All Cool Blind Tech Shows

Joel Ramos visits with Alex Lee of Dot Incorporated to get a good look at the new Dot braille smart watch. This gadget has caught a great deal of attention because it brings new possibilities and benefits of the networked digital age to the wrists of millions of Blind & Visually Impaired people worldwide.

Hugo Gallegos visits the Orbit Research booth at CSUNATC17, where he gets a hands-on look at the Orbit Reader 20 braille display, which is also a note taker and book reader.

Hugo also has a blast playing with the Orbit Graphiti interactive graphics display.

In this CBT Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with Suman Kanuganti, the cofounder and CEO of Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind, to discuss a life changing new service for those who are blind or visually impaired.

Aira takes advantage of the technology found in advanced smart glasses, like Google Glass, to connect blind people with sighted agents who can use the information transmitted by those glasses to help them with anything that might require visual feedback. That could be anything the user would like an extra pair of eyes for.

Smart glasses not only have a camera that transmits visual information to the agent, but also other sensors that send detailed information to the agent’s dashboard, such as GPS information that is incorporated into Google Maps.

For now, the glasses will need to be paired with a smart phone, but you should listen to this podcast to hear all the spectacular improvements that Suman is planning.

You can visit their website, email Aira, or email Suman directly for more information. You can also call Aira at: (858) 876-2472.

Join Joel, Jessica and Cool Blind Tech's newest team member Rachel as they discuss their Cool Picks.

Cool Picks of the Week

Jessica shows us a cool skill that is available on both the Alexa line of products and the Google Home Assistant. The "Dr. Doggy" skill is a must have for owners of seeing eye dogs or those who care greatly for man's best friend.

Rachel highlights the benefits of using the Yelp app on her iPhone before heading out for a day of fun. Check out how you can plan your next outing as well.

Joel has found a new way to have fun on his iPhone with the new Reverb app. Listen in to find out how you can now bring along a well known virtual assistant with you on both android and iOS devices.

This week the team has way too many conventions to choose from and they all have great assistive technology to talk about. Join Joel, Jessica and Cool Blind Tech's newest team member Rachel as they discuss the happenings in A.T. Whether this cool Tech shows up in Barcelona, Spain or San Diego, California you can guarantee that the team has an opinion and plenty of techie details.

Accessibility Makes Itself Known At This Year’s Game Developers Conference

San Francisco, California is hosting this year's GDC 2017 and accessibility is a major topic of discussion. Yes, you did read that correctly, make sure to listen and find out how.

Can VR Help the Visually Impaired See Better?

Barcelona Spain, is hosting the Mobile World Congress this week and Samsung is showcasing a VR app called Relumino which can help the visually impaired more efficiently read books and watch tv. Can this replace current assistive devices for less? Make sure to hit play and find out.

Real Time Graphics on a Braille Display

San Diego California, is hosting the annual CSUN convention this week as well and Orbit Research along with the APH is presenting the Orbit Graphiti. The team talks about all the things it can do and who will get their hands on one first.

Cool Picks of the Week

Jessica shows us a cool skill that is available on both the Alexa line of products and the Google Home Assistant. The "Dr. Doggy" skill is a must have for owners of seeing eye dogs or those who care greatly for man's best friend.

Rachel highlights the benefits of using the Yelp app on her iPhone before heading out for a day of fun. Check out how you can plan your next outing as well.

Joel has found a new way to have fun on his iPhone with the new Reverb app. Listen in to find out how you can now bring along a well known virtual assistant with you on both android and iOS devices.

Google released the Google Home, which is a voice activated speaker that can control your smart home devices, play your music, answer your questions about almost anything, stream the news from sources you select, and so much more.

In this episode, James Oates tells us how to setup the Google Home, and walks us through the Google Home app on his Pixel phone. Here he shows us all the different configuration options available for the Google Home. The Google Assistant is built-in to the Google Home, and it is amazing how many things it can do.

Tune in to this jam packed show where James Oates with fellow hosts Joel Ramos and Nelson Régo let you in on their latest Cool Picks.

