The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast

In this podcast, Robert talks with Amy Mason, an access technology specialist at the
International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind
This extraordinary technology center is part of the
Jernigan Institute
located at the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, Maryland.

Some of Amy’s job responsibilities include: answering questions about technology for visitors as well as people who telephone the technology center. Amy evaluates technology to determine its accessibility and she prepares internal documents and articles for publication describing her findings.

Robert became aware of Amy after reading her
January 2012 Braille monitor article
regarding ebooks and the extent to which they are accessible on the major platforms. Amy recently reviewed Apple’s new Mountain Lion operating system on the
International Braille and Technology Center’s blog.

Amy and Robert engage in an interesting discussion about Amy’s former employment as a computer repair technician. They describe some tricks and techniques that a blind person might employ when disassembling and reassembling a repaired computer.

Finally, Amy jokingly refers to her iPod Touch as a gateway drug which led to the purchase of an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air. Robert confesses to having a similar addiction to Apple products.

Grab your favorite beverage, relax and enjoy this stimulating conversation.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert describes his experience of upgrading from OS X 10.7 Lion to 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Before upgrading, he encourages everyone to read
Take Control of Upgrading to Mountain Lion
He discusses the importance of having a bootable backup and described how he uses backup software called
SuperDuper
to create his bootable clone backups.

Robert describes how to create and use a Mountain Lion bootable recovery USB thumb drive. You need a piece of free software called
Lion Disk Maker Utility
It is completely useable with VoiceOver.

Once you have Mountain Lion up and running, Robert recommends that you listen to the 15 podcasts that David Woodbridge produced demonstrating how to use many of the new Mountain Lion features with VoiceOver. These podcasts are available on the
Applevis
Website.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert talks with Tonya Engst, co-founder of
TidBITS
and editor-in-chief of
Take Control Books
Tonya describes how her company has gone from writing and publishing printed books about how to get the most from Apple products to producing all books and articles in electronic format.

The Take Control Books are excellent, they are offered at a good price and are frequently updated. These books are completely accessible to VoiceOver users both on the iOS and OS X operating systems.

After Tonya and Robert finish their conversation, Robert demonstrates how to use VoiceOver to read a Take Control Book on the Mac. He uses an epub reader available in the Mac App Store called
Bookle

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In this episode of the Tech Doctor podcast, Robert plays a recording of a presentation that he made at an access technology conference for the Veterans Administration.

The speech was presented on August 9, 2012 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The purpose of the conference was to provide training for VA employees who teach access technology to blind and visually impaired veterans.

The Tech Doctor was honored to have been invited to speak at this excellent conference. It was exciting to have had three days devoted to this most worthwhile topic.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert and David Woodbridge explore the work that David does with
Vision Australia
including how David goes about recommending technology to people who call the help desk.

David describes his work as an apple ambassador and has an editor on the popular
Applevis
web site.

David tells us about his podcasts and radio show. He explains his enthusiasm about Apple accessibility and how he has integrated Apple equipment in to his household.

Finally, Robert and David engage in a discussion of what the new Mountain Lion operating system has to offer.

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