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iOS 5.1 Software Update

March 7, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In this approximately 13-minute podcast, Darrell Shandrow demonstrates and teaches the over-the-air (OTA) Software Update process as he makes the jump to iOS 5.1 on his iPhone 4 without the need to connect the device to a computer running iTunes.

iOS 5.1 is a minor update containing a number of bug fixes and new features, including a fix for dropped audio on some outgoing calls, improved battery life, playback speed controls for podcasts and enhanced camera face detection. Read this article on the changelog and direct download links for more information.

Before updating iOS, it is strongly recommended that you thoroughly back up your iOS device in iCloud and iTunes. Follow these instructions to complete both backup tasks.

The gestures indicated in all instructions assume VoiceOver is enabled and are performed from a blind person’s perspective.

iCloud Backup

  1. Flick to and double tap Settings.
  2. Right flick to and double tap iCloud.
  3. Right flick to and double tap Storage & Backup.
  4. Right flick to and double tap Back Up Now to start the process.

iTunes for Windows Backup

If you are running iTunes with JAWS for Windows, the free Blind Tunes scripts enhance the experience significantly.

  1. Connect your iOS device to your computer and open iTunes.
  2. Press F6 until you reach the Sources list.
  3. Press down arrow until you reach the name of your iOS device. If a dialogue box about your iTunes purchases opens, press enter on its OK button, then continue down the list until you reach your device.
  4. Press Shift+F10 or the Application key to right click your iOS device.
  5. Down arrow to Back Up and press enter. A quick series of tones will be heard from iTunes when the backup has completed.

iTunes for Mac Backup

  1. Find and open iTunes. You may want to launch it by pressing Command+O instead of Control+Option+Space Bar so iTunes doesn’t “forget” the location of your media library if it has changed from the default.
  2. Use the Control+Option+Left and Control+Option+Right Arrow keys to navigate to the Sources table.
  3. Press Right Arrow+Down Arrow to interact with the Sources table.
  4. Press down arrow until you reach the name of your iOS device. If a dialogue box opens asking you to log into Apple’s Ping social networking service, press escape to close it and resume moving down the list. If a dialogue box about your iTunes purchases opens, press enter on its OK button, then continue down the list until you reach your device.
  5. Press Control+Option+Shift+M to open a context menu for your iOS device.
  6. Down arrow to Back Up and press enter. A quick series of tones will be heard from iTunes when the backup has completed.

Update iOS

Once you have completed the iCloud and iTunes backups, you are ready to update iOS.

  1. Flick to and double tap Settings.
  2. Right flick to and double tap General.
  3. Right flick to and double tap Software Update.
  4. Right flick to and double tap Download and Install to start the update process. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for the download to complete. Left flicking a few times will take you to a download progress indicator. Once the download has finished, you will hear a couple of messages about downloading and verifying the update. Your iOS device will reboot and complete the installation of the new software.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: iPhone, podcast

CSUN: LookTel Recognizer for iOS

March 6, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow talk with Joe Soderquist and explore the new LookTel Recognizer object identification app for blind users of iOS devices. Follow LookTel (@LookTel) on Twitter for the latest news on Money Reader, Recognizer and the company’s upcoming products.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, iPhone, podcast

CSUN: Nancy Miracle – Digit-Eyes Bar Code Scanner for iOS

March 6, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In this approximately 29-minute podcast, Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow talk with Nancy Miracle about the Digit-Eyes bar code scanning and labeling app for iOS. Nancy assures us the product is alive and well and lets us know that an update will be released in the near future. Follow Digit-eyes (@digit_eyes) on Twitter for the latest news.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, iPhone, podcast

CSUN: iHealth Scale and Blood Pressure Monitor

March 6, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In this approximately 13-minute podcast, Allison Hilliker, Darrell Shandrow and Peter Cantisani demonstrate a Bluetooth scale and a dockable blood pressure monitor for iOS devices from iHealth Labs.

iHealth HS-309 Digital Scale

The scale’s maximum weight capacity is 330 pounds. Pricing is $69.95 directly from iHealth Labs. Check sources like Amazon for lower pricing. Review these specifications for more product information. Email support@iHealth99.com to ask about improved app accessibility and the ability to keep the scale paired with the iOS device when it is not in use.

iHealth iPhone, iPad BP3 Blood Pressure Monitor

The blood pressure monitor docks with the iOS device. Pricing is $99.95 directly from iHealth. Check Amazon and other sources for lower pricing. Review these specifications for more product information. Email support@iHealth99.com to ask about improved app accessibility.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, iPhone, podcast

CSUN: Kevin Chao on Moving Accessibility Forward

March 5, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In this approximately 33-minute show, Darrell Shandrow chats with Kevin Chao about advocacy, Android, electronic books, iOS, podcasting, product testing and the rest of his work to move the accessibility industry forward. We congratulate Kevin (@kevinchao89) on his new position with the Alternative Media Access Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Check out these interesting resources Kevin mentions during our interview.

Paul J. Adam (@pauljadam) joins us near the end of the show for a fascinating conversation about how the Android operating system works and compares with iOS.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, podcast

CSUN: Milestone 312 Accessible MP3 Player from Bones, Inc.

March 5, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Bones Inc. founder Stephan Knecht talks with Darrell Shandrow and demonstrates the company’s Milestone 312 multipurpose MP3 player. This product supports fascinating add-ons including a color detector and an RFID tag reader, both of which are featured in this podcast.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, podcast

CSUN: ScripTalk Accessible Prescription Labels from En-Vision America

March 5, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Darrell Shandrow interviews Anna McClure from En-Vision America about the company’s talking prescription labeling system.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, podcast

CSUN: Allison Sheridan – A Sighted Geek’s Adventure in Computers and Accessibility

March 4, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In this approximately 28-minute show, Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow chat with accessibility evangelist, engineer, tech geek extraordinaire and all-around amazing Allison Sheridan all about her adventures with computer technology in general and accessibility in particular.

Allison Sheridan (@podfeet) hosts a weekly show called the Nosillacast Podcast, “A technology geek podcast with an ever-so-slight Macintosh bias.”

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: CSUN, podcast

CSUN: Perkins Products Mini Braille Display

March 4, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow chat with Gayle Yarnall and learn all about the Perkins Products Mini Braille display.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: Braille, CSUN, podcast

CSUN: Freedom Scientific Focus 14 Blue Braille Display

March 4, 2012 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow talk with Ryan Jones all about Freedom Scientific’s soon-to-be-released Focus 14 Blue Braille display.

We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts. These efforts made it possible for us to share our CSUN experience with all of you and expand our knowledge of the assistive technology field.

We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with us in the comments. What do you like? How could we make the show better? What topics would you like us to cover on future shows?

If you use Twitter, let’s get connected! Please follow Allison (@AlliTalk) and Darrell (@darrell).

Categories: Braille, CSUN, podcast