All Cool Blind Tech Shows

Hugo Gallegos speaks with Damian Pickering, Vice President of Sales at HIMS Incorporated, about the new Braille Sense Polaris. The Braille Sense Polaris is the first Virtual Braille Tablet for the blind. Polaris is the latest in the popular BrailleSense Notetaker family and features state-of-the-art hardware and software including Android’s Lollipop operating system and the name-sake Polaris Office Suite found on millions of Smart Phones worldwide. Polaris integrates a touch-sensitive Braille display with Miracast connectivity to the mainstream computer or tablet of your choice. At less than 2 pounds, Polaris is a sleek, professional mobile tool seamlessly blending the feel of a traditional Notetaker with innovative access to mainstream applications and Google Services such as Docs, Drive, Slides, Sheets, and Classroom.

Hugo Gallegos talks to Steve Bennett from Dolphin Computer Access about the GuideReader Pod and the upcoming release of the GuideReader Tablet. Dolphin Computer Access was founded in 1986 from one small office in Worcester UK, this UK-owned company has grown to become a global market leader, with more than 50 staff worldwide specializing in software developing solutions to suit all types of reading impairment – from low vision to blindness and dyslexia.

Hugo Gallegos speaks with Douglas Gerry of VFO about a new product called ZoomText Fusion, which combines ZoomText and JAWS for Windows to create a powerful magnifier and screen reader that can be controlled with a keyboard. AI Squared is offering a 60day free trial, which you can download here.

Joel Ramos speaks with Patrick Wallace, ‎Vice President of Business Development at eSight, about the eSight 3, which brings a revolutionary technology to those who can no longer see. eSight 3 is a versatile, wearable, hands-free solution that provides sight without the need for any surgery. It is a game-changing breakthrough that uses advanced technology, built upon many years of research and development, to replicate sight for an individual who is legally blind or living with low vision.

Hugo Gallegos speaks with Regina from NuEyes who introduces us to a whole new way to view the world. NuEyes smart glasses are voice activated magnification glasses with optical character recognition and text to speech software built in.

Joel Ramos speaks with Shen Kuan of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind about a program that provides equipment and training for those who have experienced vision or hearing loss. The program is designed to help those individuals stay connected with people and the world around them.

Hugo Gallegos visits with Joel Zimba from the National Federation of the Blind to discuss KNFB Reader for Windows 10 devices. Until now, KNFB Reader has only been available for iOS and Android devices, but you can now download it on any phone, tablet, or PC running Windows 10. Learn more about this exciting new release here.

Hugo Gallegos visits the Aira booth at CSUN17 to find out more about this amazing pair of smart glasses that connect the user to a real-time visual interpreter. To learn more about Aira, listen to our Spotlight Interview with Aira’s CEO, Suman Kanuganti.

Joel Ramos visits with Alex Lee of Dot Incorporated to get a good look at the new Dot braille smart watch. This gadget has caught a great deal of attention because it brings new possibilities and benefits of the networked digital age to the wrists of millions of Blind & Visually Impaired people worldwide.

Hugo Gallegos visits the Orbit Research booth at CSUNATC17, where he gets a hands-on look at the Orbit Reader 20 braille display, which is also a note taker and book reader. Hugo also has a blast playing with the Orbit Graphiti interactive graphics display.

In this CBT Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with Suman Kanuganti, the cofounder and CEO of Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind, to discuss a life changing new service for those who are blind or visually impaired. Aira takes advantage of the technology found in advanced smart glasses, like Google Glass, to connect blind people with sighted agents who can use the information transmitted by those glasses to help them with anything that might require visual feedback. That could be anything the user would like an extra pair of eyes for. Smart glasses not only have a camera that transmits visual information to the agent, but also other sensors that send detailed information to the agent’s dashboard, such as GPS information that is incorporated into Google Maps. For now, the glasses will need to be paired with a smart phone, but you should listen to this podcast to hear all the spectacular improvements that Suman is planning. You can visit their website, email Aira, or email Suman directly for more information. You can also call Aira at: (858) 876-2472.

