Blind Bargains Audio: Featuring the BB Qast, Technology news, Interviews, and more

We love the candidness from the expanding team at NVAccess about the direction that NVDA is taking and were thrilled they came over to our suite to share some of the latest developments. J.J. is joined by Jamie Teh, Reef Turner, Quentin Christensen, and Mick Curran to discuss a variety of topics including expanded Amazon Kindle and Microsoft Office support, new and expanded training materials, and a certification program that is now available for trainers. We also explore some of the possibilities for the future including contracted braille input and discuss the screen reader landscape and how NVDA fits into the future of assistive technology.

Introduced last summer at the World Blind Union and ICEVI General Assembly in Orlando, The Braillo 300 S2 is a redesigned double-sided embosser which prints on tractor feed paper at 300 characters per second or roughly 1,000 pages per hour. Robert Jaquiss, Sales Engineer for American Thermoform Corporation tells J.J. more about this embosser which is designed for transcribing houses and schools. These machines are built for longevity, and users could theoretically get replacement parts 30 years from now, according to Jaquiss. The commercial-grade embosser retails for $23,000 but is on sale for 10 percent off for a limited time.

Joe was looking forward to his annual trek to the Ambutech booth to talk with Gordon, but apparently Gordon was trying to hide from Joe. Instead, we bring you the equally capable Mellyssa Light who works with customer service for Ambutech to learn about a variety of new products from the company. A new flex tip can contour itself based on different surfaces and can be used for either tapping or gliding. IN addition, A new adapter will help those who may have purchased the wrong type of tip for their cane. They also showed a prototype of a new type of cane hook which attaches to the top of a cane and designed to balance the cane and lessen fatigue. A high mileage roller ball tip is designed for those who travel often and lasts 2 to 3 times longer than the traditional roller ball tip.

AudioEye is a company which believes they can fix inaccessible websites through technology instead of consultants and one day hopes that all website accessibility errors can be fixed automatically. Joe speaks with Jeffrey Jones, Vice President of Technology for AudioEye to explore just how much computer intelligence can solve the world's web accessibility problems.

The American printing House and Orbit Research brought their latest toys to CSUN including the latest prototype of the Graphiti, a graphical tactile tablet which was announced last summer J.J. gets a live demo from Ken Perry, an engineer and project manager for APH and Venkatesh Chari, President/CTO of Orbit Research in this podcast. The Graphiti has quite a few possible applications, many of which are still being explored including support for graphing calculators and tactile games. It can also act as a display for computers and will feature an open API for anyone who wants to write their own code to interface with the unit. Expect the Graphiti to land some time in 2018.

Indoor navigation is a topic that has been gaining more attention of late, and an Israeli startup demonstrated a solution which is now available for iOS and Android. Shelly speaks with Idan Meir from Right-Hear to learn about their accessible navigational solution and also heads downstairs to try out a live demo at the Grand Hyatt. You can find the free app on Google Play or the iTunes App Store.

Acustica bills themselves as "The Swiss Watch for all senses"". Joe is joined by Stephan Morker from the Swiss Association Of and For the Blind to learn more about this watch which includes Swiss Quartz movement, a vibration module, and speech output among other features. They are looking for a U.S.-based distributor and hope to be ready for release by Christmas 2017.

Following up on our recent coverage of the next software release of the VarioUltra, David Bradburn, President of BaumUSA joins Joe to talk about what's new in the latest release for this smart braille display. David discusses some of the new features including the ability to unlock an iPhone from the display, the Vario 340 USB braille display, and improvements to the VisioBook Video Magnifier which is sold in the U.S. by the American Printing House for the Blind. He also discusses the Visio 500, a CCTV designed specifically for workplaces, allowing for a computer keyboard to sit in front of the display's X-Y table.

Joe and Dave Wilkinson, National Education Manager for HIMS, are hidden away in an undisclosed location in order to give listeners a deeper dive into the newest in the Braille Sense product line. The Braille Sense polaris, shipping later in 2017, is a 32 braille cell notetaker that sports a slim design with the same quiet Braille input keys HIMS is already known for in the Industry. Hear Dave take Joe on a tour of some of the menus, basic features and a surprise or two along the way. To learn more about the Polaris, visit http://www.hims-inc.com