buttons while no sound is playing will inform you of the battery level. A very well considered control setup.</div><div><br></div><div>The sound quality depends on one's bone structure. For me, it isn't as full as standard earpods or over-ear headphones. However, the sacrifice in richness is minimal for casual listening. The trade-off is easily worth having situational awareness. Music sounds more than adequate. Stereo positioning does happen but it's less refined than you'd experience with more traditional headphones. I don't recommend these for audio gaming where spacial position of sound is critical. For working or general listening, however, the experience is quite good provided you're not an audiophile and have expectations fitting the technology. Compared to earlier models, the Trekz Titaniums offer markedly superior sound and much less leakage. I can walk outdoors hearing directions from GPS software in my iPHONE while still hearing what's around me. I don't recommend listening to music while navigating via sound. It still distracts even though it comes in via the skull. Hearing rich sound such as music from the Trekz Titaniums as well as sound in your environment does take some getting used to. The mind just doesn't expect to be able to hear both music and surroundings well at the same time when wearing a headset.</div><div><br></div><div>For recording, I can't recommend using the microphones in the Trekz Titaniums. While good enough for phone calls, the noise cancellation robs recordings of sharpness. The microphone built into your i device is far better for recording. SIRI understands me quite well if I invoke it while wearing the Trekz Titaniums. It's nice to be able to hold in a button on the side of your head and command the phone in your pocket to do things. Moving around with phone in pocket and no wire dangling down in front of you is absolutely splendid. The other great thing about the Trekz Titaniums is, quite simply, the titanium. The headset flexes comfortably while you wear it and curls up when you take them off. Being a memory metal, you don't have to worry about them losing their shape even if you really scrunched them. They come in a nice travel case which easily fits in the pocket along with your phone. However, I don't often think to bring the case and simply stuff the headset into my pocket when not needed. It does sometimes become uncomfortable after long periods of use depending on how the ban moves. The headset is so light that I have often forgotten that I'm wearing it. In order to fund the creation of these headphones, Aftershokz Held an Indiegogo campaign. I backed the project in time to get in on early bird pricing. The current price for the Trekz Titaniums is $129.00 US. You can order directly from:</div><div>Www.aftershokz.com</div><div><br></div><div>I resisted the whole Bluetooth movement chiefly due to the extra battery drain one incurs when using it. Why have devices which not only require their own batteries but take power from your computer's battery? Hearing aids were what has finally forced my hand. That and having more than one cord snag and break out of my former wired headgear. Now, I can work completely wirelessly. It still feels a bit strange as well as liberating. Since my computer lacks bluetooth drivers, I wear regular headphones overtop of my hearing aids and Trekz Titaniums while working at home. The Trekz Titaniums are capable of accepting input from more than one device at a time. They call it multipoint functionality. I look forward to using that whenever I get around to upgrading my laptop.</div><div><br></div><div>For those occasions where one wants to share audio, I currently lack an adequate bluetooth speaker. My UE Boom is using and outdated version of bluetooth. This imparts a quite noticeable lag to proceedings while navigating with Voiceover. You'll tap or Flick and then wait half a second for a response. There are doubtless plenty of better options out there. However, given my hearing loss, I no longer feel as well equipped to advise people in this area. Finding something at a reasonable price which exhibits no lag yet still sounds good is best left to others to find at this stage.</div><div><br></div><div>My iPHONE6 is serving me quite well. It's noticeably faster than the 5S and I get better results when doing OCR or having objects recognized via the camera. I keep it in an Otterbox Defender case. It includes a built-in screen protector and feels comfortable in the hand. The feel and construction are a definite improvement over the Defender model for the 5S. I like the rubbery feel of the case's outer shell. At the moment, I have enough on-board storage for current needs as well as some lavish extras. Sixty-four gb is enough for over a thousand tracks of music, over 100 audio books plus something near 1000 ebooks, a 90hour fully dramatized version of the Bible, an off-line reference containing the most popular 250000 articles from Wikipedia, eleven pages of apps plus associated data, and more. I still have room to spare. Should the need arise, there are now external storage drives for iOs devices. When making the shift from use as a phone to use as a laptop replacement, even thirty-two gb was tight but serviceable. I wouldn't recommend trying it with sixteen gb.