Dear AccessWorld Readers,

It seems like the summer flies by every year. In just a few short weeks, less for some, the students among us will be returning to school. For our July issue, we bring you content of particular interest to students, but topics that would be interesting to those of us who have completed our educations as well.

To open this issue, we bring you two book reviews in one. If you've sought a book that will help you navigate the massive amount of options available when designing the appearance of your documents, Deborah Kendrick brings us a book review of Judy Dixon's latest book, Designing Documents for Appearance, which does just that. In the second half of this book review double feature, Steve Kelley reviews the book The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni. Frank's book takes you through the journey of losing his vision and the unexpected beauty he found in what most consider to be a profoundly negative experience.

The United States government has identified the most accessible COVID-19 at-home test on the market and made it accessible to people with vision loss. Bill Holton explains how to access the tests and provides a review of the test itself.

In his second article in this issue, Bill also details a new method for making charts and graphs more accessible called VoxLense. This method is unique in that it only relies on a developer to add a single line of code to their graph or chart to make it accessible with VoxLense.

Next, Janet Ingber brings us a comparison of two OCR scanning apps specifically designed for people with vision loss, Voice Dream Scanner and OneStep Reader.

Bookshare is now available as a skill for the Amazon Echo, making it more accessible to more people than before and adding another platform where you can enjoy your books. The skill is in beta, and Steve Kelley brings us a review of its current features.

To close out the issue, Steve Kelley brings us two more reviews, A review of Senior Sidekick, a Microsoft Surface tablet designed to be easy to use by seniors, and the new Voice Dream Reader app for the Mac.

As always, I would like to give a shout out to our wonderful authors for their constant work bringing us excellent articles each month as well as to you, AccessWorld readers, for reading our magazine.

Sincerely,

Aaron Preece

AccessWorld Editor and Chief

American Foundation for the Blind

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Editor's Note: This article includes two separate book reviews, Designing Documents for Appearance by Judy Dixon and The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni. Each review is noted by a level 2 heading for navigation.

Designing Documents for Appearance by Judy Dixon

Deborah Kendrick

One irony in the world of technology with regard to blind users is that some functions were easier for us in technology’s earlier days, simpler to master in the days when the personal computer in the home or office was a new and much less sophisticated phenomenon than they are three or four decades later. A striking example of this irony is the task of creating and controlling the physical appearance of a document.

In 1990, with DOS and WordPerfect, creating a document that was visually appealing wasn't easy if you couldn’t see the screen, but it was certainly quite manageable. Technology has exploded exponentially and most of that growth is amazingly positive for all of us. The multitude of choices, however, and the ribbons and dropdown menus for utilizing them, well, let's just say it adds up to a pretty complicated virtual landscape. If you haven’t designed any flashy brochures, invitations, or even term papers lately, because all that style stuff in Windows is just too daunting, well, you are not alone in the blind computer user community!

But we all know that there is always a way, a work-around or set of work-arounds to do a visual thing that presents itself as impossible And if there is one author among us with the patience and talent to find that virtual way and lay it out sequentially for the rest of us, it is Judy Dixon. She showed us how we could take pictures and be proud of them. And now, in her latest work for National Braille Press, Judy Dixon presents a guide for making documents that communicate visually as well as contextually. Her newest book from National Braille Press, Designing Documents for Appearance:

Using a Screen Reader to Create Eye-Catching Newsletters, Flyers, Invitations, and More, will guide you through the components needed to create documents that have eye appeal even when the person creating them can’t see the screen.

What’s in the book

In just eight chapters and three appendices, (one braille volume), you’ll get step-by-step explanations of the various components of designing a document with eye appeal. You’ll learn how to set margins, change fonts, and make bulleted lists.  You’ll learn how to print on paper of varying widths and lengths, and how to make use of templates. You can learn how to create tables or columns or text boxes that are set apart from the body of your document. 

The book provides technical information and step by step instructions, but the language is always conversational enough that the technical and not-so-technical alike will find it useful and usable.

If you have ever wanted to produce a flyer to post on your community bulletin board or an invitation to your next birthday party, this book will help you sort out how to get the job done. And if, like most of us, you only have occasional needs to produce a document that has a unique layout of any kind, this book will enable you to find again those steps you maybe once knew and have forgotten. You will want to read it once straight through (it’s a small book), and then keep it handy for quick reference. The table of contents makes it easy for you to locate that one particular feature or function needed to produce a particular size, shape, or style of document.

Have you wondered how to get a wavy line ~~~ or broken line onto the page? Do you want to produce a tiny booklet and have the margins on both pages be the same distance from the center fold? These are the kinds of questions that will send you dipping into this book for answers.

The three appendices alone make the book well worth its price and will prompt you to keep it close. They are compilations of keyboard commands used in navigating and creating documents, one appendix each for commands used in Jaws, NVDA, and for Microsoft Word itself.

Designing Documents for Appearance: Using a Screen Reader to Create Eye-Catching Newsletters, Flyers, Invitations, and More is available in hardcopy Braille (one volume), or electronic formats. Order online at www.nbp.org, or call (800) 548-7323.

