"There's a million things I want to do," says Ben Joyce…

Think about the last time you went on a trip, whether halfway around the globe or just an hour or two away by car…

With 100 artists performing over two nights, planning your Volume experience may feel daunting…

As the 40th anniversary of Expo ’74 approaches, we’ve been poring through over old photos, memorabelia and news coverage from the time. We’ll have more in print in the coming weeks, but print just can’t capture one amazing part of Expo — the music…

By the numbers 300 million…

In a discussion with two Spokane sisters, Maureen Jones (née McKenna) and Sharon Mauch (also née McKenna), we are offered a perspective of two Spokanites who attended Expo '74 nearly every day between the two of them. What was the experience of the IMAX like?…

The actress played Krystle Carrington in the hit drama from 1981 to 1989 admits she did not know the show was coming to an end, and went through terrible withdrawal after leaving the cult TV soap.

HBO Max CCO Casey Bloys says that executive producers Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King did not want to tell a story that is not reflective of the way New York looks today.

The 'Trainwreck' actor is looking forward to the upcoming episode which will see the Tesla boss as a host although some of his co-stars are seemingly not happy with the casting.

According to Dick Clark Productions, the 'Whiskey Glasses' singer will not be 'performing, presenting or accepting' any possible trophies at the 2021 music awards show.

The November concerts set to take place at at NRG Park will be curated by the 'Sicko Mode' rapper around the creative theme 'Open Your Eyes To A Whole New Universe'.

The 'It's a Sin' actor reveals one of his Years and Years bandmates is returning as a touring member, only a year after departing the group in March 2020.

The 'Sicko Mode' rapper is expanding his Houston music festival to two days while the 'Cars' hitmaker is set to perform his new album 'Intruder' live at an online concert.

The former Little Mix member gets candid about her decision to leave the girl group, claiming she felt 'enormous pressure' for being constantly compared to her bandmates.

The shock rocker is facing new damning accusations by another former girlfriend, just a few days after his ex Esme Bianco launched a sexual abuse lawsuit against him.

The 'Blue Girls Club' star cites her Christian faith as the reason why she didn't fight back when the model slapped Chrisean's phone out of her hand at a party.

However, the 'In the Name of Love' singer, who is currently in a relationship with a guy, refuses to disclose her ex-girlfriends' identities 'even though people would be living for it.'

The 34-year-old 'Without Remorse' actor gushes over the stepdaughter of Steve Harvey in a new interview as he talks about the qualities he likes in a woman.

The 27-year-old country music singer is adding mother to her resume as she announces she is pregnant with her first child, a baby girl, with her husband Josh Davis.

The basketballer, who has an on-and-off relationship with Khloe Kardashian, has reportedly forced podcaster to delete a revealing interview with his former lover.

Having received her first vaccination for the coronavirus, the 'Cool for the Summer' singer appeases those still hesitant by stating, 'It's normal to be cautious when something new comes along.'

The former Little Mix member gets candid about her decision to leave the girl group, claiming she felt 'enormous pressure' for being constantly compared to her bandmates.

When addressing her mother's departure from CBS' daytime talk show, the 'Fashion Police' star stresses that she doesn't 'give a f**k about cancel culture.'

In light of the couple's split announcement, it's revealed that the Microsoft founder took private getaways with his ex-girlfriend and fellow nerd techie Ann at a cozy beach cottage in North Carolina.

The shock rocker is facing new damning accusations by another former girlfriend, just a few days after his ex Esme Bianco launched a sexual abuse lawsuit against him.

The 'Trainwreck' actor is looking forward to the upcoming episode which will see the Tesla boss as a host although some of his co-stars are seemingly not happy with the casting.

The 'Blue Girls Club' star cites her Christian faith as the reason why she didn't fight back when the model slapped Chrisean's phone out of her hand at a party.

However, the 'In the Name of Love' singer, who is currently in a relationship with a guy, refuses to disclose her ex-girlfriends' identities 'even though people would be living for it.'

Welcome to a special episode of AppleVis Extra, where host Dave Nason is joined by Hans Wiberg, founder of Be My Eyes, and the new CEO of Be My Eyes, Mike Buckley, to discuss the recent announcement of Be My Eyes' new Virtual Volunteer feature powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 model.

Be My Eyes, a revolutionary app for the blind and low-vision community, has been connecting users with volunteers for assistance with everyday tasks since 2012. With the introduction of the Virtual Volunteer, powered by the advanced visual recognition capabilities of GPT-4, the app is set to take its power and value to new heights.

