iSee - Using various technologies from a blind persons perspective.

The Braille Note Evolve has been described on a number of podcasts and on the web, but I thought I'd make a place holder here for you to refer back to moving forward.And yes, it is most certainly a Windows 11 Pro laptop (with a Braille display).

In this demo, I show you how to connect and run two displays at the same time, in this case, the Mantis Q40, but same works for the BI20X, and BI40X with the iPhone (or iPad).

In this demo, I mainly point out how to access the Braille Access settings within VoiceOver Utility, point out one difference between iOS/Mac Braille Access, correct my statement aoubt UEB not being on the Mac/Braille Access (which it is), and my my finding of a nifty short-cut for working with BRF files on the Mac inside in the Braille Access menu. For a good review of Braille Access, listen to my last podcast. Woody

This really does turn your iPhone, iPad or Mac in to a Braille note taker. The best thing is, that you can use VoiceOver with speech and run any app you like on your device, whilst still using the Braille Access function at the same time. Woody

Very easy to do and enjoy. Woody

In a nut shell, its Options, User Settings, Dot firmness, and then choose from low, medium or high. Woody

In this demo, I give you a quick glimpse as it were in to the wonders smile of using the BI40X on the Mac with VoiceOver. Once Mac os 2026 hits, expect a lot more Braille (Brailiant etc) demos.

This is the first post of many many smile tips on getting the most out of your/my Monarch. This is the first batch with 15 tips. When you are reading through a document with the PageUp or Page Down keys, note that you are only moving the Braille cursor, not the system cursor. If you were to press the DPad navigation cross for Left, Right, Up or Down, focus would jump back to the system cursor and move it in the direction you chose. No where near the Braille cursor. You need to route the system cursor to the Braille cursor. Press the Action button between key 1 and 4) once (this turns on touch/pointer mode denoted by one vibration). Find where you would like to put the system cursor (where you are viewing in Braille on the current display), i.e. put your finger on the spot, then 1 finger double tap on the display. This will move your system cursor to the area where you have been reading with the Braille cursor. Cursor pointer is dots 78 underneath a current character for example. Of course, if you were just navigating/reading with the DPad, you are already moving the system cursor. This tip comes in handy when you are reading a document, and you may need to make changes ETC. If you want to turn Point/Touch off, press the Action button (two vibrations) to denote its off. Monarch tip 2 When you are in a document, if you want to place the line containing your system cursor to the top of the current display (first line), press Enter (key 8) plus F (dots 124). The line containing the cursor will now be at the top of the current display. Note - reason why I say current display, I don't want folks getting confused with jumping to the first line in the document which is a completely different thing. Monarch tip 3 When you are using the Monarch and the Braille on the display seems a bit odd, perhaps dots missing (after all there are 3840 of the things), hold down the Action button (between key 1 and 4) for about a second, and this will refresh the display. Woody #a11y #Braille #Monarch Monarch tip 3 When you are using the Monarch and the Braille on the display seems a bit odd, perhaps docts missing (afterall there are 3840 of the things), hold down the Action button (between key 1 and 4) for about a second, and this will refresh the display. Monarch tip 4 Remember that the Zoom Out (Minus) and the Zoom In (plus) buttons on the left and right just below the display, have two main functions. One In the main menu or anywhere else say in a document, Pressing Plus will increase the line spacing, and Minus will decrease the line spacing. Default is 10 lines funny enough, and the maximum is 6 lines (if you have speech turned on, each time you press Plus or Minus it will tell you how many lines). Of course, this makes both reading Braille easier, and also for beginning folks to find the cursor on the display. Two When you are viewing a tactile image, Plus zooms in and Minus Zooms out. Note on a PDF image, you can only Zoom in once, but on a JPG, you can Zoom in a lot more. Monarch Tip 5 This one is odd, but it caught me out sigh smile. So when you are using the Monarch in the case, and you feel a rectangular cut out on the left top side of the case towards the front (just in line with the Minus button), its not an indented button, but lights for sighted folks to denote the status of the Monarch. O'well, anyone makes mistakes grin. Monarch tip 6 When you are connecting your Monarch to your Windows PC from USB on your PC to the USBC port on the Monarch, make sure you do the following, otherwise it won't won't won't work. With the Monarch turned on and sitting at the main menu, plug it in to your PC (which is turned on). I get a message that my Monarch is being charge. Now go to: All files, Settings, Connected devices, USB charging this device, and under where it says, USB Controlled by, check the checkbox that says File Transfer. Huge Note - if you are not properly connected to your Windows PC, you won't even see under Connected Devices, the USB charging this device at all. You have been warned smile. Now if you go to your Windows PC, bring up File Explorer, you'll see the Monarch as an external storage device, and you can copy/paste ETC to your hearts content. Monarch tip 7 If you are like me and your wanting to use your Monarch on the bus, train or aircraft, we all know that there is not much space between you and the seat in front of you. Rather than having the case when its folded underneath the Monarch and poking out in front and stabbing (smile) you in the stomach, just take off the case and pop it in your bag and then you can use the Monarch naked as it were in the wild. Much much more comfortable, and it takes up less room. Like the iPhone, no one says you have to use it in a case. Monarch tip 8 As the Monarch is not a single line Braille display, it does not have any auto cursor buttons to move the system cursor focus to a particular point on the display.. I like to use the new method of moving the system cursor anywh

