All News and Views

It is no secret in the blind and visually impaired community that unemployment is one of our biggest group challenges. To help combat the high rate of unemployment in the blind and visually impaired community, Aira has recently introduced the Aira employment program.

It is no secret that the BBQ Crew has been a bit scattered since the holidays. Some news has fallen behind the sofa, or been swept under a few floor rugs, so this large pile is our way of acknowledging some stories that have occurred while we've been occupied elsewhere.

Big shout out to Dean at Top Tech Tidbits and Access World for keeping the news torches burning. They are great resources for a little light reading when we aren't actively posting.

Baum USA, distributor of Baum braille displays and other products, is closing its doors as of the end of business today.

Apple has been slowly adding popular features found on Android phones for a few years now. yet the two biggest items on the Apple wish list would probably have to be that of wireless and rapid charging. With the release of the iPhone 8, 8+ and the X, apple fans finally saw their wishes become reality. Do these new power options really help you get through a day's worth of use more easily? The short answer is yes . Read on to learn more about my first month of using the official Apple USB C rapid charger and the Belkin Boost Up wireless pad.

Aira user Greg Stilson will be attending the Superbowl Sunday Feb 4th, and will be using Aira to get descriptions of the big event. Generously, he and aira will be streaming the event to all, even if you're not currently an Aira subscriber.

On January 23, Mozilla released Firefox version 58. The previous Firefox version, 57, known as Firefox Quantum, was a major Firefox release which changed how webpages were rendered, but unfortunately also [rendered Firefox much slower and less accessible to screen reader users including users of NVDA

Ever wished you could get more help with the accessibility of your google products? Now you can. After being in beta for several months, Google now offers a dedicated accessibility support team for all your accessibility questions.

Many VoiceOver and other audio game players on iOS have most likely heard of and have played the Blindfold series of games from Kid Friendly Software While these games have been accessible for speech users, they have not been useable by those who want or need to be able to play them with a braille display. Late last year, I posted a blog on AppleVis calling attention to this fact and pointing out that submited feedback prior to that point had not been taken into account. A discussion ensued, and in early January, I was happy to post that full braille display support was available with Blindfold Wildcard. This card game is very similar to the traditional Uno card game.

Last week, Kid Friendly Software released full braille display support for another game, Blindfold Travel Cards, a version of the popular game better known as One Thousand Miles. As someone who used to be able to play audio games, who later had that ability taken away due to a series of major hearing losses, it is great to now be able to play these games. It is my hope that Kid Friendly Software will continue to work to offer braille support on many of their titles which are text based.

APH has announced via it's mailing list for the Orbit Reader 20 that they will start taking orders tomorrow for the much anticipated braille display/notetaker.

Matt Sharp, a long time gamer and Youtube personality, runs a channel called Games for Everybody/audio described gaming, wherein he plays numerous mainstream games from various genres. While this is nothing new on YouTube, Matt's channel offers a unique twist. While playing, he describes the games for a visually impaired audience as he plays, reading the text of games aloud and describing the physical environment of the game.

VFO, owners of Ai Squared, Freedom Scientific, Optelec, and The Paciello Group has now acquired Enhanced Vision, a company known for making video magnifiers.

Popular braille printing and translation software Duxbury has released an update to their windows application. Existing Duxbury 12.2 users can update for free today by opening the DBT Win application, going to the help menu and selecting check for updates.

One of the biggest prizes for blind or visually impaired people is back for its second year and the application period is now open.

Sendero group, recent recipient of a grant from National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research, is prototyping an app to aid with the often hectic navigation in large in door spaces such as malls or airports. If you are a visually impaired resident of Chicago or Baltimore or can travel to one of these cities, Sendero Group is requesting your help to test and refine the effectiveness of this prototype on-site.

In my last writing article, I introduced MindNode, an accessible mind mapping app for iOS. Mind maps are a very flexible tool, allowing a lot of creative freedom in designing and organizing your outline or plans. Today's app, story planner for iOS by SCVisuais, continues the theme of planning, but offers a great deal more structure and prompting for writers who like their layout.

Over the years I've joked with J.J. about him owning Google's first attempt at a music device with his Google i/o schwag bag Nexus Q collector's item. The unit was round like a Google Home Mini,dedicated to streaming playback and a mixture of touch controls that can be assisted by a smartphone for added functionality. Yes, the Nexus Q could be seen as the distant relative that doesn't get invited to family gatherings anymore during the holidays in Mountain View. Google's third entry in the Home series of smart speakers is positioned more as a Sonos killer than an Amazon rival.

As you may or may not be aware, it has recently come to light that older iPhones are often known to experience reduced performance due to how apple handles new features on devices with older batteries.

Out Of Sight Games updated their Kickstarter page with news that the audio-driven PC version of their Role Playing Game is now available for purchase from the official site.

BlindAlive has now released a companion to their Eyes Free Fitness website. According to the description from the App Store, the app offers a variety of workout types, all described freely, enabling visually impaired people of all fitness levels to set and achieve their personal fitness goals. The app also allows users to access content from across the BlindAlive blog and podcasts.

Version 2.0 of Seeing Ai, the app which Microsoft released earlier this year and which has now been downloaded over 100000 times, was released today. In addition to now being available in 35 countries, version 2.0 of the app has introduced a number of new features likely to be of interest to blind and visually impaired users.