Triple-click Home

Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 19: A Stickler for Sequence

This month, Joshua Loya joins the Triple-click Home team to talk about all things related to Apples WWDC Keynote. Stories discussed in this podcast include:

What Apple revealed at WWDC 2013

Apple’s WWDC 2013 keynote video now live

WWDC 2013, A Lot of Announcements | MacForTheBlind

David Woodbridge Technology Blog: Talking Tech for June 11 – Apple WWDC 2013 Keynote – my notes

Which Macs, iPads and iPhones will get Apple’s new goodies?

Apple posts OS X Mavericks preview page

iOS 7 tells Apple users to ‘get excited’ again, says analyst

Apple’s new products won’t cheer investors, says analyst

Hands-on with the new Apple iOS 7

Fleksy keyboard page seems to indicate that Apple will allow third party software keyboards in iOS 7?

iOS App Store will update apps automatically, offer location and age categories

Passbook for iOS 7 to support scanning QR codes

The iPhone finally gets call-blocking in iOS 7

Lawmakers are cautiously optimistic about iOS 7’s ‘Activation Lock’ feature

Apple announces ad based iTunes Radio, ad free for iTunes Match subscribers

Apple’s latest creation is a woman named Mieko Haire

For Apple, an inflection point

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them: Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter Follow John Panarese on Twitter Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter Thanks for listening!

Do you enjoy our SPN Podcasts? You can help us out a whole lot by taking this very short survey.

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 18: Could You Try That in Less Words?
Welcome to another jam-packed episode of Triple-click Home. This month, John Panarese takes the wheel and is joined by Alena Roberts and Buddy Brannan. Along with a discussion of the current crop of news stories, Jamie Pauls talks with Brian Kevelighan about the Aftershokz Bluez bluetooth bone conduction headphones. We also feature a listener email, so stick around and enjoy the show!

Top of the News

Apple reveals details of 50 billionth App Store download

Apple faces questions over alleged tax evasion

A popular Office for Mac version reaches the end of the support line

Microsoft improves Skype on the Mac

Apple tightens App Store rules, now rejecting more app discovery services

iMacs get new cheaper, smaller flash storage options

Hardware Review

This month, Brian Kevelighan reviews the Aftershokz Bluez Bluetooth bone conduction headphones. He isn’t the only one who is in love with them. The Triple-click Home team share their opinion of these headphones as well.

iOS News

Google announces Hangouts messaging service coming to iOS, Android, and desktop today

T-Mobile: No iPhone discount lasts forever

Siri update prompts users to be brief

Low-cost iPhone rumor reignited by Apple supplier’s hiring spree

Apple Having Trouble Signing New Carriers Because of iPhone Subsidy and Minimum Purchase Requirements

Mailbag

Hi folks,
Thanks again for another very informative & witty podcast.
You all could form the Blind Tech Comedy club.
I have to tell you of my mac transition.
My Mother passed away 2 years ago, June 30. I wanted a diversion & a new computer. I got tired of all of the SMA upgrades. Therefore, it left me with the concept of learning to use the Mac OS. NOt only was I learning a new OS, I was learning a new screen reader. Originally, I paid the $99 for the one on one instruction through the apple store. I found the noise & lack of knowledge by the in store trainers discouraging until I met a lady who introduced me to macvisionaries. Between macvisionaries & Iblink radio, I have gotten more information than I could have ever paid for.
As you were talking about your first experience with a screen reader, I have to relay my own experience. I started with DOS 5.0 & found a shareware program called BPop. It was not a fully functional screen magnifier. It would allow me to engage it after I had typed something in order to proofread it. If I had made a mistake, I had to count spaces & lines in order to correct it.
Living in Florida at the time, I was in a close proximity to what was then Henter Joyce in St. Petersburg Florida. I actually met Ted Henter. I found within my budget through considerable cutbacks at the time the $295 to purchase Magic 1.27. It magnified my DOS screen & brought Windows 3.1 in 2x mode. I also received training through the state of Florida on the Vert screen reader along with word perfect 5.1.
Fast forwarding to today, I still have my windows computer yet pull out my mac for everything.
I am by no means an expert, yet am proficient enough to do what I need to do & am very satisfied with my decision to learn the Mac OS.
Like Jamie, I too, am a manual reader. I try to absorb what my given appliance or piece of electronics will do like a sponge. All of the resources you listed are very much appreciated. Your work does not go for naught. I also have a suggestion. Is it possible to take topics from the mac visionaries list with the most responses & expound on the subject matter? Some of them are very lengthy, yet very informational. I don’t read everything primarily, because I don’t have the time to read email all day. However, I find their listers very helpful & interactive.
The applevis site is also a good resource, however, I find some on that site who whine if something isn’t handed to them. Thank you also for your interview with the gentleman dealing with the Earl app. I am not necessarily one who believes everything needs to be free, however, I am tentative to subscribe to their service without knowing how viable they will be. I see their monthly price point to be very affordable, yet my Kansas City paper is not part of their content due to their web subscription policy. I do use newsline & am glad to see a for profit company give them direct competition while making it safe for those who spend a lot of time commuting.
It sounds as if they are following the model of Flexy, using the blind community as a means to test their app & service, yet eventually marketing to everyone.
We have come an extremely long ways from the specialized equipment costing several thousand dollars to main stream technology accessible to everyone.
Thank all of you for your tireless efforts & your dedication to making the world we live in technologically easier to live with.
Sincerely,

