Vispero Connect

On the Archive of the August 2022 FSOpenLine, Ryan Jones, Glen Gordon, and Rachel Buchanan take your calls on a variety of topics including: Math in Braille with JAWS, switching Braille tables on the fly, Quick Keys in Word, efficiently reading Windows event logs, and    why new JAWS  versions are installed along side old ones.   Transcript available at blog. FreedomScientific.com/FSCast.

On FSCast 219, we'll spend some time with Ryan Jones, Freedom Scientific's new Vice President of Software Product Management.  He'll share a bit of his background, talk about what's coming in the JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2023 product betas, and demonstrate the new JAWS Smart Glance feature.    Then a visit with Svetlana, the Freedom Scientific July Student of the Month.   Transcript available at...

On FSCast 218, Eric Damery joins Glen Gordon for what will probably be the last time. After over 28 years tirelessly advocating for JAWS and other software, and always being around to help users who are having problems, he's decided to retire.  This time, rather than talking about a new product feature, Eric is here to reflect upon some of the highlights of his career.   You can read the transcrip...

On the archive of the June 2022 FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: using JAWS with the Dvorak keyboard layout,  a request for better support of WhatsApp on Windows, using JAWS with the touch screen on a Surface Pro, switching  from JAWS Professional to a Home license, and   lack of spoken feedback when selecting messages in Thunderbird.   Read the transcript at blog....

On FSCast 216, we have an answer to the age-old question, "What do you do about applications that tell us too much?" It's the new JAWS Notification History Manager to the rescue. With it, you can gain precise control over which messages are spoken and which are shown in Braille. We'll get you started by demonstrating how to make Microsoft Edge less chatty.   Then we'll get to know Richard Oehm, el...

On FSCast 215 we'll get to know long-time developer Joe Stephen.  In addition to his work on JAWS, he does manual labor on his family farm in rural Tasmania and manages  to find the time to add accessibility support to some handheld ham radios.    Then Toby Willis will be here to talk about Expedia and their current initiatives to make booking travel more inclusive.   Text transcript at blog. Free...

On FSCast 214, Adrian Amandi will be here to talk about the Second Annual National Coding Symposium.  It's aimed at blind students of all ages to get them interested in careers in software development.  The conference is free, online, and available to people worldwide.    Then we'll get to know Gary O'Donoghue, Chief North America Political Correspondent for the BBC, and longtime JAWS user.

On FSCast 213, Dr. Robert Englebretson, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Rice University, discusses the Braille code for the International Phonetic Alphabet, why reading Braille is different than reading print, and his ongoing research about how Braille is taught.   Transcript available at https://blog. FreedomScientific.com/FSCast

On the archive of the February 2022 FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: new VocalizerExpressive voices in  the latest software updates, keystrokes for identifying the site to which a link points, finding out where a file will be saved, Eloquence spontaneously  getting louder mid  sentence, and certain video cards hijacking keystrokes to rotate the screen.   Transcript...

On FSCast 211, Chancey Fleet discusses training workshops offered by the New York Public Library, many of which are online and available to everyone.  She's also quite the expert on 3D printing and will share some resources for doing that accessibly.    Then Glen demonstrates using the new Windows Terminal, and gives an introduction to working at the Windows Command Prompt.   Transcript available...

On FSCast 210,  a focus on accessible science.  Maureen Hayden will share her experiences being low vision and doing her Ph. D. in marine biology.  Then Dr. Greg Williams and Ashley Neybert from Independence Science demonstrate the Talking LabQuest and Logger Pro® software, tools for making science experiments accessible.  Of course, JAWS plays an active part in the accessibility story.   Transcri...

On FSCast 209, Ryan Jones is here to talk about the process of running is annual Christmas light show involving thousands of lights choreographed to music. He does everything from putting lights on the roof to sequencing the light display using special software that JAWS makes accessible.   Then we'll meet Pedro Zurita who has spent his life advocating for blind people around the world and served...

