Podcast Summary:
In this UnScripted episode of Blind Abilities, Jeff Thompson and Sree Roy dive into real-life tech, travel, and accessibility—no script, just experience. From recovering a lost iPhone overseas using Find My, to navigating chaotic airports and noisy streets as a blind traveler, the conversation blends humor with practical takeaways. The episode also marks the end of the Blind Abilities app and reflects on how learning technology has evolved. Jeff and Sree explore why building adaptable skills matters—bridging tablets to PCs, learning screen readers, choosing accessible keyboards, and keeping up with rapid iOS changes. It’s a candid, instructional discussion rooted in everyday independence.
Links of interest:
Thanks for listening!
Full Transcript
Jeff: Welcome to blind abilities, unscripted tech news and everyday life with blind and low vision. All in the moment. No script, just straight talk. Let’s get started.
Intro Voice: Three. Two. One.
Jeff: Welcome to Blind abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson, and welcome to unscripted. Unscripted. Back in the studio. Well, actually, back in the United States is Sree Roy. He had a trip over to India. He’s going to talk about it a little bit here. And it’s just great to have you back after all this impending weather, health, everything going on. Welcome back to the show Sree.
Sree: Glad to be here? Yes. Had a good trip and now I’m back here. Picked up a little bit of a cold coming back on the flight, but hopefully I’ve gotten over that by now.
Jeff: And you found your iPhone?
Sree: I did.
Jeff: Ooh.
Sree: That was a very interesting trip with losing my phone at the Qatar airport as I was coming back to the U.S..
Jeff: But you found it.
Sree: Found it using Find My with the help of my wife in the U.S. while I was in Qatar.
Jeff: So did find my say that it was 7300 miles away and 17ft.
Sree: Well, the funny part was, when I got off the plane, I had to get on a bus, and somehow I dropped my phone on the bus. And then obviously they picked me up in the wheelchair and I was at the airport and I was like, looking for my phone. I couldn’t find it. So I asked the gentleman that was pushing my wheelchair. I said, hey, I lost my phone, but he with his phone cannot call the U.S. oh, so he’s hunting for someone to find a phone where they have the ability to call the U.S. and then finally the manager came over and he was able to call the U.S., which was calling to my wife’s mobile phone. And I told her, I said, hey, I can’t find my phone. So she turned on the find my and she could actually see it, like kind of moving around the airport on the, on the terminal outside the terminal, because it was a bus that kind of moves around the airport, and the terminal.
Jeff: Sounds like a storyline to a video game.
Sree: And about 45 minutes later, they found the phone and handed it over to me, and I was just thinking, if I couldn’t find my phone, what was I going to do for the next 14 hours without my phone?
Jeff: Well, it’s amazing what you can do with an iPhone. You know, find my and stuff. But what’s more amazing to me is that you remembered your wife’s phone number. I mean, rather than just going through your Rolodex and tapping on wife.
Sree: That’s so true. You know, I was actually thinking about that. I used to remember a lot of phone numbers when I had to manually go to a payphone and dial the numbers. Like, now it’s like dad is coming back, and I could not remember his home phone number. Like, just like you said, I would just dial dad, and it would just dial that. But. But I would say definitely. You know, for those who have an iPhone, make sure you turn your find my on, because you never know when it’s needed to find something, especially your phone.
Jeff: Well, that was good thinking on your part. And I too like find my because like when one of my family members are traveling, I can always find out where they are, you know, get their ETA.
Voice Over: Find my selected people. Button devices. Button items. Button. Me button. Selected items. Carry on luggage. Home now. With you. Jeff’s wallet. Home now with you. Jeff’s keys. Home now with you. Selected devices. Airpods Pro. Home now with you. Jeff’s Beats Studio Pro home. Ten hours ago. Zero miles.
Jeff: So now tell me this, Sree, what is it like traveling to India?
