On FSCast 226, we’ll get to know longtime JAWS beta tester, self-proclaimed language nerd, and software developer Andre Polykanine. Then Andre will serve as translator for a visit with Sasha Hordiiko and Igor Kushnir of the Ukrainian Association of the Blind. We’ll hear about their work and find out what life has been like since the beginning of the war.

On FSCast 225, we celebrate Braille Literacy Month with two guests for whom braille plays a pivotal role.  Bill McCann, founder of Dancing Dots, has been helping blind musicians with all aspects of music creation for the past 32 years.  And Campbell Rutherford, a former Freedom Scientific Student of the Month, is now studying applied mathematics at Harvard.   Transcript at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 224, it's the archive of the November 2022 FSOpenLine. We discuss improved support for the Outlook Scheduling assistant in JAWS 2023, and take your questions on a variety of topics including: searching for commands in JAWS and Office apps, preventing mail from going to the Outlook Junk folder, and providing resources to people who create inaccessible PDF files.   Transcript at Blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 223, it’s the Second Annual Audio Description Awards put on by the American Council of the Blind.  We’ll hear about some of the winners and talk about all things audio description with Kim Charlson, co-chair of the ACB Audio Description Project, and Thomas Reid, audio description narrator and host of the Gala two years running.   Transcript available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 222, we’ll demonstrate how creating rules to manage notifications just got more powerful, thanks to the use of regular expressions.  It may sound a bit intimidating, but we’ll take it step by step, and you’ll see just how easy it really is. Then we’ll meet M. Leona Godin and hear about her book “There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness.”   Transcript and links available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 221, we’ll get to know chef and entrepreneur Christine Ha.  Since winning “Master Chef” Season 3 back in 2012, she’s published a cookbook, opened multiple restaurants, hosted a cooking show on AMI Canada, and more.    Then Judy Dixon will be here to talk about her latest book.  It’s about Microsoft Word and called “Formatting Documents for Appearance.”   Transcript available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On the Archive of the August 2022 FSOpenLine, Ryan Jones, Glen Gordon, and Rachel Buchanan take your calls on a variety of topics including: Math in Braille with JAWS, switching Braille tables on the fly, Quick Keys in Word, efficiently reading Windows event logs, and    why new JAWS  versions are installed along side old ones.   Transcript available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 219, we’ll spend some time with Ryan Jones, Freedom Scientific’s new Vice President of Software Product Management.  He’ll share a bit of his background, talk about what’s coming in the JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2023 product betas, and demonstrate the new JAWS Smart Glance feature.    Then a visit with Svetlana, the Freedom Scientific July Student of the Month.   Transcript available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 218, Eric Damery joins Glen Gordon for what will probably be the last time. After over 28 years tirelessly advocating for JAWS and other software, and always being around to help users who are having problems, he’s decided to retire.  This time, rather than talking about a new product feature, Eric is here to reflect upon some of the highlights of his career.   You can read the transcript, and listen to some of the obsolete 1996 JAWS 2.0 training tapes, at...

On the archive of the June 2022 FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: using JAWS with the Dvorak keyboard layout,  a request for better support of WhatsApp on Windows, using JAWS with the touch screen on a Surface Pro, switching  from JAWS Professional to a Home license, and   lack of spoken feedback when selecting messages in Thunderbird.   Read the transcript at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast

On FSCast 216, we have an answer to the age-old question, “What do you do about applications that tell us too much?” It’s the new JAWS Notification History Manager to the rescue. With it, you can gain precise control over which messages are spoken and which are shown in Braille. We’ll get you started by demonstrating how to make Microsoft Edge less chatty.   Then we’ll get to know Richard Oehm, electronics engineer, entrepreneur, doctor of Optacons, and all-around interesting guy.   Read...

On FSCast 215 we’ll get to know long-time developer Joe Stephen.  In addition to his work on JAWS, he does manual labor on his family farm in rural Tasmania and manages  to find the time to add accessibility support to some handheld ham radios.    Then Toby Willis will be here to talk about Expedia and their current initiatives to make booking travel more inclusive.   Text transcript at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast

On FSCast 214, Adrian Amandi will be here to talk about the Second Annual National Coding Symposium.  It’s aimed at blind students of all ages to get them interested in careers in software development.  The conference is free, online, and available to people worldwide.    Then we’ll get to know Gary O’Donoghue, Chief North America Political Correspondent for the BBC, and longtime JAWS user.

