That was a really good read. On 4/7/18, Arlene <[email protected]> wrote: > Thank you, Richard. It sounds confusing but we'll try it. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Richard Turner > To: [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2018 8:37 PM > Subject: Re: A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it > has changed my life by Jonathan Mosen, > > > > > Hi, > If you want to select all, I used the rotor Text Selection, which is an > Apple thing, not a Writer feature. You have to enable it in the VoiceOver > Rotor Settings. > But, in Writer, there is a button to use for selecting smaller chunks, but > it is kind of complicated to explain right now. > If you do not have Text Selection on your rotor, I would recommend going > in the settings for Rotor and enabling it by double tapping on it so it says > "selected." > HTH, > Richard > > > > > > “The secret is not to make your music louder, but to make the world > quieter.” > > - Mitch Albom from The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, page 1 > > > On Apr 7, 2018, at 6:06 PM, Arlene <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Richard, where's text selection and writer? Thanks. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Richard Turner > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, April 06, 2018 7:23 PM > Subject: A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it > has changed my life by Jonathan Mosen, > > > > > Greetings, > I decided to use text selection and select all before VoiceOver locked > up, then copy and paste Mark's message into Writer, then it read well. > So, I copied it back out of Writer and am pasting it below. Hopefully, > whatever was causing the problem is gone. > Here is Mark's entire message: > Hello Everyone, > > > I am posting the following article because it references an iOS app. > > > Mark > > > A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it has > changed my > life > by Jonathan Mosen, Posted on 03/04/2018 > > > Introduction > Recently, I was pleased to attend the CSUN assistive technology > conference. > I've had the privilege of going to 10 of these before, but it has been > a few > years since I was there last. > When you're involved with an industry, you tend to watch developments > so > closely that changes usually seem incremental. But occasionally, > something > new comes along that is so game changing, it stops you in your tracks. > For > me, San Diego-based Aira is one such technology. I am late to this > party. > Aira has been rolling out for some time in the United States. And > indeed, we > covered Aira in an edition of The Blind Side Podcast last year. But > since > mentioning my Aira experience to people via outlet such as my Internet > radio > show, The Mosen Explosion, I've learned that not everyone yet fully > understands what the service is or how it works. For those not > familiar with > Aira, or who would like to read someone else's impressions of it, read > on. > What is Aira > According to the company's website, > Aira is today's fastest growing assistive community. One tap of a > button > instantly connects you with a sighted professional agent who delivers > visual > assistance anytime and anywhere. > Here's what that means in practice. At present, Aira is a smart phone > app, > available for iOS and Android. Since Aira is a service for blind > people, > it's no surprise that the app is exemplary in terms of its > accessibility. > And in iOS, it even sports Siri integration. > Using the app, you can connect via video, much like a FaceTime call, > with > agents who can provide you with visual information. Audio quality is > excellent, far clearer than a standard cell phone connection. > Essentially, > an Aira agent can tell you anything at all that a pair of functioning > eyes > can see, plus perform a range of tasks pertaining to that > information. > You can acquire the visual information using your smart phone's > camera, or, > when you become a subscriber to the Aira service (Aira calls its > customers > "explorers") you receive a pair of smart glasses. These are included > as part > of your subscription, so there's no hardware cost upfront. > The service is available officially in the United States at present, > where > Aira has an arrangement with AT&T. Aira explorers receive an AT&T > MiFi > device, allowing them to use the service on the go without the data > consumed > by the video connection eating up a customer's own cellular plan. If > you > have a cellular plan equipped with the personal hotspot feature, you > are > free to pair your Aira glasses with your phone using that method. For > those > with large data plans, this may be attractive because there is one > less > device to keep track of, carry, and charge. The downside, other than > the > data consumption, is that a video connection to Aira for a long time > may > cause significant battery drain on your smart phone. > When you're at home, work, or anywhere that Wi-Fi is available that > doesn't > require web-based authentication, you can pair your Aira glasses to > that > network. As far as I have been able to ascertain, 5 GHZ Wi-Fi isn't > supported at present. > Because of the need for high quality video, the glasses pair via > Wi-Fi, and > not