I’ve gone back to the AI workbench, much like I did with my Image Description Toolkit, to create another app. This time it is to address the goal to make sports scores and play-by-play information easier to read and avoid some of the long-standing accessibility challenges on leading sports web sites. I’m calling this app a preview release because not everything is working yet but I have enough functionality available that I wanted to share…
Leave a CommentCategory: Audio
Microsoft released the Recall feature for users of Windows Insider builds. I gave the feature a try and made an audio recording with a roughly edited transcript. The short version of my experience is that I can get around Recall but am still trying to figure out how to read search results effectively with a screen reader, hence the title of No Big Finish. Since this blog post is about an AI feature, I’ll offer…
Leave a CommentIf you use a screen reader, the concept of audio ducking is likely not new to you. For those unfamiliar with the term, it refers to a concept where any audio outside of a screen reader’s speech is lowered automatically when a screen reader is communicating. Apple has made some changes in this area that for me have been quite positive. You can now adjust both when audio ducking is applied and have greater control…
Leave a CommentI’ve made passing reference to a podcast I started a little over a year ago in posts here. The home page for the podcast can be found at TPTBNL.com. I wanted to share links for those who might want to subscribe. Subscription links follow:
Leave a CommentA while ago I wrote about transcribing audio using Word for the Web and a screen reader. Earlier this year Microsoft made the transcription functionality available for some versions of the desktop version of Word. This blog post has more details. The uploading, editing and adding to your document part of the transcription experience is the same as I wrote about earlier. With this functionality now available in desktop versions of Word, I took the…
One CommentMy wife and I did some hiking in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado this week. Here are two short recordings of a couple mountain streams from our hikes. I always enjoy the sounds of rivers and streams in the mountains and the different sounds they make. The first was a fairly slow running stream. The second was a bit faster. I was a bit surprised at the lack of sound in the parts of the…
Leave a CommentWarning: The audio linked to inn this post has multiple explosive sounds and they do start at the beginning and some can be loud. Over the holiday weekend I was at a family cottage at Tuttle Lake in Wisconsin. Each 4th of July weekend, there is a sizable private fireworks display put on by some cottage owners at the lake. This year, I captured some of the audio and find the sounds of fireworks over…
Leave a CommentRecently I had the opportunity to view a rocket launch. My wife and I were about 13 miles away from NASA’s launchpad at Space View Park in Titusville, Florida. Here is a bit of audio from the launch. I’m not sure how to add captions directly to this file so a bit of a description follows. The audio starts with a fair amount of crowd noise. Someone was playing a live webcast of the launch…
Leave a CommentIf you are a user of the TuneIn audio services and in particular a subscriber to their premium TuneIn Live service, TuneIn Live on Alexa might be worth exploring. The service is available at a discounted rate of $2.99 for Amazon Prime members or $3.99 without a Prime subscription. This is lower than the standard $7.99 monthly subscription price. One benefit I enjoy in TuneIn Live is the fact that audio for the NFL, NBA,…
Leave a CommentA bit of hard drive cleaning had me sifting through some of the random audio I’ve captured over the years. So if the internet allows one to cater to self-indulgent delights of sharing information others may or may not find interesting, here are just a few sounds from the past few years. Use the links at the end of each description to play the audio. Cape Foulweather on the Oregon Coast The Oregon…
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