The Beauty of Dusk by Frank Bruni

Steve Kelley

“For all our claims and gestures of dominion over the earth, all our gravity-defying explorations beyond it, all our artistic triumphs, all our athletic feats, we are a breakable species, and the fissures are all around us. We just stare through and past them, or at least too many of us do.” As a result, Frank Bruni suggests, in his recent memoir, “The Beauty of Dusk,” too many of us may miss the subtle beauty in the waning light at day’s end. Bruni’s latest book explores his own first glimpses of the evening’s fading light, unexpectedly, and suddenly, with an ocular stroke in one eye. The loss of vision that resulted, and its impact on so many areas of his life inspired Bruni’s musings on the transitions we may all suddenly encounter, in our own lives, with little warning. “And it’s about how paradoxical, enriching and beautiful that dusk can be. My world blurred, but it also sharpened. I held my breath; I exhaled. I said hello to new worries; I said goodbye to old ones.” Anyone with onset vision loss, or other life-changing event, for that matter, will recognize much of what Bruni describes—denial, grief, hours spent chasing down and undergoing treatments with the hope of a reversal, the unknown world we then find ourselves in, and the many changes this is apt to bring with family, friends, career, and self-esteem. Throughout the book, Bruni is able to candidly share the vulnerability he experienced. And perhaps more importantly, how his blurred sight sharpened his vision of the future and his ability to find beauty in the unexpected.

“Coping can be incremental and sequential. It’s less daunting that way.”

Coping for Bruni appears to be a process of reframing, redefining the waning light at the end of the day as its own beginning, a transition which may not, at first, be welcome, but nonetheless containing gifts to be discovered.

Bruni recounts meeting a career diplomat from Mexico, Juan Jose, and a conversation with him about his work and life with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disease that caused his blindness before the age of 40. Jose is matter of fact about many of his experiences, describing both the barriers of vision loss, and some of the opportunities it presented throughout his life. Bruni suggests the following moral:

“While we have minimal control over the events that befall us, we have the final say over how we regard and react to them.”

It was unclear from the book if Bruni’s “sandwich board theory,” was something that evolved from his own self-observation, or if it was something he held before his stroke. In this personal theory he suggests that we might all be better off if we adorned a sandwich board with a list of the challenges and trials we’ve endured throughout our lives, so we might have more empathy and compassion for those around us, as we read about their scars we might not otherwise see.

The Beauty of Dusk is ultimately a book of hope—a hope that appears with some nurturing, and often as a result of unexpected events we are unprepared for, like a sudden vision loss. It is a book you’re likely to return to again and again as you make your way along an unexpected journey, determined to find the beauty in it that might, all too easily be missed, or overlooked.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Bill Holton

Recently, I learned from an issue of Top Tech Tidbits that the Biden Administration was now offering a “more accessible” Covid-19 test. According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living   (ACL):  “This initiative complements the Administration’s efforts to expand production of more accessible tests and work with private sector partners on the development of new accessible tests.” 

As an interim solution, the ACL enlisted the help of several blindness organizations, including AFB, ACB and NFB, to evaluate the accessibility of the various tests currently being distributed.  And though it’s not completely accessible, for now the best  offering is the Ellume Rapid Antigen Tests.  One of the primary benefits of this offering is that the test processing is initiated using a smartphone app, which also displays the results.   More about this later. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know to obtain, unpack and use the test.

Obtaining a test.

The link in the “early news” TTT newsletter directed me to the standard USPS test ordering site.  At the time I placed my order the USPS site did not mention the accessible Covid test, and when I called the listed 800 number I had to navigate a series of messages, some of which included what turned out to be out of date information. I did receive several emails confirming my order, product shipment and delivery five days later.  My two tests arrived in a shipping envelope with both boxes crushed.  Happily, the individual components survived intact inside their packaging. I am told that going forward, each order placed on the ACL website will contain 12 tests, and that if you already received the original 2-pack you are eligible to receive 6 more. 

The Home Test App

The free app is available for both Bluetooth-enabled iPhones and Android smartphones.  Tablets won’t work.  For my evaluation I installed the app onto my iPhone 12.  The app is fairly accessible.  Issues I found include duplicate text edit fields and combo date and state boxes that are  mislabeled as text fields.  The app also has a tendency to refresh to the top of the screen and get locked in places where swipe gestures don’t advance.  The app asks for a good deal of personal information, name, age, address, phone number—but the only fields that are actually required are your age, state and zip.  Before you can begin your test you are required to watch a 4-minute video describing the process.  The video is helpful, and all the steps are restated step by step as you  perform the test.  However there are places where a bit of audio description  would have been extremely helpful.  Without this information I found some  of  the instructions more than a little vague, confusing, even misleading.  My first attempt failed miserably.  However with a  bit of sighted help to get me oriented I succeeded on my second try.  Here’s what I learned that may be of help.

The package contents

These are standard third party tests—along with being distributed free from the government you can find them on sale at major pharmacies for about $25.  Currently, they do not come marked in Braille, or with large print or recorded instructions.  The documentation is available here in an accessible PDF but most of what you’ll need to know is offered up in the app—which I encourage you to download and install before opening the box.  In particular you  are advised not to remove any of the four test components before beginning your test.  But so you will be able to confirm you have everything you need, besides the print instruction booklet here’s everything that should be inside.

