All News and Views

Google i/o will soon descend upon us like a sky diver at the end of this month, however, the little company from Mountain View has already begun to give us good news with the official release of the 4.2 version of the Talkback screen reader for Android. This release contains two significant changes that are sure to make some long-time users happy, and some who were on the fence about Android even happier.

Imagine walking around with a backpack on your shoulder and a camera attached to your glasses. The resulting images would be transfered to a tactile display which would give you an idea of your surroundings. A South Korean company called Tactisplay is betting on this idea with a new product which will translate images from a USB camera or computer monitor to raised graphics. The 64 by 48 pin array includes over 3,000 pins and will last for up to 10 hours on a single charge. Pricing is expected to be around $7,000, much lower than the cost of some high-end single line braille displays. Few additional details are known, but you can get some contact info and additional info in the press release below. Thanks to Dave Williams for the tip.

Netflix continues to add movies and TV shows with audio description, bringing the list now to 63 titles. Since our original list of 39 titles, Netflix has added popular TV shows including American Dad and Bob's Burgers, Netflix original Orange is the New Black, and some childrens shows including Monster Math Squad. The list of the 24 new titles is included below:

Apple TV owners now have another outlet for their binge watching couch potato sessions in the ABC Network channel. While the full programming slate does not sport audio description, namely none of the hour-long dramas, many of the network s popular comedies now feature descriptive video tracks.

Version 1.5.3 of Sendero's Seeing Eye GPS for the iPhone is a notable update, despite its version number. This release includes Google Places as a source for Points of Interest. Google POIs are often some of the most up-to-date, thanks to its large community of active users, and will be ideal especially for locating businesses which have recently opened. The free update is available now in the iTunes App Store. The short changelog is below:

The Royal National Institute of Blind People is seeking feedback regarding the accessibility or lack thereof for the recent uK election in May. According to the survey page, "7 out of 10 blind and partially sighted people were prevented from voting during last May's European and local elections, because voting was not accessible."
If you voted in this year's election and are blind or partially sighted, you can offer your feedback using the survey linked from this post. The survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes.

The National Federation of the Blind has announced its 2015 scholarship class. This year's class of 30 will be recognized at the national convention in Orlando on July 10. Each winner is guaranteed at least $3,000 and may win as much as $12,000, in addition to a variety of other prizes which typically include more cash, a plaque, and assistive technology. Congratulations to this year's finalists, which are listed below.

The 2014 American Council of the Blind convention at The Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas will be its last at the location. The hotel closed for good this past Monday after a 60-year run. The 2,100 room hotel, which opened in 1955 is owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which plans to demolish it to build convention and meeting facilities. We've linked to a report from a guest on the final night.

Online gaming platform RS Games has posted a one-page survey to gain feedback from its users. The survey asks users to rank the various games, solicits suggestions for new titles to ask, and also delves into whether people play the same games in other venues. Follow the link on this post to take the survey.

The schedule has just been released for this year's Google IO, Google's conference for developers and programmers which also includes a flurry of product updates and launches. While there's likely to be more sessions added, this year's conference appears to hint at a new Android version among other announcements. As for accessibility, two sessions are being presented, focusing on showing developers the simple ways to make their apps accessible. One of these will also be live-streamed. We've listed the accessibility-related sessions below. Here's a link to the complete schedule.

Version 1.5 of the KNFB Reader app for iOS devices has just been posted to the iTunes App Store. This minor free update includes support for the 2nd generation iPad Air as well as a couple of VoiceOver-specific fixes. We've included the version 1.5 changelog below.

The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey-based guide dog school, is back with their popular annual auction. The 7th annual affair includes 425 items ranging from vacations to blindness products. Items are available to fit just about any budget, and proceeds benefit the school and its programs. Check the link on this post to view the auction, which ends May 8.

Amazon is now offering free-of-charge same day delivery to those who are subscribed to its Prime service. If you were lucky enough to already be using the same day delivery, the standard $5.99 fee that used to be applied has been dropped for those who currently subscribe to Prime.

Items on the Amazon website will be marked as being available for same day delivery. Customers need to checkout and pay for their order before 12 noon to get the item the same day; otherwise it will arrive the next working day. Qualifying orders must be more than $35 in total and delivery has to be in one of the 14 metropolitan areas that are part of the same-day delivery network.

Use the provided link and enter your zipcode to see if your city is included in the new service. Be sure to check back from time to time if your city is not part of the network, they'll be adding new cities as the program expands.

A simple sentence added to Apple's App Store Review Guidelines may have unintended consequences for deaf-blind users. The one sentence section 10.7 reads "Watch Apps whose primary function is telling time will be rejected". There's a fringe use case that Apple may not have thought of however.

Scent is one of the most powerful of our five senses. It can warn us of danger and trigger precious memories. According to the consumer market research firm NPD, 80 percent of men use some kind of scented product and 54 percent of men report using a fragrance on a daily basis. It can be overwhelming when purchasing cologne. You can't walk into a department store without being besieged by a barrage of competing scents. Below is some general information about fragrances which should help you when deciding on cologne.

A warning to you gentle reader, this post contains nothing but Apple Watch links. If you are tired, bored or just plain don't want to hear any more about the thing... you may want to skip this one. Some people are already on "burn out" at this early stage of the product's life cycle. After collecting more than 100 links on this accessory, I can honestly say, I'm a bit on overload about the subject myself. Therefore, the next edition will contain no Apple Watch news. Well, unless the devices turn peoples arms blue or allow them to become superheroes or something. Fat chance I could ignore stories like those. So, barring supernatural origin stories of the comic book variety, this post will have to do for those wanting news about Apple Watches. Oh, and listen to BBQ 14 because we talk about it in that show as well. Happy reading!

Netflix is beginning to deliver on its audio description promise quicker than many had expected. As of this post, a total of 39 titles including Netflix original serie and movies are now available with audio description. Of note, this list includes a variety of shows that are described by third parties. A new Audio Description link is available from the Netflix home page which shows the current list, which is currently expanding raplidly. Here's the 39 shows available as of this post.

Mantra Lingua is likely a company that most people haven't heard of, but you are probably familiar with one of their products, the PenFriend Voice Recorder Labeler. A few months back, the PenFriend was replaced by a new model, the PenFriend2. This new version includes 4GB of internal memory, a simpler recording process, a mode for using the unit as a simple MP3 player, and colored label tags. A new software program which allows users to back up and restore recordings is now also available. Overall, the new unit is slightly smaller and lighter than the original. It's available now from RNIB in the UK and several retailers in other countries including LS&S in the U.S. where it sells for $149.

The NVDA Remote crowdfunding campaign, which accepted donations for the past month for a new add-on which will add remote access support to the NVDA screen reader, has completed and beta testing is now in progress. The campaign crushed its $10,000 goal in the first 3 days of the campaign, which was organized by Christopher Toth and Tyler Spivey. A total of $13,546 was donated by 187 people during the campaign, an average donation of $72.44. Of these, 69 people claimed awards at the $100 or higher level which included beta test access and a year of free tech support. To follow the progress of the add-on, visit the NVDA Remote website

A free patch has been released for the Hims Blaze EZ Multiplayer, enabling direct downloading of NLS BARD titles. Still numbered as version 1.10, this release also includes improvements to the update process and the built-in web radio support. We've linked to the download page and included the release announcement below.