“Alexa is Amazon’s voice service and the brain behind millions of devices including Amazon Echo. Alexa provides capabilities, or skills, that enable customers to create a more personalized experience. There are now more than 10,000 skills from companies like Starbucks, Uber, and Capital One as well as innovative designers and developers.”

And now Serotek Corp is proud to announce it too is a part of the growing base of Alexa skills developers, because why swipe this way and that when you could just tell your device to play your favorite Sero audio content?

Here’s how you do it:

• Enable the Skill in your Alexa app
• Tell Alexa to “Start Sero.”
• Alexa will ask you to link your account.
• Return to the Alexa app and link your app.

That’s it!

The Alexa Skill is currently free for all current Sero subscribers. This offer will not last forever though, so please give it a test drive, see what you think, and if you like what you hear, tell your friends about it!

That’s really no shocker though, right? Look around the access technology industry and identify just one company who charges less for comparable products.

At the end of this tax season, we want to continue the tradition. We understand Uncle Sam took his bite out of your checkbook, so let’s explore a new means of saving money for the entertainment you love and enjoy on the mobile device of your choosing.

Starting today, we’re going to release new single-platform subscription packages for Sero. Each subscription package will be $6.00 per month (or $5.99, depending on the app store.) These new subscription plans can be purchased within your app. We’re doing single-platform subscriptions for:

• iOS/tvOS (which count as one platform)
• Mac
• Android
• Amazon Fire OS
• Windows

Stay tuned for the availability of another platform option in the very near future…

So what will you get?

These new subscription packages include the content and community features you’ve come to love of the Sero experience. This means, among other top selling features, the ability to download your favorite movies, TV series, podcasts, and other content for offline binge listening at home, on your commute, or where ever your travels may take you. Internet availability does not have to factor into your audio leisure.

These new subscription packages will not include email, remote access, or the Media Library. For the full experience you may continue using your current subscription plan. We understand flexibility and want you to pay only for what you desire of your Sero experience.

Take the Break!

So, what do you say? For less than the price of a fast food meal, you can count on a month’s worth of information and entertainment in the most accessible means possible, all from the convenience of your favorite mobile platform!

Are you interested? Go ahead and visit your app store now and seize this competitive promotion for new and existing customers!

If you are indeed a new customer, here are direct links to the respective app stores where the package is currently supported:

• iOS and Apple TV
• Mac
• Android
• Amazon Fire OS

Helpful Hints

On iOS, open the App Store and select the Updates tab at the bottom of
the screen. If an update is available for Sero, install it. Otherwise, make sure it’s at least version 3.1.2.

Similarly, on Mac, open the App Store and select the Updates tab at the top of the window. If an update is available for Sero, install it. Otherwise, make sure it’s on at least version 2.1.1.

On Android, open the Google Play Store, activate the “Show Navigation Drawer” in the upper left corner of the screen (below the status bar), and choose “My Apps and Games”. If an update is available for Sero, install it.

And for Amazon Fire OS devices, or Android devices using the Amazon App store: Open the App store app, activate the Left Navigation Toggle at the upper left corner of the screen (below the status bar), choose “My Apps”, then select the Updates tab. If an update is available for Sero, install it.

Questions? Concerns? Leave them in the comments, or get in touch with our very helpful customer service!

So, in a quiet rebellion against the notion we need a holiday to honor the heart, we are sharing this tender video now, from one of our own beloved staff members and her husband and their positive outlook on life that has made theirs an example worth following.

You know her as Rhonda, the lovely voice taking your calls with all your questions and concerns. In a departure from our usual spiel about technology, join us in watching Rhonda’s love story:

Do you have a love story to share? We’re conscious of the fact many of you have met via our network. If so, leave us a comment! We’d love to read about it.

Greetings From Your New Biggest Fan;

My name is Ryan Eversole and I have been using accessibility software since 1997 or so. I have been a beta tester for Dolphin SuperNova for nearly a decade now, I have done beta testing for ZoomText from the time they rolled out a 64-bit solution until present and I have even done beta testing for JAWS.

Beyond that I am the only approved trainer within about 100 miles of my home town for ClaroSoft products like Lightning and Thunder.

Additionally, despite my visual impairment I work full time as both a fully licensed California insurance agent and an I.T. Manager/Consultant. In my spare time I am actually building an invention that is guaranteed to bring blind and low vision mobility and independence to the next level. At present I am working on prosecuting my patent so for obvious reasons I cannot go too far into that piece of my life.

I am bringing all of this up because I wanted it to be clear that when I say I am absolutely floored at how awesome Sero is it is clear that I have worked with the most expensive solutions and I have been actively using assistive technology for a multitude of professional solutions for years now. I can honestly say with 100% certainty Serotek has created an excellent and amazing suite that is at very least comparable to the big, expensive solutions. The fact that I can subscribe for $240/year to Access Anywhere [now known as Sero Premium] means that it would take about 5 years to cost me as much as the initial purchase of SuperNova or ZoomText Fusion. Calculating for the rolling update model Windows has come up with now this means version upgrades that cost money will have to become significantly more frequent, so let’s throw in another $150 every other year, this means that it will likely take 8 years to match in the cost. During those 8 years however I will happily be taking advantage of a much better product with much better solutions.

Case and point SuperNova and their Book Shelf product, it takes 2-5 minutes to OCR a document and convert it into HTML and half of the time the document formatting is completely lost. Not to mention that this is just processing an existing PDF, not including time to scan the document. I was impressed to the point of being a giddy little school girl the first time I dropped 5 pages in my old scanner feeder and ran DocuScanPlus since it took under 1 minute to do everything… To say I was amazed at its speed and accuracy is completely an understatement, I was shocked and to be perfectly honest I was very upset.

My anger was in no way directed at Serotek, but at the corporate giants making money hand over fist from every Department of Rehabilitation office or similar office around the world. How is it that these giants can keep delivering a sub-par product but keep being glorified as if their solution is really a full featured and well-rounded solution? In all honesty I had no idea that Serotek had evolved it’s solutions so rapidly and so far, but none the less I am ecstatic to be aware of it now.

Are you interested in sharing your own feedback? We’re always glad to hear from you! Your questions, concerns, and suggestions on DocuScan Plus or any of our other productivity tools in our Sero suite of products are always encouraged.

And, stay tuned. We’ve been laying low for a bit, but discussion of upcoming projects is on its way…

Giving us your rating is as easy as pressing one button. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have the option to write a review as well. And don’t forget that you can share your favorite content on social networks, by email, or even in a text message if you’re running Sero on your smartphone.

Ratings and reviews are available now on Windows, Mac, iOS, Apple TV, and Android. Unfortunately it is not currently practical to write a review on the Apple TV, so instead, Sero will send you an email that you can open on your computer or mobile device to write a review.

So when you listen to something on Sero, whether you loved it, hated it, or just lost interest, please tell your community what you thought, by giving us your rating and writing a review.

How about this: Spend whatever quantity you want on a Serotek gift certificate, and we will fully match your amount. If you want a one hundred-dollar gift certificate, Serotek will give you another gift certificate of equal value. That would mean two hundred dollars toward the purchase of our popular document scanning app, our intuitive screen reading solution, a subscription to our growing feature set of the Sero app, or a combination of all three!

It just doesn’t make sense to give you only a fraction of your return. We want to double your spending power, but this deal is only good on Black Friday, from midnight to 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The inventory is unlimmited. You just need to seize it!

Are you interested in maximizing your hard-earned money? Yeah, we thought you might be, so click right now to take advantage of this rare promotion!

Haven’t signed up yet? What are you waiting for? Get signed up now!

The move to Sero means entertainment and information from the convenience of a single app across multiple platforms. It means faster updates across the board. It means voice chat and text chat at home on your computer or on the road via your smartphone. It means the ability to download content from our ever expanding library, starting a movie on your Mac or PC and finishing it up on your tablet. You’ll be able to better rate, share, and favorite the content you want and lots more!

If you haven’t checked out Sero, we’ve got a lot to catch you up on! Sign up here and start experiencing entertainment and productivity at its finest!

By now I am sure most of the people who call Serotek know my voice. I’m Rhonda Partain the customer service-sort of tech person you talk to when you forget your user name or want to change your password. I had almost given up hope of finding a job. I had come to the sad realization that fairy Godmothers are only make believe. I guess halfheartedly I had hope one would appear and say some cute magical phrase that rhymes of course and I’d be blessed with a job I would love.

