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You are here: November 2016

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Emusic and accessibility of the download manager

Hello folks,

I’ve been thinking about this for awhile since I sent E-mail to emusic, a site that features independant artists, about their download manager. It is designed to download the albums you buy either via the new method pay as you go, or via the subscription model. When I told them I wanted to move my downloads folder to one of my other drives, they politely gave me instructions on how to do this which was great.

When I explained that the program did not speak at all with speech software, they said they appreciated the feedback, but it wasn’t in the roadmap right now to get it accessible.

I told them that I would be willing to help make it accessible by running beta versions when needed, and I also told them that I was sure that people who were disabled would be interested in learning that their site was accessible but the program was not. By making the program accessible, they would be opening their music to a lot of people including myself, who enjoy something other than today’s music.

I think people need to E-mail emusic and let them know of the issue of the program and that it does not speak. You can E-mail them at support at emusic.com, where you put the at sign in the current place, or through your account.

I can’t do this alone, and you can get a 14 day free trial or buy as you want called allacart.

Lets see if we can make their program accessible together.

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WHY BLIND AMERICANS ARE WORRIED ABOUT TRUMP’S TECH POLICY

OK, here is something I think we all should read. WHY BLIND AMERICANS ARE WORRIED ABOUT TRUMP’S TECH POLICY is the article title. and is something we should look at.

To be fair, I’ve never been a TV person, the show I really got in to was Americas Most Wanted, where people who were doing bad things and violating the law were profiled on TV. While there were segments that John Walsh called 15 seconds of shame, it wasn’t descriptive enough for me, but valuable because of the fact that they could feature more and it was time based. AMW Reloaded, a podcast I had started, took this and only did certain ones, and the cast was not timed. I’m sorry that AMW was cancelled by Fox, then TNT I believe it was, pulled it completely. I may be wrong on the TNT aspect, however, thats not the point.

The article here, talks about the DVS that is here in the United States and other countries where people describe whats happening during movies and TV. I have not heard any programming on TV that is described, however, I’m happy to see this.

The TV today is various crime shows like SVU, and CSI, which I’ve heard some described shows, but never got in to them to be fair. I’m hoping that the FCC does put more programming on TV for people who are blind, or find it easier to listen than watch for whatever reason.

There are other reasons I’m worried about Donald Trump and his policies besides the DVS aspect. While I have not voted, and that was my choice, I will only state that we will see what will eventually happen. I think Donald will have some issues while he is in office, and some of what he wants to do he will have no problem with because who he is putting in office. What I will say is that we will see which side things go after the 20th of January.

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a small add

Hi.
I don’t usually post adds.
www.digital darragh.com is the site, this guy is an irish blogger that has worked with admin stuff.
He is advertising an note app that aparently is secure to the blind.
You will have to pay him 15 euros to get it and you need to email him about it.
Its probably worth a look, 15 euro is ok for a note app.
its round30 nz dollars which is not to bad for a notes app.
A lot of my friends use this and there is a roadmap for it.
On another note, updates for the site moniter and spam plugins on this site have updates, now installed.
Also, wordpress 2017 theme just went on test, works really nice couldn’t find any issues.

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comments for the below posts

Hi.
So social enginiering ransomware makes the rounds.
To be totally honest if you go on adult sites to get your fucking fix and don’t do what I do which is power youtube which I do sometimes in the middle of the night especially with headphones on then its your own fault you get fucked over.
I personally would say to the scammers go for it.
I usually don’t but if you do anything alegal then you get what you deserve!
Next eftpos.
Even chip cards have issues, even the net pay nfc tech is not full proof.
I am sure that someone one day will hack apple pay, the list goes on, nothing to see here.
Shops make mistakes all the time.
As blind people I do think we need to pay attention to the touch pads of our machines.
Yes I say again touch.
While some of the newer machines with a number pad on them and an extra layer of keys have touch pads and an over lay in the first 3 numbers accross the top, some have the old 3 numbers at the top or on the right hand side.
Some of the newer ones don’t have an overlay at all or something like that, its a fucking outrage.
A lot of the new banks don’t even have accessibility built in to their touch enabled machines where half the interface is touch.
And while I am on a fucking flamefest the so called new supermarket and store tills/ donation machines don’t have any feedback at all.
Speech for bits and bobs but not the entire interface.
On the wordpress side, there are only so many plugins that I’d put on there.
And I wouldn’t pay for any other plugins.
A safe bet is anything on the wordpress plugin directory is safe.
And any helper plugins the author in that plugin links to are probably safe.
Anything wordpress recomends is safe to.
You wouldn’t get crazy plugins and anyway you don’t need that many.
Spam, capcha logical maybe, xml search, plugin for podcasts, maybe imbedded links if you want.
Maybe adds if you are in to that thing but really you shouldn’t need to pay for a plugin unless its something you like need or you are in a business situation where you are linking your software which may itself cost then maybe but even so.

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Ransoc ransomware uses clever tactics to target pedophiles

This is brilliant, I believe, but we need to be on guard. Ransoc ransomware uses clever tactics to target pedophiles is the article, and it comes from a newsletter I’m subscribed to. The human element is used in this attack, not the fact that files are being targeted and locked down. The fact that credit cards can be used as payment is another step, and hopefully, people who would pay would reject the charges saying that they had no idea what it was and they had no porn on their computers. This would force the people behind this to take the loss, which if enough people fight the charge, would put them out of business. Hopefully, this type of ransomware will not be around for long.