Cool Picks:

djay Pro for the Mac.

djay Pro provides a complete DJ Software for performing DJs. Its unique modern interface is built around a sophisticated integration with iTunes and Spotify, giving you instant access to millions of tracks. Pristine sound quality and a powerful set of features including high-definition waveforms, four decks, audio effects, and hardware integration give you endless creative flexibility to take your sets to new heights.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Mobile Document Scanner.

• Fast color, grayscale and monochrome scan speeds of up to 12 double sided pages per minute

• 10-page Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)

• One touch searchable PDF Creation

• Automatic paper size detection, automatic color detection, automatic cropping, blank page deletion and de-skew

• Scan to: Evernote, SugarSync, Google Docs, Salesforce Chatter and Dropbox,1 year Limited Warranty

Google BrailleBack.

BrailleBack is an Accessibility Service that helps blind users make use of braille devices. It works together with the TalkBack app to give a combined braille and speech experience. This app lets you connect a supported refreshable braille display to your device via Bluetooth. Screen content will be presented on the braille display and you can navigate and interact with your device using the keys on the display. It is possible to input text using the braille keyboard.

Don’t worry about how much it costs! Just go out and buy it! Tune in to this jam packed VIP where James Oates steps out of his comfort zone to take on the job as host with fellow hosts Joel Ramos and Nelson Régo.

Using a Haptic Device, Blind People Can See Microscope Images:

A team at Purdue University in Indiana has developed a haptic device that lets blind people feel images generated by a microscope. It has always been a huge undertaking to help the blind understand microscopic images. Sometimes, a sighted person just must describe it, which is problematic sense each description differs, and the blind person can’t always understand the description. Also, tactile images can be created and labelled in braille, but this is labor intensive and requires a sighted individual with the knowledge, time, and skill to do it.

This new device is a haptic feedback joystick that plugs into a computer that also has a microscope connected to it. It has been tested on red and white blood cells. The blind person navigates the cell with the joystick, and receives a pushback when encountering a cell wall, and different vibrations when hovering over different textured objects.

So far, tests have indicated that a blind person can identify the difference between a white and red blood cell more accurately using this device than by means of other methods.

Handheld Scanner Converts Text to 36Cell Refreshable Braille: Cost, About $100:

Six women, all undergraduate engineering students at MIT, won last year’s MakeMIT Hackathon by creating a device that can easily change the world for people who are blind.

They call themselves Team-Tactile, and they did something that should have been done a long time ago.

They created a device that is the size of a candy bar. It has a camera on the back, it runs OCR software, and it has 36cells of refreshable braille on the front. You just move the device, for now called Tactile, over printed text, and it is immediately displayed in braille on the front. Think about what an improvement this is over current methods of taking pictures, waiting for OCR software to convert to text, and then having to have a very expensive braille device connected to whatever you used to take the picture and convert to text.

The team only had 15 hours to create this device during the hackathon competition, and it only costs around one hundred dollars.

The problem in the braille display market is that no one has been motivated to create anything new and affordable. We are still using technology that is decades old, and the cost for these devices are in the thousands of dollars. It is about time that new options come to those who desperately need it. Only 10% of blind people can read braille, 70% of blind people are unemployed, and 80% of blind people who are employed can read braille. You do the math. Having easy access to braille material directly correlates to a more educated and productive blind community.

Orca 3.24 Screen Reader and Magnifier Has Entered Development: Public Preview is Available for Download:

Orca, the popular screen reader, and magnifier for Linux, has entered development in anticipation of the public launch of version 3.24 on March 23rd.

Version 3.23.4 is available now for testing, if you would like to get a head start on the new release. You can download it here.

Join Jessica Rickards, James Oates, and Nelson Régo this week with their Cool Picks.

Cool Picks:

* Instant Pot Six-In-One (or Seven-In-One) Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot Reference Article

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Join Jessica Rickards, James Oates, and Nelson Rego for this exciting VIP. It's all about the future with these incredible stories. Here's a look at what you can expect in this fun, yet educational episode.

* 3D Printing Can Help Blind Students Learn About Sex

* Amazon launches monthly subscription program to help children learn about math and science

* High Tech Glove Helps You Feel in VR"

Cool Picks:

* Instant Pot Six-In-One (or Seven-In-One) Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot Reference Article

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