Spotlight By Cool Blind Tech

In this weeks Spotlight CBT features Mr. Gilles Pepin, the CEO of HumanWare. With more than 25 years experience, Mr. Pepin has built a solid worldwide reputation in the field of assistive technology and in the arena of visual impairment. In 1988, Mr. Pepin founded VisuAide, a successful company specialized in high technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. VisuAide merged with PDI in 2005 to form HumanWare. For over 25 years, HumanWare's inspirational vision has resulted in a range of highly intuitive and intelligent solutions that empower people who are blind or with low vision by giving them the independence to participate effectively within a sighted world. For more information, contact HumanWare below: USA Toll free: 1-800-722-3393 info@humanware.com CANADA Toll free: 1-888-723-7273 info@humanware.com AUSTRALIA/ASIA Tel: 1300-551-864 or 02-9686-2600 au.sales@humanware.com UK/EUROPE Tel: 44-1933-415-800 eu.sales@humanware.com

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Kirk Adams, the president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind to discuss the mission of the AFB and the most pressing issues that blind people face in the 21st century. Helpful Resources AFB Website AFB’s Career Connect Page AFB’s Access World Publication AFB Press AFB’s Family Connect Page AFB’s Vision Aware Page AFB’s Publication, “College Bound” Learning Ally Cogswell Macy Act The American Council of the Blind The National Federation of the Blind

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with James Teh, prior to his departure from NVAccess, to discuss the following subjects: The history of NVDA NVDA’s business model Keeping up with an ever evolving Windows environment NVDA in a corporate environment Add-ons for NVDA Voices available for NVDA The user guide and tutorials for NVDA Getting certified as a NVDA expert Telephone support for NVDA OSARA extension for Reaper Editor's note: James Teh will still be a Director (of the Board, just not an employee, and thus not an Executive Director.

Join Jessica for an exclusive interview with Glen Dobbs, President and Founder of LoganTech. Learn about their incredible journey from a small, parent-founded company with a singular purpose, to a growing distributor of Assistive Technology providing communication solutions and braille products. Learn how LoganTech is providing a way for everyone to communicate, regardless of ability, and how they are opening up doors to braille literacy through the Braille Coach and 6Dot Braille Label Maker. If you would like to know more about the products provided by LoganTech, check out their Youtube. If you would like to know more about Proxtalker, you can connect with Proxtalker on Facebook, or you can follow Proxtalker on Twitter. If you would like to know more about the 6Dot Braille Label Maker, you can follow 6Dot on Twitter, or connect with 6Dot on Facebook. We always enjoy listener feedback. If you enjoy this Spotlight Interview, we welcome your comments. Please feel free to send us an email, give us a Tweet,

Join Jessica Rickards for an exciting Spotlight with Ronit Williams, Head of Global Sales and Marketing for Embro, makers of the Walk Pro, WalkX, and the Keller Sight. Ronit explains how this company is developing products for a variety of abilities, from vision impairment to hearing and speech disabilities. A more in-depth discussion is explored about the virtual cane technology that was developed in the Walk products and what sets it apart from other products currently available, and the features available in each product. The WalkX and Walk Pro are both available for Pre-Order. To contact Embro, or if you have questions about their products, you can contact them. To follow Embro for the latest updates and developments, you can connect with Embro on Twitter. If you enjoyed this spotlight interview, don't forget to leave us feedback. We always enjoy hearing from our fans.

Join Jessica Rickards for an exclusive spotlight interview with Idan Meir, co-founder and CEO of Right-Hear, an Israel-based company focused on providing an auditory indoor navigation solution to the blind and visually impaired. Right-Hear is a free iOS app and is also available free on the Google Play Store. Users are able to obtain information about an area through Accessible Spots installed by the individual businesses. For a full demonstration of how the app works, please watch the Youtube video Connect with Right-Hear on Facebook Follow Right-Hear on Twitter