Analyzer:   This is a 4” by 1” by ½” plastic strip with two depressions on the same flat edge—one of which surrounds the power/Bluetooth connection button and the other is the sample port.  The Analyzer comes in a sturdy plastic wrapper—you may need scissors to open it. Dropper:  This piece also comes in a plastic wrapper, but it is not as long as the Analyzer.  Basically, it is a plastic cylinder with a threaded end surrounding a cavity into which you  will empty the Test Fluid.  We’ll discuss this soon. Swab: This component arrives in a plastic container with a peel away paper back.  Be careful removing this piece.  The end where the paper backing can be gripped to peel it away is also  the end housing the sterile nasal swab, which you should avoid touching because of possible contamination.  The Swab’s opposite end sports a snap cap—we’ll also discuss this soon. Test Fluid: This comes in a very small tube with a toothpaste-tube-type folded seal at one end and a triangular tab at the other.  When prompted to open the test fluid grip the tube by the folded edge in one hand and with the other hand twist and pull off the triangular tab top. 

Taking the test

First, unwrap the Analyzer and place it flat on a table beside your phone with the power button side facing up.  The instructions state you should depress the power button until the light flashes.  You do not need to see this light—simply pressing the button for two seconds should accomplish the job.  With your smartphone’s Bluetooth turned on, another press and hold of the same button will auto-connect the Analyzer and your smartphone should refresh and announce “Connected.”  Do not press the app’s Next button until you hear this refresh and/or confirmation message.  You are next instructed to open the small tube of Test  Fluid and squeeze it into the Dropper reservoir. Remember, this is the threaded end..  The test itself is fairly easy to do.  If you’ve had a Covid test before you will already be familiar with the swab being inserted deep into each nostril and twisted.  Then attach the Swab to the Dropper.  One note:  the test can be used on adults and children.  Children’s shallower nostrils require a shorter Swab tip.  Consequently, the Swab arrives with a rubber collar at the near end of the Swab.  It is easily removed before you proceed with the test.

One of the final instructions is to snap open the Swab cap,  flip the combined Swap and Dropper upside down and insert the exposed tip into the Analyzer’s sample port.  You must then squeeze five drops of Test Fluid into the Analyzer’s test port.  Happily, you do not need to visibly count drops.  Simply squeeze the Dropper five times. 

Each of these steps is more or less described on the app screens, with prompts at the bottom of each screen to move ahead to the next step.  Press the “Begin Test button on the final screen to begin the test processing. 

Scoring the Test

The test takes up  to fifteen minutes to process.  The results appear on the screen, and if you have supplied your email address and chosen the option, will also be emailed to you so you can share with family and/or your doctor. I did not do my first test correctly, and after half an hour I still had not received any message.  Apparently the software has no time-out message to alert me to my failure.  Happily, on my second try I tested negative for Covid-19.

Hopefully, with the above descriptions, you will be able to perform a self-test independently.  But even if you do need a bit of sighted help, remember, Covid testing is not a one and done situation.  You are almost certain to be able to do subsequent tests without any help. 

If you still do not feel comfortable performing the more-accessible Covid test independently, the ACL web site offers resources that can talk you through the process, and even arrange for mail-in tests or local free professional in-home testing. 

It’s a definite positive that the government has finally shown movement on making Covid tests accessible to all.  However  I do believe a bit more is needed.  At the very least the test packaging should offer a Braille Quick Start label informing users of the test and app name.  The test would also be more accessible if it included recorded documentation with a “touch tour.”  The app video should also be audio-described and linked  to the ACL site so users  can view it before they download the app or open their test box.  Myself, I would have felt much more confident going in had I realized that I wasn’t going to be required to visually count out five drops of test fluid, or that I wasn’t going to open the Swab pack and grab it by the wrong end. 

Have you self-administered one of these tests?  We’d love to hear about it.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Bill Holton

Charts and graphs. Whether its Covid statistics, budgeting info or any other numerical or statistical data, increasingly, charts and graphs are being used to present information in a consumer-friendly manner. “research shows that people don’t want to read text—all they want is a quick visualization in an attractive chart or graph,” says Ather Sharif, a University of Washington doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. A heat map of voter turnout is ever so much easier to digest than a 500-cell table containing the same data set. “If I’m looking at that heat map I can pull out whatever information I am interested in,” says Sharif, “Maybe it’s my own state, or maybe it’s the overall trend or the maximum values."

A text-based table may provide the screen reader or braille user the raw data, but it does a poor job of presenting the actual information. Sharif makes a distinction between equality and equity. “If you provide somebody with a table you are making it equal as far as the information. But imagine a table containing 10,000 rows or more.”

When web developers accompany charts and graphs with data tables they’ve only made visible to screen readers it’s up to the user to mentally calculate the minimum, maximum, mean and medium—information that’s fairly obvious to the sighted user. And if it’s a bell curve listing standard deviations unless you download that table and run it through a spread sheet you are basically out of luck.