So this is my second trip that I’ve gone to India in the last couple of years. The hardest part is actually when you’re getting into the airport, once you’re in the airport, you know, they have all these kind of services. And I will say the services that I got going to India has been really good from the point of the airport taking me to the terminal and giving me the tour of the plane, you know, before everybody else comes in. They gave me a tour, how to use all the things inside the bathroom, how far the exit doors are. They were very, very helpful. And so I felt very comfortable. And I will have to say I got a little spoiled because they gave me a lot of tension. And so the trip itself was very pleasant. No complaints for both trips that I made to India. I have no complaints about the travel services that I got from the airline, but when I got to India, boy, that’s a different story because it’s completely different. Roads are some areas, you know, we here in the US complain about potholes, but it’s potholes galore over there really. So you go about maybe 20 miles an hour on a main road because the roads are just sometimes not. It’s paved with a lot of issues. So a lot of potholes, a lot of pedestrians. And occasionally you have a road that only one car can go through. But two cars somehow managed to go through the road. You know, it’s a lot of honking there. But I will tell you, as a blind person, my first trip to India, it was very confusing because there was a lot of noise, a lot of outside noise. We have noise besides, you know, cars and trucks hitting the horns. But people play these political or music like on these big trucks, like the speakers are on the bed of the truck and they’re just playing it really loud. So as a person who’s like, trying to walk around listening to external noises, it can be very, very confusing. At least it was for me.
Jeff: Four wheel drive boomboxes.
Sree: No, I’m talking about, like, semi trucks. Boombox.
Jeff: No kidding.
Sree: Yeah, like dump truck type trucks. Boombox on it. No, it’s not like a pickup truck boombox. It’s like a dump truck boombox.
Jeff: Oh. That’s crazy. I got to ask you this question. Like here in the United States, they offer you wheelchairs, and a lot of people say they refuse the wheelchair. They’ll just grab an arm or something of that nature, or they’re trained that you shouldn’t take a wheelchair. But anyways, what’s your take on it?
Sree: I am a big proponent of wheelchair, just because it makes it very easy for me to not worry about following someone or holding on to someone, I just sit in the wheelchair, let them take me because when I booked my trip, I specifically requested the wheelchair, so they had everything ready for me all the way through till I got to India.
Jeff: Oh, wow.
Sree: Yeah. I’m a big proponent of, you know, like, for me, you know, when I’m going in an area where I’m not very comfortable, I’m okay to ask for help. And, you know, getting in a wheelchair makes it a lot easier.
Jeff: One time we were coming back from England, and, you know, you stop over in Amsterdam and there was a delay going on in our section, and they took us out in this van, and they boarded us through the back of the plane because they already took the jetway away. So they boarded us through the back where they bring in supplies and stuff. So it felt like we were on a pontoon boat on a lift, and it lifted us up. And as we went in, the lady announced specials, and I think she was talking to some of the other crew members, but we were labeled as specials, and I just smiled and sat down and enjoyed the trip back to the United States without making a commotion or trying to educate the person. You know, so it’s kind of funny.
Sree: I think, you know, now, at least what I learned taking this trip to India. I asked the stewardess. I said, how many people requested a wheelchair on a flight that had 300 passengers. So, Jeff, if you had to guess how many of those passengers requested a wheelchair?
Jeff: 6
Sree: 1 hundred.
Jeff: Wow.
Sree: 100. Out of that, 300 passengers requested a wheelchair.
Speaker6: Holy cow.
Sree: Yeah, that would be the only thing that would say is, you know, you do have to wait for the wheelchair service because they’re just bombarded with everyone requesting a wheelchair.
Jeff: Wow, what’s happening to America?
Sree: Overall, I would say had a good time. No issues with the flight.
Jeff: I got some breaking news, actually. Some heartbreaking news as the Blind Abilities app is no more. We’ve decided to pull it as Libsyn decided to drop it from their offerings, and we’ve been putting out the Blind Abilities app for 15 years, and it was a great tool. Over the years, students used it. A lot of students that didn’t have access to teachers to teach them technology. We had iPhone 101. We had a lot of instructional type of demos that they would utilize from it, and we made it simple by putting it on their home screen and with a couple taps, you’re listening to podcasts.
Sree: Definitely a sad day there, Jeff. I will say, when I was losing my sight, the first app that I downloaded was Blind Abilities on my iPhone.