Well, perhaps she was on strike. She never showed up. Yet it turns out persistence really does pay off in the end. I am so glad that Mike Calvo and Michael Fox thought I’d be good at this job. I am grateful they took a chance and hired this girl from Georgia who loves to talk, but who listens just as well. It is awesome to work for a company whose product is one you would purchase and use yourself.

Technology is changing daily it seems. How many of you remember those manual typewriters, finding and hiring readers, typing papers for school and forgetting what you last wrote? I have often felt a bit sad as I looked at all the new technology at trade shows and conferences for the blind. It was fun to play with for a few minutes; it was fun to imagine just how great it would be if I had won the lottery and could purchase it. I felt sort of like Cinderella who knew midnight was coming. She could enjoy one more dance but in the end she’d be back scrubbing the ashes from the fireplace.

Well, I bring you all good news. You need no longer wish for a fairy Godmother, you need not wish for a rich uncle to die so you can win the lottery. Thanks to Serotek the future is affordable. You can have technology that runs on your iPhone or android, or Mac. You don’t have to give it back. Isn’t that great?

The future is exciting; don’t be terrified of change, get Sero-fied and come join the party. I feel like a kid at Christmas when I think of the future. What secret presents are hidden away in Serotek’s closet?

Change is a bit scary at first. I upgraded to Windows 10 and I am still here to tell about it. Change is a good thing; just say that to yourself. You won’t crash your hard drive or anything like that, Serotek comes up talking when the upgrade is through. Sero may look a bit different too. Internet Explorer is used instead of the Samnet browser, but it’s not hard to figure out.

Would I lie to you? Well, if you asked me about my weight, my age, or how much money I have in the bank I might, but I swear by all the chocolate in the world Sero is wonderful. Seeing is believing. If you feel worried about anything, if you have concerns, I am only a phone call away. I love helping others; I may not always know the answer but I am resourceful and I will find it out.

I enjoy working with all the staff here at Serotek. A special thanks goes to Brian who mostly has to listen to me; I think Matt is simply amazing how anyone can write all of the code needed to have zero work on multiple platforms is just mind boggling to me. I could hardly figure out when the two trains would collide in Algebra class.

We live, we learn, we grow. Life is a grand adventure!

In the meantime, we bring you the first in a series of articles exploring recent developments in mainstream technology.

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the long-awaited Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Among the most prominent features in this update are several major improvements to the Edge web browser. The Edge development team recently published a blog post describing these improvements. Among other things, that post states:

While we at Serotek appreciate the considerable improvements that the Edge team has made in accessibility since the original release of Windows 10, we must emphatically insist that the claim quoted above is, at the very least, misleading. In our opinion as assistive technology developers, the only way that claim can be considered true is if the word “we” in that sentence refers strictly to the Edge team, and not to Microsoft in general. That’s because in practice, the accessibility of even the new and improved Edge is a significant regression compared to what we always had in Internet Explorer, and even compared to Firefox and Chrome.

There are two main problems: Edge does not give assistive technologies a way to access the raw Document Object Model (DOM) of a web page, which we need in order to fill in gaps in website accessibility. Further, the speed that we can achieve in Edge is hobbled in comparison to all other browsers on Windows.

First, in both Internet Explorer and the Windows version of Firefox, screen readers have always had a way to access the raw Document Object Model of a Web page. This is the browser’s internal representation of the HTML code that makes up a page. This level of access allows all screen readers to provide various features that can fill in the gaps when a website isn’t perfectly accessible out of the box. For example, Serotek has long been known for its C-SAW (Community-Supported Accessible Web) feature, which lets users provide labels for graphics and form fields that aren’t labeled by the website developer. We are also able to implement our own website-specific work-around for accessibility problems, such as when a button or link isn’t properly marked up but just appears as plain text, or when a site doesn’t properly indicate that part of the user interface is currently invisible. Even very popular sites such as Amazon.com and PayPal still have problems like these sometimes.

At Serotek, we’ve always believed that, to the extent possible, we should make our own accessibility, rather than wait for it to be served to us on a silver platter. But to do this, we need some help from the browser. And so far, the Edge team has not provided the level of raw access to a Web page that we need to fill in website accessibility gaps as we do in other browsers. Instead, the Edge team has apparently taken the position that its only job is to provide access to websites that already do everything right in terms of following the accessibility standards. In this respect, the Edge team has done a great job, and Edge’s perfect score from the HTML5Accessibility browser benchmark reflects that. But real websites, even from large companies such as Microsoft itself, do not always properly implement the latest accessibility features of ARIA and HTML5. It’s our job as assistive technology developers to make up for these real-world shortcomings, and so far, Edge doesn’t let us do that job nearly as well as other browsers.

That’s not the only problem. One of the most touted features of Edge is its speed. However, when it comes to accessibility, the speed that any full-featured screen reader can achieve in Edge is hobbled in comparison to all other browsers on Windows. Historically, all full-featured Windows screen readers have provided access to browsers by running some of their code directly inside the browser. Basically, the screen reader gets right inside the browser’s space, and can then access all of the available information about a web page with very low overhead. But now, as part of Edge’s stringent approach to security, Microsoft has decided that screen readers and other assistive technologies must stay out of the browser, only communicating with it from a distance. We don’t have a problem with this limitation in and of itself, but it means that the mechanism that the screen reader uses to get information from the browser needs to be carefully designed for maximum efficiency, and so far, Microsoft has not done this consistently. With Edge, it’s like we’re sucking information through a straw, whereas before, we were gulping from the fire hose. Again, it’s possible for Microsoft to solve this problem without backing down on security, which is also important, but that hasn’t happened yet.

We have provided feedback to Microsoft on both of these problems. Microsoft has been receptive to this feedback, and we look forward to working closely with the appropriate development teams on further improvements. But for now, we believe these regressions are so significant that we cannot provide a level of access to Edge that we consider usable, let alone enjoyable.

Note that Serotek is not the only assistive technology developer to take this position with regard to Microsoft Edge. The following statement is transcribed from the latest podcast from Freedom Scientific:

We are in full agreement with Freedom Scientific on this point.

We recognize that Internet Explorer’s days as a top-tier browser are numbered. That is why we are working on significant improvements in our access to Firefox and Chrome. We are committed to providing first-rate access to modern browsers. But Edge still has such serious limitations that we believe our time is best spent elsewhere. We look forward to a time when we can provide excellent Web access through Edge as well as all other modern browsers.

Questions? Opinions? Please feel free to share your comment!

Here are a few highlights to date and some notes on future plans:

Thanks to your helpful feedback, we have improved the voice chat user experience, especially on iOS. Sero now announces when people enter or leave a chat room, and automatically reads new text chat messages. You can turn these announcements on or off on a per-computer or per-device basis. And on iOS, you no longer have to tap and hold a button to talk if you’re not wearing a headset. Instead, Sero uses your iOS device’s built-in echo cancellation capabilities to make sure that people don’t hear themselves echo. We also added support for Bluetooth headsets on iOS. Note that we have not yet brought these enhancements to Android. Please accept our apologies for the delay, but we will change this very soon.

You’ve asked for better navigation. We’ve made it easier to get around various parts of the network, such as forums, bookmarks, and your newspaper, especially on mobile devices. In particular, the Back button now consistently behaves the way it’s supposed to.

Also in support of better navigation, we’ve been working on a much-improved search feature for content within Sero. About a week ago, we rolled out the first phase of this highly requested feature. When you search for content, Sero will now do a much better job of showing the most relevant search results at the top, and your searches will often finish faster as well. Now we’re just about ready to roll out the second phase of our work on search. On all platforms, the search box will now be on the same screen as the list you’re currently looking at, and search results will automatically be filled in as you type your query. We believe these improvements will make it much easier to find the content you’re looking for within Sero.

Of course, we’ve also implemented many smaller improvements and bug fixes. For example, on Windows, you no longer lose your place on the home screen when it periodically refreshes. Also, the home screen and other list views now automatically refresh when they receive focus. For example, if you read and delete your new email, then come back to the home screen, the number of new messages at the top will update to reflect this change.

And we’re not done yet. As we mentioned above, we will soon be enhancing voice chat on Android. After that, we’ll improve downloading of content to your PC or device; in particular, we’ll make it easy to download content in the background while you move on to other tasks. We’ll also add the ability to post voice messages to the forums on all platforms that let third-party apps use a microphone; that means all platforms except Apple TV.

We know that you love all of the great content available within Sero, and we want to make it easy for you to share the love. So we’re going to add the ability to rate and review content, share it on social networks, and follow your friends’ ratings and reviews. We’ll also make it easy for you to keep tabs on your favorite described TV shows, so you’ll never miss a new season or episode again.

