Instructions for Subscribing to the CCB Podcast Feed with Victor Reader Stream, by Gerry Chevalier

Subscribe to CCB Podcast Feed with Victor Reader Stream

By Gerry Chevalier, GTT Edmonton

 

To subscribe to the Canadian Council of the Blind’s podcast feed with your Victor Reader Stream new generation, follow these steps.

 

  1. Press the Online button above key 2 to reach the online bookshelves.
  2. If your Stream announces that airplane mode is on then press and hold the Online button to turn off airplane mode.
  3. Press key 1 multiple times to reach the Podcast bookshelf.
  4. Press the Go To key above key 1 multiple times to find the option to add a podcast feed and then press the Confirm key to the right of key 0.
  5. Press keys 2 or 8 to reach the Title search option and then press the Confirm key.
  6. The Stream is now in text entry mode, so you can enter the title of the feed you wish to add. Type “Canadian Council” on the number pad keys. For example, to enter “c”, press key 2 three times, to enter “a”, press key 2 once, to enter “n” press key 6 twice and so on. Don’t worry about entering uppercase. If you make a mistake, press the Rewind key once to erase the previous letter. Enter the space between words by pressing key 0. If you wish help press the Sleep key to enable a key describer feature where you can press any key to hear which letters are mapped to that key. Press the Sleep key again to return to text entry mode.
  7. When you finish typing the title, press the Fast Forward button to the right of the PLAY key to verify what you have typed.
  8. When the title search string is correct, press the Confirm key to the right of key 0 to start the search.
  9. The search results will appear. Press key 6 to move through the results until you find “The Canadian Council of the Blind Podcast, CCB Program Staff”. Then press the Confirm key to subscribe to this feed.
  10. Press the Cancel key to the left of key 0 three times to exit the search function and return to the bookshelf. Press the Confirm key to open the new CCB podcast feed.
  11. IF you have not modified your Stream’s default podcast settings, then the 3 most recent episodes of the podcast will start to download. IF your Stream is set for manual download you will need to press Confirm to activate the option to get more episodes, then use keys 4 or 6 to find an episode, and press Confirm to download the episode.

 

To listen to an episode:

  1. Press key 1 multiple times to reach the Podcast bookshelf.
  2. Press key 4 or 6 multiple times to reach the Canadian Council of the Blind feed. Then press Confirm to open the feed.
  3. Press keys 4 or 6 multiple times to find the episode you wish to listen to. You may press key 5 to hear a description of an episode. When you find the episode you wish to listen to, press the Play key.
  4. To delete an episode, press key 3 followed by the Confirm key. You will be asked to press the Confirm key again to confirm deletion.
  5. If you want to find new episodes press key 4 until you reach the option to Get More Episodes and press Confirm.
  6. The list of episodes that are available for download will appear. Press keys 4 or 6 multiple times to find a desired episode and press Confirm to download it.
  7. When you are finished looking for new episodes to download, press key 4 multiple times to find the option to show downloaded episodes and press the Confirm key.

[End]

 

GTT Toronto Summary Notes, Online Shopping, November 16, 2017

Summary Notes

 

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group

November 16, 2017

 

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind

In Partnership with the CNIB

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Toronto Group was held on Thursday, November 16 at the CNIB Community Hub.

 

*Note: Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

November 2017 Topic – Online Shopping:

 

www.gtt-toronto.ca is the local website for getting together with technology, where you can find out about future meetings, and read notes from past meetings.

 

Ian opened the meeting and invited us to have a go around in which you give your name, and some aspect of technology you’re interested in, or would like to cover in future meetings. Ideas included the new Trekker Breeze, the Amazon Echo coming to Canada, starting a blog, integrating Siri with Wheeltrans, an accessible MP3 player for music, newest GPS aps, accessible podcasting and audio editing, an accessible timer that’s discreet and doesn’t disturb others, vibrating watch bands to tell time and also as sonar for proximity alerts, and learning the basics of Apple and Windows.

 

Jason spoke about Uber, who presented to the group several months ago. They just released their new service animal policy, which looks very promising. It’s been circulated on several blindness-related email lists.

 

Jason announced that the latest version of Firefox has broken accessibility, and screen readers have not caught up to Firefox57. Use Chrome. Internet Explorer is obsolete, and most sites won’t support it anymore. Adam added ESR version 52 is a version of Firefox that does work at least with Zoomtext. It’s available in 32 and 64 bit versions. Rylan added that this solution will only work temporarily. Rylan added that Chrome may be starting to display mobile versions of sites; he’s noticed this in the past day or two. It may be Chrome deciding that the mobile version is better for accessibility. Jason added that this can happen if your window isn’t maximized, because some sites adapt to what they’re being displayed on, and a minimized window will trigger the mobile version. Rylan noted that the latest versions of Jaws are compatible with Google Chrome.

 

Meeting Theme:

Rylan introduced himself as the speaker for the evening. He discovered that most people in the room have done online shopping before. Rylan asked for questions off the top. A member asked which sites are not accessible. Rylan answered Best Buy and Kijiji.

 

CregsList, Kijiji and Letgo are online shopping platforms that allow you to buy second-hand products. It can be risky because you’re dealing with strangers, but it’s also an opportunity to get good deals.

 

An extension of this is eBay.ca. Rylan began by demonstrating eBay. The site displays a carousel, which is a section of constantly changing content, and isn’t helpful for screen reader users. The easiest thing is to look for an edit field which will offer you a search window. He used number 1 and number 2 to move through heading level one, and heading level two. There are options to help you refine your search results such as price, condition, format, location etc. Watch the location, as you’ll have to deal with shipping. eBay puts the refine search after the search results. Below the link for the result, you can arrow down to read the price, shipping rate, whether the item is available immediately or on auction or both. You get information about the seller, how many items they’ve sold, what their feedback from previous customers has been etc. To use eBay requires a PayPal account. The iPhone ap is accessible too. eBay has done work to make their site accessible. Make sure you’re on eBay.ca so that you don’t have to worry about exchange rates.

 

Rylan then discussed straight online shopping sites. A member asked whether any screen reader should work on an accessible site, and Rylan answered yes, as long as you’re using a reasonably contemporary version. Hotwire and Pricline are other examples of sites that are difficult from an accessibility perspective. In terms of large retailers, Walmart is one of the worst from an accessibility perspective. Although Best Buy’s site is bad, the fliers they send are accessible on an iPhone. Grocerygateway delivers, and works well. Loblaws just announced a new service that’s coming. LCBO has an online ordering system, but the delivery can take up to two weeks. You can have something shipped to your local outlet and have it there in a couple of days.

 

Canada Post has flex delivery, which allows you to divert packages to your local postal pick-up location. You can trigger this when ordering. You register through Canada post, and they give you a custom address which is the postal outlet rather than your home. That way you know packages will go directly to the outlet, and won’t be left at your door unsafely. The item must be under ten pounds.

 

Amazon has lots of stuff very cheap, and has a good accessibility department. Someone said there’s an Amazon site dedicated to screen reader users which can be found at www.amazon.Com/access. Rylan disapproved of this, as it segregates accessibility rather than building it in. Amazon Prime is a service you pay for annually, which gets you some perks and discounts, such as free shipping on many items. Students get half price for Prime.

 

The site is less cluttered than eBay. Pressing H is one way to navigate results. R for regions is another way to navigate, but sometimes doesn’t work as well as headings. Many results have the word “sponsored,” which means the company has paid to have their result prominently placed. You can down-arrow for price, or enter on the link for more information. Use H until you find the heading titled with the product you’re researching. There are form fields to allow you to choose colour, add the item to your wishlist, or add the item to your cart. Some items are eligible for free shipping even without Amazon Prime. If so, it will say so on the page. A lot of Amazon products come from other parts of the world. The page gives a customer rating, and may offer you gift wrapping. Amazon has a great return policy, but you have to ship it back yourself. They will send you a pre-paid shipping label via email, but you’ll have to put the package and label together and get it into the mail yourself.

 

Reviews can be helpful, particularly if there are a lot of them. It’s worth while reading reviews for cues that suggest the reviews are plants.

 

You can set up 1-click ordering, which expedites the order process. So far it’s not possible to order through your Amazon Echo, but now that the Echo is available in Canada, that might change soon.

 

The product review page shows you an average customer rating, the reviews, and how many reviews were one through five stars.

 

Rylan demonstrated buying an item. Enter on the “add to cart” button, then the “proceed to checkout” button. At that screen you can change the quantity, or delete the item from your cart if you change your mind.

 

A member asked about security. Rylan said that he doesn’t take any special steps and just uses his own creditcard, but you can get pre-paid Amazon cards, pay through Paypal, get pre-paid Visa cards from your bank, or keep a card dedicated to online purchases with a low limit. Online transactions have become much more secure in the past few years. Retailers don’t want you frauded any more than you want to be frauded; it’s bad publicity for them. For security reasons however, when you’re setting up an account on a retail site, don’t use the same password you use for your email. If your email password gets hacked, you’re in big trouble. A member contributed that his bank account sends him a text every time his card is charged. If he sees a text for something he doesn’t recognize, he knows it’s fraudulent. Most banks will do this; look for the phrase, ‘feedback alerts.”

 

A member asked about cheaper sites like DealExtreme. Rylan said such sites aren’t likely to have the level of accessibility of Amazon. Jason said that there are very few sites that an experienced screen reader can’t navigate. A member added that some sites offer a customer service phone number that you can call, and have an agent complete your order for you.

 

Upcoming Meetings:

  • Next Meeting: Thursday, December 21 at 6pm
  • Location: CNIB Community Hub space at 1525 Yonge Street, just 1 block north of St Clair on the east side of Yonge, just south of Heath.
  • Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 6pm.

