All Cool Blind Tech Shows

In this episode, James Oates takes us through an unboxing of the Aira glasses. He describes everything that come with the glasses. He also shows us how to set them up and make a call using the Aira app on an iPhone.

Join the CBT Team as they explore this week's latest Cool Picks. Cool Picks * Actiview App * Dolphin EasyReader for iOS * Plantronics BackBeat Fit Bluetooth Headphones

Join Jessica Rickards for an exclusive spotlight with David Jeppson, executive director of Computers for the blind, a Texas-based organization providing computers to blind and visually impaired individuals across the United States regardless of circumstance. computers for the blind accepts refurbished windows computers and is run by volunteers. This organization is open to volunteer opportunities across the country; from those who wish to give time in their local Texas refurbishment center, to tech support professionals who can provide remote assistance, to those who can contribute financially. If you are interested in learning more about this organization, feel free to contact them via telephone or email via their website. If you do a lot of online shopping, Computers for the Blind is also partnered with

Join Jessica, Tomi, and Rachel for another exciting VIP as they explore this week's latest in technology. This week, it's all about movies, and the devices you watch them on. Check out these exciting stories. Show highlights * Amazon announces half-price Prime memberships for families in the U.S. Receiving assistance and announces the availability of Audio Description on several Amazon Video titles. * New accessibility features found in iOS 11 which also include low vision enhancements like Smart Invert * Actiview comes to an accessible theatre near you with the premier of Cars 3 Cool Picks * Actiview App * Dolphin EasyReader for iOS * Plantronics BackBeat Fit Bluetooth Headphones

Join CBT this week as they talk about their favourite Cool Picks. Cool Picks As Joel is the audio master on the CBT team, his pick of choice is the app he uses to do all his audio magic. Reaper Since Jessica is the traveling ninja, she wants to tell us all about this new transit app she makes extensive use of. CityMapper Transit App for iOS, web and Android While at the gym, Rachel really enjoys a great thriller to keep her energized throughout her workout. She has chosen Voicedream Reader You can read pretty much anything, with a variety of voices or fonts to help consume the content the way you want. Listen and enjoy!

In this podcast, James Oates takes a look at the new accessibility settings in iOS 11 Beta. Join us as he uncovers some exciting new features for VoiceOver and braille users.

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Stephen Ewell, the executive director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. The CTA Foundation, a public, national foundation affiliated with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), was launched in 2012 with the mission to link seniors and people with disabilities with technologies to enhance their lives. The foundation strategically supports programs that affect these communities and facilitates dialog between industry, consumers, government, advocacy groups and other key stakeholders. Steve talks about the foundation’s role in featuring accessible products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the foundation’s role in producing the first fully accessible self-driving vehicle, and his trips to CSUN and South by Southwest. You can follow Stephen Ewell on Twitter here, and you can follow the CTA Foundation on Twitter here.

If there was a word which is to define the era that dominates this early 21st century, it no doubt would be the cloud. Everything has moved to incorporating some cloud-based feature or another. Whilst screen reading has done OCR and other image recognition prior, this too was relegated to locally performed magic, rather than anything that used the cloud to process data. The rise of huge AI clusters which now can process trillions of calculations a second has created a better opportunity for so much more to be off-loaded to these systems. For Microsoft, this is called Cognitive services and it is a platform any developer can leverage to create AI-generated content for an image. Once you combine this with a screen reader, things get very interesting. Such has happened in the latest Windows 10 insider build, 16226 Could a screen reader some day suggest labels for controls through an intelligent API which can interpret the icons? Could a computer describe a powerPoint presentation, typically full of rectangles and decorations? To be clear, Apple is also doing this in iOS 11, though the image processing they use is all on-hardware, not cloud-based. Microsoft is first to announce this to the public, and users will be able to compare it to that of iOS 11 once the public beta of it is released. Narrator is noteable for being able to generate full-sentence descriptions of images, rather than just a few words or phrases which explain its content, as done on iOS and Facebook. The insider program is open to anyone, and submitting feedback is highly encouraged if you venture into this world. As well as having lots of patience, and perhaps not a main computer that you install it on but a virtual machine or spare. Do you see ways in which you would use this technology for yourself to help understand the web or apps better? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

There are many twitter clients that are available for Windows, but very few are designed to work with screen readers. In this podcast, Leonid demonstrates the interface, as well as several useful features on TWBlue, a free, open source twitter client. Let us know what you think in the comments!

