Echo location. Two very common words among those of us who rely on our ears to get around. In fact, one particularly ambitious individual created an entire technique and class devoted to the idea. There are even devices which attempt to capitalize on sound in order to provide cane travellers with more detailed information about objects, such as overhead obstacles, ledges, and that sort of thing. But what if, given the right technology, we could take echo location even further and expand our ears, so to speak.
Windows Phone
Latest Windows Phone 10 Previews are Accessible with Microsoft’s Edge browser, Lock Screen changes
When Microsoft revamped Windows Phone as just “Windows 10 Mobile”, everyone was at a surprise. For the first time, Windows Phone would share a very heavy codebase with Windows 10. This meant that the features and resource requirements had to shrink, and Microsoft needed to redesign the user interface from almost scratch again.
Fortunately, Microsoft promised to make the OS compatible with all Windows Phones that came with 8 or 8.1. This included flagships like the Lumia 530-series, a phone model in the market which takes up over 30% of the Microsoft Phone market. Microsoft has learned the lesson of previous migrations, which is good.
Rooting, jailbreaking, sideloading: A CBT Prime on a darker side of technology
Here at Cool Blind Tech, we attempt our best to cover technology from not only every platform possible, but also every angle and perspective. In the coming weeks, we will be exploring an in-depth look at a segment of the tech world known by many, but only understood by a few. From podcast demos to future articles, this is just the beginning. Join us as we take an in-depth journey into the depths of operating systems in a way that even beginners will be able to understand.
Please note that while rooting and jailbreaking are legal to perform in most countries and continents, what we are about to embark on could severely impact your device’s warranty depending on the manufacturer. We are not responsible for anything that might go wrong resulting from instructions or guides within this series, and CBT hereby pledges to provide as accurate information as it can to its power and ability. We do not encourage activities which break your warranty, and only provide this for informational and demonstration purposes. Remember: Just because something is legal does not make it “right”. This is a judgment only you can make based on several factors and personal ethics. Ready to dive in?
NPR One: a New Universal App for Windows.
In this episode, James Oates demonstrates “NPR One”, a universal app from National Public Radio, available on all Windows devices. He shows how to start playing NPR with just a simple key stroke on a PC, and a voice command on a Windows Phone. If you enjoy National Public Radio, you will love this app.
Windows10 Technical Preview for Phones is here:
Windows10 Technical Preview for phones is now available for the following devices: Lumia 630, 635, 638, 730, and 830.
Notice that high end devices are not available. Microsoft says that there is a partitioning problem that will be resolved by adding a partition stitching tool into the installation. They do not give a time frame for this update, so persons with other devices do not know when the preview will be available to them. There are not that many changes. A list will be provided below, and it is quite buggy, which was expected. Microsoft has warned that installing the preview can cause loss of data or damage to your device. Therefore, Cool Blind Tech is not responsible for any problems caused by installing this update. In fact, we strongly recommend that you do not install the update at this time.
Cortana for Windows Phone Makes Improvements on Verbal Responses.
Microsoft has updated Cortana for Windows Phone to make it more verbally responsive. If you are a Windows Phone user, you have discovered that Cortana responds too many questions with visual only answers to your questions. That has now changed. Get out your phone and give it a try.
Here are some examples of questions that Cortana now answers verbally as well as visually:
- What time is it?
- Who is the tenth president of the United States?
- What is six times five?
- What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
I know many sighted users of Windows Phone who do not even have the verbal response feature of Cortana turned on. They prefer to see the answers to their questions displayed visually, and don’t want to hear Cortana speaking. But for persons with visual impairments, the verbal response is of the utmost importance, and they will find this update to be very helpful.
Windows Phone8.1 (Part III): Music, Netflix, and Tweetium:
In this episode, James Oates demonstrates how to stream music and play a radio station using an Xbox Music Pass subscription. He shows us how to play a movie on Netflix and pin a favorite TV show to the start screen. Finally, he reviews the accessibility of the popular Twitter client, Tweetium. Throughout the episode, James is relying heavily on Cortana, Microsoft’s personal assistant. Since Cortana is integrated into the Music and Netflix applications, it makes the experience quite simple.
Windows10 For Phones Is Unlikely To Support Third Party Screen Readers.
Microsoft announced yesterday that desktop applications will only be supported on devices that have displays of 8inches or above.
Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, confirmed that Windows Desktop and classic Win32 apps support will only be available on devices which have display sizes of 8inches or above.
Based on this information, I can only conclude that third party screen readers, such as JAWS and NVDA, will not run on 7inch tablets or phones that are running Windows10.
If you have a 7inch tablet, this does not apply to you. The desktop experience for current tablets is supported inWindows10, but will not be available in future 7inch tablets.
Breaking in Windows Premiere – Windows 10 and a piece of Star Trek?
The new year is also a fresh look for us! With that we are launching Breaking in Windows, a show dedicated to the discussion, review and demonstration of all things Microsoft and Windows related.
What better a way to Break out our new show than to bring you what’s new with Windows 10! It’s almost straight out of Star Trek!
James Oates brings Cory Martin, a recent addition to the CBT team on board to discuss the Microsoft event and to hash out what this could mean from an accessibility perspective.
Summary of Windows10 Press Briefing.
What did we learn from Microsoft’s Windows10 press briefing? Let me summarize the event for those of you who have a life and don’t have the time to watch a more than two hour event. Windows10 is coming to PC’s later this year as a free upgrade. Microsoft’s personal assistant, Cortana, is built into the operating system and is voice activated. Many of the features available currently with Microsoft’s Speech Recognition software are now built into Cortana as well.
A new web browser called, Project Spartan, will be included with Windows10. It has sharing features, reading features, and Cortana built into the browser.