If there was a word which is to define the era that dominates this early 21st century, it no doubt would be the cloud. Everything has moved to incorporating some cloud-based feature or another. Whilst screen reading has done OCR and other image recognition prior, this too was relegated to locally performed magic, rather than anything that used the cloud to process data. The rise of huge AI clusters which now can process trillions of calculations a second has created a better opportunity for so much more to be off-loaded to these systems.
Windows
Introduction to TWBlue
There are many twitter clients that are available for Windows, but very few are designed to work with screen readers. In this podcast, Leonid demonstrates the interface, as well as several useful features on TWBlue, a free, open source twitter client.
Cool Tip: How to: Make an iPhone Ringtone Using Reaper with Help from GoldWave
In this podcast, I demonstrate how to use Reaper to import a piece of audio, select a portion of it, and export it to GoldWave in order to make a ringtone for the iPhone. Those wishing to make tones for Android may follow these steps, but no exporting to GoldWave is necessary. Just save it in Reaper and transfer it to your phone. Have fun!
If you're wishing to get Reaper and GoldWave, look no further:
Here's Reaper
Here's GoldWave
Microsoft Hosts First Accessibility Summit for People with Disabilities
The summit is meant to demonstrate business values of accessible technology for organizations in India, as well as assessing policy’s role in creating an inclusive environment.
Nv Access Releases NVDA 2017.2
Nv Access has announced the release of NVDA version 2017.2. Among several improvements introduced in this release, the most noticeable changes include support for audio ducking in Windows 10, enhancements to the way NVDA behaves with Microsoft edge as well as other browser elements. According to the change log, other improvements include Support for the Windows calculator on Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB, improvements to the way NVDA functions with certain braille displays, support for all versions of SecureCRT, as well as other minor improvements.
Source: NV Access
NVDA Update Supports Audio Ducking and Microsoft Edge.
NVDA 2017.2rc1 is available for download, and includes several updates for the popular Windows screen reader. NVDA now supports audio ducking in the Windows 10 Creator’s Update. Audio ducking automatically lowers the volume of media content so that a visually impaired user can still hear the speech generated by the screen reader.
NVDA has also made improvements on how the screen reader works when using Microsoft Edge, and it has corrected some selection problems that occur when using browse mode with NVDA.
If you would like to go ahead and download the latest version of NVDA, you can do so here.
Get a Fresh Start With Your Brand New Computer By Removing Preinstalled Bloatware
See if this sounds familiar: you get a brand new computer with the latest specs. You’re certain that it will perform very fast. When you turn it on for the first time however, you are disappointed to find that not only there is a lot of unwanted preinstalled software, but the computer is much slower than you imagined. What can you do?
Breaking: Window-eyes discontinued, in the hands of the VFO Group
Today may be a pretty historic day when it concerns innovation and partnerships. Window-eyes might not be a household name among screen readers, but it’s discontinuation means that many especially within the international blind community may be impacted. For anyone who has used the offer whereby a free copy of Window-eyes could be used with Office licenses, you will now be running an unsupported screen reader, and we know how quickly Microsoft has been changing their framework with newer, more modern Windows 10 releases. I am for one doubtful that Window-eyes users will ever experience the new audio ducking behavior changes which will be coming in releases such as NVDA 2017.2. Alas, updates will come no more.
The new focus and features of the Windows 10 creators update: Further Unifying experiences
As the new Creators Windows 10 update keeps rolling out, many will find themselves wondering: Is it worth upgrading anyway? What am I getting? Will I lose functionality I’ve had? The answer is yes, yes you possibly might. However, what you do lose is replaced and in a way that can help you transition seamlessly to this new Windows 10 version without feeling overwhelmed.
An introduction and installation guide to the Windows 10 Creators update
Note: This is the first part of two in a series detailing what is to come in Microsoft’s new Creators update. Part 2 details new features and experiences.
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