We realize that for Windows users, one of the most controversial changes that comes with Sero is the death of the SAMNet browser. Unfortunately, it’s just not feasible for us to maintain our own browser anymore, and it doesn’t really make sense for us to do so, with all of the great options available these days. We realize that not all of these options work well with our System Access screen reader just yet. In particular, we’re going to be enhancing support for Firefox and Chrome within System Access. And once Microsoft has finished adding the necessary accessibility support to the Edge browser on Windows 10, we will fully support it within System Access. While the SAMNet browser that you’ve known and loved for years will be going away, you will have some great new options to take its place.

Of course, we’ll continue to polish the Sero app and fix bugs as we prepare to move it out of beta. Your feedback will help us make Sero the best that it can be across all of the platforms we support.

Think that’s it? Hold on, sit still a moment longer.

You see, even after Sero comes out of beta, we have big plans for the future of this app. The word “Sero” means connected, and we want Sero to keep you connected to all aspects of your life. For us, one of the most exciting developments in recent years is that after decades of being the sole province of geeks, home automation is now finally ready for the everyday person. We think we can make it even easier for you to take advantage of all of the exciting possibilities for more independent living that home automation has to offer. Our work on home automation is still in the research and early development phase, but we are confident that with Sero, we’ll be able to bring easy home automation to whatever platform or platforms you use. Stay tuned! This is only the beginning.

But, right now, the best thing you can do to help move this project along is to jump into the beta program and get your friends to do the same! The more people we can get to kick the tires, the smoother the ride for everyone involved. We’re fast approaching the maximum number of available seats for the beta program, so please don’t assume you’ll have time to check things out later. Right now is the time to get in there and enjoy all the features of the Sero ecosystem absolutely free!

Or, if you’d rather read about some of our changes, here’s a breakdown:

Windows 10

It’s clear by now that although Windows 10 attempts to make Windows 7 users feel at ease with the return of the Start menu, the new operating system unapologetically builds on the foundation that Microsoft laid with Windows 8. The cornerstone of this foundation is an application platform and user interface style that has gone by many names. It was once called Metro. Microsoft later referred to apps based on this technology as “Windows Store apps”. We have often called them “modern apps”. Microsoft currently prefers the name “Universal Windows Platform”. Whatever you call it, it’s even more pervasive in Windows 10, from the moment you enter your password on the Windows sign-in screen.
You’ll also find the new style of user interface in the Action Center, where you can review and respond to notifications, and in the Settings app, which is the modern equivalent of the Control Panel. Even the Start menu, meant to entice Windows 7 users, is based on the newer user interface style. And of course, you’ll find it in the Windows Store and the apps that you can download from there.

So what does this mean for screen reader users? Naturally, that depends on the screen reader. In our opinion, other screen readers have done the bare minimum to make the Windows modern UI accessible, but they haven’t made it truly usable. For the most part, they’ll just read whatever control has the keyboard focus, and leave it to the user to use screen review commands to figure out the context. We knew we could do better.
We still believe in providing the best automatic access possible, rather than forcing the user to use stick shift, so to speak. So in many parts of Windows, such as the sign-in screen and the Settings app, you’ll find that System Access reads much more automatically than other screen readers. Of course, our automatic access isn’t perfect, and we plan to keep improving it. And there are other little touches that you’ll find along the way; for example, when you talk to the new Cortana app in Windows 10, System Access will stay quiet, so Cortana can listen to what you have to say.

But beyond simply presenting more information automatically, we believe we can provide a fundamentally better user experience in the Windows modern UI than any screen reader has attempted so far. That brings us to the next thing we want to talk about.

Webify

One of the most unquestioned assumptions of Windows screen readers has been that they should mostly leave keyboard navigation up to the applications and the operating system. After all, Windows has always made it possible to move through all of the controls in a user interface by pressing Tab and Shift+Tab. But what happens when keyboard navigation is an afterthought, as it so often is in mainstream apps? What happens when application user interfaces become more like web pages, freely mixing content and UI controls? Must we use clunky screen review commands to explore and understand these apps? Fortunately, a better way has been right under our noses all along, especially for those of us who live in the SAMNet browser.

If you’re a frequent user of SAMNet on Windows, or even if you simply do a lot of web browsing with System Access, then you’ve probably come to love the way that we provide access to web pages. Like other screen readers, System Access lets you move through a web page with the arrow keys, as if you were moving through a document in Notepad or Word. But we’ve always taken it a step further. System Access has no special mode for filling out forms. We’ve always believed that making such a distinction between browsing a web page and filling out a form is unnecessary and clunky. And it seems that our users agree; people tell us that our approach to browsing web pages is smoother than anything they’ve experienced with other screen readers.

While we were working with Windows 10, it occurred to us that there’s no reason why native applications couldn’t work the same way. Why should it matter to a user whether something is a web page or an application?
After all, modern Windows apps are a lot like web pages in the way they freely mix content with user interface controls. Often they even include things called links, like a web page. So why shouldn’t you be able to navigate these apps like a web page?

Now, with System Access, you can do just that. We call this innovative new feature “Webify”. It starts with modern apps in Windows 8 and up.
Whenever you’re in one of these apps, you can navigate it like a web page. This means you no longer have to use clunky screen review commands to explore an app; just arrow through it. In some places we can even detect headings, so you can jump around with H and Shift+H. Other quick navigation commands also apply. Want to get to the next button on the screen, without laboriously tabbing through everything else in between?
Just press B. Of course, just as with a web page, System Access will automatically recognize when you’re in an edit box, so you can just type; there’s no switching between modes.

We’re using Windows modern apps as the initial proving ground for this concept, but we believe it can be applied much more widely. You may have already noticed that by default, System Access now webifies the Windows task bar. We recognize that you might prefer the old way of navigating the task bar, so you can choose not to webify it. But we encourage you to try it and let it grow on you. And we look forward to extending our Webify technology even further. For example, the Ribbon in Microsoft Office has long been a source of confusion. But just wait until we webify it within the next few months; we believe that will make it easier than ever to explore all that Microsoft Office has to offer. As a preview, you will soon have the option to webify the Ribbon in WordPad.
And of course, we welcome your feedback on other aspects of Windows and popular applications that can benefit from being webified. Ultimately, we want you to be able to learn just one way to use your computer, and have it just work everywhere.

Windows 10’s rough edges

In some ways, Windows 10 is even bolder than Windows 8 was. A case in point is Windows 10’s new web browser, Microsoft Edge. Edge is a drastic change from Internet Explorer, and this level of change was bound to impact users of screen readers and other assistive technologies. System Access has some experimental support for Edge, but it’s nowhere near ready for everyday use yet. Like other third-party screen reader developers, we are still waiting for Edge’s accessibility support to mature. According to a blog post from the Edge team late last month, Edge’s accessibility support is still “getting to good”. Microsoft continues to recommend that users of third-party screen readers use Internet Explorer for now. Naturally, we agree with that recommendation.

So what happened? Why isn’t Edge ready to use with third-party screen readers, despite the long preview period for Windows 10? Naturally, we can’t speak for other assistive technology developers. But we at Serotek were surprised by just how completely the Microsoft Edge team broke with the legacy of Internet Explorer, particularly when it comes to accessibility. For as long as we’ve been in the screen reader business, our methods of accessing content in Internet Explorer, via Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) and the Document Object Model (DOM) interface, have been more or less unchanged. But Edge throws all of that out and introduces a brand new way of accessing web pages, based on Microsoft’s newer UI Automation (UIA) interface. This level of “out with the old, in with the new” is unprecedented in our experience; even the infamous Windows Vista didn’t change anything this drastically.

Naturally, the brand new accessibility implementation in Edge isn’t perfect. We have provided our feedback to Microsoft, and we will continue to do so as Edge’s accessibility support matures. When it’s ready, we will fully embrace Edge as the preferred web browser for Windows 10. We look forward to the day when Serotek users can benefit from the excellent work that the Edge team has done to produce a modern, standards-compliant, secure, and fast web browser for Windows.

The impact of Edge extends beyond the Edge web browser itself. For example, the Cortana app uses the Edge browsing engine to display search results and other information. Some other apps, such as Groove Music, are also based on Edge. As Edge’s accessibility and System Access’s support for Edge improve, access to these other applications will improve as well.

There are some other aspects of Windows 10 that are brand new and not yet usable with System Access and other third-party screen readers. For example, the Mail app in Windows 10 is not yet accessible. Stay tuned for future developments on that front as well.

