The Assistive Technology Show

Into the Cloud, the Assistive Technology show for June 1 2011, now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:17:22 +0000

On this week’s show, we look at the pros and cons of remote backup solutions and answer the question: just what is this cloud thing anyway? Services discussed include Carbonite, JungleDisk, CrashPlan and DropBox. If you’re considering backing up your data remotely, or just want to learn more about the options available, this week’s show is for you.

Digitizing old recordings, Advances in Android, iOS4.3 released and much more – the Assistive Technology show for March 9, 2011 now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:20:50 +0000

On this week’s program, the following topics were discussed:
• Digitizing cassette tapes and other old recordings,
• Android, all kinds of things happening,
• Talking thermostats, decreasing prices, increasing independence.
• New app turns iPhone into money identifier: MoneyReader or Looktel.
• iOS4.3 released
• A new Chess-like game for iPhone and gaming on the iPhone in general,
• Want to hear over 2400 different bird songs? There’s an app for that and it’s accessible.
• The importance of making sure your home wireless network is secured,
And much more.

The Assistive Technology show for December 01, 2010

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:15:54 +0000

On tonight’s program, the following topics were discussed:
Explanation of Wifi leading to an interesting discussion of routers,
Take Control books, very accessible, very informative, very useful resources,
audible.com releases an update to its iPhone app,
Netflix, an accessible experience on iPhone,
Rogue Amoeba’s AirFoil, what it is, what it does and why it’s cool,
discussion of Headsets continued leading to a discussion of headphones,
The impressiveness of Serotek’s DocuScan Plus, Freedom Scientific’s newest OpenBook and other scanning solutions,
Is it worth getting iTunes before getting an iOS device?
Things possibly worth thinking about when considering whether to get iPhone, or Nokia N series,
Discussion of how bluetooth braille displays work with iPhone,
and much much more.

If Elvis had an iPod, the Assistive Technology show for December 15, 2010

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 03:54:54 +0000

The following topics were discussed on tonight’s show:
Thinkgeek offers new iPhone case with integrated bluetooth keyboard,
AVG antivirus 2011 released
Facebook questions
Discussion of Avast
iBooks and other iOS app updates
demo of Bing search with speech recognition
amber battery pro
Talking Communities popular tc5 client comes to Mac.
How to use Winamp to capture stream URLs
And much much more.

Apple event, Verizon’s new accessible cell phone and much more, the Assistive Technology show for September 1, 2010

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:21:28 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, the following topics were discussed:
• Wireless headsets
• Installation of Microsoft Security Essentials, a great free antivirus product.
• Wayfinder Access customers now entitles to a 300 UR, $380 USD refund per license.
• Twikini, an accessible Windows Mobile Twitter client is not being updated in the forseeable future making it more difficult for Windows Mobile users to access Twitter.
• Verizon releases the Samsung Haven, an inexpensive, mostly accessible cell phone.
• David discusses his podcast, “No Eyes Required.” http://www.techsavvypodcasts.com/
• Apple announces new iPod lineup, coming features in iOS 4.2 and much more.
• Airport Express and other ways to stream audio from your computer to other devices in your house.
• System Access and SATOGO with Eloquence and iTunes — it’s just awesome.

And much much more.

Music the way you want it, the Assistive Technology show for August 25, 2010 now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:19:27 +0000

Ever wish you could customize a radio station to play only the type of music that interests you? On tonight’s show, we look at two services, Last.fm and Pandora that essentially allow you to do just that. We also discuss a new internet radio appliance and much more.

Live from Germany — the Assistive Technology show for July 14, 2010 now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:11:17 +0000

Tonight’s Assistive Technology show takes place live from Germany and despite the late hour, a lot of topics were discussed including:
NFB and ACB national conventions,
iPhone 4 antenna and incorrect bar count issues,
Making a Mac’s fan run at full speed to help with cooling,
Brief impressions of technology shown at NFB 2010 convention,
Freedom Scientific’s Perl is simply amazing,
Baum and the Pronto note taker recently announced in the US
And much more.

Assistive Technology show for May 12, 2010 now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:41:21 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we discuss the following:

audacity and recording Skype calls.
using a computer to watch TV.
Blinded Vets and Friends to play patriotic music during Memorial day and other holidays.
VoCast, a new podcast launching to discuss all things VoiceOver (official page coming soon).
What shall we do with a broken BrailleNote?
WayFinder Access owners may soon be entitled to either an exchange or refund.
Windows has found solutions, what does that message mean?
Boston Accessibility “unconference” happening this weekend.

And much more.

Becoming your own task master – the Assistive Technology show for March 17, 2010

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:41:27 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we look at methods and tools for task management, keeping track of all those things that just have to get done. Many participants share the methods and tools they’re using and I demonstrate an online resource that’s helping to make task management easier.

First apps, the Assistive Technology show for January 6, 2010, now available.

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:03:33 +0000

Every technology user remembers that first program, or first device which for them, really made a difference. Tonight, we discussed memories of these “firsts” including:

Windows 98
Braille ‘N Speak
DOS 3.3 .. and even earlier.
Windows 3.1/95/98
Early Apple products such as the Apple IIe
Versa-braille
ICQ and old-style text chat
300/100/2400 baud modems and the communication they made possible
Bulletin board systems
Infocom and other text adventures
Access to entire CD collections (mp3)
Kurzweil reading machine
Various clocks and calculators

And much much more.

