VoiceOver Walkthrough on the Apple iPod Touch 4th Gen

Published 27/01/2012 by Amy

I recently updated my mp3 player from one I could no longer read and that didn’t talk to me to an iPod Touch that talks to me and I can talk back to it. I was already familiar with VO because I have a Mac computer and the family use an iPad but I thought I would do a really basic walkthrough with some of the functions on an iPod Touch in the video above..

I hope it helps and if you have any questions or queries relating to VoiceOver on any iDevice or you want to see a specific VO thing on an Apple Mac Mini, iPod Touch 4th or iPad leave a comment and I’ll do my best.

Settling in; What I did in the meantime.

Published 24/01/2012 by Amy

I’d been staring at my blogger layout for ages. I just wasn’t happy about it. I had all this ‘stuff’ on it and it seemed to detract from the whole point of why I started blogging. At first my blog was clean and simple looking, which I liked. It didn’t need a lot of graphics because it was the content I wanted people to focus on, I still do. I have to admit that the two changes to the layout/theme/user interface blogger went through tipped me off enough to want to move even back then. I was dithering about moving my blog because my readers had started going up, I was established and I’d added a custom domain name to my blog and had no idea how to move it or even if I could.

This weekend it just got to that point. You know that stage when you’re driven to make a decision because you can’t stand to be not moving anymore, in either direction, indecision is no longer an option. I was talking, well venting to my mum really while she was in the room doing the ironing and I was again staring at my blog just wondering what exactly what it was that was bugging me. Mums advice is always not to rush into anything, if you’re not sure, don’t do it. Which to me.. usually translates into, research, research, research till you know all the facts, what you can do, what you can’t do, and then if it feels right, do it.
Over the weekend I’d read a lot about different blogging platforms both free and paid, packages/bundles, pros and cons of moving or mapping domains as it seems to be termed, everything I needed to know to make sure it was the right decision. Also.. being the weekend, knowing these online changes would take time usually 3 days, that it would be the best time to jump for it, if I decided to. I don’t expect many people to be reading my blog on a Sunday evening/Monday morning.
So.. I jumped for it, as you can tell, or maybe not. Importing my blogger blog to wordpress was a pretty simple process. I knew moving my domain would be the time killer.

The instructions provided by WordPress for mapping your custom domain and GoDaddy’s step by step guide (if you’ve bought your domain through them and you’re settings are with them) it’s a straight forward process, just distract yourself like crazy and refrain from checking your website for at least 72 hours or it may lead to some kind of paranoia, frustration, insomnia and excessive tea drinking.

I am relieved and satisfied to have landed and I am much happier with my blog, which I think is really important. Having logged into my blog and attempted to write posts many times and just been instantly put off and unmotivated, which is really not the kind of attitude you want when you want to blog about something that’s important or interesting you, or sharing projects with friends. I’m also glad it didn’t take as long as I thought it would, around 48 hours if that so hopefully it hasn’t put any of you off, I’m hoping none of you noticed it, but that’s asking to much as I did post updates on FB, Twitter and Youtube keeping you posted on it’s process.

So, whilst I was waiting for changes to happen online I’ve been keeping myself busy with knitting and Bejewelled. I used to play it a lot on Yahoo but then it ate up all our internet data so I stopped. This past week I came across it as a game download in the app store so I downloaded it onto my mac mini and I’ve been playing it even more than before. It was a paid download, which I don’t usually do but I knew it would be worth it in this case. It wasn’t overly expensive when you think of what people pay for Xbox, PS3 and Wii games.

A rainbow suddenly appeared outside our front window this afternoon, I hadn’t noticed it raining or shining but there it was none the less, it’s the second I’ve seen so far this year. I got a few pictures of it.

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I’m a little blank for videos and visually impaired related posts at the moment so feedback from you guys would be most welcome. I do have a special something coming up, hopefully it will be here on Thursday and I can have a play around with it and have a video tutorial on it by the following week.

Did you have a good weekend?

Socks Spectacular!

Published 23/01/2012 by Amy

I was gutted, absolutely gutted when I heard that Peacocks was going into administration. Ok.. so I haven’t been a very loyal customer but I do go there every now and then for some things, mainly a new set of PJ’s and dressing gown for Christmas, Leggings because that’s like my most basic thing I wear practically every day and of course SOCKS. I love socks, especially the over the knee and stripy variety. But now, my stripy, over the knee sock collection is in jeopardy. I ask you, WILL we even have a ‘high street’ to walk down in 5 years time. Will window shopping be condemned to an archaic term our grandchildren will miss out on and just not get.

Peacocks were having a sale between 20 and 70% the mood was somber and hushed, not even the familiar white shiny floor underfoot or the friendly yellow glow of the lights could cheer any of us up. I zoned in on the socks immediately hoping to stock up while I could and here is my bounty.