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group Overview:

  • GTT Toronto is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Toronto promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.
  • http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

Tech Article: Apps That Assist Beginners With Learning Voice Over Gestures

Here are some recommendations for apps that might help new iPhone users learn the iPhone gestures.

 

These are four apps I think are helpful in learning the VoiceOver gestures of the iPhone.  They are all free, I think.

 

The Blindfold Bop one is free, however limited in how many times you can use it, so I purchased it for about $6 which allows me unlimited use of the app.

 

Below I have provided a link to the entire list of iFocus MP3 files in my Dropbox folder.  It is a Zipped file that you can download to your computer.

 

  1. VO Starter, is an app that is text based and explains the VO gestures well in a well organized fashion.  It’s a great manual for learning what’s possible.
  2. Blindfold Bop, is a game based tutorial that gets you to practice gestures with ever increasing speeds and complexity.
  3. VO Tutorial, is an app that works the user through several games requiring that gestures be performed in order to work through the game.  It’s great for beginners.
  4. VO Lab, I found this one less helpful as it gets the user to turn off VO and use a self-voicing voice.  It might be too confusing for beginners.  I don’t like it, and it’s possible that others will learn from it so I included it.

 

Of course, VO Calendar is a great way to use the Calendar with an accessible and usable overlay on the native on board Calendar app.

 

iFocus MP3 Zipped File (nearly 3GB):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nytxnwzs544p4on/ifocus%20MP3%20Files.zip?dl=1

 

Thx, Albert

 

CCB Health and Fitness, Formerly Trust Your Buddy is Open for Business

FIND US ALL OVER THE WEB & LEARN HOW TO GET YOUR 1 ON 1 COACHING CALLS!!

Good evening everyone!!
Thanks so much for your patience as we continue to roll out our re-brand!!!

I wanted to give you a short and quick shout out to give you all the updated info.
As we look to engage you all in the hopes of helping you no your journey of physical activity, there are many ways you can keep up to date on the content.

FACEBOOK-  search  CCB Health & Fitness
YOUTUBE-  search CCB Health & Fitness
TWITTER-  @ccb_healthfit

EMAIL LIST – Please share.

ccbhealthandfitness+subscribe@groups.io

PODCAST-  search  “The Canadian Council of the Blind” podcast on ITUNES, PODBEAN, STICHER, SOUNDCLOUND (this should be up by Nov.15th)
WORDPRESS-  https://ccbhealthandfitness.wordpress.com  This will be our ONE STOP SHOP for all things regarding program..so bookmark it!  I’m still building it (mostly learning how to build it honestly)

Now, the good stuff!!!….HOW TO BOOK YOUR COACHING CALLS!

The real strength of this program is that you have access too a Registered Kinesiologist (a registered Healthcare professional- that’s me), who can help sit down and chat with you to go over your unique situation, goals, needs, etc.  Then we can create a plan for you…and keep in touch regularly to ensure you are MOTIVATED and on track.

This is all FREE to you, thanks to the Canadian Council of the Blind.

1. EMAIL ME:    ccb.healthandfitness@gmail.com
2. We will set a time that I can call you, at your convenience
3. I will call, we will chat, i’ll ask LOTS of questions, I’ll LISTEN to what you need
4. We will come up with some goals/ a plan
5 We will set a followup call and continue to chat on a regular basis for as long s you feel you need my help.

It’s that easy!!!

So look forward to hearing from you, but in the meantime, feel free to post your own topic or interest on the list and I can certainly chime in with my thoughts!!

All the best,
Ryan Van Praet (R. Kin.)

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GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, Amazon Echo and GarageBand Demos and CNIB, November 13, 2017

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting November 13, 2017

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held November 13, at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

20 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

November Topic – Amazon Echo and GarageBand Demos and CNIB

 

Amazon Echo

Erick Seed very adeptly showed off the Amazon Echo, which is a Wi-Fi connected smart speaker product from Amazon that combines voice recognition “intelligent assistant” capabilities with speaker functionality in a cylindrical speaker form factor. Amazon Echo responds to voice control by returning information on products, Recipes, music, news, weather, sports, making calls, messaging, and much more.

Echo has seven microphones and beam forming technology so it can hear you from across the room—even while music is playing. Echo is also an expertly tuned speaker that can fill any room with 360° immersive sound. When you want to use Echo, just say the wake word “Alexa” and Echo responds instantly.

The Echo has just been released in Canada at an introductory price of $100 (later $130) and the Echo Dot model at an introductory price of $50 (later $70).

 

The echo’s main competitor, the Google Home smart speaker, sells in Canada for about $180 at outlets such as Best Buy. Google Home works very similarly to Amazon Echo and has the power of Google search behind it. Google Home can also play music, control your TV (via ChromeCast), make phone calls and more.

 

Apple also has an assistant coming out in December called the Apple HomePod which works similarly to its competitors from Amazon and Google but will be more expensive at about $350 U.S.

 

Apple MAC GarageBand App

New member, Justin Wack, demonstrated how to use GarageBand for the Mac. GarageBand is a free DAW (digital audio workstation) that is used to successfully create anything to do with audio, from music, to podcasts, and much more. He showed how to make songs or beats using loops. Loops are short audio snippets that you can create, or you can use the hundreds of pre-recorded loops that come with the app. He explained how it is possible to play out your own melodies using the computer keyboard as a piano or other instrument. You can even use the app to learn to play music. He entertained us with examples of his own music he has created entirely with his computer and the app.

 

to check out more of Justin’s Work, go to

soundcloud.com/haptycmusic or follow him on twitter at twitter.com/haptycmusic.

 

CNIB Introduces Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta

Our guest, Matthew Kay, the new manager of rehabilitation services for Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta explained how CNIB has changed its governance to better deliver and obtain provincial health care funding for its core rehab services. The core services still include provision of assistive technology, orientation and mobility training, low vision services, and independent living skills training. However, these services are branded under the new name of Vision Loss Rehabilitation Alberta which is a division of CNIB. VL Rehab Alberta will still operate from the CNIB headquarters at 12010 Jasper Avenue.

 

Matthew explained that managing the core services separately from CNIB’s charitable foundation services allows more direct access to Alberta Health funding for home care and other rehab services. The charitable foundation arm of CNIB will continue providing services such as the tech aid store, children’s services, public education, and emotional wellness support. If you have questions or wish further information, you may contact Matthew Kay at the local Edmonton office 780.453.8318 or email him at:

Matthew.Kay@vlrehab.ca

Next Meeting (Monday December 11 at 7pm)

  • Steve Barcaly, owner of Canadian Assistive Technology, will join us to exhibit some of the latest new technology his company sells. Steve was the former COO of Aroga which no longer exists, but Steve has brought his 30 years of experience consulting about and selling assistive technology along with his supplier network to his new company. This marks the third year Steve has joined us in December and he always has interesting new tech to show us. You won’t want to miss this meeting!

 

Meeting Location and Logistics

  • Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
  • We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
  • Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
  • Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
  • If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

 

GTT Edmonton Overview

  • GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

[End of Document]

Tele Town Hall Meeting Summary Notes, October 29, 2016 and March 4, 2017

As you consider whether or not to participate in Saturday’s American presentation I offer you the questions and meeting summaries from our first two Canadian Tele Town Hall meetings.

 

Tele Town Hall Meeting Questions and Summary Notes:

First Meeting Questions, October 29th, 2016:

 

  1. In order to ensure that people who are blind, partially sighted or deaf/blind continue to have a strong voice in Canada, what do you think the national consumer movement should look like in the future?
  2. Canada is a small country in population. However, it is geographically quite large.  Would it be better in Canada to ensure that on a national level there is one organization of the blind working on projects and advocacy to help strengthen community activities provincially and locally?
  3. National, provincial and local organizations have tried working in coalitions. Are you aware of any activities that these coalitions have done?  Would you support a more formal working relationship between the existing national organizations of the blind?
  4. Why do you think the blindness community is so fragmented in its approach to advocacy and community activities?

 

Summary notes have been written and attached to this communication and are titled: Meeting Notes – #1 Final 2016Oct29.docx

 

Second Meeting Questions, March 4, 2017:

 

  1. How should service and advocacy organizations be transparent and accountable to the community?
  2. How do we engage individuals and organizations in the blindness community concerning our needs and rights in the broader Canadian Society?
  3. What specific actions can individuals and organizations take to promote transparency, integrity, accountability and respect?
  4. What should be included in Rules of Engagement that will govern ongoing collaboration in the blindness community?

 

Summary notes have been written and attached to this communication and are titled: Meeting Notes – #2 – Final 2017Mar04.docx

 

 

 

Tech Article: Firefox 57 from an NVDA user’s perspective – Marco’s Accessibility Blog

Firefox 57 from an NVDA user’s perspective – Marco’s Accessibility Blog

Marco’s Accessibility Blog

 

Helping to make accessibility accessible on the web and elsewhere

 

Article found at:

https://www.marcozehe.de/2017/11/07/firefox-57-nvda-users-perspective/

 

Firefox 57, also known as Firefox Quantum, will be released on November 14. It will bring some significant changes to the Firefox rendering engine to improve performance and open the door for more new features in the future. Here is what you need to know if you are a user of the NVDA screen reader.

 

For users of the NVDA screen reader, some of these changes may initially seem like a step backward. To make the accessibility features work with the new architecture, we had to make some significant changes which will initially feel less performant than before. Especially complex pages and web applications such as Facebook or Gmail will feel slower to NVDA users in this Firefox release.