Hans and Mike share their excitement about the performance of GPT-4, stating that in the short time they've had access, it has shown unparalleled capabilities in image-to-text object recognition. The implications for global accessibility are profound, as this new feature has the potential to offer a greater degree of independence in the lives of blind and low-vision individuals.

The Virtual Volunteer stands out from other image recognition tools due to its ability to have conversations and offer comprehensive assistance with context and analysis. Users can send images of various tasks, such as identifying the contents of their fridge or reading a map, and the Virtual Volunteer not only identifies the objects but also provides additional information and suggestions, such as recipes that can be prepared with the ingredients.

The Virtual Volunteer tool is currently in beta and is anticipated to be available to users in Q3 2023 and will be free for all blind and low-vision community members using the Be My Eyes app. Don't forget to register in the Be My Eyes app to be placed on the waiting list for access to the Virtual Volunteer.

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville, Dave Nason, and Tyler Stephen get together to discuss Apple's WWDC 2023 Keynote.

Resources:

Apple Press Releases

• Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer
• iOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive
• iPadOS 17 brings new levels of personalization and versatility to iPad
• macOS Sonoma brings all‑new capabilities for elevating productivity and creativity
• Introducing watchOS 10, a milestone update for Apple Watch
• tvOS 17 brings FaceTime and video conferencing to the biggest screen in the home
• Apple introduces the 15‑inch MacBook Air
• Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro
• Apple introduces M2 Ultra
• AirPods redefine the personal audio experience
• Apple announces powerful new privacy and security features
• Apple provides powerful insights into new areas of health

Apple Operating System Previews

• iOS 17 Preview
• iPadOS 17 Preview
• macOS Sonoma Preview
• watchOS 10 Preview

Media

• Watch WWDC23 keynote replay on Apple website
• Watch WWDC23 keynote replay on Youtube
• You can also watch the WWDC23 keynote in the Apple TV app on any supported device.

WWDC Sessions

• Create accessible spatial experiences: Learn how you can make spatial computing apps that work well for everyone. Like all Apple platforms, visionOS is designed for accessibility: We'll share how we've…

In this episode, Thomas Domville discusses how to turn off repeated text message alerts on iOS and iPadOS. By default, your device will send a second notification alert two minutes after you receive a text message if you don't check it right away. This feature is designed to help ensure that you don't miss any important messages, but some users find it to be more annoying than helpful.

If you're one of those users, don't worry, it's easy to turn off repeated alerts. Here's how:

1. Open the Settings app and double-tap Notifications.
2. Double-tap Messages, and then double-tap "Customize notifications" at the bottom of the page; note that you can quickly jump to this button by performing a four-finger single-tap near the bottom of the screen.
3. Double-tap "Repeat Alerts," and select "Never" to only be notified of an incoming text message once.

In this episode of AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville talks with Jianfeng Wu about VoiceVista, an iOS app that is essential for the blind and low vision community.

VoiceVista is based on Microsoft’s discontinued and open-source project Soundscape and is licensed under the MIT License. The app uses cutting-edge iOS audio technology and precise location services to help people develop a greater awareness of their surroundings, providing comfort in unfamiliar spaces, and supporting individuals in creating mental maps and making personal route choices.

VoiceVista is available for download on the App Store and can be used on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. The app has received positive reviews from users, with many praising its accessibility features and ease of use.

The developer of VoiceVista, Jianfeng Wu, has done an outstanding job in creating this app and has made a significant contribution to the blind and low vision community. Jianfeng is also actively seeking feedback from users to help improve the app.

Voice Vista on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voicevista/id6450388413

In the second episode of his series learning Logic Pro X for Mac, Ming introduces two main sections. In the first part, Ming explains why the Interface and Microphone are important in professional recording and music editing, and how the Interface works. Ming uses logic to demonstrate how to slice and dice regions, efficiently move regions to neighboring regions, and export and merge projects into different audio formats. These shortcuts include:

Command + B: Bounce your project

Option + [ ] "Align the current region to the left or right of other regions.

Pause or play: Space bar.

See also: Learning Logic Pro X: Episode 1 - Creating a New Project

Note: Logic Pro X is a professional grade digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer. It is suggested to have some familiarity with Digital Audio Workstations to get the most from this series.