On FSCast 213, Dr. Robert Englebretson, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Rice University, discusses the Braille code for the International Phonetic Alphabet, why reading Braille is different than reading print, and his ongoing research about how Braille is taught.   Transcript available at https://blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast

On the archive of the February 2022 FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: new VocalizerExpressive voices in  the latest software updates, keystrokes for identifying the site to which a link points, finding out where a file will be saved, Eloquence spontaneously  getting louder mid  sentence, and certain video cards hijacking keystrokes to rotate the screen.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/FSOpenLine.

On FSCast 211, Chancey Fleet discusses training workshops offered by the New York Public Library, many of which are online and available to everyone.  She’s also quite the expert on 3D printing and will share some resources for doing that accessibly.    Then Glen demonstrates using the new Windows Terminal, and gives an introduction to working at the Windows Command Prompt.   Transcript available at blog.FreedomScientific.com/FSCast

On FSCast 210,  a focus on accessible science.  Maureen Hayden will share her experiences being low vision and doing her Ph.D. in marine biology.  Then Dr. Greg Williams and Ashley Neybert from Independence Science demonstrate the Talking LabQuest and Logger Pro® software, tools for making science experiments accessible.  Of course, JAWS plays an active part in the accessibility story.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/fscast.

On FSCast 209, Ryan Jones is here to talk about the process of running is annual Christmas light show involving thousands of lights choreographed to music. He does everything from putting lights on the roof to sequencing the light display using special software that JAWS makes accessible.   Then we'll meet Pedro Zurita who has spent his life advocating for blind people around the world and served as secretary general of the World Blind Union from 1986 to 2000.   Transcript available at...

On the archive of the December FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: ideas to improve Text Analyzer, JAWS failing to announce word count when reading the Word Status Bar, shortcut keys for JAWS speech history, simplified Braille tables for Braille learners, and the status of JAWS running on computers that use an ARM processor.

On FSCast 207, improvements to Tandem security require JAWS and Fusion to be up to date, and Richard Kuzma tells us how he’s using a combination of Tandem and Voice Assistant to support a fellow blind user.   Though Windows 11 sports a new visual look, it’s very much like Windows 10 if you’re a JAWS user. We’ll demonstrate some of what’s changed to help you decide if now is the time to update.   Plus, a visit with Cassandra McNabb McKinney whose low vision and works as a funeral director...

On FSCast 206, McDonald’s has partnered with Freedom Scientific and TPGI to develop their accessible self-order kiosks.  Over 500 have rolled out throughout the U.S., with more coming before the end of 2021.    Ryan Jones will give us a demo.  And then we’ll talk with Kelsey Hall, a product manager on the McDonald’s Digital Accessibility team, about how all the pieces of the project came together.   Transcrript at blog.freedomscientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 205, Eric Damery is back with more about what’s coming in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2022, and how you can try those features early.  Then we’ll meet Daniele Casarola.  He spent over two years teaching himself stenography and now works as a court reporter in Italy.  He does it with the help of a JAWS plugin for Plover, his stenography program.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/FSCast.

On the archive of August FSOpenLine, public betas of JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion have been released, home annual licenses are now available in Canada, and severe memory leaks on many computers running Dell Waves Audio. Plus, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: a request to show a running clock on Braille status cells, a desire for advanced Teams training, a push for additional Vocalizer Expressive voices, and hearing JAWS when a Bluetooth headset  is on a call.   Transcript...

On FSCast 203, Eric Damery is here to talk about some of the new features coming in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2022, and how you can try them out early as part of our public betas.    Then we’ll get to know Cory Jackson.  He’s an escalation specialist in our tech support department, but in his free time has developed a sizable YouTube and TikTok following.

On FSCast 202 we’ll get to know financial educator Chris Peterson and learn about some of the advantages of opening an ABLE account.   Then, to celebrate World Emoji Day, I’ll be joined by Garreth Tigwell and Benjamin Gorman, two authors of the paper “Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People.”   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/fscast