Dear AccessWorld Editor,

Do you have plans to do an updated review on the Voice Guide feature of 2015 Samsung models? From what I understand the Voice Guide feature is now available on all of Samsung's J model televisions (as opposed to only being on a couple models of the 2014 TVs). And it sounds as though the Voice Guide features have been expanded to provide more accessibility this year.

Thanks,

Sarah

Response from AccessWorld Editor

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for reading AccessWorld and writing in with your question.

At this time, we are not planning to evaluate the Voice Guide of the 2015 Samsung televisions. However, that can change. I take reader suggestions very seriously, and they help drive content decisions. I will add this to the agenda of the next AccessWorld team meeting.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I was looking in the AccessWorld archives for information about the accessibility of delivery services and didn't find any articles. Specifically I'm looking for information about the Instacart website and IOS app and the Amazon Prime Now IOS app. Has anything been done on these and other services or are there plans to cover them in the future?

Thanks,

Karen

Response from AccessWorld Editor

Hello Karen,

Bill Holton's March 2014 article, Accessibility of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″, discusses some aspects of Amazon Prime which you may find helpful, but we have not written about Instacart.

Thank you for reading AccessWorld. The team will discuss further coverage of these items, and we appreciate your input.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I read A Review of the Be My Eyes Remote Sighted Helper App for Apple iOS by Bill Holton in the February 2015 issue of AccessWorld. I have used this app and gotten help with it a few times. Thank you for listening to what readers have to say.

Sincerely,

Roanna Bacchus

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I am writing this message in response to Janet Ingber's A Review of the New ScanJig Pro Scanning Stand in the May 2015 issue.

First, a printed instruction sheet is not accessible. I have been exploring ways to provide a better experience with regard to set-up instructions. You cited the Giraffe reader video approach and I agree this is something that must be done. More immediately, I have posted the instructions online.

You also mentioned the size and weight of the product needs to be reduced. The challenge is to do this and still be able to meet customer requirements to support both iPhones and iPads on one stable platform. Going forward, our goal is to continue to explore ways to make the product more efficient.

Finally, book scanning is another area that we are working on and will let you know when a solution is available for this.

I do appreciate your comprehensive review and would welcome any additional thoughts you may have.

Best Regards

Pat, ScanJig Representative

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

My name is André Filipe Silva and I was born in the USA. However, I come from a Portuguese background.

Are there any articles on the AccessWorld website focusing on accessible games for blind and visually impaired people? Could you give me a list of these articles, please?

All the best,

André

Response from AccessWorld Editor,

Hello André,

Below is a list of articles about accessible games previously published in AccessWorld.

Thank you for reading AccessWorld, and I hope these articles are helpful.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I read the article in the April 2015 AccessWorld entitled, Banking on a Plan for Inclusion at JP Morgan Chase and the May Letters to the Editor section and have some comments. I am a Chase customer and have banked with them for almost 10 years. I have been using online banking for about half that time. Though their site is not completely 100 percent accessible across the board, I have been able to get around and do what I needed to do on it with no trouble.

Some of this may also depend on the person's level and comfort in navigating more complex websites. For instance, I know that there are some pages on Chase that do not have headings. For the beginning Web user, this can be a problem. Another service that I was able to setup was e-mail and/or text message notifications of when transactions clear my checking account, when my account balance goes below a value that I set, when a charge over a certain amount is made on my debit/credit card, and many other parameters. I was very pleased to see Chase offer this service. It has kept me up to date on times when my account did not have much money, and I have kept a growing archive of messages in Gmail of my transactions that have cleared my checking account. All of this can be configured in the Chase online banking area and one can choose to get all alerts by e-mail or all alerts by text message, or a combination of those.

I did want to bring up another option which I don't know if everyone knows about. Chase does have a very accessible iOS app [that] allows the user to do nearly everything that can be done on its website. I can view balances, view past transactions, make online transfers between accounts, and other things. Last year it added the ability to take a picture of a check and have it automatically deposited in an account. I do not know if that is totally accessible, but other than that, I haven't found anything in the app to be hard for me as a totally blind user to access.

I happened to meet someone that worked in the Chase accessibility area at CSUN this year, and I was impressed by their commitment to access for all. The gentleman asked me, "What has your experience been with Chase online services?" After I gave him my feedback, he said that he always asks that question in order to get people's everyday usage and experiences.

Thanks for a great article and keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Wayne Merritt

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I just read Janet Ingber's A Review of the New ScanJig Pro Scanning Stand in the May 2015 issue and wanted to comment on the article. The new Fopydo Scanning Stand for the Blind, is a great new concept in stands that is extremely portable, light weight, and easy to set up.

It is made from the same kind of corrugated plastic as the Giraffe Reader, but only costs $12.00 plus $3.00 shipping through Amazon.

It will work with any smart phone or the iPad mini. I don't think its platform will accommodate an iPad.

The creator is very responsive to feedback and is making a secondary device to work with the Fopydo stand that will make scanning books much easier and his hope is to only charge $10.00 for it.

You can write him at info@fopydo.com. His name is Tomek Wardega.

I like the Scanjig, but the Fopydo is a better alternative for people who want to truly have a portable stand.

An AccessWorld Reader

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

Deborah Kendrick's article Out and About: Our Favorite iOS Travel Apps, by Judy Dixon and Doug Wakefield: A Book Review is unbelievably written! I can't wait to give this to my son for his seventeenth birthday. If he will just read your review I know that he would want to read the book.

Thank you,

Grace Minor

Braille on Credit Cards: AccessWorld author Deborah Kendrick responds to Kathy Blackburn's May Letter to the Editor.

For 20 years or more, I have been putting braille on all of my own credit cards. The process is easy enough to do, although a bit tricky the first time. Once you have done it, however, you will be delighted with the freedom it affords you!

Here's how.

The braille numbers should be brailled on Dymo tape. Using the Dymo guide available for Perkins Braillers or a braille slate equipped with Dymo tape slots, I make one long strip with the following:

  • Number sign followed by the sixteen digits of your account number.
  • Next, with no spaces, use lower cell numbers for the expiration date, two digits slash two digits.
  • Finally, use another number sign and write the three- or four-digit security code.

The reason for the lower numbers for the expiration date followed by another number sign and upper numbers for the security code is that it makes differentiating the numbers quick and easy when you need to read them.

To put the tape on the back of the card, you will need to cut it, usually after about the 13th digit of the 16-digit account number. Thus, you will have two lines of tape.

I put it on the signature line of the card, and thus, never sign the back of my cards. Again, I have done this for more than 20 years on countless cards and have almost never had a problem. Occasionally, a merchant will ask to see my photo ID, since the card is not signed, but this has probably happened about five times in maybe a thousand times of using the cards.

The magnetic strip still works just fine for sliding the card through point-of-sale machines, as long as you make sure not to cover any of the magnetic strip with the braille.

Once the braille is on the card, you can pull it out and read the number for yourself whenever you need it, such as when making telephone purchases.

You will probably need sighted help in positioning your two strips of Dymo tape, but cards are usually effective for three to five years, so the few minutes spent is well worth the effort.

Once you have done it, you will have the confidence of independently selecting the correct card whenever you need it!

Article Topic
Letters to the Editor