In attendance: 9 participants
With Christmas getting closer and closer, Our eager members discussed the
news that Be My AI is officially entering an open beta phase for iOS and
Android users and in coming weeks will be available for hundreds of thousands
of Be My Eyes users worldwide.
Be My AI will start being distributed to all existing iPhone users this week.
The full roll-out will take a few weeks, so be sure to keep your app updated
so you will have access to Be My AI as soon as it is available to you.
To use Be My AI in everyday life, open the Be My Eyes app, click on the 'Be
My AI' tab, and take a picture.
Stuart opened the meeting by sharing a full description of a large Christmas
tree by Be My AI. He showed that the user can chat and ask Be My AI further
questions to get more information.
Cearbhall asked for advice on the best way to introduce NVDA to an older
person who was new to Windows and screen reader usage. Someone mentioned the
resource of Sharon's Shortcuts as an invaluable resource to turn to. Others
reported that Vision Ireland has an excellent series of online training
courses for users of Windows with either JAWS or NVDA. The sessions are
online at vi.ie and more information and registration can be found on the web
site or by email to training @ vi.ie
Ken told of his work with Possibility Labs who are beta testing the Welcome
Service in his home town in Cork. Currently up and running at Edinburgh
Airport, the app, called 'Welcome' by the Edinburgh-based company Neatebox,
allows people with disabilities to set up a personal profile and request
assistance in advance from the airport and other facilities. The destination
venue gets an email to say that the passenger is coming and what type of
assistance is required: i.e. Visually Impaired or wheelchair or elderly, etc.
He praised the quality of the assistance provided and looks forward to a
future rollout of a great service.
Adrian and Ger are thrilled that Be My AI is now available for android users.
The service is free but there is a fee-paying version that gives a more
expert guidance and more detail.
Adrian and Stuart have been making use of the free AIRA Legacy app on both
Android and IOS. Aira Legacy is an app that connects people who have low or
no vision to a live agent who can serve as their eyes. Using the camera on
the user's mobile device, the agent can see what is in front of the user. The
agents can simply read information, help guide the user through unfamiliar
places, assist with public transportation, and so much more, the options
really are endless! Aira is available for Android and Apple devices and is
free to download. For users who need Aira on a daily basis in many different
places, subscription plans are available and range from $29 per month to $199
per month. For users who only need Aira sometimes in only a few places, Aira
offers limited and ongoing promotions that provide free access, free access
when using certain products such as JAWS screen reader, as well as free
access in a growing number of public locations. Full details of the range of
services offered along with plans and prices can be found at their web site:
https://aira.io/plans-and-prices
All this travel talk brought on a lengthy discussion of the experience of
travelling in Ireland on trains and buses. Stories of the difficulty of
coping with packed trains and buses for long journeys with a guide dog.
Jackie had some difficulty with the MyNCBI skill on Alexa. experimenting at
the meeting, revealed that the service is now called my vi smart hub.
There was only one Borrow box user at the meeting but, for the record, it was
reported that the app is working properly once more. It was unusable for most
people for the past 10 days! No explanation has been given.
Ann Marie is using Duolingo to translate English into any other world
language. We had samples of its use with Spanish, and reports of its use for
German, and Japanese situations. Duolingo is the fun, free app for learning
40+ languages through quick, bite-sized lessons. Practice speaking, reading,
listening, and writing to build your vocabulary and grammar skills.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo&hl=en&gl=US
It was noted that one could use the ChatGPT app to instantly translate
phrases and likewise, google translate in conversation mode.
Ann Marie sought advice on magnifying the QR code on the iPhone. Ken
demonstrated the only solution which he has found to work involving:
1. Line up the image;
2. Turn Voiceover off;
3. Pinch the screen wider with thumb and finger;
4. reload Voiceover and continue .
Adrian noted that this action is much simpler in android and works well with
Talkback
Adrian introduced a social network called Mastodon. Mastodon is a free and
open-source software for running self-hosted social networking services.[a]
It has microblogging features similar to Twitter, which are offered by a
large number of independently run nodes, known as instances or servers, each
with its own code of conduct, terms of service, privacy policy, privacy
options, and content moderation policies.
Each user is a member of a specific Mastodon server that can interact
seamlessly with users in any other server. This is intended to give users the
flexibility to select a server whose policies they prefer, but keep access to
a larger federated social network. Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source
software-based social network that operates on user servers. Unlike Twitter,
which is operated by one centralized entity, Mastodon has thousands of
distributed servers known as "instances.
For Android/ Talkback users:@accessibleandroid@mastodon.social
https://mastodon.social/@accessibleandroid
For IOS users: Mona is a Mastodon app packed with customization features.
Optimized for Voiceover.
https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/mona-for-mastodon/id1659154653
In the coming weeks, Adrian will begin to experiment with members of the
Exchange club in the use of the network.
That's all for now!
The meeting ended.
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