In this edition of the AppleVis Podcast, Dave Nason, Thomas Domville, and Tyler Stephen get together to discuss Apple's September 12 "Wonderlust" Event.

In this episode, Thomas Domville introduces us to the Text Detection feature added to the Magnifier app in iOS 17. This tool can read text aloud that is detected in real-time by your device camera or display it on the screen, making it a valuable resource for those with visual impairments or difficulties reading small or challenging text.

Here are the steps to access Text Detection:

1. Open the Magnifier app.
2. Choose the Detection Mode option.
3. Press the Text Detection button.
4. Aim your iPhone at the text you want to read.

Alternatively,

1. Initiate Detection Mode with a four-finger triple tap.
2. Press the Text Detection button.
3. Aim your iPhone at the text you want to read.

Note that Text Detection is only available on iPhone and iPad models with a LiDAR scanner.

In this episode, Thomas Domville demonstrates how to enable the Fast long-press speed option on iOS 17. This new feature allows for quicker access to context menus and other Haptic Touch actions, enhancing your workflow and making your iPhone feel more responsive.

Here’s how you can activate the Fast Long-Press Speed Option:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate to Accessibility.
3. Select Touch.
4. Choose Haptic Touch.

5. Under Touch Duration, opt for Fast.

   You can gauge the new response time by long-pressing on the flower image displayed on the same screen. This simple adjustment can significantly boost your iPhone’s responsiveness.

In this episode, join Ida Grace as she explores the innovative BabySitMe app for iOS. This app, designed to simulate the experience of caring for a real infant, will revolutionize how you interact with your Reborn Baby Doll or any other baby dolls.

Simply activate the app when you’re ready to start your babysitting adventure, and switch it off once you’re done.

BabySitMe is engineered to mimic a real-life baby simulator when paired with your Reborn Baby. It’s an ideal choice for those seeking an extra layer of realism while role-playing with their Reborn Baby dolls. The app runs a schedule that instructs the user to feed, burp, rock, and perform all other essential infant care tasks. These actions are intended to be enacted in role play with the user’s Reborn Baby Doll.

The app offers four different simulation modes: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Play. The first three modes operate on a 24-hour schedule, each offering a different level of challenge. The Play mode is tailored for users seeking a fast-paced, condensed version of the simulation

BabySitMe on the AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/babysitme/id1475406264

In this episode, Thomas Domville introduces a new feature that enables Siri to interact with and record data from the Health app for health and fitness inquiries.

Users can query Siri about their sleep duration, Activity ring progress, or blood glucose levels if they have a linked monitor. Supported queries include checking steps, heart rate, blood oxygen level, Exercise ring, Move ring, average walking heart rate, and calories burned. Furthermore, Siri can record data in the Health app, such as weight, spotting, medications taken, body temperature, period start, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

To activate this feature, users must enable “Access Health Data” in their iPhone’s Health settings or “Allow Siri Access to Health Data” on their Apple Watch.

In this AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville talk to Zach Tidwell, the developer of Zanagrams, the word game that won the 2023 AppleVis Golden Apples Award for the Best Game of the year. Zanagrams is a fun and challenging game that tests your vocabulary and spelling skills. Zach shares his inspiration, challenges, and tips for creating an accessible and engaging game for blind and low vision users. Tune in to hear his story and learn more about Zanagrams.

You can contact Zach at:
contact@darkhorsegamestudios.com

You can follow Zach on X at:
@ZachCTidwell

Articles mentioned in this episode: Dark Horse Game Studios
https://darkhorsegamestudios.com/programming/

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to encrypt an external disk on macOS for improved security of the disk's contents.

To encrypt a disk formatted as Apple File System, (APFS) connect it to your Mac, focus on it on the Desktop or Finder sidebar, and choose "Encrypt [disk name]" from the context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M). You'll then be prompted to create a password for the disk, which will be required to access its contents. As this password is the only way to access the disk's contents, it should be reasonably difficult for others to guess, but easy enough for you to remember.

The next time you connect the disk to your Mac, you'll be prompted for this password, and given the option to remember it in your Mac's Login keychain. This way, you won't need to enter the password when connecting the disk to your Mac, but others will if connecting the disk to theirs. Saved passwords in your Mac's Login keychain can be viewed and edited in Keychain Access (located in the Utilities folder).

