Author: Matthew Horspool

Greetings from Orbit Research!

We are pleased to announce the availability of a new software update, version 1.6 for the Orbit Speak notetaker. This update adds quite a few major new features and changes both for Orbit Speak Standard as well as for Orbit Speak Plus customers.

The update can be installed by using the automatic software update feature built into the Orbit Speak. Instructions on performing this process are provided below.

New features/changes

The following is a list of the new features and enhancements that are available in this update:

Podcast application for Plus customers

We are happy to introduce a long-awaited feature to the Orbit Speak, a podcast application.

This application allows you to subscribe, listen to, download, and manage podcasts in an easy and intuitive way.

It contains the following main features:

• The ability to search for podcasts using the iTunes podcast database.
• The ability to add a podcast from a URL.
• The ability to download episodes, as well as stream them. You can even select the preferred default method when activating an episode.
• The ability to navigate using various movement units, such as navigation by time.
• The ability to adjust playback speed, as well as volume.
• The ability to navigate by and choose podcast chapters.
• The ability to duck audio when listening to the speech announcements from the device.
• Various other features.

Please consult the updated user guide for a detailed walkthrough of the application.

Enhancements to the reader application for Plus customers

We have added major features and enhancements to the book reader application for our Plus customers:

• Online library access – we are introducing access to online libraries with this update. This allows you to connect, download, and read books from various online accessible book providers. For this first release, we support Project Gutenberg, Bookshare, and libraries in India. Additional libraries will be added in future updates. The new online services category will allow you to work with all the options regarding the various libraries and manage your content.
• Individual TTS voices – you can now select an independent reading voice in the book reader, different from the main system speech. This allows you to read books with a nicer voice, or different settings.
• We have added a new setting to control heading navigation behavior. You can now choose if you want to navigate only by headings of the currently selected level, or also by headings from higher levels.
• We have added a new setting to select a preferred reading mode for DAISY books that contain both text and audio.
• We have added a new setting to control if you want to automatically start reading a book after it opens.
• We have added commands to go directly to the beginning or end of a book.
• We have made various other enhancements and bugfixes as a result of feedback.

Please consult the updated user guide for a full list of the improvements as well as usage instructions.

Enhancements to the internet radio application for Plus customers

We have added several improvements and new features to the internet radio application. Here is a list of the main changes:

• Internet radio recording – you can now directly record audio from radio stations in the application. The recordings are saved to the internal storage or SD card, depending on the chosen setting.
• Improved playback dialog – the playback dialog now contains hotkeys similar to the podcasts application or media player for adjusting volume, etc.

Enhancements to the voice recorder for Plus customers

We have added several enhancements to the voice recorder application:

• Navigation during playback – we have re-designed the voice recording playback interface to allow navigation through the file, as requested by many customers.
• We have added a new microphone gain setting to adjust recording volume.
• We have addressed some issues which were causing recordings to get corrupted.
• We have added movement units for navigation, similar to the reader and podcast client, including the ability to select which movement units you want to see in settings.
• We have added new commands for moving by track, adjusting speed and volume, and activating various modes such as shuffle and repeat. The commands are similar to the podcast player and reader for consistency.
• We have added a setting to automatically speak the track title when changing tracks.
• We have redesigned the context menus to feel like most of our other applications.
• We have increased the speech rate option to allow the TTS to speak significantly faster.
• We have fixed some issues with the calendar and alarm that prevented correct scheduling of events.
• Various other stability and performance improvements have been made.
• From the home menu, locate the settings item and activate it with dot 8 or the select key. You can also press the letter s to enter settings directly.
• In the settings application, locate the Wi-Fi settings item and activate it with dot 8 or select. You can also press w to enter it directly.
• The device will scan for available networks and will show the network list. Locate your network and press the dot 8 or select key.
• A menu will pop up with an option to connect to the network. Activate this option with dot 8 or select.
• If the network is password protected, a dialog will pop up asking you to enter the password. Please enter the password in computer braille and press dot 8.
• The device will connect to the network and give you an indication that the connection has been successfully completed.
• You can now press space + dots 1-2-3-4-5-6 to go back to the home menu.
• From the main menu, navigate to the settings item and activate it with dot 8 or select.
• Locate the “software update” item inside of the settings list and activate it with dot 8 or select. You can also press the letter u to enter it directly.
• Locate the check for updates now button and press dot 8 or select to activate it.
• The device will tell you that there is a newer software version available and will ask you if you want to install it. Activate the yes button inside the dialog that will pop up.
• Wait until the device downloads, installs the update, and restarts. Progress indications will be given throughout the process.