Bluetooth. The glasses are associated with your Aira account. This > is > useful if, like in Bonnie's and my house, you're sharing your minutes > as a > couple. More on that later. > The upshot of all of this is that for 18 hours of every day, > professional, > well-trained sighted assistance is just a few taps or a Siri command > away. > Describing it like this makes it sound kind of cool. But I want to > explain > the impact that Aira has had on our lives in the brief time we have > had it, > to illustrate that, at least for some of us, this technology is more > than > just pretty cool, it's life-changing. > My first Aira experience > If you've been reading this blog or listening to The Blind Side > Podcast over > the years, you will know that in recent times I have come out as > having a > hearing impairment. I love going to these big conferences because I > get to > catch up with old friends and make new ones, as well as see the latest > and > greatest technology. I hate going to these big conferences because > often, I > find myself in difficult audio environments. It can be very noisy. > Hotel > lobbies and restaurants are often exceedingly crowded, with high > ceilings > causing noise to bounce everywhere. The environment is difficult and > tiring, > but I keep going and doing the best I can, because the alternative is > to sit > at home and rust away, and I'm certainly not going to do that. > One smart thing that Aira has done is to start rolling out a concept > called > "site access". With appropriate sponsorship, or perhaps at times where > there > will be many potential customers in one place, Aira can enable free > access > to a location or even the entire city through their smart city > project. > There are two benefits to the strategy. First, it's helpful for > existing > Aira explorers because they can use the service as much as they want > without > it counting against their monthly plans. > Second, anyone, even those not signed up with an Aira monthly plan, > can go > to the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store, download the app, > create a > guest account, and use the service for free. As I found out, it's > convenient > to have access to Aira in such situations, and it offers the > opportunity for > Aira to convert those guests into full-time explorers. Smart stuff. > It was thanks to this program that I gave Aira a shot. Had I been > required > to go to the booth to give it a go, I probably would have run out of > time > and wouldn't be writing this post. But it was a cinch to download the > app > and set up my guest account. > I first decided to put Aira through a simple test. Having arrived in > San > Diego after a long journey, I wasn't taking much notice of the hotel > layout > when the porter showed me to my room. So, the next morning, I made my > first > call to Aira, and asked the friendly agent to guide me to the > elevator. Not > only did I get to the elevator effortlessly, I was also guided right > to the > button for the elevator. > But the call I will never forget is the one I made to ask for > assistance > getting to the exhibit hall while exhibits were being set up. If > you've > visited the Grand Hyatt in San Diego, you'll know how cavernous the > lobby > can sound. When the lobby is full of people, I find it impossible to > navigate, because there's just so much sound bouncing everywhere. To > be > honest, I wasn't expecting much from Aira, but I was keen to see what > would > happen. > This is the moment when I transitioned from the intellectual > understanding > that "this is quite a good concept", to the emotional connection that > made > me say "holy guacamole, this thing is changing my life!" > I'm not a guide dog handler at the moment, but I have been in the > past. One > of the advantages of working with a dog over using a cane is that you > avoid > many obstacles without ever coming into contact with them. The > exception is > if you are a cane user with good echolocation. I think that even with > full > hearing, I would have found echolocation difficult in that very noisy > lobby, > but it's certainly not viable for me now. Therefore, in that type of > environment, I often find myself hitting people's legs with my cane, > as I > try to find a way forward. With the Aira agent talking in my hearing > aids > which were also delivering environmental sounds, I was getting > information > about where the crowds were, and when I needed to veer to avoid > running into > people. I was told when it was necessary to turn to reach my > destination and > given confirmation that I was indeed heading in the correct > direction. > Because of my hearing, and the fact that I know navigating these > environments can be difficult, I had allowed myself plenty of time to > reach > the exhibit hall. But I reached it much more quickly than I had > anticipated, > and with much less stress than usual. > When we eventually reached the exhibit hall, which was some > considerable > distance away, the agent informed me that the door was closed. I > expected > this, since I was heading to the exhibit hall before it was officially > open > to the public. The icing on the cake was when she said that she could > see a > counter to the left of the door with a sign labelled "Exhibit > Services". She > then informed me that there was a man behind that counter and offered > to > lead me to him. She did so, and he let me in. Astounded, I thanked > the > agent, and ended the call. > Full disclosure, at this point, it gets a bit embarrassing. No > technology > has made me cry for joy before. But a stressful experience I have to > psych > myself up for had just been made effortless and enjoyable. I was > utterly > overwhelmed. This was all achieved with no more than the free app and > the > camera on my iPhone X. > Piloting Aira outside the US > I've no doubt that I would have been wowed by Aira even if I had been > blind > without a hearing impairment. But, having had a taste of the > independence it > was giving me, even better than the independence I had when I was a > traveller without a hearing impairment, I really wanted to see if > there was > any way I could take this home to New Zealand. I knew it would be > unlikely, > because Aira is very clear that they are only available now in the > United > States and I think parts of Canada. But I genuinely felt that having > had a > taste of Aira, I would feel a sense of disability if I lost it again. > I met with Aira's CEO, Suman Kanuganti, who kindly agreed to let me > pilot > the service here. Since this is a fairly glowing review of the > service, I > want to be clear that I am paying the same as everyone else. This is > not a > paid advertisement. And I'm aware of the limitations of using the > service > here when it's not officially supported. For example, Aira is > currently > unavailable between 1 AM and 7 AM Eastern time. At this time of year, > that > equates to 5 PM to 11 PM New Zealand time. That's a time when we have > had a > need for the service, but I signed up knowing what I was getting into, > so > that's an observation rather than a complaint. Even for Aira's > existing > customer base, I'm sure many hope that this downtime will soon be a > thing of > the past. I'm one of those totally blind people without light > perception who > has non-24 sleep/wake disorder. I'm fortunate that because most of my > deliverables can be delivered at any time, I just let my circadian > rhythm do > its thing. That means I'm sometimes very productive at 2, 3 or 4 AM. > I'm > sure there are many Aira users in the United States in a similar > position, > who'd value having access to Aira at that time. > I'll also be providing feedback on any technical or cultural issues > relating > to the use of the service here, should they arise. The most obvious > cultural > issue is that many of our place names are in the Maori language, the > indigenous language of New Zealand. Understandably, Aira agents don't > have > experience pronouncing them correctly, but that's no different from > listening to the same place names spoken by most text-to-speech > engines. > When mobile, Bonnie and I are using Aira with our mobile data plans. > We > share a cellular plan that has 25 GB of mobile data per month, and our > LTE > networks are very robust here, particularly in urban environments. > Signing up as an explorer > Typically, when you sign up as an explorer, you can start using the > service > right away with your smart phone, and the hardware is shipped to you. > Since > I was at the CSUN conference, I was able to sign up online, and > collect my > hardware from the Aira booth. > The ability to use the service as a guest is fairly new, and one of > the > problems I had was that I couldn't sign up with the email address I > had > associated with my guest account, because the system flagged it as > already > in use. It would be nice to have a feature within the app that allowed > you > to upgrade to a paid account while signed in as a guest. Hopefully > that will > come in time. The only way around it for now is either to sign up with > a > different email address or complete the process over the phone. > When you make your first call as a fully-fledged explorer, an Aira > agent > assists you to create your profile. It's here that you really start > to > appreciate how carefully the services been devised. Suman Kanuganti > and his > team have worked closely with Blind people, sought their advice, and > taken > it to heart. It would have been easy for a service like this to have > become > patronising. Instead, the culture feels like it is truly a > partnership > between the explorer and the agent. > As part of the induction process, you are advised that Aira will never > tell > you that it's safe to cross the street, and agents will remain silent > while > you are crossing. If you are mobile, and the agent detects that you're > not > travelling with a cane or a dog, they will disconnect the call. They > make it > clear that they are not a substitute for your blindness skills, or for > your > mobility tool of choice. And they advise that they keep personal > opinions > out of all descriptions and interactions. > You're asked if there are any additional disabilities that it would > be > helpful for them to be aware of. I was able to tell them about my > hearing > impairment. > Rather like when using JAWS, you are offered three levels of > verbosity. The > three levels are explained to you clearly. Your default level is > recorded in > your profile. You can change the default