 

Improvements in the pipeline

 

Fortunately, NVDA users will only have to put up with these slowdowns for one Firefox release. Firefox 58, which will move to beta the moment Firefox 57 is being released, will already improve performance so significantly that most smaller pages will feel as snappy as before, larger pages will take a lot less time to be loaded into NVDA’s browse mode buffer, and web applications such as Gmail or Facebook will feel more fluid.

 

And we’re not stopping there. In Firefox Nightly, then on version 59, performance improvements will continue, and more big pages and web applications should return to a normal working speed with NVDA.

 

I need full speed

 

If you do require Firefox to perform as fast as before and cannot or do not want to wait until the above mentioned performance improvements arrive on your machine, you have the option to switch to the Extended Support Release (ESR), which is on version 52 and will receive security fixes until long into 2018.

 

However, we encourage you to stick with us on the current release if you possibly can. Your findings, if you choose to report them to us, will greatly help us improve Firefox further even faster, because even we might not think of all the scenarios that might be day to day sites for you.

 

I want to stick with you. How can I help?

 

That’s great! If you encounter any big problems, like pages that take unusually long to load, we want to know about them. We already know that long Wikipedia articles such as the one about World War I  will take about 12 seconds to load on an average Windows 10 machine and a current NVDA release. In Firefox 58 beta, we will have brought this down to less than 8 seconds already, and the goal is to bring that time down even further. So if you really want to help, you can choose to upgrade to our beta channel  and re-test the problem you encountered there. If it is already improved, you can be certain we’re on top of the underlying problem. If not, we definitely want to know  where you found the problem and what steps led to it.

 

And if you really want to be on the bleeding edge, getting the latest fixes literally hours or days after they landed in our source code, you can choose to update to our Firefox Nightly channel, and get new builds of Firefox twice a day. There, if you encounter problems like long lags, or even crashes, they will be very closely tied to what we were recently working on, and we will be able to resolve the problems quickly, before they even hit the next beta cycle.

 

In conclusion

 

We know we’re asking a lot of you since you’ve always had a very fast and efficient browsing experience when you used Firefox in combination with NVDA. And we are truly sorry that we’ll have to temporarily slip here. But rest assured that we’re working hard with the full team to kick Firefox back into gear so that each followup release will bring us back closer to where we were before 57, plus the added benefits Quantum brings for all users.

 

Find the full article at:

https://www.marcozehe.de/2017/11/07/firefox-57-nvda-users-perspective/

 

Tech Article: 25 hidden iPhone features that are really, truly hidden, by Zach Epstein

25 hidden iPhone features that are really, truly hidden

By

Zach Epstein

on Jan 22, 2016 at 10:37 AM

iPhone Features

 

/Article can be found at:

http://bgr.com/2016/01/22/iphone-features-ios-9-hidden-ios/

 

How many times have you seen posts on tech sites about “hidden iPhone  features” and thought to yourself, these tricks aren’t really hidden at all. We’ve even had a few articles here on BGR with tips that were indeed unknown to most users, but the savvy iOS  device owners out there were undoubtedly familiar with at least a few of them.

 

Well, in this piece we’re going to tell you about 25 hidden features that are really, truly hidden. As in, you could look through your iPhone from now until the end of time and you wouldn’t find any of these tricks unless you know what you’re looking for.

 

DON’T MISS:

The math they don’t want you to see: iPhone carrier trade-ins are always a bad idea

 

In the past, many of the hidden tips we’ve seen on sites and even covered here are simply things that are buried in the Settings app in places people normally wouldn’t look. These are great things to know — plenty of people would make their camera flash blink with incoming messages if they knew that they could, for example — but they’re not really “hidden” or “secret,” per se.

 

Each of the tips that follow below, however, are completely hidden. There is no indication that these functions exist in iOS, and we guarantee that most users don’t know about them. In fact, we also guarantee that even the savviest iPhone owners among you will find at least one or two things you didn’t already know. In fact, ran this list past a friend who works at Apple and there were a few things that even he didn’t know.

 

Enjoy.

 

  1. Redial: In the Phone app, press the green call button on the keypad screen to make the last dialed number appear.

 

  1. Clear cache: Make your iPhone run faster by clearing out the cache in several of Apple’s apps using a secret trick. In the App Store, Podcasts, Music, Game Center and Phone apps, tap on any single tab icon at the bottom of the screen 10 times in a row.

 

  1. Make TouchID work faster: Save the same fingerprint multiple times as different entries and TouchID will work much faster. This is especially useful on older phones like the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s.

 

  1. Spotlight conversions: Remember when we told you how easy conversions are in our post on Google search tricks? It’s even easier for iPhone users — just open Spotlight and type something like “20 euros in GBP,” and it will instantly perform the conversion.

 

  1. Spotlight math: Want to do a quick math problem? No need to open the Calculator app, just pull down to open Spotlight and type it right there.

 

  1. Delete numbers in the Calculator: Speaking of the Calculator, you can delete single digits when you tap the wrong number by swiping left or right on the screen where the numbers appear.

 

  1. Clear RAM to make your phone run faster: Hold down the power button until you see “Slide to power off,” then let go and hold down the home button until the screen goes blank and your home screen reappears.

 

  1. Burst mode: Hold down the camera’s shutter button to shoot in burst mode.

 

  1. Remote shutter: Use the volume up or down button on your headphones to snap a photo in the Camera app.

 

  1. Turn the flashlight off: How many times have you turned your flashlight on and wished that you didn’t have to swipe open the Control Panel again to shut it off? We’ll save you a step: simply swipe up on the camera icon on your lock screen and the flashlight will turn off.

 

  1. 3D Touch while drawing: All of the drawing tools and the eraser are pressure sensitive in the Notes app.

 

  1. Close multiple apps at once: Double-tap the home button to open the app switcher and you can use two, even three fingers to slide multiple apps close with one swipe.

 

  1. Recently closed tabs: Want to reread this article on your phone but you forgot what site you were reading it on in the first place? Simply tap and hold on the + symbol in Safari on the tab carousel view to open a screen that lists all of your recently closed tabs.

 

  1. Desktop version of a site: We all know you can request the desktop version of a mobile site in Safari but it’s easier to do than you think. Just hold down the reload button in the URL bar.

 

  1. Peek at tabs: Not sure you want to open that tab in the Safari tab carousel? A 3D Touch will let you Peek at it first.

 

  1. Peek at bookmarks: Did you know you can use 3D Touch to Peek at bookmarks before you open them?

 

  1. Edit reminders: 3D Touch an item in your Reminders app to edit the time or add a location.

 

  1. View only unread emails: So you don’t practice “inbox zero” like I do  but you only want to see unread emails in your inbox. Tap the Mailboxes link in the top right corner of the Mail app and then tap Edit. Tap the circle next to “Unread” and you’ll have a new folder that contains only your unread emails.

 

  1. Save a draft with one swipe: In the Mail app, tap on the subject line and swipe down to the bottom of the screen to save a draft.

 

  1. Quick Reply: When you get a notification at the top of the screen that you have a new iMessage or SMS, pull the notification downward to reply without leaving the screen you’re on.

 

  1. Hidden level(s): Slide to the left in the Compass app open the level. Then place your phone flat with the screen facing away from the ground to reveal a bubble level.

 

  1. Artist Peek: 3D Touch an artist in the Music app to Peek at their music.

 

  1. Reenable Low Power Mode: When Low Power Mode automatically shuts off as you charge, you’ll get a notification on your lock screen that it has been disabled. Swipe left on that notification to turn it back on.

 

  1. Find an iPhone’s owner: Did you find a lost iPhone in a bar? Simply ask Siri, “whose phone is this?” and it will show you so you can get in touch with him or her and return it.

 

  1. Reachability: This is one of the new iPhones’ best features and there are still SO many people who don’t know about it. Double-touch (don’t tap, touch) on the home button and the entire screen will shift down so you can reach the top without shifting your grip.

 

 

Tech Article: 5 secret features hiding inside your iPhone, by Zach Epstein

5 secret features hiding inside your iPhone

By

Zach Epstein

on Feb 9, 2016 at 9:43 AM

iPhone 6s Tricks And Secrets

 

This article can be found at:

http://bgr.com/2016/02/09/iphone-6s-tricks-and-secrets-feb-9/

 

We recently published an article titled “

25 hidden iPhone features that are really, truly hidden

” and it was one of our most popular iPhone posts ever. Why? Because over the years, iOS has grown more and more feature-rich, which means there are more and more features that get lost in the shuffle for many users.

 

Simply put, there is no way to remember everything the iPhone can do. I have even spoken to people who work at Apple who learn things they didn’t know from the tips and tricks content we publish.

 

Our last post covered 25 hidden features and some of them are awesome — if you haven’t checked it out already, you really should. As we mentioned though, we’ll continue to post nifty how-to content covering hidden features as we find it because you can never know too much about your smartphone.

 

MUST READ:

Yup, it looks like the iPhone 7 is going to be huge

 

We recently came across a nice little collection of tips on Distractify. All of them have been covered at one point or another over the years here on BGR but as we said, it’s impossible to remember all of the features Apple has stuffed into iOS 9. In fact, even though there are only five features on this list, we guarantee that unless you’re a hardcore iOS lover with a killer memory, you will learn something new or be reminded of something you’ve forgotten.

 

Here we go:

 

Custom Vibration Alerts: I personally rely on this one so much that I’m not sure how I could live without it. Open the Settings app and go to Sounds >Ringtone/Text Tone/Etc > Vibration. At the bottom of the list, choose Create New Vibration. This will let you tap out a new vibrate pattern that you can then use for all calls or texts, or just for a specific person in your contact list.

