Fun with the Cool Blind Tech Podcast guys, My ScreenCasts Online tutorial is up about Parallels Toolbox. I was on DTNS Live and Steve captured some funny moments on video. I walk through all of the options for when you go to High Sierra and Office 2011 won’t work any more, centered around my love for Excel. I’ll explain my Bluetooth dropout problem and how I got it fixed. Then we’ll have a Tiny Tip about Previous Recipients in Mail.
Hi, this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Mac Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Apple bias. Today is Sunday, October 8, 2017, and this is show number 648.
Cool Blind Tech
Last week I had the great pleasure of being invited on the Cool Blind Tech Podcast with Nelson Régo and James Oates. James’s invite letter really made me feel good; he said he admired my work for a long time. When we got together on Skype and before recording, James and Nelson both talked about how they recommend my shows and their blind friends ask why, since I can see. It was a pretty interesting perspective, how could a sightling add to the accessibility discussion? Like I said, that part wasn’t recorded.
In the recording, we talk about Amazon adding new accessibility features for blind and impaired customers. I remember when Amazon started how lame they were at accessibility for the blind so this was really cool and I liked how the guy in charge of accessibility says they’re just getting started. Remember when Steve and I went to CSUN this year and we interviewed the folks from Second Sight that were demonstrating an optical implant that allowed the guy to see? Well, they’ve now been granted conditional approval for a small study where they’re going to bypass the eye and even the optic nerve and actually stimulate the visual cortex directly. This means that even without an eye or functioning optic nerve people would be able to see again. James and Nelson and I discuss the ramifications of this and how it could change their own lives.
Finally, we talk about a recent court opinion in the United States which ruled that a website is a place of public accommodation and therefore fits under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires companies to provide equal access to persons with disabilities. In the past this has only been applied to physical locations, so that’s why we now have wheelchair ramps and accessible bathrooms in public places. This is the first time that a website has had the ADA requirements applied to it.
There’s a link in the shownotes to the Cool Blind Tech episode entitled VIP: Bouncy House Special with Allison Sheridan. You’ll have to listen to find out what Bouncy House has to do with accessibility!
ScreenCasts Online
In July I told you about my new favorite collection of tools, Parallels Toolbox. I was so excited about this set of apps that I decided to do a screencast on it for ScreenCasts Online. It had to wait in the queue until Don was done doing his AMAZING tutorials about High Sierra and iOS 11. If you haven’t seen them, definitely go check those out: iOS 11 – Part 1, iOS 11 – Part 2 and macOS High Sierra Release. Anyway, the Parallels Toolbox video is now up, and you can find it at the link in the shownotes: Parallels Toolbox on ScreenCasts Online
Chit Chat Across the Pond
Erica Peterson of Moms Can: CODE joins us this week on Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite to talk about her new startup designed to help mothers who code to connect and collaborate.
We talk about her life as a mother of a five-year-old, while coding, while teaching high school biology, creating a startup and running a non-profit. The non-profit is called Science Tots, which is focused on bringing STEAM activities to non-science-based events.
Check it out in the Chit Chat Across the Pond Lite feed, or the full Chit Chat Across the Pond feed, or of course there’s a link in the shownotes.
Blog Posts
DTNS 3132 Live – I Make Videos on the Internet
This weekend was the LA Podcast Festival and the people who run it asked Tom Merritt if he’d like to do Daily Tech News Show live at the event. They scheduled it for Friday afternoon at 1:30 pm, and unfortunately, Tom was going to be at a wedding. He asked Justin Robert Young to step in as host, and then brought in Jeff Cannata, Darren Kitchen and me to be on it with him. We all trundled with producer Roger Chang to downtown LA. I have to say, I was super excited to get to meet all of them in person and especially to be on the air with them.
So get this, we set up in what was a pretty tiny conference room, might have held 30-40 people if they snuggled up close. But guess how many people came? ZERO!!! Seriously. It was the weirdest thing. These guys are much more well known than I am and of course Tom and DTNS is huge in tech podcasts, but we had NO audience.
Steve recorded a video of the entire show, and at the end he put in outtakes. If you already heard the show, I highly recommend going to the link in the shownotes and jumping to around 46 minutes where he plays the time of us goofing around before the show starts. The BEST part of the show is at 49:30 when two guys come in…and then realize they’re in the wrong session and LEAVE. I’m still laughing at what Jeff Cannata says when this happens, it was hysterical.
One more thing on this – Steve and I did some “Market Research” after our session, by going to the bar in the hotel for a drink. We found some attendees, and we found out that LA Podfest is primarily a comedy podcast festival, so people go to this show to see comedians. Evidently, the people who run it were trying to branch out a bit into tech, but didn’t exactly get the word out on it! At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.
There’s No Place Like Excel
Patreon and Amazon
As you’ve probably noticed, there are no ads on the Podfeet Podcasts. It’s not that I’m not approached by people wanting to advertise, it’s that we’ve got a different model here. The show is entirely funded by the Amazon Affiliate Links and by those of you who contribute via Patreon and PayPal. In the last week we’ve had a donation via PayPal from Robert after his first time in the live show, Travis started supporting the show via Patreon and Michael actually increased his level of support in Patreon. And not to forget Amazon – there was a payout from Germany and the US that will go a long way towards funding the costs of making the shows. I can’t thank all of you enough for showing the value you get out of the show in all of these ways. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!
Bluetooth Dropout FIXED!
Tiny Tip – Previous Recipients
That’s going to wind this up for this week. Don’t forget to send in your Dumb Questions, comments and suggestions by emailing me at [email protected], follow me on twitter @podfeet. Remember, everything good starts with podfeet.com/. podfeet.com/patreon, podfeet.com/facebook, podfeet.com/googleplus, podfeet.com/amazon! And if you want to join in the fun of the live show, head on over to podfeet.com/live on Sunday nights at 5pm Pacific Time and join the friendly and enthusiastic NosillaCastaways. Thanks for listening, and stay subscribed.
Speaking of accessibility, it would be funny if an accessibility tool’s website was inaccessible, so blind people couldn’t navigate the website to download it.