Hi Jenny.
I found the Look Tell Recognizer to be the easiest bar code app for me. It
doesn't seem to be as much of a pain as the other one I had which you had to b"
sighted or lucky to use.
Regards,
Gigi
Eugenia Firth
gigifi...@sbcglobal.net
On Mar 19, 2012, at 3:55 PM, Jenny Keller wrote:
> That sounds way too complicated for me. Is there an easier program?
>
> Also is there a bar code reader ap and what info does it tell you?
>
>
>
> Jenny and my goofy guide Brooks
>
> On Mar 19, 2012, at 2:07 PM, Anne Robertson <a...@anarchie.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Hello Paul,
>>
>> The Light Detector app is just called Light Detector and you just launch it
>> and it plays a tone which rises with the light level.
>>
>>
>> Here are the instructions for Prizmo that Esther posted a little while ago.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Anne
>>
>>
>>
>> One of the features that contributes to Prizmo's increased effectiveness for
>> visually impaired users is the ability to take pictures with speech control,
>> by saying, "Take Picture", which reduces the likelihood of a blurred image
>> due to moving the phone when you double or split tap a button to take a
>> picture. You turn this feature on in the Settings menu by double tapping
>> the "Settings" button in the top right corner of the main Prizmo screen.
>> Flick right to the "General Settings" button under the "Settings" heading
>> and double tap. On the "General Settings" screen, flick right past the
>> "Capture" heading and set the "Alignment Grid" to "Switch button, off", then
>> set the "Speech Control" to "Switch button, on". I believe both switches
>> are turned on by default, but it is several months since I configured
>> Prizmo. I'm not sure whether turning off the "Alignment Grid" is necessary,
>> but you certainly don't need it to be displayed, since you can't see it
>> while using the camera. Once you have checked that these settings are in
>> place, double tap the "Settings, back button" in the top left corner to
>> return to the "Settings" screen, then double tap the "Done" button in the
>> top right corner to return to the main Prizmo screen.
>>
>> The main Prizmo screen has a list of types of documents to scan and OCR,
>> followed by a "Documents" button at the bottom of the screen that are
>> results you want to store in the app. In general, you will choose to double
>> tap "Text" (the first listed entry).
>>
>> The app works in 3 stages, which are indicated by the 3 buttons at the
>> bottom of the the next ("Photo") screen: (1) Source (obtaining the image
>> using the Camera -- can also use previous images from your photo album taken
>> outside the app), (2) Image (options to apply corrections to image before
>> OCR -- generally requires vision to perform actions, such as cropping to
>> only include the part of the image that contains text or correct for
>> distorted pictures because you didn't hold the iPhone flat), and (3) OCR
>> (perform the OCR with an option to choose the language to improve the OCR),
>> then display the results for editing, copying, etc. or saving in the app's
>> stored "Documents". You can navigate through the app without ever using
>> these buttons, just by double tapping the "Next" button in the top right
>> corner of the screen to move through each stage, and that's probably the
>> easiest way to use the app when you get started, especially if you only work
>> with documents in English. However, if you want to OCR a document in a
>> different language, you can improve your results by double tapping the "OCR"
>> button (third or three at the bottom right corner of the screen) and then
>> flicking left to the language button (e.g., "English") in the row of option
>> buttons for that screen, and double tapping. You'll be able to double tap
>> another language from the list of 10 available languages. (Note that you
>> will not hear "selected" announced beside the currently selected language in
>> the list, but you can only exit the "Language" menu by either double tapping
>> a new language selection or by double tapping the "Cancel" button in the top
>> right corner. Once you have changed the language (e.g., to French) and
>> returned to the "Photo" screen with the OCR button set, you should hear the
>> new language, "French", announced if you flick left to that button.) Setting
>> the OCR language before applying the "next" button improves the recognition
>> of words with accented characters -- otherwise I may get a "6" for an "e"
>> with acute accent, and other such examples.