In short, Windows 10 brings dramatic changes on many fronts, and like the operating system itself, accessibility on Windows 10 is still a work in progress. We at Serotek look forward to continued improvements in the accessibility of Windows 10, and we will take full advantage of Microsoft’s ongoing work to provide the best possible user experience on this exciting new operating system.

Sero, the future of SAMNet and iBlink Radio

Of course, we realize that today’s online world is a lot bigger than Windows. People expect to access their favorite content, social networks, and services wherever they are, whether on the go with a smartphone, around the house with a tablet, or while sitting in front of the TV. Our slogan, “accessibility anywhere”, is just an empty phrase unless we embrace these platforms too.

We were quick to recognize the importance of these newer platforms. When Apple took the unprecedented step of adding built-in accessibility to the iPhone in 2009, we jumped at the chance to bring some of our content to this exciting new platform, and iBlink Radio was the first iOS app to cater specifically to the blind community. We later expanded iBlink Radio to provide access to much of the content on SAMNet. Today, in addition to iOS, iBlink Radio is available for Android, Amazon Fire OS, and the Mac.

However, we realize that the level of access to our content, community, and services has become inconsistent across platforms. Some important aspects of SAMNet, such as voice chat, remain exclusive to Windows, while others, such as the forums, are currently unavailable on Android.
We also recognize that our branding is confusing. What is the System Access Mobile Network, and what exactly does it have to do with System Access the screen reader? And why is SAMNet buried in the iBlink Radio app?

We know you like things to be simple, and so do we. That’s why we’re unifying our content and services under one app and one name across all platforms. We call it Sero, which means “connected”. The Sero app will give you a consistent interface to all of the content and services that you love from iBlink Radio and SAMNet, across Windows, iOS, Android, and Mac. Yes, this means that voice chat, along with voice messages on the forums, will be coming to iOS, Android, and Mac. You will no longer have to be chained to your computer to hang out with your friends in our popular voice chat rooms.

Of course, there are always new platforms and devices on the horizon.
For example, you can find the iBlink Radio app on the fourth-generation Apple TV. When we release Sero, it will be available on the Apple TV at the same time that we release it for the other platforms. Note that there will be some limitations in Sero for Apple TV; for example, third-party apps don’t currently have access to the microphone in the Apple TV remote, so there will be no voice chat on the Apple TV. But we will bring as much of Sero as we can to this exciting new platform. And when Amazon eventually sees fit to make their Fire TV devices accessible, Sero will be there as well.

In short, Sero will take accessibility anywhere to a whole new level. On your computer, on your tablet, on TV and on the road, Serotek continues to evolve right alongside your personal needs.

For current customers, we appreciate you sticking with us through these exciting changes. For prospective customers, what are you waiting for to jump in and try us out for yourself?

Peak your interest a little? Well, suffice to say we are coming out with our own take on the Windows 10 experience. Why should you spend time stumbling about the intricacies of a new operating system, when you could…Oh, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

You know, one thing we’ve always been proud of at Serotek is the way we’ve pushed the envelope on our slogan, accessibility anywhere. For our team it’s never been just another cute tagline. It’s been the centerpiece of our innovation, as early as the release of the iBlink Radio app, and now, with all the competing platforms and ecosystems, it’s even more important to meet you on the device and operating system that suits your lifestyle. And, why not introduce a few new features along the way? So, we are going to…

I know, that’s getting annoying, isn’t it?

Well, tell you what, why not join us Monday, November 16 at 8:00 PM over on Accessible World’s TekTalk. Mike Calvo and Matt Campbell will be on hand to discuss some upcoming announcements you won’t want to miss!

Again, we’ll see you Monday, November 16 at 8PM Eastern. Follow this link to tune in:

http://accessibleworld.org/announcements/1889

Have you ever been curious about the magic that goes into creating a podcast? We thought some of you might be, so before SPN completes its revamp of the old format, we thought we’d give you a rare glimpse of our virtual studios.

Coming up: The history, the mechanics, and the people responsible for making the SeroTalk Podcast what it became.

For comments, questions and criticisms of the show, please leave a comment on this post, e-mail them to resources (at) serotalk (dot) com, Tweet them @SeroTalk, or use your iBlink Radio app to send us an iReport!

The Imhotep Labyrinth is a strategic board game for 2-4 players. It can be played in 3 versions with varying degrees of difficulty. In the easiest version, it takes about 10 minutes to comprehend the rules and the following game lasts approximately 20-30 minutes. Once players have had some practice, then the most difficult version of the game can be played in approximately 45-60 minutes.

The Imhotep Labyrinth is specially developed for the blind but at the same time can be played on equal terms with persons who have normal vision; thereby providing a level of interaction between the two groups in a strategic game, that would not normally be possible.

Today, virtually all board games are developed for people who have normal vision. Games for the blind are normally games that have been developed for people that have vision, but have later been adapted so that blind people may also play them.

The Imhotep Labyrinth is a game that from the outset was developed for the blind but with the aim of also allowing people with normal vision to participate. In effect, the game can be played by everybody. There was no necessity to adapt an already existing game.

The result is an extraordinary game that the WBU (World Blind Union) considers to be very helpful and supportive in their efforts to integrate the blind into normal everyday society. At the same time, we hope that due to the natural interaction that occurs during the course of a game, barriers between the blind and those that can see will be removed; and that attention is drawn to the challenges that the blind have to face every day, due to their lack of vision.

Link to our website where you can read much more about the game:
http://theimhoteplabyrinth.com/

Link to our Indiegogo where we need donators to continue with this great project. You can buy your copy of the game cheep if you are fast. There are limited copies of the cheep version where the shipping price is included. Yes, we do ship world wide:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-imhotep-labyrinth-a-visionary-game#/story https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-imhotep-labyrinth-a-visionary-game

Link to our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/theimhoteplabyrinth

Where the heck is SeroTalk 229?

That’s been the gist of an increasing number of e-mails to the SeroTalk team, for which we are grateful, and at long last, we have some developments to share.

Join Hope Povenmire on an interview with Mike Calvo concerning the upcoming changes to the network. We’re remodeling the party palace, and we think you’ll like what you find in the months ahead. Or, you should, considering you’re going to be a more active part of it.

But, tune in to decide for yourself.

As always, for comments, questions and criticisms, please leave a comment on this post, e-mail them to resources inbox,, Tweet them @SeroTalk, or use your iBlink Radio app to send us an iReport!

Serotek proudly announces the first public release candidate for DocuScan Plus V3, a powerful and affordable OCR option with cross-platform support. Before we deem it final, we’d like you to help us kick the tires. You do not have to be a current Serotek customer to participate, but note that certain features may only be available for customers who have pre-ordered the product.

New features

• Updated OCR engine
• OCR for other languages, including: Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (including Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish
• Bookshare integration
• Improved heading detection
• Place marking within large documents
• Ability to import documents in popular text formats so users can convert them to DAISY, MP3, or Braille, and store them in the cloud; formats include: .epub, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .txt, .html
• Ability to open image files, including: .jpg, .png, .tiff, .gif, .bmp
• Ability to open documents in DSP directly from Windows Explorer
• More efficient processing of long PDF documents
• Better consistency in functionality and UI between the Windows and Mac versions
• Better support for third-party screen readers in the Windows version; users can use DSP in conjunction with a third-party screen reader rather than putting the screen reader to sleep.

Install the Release Candidate Now!

The installation process will be intuitive. Remember, you do not need to use System Access as your screen reader for DSP to work. Feel free to stick to your own screen reader on Windows.

Download the Windows Release Candidate here. The RC is a part of our normal Windows installer. Simply choose the correct package at installation.

Download the Mac version here.

Full documentation will be provided upon final release. But, don’t panic. Our products are traditionally designed to be as intuitive as possible, beginning with the installation.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact technical support.

For example, we’ve taken a hard look at our coverage of technology. As more mainstream products become accessible to blind persons, you can look beyond the current slate of excellent blindness podcasts to a broader landscape of tech journalists reporting on news and development on a daily basis; therefore, does it make sense for us to echo the stories you’re already hearing elsewhere?

So, where does that leave us? Internally we’ve kicked around the thought of moving more squarely into lifestyle topics. The Real World Fitness and What’s Up were the first steps in moving in this direction. Now we’re thinking of turning the ship more fully onto this course, pulling back from technology and blindness as a focus and carving out our own niche in popular culture in a way that integrates our community with the mainstream market.

We want to hear from you. What kind of stories and interviews outside of technology would you like to hear in our podcasts? What kind of articles would you like to read in our blog? We’ve received a number of suggestions pointing us to more instructional materials. We’ve also heard requests to concentrate tech coverage on household products.

