RNIB Tech Talk

In this week's episode we get a special announcement from Steven about the show and Robin and Tim weigh in.

There's also an interview with Vodafone's Emma Reynolds and Tommy McDade from Bernardo's about a new report into the importance of digital literacy.

There's also a new feature from Dinos at the Tech for Life team at RNIB telling us about apps that can make using an Android phone that little bit easier if you are blind or low vision.

As always get in touch with the show by emailing [email protected] or by following the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5 

It's all about your emails this week as we dive into the inbox to find out what you want us to talk about. We continue with Kelly's request for your Tech From The Past with some contributions starting to come in, plus there's lots of talk on specialist apps that make smartphones easier following our discussion with the founder of Voxmate a few weeks ago.

There's also a new feature from the team at RNIB Technology for Life. Chris joins us to share his thoughts on an audio editing app for iPhone and iPad called Ferrite, plus lots more.

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

This week the team discuss the latest updates from Channel 4 following the outage that saw audio description, subtitling and signing become unavailable to a number of broadcasters due to a fire at the broadcast centre that handles all of the access services.

There's also an update for fans of the Amazon shopping app following changes that left blind and partially sighted users unable to search and view results or product information.

Plus Mark Evans from the Technology for Life team joins us to discuss keyboard modifier keys, what they are and why they are important.

Plus there's more of your emails with questions on the best headsets for the office and what type of computer is best for someone looking to buy a PC with JAWS ready to go out of the box?

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

On this week's special episode, Steven Scott, Tim Schwartz and Robin Christopherson are joined by Shaun Preece to discuss the Apple Event held on the 18th of October.

This event was aimed purely at Mac enthusiasts and in particular those who are power users of the MacBook Pro lineup. The team discuss how these machines will benefit those customers and chat about the other products announced including new AirPods and three new colourful HomePod Minis.

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

This week the guys got together to discuss the latest accessibility news around Windows 11... except there was none! So... instead they talk about how nice they think it looks - from a blind perspective! Should be fun!

Thankfully we have a wonderful guest with this week. Gleb Zevkov is the founder of Voxmate, an app that aims to provide a simpler experience using a touchscreen smartphone. Although while the app may be simple to operate it does offer a number of features with the entire experience built to be enjoyed by the blind and partially sighted community. In our extensive interview, Gleb talks about the app's inception as well as how it compares to other products on the market. Find out about the app at www.voxmate.com.

We also get your thoughts on the topics discussed in your emails, with comments from Greg about technology elitism and Negative Julian (self-titled) comments on the Amazon Always Home Cam drone.

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

This week the team discuss the big announcements from Amazon's event including the Astro robot assistant, the new Echo Show 15 and Halo View, the new smart watch fitness band. But what about accessibility on all these new devices? Will they meet our expectations?

There's also a review of the Miele smart washing machine courtesy of Madleen Bluhm from RNIB's Technology for Life team. Find out why Madleen is once again enjoying doing the washing as a blind person. For more information about the washing machines Madleen discusses visit this link: https://w1.miele.com/en-int/?_ga=2.136284468.464683654.1633377685-701815581.1633377685&_gac=1.184240724.1633378490.CjwKCAjwzOqKBhAWEiwArQGwaKXHWU7drB_hBiNE3TVFLJCUVkyIomJBP9RMrfYVFL9xuynMYZ2VvBoC4PQQAvD_BwE

There's also more of your emails including a comment from Billy that we shouldn't shy away from talking up the benefits of smartphones to the blind, and Kelly suggests a new topic for us all to contribute to over the next few weeks.

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

In this week's episode Steven Scott is once again joined by Robin Christopherson from AbilityNet and Tim Schwartz from the Life After Blindness podcast to discuss all of the big announcements from Microsoft at their Surface event.

The focus this week is on the accessibility of the new products and also to discuss the big accessibility news itself at the event with the launch of the new Surface Adaptive Kit that gives blind people Microsoft's own version of bump ons!

Plus there's a look ahead to Amazon's event happening Tuesday 28th September and Steven talks about his lovely new iPad mini and iPhone 13 - but why not the 13 Pro?

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

This week it's all about the Apple Event that was held in California on the 14th of September. Steven, Robin and Tim are joined by Ru Bhikha, mobiles expert at Uswitch.com to talk through the event and discuss what's new from the big fruit company.

Also we get an update on the latest tech news from Sophie Ashford including news on roaming charges coming back for UK customers when in Europe and how motorbikes can be harmful to your iPhone!

There's also news on Facebook launching a new smart glasses product in partnership with glasses maker Ray-Ban but will the addition of a camera in the glasses as well as speakers and a microphone cause some to be concerned about privacy, and what is the capability of such a device?

And of course there's more of your emails. Lots of comments about the new robot voice Graham we've started using to read the emails out, plus a thought-provoking discussion starter from Greg on whether or not we are all technology elitists here at Tech Talk.

As always send in your thoughts and comments to [email protected] and follow the team on Twitter. Steven Scott @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

As the Apple Event draws near the Tech Talk team are in full rumour-mode with suggestions on what might be coming and what everyone is looking forward to.

There's also a discussion around the news that McDonalds has teamed up with Vispero - the company behind the popular JAWS screenreader - to make it's touchscreen server screens in store more accessible. Plus there's a brief look at what's coming up in terms of accessibility within the new Windows 11 software from Microsoft which is due to roll out from October 5th.

Davinder from RNIB's Technology for Life team also drops by to tell us all about the new Breville Hot Cup Water Dispener to help make a safer cup of tea - link here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-HotCup-Dispenser-Variable-Dispense/dp/B002NGNRHC/ref=asc_df_B002NGNRHC/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=231909287202&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3769138484814830017&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007363&hvtargid=pla-451618390517&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

And of course there's more of your emails. Lots of interesting discussion in the threads as always including a fantastic new feature of Sky Q found by listener Gordon, and a problem with the Amazon app found by listeners Dave and Maria. Email in with your contributions to [email protected] or find Steven Scott on Twitter @BlindGuyTech, Robin Christopherson @USA2Day and Tim Schwartz @timschwartz5

Steven Scott is joined by AbilityNet’s Robin Christopherson and co-host of The Echo Show and Double Tap Canada Shaun Preece. No Tim this week as he’s on holiday.
We discuss the upcoming Microsoft and Apple Events, the latter was not announced at the time of recording this episode. There’s some interesting news for fans of desktop apps for Twitter, WhatsApp and Telegram, and we get an inside scoop on some bug fixes coming soon for Sky Q Voice Guidance users.
We also read out your tweets and emails you’ve been sending in including a question from Norma about what to do to keep your data safe when buying a new phone. Catherine asks why we don’t discuss Synapptic phones on the show and Greg suggests the RIVO keyboard is a great way to input text and navigate a smartphone rather than a bluetooth keyboard or even the touchscreen itself.
And finally we bid farewell to Emails Andy who is off to pastures new. We meet his replacement who we think we’ll call Emails A I - the robots are taking over!
Keep your comments coming about the show to [email protected] or reach out to us directly on Twitter. Steven Scott is @BlindGuyTech, Shaun Preece is @TheBlurredNerd and Robin Christopherson is @USA2Day.