>>
>> Here's the sequence for the iPhone 4, assuming that you have configured the
>> "Settings" menu as outlined earlier. It is very helpful to use the $0.99
>> "Light Detector" app to check lighting conditions and also get a sense of
>> the optimal centering and height of the iPhone above the page before you use
>> Prizmo. (You can hear when the "Light Detector" signal is loudest if you
>> move the phone up and down or left/right and forwards/back with respect to
>> the page. This only gives a rough sense of where to position the phone when
>> you use Prizmo, but if you can't hear any difference in signal with Light
>> Detector when you move the phone around over the page, chances are that
>> either the background light level is too low to take a good image, or you're
>> blocking the light source with part of your body. You should also use a
>> headset connected to the headphone jack, since as soon as the iPhone camera
>> is accessed in a mode that is capable of responding to your spoken "Take
>> Picture" command the volume of VoiceOver through the speaker will drop, and
>> not get restored until you exit the camera screen either by double tapping
>> the "Use" button in the bottom right corner of the screen or the "Retake"
>> button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
>>
>> 1) From the main Prizmo screen, double tap "Text"
>> 2) On the Photo screen, flick right to the "Camera" button that is the first
>> of the 3 "Get text from picture" source options, near the bottom of the
>> screen, and double tap
>> 3) On the iPhone 4 Camera screen (no heading), there are three buttons at
>> the top: one for the "Flash" at the top left and one for "Camera Chooser" at
>> the top right. In between is an unlabeled "Button" that toggles on and off
>> the speech control function when the switch for that option is turned on
>> under the "General Settings" submenu of the "Settings" menu. If the switch
>> for the speech control option is not turned on in "Settings", this unlabeled
>> button will not appear on the screen. If, when you enter the Camera screen,
>> your phone does not vibrate, and VoiceOver's volume through the speaker does
>> not immediately drop, then the ability to use speech control to take a
>> picture by saying "Take Picture" on this screen has not been toggled on, and
>> you will have to double tap that unlabeled button to the left of the "Camera
>> Chooser" button to activate this function. Once you toggle on the speech
>> control function, your iPhone should vibrate, and the volume of VoiceOver
>> through the speaker should immediately drop. I believe that the first time
>> you access the Camera screen, speech control is toggled off (i.e., you can
>> do a two finger flick down to "Read All" the controls on the screen and hear
>> everything announced through the speaker). If you double tap the unlabeled
>> button at the top of the screen to turn on voice control of the camera
>> shutter, then whenever you enter the Camera screen your speaker volume will
>> automatically be lowered, requiring use of headphones. Presumably this is to
>> get a good trigger when you say, "Take Picture". Your speaker volume will
>> remain lowered until you leave the Camera screen (either by double tapping
>> the "Use" button in the bottom right corner after taking a photo, or by
>> double tapping the "Cancel" button in the bottom left corner to leave the
>> screen without taking a picture), or until you
>> toggle the speech control feature off by double tapping the unlabeled button
>> at the top of the screen again. (Note, if you become very confident and
>> proficient in the layout of the camera screen, so you can double tap the
>> "Use" button in the bottom left corner without a VoiceOver prompt, you can
>> run this without headphones. Alternatively, if you're at home in a quiet
>> setting you may still be able to hear VoiceOver through the lowered speaker
>> volume and also work without headphones. Also, if you're fast at getting
>> the iPhone to the correct height and level before you hear the buzz, and
>> then say "Take Picture", you can work without headphones. But in general,
>> be prepared to use headphones when you use voice control for the camera
>> shutter.)
>> 4) Revisiting step 3. Assuming you set your speech control on, and exited
>> the Camera screen (e.g. by double tapping the "Cancel" button in the bottom
>> left corner), you can start the process again, with your headphones
>> connected. After double tapping the "Text" button (Step 1) and before
>> double tapping the "Camera" button (Step 2), place your iPhone on the page
>> you want to OCR using the edges of the paper to align the sides of the
>> device. Center the iPhone so that the camera lens (top right corner as you
>> normally hold the device) is approximately in the center of the page. (If
>> you use a case, make sure that the back of the case does not block the
>> camera lens). Sandy has mentioned suggestions like lightly folding the page
>> in half length-wise and width-wise to guide positioning and aligning the
>> iPhone, in the case of practicing with a sheet of letter paper. Make sure
>> that you flatten the paper because failing to keep either the page or the
>> iPhone flat when you take the picture will cause some of the letters to show
>> up as tildes; this is typical if you scan a book page and haven't flattened
>> the section near the spine enough.
>> 5) Double tap or split tap the "Camera" button, then, using two hands to
>> make sure you keep the iPhone level, raise it steadily up from the page to a
>> height of about 7 to 9 inches. (Nine inches is roughly twice the length of
>> the iPhone.) You'll feel the iPhone vibrate, and then VoiceOver will
>> announce "auto-focused". At this point you can say "Take Picture" and hear
>> the shutter close. (You'll probably start by lifting the iPhone too slowly
>> to reach 7-9 inches before you feel the vibration and hear "auto focused".
>> Say "Take Picture" anyway -- your image is more likely to be in focus. The
>> actual distance you lift depends on the size of the page. Small billings
>> only require about 6 or 7 inches. I practice lifting and then check the
>> distance I've lifted an iPhone against the handspan of one hand, which for
>> me is 7 inches, but I have small hands.
>> 6) Double tap the "Use" button in the bottom right corner of the screen.
>> This is the last element on the screen, so you can also just use a four
>> finger tap on the bottom of the screen and then double tap. (I preferred
>> the four finger swipe down, but this is the current gesture for moving tot
>> he end of the screen.)
>> 7) On the next screen flick right the "Next" button in the top right corner
>> and double tap. You'll move to a screen labeled "Processing"
>> 8) The results of the OCR will show up in an "Edit" screen which will let
>> you review and edit your results.
>> 9) Double tap the "Next" button in the top right corner when done. You can
>> Save your results, or copy them, mail or upload them. Options such as copy
>> or email are listed as buttons along the bottom of the screen. Do a three
>> finger flick left to hear the second page of options, which include
>> MobileMe, DropBox, etc.
>>
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