All your suggestions are welcomed as we prepare for the next phase of our growth. There are definite plans in the works, but before moving full throttle on executing any of them, we want to know if you’re ready for a change, or frankly, if you think SPN should be put to rest. Either way, talk to us. Leave a comment here, or if you’d like to submit something private, please send it to resources@SeroTalk.com.

Thank you for being a part of SPN!

What better way to ring in the unofficial start to the summer season than a comprehensive look into cruise vacations? For some, this multi-billion dollar industry adds up to the perfect vacation. For those who have never been on a cruise, it might sound more like the perfect nightmare.

Our guest on this SeroTalk Extra is Bill Kociaba–who, in addition to a wealth of knowledge on all things health and wellness, knows a thing or two about those floating cities on the sea.

Show Highlights

Among other topics, we discuss:

• Hey, aren’t cruises generally for the newly wed or the nearly dead?
• Why would I want to vacation on a ship and not a resort?
• What are the various types of cruises?
• Before I get excited, how much does it generally cost?
• What does the price generally include?
• Okay, so maybe I’m on the fence. What’s the best way to book a trip?
• What are the passport requirements, and what other logistics should I consider?
• What should I pack?
• Are there such things as healthy meal options aboard these ships?
• What kind of medical services can I count on while aboard?
• Fine fine, but what if I spend the whole trip feeling seasick?
• What can people possibly find to do to stay entertained aboard a ship?
• What’s the one cruise and/or excursion I should consider taking?

Additional Reading

So, are you interested yet? Fantastic! Check out these helpful articles:

Repositioning Cruises: How to Get a Luxury Cruise for Cheap

How can you land a $400 room on the Celebrity Reflection for just $62 a night? Keep reading.

Imagine finding a luxury hotel room that costs just $62 a night, a price that includes all of your meals and a view of the ocean from your private balcony.

Sounds like a pretty great deal right? Well, it’s for real.

That’s the kind of nightly room price you can find when booking a vacation on a repositioning cruise. Read more.

How to Save Money on Your Next Cruise

Sometimes you have to make a choice: go for the easy cruise fare, or spend a lot of time searching for the perfect rock-bottom rate. With multiple lines
offering a range of ship classes with sailings every single week of the year, you can go nuts researching all the possibilities and picking the best offer. Let us help you simplify. Here are our top 10 tips for saving money on your next cruise. Follow our advice, and you can be confident you’re not getting
gouged on your vacation bill. Read more.

How to Save Big Money on Cruises

The cost of vacations at sea can quickly add up — but it doesn’t have to. The trick to saving big money on cruises is to shop smart and make the most out of the deals and discounts cruise lines and related industries have to offer. With a little savvy ahead of time as well as on board, you can have a blast for less during your next floating holiday.

Step 1

Score heavy discounts by booking your trip during wave season, which lasts from January to March. This is the time of year when the cruise lines offer lots of money-saving enticements to persuade travelers to book vacations. You don’t have to travel during wave season — you just have to book the trip. Committing at the beginning of the year during this deal-heavy season can get you various extra perks, such as onboard credits, cabin upgrades and free airfare. Read more.

Get in Touch!

Have any tips of your own? Have you been on a cruise and want to share your experience? Or, did you go on a cruise and hated it? Send us your feedback!

For comments, questions and criticisms of the show, please leave a comment on this post, e-mail them to resources (at) serotalk (dot) com, Tweet them @SeroTalk, or use your iBlink Radio app to send us an iReport!

This week’s book Audible recommendation is Unwind by Neal Shusterman.

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them.

Conner’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has
been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely
companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance.

If they can survive until their 18th birthdays, they can’t be harmed – but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a
world gone mad, 18 seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges listeners’ ideas about life – not just where life begins, and where it ends,
but what it truly means to be alive.

Download your free copy at AudiblePodcast.com/SeroTalk

Headlines

These are some of the recent headlines since we last chatted:

Cyanogen partners with Microsoft to integrate Bing, other MS services

What’s next for Microsofts Universal Apps

Google and Facebook change their algorithms

EU to investigate transparency of internet search results

Many Government Tiplines Not Encrypted

Match.com’s HTTP-only login page puts millions of passwords at risk

Verizon introduces new ways to customize FiOS TV subscription

Facebook unveils phone app Hello

This ‘Smart’ Pillow Connects To Your Phone And Uses Speakers To Help You Sleep

MIT’s Media Lab develops new “NailO” fingernail trackpad

IKEA Introduces Wireless Charging Furniture; Going to Hit Markets Soon

FBI and TSA Warn Airlines to Watch Out For Wi-Fi Hacks

Accessibility Talk

Congratulations to this year’s AFB Access Award Winners

Including Microsoft, but what’s this opinion by NFB Computer Science President Curtis Chong claiming Accessibility at Microsoft More Challenges than Victories

And a response from Chris Hofstader: Accessibility and NFBCS: More Questions Than Results

But, don’t come down too hard on the NFB. Among other projects, they’re tackling Indoor navigation

And they’re not the only ones. Video Game found to help the blind navigate buildings

And this guy’s planning on replacing guide dogs with drones? Eelke Folmer uses human-computer interaction research to help blind and visually impaired people

Finally, some audio description! Netflics Dare Devil accessible to the Blind After Complaints Check out these additional articles for helpful tips. Instructions to toggle descriptive audio & control Netflix videos in Chrome on the Mac And, How to Enable Audio Description on Netflix for iPhone, Android, and Apple TV

Maybe it’s not such a bad time to be blind. What say you? What it’s like to go blind And Am I Really Blind? Adapting to Adaptive Technology

Human Interest

This guy says Disability will be conquered this century. Don’t believe him? Suit yourself, or, freeze yourself, because this 2 year old was cryogenically frozen by her parents.

Mailbag

We weren’t able to cover all the feedback in the recording, but here is some of the feedback that made it out to us before release:

From Jenine:

Hi Gang,

Yes, a couple of these robot guide projects have been done before, mostly in Japan.

Maybe this one though will prove a bit more realistic. It seems when people try these kinds of things with the focus on blindness, they allow all sorts of stereotypical experiences of blindness to interfere with the actual use of the device. even when they include blind people in the testing, their focus often goes wrong, sideways somehow if you know what I mean.

Having a larger sample of people and experience to work with, plus a pretty demanding population, First Responders who are used to their equipment working, as well as having life and death in the balance, will hopefully yield a bit more gravity to the product.

In other words, everyone can relate to being in a smoke filled building and needing help to find someone or the way out or stairs or whatever. They don’t inflict their own perceptions about things like blindness on to that experience as they would if creating for just “the blind”.

And hey, if this robot happens to also help blind people by becoming a robot guide, great!

I just keep thinking of K9 from the Dr. Who series.

Can I get one with anatomical features and fur? If so, I want a dire wolf guide, though I hear they are pretty big.

Sadly, given that most of the trouble with fake service dogs is with those claiming to be for emotional support or things like allergy detection, the robot guide wouldn’t help. Nice thought though.

Jenine Stanley

From Louis:

Hello Joe, Katie, and Laine,

I am listening to episode 227 as I’m typing this, and I’m enjoying the show immensely. I think each of you bring a unique opinion to the table, so keep up the great work and bring on the controversy!

I was talking to someone the other day, and I expressed my frustration with how ignorant/oblivious the general public can be towards people with disabilities. I’m sure you’ve experienced the being talked to like a toddler treatment, or the let’s grab your arm and drag you in this direction treatment, just to name a few scenarios. The response I received was that the struggles we are experiencing are similar to the struggles women and African Americans experienced as they fought for equal rights. How do you feel about the parallels being drawn between the trials of these three groups?

As the conversation went on, we touched on the topic of blind people being compared to certain blind celebrities. For example, I had someone tell me that it’s great that Stevie Wonder can have people help him everywhere. If someone is a disabled celebrity, do you think they have a greater duty to show the world what we are capable of, rather than cementing certain stereotypes? Also, if they do not have certain skills, like say mobility skills or independent living skills, is it their fault for showing their inadequacies to the public and not seek the training that would make them more independent?

Last question, when is it okay to be mad/annoyed, and when should you just grin and joke about public misconceptions?

Thanks for reading my musings, and I hope to hear your thoughts.