I did actually get a black pair that match the white ones, I’m wearing them now and they are so super soft and cosy!! Wish I had bought more. So if you are a sock fanatic like me, head over to your nearest Peacocks shop and stock up!!
I also have this really bad habit of not being able to pass a wool shop without buying any. I have tonnes that I need to use up of varying sizes, DK, Chunky and not Super Chunky!!! I started off with a lot more but managed to weadle it down to these 4. I have plans for chunky knits, but first I need my 7-9mm needles to arrive from Ebay but I’m itching to get started, maybe it would still be a chunky project with super chunky wool even on 6mm needles? Also.. I’ve started going more projects in the round and I keep losing the beginning of the row, leading me to only do one stitch, or one pattern. I like variation so if anyone has a clue where I can get some ‘spacers’ or whatever they are called. I’ve seen them on a youtube video but in my usual online hangouts and in the shop today, nothing like it or even called spacers are available.

I’m still getting the hang of wordpress, took me ages to get those pictures in there so it’s not as intuitive as blogger but I love just playing around and figuring things out by trial and error so wish me luck. And hurry up Domain name stop hanging in the air and land!

Moving and Landing

Published 22/01/2012 by Amy

I am currently in the process of moving my blog from www.blind-style.com (blogger) to here on WordPress. Importing my blogger blog here was no problem, just having issues with bringing my domain name over, please bare with me and my blog. Fingers crossed we land successfully, eventually.

Thanks – Amy.

RNIB: Big Print Newspaper Review

Published 19/01/2012 by Amy

The ‘Big Print‘ Newspaper by the RNIB is the same size as a traditional newspaper, the fact that the font is clear, bold and 16pt hasn’t meant that it’s been blown up to a ridiculous unhelpful size, which is what I was worried about and have experienced when asking others to ‘enlarge’ things.. Especially at school, A3 exam and worksheets, not helpful. Just the text not the whole thing, seriously.

As well as the newspaper that features condensed highlights of all the weeks news it also comes with a free tv and radio guide, also in clear, bold 16pt font and well contrasted. The tv guide covers BB1, BB2, ITV, Channel 4 and 5. The radio includes R2, R3, R4, 4extra, R5 and Classic FM.

Goodies in the newspaper include a double crossword with quick and cryptic clues, a weekly recipe, jobs to do in the garden, weekly quotes, tea break questions and of course, horoscopes.

I really enjoy this newspaper, it’s condensed nature appeals to me, gives me all I need to know without the boring bits. Sports page on the back, answers to puzzles are on the last page.

It only costs £1.25 an issue (UK) £1.53 (Overseas) you can subscribe, quarterly, for 6 months or 12 months.

Quarterly: 13 issues £16.25

6 Months: 26 issues £32.50

12 Months: 52 issues £65.00

Subscription Helpline: 0303 123 9999

I give it a 5/5 and would recommend it, also makes a great gift. My parents got me a quarterly subscription as a Christmas present but I can see it begin extended!

Braille King Tutorial

Published 17/01/2012 by Amy

This is my video tutorial, my product review post can be read here.

Smile please.

Published 16/01/2012 by Amy

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately, which is why I haven’t blogged much, which also sucks and brings me down when I think about it. I don’t know what it is, I haven’t been ill or at least not any more than usual just.. unmotivated and unmotivation leads to ‘filler posts’ and as you know, I don’t like fillers, especially on my blog!

I thought I’d start of with a recent picture of my baby girl, who’s not so much of a baby, being that she floors me on a regular basis and barks enough to make me deaf (I wish). No matter my mood she always managed to cheer me up and I needed it last night. I was in such a weird mood I couldn’t get out of it. Nearly ended up snapping at one of my best friends while on FB glad I managed to curb myself before it was too late, her life is so much harder compared to mine for completely different reasons and even though I know this, I still seem to complain about mine when I know she’s thinking ‘Girl, cheer up you have SO much you’re bugging me!’. Or words to that affect.

After finally falling asleep at around 4am I got up at my alarm a lot groggier than usual, but I was determined to make today a new day and to make it count. I’ve been thinking of ways to chop and change my life, make it more interesting, try new things, just generally shake it up. One of the things I tried today was the stereotypical English drink. Tea. I’m not a fan of hot drinks, once I get past the obviousness of them being HOT and can cause PAIN there’s the taste factor. For the past decade if not longer Diet Coke and not Diet Pepsi have been pretty much all I drink. I know it’s bad.. but I can’t seem to get myself of it. I don’t like tap water or most water I’ve tried and I can force myself to have squash generally blackcurrant or peach but I can’t drink orange squash it upsets my stomach. I also have to have the squash probably a lot stronger than most. I need that kind of fizzy thing to enjoy drinks, I can’t explain it. I’ve been better in the last 6 months alternating Diet Pepsi with Supermarkets fizzy flavoured water. I’d drink chocolate milkshake all day if I wasn’t so paranoid of fat milk and calories I can’t read.