Pamela J Francis

Wrapping Up

Feature Writer Alena Roberts – Kindle Books are Finally Made Accessible to People with Print Disabilities

Extensive run through of the now accessible iOS Kindle app with VoiceOver

iOS App Voice Dream Reader now half price at $4.99 for limited time.

Prizmo – Scanning, OCR, and Speech

Looktel Money Reader Gains New Currencies

Bill Gates: Steve Jobs was better at design than I was

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:
Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter
Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter
Follow John Panarese on Twitter
Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter
Thanks for listening!

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 17: Differently Evil This time around, Jamie Pauls joins Buddy Brannan and Alena Roberts in a discussion of the top news stories of the month. Along with the news, Alena and Jamie bring you an interview with Bill Spiry about Earl, the news reader app with the cool name! Finally, this month’s podcast introduces a new resource segment, Our first topic is Switching to the Mac. Of course, your emails make our show complete and we include them here. We trust that John will be able to join us again next month. Stories covered in this podcast include: Apple announces WWDC 2013 details, promises new iOS and OSX builds Microsoft Isn’t Going To Release Office For iOS And Android Until 2014 Tim Cook issues an apology to Apple’s Chinese customers Analyst: Apple 60-inch iTV with iRing motion controller to launch in 2013 Apple patents way to show info to callers on hold Apple hangs onto your Siri data for two years Verizon’s new phone upgrade policy draws scrutiny Hands-on: Twitter music is all about discovery, not listening Two Great Options to Get All Your News in One Place

Special Feature: Switching to the Mac

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition by David Pogue OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual Take Control of Using Mountain Lion by Matt Neuburg VoiceOver Getting Started for OS X Technology podcasts from Vision Australia Apple and Other Accessible technology by David Woodbridge The Tech Doctor Podcast MacForTheBlind AppleVis MacVisionaries

Mailbag

Markus from Ireland writes:

> Hi there,

> In this episode you talked about positioning and navigation solutions. With Sendero GPS LookAround, Ariadne GPS, iMove, BlindSquare, to name but a few which spring to my mind, we have quite a lot of choice. I think it would be a good idea to share our experiences and put together an overview about the specific features of each app. In other words: What can one app do which others can’t?

> I would like to contribute my little overview which is based on my experiences with Sendero GPS, Ariadne GPS, iMove and BlindSquare.

> I have used these apps, have been a beta tester for two of them and have also used them parallel in the same location, just to see what happens.

> iMove makes it very easy and quick to save a location as a favorite by recording an audio label. Nevertheless, I am not entirely convinced whether I like this. I am just as hesitant to stop in a place and speak a description into my phone as I am to shout in public in order to find someone who should be there somewhere.

> I would rather save a point as a favorite, type an acronym into the description field and edit the place later. Another downside to the recording is that it can be difficult to notice the announcement. There will be background noise from traffic etc. during the recording, which will be similar to the noise around me when approaching the place. I find a TTS voice easier to distinguish from my environment than my own recording.

> I also have to say that the POI which the app gets from Google are far away from sufficient. Otherwise iMove does a decent job for a free app.

> I like Ariadne GPS because it tells me my speed and the altitude, whereas iMove only displays the speed. Otherwise, I have to say, that for me Ariadne has been replaced by BlindSquare.

> BlindSquare is not cheap, thanks to the Acapella licence which the developer has to pay for the TTS, but I think the app is worth every single cent of its price. I got a bit of O & M training recently to learn a new route in the town I moved to a few months ago. this gave me and the trainer a good chance to put BlindSquare to a test. Still at home, I picked a random shop on our town’s Main Street and saved it as a favorite. One has the option to manually insert an alert distance to be reminded when approaching the place. These places are FourSquare places; however, if the FourSquare place is not all that accurate, one can save an own favorite, and this is very accurate. When walking, one can decide whether to listen to the usual POI within the set radius – “Public Library, 65 yards at 1 o’clock.”, or track a particular place. This way I just saved a favorite at a particular destination. On the way there I didn’t have to save any places, turn-offs and crossroads because BlindSquare announces when one is approaching a crossroads and tells the streets which are crossing there. If one is not sure about the current position, , shaking the phone does the trick.

