[Nfb-seniors] For Apple iPhone users - AppleVis February newsletter

Robert Leslie Newman newmanrl at cox.net
Mon Mar 6 11:45:01 UTC 2017


This is February’s summary of good and interesting apps, or software updates
for the iPhone; comes from the AppleVis.org site.

 

From: The AppleVis Editorial Team [mailto:newsletter at applevis.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 2:52 AM
To: Subscriber <Newmanrl at cox.net <mailto:Newmanrl at cox.net> >
Subject: [AppleVis Newsletter] AppleVis Unlimited: What's New and Noteworthy
for February 2017

 

Welcome to the February 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly
newsletter which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis
website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to
AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest podcasts. For
easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3,
and each individual item is at heading level 4.

There have been fewer notable and accessible additions to our app
directories over the past month than is typical. This isn’t completely
surprising with the App Store being so mature. However, there are still new
apps coming to the App Store on a regular basis. So, if you download an app
that’s accessible and not already in our App Directory, do please take a few
minutes to add it for the benefit of others.


New and Noteworthy App Entries


Blind Cricket (iOS, Free)


World's first accessible cricket game for visually impaired!

Ever dreamt of representing your country at the Cricket World Cup? Close
your eyes and imagine yourself on the big stage. Your time has come...

Play "The Blind Cricket Game" and find yourself immersed in an audio-rich
world. Play on your own or with teammates to make it to the top from school
level to international cricket.

Or you could play against each other to see who finishes on top.

Current Version: 1.08 (February 22, 2017)

Read Blind Cricket's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/blind-cricket> 
Visit Blind Cricket's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blind-cricket/id1198892910?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=
8&at=11l4LS> 


Blindfold Feud (iOS, Free with In-App Purchases)


Blindfold Feud is a fully accessible trivia game inspired by the TV Game
Show "Family Feud".

The game can be played in two ways.

As a trivia picking game, you are given a question and a set of answers, and
you must pick the most popular answer. If you are correct, you win points;
if you are wrong, it's your opponent's turn.

As a trivia guessing game, you are given a question, and you must type the
answer that is popular. You only have to type the beginning of the answer;
if it matches one of the answers, you win points; if you are wrong, it's
your opponent's turn.

Blindfold Feud comes with coins to play for free, and then you can purchase
packs of trivia questions to continue playing.

Current Version: 1.1.1 (February 24, 2017)

Read Blindfold Feud's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/blindfold-feud> 
Visit Blindfold Feud's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-feud/id1200250347?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo
=8&at=11l4LS> 


Blindie Match (accessible) (iOS, Free)


Accessible Match 3 Game

Swap gems on the board to create lines of 3 or more of the same gem color.
Each level needs you to destroy a number of gems of each color. But each
swap will cost you one move. When you run out of moves, the game is lost.

This game is accessible for visually impaired users and can be played
without using your eyes. All menus and the game screen are navigated using
swipes and double taps. Instructions can be found in the main menu. If
accessibility doesn't turn on automatically, you can enable the
accessibility mode by tapping the screen three times with three fingers.

Current Version: 1.0 (January 31, 2017)

Read Blindie Match's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/blindie-match-accessible> 
Visit Blindie Match's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindie-match-accessible/id1186877409?mt=8&
ign-mpt=uo=8&at=11l4LS> 

All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:

iOS <http://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=ios_app_directory> 
Mac <http://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=mac_app_directory> 
Apple Watch
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=apple_watch_app_directory> 
Apple TV <http://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=apple_tv_app_directory> 


Notable App Updates


DIRECTV NOW (iOS, Free to Download; Paid Subscription Required)


Watch 100+ Live TV Channels & 10,000+ On Demand Movies & Shows with DIRECTV
NOW!

DIRECTV NOW is your NEW standalone streaming service for Live TV and On
Demand entertainment. Enjoy local news, sports, events, and shows as they
air. Your favorite TV series and movies can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

Looking for instant access to TV with no annual contract or commitments?
You’re one click away from breaking free from old school TV. Simply install
the DIRECTV NOW app and join the streaming revolution!

