That Real Blind Tech Show

Latest Episodes:

Episode - 32 A Conversation with Comedian Eddie Brill, Host of the Clubhouse Weekly Interview Series Only Joking With Eddie Brill May 14, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Allison welcome Laugh For Sight alum, Comedian Eddie Brill to the Virtual That Real Blind Tech Show Studio.

We discuss how Eddie got started in stand-up comedy, who his early influences were, and what it was like meeting Richard Pryor for the first time.

We discuss the beginning of the Corona Virus Pandemic and the shutting down of comedy clubs. We then dive in to how Eddie ended up as the Warm-Up Comic at The Late Show for David Letterman and Comedy Talent Coordinator. He then tells us about some of his favorite guests over the years at The Late Show with David Letterman.

Eddie then shares with us what he loves about being on stage in front of an audience.

We then discuss Laugh For Sight, as Eddie was the Host at the Inaugural Laugh For Sight NYC, and has also performed at multiple Laugh For Sight benefits.

Eddie lets us know what it feels like right before the curtain goes up and you make your first Letterman Show appearance.

Eddie then tells us about his wildly popular weekly Sunday evening interview series Only Joking on Clubhouse. And what it feels like to be getting back in front of live human audiences.

We close with Eddie's advice for people who may be looking to start out in comedy.

You can catch Eddie on Instagram Live every night at 7pm EST and follow Eddie on Instagram at EddieComic, on Twitter at Eddie_Brill, and on Facebook. You can also find Eddie on Clubhouse as Eddie Brill and his weekly interview series Only Joking with Eddie Brill here on Clubhouse.

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 31 - What's More Comforting Than A Fischler, Maybe Moby Dick? May 09, 2021

Show notes

It is a fully crewed fully packed virtual self distanced That Real Blind Tech show studio, as the entire gang is back together again.

We start off with the ancient philosophers question of how stupid are sighted people when it comes to blindness? We then dive in to the sale of Yahoo Fantasy and what it means for the future of the accessibility for the app. Believe it or not but it seems like Uber drivers have found a new way to attempt to complicate the lives of blind guide dog handlers.

Who has the better nickname, Steve Jobs for Facebook or That Real Blind Tech Show for Mark Zuckerberg?

Hungary for dinner? Why not have an Aira agent help you with your order?

Because we do not have enough to worry about in the world these days, researchers have added something to the plate for anyone who gets rid of an old phone number. Have Audio social media apps already jumped the shark? In case they have not, we discuss our first experiences with Twitter Spaces.

Then because it is not about Brian all the time, we get Ed and Allison's thoughts about iOS14.5. If you could have any celebrity voice as your VoiceOver voice, who would it be?

Apple is rumored to be offering a Lossless audio service coming soon, would you subscribe to it? In a not so distant future Apple is rumored to be working on Apple Glass which will have a brightness adjusting feature that we ponder if it will be helpful to visually impaired people?

Digital Spring Time cleaning is it just for lunatics?

If you have not checked recently, Pages for iOS has become a full blown very accessible word processor on iOS. It even has keyboard commands galore.

And it is more of What's Pissing Off Brian Now and an absolute classic Watcha Streaming Watcha Reading that goes completely off the rails and is a must hear!.

Articles Discussed IN This Episode

1. Verizon sells Yahoo for half of what they paid for it.

2. Steve Jobs once referred to Facebook as Fecibook. VoiceOver users are going to want to spell that one out by character.

3. Researchers say your old phone number could get you hacked.

4. Clubhouse app downloads are already on a massive decline.

5. Twitter Spaces is here for those with 600 plus followers.

6. Facebook is asking users to allow ad tracking to help keep it free.

7. iOS 14.5 has broken Apple's own podcast plater.

8. Apple may launch a lossless streaming service in weeks.

9. Apple glass could adjust brightness to make it more useful.

Episode 30 - Apple Updates and A Conversation with Academy Award Winner J.K. Simmons Apr 30, 2021

Show notes

Brian starts the podcast off flying solo. Stupid people with day jobs. He discusses the new features in iOS 14.5, the new Siri voices which he is not a fan of, the new big privacy update, and gives you a That Real Blind Tech Show demo of some of the new things you can do with Siri and different podcast players.

Brian then talks about a bug that is still showing up in Watch OS 7.4 for VoiceOver users, which of course is quite annoying. Mac OS Big Sur still has a pretty big VoiceOver bug that is still preventing Brian from upgrading to Big Sur.

