All Cool Blind Tech Shows

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Charlene Xia of Team Tactile, the creators of Tactile, which is a handheld real-time text to braille device, about the size of a candy bar. Six young women who are all engineering students at MIT have designed a device called Tactile. This device has a camera on the back and 36cells of braille on the front. You run it over text, and the camera captures the text, OCR software recognizes and converts the text, and it is displayed on the front in braille. Listen to the podcast to get all the details.

Join Jessica, James, and Nelson for another exciting VIP as they discuss the latest happenings in accessible tech. Lots of excitement this week, and we've got you covered! Here are our stories : Highlights From South by Southwest * Speaker's Panel focuses on the future of accessibility in design * Levi's Smart Jacket shows promise for accessible features Featured Stories * Microsoft Introduces In-Game Text-To-Speech and Speech-To-Text Chat Transcription (Halo Wars II ONLY to start) * Kindle for PC is now accessible with NVDA for the first time * Introducing Macaron by Oseyeris: Measurement and Navigation Device Cool Picks * Breaking News by Vijay Anand for iOS Breaking News by Vijay Anand for Android * Move To Measure - Flying Ruler by Alexey Brilev (paid) iOS app * LoDel, local food delivery If you have enjoyed this podcast, please leave us feedback! We'd love to hear from you! Who knows, you may be featured on one of our future podcasts.

The CBT Team would like to thank you for your feedback and emails. Although we are unable to reply to every email we read every email we receive. We have picked out a few of our favourites to reply to. From Leo Bissonnette: Interested in confirming if the VizLens is available in the App Store. I am in Canada and didn't find it. Or, is the app still in a beta testing stage where the developers might be interested in getting testers. From Bruce Huffman: I cannot find vizlens in the "iOS” app store. From Rebecca Skipper: Hi, Although VizLens is impressive, I think it would be more useful as a orientation aid to appliances allowing the user to reduce the amount of labels needed. Labeling, in my view, should be used in case the app malfunctions or the user loses Internet connectivity. I am a Braille reader and find tactile feedback more efficient than apps or screen readers when identifying products. From Elexis Repetto: I am looking for recommendations for a new computer that can run ZoomText. Every computer I have ever used it with has not been able to handle the software. I want to buy a desktop or laptop or Mac and would love some input. Also, if there is a better screen reader than ZoomText that you would recommend I am open. I am a low vision user and rely both on magnification and screen reading. I am not looking for the cheapest solution but rather the best. Thank you for such an informative podcast, I listen to every one that has tech which may apply to my situation. Row 8 Column 2 From Beth Rose: Hi, I saw the post about the 3D models which can be printed to help visually impaired students during sex education lessons. I work for BBC Ouch - the disability strand of the BBC - and thought it might be interesting to learn a little more about it. At what stage are you at? Have any students road-tested this idea yet? Who came up with the idea and was there a particular reason why they did? Are there any images you can send me of the various models? I'm also presuming that this is just a US-based project at the moment? If you could let me know the answers to the above questions or provide me with any extra information that would be really helpful, Thanks!

Cool Picks returns with Jessica Rickards, Joel Ramos, and Hugo Gallegos as they tell us all about their latest tech. Cool Picks Amazon Registries: Gift Shopping Made Simple Anker PowerCore+ 26800 Power Bank with Qualcomm Quick 2.0 and PowerPort+ 1 with Quick Charge 3.0 Wall Charger SoundSource gives you one place to go for all Mac's most important audio controls

Google is offering some users the opportunity to get a sneak preview of Android Nougat 7.1.2. To take advantage of this offer, you must enroll in the Android Beta program and have an eligible device. To enroll, just visit android.com/beta and provide your Google sign in credentials. The following devices are eligible at this time. * Pixel * PixelXL * Nexus 5X * Nexus Player * Pixel C Google has confirmed that the Nexus 6P will also be eligible. Before launching the Beta version of Android Nougat, you should back up your device. In this podcast, James Oates shows us how to back up a Pixel phone and enroll it in the Beta program.

