tips

CallBurner: Finally, Fully Accessible Skype Call Recording is Here at Last!

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The people at Netralia, developers of the Skylook Skype call management and recording application for Microsoft Outlook, have recently released a new Skype call recording product that does not depend on Outlook. The new CallBurner application enables annotation and recording of all Skype calls while providing a clean, simple user interface.

After learning of the existence of this new product, I downloaded a trial copy of the software. While finding it reasonably usable for basic call recording, I found the call detail window largely inaccessible with any screen reader, including JAWS, System Access and Window-Eyes. I promptly wrote a short note to the company’s support e-mail address requesting accessibility enhancements to permit full use of CallBurner with screen reading software. On Thursday, July 5, I was absolutely flabbergasted to receive a response from the company’s senior developer offering a beta copy of an accessible version of the software for my testing! This response came in less than three weeks of my initial request!

After downloading the test copy of CallBurner, I immediately began to put it through its paces. After enabling “Screen Reader Compatibility” in the Accessibility sub-menu of the program’s System Tray icon, I was instantly delighted to discover extensive keyboard navigation, a tabbed Call Details dialogue box and full accessibility without need of screen reader configuration or scripts. Follow these steps to enable “Screen Reader Compatibility” after downloading and installing CallBurner:

  1. Minimize all running programs and focus on the Desktop by pressing Left Windows+M.

  2. Press JAWS Key+F11, Modifier+F11 (System Access) or Insert+S (Window-Eyes) to open the System Tray menu.

  3. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to right click its System Tray icon.

  4. Press enter on the Accessibility sub-menu.

  5. Press enter on “Screen Reader Compatibility”. This is the only option currently found in the Accessibility sub-menu.

  6. The following dialogue box is shown: “Screen Reader Compatibility is now turned ON. NOTE: You need to restart CallBurner for this change to become effective.”

  7. Press enter on the OK button to accept the change.

  8. Press JAWS Key+F11, Modifier+F11 (System Access) or Insert+S (Window-Eyes) to return to the System Tray menu.

  9. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to right click its System Tray icon.

  10. Up arrow to the Quit option and press enter.

  11. Press the Left Windows key or CTRL+Escape to open the Start menu.

  12. Press p to open the All Programs menu.

  13. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to open its sub-menu.

  14. Press enter on CallBurner to start the program. The Call Details window opens, presenting a tabbed dialogue box that delivers a fully accessible user interface to all CallBurner functions.

  15. Press the End key to move to the Help tab.

  16. Press the Tab key once to select Browse On-Line Help and press enter to open CallBurner’s documentation in a typical web browser window. This help will serve to get you started with CallBurner in short order.

The latest version of CallBurner, incorporating the “Screen Reader Compatibility” enhancement, has been made available as of Saturday, July 7, 2007. I highly recommend CallBurner to anyone, blind or sighted, who needs to record Skype calls. The ability and willingness of the developers to make their software accessible in less than three weeks of such a request demonstrates the commitment of this company to high quality, reliable customer service and technical support. We should all send a quick note of thanks to the CallBurner Team expressing our appreciation for their prompt attention to our accessibility needs and encouraging their developers to continue the excellent work in this area for all their software. Stay tuned to Blind Access Journal and other blind community online resources for demonstrations, reviews, tips and other information covering the use of this excellent application.

Broadcasting a Skype Voice Chat Over Station Playlist Studio Using Two Sound Cards and No Mixer

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I have figured out how to broadcast a voice chat session using Skype over Station Playlist Studio using two sound cards with no hardware mixer. This configuration was tested for the first time this afternoon during a four hour show on ACB Radio Interactive. Feel free to try this procedure and give us some feedback with your own results.

Sound card settings

Make the following adjustments to the sound card volume control in the Control Panel:

  • Playback: Microphone and wave not muted. Reduce microphone volume to prevent distortion.

  • Recording: What you hear selected with 100 percent volume setting.

Studio Settings

This configuration requires at least Station Playlist version 4.0, as it takes advantage of the software’s built-in mixing capability:

  • Input > Mic Input tab:

    • Recording mixer: “What You Hear”

    • Output mixer: none

  • Output > Mixer tab: Switch device to another sound card or possibly Null output. Switch the screen reader to the sound card selected on Studio’s Output > Mixer tab or a second sound card if null was selected in Studio. Use a second pair of earbuds or headphones to hear broadcast monitoring and speech from the screen reader.

