That Real Blind Tech Show

Latest Episodes:

Episode 71 - Braille Nipples Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

The gang is back together once again in the That Real Blind Tech Show virtual lair.

We start off talking about a possible Y2K Part two on the news that the chrome and Firefox browsers may stop working with some websites as they hit version 100.? Then it is on to Brian's latest favorite story of the year, about a man who shut down his town's internet while trying to curb his kids screen time.

Facebook continues to rebrand and they have changed the name of the News Feed to, well, you will never guess what! And blow the dust off the app, but we actually have some KNFB news.

If you have an old PC or Mac lying around as a paper weight then you may want to think about turning it in to a chrome book using the new Google Chrome flex. But of course, is the process accessible?

We then talk a little medical science and if we have ever been approached about a cure for our blindness. This leads us to the disturbind story of Second Sight and Argus the second. On a some what related note, are carriers shutting down 3G networks too soon? And on the heals of 3G going bye bye, Wifi 7 is coming, but wait didn't Wifi 6 just get here?

With inflation rocketing up we decided to discuss a little prep work for making sure those finances are secure. We then dive in to how much each of us is worth, and you might be surprised by this! We then discuss the rising cost of Amazon Prime and Netflix.

CSUN is coming up in March, but has the conference Jumped the Shark?AxeCon is coming this March 15th to the 17th, you can sign up to virtually attend here.

We have emails. If you tell them the email address ThatRealBlindTechShow@gmail.com they will come!

It's a new segment, Tweet of the week.

Then it is more of What's Pissing Off Brian Now, and Watcha Streaming, Watcha Reading.

To contact That Real Blind Tech Show, you can email us at ThatRealBlindTechShow@gmail.com, join our Facebook Group That Real Blind Tech Show, join us on the Twitter @BlindTechShow , or leave us an old school phone message at 929-367-1005.

Episode 70 - Why Mac Mail Is Better Than Outlook but Why iCloud.com Still Sucks Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

It's an all new Super Duper Super Cool That Real Blind Tech Show demo as Brian was flying solo and decided to put together a demo of Mac Mail and talk about why he loves it so much.

Brian first discusses the two main view options for mail, the great way with the mail preview pane closed, and the annoying way with the mail preview pane opened. He walks you through using mail in both of these view modes, and demonstrates the different behaviors.

He then walks you through working with multiple mailboxes. Why this is a fantastic way to organize your email through iCloud. How to move a message to a mailbox, how to create a new mailbox, and how to delete a mailbox. He also shows you why it is best to use Mac Mail with QuickNav turned off and how to work with message threads.

Brian then attempts to walk you through iCloud.com and creating a mail universal rule, but unfortunately, iCloud.com is still a freaking train wreck for VoiceOver users.

Episode 69 - PC V.S. Mac Smack Down or Smack Off Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

The entire gang is back together again, and we snuck Jeanine in to the That Real Blind Tech Show Lair. We left some nonsense in at the beginning to give you a peak in to our non-podcast minds, as it cracks us up.

We start off discussing Apple suing a Ukrainian filmmaker over his film titled Apple Man. We continue moving forward with the legal part of the show as FlickType's lawsuit versus Apple will be moving forward.

We then dive in to UnderscoreGate. Next we dive in too Quick Notes and where the heck is it for VoiceOver users? Can one of us be right and completely wrong at the same time? After that we discuss the soon to arrive universal control and how it is much much different than side car, but hey people are confusing them. You may want to hold off installing the Mac OS 12.3 beta if you are a dropbox or One driver user. iCloud Keychain will be adding a notes component in iOS 15.4. It looks as if sports scores and favorite team news may be coming to Apple News.

Action Audio brought the Australian Open to blind tennis fans in a new way, but was it helpful or did it remind you of Atari tennis?

Aira has partnered with the NFB, and will help anyone take a Covid test.

Aira will also be describing the Super Bowl pre-game show The Puppy Bowl, and the half time festivities on February 13, 2022. Additionally, if you are a football novice or newbie, you can tune in early and get a Football 101 presented to you by Brian and Liz Loza from Yahoo Fantasy Football. Sign up here.