Simplifying tactile graphics with TactileView from HumanWare Andrew and Peter showcase how to use TactileView with the menu-driven design and a screen reader. The webinar also shows how to build tactile graphics using some of the built-in portals, such as the catalog. Demo available from https://www.humanware.com

In this Talking Tech show for this week, I give you a run down of a talk I gave at the Round Table in Melbourne this week on things to think about when choosing a smart Braille display, Braille Note taker, Braille embosser or a Multi line Braille display.

Plaud AI Pin If you have ever felt a FitBit, this is the size of the Plaud AI pin. As I said in the episode, app mainly works ok, device is ok to use. https://www.amazon.com.au/PLAUD-Notetaker-Transcribe-Summarize-Languages/dp/B0DZWQ9WWJ/ref=sxin_15_sbv_search_btf?content-id=amzn1.sym.e97d0f60-983b-4a36-b35e-ccbffb80a35f%3Aamzn1.sym.e97d0f60-983b-4a36-b35e-ccbffb80a35f&crid=160HN41YPT0FW&cv_ct_cx=plaid%2Bai%2Bpin&keywords=plaid%2Bai%2Bpin&pd_rd_i=B0DZWQ9WWJ&pd_rd_r=3ce26411-cd20-43ec-b14c-f98f6112cdf7&pd_rd_w=CexLI&pd_rd_wg=9vz75&pf_rd_p=e97d0f60-983b-4a36-b35e-ccbffb80a35f&pf_rd_r=CW43KGFNDR5JNMXD0C4K&qid=1747716672&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=plaud%2Bai%2Bpin%2Caps%2C260&sr=1-1-0a53d72a-e58c-4324-b739-134d51de9f78&th=1 The Speaker I talked About for $13 Au Small speaker that did USB, 3.5, and Bt plus had FM radio. Volume was good, FM good, connectivity via Bluetooth poor, and making sure it was charged was almost useless via the micro USB. Attracted me because of the FM chip and the volume was great. If you search for Bt speaker with UsB, 3.5, and FM radio that is really really cheap at $13 that will probably be it. Ray Ban Meta Glasses on the Vision Store As I said in the episode, lots of places to purchase this, not NDIS funded, main demos probably at major VA sites, and two corrections to VA Store promo: you can hear the audio from the glasses via the person next to you, and its not a good idea to Bt connect them to any thing else as you will have issues reconnecting them to your phone again with the Meta AI app. https://shop.visionaustralia.org Apple Accessibility Sneak Peak from GAAD 2025 Looks very interesting , especially the Braille Note taker, and using continuity iPhone camera as a portable VM on your Mac. API opening up for camera based assistive apps on the Vision Pro looks interesting as well, but quite happy with my Ray Bans. https://www.apple.com/au/newsroom/2025/05/apple-unveils-powerful-accessibility-features-coming-later-this-year/ As I sign Off this week Testing JAWS sneak build that works with the Monarch, Tactile View Beta tactile images with the Monarch, and Wing It app all demos coming from me in August when this should all be released fully. Of course, I will be doing demos when I get my hands on the development builds of IOS etc once WWDC is happening. Catch me on social media or [email protected]