Jeff: Oh yeah. I also got some t shirts. You know, the blind abilities t shirts. And on the back it says get the app. So I guess those makes those obsolete.
Sree: Well, we can always put a little circle on the. And then cross it and get the shirts out again.
Jeff: Don’t get the app.
Sree: Not necessary.
Jeff: Not necessary. I like it.
Sree: I just out of curiosity, were you getting more traffic on the podcast or on your app?
Jeff: Oh, most definitely Podcatchers and browsers. And with the built in Apple and Google Podcatchers, people are listening through what’s convenient to them. Back in the day, it was easy to have an app and put that right onto their homepage, and that way they could listen to it. They didn’t have to understand the industry of podcasts and podcatchers and subscribing. You know, just had to go to the App Store. Boom. There you go. Blind abilities. That’s two words. Blind abilities. And they could download it. Well, now they can subscribe wherever they listen to podcasts. So times they are a changing.
Sree: Well, as an end user of the app, I just want to say thank you for putting it out there. Like I said, I listened to it all the time and it was one of my favorite go to apps to learn about technology or just what’s going on in the community. So thank you.
Jeff: Well, thanks. It’s nice to hear the feedback like that. But as time goes on here, we’re in a different era where the familiarity of technology starts at such an earlier age than it did for a lot of us at Lost Sight later on in life. and with the coming of the iPhone and everything, well, people needed to learn it. So that was a tool that we used. And now where it is today, it seems like so many people are able to access technology in ways that we only dreamed of in yesteryear.
Sree: Yeah, I completely agree. I was telling my sister, you know, who lost her sight a long time ago. I said, if you could survive through that period, I should not complain in the current period because I have so much support and technology to assist me. You know, it’s just, you know how they did it. I’m in awe.
Jeff: Oh, it’s ever changing. You can’t keep up with it. You do a demo this month and next month that demo is obsolete because a new software came out. Ios 26.3 will be coming out, and everything done before that is just, you know, I don’t know, is it relevant anymore or is the latest. So technology changes so fast. And that’s the thing is trying to switch to different technology that comes a little bit slower. So thinking about high schoolers who are given tablets for free and they have a Google environment. So they’re learning Google Docs. But when you go to college you might have to learn Microsoft Word. You might have to learn programs that are windows based and that’s accessed through a PC. So bridging from a tablet to a PC to get to windows, and then a new screen reader, whether it be jaws or NVDA. That’s key to success in college and the workplace, because they’re not going to be using your Braille notetakers they’re not going to be using tablets so much. But if you have the skills for a PC, I think you’ll be more prepared and successful. If you can do that early, let’s say 10th 11th grade, start bridging into there to pick it up as another tool that you’ll have at your access. And Cheryl Macintosh, good friend of the show, good friend for many years, teaches students how to bridge that gap, whether using a tablet and learning how to use screen readers.
Sree: Yeah, I definitely agree. I think this is like one of those starting steps that we all need it before we get out to the world, because it is a requirement. Now, you got to know these things before you can actually get into the work world.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, I myself, I used windows up until oh geez, Windows 8. And then I went into audio production and I switched over to the Mac and I didn’t go back. But the thing is, I just picked up a PC about a year ago and I’ve been learning JAWS and I want to learn NVDA as well just to have it in my back pocket. And Cheryl helped me out here. I got a keyboard. It’s the Logitech K270 and it’s a flat keypad and it’s very good. The keys are right where I want them. So I suggest to anybody that is wants to go into a change or wants to get into the jaws or NVDA with the windows to pick up a PC and start working on it a little bit, focus on like word or something, and write yourself a letter and then mail it to yourself and go through some motions like that. Get used to the navigation of the computer itself, because it’s something that if you’re going to be looking for college in the workplace, I would say a PC is the way to go. And later on in life, in your market or your job that you’re going to be doing, maybe you can switch over to a mac. It depends on the environment that your company is in. So if their databases are basically windows based, then probably going to be using PCs and stuff. And the big thing to remember is most people that go to a PC laptop do get an external keyboard because the key configuration is a lot better to use. So that’s why I got the Logitech K270 keyboard that Cheryl suggested to me. And like I said, it was under 30 bucks on Amazon.