LIVE TV: Stream local TV, sports, news, events and shows you crave on 100+
live channels, including ABC*, NBC†, Discovery Channel, History, Comedy
Central, AMC, AE, Food Network, The Weather Channel, HGTV, and so many more.
Watch your favorite shows like Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal,
Blindspot, Chicago Fire, and Law & Order: SVU in real time.

ON DEMAND: Sit back and chill with 10,000+ movies and shows – ready when you
are. Watch the latest hit movies like The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road,
Deadpool, Jurassic World, and The Peanuts Movie.

PREMIUM CHANNELS: Roll out the red carpet with HBO® or Cinemax® at an
unbeatable price. Never miss another episode of Game of Thrones, Westworld,
or Veep.

WATCH ANYWHERE: DIRECTV NOW streams on your smartphone, tablet, Apple TV,
Amazon Fire TV, and popular browsers. Whether home or on the go, simply
download DIRECTV NOW and begin watching Live Television and On Demand
Movies.

GET TV FREEDOM: Take control of your TV viewing – No contracts, No credit
checks, and No equipment to lease. It’s time to fall in love with TV again.

Current Version: 1.0.6 (February 16, 2017)


Changes in Version 1.0.6


For VoiceOver users, Guide channels are now correctly labeled.

Read DIRECTV NOW's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/entertainment/directv-now> 
Visit DIRECTV NOW's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/directv-now/id1136238277?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=8&
at=11l4LS> 


Nearby Explorer (iOS, US$79.99)


Nearby Explorer is a full featured GPS app designed for use by people who
are blind. Instead of just providing directions, it describes the
environment in ways comparable to reading signage or observing road
characteristics.

It uses onboard maps, so a data connection is not required, but if you have
one, Nearby Explorer supplements the on board map data with crowd collected
locations from Foursquare or Google Places. It includes complete maps for
the United States and Canada which contain millions of points of interest.
The onboard maps are over 4GB in size, so be sure the device you plan to use
has enough available space before purchasing.

Nearby Explorer works with any device running iOS version 9 or later, but if
the device does not contain its own GPS receiver, like most iPads and iPods,
you must use an external GPS receiver. All iPhones contain GPS receivers.

Nearby Explorer works by letting you select from several different location
related options about what to announce as you move. These include both
typical items like street name and address and specialized options like
approaching streets, intersection configurations, and nearby places and the
distance and direction to them. (All announcements are optional.) All of
this information is shown on the home screen and is available at any time,
but typical use is to adjust the level of announcements, then lock the
screen and put the device away. This keeps both hands free and let's your
preferred voice speak the characteristics of the environment as you move.

You may also use the devices position and orientation to obtain additional
targeted details such as pointing the end of the device to scan for
businesses, even in a moving vehicle, or tilting it vertically to function
as a compass, including a listing of streets in the indicated direction.
This all works with the device locked, so one need not fuss with the touch
screen while moving. You may even mark a point, then use the position of the
device to get haptic feedback about that point's location.

Nearby Explorer includes a transit feature that provides detailed mass
transit schedules for over 60 metropolitan areas in the U. S. and Canada. It
treats transit stops just like favorites and points of interest by
announcing their name and relative position as you move, but in addition,
transit stops add next vehicle stop time, direction of travel, and route
name to the announcements. You can use the transit schedules to look up
times or even follow a route.

You may virtually move to any area in the U.S. or Canada and explore the
road network, search, or use the transit maps for that area.