Join Joel, Jessica and Cool Blind Tech's newest team member Rachel as they discuss their Cool Picks. Cool Picks of the Week Jessica shows us a cool skill that is available on both the Alexa line of products and the Google Home Assistant. The "Dr. Doggy" skill is a must have for owners of seeing eye dogs or those who care greatly for man's best friend. Rachel highlights the benefits of using the Yelp app on her iPhone before heading out for a day of fun. Check out how you can plan your next outing as well. Joel has found a new way to have fun on his iPhone with the new Reverb app. Listen in to find out how you can now bring along a well known virtual assistant with you on both android and iOS devices.

This week the team has way too many conventions to choose from and they all have great assistive technology to talk about. Join Joel, Jessica and Cool Blind Tech's newest team member Rachel as they discuss the happenings in A.T. Whether this cool Tech shows up in Barcelona, Spain or San Diego, California you can guarantee that the team has an opinion and plenty of techie details. Accessibility Makes Itself Known At This Year’s Game Developers Conference San Francisco, California is hosting this year's GDC 2017 and accessibility is a major topic of discussion. Yes, you did read that correctly, make sure to listen and find out how. Can VR Help the Visually Impaired See Better? Barcelona Spain, is hosting the Mobile World Congress this week and Samsung is showcasing a VR app called Relumino which can help the visually impaired more efficiently read books and watch tv. Can this replace current assistive devices for less? Make sure to hit play and find out. Real Time Graphics on a Braille Display San Diego California, is hosting the annual CSUN convention this week as well and Orbit Research along with the APH is presenting the Orbit Graphiti. The team talks about all the things it can do and who will get their hands on one first. Cool Picks of the Week Jessica shows us a cool skill that is available on both the Alexa line of products and the Google Home Assistant. The "Dr. Doggy" skill is a must have for owners of seeing eye dogs or those who care greatly for man's best friend. Rachel highlights the benefits of using the Yelp app on her iPhone before heading out for a day of fun. Check out how you can plan your next outing as well. Joel has found a new way to have fun on his iPhone with the new Reverb app. Listen in to find out how you can now bring along a well known virtual assistant with you on both android and iOS devices.

Google released the Google Home, which is a voice activated speaker that can control your smart home devices, play your music, answer your questions about almost anything, stream the news from sources you select, and so much more. In this episode, James Oates tells us how to setup the Google Home, and walks us through the Google Home app on his Pixel phone. Here he shows us all the different configuration options available for the Google Home. The Google Assistant is built-in to the Google Home, and it is amazing how many things it can do.

Tune in to this jam packed show where James Oates with fellow hosts Joel Ramos and Nelson Régo let you in on their latest Cool Picks. Cool Picks: djay Pro for the Mac. djay Pro provides a complete DJ Software for performing DJs. Its unique modern interface is built around a sophisticated integration with iTunes and Spotify, giving you instant access to millions of tracks. Pristine sound quality and a powerful set of features including high-definition waveforms, four decks, audio effects, and hardware integration give you endless creative flexibility to take your sets to new heights. Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Mobile Document Scanner. • Fast color, grayscale and monochrome scan speeds of up to 12 double sided pages per minute • 10-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) • One touch searchable PDF Creation • Automatic paper size detection, automatic color detection, automatic cropping, blank page deletion and de-skew • Scan to: Evernote, SugarSync, Google Docs, Salesforce Chatter and Dropbox,1 year Limited Warranty Google BrailleBack. BrailleBack is an Accessibility Service that helps blind users make use of braille devices. It works together with the TalkBack app to give a combined braille and speech experience. This app lets you connect a supported refreshable braille display to your device via Bluetooth. Screen content will be presented on the braille display and you can navigate and interact with your device using the keys on the display. It is possible to input text using the braille keyboard.