“Developers often fail to consider the cognitive load this puts on the user,” says Sharif. “They offer equal data, but there’s little equity in the one-dimensional text experience.”

“There is a start and an end of a sentence and everything else comes in between,” adds Jacob O. Wobbrock, UW professor in the Information School. “But as soon as you move things into two dimensional spaces, such as visualizations, there’s no clear start and finish. It’s just not structured in the same way, which means there’s no obvious entry point or sequencing for screen readers.” Says Sharif, “If two people look at the same chart they are usually having two separate experiences. One individual might hone in on the average, or mean, and the other might spot an unusual distribution or a particular outlier. So how can we justify a single alt text label for that chart?” he asks.  “Unfortunately, screen reader and braille users have been told that tabular data is their best option. Few have actually stopped to ask, ‘Is there something that could be better than best?’” Sharif and his team members think they've come up with a solution. It’s called VoxLens, and here’s how it works.

Introducing VoxLens

“We wanted to make it possible for screen reader users to get more of the information they need without having to wade through tables or incredibly long alt tags most developers aren’t going to provide, anyway,” says Sharif. “We also wanted to make it as simple as possible for developers to implement and stay consistent among various platforms. Also, screen reader and braille users should not have to rely on special software or plugins to access the information.” For example, this set of VoxLens sample graphs available from the team informs the screen reader user: Graph with title: COVID-19 Cases per US State Do you want to interact? To listen to instructions on how to interact with the graph press control plus shift plus I or control plus shift plus 4. Key combinations must be pressed all together and in order. Graphic-   Graph with title: COVID-19 Cases per US State. To listen to instructions on how to interact with the graph, press CTRL + SHIFT + I or CTRL + SHIFT + 4.  Pressing this key combination calls up: I understand you’re looking for instructions. Graph with title: COVID-19 Cases per US State. To interact with the graph, press CTRL + SHIFT + A or CTRL + SHIFT + 1 all together and in order. You’ll hear a beep sound, after which you can ask a question such as what is the average or what is the maximum value in the graph. To hear the textual summary of the graph, press CTRL + SHIFT + S or CTRL + SHIFT + 2. To hear the audio graph, press CTRL + SHIFT + M or CTRL + SHIFT + 3. To repeat these instructions, press CTRL + SHIFT + I or CTRL + SHIFT + 4. Let’s take these three options in reverse order. Control plus shift plus M invokes a rising and falling tonal review of the data. In the Covid example this is not at all useful, since there is no way to link the data points with specific states. But for other bar or line charts it offers a quick audible summary of the peaks and dips in relative time. The summary option will differ depending on the visualization type and subject, but for the example Covid chart: I understand you’re looking for summary. Graph with title: COVID-19 Cases per US State. The X-axis is State. The Y-axis is Cases. The maximum data point is 8,767,944 belonging to California, and the minimum data point is 108,577 belonging to Vermont. The average is 1,514,426.41. The charts and graphs are created using JavaScript libraries that have the data underneath. “We extract the data then pull out all the information,” says Sharif. “There’s no installation or extra processing required by the screen reader user. It should just work. We likewise remove the burden on the developer side. VoxLens requires a single line of JavaScript and we do the rest.” The VoxLens resources are available via the Open-source GitHub Repo. Visualizations must be created using JavaScript libraries, such as D3 , chart.js or Google Sheets. On the user end, to date it’s only been thoroughly tested using Google Chrome. However the team is working on expanding to other popular visualization platforms and browser options.

Another current limitation is that VoxLens only works with visualizations in a single dimension. For example, the program can digest and interpret a daily stock chart, the highs and lows, overall averages, etc., but cannot currently work with, say, a price line compared to a moving average of daily closing prices. Currently VoxLens supports the following commands: maximum, minimum, average, mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and total. “More importantly, you can extract individual data points,” says Sharif. “For example, in the sample graphs you can say ‘What is the value for California?’ You can also ask for more than one data point. For example, ‘what is the value for California and Illinois?’ Need help? Say "instructions," or "directions," or "help" to hear the instructions. You can also say "commands" to hear all the list of supported commands. 

For now, VoxLens is only available on web pages—e-textbooks and PDFs are not supported. “We are hoping to add these capabilities and more as we move forward,” says Sharif.

Are you in contact with a web developer who might be willing to enhance their visualizations with VoxLens? Consider clicking the share button and sending a copy their way.

Where to learn more

• The VoxLens Open-source GitHub Repo
• VoxLens examples
• Research paper: VoxLens: Making Online Data Visualizations Accessible with an Interactive JavaScript Plug-In

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

The OneStep Reader and Voice Dream Scanner are two scanning and reading apps specifically developed for people who are blind or visually impaired. Both do a very good job of scanning and reading documents. However, there is a significant price difference between the two apps.

For this article, I used an iPhone 13 Mini running iOS 15.5. Although I am using an iPhone for evaluation, Android links have been included.