Dear Customer,

We’re writing to provide an update regarding changes to the RNIB Personal Transcription Service, following the conclusion of our recent organisational-wide consultation.

As part of this consultation, we’ve carefully reviewed all service areas to identify where we need to do more, where we need to scale back and where we need to do things differently to help us focus on our aim of reaching many more people with sight loss through their eye care support journey.

Our aim continues to be ensuring RNIB is there for as many of the 2 million blind and partially sighted people in the UK as possible – a number that is expected to double by 2050 – whilst maintaining financial sustainability to remain available for as long as we’re needed. Additionally, there’s vital work ahead to create the societal changes necessary for lasting, positive improvements for blind and partially sighted people. These changes will enhance the delivery of support, ensuring continuity of care throughout individuals’ lives and addressing existing limitations in our reach.

Following a detailed consultation process and in response to suggestions from our teams, we’ve decided to continue offering Large Print on Demand, which represents over 50 per cent of our Personal Transcription work and is an expanding area of the service. This will now be managed differently, ensuring it remains sustainable and capable of meeting the growing demand.

The remaining aspects of the Personal Transcription Service will transition to a new provider, whose core business model specialises in transcription services. This change will involve a charged-for model, with RNIB subsidising part of the cost for a limited time to ease the transition for our customers. We appreciate how unsettling changes like these can be, and we are committed to ensuring a smooth transition and a positive customer experience.

The new provider is A2i Transcription Services, and has been chosen after careful consideration, due to their excellent reputation. You can contact A2i in the following ways:
Telephone: 01179 440044
Email: [email protected] Website: a2i.co.uk
Address: A2i Transcription Services, Unit 4 Montpelier Central, Station Road, Bristol BS6 5EE
You will need to identify yourself as a RNIB Personal Transcription Service user by quoting the code RNIBPT04/25.

We remain incredibly grateful to you, volunteers and RNIB staff for your unwavering support of the Personal Transcription Service over the years. Your commitment has been invaluable. As we move forward, RNIB is firmly focused on creating a greater, long-lasting impact for blind and partially sighted people across the UK. Our dedication to driving meaningful change and ensuring support for future generations remains at the heart of everything we do.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your understanding.

Helen Atwere
Director of Operations
RNIB

After listening to feedback, we’ve reviewed our proposed changes to our personal transcription services and looked at ways that we can urge others to be accountable for providing accessible formats. However, we can’t expect society to change overnight.

For this reason, personal transcription will remain free of charge for eligible customers for the next year, with RNIB covering the costs incurred where the service is provided via an external provider, A2i, an organisation steeped in accessibility for more than 20 years.

We realise that RNIB no longer providing this service itself may be disappointing for some of our customers. But our long-term aim is to focus RNIB’s transcription services on addressing remaining gaps where work is not transcribed at its source.

This interim arrangement allows us the time needed to bring together interested parties to commit to developing a sustainable long-term solution.

By working together, we can ensure that the transcription needs are met appropriately by the relevant organisations and people have access to the information they need, when and how they want it. This collaborative approach recognises we can’t achieve this alone and reflects our dedication to creating solutions that meet evolving needs.

We will also continue to deliver Large Print on Demand, which accounts for over 50 percent of personal transcription work, to existing customers.

You’ll continue to place your orders through us via the RNIB Helpline and we’ll work with A2i to fulfil your order as quickly and efficiently as possible. We’re working through this process and will give you further updates on when we’re ready to take orders through the RNIB Helpline.

RNIB remains deeply committed to providing braille services. From RNIB Bookshare supporting accessible educational materials and textbooks, to our library collection with access to more than 11,000 braille books, RNIB Newsagent offering braille versions of popular magazines and newspapers and our music library holding one of the largest collections of accessible format music for blind and partially sighted musicians.

