Blind Bargains

Blind Bargains Qast 40: Meows What I call music Volume 3


When not distracted by upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday rumors, J.J. and joe found time to construct this week's BB Qast. We have a supersized interview about a new DAISY player, as well as our regular features of "Sound Off" and a feline-centric "Last Word".

Sponsor:

This episode is brought to you by HIMS, who would like to remind you that "Your needs are our solutions". Check out the E-Bot Video Magnifier, the Blaze EZ reading solution, the new Smart Beetle Braille Display and more by visiting the HIMS website. Or, follow them on Twitter.

In The News:

64 Oz. Games Raising Money to Improve and Expand Line of Tactile Dice, Other Products

HimsBlaze ET Now Connects to Hims Braille Displays, Improves Web Radio and OCR

HumanWare Updates Brailliant Drivers with HID, Windows 10 Support

Free Bookshare Memberships Available to New Yorkers

NVDA Development Site Moved to GitHub

PSA for new Apple TV owners experiencing missing audio description options on the Netflix app; contact the company at 800-585-7265 to request assistance. You may have to reference help article 32751 during the call.

In a Global First, Turkcell Incorporates Audio Description into Its Mobile App for the Visually Impaired -

KNFB Reader, compared on both Android and iOS

Blind student gets to conduct symphony

Interview: Laz Mesa from Accessible Electronics

J.J. speaks with Laz about the new Daisy Book Reader and Media Player. It ccan play books, music, and documents in a wide array of formats and is more affordable than other options. For those who may not need some of the more advanced features of a Victor Stream or Blaze ET, this is a unit to consider.Find more info at http://www.talkingmp3players.com

Sound off:

Ms. Armstrong writes in with a very good question considering the upcoming holiday sales season...

"Hey BlindBargains guys,

Talk about this in the next Podcast, will you. The marketplace is exploding with Android tablets. How does a consumer know if one is accessible?

Take for example the new $50 Amazon Kindle Fire tablets? You can t see them in stores. And many of us don t live near stores where you can see all those gizmos anyway that are offered retail.

Your thoughts?

(Deborah Armstrong"

The Amazon Fire tablet line uses an offshoot of Android called Fire OS". While this version of Android still contains the screen reader Talkback, and just as with Samsung's skin for Android called "Touch Wiz", the experience is not exactly like that of what you would find on a stock version of Android found on, say, Nexus devices. That doesn't mean that Talkback doesn't work well. it does mean that you may have to find resources for trouble shooting, or training, that are specifically designed for that version of Android as the stock edition may deviate from what you find on these forked versions.

Furthermore, some of the cheaper tablets do not install all the available Google Play service options by default in order to save space. Talkback can be one of those apps not preinstalled. That could be a bit problematic for the "out of the box" experience as you may not be able to start the device non visually. But even more important, some of these cheap tablets are cheap for a reason. While they may look attractive in the sales circulars, long term use may prove to be sadly lacking over time. Read the reviews about the device to be sure it is worth the money before taking the next step on the access front. We know that sounds kind of backwards, however, considering the sheer number of options out there for Android, it is still a good idea to do some basic research first before moving on to the access question.

Last Word:

holiday gifts for the person who enjoys sound. or, the cat in your life. Good luck fitting the headphones on the kitty though.
Music to Cats Ears
To hear the pitch man explain the concept himself, visit this link.
55k headphones sound like heaven on earth
The end of... Betamax?

The end of the year draws nigh, yet we still have so much in store before we reach the end of 2015. "This Year In A.T.", our holiday-related shows and more interviews. let us know your fave festive apps and sites by writing us with one of those electronic mail thingies feedback@blindbargains.com or leave them under the show notes tree in the comments section below.

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File size: 87.7MB
Length: 84:34

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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.


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