[Trainer-talk] Novartis Releases Free iOS App for the VisuallyImpaired

[Reginald George]

Also in the description on the iTunes store they say it has a Blind Mode, 
which I find to be hilarious.  The only part that is really unique are the 
sound effects or earcons when you are listening to the weather.  That's 
pretty cool.  It's disturbing that there is no direct feedback mechanism 
within the app, or at the support link in the app store to actually reach 
the developers.  It's like they wanted to throw it out there without giving 
us any chance to give input to make it better.  Seems kind of paternalistic. 
I know people are trying to reach them to get them to come on one of the 
blindness forums and discuss it, so we will see if that happens.  The 
description also says it's intended for people outside of the United States, 
but it's in the US app store, and not in the Canadian one.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jack Mitchell via Trainer-talk
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2014 9:36 AM
To: David Goldfield ; List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology
Subject: Re: [Trainer-talk] Novartis Releases Free iOS App for the 
VisuallyImpaired

I have only played with it a little bit, but I am rather under impressed
with its voiceover accessibility (and even with it without voiceover).  It
is ostensibly self voicing, but even the built in voice didn't read
everything particularly well.  It wasn't able to recognize a $1 bill nor a
$100 either from full frame (where it could see the whole bill) nor from a
closer view, and it misrecognized the $1 as a $2 the one time that it
recognized it at all.  The magnifier app isn't accessible at all with
voiceover -- voiceover announces that you should be able to adjust the
magnification slider with a flick up or down, but it doesn't actually work.
The only way I was able to get it to adjust was by turning voiceover off.
Also, any directions that they give in the tutorial aren't applicable to
someone using voiceover.

It's a great idea, but it really needs work.

On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:02 PM, David Goldfield via Trainer-talk <
trainer-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> VioptaDaily sounds like the name of a pharmaceutical product. In fact,
> it's produced by Novartis, which is a pharmaceutical manufacturer.
> However, Vioptadaily is not a drug but is, instead, an iOS app to provide
> some nice accessibility to the visually impaired. Not only that, Novartis
> is giving it away for free in the app store, so no medical insurance is
> required. They seem rather progressive; in 2011, they were reported to 
> have
> produced flu vaccines which do not use aborted fetal cell lines, which is
> both morally correct as well as scientifically sound. I have not yet
> downloaded their app but I certainly plan to, without suffering any
> unpleasant side effects in the process. http://www.engadget.com/2014/
> 12/02/simple-accessibility-app-makes-the-visual-world-audible/
>
> --
>
>      David Goldfield,
> Assistive Technology specialist
> ---------
>
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-- 

Jack Mitchell

Vision Technology Specialist

Indigo Logix, LLC



Local Office:

109 E Maynard Ave

Durham, NC 27704

919-260-8580

jack at indigo-logix.com



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