All Cool Blind Tech Shows

Here at Cool Blind Tech it’s not just about technology, but also about people and today we had a unique opportunity to speak to a visually impaired entrepreneur, Brent Harbolt from The Harbolt Company, a store which focuses on unique and cool mainstream gadgets we can all use as blind or visually impaired individuals. We speak with Brent about his beginnings and how he started his store, we hear about some of the challenges that Brent has faced as a blind person starting his own business and how he has met and overcome these difficulties. Brent tells us about his business and how his passion for customer service and interaction with people has formed the vision and mission for his store. Brent describes his methods for locating items he sells and how he has fun with his business. Brent also is offering our listeners a discount at his store, so give the podcast a listen to hear how this rather unique business got started and for an exclusive coupon code for Cool Blind Tech listeners should you find a gadget you just must have. If you wish to visit The Harbolt Company, you may follow this link: www.harboltcompany.com You may also visit The Harbolt Company Contact Page by Clicking Here should you wish to speak with Brent directly.

We have shown you that Levtec Winstaller works with the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9926 from Microsoft, however that demonstration used the Winstaller driver to deploy the Windows image. Winstaller does support loading NVDA with the actual Windows setup. With this option enabled in the Winstaller image, a visually impaired person can use the same setup program that a sighted person would utilize. If you would prefer to use the setup program provided by Microsoft, such as if you were doing an install over a previous installation of Windows or repairing a copy of Windows that was not booting, this might interest you. This is a quick demonstration of what the Windows setup program looks like and how it works. Please remember that we are demonstrating what would be considered to be an advanced topic and you should not attempt this yourself unless you have an understanding of what you are doing. This has the ability to erase data and therefore if you intend to deploy and install Windows in this way, please remember to keep backups of your data and prepare yourself to restore your computer to a previous state if necessary. Cool Blind Tech is not responsible for damage resulting out of the use of the information provided here.

In this episode, James Oates demonstrates “NPR One”, a universal app from National Public Radio, available on all Windows devices. He shows how to start playing NPR with just a simple key stroke on a PC, and a voice command on a Windows Phone. If you enjoy National Public Radio, you will love this app. NPR One is also available for iOS and Android.

Have you been curious about Linux and were not sure how to start using it? Are you looking for a free alternative to traditional operating systems such as Mac or Windows with some great built-in productivity? This podcast is going to give a brief overview of one of the simplest ways to explore a complete free and open-source operating system, Linux. Vinux from Vinux Project is a great way to take Linux for a test drive without selling out on your current operating system. It offers everything under the hood you need to get started and has a pretty easy learning curve. Be warned that this is an operating system and therefore can be installed on to your own physical hardware. It does have the ability to erase your drives or data and you should only install this if you understand the risks of doing so and know what you are doing. We demonstrate the use of this software in a Virtual Machine and would recommend this as an initial approach. If you do decide to install the software please exercise appropriate measures such as a full backup of your data and have a method readily available to restore your computer to a prior state before installation. We will not be held responsible for trouble-shooting failed installations, related issues of usage of the software nor will we be responsible for damage resulting out of the use of or inability to use the software. With the legal information out of the way, give this podcast a play to hear about the pros and cons of Vinux. Additionally you will hear an overview of setting options and general functions for Orca, the included free screen reader; which gives a rather comprehensive list of features including reading web pages, navigating by page elements such as headings, mouse review and pointer tracking and support for dynamic content on web pages. An overview of the Unity desktop environment will be presented, along with a peek at Mozilla Firefox with Orca, the included text editor, as well as the included LibreOffice word processor. We plan to present more podcasts on the use of this and other distributions of Linux. For now, this is a very brief overview. We would definitely like to hear your comments, questions and suggestions as we wade in to these relatively uncharted waters of Linux podcasts.

In this episode, James Oates updates us on the status of Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9926. In this build, Microsoft has added Cortana, an interactive personal assistant, to their operating system. It is currently limited and in its early stages, but it still is very impressive. He also uses Narrator as the primary screen reader, since NVDA and JAWS are still not currently able to work with Universal apps.

Brandon Cross demonstrates the Vocalizer voices for Android in this edition of Cool Blind Tech. He shows off the performance of the Ava US English voice by moving through the home screen. Then, he demonstrates the voice by typing in an edit box on the Google Play store, opens the page for the Vocalizer app and allows the voice to read a short excerpt from the page. Brandon then arranges a display of various samples in the Vocalizer app. Click here to go to the Vocalizer app in the Play Store.

Amazon Prime members receive access to: Free Two-Day Shipping, Instant Videos & the Kindle Lending Library In this episode, James Oates demonstrates how to use the Amazon Instant Video app for iOS. This is one of the benefits listed above for Amazon Prime members. He shows us that it is completely accessible for Voice Over users, and how easy it is to find and play your favorite movies and television shows on an iOS device.

In this edition of CBT, Brandon Cross shows new users of the NVDA screen reader how to navigate the basic elements of a web page. He describes the different ways one can move around, and demonstrates the feedback users can expect. Click here to navigate to NVDA’s home page.

