For those of us who observe Daylight Savings Time, your Amazon Alexa may not have automatically set its clock ahead. If that's the case, do the following:
“A few years ago, backstage at a conference, I spotted a blind woman using her phone. The phone was speaking everything her finger touched on the screen, allowing her to tear through her apps. My jaw hit the floor. After years of practice, she had cranked the voice’s speed so high, I couldn’t understand a word it was saying,” David Pogue reports for Yahoo Finance. “And here’s the kicker: She could do all of this with the screen turned off. Her phone’s battery lasted forever.”
“Ever since that day, I’ve been like a kid at a magic show. I’ve wanted to know how it’s done. I’ve wanted an inside look at how the blind could navigate a phone that’s basically a slab of featureless glass,” Pogue reports. “This week, I got my chance. Joseph Danowsky offered to spend a morning with me, showing me the ropes.”
“I asked Joe if there’s anything he’d ask Apple to improve in VoiceOver,” Pogue reports. “‘The biggest problem with the iPhone is when you use it a lot, you need a bigger battery. I’m using it all the time. If the phone were just a little thicker, to accommodate a double battery, that’d be a nice thing. I’m also a little disappointed they did away with the standard headphone jack, because when you use it a lot, you need to charge it all the time [and the new earbuds plug into the Lightning charging jack].'”
“I pointed out that none of his complaints about the iPhone have anything to do with accessibility. They’re the same complaints we all have,” Pogue reports. “‘I know,’ he said, laughing.’VoiceOver is very consistent and it’s extremely good. There’s no problem with VoiceOver.’ (The Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired would undoubtedly agree; in January, it gave Apple its Louis Braille Award.)”
Much more in the full article here.
Fox Business is reporting that the network which powers the Amazon Echo is down for most users.
No word from Amazon about this problem.
AT&T's DirecTV Now customers who have an Apple TV were notified that for their 'continued commitment' to the service, that the company is throwing in free HBO for an entire year for customers who subscribed to the "Go Big" or "Gotta Have It" monthly plans, or $5.00 off for the monthly tier plans.
Announced through AT&T's DirecTV Now forum, the discounts are automatically applied to customer accounts that were active on Mar. 6. Subscribers who recently cancelled DirecTV Now, or whose accounts were pending cancellation as of Mar. 6, are not eligible for the promotion.
While the reward is accessible to all current customers, only "Go Big" and "Gotta Have It" tiers are eligible for 12 months of completely free HBO streaming. If they opt in, those with lower tier plans "Live a Little" and "Just Right" will see a $5 credit applied to their bills for 6 months. Considering HBO is a $5 per month add-on, lower tier subscribers can apply their credit to try out the premium service for free for half a year.
Finally, customers who prepaid for HBO as part of another offer will see the monthly discount added to their account when the prepayment period expires.
It should be noted that the usual $5 per month HBO charge will automatically resume once the promotional period ends.