Thanks to an email from Rebecca Skipper, we decided to have a PC versus Mac smack down, or smack off. We kick it off discussing our most used apps on our PC or Mac. We then discuss a few of our favorite things that are unique to the PC or Mac. Next we hit upon limitations to an operating system. And we touch on the ease of access getting started as a newbie to an operating system, and how difficult it may be to troubleshoot. We wrap up our PC versus Mac smackdown discussing which OS each of us believes is easier to get up and running with faster as a new screen reader user.

And it's more of What's Pissing Off Brian Now and Watcha Streaming, Watcha Reading!

Episode 68 - Spectrum Cable with Cloud DVR and Audio Description Demo Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

It's another super cool, super solo That Real Blind Tech Show demo. This time Brian is left alone in the podcast lair and he demos the Spectrum Cable app and the incredible improvements that have been made to this now fully accessible iOS app.

Brian walks you through all the tabs in the app, the Home Screen, live TV, channel guide, on demand content, and the most fantastic feature, the cloud DVR. The Cloud DVR now allows you to play content with its Audio Described track. Hold on to your socks and shoelaces, this is going to be a fun ride.

Episode 67 - It's All About Audio Description, A Conversation with Eric Wickstrom from IDC Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome to the That Real Blind Tech Show virtual lair Eric Wickstrom, Director of Audio Production at IDC.

With a career very heavily focused in audio production, we find out when Eric first learned of Audio Description and what he enjoys most about making TV and film accessible to everyone.

We discuss Eric's time at the USA Network along with some of their hit shows like Suits, Burn Notice, Psych, and why the network moved away from its Characters Welcome approach.

We dive in to the F Word on Network TV, and the humorous use of it, and removal of it.

We talk about USA Network and the inception of Audio Description arriving to the network.

We discuss how much influence blind organizations have on Audio Description, and who drives the most change in the business.

We also discuss the cost of adding an AD track, and why it is logical to just do it.

Of course, Netflix comes up and their amazing commitment to Audio Description.

Since we have an expert on the podcast, we find out why one streaming service may have a title with Audio Description but then that same title shows up on another streaming service without Audio Description. We want to know why! We also dive in to the difference between high quality audio description versus subpar audio description.

We talk about some of the challenges describers face when describing for a totally blind audience versus a low vision audience, and the tough calls they need to make.

We then tackle the difficult conversation of Text to Speech automated audio description, and how it affects the industry.

Eric tells us what it is like to work with blind describers, and it is something he is willing to share with his competitors if any of them want to take him up on it.

We wrap up discussing whether or not the Academy may ever recognize Audio Description as a category, as they seem to have an award for everything else.

To keep up with Eric, make sure to follow him on Twitter. To keep up with the Audio Description Training Retreats, you can follow them as well on Twitter.

Episode 66 - Objectophilia, You Give Love A Bad Name! Jan 15, 2022

Show notes

For the first time in awhile, the full gang is back together in the newly renamed Podcast Lair. With 2022 off to an Evil start, we figured we would ditch the bunker for a lair!

We start Evil 2022 off with the story that shocked all of us, no pun intended. Alexa telling a little girl to do something with a penny.

We briefly discuss fantasy football, because one of us is a Champion We then touch on Sports Online gambling becoming legal in New York State!

911 is taking a page out of Aira's playbook, as they are looking to live stream through your camera to see what's going on.

AT&T and Verizon have agreed to put the expansion of their 5G Networks on hold. Well, at least for now.

MobilEye the former parent company of Orcam is working to release a fully autonomous vehicle by 2025.

Forget about the latest Apple iPhone rumors, we want to discuss the one about Google paying Apple to stay out of the search engine business.

WORDLEis the hottest thing on the planet other than South Florida. Even though we are not sure of the accessibility of the game, WORDLEBOT at least is bringing accessibility fixes to tweets about the game.

Outside of WORDLE the next most popular word we have been hearing is Metaverse. So, what is it?

We begin our CES segment coverage discussing what else, but autonomous vehicles. Singled announced a lightbulb that could track your sleep at CES. Finally, what we have all been waiting for, our pets can now text us! The one thing that we all want from this year's CES is a Sound Bar that can send music to you without the use of headphones! Schlage Smart Locks will allow you to put your key in your Apple Wallet. Dell obviously does not listen to Apple customer feedback as they have brought a Touch Bar to their new model laptop and got rid of the headphone jack.

One of us had a major screw up on our PC. We talk about things not to do when installing new software.