This morning I got up and couldn’t face the shower straight away. I know it might refresh and wake up some people but when you’re disorientated, groggy and thirsty, a cold 5 minutes getting undressed then hopping into a freezing cold or too hot shower (Why is our water pressure so demented in Devon?) doesn’t work for me, it’s not safe haha. Instead I went down the stairs to the kitchen and put the kettle on and made myself some marmite on toast, oatmeal bread, no butter, hint of marmite then made a cup of tea. Now I’ve tried lots of teas, mostly herbal and I just can’t stand them. Taste gross, probably because I’m not making them right or leaving them to steep long enough, whatever.. I’m sticking to ‘normal’ tea. Now.. the milk and sugar questions appears.. I figure I’ll try it with see how I go.. dash of milk, half a tea spoon of sugar. The taste doesn’t thrill me but it’s doable. I check my emails while I’m breakfasting and I wander over to Google and start googling how much honey I should put in my tea instead of sugar because being natural it’s probably a lot better and the calories more positive than negative. I’m typing ‘How much honey should I.. and what comes up.. ‘give to my dog’ I was like huhhhh! as tempting as it was to click not the Y! answers for this I carried on and finished my search. However, not finding the amount that made sense ie.. a teaspoon or whatever. I’ve decided to do what I do best. Trial and error. When mum finishes work this afternoon we’re going to walk to Sainsburys and I’m going to pick up some honey because I don’t think we have any in the house, it’s not something we generally buy. I’m hoping that tea and honey without milk will taste good and will replace my Diet Pepsi consumption. Wish me luck.

I did finally get in the shower, so I’m a nice clean almond smelling girl now. Ellie’s is sat by me squeaking her duck toy. The sun is shining and I have the house to myself. I thought I’d share my happy mood by blogging and sharing some pretty pics.

I’m rediscovering my love of card making and paper craft. I’ve been watching tonnes of youtube videos especially this one, Amazing! I’d like to get back into it but I gave most of my paper stock and stuff away when I thought I had to give up and couldn’t do it anymore. But I have an idea.. Tactile paper craft!

I don’t know exactly how I’ll get on but I though it would be a good extension on to trying something new and can tell you about on here. I’ve ordered some new stamps and now I need to get some ink. Mum loves stamping so she can help me with that. I’ve decided to save up for a Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine which I’ve never tried before but really like the idea of, especially as I’ve seen a few Tim Holtz designs I’d love to have like the birdcage. The die cut machine seem to be going for around £60 on the web at various stores and on ebay so keeping my eye out for a good deal! I still have my cricut scorer and paper trimmer and plenty of imagination.

I’m also completely obsessed with Miss Anya

xxx

Braille King Walk Through

Published 13/01/2012 by Amy

Braille King available from rnib.org.uk/shop £14.39 inc VAT £11.99 ex VAT

I’m planning on doing a video of this when my new mic comes in the post enabling me to do voiceover work in iMovie. Until then I couldn’t wait to share my new gadget with you guys so here are a few pictures and info.

The Braille King is a lightweight, pocket braille writing frame. Perfect for short notes, phone numbers, shopping lists and to do’s. It’s perfect for sighted and blind users, especially those new to reading and writing braille. It has the full braille alphabet on the reverse enabling sighted users to copy and write a braille message to their blind/partially sighted friends without knowing a single letter or number of braille before hand. You write in the same way a sighted person would with a pen, left to right, unlike it’s predecessors where you had to write backwards and upside down. This is much easier, a lot of fun and way way cheaper than buying a traditional paper braille writer ie.. a Perkins for around £500.

The Braille King frame holds 60 braille cells, four rows of 15 each. It produces single sided braille which I prefer and is great for newbies. There are also tactile markings at the top of the frame letting you know where you are in your message, also a couple of pins at the bottom of the frame to keep the paper in place so that you can lift the top frame, read your message and check for mistakes, then clip the top back down and continue your message, a nice touch!

