Not a month has gone by since We posted an article on Narrator including AI-driven image tags and Microsoft is back at it yet again, though with an older project which finally has made public fruition. Introduced at Build 2016, this project had a goal of bringing powerful image recognition technology which could be used to augment every day life, especially when combined with the power of the cloud. Today, The app is available in the iOS app store in the United States, Canada, India,...

If there was a word which is to define the era that dominates this early 21st century, it no doubt would be the cloud. Everything has moved to incorporating some cloud-based feature or another. Whilst screen reading has done OCR and other image recognition prior, this too was relegated to locally performed magic, rather than anything that used the cloud to process data. The rise of huge AI clusters which now can process trillions of calculations a second has created a better opportunity for...

There are many twitter clients that are available for Windows, but very few are designed to work with screen readers. In this podcast, Leonid demonstrates the interface, as well as several useful features on TWBlue, a free, open source twitter client. Let us know what you think in the comments!

In this podcast, I demonstrate how to use Reaper to import a piece of audio, select a portion of it, and export it to GoldWave in order to make a ringtone for the iPhone. Those wishing to make tones for Android may follow these steps, but no exporting to GoldWave is necessary. Just save it in Reaper and transfer it to your phone. Have fun! If you're wishing to get Reaper and GoldWave, look no further: Here's Reaper Here's GoldWave

In November of 2016, Jenny Lay-Flurrie revealed to Cool Blind Tech, in an exclusive announcement, that braille support was coming to Narrator. Now the feature has rolled out in Windows 10 insiders build 15025. It is still in beta, but James Oates has decided to give us an early look at this new feature. He also shows us the new mono-audio feature that has been added to Narrator.

In this episode, James Oates demonstrates how to setup Windows Calendar on a PC running Windows 10 Anniversary Update. He shows us how to create an event and send out a calendar invite. He reviews the keyboard shortcuts available in Windows Calendar, and he creates an event using Cortana. During this demonstration, James uses Narrator with ETI Eloquence for Windows. Eloquence is an add-on that can be purchased here.

We're always excited to see good quality audio games, particularly ones with high bars in sound and game play hit the market. One fault many games suffer from is replay-ability - can I still do cool post-game action and have things feel more random in the story after I'm done? Or have I just wasted $39 of my money for a week's worth of distractions, anticipation, and nervous fits over not being able to complete my game? When playing Manamon, these were some of the factors that lead us to...

In this episode of the REAPER series, Alex shows you how to switch and combine takes in an audio track to make one cohesive track. We listen to some seriously underwhelming takes, and some really cool and intricate ones. Takes are sections of audio that are recorded, most likely multiple times and are able to be combined to make a "perfect" section of music. Next, he discusses automation. Automation is a way to alter plugin or track parameters by creating an envelope that automatically...

In this episode, James Oates introduces us to the built in Windows Mail client, which is a part of Windows 10 Anniversary Update. He shows us how to configure multiple accounts, create a signature line for our outgoing mail, how to create and send a message, how to reply to a message, how to activate a link within a message, how to quickly navigate a webpage using Microsoft Edge, how to search for a message, how to find all of your mail folders, how to use mail filters, how to format text in...

Welcome back. Here, Alex walks us through editing presets by hand using Notepad. Since basically everything that's good isn't accessible in the music world, you gotta do silly and time-consuming workarounds. Depending on what kind of tone maniac and audio aficionado you are, you might decide to go through this.

In this podcast, James Oates shows us how to use the Groove Music app. Groove Music is a built in application that comes with Windows10. He provides us with all of the key strokes that are available for Groove Music. He shows us how to search for music and create a playlist. He demonstrates the new feature that allows us to edit a song’s metadata. He shows us how easy it is to control Groove Music by using voice commands with Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana. Finally, he shows us how to...

In this episode of the Audacity for Windows series, we go through some every-day edit commands. Sprinkled with humor and sarcasm, Alex brings you to the wonderful world of checking general loudness of audio selections and exporting some uncompressed glory. Mac users: Stay tuned; we have Audacity things in the works. There are few but vital differences between Windows and Mac builds of Audacity. Note: Some effects (like the reverb) are separate from Audacity and can be downloaded by...

