AppleVis Podcast

In this podcast, Michael Hansen takes the listener on an “audio tour” of the AppleVis website. Michael walks the user through the AppleVis home page, stopping to describe—and sometimes demonstrate—the site’s many features. Michael describes the basics of submitting content to AppleVis; browsing entries to the iOS and Mac app directories; creating new forum topics; and much, much more.

In this installment of the AppleVis Extra, Michael Hansen, Thomas Domville, and Monique Ramirez speak with Mike Wolfinbarger, VP Mobile Development at Weather Decision Technologies. Mike talks about his background in software development; tells us about WDT’s newly-accessible weather app, Weather Radio; and answers many questions about the Weather Radio app—and beyond. Weather Radio is a $4.99 download from the App Store.

In this podcast, David Woodbridge gives us a walk-through and demonstration of the Netatmo Urban Weather Station. After first discussing the hardware supplied with the Weather Station, David takes us through the companion iOS app. The Netatmo Weather Station contains a unique set of sensors to monitor your living environment. These measurements are transmitted wirelessly to your iOS device. In addition to a wide range of weather-related data, the Netatmo Station monitors your indoor air quality (CO2 concentration) and can remind you to ventilate your home when necessary. You also get real-time updates on the local Air Quality Index, enabling you to choose the best time for outdoor activities. The Netatmo Weather Station also monitors noise pollution and measures home or office acoustic comfort.  The Netatmo Urban Weather Station is available from various retailers, including Amazon and the Apple Store. Its list price is $179.95.

In this podcast, Edgar Lozano gives us a walk-through and demonstration of Innovative Language 101 - Learn English, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Chinese, and more. This iOS app provides access to the thousands of language lessons and learning tools offered by www.innovativelanguage.com. Edgar takes us through the entire app and  shows us a sample of content available within the Chinese kabguage course. The app itself is a free download and offers a free 7-day trial to any of the available language courses. A variety of subscription options are available as in-app purchases.

In a follow-up to his recent podcast on installing Windows on the Mac using Boot Camp, Armando Maldonado demonstrates how to use the Talking Windows Pre-installation Environment to install Windows from a USB drive. This is particularly useful for owners of Macs which have no optical drive. You will, however, need to have a USB sound card. For more information on the Talking Windows Pre-installation Environment and how to burn the ISO files, Armando recommends that you listen to this podcast: http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/wp-content/uploads/gravity_forms/3-98839556b66feeea5fbbaaad6c392a4c/2013/09/TalkingWinPEDemo.mp3 The Talking Windows Pre-installation Environment files can be downloaded from: http://blog.bryansmart.com/talking-windows-7-pre-installation-environment Armando has recorded a short Q&A in which he answers some of the questions raised by listeners to the original podcast: www.applevis.com/sites/default/files/audio/ArmandoQandA.mp3

In this podcast, Crayton gives us a walk-through and demonstration of QCast, a podcast manager and player for Mac OS X. QCast gives you an accessible and intuitive interface to subscribe and listen to your favorite podcasts. It’s features include: Listen to thousands of podcasts from all over the internet, right from your desktop. Automatically receive new episodes as they are posted. Search for new podcasts to listen to Rewind, fast forward and adjust the playback speed of the episode you are playing. Resume both downloaded and streaming episodes right where you left off after closing QCast or switching to a different podcast. Listen to password-protected podcasts Import your favorite podcasts from other software or export your podcast list to another podcatcher. A trial version of QCast can be downloaded from http://q-continuum.net/qcast. The full version costs $10.

In this twenty-third episode of the AppleVis Extra, Michael Hansen, AnonyMouse, and Monique Ramirez talk with James Gashel—Vice President for Business Development at K-NFB Reading Technology and Secretary of the National Federation of the Blind’s Board of Directors—about the upcoming KNFBReader Mobile iPhone app. James discusses some of the challenges associated with development of KNFBReader Mobile for iPhone; tells the listener what sets KNFBReader apart from other OCR apps; and also answers many questions from the interview panel, ranging from an explanation of the app’s $99 price tag to whether the app can run on older devices—and everything in-between. Some of the features of the upcoming KNFBReader iPhone app will include: Recognition of PowerPoint slides, from up to 25 feet away. Scanning and OCR for PDF documents. A "Field of View" report for documents. A book scanning mode for quickly scanning many pages. The ability to navigate text by word, sentence, etc. The ability to save in a variety of file formats, including PDF. The ability to scan business cards and save to contacts Recognition and translation between different languages. K-NFB Reading Technology has made a recording of the official unveiling and demonstration of the KNFBReader app available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/69efpxabpv8d0h6/KNFBReader%20Official%20unveiling%20NFB14.mp3. The National Federation of the Blind has also published audio of James Gashel's KNFBReader presentation at the federation's 74th annual national convention on July 6, 2014.