Skype Settings

In Tools > Options > Audio, uncheck “let Skype adjust my audio settings”. This adjustment is necessary to prevent Skype from significantly reducing the volume during the broadcast.

Moving JAWS to the System Tray

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The following tech tip is derived from a message I wrote to a mailing list in response to a request for help to remove JAWS from the order of windows presented when changing tasks using the Alt+Tab command.

You can run JAWS from the System Tray instead of the Taskbar, which will remove it from the alt+tab order of windows.  Follow these steps: 

  1. Press JAWS Key+J to open the JAWS window.

  2. Press alt+o for the Options menu.

  3. Press b for the Basics dialogue.

  4. Tab over to “Run JAWS from the System Tray” and press the space bar to check this box.

  5. Tab to OK and press enter.

  6. The next time JAWS or your computer restarts, JAWS will be in the System Tray.

    7.  

Note: In the vast majority of scenarios, the JAWS Key is the insert key on the lower left-hand corner of the numeric keypad.

Set Message Priority and Request Read Receipt in Outlook Express

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Karen has asked me several times to teach her how to set the priority and request a read receipt for outgoing messages in Outlook Express. Setting the priority tells the recipient that you deem the contents of your message as being of low, normal or high importance. Requesting a “read receipt” is an attempt to determine whether or not the intended recipient has actually opened and read your message. The recipient may choose whether or not to acknowledge receipt of your message. The ability to do this can sometimes be helpful when dealing with advocacy situations where e-mail communications are involved. It seemed like these features might be sufficiently significant to warrant a tech tip here on the journal, so I hope some of you find these instructions helpful. This procedure is not screen reader specific.

Follow these steps to compose a new message, set its priority to “high” and request that the recipient acknowledge receipt:

  1. Run Outlook Express as usual.

  2. Press CTRL+N to compose a new message.

  3. Complete the “To”, “CC”, “BCC” and “Subject” fields as you normally would when sending e-mail.

  4. Write the text of your message.

  5. Press Alt+M to pull down the Message menu.

  6. Press p to open the Set Priority submenu.

  7. Press h to check the “High” option. You may, instead, press l to choose “Low” or n to choose “Normal” priority. Normal is the default.

  8. Press Alt+T to pull down the Tools menu.

  9. Press t to check “Request Read Receipt”.

  10. Press Alt+S or CTRL+Enter to send the message with high urgency and a request that the recipient acknowledge receipt of your communication.

Showing Internet Explorer 7.0 How to Get Along with VIP Conduit

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Are you having trouble accessing the chat rooms at http://www.vipconduit.com using Internet Explorer 7.0? Are you seeing various browser security related messages? Even though you know you have downloaded and installed the latest version of the VIP Communicator, is the client showing you strange error messages and unceremoniously closing? The solution is to add vipconduit.com to Internet Explorer’s “Trusted sites” zone and reduce the security of that zone. Here’s how to get that done:

  1. Open Internet Explorer 7 as usual.

  2. Press alt+t to pull down the Tools menu.

  3. Press o to select Options.

  4. Press Control+Tab to move to the Security page.

  5. Press tab to “select a web content zone”.

  6. Press right arrow until you reach “Trusted sites”.

  7. Press tab twice to move to the “security level” field.

  8. Press the End key to set the security level to “0 percent” which allows trusted sites to download, install and run most content without prompts.

  9. Press shift+tab to move to the “Sites” button, then press the space bar.

  10. If you are not already there, press shift+tab to move to the “Add this website to the zone” field.

  11. Press tab to select the Add button and press the space bar.

  12. Tab to the “Close” button and press the space bar.

  13. Tab to the OK button and press enter to dismiss the dialogue box and return to the browser window. You have now added vipconduit.com to the list of web sites that are implicitly trusted by your browser.

You can repeat this procedure for any sites you wish to use without running into frequent security related prompts displayed by means of Internet Explorer’s new info bar. Exercise extreme caution when adding a site to those trusted by Internet Explorer. It would be a very good idea for you to implicitly trust the authors of the web site before even thinking about asking your browser to do the same.