Sree: And do you find the keyboard very easy to use? Very comfortable to use?
Jeff: I really like it. It’s very similar to the Magic Keyboard on the Mac because it’s flat. It’s just like a bunch of chicklets all in a row.
Sree: It’s very flat.
Jeff: It has the four keys to the left of the spacebar. So the function key, but this also has a numpad on the right hand side for num-lock on and off. And the application key and windows keys are all there. And the F keys they have the groups of four going across it. So I’m very familiar with this already and it seems to be working really good for me.
Sree: I always find it very interesting when I hear people using both the Mac and the windows. So is your modifier key on the windows or using the same for the Mac? Like to use caps Lock or using the insert key for Jaws, or using the Caps lock for jaws. What do you do? What do you do?
Jeff: I don’t use it ever. She said that? You mean modifier for what?
Sree: You know how we use the Vo keys? You can use the control option or the caps lock. I think on jaws, you can either insert key on the keyboard on the numpad, sorry. Or you can use the caps lock to perform the…
Jeff: I’ve never been one to modify keys too much. I use the insert key and I use the Vo keys on the. I never switched it to the caps lock. No, but she suggested this keyboard and it has all the keys like I mentioned before, so I really like it.
Sree: Well, I applaud you taking on that journey because I think it’s very good to learn both and be able to share that knowledge to others.
Jeff: But this isn’t the newest keyboard on the block. You yourself just got a new keyboard.
Sree: I did. I got the Keychron Q6 Max and it’s definitely not a flat keyboard. It is a. I would say it’s a Rocky Mountain keyboard compared to the Apple keyboard. It weighs about £3, so you could probably hurt someone with it. It’s a heavy keyboard, but there are a few things that I did like. It’s got a volume knob and a mute volume knob that’s built in because for me, I find when I’m editing with Amadeus Pro, I like to have the volume control a little bit more precise than just using the keyboard keys to control the volume. And this keyboard works with both Windows and Mac. It has a toggle switch between the two, and it also has a toggle to switch between the 2.4GHz wired or Bluetooth. So it has a little bit of functionality that way, too. And it has some other keys that I haven’t quite figured out. I think I need a PhD to kind of understand how this keyboard actually works, but it’s got like a microphone button to mute the mic, but I can’t seem to get that to work. So I got to figure out how to use that. But it’s very comfortable to type. I find that I’m able to move a little bit more quicker with this keyboard, and to me, I feel it’s a little bit more responsive for me, at least for me, it’s these keys. Like I said, they’re like they’re very well raised up and there in different heights and lengths. So it took me about five, ten minutes to kind of get the hang of it. Then after that it was pretty smooth sailing.
Jeff: Is it like playing whack a mole?
Sree: I don’t know, like I said, like it’s funny because when we picked it up at the Micro Center store, my wife goes, darn, this keyboard is really heavy. And I held it. I go, oh my God, it’s heavy.
Jeff: Is it loud when you’re typing?
Sree: Uh, let me see if I do. Let’s see. I don’t know if I can I can hear this.
Jeff: Yeah.
Sree: It’s an interesting keyboard. It’s not. It’s it’s on the expensive side of it. I got it on sale for, I think it was at $215 for it on sale, but I can definitely see why gamers like this keyboard.
Jeff: Yeah, I believe that’s the same keyboard that was recommended by our friend down there in Saint Louis, Seyoon.
Sree: I might have to reach out to him and ask him how he’s really using it because, uh, I thought it would be very plug and play, but apparently this is a very like I said, I need a PhD to understand this keyboard beyond just the basic usage of it, but apparently there’s some other things you can really do with this keyboard.
Jeff: Sree, I remember the last time we talked, we were talking about iOS 26 and you are beta testing it, and then you finally put it on to your everyday phone. And I was confident enough. So when it upgraded to iOS 26.2, I did it myself. And other than a couple glitches here and there, no showstoppers of course. It’s pretty good, I like it.