The Braille King (Code BF21) comes nicely packaged and included are:

The plastic wallet that keeps it all together.
A Spiral bound brailon paper notebook. (Code BP63).
Braille alphabet on the reverse blue on white.
A plastic braille stylus (Code BS08).
Blue plastic braille cell frame.

hello youtube

I’ve been making notes since it arrived this afternoon. I’ve been learning braille for just over a year and I still don’t feel very confident with reading it on paper. Reading and writing braille on my electronic refreshable braille device and writing/typing out on the Perkins brailler, no problem, but reading paper braille grade 1 and 2 I struggle with a lot. This pocket size gadget is perfect for me to write grade 1 notes to myself and get used to the different feel of paper braille, personally I think electronic, refreshable braille is more prominent and easier to read but reading paper braille is essential to any blind/partially sighted person especially when you need to read braille on medication. The whole thing is about 3” by 5” so takes up hardly any space at all. You don’t have to push down very hard on the stylus to make the braille but I do recommend using it on a flat surface so you can push down if you need to. Extra stylus and brailon notebooks are available from the rnib shop if you need them.

The stylus is really comfortable to write with, there’s no rubber grip or anything but it fits nicely in the hand and I don’t think it would be a problem for lefties or righties. I’m ambidextrous and found it worked with both nicely.

On the reverse with the alphabet, it’s a clear contrast with the blue text on a white background. The letters and cells are explained, however the numbers or number sign are not shown or explained so if someone is giving you their mobile number it will be better for you to write it out as they have no number references. Braille numbers J – 0, A – 1, B – 2, C -3 …. I – 9. More info on Braille numbers here.

I’m really glad I bought this gadget I’m sure it will help me a lot in my braille journey and I strongly recommend it if you are learning braille and struggling with paper reading. Stay tuned for my youtube video covering The Braille King where I’ll demo using it and talk more about it, if I can think of anything else to say about it other than to quote the Aldi Parrot ‘Like it, like it, like it, like it, likelikelikelikelikelikelikeit!’ If you can’t wait for my video here is a great demo from the RNIB team.

This is also on my too get list. I could get back into writing a paper diary and snail mail letters to blind friends.

FOODY MONDAY: COOKIES AND LATTE

Published 09/01/2012 by Amy

Kicking of the first Foody Monday of 2012 I thought I’d go back to basics or maybe back to favourites.

I make these cookies a lot and just variate it from sultanas to chic chip cookies, milk or white. I’m not a fan of dark chocolate. The DIY latte came from an idea I saw on youtube and mum reckons it tastes just as good if not better than the Costa Coffee ones we indulge in. Well.. I see ‘we’ I don’t actually like coffee I usually have the chocolate cooler without cream.

Cookie Recipe: (all in one)

12oz SR Flour,

6oz Caster Sugar,

5oz Marg/Butter,

1 Egg,

As many or as little choc chips or whatever you want to use instead.

This recipe usually averages 20 cookies.

Once all the ingredients have mixed together and have turned into a slightly sticky dough, cover 2 baking trays in grease proof paper. Grab a handful of dough and make it into a ball, then squish flat and place on the grease proofed tray. Once all the cookies are on the tray(s) put them in the oven for 15 minutes on Gas Mark 4. this will leave them pale and soft, which I like.. If you want them browner and crunchier leave them in for maybe 20-25mins.

DIY Latte:

What you will need:

Coffee, Sugar,

A spoon,

A Mug,

Plastic Jug,

A Kettle,

A Microwave,

Plastic Bottle (500ml)

Mum doesn’t like it to strong so we used half a tspn of coffee, make it as strong as you like.

Add the coffee and as much sugar as you take into a mug. Then fill half the mug with boiled water and stir.

Get a jug and pour in half a cup of milk into it, put it in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Then pour the milk into a clean plastic bottle and shake for 1 minute.

Then pour the frothy milk onto your coffee, instant latte!

Enjoy!!!

Yesterday I finally got around to downloading the first Hunger Games book onto my Kindle. I was hooked from page 1 and couldn’t put it down. I finished it this afternoon and I can’t wait to download the 2nd book. I also had an email from a student at Coventry University who came across my ‘Reading Independence’ video on youtube and asked if he could use some audio for his press pack on Amazon Kindle Accessibility for VI People. It’s so exciting! I had no idea when I started my blog and my youtube channel that anyone would listen or even be interested in what I have to say, let alone subscribe and have people contact me to ask for permission to use it in their research and press pack projects. I’m very humbled and excited and just completely gobsmacked.

Have a great week

DAY SEVEN: VLOG-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Published 07/01/2012 by Amy

Ok so throughout Jan I’ve decided to do a vlog-a-day. A vlog is a video blog, smash the word video and blog together, you get vlog. Even in the first week it’s been tricky to get something filmed and uploaded every day so I’m hoping I can get through this month without to many gaps. Today was Saturday so we ‘free ran’ Ellie and this time we decided to go to the beach. It was fun and I think she enjoyed herself too. Not so keen on the waves splashing into her or the taste of the salty tennis ball we were playing fetch with, but there you go..