The best use of a camera phone yet.

Nov 24, 2009 |

I’m in a different office today…… Don’t ask.

I’m also working late. In fact, I’m in work typing this at the moment and I’ll be here until 10 tonight.

So, I’m not sure where the hell I’m going in this place, I’m not even sure how I’m even going to find the lift to get out. I know I’m on the fourth floor and I know the window in this office looks out to the road. I can hear the traffic.

So, when it came to heating up my lunch this evening when everyone was already gone home, using the microwave was a bit of a challange. I had asked before the last person left where the Microwave was and had been told that it was the door on the left with the glass pannel on it. That was grand. It just took some feeling around to find that one.

I forgot to ask how the microwave worked though!

It has a nob for selecting the time… that was good. using a digital microwave without knowing what button is for time can be difficult. Also, they usually have different buttons for seconds, minutes and every tens of minutes.

It also wasn’t a touch screen thing or just a panel of things that were not risen from the surface. so at least I could actually feel all the buttons.

The problem was that there were too many buttons and the ones that I thought were start and stop didn’t actually do anything.

I tried everything I could. I noticed that when I pressed one of the eight buttons on the middle of the controls , the start button worked.

Problem was, it didn’t stay on for long enough and it made absolutely no difference to the tempriture of the food.

Determined to succeed, I tried more buttons. but, it looked like only the first of the eight buttons actually did anything.

So, in desparation, I called Emma to see if she had any suggestions. I thought that maybe if I described the controls she may be able to shed some light on what was the most likely button to press. Unfortunately, she was unable to figure it out without seeing it either.

She however came up with a fantastic idea.

I used the camera on my phone to take a picture of the microwave.

She got that picture and was able to read that the eight buttons on the middle of the control were for selecting the power of the microwave.

The right button needed a few presses before I heard the beep to confirm that it was actually working but when I pressed the start button it jumped into action.

Three minutes later, I was delighted to find my food was finally warm!

I’ve never had such an experience just trying to use a microwave ever before!

Thanks to Emma for her very good idea.

Who said cameras on phones were pointless for blind people. ha!

The new VICS website is live!

Nov 23, 2009 |

After five months of development, design and testing, I am delighted to announce the release of the New VICS website. Vics, the Visually Impaired Computer Society of Ireland is a group of Visually impaired computer users of about a hundred or more. Their remit if you like is to assist in delivering training to its members, organise information and technology days where resellers and manufacturers of assistive technology exhibit their products, lobby technology manufacturers and software developers to improve accessibility for users who are visually impaired, increase awareness of the ability of people with visual impairments and a lot more.

The new VICS website will serve all of these aims as well as providing an online home to Vics members. The site hosts training documentation and audio recordings, Infovics, the quarterly audio VICS magazine, the most extensive list of Links to third party resources relating to visual impairments in Ireland, the VICS blog, the twitter feed for VicsIreland, a podcast of all new audio published on the VICS website and VICS news to name just a few items.

The site conforms to accessibility guidelines published by the W3C, provides high contrast for users who find it difficult to read black text on a white background and also provides text resizing options for users who require large font sizes.
And it’s members. It’s over to them now to make use of it.

All hail trains!

Nov 23, 2009 |

This deserves a blog entry. I know, it’s silly but this is the first day I’ve been on a train from Drogheda to Dublin in almost Three months. Since one of the bridges collapsed into the sea in August, commuters from Drogheda to Dublin have been left using buses.

In fairness to Irish rail, they’ve done a great job with providing busses on the effected routes but for me, nothing is better than a train. Their so much quieter, smoother, punctual and more spacious. Oh, plus, I don’t have to leave my house so early in the mornings either! I know, people will say that Irish rail isn’t always punctual, but their more reliable than busses. In my experience anyway.

So, here I am. Blogging once more from the train. It’s great to be back. Oh and there’s more space for the laptop too! And I seem to be connecting via 3G at a faster speed at the moment also.

OUCH!

Nov 23, 2009 |

OUCH! Yesterday, I pulled something in my neck. Nothing serious, it just hurts when I move. Anything! I move my arm and I get a shooting pain. I move my head and I Feel like it’s going to fall off! I don’t even know how I did it! I never have neck or back problems. Never!

I don’t even know what to do. Do I keep it as still as possible? Or do I keep stretching and all that kind of thing to keep the muscle moving. I know after sleeping, or attempting to sleep last night, it was much more painful when I got up than it had been last night so I’m airing on the side of moving and stretching to speed up its recovery. It’s stupid!

Another one comes to a close.

Nov 20, 2009 |

Well, that’s me done…………………………..

The working week is over. Tonight, I’m heading to a friends house to set up a router, then I’m doing a gig.

Saturdays plans have been canceled so for most of the weekend I’ll actually be at a loose end! That’s great! I’ll get some work done with Fedora.

Hope your week hasn’t been too difficult?

Have a fantastic weekend.

Get your ark! arks! 1 for 10 Euro! Get your ark.

Nov 20, 2009 |

Ok. it’s wet! it’s been raining for a few days. It’s horrible wintery weather.

But Ireland just cant coap! Rivers over flow, Dams start to become unstable and river walls fall!

Yep. One week of bad rain and the country turns to crap.

Atlantis! move over! Ireland will be joining you soon.