Sree: I definitely liked it from the get go. I didn’t really have a lot of showstoppers or gotcha. There was definitely some issues. I know the big one was when we went from 26.1, the mail app, the scroll feature. When you do a three finger swipe up, you couldn’t scroll and they fixed it in, uh, 26.2. But then I found out on 26.2 my insert to attachment. That’s not working with VoiceOver. Visually it’s there, but voiceover is not capturing like before. I would have to touch and explore to find it because you couldn’t swipe left or right, because if you did that, it would jump over it. But if you could do a touch and explore, there was an insert button that would allow me to insert pictures or attachments. Now you have to get on the body of the email and perform a long press, which is a one finger double tap and hold to bring up the context menu. And then you go to forward, and then you’ll have the insert option to bring up the attachment. So it’s a little bit work around.
Jeff: When you say forward?
Sree: There’s a forward button that you have to double tap. And then it brings up the menu for the attachment. You would think, you know from a logical perspective, oh you’re trying to forward this email. You know that’s the first thing that I thought about. And then it’s actually a menu with other options.
Jeff: Yeah I think that’s one of the biggest problems with iOS is the mail app. Trying to send or attach files has always been a little convoluted, and probably one of the most asked questions of me about the mail app.
Sree: Yeah, you know, especially when they had all those different ways of viewing the email. That’s through a big wrench in people because it just was completely different than luckily, Apple eventually brought the list view of it so that, you know, just go back to what it used to be, because that’s what most people liked. So.
Jeff: Oh yeah, back the way it used to be. Hmm. Back to when we used to think Siri was the greatest thing on Earth.
Sree: Boy, that’s that could be a whole discussion, because that thing has gotten so bad.
Jeff: And I believe they let the Siri guy go.
Sree: Yeah, I guess he got poached by meta. And it’s funny because what I read is most people at Apple were happy that he was gone because I don’t know about you, but it seems like they bought this liquid glass and now it’s becoming back to not so liquid glass anymore.
Jeff: Yeah. Solid glass.
Sree: Not solid.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. They used to brag about how solid the glass was. They drop it, they do everything. Now it’s liquid glass, but it doesn’t impact me as much. I guess the sighted world is really, you know, making the decision on this one. There’s two settings. One, you can have it more translucent than the other one. So more opaque, I guess. So I have it set there. It’s fine. I mean, I’m not staring at the keyboard anymore, so I just go about my way of doing things and everything seems to be all right, except for like some of the searches are now at the bottom rather than at the top, so I have to hesitate when I’m doing stuff like that.
Sree: I would say for those who have the larger phones, this makes sense because you don’t have to go. I’m all for navigating the phone as efficiently as possible, and one way of doing that is not actually lifting my wrist away from the phone. I use one thumb to do my typing and navigation, so if it’s in the bottom, it’s a little easier for me to get to the search box when it’s in the bottom. So I quite like it that it’s in the bottom. I’m glad they pretty much put everything in the bottom now. Now it’s universal.
Jeff: And that’s the trouble with an iPad. I always thought I wanted an iPad, then I thought, okay, I don’t like the iPad. Too much real estate. I got a, you know, I’m swinging my arms, you know, and then when it comes to the iPad mini, it just was a big enough to be a nuisance to many things, almost like a split screen. Sometimes everything moves over to the right in a column that used to be underneath. It just wasn’t convenient. And with my eyesight the way it is, it doesn’t matter about the real estate as much as the convenience of using it. And I’ve noticed that since iOS 26.2, I’ve noticed that I’m reaching up for my icons that used to be there, and I’m one off because it seems like everything icons are tad smaller, but they’re up higher or something like that because there’s more stuff. It’s just moved from a muscle memory. So every once in a while I just stop and put on the brakes for a second and go, okay, it’s up here.
Sree: You know, if you recall previously, these icons were always they controlled it where it is, you know, from a grid perspective. Now, you know, you could put one icon all the way in the bottom right and no other icon on the screen, you know, you do have that capability. So for me, when I’m swiping on the home screen, it tells me that there’s open slots available. As I’m bringing icons into those areas, it’ll say, you know, row five, column three, and it’ll just kind of tell me the different rows and columns that are available, which we didn’t have before.