If the disk you want to encrypt uses a different file system, like Mac OS Extended or XFAT, you must erase and reformat it as APFS. Note that this process will erase all data on the disk, so be sure to move anything you want to keep to another location before doing so. To erase and reformat a disk:

1. Open Disk Utility (located in the Utilities folder) and choose View > Show all devices (or press Command-2).
2. Select the top level of the external disk in the table and choose Edit > Erase (or press Command-Shift-E). If you’re unsure of what disk is what, you may wish to disconnect other external disks to avoid inadvertently erasing the wrong one.
3. In the resulting dialog, give the disk a name and choose “APFS (Encrypted),” from the format popup menu.
4. Enter the password you want to encrypt the disk with, click Choose, and then click Erase to begin the process.

Note: APFS-formatted Disks are not natively compatible with non-Apple platforms like Windows or Linux. To use an APFS-formatted disk with a non-Apple platform, use something like APFS for Windows, or APFS for Linux.

In this episode, Thomas Domville demonstrates how to enable or disable predictive text and inline predictive text on iOS. Predictive text allows you to write entire sentences with just a few taps. As you type, suggested words, emoji, and information appear above the onscreen keyboard. You can double tap a suggestion to apply it. Inline predictions complete the word or phrase you’re currently typing, appearing in gray text. To accept an inline prediction, double tap the Space bar; to reject it, keep typing. You can manage predictive text settings in Keyboard settings on your iPhone 12 or newer models running iOS 17 or later versions.

Open Settings on your iPhone.
Scroll down and double tap on General.
Double tap Keyboard.
Double tap the Predictive switch to enable or disable predictive text.
To manage inline predictive text, ensure that the Predictive switch is enabled or disabled.
While typing, you’ll see inline predictions. To accept a suggestion, double tap the Space bar; to reject it, keep typing.

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Donville also known as AnonyMouse.

Now every so often when I am composing an email or I'm trying to send off a text to a friend or family whatever that might be and I'm using the keyboard as I'm typing there is something called predictive text that will pop up so it tries to predict what you are going to spell out and this feature what this does it tries to help you shorten your typing that you have to do so you just find the various words on top of your keyboard tap on that and it selects that then they have this inline predictive text now which is a newer feature which takes it a next step that allows you to highlight within the text itself and allows you to choose those words but for me those are distracting I am trying to focus and I am NOT a multitasker as I would love to be but as I'm typing along I it just bothers me hearing these words pop up and they don't help me at all I want to kind of stay focused and type in what I want so I'm going to show you how you can turn those features off if you are interested in doing so and if you are distracted like I am when those things come up I'm also going to show you some pointers and advice some other things you can turn off as well what they call features and for some may be distracting to you as well or something that drives you bonkers so do in order to go and change this settings we are going to head over to the native settings itself settings double tap to open now that you located the settings let's do one finger double tap to open this up settings now you are going to need to swipe to the right until we get to something called general general button and we are going to do one finger double tap here about button and now we are looking for something called keyboard so swipe to the right until you get to keyboard keyboard button and at last we are here one finger double tap on keyboard keyboards to button now the easiest way to get to the area that we need to do is set your rotor to headings and go to the first heading all keyboards heading and now what we're looking for is predictive text so swipe to the right a couple times and…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to disable predictive text suggestions on macOS.

As you type on your Mac, macOS by default attempts to finish words and phrases it thinks you're trying to type. If you find that hearing these suggestions spoken by VoiceOver is more distracting than helpful, you can turn them off by going to System Settings > Keyboard, clicking the Edit button under the "Text input" heading, and toggling the "show inline predictive text" switch off.

transcription:

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hey, Apple vissers, Tyler here, with a quick tip for how to disable predictive text suggestions on macOS.

By default, as you type on your Mac, macOS attempts to finish words and phrases that it thinks you're trying to type.

While this may increase the speed of text entry for some, if you're a voiceover user, you may find that hearing these suggestions spoken while you're trying to type is more distracting than helpful, in which case you can turn them off.

To do that, go into system settings, keyboard, hit the edit button under the text input heading, and turn the show inline predictive text switch off.

And I'm going to demonstrate that now, I'm going to system settings on my Mac, k for keyboard, vio command h to get to the text input heading, vio right, edit, and at the leftmost of this dialog, k, that's what we want, vio right, scroll area, interact with vio shift down arrow, and vio right until I find the setting I want, show inline predictive text, if I vio right once more, show inline predictive text off switch, it's off for me because I turned it off.