No of anyone selling an Ark? Where’s Noah when you need him?

Yep… Soon, your going to need a boat just to get to Cork. In Kerry, there are floods as deep as four feet.

Oh, but the worst part of it is Eircom, our national tellecommunications infrastructure provider has just lost a main exchange in Bandin in Cork resulting in no internet connectivity for 8400 people!

We’re all doomed.

Doomed I tell you!

Right! When’s the looting starting. I can see it now. Freddie rummaging through the petshop appearing an hour later with a shop load of dog toys on his back.

In passing.

Nov 19, 2009 |

I passed a fella i use to work with in a former life this morning. It was lashing rain at the time so neither of us stopped to talk.

I know he stops by here from time to time so John, give me a shout.

Funny, I had thought that I’d not seen him in over a year on Monday. Funny how these things happen.

On a different note, The scooter that was always parked at Bru-bakers on the corner of south Fredricks street hasn’t been there in almost a week. I hope the woman who drives it is ok. It’s been there every day from Half eight until after 5PM for over a year now without fail. At the start, she was parking too far in so as to provide a bit of difficulty getting past with a dog but when I explained it she always made sure to give me space. She’s probably just on holiday or something but it’s strange.

The first look at Fedora 12 from a screen readers stand point.

Nov 18, 2009 |

I will admit straight off that these are my findings and opinions after only a brief time of using Fedora 12. You may have different results or find that things work better.

But, let’s dive straight in.

Was the installer accessible? No. Not from what I could tell. The live CD ran for me but obviously, it would require a log out for the gnome accessibility settings to be applied so in a live CD environment, that’s out of the question.

When trying to make a USB live environment, the system loaded, I applied the gnome accessibility settings however after a restart, the USB key would not boot. It’s surprising and currently unexplained, but I’m not sure why it suddenly stopped booting after I made a minor change that shouldn’t have anything to do with the boot process at all! I also made sure to leave enough space available so as retaining settings and a limited amount of files was supported.

So, to install, I needed to get sighted assistance. Fortunately for me, that’s no major problem.

After installation, the first thing I did was install ESpeak. That’s more prefered for me compared to the default of festival. This was incredibly simple. simply type the following command:

yum install espeak gnome-speech-espeak

TTSynth at a later stage so when I do, I’ll write instructions for that here.

I’ve some very interesting things to report in Linux in relation to a comparason with the off screen model used by Windows based screen readers, but again, I’ll leave that until I’ve had more time for testing.

Internal monologue

Nov 18, 2009 |

I’m completely unconscious. Sleep has a tight grip of me and I’m content to let it stay that way. I’m wrapped up in the bed sheets and only the very top of my head pokes out.

It’s comfortable!

The relaxing, quiet and peaceful room is suddenly plunged into the realm of reality as a deafening tool of Satan, feared by many, hated by all pierces the silence with its incessant repetitive beeping.

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!
Pause…
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!
Pause…
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!
Pause…
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!
Pause…
Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep!

It pauses again. Before the next round can start, a well trained arm is flung from the warm and secure confines of the bed in the direction of the sound. With only habit and the longing for this torture to stop, it lashes out and aimlessly strikes with hope that the noise will stop.

Relief washes over me with the realization that the deed is done for another day. The horrid tool of Satan has been stopped and piece returns to the room.

As consciousness begins to rear its ugly head I fight it. With every ounce of strength I can muster, I fight it. Still it comes. It begins to win ground when I realise my arm is hanging limply out of the bed. Its pre-programmed instinct to stop the noise that disturbed the piece did not extend to putting it back under the sheets again and it begins to get cold.

As I become more aware, my brain has an internal argument with it’s self.

Brain: Waky waky! Come on. It’s time to get up!
Me: Is it that time already?
Brain: Yes. You’re going to have to get up now.
Me: Ah no. You must be wrong.
Brain: No, arm got rid of the noise a second ago.
Me: Did it? I didn’t hear it.
Brain: Yes. You have to get up! It’s time!
Me: Ah no. I can wait a few minutes.
Brain: Fine! But you won’t be able to check Twitter or Email.
Me: Ah, that’s fine. I’m not bothered anyway.
Brain: Get! Up! You have to go!
Me: AAAAH! You’re wrong! It’s not time yet. It couldn’t be! I just went to bed a minute ago!
Brain: No. It’s been ages.
Me: Actually, today is actually Sunday isn’t it? There are no busses to catch today. I’ll be fine!
Brain: No, today is Wednesday. Yesterday was Tuesday. Remember?
Me: Ah crap. Your right. Crap. And my arm is really getting cold now.

So starts my days from Monday to Friday…. And a few Saturdays too. I try to convince my self that I don’t have to get up. I try everything! From telling my self that I have no work today to telling my self that the alarm didn’t actually go off.

I was told to write about this because last Saturday, I was meant to be in Dublin by 10AM. But, I successfully talked my self out of getting up. In my defence, I was trying to get up by 8AM and I’d been out until 5AM that night at a gig.

Did you know?

Nov 18, 2009 |

After Tuesday, even the Calendar says WTF…

Thanks to my very good friend Abby for that little tidbit this morning. It’s all her fault.

That’s all. Nothing more interesting I’m afraid.

Have a good one.