RNIB’s campaigning and advocacy teams will also continue to work tirelessly with different sectors – from health to education – to build understanding that they have a legal responsibility to provide their blind and partially sighted customers with written material in their preferred accessible format. We’ll continue to support people with sight loss to assert their legal rights to receive information in accessible formats.

More information on this will follow on how RNIB can support you to direct your personal transcription work back to the organisation who provided it and we will work with you closely on this.

We are pleased to commend this article from Sound Without Sight which sets out how changes to RNIB’s Personal Transcription service will disproportionately impact users of braille music.

Following the changes to RNIB’s Personal Transcription service, we have been advised that, if you wish to pay RNIB to transcribe your material, you need to create a trade account with RNIB Enterprises and have it approved. Please use the link above if you wish to do this.

This is particularly relevant for self-employed musicians who may wish to still use RNIB’s braille music transcription service as opposed to the new personal transcription offer from A2I.

Please note: at time of writing, the last page of this form contains an inaccessible signature box which you need to complete before the form will submit.

The Braillists will be taking a break over Easter. We will still be checking emails during this time, but not as frequently as usual. The Braillists Forum will remain active and we will continue to moderate this as appropriate.

There will be no Tuesday evening sessions on 15 April, 22 April or 29 April. We will resume Tuesday evening operations on 6 May with Braille for Beginners, and a Braille Bar will follow on 13 May.

Book Club will break up on Thursday 17 April for a two-week holiday, resuming on Thursday 8 May.

We intend to take this opportunity to resume publication of the Braillecast podcast. Please stay subscribed for new episodes over the Easter break.

As part of its recent restructure, RNIB has taken the decision to outsource its Personal Transcription service for braille and audio to a commercial company. Following extensive campaigning over the past week, this service will be underwritten in full by RNIB for the next year.

The “Save Our Braille” campaign, which was instrumental in achieving this subsidy, is now seeking constructive dialogue with RNIB to ensure free personal braille transcription remains indefinitely. It can be found here: saveourbraille.wordpress.com

HumanWare is thrilled to announce that TactileView, the leading tactile creation suite, is now included with the Romeo 60 and Juliet 120 embossers! This exciting new add-on allows you to create high-quality tactile graphics with HumanWare embossers, providing you with more tools to enhance your work.

TactileView offers an intuitive, screen reader-compatible interface that makes creating both simple and complex tactile graphics effortless. Whether you’re designing tactile maps, math diagrams, or other graphics, this tool streamlines the process, saving you time and effort. Plus, with TactileView’s extensive graphic catalog, you can easily modify existing designs and seamlessly integrate them with Duxbury.

Read the full announcement

On behalf of APH I am pleased to announce the release of BrailleBlaster 3.0.1. This release deals with the issues relating to math causing errors in the previous version which lead to that release being withdrawn. This release can be obtained at the BrailleBlaster website.

Unfortunately for Mac users, APH still has no Mac build of BrailleBlaster 3.0.1, for now you will need to continue using BrailleBlaster 2.1.9, find an alternative build of BrailleBlaster or build from source.

As this release is only about fixing the math issue, there are no further release notes this time.

If you are a long-time follower of Sight and Sound across our various social channels, then you’ll know that we’ve had the hugely popular Hable One device in our portfolio for the last few years. Now we’re delighted to add the Hable Easy!

The Hable Easy is a small, easy-to-use device that helps people who find touchscreens hard to use. With just eight buttons, you can control your phone or tablet without complicated swiping or tapping. Each button has a specific job, so you can open apps, send messages, and even use voice commands with ease.

The Hable Easy makes using a smartphone or tablet simple and fun for everyone, and works with both VoiceOver and TalkBack. Just connect the Hable Easy to your phone or tablet with Bluetooth, and you’re ready to go! With just a press of a button, you can make calls, send messages, and enjoy music or videos.

Join us for this Webinar Wednesday event, when Hable’s Cofounder Freek van Welsenis will tell us all!

Register for the Hable Easy Webinar