> In areas where I have at least a rough idea which POI to expect and what to listen for, BlindSquare is a brilliant app which I would not want to miss anymore. It does not offer turn-by-turn navigation at the moment but we’ll see what is going to happen in the future.

> In unfamiliar places I still like using Garmin’s Navigon Mobile Navigator. This, of course, is pretty expensive but lets you download maps for offline use and offers turn-by-turn navigation for various types of vehicles and pedestrians.

> I am looking forward to hearing about the experiences of you and your listeners.

And again Markus writes:

> Hi There!

> I really enjoyed listening to episode 16, as I always enjoy listening to TripleClickHome. 🙂

> You talked about switching from Windows to Mac OS and especially you, John, reminded people to always be aware that they are not using a Windows computer and a windows screenreader anymore. I lost my sight nearly 14 years ago and have worked with JAWS and NVDA since. After two and a half years with iPhones and iPods, I bought a MacBook air this January. What a piece of hardware and technology! I just love it!

> I don’t know whether it helped that I have used a Bluetooth keyboard with my iPhone for a while but the only confusion I encountered during the early period of my Mac life was that the left Ctrl and the FN keys are exactly the other way around as they are on my Toshiba notebook. However, for some research tasks I still need to switch on my Windows notebook, and whenever I do this I have to pause sometimes and think about keyboard shortcuts.

> I am amazed that nearly 14 years of experience with Windows cause hardly any transfer effect on the use of the Mac and VoiceOver. By contrast, three months of every-day use of the Mac still have a big influence on the use of Windows key strokes. NVDA has been confused quite a bit recently – “FN, left windows and space bar? What the hell is that in aide of!?”

> What are your experiences?

Jenine Stanley says:

> Hey Gang,

> Thanks for review of IMove. As someone who works at a guide dog school and who used to teach Trekker Products to our grads, I get asked about apps all the time. I haven’t tried I-Move yet though I did download it.

> Here’s really all I want to know about any GPS app proported to be “for the blind”.

> Does it give intersection descriptions when walking? Does it identify intersection by name in vehicles, say vehicles traveling over X mph? Or can it be set to do so if traveling slower or not wanting the full description?

> The other features are great and useful but I want to turn it on, have it do these things, sometimes in the background, and just work.

> Not being a Humanware fan girl at all, I still recommend the Trekker Breeze for most people asking me as it’s easy, works out of the box and gives them generally what they need, street identification. Yes, I warn them about Humanware’s update policy and that the POI’s aren’t going to stay accurate because the maps don’t get updated in a reasonable time frame. You also don’t have off-line browsing capability, which for me is huge in any GPS app so OK, that would be another good feature to know about, but I’m not so big on things like the Look Around Wand. Nice, helpful, but I could live with say a light version of the Seeing Eye GPS app that just did the intersection description and identification bits, say.

And again Jenine says:

Great interview with Stan Cox from the Apple Store. It just amazes me the complete arrogance and stupidity of humanity that people would actually walk away or better yet, complain, because he was sent to help them. Incredible. Good for Stan for not letting it get to him in the long run and good for his coworkers for sticking up for him and getting it.

Thanks also to Stan for pointing out that a job seeker needs to have answers as to how to do things.

Pam Francis emails us to say:

> It’s that time of year again, tax time. So, with W2 within reach, I sat down at the computer which was booted to windows 7 and opened internet explorer 9 and went to www.turbotax.com. I signed in and with Rita beside me, went through the entering of my personal information to start my E-filing. After several screens of entry, that thing happened. It’s that thing that happens in Windows and Internet Explorer, that evil thing that Windows users have come to know well and accept with the promise from Microsoft that it will get better in the next version. It goes like this.

> Internet Explorer has stopped responding. Windows will check online for a solution to this problem. Windows will restart the program. (Or, something like that.) Then, my home page appeared.

> After muttering a few therapeutic expletives, I knew I had a possible solution. I shut the computer down and booted to Mac OS and opened Safari. I went back into TurboTax.com and entered all the data again. And, after several more screens of do you have any more taxable income such as investments, foreign bank accounts, etc. was able to E-file my taxes. And, when I clicked the “save to my computer” link, I didn’t get that stupid question that says, “What do you want to do with this file”? with the open or save buttons. I closed Safari after signing out and went to my downloads and there, in a .PDF format that VoiceOver could read to me, was a copy of my tax return that I could have, hold, love and cherish, print or whatever I wanted to do with it. I soon received an email from TurboTax stating that my return has been excepted by the internal revenue service.

> Got to love my Mac.

> Sent from my MacBook Pro.

Wayne writes:

> Hello Serotek,

> Well, actually, I am really mailingTriple Click Home.

