Listen to SeroTalk Podcast 178: The Longest Minute in History
Join Jamie, Ricky and Joe as they discuss the top stories of the week. Topics included in this episode include:
News in A T
National Federation of the Blind Applauds Landmark Ruling in Authors Guild v. Google
2013 Holiday Gift Ideas for Children and Adults with Vision Loss
NVDA 2013.3rc1 released for testing!
Sendero GPS LookAround for iOS gets a nice update and goes free:
iTunes Store Now Accepting Donations for Philippine Typhoon Relief
Mainstream Matters
BlackBerry interim CEO: It’s time to reclaim our success, not dwelling on the past
Best Buy halts all HP Chromebook 11 sales, other retailers ‘out of stock’
Facebook Pushes Password Resets After Adobe Hack
Apple releases iOS 7.0.4 with fix for FaceTime call drops
Amazon to Offer Sunday Delivery Via USPS for Prime Members
Nexus 5 Review: The Best Android Can Offer Especially For the Price
Android 4.4 KitKat review: designed by Google, for Google
An iPhone user’s guide to experimenting with a Nexus 5
Mailbag
Blog comment from Dave (
I for one wasn’t surprised by the clamour about Taptapsee going subscription. Many of the common accusations are right on. Yes, it should have been subscription from the start. Simply saying no one knew how popular it would become doesn’t wash. No one knew how popular Jaws would become, and it’s always been a commercial product. I’ll grant that this trick is somewhat new to the tech world, but it isn’t new especially to the blind world. I’ve lost count of the various small startup phone access solutions that have been popularised over the years simply because they were free. All of them have followed the free gaging popularity model before going subscription, after which, of course, popularity dropped precipitously to nonexistence. No, sighted people don’t have to pay, but then again, they wouldn’t even bother with it in the first place because they have no need for it. Yes, disabilities are expensive, so it’s equally true there ain’t no free lunch. I can remember my first experience
downloading Jaws. It was 15 Megs in size and took two hours to download with a dialup connection. I will eventually subscribe to taptapsee both because I need it and because it’s the right thing to do. But would be entreprenewers should take notice also, that simply using the free model to promote a product will only work until people feel they’ve been burned too many times by effectively falling into a trap that they made. For me, it is easier and more justifiable to afford taptapsee than it is a Netflix subscription that offers no audio description.
From Pam Francis
Hi folks,
I would like to take issue with Ricky & her statement of being blind is more expensive.
Serotek as a company has championed accessibility on all levels.
You have your own subscription service that has been subscription based from its inception. I have no issue with it being subscription based. You had the foresight of what it would cost to maintain servers etc. I only wish I could use it. As a mac user, to my knowledge, you don’t support Macs. However, back to my initial comments.
Philanthropy is nice, yet, for a company to develop a service that could be very essential to a blind person’s independence, making it free, then per there own lack of foresight having to charge a subscription is truly disingenuous to those who have grown to depend on the service.
I can’t imagine there isn’t some sort of grant available for this service’s maintenance in order to maintain the service as a free service for the sake of equality.
We all make choices as to what we pay for per month for our given lifestyle. However, with the advent of technology, we are able to buy or subscribe to most anything our sighted counterparts have access to. By the grace of God, I don’t need it for general pictures per the little vision I have. However, I can see a use for reading appliance screens etc.
It hasn’t been that long ago we as blind people were dependent on state agencies to fork over thousands of dollars for equipment related solely to employment. For those who chose to stay home & raise a family, for the most part, mainline accessibility was a dream.
I continue to support your podcasts & appreciate all of your hard work.
Sincerely,
Pam Francis
From Mike Arrigo
Well, I am glad I have found favor with the mail bag and that my messages do appear regularly on the show, smile.
I have actually purchased the swype keyboard, it’s well worth the $3.99. For the android users on the show, I guess that would be Ricky and Joe, I’m curious if you have experienced the issue with the default google keyboard where you find a letter, you lift your finger and that letter is not typed. The google keyboard is very picky about having your finger in exactly the right spot. The swype keyboard is much better about that, I have set it as my default keyboard and have not looked back. The speech recognition also works very well. Find the option to switch to voice input and lift your finger to dictate, then double tap the bottom part of the screen when you are done. It also announces when the keyboard is opening and closing. Also, if you have the suggestion feature enabled, you can slide your finger above the letters and move in a circle to read the suggestions, when you lift your finger, that word is inserted. It’s well worth the purchase in my opinion, I really cannot think of anything bad to say about it.
I was also disappointed at some of the comments on the email lists about tap tap see becoming subscription based. Come on people, it’s not like they are charging several hundred dollars, what they are charging is very reasonable, it drives me nuts when people expect to have everything handed to them for free. I agree with being treated like everyone else, and I don’t think we should have to pay extra to make a product accessible. But this is a bit different, Tap Tap See is providing a service, it’s not required to use the device, but something extra. The people that develop and make the service work need to make a living too. I think these people who are making a big deal out of this need to step back and look at the big picture for what it is.
Roundabout
Driverless Cars Are Further Away Than You Think
Why It’s So Hard To Crack Down On Distracted Driving
Terminally ill boy, whose hometown celebrated an early Christmas to fulfill his last wish, has died