 

Text Shortcuts: Do you type the word Triskaidekaphobia all the time while you’re texting? Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement and tap the plus symbol. Then input Triskaidekaphobia in the Phrase field and something like tdp in the Shortcut field. Now, every time you type “tdp” your iPhone will auto-correct it to “Triskaidekaphobia.”

 

Head Control: Apple’s iOS platform has the most robust set of accessibility features available. While they’re aimed at users with special needs, many of them are also handy for others. Try this: go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control. Turn it on, tap Switches, and then add Camera as a new Switch. Once you do that, you’ll be able to configure specific actions that will take place when you move your head to the right or the left while looking at the iPhone’s display.

 

Hide Unwanted Apple Apps: This is a feature that tons of users wish for. Little do they know… it’s already there. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and enable them by entering your PIN or passcode. Then slide toggles to off next to any Apple apps that you want to hide from your home screens. Never want to look at that awful News icon again? Done.

 

Blinking Message Alerts: This is another example of a feature that many people request despite the fact that it’s already there. Open Settings and go to General > Accessibility, then slide the toggle next to LED Flash for Alerts to on. Now your camera flash will blink whenever new messages arrive.

 

Check out

Distractify’s post

for more details including graphics that walk you through each process. And for even more great hidden features, check out our earlier article:

25 hidden iPhone features that are really, truly hidden.

 

 

Tech Article: 24 iOS 11 Privacy & Security Settings You Should Check Right Now, iOS & iPhone :: Gadget Hacks

24 iOS 11 Privacy & Security Settings You Should Check Right Now « iOS & iPhone :: Gadget Hacks

 

This article can be found at:

https://ios.gadgethacks.com/news/24-ios-11-privacy-security-settings-you-should-check-right-now-0180163/

 

1.

Face ID (iPhone X Only)

Now, I’m sure there will be a heated argument about this one, but hear me out. Apple claims that the chance of a false positive is literally one in a million with Face ID. Compare that to their claim of one in 50,000 for Touch ID, and Face ID sounds pretty secure.

But this article is about maximizing privacy. Not only is there a chance, however small, that an intruder’s face will let them unlock your phone, there’s a higher chance that your own face can be used against you.

Eliminate that risk altogether by disabling Face ID under Settings -> Face ID & Passcode.

2.

Temporarily Disable Face ID (iPhone X Only) If you must keep Face ID on, you’re not completely out of luck here. Apple has included a quick way to disable Face ID temporarily, in case you know your physical security is about to become compromised.

Check out our guide to find out more about this option, which leaves your phone’s security in the hands of your passcode.

 

3.

Passcode

The default iPhone passcode is six-digits long, although the four-digit passcode is still very popular since it used to be iPhone’s default. Chances are, your iPhone’s passcode is one of these two options.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with using these passcode limits, they aren’t the most secure. A four-digit passcode has 10,000 possible combinations, which, considering there are 85.8 million iPhone users in the United States alone, means there aren’t enough unique combinations to go around.

Increasing that number to six helps, since a six-digit combination has one million permutations. But now we’re back to the one-in-a-million chance that Face ID gets you.

If you really want to make sure your iPhone is secure, change your passcode to a password. Using a true password with a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters will make your lock screen virtually impenetrable.

But, that’s totally obnoxious. Manually entering a convoluted password into your phone every time you want to use it is not really practical. We’re just letting you know it’s the most secure way to lock your phone.

If you’d rather stick to something easy, make sure to use a six-digit passcode over a four-digit one. Make sure to avoid common passcodes like 123456, or six of the same number.

To change your iPhone’s password, go to Settings -> Touch ID & Passcode -> Change Passcode. Enter your old password when prompted, then tap “Passcode Options” to choose which type of passcode you’d like to make.

 

4.

Show Parked Location

If you connect your iPhone to your car either through Bluetooth or CarPlay, your iPhone may be recording the location of where you park. To some, that might be a helpful feature. To others, it’s an invasion of privacy.

To disable this feature, go to Settings -> Maps, then disable “Show Parked Locations.”

 

5.

Significant Locations

You may think you know nothing about Apple’s new “Significant Locations,”

but if you remember Frequent Locations, they’re essentially the same. Apple records a list of your most frequently visited locations, which, on paper adds some convenience to apps that use your location.

However, this may serve as a privacy issue to you. If you’d rather not have Apple recording your most frequent locations, just head to Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> System Services -> Significant Locations.

From here, you can also clear the history that your phone may have accumulated over time.

 

6.

Location-Based Alerts, Apple Ads & Suggestions These next three options have remained the same across the update, however, they’re still important to know and understand. When enabled, these selections track your location to provide targeted notifications, advertisements, and options. Let’s just say, they’re not the most privacy-centric features in iOS 11. Actually, quite the opposite – this is some Minority Report-level stuff.

If you’d rather not be specifically targeted by Apple wherever you go, here’s what to do: Settings -> Privacy -> System Services. From here, you can deactivate “Location-Based Alerts,” “Location-Based Apple Ads,” and “Location-Based Suggestions.”

 

7.

Share My Location

Share My Location is a setting that allows your phone to send your current whereabouts to a friend who requests it. Usually, you need to mutually agree to this arrangement with another person using the Find My Friends app.

However, there are ways of tracking your iPhone without your permission.

If you’d like to avoid that risk altogether, disable the option by going to Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Share My Location.

Alternatively, you can change the device that shares your location, if you have more than one attached to your Apple ID. You can also check with friends of yours you have approved to view your location.

 

8.

Analytics

Apple changed the name of “Diagnostics & Usage” to “Analytics.” This area contains settings that share data from your phone to Apple, in an effort to help identify bugs in the system and make iOS better overall. Think of it like a beta test, only for the official iOS 11 release.

While this information helps Apple keep iOS 11 running smoothly, you may feel it’s sharing too much without your knowledge. If you’d like to shut down that line of hidden communication, go to Settings -> Privacy -> Analytics.

From here, you have many options you can disable:

.               To disable all analytics with Apple, simply turn off “Share iPhone &

Watch Analytics.”

.               “Share With App Developers” shares your app data with that app’s

developer. Disable this setting to close that line of communication.

.               “Share iCloud Analytics” shares your iCloud data with Apple to help

them improve on apps and services associated with that information. Sounds like an unnecessary setting to someone concerned about privacy.

.               “Improve Health & Activity” will share your health and activity data

with Apple to improve these services on your iPhone. Personally, the only person I want knowing my daily step-count is myself.

.               “Improve Wheelchair Mode” will send Apple your activity data if you

use a wheelchair. If you don’t use a wheelchair, you especially don’t have a use for this setting, but if you do, turn this off as you did “Improve Health & Activity.”

 

9.

Limit Ad Tracking

If you prefer your ads to be directly targeted towards you and your interests, you can leave this alone. However, if you care about your privacy, you may not like Apple sharing your data with advertisers.

This setting is one you actually turn on rather than off. Go to Settings -> Privacy -> Advertising, then enabled “Limit Ad Tracking.” Notice how the option is Limit Ad Tracking, not Stop Ad Tracking. Even with this setting enabled, Apple claims that your iPhone connectivity, time setting, type, language, and location can be used to target advertising. If you disabled Location-Based Ads, location targeting will not apply to you, but all others will. Tap “View Ad Information” to learn more.

 

10.

Raise to Wake

Raise to Wake can be extremely convenient – simply raise your phone from a flat position, and it will wake up for you to use. It feels natural, however, it poses a privacy risk. If your iPhone turns face-up accidentally, those in view of the display may see messages and notifications you did not intend for them to see.

To avoid this scenario, head over to Settings -> Display & Brightness, then disable “Raise to Wake.”

 

11.

Lock Screen Widgets

Lock screen widgets are great ways to keep up with your messages, notifications, weather updates, whatever you need to know without having to unlock your iPhone. But that’s just it – you don’t need to unlock your iPhone to see this information. Anyone can pick up your iPhone and potentially see what your calendar for the day is, or who’s texting you what.

To stop this privacy-breach in its tracks, you could hit “Edit” at the bottom of the lock screen, then delete all widgets. However, you will lose those widgets when you’ve unlocked your phone as well, not just on the lock screen.

If you want to deactivate the widgets for only the lock screen, jump over to the article below.

 

12.

Reply with Message

Introduced in iOS 10, your iPhone gives you the option to 3D Touch messages to reply from your lock screen. While fun and useful, the feature is also easily accessed by other people.

If you’re worried about those around you replying to incoming messages on your iPhone, you might want to disable this one. Check out the article below to find out how.

 

13.

Control Center

iOS 11’s Control Center is a major change from previous designs. We’ve never had the ability to customize our Control Centers, and with that comes more options than ever. Unfortunately, those added apps and features means more privacy risks for your device.

While most content-sensitive apps require a passcode from the lock screen to access, some do not, or, at the very least, give users limited access without having to unlock the iPhone. For example, while you cannot see written notes without unlocking the phone, anyone is able to write a note from the Control Center, if you have Control Center notes activated.

You can disable any apps from the Control Center that you don’t want people having access to, but that means you won’t be able to access them when your phone is unlocked, either. An alternative option is to disable Control Center entirely from the lock menu, by going to Settings -> Touch ID & Passcode and disabling the switch next to “Control Center.” We’ll talk more about Passcode Lock later.

One app that I would highly recommend disabling from Control Center is Wallet. While you do need your Touch ID or passcode to access any credit cards stored in your iPhone, other types of cards, like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, travel passes, and various other loyalty cards, do not. If you want to prevent others from gaining access to these forms of currency, disable Wallet from Control Center.

You can customize your Control Center items by going to Settings -> Control Center -> Customize.

 

14.