> Hi buddy and the gang,

> I wanted to check out your thoughts on a couple of features of the Apple Maps app. Interestingly, I haven’t heard very much frompodcasters in demonstrating the Apple maps app since its release.

> I know the Maps app has issues with missing data in some areas. However, I don’t think that this is as greater problem as has been presented through seemingly distorted media representation.

> Anyway, I was prompted to drop you a line following the iMove app recommendation in the last podcast by Buddy One of the benefits iMove offered is the announcement of POI’s such as businesses.

> Apple Mapsalso offers this facility by switching on @Tracking@to Heading. This announces approaching street intersections / names. It also announces POI’s that are being passed such as businesses including funnily enough the name of my neighbours business a couple of doors down – retied now, but offering electrical supplies such as washers etc.

> Also, the Apple Maps zoom feature allows the user to zoom in and out even to country view and then to use the rotor to access points of interest in that area.

> I was able to zoom out and jump across to India and China; zoom in and take a look at the POI’s in that area. using the rotor.

> Obviously, there are important improvements to improve data re: POI’s but the usability of Apple Maps as a mobility aid seems to have been overlooked by many podcasters in terms of demonstration.

> I often use Apple Maps when travelling on a bus on long journeys or unfamiliar areas to orientate me to street names and POI’s in that area. It works well. I suppose data usage is a consideration but most journeys would be manageable.

> I do also have Navigon; Blind Squre; Ariadne GPS; Where To; Ableroad and others. Mostly, I will download apps to support developers efforts in supporting us as a community but also to give me an additional resource.. We can use as many resources as possible in enabling as much independence as possible.

> I did download IMove some time ago but didn’t really seem to get anything more than Apple Maps and other apps gave me. Might re-install iMove though and give it another go.

> I am a long cane user with extensive field loss and poor contrast sensitivity. Good tools for adventuring are really helpful so the more the merrier!

> Thanks for a great podcast – all the best to you all.

> Wayne

> PS: Sorry to waffle – apparently, I’m known for it!

Wrapping Up

The Old Hat Guide to iPhone Accessibility by Fedora Outlier LLC Review: CamFind for iPhone lets you search for anything with your camera If you use assistive technology & Facebook, please visit our accessibility page and comment Why does Apple want to launch an iRadio service? No, Facebook Home won’t be coming to the iPhone. Here’s why Prosthetic hands controlled by iPhone app help a father hold his daughter’s hand again

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them: Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter Follow John Panarese on Twitter Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter Thanks for listening!

Do you enjoy our SPN Podcasts? You can help us out a whole lot by taking this very short survey.

Aftershokz

Looking for headphones with a safer open ear design so you can still talk with others around you or hear your environment? Aftershokz Headphones utilize Bone Conduction audio that lets you listen to your favorite tunes, or SeroTalk network podcasts, yet still be able to hear your nearby surroundings. You can get 40% off if you use the promotional code SPN40 at the checkout area on the Aftershokz website just for being a listener of this very podcast!

To learn more about these amazing headphones, and to read about the new Bluez with wireless options, visit Aftershokz.com. You can also catch SPN’s own Mike Calvo, from last year, reviewing a pair of the Aftershocks that he uses in his daily work.

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 14: Now, Peter

Welcome to our 14^th episode of Triple-click Home. We begin this show with a very important announcement from Pete Bossley. Other obligations require Pete to leave our podcast family for the forseeable future, and we will truly miss him. Never fear, though. He might just show up again sometime. That being said, the show must go on. Alena takes the lead role this month, and Buddy interviews David Ward about his exciting new Braille Sonar Reference app.

The Big Stories

One year, four departed execs, and a lot to be determined for Apple

So, what is Apple’s next big thing going to be?

iPhone and innovation: Is hardware the only place Apple can go to keep up the buzz?

The worst app Apple ever made

Apple App Store hits 40 billion downloads; 20 billion in 2012, alone

three reasons why apple stocks have plummeted

In iPhone vs. Galaxy battle, Apple still way on top

A possible explanation for the iOS New Year’s Do Not Disturb bug

Verizon prepared to follow T-Mobile’s lead if ending phone subsidies proves profitable  

Walmart now offers iPhone 5 on Straight Talk’s no-contract unlimited plans

T-Mobile USA to soon sell iPhones, cut subsidies

Apple needs to get serious about Siri

Siri why aren’t you sassy?

Amazon MP3 store now available to iPhone users

Be sure to check out Amazon’s Instant Video app for streaming movies and TV shows as well.

Facebook Rolls Out Free Voice Calls Through Messenger App For U.S. iPhone Users

Former Windows Chief Sinofsky Caught Using an iPhone

Mailbag

From Jenine Stanley:

Hi Gang,

This is one of those stories that’s just so, well, disgusting, it deserves telling. Can’t wait to hear where this one goes from your perspective either.