</div><div><br></div><div>Keeping all your devices charged is the last order of business. Bluetooth does exact a toll on your smartphone or tablet's battery. This hasn't been as severe as I had presumed prior to recent experience. iOS9 is doing quite well at managing power. I recently invested in an</div><div>Anker Astro E7 Ultra-High Capacity 26800mAh 3-Port 4A Compact Portable Charger External Battery Power Bank with PowerIQ technology. This is enough to fully charge my iPHONE ten times if necessary. This isn't a pocket-sized battery mainly due to length and weight. It weighs in at 490 G, just short of half a kilogram. Its dimensions are 16.6 x 8 x 2 cm. In a bag with other gear, it doesn't take up much room at all. It is quite rugged and sleek coming with a softer protective pouch. Three USB ports are available to charge multiple devices at once. The ports are intelligent and detect how much charge to give items plugged into them. An 18-month warranty is provided should anything go wrong. It comes with a built-in LED flashlight which is useless to me. I've used a light detector app on my phone to make certain that it hasn't accidentally activated. As a blind user, there's no way to check how much power the battery has remaining. This would have been nice. However, with so much spare capacity, I don't expect this will be a problem provided I charge it fully every month. When my iPHONE is plugged into it, IOS states that the phone is on AC power. The recharge rate is very fast compared to other external batteries I've used. When the battery itself is charging either via a USB port or wall adaptor like the Apple power brick which came with my iPHONE, the batter warms up. It's smart enough to stop charging when full and will cool quickly when this happens. There's one button on the side of the battery which activates the display. Holding that button in or double-tapping it will turn on the flashlight.</div><div><br></div><div>A smartphone is never going to give you quite as much power or storage as a laptop. I'm currently blessed to have both options. Given my current requirements while away from home, this more portable setup works very well. There are some tradeoffs. The bulk of my audio drama collection is for all practical purposes off limits. I shudder to think how much it would cost to store my full collection of audio in the cloud. And then, there's being able to get at it without going over your monthly data plan. That's where an external drive would come in handy provided you could access content without the need for Internet use.</div><div><br></div><div>I don't always need to type lengthy emails or documents but can when I wish. I can even set the typing feedback so that it's silent while using a bluetooth keyboard and doesn't cause voiceover's audio ducking to disturb the music I listen to while writing. When using the touchscreen keyboard, typing feedback is there where I need it. The keyboard is somewhat smaller than a normal one. Just large enough not to seriously cramp the hands but you do lose a bit of speed and comfort. When I'm in different places and need to charge up my stuff, I can do so without needing to inconvenience anybody. The only time cables need to be in evidence is when things are plugged in. Otherwise, nothing can get snagged, impede packing up or get lost. Even when I eventually track down a suitable speaker, I doubt my bag of tricks will exceed two kilos unless I add snacks and a bottle of water for an extended trip.</div><div><br></div><div>The piper always has to be paid somehow. The price for such convenience is that good devices are held hostage to the capacity of their batteries to hold a charge. When that is no longer possible, the device is useless unless the battery can be replaced. We'll just have to see ultimately how long the batteries maintain the ability to hold a charge. On the bright side, having each component a separate thing makes replacement more manageable. These devices seem to come with 18-month or 2-year-warrantees. Changing to a new iPHONE won't require me to discard bluetooth devices like the keyboard and headset. Provided I don't opt for something lighter, my external battery should serve me for a good many years.</div><div><br></div><div>The portability of an accessibility solution centred on my iPHONE is absolutely mind-blowing. My desk used to have an OCR scanner taking up a good part of its surface. That scanner has been gone for over a year now. An app called KNFBReader has let my iPHONE replace it. Most of the time, it does a far faster and better job despite the camera being operated by a blind man assisted by artificial intelligence. You can easily carry all the computing power you need for normal day-to-day tasks in a pocket. Has someone suggested this would be the case even as little as five years ago, I would have laughed openly. All the accessories fit in a small light bag and merely enhance various aspects of the user experience. These accessories can be taken, left and upgraded as required.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm glad the iPHONE6 wasn't much larger than the 5S I treasured. A larger screen does nothing for me. This iPHONE6 was an unexpected but very pleasant step in my journey through the Apple ecosystem. Combined with my chosen accessories, it has afforded me the ability to travel a whole lot lighter than I would have thought possible.</div><div><br></div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-19492685311341831682016-01-04T14:42:00.001-05:002016-01-04T14:42:39.767-05:00Half a Year Newly MarriedHello everyone. It has been entirely too long since I've written in this blog. For that, I apologize profusely. Many completely blog-worthy things have happened and should have been remarked upon in this space. In terms of accomplishment, there isn't all that much to crow about. However, in terms of enjoying married life, Sara and I have done pretty well. No major disagreements or fights to speak of. After all this time, it's hard to know where to begin. I can't promise to cover everything but will attempt to hit the highlights of our first six months together.