Feature Writer John Christie - 26 Useful Apps for the Average Person
National Braille Press has produced a new book with timely information called "Twenty-Six Useful Apps for Blind iPhone Users," by Peter Cantisani. The Apps that Cantisani chose must provide a useful function and be reasonably accessible. In the first chapter, called "Life With Apps," Cantisani starts his day with a variety of Apps. They include a wake-up alarm and weather report App, an App to see if his bus is running on time, an App to read a book, and an App to take notes and much more. The reader is hooked on Apps as a wealth of possibilities. The book assumes that the reader is familiar with the functions of the iPhone and its gestures. An introduction to the App Store is also provided, instructing the reader in how to find, download, and update Apps. Each App is covered in a separate chapter along with the name of the developer, the price, amount of memory required, and category such as utility, music, news, and so forth. Half of the Apps are free and very few are priced at $5 and most require very little of your iPhone's memory. The exception to this is the Navigon MobileNavigator GPS app, which is 1.69GB in size for the North American version. Each App has an introduction to it followed by how accessible it is. There is also an overview of how to deal with its functions. The author lets us know about the buttons and whether they are accessible with Voice-Over or not. In the book, the author covers Apps for music, downloading books, an App for collecting Podcasts, and Apps that let you stay current with news and events. In addition, there are cooking Apps for obtaining recipes, learning cooking techniques, and finding useful conversions such as finding the right measurements and one that will generate a shopping list for a dish you might want to make. There are also mobility Apps. The "Next Bus" App lets users check bus schedules and find out when the next bus will come. The Sendero GPS LookAround app does exactly what it says. It looks around your location to determine points of interests and determines nearby streets and gets your current address. There are four Apps with blind audiences in mind in the book. One is for identifying money, labeling and identifying documents, as well as other items, obtaining information about other surroundings, and downloading books recorded for people with print disabilities. The book is available in hard copy, Jiffy-Braille, on CD in ebraille, and in downloadable DAISY and Microsoft Word formats. The book costs $9 and is available from National Braille Press at www.nbp.org or by calling (800) 548-7323. Cantisani wrote a really great book. It's perfect for people who use the iPhone and are looking for Apps to help them in their everyday lives. In addition, half of these Apps are free and most of the other Apps cost very little. ____________________________________________________________________________ _ Denny Huff- President Missouri Council of the Blind P: (636) 262-1383 TF: (888) 362-1383 F: (314) 558-0298 [email protected] www.moblind.org The purpose of Missouri Council of the Blind shall be to promote the general well-being of our members and legally blind people in Missouri, and to support or participate in other programs promoting the best interests of legally blind people everywhere. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE JOURNEY Your host: Denny Huff Listen live, SUNDAY MORNINGS AT 8:00 AM CST WWW.KLPW.COM
_______________________________________________ ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.) A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