I got my I-Phone 4S in December 2011 and the first thing I got for it, even before I got the phone, was an Otterbox Defender case and Speed dots. I took said case to the Apple Store and had the salesman put it on my shiny new phone. Yay!

The case is starting to show some wear with the rubber not staying as tight as it once did but other than that, it’s never been off my phone, until …

I was in Manhattan recently for work and a short vacation with friends. I was heading back to the airport and had to take a car service from Midtown to Islip airport. For those who don’t know, this is about a 45 minute drive on a good day.

I’d been feeling less than my best throughout the vacation and that morning I was really not feeling well at all but thought it might pass as these things do.

As always I had a slight dread not knowing the car service and how they would react to my guide dog.

No problem! Carmel Transportation was great and if you’re ever in NYC, call them. They have a marvelous number 666-6666.

The driver was nice, appropriate about the dog and off we went.

About 20 minutes into the ride, I started to get that feeling, you know, the one that says, Uh-oh, I think I’m going to be sick.

I started to get out one of the ubiquitous plastic bags all guide dog handlers have stuff into every pocket they own. Alas, not fast enough though.

The remains of the delicious pizza I’d had the night before soon covered my lap and dowsed my precious phone!

The phone was plugged into an external battery at the time and the headphones were in.

After apologizing to the driver and trying in vain to clean myself up a tad, I removed the phone from my lap and began to wipe it off. Wow!

Luckily, the driver was great about the whole thing and stopped at a gas station, helped me get my suitcase out so I could change clothes and of course cleaned the back of the car.

In the meantime, my poor guide dog was trying to get as far away from me as he could. Guys don’t handle barfing chicks well you know.

The phone still amazingly enough worked. It was a bit slow on the response but I figured this was because the screen was beyond filthy. I carefully cleaned it with a wet paper towel, then with hand sanitizer.

I wanted to get the case open but couldn’t do that because really you need either good fingernails or a flathead screw driver for  this and I had neither.

Once I got home and showed the phone to my husband, he confirmed how disgusting it looked, which meant that some of the substance had gotten inside the case. OK, no big deal. I finally got the case off and cleaned the phone thoroughly. It works fine now but I do need a new case and speed dots screen because, well, apparently vomit is quite staining. Pizza vomit more so.

To top this off, the last leg of my flight home was cancelled due to weather and I ended up staying overnight in Baltimore. Not horrible as I did get to shower and clean up a bit more but …

You know how once you smell something, you keep on smelling it even if all evidence of it is gone? Well, I swore everything I owned, touched or thought about for the remainder of that trip wreaked of vomit.

The truly funny part though happened on my flight home, finally.

I was sitting there playing 7 Little Words when the man in the seat next to me said, “Oh, we have the same case.”

Now this either sounds like a bad commercial or an even worse pick up line.

I explained that yes, I’d had mine for over a year and despite it, uh, falling into a puddle of vomit in the subway, (revise, revise, revise) it still protected the phone well. And by the way, did he know how to get the case open?

“No, my wife put it on for me.” He said.

Somehow I don’t think Otterbox will be wanting this testimonial for their web site but in case your phone is immersed in vomit, if you get it out quickly, your Defender case will do a nice job of protecting it.

***

Markus writes:

Hi again, guys!

Different topic, different e-mail.

There is a VoiceOver bug which has quietly annoyed me since iOS 6 and I would like to know how the rest of the community thinks about this. I have e-mailed Apple Accessibility but God knows when and if this will be fixed.

When I open a page with an editing field – be it an e-mail, a message, a new Tweet in Tweetlist Pro or Status Report, VoiceOver says: “New message, to…” and then immediately jumps back to the first element on the page.

I then have to go back to the editing field. I find this quite annoying.

How about you?

And here is a suggestion which I have mentioned to Apple Accessibility but, again, no comments on whether this is going to happen or not: A VoiceOver gesture to turn it on and off.

Even for us VoiceOver users there are apps which can be used better when VoiceOver is turned off. Some apps don’t work at all with VoiceOver turned on but are useable for us when it is turned off.

I have the feeling that I use the Home button on my 4s more often than my wife (who can see) uses the button on her 3Gs. Just as well! The 3Gs used to be my phone and the Home button sometimes needs a second press to react.

I would welcome a finger gesture to turn VoiceOver off and on again – parallel to “Triple Click Home”. Oh, we’ve got to keep that, because otherwise you would have to change the name of your podcast! “V-Swipe”

or something like that would sound a bit strange. 😉 What do you guys think about this?

And now that I have mentioned apps without VoiceOver, I would like to give you a list of my (personal) favorite apps which I use without VoiceOver.

