|
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
MSLA Logo
Spring 2024 Edition.
A service of the Technology User Group at the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled. Feel free to share this newsletter.
Did you know you can now add audio description to existing videos? Audible Sight is a revolutionary AI tool that changes the audio description landscape and offers an easy solution to a longstanding problem. Similar in intent to closed captioning for the hearing impaired, Audible Sight adds audio description to video content making it accessible to the visually impaired. Using AI technology, Audible Sight seeks to make audio description universally available for people with visual disabilities. The conversion process for adding audio description only takes a few minutes and can be customized to the way you want your video presented.
Perkins School for the Blind says the following about the Audible Sight software:
- Easy for non-technical users; no video or audio editing skills required
- Generative model learns from user input to continually improve the audio description accuracy
- 100+ synthetic voices that sound like human narrators
- A cost-effective, pay-as-you-go solution; no subscriptions or commitments
For more information, visit https://audiblesight.ai.
If you are an iPhone user and you have the SiriusXM app, Siri, the iPhone’s virtual assistant, will assist in playing stations, events, podcasts, and more. You can request stations by name or number, and if you already know the name, you can even play one of SiriusXM’s extra channels. Sports fans, for instance, may be interested to learn that premium SiriusXM subscribers can listen to all four major sports leagues and every team, as well as other specialized content.
Keep in mind that streaming on your iDevice does use data, so if you are on a limited plan, you may want to restrict your listening to Wi-Fi only.
SiriusXM can also attach to your Echo or Google Home speaker or tablet. While the SiriusXM app is free, there is a fee for content that is usually between $5 to $11 per month.
With a plethora of accessible games on the market today, both free and paid, you can find games for the young or the young at heart. In this article, I will discuss three of my favorite games in detail, along with several runners-up.
My first selection, Ballyland Magic Plus, is an educational game, but it is still quite entertaining. Ballyland Magic Plus was designed to help children learn VoiceOver gestures on iOS by helping the "Ballylanders" perform their magic tricks. This is a story game, and the Ballylanders are the characters in the game. While the game is meant for young children, I can see where it could be helpful for someone who is just beginning to learn VoiceOver on iOS. The game incorporates gestures, such as split tap, three finger swipe right/left, and single finger drag, among others.
Ballyland Magic Plus is a paid app and is available in the App Store through this link:
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/ballyland-magic-plus/id1510039691.
Note: Ballyland Magic Plus is self-voicing, so VoiceOver should be turned off upon opening it.
If you are a more advanced VoiceOver user, and Ballyland Magic Plus is not quite what you are looking for when it comes to games, then you may prefer Dice World. Dice World is actually a group of games, but they are all combined in one app. Dice World includes six dice games: Farkle, Pig, Yatzy, Balut, Threes, and 1-4-24. Dice World allows you to play online with other players from around the world, or you can choose to play with bots. Also, Dice World has daily tournaments where each single player who wins a spot among the top 20 participants is awarded a prize of bonus rolls. Dice World does offer bonus games, where players are allowed extra rolls of the dice, but this can be enabled or disabled in Settings. Dice World is a free game, but they do have in-app purchases for custom colored dice, sound packs, and bonus rolls if you choose to make those purchases.
Dice World also has a social center where you can view the stats of other players and challenge them to games. Dice World allows you to search for a player by user name, or you can challenge a random opponent.
Dice World is available in the App Store through this link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dice-world-farkle-yatzy-balut/id553269986?mt=8.
The third and final game I am covering here is Trivia Crack. Trivia Crack is a modern spin on Trivial Pursuit. The goal is to accurately answer questions from six categories: art, entertainment, science, history, geography, and sports. For every three questions you answer correctly, you are challenged with an additional question from your choice of one of those six categories. If you answer the question correctly, you are awarded a crown for that category, which brings you one step closer to winning the game. You must collect all six category crowns to win. You can link your Facebook profile with Trivia Crack to find opponents from your Facebook contacts who have also played the game. In addition, you can challenge a random opponent or search for a specific player by user name. There are free and paid versions of Trivia Crack; the free version contains ads. Regardless of the Trivia Crack version you select, there is a shop where you can buy extras, like right answers, coins, and double chances. Trivia Crack is accessible, but the interface could be easier to navigate.
Trivia Crack is available in the App Store through this link:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trivia-crack-no-ads/id723795263.
Some other accessible games that are quite popular include Blindfold Tap and Swipe (a Bop-It style game), Baby Adopter (a baby care sim game), and BitLife (a life sim game).
Want to find more games? Check out the Technology User Group meeting on Saturday, July 13th! Joining information can be found later in this publication.
Many websites are just as useful as apps, so why not have them conveniently located on your iPhone so that you can have quick access to them.
