Cearbhall
Great job as usual.
All The Best,
Ken
On 4 Apr 2021, at 22:59, Cearbhall O'Meadhra <cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx>===========================================================
wrote:
In attendance: (12 Participants)
Martin Kelly Gavin Allman, Martha Parkinson, Jackie McBrearty, Ken Walsh ,
Cearbhall O'Meadhra, Dominique Farrell, Derry Walsh, Paul Griffith, Chris
Egan, Noreen Meagher, Clare Cassidy,
Apologies Pat Walsh
Clare has been experimenting with the Blind Square app which she recently
downloaded to her iPhone. She was delighted with the guidance and
announcements of various locations. However, passing along by the Tennis
Club, she was surprised by the announcement of various shops located on a
parallel street, knowing that there were no shops on the street where she was
walking. She also found herself being given out to by the app warning her
that it "Won't telly you again that you have to turn back" because she had
overshot an essential turning on her route.
Here is some more information on Blind square: https://www.blindsquare.com
Dominique remarked that the Microsoft Sound Scape app is good at describing
features to the left and right of the user. It depends on using earbuds in
each ear because it feeds information in stereo and indicates objects on the
left in the left ear only and likewise, the objects on the right are reported
in the right ear only.
Here is some more information: Microsoft Soundscape helps the visually
impaired navigate cities | TechCrunch
<https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/01/microsoft-soundscape-helps-the-visually-im
paired-navigate-cities/?guccounterÿguce_referrerÿR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLm
NvbS8&guce_referrer_sigÿAAAKDyfdMt8Oo15qLx0L4h9MDgIWklSx417ExEU2pYgCczYcpHe
YcHAsze8l56Km_NaIRgkc5zsA3OP9zV2ZXXMVA40AzvgssVLWHhYtYOc5EoVlbKpTG0xeBxAyJ96V
izoodky9dxyghKqdHYn6CZP_1KCM3hTWRxMxI1yubPNmpF>
Windows update came in for a lot of criticism. The user's default settings
get undone as Microsoft resets them to its own preferences for internet usage
with Edge, Email with Windows Live Mail, PDF reading with Edge and so on.
Recently, there seemed to be more updates than usual, including one monstrous
update that took all day on Martin's PC!
Gavin has a tendency to leave his phone in the kitchen and cannot find it
later on. To relieve his long-suffering wife, Dominique recommended asking
Alexa to find it and Ken recommended that he buy and Apple Watch so that he
could ask the watch to find his phone. Amazing!
Of course, Bert's tile is a great solution as you can carry it around on a
keyring in eh pocket without any problem or need for Siri or WIFI.
Ken recommended using the Marco Polo app so that when you call "Marco" the
phone responds with "Polo". This is independent of Siri and so not subject to
the vagaries of that service! Indeed, Siri has become very bad, and everyone
sighs loudly when they hear "on it" and further silence and eventually
nothing useful.
Jackie is getting adventurous and wants to learn Braille. She asked if there
were any courses and various possibilities were offered. NCBI was the most
obvious one and there are rumours of something coming up there soon.
Cearbhall confirmed that the NCBI braille group is meeting, virtually, next
Thursday, April 8th.
A discussion group recommended by the ever-popular Stuart Lawlor called
"Blind Guys Chat" is available to all to join and share there thoughts.
Try this link and see if you like it: ýBlind Guys Chat on Apple Podcasts
<https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/blind-guys-chat/id1532111653>
Martin wondered if there were any support for Android phones within the
group. Cearbhall pointed out that we have four dedicated Android users
including Bert Brown and Declan Meenagh who frequently attend the cork
sessions.
At this point, Martin rose to steal the show with a brilliant demonstration
of the BlindShell Classic 240 phone, currently available from NCBI. Indeed,
the group became so excited about this phone that they were ready to launch
Martin into a major sales career with the NCBI!
Truly, Martin did give a magnificent demonstration of the phone. He set it up
so that the speech on the phone was clearly present to all Zoom participants.
He demonstrated every point in a practical way so that we felt as if we were
using the phone ourselves! He showed that the phone is set up with real
buttons and is the size of a Cadbury’s chocolate bar (Slim and elegant"!) If
keyboard usage is any problem, it responds to voice commands for everything.
You can make calls, set appointments, send messages and receive texts. In
fact, it is fully practical and usable for everyone. At a cost of about 200
euro it is a huge advantage over the more expensive smart phones.
Try this to read more: Products — BlindShell <https://www.blindshell.com/>
Dominique and Chris reported various difficulties launching Zoom on the
iPhone. Dominique explained how to test the microphone before connecting into
Zoom to check for any problems that might prevent you being heard.
The meeting ended
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 Ph: _353 (0)1-2864623 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
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