New products. If you are a Mac user and in need of a new keyboard, look no further than the Logitech MX keys for Mac. If you are a Air Pod Max owner, check out this new charging stand from Satechi. And of course, it would not be a That Real Blind Tech show if one of us didn't return a Mac Book Pro.

And it's more of What's Pissing Off Brian and Watcha Streaming, Watcha Reading!

Episode 65 - Get To Know Fable A Conversation with Accessibility Evangelist Samuel Proulx Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

To kick the new year off, Brian is joined in the Virtual That Real Blind Tech Show Studio by Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist for Fable.

Samuel tells us what the missions of Fable are, the meaning behind the name, and what an Accessibility Evangelist does. We then find out what Fable's short and long term goals are.

We discuss how Samuel got in to working in accessibility, long history working with screen readers, and what he enjoys about working in accessibility.

If you are interested in learning more about Fable and interested in becoming part of the Fable Team, you can learn more about it here.

We get Samuel's opinion on screen reader overlays and find out Watcha Streaming, Watcha Reading up in Canada.

Episode 64 - Private Parts, A Conversation with Steven Scott Jan 01, 2022

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Steven Scott in to the That Real Blind Tech Show virtual studio.

We try and find out the dirt behind Steven leaving RNIB Tech Talk, and discuss his new podcast, Blind Guy Talks Tech, and what he hopes to accomplish with his new show.

Steven walks us through his early days working in radio. Yes, radio. It was a thing back then. We find out how he went from being a rock DJ to NewsRadio to RNIB Tech Talk.

We discuss the negativity of social media and have some fun with it.

We then go back to the beginning and find out what caused Steven's vision loss and how it affected him growing up. Some how this leads to what we would be doing had we not lost our vision, and one of us wonders if it would have been a life of crime, and what prison might be like for the blind.

We then revisit the first days of RNIB Tech Talk and how it all began. We find out who was a major influence on Steven, and then move on to finding out how Double tap came to be

We discuss the synergy between Steven and his various Co-Hosts. . We also discuss how funny translates on our podcasts, and why it is so important to be real. And of course the conversation moves towards some of our favorite feedback we have gotten over the years, and some of the more bizarre feedback.

We then discuss the AfterShockz OpenComm's and Bose Frames.

You can keep up with Steven on Twitter and make sure to tune in on January 10th for the launching of Steven's all new podcast Blind Guy Talks Tech.

Episode 63 - It's A Festivus Special What's Pissing Off Brian Now! Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

With the end of 2021 here, and Ed and Allison off with holiday family responsibilities, Brian decided to creep in to the Virtual That Real Blind Tech show studio and drop some of What Is Pissing Brian Off as 2021 rounds out. Not to worry, he made it a festive What's Pissing Off Brian with demos to go along with it all.

Brian starts off discussing the iOS Paramount Plus app, its accessibility issues, and the baffling commitment to Audio Description by CBS. How can shows have audio description on every other episode? Does no one at CBS or Paramount check this stuff? Here's an idea Paramount Plus, hire a blind dude or dudette to make sure this does not continue to happen in 2022. Brian gives a brief demo of the layout of the app.

Next Brian walks you through the accessibility issues when trying to order groceries through the Amazon Prime section in the Amazon iOS app. While it is usable, it is quite a frustrating mind numbing experience.

Next it is off to the Mac and VoiceOver running OS Monterrey. Brian shows you the disappearing desktop, why you can no longer hide the toolbar in finder, but can in mail, and the hilarious dictation Siri VoiceOver bug.

Episode 62 - Space Oddity, A Conversation with Sina Bahram Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Sina Bahram in to the Virtual That Real Blind Tech Show studio.

We find out from Sina what it is like to experience zero gravity as Sina was part of the first all disabled crew to get to experience what space flight feels like. Sina then tells us how he got involved with Astro Access.

Sina then walks us through the age he was diagnosed with a vision issue and how it affected him growing up.

We find out how Sina got involved with coding at such a young age, and how he got his Masters in Computer Science Engineering. Which then led to his work with museums all around the world.

We then discuss the Aria AT Project, a project which aims to conquer the mountain known as screen reader inoperability. We discuss companies getting it right and how important it is for companies to be thinking about universal design from day one.

The conversation then moves to accessible overlays and what a scam they are for companies trying to fix their website accessibility. To view the overlay fact sheet click here.

Make sure to keep up with Sina on Twitter and on his blog on his website.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected