Fantastic notes cearbhall RegardsStuart
Sent from my iPhone
On 25 Nov 2023, at 15:04, Jackie McBrearty <teambanglesltd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A totally amazing account Cearbhall.Well done
Jackie
sent from LadyJackiesIphoneOn 25 Nov 2023, at 2:57 p.m., Cearbhall O'Meadhra <cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx> wrote:Cork tech club 25/11/023
Attendance: 11
Ken sent his apologies so Jackie led the meeting.
Burning buses and the horrific riots in Dublin on Thursday night had a major impact on all who attended the performance of Sightless Cinema, in which three of our members took part.
The performance itself went off really well with congratulations to all who played a part in it. All managed to get home with the generous help of various drivers who offered seats
We welcomed a new android user member, Helen, who is adjusting to ongoing loss of vision. Helen joins the cohort of Android users along with Adrian and ger.
Helen raised a question of reading text to speech in the Amazon Fire Tablet. Unfamiliar with Talkback, she uses magnification but finds it difficult when reading a document on a web site. It was suggested that she turn on “Select to speak”.
Stuart bought himself a power bank. He finds it difficult to know how much power is available since this is indicated by coloured lights on the unit. Connecting the bank to his iPhone 15 shows that the phone is charging but does not show how much power is available in the Bank itself.
Clare wondered how to get audio description on TV. Members pointed out that the Late, Late Show, being live, made it impossible to have audio description on that occasion but would be available on the recorded version on Sunday. Martin drew attention to the fact that Audio Description is available live in most theatres.
Martin mentioned the new 2smart vision 3” phone from Vision Ireland to replace the Blind shell but nobody else had heard anything about it.
Touch Screen payment units in shops proved to be difficult for all. Jackie and Stuart indicated that there is an overlay that would guide a visually impaired customer to use the device but most shops fail to keep it. Perhaps a campaign would help to raise this issue.
The meeting heard of the experience of a blind person being told by his taxi driver that a payment on his touch pad did not go through. Next day, he found that this was not true and, in fact, he had paid twice. Members noted that Revolut shows confirmation of payment immediately. It was advised that care be taken to collect the rejection receipt as well as the confirmation receipt in this situation. It is important to try to ensure that the vendor use the same machine again after a failed effort in order to keep the receipts meaningful.
Paul described a handy tool to identify paper notes for different denominations. Jackie remarked that she had obtained positive readings from the device on pieces of tissue paper being recognised as €5 notes! She prefers the SeeingAI tool on the iPhone for recognising denominations.
To avoid various scams that can remotely detect account details from nearby cards in people’s pockets, a “Card Protector” is advisable. This is a metal strip that prevents remote electronic scanning.
Paul recounted his early shyness that prevented him from using the white stick on his home ground. Eventually, familiarity made it easier to be more open about his increasing blindness.
Cearbhall reported that the Alexa app on the iPhone keeps responding when it should be silent on instructions being given to the Alexa device. Jackie, the resident expert on such matters, suggested that the microphone be turned off in the Alexa app under settings.
A major debate developed around the difficulty of getting an image of another card loaded into the Apple wallet on the iPhone. All welcomed Stuart’s suggestion of keeping the image of the card in a special album in the Photo app so that it could be accessed quickly when needed for scanning purposes.
The meeting descended into vast flights of fancy about bargain Black Friday prices for high quality chocolates so the notetaker decided to quietly withdraw, without further comment, until next week!
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
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