Join Jessica for another special CoolBlindTech Spotlight Interview. This time we feature Everett Elam, recipient of the Gilman Scholarship Program. He shares some amazing experiences and highlights from his exciting experience which are not featured anywhere else. If you enjoyed this content, please feel free to leave us a comment, send us an email or follow us on our social media. We'd love to hear from you.

In this VIP, Joel Ramos, Hugo Gallegos, and Jessica “Fyre” Rickards tell us all about what is burning up the Assistive Tech World. Cool Picks Amazon Registries: Gift Shopping Made Simple Anker PowerCore+ 26800 Power Bank with Qualcomm Quick 2.0 and PowerPort+ 1 with Quick Charge 3.0 Wall Charger SoundSource gives you one place to go for all Mac's most important audio controls

In this episode of Cool Picks, Joel Ramos, Hugo Gallegos, and Rachel Feinberg tell us all about their favourite gadgets from this year’s Assistive Technology Conference, hosted by California State University Northridge. Cool Picks Orbit Reader 20 KNFB Reader for Windows 10 ChromeVox Screen Reader

In this exciting Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with the highly intelligent team at Grapheel Innovation. The team consists of: • Daniel Hajas: Blind, theoretical physics student with PhD in Informatics, special research interest on accessible STEM. • Tim Lingard: Programmer and physicist, PhD student at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (Portsmouth), Head of Information Systems and online services. • David Turner: Physics student at Sussex, Head of R&D at Grapheel, researching engineering solutions for the Tactile Graphics Display. The team discusses the enormous problem that exist in providing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education to people who are blind or visually impaired. They explained the three-pronged approach that they have devised to conquer this problem. Step one is called “Iris,” which is a science community based image description service specifically for STEM graphical content used as teaching material. The student uploads an image, and receives a detailed description from a volunteer who is a professional in that field of study. The second is a consultancy scheme where they will advise on solutions that are in existence for accessible science. Various assistive software, hardware, teaching resources, good practice in science accessibility and so on. The third is the development of a Tactile Graphics Display. They wish to carry out hardware research and development and concentrate on materials science for developing cost and performance efficient actuators. They also wish to collaborate with the various initiatives developing their own tactile displays and open their operating system for third party developers. This way Grapheel could develop STEM specific applications for already existing tactile graphics display devices, since there are organizations like the American Printing House for the Blind, doing a great job in the hardware development front. Visit Grapheel’s website to learn more or get involved in helping in this remarkable effort. You can also follow Grapheel on Twitter.

In this very special VIP, Joel Ramos, Hugo Gallegos, and Rachel Feinberg tell us all about their exciting experiences at this year’s Assistive Technology Conference, hosted by California State University Northridge. Cool Picks Orbit Reader 20 Rachel is hoping that the Orbit Reader from the American Printing House for the blind is available soon. With its small footprint and large capabilities, this is a device you will want to have soon as well. KNFB Reader for Windows 10 Hugo grabbed the KNFB Reader while it was on sale during the CSUN convention. Although it is no longer on sale it is a great low cost solution for scanning printed text on your Windows 10 computers. ChromeVox Screen Reader Joel is heading off to the nearest Best Buy to start looking at ChromeBooks so he can use the new ChromeVox screen reader. The new capabilities and options available now will ChromeVox will make you want to buy one as well.

The CBT Team can’t get enough of the Dot Smart Watch as Hugo Gallegos gets a demonstration from Alex Lee of Dot Incorporated. The watch will be go into production later this month.

Hugo Gallegos speaks with Adi from Elita Group about the ElBraille docking station for the Focus Blue 14 and the ElBraille 40. ElBraille is a portable device designed for users who are blind or deaf-blind and want to stay connected at school, at workplace or home as well as on the go. A user can utilize braille and/or speech for output and braille for the input. The device supports Windows 10 functionality, including third party applications accessible with JAWS. ElBraille has specially designed software installed on it as well. ElBraille is powered by Windows 10, JAWS 18.0 screen reading software and a Focus 14 Blue Braille display. ElBraille is a full-featured portable PC. It will allow its owner not only to quickly create notes and read e-mail, but also work in popular Microsoft Office apps,

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.