View this email in your browser

Technology Newsletter

Welcome to the 2^nd NCBI Labs Technology Newsletter.
This is a weekly newsletter to keep you up to date with all things technology related.

NCBI Labs is the technology department within NCBI and offers a number of services to people with sight loss:

Technology Support Line
Technology Sales for Mainstream & Assistive Technology
Technology Training
Technology Live Events
Virtual Technology Clubs

Technology Quick Tips of The Week

Each week we will be doing some quick Tech. Tips and this week we will start with some tips for beginners.

Jaws keystroke:

Pressing Insert+1 turns the keyboard help on. If you are not familiar with the full keyboard this allows you to try every key on the keyboard and find out what it does. Pressing Insert+1 again to turn this feature off.

VoiceOver Gesture:

If you are an iPhone or iPad user double tap the screen twice with four fingers. This brings up the help screen then you can practice all the gestures on iPhone and VoiceOver will give you feedback to let you know what each gesture does.

Siri Tip:

You can ask Siri to help find an App in the App Store.

Hold down the Home Key or say "Hey Siri, search for Microsoft Teams in the App Store".

When the search is performed swipe right and double tap on the Get button and then enter your Apple ID and Password or use Touch ID to install the App.

Smart Home Technology

Smart Home technology is quickly becoming a part of everyday life. Nowadays most TVs will be a smart TV as standard. Many domestic appliances will have Smart Home features built in and this is becoming mainstream.

People living with Sight Loss can take advantage of many of these Smart Home technologies by using devices such as voice controlled Smart Speakers and Smart Phones.

The easiest and most affordable way to start your journey into Smart Home technology is using a voice controlled Smart Speaker such as the Google Nest Home Mini or the Amazon Echo Dot.

The biggest difference between the Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo is the platforms they use to work their magic. The Amazon Alexa runs on the Amazon Platform and the Google Home Mini runs on the Google Assistant.

These voice activated Smart Speakers allow you to do many things to help you in your everyday life such as: set reminders, timers, listen to music, radio, podcasts and audio books plus much more. An overview of how Alexa works can be heard in our first Live Event by accessing the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnhAiOQvB8

Quick Tips

Some quick tips to try on your smart speakers.

This week we will try something fun. On your smart speaker there is a vast selection of games available. Two games we have tried and are great fun to have on your own or with all the family:

Try saying the Wake Word "Alexa", or "Hey Google".

Then say "Play song quiz". Your Smart Speaker will talk you through the setup and you can play against your family or against someone online.

Another great tip is to ask your Smart Speaker to play "Akinator" .

This game attempts to read your mind and guess what you are thinking by asking you a series of question. Try it - it’s great fun!

If you don’t currently have a smart speaker you can download the Alexa or the Google Assistant app on your smart phone and practice the above tips.

App in Focus:

Be My Eyes

This is an App that is available for many years now. The app describes itself as “be my eyes bringing sight to blind and vision impaired people”

Be My Eyes is a free app that connects people with Sight Loss with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call. It is available on iPhone and Android. This app can be very useful in situations when other apps won’t do such as OCR scanners.

An interview with the apps founder Hans Jørgen Wiberg and a Demo of the app can be found at the following link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77CnyHSxWg

Examples of situations where you can use Be My Eyes:

Reading expiry dates on food
Matching clothes and colours
Reading the name over a shopfront
Finding something small that fell on the ground
Reading handwritten notes or greeting cards
Reading my computer screen when speech goes mute

Another great feature of Be My Eyes is they have teamed up with big companies such as Microsoft, and Google. This section of the app is called "specialised help".

Technology Live Events

During the Covid 19 Crisis we are running a weekly Technology Live event on topics that will support you. All events are recorded and added to YouTube for you to listen in afterwards.

To listen back on the previous events, click the button below

NCBI Live Events YouTube Playlist

Live Event 5

On Thursday the 7th of may we will be holding our 5th live event at 14:30 / 2:30pm.

We are delighted to interview our Library and Media Centre manager Lina Kouzi on accessing and listening to audio books through NCBI BookShare and OverDrive.

This will be followed by an overview of the Google Home Smart Speaker and the way it can be integrated into your smart home.

Please follow the Link below to join The Event.

Join Event

Technology Support Line

We offer a dedicated support line and email address for technical support related to assistive and mainstream technology.

The is service is free for people with sight loss and their families. We also offer technical advice on assistive technology to schools and employers.

The Technology Support Helpdesk is operated between 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday.

Contact NCBI Labs nationwide: 1850 92 30 60 or 01 53 12 975

Email NCBI Labs

Support NCBI

Your continued support for NCBI’s work to help people with sight loss is hugely appreciated. Please click the link below for more information on how you can help.

Support NCBI

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
NCBI · Whitworth Road · Drumcondra · Dublin 9, 0 · Ireland