Jeff: I remember when the screens got so much larger that we got a whole nother row of icons on the iPhone, and that was like worth talking about. And I just noticed that when I deleted the Blind Abilities app, I got a hollow spot there. It’s kind of like in memory of BA.
Sree: So did you take a screenshot before it went out?
Jeff: Yeah, I probably got some in my screenshots somewhere, but I set my phone down a little hard and Tap Back came on. So ever since I upgraded to iOS 26.2, that came back on and it’s like, gosh, I haven’t used Tap Back in ages. So some things do turn back on when you upgrade. So you got to check all that out.
Sree: Yeah. But yeah, for the blind communities who are VoiceOver users going to 26 probably had very little impact on whether you want to upgrade or not. I would say you’re okay to upgrade as a VoiceOver user. Maybe for low vision you may want to kind of tweak it and so forth. But voiceover it works like normally.
Jeff: Yeah, that’s about it. A lot of people just want things to work how it used to work and with the changes, some people just don’t know how to go about personalizing their phone, which is something that the iPhone you can do is really bring it into how you want to do it. But some people just don’t want to take the time or to learn how to do that.
Sree: It’s kind of like in the phone app. Now you have the classic and the unified. I’ve heard so much discussion about, you know, how they just want the classic the old way and not use the unified. But there are some benefits when it’s set up with unified, I’m able to have some features that I don’t have when it’s in classic view.
Jeff: So, Sree, tell me how you use the unified setup in the phone app.
Sree: So in unified, I have situations where I can do like a callback and assign a time to it. So let’s say you call me and I can go to your call log. Let’s say I called you and now I need to call you back, let’s say later in the evening when it’s unified, I can go in there and assign by swiping up or down on that call log or that call the caller ID number. And one of the options will be call now call an hour. Call to later two hours.
Jeff: Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Sree: And then when you enable that number one, it sets it up as a callback on the phone app itself. But I also have it in the reminders letting me know that there’s a callback that’s assigned to call you at a later time.
Jeff: So is it like three minutes before you’re going to have the callback? It gives you a little beep, beep, beep or something like that.
Sree: If you set it to call, let’s say I want to call you back in three hours. I’ll get a reminder to call you back in three hours.
Jeff: It itself won’t make that call.
Sree: It won’t make that call. But with iOS 26.2 in the reminders app, you can double tap on that reminder and it will call you back. You don’t have to go back to the phone app, it’ll just call you through the reminders app.
Jeff: But I mean, if I’m just doing something else, my phone won’t just make that call. You actually have to interact with it.
Sree: You do have to interact with it. It won’t automatically call it. The good thing is, you know, you don’t have to go back into that phone app and find that call log and make the call out.
Jeff: Sree, you’re a heavy reminders app user.
Sree: I am, I just did a demo last Sunday at iBUG Today. I kind of call it the cradle to grave on the reminders app.
Jeff: And if people want to check that out, they can go to iBugToday and check it out.
Sree: They can definitely go to iBugToday.org. They can go to the website, the podcast or the YouTube channel and check out iBug Cafe episode 126. And they can learn everything about the reminders app. I love it, I use it all the time. It’s one of my favorite apps.
Jeff: That’s good. And you mentioned that they fixed some of the bugs that they had in 26.1, fixed them in 26.2.
Sree: Yeah, most of it. And I would definitely say that iOS 26.2 also did a lot of security updates. And two of the security updates. It was actually a breached repair. So it was actually found somebody actually hacked into it and Apple went and closed the whole or whatever you want to call it, and they fixed it. So it is a critical update.
Jeff: Oh wow, You know, things coming up that I got my eye on, I hear rumors all the time. I don’t like rumors too much, but the Mac Studio is rumored to be coming out with an updated version, and Apple TV itself is supposed to be coming out too. So I’m going to be watching for the Studio because I’m running the last Pentium that was put out right at the turn of the decade there. 2019 I purchased my 27 inch Mac, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for that.
