Listen to SeroTalk Podcast 173: Voice Assistant Uprising
Welcome to SeroTalk Podcast 173, where Jamie, Ricky and Joe discuss the top news stories of the week. Topics covered in this episode include:
Shutdown Slams Blind Merchants
2013 Employment Resources for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired
ReadIt Air Now Shipping Vision Air International
GWSocialEyes Price Change Coming Soon
Turn on Accessibility Features on your Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Fire HDX:
Eye surgeon Anthony Vipin Das has created shoes that see for the blind
Disney invents touchscreen that lets you feel textures
Apps on iPhone 5S more crash-prone than other models
Apple reportedly cutting iPhone 5C production in half
Apple’s iPad event reportedly set for October 22
Twitter to let you watch TV through a tweet
Samsung import ban in effect after President Obama declines to veto ITC order
Leaked Doc Provides More Nexus 5 Details
Android 4.4 KitKat: The seven things we know so far
PayPal Lets You Pay With QR Codes
On Kickstarters and Sandwiches
Mailbag
Hi SeroTalk Podcast Team (whoever you may be this week), My name is Kelsey and I live in England. As a listener to your show for almost a year now (wow!), this is my first time contributing to the show. Whilst sitting on the train earlier last week, a rather interesting thought came to me. Android, as we all know, is skinned by hardware and software developers. For example, HTC phones and Nexus devices, besides their hardware, look completely different. Of course, many blind people know this due to the frustration of inaccessible UIs. Well, I was thinking, do you think creators of Windows 8 tablets may start to introduce this? With the Surfaces (Surfi?) being the equivalent of a Google Nexus with Android and then other manufacturers (Acer, Del etc) skinning Windows to make it unique. With MicroSoft’s cooperation, there is a strong possibility that Windows may start heading this way. How do you think this would effect accessibility? Do you think it would begin to fragment the same way TalkBack does on several Android phones and tablets? Moving a little further into this fantasy Android meets the all-mighty Windows, could the desktop, for want of a better word, die? Could the Windows 8 start screen take over and the desktop vanish? Personally, I believe that laptop/desktop computers should have the desktop and the new start screen however the tablet version of Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT should just have an all-inclusive start screen and scrap the desktop.
This would likely start a we hate MicroSoft uprising in the mainstream community because, as we know, the start screen has not been adopted with the open arms that MicroSoft were obviously hoping for. As a user of Windows 8 for over a year now (I got it the day it came out), I have fallen in love with the new UI and think this is a great plan for the future of desktop computing. Yes, a few tweaks here and there are required for an optimal experience but for those people who are not ready for a fully touch-based experience just yet, Windows 8 is still a lovely operating system. Really, I believe that tablet computing is the future of consumer business and over here, laptops and desktops alike are not yet becoming extinct but they’re not as popular as they were say three or four years back. Many people do have a love hate relationship with Windows 8 and I understand that fully. I’m sure in 2015 – 2016 everyone will find something else to moan about, we’ll all be used to the start screen, MicroSoft will change it again based on the complaints of 2012 – 2013 and we’ll all moan once more! I love your show and hope you keep up the good work for years to come where you can talk about new technologies as it comes along. Thanks, Kelsey
P S: Jo, I can’t wait for the next Apple event (potentially scheduled for October apparently). I’m sure you’re as excited as I am!
Roundabout
Colorado sixth-grader’s beer-making experiment headed for space
My Daughter’s Homework Is Killing Me
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