Louis

From Josh:

Hello all. I really enjoyed Serotalk Podcast 227 and the Triple Click Home extra on the Apple watch. I wanted to share my opinions on assisted suicide and the usefulness of Braille. As a Bible believing Christian, I believe all human life is precious because I believe that God is the creator of life. I am therefore categorically opposed to assistive suicide regardless of the circumstances. As someone who has undergone two craniotomies as well as several other operations, I understand the agony and depression pain can cause. I also know that God has taught me many important life lessons through pain. While I will take advantage of a sight restoring method if one is created, I am also thankful for my blindness and problems, because they’ve made me a more mature person.
I also take some issue with Joe’s definition of literacy. As an avid reader of audio books, I believe that while reading is important, it doesn’t have to only mean recognition of how letters look. While I am not advocating for the use of audio books only, I don’t think the question should be either or, but both. I realized that reading textbooks in Braille was slo and absolutely inefficient for me in high-school. On the other hand, if I couldn’t read braille signage, I’d be in big trouble! Have a wonderful week,

Josh in Illinois

From Jesse, regarding the SeroTalk Extra Tech Chat episode:

Hello everybody,

I really enjoyed the special. It is nice to hear a bunch of people get together and hash things out. It was an informative, and sometimes slightly heated, debate. Overall, I thought it went well. Mike might have become a little aggressive in defending his opinion but that is just how it seemed from my end. I just wanted to give my thoughts on what was discussed in regards to the future of AT if we continue on this road to mobile devices.

While I think Apple should be held accountable for its actions now that it has become a provider of assistive technology, I slightly agree with Mike that we can’t hold them to the same standard. This is because Apple doesn’t have as much experience with accessibility as third-party assistive technology companies have. Most of these companies have been dealing in accessibility for a long time and also, they only make assistive products. To my knowledge, Apple hasn’t been dealing in this market as long as companies like Freedom Scientific or GW Micro and even though Serotek hasn’t been around as long as some of the pioneers, Accessible products is what they do. I do not, however, think we should continue to give Apple a pass. In this fast-moving world of technology, Apple has been in the AT business quite a while and it is time they really start getting it right.

I worry that we will have the same problem with Microsoft. I have not played with previews of Windows 10 but I have heard that Narrator is improved and I assume Windows wants to eventually have integrated accessibility like Apple has. If Matt Campbell says it is going to become difficult for third-party screen readers to “hook and hack” as we move toward a more mobile lifestyle, and who would know better than somebody who has to do the hooking and hacking, we may have to rely on an integrated screen reader. I see two solutions to the worry of having no other choice than substandard screen readers.

The first, which was mentioned on the podcast, would be for blind programmers to grab the opportunity and offer their services to these companies. I think this will be the answer to Apple’s problems.

The second would be for Microsoft to purchase one of the existing assistive technology companies or at least the screen reading and magnification sectors. These are companies with products which work already and who know a lot about what they do. This way, we could unbox our Microsoft product and have JAWS, System Access, NVDA or WindowEyes integrated into the OS. Sure, it would eliminate choices but it looks like that is inevitable anyway. It beats getting stuck in the same situation with Windows where we have a fully functional screen reader but find ourselves overlooking inexcusable mistakes because we are just glad to have access.

I apologize that this message is long-winded but I really wanted to get my thoughts out there and ask the question of why Microsoft doesn’t just save a lot of hassle and buy something that already works. Great job on the podcast and I hope it can keep informing people for years to come.

Regards,
Jesse Tregarthen

From Keith:

Hi everybody!

I found podcast 227 to be exciting and informative.

Regarding guidedog robots, that might possibly be interesting or maybe not, but because we don’t actually have them around to see what reactions are, its hard to say one way or the other.

Regarding what Joe had to say about that Social Security article, I find myself thinking that one day we will either have increased taxes, or one day actually no Social Security.
In 2016, we’re going to be seeing lots of babyboomers retiring.
Then we’ll see more and more continue over the next several years to retire, leaving the rest of us to deal with what economic situation this will ultimately create.
I for one, don’t believe that we’ll have Social Security forever.
And I think that it is about time that people started thinking about relying les on the Government to take care of tere futures mmoney wise, and started thinking about other ways of making a living so that you can be in charge of your own future.
Personally, I see entrepreneurship as the solution, I believe in empowerment of people, rather than employment being the ultimate answer.

However, that being said, I think that for those that choose employment, that’s awesome.

Whatever works best for you ultimately despite my opinion is what matters here.

But I’m curious what the rest of you think.

Does anybody agree or disagree or have any other thoughts about Social Security ultimately not being something that will continue to exist?
As more people lean on Social Security, I think we’re going to see money disappear from the program.

Pensions are an old concept as well that no longe rapply to most young folks today trying to find work.

Then we have the issue of defined contribution retirement vs defined benefit plans.
Most folks aren’t even putting anything in to their retirement plan.
And at the age of 65, the IRS will require taxes to be paid on those plans.

So, ast o if we’ll have enough money int he long term to keep thigns going the way they currently work?

I believe no, but would like to see what the rest of you have to say.

Thank you for another awesome podcast and I look forward to the next one.

I enjoy the stile of the new voices on the podcast as well, and like hearing all your different perspectives on the topics that come up for each show.

Sincerely,

Keith

From Gary:

Hi Joe,

I listened to your excellent Serotalk podcast this evening. During your discussion of Braille, my impression was that you were coming very close to equating Braille and literacy. There is little question that were one suddenly able to become a proficient Braille user, few would decline the opportunity, including me. Braille is a skill I would like to have developed when I was young. However, when I did try to teach myself as an adult, my success was minimal. Even so, the little I did learn was very useful.

Having acknowledged the point that being able to use Braille efficiently would be a very good thing and further knowing that young blind children learning Braille would be a good thing as well, please do not suggest that learning Braille is the only path to literacy. The notion that not knowing how to read and write using Braille is somehow equated with not being able to become fully literate is silly and quite wrong.

I also think that is a deep rabbit hole you head down when you suggest that using readers or text to speech or other electronic methods is not reading. Since few written materials were originally produced in Braille, having them converted to Braille and then reading the Braille is not much different than having them converted to speech. You come close to arguing that your accommodation is better than my accommodation which is another one of those silly arguments.

Thanks for the time and effort you and the others devote to making the podcast available to those of us who enjoy it a lot. I always look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide this feedback.

Gary Crow

p.s. Your point about Braille and better spelling is quite likely very true.

From William:

i am pretty frustrated with Sero talk podcasts. I like getting information from serotalk but its become a chore to slog through long podcasts of often dubious conjecture about what Apple or Microsoft will do in the future in oreder to get to where some actual useful information is conveyed. How about splitting a 90 minute podcast into segments sent as separate episodes? That would allow us to spend our time on the stories and comments that were useful to us and skip over those stories or opinions that we may feel are wasting our time because they are of no particular interest to us?

Secondly, on the matter of Braille, an opinion was expressed and agreed upon, that if one did not learn Braille one was illiterate. That comment was surely not meant to be as offensive and bigoted as it sounded to those of us who loss sight later in life and have never learned Braille proficiently. One who takes advantage of electronic text and does not know Braille is far from illiterate. I assume this comment was made in an off hand manner and was not well considered.

I also found the comments on the future viability of social security disability benefits to be based in a lack of depth of understanding of this rather important but complex issue and seemed to reflect the commentators political bias then any real understanding of the issues involved.

I would love to see SPN use its fantastic resource of talent to do “how to” podcasts”. How to use our dvices to the fullest, how to navigate unknown places, how to use excel as a blind person, for example, or any number topics where your resource of knowledgeable talent can be put to use making great tutorials. I think that would make SPN a real winner.

sincerely,

William Austin

Special Note

In response to the Braille feedback, there’s a blog post response here you can check out and join the dialogue.

Get in Touch!

Want to connect with our hosts? Tweet us! Katie @holnan, Laine @laine_amoureux, and Joe @ScribblingJoe.

For comments, questions and criticisms of the show, please leave a comment on this post, e-mail them to resources (at) serotalk (dot) com, Tweet them @SeroTalk, or use your iBlink Radio app to send us an iReport!

The question could boil down to this: If you are a blind individual unable to read printed information, are you illiterate if you cannot read Braille?

In today’s politically correct and overly polite society it’s easy to express hesitant opinions that fear offending opposing viewpoints. These opinions are sadly watered down and do nothing to stretch our intelligence. I have no interest in offending anyone, but as someone who has a high regard for your intellect, and as someone who enjoys spirited debate, I trust you will take me to task, and back up your arguments, if you disagree with my opinion that you would indeed be illiterate.

We received the following responses shortly after the release of 227. Although these comments will be featured in their entirety as part of our regular Mailbag segment in 228, I offer the relevant statements here for the sake of a concentrated discussion of this touchy subject. The point here is not to pick on these individuals, or their comments, but rather to respond to thoughtful viewpoints likely shared by others in the community.

