COOL BLIND TECH

YOUR SOURCE FOR THE BEST ASSISTIVE TECH NEWS, REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS FROM TOP BLIND AND LOW VISION EXPERTS. AN ENTERTAINING AND TRUSTWORTHY DISCUSSION ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

AirPods

Apple Music comes out with new voice-only plan

Apple unveiled a new Voice plan for Apple Music during its Unleashed event last Monday that will be $4.99 per month. You can use only your voice and its Siri voice assistant to access all Apple Music content across Apple devices. It will be available later this fall in 17 countries.

“Apple Music and Siri are natural partners and already work seamlessly together,” Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, said in a press release. And non-subscribers can sign up for a free, seven-day trial without auto-renewal to check out Voice before they commit. read more

Foursquare Launches Location-Based Virtual Audio Guide for AirPods

Foursquare is releasing an audio-only virtual assistant platform called Marsbot for AirPods that will play snippets into your earbuds based on your location and let you record your own for others to hear.

The idea is to add an audio guide to wherever you happen to be. If you walk in front of a restaurant, you might hear Marsbot recommend the daily special, as described by the chef, or you might reach a scenic view on a trail and hear congratulations from someone who was there earlier.

What is Marsbot for AirPods?
Marsbot for AirPods acts as a kind of invisible tour guide, only piping up when you walk into precise locations. When you have your earbuds in and the app running in the background, Marsbot will share information about a business, local art, or anything else put on the platform. When stepping into the right spot, the app will share some audio tied to that location. It could be spoken by the artificial voice of Marsbot or by a user who recorded something to play for others who go by. read more

Headphone Accommodations Help You Hear Better

In the “Audio/Visual” accessibility setting, there’s a new option called “Headphone Accommodations.” When you toggle this on, you get a chance to fine-tune how you hear things in your headphones. And if you have a set of AirPods Pro, it works in conjunction with Transparency mode.

You can change the audio from a balanced tone to one optimized for higher frequency sounds or vocals in the middle frequencies. There’s also a slider to adjust how soft sounds are boosted, from slight to moderate to strong. And you can hear these changes as you make them in real-time using the “Play Sample” button. Best of all, you can choose to have these settings apply to media (music, movies, podcasts, etc.) or phone calls or both. read more

How To Simultaneously Share Audio with Two AirPods in iOS 13

In iOS 13, with a second set of AirPods or PowerBeats Pro, two people can listen to the same audio from one device at once. Here is how it works.

There are two ways to share your audio with iOS 13. First is the proximity-based method Apple showed off on stage at its World Wide Developer Conference. Just move one device towards the second and a card will display asking to share audio. Currently, the first beta of iOS 13 doesn’t support this method. Fortunately, the second method does work in beta one. read more

How to use Live Listen with Your AirPods on iOS 12

In iOS 12, the Live Listen feature comes to AirPods,. It’s a great feature that can really help those who don’t necessarily need a hearing aid but are having trouble hearing others in a difficult situation. Here’s how to get it working.

  1. Launch Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls.
  2. Search for the “Hearing” control and add it to your Include list by selecting the (+) sign next to it.
  3. Just add Live Listen to your Control Center to use the feature with your AirPods.

To use Live Listen, do the following:

  1. Make sure your AirPods are connected to your iPhone (check your Bluetooth settings).
  2. Open Control Center (Low vision users can swipe down from the upper right on iPhone X, or swipe up from the bottom edge on older iPhones. VoiceOver users can single finger swipe down from the top edge until first haptic vibration on iPhone X, or touch status bar and 3 finger swipe up from the bottom edge on older iPhones)
  3. Select the Live Listen icon, which looks like an ear. If your AirPods are connected, you should see them listed along with a little sound level monitor.

If Live Listen is active, you’ll see a little sound meter. If you are a VoiceOver user than you will need to silence VoiceOver because the audio from the screen reader comes out through the iPhone speaker while the Live Listen feature is on in the current version of iOS 12. read more

Live Listen Coming to AirPods in iOS 12 Update

Apple in 2014 introduced a Live Listen feature that’s designed to allow the iPhone to pair with hearing aids and then serve as a remote microphone that beams the audio the iPhone picks up to the hearing aids.

As reported by TechCrunch, Live Listen is coming to the AirPods with the iOS 12 update, letting iPhone users position their iPhones as a directional mic and have the audio relayed through the AirPods.

With this feature, an iPhone user could, for example, put an iPhone on the table in a noisy restaurant and then have the voice of whomever is speaking routed to the AirPods as a stand-in for hearing aids for those who are hard of hearing or need a bit of extra help separating voices in a loud environment. read more

How to Fix AirPods After iOS 11.2.6 Update

The latest iOS update 11.2.6 is making some users’ AirPods stream in mono, instead of stereo, meaning the same audio channel is coming out of both AirPods. The update may also be affecting the AirPods’ tap controls. Regardless, the fix is easy.

How to fix AirPod’s mono problem in iOS 11.2.6

Unpair your AirPods in the Bluetooth settings.

To unpair your AirPods, go to Settings>Bluetooth, and select in the little ⓘ icon next to your AirPods in the list. Then, select Forget This Device, and select again to confirm. read more

How to Set Up and Use Your New AirPods

If you were holding out on redesigned AirPods like I was because of their Frankenstein look, then you will probably still be waiting until 2019 based on the latest AirPod rumors. I finally gave in to getting a pair of AirPods after going through at least a dozen bluetooth headsets over the past year. Many mainstream publications picked AirPods as Apple’s best product of last year. After testing out a demo unit in the Apple Store, I have to agree that they really do offer a huge upgrade on all of my previous bluetooth headsets. They are easy to use, and the sound is impressive. read more

How To Check AirPods’ Battery Life on an Android Device

AirPods are designed to work with an iPhone with Apple’s proprietary features, but in my opinion they are also the best bluetooth earbuds for my Pixel XL phone. They fit well in my ears and sound better than my previous bluetooth earbuds, and come with a tiny charging case.

Before, there wasn’t an easy way to check your AirPods’ battery life on Android like it does on Apple devices, but now there’s an easy solution. All you need to do is download AirBattery, a free app from the Play Store. read more

Skip to content