When I heard people on a podcast recently bash the new Apple HomePod second generation, I decided a rebuttal was needed. They thought that the new HomePod was a step backward because it used an Apple watch processor instead of an iPhone processor, and only had wifi N instead of wifi 6 or 6E. … Continue reading How using Apple watch processors which only have wifi N in HomePods is not a step backwards.
Category: reflections
How current more modern technology, Youtube, helped restore and strengthen a Christmas memory I had from my childhood around 1980
Mom died at age 97 in July 2020, so that Christmas 5 months later during the worst of the covid pandemic found me more nostalgic than usual. I remembered that when I was a kid in late grade school, Mom had an album on vinyl of Christmas songs played on what sounded like large music … Continue reading How current more modern technology, Youtube, helped restore and strengthen a Christmas memory I had from my childhood around 1980
My experiences trying to be more visible when walking at night as a blind person
Way back when I was in 7th grade, I used to stay after school for orientation and mobility classes, and then take a bus home. I would have to walk several blocks home from the bus after dark, so my mobility teacher got me a florescent orange vest that made me visible for drivers to … Continue reading My experiences trying to be more visible when walking at night as a blind person
How hyper local weather forecasts are especially useful to me as a totally blind person
Walks before Dark Sky I like to go for walks for exercise, but back in the day before apps that had weather information telling-me when it would rain, i often skipped walks if i thought it would rain. I even would go out and ask several random people when it would rain and got answers … Continue reading How hyper local weather forecasts are especially useful to me as a totally blind person
How some features in Apple’s AirPods Max are a huge game changer and seamlessly fit into the workflows of VoiceOver users
Many articles have been written about how the AirPods max sound, good or bad, this post isn't at all about that. Some times there is a feature in a product that flies under most of our radars. For most of us, this feature is either never used or never thought about. For some though, it … Continue reading How some features in Apple’s AirPods Max are a huge game changer and seamlessly fit into the workflows of VoiceOver users
A conceptual introduction for sighted readers on how VoiceOver works
On January 9th, 2007, Steve Jobs first announced the iPhone. Many people including my friend Dr. Nathan Klapoetke were very excited about it and couldn't wait to buy one. That day, Nathan was reinstalling windows for me as there was no real practical way to do that yet with a screen reader. While Nathan ranted … Continue reading A conceptual introduction for sighted readers on how VoiceOver works
My explanations about the different physical designs of headphone models
When someone goes to read about or buy a new pair of headphones, they may be somewhat confused about how companies seem to interchange, or at least not explain their fancy terms of design, but just throw them around with abandon.. Hopefully, this might help. There are basically three kinds of headphones that are worn … Continue reading My explanations about the different physical designs of headphone models
Thoughts about Groundhog Day, and my realization of how being afraid of one’s shadow is very possible when combining poor vision with a primitive brain
After decades of research, Dr. Paul Bach-y-rita saw them come to fruition with the BrainPort artificial vision device. The BrainPort made by Wicab takes images from a camera worn on the forehead and converts them to shapes felt on the tongue through an array of 20 by 20 electrodes. Very cool, but also in some … Continue reading Thoughts about Groundhog Day, and my realization of how being afraid of one’s shadow is very possible when combining poor vision with a primitive brain
How headphones have been very useful to me for many years, and what I’m hoping for from headphones in the future
For Christmas just after my fifth birthday, I got a radio. This radio was a bit unique, in that it was round and had a telephone rotary dial on the front, though it didn't move. Shortly after that my youngest sister Andrea gave me an earplug and showed me how to plug it into the … Continue reading How headphones have been very useful to me for many years, and what I’m hoping for from headphones in the future
My thoughts about unlike a picture, an audio recording needs to last a longer amount of time to develop
Posted on October 19, 2019Audio takes time.Many have said, "a picture is worth a thousand words", but it would take way longer to say or write those words than it did to take that picture. A picture is the capturing of a moment less than a second that lasts metaphorically forever. I imagine that someone … Continue reading My thoughts about unlike a picture, an audio recording needs to last a longer amount of time to develop
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