This supplemental series is for those who have the Superior Drummer plugin from Toontrack. We already assume you have the plug installed, and move into navigating the interface, which is actually quite usable for simple things with NVDA. If you need to add drum libraries to your drum path, you've come to the right place. Part 2 covers advanced topics.

In this podcast, James Oates tells you everything you need to know about the latest update to Windows 10. He explains the Task Viewer, virtual desktops, the new Start Menu, Cortana’s enhanced performance, Microsoft Edge, extensions for Microsoft Edge, the all new and powerful Narrator, Windows Ink Workspace, the new Settings app, projecting to your computer from other devices, the new Feedback app, the find your Windows Phone feature, how to lock your screen, and the new short cut for...

Alex begins a little tutorial on Audacity for Windows using NVDA. He goes through some preferences that are useful and then shows off the interface a bit. Future episodes in this series will cover real editing: Selection, cutting and pasting, zooming in and out to really hone in on a bit of audio you wish to manipulate. Stay tuned!

In part 4 of REAPER, we record a simple multi-track music project using VST plugins, MIDI drums, guitar amp simulators and some equalizers. Remember that in Part 3, we created our tracks and made a guitar folder to make things simpler to quickly navigate the tracks in your project. In Part 4, we proceed to record two guitar tracks as well as a bass track. After, we briefly learn about the master track and limiters. Recabinet and Thermionik An excellent freeware master...

Part 3 is finally here. Alex shows some preliminary configuration options for setting up REAPER to record music on Windows. This includes per-project media folders and using the metronome. He also quickly blabs about MIDI devices. Stay tuned for part 4 where we record an actual bit of music. PS: A vocal mixing episode is in the future, as well as basic external effect mixing and processing. All from a hard rock and metal musician prospective, of course. :)

In this podcast, Alex demonstrates NVDA Remote, a free add-on for NVDA that makes it possible to control another computer using speech and Braille. This lends itself to many uses: tech support, accessibility testing, remote programming and just all around fun. Visit NVDARemote.Com to download the add-on. eSight enables people with legal blindness to actually see. Want to try eSight? Get in touch with their team by calling : 1 855 837 4448 You can fill out the Try eSight form here.

In this podcast, Alex describes the NVDA gestures dialog and remapping or adding keystrokes for NVDA's commands. Visit the NVDA Homepage eSight enables people with legal blindness to actually see. Want to try eSight? Get in touch with their team by calling : 1 855 837 4448 You can fill out the Try eSight form here.

In this episode, Alex quickly shows you how to start recording with REAPER. He then edits out a burp and explains the various ripple modes used for splitting and removing items. ESight enables people with legal blindness to actually see. Want to try eSight? Get in touch with their team by calling : 1 855 837 4448 You can fill out the Try eSight form here.

Welcome to the Reaper on Windows series. In this series, Alex will show you how to start using Reaper for your audio needs. Reaper is a full-featured digital audio workstation (DAW) with tons of capability for a reasonable price tag. In this episode, Alex demonstrates installing the unofficial OSARA keymap and explains some features of OSARA and Reaper. At the end we make silly noises with effects. This is intended as a general overview and why Alex enjoys REAPER so much. We'll get into...

If you have always wanted to try out an operating system but you don’t want to risk losing your files, one good solution is to install it on a virtual machine. A virtual machine allows you to install an OS in an isolated environment, so even if anything goes wrong, your primary OS is still intact. It also lets you experiment without forcing you to part with your current OS. In this podcast, Leo walks you through installing Windows 10 on VMware Player, a free software which allows you to...

Was your most favorite part of Windows 7 the handy search box that you first landed in when you opened it? Were you fighting against upgrading to Windows 8.1 because you could not be parted with your beloved search box companion? Well, not to worry, as Microsoft has heard you loud and clear. The new Windows 10 start menu combines the traditional look and feel of Windows 7 and merged it with many of the modern features of Windows 8. In this podcast, Cory demonstrates how NVDA is navigating...

Just when we thought Microsoft’s new modern browser Edge would not be accessible, the folks over at NV Access had to show everyone that NVDA is literally on the Edge. While the functionality demonstrated here is only available at this time in the next release versions of the NVDA software and certainly is not recommended for production environments, the fact that it seems to be working very well gives us a very promising glimpse at what we can expect from Microsoft’s accessibility support...