Join Jessica Rickards for an exclusive spotlight with David Jeppson, executive director of Computers for the blind, a Texas-based organization providing computers to blind and visually impaired individuals across the United States regardless of circumstance. computers for the blind accepts refurbished windows computers and is run by volunteers. This organization is open to volunteer opportunities across the country; from those who wish to give time in their local Texas refurbishment center, to tech support professionals who can provide remote assistance, to those who can contribute financially. If you are interested in learning more about this organization, feel free to contact them via telephone or email via their website. If you do a lot of online shopping, Computers for the Blind is also partnered with

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Stephen Ewell, the executive director of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation. The CTA Foundation, a public, national foundation affiliated with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, was launched in 2012 with the mission to link seniors and people with disabilities with technologies to enhance their lives. The foundation strategically supports programs that affect these communities and facilitates dialog between industry, consumers, government, advocacy groups and other key stakeholders. Steve talks about the foundation’s role in featuring accessible products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the foundation’s role in producing the first fully accessible self-driving vehicle, and his trips to CSUN and South by Southwest. You can follow Stephen Ewell on Twitter here, and you can follow the CTA Foundation on Twitter here.

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Brad Turner, the vice president of global literacy at Benetech. They discuss: Benetech Brad tells us about the organization and its mission. Bookshare Brad tells us about how the organization has grown into such a successful digital platform that makes more than a half a million books available for blind and visually impaired individuals. Born Accessible Brad talks about Benetech’s mission to ensure that as more and more print material is born in a digital format, it also needs to be born in an accessible format. The Marrakesh Treaty Brad updates us on the current status of the Marrakesh Treaty in the US Senate. He also discusses the global benefit of this treaty. Spotlight Gateway Brad finally talks about Benetech’s efforts to help with Spotlight Gateway, which is a project designed to help those who have a visually impairment gain access to the power of reading through a combination of the Spotlight Text app, a Bookshare membership, and an iP

In this exciting Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Andrew Lahart, the head of accessibility, enablement, and competency at IBM, to talk about: Accessible Olli, the first fully accessible self-driving vehicle created by Local Motors, the CTA Foundation, and IBM Research MERA, a Multi-Purpose Eldercare Robot Assistant NavCog, an indoor/outdoor navigation system for the blind AccProbe, an open-source project for developers to make sure their applications are accessible for people who are using assistive technology Enjoy listening to Drew’s explanations of IBM’s tremendous accomplishments, and what they are planning for the future. Follow Drew and IBM Accessibility on Twitter, and bookmark IBM’s accessibility webpage.

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Bin Liu and Arjun Mali, the founders of iMerciv and creators of the BuzzClip, which is a standalone wearable that helps people who are blind familiarize themselves with their surroundings and navigate unfamiliar areas both indoors and outdoors. From the Developers of the BuzzClip The BuzzClip is a small and discreet wearable for people that are blind or partially sighted. The device uses ultrasound to detect obstacles that may lie directly in one's path. It then notifies the user of these obstacles through intuitive vibrations, allowing the user to safely navigate around any objects that they may encounter. The BuzzClip offers essential head level obstacle detection and can be easily attached to many forms of clothing, making it a highly versatile and useful device. All aspects of the BuzzClip from its design to its functionality have been created with our customers in mind. It is a new spin on existing ultrasound technology and can dramatically change

Join Jessica for an exciting spotlight interview with Gabe Vega, CEO of Commtech USA.. He provides some insight into why he started the company and introduces us to his exciting new video project, Commtech Academy. Commtech USA offers a variety of products and services taylored for the blind and visually impaired, including Remote Training. For those living in Arizona, Commtech also prupides local training out of their Tucson offices. Please be sure and tune in to this spotlight, as Commtech is offering our listeners a special discount code which you can only get when you tune in ! Be sure and check out Commtech USA on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Please don't leave without sending us a comment about what you enjoyed, or would like to see more of, in our shows. We love to hear from you, the listeners.

