[Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility

Mon Feb 15 21:08:26 UTC 2016

I know that Charter has bought Time Warner. The deal hasn't quite gone
through yet per the customer service people I spoke with the other day. 

Rob Kaiser
Email;
rcubfank at sbcglobal.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jude DaShiell via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 12:58 PM
To: Pamela Dominguez via Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com>
Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility

Does Time-Warner have the monopoly on where its user lives?  We thought when
I got cable service for where I now live Service-Electric could install it;
turns out comcast-xfinity already had the monopoly which turned out better
for me with my disability than would have been the case with
Service-Electric.

On Mon, 15 Feb 2016, Pamela Dominguez via Electronics-Talk wrote:

> Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:33:34
> From: Pamela Dominguez via Electronics-Talk 
> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
>     <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Pamela Dominguez <geodom at optonline.net>
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
> 
> That was two years ago.  In technology, two years is a long time.  
> Have you tried recently, and pointed out that their competitors have one?
Pam.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Gerald Levy via Electronics-Talk
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 2:07 PM
> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
> Cc: Gerald Levy
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>
>
> Well, if they do have such plans, they are keeping them a big secret.  
> Not even their top executives seem to know anything about accessible
boxes.
> About two years ago, I actually emailed the CEO of Time Warner of New 
> York City, Michael Diamond, and asked him when his company would be 
> offering accessible cable boxes to its blind customers.  All I 
> received was a canned, ambiguous  response, probably concocted by one 
> of his executive assistants, that said something like,"Time Warner is 
> constantly striving to improve the viewing experience for its disabled
customers."
>
> Gerald
>
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Chaltain via 
> Electronics-Talk
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 1:19 PM
> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
> Cc: Christopher Chaltain
> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>
> How are you so certain Time-Warner has no such plans? Weren't people 
> saying the same thing about ComCast and all cable providers not so long
ago?
>
> On 15/02/16 06:10, Gerald Levy via Electronics-Talk wrote:
>> 
>> Well, Time Warner Cable certainly has no plans to offer accessible 
>> boxes anytime soon.  Their customer service agents as well as their 
>> overpaid executives profess total ignorance about the existence of such
devices.
>> Who is going to force them to offer accessible boxes, anyway ?  The 
>> FCC?  The blindness advocacy groups?  The local police?  LOL!  Except 
>> for Comcast, the other cable providers do not seem to be taking this 
>> issue very seriously. Why should they?
>> 
>> Gerald
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message----- From: Rob Kaiser via Electronics-Talk
>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 11:18 PM
>> To: 'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'
>> Cc: Rob Kaiser
>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>> 
>> Thank you for that suggestion. First & formost, it would really be 
>> great if other cable companies would get on board with Comcast in getting
new boxes.
>> 
>> Rob Kaiser
>> Email;
>> rcubfank at sbcglobal.net
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
>> On Behalf Of cheez via Electronics-Talk
>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 8:02 PM
>> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances 
>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: cheez <cheez at cox.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>> 
>> When I had cable, it was with Cox.  If I experienced any trouble, the 
>> automated system would send a signal to my box.  If the problem 
>> wasn't solved, then a live tech would come on the line and try to fix 
>> things.  If that fails, then a service tech was sent to my home.
>> 
>> 
>> Vince
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rob Kaiser via Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> To: "'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'"
>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: "Rob Kaiser" <rcubfank at sbcglobal.net>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 1:48 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>> 
>> 
>>> How are you able to set the cable box by phone? I had a problem with 
>>> my cable last week. I called Charter (a web site that is not 
>>> accessible) & they like most cable companies asked me what was on 
>>> the screen. When I told them I am totally blind & I cannot see the 
>>> screen, they wanted to make an appointment for a tech to come out. 
>>> There was no way to set the cable box by push buttons. Does anyone 
>>> know when Comcast's audio box for the cable box will be ready? I 
>>> have a feeling that once Comcast gets that ready & it is a feature 
>>> one can get, other cable companieswill have to follow suit on this.
>>> If they don't they will lose many blind people. Of course, Comcast 
>>> isn't availablein some areas.
>>> 
>>> I also agree with your idea Gerald as to the factcompanies should 
>>> return to regular buttons that we can use.
>>> 
>>> Rob Kaiser
>>> Email;
>>> rcubfank at sbcglobal.net
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
>>> On Behalf Of Gerald Levy via Electronics-Talk
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 10:15 AM
>>> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances 
>>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Gerald Levy <bwaylimited at verizon.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I have an even better idea.  Forget all this bluetooth and Internet 
>>> nonsense.  Why not make appliances with tactile buttons and switches 
>>> like in the good old days?  What a concept!!  The problem is that 
>>> the design and manufacture of appliances has largely been taken over 
>>> by the Chinese who are more interested in making cheap products than 
>>> in making them universally accessible.  And now that GE has agreed 
>>> to sell its appliance business to the Chinese electronics and 
>>> appliance giant, Haier,appliance accessibility is likely to get even 
>>> worse.
>>> 
>>> Gerald
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message----- From: cheez via Electronics-Talk
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 12:06 PM
>>> To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
>>> Cc: cheez
>>> Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>>> 
>>> Why not bypass bluetooth and make appliances accessible via the
Internet.
>>> If one can communicate with a fridge using a computer or smartphone, 
>>> then why not make it possible for one to set appliances the same way?
>>> Now it may sound crazy, but if one doesn't have a computer or 
>>> smartphone, then they could use a landline like one can do to reset 
>>> cable boxes and the like.
>>> 
>>> Vince
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracy Carcione via 
>>> Electronics-Talk" <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> To: "'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'"
>>> <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
>>> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 8:35 AM
>>> Subject: [Electronics-Talk] Appliance accessibility
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Many years ago now, the brilliant engineer Tim Cranmer had an idea 
>>>> of how to make appliances accessible.  We would get a law passed 
>>>> requiring manufacturers to include a chip which would broadcast 
>>>> menu info to a blind person's device of choice.  Those days, it was 
>>>> something like a Braille 'n Speak.  These days, it would probably 
>>>> be a smart phone, with the signal via Bluetooth.
>>>> 
>>>> Could some version of this idea be workable today?  It wouldn't 
>>>> solve the problem of a touch screen control, as someone described 
>>>> for some dishwashers, but it would help with the problem of one 
>>>> button controlling different menus and submenus, like some washers 
>>>> I've seen.
>>>> 
>>>> I'm not keen on my appliances being connected to the internet, but 
>>>> I'm also not happy with the struggle it can be these days to find 
>>>> something I can easily use.
>>>> 
>>>> Tracy
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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