If it's on for you and you want to turn it off, just press vio space, then stop interacting with the scroll area, with vio shift up arrow, and vio right to done, hit it, and here we are back in keyboard settings.

So now as you type, you will not hear text suggestions predicted by macOS, which could almost ironically increase your speed of text entry because this feature is off and is no longer giving you distracting or potentially distracting feedback.

So that's a tip for how to disable predictive text suggestions on macOS, I hope you found it helpful.

Peace.

Thank you.

In this episode, Thomas Domville delves into the seamless sharing of content from your iPhone screen via iMessage, thanks to Siri’s enhanced capabilities. Apple has equipped Siri with on-device processing, offline support, and advanced contextual awareness, which facilitates a smooth “Share This” feature.

Here’s the process:

When you’re in any supported application, such as Safari, Apple Music, or Photos, you can initiate sharing by saying, “Hey Siri, share this with [contact name].” Siri will grasp the context and ask for confirmation to share the particular content. Afterward, you have the option to append a personalized message before sending it off.

Should the content be unsharable directly, like a weather forecast, Siri cleverly captures a screenshot to share instead.

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Domville also known as AnonyMouseSo I am in a situation where I do a lot of messaging throughout the day So you probably are in a similar boat So you probably have text message to your friends or family and co-workers and whatnot And if you are like myself, I send a lot of links to various things that could be photos web Weather things like that, right and but the problem I have with that is that it's pretty tedious And I'll show you what I mean in a moment But the point is I have a feature or a advice for those that do this often Something that might streamline your texting with a link more efficiently and faster So let me show you what I'm talking about.

So let's just say I let's go to my Safari app here, for example Safari double tap to open.

So I'm gonna do that.

So let's just say I have something in Safari that I want to share with someone Safari we'll go to the top here so I can show you what I'm sharing here Skip to content in page link critically endangered attacks born at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge So this is a great article.

I wanted to send it to a friend of mine And there's a Disney News, of course, and this talks about a new baby that was born at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Anyway, the point is say I want to share this article with my friends So typically what I have to do is I have to go to the bottom right to find my tabs first toolbar tabs button double tap and hold for more tab options Now I have to swipe to the left until I find the share button show bookmarks button share button Now I have to double tap on that critically endangered attacks critically endangered attacks born at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge WDW news today.

Now I have to swipe to the right until I get some messages WDWNT.com options button close button airdrop button messages button double tap that New message and now I'm gonna swipe to right until I find the to edit box cancel button to text field is editing word mode insertion point at start double tap that Insertion point at end and now I've got to put in the first couple initials that the person I want to send it to So I created this just for this podcast.

I'm going to send it to Mickey Mouse I'm gonna find the letter M and no M M now gonna go back to the top here new message And now can I swipe to the right until I…

In this episode, Mark Sarch provides a follow-up to his previous introduction of the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. He demonstrates several new features including music integration with Apple Music and Spotify, multilingual support for messaging services like WhatsApp, the new Meta AI visual assistance capabilities, and hands-free video calling with WhatsApp and Messenger.

Mark walks through enabling music services in the MetaView app and using voice commands to control playback. He shows how to send multilingual WhatsApp messages by voice. For the Meta AI visual assistance, Mark showcases its ability to describe objects, read text, identify colors, and more - highlighting its limitations as a mainstream device not optimized for comprehensive document reading.

He compares the Meta AI's output to a live video call demonstration with a human assistant reading details from a business card. Mark also explains the process for hands-free video calling on WhatsApp and Messenger by using the capture button and touchpad.

While not a dedicated assistive device, Mark highlights some potentially useful features for visual assistance and hands-free operation.

transcription:

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello everybody, my name is Mark and I'm back once again to talk about Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses latest feature available only for US and Canada.

If you haven't heard before about this pair of smart glasses, I highly recommend listening to the episode I made, review of Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, where I talk about unboxing, hardware description and basic tasks that you can do with the voice assistant.

In this episode, I will show 4 of the latest features available for hardware, V4.0, music integration, multilingual support for messenger services, Meta AI available for US and Canada only, and WhatsApp and Facebook messenger video call.

Let's talk first about music integration.

Now, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses support Apple Music and Spotify completely hands-free.

To do this, you have to activate Apple Music or Spotify directly from the MetaView app.

I will show you how to do it.

MetaView Open MetaView MetaView From the bottom you have a few tabs, click on settings, and then from here you have to see Apple Music Button Spotify Button If you listen to my voice not too loud, it's because I have placed the microphone really close to my ear, where you will be able to listen to the music completely hands-free.