In this Spotlight Interview, James Oates sits down with Charlene Xia of Team Tactile, the creators of Tactile, which is a handheld real-time text to braille device, about the size of a candy bar. Six young women who are all engineering students at MIT have designed a device called Tactile. This device has a camera on the back and 36cells of braille on the front. You run it over text, and the camera captures the text, OCR software recognizes and converts the text, and it is displayed on the front in braille. Listen to the podcast to get all the details.

Join Jessica for another special CoolBlindTech Spotlight Interview. This time we feature Everett Elam, recipient of the Gilman Scholarship Program. He shares some amazing experiences and highlights from his exciting experience which are not featured anywhere else. If you enjoyed this content, please feel free to leave us a comment, send us an email or follow us on our social media. We'd love to hear from you.

In this exciting Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with the highly intelligent team at Grapheel Innovation. The team consists of: • Daniel Hajas: Blind, theoretical physics student with PhD in Informatics, special research interest on accessible STEM. • Tim Lingard: Programmer and physicist, PhD student at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (Portsmouth), Head of Information Systems and online services. • David Turner: Physics student at Sussex, Head of R&D at Grapheel, researching engineering solutions for the Tactile Graphics Display. The team discusses the enormous problem that exist in providing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education to people who are blind or visually impaired. They explained the three-pronged approach that they have devised to conquer this problem. Step one is called “Iris,” which is a science community based image description service specifically for STEM graphical content used as teaching material. The student uploads an image, and receives a detai

In this CBT Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with Suman Kanuganti, the cofounder and CEO of Aira Visual Interpreter for the Blind, to discuss a life changing new service for those who are blind or visually impaired. Aira takes advantage of the technology found in advanced smart glasses, like Google Glass, to connect blind people with sighted agents who can use the information transmitted by those glasses to help them with anything that might require visual feedback. That could be anything the user would like an extra pair of eyes for. Smart glasses not only have a camera that transmits visual information to the agent, but also other sensors that send detailed information to the agent’s dashboard, such as GPS information that is incorporated into Google Maps. For now, the glasses will need to be paired with a smart phone, but you should listen to this podcast to hear all the spectacular improvements that Suman is planning. You can visit their website, email Aira, or email Suman directly for more info

Join Jessica Rickards along with TellMe TV CEO, Kevin Shaw, for this spotlight on TellMe TV. Gone is the old name and website for this fantastic audio description service, and what has replaced it is a more streamline, futuristic site with greater mobile device integration and app support. If you would like to try out this incredible service, TellMe TV is offering a special promotion just for our listeners. If you would like to start a free trial of TellMe TV, enter promo code TELLME17 when you sign up and you'll receive 3 months free. If you'd like to keep up to date with what's happening at TellMe TV, you can follow TellMe TV on Twitter, connect with TellMe TV on Facebook, or

In this Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with Dr. Howard Kaplan, a retina surgeon, and the developer of Spotlight Text. Spotlight Text is an app that works with Bookshare to make eBooks accessible to the visually impaired. The app displays white text on a black background, and can make the text as large as a reader needs. It works only on iPads, but can also be airplayed to a TV screen by way of a dongle or an Apple TV. This allows for much larger text than can be provided with normal magnification software. The application also works with VoiceOver and braille displays, so that anyone with a visual impairment can use it. Working in cooperation with Bookshare, the app can access more than 450,000 books, and this number is constantly rising. To ensure that students with visual impairments have access to printed materials, Dr. Kaplan has founded Spotlight Gateway, an organization that provides free access to his app, a free Bookshare membership, and a free iPad to those who are in financial need. Stud

Join Jessica for this exciting spotlight interview with well-known author, tech journalist and podcaster Shelly Brisbin. Find out the latest about her very helpful book, iOS Access For All/ and her podcast, The Parallel. To get in touch with Shelly, follow her on Twitter, connect with Shelly on LinkedIn, or subscribe to her podcast feed.

In this Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind to discuss: The purpose and history of the federation. Accessible voting. Self-driving technology. Equal access to education. Future technologies. Braille and literacy. The Marrakesh treaty. How to join the NFB. Follow Mark Riccobono and the NFB on Twitter, and visit the NFB’s website.