Ask Websites Not to Track Me (Safari)

Formally known as Do Not Track Me, this setting lets users decide whether or not to allow Safari to share your phone’s IP address with the websites you visit. You will mostly likely not wish to share this information with websites, so to enable this setting, head to Settings -> Safari, then enable the switch next to “Ask Websites Not to Track Me.”

 

15.

Block All Cookies

Cookies allow websites to save bits of your information, so that when you return, the website can load for you faster. While convenient, cookies certainly aren’t privacy-forward.

In iOS 11, Apple has taken away various options for blocking cookies, in favor for a blanket ban on all. While you may notice a difference in performance on some sites, at least you know you’re securing your privacy.

To disable cookies, go to Settings -> Safari, then turn on the “Block All Cookies” option.

 

16.

App & Website Passwords

Your iPhone, along with your iCloud account, has a built-in password manager to make entering passwords easier and more secure. These passwords are protected by Touch ID or your iPhone’s passcode, however, if your iPhone is breached, an assailant would have access to all of your passwords.

To manage your saved passwords, visit Settings -> Accounts & Passwords -> App & Website Passwords. Enter your passcode or use Touch ID to view your saved passwords. To delete individual passwords, swipe left on each password, then hit “Delete.” To delete en masse, tap “Edit” in the top-right corner, then select each password you’d like to delete. Finally, tap “Delete” in the top left corner.

 

17.

AutoFill

Along with storing your passwords, your iPhone can store your personal information for AutoFill. This feature makes it easy to fill out forms online or in apps, as you iPhone can automatically enter information such as your name, address, phone number, credit card number, and more.

Obviously, the downside is your iPhone carries this personal information for a potential thief to find. To protect yourself, head to Settings -> Safari

-> AutoFill. From here, you can investigate what information is already

saved, such as Contact Info and Credit Cards, or disable all by toggling each slider off.

 

18.

Microphone Access

You’ve probably seen a request for microphone access when opening certain apps for the first time. Many times, this request is totally legitimate, and needed for key features for those apps. However, you never know if an app is using that microphone access for shady reasons.

To manage which apps have access to your iPhone’s microphone, check out Settings -> Privacy -> Microphone. Here, you will find a list of all apps that are approved to use your microphone. Disable any and all by tapping the slider next to each app.

 

19.

Camera Access

For apps like Snapchat, camera access is essential to function – how else are you going to use those classic filters? However, there might be apps on your iPhone you don’t want using your camera.

In that case, you’d want to disable camera access for those apps. Check out Settings -> Privacy -> Camera. From here, disable the switch next to any apps that you’d rather not have using the cameras on your iPhone.

 

20.

Location Services

Location services are necessary for apps such as Maps or Waze – your iPhone needs to know your location in order to properly give you directions. Apps like Snapchat can use your location when taking photos to apply interesting and unique filters only available where you currently are. While location services make certain apps fun, other apps may not be so forthcoming.

If you want to disable location services for certain apps, go to. Settings

-> Privacy -> Locations Services. You could always disable “Location

Services” entirely, however, you’d lose access to all location functions.

That’s probably not going to fly for you, so it’d be better to go through each app, making to sure to set the apps you don’t want accessing to your location to “Never.”

 

21.

Recently Deleted Photos

When you delete a photo, it’s gone for good. Right? Not so much. Apple saves your deleted photos in a folder titled “Recently Deleted” for 30 days before actually deleting said photos. If someone were to gain access to your phone, they’d have access to any photos deleted within 30 days from that time.

You don’t need to be privacy-focused to realize that could be a bad situation. To make sure those deleted photos stay that way, head to the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app, then delete your photos all over again.

 

22.

App Store Purchases

Let’s say you decide to buy an app. You leave your iPhone for a moment, but as you do, someone manages to break in and gain access to the App Store.

Because you just purchased an app, the App Store might not require your password before buying another app, so this person can buy as many expensive apps as he or she wishes.

Let’s prevent this. If you use Touch ID, go to Settings -> Touch ID & Passcode. From here, enable Touch ID for iTunes & App Store. Just enter your iTunes password, and you’ll be all set.

If you don’t use Touch ID, tap on your name at the top of the Settings page.

Then, go to iTunes & App Stores -> Password Settings. Set the preference to “Always Require” for maximum security. If you wish, you can also require a password for free downloads as well.

 

23.

Keep Messages

We love our messages. With iOS 11, we can even back up our messages to the cloud, to make sure we never lose them. However, as a user concerned about privacy, you may not want to keep your messages forever. Unfortunately for you, your iPhone does just that by default.

There’s a bright side, though. You can set your iPhone to automatically delete messages after a certain period of time. Just jump over to Settings

-> Messages -> Keep Messages. Choose either “30 Days” or “1 Year,”

-> whatever

your preference, and your iPhone will make sure your messages never see a day beyond that time.

For more information on permanently deleting texts from your iPhone, check out the guide below.

 

24.

Allow Access When Locked

Your lock screen, by default, contains a treasure trove of personal information, such as recent notifications, your Wallet, and the Today View, which is a collection of widgets of your most useful apps. Fortunately, many of the apps that contain this info can be specifically disabled from the lock screen by going to Settings -> Touch ID & Passcode.

From here, you can choose which apps you’d like to prevent access to from your lock screen. If you’d rather not have others see your texts, emails, or app alerts, or if you’d prefer people not see information from your apps in the Today View, you can disable those apps and features here.

So, what do you think of our list? Does your iPhone feel more secure? Are there any other settings you’d recommend disabling? Let us know in the comments below!

.               Follow Gadget Hacks on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and

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Cover image and screenshots by Jake Peterson/Gadget Hacks

 

Original Article at:

https://ios.gadgethacks.com/news/24-ios-11-privacy-security-settings-you-sho

 

_._,_._,_

CCB-GTT Chatham-Kent Summary Notes, Tech Fair and Low Tech Tips, November 6, 2017

CCB-CHATHAM-KENT                                             November 6th,   2017

 

CO-CHAIRS:  Dave Maxwell and Markus McCracken

 

ATTENDANCE:  19

 

Absent: 12

 

WELCOME – Dave M

Visitors – Lion’s Club of Chatham 6 members –

 

Skype: 1 person; unable to connect to one person

 

HEART AND STROKE PRESENTATION – Dianna Dragicevic

Generalities for heart disease and strokes

Common symptoms – chest discomfort (feels like elephant on chest) Confused with indigestion

Shortness of breath, light headedness

Bad CPR is better than no CPR

Most important to call 911

Since 1952 – 75% less heart attacks per year than before

 

Strokes

Blockage in brain – not getting oxygen  TIA   85% of all strokes are this type, no age restrictions

F – face is drooping

A – can they raise both arms over head

S – is speech slurred, jumbled sentences, sounds like talking with a mouth full of marbles

T – time is crucial to call 911 as soon as possible

 

Escape Trials – instead of medication that breaks up the clot, a probe goes up the groin to the clot in the brain and pulls it out of the body.   Available in London at this time.

 

TECH FAIR – Wednesday, NOVEMBER 8TH – UNITED WAY   10 am until 2:00pm

Chris Miller from CNIB will come to your home to help mark things

The latest technology devices for the visually impaired will be presented by various companies

Markus, Dave M and Dave H will be manning the table for the CCB Chatham-Kent Chapter

 

Member LOW TECH TIPS

With same size medication bottles – put rubber bands around the 1 bottle

Eye drop bottles – put tape with small tab on the 1 bottle

Pharmacy put medication into blister packs (dossetts) (at a possible charge)

Script talk (special label on bottle and is read by machine) (device from US)

Use a monocular tube for distance

Put the stove burner on before putting the pan on (this way you see the glow)

 

CHRISTMAS DINNER/MEETING – Betty Heather

Dec 4th  Monday  Swiss Chalet using the separate room  6:00pm social hour, dinner at 6:30pm.

Email to be sent out, replies must come in so we know how many will be attending

Open menu including the Christmas special

 

FUN DAY BOWLING

Saturday    November 18th     Bowlerama         2:00pm  –  5:00pm     Head Pin Award

$5 per member            $9.50 for non-members

Email to be sent out, replies must come in so we know how many will be attending to make sure we have enough lanes reserved.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

Markus and Dave send out several emails and Facebook messages in the past letting us all know about events, etc. or to ask if we are attending meetings or events.  The PROBLEM is when responses are needed, some of our members don’t respond.  Those without emails will receive a phone call.  Suggestion from the group was that individual Emails instead of Facebook are preferred.

 

LOGO AND SHIRTS

Draft logo was passed around for people to see.  (possibility of 16 for shirts and 5 for ball hats)

Suggestions made to revise the logo.  Kathie and Robin will follow up with Sticker That.

 

TREASURER  REPORT – Kathie

We made a total of $620 from the Quarter Fundraiser in October.

Suggestion to have a spaghetti dinner and silent auction next year as our major fundraiser.

 

TRUST YOUR BUDDY

15 attended the 5K virtual walk on Saturday, November 4th.   Everyone met at Memorial Arena and Ryan planned out an easy route for all those who joined those walking at the same time across Canada.

Robin McCracken won the gift certificate……..

 

 NEXT MEETING

Monday, December 4th, 2017   Swiss Chalet   6:00     Make sure you let Markus or Dave know if you and a guest are coming.

 

 

 

Accessible Library Services: Announcing 455 Books from BC Publishers Added to NNELS

Announcing 455 Books from BC Publishers Added to NNELS

 

It’s Canadian Library Month! To celebrate, and with the help of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia (ABPBC), we’ve just released 455 titles in EPUB format. The BC eBook Collection includes 91 titles from Greystone Books, 18 from New Star Books, 233 titles from Orca Books, 61 from Heritage Group (including 9 from Heritage House, 11 from TouchWood Editions, 6 from Brindle and Glass Publishing, and 35 from Rocky Mountain Books), 23 from Tradewind Books, and 27 from UBC Press. Our sincere thanks to these publishers for working with us. New Star and Tradewind even sent us books at a discount or for free, and offered to send us their future publications.

