In November of 2016, Jenny Lay-Flurrie revealed to Cool Blind Tech, in an exclusive announcement, that braille support was coming to Narrator. Now the feature has rolled out in Windows 10 insiders build 15025. It is still in beta, but James Oates has decided to give us an early look at this new feature.
He also shows us the new mono-audio feature that has been added to Narrator.
Smart Home Control Arrives on the Google Pixel.
Although the Google Assistant is present on both the Pixel phone and Google Home voice activated speaker, only the Google Home has been able to control smart home devices; that is until now. Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones running Android Nougat 7.1.2, Google Play Services 10.2.98, and the latest beta version of Assistant 6.12.19 will find a new home control tab in the settings for Google Assistant.
Here you can connect smart home devices to your phone’s assistant from the following manufacturers:
Bumps in the Sidewalk Help the Blind and Visually Impaired Navigate.
Many countries have laws that require tactile indicators be included in new construction. But what do all those bumps and lines in the sidewalk indicate? I will try to give a brief overview, keep in mind, the rules may vary by country.
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.
Some of the improvements include:
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.
team-tactile-braille-display
Google Brain’s Enhancement of Low Resolution Photos Could Someday Help People with Visual Impairments.
The team at Google Brain has come up with a way to take low resolution pictures and turn them into images that look like high resolution photos. Now I know what you are asking. Google has a division called Google brain? I know, that must be the coolest job in the world.
The team uses a neural network that gathers countless images, and approximates what the low-resolution image should look like based on the high resolutions it is using as a comparison. They don’t always get it right, but they are in the early stages. What does always happen is the resolution of the images is vastly improved without the normal blurred edges that accompany previous attempts to enhance a photos image resolution.
This can prove to be very important for people with visual impairments who need to enhance an image without causing distortion. The full paper on the project from Google Brain can be found here.
The New ChromeVox Screen Reader for Blind Users of Chrome Books is Now Ready.
Google announced a new version of Chromevox, called ChromeVox Next. The older version of ChromeVox, now called ChromeVox Classic, remains for those who do not wish to make the switch to the new version. Some of the changes are so simplistic, you might wonder why they weren’t part of the original screen reader. For example; the modifier key is now search, instead of shift+search. The new version seems to be in line with current standards, and I recommend giving it a try. Here are a few details from the developer, along with a very helpful video.
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.
Source.
Accessible Way to Take a Selfie Using TalkBack and Android Nougat 7.1.
Fire TV and Amazon Video Receive Accessibility Updates for Blind and Low Vision Users.
Peter Korn, an accessibility architect at Amazon, recently announced that the Fire TV and Amazon video app will receive updates that provide new accessibility enhancements for blind and low vision customers. The full details of the update are detailed below.
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