Author: The Tech Doctor

Robert begins this Tech Doctor podcast by congratulating Allison on her appearance of Shelly Brisbin’s excellent new
The Parallels Podcast

Robert and Allison spend the remainder of the show talking with John Panarese, an experienced access technology teacher and certified Apple Consultant.

John has recently created a series of excellent audio tutorials teaching VoiceOver users how to get the most from the Mac and iOS. The tutorials are not operating system version dependent which makes them viable for iOS 9 and El Capitan. John’s clear, straightforward teaching style combined with his years of experience really makes these lessons easy to understand.

Robert plays a brief example of John’s lesson on the concept of “interaction” when using VoiceOver on the Mac. Robert hopes that this example will give you a flavor of just how clear and cogent these tutorials really are.

The audio tutorials are available for sale on John’s
Mac For The Blind
website. John describes the tutorials that are available at the time of recording and talks about plans to add more in the future. Robert and Allison encourage everyone to check them out.

John, Robert and Allison next spend a little time speculating about what Apple will likely announce in the September 9th event. We are excited.

Finally, Robert and Allison thank Allison Sheridan of the
NOLISSA Cast
for creating and helping Robert install a fabulous new logo for the Tech Doctor podcast.

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Whether or not to purchase an Apple Watch is a personal choice. There are many variables to consider. Fortunately, if you are a VoiceOver user, the Apple Watch is fully VoiceOver accessible.

For folks who would like to learn more about what it is like to use Apple Watch with VoiceOver, Anna Dresner has written a new book, in the style of a journal, describing her first month with the Apple Watch.

In this podcast, Allison and Robert talk with Anna about the book. We all agree that this book is great for people who are considering the watch and for those who already have it but want to brush up on how to get the most out of Apple Watch while running VoiceOver.

As always, Anna writes in her clear easy-to-read style telling us what worked well for her and what didn’t work so well.

At only ten dollars, this is a must have for anyone interested in Apple Watch. To purchase the book and to get more information, go to the
Watching Without Looking
website. Anna will be publishing a free update to the book when Apple Watch OS 2 is released later this year.

Along with Anna’s book, the Tech Doctors recommend the excellent series of podcasts that
David Woodbridge
did covering every aspect of using Apple Watch with VoiceOver. The Tech Doctors also recommend the Apple Watch User Guide available for free in the
iBook store.

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In this episode of the Tech Doctor podcast, Allison and Robert have the pleasure of talking with fellow podcaster, technical writer and soon to be app developer Aleen Simms.

Aleen’s podcast called
Less Than Or Equal
has recently become one of Robert and Allison’s favorite podcast.

Aleen talks with people who love what they do but also face adversity because of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or some other characteristic that results in one feeling marginalized.

This podcast is like a breath of fresh air. Allison and Robert applaud Aleen for her courage, empathy, and straightforward approach to the exploration of these sensitive and complex issues. The Tech Doctors recommend that everyone subscribe and benefit as we do from the Less Than Or Equal podcast.

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In this brief podcast, Robert tells Allison all about the
Macstock Expo
and
BBQ
that Robert attended near Chicago.

This was a remarkable one-day event where Apple enthusiast, many of whom are podcasters, came together for some excellent presentations and a fantastic BBQ.

Michael Potter of the
For Mac Eyes Only
podcast created and hosted the conference. Mike did a wonderful job. It sure didn’t feel like his first conference.

Barry Fulk hosted the BBQ in his large backyard. It was excellent.

Based on how well it all worked, I suspect next year will be even bigger and better. There is nothing like being a part of the Apple community.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert and Allison talk with Chris Maury. Chris has just released a very interesting iOS App which allows one to shop the Target online site using voice input. The app is sire-like in its responsiveness and sophistication. Robert and Allison were impressed with the demonstration that Chris gave us live on the podcast.

Allison used the app to purchase a book. She was pleased with how it went.

The app is called “Say Shopping.” It is available in the
iOS app store.
More information about the app is available at
the Say apps website.

Thanks Chris. We look forward to seeing where this goes.

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In this brief but information filled podcast, Allison and Robert speak with Judy Dixon about a new book describing 41 accessible games that are available to be played on an Apple iOS device.

The book is called “Anyone Can Play: Accessible Games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch” and is available from
National Braille Press

Get yourself a copy of this book and never be bored again.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Allison and Robert describe the major announcements that were made during the 2015 WWDC keynote address.

While we hope that you find our highlights and opinions helpful and interesting, we encourage you to
view the keynote
presentation in its entirety.

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In this podcast, Allison and Robert talk with an iOS app developer named
Ray Mckaig.

Ray’s latest app called
Tell Me When
is a dream come true for book, music and video lovers. The app allows one to keep track of their favorite authors, musicians and videos. Tell me When lets you know when that new book or album comes out. The app can take you to the appropriate page to learn more about and even purchase the book or album.

Tell Me When works great with VoiceOver. This
AppleVis Podcast
will provide you with an excellent demonstration of Tell Me When.

You can
Email
Ray with questions and comments. If you prefer, you can contact Ray on twitter
@raymckaig

Thanks Ray, it was a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

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In this Tech Doctor podcast, Robert Carter and David Woodbridge enthusiastically describe how they are already making extensive use of Apple Watch in their daily lives. They are amazed by and thrilled with the stability and maturity of VoiceOver access in this first version of the Apple Watch. Anyone who knows how to use VoiceOver on the iPhone can quickly transfer those skills to using VoiceOver on the Apple Watch.

While this podcast is a good general discussion of what the Apple Watch can do, Robert and David encourage everyone to listen to the more than thirty podcasts that David has produced demonstrating how to utilize all aspects of the watch with VoiceOver.

These excellent Apple Watch podcasts are available both
At The Applevis Website
and on
David’s personal podcast page.

Even in this version 1, we have found only miner bugs which can easily be worked around until they are fixed. This makes us comfortable recommending Apple Watch to anyone who is interested in enjoying this new and exciting wearable technology.

David and Robert encourage everyone to go to an Apple store and investigate the watch for yourself. We hope that you like it as much as we do. Regardless of whether or not the Apple Watch appeals to you personally, we can all agree that Apple is to be commended for creating the first fully accessible smart watch.

Unfortunately, Allison Hartley was unavailable to record with us. She will be discussing her Apple Watch experience on a future podcast.

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In this podcast, Allison and Robert begin with a brief discussion of the Apple Watch. They describe their experience of ordering online in the middle of the night.

The remainder of the podcast focuses on the tools and strategies that Robert and Allison use to keep up with the ever-changing world of accessible Apple technology.

Robert briefly demonstrates speed listening with the popular podcasting client called
Overcast

Next, strategies for working with email lists are explored.

Twitter is next discussed as a major tool for keeping up with technology news.

Finally, Robert talks about RSS. Explaining what it is and how it works. He demonstrates an accessible RSS client for iOS called
Fiery Feeds.

Allison and Robert sincerely appreciate the excellent work that the Fiery Feeds developer did to make this app work fabulously with VoiceOver.

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