 

Our goal with this project is to create reading options and choice for readers who need accessible formats. Most public libraries already offer access to digital content but it is often inaccessible to readers with print disabilities due to problems with the lending platform, digital rights management (DRM), or with the formats and technology themselves.

 

We wanted to purchase books specifically in EPUB format because they are more accessible than other digital book formats, and because we typically have to do less work to convert them to other formats for readers who request them. Furthermore, the absence of DRM means NNELS users are more likely to have a straightforward reading experience.

 

We first approached the ABPBC in the spring of 2017 to find out if they would be willing to help us work with BC publishers and coordinate purchasing a batch of eBooks. We are so glad they agreed to help!

With the project complete, we asked Heidi Waechtler, Executive Director at the ABPBC, about her experience with working with us:

 

It was eye-opening for me personally to learn that less than 5% of published works are available in accessible formats. The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia is proud to have worked with the BC Libraries Cooperative to help make an additional 455 BC-published titles available to NNELS users. We wanted to do our part to ensure that BC books were better represented in the NNELS collection, so that all readers have easy access to books that reflect their local perspectives and experiences. What’s more, many of our publishers are now highly motivated to examine their print and ebook production processes to take readers with print disabilities into account, and to begin exploring audiobook production. As an association, we’ll hope to support our publishers in exploring best practices through professional development workshops.

 

These BC eBooks are for children, teens, and adults, and include fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. There are books for deepening our understanding of reality, and books for escaping from it. They join collections from Atlantic Canadian publishers, as well as titles from Alberta publishers. Adding these 455 books to NNELS moves us closer to our goal of Canadians with print disabilities borrowing Canadian books from their local public library, just like everyone else.

 

About EPUB

The EPUB file format is still new to many people, but here are some of its benefits from our perspective as librarians:

  • They have potential for rich navigation.For example, EPUB can include navigation lists of tables, figures, illustrations, maps, and so on. It can also support video and audio, so text can be synchronized with an audio file, just like DAISY. This means that books in EPUB format that use EPUB’s accessibility features can be read by people who read with their eyes, ears, or fingertips (Braille).
  • They’re flexible. Typically, books in EPUB format work with a variety of electronic reading devices, including DAISY players, computers and laptops, reading apps for iOS and Android devices (including Voice Dream Reader).
  • Anyone can use this format. EPUB is a non-proprietary, open standard, which means anyone can create an EPUB book based on the specifications. Furthermore, anyone can design the machines to read this format; no special license is required. Consequently, there are many tools, both open source and proprietary, which can be used to read books in EPUB format. Assistive technology, such as a screenreaders, Text-To-Speech (TTS) and refreshable braille can be supported.
  • EPUB 3 is superseding DAISY as the preferred format for accessible publications and documents, and books that include EPUB accessibility elements can be read with modern DAISY programs and players. Older DAISY players can’t play EPUB files, so if someone is looking for a DAISY book, we can still convert the file to DAISY upon user or library request.

 

About NNELS

NNELS is a repository of content owned and sustained by Canadian public libraries, working with international partners, libraries, readers, and publishers to make copies of books in accessible formats available to readers in Canada who have print disabilities. If you’re new to accessible formats, you may find our tutorials useful and you can contact any public library for more information about accessible formats and services.

 

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, All About Games, October 16, 2017

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting October 16, 2017

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held October 16at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

17 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

October Topic – Gaming Apps

 

Blindfold Games Apps

Blindfold Games is an organization offering 71 games but the list keeps growing. There are card games, word games, adventure games, action games memory games and more. Some are familiar like solitaire, poker, Blackjack, Sudoku, a Scrabble variant, a Monopoly variant, a variant of the JEOPARDY TV show, action games like battleship, car racing, horse racing, bowling, football and more. The complete list is on the Blindfold Games web site. They run only on iOS Apple devices such as iPhone and iPad. All the games are free to download from the App store and try but they have limited play time. If you like a game there is an in-app purchase option to buy the game for a few dollars which gives you unlimited use thereafter. The games are 100% accessible audio based designed specifically for blind people.

Audio Game Hub

Audio Game Hub is a set of eight experimental arcade video games that use audio as their primary interface – making them accessible for both sighted and non-sighted users.

 

RS Games

RS Games is a web site hosting accessible games for the blind where you play online with other gamers using your web browser.

 

Resource – Audio Games Web Portal

audiogames.net

is a web site that exists as a community portal for all things to do with audio games for the visually impaired. Here you will find news, articles, an active community forum and a database of over 500 titles on platforms from Microsoft Windows to iOS.

 

Resource – AppleVIS Web Site

The AppleVIS iOS games page has a list of 408 accessible games and growing for iPhone and iPad and you may also want to review the AppleVis list of accessible games for the Mac.

 

Resource – AbleGamers

AbleGamers proclaims to be the world’s largest charity set up to serve as a resource for gamers with any type of disability.

 

Next Meeting (Monday November 13at 7pm)

  • Eric has offered to demo the Amazon Echo which is a hands-free speaker you control with your voice. Echo connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, make calls, provide information, news, weather, sports scores and more. All you do is ask it.
  • As usual, we will provide one-on-one training especially iPhone and DAISY players. If you have other training requests email your interests to us so we can try to accommodate you.
  • As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

 

Meeting Location and Logistics

  • Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
  • We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
  • Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
  • Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
  • If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

 

GTT Edmonton Overview

  • GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

[End of Document]

GTT Victoria Summary Notes, BC Government Accessibility and General Discussion, September 6, 2017

Get together with Technology (GTT) Victoria

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

 

Summary Notes

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

GVPL Main branch, Community Meeting Room

 

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 pm by chair Albert Ruel

 

Attendance: 13 people with 4 visiters from Vancouver.  Heidi, Albert, Tom, Richard from Vancouver, John, Scott from the Library, Karen from the library, Lynn from Vancouver, Pegg from Vancouver, John from Vancouver, Douglas, Bruce and Kira who is the Captionist.  Regrets from Corry.

 

Albert- Welcome back folks after a smoky summer.

 

Heidi Leckenby is from the provincial government and she works in the webaccessibility area. She was visiting to learn more about the methods and strategies we use to access information online, and she hopes to be able to return to future meetings.  She indicated that she was there to hear stories, learn from the group and just have open conversations and share.

 

Scott indicated that the GVPL Community Room will be available to us the second Wednesday of October and November.

 

Daphne Wood, who works at the library introduced 2 people who are working on both a publication and a podcast for the victoria foundation. It’s a community foundation that funds many initiatives. The library has been a beneficiary of grants, like the olive outreach vehicle that takes the library to various events in the Victoria area. We were joined by 2 people, one from the victoria foundation doing a story in their next issue of Vital Signs about belonging. They want to do a story on how the library supports inclusion and togetherness in our communities. A photographer was also in attendance, and with the group’s permission took some photos. Someone else will do a podcast to talk about the initiatives the library works on, and GTT may be featured therein.

 

Assistive Tech talked about:

  • No one has seen the Orbit Braille Display yet, however you can buy it early.
  • The Victor Reader Trek is a combination device which includes a talking GPS and a Daisy talking book player in one device. The Victor Reader Stream will still be available as a stand-alone device.
  • The Blaze EZ and ET that includes OCR, as wwell as talking books, podcasts, Direct to Player downloads and so much more was also discussed. The ET version includes a refreshable Braille display.
  • The free iOS Seeing AI app by Microsoft is a major advancement because it offers OCR, bar code reading, facial recognition and it can give descriptions of scenes around you. The AI part of the name means artificial intelligence. Some said it will read street signs, menus in the windows at starbucks and it’ll allow the user to read posters in a window.  The app works best on iPhone 6 and newer, and they are working on an Android version.
  • Aira was discussed as well. For about $89 a month you can have a trained human being narrate the world in front of you through your earbuds.
  • BeMyEyes is still free and available, however they are volunteers with no specific blindness training.
  • The google Home Speaker was finally released in Canada, and it allows the user to make phone calls all over north America. It can do conversions, give you the weather, play trivia and flip a coin.

 

Main presentation by Heidi Leckenby: Heidi.Leckenby@gov.bc.ca>

Heidi gave us some background on where she works.  She’s with the provincial government and works in the areas of communications and public engagement. The area she’s in is in the online services area. The online services is to do with the government.bc. website. She was given the portfolio of being the web accessibility lead. She thought it was for our area but they realised across government, they don’t have people with the skill set or understanding on how to make services accessible. So she’s it.

 

She’s had the portfolio for 2 years and has had to learn along the way. The information is broad and deep but also she’s trying to have access to real conversations with people. So right now she’s working on a project with where they’re at in the government and she’s also looking at creating relationships in our communities with different people in different areas to understand their needs. Also the more she speaks to people, the more she realises that there’s such a broad spectrum of abilities. Some who are techsavy and ones who don’t want to touch it at all. So she’s delighted by the experience of learning alongside us and to hear everyone’s stories. She wants to translate it back to the work they do.

 

Heidi indicated they are looking at it from all types of barriers, the hard of hearing as well as the cognitive side. They are looking at the larger demographic areas but they’re trying to make it accessible for everyone. They want universal design,

 

Heidi has been on the road across BC to talk to citizens about how to generally access Government services online. And the large majority of people don’t use computers. Some are very techsavy that are comfortable, but there’s also a need for person to person interaction.