Sree: I may not be looking for a mac because I currently have a Studio. You know, it’s the last version of the Studio and it’s working pretty well for me. I don’t think I need to upgrade it for it because of any performance issues that I’m having. The monitor is definitely tempting because I do have a computer for my wife, who she has the old 27 inch iMac and she does not want the 24 inch. She wants a big screen. So maybe on my other Mac I could probably, you know, if she’s interested, maybe get that monitor. I definitely think that monitors. Way overpriced. But you know, other good monitors are not too far behind that cost.
Jeff: Yeah, there’s comparable monitors out there, but I think the speaker package that comes with the studio monitor is unbeatable. Just like my iMac right here, the 27. It has great speakers and, uh, they’ve always had great speakers like the iPod, minis, iPods, everything. Apple and speakers is always really good. But when you’re talking $1,500 for a monitor for a blind guy, I’m quite hesitant.
Sree: Yeah, I think that’s probably one of the reasons I haven’t really put too much thought behind it. But for an iMac and a Studio that’s still pretty, it’s more expensive than when you got an iMac. Wouldn’t it?
Jeff: All said and done, the Mac Studio you’re talking about $2,100, then about 1500 $1,600 for the monitor. So, you know, yeah. And even for the 27 inch Mac that, you know, you’re up around two grand if they ever make it anymore.
Sree: Two grand. Yeah. That’s how much I paid for my wife’s 27 inch. But I will tell you, she loves it and she does not want to give it up. Now, did you hear any rumors they might make a lower cost version of the display? Or are you just hearing the, uh, the replacement of the old one?
Jeff: I heard a 32 inch, but rumors are rumors, and I really don’t bank on. I can’t waste too much time on them. I’m still waiting for my air power charger.
Sree: We’re going to be waiting for that one for a while.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, that’s the way it is in the Apple world right now. They’re losing a lot of executives right now or they’re shifting into a new era. I don’t know what it’s going to be like. I hope they keep on keeping on because I like their products all the way down to the iPhones, to the speakers, everything. I like their Apple TV.
Sree: Yeah, I’m a big fan of Apple TVs. I think they’re the best streaming box that’s out there in the market now from an accessibility and just the overall user experience.
Jeff: Yeah, well, the thing is, you can run a cheaper TV that has HDMI and you run that into a soundbar. So you don’t have to have Arc, you don’t have to have all the latest optical or whatever type of connection. So I was just reading about this because I have a TV that’s been left over. We have three basic TVs in the house, and I was going to think about getting a soundbar for them, and I saw the Sonos were on sale and I thought, well, what kind of connections are there? And then I started searching and looking for it. Then it dawned on me. I said, wait. So I told ChatGPT that I have an Apple TV and they said, oh no worries.
Sree: Well, we went from a 1080p to a 4K television. Obviously I can’t see the screen at all, but my wife said it was like night and day difference between like the picture quality. Like, you know what she sees on the screen. Yeah. And you know, when I had sight, I could see. 720p and part of 1080 at that time. And I’m just picturing how much more clearer the 4K is. And now, you know, 8-K is going to be coming soon. So for people who have vision, they’re going to see some very, very clear images on their screen.
Jeff: Yeah, I think someday we’ll just be able to walk right into it just.
High Pitch Voice: Oh my gosh, I’m on TV.
Jeff: Well thanks, Sree, and thanks to everyone for listening. We’re going to wrap it up for the year and we’ll see you on the other side.
Sree: Yeah. Likewise to you and your family and everybody who’s listening to to us here.
Jeff: Unscripted tech news and everyday life with blind and low vision. All in the moment. No script, just straight talk. Thanks for listening.
{Music}
Jeff: For more podcasts with a blindness perspective check us out on the web at www.blindabilities .com. On Twitter at Blind Abilities and download the free Blind Abilities app from the App Store. That’s two words, blind abilities.
And if you want to leave some feedback give us some suggestions give us a call at 612 367 6093.
We’d love to hear from you. I want to thank you for listening and until next time bye-bye.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.