From the old iAccessVO archives, Brian and Ed welcomed in Academy Award Winner JK Simmons. Being that it is Oscar season, we thought we would rerelease our interview with Academy Award winner JK Simmons. You may recognize JK's voice as the Yellow M&M, The Farmer's Insurance commercials, Law and Order, the Spider Man movies, his amazing performance in Whiplash, or from a ton of other TV shows and movies.

We discuss Jk's time playing a blind man on the sitcom Growing Up Fisher, how he prepared to play a blind man, his background in music theory, and Voice Acting. JK tells us what it is like to Host Saturday Night Live. What he loves about acting, and what advice he has for someone starting out in acting.

We then get a little info on Amazon Prime Day and a What's Pissing Off Brian Now solo style!

Episode 29 - Apple Recap: It's the Best Jerry, the Best Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

The entire gang is back together again in our socially distanced bunkers of choice to discuss all the news coming out of Apple's Spring Time Event.

Because it is never ever all Apple in the blind tech world, we start out discussing Uber being removed from the Aira app as a preferred ride share. Hey, this is all on Uber. On a related note, we discuss the recent settlement won by a blind woman against uber, and our own discrimination uber stories because, lets be honest, we all have had them!

Facebook is looking to get in to the audio social media playing field since everyone else has.

We start our Apple recap off with the long awaited Air Tags finally being released. Does anyone really care anymore? Well, probably if you lose things, you do.

Minutes after The Apple Spring Time event ended Tile was petitioning Congress to investigate Apple on anti-trust violations. Well that didn't take long. Is Apple looking to put Patreon out of business next with Apple Podcast Subscriptions?

Apple announced a new 6th generation TV with a lot of fancy shamans graphic stuff that no one who listens to this podcast would care about. However, we all probably will absolutely love the new redesigned AppleTV remote.

Apple then announced the first M1 iMac, and one of us is pouting as their iMac is no longer the newest in the line, but hey it is far from a paper weight. We then discuss the three new keyboards announced by Apple, all which are missing one gigantic huge feature.

The M1 chip will now be in the iPad Pro models. Will you be getting one as they have at least one new really cool feature.

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

Episode 28 - A Conversation with Comedian Stacey Prussman the Disabled Communities Choice For the Next Mayor of New York City Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Stacey Prussman in to the That Real Blind Tech show podcast bunker.

Stacey is a comedian friend of Brian's who has performed at Laugh For Sight and is running for Mayor of New York City. Brian and Stacey reminisce about starting out in comedy, and then remember Ed is also on the podcast. We discuss what stand-up comedy has been like during the pandemic.

The state of New York City politics may be a laughing matter, but that is not why Stacey is running for Mayor of New York City. Stacey walks us through why she is running for Mayor of NYC and what she hopes to accomplish as Mayor. We focus on Stacey's plan to improve the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities.

The conversation then turns to the cancel culture and stand-up comedy. We discuss what stand-up comedy will be like after the events of the past year.

We then talk about some of our fond Laugh For Sight memories.

We close our interview with the future Mayor of New York City discussing what Stacey will do to improve the lives of people with disabilities, especially our fellow blind peeps!

To donate to Stacey's campaign please visit her here

. Make sure to follow her on And make sure to join the Facebook Group Stacey Prussman Running For Mayor.

Episode 27 - A Conversation with Jim Reekes About the Mac Start Up Chime, Let It Beep, SoSuMi, and Good Audio Design Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Sound Designer Jim Reekes in to the That Real Blind Tech Show Podcast Bunker. Jim is responsible for creating that start up chime your Mac makes along with other sounds used on the Mac and iOS devices. Jim walks us through the founding of Apple as a computer company, and some funny promises Steve Jobs had to make along the way.

Jim explains to us how the name for the original Mac start up sound came to be known as SoSuMi. An absolute classic of a story.

Jim then explains to us how he created a phone at Apple, but not an iPhone. We ask Jim about his limited interactions with Steve Jobs, and Jim tells us about what Steve Jobs thought of QuickTime initially. Jim then shares with us that it is sometimes better to just put something in an operating system and worry about what people may say and think after the fact.

We then tackle the importance of good audio design versus bad audio design. And we get Jim's reaction to hearing the camera sound click for the first time on an iPhone!

And finally, imagine if executives stopped you from working on your billion dollar idea, it happened to Jim!

Episode 26 - A Conversation with Derek Lane About Podcasting and Reaper Editing Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Trailblazer Derek Lane in to the That Real Blind Tech Show podcast bunker. We discuss Derek's early days with assistive technology devices. Brian is a student of Derek's and has been learning audio editing from him on Reaper. Well, if you do not like Brian's editing, you now know who to blame. We discuss Derek's beginning working with Reaper, how Reaper has evolved over the years with its fantastic accessibility, some humorous memories of editing, how Brian is as a student, along with other editing programs for the Mac, PC, and iPhone. Derek walks us through the apps he likes using for audio on the iPhone and why he likes using these apps.