 

Heidi said, accessibility 2024 is in motion, and it’s to do with accessibility across the board, IE. online, physical, internet access in remote areas.

 

This is where public libraries have a role to play. They can be as accessible as they can but sometimes the problem is between the chair and the keyboard. Its training. If you don’t know how to do it, you still don’t get access. There needs to be what the provincial government needs to know. It’s great to have these workshops.

 

Scott indicated that The library is in a unique position, They have a new website, and he’s talked to the communications officer and she wants a session with testers to look at the website and make comments on the lack of accessibility.  The communication director would be there to make notes how to make it better.

 

Following the break Heidi indicated that it has been fruitful to share what she’s going through and to hear from the group regarding their online experiences.

 

More assistive tech talked about:

  • Albert demonstrated a set of magnets purchased at a local farmer’s market in parksville. It was designed by a young fellow. It’s a set of 3 magnets designed for Iphone earbuds that has the earbuds snap together so we don’t have to untangle them. They come with a third one to put on the plug in so they all get put together and its never tangled.  Albert purchased some so if anyone wants any, I can send you the website information. I will put it in the notes for this meeting. You can order them online, or Albert has a few that will be available during the next meeting.

http://www.nearbuds.com/

  • Albert also discussed the Fopydo iPhone scanning stand that allows the user to set up the iPhone to take photos of text for OCR. Shipped to Albert’s home they are $22 each. If anyone wants one, Albert has 3 of the 5 originally ordered. Albert will bring them to the next meeting if anyone is interested in purchasing one.

http://fopydo.com/

  • The Dolphin Easy Reader app has been updated, so those who are accessing the CELA Direct to Player service might want to look at this iPhone app.
  • The GTTSupport email discussion list was talked about briefly. If anyone hasn’t yet checked it out, you can subscribe by sending a blank message with Subscribe in the Subject Line to the below address:

GTTSupport+Subscribe@Groups.io

The GTTSupport list is for anyone, blind and visually impaired to talk to each other about assistive technology.  it’s an email list where we can share information and ask questions.

 

Next Meeting: October 11, 2017

The next GTT Victoria meeting will have a presentation from Steve Barclay, formerly from Aroga Technologies, now operating Canadian Assistive Technologies out of the Vancouver area.  He will demo some new and emerging blindness and low vision assistive tech.

 

Albert reminded the group that the October and November meetings will be on the second Wednesday, and that the December meeting will be back to the first Wednesday.

 

Respectfully submitted by,

Albert A. Ruel

 

 

Toronto Resource: GTT Toronto Web Page for Announcements and Summary Notes

GTT Toronto Web Site

 

To visit GTT Toronto’s web page for meeting announcements and summary notes visit the above link.

 

CCB National has partnered with Kim Kilpatrick and a program called Get Together with Technology (GTT), to encourage those who use adaptive technology (and those who would like to know more) to get together and share their knowledge.

 

As a result, GTT groups have sprung up in CCB chapters across the country, meeting regularly to talk and learn about the technological tools that can enable independence and help build confidence.

 

In cooperation with other groups within the vision-loss community here in Toronto, the CCB Toronto Visionaries have launched our own GTT group, GTT Toronto, which meets once a month from September through June.

 

From apps on the latest smart phones, to tips on how to get the most out of your desktop computer, to navigating social media, GTT groups are self-directed, discussing topics brought to the group by group members. And don’t worry if you are not ‘tech savvy’. The idea of a GTT group is that those with some knowledge will share that knowledge with the rest of the group.

 

You can register on the GTT Toronto Announcements-only page to receive notifications of upcoming meetings by subscribing to the above link.

 

Get Together with Technology (GTT) on Twitter and Facebook

GTT on Twitter and Facebook

 

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

Sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB)

 

GTT is an exciting initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind, founded in 2011 by Kim Kilpatrick and Ellen Goodman.  GTT aims to help people who are blind or have low vision in their exploration of low vision and blindness related access technology.  Through involvement with GTT participants can learn from and discuss assistive technology with others walking the same path of discovery.

 

GTT is made up of blindness related assistive technology users, and those who have an interest in using assistive technology designed to help blind and vision impaired people level the playing field.  GTT groups interact through social media, and periodically meet in-person or by teleconference to share their passions for assistive technology and to learn what others can offer from their individual perspectives.

 

To follow, and join in on the discussions undertaken my members of the Get Together with Technology initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind, please find us on Twitter and Facebook.

 

GTT Program on Twitter:

To stay in touch with GTT on Twitter please follow the three Twitter Feeds listed below:

 

@GTTProgram @GTTWest @CCBNational

 

GTTProgram on Facebook:

To follow GTT on Facebook like and share the following FB Pages:

 

CCBNational GTTProgram

 

Or join the General and Youth GTTProgram Facebook Groups;

 

Join the GTTProgram Group for blindness related assistive technology discussions.  This group welcomes participants of all ages.  For more information contact Kim or Albert at GTTProgram@Gmail.com or Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net.

 

Join the GTTYouth for lively discussion on matters related to blindness assistive technology.  Canadian Youth aged 18 to 25 are encouraged to join this group.  For more information contact Rebecca.GTT@CCBNational.net.

 

For more information please contact your GTT Coordinators:

 

Albert Ruel                   or                          Kim Kilpatrick

1-877-304-0968,550                      1-877-304-0968,513

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net                GTTProgram@Gmail.com

 

CCB Backgrounder:

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments.  CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

 

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues.  For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

 

 

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON  K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968

Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: www.ccbnational.net

 

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, Identification and Reading Apps, September 11, 2017

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting September 11, 2017

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held September 11 at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

17 people attended.

Reading Tips: These summary notes apply Microsoft Word headings to help navigate the document. With JAWS, you may press the JAWS key +F6 to bring up a list of the headings in the document. Then you can arrow up and down this list of headings and press ENTER on any heading to jump to its location in the document.

 

September Topic – Identification and Reading Apps

 

Thanks to Carrie and Russel for demonstrating the following apps and providing the summary notes.

 

Seeing AI App

Russel demoed the free Microsoft Seeing AI app on his iPhone. He talked about the different channels available: short text, Document, Product, Person, and Scene Beta.

 

Russell then explained how the Short Text channel reads text automatically as you point the iPhone camera at text. He uses it to read things like business cards, CCB membership cards, etc. The Short Text channel can also be used to scan and read things like signs.

 

Russell then showed how the Document channel guides you to move the iPhone camera over a page of text, and then, after guiding the user to hold the iPhone with the page in view, advises the user to “hold steady”, and then automatically takes a picture of the page. The text can then be read by VoiceOver using the appropriate gestures. The document can then be shared by email, or text message.

 

Russell then ran into some issues when demoing the Product channel feature which is used to identify bar codes. The bar code was found and scanned, but the app was not able to identify the product. Upon further investigation at home, Russell found that the app worked better in the Product channel with VoiceOver turned off. This also helped answer the question Gerry asked at the GTT meeting about whether or not the Seeing AI app had a self-voicing feature. It does, and in some instances, like the Product channel, it seems to work better with VoiceOver turned off.

 

Russell then briefly showed the Person channel by taking a picture of Carrie. The app identified Carrie as a 36-year-old blonde lady who seems to be very happy! Carrie and Russell then attempted to do face recognition, but were not able to get this to work. If people are interested, this feature can be further researched and demoed at a later meeting.

 

Russell then switched to the Scene channel which is still in beta test mode. He pointed his iPhone at the members in attendance. The app announced “Group of people sitting on a chair”.

 

The Seeing AI app is new, but already has some great features available. It will most likely get better as time goes on.

 

You can learn more about this app on the iTunes website at the following URL…

 

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/seeing-ai-talking-camera-for-the-blind/id999062298?mt=8

 

You can learn more about Seeing AI and watch some video tutorials on the Microsoft page at…

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/seeing-ai/

 

Carrie demoed the following iOS apps.

 

VocalEyes

This is an app for iPhone/iPad. It uses your Apple devices camera to view information and interpret what it is. Created at MIT,  VisionEyes proprietary algorithm can read text, recognize objects, detect logos, and observe facial expressions, ALL in less than 3 seconds! Unlike other applications, with confusing buttons and modes, VocalEyes has one button. One button for everything! Text, Facial, Object, and Logo, all in one so it’s easy.

 

Requires iOS 9.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

 

More information: http://vocaleyes.ai

 

iTunes Store to get it:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/vocaleyes-talking-ai-camera-for-the-blind/id1260344127?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8

 

 

VocalEyes – Talking AI Camera for the Blind on the App Store

itunes.apple.com

Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about VocalEyes – Talking AI Camera for the Blind. Download VocalEyes – Talking AI Camera for the Blind and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

 

Be My Eyes app for iPhones/iPads. Soon to be for Android.

Be My Eyes is a FREE mobile app designed to bring sight to the blind and visually impaired. With the press of a button, the app establishes a live video connection between blind and visually impaired users and sighted volunteers

 

Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

 

More info:

 

http://bemyeyes.com/what-is-be-my-eyes/

 

iTunes Store to get it:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/be-my-eyes-helping-blind-see/id905177575?mt=8

Be My Eyes – Helping blind see on the App Store

itunes.apple.com

Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Be My Eyes – Helping blind see. Download Be My Eyes – Helping blind see and enjoy it …

 

Near Sighted VR Augmented Aid for Apple and Android Smart Phones

These apps are used with a virtual reality goggle like the inexpensive Google Cardboard ($17). It can give you a sort of electronic monocular. You must cut out a piece of the Google cardboard box so the camera can view outside of the box, attach the head straps to hold it on your head, and get the free app which controls the zoom of the camera in a stereoscopic manner. You need to take the phone out of the Google cardboard box to adjust the zoom. But for the $17 cost of the VR goggles I think it a viable low vision hands free viewing option. The one I showed was cardboard so not real rain friendly. A couple of down sides is the apps zoom is not huge and when viewing a television, I need to have a light on near the tv so the image is not washed out. Otherwise, I’m impressed for the price of this hands free and relatively light weight, clear magnified image. If you want to try it again ask me to bring it to GTT.