Year in review, Assistive Technology show for Dec. 30, 2009 now available

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:51:37 +0000

What an exciting year 2009 has been in terms of assistive technology. Many new products and services have become available. We discussed many of these on tonight’s show including:
ipod/iphone,
GW Micro’s BookSense,
Apple’s Snow Leopard,
samnet radio,
Windows 7,
Freedom Scientific’s Jaws11,
GW Micro’s Window Eyes 7.11,
Amazon’s kindle and controversy concerning the Author’s Guild,
Orator, HumanWare’s screen reader for Blackberry which remains unreleased,
HumanWare’s new Apex,
Captain GPS,
APH announces BookPort +,
Pen friend,
NLS releases new talking book players,
Plextalk Pocket,
And of course much much more.

The Assistive Technology show, CHristmas Adam edition

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:58:43 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, the following topics were discussed:
Ebay woes.
KNFB Reader releases update supporting additional phone models.
MobileSpeak licensing
New accessible Monopoly game in beta: http://is.gd/5zett
Read How you Want: resource for books in alternative formats: http://www.readhowyouwant.com
Brief discussion of the impending Google phone.
Skype for Symbian is out and is accessible.
Emoze, a service to push Email to your Symbian or Windows Mobile phone: http://www.emoze.com
Ways to install applications on mobile devices.
Akapela Surf’Nspeak RSS reader for iPhone: http://is.gd/5zePz
Latest FS Cast portrays the illustrious career of Jonathan Mosen.
And of course, we couldn’t have a CHristmas edition without some, well, unique Christmas music.

The Assistive Technology show for December 9, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, the following topics were discussed: Live stream finally, well, live, Olympus digital recorders, Skype scripts and Jaws 11, How to add streams to the iPhone home screen, Demo of Dictation, new speech recognition iPhone application from Nuance, Updates to OOtunes, Action Bowl, an accessible bowling game, Pzizz for iPhone releases new module to help improve sleep, And of course much much more.

Viruses, spyware and daily security threats, what’s a person to do? The Assistive Technology show for November 4, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

On tonight's show, we discuss computer security: what do you need to know and what threats are real VS hype? And with new security related terms popping up all the time, what does it all mean? Of course most importantly, we'll discuss what can be done about it all, what solutions exist and just how accessible are they? Computer security is an issue that effects us all whether we're heavy Internet users, or just whether we just send the occasional Email. Fortunately, solutions exist for us to protect our computers, solutions that require merely a basic understanding of the types of threats out there.

The Assistive Technology show for October 28, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we discuss: windows 7 Apple geniuses VS Microsoft gurus Why everyone should have a cheap USB sound device. VmWare's new Fusion 3 and just what are virtual machines anyway? And much much more.

The News You can Use, the Assistive Technology show for October 7, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:14:00 +0000

Whether it's headline, political, sports, or financial, there are a wealth of accessible news sources just waiting to be accessed. Unfortunately, accessing these sources often come with unique challenges due to site design, etcâ Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we discuss ways to find and access whatever news interests you and how to access these vast resources efficiently.

A penny saved is a penny earned, saving money: the Assistive Technology show for September 23, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:19:00 +0000

"A penny saved is a penny earned" and tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we discuss possible and accessible ways to do just that. Whether it's shopping online, accessibly, printing coupons, or just sharing money saving ideas with others, technology makes it all possible.

Snow Leopard, the Assistive Technology show for September 2, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:25:00 +0000

Last week, Apple released Snow Leopard, its newest operating system. In addition to numerous performance enhancements, Snow Leopard contains many improvements to VoiceOver. Tonight, on the Assistive Technology show, we discuss Snow Leopard and take a look at these enhancements.

iPhone, therefore, I am — The Assistive Technology show for July 15, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:31:00 +0000

With its built in universal access features, Apple's recently released iPhone 3GS is causing quite a stir throughout the blindness community. Regardless of how one might feel toward Apple or its iPhone product, the fact that this mainstream device can be purchased and fully accessed right out of the box is simply amazing. This week, on the Assistive Technology show, we not only look at the iPhone and its universal access features, but will do our best to answer any questions you may have about the device. Perhaps you're curious how effective a blind person can be using a strictly touch screen interface, or maybe you're wondering about how one accomplishes a specific task? for these answers and much much more, come join me, this Wednesday for the Assistive Technology show.

Taking some looks at accessible books, The Assistive Technology Show for June 3, 2009

steve@atmaine.com (Assistive Technology Services of Maine) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:20:00 +0000

In this evening's show, we discuss sources of audio books. audible.com: http://www.audible.com Overdrive: http://www.overdrive.com BARD: http://www.nlsbard.loc.gov The NLS digital player. RFB&D: http://www.rfbd.org Librivox: http://www.librivox.org http://www.booksshouldbefree.com The Talking book store: http://www.talking-book-store.com Truly Free: http://www.trulyfree.org Podiobooks: http://www.podiaobooks.com Emusic: http://www.emusic.com Daily Lit: http://www.dailylit.com And much much more.