With a piece of software called Winstaller from Levtec, one no longer needs to use an answer file for unattended deployment of Windows operating system. This opens up huge opportunities for those of us who cannot see and wish to work in a professional IT setting, or just for fixing our home computers. While Winstaller has existed for some time, there have been a number of advancements in the software. One of the biggest of these is that Winstaller is able to deploy the latest version of Windows 10 Technical Preview which at the time of this demonstration is build 9926. In this podcast I will show you how this can be done and I will provide all the links to the tools you will need to install your own copy of the latest technical preview from Microsoft. Firstly, you will want to visit this page to download the technical preview. You may also visit your favorite search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo to search for “Download Windows 10 technical preview”. You can obtain Winstaller from Clicking here to visit the Levtec Winstaller page. Next, you will need a method of mounting .ISO files, which are images of CD or DVD disks. Once you have obtained the .ISO for the technical preview, you may mount it with a free utility called Slysoft Virtual Clone Drive. This software will emulate a virtual DVD drive on your system and can load various image types, one of which happens to be .iso files. If you wish to install in a Virtual Machine or VM, I highly recommend using VMWare Player at this link. Give the podcast a listen to hear me create the image, deploy it to .ISO for use or to a USB drive and to install it in a virtual machine.

In this episode, James Oates demonstrates LookTel Money Reader on an iPhone5 running iOS8.1.2. LookTel Money Reader instantly recognizes currency and speaks the denomination, enabling people experiencing visual impairments or blindness to quickly and easily identify and count bills. Point the camera of your iOS device at a bill and the application will tell you the denomination in real-time. Twenty one currencies are supported: the US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Bahraini Dinar, Brazilian Real, Belarusian Ruble, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Hungarian Forint, Israeli Shekel, Indian Rupee, Japanese Yen, Kuwaiti Dinar, Mexican Peso, New Zealand Dollar, Polish Zloty, Russian Ruble, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Singapore Dollar, and United Arab Emirates Dirham.

In his first ever podcast with Cool Blind Tech, Brandon Cross informs Android users about a popular Twitter client called Tweetings. Though it is a mainstream client with images and video content, Tweetings is accessible to Talkback users. With Tweetings any Android user can enjoy all the facets of Twitter, and elements like lists, direct messages and mentions are separated into categories which can either be accessed through the navigation drawer or by swiping right or left with two fingers. Grab Tweetings from the Play Store.

Greg Lopez gives us a basic introduction to Talkback, the built-in screen reader for Android devices. Download Talkback for your Android device via the Play Store by clicking here.

While Apple is definitely making strides toward squashing those pesky bugs in Voiceover for iOS8, the infestation around Safari still remains rather strong, especially when it comes to focus issues. This gave Cory a mission, to find another alternative. Let's face it, a mobile device needs to be able to browse the web. What kind of a mobile device can't these days? Even though Safari works most of the time, there had to be another option for those situations when it didn't. Cory explored several options and discovered that the Google Chrome app for iOS is extremely accessible and actually very nice to use. The accessibility is amazing! Not only does Voiceover tend to read everything, but the browser is fast and page element navigation works fully. HTML5 multimedia content such as Youtube videos and audio content from our own podcasts play right inside the browser. Add in the Google voice search feature and you have a really nice alternative to Safari. Check out his quick overview of a few things you can accomplish with this Cool Pick.

In this episode, James Oates reviews Microsoft Outlook for iPhone and iPad. He demonstrates the email client and calendar features. He shows us how to access files on cloud services, open them with additional apps, and send them as attachments. He then proceeds to show how to send and view messages from your contact list. Finally, he walks us through the settings for the application. This is an incredibly complex and powerful application which will prove useful for many users of iOS. From the developer: Why use Outlook?   Manage your inbox • Outlook automatically triages your inbox for you, surfacing your most important email. Less relevant email is placed in your “Other” inbox. • Swipe to quickly delete, archive, or schedule messages. • Schedule emails and they will return to your inbox at a later time.   Your calendar built-in • Switching between your email and calendar apps is a thing of the past. Outlook includes your calendar and notifies you with appointment reminders. • Find available meeting times and share them in email or schedule a meeting.   Attachments made easy • View and attach any file from your email, OneDrive, Dropbox, and other accounts with just a few taps. • Send large files even if you haven’t downloaded them to your phone.   Find anything fast • Filter your inbox to only show messages that are unread, flagged, or have attachments, with a single tap. • Quickly find the right messages, people and files by typing just a few letters. • Outlook shows people you communicate with most often, and lets you conveniently drill down to see all related emails, meetings and files.  

In this episode, James Oates demonstrates how to stream music and play a radio station using an Xbox Music Pass subscription. He shows us how to play a movie on Netflix and pin a favorite TV show to the start screen. Finally, he reviews the accessibility of the popular Twitter client, Tweetium. Throughout the episode, James is relying heavily on Cortana, Microsoft’s personal assistant. Since Cortana is integrated into the Music and Netflix applications, it makes the experience quite simple.