The Blind Side

Using the GPS (Global Positioning System), blind people can now obtain detailed information about their environment with the aid of smartphones, note takers and stand-alone devices. But the system is unsuitable for providing detailed navigation information in-doors.The developers of the popular BlindSquare iOS app are seeking to solve that problem with a system they call BPS, the BlindSquare Positioning System.In his book “iOS 7 Without the Eye”, Jonathan Mosen predicted that iBeacons had the potential to dramatically improve the information blind people receive about the built environment, if a developer took the technology and used it for that purpose. BlindSquare have made that possibility an impressive reality.Jonathan Mosen speaks with Thomas Bryan of the Blind Foundation in New Zealand about the Foundation’s work with the Wellington Regional Council to facilitate a comprehensive roll-out of BPS in Wellington’s central business di [...]

16 September came to New Zealand first, so Jonathan Mosen was one of the first in the world to have an iPhone 7s Plus delivered. In this podcast, Jonathan unboxes and sets up the device, explores the new home button, uses Apple’s new Lightning to 3.5mm adapter, experiments to see if Bluetooth latency with VoiceOver has improved, compares the built-in audio of the two devices, uses the new camera, and more.

Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away. What do September 7’s Apple hardware announcements mean for you? Jonathan Mosen is joined by technology experts David Woodbridge and Jeff Bishop, as well as Apple tech enthusiast Heidi Mosen. We’ll provide commentary on the event, and Heidi will give us some visual explanations of some of the new hardware based on what she saw during the keynote and subsequently.

We begin by previewing next week’s podcast, a special looking at Apple’s big reveal on 7 September. For the first time, most of the discussion is occurring not over a feature Apple is adding, but one it is taking away.Can you function effectively in a busy job without Braille? One of our listeners takes issue with a comment made on a previous episode of the podcast.Our featured guest Gary O’donoghue’s voice and face is well-known in Britain. A political journalist who happens to be blind, Gary talks to us about his life and career, what it’s like to be a blind guy who does TV, the extraordinary political season in the US where he’s now based, and some differences he’s noticed living as a blind person in the US versus the UK.

The World Blind Union has just concluded its quadrennial General Assembly, this time held in Orlando, Florida, USA. Dan Frye was there. We speak with Dan about some of the issues occupying the WBU’s attention, as well as the challenges of meeting the needs of such a diverse group of blind people.Fred Schroeder was elected WBU President for the next four years. We hear an address given by Dr Schroeder at the General Assembly in which he talks about his background, and some of the philosophy underpinning his approach to blindness.

New Zealanders are concluding a conversation about a Disability Strategy. When the strategising is over, what will the Government do to turn the strategy into real, positive change? Jonathan Mosen speaks with Hon Nicky Wagner, New Zealand’s Minister for Disability Issues.There’s controversy within the World Wide Web Consortium about a proposed new standard for video on the web that incorporates digital rights management technology. Some are concerned that it could stifle innovative solutions that might make video more accessible. We discuss this issue, as well as the wider question of the balance between protecting intellectual property versus the rights of content consumers, with Cory Doctorow. Cory is a digital consumer rights activist, best-selling author, blogger, and a key figure in the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Jackie Brown joins us to talk about the British Computer Association of the Blind, and in particular, their forthcoming Tech a Break weekend. Even if you’re not in the UK, you may like to learn about this organisation’s history and how blind people support one another to stay on top of computing.Follow @WeAreBCAB on Twitter, or visit their website at http://www.bcab.org.uk.Mary Schnackenberg, life-long Braille advocate and former President of the International Council on English Braille, joins us to discuss Braille. We look at Braille’s relevance today, and talk frankly about the frustration some people express about what they perceive to be the constant tampering with the code.We also learn about a big revamp at Mushroom FM, an Internet radio station staffed entirely by blind volunteers, as they move to a 1950s through 1980s format from 15 August.