<br /><br />Sara and I continued to enjoy an excellent Summer. All the administrative stuff with ODSP and Peel Housing has been settled. That took somewhat longer than I expected but I needn't have worried. Sara has done better than I at keeping her creative projects going. She has begun recording and editing things using her new Blue Yeti microphone. The bedroom seems to be best suited for that. She also does pretty much all the major cooking these days. She truly delights in having her own kitchen. While I appreciate its utility and my good fortune to have an apartment like this made affordable, I've never taken much enjoyment from cooking. Not like Sara. Dish duty is more my area. I've found us some good auditory entertainment to while away the hours companionably. We've been enjoying audio dramas from my collection and have expanded it thanks largely to Big Finish. Dorian Gray has been mostly excellent. So has Sherlock Holmes, Pathfinder Legends and other splendid additions. The Dark Adventure Radio Theatre has graced us with some nifty H.P. Lovecraft Stories turned into audio plays. That has to be the best discovery of the year. They've put out some really fun stuff.<br /><br />By far though, a very supportive cast of family and friends have been key ingredients to our happiness. It was wonderful spending time at the Murgaski cottage with Steve, Michelle and Steve's parents. Everyone had a good time. Drink and the Summer sun each took a toll that was well worth paying in my humble judgment. We have also enjoyed visiting Shannon and Kim. After hearing so much about Shannon's new place, it was interesting to actually go there and get a real sense of it. We'll have to see about having them visit us here after the holidays. Adam and Jeanette have graced this abode a time or two. So have Mark and Wendy. Good friends all. One thing I hope for this coming year is that we have some more regular opportunities for socialization.<br /><br />I don't believe I'll be able to finish the book by the middle of next year as anticipated. I'll still take a good crack at it but there's so much ground to cover. I really don't want to break it up into more than one book. There's enough of an interest in public circles to make me think that one book would be grabbed as a novelty particularly by parents and friends of blind people, game design students, game developers and such. Not a whole series though. I don't really want to do a text book so much as a personal examination of the accessible gaming history I've experienced plus current possibilities and speculations on current and future possibilities. I will also discuss why it's so important that blind people be included where ever feasible in digital and other forms of play. Getting the balance right is going to be a real bear. I also have my game to get back to eventually. I've done well at gathering resources for both these projects over the past while. The epic find of the year in that quarter was discovering an accessible way to obtain and read The Art of Game Design: A book of Lenses 2nd ed. by Jesse Schell. When the Kindle version proved impossible to read with its iPHONE app, I was forced to look farther afield and discovered CRC Press. they use something called Vital Source bookshelf. It's a system for reading text books which is made to be accessible with screen-readers. There's an app for i devices and versions for Windows and Mac. The books are typically of the more expensive type you'd get for taking courses in particular fields. Students in particular will want to check out:<br />www.crcpress.com<br /><br />Getting to know my new church community is going to be a long and slow process. Sara has really found a place of honour there. They value her musical abilities very highly. She knows her religion and her music. Hearing that combination at work is something special. I'm getting along well with people. they're very patient and kind. It's a lot to take in from a theological standpoint. I'm simply not on the same spiritual walk. There are some real glimpses of the kind of wisdom the Orthodox approach affords. I am increasingly confident that my patient observation and attentiveness will prove rewarding. I really don't know that I'll ever be a real believer in their take on what God wants of us. At the same time, it's obviously the same God I've believed in and worshipped so differently.<br /><br /><br />My birthday this year was tremendous fun. Adam and Jeanette came over and we all enjoyed a Swiss Chalet dinner courtesy of my lovely Sara. One present, a trio of unique soundscapes put together by Julian Treasure, has just arrive during the holidays. I'm very thankful to have been able to use my gifts to acquire music and books which had waited on my wish list for ages. I also got the whole Afganada series of audio dramas done by the CBC about Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Lots of superb listening for long Winter days.<br /><br />One new challenge I'm just beginning to contend with over the past couple of months is the use of my hearing aids. It really changes the character of what I can hear and adjusting is really not a thing to be taken lightly. This is especially true when you rely on sounds as heavily as I do for getting around. Sara has proved to be remarkably patient as I've gone through this process. I've had to do everything from acquiring more gear to figuring out which mode works best in given circumstances. Both of us use headphones most of the time while working so asking each other to repeat what we said is nothing new. She's far more tranquil with the reality of my hearing loss though. At some level, I'm still blown over by the fact that I, who take pride in my listening abilities, must now use hearing aids to do what used to come naturally. I go through batteries more quickly than average since I need to increase volume in many situations to hear more comfortably. Just how many of these little pellets will I use up before life ends or I need to upgrade to new hearing aids? The Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headset is a godsend since I can use it for my iPHONE and keep all that sound and phone calls separate from my hearing aids. I've just discovered yesterday that wearing the Aftershokz on the inside and hearing aids outside doesn't stress the hearing aid wire and is far more comfortable than having the aids between the headset and my skull. Little tricks like that are worth their weight in gold.