Episode 25 - A Conversation with Para-Olympian Henry McKeller Mar 31, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed are back in their socially distanced podcast bunkers of choice where we discuss how in the world a ship could clog up the Suez Canal. It is not a laughing matter, but seriously it is. Facebook is testing a new app called ReEntry, no it is not for astronauts re-entering the atmosphere. Audio Description has arrived on HBOMax on iOS devices. They made the deadline! We discuss the new improved accessibility to the HBOMax iOS app, and how to get Audio Description to play for a title that has it. If you would like to see the current list of all of HBOMax's Audio Described titles compiled by the ACB's Audio Description Project click here

We are then joined by Para-Olympian Henry McKeller to discuss his training for the upcoming Para-Olympic games. This is an interview you will not want to miss!

Did you know that if you have an Amazon account, well then you have a public profile that anyone can see? Well, you do now! We then correct our statement about Aira as you do not need to be an Aira Explorer to take advantage of their 30 minute Covid Help promotion, and you guessed it, we fired the intern who gave us the incorrect information.

We discuss follow up from the developer of the app Web Audio News we have been beta testing. If you would like to beta test this news app, please send an email to betatest@newsaudio.com.

And it's the introduction to a new segment, What's Making Brian Laugh, as you ever get the feeling that you are the only one not suing Apple? We discuss FlickType formally known as Fleksy, the typing app that totally screwed the blindness community suing Apple for fraud. And if you were sitting at your computer waiting for the March 23rd Apple event, you may have been part of Apple going all 1960's FBI.

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

Articles Discussed In This Episode

1. Ship blocking the Suez Canal could cause havoc for consumers.

2. Facebook is testing out a new app to help prisoners re-entering society.

3. HBO Max rolls out Audio Description.

4. Did you know that you have a public Amazon profile?

5. FlickType sues Apple for fraud.

6. Apple's misinformation campaign

Episode 24 - The HomePod Sleeps With The Fishes! Mar 19, 2021

Show notes

The full gang is back together for a full styling and profiling episode. Wait, are we allowed to say profiling anymore, we do not mean it in a bad way! We kick off the episode discussing the potential password management system that could be coming to a Netflix near you. Time Warner is on the clock, or should we say the clock is ticking down to March 31, the date by which Time Warner stated it plans to release 1500 hours of Audio Described content, including HBOMax. Will they make it? Then on to a discussion about what Aira is doing to help Explorers get some Covid related help. We then discuss an interesting new app the three of us have been testing out on our iPhones called web audio news. It is a news app where the news is read to you and if you would like to beta test the app, send an email to betatest@webaudio.com

Apple hit us with some big news, the Apple HomePod now sleeps with the fishes! Will there be a portable Sonos in any of our pads soon as Sonos announced the Sonos Roam coming in April. CSUN 2021, came and went, did it actually happen? We then dive in to a conversation about Audio Social Networks and discuss Clubhouse the hottest thing to hit the blindness community since? Well, you will have to listen to the episode to get the answer.

Blow out the candles as we celebrate the 32 year anniversary for the World Wide Web and discuss our thoughts after a year of pandemic living.

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

Articles Discussed In This Episode

1. Netflix might finally be cracking down on password sharing

2. Apple discontinues the original HomePod.

3. Five reasons the original HomePod Failed.

4. New Sonos Roam coming in April.

5. Twitter Spaces is coming in April.

Episode 23 - Accessible Plug-in's, It's Like Putting A Band-Aid On A Gunshot Wound! A Conversation with Virginia Jacko, CEO & President of The Miami Lighthouse Mar 13, 2021

Show notes

Brian and Ed welcome Virginia Jacko, CEO and President of the Miami Lighthouse International to the That Real Blind Tech show virtual studio. Virginia walks us through the history of the Miami Lighthouse, her day to day responsibilities as the

CEO and President, and how the Miami Lighthouse has been providing services to its community throughout the pandemic. Virginia then walks us through the Inclusive Early Child Education Program. And then because it is not always about the children, Virginia informs us what the Miami Lighthouse is doing to help visually impaired seniors book those vaccination appointments. We then discuss the state of web accessibility in 2021, and we include a discussion about the hot topic of web accessibility plug in's. And of course it would not be 2021 if we did not cover distant learning!

To learn more about the programs and services the Miami Lighthouse offers click here.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected