Tek Talk welcomes Jeff Bishop, President of the Blind Information Technology Specialists (BITS) ACB affiliate, to discuss it and its offerings and programs for the new year. Presenter. 01/08/2024
Contact Info Email: jeff@jeffbishop.com

Contact Info Email: jeff@jeffbishop.com
Today we use digital technology. It is commonplace. But in the mid 1950’s they used open reel tape recorders. They cut and spliced tapes to edit material. The first 30 minutes of tek Talk will be devoted to a rather whimsical program from the CBS Radio Workshop entitled: ”I have three heads”. The remainder will be more audience participation talking about your all-time favorite technology Christmas gifts. We will have a fun digital holiday party before closing down until January 8. Presenter Con...
If you’re looking for a phone that uses speech throughout, is fully customizable, and uses simple navigation strategies, the Smart Vision 3 by Kapsys may be the answer. Chris and Kim Nova with Mystic Access give you a tour, share how this cell phone compares with others you may know about, and discuss some tips you need to know prior to purchasing your own Smart Vision 3. Get ready for lots of demos and bring your questions. Presenter Contact Info Chris Email: chris@mysticaccess.com Kim Email: k...
Presenter Contact Info Email: RMiller@Vispero.com
Katie will present in the first half hour from 8 to 8:30pm Eastern and Barry will present in the second half hour from 8:30 to 9pm Eastern. Magical Moments Vacations Join Katie White as she talks the benefits of travel, budgeting, and planning! Katie will also be giving information on her upcoming guided group cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean. Katie is a travel agent who specializes in accessible travel, cruise vacations, all Disney destinations, and Universal Orlando Resort. Guidelights and ...
Denise will present in the first half hour from 8 to 8:30pm Eastern and Raquel will present in the second half hour from 8:30 to 9pm Eastern. Speak To Me Catalog We are happy once again to welcome back Denise Russell the Founder of Speak To Me Catalog. This fine company was founded in July of 1994. Denise and her late husband and dear friend Seth worked tirelessly over the years to expand this fine company. This year once again, Denise will discuss her products for the holiday season. San Franci...
A. T. Guys will present in the first half hour from 8 to 8:30pm Eastern and Mama Otter’s Tidbits will present in the second half hour from 8:30 to 9pm Eastern. A. T. Guys A. T. Guys offers Affordable access technology for experts and brand new users. Our products include Bluetooth speakers, keyboards, and headsets, the BlindShell 2 talking cell phone, the Orbit Writer and Hable One braille keyboards, our accessible portable power banks, and much more. All with knowledgeable tech support from peo...
Matthew Horspool is the General Manager at the Braillists Foundation, which promotes braille and braille technology. He is also heavily involved in both the braille and assistive technology industries, and his day job is delivering screen reader and braille display/notetaker training. Matthew will speak about choosing a Braille Display. Some of the factors that are important in choosing a Braille Display include: price, type of keyboard, built-in features etc. He will talk about the most common ...
Microsoft has been hard at work on the next release of Windows 11. Come learn more about the new Windows Explorer, the new CoPilot for Windows, all new voices for Narrator, the changes to Windows settings and much more. We will also spend some time talking about the steps you might consider in taking to optimize your current Windows installation, especially if you use Edge as your browser of choice. Come learn some tips and tricks to tame the Alt + Tab command to your liking and so much more! Pr...
Quentin Christensen has been part of the NV Access team since 2015 after working as an adaptive technology trainer with a major blindness agency for over a decade. As the Training and Support Manager, Quentin is responsible for the NVDA training materials, certification program and coordinating telephone support. Quentin also writes the fortnightly “In-Process” blog, and is the NV Access presence on a range of social media platforms and email lists. Presenter Contact Info Email: quentin@nvaccess...
Microsoft has been hard at work on the next release of Windows 11. Come learn more about the new Windows Explorer, the new CoPilot for Windows, all new voices for Narrator, the changes to Windows settings and much more. We will also spend some time talking about the steps you might consider in taking to optimize your current Windows installation, especially if you use Edge as your browser of choice. Come learn some tips and tricks to tame the Alt + Tab command to your liking and so much more! Pr...
Kindle has over 6 million titles in its US Kindle Store. These books can be read using personal computers, Braille devices, smart phones, and Amazon Echo devices. John and Myrna will provide an overview of using these devices to read Kindle content. Presenter Contact Info Not available
Ryan joins us this year as we prepare for the official new release of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion version 2024. We will do a review of the key features and hear all about the release schedule and what to expect. In addition, Ryan will introduce Sharkvember and the “Next Big Thing” contest that Freedom scientific is currently running. As always, there will be plenty of time to ask questions. Be sure to give the Release notes a review ahead of time and consider installing the Public Beta so you can...