To make this happen, do the following:
- Go to the website you would like to add to your home screen.
- Find the Share tab at the bottom of the screen and double tap it.
- Swipe until you find the Add to Home Screen button.
- An edit field will appear with a suggested name for your bookmark, which you can keep or erase.
- Tap the Done button, and you will now see this website on your home screen.
This process seems to work with Safari, but you may experience different results with other browsers and smart devices.
The quadruple tap with two fingers gesture will open VoiceOver Quick Settings. You can swipe to the right with one finger to go through your options and make changes. Just remember to double tap with one finger on the Done button if you make any adjustments. The VoiceOver Quick Settings include audio ducking, braille input and output, phonic feedback, typing style, and speaking rate.
The Zuzanka app reads expiration dates on food products and informs you if a product has expired. In addition, the app can scan bar codes and QR codes to help identify food products. The app is free for fourteen days and gives you the option to buy a monthly ($5), yearly ($30), or lifetime ($80) subscription. Once you have accepted the terms and determined your subscription level, the app will allow you to point and scan. Once a bar code is detected, the app will continue to scan, looking for QR codes and the expiration date. While it is possible to limit the types of codes you scan, it is recommended that you use the default settings until you become more experienced with the app.
Users report that Zuzanka is easy to use with guiding sounds to help locate expiration dates. The Zuzanka app is available from both the App Store and Google Play.
The benefits of connecting your e-reader to your iDevice are significant. This process will allow you to read books from Kindle, send and receive messages, and even use the e-reader as a note taker. The connection process is challenging, so pay close attention to these steps.
- Make sure Bluetooth is turned on for both the iDevice and the e-reader. With the iDevice, you can ask Siri to “Turn on Bluetooth.” For the e-reader, go to Settings followed by Bluetooth, and make sure the setting is ON. If it is OFF, just press dot 8 (Enter).
- On the e-reader, go to Braille Display, followed by Add Bluetooth Device. Of course, to activate this selection, you press Enter or dot 8.
- Now on your iDevice, go to Settings followed by Accessibility and then to VoiceOver followed by Braille. To speed up the process just a little, you can have Siri launch VoiceOver Settings. Swipe to Braille and double tap with one finger. In the Braille settings, swipe to NLS e-reader, and double tap on the serial number that follows.
If all has gone well, the iDevice should indicate that it is paired with the e-reader. If the pairing failed, restart both the iDevice and the e-reader, and try again. If paired successfully, your e-reader will want to pair to the iDevice each time the e-reader is turned on. If you do not want this to happen, turn off Bluetooth on the e-reader.
If your e-reader does not automatically pair with your iDevice the next time it is turned on, go to Braille Display followed by Connected Devices, arrow down to the name of your iDevice, and press Enter.
With your devices paired, your e-reader now has control over your iDevice. Here are some helpful keystrokes to remember:
Spacebar m – toggles VoiceOver ON and OFF
Spacebar dot 1 – moves to previous item
Spacebar dot 4 – moves to next item
The complete list of keystrokes can be found here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202132
Splash is the latest generative artificial intelligence (AI) skill for Alexa. With Splash, you can create songs of different genres, add lyrics, or make other adjustments. The skill is free and easy to use. Just say “Alexa, enable Splash,” and get ready to create personalized songs using your own voice or one of Splash’s AI vocalists, generate music tracks, and connect with others through music in new and exciting ways. Please note that some options are only available with the professional version, for which there is a fee.
Go to the Message app.
Slide one finger down the list of text messages until you reach one with a sender who you wish to turn into a contact.
Double tap the message.
Swipe with one finger all the way to the right until you hear the number of unread messages and the Back button.
Now swipe to the left one time with one finger to the sender’s phone number.
Double tap the phone number with one finger.
Swipe to the right until you hear the Info button. If you don’t hear it for some reason, then swipe the other direction with one finger until you do.
Double tap the Info button with one finger.
Swipe to the right with one finger until you hear Create New Contact, and then double tap with one finger.
The phone will put you in the edit field for the first name. You can type or dictate the first name.
If you are finished, double tap with one finger on the Done button in the upper righthand corner below the status bar.
If you prefer to add more information to the contact, go above the virtual keyboard and seek the field for the additional information you wish to input. When you are finished, double tap with one finger on the Done button.
All Technology User Group (TUG) meetings can be joined via Zoom:
https://marylandlibraries.zoom.us/j/6562037293
Meeting ID: 656 203 7293
---
One tap mobile +13017158592,,6562037293#
Upcoming TUG Topics:
April 13: The IMAGE Center for People with Disabilities
May 11: Brave and DuckDuckGo Browsers for iOS and PC
June 8: Accessible Oceans: Exploring Ocean Data through Sound
July 13: iOS Games
|
