Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday, December 8, 2016 – Volume 588

The Week’s News in Access Technology

A Flying Blind, LLC Publication
http://www.flying-blind.com/

This Week’s Featured Advertisement

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Photo of the One Gently Used Focus 14 Blue Wireless Braille Display for $895.00 USD - Flying Blind, LLC Online Store

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Greetings,

News

1.) Braille on Display by Jackie Brown

A useful new book comes from Jackie Brown of the British Computer Association of the Blind. Braille on display tells you about the features found in most of today’s popular Braille devices, and offers the author’s opinion on their pros and cons. It is available for $35 in various electronic formats:
http://mosen.org/brailleondisplay/

2.) Microsoft CaptionBot

Microsoft is taking automatic picture recognition a step further in an online demo which recognizes and describes images. It’s called CaptionBot:
http://blindbargains.com/bargains.php?m=16240

3.) CAVI Music Composition with Reaper Course

CAVI will offer a “Music Composition with Reaper” course next semester. The course costs $150 for those paying out of pocket. A knowledge of tracks, items, folders, effects and the ability to successfully save and render a project in reaper are prerequisites:
http://wiki.cucat.org/pmwiki.php/Main/MusicCompositionWithReaper

4A.) You can read here about Microsoft’s accessibility plans for Office 365

https://blogs.office.com/2016/12/02/accessibility-in-office-365-enabling-greater-digital-inclusion/

4B.) What to Expect in 2017 from Microsoft

And here, for a post saying some of the same things, but detailing planned improvements to Narrator and Windows 10:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/accessibility/2016/12/02/making-microsoft-products-more-accessible-what-to-expect-in-2017/

5A.) Identifi Object Recognition

Identifi is another object-recognition app (iOS only at present) to add to our portfolio. Amazing what we can do today that we couldn’t even three years ago!
http://www.fredshead.info/2016/12/identifi-object-recognition-for.html

5B.) Envision’s ELI App for Recorded Labels

Meanwhile, Envision has released ELI, an iOS app apparently destined to emulate the capabilities of the Pen Friend. The user purchases special labels from the company, then records or re-records messages of any length to identify the object:
http://www.applevis.com/forum/ios-ios-app-discussion/introducing-envision-eli-personal-assistant-visually-impaired-help

6A.) This article is called “Amazon Echo As An Accessibility Support:”

https://luisperezonline.com/2016/12/05/amazon-echo-as-an-accessibility-support/

6B.) The Echo and Google Home on Tek Talk

Speaking of the Echo, you’ll be able to hear it compared and contrasted with Google Home on Tek Talk for GMT 13 Dec at the special time of 00:30
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rsc9613dc89eb2

7.) LibreOffice Accessibility

This page details the current state of accessibility of LibreOffice, one of the free Office alternatives:
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/accessibility/

8.) Gift Ideas for People Who Are Blind

As they have in previous years, AFB offers its “Gift Ideas for Friends and Family Members Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired:”
http://www.afb.org/blog/afb-blog/gift-ideas-for-friends-and-family-members-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired/12

9.) CNET presents “21 Shortcuts for Safari You Need to Know:”

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/shortcuts-for-safari-you-need-to-know/

10.) Blind Scooter Guy

This talk by “Blind Scooter Guy” tells his story and gives his account of how he uses technology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjgHtV8Ohw&t=95s

11.) This AppleVis guide covers “Sharing Data from a Text Message:”

http://www.applevis.com/guides/gps-ios-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch-miscellaneous-voiceover/sharing-data-text-message

12.) A Social Network for the Disability Community

This site aims to be a social networking platform to bring the disabled community together:
https://mydisabilitymatters.club/new-site-bring-disability-community-together/

13.) Building Electronics Projects

Hear about “Building Electronics Projects,” from two of the participants in the Blind Arduino Project, in Eyes on Success Episode #1650:
http://www.eyesonsuccess.net/show%20notes/show%20notes%201650.htm

14.) NVDA 2016.4 Release Candidate

I’m sure that within the next couple of days the official version will be released, but for now, the release candidate of NVDA 2016.4 is ready. It features improved performance with the Microsoft Edge browser and the implementation of Browse Mode in Windows 10 Mail, among other enhancements:
http://www.nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2016-4rc1-released/

15A.) Other podcasts include the AT Junkies talking about access to Google products

https://audioboom.com/boos/5366828

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Flying Blind, LLC Online Store Highlights

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http://bit.ly/OWAC-HTML
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2.) ‘iOS in the Classroom: A Guide for Teaching Students with Visual Impairments, iOS 9 Edition’ Authored By Larry L. Lewis, Jr., President, Flying Blind LLC, and Published by AFB Press – AFB Online Store

Paperback: $29.95, Online: $17.95, ePUB: $20.95, Kindle: $20.95
http://bit.ly/iOS9-ITC-AFB-FBLLC
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4.) Perkins Mini Braille Display 16 Cell for $1,495.00 USD Each and 24 Cell for $2,295.00 USD Each – Flying Blind, LLC Online Store

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5.) Large Print Address Book for $16.00 USD – Flying Blind, LLC Online Store

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