Jeffrey's Soapbox
Because everyone deserves their own soap box from time to time...

Google released a new feature called "Google Now" in their latest version of the Android OS called Jelly Bean.     Google Now is a screen that contains "cards" of concise information that Google has guessed you might need, "now".  You simply tap the "Google" icon from your desktop, the search icon or voice search icon and […]

Continue reading “Google Now Great for providing access to your surroundings” »

  Many people want to have all emails come in using their choice of font, font size, foreground color and background color.  By following these steps you will override the color and font settings with your desired presentation on all incoming and outgoing messages.  This is especially useful for users with low vision who may […]

Continue reading “Overriding Font & Colors For Incoming & Outgoing Messages In Outlook 2010 For Low Vision Users” »

_ #ljt1 2 Lake Joe Technology Training -2012 5 days of technology training, exploration & excitement at CNIB's beautiful and accessible Lake Joe facility Trending Words alt, @lordjeff, @mcourcel, up, slide, press, powerpoint, rt, now, use, enter, arrow, right, dropbox, list Event Participants _ RT @mcourcel: RT @mcourcel: A slightly edited tweet list of the […]

Continue reading “Notes / Tweets From Lake Joe Technology Training 2012” »

Many of us work in a corporate environment and require access to the mail, calendar and contact information from mobile devices.  In a corporate environment it is not unusual to have security requirements that  limit options for the devices that can be connected to the corporate mail and PIM services.    Most corporate environments have went […]

Continue reading “Solutions for Blind Corporate Mail Users” »

In late May, RIM released The Blackberry Screen Reader      As a veteran Blackberry user, I am going to give my initial impressions of RIM's latest foray into accessibility for blind users. I have been involved in the testing, development and evaluation of accessible mobile devices for well over 10 years. I have used some of […]

Continue reading “A blind trek through the BlackBerry patch with the Blackberry Screen Reader” »

The mobile space changes so dramatically on a daily basis.   I had just started to write the 2nd half of my walkthrough for Android Ice Cream Sandwich when Jelly Bean comes on the scene.  Jelly Bean is the name of the latest version of android’s popular mobile phone, tablet & device operating system.  I am […]

Continue reading “A Blind Trek Through Android – Part 1: Unwrapping the Jelly Bean (Getting Started)” »

There are a lot of conflicting opinions about the relative accessibility or inaccessibility to blind consumers of the Android platform from Google.  I have been involved in the testing, development and evaluation of accessible mobile devices for well over 10 years.  I have used some of the very early proprietary devices, the phones running Microsoft's […]

Continue reading “A Blind Trek Through Android – Part 1: Unwrapping the Ice cream sandwich (Getting Started)” »

This information is being shared because I was seeing so many posts on the various blindness related mailing lists and such a large number of my friends who are blind were expressing challenges they were having on the site but lacked the technical background to identify the programming and development issues that were causing inconsistencies […]

Continue reading “CNIB Library – Iguana” »

I have seen a lot of requests for QWERTY or external keyboard recommendations for android phones. This post will share my experience while experimenting with QWERTY keyboards on android. I have a Samsung galaxy nexus running ice cream sandwich (ICS). I have gotten 3 separate keyboards to work with ICS. 1) RII 66-key Mini Bluetooth […]

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Today, I was reading a friend’s profile and had a little moment of reflection. It reminded me of just how important braille is for younger kids. The note in the profile read: So, get off your butt and above all else LEARN BRAILLE!!! If you can’t read then you are missing skills such as sentance […]

Continue reading “A crisis of literacy for blind children” »