<br /><br />While the past months have been largely about settling into married life, I really want this coming year to be more about building up that life socially and re-kindling my creative drive. The resources are largely in place now for that to happen. A final piece of the puzzle just arrived in the form of Trekz Titanium headphones from Aftershokz. These are a godsend and work wonderfully with my hearing aids. I'll be doing a travel gear update post early in the new year. It's long overdue and I believe things have reached a tech plateau for me in this area. Kickstarter and Indegogo have been a big and exciting part of that process. The Trekz Titanium campaign did a masterful job of making me feel like part of the team. That journey will continue as more of the projects I backed in other non-tech areas such as audio dramas and one game development book are slated to be finished in the coming year.<br /><br />I really have to curtail my spending. This will be a struggle for me. I've managed to obtain pretty much every urgent item on my wish list over the past while but at a cost I simply can't sustain over time. I don't want to bar myself completely from purchasing books but really need to be more disciplined in my approach. I think I've come to a point where I'm ready to do that. Expanding life socially is going to require some money when it really starts hap penning. That'll likely be when things warm up. Winter has arrived in force here. We're under an extreme cold alert today. My cote, Winter boots and gloves are already in use and in good shape as far as I can tell. I don't plan on many Winter walks unaccompanied but am glad I was able to test my new iPHONE, Blind Square, hearing aids and Trekz Titanium on a windy outdoor walk recently. It's nice to know I can do it if I have to provided I take my time. Echoes of cane taps sound different enough to throw off my sense of distance from things. Too much wind simply renders walking with any idea of my surroundings beyond the tactile completely impossible.<br /><br />Technology expenses should be a thing of the past for a while. I believe I've managed to hit a stable point where my needs are met nicely both at home and while travelling. My laptop will now be my desktop and likely won't leave home. The iPHONE6 has 64 gb of storage which is plenty for books, music, apps, documents, etc while on the move. I recently put my new Anker external battery and Bluetooth keyboard to a more sustained field test over the holidays and am very pleased with the results. More on that in my upcoming travel gear entry.<br /><br />There is a whole lot to look forward to this year. More of my long-time friends are popping up in Mississauga. I fervently hope we'll be seeing more of Bill, Tony and Angela. One larger-scale project I really need to undertake is more orientation and mobility lessons. I'll need to get onto the waiting list for those. Mastering the bus system, learning to get to doctor/health appointments, getting downtown to Union Station and assorted other destinations on my own would be a very good thing. At the very least, getting enough information into Blind square and enough notes on routes to be useful to me is worth pursuing. I realize that mobility will always be a weak area for me but it's time for taking another stab at doing better there.<br /><br />We have a brand new government in power who are ready to undo a lot of stagnation and stifling Harper had in place over the past decade. Societal cohesion has really taken a back seat to the budget and we need that changed. I'll be very keen to see how much the new government will be able to do of what it promised to do. I'm glad we're doing our part to help the Syrian refugees. Shutting the doors wasn't the right approach in World War II and it wouldn't serve us well here. I just wish Trudo hadn't bitten off more than we could chew in the quest for votes. I hope things and proceed at a measured pace which the systems here can realistically deal with. I also feel for the many would be immigrants who have been forced to wait longer due to this crisis. Should there be a meaningful way in which I can help at all, i won't say no. I've felt like this country just hasn't been its best self this past decade. Restoring our good compassionate society is long overdue.<br /><br />One area I must always be thankful to Harper for is his ongoing support of the underwater archaeology surrounding the Franklin Expedition. I now have an accessible copy of Franklin's Lost Ship, in iBOOKS and have begun to read it. That story of arctic explanation has long fascinated me and we'll at last start to really learn from the remains of hopefully both ships. I don't believe the Terror has yet been found. That will be a profound journey of soul-searching and really force some people to re-examine their thinking on Native culture.