Current Version: 1.04.00 (February 15, 2017)


Changes in Version 1.04.00


*	Adds Google as an address provider.
*	Adds a search box to the Favorites view.
*	Adds the Change Address item to the context menu for a favorite.
*	Adds a switch to settings for including numbers in the directions
list.
*	Condenses the information at the top of the directions list into one
cell to make navigation much quicker.
*	The radius set on the Home screen is now respected when using the
onboard maps as the Search Provider. The maximum radius permitted for the
onboard Search Provider is 0.5 miles, however.
*	Uses more common names for streets. This effects the street name in
the Home screen, approaching streets, and street names given in Guidance and
Directions.
*	Adds an item to the Street Name context menu to enable reporting of
alternate street names.
*	The names of the currently active Address and Search providers are
now shown in Settings.
*	When selecting Virtual Go To, the Virtual Navigation pad is
automatically opened.
*	Fixes a bug where some intersections were missing when using the
Approaching item or the Streets view.
*	Corrects a problem where portions of Portland, Oregon were reported
as Lake Jeanclia.

Read Nearby Explorer's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/travel/nearby-explorer> 
Visit Nearby Explorer's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nearby-explorer/id1095698497?mt=8&ign-mpt=u
o=8&at=11l4LS> 


ooTunes Radio - Recording and Alarm Clock! (iOS, US$4.99)


INFINITE Tunes, Talk, Sports, and Entertainment Radio!

Experience the pure enjoyment of the music and voices of the world at your
fingertips!

Clean, crisp sound from over 38,000 Internet audio streams. Enjoy FM/AM
live-broadcast from over 150 countries. Search the list at
http://ootunes.com/stations

FREEDOM OF CHOICE: It is yours. Like Reggae? Listen to seven reggae stations
in Jamaica. Classical? How about WFMT in Chicago, WGBH in Boston, Minnesota
Public Radio, Radio Swiss in Bern or classical stations from Melbourne to
Montreal, Strasbourg to Sydney?

Choose by genre (150 of them): Blues to Bollywood, Rap to Ragtime, Salsa to
SKA, Talk to Techno. Find by country or cities of the world. Eavesdrop all
over the world on local discussions, news and talk: even police calls. Left
or right, listen to either side blather! Whether local or pro, catch the big
game live, wherever you are.

TOTAL LISTENING PLEASURE: As your favorite songs play, savor full-screen
album art*, bookmark for later, or pop over to watch it on YouTube, right in
the app! Search and buy it right from iTunes. Automatic recording lets you
hear it again and again!

INNOVATIVE RADIO EXPLORATION: Radio RooLette: See what's playing on 100's of
stations at once. Tap to listen. It's that easy. A great way to skip
commercials, find new stations, or sample a variety of music.

FEATURE RICH: Want to wake up to bedtime music from China? Set an alarm.
Fall asleep listening, with a sleep timer. Record what you hear for a trip
with no internet access. Find a song you hear on YouTube, all within one
app. No other radio app has it all!

INFINITE OPTIONS: College stations, AM/FM stations, Shoutcast, weather,
police, fire, aircraft and emergency radio, Live365, or live professional
hockey games. Jam to 1000's of live concerts your parents wouldn't let you
attend from the Live Music Archive at archive.org.

MULTITASKING: MP3 and AAC+ streams allow you to stream while using other
apps, or use the app's own web browser to surf while you listen.

QUANTITY AND QUALITY: Fast searches. Quick connections. Easy navigation
using "favorites," "recently played," "most played" or your own "custom
categories."

Full VoiceOver support for the visually impaired

Current Version: 4.0.3 (February 19, 2017)


Changes in Version 4.0.3


*	On demand recording
*	Driving mode
*	Trimming existing recordings
*	Improved support for iOS 7, 8, 9, and 10
*	Bug fixes galore!

Read OoTunes' AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/music/ootunes-radio-recording-and-alarm-cl
ock> 
Visit OoTunes' App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ootunes-radio-recording-alarm/id302782364?m
t=8&ign-mpt=uo=8&at=11l4LS> 


Twitter (iOS, Free)


See what’s happening in the world right now. From breaking news and
entertainment, sports and politics, to big events and everyday interests. If
it’s happening anywhere, it’s happening on Twitter. Get the full story as it
unfolds, with all the live commentary.

Be part of what everyone is talking about and get videos, live footage and
Moments, direct from the source.