After all, we all talk a lot about what we expect from our devices but hardly ever mention how we could adapt to make things work – even without VoiceOver.

djay for iPhone by algoriddim

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/djay-for-iphone/id424492403?l=en&mt=8

A fantastic music player with playlists, crossfade, real-time effects and real-time scratching on the turntable. Apparently, and this is something I have not tried yet, one can split the audio signal and pre-listen to tracks inkl. VoiceOver before sending them through the master volume control. Otherwise VoiceOver has to be turned on again to make changes to the settings, effects, etc.

SoundPrism by Audanika GmbH

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/soundprism/id386833491?l=en&mt=8

An on-screen synthesizer which is super easy to use. However, VoiceOver has to be turned on again in order to change the instrument; furthermore, the buttons are not labeled properly. But the playing itself works excellent.

Echo Piano™ by Ting Wang

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/echo-piano/id378718173?l=en&mt=8

An on-screen-piano. I haven’t had this for very long but it seems to be pretty straight forward.

ThumbJam by Sonosaurus LLC

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/thumbjam/id338977566?l=en&mt=8

And, of course, the mother of all on-screen-bands! I am happy that the developers seem to know how to spell the word “accessibility”. With an update last year, the app is now useable with VoiceOver turned on. I still prefer when it is turned off though. Downside to this is the immense use of the Home button.

iAmGuitar by savageApps

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/iamguitar/id407752080?l=en&mt=8

The selection of the guitars is hit and miss; however, the strumming and picking and playing different cords works just fine. A nice little guitar in the shape of my iPhone! I must e-mail the developer and tell them about the inaccessibility of the settings section. Hey, but for playing around and songwriting one doesn’t need to make any changes. I love this app.

CarTunes Music Player by Ryan Oksenhorn

https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/cartunes-music-player/id415408192?l=en&mt=8

This app surprised me a few weeks ago. I found it through App of the Day and was quite interested when I read about – easy control with the swipe of a finger. And this is what it is, a music player which wasn’t developed with blind people in mind at all but which works just wonderful!

Single-finger swipe right – previous track.

Single-finger swipe left – next track.

Tap anywhere on the screen – Play/Stop

Put one finger on the screen and drag it up or down (like moving an app but without the first single tap) – Volume up and Volume down Single-finger swipe up – selection of media. Now we have to turn on VoiceOver to select our music. Once that has been don, we can turn Voiceover off again and listen to our playlist without VoiceOver’s announcements.

Epic! I love it!

That’s all from me for now. All the best,

Markus

***

And another email from Markus reads:

Hi Guys!

First of all I would like to wish you all a happy and successful 2013. I am amazed hoch much effort is put into the SeroTalk network and I specifically enjoy your podcast.

Informative, entertaining, just exactly the way I like podcasts! 😉

In episode 12, Alena said she would love a sort of stand or holder for the iPhone when using OCR apps. I’ve got good news for you!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/scanbox-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-portable-scann

I had heard about this project last May but couldn’t order one as they were only presenting the project on KickStarter.com

I think it might be worth getting in touch with those guys.

I know another guy from a German Apple mailing list; he is a retired engineer and designed such a stand as well. Let me know if you would like to get in contact with him.

Keep up the good work! All the Best,

Markus from Galway (pronounced Gallway), Ireland

More Stories and Our Apps of the Month

Book Review: All You Need and Want to Know about iMessaging

New: Draconis Entertainment Releases a New Mini Title for Mac OS X – SilverDollar

Happy birthday, Lisa: Apple’s slow but heavy workhorse turns 30

This month, Alena recommends TapTapSee, an object recognition app that is easy to use and apparently quite accurate.

Buddy is intrigued with, but a bit confused by VoiceVision, an app that is supposed to help identify colors through sound.

Alena is still enjoying the game 7 Little Words as well as Hourly Quiz, which she considers to be another enjoyable game.

John hasn’t had time to play with apps much this month due to some health issues in his family.

Remember to check out AppleVis for lots of great recommendations.

Interview: Braille Sonar Reference App

This month, Buddy Brannan visits with David Ward of At Your Fingertips about his new Braille Sonar Reference app for looking up Braille contractions. This is bound to be a great resource for all and information regarding the Unified English Braille code will be included in the future.

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter

Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter

Follow John Panarese on Twitter

Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter

Thanks for listening!

 

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 13: We Win

In this podcast, John, Pete and Buddy discuss the top news of the month as well as the biggest stories of the year. Before Alena left for Hawaii, she sat down with Jamie Pauls to give her thoughts on the year’s Apple news. Here are the stories, both past and present, which made our list this month.