I encourage you to listen to the episode in question to draw your own conclusions.

From Josh:

I also take some issue with Joe’s definition of literacy. As an avid reader of audio books, I believe that while reading is important, it doesn’t have to only mean recognition of how letters look. While I am not advocating for the use of audio books only, I don’t think the question should be either or, but both. I realized that reading textbooks in Braille was slo and absolutely inefficient for me in high-school. On the other hand, if I couldn’t read braille signage, I’d be in big trouble!

My response:

Perhaps your issue has more to do with my interpretation of literacy. I would not be so arrogant as to define what literacy means to the rest of the world, so for the sake of neutral reference points to frame the discussion, let’s consider a few independent sources.

First, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy provides this definition: “Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

Regardless of where you stand on the debate, I think we can agree Braille can substitute references to printed information moving forward, yes?

Second, because people argue the definition of literacy has evolved, here’s a definition offered by the Ohio Literacy Resource Center:

“Defining literacy in our changing world is not easy. Several years ago, being literate meant being able to read and write a little. Now, being literate means being able to read and write at a level to be successful in today’s world and also being proficient at math, knowing how to use technology, and knowing how to solve problems and make decisions.”

Now, Before you seize on that reference to technology as justification for why you’re right and I am wrong, I think we can agree “literacy” in the Center’s definition is being used as a link to competence in a given subject. For example, an engineer is most likely literate in mathematics.

Finally, just in case you were disappointed not to see a standard dictionary entry, Oxford defines literacy simply as: “The ability to read and write.”

Okay, let’s drill down a little more, because that’s the second time we see a reference to “reading”, so what is reading?

A Houghton Mifflin Company site offers the following:

“Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill requiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information (Anderson et al., 1985). …

“Even definitions of reading that emphasize meaning indicate that reading is activated by print. The reader must be able to translate the written words into meaningful language. Virtually all four- and five-year-old children can communicate with and learn from oral language, but very few can read, because they lack the ability to identify printed words. While simply being able to recognize or “say” the printed words of text without constructing the meaning of that text is not reading, constructing meaning from written text is impossible without being able to identify the words.”

Okay, so there you go, some unbiased definitions, none of them from blindness resources, that both frame the discussion and make my point. Are there texts out there that refute these terms? Perhaps. Feel free to make use of the comments to offer them.

Now, as to your point about Braille and inefficiency, I believe this is a lack of support by school districts that: 1) do not believe in Braille as a viable reading process; or 2) lack the resources to teach Braille. Neither of these is the affected student’s fault, but these factors should be all the more critically weighed to prevent more individuals from growing up illiterate.

From Gary:

I listened to your excellent Serotalk podcast this evening. During your discussion of Braille, my impression was that you were coming very close to equating Braille and literacy. There is little question that were one suddenly able to become a proficient Braille user, few would decline the opportunity, including me. Braille is a skill I would like to have developed when I was young. However, when I did try to teach myself as an adult, my success was minimal. Even so, the little I did learn was very useful.
Having acknowledged the point that being able to use Braille efficiently would be a very good thing and further knowing that young blind children learning Braille would be a good thing as well, please do not suggest that learning Braille is the only path to literacy. The notion that not knowing how to read and write using Braille is somehow equated with not being able to become fully literate is silly and quite wrong.
I also think that is a deep rabbit hole you head down when you suggest that using readers or text to speech or other electronic methods is not reading. Since few written materials were originally produced in Braille, having them converted to Braille and then reading the Braille is not much different than having them converted to speech. You come close to arguing that your accommodation is better than my accommodation which is another one of those silly arguments.

My response:

If Braille is not the only path to literacy for a blind person, what alternatives should we consider? You mention electronic methods. I disagree and will get to that in a moment. In 227 a point was made about raised letters, and I suppose that is another viable path to literacy. Yet, if there is a lack of resources to teach and produce Braille, I find it hard to believe there will be adequate resources to teach and produce raised text. Remember the lack of resources devoted to Braille is based in part on the notion that screen access software is replacing the need for blind individuals to learn a conventional reading method. In other words the lack of Braille support is partially based on an attitudinal perception about what is best for a blind person. Maybe the lack of Braille support is even driven by financial convenience since it might be easier to buy someone an iPad than it would be to send a teacher out to a location for proper Braille instruction.

You suggest readers, text-to-speech and electronic methods provide an alternative path to literacy. First, these factors fall flat if you accept my contributed definitions of what it means to read. If you have a definition other than an interpretation of printed symbols, by all means share it in the comments, and let’s debate its merits.

Second, since you mention readers and text-to-speech in the same sentence, I’m left to assume that by “readers” in this context you are referring to human readers. If Jack reads Jill a bedtime story, are you suggesting Jill is equally partaking in the reading process as Jack? I am going to submit that Jack is the only one reading. Jill is only listening, which leads to my final point.

Third, let’s use an example of linguistics. Language proficiency exams test on writing, reading, and listening. There is a reason why there is an accepted difference between reading and listening. There is a different level of cognitive activity between the two methods. Or, is it your position that a blind person ought to be exempt from the reading requirement in such a scenario because, for a blind person, reading and listening are intertwined?

Now, you make the point that “since few written materials were originally produced in Braille, having them converted to Braille and then reading the Braille is not much different than having them converted to speech.” If we’re drawing a direct comparison between Braille and print, print is print regardless of whether you’re looking at text on paper, splashed across a screen or scratched in dirt. Braille is Braille regardless of whether the bumps form letters on a display, a sign, or cobbled out of egg cartons. In short, the production process will differ, but the emphasis in our discussion is not the production process, but rather the consumption.

You say I come close to arguing my accommodation is better than yours. I honestly don’t understand that argument and welcome you to elaborate so that I might better respond.

From William:

Secondly, on the matter of Braille, an opinion was expressed and agreed upon, that if one did not learn Braille one was illiterate. That comment was surely not meant to be as offensive and bigoted as it sounded to those of us who loss sight later in life and have never learned Braille proficiently. One who takes advantage of electronic text and does not know Braille is far from illiterate. I assume this comment was made in an off hand manner and was not well considered.

My response:

Bigotry refers to an unfair dislike or intolerance of other people or ideas. I never claimed to dislike, or be intolerant of, people who cannot read Braille. I may have a range of reasons for why I dislike certain people, but somehow being illiterate will never rank high on that list. Let’s have a hearty debate here, but let’s not put words in people’s mouths or throw out accusations that are as inconsiderate as the claim.

The point is raised about people who are not proficient at Braille because they lost their sight later in life. Putting proficiency aside, a point could be made that if a person has some Braille instruction, they may be what is called functionally illiterate. According to Wikipedia: Functional illiteracy is reading and writing skills that are inadequate “to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level”.

I won’t expand too much on this point because it’s too likely we’d get sidetracked on issues of daily living, employability and overarching philosophies of blindness and independence. Suffice to say we could get into the weeds of degrees of literacy. I submit it’s a slippery slope and could create a cop-out for people not interested in forming their own definitive conclusion.

It’s worth contemplating maybe our methods of learning Braille are insufficient. Reading Braille on an electronic display could be more convenient than reading it in a large physical volume. Reading Braille as part of a communication with other people could be a lot more enjoyable than reading a one-sided narrative. Braille communication can be as dry or as engaging as we make it, but make no mistake, it must be made a priority if we are to get good at it. Otherwise, we would have chucked our iDevice if we had not made learning the navigation of touch screens a priority.

Final Thoughts

Let’s see the discomfort for what it is. I believe people would generally agree the lack of Braille in some circumstances equates to illiteracy but feel offended to be called illiterate. This is cold comfort, but if this is you, then you are part of about 32 million Americans, or 14 percent of the population in the United States, according to the Department of Education in 2013. 19 percent of high school graduates cannot read. Surely we are not pretending the evolution of technology has single-handedly solved the literacy problem across the board? Has literacy become an illusion? Rather than draw flimsy links between listening skills and active reading, we might do well to get angry with such statistics and do more to promote literacy among our peers regardless of their visual impairment.

Yes, there are some circumstances where Braille is not a viable option. There are medical conditions that would make the process of distinguishing dots difficult or downright impossible. Only you can decide if your impairment is genuine or self-imposed.

Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about how your teachers didn’t offer it growing up and make it a point to learn it now. You’ll never lose anything by learning the skill.

If you learned it but do not feel proficient at it, maybe it’s time to devote time to practicing it. You can’t really lose your literacy once you’ve gained it, just like you don’t ever really forget how to read Braille. It’s like riding a bike. Anyone can pound out the rust from any dormant skill if they want to bad enough.

