It has been a long time since the week s A.T. news monopolized an episode s runtime. Yet that is what we have with information rolling in like a story-laden freight train heading towards the news section at breakneck speed. That means that our demo and tip sections are a bit shorter. And we still have Sound Off plus the week s weirdness with the Last Word .
But first Remember you can take a short survey about our podcast by heading to this link
Filling out the survey will put you in the running for a Google Home Mini. The drawing will take place during our October Google Hardware Event show. Your answers, and participation, help shape the BBQ. So, please take a moment and let us know how we may plan out the future.
Programming Note:
We mentioned a few months back that we were considering doing a discussion topic segment on food delivery services. Our own BBQ Crew Member Ricky Enger
did just that over at the first ever Tech It Out Live recently. Check out the archives of that live event
to hear more about the subject. And be sure to follow Hadley on Twitter to discover more upcoming learning opportunities.
In The News:
VFO changes their name to something your screen reader probably has trouble saying
The JAWS 2019 beta cycle has begun
Firefox Extended Support Release now requires JAWS 2018 or newer
The latest NVDA update is now live
The Blindy TV Twitter account noted that the service would be winding down soon
@BlindyTV
Due to accelerating degradation of our existing automation software, and the lack of time/interest to rebuild it and continue editing new content, it has been decided to retire the BlindyTV service on 10/1/18, at 12:00
EDT, after nearly 6 years of broadcasting. Thanks, everyone."
Fans of classic game shows can now watch Buzzr online
VoiceDream for iOS has been updated to take advantage of iOS 12 s new Siri Shortcuts feature
The latest FlickType now has options for Low Vision users
Microsoft Soundscape updates to support smart invert, announcements for vehicular travel and more
Feer on the app store is an endless runner that is perfect for Halloween
Demonstration: The Riddle Room
Do you dare enter the Riddle Room?
J.J. goes on a perilous journey through doors with mysterious areas behind them. Each requires you to answer riddles to traverse further within. Listen in to hear how far he goes with his trusty Google Assistant by his side.
Tip: Siri Shortcuts
Steve Clower
Is back with a very timely tip. Steve explains how he uses the Shortcuts app to copy items to the clipboard for later use in iMessages and Dropbox. To learn more about how he accomplished this, and so much more, visit the Apple Support page for Siri Shortcuts.
If you have the Shortcuts app installed, here's a link to Steve's shortcut
Sound Off:
Deborah Armstrong noticed something was up with VFO s, oops we mean Vispero s, training pages way back on September 6th.
I looked at the JAWS free webinars archive this morning and couldn t believe it; all the Office 2016/Office 365 webinars that were formerly paid had been moved to free.
https://www.freedomscientific.com/Services/TrainingAndCertification/FreeWebinars
VFO did not announce this change as far as I know.
--Debee
Kathy Blackburn writes in to tell us that X does not always mark the iPhone spot.
Hey, guys: it has been a year, and that letter X - as in iPhone X - is still a Roman numeral ten. The screen readers still get it wrong, but surely, you're smarter than your screen readers. I'm using an iPhone 8 and have no plans to replace it barring some unanticipated accident. I'm thinking more seriously about the new Apple watch, though.
Joe mentions his recent visit to the Apple Store at the top of the show. However, you can read more about his thoughts in this out of the blue [new [Apple Rundown post]](http://www.blindbargains.com/b/19467
Bob & Margrit told us about some problems they were having with their new Victor Reader Trek some months back. They wrote in again with an update on how things were progressing.
Hello JJ,
I wrote to you some time back commenting on the inability of my Victor Reader Trek being unable to create a turn by turn motorized route. Since then, by way of software updates, the problem was seemingly corrected. Recently, I put it to the test on a road trip and wanted to pass along my experience because, as I understand it, you are representing this product. Let me repeat from before, I love the reader part of this product after using the earlier Reader Stream for the past four or more years but, as a GPS system....beware. Here s the story:On September 23, we travelled from Boston Mass.to Newcastle/ Clarington Ontario in our 2018 Nissan Murano. At the beginning of the trip the car s navigation system showed a distance to destination of 823 km or 511 miles. The Reader Trek showed
1047 km or 651 miles.
The trip itself was straight forward namely, drive west on I90 to Syracuse N.Y. and go straight north on I81 to the Ivy League International Bridge which crosses into Canada at Ganonoque (pronounced ganna nock wee)Ontario and then drive west on highway 401 to our destination which is about 80 km or 50 miles east of Toronto.
Naturally, we chose to use the Murano s nav system and we turned north on I81. The trek disagreed and said that we should keep going west on I90 to Niagara Falls, cross into Canada at Lewiston N.Y/Queenston Ontario and continue west around the west end of Lake Ontario and drive back east on the Queen Elizabeth Way and highway 401 through Toronto (which is a nightmare by itself) and continue east to our destination.
Once we turned north on I81 I expected the Trek would get the idea that this was a better route and would, therefore, re-route accordingly. However, it continued to try to send us back south to I90 at every exit all the way to Watertown N.Y. which is 113 km or 70 miles north, at which time it directed us to turn east to Ogdensburg N.Y. which would take us back east 95 km or 59 miles and then across into Canada for 88 km or 55 miles to get back to Ganonoque. Obviously, either the map or the algorithm ignored that a major U.S./Canada crossing at the north end of I81 existed but, even so, it s a mystery how it plotted the original trip.
Fortunately, we knew the route without navigation, but, if we were relying on the Trek as our only means of finding the way, this would be a bitter disappointment. Therefore, it s a loss of confidence in the Trek and I think the developer and any users should be aware and handle it accordingly.
I plan to pass this experience along to Humanware but I wanted you to know as well out of respect for your own reputation . Regards,
Bob
We d like to hear other stories of Trek navigation. Send in your experiences to the BBQ Feedback email or just leave them in the comments field below these show notes.
Last Word:
Fictitious food and a strange phone number fuels the fires of wonder this week.
Why Trekkies Are So Obsessed with Making a Disgusting Klingon Dish Called Gagh
Uncovering the mystery of Corktown s strangest billboard
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