OneStep Reader

This app was called KNFB Reader for many years. It was developed by Ray Kurzweil and the National Federation of the Blind. When the portable version came out, it did not work on iOS or Android, and the cost was prohibitive. Once it was available on these two platforms, the price was reduced considerably and it was a game changer for people who are blind or visually impaired. It was the first portable scanning and reading app. Both iOS](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/onestep-reader/id849732663 ) and Android versions are available. Support can be received by E-Mail,, support@onestepreader.com and phone, (+32) 050 39 49 49 (Belgium)

The Home Screen

When the app is launched, there are five tabs at the bottom of the screen: Camera, Read, Files, Settings, and Help. At the top of the screen, the first control is used to choose whether you want to set the flash to automatic, on, or off. Next is a button that is used to choose whether to scan in multi-page or single-page mode. This is an on/off toggle and is off by default. The Tilt Guidance button is the next control. When the button is set to On, you will receive vibrations to help get your camera in the best position. This button is also an on/off toggle. The next control is the Take Picture button. Next is the Field of view report button. If you select it, VoiceOver will say which edges are visible. Next is a button to select your text recognition language. Next is a button to choose whether to scan a single column or multi column page. The final control is a button to have the app take a picture automatically, manually or using a document stand.

Tabs

The Camera tab contains the same information as the Home screen. The Read screen offers options to save the file, switch to PDF view, choose reading voice, reading speed, reading unit, reading self paced, reading continually add a page, remove a page, and image. If you choose self paced for reading, the reader will read by whatever selection you picked from the reading unit control.

The third tab is Files. Your saved files are located here. On the screen is a series of buttons. They are: Sort, Import from camera roll, Add folder, Refresh, and Edit. Options in the Edit menu are Rename, Move, Share, and Delete. Next is the current folder followed by a search box. There is an Edit Options button, but it appears to have the same options as the Edit button. At the bottom of the screen are two tabs: Local and Cloud. Cloud options are Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

The Settings tab is the next item. The first control on the screen is used to apply default settings for VoiceOver. The next button is used to apply default settings for all other users. Next are options for Camera settings, Reader settings, and File List settings. Most of the settings are toggle switches.

The Help tab contains a OneStep Reader manual and contact information for support. The manual is not too long and is worth reviewing. Information about support is near the end of the manual.

Voice Dream Scanner

This app is made by Voice Dream LLC. They are the same company who make Voice Dream Scanner and Voice Dream Reader. The app is available on ios and Android. For Android, the app is called Legere Scanner. For receiving help with Voice Dream Scanner, visit the help page

The Home Screen

At the top left of the screen is a menu button. We will explore it shortly. Next is a series of buttons. They are Import Photo, Image Preview, Capture Image, Edge Detection, Flashlight, Batch Mode, and Auto Capture. The bottom four buttons in this list are on/off toggles.

The first option when the Menu button is activated is Language. Auto Detect is selected by default. This feature only works with Latin-based languages such as English, Spanish, and French. There are additional options for non-Latin languages such as Chinese and Japanese.

The next part of the Settings menu is a series of toggle buttons. The first is ScanTone. The app will play a tone that corresponds to the amount of text in the camera’s field of view. The tone will get louder as more text is visible to the camera.

The remaining buttons are Always Enhance Images, Read Text Automatically After Capture, and Show Plain Text After Recognizing.

Next in the menu is information about Voice Dream Reader and Voice Dream Writer. The Help section is below the information about other Voice Dream products. The first item opens a link to email support. This is followed by a list of helpful tips.

Comparison

When scanning a page with either app, make sure the camera lens is pointed at the middle of the page. Hold your phone or device approximately one foot from the page but you still will probably need to adjust the distance.

Photography

If you chose to take a photo automatically, OneStep Reader will prompt you that it is about to take a photo. Voice Dream Scanner will wait for the item to be in focus and take the photo. If the Tone feature is enabled, the tone will continue while the photo is taken. I found it easier and faster to photograph with Voice Dream Scanner. The tone feature is an excellent option. Another way to take photos is by putting your document on a document stand. The stand is especially useful when scanning multiple pages. Both apps did a very good job photographing a single page of print on paper. Voice Dream scanner did better with photographing a page with two columns. This app does not have a separate column detection feature. It automatically recognizes columns.

Reading Scanned Text

Both apps have controls on the screen along with whatever has been scanned. On a page of scanned text, OneStep Reader has many more controls that Voice Dream Scanner. The first option is used to save a file. The file can be a single page or more. The next control is for changing the view to PDF. This is followed by the selected VoiceOver voice and reading rate. These can be adjusted from this screen. You can select a reading unit such as by line or sentence. Next is a button to choose whether you want VoiceOver to read the reading unit you selected or to read continuously. Next is a button to add a page followed by a button to remove a page. Next is the image button. Selecting it brings up the text before it is processed.

Near the bottom of the screen are additional controls. The first is Go to page. Select it and enter the page you want. Next is a button to Go to the Previous line. Next is the Play button followed by Next line.

