Coming up on the Eloquent Mosen at Large 183, it’s here it’s here, it’s really here! HumanWare speaks out on Braille HID, and to Capital B or not to Capital B

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Kia ora Mosen at Largers. Our amazing community has put together another informative, thought-provoking listen for you, and it’ll be in your podcast app this weekend. Here’s a sneak peak of what you can expect.

I gotta say, I can get quite enthusiastic about technology sometimes. Don’t judge. But nothing has come remotely close to the euphoric yell of complete and utter surprise and delight when, after publishing our WWDC recap, I installed iOS 16 developer beta 1 to find Eloquence in there. No doubt about it, a stunning act of customer responsiveness by Apple towards the blind community. Sometimes, I still think I dreamed it, and unlock my phone just to hear the thing talk with the best TTS out there. Totally well done Apple, very very well done.

I’ll give you a demo of some of the new voices in iOS 16 with a particular emphasis on Eloquence.

There’s plenty for Braille users this week. After being one of the mainstream companies to talk up the Braille HID standard, Google’s not putting in in Talkback for Android 13. This has put HumanWare in quite an invidious position. I’ll have a frank discussion with Andrew Flatres, the Braille Product Manager at HumanWare. Is HumanWare going to have to cave, and introduce some old tech in their new displays?

And still with Braille, you won’t want to miss the great debate. At ACB’s convention in July, the Students’ Division will be moving a resolution supporting the capitalisation of the word Braille when referring to the code, a stance that the vast majority of contributors to Mosen at Large on the subject support. If passed, the resolution would see ACB capitalising Braille in its own publications and advocating for others to do the same. Now you would think that an affiliate with a name like the Braille Revival League would be actively going into bat for the students on this one, but it’s quite the opposite. The Braille Revival League opposes the capitalisation of the word Braille when referring to the code. For a robust debate on the subject, I’m pleased to be joined by my very good friend Paul Edwards, who is President of BRL. If there’s one thing Paul and I love, it’s a good debate.

There’s plenty more on the show as well. If you want to raise something new, you’re very welcome. Please don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you. What makes Mosen At Large special is the global community we’ve built and all the perspectives we share with each other.

 

To contribute, send an email with an audio attachment or just written down to Jonathan at MushroomFM.com, or call the listener line, +18646066736, that’s 1-864-60Mosen.

 

Catch Mosen At Large anywhere you get podcasts. Expect the next episode to drop on Sunday morning New Zealand time.

 

Thank you so much for listening and contributing to the show and see you soon for Mosen At Large.