Using only your voice, where you can request commands as resume the music, change to the next song, change to the previous song, and also pause.

Just you have to say the magic phrase and it will sound like this.

Hey Meta, resume music.

Hey Meta, next.

Hey Meta, previous.

Hey Meta, pause.

Great, I think you get some idea how this thing works.

Now, I'm going to show you something, but in order to do this request, you have to place the finger on the touchpad.

It's to change to the next radio station.

Press and hold using one finger on the touchpad for two seconds, will change to the next radio station.

Resuming, this is…

In the latest AppleVis Extra, hosts Dave Nason and Thomas Domville convene to share their insights on the highlights from Apple’s WWDC 2024 Keynote.

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to AppleVis Extra number 98.

My name is Dave Nason.

Because it is June we are talking, of course, about WWDC and because it is AppleViz I am talking, of course, to Thomas Domville.

How are you today, Tom?

Hey, I'm pretty good.

Boy, was that a show or what?

It was.

Nearly two hours that went on and, yeah, it was probably the most anticipated WWDC I can remember in a long time.

Like everybody was waiting for this one, waiting for the announcement.

So before we get into the nitty-gritty, did it meet those expectations for you?

Definitely.

I had a check box of all the things I wanted to hear and it definitely checked all the tick box that I wanted to see and hear.

So I was very happy with the results.

And I know there were some disappointments out there as well, but that's what we'll be talking about.

Yeah, for sure.

And it's funny, we've had a few of these announcements in recent months from all the companies, you know, Google had IO, Microsoft had events, OpenAI had an event, and they've all, you know, Google especially and so on.

They've shorn the words AI or the letters AI into every sentence of the entire thing it seemed, whereas Apple, it was kind of, it must have been nearly an hour before they set the term, though I thought that was interesting.

So we might take the same approach to them and we will kick off with the regular updates, you might call them, to iOS and Vision OS and Mac OS and so on.

And then we can have a chat through the so-called AI.

That sounds great.

I think that'd be perfect.

So they did kick off with Vision OS and I don't think we need to.

Why not, man?

You know, it is kind of odd that, you know, it's only been four months since they released it and they actually have a Vision OS 2 that comes out.

I'm thinking, wow, this is kind of, not only that, but it really didn't feel like it was a 2.

I mean, it was like one big thing and that was it.

I was kind of really disappointed.

I mean, yeah, granted that 3D photos sounds cool now, but definitely not for anything for us.

No, no.

And laserhertz, you know, Marcus Brownlee, you know, he said, it's more, felt like more of a 1.2 than a 2.

Exactly.

It was like a 1.2.

It was like a 1.5 update.

That was it.

But I guess what they're doing there is they're getting it onto their summer cycle.

That's all that really is.

So next year, it'll be 3 and, you know, go from there, I guess.

So it makes sense.

But what it included was, yeah, you can turn any photo into a 3D experience or whatever the correct terminology is and some new gestures.

But from an accessibility point of view, we're not aware of anything really.

You know, it's still a product that is very limited in terms of availability and, you know, what it can…

In this episode, Thomas Domville provides a detailed walkthrough of the ElevenLabs Reader for iOS. This versatile app transforms any text content into natural, expressive speech using advanced AI-generated voices. Perfect for articles, ePubs, PDFs, and more, it enables users to enjoy their favorite content on the go. With an extensive and ever-growing library of voices, the app offers a personalized listening experience tailored to any mood or occasion.

ElevenLabs Reader: AI Audio on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/elevenlabs-reader-ai-audio/id6479373050

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse.

I'm going to introduce you to an app called 11 Labs Reader, and it's spelled just as it sounds like.

So 11 Labs is one word, E-L-E-V-E-N-L-A-B-S, 11 Labs, space, reader.

This is an amazing app that you definitely want to check out if there's something that interests you, of course.

So I'm going to do a nice little review and walk through and show you a demonstration how to use 11 Labs Reader.

Now before I do that, 11 Labs should sound familiar for most of you out there.

If you haven't heard of 11 Labs, no problem.

11 Labs has been around for some time now, and what they're known for is being able to take any text and convert it into audio for you to listen.

It's incredible technology.

It sounds marvelous, and it's trying to do its best to sound as natural as possible.

And I personally think they're getting really close to that moment where we will be able to say, wow, this is definitely a hit on their hands.