On the archive of the December FSOpenLine, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: ideas to improve Text Analyzer, JAWS failing to announce word count when reading the Word Status Bar, shortcut keys for JAWS speech history, simplified Braille tables for Braille learners, and the status of JAWS running on computers that use an ARM processor.

On FSCast 207, improvements to Tandem security require JAWS and Fusion to be up to date, and Richard Kuzma tells us how he's using a combination of Tandem and Voice Assistant to support a fellow blind user.   Though Windows 11 sports a new visual look, it's very much like Windows 10 if you're a JAWS user. We'll demonstrate some of what's changed to help you decide if now is the time to update.   P...

On FSCast 206, McDonald's has partnered with Freedom Scientific and TPGI to develop their accessible self-order kiosks.  Over 500 have rolled out throughout the U.S., with more coming before the end of 2021.    Ryan Jones will give us a demo.  And then we'll talk with Kelsey Hall, a product manager on the McDonald's Digital Accessibility team, about how all the pieces of the project came together....

On FSCast 205, Eric Damery is back with more about what's coming in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2022, and how you can try those features early.  Then we'll meet Daniele Casarola.  He spent over two years teaching himself stenography and now works as a court reporter in Italy.  He does it with the help of a JAWS plugin for Plover, his stenography program.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscient...

On the archive of August FSOpenLine, public betas of JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion have been released, home annual licenses are now available in Canada, and severe memory leaks on many computers running Dell Waves Audio. Plus, we take your calls on a variety of topics including: a request to show a running clock on Braille status cells, a desire for advanced Teams training, a push for additional Vocal...

On FSCast 203, Eric Damery is here to talk about some of the new features coming in JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion 2022, and how you can try them out early as part of our public betas.    Then we'll get to know Cory Jackson.  He's an escalation specialist in our tech support department, but in his free time has developed a sizable YouTube and TikTok following.

On FSCast 202 we'll get to know financial educator Chris Peterson and learn about some of the advantages of opening an ABLE account.   Then, to celebrate World Emoji Day, I'll be joined by Garreth Tigwell and Benjamin Gorman, two authors of the paper "Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People."   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/fscast

On FSCast 201, Judy Dixon is here to discuss her new book "Audio Description: What It Is, Where to Find It, and How to Use It." Then we'll meet blind math professor Betsey Doane. She spent over 30 years teaching sighted students, and came up with lots of creative ways of showing math visually.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific.com/fscast.

On FSCast 200, it's the archive of FSOpenLine from May of 2021. We had a great group of callers on a variety of topics including:  the best way to fast forward YouTube videos, how to give someone remote control of your PC, JAWS sometimes errantly turning on quick keys when responding to email, and how enabling Braille support in Narrator prevents JAWS from recognizing Braille displays.

On FSCast 199, a recording of Glen Gordon's presentation at the National Coding Symposium, a recent virtual event put on to encourage high school students to think about careers involving programming.   Then, a visit with Rocio Casati, the person who's been making our products work well in Spanish for over twenty years. The process of doing that is far more involved than you might think.   Transcr...

On FSCast 198, what it takes to make astronomy accessible to people who are blind or low vision.  We'll meet Kate Meredith, President of GLAS Education, and two students involved with the project, to hear how it all came together.    Then a visit with legendary GPS pioneer  Mike May to hear about his life, and learn what's new in indoor wayfinding.   Transcript available at blog.freedomscientific....

On FSCast 197, a spotlight on a great Twitter app for Windows called TWBlue.  We'll meet its author, Manuel Cortez, and hear the program in action.  Then a visit with Michael Hudson, longtime JAWS beta tester and the Director of the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at Michigan State University.   Transcript available at https://blog.freedomscientific.com/FSCast

On the archive of the February FSOpenLine, highlights of  the February software updates, improved compatibility of JAWS with AVG/Avast antivirus, and your calls on a variety of topics including: Using the Canvas and Blackboard learning platforms, JAWS sluggishness in audio editors, excessive chattiness of recent versions of Zoom, and showing UEB attribute markers in Braille.