In this podcast, Khalfan Bin Dhaher gives us a demonstration of Inquisitor's Heartbeat for iOS, an audio game that catapults the player right into the 1300s at the height of the brutal Inquisition. Accused of heresy for being in possession of a forbidden book, Nicholas Eymerich, the game’s main character is imprisoned in the dungeon of a castle: he must escape from his cell and retrieve the precious book that has been stolen from him, before it is taken to the monastery beyond the forest and destroyed forever. In more than 6 hours of gameplay, the player has to find his way through 35 labyrinthine levels divided into 7 different settings, without being spotted by guards and ferocious beasts, trusting only his own ears. There is also an ‘endless’ game mode, where the mazes are generated one after the other, always with a different map. Inquisitor's Heartbeat is available from the iTunes App Store for $16.99.

In this podcast, Armando Maldonado demonstrates how to install Windows on a Mac using Apple’s built-in Boot Camp feature. Boot Camp installs Windows in a dual-boot configuration, making it possible to have both Mac OS X and Windows on the same computer. Armando shows us just how easy this is, by walking us through the process on his MacBook Pro.

In this podcast, Michael Hansen demonstrates version 3.0 of Weather Radio by WDT. Weather Radio provides users in the U.S. with life-saving severe weather alerts directly from the National Weather Service; a subscription-based lightning alerts feature; as well as detailed conditions and 7-day and hourly weather forecasts. Weather Radio was recently redesigned and updated to version 3.0, and the developers made accessibility a priority in the new release. In the podcast, Michael demonstrates Weather Radio's different features--including the lightning proximity feature--and also provides a workaround to the one accessibility issue he found with the app. While not mentioned in the podcast, some users have reported that the app freezes on the setup screen; to fix this, community members have had success closing Weather Radio in the App Switcher and reopening it--repeating this process two or three times if necessary. Link to Weather Radio by WDT in the App Store

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, Monique Ramirez, Michael Hansen, and AnonyMouse interview Ivan Venturi from TiconBlu, one of the developers behind The Inquisitor Audiogame Adventure. In addition to giving some background on the development of The Inquisitor Audiogame Adventure, Ivan announces the release of Inquisitor’s Heartbeat for Mac and Windows. Ivan also discusses the development of a racing game, called Audio Rally Racing, which is currently in the croudfunding stage. Those interested in contributing to the development of Audio Rally Racing may visit https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/audio-rally-racing. Lastly, Ivan gives us a look at some of the many audiogame titles that are currently in development.

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, AnonyMouse and Ken Downey meet with Marty Schultz, developer of Blindfold Racer. Marty gives us an inspiring story about the Blindfold Racer history. Find out how it all started as am idea from a group of grade school kids that Marty transformed into a reality. Blindfold Racer gives us the chance to get behind the wheel of a car. So take your courage for a spin … try to drive with your ears instead of your eyes! Listen carefully so you don't crash into fences and watch out for animals crossing the street. Finish each level quickly to get points ... cross all the finish lines and prove you're the Champ! Blindfold Racer Is available for download from the iTunes App Store.

In this podcast, Crayton shows us a way to simultaneously record your voice and system sounds when using Audio Hijack Pro on a Mac. The method described by Crayton utilizes LineIn, a free application that enables the soft playthrough of audio from input devices. In simpler terms, you can use LineIn to play sound through a microphone or any other device plugged in to your Sound In port. If you need to input audio from an external device, recreating OS 9's "Play input through output device" option, then LineIn is perfect for you.

In this podcast, AnonyMouse gives us a demonstration of TextSync, an app that turns your laptop or desktop computer into a wireless keyboard for your iOS device. Using your wireless network, your typing with appear instantly on the iOS device. You can also use the “save snippet” button to save notes to your snippet database for quick access in the future. TextSync - Typing from Computer is a free download from the iTunes App Store.

In the first of a planned series of podcasts, Alex Hall introduces us to programming with Xcode by creating a new project, logging a line of code, checking that log, and carrying out some basic debugging. If you are unfamiliar with Xcode, it is an integrated development environment containing a suite of software development tools developed by Apple for developing software for OS X and iOS. The text guides mentioned by Alex in this podcast can be found on the AppleVis website at http://www.applevis.com/guides/programming-ios and http://www.applevis.com/guides/programming-os-x