If you never learned Braille and have no other way of processing printed information, and if you’re okay with that, then embrace your illiterate self! Don’t let me or anyone else dictate what skills you should or should not possess to meet your personal definition of success, but don’t feed me this bologna that because you can listen to a book with VoiceOver reading more than 300 words a minute you are as literate as I am. I hate labels as much as you do, but the undeniable truth is this: I can also listen to a book with VoiceOver working at high speed, and, I can read Braille. So, who’s the real badass?

Okay, over to you. Hopefully I’ve lit enough of a fire under your butt to motivate a comment or two. If I’m right, back me up in light of the many others who will say I’m totally wrong! And, a huge thank you to Josh, Gary, and William for sharing their thoughts. If we always agreed on everything, life would be a pretty dull state.

The original message follows:

Dear Member

In the frame of his Ph.D. project Martin Dorigo developed a novel system for reading and editing structured documents in a non-visual way on mobile and wearable devices. This App is called DOKY and it is available for Apple iPhone, iPad and Android devices!

DOKY provides you amongst others the following 3 unique key features:

1. A fast overview over the document structure
2. A fast skim and scan over the document content
3. Move, remove and insert elements and text

He would like to invite you to test his system. It will take you 15 minutes only:

1. Please go to the Apple AppStore or Android PlayStore and search for DOKY (written with Y).
   Or use the following links:
   http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/doky/id975186203
   http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.dorigo.doky
2. Install and start the DOKY app
3. Follow the spoken instructions

In order to reach significant results the participation of a lot of people is required. May I ask you to forward this message to many others.

Please test DOKY until April 30th 2015. With your valuable assistance the reading and editing of structured documents will be revolutionized!

Thank you so much and kind regards,

Martin Dorigo

Before starting, I’m going to assume you are: 1) at least an intermediate computer user; 2) using a PC as a starting point; and 3) currently using a file sharing service like Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll stick to Dropbox as a reference point moving forward.

OK, first, in Dropbox, create a folder called “Favorites.”

Now, in Windows, we need to change the default location of where your Favorites are stored. Currently your Favorites will be located in your User folder:

C:\Users[User Name]

• Right click on Favorites.
• Click on Properties.
• Move to the Location tab and browse to the Favorites folder in Dropbox you just created.

This is important: If you do not select the Favorites folder, your links will end up scattered all over your Dropbox amid your other files, and while it is possible to reverse the process, it’s completely unnecessary to make that mistake.

Okay, boom, your favorite links now reside in the new Favorites folder in Dropbox, which means you can now access the same links via Internet Explorer on any PC where you have Dropbox installed, right? Not so fast. You will need to change the default location for Favorites in subsequent Windows machines as well, because those subsequent machines are still pointing to the default location. Yes, you only have to do this once.

You with me so far?

Okay, the problem is that the default Favorites folder links to Internet Explorer. If you’re like me and switch between IE and Firefox, you need to create a bridge between the two browsers so that the Favorites you see in IE are the same Favorites you see in Firefox, and the simple answer is the Plain Old Favorites add-on in Firefox. Download it, install it and enjoy accessing, adding and reviewing the same Favorites no matter whether you choose IE or Firefox. Since your add-ons travel with your Firefox profile, as long as your Firefox profile is loaded in additional machines, you’ll retain the same access to Favorites no matter the PC you’re using.

Still hanging in there?

Great! Now, how do you suppose you synchronize your Favorites between the PC and, say, your iDevice? If your mental answer was iCloud! you would be correct.

Download and install iCloud to your PC, tell it to synchronize Favorites, and enjoy Favorites across Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari on iOS and OSX.

Okay, after reading all that, you want to hear the kicker? You could theoretically use EverSync to do the same, including Android and Chrome, but as I have not tested the app for accessibility, I cannot personally recommend it just yet. Hence, that is why I began by pointing out this would not be the quickest method, but it’s the strategy I’ve been employing thus far and it has served me well.

Thoughts? Alternative methods? Leave them in the comments!

On this episode, the audiobook recommendation from Audible comes to us via Katie, who recommends Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz, which you can download for free at AudiblePodcast.com/SeroTalk.

SPN has been growing in leaps and bounds. Would you rather only receive the material you care about? Check out our Subscriptions page to sign up for the specific content you want.

Tech Headlines

These are the tech headlines that popped up since we last got together:

Microsoft’s new Surface 3 tablet: Hands-on review

Verizon Wireless Customers Can Now Opt Out of ‘Supercookies’

TrueCrypt security audit is good news, so why all the glum faces?

Microsoft will not enable Do Not Track by default in Project Spartan

Apple Watch for Sale in Retail Stores by Reservation Only, No Walk-In Sales

Apple will let you trade in your Android phone toward a new iPhone

Gmail for Android Gets a Combined Inbox View, Better Search, and More

Want to secure your social info? Facebook shows you how

Amazon takes on Angie’s List with handymen for hire

Comcast Speeding Up Its Broadband With 2-Gigabit Fiber Service

Samsung patents tech that lets you control your phone with your eyes

9th Circuit rules Netflix isn’t subject to disability law

Accessibility Talk

Don’t forget! Registration for the 8th annual ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam opens April 1

Of course, the announcement may be irrelevant since ‘Robot on reins’ could soon replace guide dogs

Facebook Wants Your Business To Learn From Its Accessibility Efforts. You’ll note Joe expresses a bit of skepticism. Of course, after recording, the AFB’s AccessWorld® comes out with a positive take on the site’s accessibility. Check that out here.

Elsewhere in tech accessibility, or evolution, we have Five years ago the iPad changed clicks to touches – but another tablet revolution is coming.

And on a more serious note, here are 7 huge disability issues you may not know about, or at least your general peers may not be aware of them.

And, it seems the question persists: Is Braille Obsolete?

By the way, did you hear our very own Laine is being honored this month? Laine Amoureux – National Achievement Awards

Human Interest

In human interest, A Blind Mman Flies a Plane for the First Time But, what about everyone else? When You Realize You’ll Never Get Your Dream Job.

From the Mailbag

From Juan:

Hi guys,
Thank you for your good work. A shout out goes to my paisano Joe Orozco, and another shoutout to the pretty ladies who make The podcast possible. I liked the comment about how Audible portrays hispanics with a thick accent. I live in California, but when I attended the Louisiana Center for the blind, I received negative feedback from those around me over there, as they weren’t accustomed to being around a Mexican American. I do believe that as being blind and Mexican-American, I am as equal as those who are black, white, Asian and cited.

Juan Avila

From Jenine,

Hello Joe, Katie and Laine,

So everyone enjoy your mobility choices and remember, practice makes, if not perfect, at least pretty darn good.

Thanks Jenine, and here are some relevant articles you guys may enjoy reading on the subject of service animals:

• The 4-legged Scandle no one is talking about
• What businesses need to know about service dog law
• What Working a Seeing Eye Dog has Tought me

From Brad:

Interesting items again this time crew.

Good job again this time boy and girls.

SeroTalk Extra Feedback

Listen to our SeroTalk Extra Tech Chat Edition episode.

From Mike Arrigo:

Enjoyed the show about the Apple watch. I won’t be getting one for several reasons. For one thing, I usually don’t buy the first version of anything, I would rather wait and let them work the bugs out first.
Second, I just don’t see the point. What would a watch give me that my phone doesn’t already do? It may sell at first just because it’s a new thing, but I agree that it’s a solution in search of a problem.
I think Mike is right about IOS 8. It’s ok now, but I am so glad I waited until after several updates before leaving IOS 7. Even on mac OS 10.10, there are still a few issues that it has compared to 10.9. If Steve were still here, I’m sure he would have never tolerated that kind of quality.

From Dave:

Hi, Dave from Vincennes In.
One comment as far as pc versis mobile phone/tabs. I like 3rd party s.a’s because of the bigger variety of voices. You don’t have that option of 3rd party voices with mobile phones or tabs. With maybe, one exception. I was attrackted to My Iphone because right from the factory it had some voices so I can opporate the phone and alot of apps. I like neo vlice paul for my lap top wich, is a windows computer but Paul is not available for my Iphone. Keep up the great work Serotech!

From Ken:

Hello SeroTalk Team,

Introduction

I normally restrict comments for podcasts like SeroTalk to resources for people asking for help finding products or services. My views tend towards the unpopular and since I am not within the Assistive Technology community are condescendingly dismissed as being from an uninformed dullard. This is a simplified paraphrase of the adtual comments about the points that I make but the purport is correct.

Personal History on Commenting