Lots of new and exciting things have happened at Mystic Access since we’ve last had the pleasure of appearing on Tek Talk. In this presentation, we’ll catch you up a bit by discussing one of our most popular newer tutorials on the BlindShell Classic Ii, our bran new tutorial on the Victor Reader Stream 3 which is available to anyone absolutely free, and give you the dish about a few things that will be appearing in the near future. And, just for fun, we’ll also demo a neat app, Call Annie, which...
Come learn what is new in iOS 17. Apple has been busily working on the new release and on the 18th of September the world will have access to the new release. Come learn about the many features that are new in this release. We will discuss everything from phone changes, voice mail changes, messaging, VoiceOver changes, interactive widgets and so much more. Expect for a long presentation of the new items in this release. It may seem small from an end-user perspective but the amount of change is s...
Presenter Contact Info Email: RMiller@Vispero.com
Please once again join us in welcoming HIMS National Account Manager Earle Harrison as he discusses the latest firmware release for the SensePlayer portable book reader, multimedia player and field recorder. The most notable improvements include the ability to customize navigation and speech parameters within the DAISY player and Document Reader, the inclusion of the HIMS Mobile Screen Reader and the ability to access third-party apps such as BARD, Audible and so much more. Presenter Contact Inf...
Tek Talk welcomes Jeff Bishop to discuss Mastodon. Presenter Contact Info Not available
The below is a direct quote from Adi’s email: “It has been a long time dream for many of us to change the landscape of assistive technologies produced for blind and visually impaired people. We want to get products that are truly innovative, match the 21st century, always connected, and upgradable. Products that really return the best value for the prices we all pay as consumers, instead of having products that rely on legacy technology, which are not driven by us, the users, they are mostly dri...
As we all know, technology changes continuously with a multitude of new products and accessibility features available. Please bring your suggestions and requests for topics you want discussed in future Tek Talk programs. Presenter Contact Info Open forum
A panel including Michael Babcock, Steve Bauer, Brad Snyder, Mary Beth Metzger, Larry Gassman, and Mike Tindell will discuss their experience at the recent national conventions. Audience participants who attended will also be invited to share their experience. Presenter Contact Info Not available
Join Mike Tindell and Damian Pickering with Dream Vision Group for Tek Talk on Monday July 17th. We are very excited to bring to the Tek Talk community a brand new device released by Help Tech the Activator. Join us to learn more about this revolutionary and innovative braille display with built in note taking capabilities. Control computers and Iphones with the Activator in ways never been seen before. Join us on Monday to find out how this is done. Presenter Contact Info Dream Vision Group Mik...
We are excited to have the opportunity to make the initial presentation about the Orbit Speak on TekTalk. For those of us who remember the excitement of using our first speech based notetaker those many years ago, that time has come again. The Orbit Speak is a Braille bluetooth keyboard notetaker, book reader, and personal manager equipped with Google voices. It brings all of the power of the Orbit Reader 20 Plus, including forward and back Braille translation without the Braille display at an a...
AYES Inc. is developing an AI service to assist the blind and visually impaired to explore cities effortlessly. They have developed a mobile application, called OKO, that assists blind and visually impaired people to receive the status of the pedestrian traffic light and helps you with not veering off when crossing the street. OKO doesn’t require any additional infrastructure to be installed so every traffic light becomes accessible. OKO helps you cross the street with more ease and confidence. ...
To describe this product, the BrailleDoodle has an array of hundreds of holes, and each hole contains a smooth metal ball that can be pulled to the surface by a magnetic stylus. A tiny spring under each ball holds it up with just the proper force, and the user simply pushes the balls back down to erase what’s been written. On the Doodle side, there is plenty of room to enjoy what some call “The Etch-a-Sketch for the blind.” It’s also a place where, unlike any other product, graphs can be made an...
for an update on everything iBUG has to offer. Presenter Contact Info Website: https://ibugtoday.com/
Below is the information on the second edition of this resource copied from this Carroll Center website: https://carroll.org/the-windows-screen-reader-primer-all-the-basics-and-more-second-edition/ The second edition of The Windows Screen Reader Primer: All the Basics and More is now out. We are making it available to you for free in Word and ePub formats. It is authored by David Kingsbury, an Assistive Technology Instructor at the Carroll Center for the Blind. The book is meant to help JAWS, NV...
Want to know about the 2023 ACB National Convention? Join Janet Dickelman, ACB convention coordinator, Saint Paul, MN to find out. Learn about the General Sessions, the Affiliate presentations, the exhibit hall, and the tours. If you can not be there in person, learn how you can listen as a part of The ACB Media Network. There will be time for questions. Presenter Contact Info Email: janet.dickelman@gmail.com
Below is the information on the SensePlayer copied from the HIMS product website: The SensePlayer is more than your normal multimedia player. Read and play your favorite documents and media from a wide variety of supported file types using the tactile keyboard that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. Access web radio, download books, make high-fidelity recordings, connect and control your mobile device, and so much more. Expect more with the SensePlayer from HIMS. Small on Size, Big on Fe...
Jeff Bishop, Michael Babcock, Michael Doise and Damashe Thomas will discuss an overview of Chat GPT and AI.