AppleVis Podcast

Join TDog as he gives a demonstration of some of the accessibility issues that are found in OS Mavericks. He will show some of the problems within the Web Browsing, iWork, and the iBook.

In this podcast, Steve Murgaski walks us through how to assign braille keyboard commands to VoiceOver actions. He also demonstrates how to change the way a braille display behaves through the Activity feature found in the VoiceOver Utility.

In this podcast, Khalfan gives us a demonstration of Papa Sangre II, the much anticipated follow-up to the original Papa Sangre iOS game from 2010.   Papa Sangre II is a horror game that takes as its starting point a macabre concept: your own death. The player’s goal is to return to the land of the living by exploring an immersive story-world, collecting memories of dead souls to get back to the other side.    Contrary to traditional games, Papa Sangre II has no visuals: the gameplay takes place in audio only and makes use of the most immersive technology available: the player’s own imagination. In effect, Papa Sangre II is a video game with no video!   Throughout the game, players are guided through the underworld by the omniscient narrator Sean Bean, famous for his roles in Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.   Papa Sangre II utilizes a 3D binaural engine capable of generating true 3D sound from mono recordings. The spatial audio encompasses all 360 degrees of rotation, allowing sound to be positioned all around the listener’s head, including behind. Papa Sangre II features over 1,600 individually processed sounds.   Papa Sangre II is available from the iTunes App Store for $3.99.

In this podcast, Alex Hall shows us a technique for recording audio output from your Mac and your voice simultaneously. This is useful for when recording demonstrations of Voiceover, where people need to hear the Mac's sound but also need your explanation.   Alex references using Audacity to record, but any recording app will work just as well (Garageband, Quicktime, and so on)..   Software used in this demonstration:   Audacity SoundFlower

In this podcast, Alex Hall gives us a demonstration of some of the English TTS voices available to VoiceOver users in OS X Mavericks. A number of these voices are either completely new or have been updated for Mavericks.

In the seventeenth edition of the AppleVis Extra, Thomas (AnonyMouse) and Robert Carter (The Tech Doctor) talk with Bill Rappos of the Sentellia Group about Fleksy - Happy typing. A brief discussion of the past and present starts us off followed by a look into the future of this app. The company also shared some exciting news with the AppleVis listeners exclusively in this podcast. Fleksy is a free iOS app that is a state-of-the-art text input system so powerful that you can type without even looking at the screen.

IN her first podcast for Applevis, Jessica gives us a demonstration of AudioStretch. She also shows us how to make the app more accessible by assigning labels to the unlabeled buttons. AudioStretch is a $4.99 download in the App Store.

  In this podcast, AnonyMouse shows us how to use event calendars from external sources with the native iOS calendar.   For the purpose of this demonstration, he uses a calendar sourced from iCalShare, a website that lets you subscribe to any of the thousands of calendars generated by its users. Once subscribed, events in those calendars will be automatically added to the iOS calendar. This removes the need to manually add events such as public or religious holidays, sports schedules, or academic calendars.   iCalShare is located at http://www.icalshare.com

In this podcast, AnonyMouse gives us a walk-through and demonstration of Timely - Time Teller, an iOS app that will announce the time at regular intervals and at specific recurring times. Unlike similar apps, Timely allows you to have multiple alerts active at the same time, meaning that you can have sounds and frequencies to suit your specific needs.   For example, you may want the time to be spoken on the quarter hour at certain times of the day, but at other times only need a tone on the hour or half hour.   Timely doesn't need to be open or even running in the background to work, meaning that you can simply set it and forget it.   Timely - Time Teller is available from the iTunes App Store for $2.99.

  In this podcast, David Woodbridge shows us how to download, install and access an emulator called MESS which has been set up to emulate an Enhanced Apple IIe with an Echo II Plus speech synthesizer. This will enable you to run old talking Apple II games and programs that use the Echo speech synthesizer.   The download link for the package mentioned in this podcast is: http://www.bluegrasspals.com/messapple

In this podcast, Scott Davert takes a look at some of what is new and changed for Braille users in iOS 7. He also discusses some of the bugs that Braille users may encounter and identifies a few possible workarounds.

In this podcast, AnonyMouse takes a look at Twitter Alerts, a new feature recently launched by Twitter that aims to help people get important and accurate information during emergencies, natural disasters or when other communications services aren’t accessible.   If you sign up to receive an account’s Twitter Alerts, you will receive a notification directly to your phone whenever that account marks a Tweet as an alert. Notifications are delivered via SMS, and if you use Twitter for iPhone, you’ll also receive a push notification.   Currently, a number of organizations in the U.S., Japan and Korea can send Alerts. A list of participating organizations can be found at: https://about.twitter.com/alerts/participating-organizations

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, Scott, Thomas and Michael are joined by Judy Dixon, Consumer Relations Officer with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, to talk about the recently released BARD Mobile app. The BARD Mobile app provides access to Braille and talking books directly from the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD). BARD contains nearly 50,000 books, magazines, and music scores in audio and Braille formats, with new selections added daily. With BARD Mobile, you can play the audio materials on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. If your device is connected to a refreshable Braille display through Bluetooth, you can also read the braille materials available on BARD.   Before you can use this BARD Mobile app, you must be registered with a braille and talking-book library in the NLS network of cooperating libraries. If you aren’t registered but think you qualify for this service because you cannot read regular print as a result of a visual or physical disability, locate your local library for the blind and physically handicapped at http://www.loc.gov/nls/find.html or call 1-800-NLS-READ to apply for the service.

In this podcast, David Woodbridge demonstrates two improvements to the latest software update for the Apple TV which make it more accessible to blind and low vision users. Firstly, VoiceOver will now announce details of any AirPlay speakers which are available. Secondly, low vision users can now change background and foreground colours and set the transparency to make the interface easier to read.

In this podcast, AnonyMouse takes a look at how you can now use FaceTime to make audio-only calls in iOS 7.