Apple needs to learn how the internet works

Apple’s Contract-Free iPhone Could Benefit Every Consumer In America

How T-mobile’s smartphone pricing could change the wireless industry

Tim Cook hates office politics, loves when you email him

Analyst thinks ‘iPhone 5S’ due in June with better camera, NFC, multiple color options

Google releases official Google Maps application for iOS, features turn-by-turn navigation…

iTunes 11 review: Simple is as simple does

Apple January event to focus on publishing, iBooks, report says

Apple to host January 19 ‘education event’ in New York

iPhone turns 5 years old on January 9^th

iPad vs. iPad 2 vs. the new iPad

Who wants an iPad Mini? About one buyer in two

Tim Cook Prefers Settling To Suing and Has a Huge Quarter

iPhone 5 launching with 4-inch screen, new Dock connector?

Apple’s $1 Billion Win Over Samsung: Q&A

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display  

Why should I, a Windows user, care about Mountain Lion anyway?

Apple selects TomTom as primary iOS 6 maps provider (update: confirmed)

Mailbag

This month’s email is from Jenine Stanley. She writes:

Hi Guys,

Loved the 12th podcast. I have a couple recommendations for you for apps.

In the time killing games department, I am addicted to 7 Little words.

Sorry, don’t know how much this one costs but you get a daily free puzzle Plus one puzzle zone, 50 puzzles, for free when you start the game.

In this game you have 7 clues and set of letters that form the words to answer the clues.

You must put together the combinations of letters by double tapping on them in order.

So, let’s say you have a clue that reads like:

1. First meal of the day

9 letters

Your choices of letters displayed below all of the 7 clues might be something like:

BR EXE SUB EA JUN KFA ING ST

You would then double tap on BR first then EAC and so on until BREAKFAST is displayed.

You can check which groups of letters you’ve chosen, erase the entire group and get hints.

Your first 15 hints are free. Then you can buy unlimited hints for $1.99.

The entire game, save for one or two buttons is accessible and the unlabeled buttons are easy enough to figure out in context and label. All of the game features are  accessible.

You can earn bonus puzzle zones by completing zones you buy. Buy X number and earn 1 free zone.

On the practical side, I love the app Transit Times. It has the Central Ohio transit authority in it so I can stand at any point in the Columbus metro area and learn what buses come near me, what the nearest stop is to me and when the next bus is supposed to be there. It seems to actually work in real time too with the bus company data. I live along a route with multiple buses and often use other routes with multiple buses so this app is really nice.

It’s completely accessible but does take some getting used to. For example, it’s not really designed to give you the automatic next bus kind of data.

You have to go a couple screens in to get that for your real-time location.

It would be nice to have this as an option on the home screen.

It is designed to give you time tables and other scheduling info and is supposed to help you plan routes with multiple buses. I haven’t gotten that part to work quite the way I’d expected yet, but it you want to know when the next bus is scheduled at your stop, this is a great app.

Finally, for the ladies, although this might come too late for the holidays,

31 Products has a wrist purse that can hold your I-Phone and a lot more.

It’s a nice size little purse that can fit in a coat pocket. You can put your phone in the outside pocket if it has a regular case or inside if it has say an Otterbox defender case as mine does. The inside option is good because it has an adjustable zipper so you can attach the headphones if necessary and control your phone that way without taking it out of your purse.

The wallet part has a zipper pouch, places for credit and business cards and another pocket for change and such It also has a front pocket for your bus ID and other cards you need to get quickly.

I want to say I got it for around $30.00 and it’s available from anyone who is a 31 Products dealer, and trust me, there are lots of blind people out there who are. 🙂

Keep up the great shows guys!

Wrapping Up

Apple v Android: the winner is… the disabled community

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter

Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter

Follow Pete Bossley on Twitter

Follow John Panarese on Twitter

Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter

Thanks for listening!

 

 

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 12: Blind People Gotta Rock

Jamie Pauls joins Buddy Brannan and Alena Roberts for this month’s podcast. There are lots of laughs, news stories and holiday gift recommendations this time around. Be sure and listen to the very end of this episode, because there is a little surprise that you could easily miss if you hit the stop button too quickly. Enjoy!

Apple

A More Pocketable, Integrated Apple Under Tim Cook

Apple share of tablet market dips to 50%

HTC Will Pay Apple $6-$8 Per Android Phone As Part of Patent Settlement

Judge to review whether foreman in Apple v. Samsung hid info

Someone Goofed, And Apple’s New ‘Prototype’ Store Is Unbearably Noisy

Julian Treasure: Why architects need to use their ears

Apple gearing up for major adjustments to the Mac

Reviews

Apple Mac Mini with Fusion Drive Review

13″ Retina MacBook Pro review: more pixels, less value

Review: iPad 4 has processing power to spare

Apple Bloggers Love The iPad Mini So Much They’re Calling It ‘The Real iPad’

iPad mini or Nexus 7: Which is best for you?

