AppleVis Podcast

In this podcast, Alex Hall gives us an introductory overview of YoruFukurou (also known by its translated name of NightOwl), a powerful Twitter client for Mac OS X. With a relatively simple and accessible interface and lots of keyboard shortcuts, YoruFukurou is probably the most popular Twitter client amongst VoiceOver users. Alex has also posted a text guide to this app. YoruFukurou is a free download from the Mac App Store or direct from the developer’s website.

In this podcast, AnonyMouse gives us a walk-through and demonstration of Blindfold Crazy Eights, a fully accessible Crazy Eights card game for iOS which has been designed for rapid audio play. Blindfold Crazy Eights includes several variants of Crazy Eights, such as discard or draw, and discard or draw until you can discard. Since there are many rules choices for Crazy Eights, you can customize the game for many of those rules. You play against the computer. You can flick up or down to hear the cards, and tap to play a card or draw from the deck. A complete guide to the gestures is included in the help. You can customize the game to your liking: how much extra information is spoken and how quickly it is spoken. Blindfold Crazy Eights is a free download with a STARTER PACK in-app upgrade that unlocks all features and gives you a second Crazy Eights game.

In this podcast, Fred Scott gives us an introductory overview of Sound Forge Pro for Mac. Fred gives us a look at the interface and some of the tools and features offered by this powerful and highly-regarded audio editor.

In this podcast, Joseph King demonstrates how to enable and disable ambient noise reduction on the Mac. He also briefly discusses the purpose of the feaqture and how it might be used to the maximum advantage.

In this podcast, Thomas Domville demonstrates Marco Polo: Find Your Phone by Shouting MARCO!, an app that helps you find your iPhone and perhaps provides a bit of entertainment as well. The price of the app is 99 cents.

In this podcast, David Woodbridge shows us how to locate items purchased by other family members using Apple’s Family Sharing facility. The demonstration assumes that you already have Family Sharing setup and working.

In this podcast, David Woodbridge demonstrates how the release of Mac OS X 10.10.2 has fixed a bug which had previously been preventing VoiceOver users from listening to audio messages under Yosemite.

In this podcast, Alex Hall demonstrates the use of Audio Hijack. This Mac app allows you to record audio from individual apps, the entire system, or any internal or external microphones you have. Better still, it can mix them together, apply effects, adjust volumes, live monitor, and more. If you do podcasts or anything else that requires recording more than one audio source at once, you can't go wrong with this app. It's also fully accessible, as talked about in its page on AppleVis itself. To take full advantage of this app, there are a few concepts you need to understand, and those are what this podcast covers. It isn't a complete walkthrough of Audio Hijack, but rather a demonstration of the trickier parts that would confuse most users. If you run into problems, leave a comment below, or ask Rogue Amoeba on Twitter.

In this podcast, David Woodbridge gives us a quick demonstration of how to use the Apple Remote app to access and control an Apple TV from an iOS device.

In this podcast, Ivan Soto provides us with a quick walk-through of using the PP jailbreak tool for Mac. PP is a jailbreak tool from a Chinese team of hackers of which little is known. This tool is currently the only one available to jailbreak iOS 8.1.2 on Mac. As Ivan demonstrates, it does have a few issues for VoiceOver users, but is usable. At this time, it is unknown how safe this tool really is. And, as always, you should bear in mind that jailbreaking your device may void your warranty and has potential security and stability implications. For these reasons, we will not be held responsible for anything bad which may result from jailbreaking your device.

In this AppleVis Extra, Jamie Pauls, Thomas Domville and Jeff Bishop talk with Winston Chen, developer of the incredibly popular Voice Dream Reader about the newest app in his line of Voice Dream products. Voice Dream Writer is a word processing application for iOS that looks to be a real game-changer with regard to mobile productivity for the blind community. You are welcome to follow Voice Dream on Twitter. Be sure to check out the Voice Dream Facebook page as well.

In this podcast, Scott Howell reviews Intuit's Online Payroll app for iOS, which allows for fast and easy payroll on-the-go that automatically syncs with your Intuit Payroll account. The app supports Intuit Online Payroll, QuickBooks Online Payroll, Intuit Full Service Payroll, QuickBooks for Mac Payroll, and Intuit Online Payroll for Accounting Professionals. Online Payroll is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra,  Michael Hansen and Thomas Domville talk with Hans Wiberg, creator of Be My Eyes. Launched internationally on 15th January 2015, the Be My Eyes app allows blind iOS users to connect with sighted volunteers via live video chat to ask questions about objects or situations that they have encountered. Hans provides some background to Be My Eyes, discusses the response to the app since its launch, and answers some of the questions which have been raised by users over the past week. Be My Eyes - helping blind see is free to download and currently free to use.

In this podcast, AnonyMouse gives us a walk-through and demonstration of Be My Eyes - helping blind see. This recently released iOS app offers to connect blind users with sighted volunteers over live video chat. Using the camera on the iOS device, the blind person can then ask questions about an object or situation that they need help identifying. Be My Eyes - helping blind see is a free download from the iTunes App Store and is currently free to use.

In this podcast, Juan Alicea gives us a short walk-through and demonstration of iCast Pro, an iOS app that enables you to take your online radio talk show on the road. With nothing more than an iPhone and your existing Shoutcast or Icecast server, this app lets you do professional talk shows anywhere, anytime. iCast Pro is a $4.99 download from the iTunes App Store. Juan’s own stream can be found at: http://jcdjmac.kjscradio.com/webplayer.php