<br /><br />The Truth and Reconciliation report has come out and seeing how that gets dealt with will be very interesting also. I have copies of the six volumes on my iPHONE awaiting my attention. I don't expect that to be a pleasant read but think we ought to be aware of the negative forces employed to shape the society too many of us take for granted. I really feel for everyone involved in the process which produced these documents. I hope generations of Canadians to come are given a better sense of our past and are able to figure out how we can really move forward. Even with abundant good will in our current politicians, I have no illusions that there's some magic quantity of resources, apologies or anything else which could really mend this sort of damage quickly.<br /><br />A whole lot is hap penning in accessible games. This year seems bout to be a historic one in that quarter. Another successful kickstarter has put 64oz Games in a position to acquire new equipment to drastically increase their capabilities to make board and other games accessible which have heretofore been beyond the experience of blind people. I was a small part of that kickstarter and expect a 20-sided die for my small donation. I still intend to eventually acquire at least one board game from them for our own entertainment and for hands-on research for my book. While it's sad to see Something Else Ltd. bow out of the audio game creation business, they have left a wonderful legacy. A number of the best audio games to grace iOS as well as a sound engine which those more skilled than I will doubtless put to good use. The year will kick off with an English localization of a Korean games called Ji Eum. I've earned a place in the credits with another small donation. Lots of new stuff coming up. Fallen London should be a spectacular offering on iOS rivalling even King of Dragon Pass for death, scope and replay value. Six Ages, the next game from A Sharp, makers of King of Dragon Pass, should also be a very good experience. PC gaming is picking up again. Marina Break is a strange combination of Breakout and Pinball which appeared over the holidays. So far, no other projects in development for play on Windows have been widely discussed. I expect everyone's busy getting used to Windows10 much like I am.<br /><br />I started this blog entry before Christmas. It is now January 4th, 2016 as I bring the post to a close. Due to a switch in calendars instituted by Sara's church of choice, this is in fact a few days before Christmas. Time travel just isn't as flashy as it's made out to be. I do appreciate having the more secular family events separate from what should be an interesting religious Christmas experience this week. This does however mean that our new thankfully small and out of the way Christmas tree will remain on our dining room table for a while yet. Life is both wonderful and strange. And with that last observation, I will leave you for a hopefully shorter while between entries. Happy New year everyone.Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1059284945276242920.post-9951681205500383532015-07-28T17:39:00.001-04:002015-07-28T17:39:52.606-04:00First Blog Post using iPHONE and Bluetooth Keyboard<div>Hello everyone. I'm writing this blog entry using my new Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard and the Voice dream Writer app. So far, this is proving to be a very effective combination. </div><div><br></div><div> The keyboard is, of course, smaller than a laptop keyboard. Around as spacious as a netbook's keyboard. A whole lot lighter and thinner. It's solid enough to use on my lap without worry but it's barely long enough to be stable with knees close together. The key travel feels surprisingly good. I can type quite quickly and accurately already.</div><div><br></div><div>It's very hot outside so Sara and I have spent the majority of our time indoors. The air conditioning has served us very well indeed. We had a great Sunday visiting Shannon and Kim as well as attending church. Everything went very well and it was fun getting to know Sara's good friends a bit better. Travel by Go Transit costs a bit but is pretty convenient going between cities. We'll have to budget for these occasional expeditions.</div><div><br></div><div>A lot is happening in the tech area over the next while. Applevis is marking its fifth birthday with a week of giveaways. This celebration could really do people some serious good so I've been retweeting some of their giveaways in case any followers can benefit. I'll eventually be doing a review of this keyboard for the site once I've learned all of its quirks and features. I think I may choose to use this setup to write my book. The only real issue is that Voice Dream Writer needs to import rtf files and turns them into plain text. Still, I may write the rough draft as a text file and then move it over to the laptop once it's ready to be turned into a manuscript.</div><div><br></div><div>Another aspect of this is getting used to the Voice Dream Writer and Blogger apps. I'm hoping this will make blogging while out and about a lot easier and less irksome. I believe I can simply cut and paste this entry into the Blogger app. Guess we'll see. I'm certainly enjoying playing interactive fiction using the Frotz app. It works wonderfully with this keyboard. Doubtless, Mudrammer would be just as pleasant an experience.</div><div><br></div><div>I can't believe July has up and vanished already. The month has just flown past even without iced Summer drinks from Tassimo. They're finally available and will hopefully arrive soon. I also have a USB charging hub on the way to keep all my travel gear charged. For most trips, I'll use the keyboard and my iPHONE as a makeshift laptop. It's a very light and portable solution with excellent longevity thanks to my external battery pack. However, it does lack the capacity and comfort factors of a laptop and accessories. We'll see how it goes. </div>Michael Feirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09575730227032076617noreply@blogger.com0