at any time, or for a > particular > call. The most verbose option will even describe people's facial > expressions > as you're walking down the street. > You're asked whether you prefer directions to be given as a clock > face, or > in terms of "left" and "right". In a noisy environment, it's easier > for me > to differentiate between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, than between left > and > right. > Once the process is done, all your preferences are recorded and > immediately > made available to the agent when you call in. > Ride sharing Integration > Using the APIs of the ride sharing services Uber and Lyft, Aira can > connect > to your accounts to both call and monitor your rides. You may ask the > agent > to initiate the entire process for you, or you could use the app of > your > ride sharing service of choice to call a vehicle, then get the agent > online > who can see the car you've been allocated, and help you watch for its > arrival. > Some people have safety concerns about using ride sharing services, > since > you might walk up to a car that you think is the one you've called, > only to > find its some random person. Having an Aira agent assist you to the > vehicle > will avoid that. > It's also a brilliant way to catch drivers who speed away because of > your > dog. An Aira agent can take pictures remotely using the camera you're > connecting with, be it the camera on your smart phone or the one built > into > the glasses. This gives you photographic evidence of the driver > speeding > away. > Sharing minutes > Recently, Aira introduced the ability to share minutes with up to two > additional people. The feature is great for blind couples like Bonnie > and > me. Inviting Bonnie to share my minutes was easily done from the app, > and > she was signed up in minutes, although there was a technical issue > which > prevented her from logging in. This was resolved in a few hours after > contacting Aira. > How we've used Aira > There is a wonderful section on the Aira website and in its app, with > extensive lists of the way that people are using the service. As the > father > of two daughters, one use case that both resonated with me and amused > me was > the explorer who asked an agent to describe their daughter's new > boyfriend. > But here are just a few of the ways that we've used Aira since we've > had it. > What does this button do? > It was wonderful to be able to ask an agent, trained to explain > things > clearly, how to operate the air-conditioning in my hotel room in San > Diego. > I was also curious about a little panel to the right of the > air-conditioning > unit. After getting me to look at the unit, the agent took a photo, > blew it > up, and told me that it was a control panel for the windows in my > hotel > room. I probably wouldn't have bothered investigating it had it not > been for > Aira. > Journalism > Bonnie has now embarked on a journalism course. Today's journalists > must > operate in a multimedia environment. This includes taking their own > photos. > Thanks to the technology VoiceOver offers, it's possible for a blind > person > to take good photos. When action is moving fast though, it may not be > possible to capture that action quickly enough. And VoiceOver's > camera > functions are limited to recognising people. Seeing AI will recognise > scenes, but only after you've taken the picture. Aira to the rescue. > Just a couple of days after Bonnie began sharing my Aira minutes, she > needed > to cover a popular Wellington street festival. Bonnie tells me she > couldn't > have done it without Aira. Giving instructions to the agent ahead of > time > about the kind of material she wanted to capture, the Aira agent was > able to > take pictures at exactly the right time and give Bonnie advice about > how to > angle the camera. Her photography lecturer praised the photos. > The agent gave vivid, detailed descriptions of the festival and the > people > participating in it, which made it easy for Bonnie to write a > descriptive, > colourful newspaper story that wasn't devoid of visual imagery even > though > she is blind. > When Bonnie got the munchies after a hard day's journalism, the agent > helped > her locate the food truck she wanted from a number that were at the > festival, and then read her the menu on the side of the truck. > Preserving the moment > Since Aira can take pictures using the glasses or camera remotely, we > recently used it at a birthday party we attended to get the perfect > picture > for our own records, and for posting to social media. > Compiling reports > When you travel and collect receipts, you end up with little bits of > paper, > business cards from cab drivers with receipt information scrawled on > the > back, and big pieces of paper. > I've become adept over the years at performing optical character > recognition > on all of it for the compilation of expense reports, but it's > time-consuming. I took the stress out of the situation and handed it > to > Aira. My agent advised using the camera on the iPhone X for this task > rather > than the glasses. She gave instructions regarding the positioning of > the > camera, took pictures of all the documents, and I had no doubt that > each > receipt was fully in the picture. > She put them