Join in on all the action by sharing what’s happening in your world. On
Twitter you can post photos with stickers, GIFs, videos, and even stream
live video with the Periscope button. There is no better way to have your
voice heard.

Current Version: 6.71.1 (February 4, 2017)


Changes in Version 6.71.1


The Search & Explore tab is now accessible to VoiceOver users.

Read Twitter's AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for more information
<http://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/news/twitter> 
Visit Twitter's App Store page
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twitter/id333903271?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=8&at=11
l4LS> 


This Month in Podcasts


Meet the Future of Email with Microsoft Outlook for iOS


In this podcast, Thomas Domville <http://www.twitter.com/Thomas_Domville>
gives us a demonstration of Microsoft Outlook - email and calendar
<https://itunes.apple.com/app/id951937596?ign-mpt=uo=8&at=11l4LS>  for iOS.

Listen to
<http://www.applevis.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/AppleVisPodcast1052.mp
3> "Meet the Future of Email with Microsoft Outlook for iOS"


Extra! Extra! Get your news with lire Full-text RSS


In this podcast, Thomas Domville revisits lire (Full-text RSS), a paid iOS
app that offers a great way to collect all your RSS Feed News into one easy
place to read. According to lire's App Store description:

RSS feeds are a great way to follow updates on your favorite websites.
However, some sites set up their feeds to only show a portion of each entry
to get you to click through to their actual website. We find that annoying,
and we're sure you do too.

Unlike other RSS feed readers, that either push you into a browser (in-app
or otherwise), or depend on third party text parsing services and require
you to be online to fetch the full text of one article at a time (which
makes it no different from having to click/tap through to a website), in
lire, you get your favorite RSS feeds as they should've been. You don't need
to click through to any website (though, you do still have the option to, if
you really want). It takes your favorite partial feeds, does it's magic, and
converts them into full feeds, so you don't have to click/tap on those
annoying 'Read more' or 'Continue reading' links.

You can get lire (Full-text RSS) in the iTunes Store
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lire-full-text-rss/id550441545?mt=8&uo=8&at
=11l4LS> 

Be sure to check out the Full-text RSS Reader Shootout: lire vs. Unread vs.
Newsify vs. Feeddler Pro 2 blog by Amir
<http://www.applevis.com/blog/advocacy-competitions-ios-ios-apps-iphone-opin
ion-reviews/full-text-rss-reader-shootout-lire-vs> 

Also, don't miss the inside scoop in the AppleVis Extra 48: What's New in
lire 3.0
<http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/applevis-extra-48-whats-new-lire-3
0> .

Listen to “Extra! Extra! Get your news with lire Full-text RSS”
<http://www.applevis.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/AppleVisPodcast1051.mp
3> 


AppleVis Extra 49: An Interview with the Developer of Weather Gods


In the latest edition of The AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville and Lisa
Salinger talk with Scott Wilson, developer of Weather Gods
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weather-gods/id1041512978?mt=8&uo=8&at=11l4
LS> . This weather app for iOS takes a unique approach to presenting weather
information, and VoiceOver accessibility is a major consideration of the
app's design.

Listen to “AppleVis Extra 49: An Interview with the Developer of Weather
Gods”
<http://www.applevis.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/AppleVisPodcast1050.mp
3> 

A complete list of all podcasts posted to the AppleVis website can be found
at www.applevis.com/podcasts <http://www.applevis.com/podcasts/> 


Helping to Support AppleVis


AppleVis is managed by a small team of unpaid volunteers and receives no
external funding or sponsorship. So, if you enjoy and benefit from what we
do at AppleVis, please consider helping to make this possible by making a
single or regular micro donation at www.applevis.com/donate
<http://www.applevis.com/donate>  All donations are truly appreciated and
help to cover the financial costs of maintaining and developing AppleVis for
the community.

The AppleVis Editorial Team
www.applevis.com <http://www.applevis.com> 

Newsletter: 

AppleVis Newsletter <http://www.applevis.com/newsletter/applevis-newsletter>


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