Voice Dream Scanner has fewer controls. At the top of the screen are options to Crop Image and Enhance Image. Next is a control to View Text or Image. If Text is selected, the above two buttons aren’t available. Next is the Voice Settings control. This is where you change speech rate, language, and voice. At the bottom of the screen are three controls: Play, Discard, and Keep. Importing PDF Files OneStep Reader can import PDF documents. For example, if you receive a PDF in an email, select the Share button and choose OneStep reader to open it. Using Apple Mail, I needed to go through all the options until I found the More button. Once it was activated, I found OneStep Reader and selected it. My document was in the Files section. At this time, Voice Dream Scanner does not have the ability to import PDF documents. The following is from their website: “Scanner only works on images, not PDFs. To OCR a scanned PDF document, open it in Voice Dream Reader.” At this time, Voice Dream Reader costs $24.99.

Batch Scanning

Both apps offer Batch scanning. In this mode, the camera automatically scans pages and then, when scanning is finished, converts them. Using a document stand will make the process smoother. This mode is particularly good of you have many pages to scan.

The Multi Page Mode button for OneStep Reader is the second button on the top of the camera screen. When finished scanning, activate the Process Multi Page button near the top of the screen. There is also a Cancel button.

Voice Dream Scanner’s Batch Mode is at the bottom of the Camera screen. When finished scanning, select the Save button on the screen. See below for saving the file.

Saving Files

Both apps let you save in the Cloud. In OneStep reader, there is a Save File button that is present when the Read tab is activated. When activated, a new screen opens with the following options: Previous folder, Add folder, Save current file, and Close current file without saving. Selecting the Save current file button opens a new screen. By default, the file name is the time and date. Double tap on the Edit box and enter a name for your file. The next option on the page is whether to save the file in OneStep Reader’s OSR format or as a PDF. If you save it to a folder on your device, that option will be listed on the screen.

If the New Folder option is selected, you will be asked to enter a name of the folder. You can also link OneStep Reader to your Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Go to the Settings tab and choose File List Settings and make your selection. Now when you save a file, your selected cloud service will be listed as a save option.

Voice Dream Scanner has a Keep button at the bottom right of the screen when a document is present. Selecting it brings up the camera to add another page. If you do not want to add additional pages, select the Save button on the screen. If you want to add more pages, photograph them. When you are done, activate the Save button. Whether you have finished scanning and activated the Save button or you have finished your batch scanning, the same dialogue box will open.

The first controls are used to choose whether you want to save your document as a PDF or text file. Next is an option to Copy the text. The final control is a Cancel button. If you have chosen a PDF or test format, an edit box will open to name your file.

You can export the document on the next screen, which contains a list of people and apps. This is similar to activating the Share button in photos. Voice Dream Reader suggests choosing Save to Files, which is near the bottom of the list. You will have several options available. I chose iCloud Drive. After making that selection, the different folders in my iCloud Drive were available. After making your selection, activate the Save button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Conclusion

Both of these products work well. I have them on my iPhone but I usually use Voice Dream Scanner. The price difference is something to consider when purchasing. If you need to read PDFs, buying Voice Dream Reader to go with Voice Dream Scanner is still less than OneStep Reader. On the other hand, OneStep Reader has all controls displayed on the screen and is more customizable. It also supports braille output and can import PDF files.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Steve Kelley

Have you heard? The Amazon Echo smart speaker, just got smarter—over a million books smarter. The world’s largest online library of accessible ebooks, Bookshare, has a new Echo skill in beta, Bookshare Reader and it puts your books in Alexa’s hands to read out loud. Remember when we talked about “Killer Apps?” In my humble opinion, the ability to read over a million books on the Amazon Echo, a device that costs as little as $30, with the new Bookshare Skill, may well qualify.

Getting Started with Bookshare Reader

 If you’re not familiar, Bookshare is a subscription service specifically for individuals with a print disability, verified by a doctor or other professional like a vision rehab therapist. If you are a student, there is no charge for the service. Otherwise, the annual subscription fee is $50, which allows you to download up to 100 accessible ebooks a month, at no additional cost (here’s a quick tip: with a free registration at Hadley.edu, you also qualify at the student rate at Bookshare). Some books on Bookshare are in audio format, but most are electronic text, which is read by the screen reader on your phone, computer, or a device like the Victor Reader Stream. These electronic text files can also be converted to audio files and downloaded from the website or sent to the Bookshare Reader. The Bookshare Skill adds a whole new level of convenience and ease to reading Bookshare books. To get started, you will first need a subscription to Bookshare, by completing the application online or over the phone at 650-352-0198. Next, you will need an Amazon Echo, and these come in a wide variety of styles, the least expensive being the Echo Dot. As part of the process of setting up the Amazon Echo the first time, you’ll download the Alexa app, or go to alexa.amazon.com, to put in your Amazon username and password. Once in the Alexa app, either on the computer, tablet, or smartphone, just select Skills from the menu and do a search for Bookshare Reader. At the time of this review, the search results return Bookshare Reader [beta]. Select the skill, then open the Settings. Select the Link Account link and put in your Bookshare username and password. You’re good to go now! To open the skill, just say, “Alexa, open the Bookshare Reader skill and follow the prompts.

