The Blind Side

Jonathan is seeking feedback on any experience listeners have had with home automation, in advance of a special episode on the topic. If you've dabbled in home automation, let us know what you have and how it's working for you. We'd love to make this an episode with a range of perspectives and solutions.

We celebrate Aira going 24/7, and ask for your views on whether all guide dog schools should allow handlers to purchase their dogs.

Our feature story is an interview with Darian Slayton Fleming, who is hoping to make a documentary about her late husband John, believed to be the first blind person to sky dive without a tandem partner.

Find out more about the movie at its website, or visit its Facebook page.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

Listener comments this week feature blind driving experiences.

Jonathan Mosen is then joined once again by Dan Frye. This week, Dan discusses new Aira initiatives and Aira's inclusion in the US vocational rehab system.

Dan then reviews the 2018 national convention of the National Federation of the Blind.

This week, Jonathan Mosen speaks with Dan Frye about his varied and interesting career, attitudes about blindness, and for the first time, Dan makes public comment about his departure from the role of Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Listener comments include feedback on the conventions, how accessible is the Cisco 8800 phone, we talk self-driving cars and invite you to submit your stories of when you, as a blind person, have driven a vehicle.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

This week, listener comments include the implications of Apple adding noise cancellation to AirPods, responses to the news story read last week about the blind person who had an altercation with a police officer, and more comment on mainstream and specialised book reading devices.

In the first of two specials on the US consumer conventions, Jonathan Mosen speaks with Katie Frederick about the American Council of the Blind's 2018 convention.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

The Marrakesh Treaty has passed the United States Senate by unanimous consent, and now awaits legislation in the House. Jonathan talks about the beginnings of the Treaty, and the interesting story behind how the unanimous consent was obtained last week in the Senate.

Aira has introduced a new Messages feature. Jonathan describes scenarios where it will be useful. He has also updated the Mosen Consulting blog post on Aira.

Jonathan shares a news story about a blind man in Arizona who got into a fight with a police officer in a public toilet. Yeah, you can't make this stuff up!

There's a range of listener comments covering topics including backing up your Windows settings, NLS/BARD, whether taxi drivers with allergies should be allowed to remain in the profession, and the use of sleep shades in rehab training.

Interested in becoming an audio engineer? Want some truly intensive instruction on how to get a home studio up and running with various software options? Jonathan speaks with Byron Harden of I See Music. For some years, they've been offering extensive training in their studio, and they're now rolling out a range of online courses.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

There's been plenty of social media discussion and other feedback following comments in the podcast last week about audio in Windows 10. Jonathan Mosen has written down his thoughts, with additional work-arounds, in a blog post called Sounds Frustrating.

The prolific Judy Dixon has a new book. This one's called "Writing Your Way: Composing and Editing on an iPhone and iPad". It's available here from National Braille Press. Jonathan speaks with Judy about what the book covers, and some of her favourite apps and methods for writing things in iOS.

Jonathan then speaks with Nat Armeni from The Blind Perspective. This monthly publication, produced by blind volunteers, brings news and articles from a blindness perspective.

Listener comments this week include the question of potentially conflicting accommodations, whether someone's religion should be allowed to override legally-enacted civil rights, and the continuing discussion of the pros and cons of specialist blindness player devices versus smartphones.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

It's a rather geeky Blind Side this week. Jonathan Mosen discusses his latest home improvement project, creating a smart home compatible with Apple's HomeKit and Amazon's Alexa. It turns out there are some challenges doing this in New Zealand.

Jonathan explains what led him to give a Microsoft Surfacebook 2 a try, some things you might find helpful if you do the same, and why it got returned. If your screen reader seems to take a while to respond to a key press after you've left it alone for a while, you're not alone. A characteristic of some Realtek sound drivers impacting screen reader performance is present in the Surface line, as well as some Dell, HP, Lenovo and possibly other computers. Jonathan describes the symptoms and states why he believes it's so serious.

Listener comments include discussion about whether it's right to blindfold partially sighted people during rehab, iOS and WWDC thoughts, and should special libraries for the blind have a long-term future?

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

There's a new audiobook from Mosen Consulting, "The Secret Sauce of Savvy Search" that will have you using Google Search like a boss. Jonathan Mosen describes the audiobook, how to get it, and why it might be the most essential book we've ever produced.

Some years ago, Mushroom FM used to have a sister station, Mushroom Escape, playing old time drama and comedy. Now, Mushroom Escape is back. Visit Mushroom Escape on the web, or, since it's on TuneIn, look for it in all TuneIn apps and devices that support the TuneIn service.

Our featured guest this week is Neal Ewers. Neal's golden voice is familiar to many podcast listeners. He's a talented audio engineer, sound expert, musician, technology advocate and much more. In this extended interview, Jonathan talks with Neal about his life and the evolution of technology. The discussion also covers the digital divide, literacy among blind people, and death and dying.

Learn more about Neal's work by visiting Ravenswood Productions.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

You can also join our online community to discuss the podcast with other listeners. Send a blank email to [email protected]

Tim Cook and his team have delivered the keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference for another year, and now it's time for some analysis. Jonathan Mosen is joined by Heidi Taylor, Janet Ingber and Debee Armstrong as we summarise some of the key takeaways and look at what it all means from a blindness perspective.

We look at what's coming in iOS 12, watchOS 5, tvOS 12 and MacOS Mojave.

If you have some views you'd like to share, be sure to let us have them in time for the next episode.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

You can also join our online community to discuss the podcast with other listeners. Send a blank email to [email protected]

Apple's Worldwide Developers conference is next Monday. Jonathan Mosen introduces our expert panel who'll be part of The Blind Side Podcast 89 in which we'll provide post-WWDC analysis. And don't forget, if you're a Daily Fibre Premium subscriber, you can tune into a live stream of the recording of that episode. Become a Daily Fibre Premium subscriber today.

Jonathan outlines his top 10 wish list for iOS 12. Read a text version of his thoughts here.

We had a stunning number of responses to our question asking what you'd like to see in Apple's next operating system. We play a selection of 20 of the contributions we received. Thanks for all of them, it was amazing to get such an overwhelming response.

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.

You can also join our online community to discuss the podcast with other listeners. Send a blank email to [email protected]