Listen to SeroTalk Podcast 106: A Little Trip to Word Nerdville
With Ricky Enger enjoying a well-deserved week’s vacation, Lisa Salinger joins Jamie Pauls and Joe Steinkamp as they explore the top news stories of the week.
Privacy and Security
To Read All Those Web Privacy Policies, Just Take A Month Off Work
Living in Public: What Happens When You Throw Privacy Out the Window
Microsoft Security Essentials 4.0
Windows 8 Release Preview in June
Cloud Storage
Free storage for you: Google Drive to arrive today
How to use Google Drive with keyboard shortcuts
Dropbox Sharing Gets Easier with Direct Links to Anything in Your Dropbox Folders
General Tech
Skype for Windows Phone is basically useless
Stage set for Windows 8 hybrid, iPad showdown
Apple
Apple is better off without Steve Jobs
Tim Cook Prefers Settling To Suing and Has a Huge Quarter
Apple may unveil new MacBook hybrid this year, says analyst
Why we shouldn’t get too excited about a ‘Liquidmetal’ iPhone 5
AT
Getting Started with the iPhone and iOs5 for Blind Users (IPHONE-IOS5)
Top 10 iPhone Apps for the Visually Impaired
Formerly Recording for the Blind, Serving Veterans Since 1948
Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2011.
Feature Writer Alena Roberts – Paying For a Taxi in New York Just Became More Accessible
Mailbag
Loved the most recent podcast.
Oh yeah, I remember those Talking Book records in the boxes with straps.
They had a unique smell too, musty library basement, but somehow really comforting.
And I thought I was hot stuff at age 7 when I could replace a record player needle with the new one they sent me from the Cleveland Public Library.
Ok, down the old tech road, does anyone remember the Type and Talk external synthesizer? It was one of the first external synths and the fun thing about it was that you could turn the little speed wheel to the point where you could hear each little electronic blip it made to make one sound.
As for the whole employer checking you out on Facebook thread, it should scare some people. I know I pay more attention to my Facebook posts and tweets but also make sure my grammar and spelling are as good as I can make them.
From my Old Fogey side, I read some posts from blind people on Facebook who also say, there and in other forums, that they are seeking jobs, and I just shake my head. Horrific grammar, bad spelling, which I’m as guilty of as anyone, but with bad grammar it’s a double whammy, inane feuds with other people on Facebook and generally immature posts add up to someone I wouldn’t hire, blind or sighted.
I got unfriended by someone at work because she had trouble posting personal stuff to her Facebook page then those of us from work she’d friended calling her on some of it. I felt badly because I like her and enjoy some of her non-work stuff, but whew, she’
S young enough to be my daughter, which is depressing in and of itself, but she also doesn’t have many boundaries.
The other weird thing about Facebook is that people are starting to use it like email and I doubt they realize that everything, even their emails to each other that land on Facebook pages, is archived, by the Library of Congress no less.
My husband was involved with a non-profit organization for rare diseases. It was for one specific condition and much talk had moved from its email list to its Facebook pages. He tried a Facebook account and freaked at the public nature of it and what people posted about their medical conditions. Being a good conspiracy theorist, he said he bet the insurance companies just loved it.
He said this loudly and often to the organization executive director, seeing it as irresponsible to promote the sharing of pretty sensitive medical info in an open forum like that. Things have shifted a bit since he’s been complaining but still …
Sadly too I see it with guide dog handlers. They’ll put out on Facebook that they have this or that issue with their dogs, never contact the school for help or anything. I know sometimes people have issues with their guide dog schools, but we can’t help you if we don’t know you’re having problems and we won’t know that probably because we don’t friend every grad or ask them to friend us. Whew.
Great show as always. Keep it up!
Jenine Stanley
From the blog:
Tim Sniffen writes:
I really enjoy your podcasts and use them to help keep current on trends in accessible technology! One hot topic in the tech world this week is cloud storage. Could you folks compare the accessibility features — relative strengths and weaknesses — of the new offerings from Google Drive & Microsoft Skydrive and how they compare with Dropbox for screenreader users?
Jamie’s Reply:
As promised, here is a link to the Main Menu show featuring a demonstration of SkyDrive.
Roundabout
Is Your Smartphone Helping You as Much as It’s Hurting You?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hi folks, I would have to say your podcast and Iblink radio are one of the most enjoyable things on my I-phone. You guys andRickie do a great job. I did want to remind Rickie that the testers are not the first people to make major word shortenings to messages. A few dozen years ago I had to learn a new languagealong with learning CW when I got my Ham License. As I remember T wx hr is wrm, might mean the weather hear is warm. Well 73’s to all and 88’s to Rickie CULater.
I have been searching for an introductory manual to learn how to use the IPhone. Thanks for letting us know about the National Braille Press book “Getting Started with the Iphone”. As a New York City resident who has low vision, I did not relish navigating the very crowded NYC Apple Store locations in order to get training on the Iphone. Listening to this book and practicing with the Iphone at home seems a much better choice.
Michelle