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Thousands of WordPress sites with malware highlight need for comprehensive security

Another article that I have read and I’m aware of is Thousands of WordPress sites with malware highlight need for comprehensive security and it comes from Trend Micro. I don’t just install plug ins on my sites, but there are a few such as the one that tweets and post to facebook, and other ones that my helper has installed, but has also checked out. Some word press plugins are not safe, and the ones in this story seems to be ones you need to pay for, but I know I don’t have many plug ins enabled and on the sites I have wordpress installed anyway.

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Retailers may be gifted FastPOS this holiday season

I read earlier this article entitled Retailers may be gifted FastPOS this holiday season and it is becoming a big deal now a days as the holiday season approaches. This coming week is Thanksgiving in the United States, then the Christmas holiday rush will start if it hasn’t already. While I’ve not written lately on articles I’ve read, nor have I really been active lately, I know that this one will definitely be something you’ll want to read. Please do so at your convenience so you’re aware of when shopping. Sadly, there’s nothing we as consumers can do but be caucious by making sure you check your statements at the end of your billing period, especially after the shopping season.

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another update

Hi all.
More updates this week.
For win7 users update preview, quality non security for dotnet roleup and win7 roleup for november 2016.
skype has an update for this month as well as ccleaner.
A little note, if your office is stupid the compatability mode kits are for office versions pre 2007, ie if you load office 2007 you are ok 2010 you are ok but you should kill it for 2013 and on 2016 it may actually screw things up on win10 update found that the hard way.
Other than that, we have reached the 6000 minimal goal on audiogame hub so yay for sonnar interactive.

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After almost a month, podcast 252 is now out

I’m staying far away from the election, and its horrifying results for the time being. I was going to post, and i may still do that, but for now, I present you podcast 252 with some broadcasting with Winamp, and a game called Blindfold Color Crush. I read something that says that things could change by December 19, so we’ll wait till after then to really get in to my thoughts. Lets just say that it is not good, and already things are looking to be done to change it, but I don’t think it can. I’ll go now so you can go and get the podcast and we’ll yack about the cast instead of that.

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Another reason not to not use spotify

Hi.
Well it was inevitable I guess but look at this.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/spotify-may-be-killing-your-components-but-there-s-a-fix
The gist of it is that spotify the loved streaming service, is writing data to drives generating the playlist.
This slows performance down and reduces the lifespan of solid state drives.
I think I once hit a snag where a drive broke, actually twice but that was years away.
A normal drive should last about 30 years so we shouldn’t need more than 4 maybe 5 drives in our lives.
Spotify has been writing 1tb of data within a 40 second period.
This has been fixed according to spotify, but on the other hand its a blow to streaming in general.
I have itunes which is fine, it won’t write anything to my drive if its not running.
Its quite shitty but I need it for apps for my devices .
I still like the old go to website and buy drm free mp3s so I can share them with my cds, in my car with my friends and over the net to my other devices.
While a lot of us have streaming units, and smart phones, the majority don’t, net streamers are new and cost a lot and smart phones can also cost.
A lot of people may have dvd players that can handle mp3s, and a lot of us have minisystems that can also handle it.
A lot do have cd players these days.
However for those of us that share a system with a spotify user I don’t want my system to be slowly killed while I am not even using it, would rather get ransomware.

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klite updates

Hi all.
On an extra note codecguide klite codecpack 12.53 is out today.

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updates to audiogame hub and other news

Hi all firstly the kickstarter is live

Secondly the next few things are out.
adobe software, flash and reader are having updates.
Microsoft software has updates, the same updates for the same software
all the time.
Out of these, the vertual hard disk, boot manager, authentication and
logon drivers are updated.
Everything else is the same.
Most of these need a present attacker
In addition for those that care, trump is the new president.
That means that for anyone that wants to buy tickets to world war 3 I
estimate you have a year to do that but if you want to buy tickets to
world war 3 before skynet or someone tries to sell them for you for an
outrageous price, like your soul or something then go and buy them now!

On a serious note, I really hope you guys know what you are doing,
effectively what you have done is install the latest security software
on your home network without reading the manual and following instructions.
Maybe it works and you get used to it, but maybe it crashes.
Good luck.

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Ubber and accessibility

Hello folks,

I was reading a Thread on applevis in regards to the latest Ubber and accesibility and I had to check this out. I’ve only used ubber in cases where it is raining, and the bus wasn’t a safe option. I have noticed the changes where they have classified the rides in to 4 pages of options. People in the thread were saying that there were lags in speech, but in my initial looking, I booked a trip to work and it seemed to not have any lagging issues that I’ve noticed. It said it was going to be $14.41 in one case and $15.17 so it looks like the prices have gone up a little bit. Voice over seems to give hints and I don’t see any lag.

What irritates me about the thread, is the canned responses that seemed to be sent by Ubber and the fact they don’t have E-mail support anymore. From what I can tell, people were asking about a phone number, and i have not found any phone number except the 213 number I have seen when I got a call/text from them the last time I used it. According to the logs, I last used them on the 5th of July. I ran late that day, overslept, and needed a ride.

I’m truly sorry that Ubber has regressed in accessibility and that they now send canned responses to their customers. This can’t be good customer service, and I’m not happy to hear that.

The fact that one person indicated the drivers are not happy with the app should help them fix whatever is wrong, but since I’ve not opened the app in awhile, it is a little sluggish as it loads all my data in to the app.

You can change the pickup location, and its ETA is located on the screen and is accessible.

I personally don’t see anything that will prevent me from using it if I need it, but I only use it in emergencies where it is raining heavily and it is unsafe for me to travel or I’m running late. My goal is to be on time, but I’m happy I have it in case I need it.

Please feel free to share your experiences here or on the apple vis thread, and lets see if we can change the issues that we have heard about so Ubber can be viable for people who would like to use it.

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