Listen to SeroTalk Podcast 147: All-encompassing Widget Widget
Welcome to this week’s jam-packed episode of the SeroTalk Podcast. After Jamie, Ricky and Joe discuss the top news stories of the week, Ricky sits down with Sina Bahram to discuss the new scientific graphing calculator from The American Printing House for the Blind and Orbit Research.
Here is a link to Sina’s Blog
Follow Sina on Twitter
There are plenty of other ways for you to reach him from his contact page.
To contact someone at APH, send email to:
kperry@aph.org
To contact someone at Orbit Research, send email to:
tgc@orbitresearch.com
to learn more about the calculator as it gets closer to the announce date, subscribe to the announce mailing list. Send an email with the word, subscribe, as the subject, to
gc-announce-subscribe@mail.tech.aph.org
In the News
The half-cut cord: What’s bugging me about cable
ABC could be the first broadcaster to livestream its TV shows via mobile apps
The Nielsen Family Is Dead
Frame Rate 116 explaining the Neillson Family process
Straight Talk Cuts Off My Data, Will Only Explain Why In Confusing Doublespeak
T-Mobile’s ‘UnCarrier’ data plans leaked
Inside Scoop: The watch wars are starting to tick
What the Samsung Galaxy S4 means for other Android players
How Larry Page and the Knowledge Graph helped Ray Kurzweil decide to join Google
Disconnect: why Andy Rubin and Android called it quits
Another Yahoo exec leaves the fold. Is Mayer to blame?
Apple’s hire of anti-Apple Adobe CTO raises eyebrows
Evasi0n jailbreak thwarted by iOS 6.1.3
Please Apple, don’t turn iOS into an Android lookalike
Apple introduces two-factor verification for Apple IDs
Accessible Devices Show 36 Second Generation Victor Reader Stream
Accessibility Out Of The Closet And In To The Mainstream
Mike Calvo appears on the Wall Street Journal’s Lunch Break Live
House Watch | Universal design is for everyone, not just the physically handicapped
From National Braille Press: iOS 6 Updates
ZoomText ImageReader is Released!
Mailbag
From Randy Hammer:
Greetings Serotalk,
The recent CSUN coverage has me really wondering about braille displays. The last refreshable braille display that I used was a VersaBraille in 1985. Ever since then I have been a voice output person.
I’m wondering about the use case for braille displays. Yes, they are virtually silent, and they mean easier reading while listening to other audio sources. However, I have always thought of them as just another device that I have to carry around and troubleshoot when it encounters problems. Headphones are light, easy-to-use, cheap-to-replace, and allow me to differentiate between my input
(hands) and output (ears).
The coverage leads me to believe that these devices are very popular.
Have I missed the boat on something? Are braille displays really going to provide a use that I can’t get from voice output?
Thanks, and I look forward to your comments.
Roundabout
Pope Francis Blesses Visually Impaired Reporter’s Guide Dog
35 Facts About Mr. Fred Rogers
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I would like to respond to Randy Hammer’s comments about Braille. Displays have come a long way since the VersaBraille and they are now smaller and somewhat cheaper. There are also many notetaking options with phones and Braille displays as well as traditional notetakers. I can’t imagine doing my job without a Braille display. It would be very challenging to only rely on synthetic speech to read and write mainframe programs as well as trouble-shooting and testing. I can also easily carry around a portable Braille display with a keyboard to use with my iPhone. I even have room in my backpack for a traditional Braille notetaker. I also can’t imagine doing record-keeping and finding information without having the capability to write in Braille. I can also download and read Braille books from many sources. I could go on and on but I think people will understand my point about the importance of Braille.
I’m not against synthetic speech and use it when I want to find out what is going on without taking my hands off of a computer keyboard. I do my detailed work and editing in Braille.