 

Get it for Android Smartphones:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.NearSighted&hl=en

Near Sighted VR Augmented Aid – Android Apps on Google Play

play.google.com

NearSighted -VR Augmented Aid Are you legally blind? Do you have low vision or can only see things up close? Then this app might be for you. NearSight is …

 

Get it for Apple iPhone or iPod Touch where it is called Myopia VR Glasses:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/myopia-vr-glasses/id1086689603?mt=8

Myopia VR Glasses on the App Store

itunes.apple.com

Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Myopia VR Glasses. Download Myopia VR Glasses and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Google Cardboard VR Googles at BestBuy.ca

 

Prizmo Go – a cloud OCR and Text Reader

Prizmo Go lets you quickly grab printed text with the camera. After text is recognized in a blink of an eye, you can interact with it in many useful ways. Read it aloud with its built-in text reader, share it, copy and paste it and for a small free app it’s not too bad.

 

Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

 

More information:

https://creaceed.com/prizmogo/specs

 

Get it on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1183367390?mt=8

Prizmo Go – Instant Text Capture on the App Store

itunes.apple.com

Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Prizmo Go – Instant Text Capture. Download Prizmo Go – Instant Text Capture and enjoy it …

 

OrCam MyEye

This is a unique, portable and wearable device which consists of a tiny, yet powerful smart camera, attached to an ultra-mini speaker that is clipped onto any pair of eyeglasses, and is wired to a very small sized battery packed base unit (the size of a large iPhone).

Convenient, mobile and easy to use, you will witness how OrCam will instantly and discreetly read any digital text and printed text from any surface – including books, magazines, newspapers, computer & smartphone screens, restaurant menus, street signs with only a gesture of a finger point at the text.

http://www.orcam.com/

 

CNIB Edmonton is hosting an Orcam demo. You need to RSVP.

When:           Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Time:             10:00 am to 3:00 pm

Where:           CNIB Edmonton – 12010 Jasper Avenue – Edmonton, AB

RSVP to:        Monica Enica, her email is

monica.enica@cnib.ca

phone 780-488-4871

 

Next Meeting (Monday October 16 at 7pm)

  • Since the second Monday of October is Thanksgiving Day, we will meet October 16.
  • As usual, we will provide one-on-one training especially iPhone and DAISY players. If you have other training requests email your interests to us so we can try to accommodate you.
  • As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

 

Meeting Location and Logistics

  • Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
  • We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
  • Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
  • Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
  • If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

 

GTT Edmonton Overview

  • GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

[End of Document]

NAGDU Guide & Service Animal Advocacy & Information mobile app, by the National Association of Guide Dog Users, (NAGDU)

Hi GTT Participants.  Here’s a press release related to an app regarding Service Dog Legislation in Canada and the USA that Dog Guide users might want to have at their fingertips.  It is a project of the National Association of Guide Dog Users, (NAGDU) and it was recently updated to work with iOS 11, and an Android version will soon be released as well.  Read on, and if it’s of interest to you it will be found on the App Store by searching for the following:

 

NAGDU

 

Leading Guide Dog Users’ Membership & Advocacy Organization Releases New Mobile App

 

When the National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU), a strong & proud division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), launched the NAGDU Guide & Service Animal Advocacy & Information mobile app in September 2014, it was hailed as an innovative ambitious project. This mobile app was the first to compile all the relevant state and federal service animal laws in the United States, along with associated guidance articles to help service animal users and businesses alike understand their rights and responsibilities. Over the past three years, this mobile app has been downloaded by nearly 5,000 iOS users and has been helpful in resolving numerous access issues across the country!

 

Now, with the advent of iOS 11 and with the input from hundreds of users, the National Association of Guide Dog Users is excited to announce the release of version 2.0 of the NAGDU Guide & Service Dog advocacy & Information mobile app for iOS and, by the end of September, its Android version. Here is what you will find in version 2.0:

 

  • Updated information on each state statute
  • The laws for each of the Canadian provinces
  • The ability to download the app from the Canadian app store
  • The complete regulations concerning service animals from the U.S. Department of Justice
  • Specific guidance for industries of concern to service dog users
  • Frequently Asked Questions to help these industries understand their rights & responsibilities
  • A direct email button to get more specific guidance & offer suggestions
  • A direct telephone connection to speak with a trained advocate
  • A more dynamic app with frequent updates
  • An Android version by September 30

 

“Those of us who use service dogs experience discrimination more frequently than most are aware,” says Marion Gwizdala, a guide dog user who serves as the NAGDU president. “We believe this new app will help guide & other service dog users better advocate for themselves, while providing accurate information to the general public and places of public accommodation so that instances of discrimination are resolved quickly and amicably!”

 

This incredible app is provided absolutely free as a public service by the National Association of Guide Dog Users and was created with the generous support of Aaron Cannon, a blind Software Accessibility Engineer and member of NAGDU. We also extend a special word of thanks to Michigan State University’s Animal Legal & Historical Center for the use of their legal research and information on state and provincial laws.  Before this announcement was even released, the app had been downloaded more than 1400 times! To download your free copy of this awesome mobile app, simply go to the App Store and type “NAGDU” in the search field; it’s that easy! Once you download the app, please browse through the information and send us your feedback. You can do this directly from the app by using the “send an email” feature. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to raze the expectations of the blind in the United States so we can live the lives we want!

 

For more information about the National Association of Guide Dog Users or the National Federation of the blind, please visit the following websites:

 

National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU)

http://nagdu.org

 

National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

http://nfb.org

 

About NAGDU

 

The National Association of Guide dog Users is the nation’s leading membership and advocacy organization for blind people who use guide dogs.  NAGDU is a strong and proud division of the National Federation of the Blind. NAGDU conducts public awareness campaigns on issues of guide dog use, provides advocacy support for guide dog handlers who face discrimination, supports sound policy and effective legislation to protect the rights of guide dog users, offers educational programs to school and civic organizations, and functions as an integral part of the National Federation of the Blind. For more information about the National Association of Guide Dog Users and to support our work, you can visit our website at <HTTP://WWW.NAGDU.ORG>, send an email message to <Info@NAGDU.ORG>, or call (813) 626-2789.

 

About the National Federation of the Blind

 

        The National Federation of the Blind is the oldest and largest organization of the blind in the United States. The NFB knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want! Blindness is not what holds you back.

        The Federation provides scholarships to blind students; support for those who are blind or losing their eyesight; advocacy for the blind facing discrimination; and educational programs for the general public on topics of blindness. The NFB is not an organization that speaks on behalf of the blind; we are the blind speaking for ourselves.

 

For more information about the National Federation of the Blind or to support our work, please visit <http://nfb.org> or call (410) 659-9314.

 

 

 

Marion Gwizdala, President

National Association of Guide Dog Users Inc. (NAGDU)

National Federation of the Blind

(813) 626-2789

President@NAGDU.ORG

 

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise expectations because low expectations create barriers between blind  people and our dreams. You can live the life you want! Blindness is not what holds you back.

Guest Post: AbleTech Collects Assistive Technology Donations for Fiji School for the Blind

AbleTech Collects Assistive Technology Donations for Fiji School for the Blind

 

AbleTech has chosen the Fiji School for the Blind as the recipient of many low vision and blindness related products that have been generously donated

by clients and manufacturers. These items are collected and once a year AbleTech makes arrangements to ship the items to Fiji.

 

“These items are a god send and change lives for people who normally could not afford them” says Amit Ram, community liaison with the school.

 

If you have gently used and working technology that you are no longer using and are looking for a good home for it, please contact AbleTech at 604-532-8030

toll free at 1-866-374-6776 or via email at info@abletech.ca

 

Your generosity will make a difference!

 

Thank you.

 

Richard Robinson

President

AbleTech Assistive Technologies Inc.

 

AbleTech – Working to bring assistive technologies to people with disabilities since 1999

 

http://abletech.ca/news/

 

Guest Post: Canadian Assistive Technologies, Formerly Aroga Technologies

Looking for Aroga Technologies?

New name, new face, same service and support!

After 28 years of providing equipment, software, service and support, it was of heavy heart that due to circumstances beyond our control, Aroga Technologies had to close its doors.

But the good news is that several people from behind the scenes of Aroga Technologies have banded together to create a new, vibrant Assistive Technology company, bringing their years of experience together once again in order to provide amazing service and support to every product we sell.

Once again we offer full lifetime technical support on any product we sell and honor manufacturer and extended warranties on our products. Our sister Service Company, Chaos Technical Services guarantees quick turn around on the servicing of equipment and offers competitive pricing on repairs that are not covered under warranty.

We continue to carry the very best in Low Vision and Blindness products, including state of the art products from such manufacturers as ENHANCED VISION, HUMANWARE, DUXBURY, DANCING DOTS, and many more. Our product lines are growing every day, and anything we don’t currently carry, we’ll order it special just for you.

We take Assistive Technology very seriously and want to be the one stop solution for you, your clients, or your loved ones, from purchase, to support, to service.

Visit online at www.canasstech.com or call 1-844-795-8324

 

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Canadian Assistive Technologies · 3020 Aries Place · Burnaby, BC V3J7E8 · Canada