The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast

The Tech Doctor is pleased to welcome back Lisa Salinger and Allison Hartley to the podcast.

Both Allison and Lisa recently purchased the Amazon Kindle Keyboard. This is the only model of the Kindle that is accessible to a blind person.

As Lisa and Allison describe their experiences with the Kindle, it becomes clear that while we all wish that Amazon would do more to make all Kindles accessible, the Kindle Keyboard is accessible enough to allow a blind person to independently operate the Kindle Keyboard to successfully read the extensive library of Kindle books that have the text to speech flag enabled.

While we do not have any inside information, we don’t know how long the Kindle Keyboard will be around as it is not a current model. I was unable to find one at my local Best Buy but was able to purchase a Kindle Keyboard online directly from Amazon.

In 2010, Ricky Enger of Serotek did a comprehensive review of the accessible Kindle. The information is still accurate. Here is a link to the review.
An Accessibility Review of the Amazon Kindle 3

Another excellent resource is
The Kindle Accessibility Blog

Finally, Accessible World has published two excellent podcasts on using the Kindle Keyboard.
Accessible World Kindle Podcasts

Thanks to Lisa and Allison for sharing their Kindle experiences. I am confident that you will enjoy this podcast.

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In this podcast, Robert shares his impressions and experiences with Apples
iPhone 5

He discusses some
benchmark performance data
and describes what working with the phone is like from the perspective of a VoiceOver user.

Robert then moves on to discuss the major features of iOS 6. He thanks David Woodbridge for providing some excellent podcasts on iOS 6.David’s iOS 6 podcasts can be found on his
Apple and Other Accessible Technology
website.

It is always lots of fun to explore new technology from Apple. Grab some good headphones, a cool drink and enjoy the ride.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert describes the 1Password password manager and demonstrates how to use 1Password with VoiceOver. To find out all about 1Password, go to the
AgileBits
website.

Robert finishes up the podcast by talking about his approach to Mac security. The Tech Doctor hopes you will develop your own protocol for keeping your passwords and your Mac safe and secure.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to email them to
The Tech Doctor

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In this podcast, Robert talks with Anne Robertson who lives in a delightful village in France.

In addition to working as a translator, Anne teaches blind and visually impaired people to use the Mac. The training can be done in either French or English and is available on sight or via Skype. Further information about various training options is available on Anne’s
website
The site is in French. If you are interested in training in English, contact Anne via
email

In addition to sharing some information about what life is like in France, Anne and Robert discuss funding for technology, the use of braille in France and the popularity and accessibility of ebooks.

Anne purchases most of her ebooks from company in Canada called
Kobo
The Kobo Books are accessible both on the Mac and on iOS devices.

I am confident that you will enjoy this podcast.

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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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In this podcast, the Tech Doctor spends time with freelance writer, editor and poet Deborah Kendrick. During her thirty years as a freelance writer, Deborah has published hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines around the world. Even though Deborah is well-known in the blindness community, as a writer about and advocate for disability concerns, she began her career as a poet and a writer on topics that had nothing to do with disability.

At present, Deborah is the “Senior Features Editor” at
AccessWorld
which is a monthly technology magazine published by The American Foundation for the Blind.

Prior to coming to AccessWorld, Deborah started and edited the first braille magazine devoted to access technology, called Tactic. First published in 1985, long before the internet, Tactic was the primary way that blind people learned about and kept up with accessible technology.

In addition to writing about technology, Deborah writes a bi-weekly newspaper column for the Columbus Dispatch. At the time of this podcast, Deborah’s current column was entitled
Progress, yes, but there’s work ahead

Deborah is currently writing the biography of
Abraham Nemeth
an inventor and the developer of the braille code for mathematics and scientific notation.

In the podcast, Deborah jokingly describes herself as the “accidental techie.” This is a story that you don’t want to miss.

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