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

Windows

FaceTime calls are coming to Android and Windows

FaceTime calls used to be only for iPhones. Soon, people with Android and Windows devices can join in. Here’s how.

In iOS 15, you’ll be able to join a FaceTime call from your iPhone, Android or Windows device. The days when you needed an iPhone, iPad or Mac to join a FaceTime video call will soon be over. In a move widely seen as Apple’s answer to Zoom video calls, the company is making it possible for people who have Android phones and Windows laptops to hop on FaceTime calls — no iPhone required. read more

Spotlight with James Teh: Former Director at NVAccess

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with James Teh, prior to his departure from NVAccess, to discuss the following subjects:

The history of NVDA NVDA’s business model Keeping up with an ever evolving Windows environment NVDA in a corporate environment Add-ons for NVDA Voices available for NVDA The user guide and tutorials for NVDA Getting certified as a NVDA expert Telephone support for NVDA OSARA extension for Reaper


Editor’s note: James Teh will still be a Director (of the Board, just not an employee, and thus not an Executive Director.

Vivaldi Web Browser for Windows Adds Accessibility Features for the Visually Impaired.

There are many web browsers to choose from when working on a Windows machine, but some are more accessible than others when the user has a visual impairment. Fortunately, Vivaldi has recognized that accessibility improvements needed to be added to their browser.

Vivaldi has added a light or dark theme, text sizing, font chooser, and keyboard shortcuts. A full list of the enhancements is listed below:

Accessibility Features

Advanced Reader Mode is the first new feature mentioned on the official launch post where the readers will now get a neat and clutter free reading experience. Vivaldi 1.11 lets the users enable Reader Mode from their browser settings. The Reader Mode further lets the user select a light or dark background, font type, and the text size. Some new themes with minimal contrasts are also introduced in Vivaldi 1.11 so as to help the readers with visual impairments. read more

Protecting Your Computer from Viruses and Threats

In this podcast, Olivier Danjou shows us Windows Defender, a program built in to Windows 10 Creator’s Update that provides protection against viruses and other threats.

From the Developer

The Windows Defender Security Center includes five pillars that give you control and visibility of your device security, health and online safety experiences.
Virus & threat protection provides a new view of your antivirus protection whether it’s Windows Defender Antivirus that comes free with Windows 10 or AV software from one of our ecosystem partners. If you’ve chosen Windows Defender Antivirus, your scan results and threat history will be displayed here, or you will be able to launch your 3rd party AV protection app directly from this screen.
Device performance & health provides a single view of your latest Windows updates, drivers, battery life and storage capacity. Additionally, you have the option to start fresh with a clean install of Windows using the Refresh Windows feature. This option will keep your personal files and some Windows settings, and remove most of your apps for a fresh start that can help with performance improvements should your device need them.
Firewall & network protection provides information on the network connections and active Windows Firewall settings, as well as links to network troubleshooting information.
App & browser control allows you to adjust settings for SmartScreen for apps and browsers helping you be more informed and stay safer online by warning you of potential malicious sites, downloads and unrecognized apps and files from the Internet.
Family options gives you an easy way to connect to the family options available online. This page can link you to information about parental controls, options for setting up good screen time habits, setting up activity reports of your kids’ online activity and managing controls for purchasing apps and games. You can also view the health and safety of your family’s devices from this centralized location.
Our goal with the new Windows Defender Security Center is to help you become more informed and make safety simple. It is equally important to us that you are protected by default and continuously protected – never giving the bad guys an opportunity to harm you. This new experience naturally supports customer choice in selecting an AV product. In addition, if your subscription or paid antivirus software should expire, Windows Defender Antivirus will kick in to provide protection by default until you take further action. Finally, it is important to ensure that you are in control of your PC. Windows 10 respects your freedom to choose protection software and services that you like best.
We believe the new Windows Defender Security Center lives up to these principles and we are committed to working with you, as well as security experts and organizations throughout the technology industry to create safer experiences for everyone with Windows 10.
*Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors and capable devices. read more

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. read more

Skip to content