Adding Books

The first time the Bookshare reader opens, you’ll hear, “Welcome to Bookshare Reader, it looks like you don't have any audio books available to read. Go to the Bookshare website and add books to your Amazon Alexa Reading List or say, ‘Get My History’ from your recent downloads." There are two ways to add books to the Bookshare Reader, by responding with the phrase, “Get my history,” which will add your most recent downloads to other devices as a list of available books. Alternatively, from the Bookshare website you can add books to the Amazon Alexa Reading List for your account. Select the link, My Reading Lists, from the Bookshare home page, and then select the link, Amazon Alexa, which will open the list where you can add books to the Bookshare Reader skill. With a list of books added to the Bookshare Reader, when it opens, there is a prompt asking if you want to continue reading the last book you read, if you’d like to select another title, or get a list of available books. If you have recent downloads, these can also be added to the list by using the command, “Get my history.” Your most recent Bookshare downloads are listed and you can choose which of these books to add to your reading list. At this time, it’s not possible to do a search for titles using the Bookshare Reader, without first adding it from within the Bookshare website, or choosing It from recent downloads.

Reading a Book

One of the idiosyncrasies noted during the review is there is some inconsistency with opening the Bookshare Reader skill. Sometimes it opened with “Alexa, launch the Bookshare Reader,” other times it required changing the verbal prompt—instead of the word “launch,” “open,” or “enable,” got the Bookshare Reader to open. It opened eventually, using one of these three commands. Before settling in with a book, check and adjust the reading speed, if needed. It’s important to note that the reading rate can’t be changed, on the fly, while reading. Reading must be stopped, or adjustments made before reading begins. Reading speed can be set anywhere from 50% to 300%. Reading speed can also be set using a percentage, for example, “Alexa read at 150%.” Also, the commands, “Read faster,” “Read slower,” and “What’s the reading speed,” can be used to find the best reading rate. It seems that Alexa reads a Bookshare Reader book in much the same way it plays an Audible book, or a podcast, by playing an audio file. The Bookshare audio file is processed from the original electronic text of the book. As a result, the book is read by a human-sounding text-to-speech engine. This writer was unable to find a way to select alternative voices, during the review.

Bookshare’s instructions, Read with Smart Speaker, indicate that only books with an audio option are suitable for the Bookshare Reader. All the books selected during the review had an audio option in the Download dropdown menu, so it is unclear how many books are actually without an audio option, and unavailable. In one instance a book added to the Alexa Reading List on the Bookshare website was not immediately available to play on Bookshare Reader. When selected shortly after being added to the list, Bookshare Reader responded that it was not yet available and was being converted to audio. A few minutes later, it was available and ready to read.

Two verbal prompts that will provide a quick synopsis of the available reading commands are: “Alexa, tutorial,” or “Alexa help,” and “Alexa, shortcuts.” The tutorial is a brief, quick start guide, and the shortcuts, reviews the commands that can be used while reading. These include:

“Alexa pause,” to pause reading. Note, “Alexa stop,” stops the reading and exits the Bookshare Reader. “Alexa resume.” “Alexa skip,” or “Alexa next,” to go to the next section in the book. “Alexa previous,” or “Alexa back,” to go back to a previous section of the book. During the review, it’s worth noting that there were times the commands to skip a section failed to work. For example, in the preface of one book, the prompt, “Alexa next,” just returned the reader again and again to the beginning of the preface. The only alternative was to read through the preface until the next section started.

Final Thoughts

Yes, sometimes it took several tries to get the Bookshare Reader skill to open when using the correct prompt, and alternatives needed to be tried. Moving through sections worked in some places, and not in others. Is it too forgiving to give the skill a “pass?” Afterall, it is still in beta. It would be great to be able to skip forward or backward by time intervals, set a reading timer, and add bookmarks> That said, none of these features is currently available on the Audible skill either. One of the greatest benefits of this skill, may be for readers less comfortable with the other gadgets or apps used to access Bookshare books. For those readers less comfortable with the tech, a family member, professional, or even the local librarian might be willing to add titles to a Bookshare member’s Alexa list, enabling the end user to read with voice commands on the Amazon Echo. Yes, the beta gets a “pass,” while Bookshare irons out the kinks and adds features…and yes, the Bookshare Reader will be a “killer app.”

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Steve Kelley

Imagine for a moment a high tech gadget that’s easy to use, has buttons, and even a knob that turns for the volume control. It connects to Wi-Fi for streaming services, but maintains the simplicity of a radio. If you’re thinking of Alexa with a manual volume control and a couple more tactile buttons, you might be getting close to imagining the Senior Sidekick.

Overview

The Senior Sidekick is a tablet-based device that is specifically designed for those who are more interested in ease-of-use than processor speed or technical specs. Although the initial setup requires the ability to set up Wi-Fi on a Windows tablet, with that out of the way, the Senior Sidekick is designed to be easy to use, simply by touch. The high contrast, large print interface of the Senior Sidekick is displayed on a Windows Surface Pro 3 tablet, inside a case that enables it to stand upright on a counter or tabletop. There are three styles to choose from--Retro, Solo, and MAC-D. This review is of the Mac D, which includes spoken text when a button is touched, and also includes tactile buttons around the edge of the stand to select corresponding menu items.