And I think this app is no doubt going to be something that's going to be popular by some of you out there.

Now I have used other apps.

I won't mention those names.

They will take various files like text files or probably PDFs or EPUBs and try to read it out using whatever voice over voices that we have now.

And as you know, well, for myself, I'm not a big fan of those things.

And it's really kind of hard to read books or listen to articles with those voices, especially when I come back in a background where I'm not used to using older voices such as eloquence and such things like that.

It just sounds very unnatural, very robotic.

So I'm really more into more natural sounding speech.

So this is no doubt one of the big app that I definitely going to keep on my main home screen from now on.

Now it's saying that there are some quirks and issues with this app.

Yeah, for the most part, it is accessible and usable.

Now there are some things that if you need to do, it can be difficult.

So I won't be pointing that out.

But I'm hoping that there's definitely going to be some update to this app and to making things more efficient for voice over users.

Overall, I think this app definitely has potential and it definitely is going to be something I'm going to be using a lot.

So let's go ahead and…

In her debut podcast, Tarja will showcase AudioCat for iOS. AudioCat is an accessible audiogames platform designed exclusively for iOS, focusing on immersive audio experiences. The app includes a virtual cat companion that users can name and care for, adding to the interactive fun. Currently, AudioCat features two audiogames: “Wordy,” a word-guessing game, and “Echoes of Valor,” an adventure RPG that delves into moral dilemmas. Players can earn coins and XP by playing these games, which can be used to feed their virtual pet and unlock additional content.

AudioCat on the App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audiocat/id6502510097

In this AppleVis Extra, Dave Nason and Thomas Domville engage in a discussion with Bryan Bashin and Hans Jørgen Wiberg from Be My Eyes about the acquisition of AppleVis. They tackle the tough questions, explore how Be My Eyes came to acquire AppleVis, and share insights into the experiences of the AppleVis Editorial Team before and after the acquisition.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to the AppleVis Extra podcast, the first AppleBiz Extra podcast of the new era.

We wondered if we would have another one and we do.

We are so excited.

My name is Dave Nason and I'm joined as so often by Thomas Domville , also known as Anonymous Thomas.

How are you my friends?

Oh boy, that's a loaded question to come in.

How am I doing?

Well, you know, I'm ecstatic, I'm excited.

Gosh, what a whirlwind of emotion and whiplash that we have all gone through, right?

It's been a roller coaster, I think it's fair to say over the last, it hasn't only been a month because it feels like about three years.

Right.

It does feel like it's been going on for years, that's how much impact this has had on us, hasn't it?

It really has.

So I suppose for those who kind of maybe aren't sure, what happens?

And you know, we don't need to go into the absolute weeds, but kind of what happened on a high level in terms of, you know, getting to a point where Appleviz appears to be shutting down.

You know, yeah, let's start from the beginning.

So everybody will be on the same level as we are because we have had a lot of questions, a lot of critiques and I understand because I completely understand, we were in the same boat with you guys.

So what happened, guys?

Let's back up all the way to July.

This is when it all came down, was July 3rd.

I remember that specifically, it's right the day before America's Independence Day.

And we woke up with a bombshell of a news from David and, you know, David mentioned in there, he has talked about the first or thought about it for several months and a lot of people have asked us, we had several months, how come you haven't done anything during that time and to be quite fair to the editorial team is that no, we had zero idea, we had no idea.

It was just like we woke up and this bombshell was set.

And I think I can say it was so dramatic.

I will say that first two days just was a blur because I was still trying to digest and process like what in God's name is that mean for all of us in the community and everything.

But of course, the most important thing out of this whole thing was that David has reached a limit that he spent so much of his personal life into.

And so it was so understandable.

I completely understand where he was coming from.

I completely understand why he made that decision and why we're trying to process all this.

We were trying to figure out as a team what to do.

We had a meeting that weekend that we talked about the team and the steps that we wanted to take.

And during that meeting, David Goodwin was with us and he was very ill at that time.

We had no idea…

Join David Nason, Thomas Domville, Michael Hansen, and Tyler Stephen in this AppleVis Extra as they dive into the highlights of Apple’s ‘Glowtime’ Event.

transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to AppleViz Extra.

This is episode number 100.

My name is Dave Nason and this is a very exciting day guys.

We're back.

I'm joined by Thomas Domville, Tyler Stephen and Michael Hansen from the AppleViz team.

How are you guys?

I'm good.