all in a single document which she then emailed to me. > This > process took probably a third to a quarter of the time it would have > usually > taken me. > Transcription > As someone who's been totally blind since birth, I've enjoyed becoming > more > familiar with effective use of the camera and understanding the > relationship > between distance and getting the subject of a photograph fully in the > picture. When in hotels, I sometimes find getting a good-quality > capture of > hotel compendia and in-room dining menus a challenge. The print may > have > become faded over time, or there's a wide variation of print types. It > can > also take time to work out whether there is print on both sides of the > page > or not, and sometimes that can vary even within the same document. > At a recent hotel stay, Aira took all the stress out of rendering the > in-room dining menu accessible to Bonnie and me. The agent very > quickly > snapped pictures of all the pages and could see at a glance when the > pages > were single or double-sided. Then, the agent transcribed the text into > a > fully accessible Word document. I was given the choice as to whether > I > wanted a full transcription, which of course took a little longer, or > just a > summary of the items on the menu and their prices. > The mysteries of the minibar > Many hotel minibars now have sophisticated sensors that charge you for > an > item when you lift it out of the fridge. Rather than hunt around for > a > barcode on each bottle, can, and food item, an Aira agent was able to > recite > the cans in the fridge in left-to-right order. > Real-time audio description > Bonnie and I recently took a gondola ride in one of the most > picturesque > parts of New Zealand. One of our party was sighted, nevertheless, I > decided > to call Aira, to ask an agent if she could give me real-time audio > description as we rode the gondola, then as we stood on the viewing > platform. It was a moving experience to get such detailed descriptions > of > the water, the tree line and the city below. Our sighted companion > was > impressed, saying that Aira had told us things she wouldn't have > thought > about describing. > Does Aira harm the accessibility cause? > When I've discussed Aira with some blind people, a few have expressed > the > concern that the service may discourage those of us who have it from > continuing to advocate for a truly accessible world. They fear that > as > providers of information and services become aware of Aira, they may > feel > under less of an obligation to do the right thing when it comes to > accessibility. > For example, if you read this blog regularly, you will know I've been > campaigning about the code to complete the New Zealand census not > being > accessible. If I had been an Aira explorer at the time, an Aira agent > would > have read the access code to me, and the process would have taken > about a > minute maximum. Would I have begun my campaign for the codes to be > inherently accessible if Aira had been in our home to do that for me? > I > would like to think so. > A similar concern was expressed when JAWS introduced the ability to > perform > OCR on inaccessible PDF files. > I believe Aira is a pragmatic solution that delivers access to us > today. > That in no way means that those of us with the skills and inclination > to > advocate for a more accessible world shouldn't continue to do so. If > we've > been able to use Aira to work around the problem, it's just that, a > work-around. Most of the world's written information today is born > accessible. Someone must take a deliberate step to convert it into > something > inaccessible, and we must always object to that occurring. So, we must > still > advocate for all aspects of life to be as accessible as possible. > In this highly visual world, there'll always be plenty of tasks for > Aira to > perform, even as accessibility improves. > Does Aira erode blindness skills? > The arrival of the pocket calculator, the cell phone with a built-in > contact > directory, and many other technologies have been the cause of people > expressing concern about the "dumbing down" of the human race. A few > people > I've spoken with about Aira have wondered if it will cause an erosion > of > blindness skills among its users. I don't believe so. I contend the > impact > will be positive. > For me personally, other circumstances, specifically my hearing > impairment, > have made travel time-consuming and exhausting. Freedom of movement > should > not be the privilege of the blind elite who happen to find travel > intuitive > and easy. Freedom of movement is, in my view, a fundamental human > right. > With the ability to travel under less stress, I believe my travel > skills, > which may have eroded a little over the years as I've begun avoiding > tricky > situations, will in fact improve due to increased use. > Remember, Aira does not replace your cane or dog. You must still know > how to > use your cane in a way that helps you locate obstacles and provides > you with > clues about your environment. > What it costs, and is it value for money? > Assuming you have a smartphone, there is no other hardware you must > purchase > to use Aira. It's all included as part of the package. > The current pricing