When first plugged in and turned on, the Sidekick opens to a set of large icons on the screen. On the left side, menu options include: Music Stations; News and Weather; and Books. On the right: Prayer and Faith; Call Someone; and Podcasts. When an icon or corresponding button is first touched, the label is spoken, and a second touch opens a new screen with a sub-menu on it. Like the home screen, menu items appear in two columns of three icons. In the top center, is a Home icon to return to the main screen. On the few menu items that offered multiple sub-menus, there was also a Previous and Next button at the top of the screen. One of the design elements of this interface is to keep the number of icons limited, both to keep it simple and to allow for a larger easier-to-read icon. It’s important to note that the reduced selection here is not an indication of reduced content.

Customizing Content

The Senior Sidekick is designed for customization. When first ordered from the website at SeniorSidekick.net customers are asked, in advance, what some of their preferences are for the various menus in Customize Menus. According to the developer, Bruce Becker, this is really just a starting point. Senior Sidekick support staff maintain the ability to remote into the computer for both routine maintenance and additional customization based on a user’s preference. As an example, Becker mentioned a customer was very interested in a local church service. Becker was able to locate the streaming audio for the service and add an icon to this user’s Senior Sidekick through remote access. Currently, this type of customization is available by calling or emailing Senior Sidekick support, however, Becker is working on an app, Mobile Mate, which will provide family members or helpers the option to make these sorts of changes themselves. There is currently no release date for the app.

MAC-D Example Menu

Although the Surface Pro that runs the Sidekick has a rechargeable battery, it is really designed to stay plugged in. During the review, the Senior Sidekick was plugged in for a couple weeks and was completely stable. If the Sidekick is turned off, it reboots automatically to the familiar main menu. Here’s an example of some of the content on the review model.

• Music Station: several selections including Elvis Radio, Christmas Music, Classical, Piano Music, and more. Each appears to be link to streaming music services.
• News and Weather: stations KXRA and WCCO streaming on the internet, and Ask Alexa. By pressing the Ask Alexa icon or button, users can access the Alexa digital assistant. Alexa cannot be summoned by voice on the Sidekick, it works more like Siri on an i-device--push the button, then speak the command or question.
• Books: audio books selected and linked from Librivox. The review device included Gulliver’s Travels, Great Gatsby, and two others.
• Prayers and Faith: included links to Scripture Readings, Bible in Year, Relevant Radio and several other faith-based services.
• Call Someone: Sidekick Support is available through Skype, and Call Bruce (developer) by Zoom. The Zoom option is available by appointment.
• Podcasts: included six selections, American Life, History, Ask Me Another, Missed in History, How Things Work, and Planet Money.

Again, it is worth noting that the selections on the demo unit appear to be a very small sampling of what was available from the Menu Selection on the Senior Sidekick webpage.

Ask Alexa Option

One of the interesting features noted while using the Ask Alexa menu option, is that it is set up and ready to use out of the box. The user doesn’t have to sign up for an Amazon account, it is done before the Sidekick is sent out. For example, using the demo, this writer was able to start the NFB Newsline skill, put in the user ID and passcode, and begin reading newspapers.

Settings and Accessibility

While the Main Menu user interface does keep it simple, pressing a sequence of buttons on the menu opens the Settings menu. Here the Sidekick can be rebooted, the user can leave the Sidekick interface and go to the Windows operating system on the Surface Pro for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other settings. In addition, photos may be added to create a running slide show on the Sidekick, and this can be started and stopped from the Settings menu.

While much of the Main Menu is designed to be accessible for users with reduced vision, the Settings menu lacks vocalized buttons which brings up the question of accessibility for the user setting up the Senior Sidekick. Because the Surface Pro is delivered without the keyboard, it is unclear how Narrator, or for that matter, the Windows Magnifier can be accessed, without first connecting a Bluetooth keyboard.

Final Thoughts

As Becker mentioned in an introductory letter sent with the demo unit, the Senior Sidekick, “life cycle is in a relatively early phase…past prototype and in what I would call a manual production phase.” As noted earlier, the features are all functional and certainly stable during the review period. In a phone conversation with Bruce Becker early in the review, it was clear he is very interested in learning more about product customization, features, and content sources that will make the MAC-D more accessible, and of greater value to users.

There is certainly a niche for a device like the Senior Sidekick that provides easy access to information for consumers with a recent vision loss that makes familiar technology temporarily challenging, or for those who are not really tech users, who want to stay connected, informed, or just looking for entertainment alternatives. With the addition of local radio reading services, podcasts related to vision loss and resources, or simple connections to training or support groups through Scype or Zoom, Senior Sidekick may be a product that opens tech and information doors, not otherwise readily accessible.

The MAC-D in this review sells for $495 and ships with an external speaker. There is a 12-month warranty for software and hardware issues related to normal use. Also, there is a 90-day refund available if the Senior Sidekick is returned. A monthly subscription of $15 covers the cost of maintenance and customization requests. For more information about purchasing check out the MAC-D page on the Senior Sidekick website, call 320-304-8822, or email Sales@SeniorSidekick.net.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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