Helpful links from today’s program on NvDA. Download the current stable version of NVDA at https://www.nvaccess.org/download/ We mentioned it a little bit, but we are currently in the Beta period for NVDA 2025.1. Some of the key updates in NVDA 2025.1 - NVDA Remote built in - Speech responsiveness and other features for, SAPI4, SAPI5, and OneCore - Improvements to add-on store auto updates - New commands to manually refresh ocr - Native selection in Chromium and Edge (Press NVDA+shift+F10 then copy as normal to copy text with formatting) - Default input & output braille tables based on language - Added a general setting to prevent the display turning off during say all or reading with braille. This option is enabled by default, but may result in increased battery depletion. - Braille works with say all config profiles Add-ons: Braille Extender, developed by André-Abush Clause and contributors https://github.com/aaclause/BrailleExtender Many features including Switching between displays or tables with shortcuts, and additional commands and support for a range of features. PC Keyboard Braille Input NVDA Spanish team (Available from the NVDA Add-on store) Type Braille using six keyboard keys as on a perkins Still on Braille, we published a lot of recent and upcoming features in a special edition of our In-Process blog back in October: https://www.nvaccess.org/post/in-process-23rd-october-2024/#datavalidation And you can subscribe to that blog, and to all our announcements, updates, releases etc, via email at: https://eepurl.com/iuVyjo Our training material is all available from our shop: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/ We recommend starting with Basic Training for NVDA, which you can get as: - Electronic text (Word, Text, ePub and HTML formats) for $35: https://www.nvaccess.org/product/basic-training-for-nvda-ebook/ Human-read MP3 audio for $52: https://www.nvaccess.org/product/basic-training-for-nvda-downloadable-audio/ UEB Braille for $71: https://www.nvaccess.org/product/basic-training-for-nvda-braille-hard-copy/ Community links: NVDA user group: https://nvda.groups.io/g/nvda Add-ons group: https://nvda-addons.groups.io/g/nvda-addons/ NVDA Developer Guide: https://download.nvaccess.org/documentation/developerGuide.html Contact us: Web: https://www.nvaccess.org/ Email: [email protected] Social Media - most of our users are on Fosstodon: https://fosstodon.org/@NVAccess

In this webinar, Andrew and Peter from HumanWare discuss and demonstrate the latest enhancements to the Monarch software and a few other points including: the new Email app, Web browsing with Ecosia, eBraille version of Treasure Island, and a demo of the Wing It app to allow drawing on the Monarch tactile display from the iPhone. Contact [email protected] for more information, Andrew or Peter or myself in Australia David Woodbridge at HumanWare Australia.

In this demo, I show you how simple it is to connect your Mantis Q40 QWERTY keyboard and Braille display device to your Mac. Enjoy Woody

Demo of how easy it is to connect your Brailliant BI20X or BI40X to your Mac using VoiceOver with Bluetooth.

In this demo, I talk about the importance of accessing the accessible QR code to learn how to use the BrailleDoodle fully, which then leads me on to my next point, and that is the amazing function of the BrailleDoodle where you can practice each character displayed on the back of the BrailleDoodle as well as having an example to work with for each character. Also, happy to say BrailleDoodle is now available from the Vision Australia Vision Store: https://shop.visionaustralia.org/brailledoodle.html Have fun. Woody

If you ever wanted a manual way (yes no battery or power required) to learn Braille, do some tactile drawing or even do some quick notes, then have a listen to this demo of the BrailleDoodle from the Touch Pro Fundation. Amazed what you can do, and don't forget there is a lot of info on the back of the BrailleDoodle, not just the front fun face. Enjoy. Woody

In this demo, I take you through the features of the Mantis Q40 leather case which gives you proper protection of the Mantis Q40 QWERTY keyboard, thumb keys, and the SD card slot. One of my must have cases. If you've spent over four thousand dollars in Australia on a device, then spending $180 is a great way to protect your investment. The case that comes with the Mantis Q40 doesn't offer any protection at all. It really just stops the device from slipping on a desk. Go to https://www.humanware.com to find out more or to order. Enjoy. Woody

In this demo, I show you how easy it is to crate an image file on the computer, and then have it displayed on the Monarch.

When your device or software for that matter isn't behaving in the way it should from Humanware in Au, Arthur is your go to person. You can ring 02 9686 2600 (4 then 4) or email [email protected]. I can be contacted as usual at [email protected] or check out our excellent website at https://www.humanware.com (and yes, it'll change depending on what region your in smile). Woody