structure looks like this: > . Basic Plan. 100 regular minutes a month for $89. > . Plus Plan. 200 regular minutes a month for $129. > . Pro Plan. 400 regular minutes a month for $199. > . Premium Plan. Unlimited regular minutes a month for $329. > I believe it is possible to get further discounts on the Pro plan if > you pay > a year, or even several years, in advance. > If you run out of minutes, you can purchase additional ones. > You can cancel or upgrade your plan at any time. > Whenever a company provides a service directly to the blind community, > there > are always people who will express concern about cost. Unfortunately, > the > economic reality is that the cost of research and development, as well > as > the overheads involved in running a business, must be spread across a > smaller group of people when providing a service to our community. > This > equation is made more difficult because so many people in our > community are > unemployed and living hand to mouth. Sure, for some people, Aira will > be > worth sacrificing a few daily cups of premium coffee for, but it's not > that > easy for everyone. > Some people question whether the service is worth the cost given that > there > is a free service, Be My Eyes, which connects you with sighted > volunteers. > Be My Eyes is a useful service, and I don't seek to denigrate it at > all. I > am signed up with it, have supported it since before it went live, and > I use > it from time to time. But Be My Eyes relies on volunteers. Some people > are > so keen to assist a blind person that they answer a call when they may > have > been better letting it go. Others simply don't explain things clearly > enough. And yes, there are some who are outstanding. But I equate > using Be > My Eyes with asking a stranger for directions in the street. Sometimes > you > will get somebody who couldn't be more helpful. At other times you > will get > somebody who doesn't know their right from their left, or just isn't > observant about the world around them. > With Aira, the agents have been trained extensively, plus they have > tools > that help pinpoint your location and provide other data. There's also > a > guarantee of privacy with Aira. > I know of people who've used Aira to help them sign employment > contracts, > complete tax returns and more. > So, in my view, there is no question that Aira will revolutionise the > lives > of many blind people if they can afford to access it. This raises > important > public policy questions. Many agencies serving blind people will > provide > funding for sighted assistance to be available on-location at > specific > times. Perhaps such agencies fund several hours of assistance each > week in > the workplace. Other agencies may fund a human reader to visit a > blind > person's home. Aira gives you access to sighted assistance on demand, > at > your convenience, not at the convenience of the sighted person. This > is > important because some tasks may only take a couple of minutes, but > they can > be show stoppers on the job until we can get that assistance. In a > work > environment, sighted assistance on-demand through Aira has the > potential to > improve a blind person's productivity. > There's also the social investment argument. If a much wider range of > blind > people can feel comfortable about travelling in unfamiliar areas, > government > investment in Aira could pay dividends by improving employability. > Looking to the future > Most blind people become blind later in life. And most of those people > don't > have smart phones. This group is often forgotten, so it's encouraging > to see > that Aira has been giving them considerable thought. The coming > generation > of seniors will be more assertive and tech savvy. They will have had > experience of technology in the workplace, and they are willing to > spend > money to ameliorate the consequences of their age-related disability. > However, they may decide that coming to terms with the blindness > specific > touchscreen paradigm is just too difficult. Certainly, that's the case > now. > Yet I think many seniors would love to have access to Aira. If they > can have > an agent assist them to read the newspaper in the morning, describe > pictures > of the grandchildren or go through their mail, that's something many > would > gladly pay for. > The market for Aira's services is going to increase significantly with > the > introduction of their new Horizon technology. Currently, to use Aira, > you > need at least two things - a smart phone, and the glasses, both of > which > need to be charged. If you want to use it without eating into your > data > plan, you'll need to carry the AT&T MiFi device around with you. That > also > needs to be charged separately. That's three things in total that need > to be > charged. > Within the next few months, Aira is promising to simplify their > offering > significantly. They've taken a Samsung Android device, which includes > a > physical home button, and developed their own firmware for it. This > device > is not designed to be used as a cell phone. Rather than requiring a > MiFi, > the data SIM will be in this device. The new Horizon glasses, which > are much > more fashionable and elegant looking, are tethered to this device with > an > unobtrusive-looking cable. The field of view is much improved, as is > the > video quality. That means less need to keep turning one's head at the > instruction of the Aira agent. With the glasses getting their power > from the > Horizon device, battery life is massively improved. > This all means that someone who doesn't have a smart phone will fire > up the > Horizon device, double tap the button, and talk to an agent. Smart > phone > users will retain the option to control their Aira experience via the > app > they're used to. > This configuration also reduces latency and any potential for video > degradation. There will no longer be a wireless hop that the video > needs to > take between the glasses and the device transmitting the video to an > Aira > agent. > Clearly, considerable thought and capital investment has gone into the > next > generation of the service. This demonstrates that Aira is continuing > to > innovate and thinking about broadening its base. > Over time, artificial intelligence will become smarter, and will be > able to > do more of the things that human agents are doing for Aira explorers > now. > It's therefore sensible forward planning that Aira has begun work on > their > own artificial intelligence engine they are calling Chloe. Initially, > Chloe > will offer optical character recognition, and perform functions > relating to > the operation and configuration of the Horizon device. I imagine that > over > time, Chloe will become more capable. That will increase efficiency > for the > explorer and reduce overheads for the company. > Concluding thoughts > Aira's evolution is an exemplary case study of how to tap into a > niche > market and create a new, innovative product. Of course, it's not > perfect, > but what is? Sometimes, you can lose cellular coverage when you really > need > it, causing the connection with the agent to drop. There's nothing > Aira can > do about that other than ensuring they're using hardware that > maximises the > cellular signal, and to have a robust protocol in place for seeking > to > re-establish the connection. But all in all, the service is > fantastic. > There've been a few phases of Aira adoption for me. The first was > hearing > about it and understanding intellectually that it was a clever idea. > The > second was the strong, powerful, emotional realisation that this > could > really change my life. The third is the dawning realisation that I'm > not > imposing on anybody anymore. Many of us can relate to having sighted > family > members or friends who we turn to when we need a pair of working eyes, > and > we hope we are not overdoing it. When I first started using Aira, I > had a > twinge of reluctance about making calls, wondering if someone might > need the > help of the agent more than me. Then, one day, it really dawned on me. > The > people at Aira want me to make the call. After all, if I use up all > my > minutes, I might buy more. So, when I make a call to Aira, I'm not > inconveniencing anybody, I'm strengthening their bottom line. How > wonderful > it is to call on sighted help without feeling like I might be a > burden. > If you'd like to try Aira > Due to the exchange rate between the United States and New Zealand, > unfortunately Aira is a little more expensive here than it is in the > United > States. Bonnie and I are presently using the Plus plan, at $129 USD a > month, > which equates to $179 NZD. When the novelty wears off a little, it > will be > interesting to see if we need the 200 minutes. > So, if you would like to give Aira a try, I'd appreciate it if you'd > sign up > using our referral link. The referral program means that the person > being > referred, and the person who did the referring, each gets a free > month. > Pretty good marketing. To take Aira for a spin, activate my referral > link. I > hope it makes as much of a difference to you as it has to Bonnie and > me. > Are you an Aira explorer? What do you think of the service, and what > are > some of the ways you're using it? Leave your thoughts in the > comments. > > > Original Article at: > > https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmosen.org%2Faira%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cf02fc947c00f40b6290708d59be884b8%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636586345313301417&sdata=bGJ0iYRkOK0AC%2FkJ%2BZ1ZGeOfvBxxkrxv2OPpyofWbwQ%3D&reserved=0 > > > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, > or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the > owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. 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Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners > or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send > an email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or > if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners > or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone > list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: > [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at > [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >
-- Lenron Brown Cell: 985-271-2832 Skype: ron.brown762 -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: [email protected]. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