This week, the team is quite active! Join Rachel, Jessica, and Joel, as they discuss topics from a 9-month National Fitness Challenge, to the Ecobee4 Thermostat, to the Amazon Echo stepping into the communication market. A 9-Month Fitness Challenge? Students from the Georgia Blind Sports Association along with the United Association of Blind Athletes and the Amerigroup are taking part in a 9-month fitness challenge. Read about it here there are always things to say when it comes to getting out there and being active! Listen as the team shares their thoughts on this challenge and the devices used to promote friendly competition. "Introducing a new way to be together" How to make calls from your Amazon Echo. In this section, Joel and Jessica demonstrate how the Amazon Echo and the Alexa app now have the ability to make calls and send messages to other Echo users who have enabled this service. Get all the details here Getting Smart with the Ecobee4 Thermostat After all those workouts, being able to set that AC to a cool temperature would be fantastic. Is it doable with this unit? Take a look here Cool Picks As Joel is the audio master on the CBT team, his pick of choice is the app he uses to do all his audio magic. Reaper Since Jessica is the traveling ninja, she wants to tell us all about this new transit app she makes extensive use of. CityMapper Transit App for iOS, web and Android While at the gym, Rachel really enjoys a great thriller to keep her energized throughout her workout. She has chosen Voicedream Reader You can read pretty much anything, with a variety of voices or fonts to help consume the content the way you want. Listen and enjoy!

In this podcast, Rachel demonstrates how to enable audio description for the movies and TV shows that have this feature in the Amazon Prime Video app. One must have an Amazon Prime membership which entitles a viewer to some free content. Other movies and TV shows that have audio description, can be purchased for a small fee. If you want to know which content has description: Look no further! Enjoy!

In this podcast, James Oates takes a look at the new customizable control center in iOS 11. He shows us how to add items to the control center, and tries out some of the more interesting additions that are now available.

This week Joel, Jessica and Darrell Hilliker share their opinions on this week's Cool Picks. Cool Picks This Week Include the Following: Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind Darrell shows us how he uses his Cool Pick for help with day-to-day tasks around the house. Google Calendar Find out how Jessica manages her insane schedule with her Cool Pick this week. Microsoft OneNote Joel shows us how he uses OneNote to quickly send thoughts and ideas across his devices.

Join Jessica for an exclusive interview with Alex Tavares, Harvard University graduate and developer of The Read Read, an innovative new Braille literacy device which allows students to independently engage in the process of learning Braille. If you would like to see The Read Read become a reality in classrooms everywhere, please Donate to The Read Read Kickstarter Campaign. Currently, this campaign funds The Read Read for classrooms across the U.S. However, if their goal is met, it will be possible to expand The Read Read.

This week the Cool Blind Tech team along with a special guest host, discuss the latest happenings in the world of Accessible Technology. Join Joel, Jessica and Darrell Hilliker as they share their opinions on this week's news and bring to you some very Cool Picks. Make sure to press play or download this week's special show. Topics This Week Include the Following: Visually Impaired People Testing Driverless Pods A new system for the blind to navigate one of the world's busiest airports is currently being tested. Check out what the team has to say and where they hope it will be used in the future. Microsoft Hosts First Accessibility Summit For People With Disabilities The inclusion of accessibility in all products or services requires that businesses look at accessibility from a different perspective. Listen to the team discuss how summits are now taking place to do just that. Adobe Announces A Free Solution For Optical Character Recognition On Your Smart Phone New and free alternatives for OCR continue to help the visually impaired. Does this mean the end of paid solutions that are specifically made for the blind? Find out what the team has to say on this topic and what they suggest for OCR. Cool Picks This Week Include the Following: Google Calendar Find out how Jessica manages her insane schedule with her Cool Pick this week. Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind Darrell shows us how he uses his Cool Pick for help with day-to-day tasks around the house. Microsoft OneNote Joel shows us how he uses OneNote to quickly send thoughts and ideas across his devices.