Jamie Pauls reviews iAssociate 2 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Rumor Mill

New iPhone, iPad, and ‘iTV’ slated for first half of 2013?

iPad Mini Retina rumor arrives early

Holiday Section

Apple adds Passbook-enabled gift cards to its store app

Charge your iPad with a rocking chair

We asked the Triple-click team to submit their holiday wish list. John and Buddy would really like a new Mac. Alena would like a stand for her iPhone that would allow her to stabilize the camera for optimal OCr. Jamie Pauls announces that he has just ordered a 13-inch Macbook Pro. Alena suggests a word processor called Bean and Buddy recommends the Sophos antivirus package. Derek Lane drops by and offers a few recommendations of his own. We will check back with Pete next month to see what he wants for Christmas.

Mailbag

Dave from Ireland:

Hi folks,

Another great episode of 3CH, thanks. I just thought I’d respond to a couple of things

from the mailbag section.

1. The guy with the crashing App Store.

As you said, he didn’t mention which device he’s using. However I have had this issue

on my 3rd Generation iPad. As you know, the App Store has several tabs at the bottom

of the screen, and when you open it, it opens into whichever tab it was in when you

last closed it. The crash happens when the selected tab it is trying to open into

is Top Charts. So I have trained myself to remember to put it in any other tab whenever

I’m closing the App Store.

The only way to open the App Store in this situation seems to be to turn off VoiceOver,

open the App Store, and then turn VoiceOver back on again.

I have emailed Apple about it and they replied to say they are aware of it.

2. Actions Menu.

I’ve heard and read a lot of people talking about how you can go to the Actions menu

to delete mail etc. by finding Actions in the rotor. I’ve noticed that a lot of people

don’t seem to realise that when you’re in your inbox, the rotor goes automatically

to Actions, so you don’t have to find it in the rotor, you just have to flick down

when on the message you want to delete.

I’m sure a lot of people know this, but I just think it’s a tip worth mentioning

as I’ve heard a lot of people saying to go through the rotor.

As for text messages etc. being read out in a voice like the sender’s, this frightens

the life out of me, lol. Have you heard the Irish voice, Maire, she’s absolutely

awful!!

Keep up the good work.

Blog comment from Kathy Blackburn:

Dear 3ch Team:

I’m writing in response to your advice to hard reset the iPhone by holding down the

home button and the sleep button. Up until IOS Version 6, hard reset was harmless.

With the introduction of Version 6, however, a hard reset results in the loss of

VoiceOver, and the only way to get it back is to connect your phone to a computer

to turn VoiceOver on in iTunes.  I emailed accessibility@apple.com, and they are

convinced that this is not a bug, that this is what is supposed to happen.  So I

no longer re-boot my phone this way.

Wrapping Up

AT&T expands FaceTime to individual iOS device users on LTE

Massachusetts rail commuters can now use smartphones instead of tickets to ride

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter

Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter

Follow Pete Bossley on Twitter

Follow John Panarese on Twitter

Follow Jamie Pauls on Twitter

Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter

Thanks for listening!

 

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Listen to Triple-click Home Episode 11: Samantha Drives Me Bonkers

Welcome back to yet another episode of the Triple-click Home podcast. As you may recall, Alena Roberts was unable to participate in last month’s show, and her absence was greatly missed. She is back this month, and takes a firm hand as this month’s host. It’s a good thing, too, because Apple’s announcement of new iPads, Macs and Macbooks had Buddy Brannan, Pete Bossley, and John Panarese each wanting to weigh in with their opinions. Speaking of John, he spent part of his birthday recording this month’s show. Now, that’s what we call dedication! Jamie Pauls drops by with a quick review of the AccessWorld app for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Along with Jamie’s review, here are the stories discussed in this month’s episode:

Apple introduces new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display

Mac Mini updated in two new flavors, at $599 for i5 dual-core and $999 for i7 quad-core server m

Hands on: Apple updates iMac with gorgeous new display

Apple joins hybrid storage market with Fusion Drive

Google and Amazon can breathe a sigh of relief as Apple skips competing on price withiPad mini

With new iPads, Apple targets education opportunity

TIM COOK: ‘We’re Extremely Sorry’

The Biggest Threat To Apple Right Now

Mapping a Path Out of Steve Job’s Shadow

What is Particle and why did Apple buy it?

Lockitron plans to help you unlock your door with your phone

Exchange/iOS “meeting hijack” history goes back well before iOS 6

Our tests find ‘purple haze’ effect isn’t limited just to the iPhone 5

Apple looking to add character to text-to-speech voices

The iPhone 5, my thoughts and Opinions by John Panarese

Who knew wi-fi could be so fun?

Contacting the Team

The Triple-click Home team would love to hear from you. Here is how you can get in touch with them:

Follow Alena Roberts on Twitter

Follow Buddy Brannan on Twitter

Follow Pete Bossley on Twitter

Follow John Panarese on Twitter

Follow Triple-click Home on Twitter

Thanks for listening!

 

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