Episode 149: Aira Announcement Reactions, TalkBack To Add More Gestures & Tartan Face Masks

08/27/20 • 55 min

Just when you thought you had heard everything there was to say about face masks, Double Tap Canada is here and Steven has found one to get excited about. No, not his tartan face mask, but a mask with built in bone conduction audio...

Moving quickly on, we are joined this week by JJ Meddaugh from Blind Bargains to discuss the recent announcement from Aira that they have now put in place limits to their previously unlimited free 5 minute call offer. Was this inevitable and always a short-term deal or has the offer been abused by users? We’ll be discussing the topic and also hearing some opinions from the community.

Next up we’ll be looking at what’s coming up in the next version of Android. One of the most interesting points, from an accessibility aspect, is that the Android screen reader TalkBack is to get more gestures in the form of multi-finger taps etc. Good news for screen reader users, but are braille display users still being left behind when it comes to Android?

Finally, it’s on to virtual conferences. JJ was impressed with the NFB conference and wonders just what we can expect from CSUN. Also we’ll hear from listener Tiffany who seems less excited then Steven over the inclusion of QWERTY keyboards into braille displays like the Mantis Q40.

Previous Episode

Episode 148: What’s New in E-Sight 4 & How Good is Google Look Out?

Double Tap Canada is joined by Jay Taylor this week as we take a look at the latest generation of the wearable video magnifier headset, the E-Sight 4. Jay has been helped greatly in the past by previous versions of the E-Sight headset, but just what has been improved in this latest release?

Steven is also excited this week by a news story of a new procedure that may help ‘quiet’ the effects of Nystagmus. He’ll be looking at the story of a Canadian man who has been able to drive after undergoing this surgery. Great news, if only Steven can remember the guy’s name...

Next, we’ll be taking the Google Look Out app for a test-drive. With features such as scene & object recognition, real-time OCR, document scanning, currency identification and rather impressive product recognition, could this be Androids answer to the fantastic iOS app Seeing AI?

Next Episode

Episode 150: Is Apple Deliberately Excluding Us from Software Development & The Amazon Halo, Exciting or Terrifying?

Double Tap Canada is back, and the discussion is as heated as ever as the DTC team take a look at this week’s tech news.
There has been a lot of debate recently following the release of the first public beta of Apple Watch OS. Apple released the build without VoiceOver support and although they did make it clear in the release notes that this was the case, it did mean that VoiceOver users could not take part in this stage of the beta program. This resulted in the creation of a petition by Jonathan Mosen asking that Apple never again release a public beta without VoiceOver support. However, others in the visually impaired community disagreed, stating that missing features etc. was just a part of software development and to be expected. We’ll be talking to Jonathan Mosen to hear just why he thought a petition was necessary.

Next, will be taking a look at the new Amazon Halo. This fitness / health tracker not only monitors your heart rate, activity, and sleep, but also promises to provide very accurate body composition data.
One feature that may prove a little more controversial is the social interaction analysis. Using a microphone built into the wrist band, the Halo will monitor how you talk to others throughout the day and then tell you how well you interact socially. Is this a great way for self-improvement or yet another invasion of privacy?