I'm doing wonderful.

How are you Mr. Dave?

I am great.

It's an exciting day.

It's our first day back online.

Oh yeah, it's been a really, really exciting day and a big day for us and a big day for the community and love to share in just the outpour of support that we've seen on the website and people are back and it's a great day and it's also an Apple keynote day.

Yes, what timing we have, eh?

Well, it's ironic.

It's like we planned it on purpose.

Yes, so where again?

Every time what happens, I say I can't believe another year has gone by, but here we go. iPhone event again and some other stuff too.

It was an interesting event.

It opened actually with a video which had quite a lot of accessibility slash disability references in it.

I don't know if you guys noticed that, if you had the audio description on.

I did and that was very nice that they incorporate that, isn't it?

I mean, they always do like a million gazillion videos, but it just always seemed to be that first one.

That's always the most important one.

So putting accessibility in there was a nice touch.

Yeah, that was cool.

And then Tim came on stage or wherever he was outside somewhere.

He seemed to be shouting a lot at the start.

I don't know if anyone else noticed that, but yeah, he set the scene.

He mentioned Apple intelligence in pretty much his first sentence, I think.

So I think that kind of set the scene for the afternoon or for the morning.

Right.

It was almost like, you know how WWDC, we had this Christmas gift and we opened it.

It's like, oh, Apple intelligence.

We were so excited.

They just went ba ba ba ba ba ba ba all the way down.

I feel like today they just rewrapped the gift and we just reopened it because they just went through the whole same thing over again.

And you know, Google were accused of exactly the same thing at their Pixel event that they just re-advanced.

I thought I was hearing some familiar things.

They were talking about iOS 18 and all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute, this is not anything new.

I mean, okay, you want to re-advance.

Okay, that's kind of how you know you're getting to the end of the announcement of whatever the product is.

They start talking about the software.

They're refreshing you on what to expect.

Yeah, I think that's the thing about AI marketing is that when you're marketing that and it's so much of that is software based, you got to kind of beat the drums, the AI drums as much as you can.

Apple doesn't use the term, specific term…

Welcome to AppleVis Extra 101, where Dave Nason is joined by Xiaoran Wang and Huasong Cao from Agiga, the team behind the upcoming Echo Vision smart glasses. Check out some early demos, with more to come, on their YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@AgigaAi/videos And learn more on their website at: https://echovision.agiga.ai/ The team would love to hear your feedback, so please comment below, or contact them through the website.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to the AppleVis Extra.

This is episode number 101.

My name is David Nason and I'm delighted to be joined by two fantastic guests from Agiga.

We have Xiaoran Wang and HuaSong Cao

Is that correct, guys?

Thank you, David.

Thank you for having us.

So yeah, delighted.

And the product you're going to talk to us about is the Echo Vision.

So before we get into that, though, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourselves, the company, what you do, really, and how it all came about?

Sure.

My name is Xiaoran.

I'm the CEO, and before doing this company, actually, I had long experience building and shaping intelligent devices.

I started my career at Amazon Level 26.

That's the first place of the world's first Kindle and also the world's first Alexa.

And I was actually in the early team that developed Alexa devices.

And this experience gave me good exposure and got me enough experience on how to build a good intelligent device.

I think that's one of the confidence I brought in when I was doing this company that we can build a great product for the community.

Brilliant, and obviously, Alexa, a device that's very popular, being a voice-first product, very popular in the blind and visually impaired community.

So yeah, that's really cool.

And tell us about yourself, Hua Song.

Yeah, thanks, David.

So my name is Hua Song, and I'm an engineer by training.

Before I started this company with Xiaoran, I was with Google for about nine to ten years.

I did various software projects, and the latest one is Google Assistant, the voice assistant similar to Amazon counterparts.

Yeah, I've been enjoying doing software, building stuff, both hardware and software.

And with Giga, what we are trying to do is really to use our expertise built prior to this company and take that to something that we can really use to help everyone.

That's brilliant.

So do you want to quickly tell us what the product is, and then we can delve into a bit more detail.

Yeah, so the product is called EchoVision.

By looking, it looks like a normal pair of glasses.

The key feature is to articulate visual information into voices.

Think about it.

If you can't see this, and there's someone next to you, how will this person help you?

So basically, he or she is going to describe it for you, like read it out for you.

And that's how we envision our product, basically.

It's like an assistant, a virtual assistant that does this work for you.

Well, I was going to…