Author: AccessAbility Smyles

I decide that I would splash out on a Windows 11 ready laptop to a) try out Windows 11 and b) see what the upgrade was like to do. The reason for this being as an AbilityNet County Co-ordinator I need to see how easy or difficult the process is as we will soon get clients asking for this. . I started 4 hours ago and with many updates I have got to a Windows 11 preview prerelease version as offered by this Windows 10 S machine.

Windows 10 S is a basic mode that only allows Windows Apps to be downloaded but it would let me run the PC Health check app either! That is a Microsoft app so confusion as step one. After searching for a solution online I found that if I went to Windows Setting then Updates and then Activation I could connect the Microsoft’s Store and switch it off there! A bit of a convoluted way of doing things. I discovered that I did have a Windows 11 ready machine and so could go ahead with either the update of preview or I downloaded the Windows Creation Tool but favoured the update as being the first option to try,

All these steps don’t make the process easy but its getting somewhere now. At this moment I am installing Windows 11 on my brand new laptop. An Asus E410M .

The install took 35 minutes and produced the desktop which is cleaner that Windows 10. Gone as the tiles. But then you are wondering where the settings are? To find that I right clicked on the taskbar and that brought up settings. The clue was the cogwheel symbol as in Windows 10 or I could have clicked on the 4 squares and selected from the icons there.

Conclusion

I bought a machine that was ” Windows 11 Ready” and I specifically asked the shop assistant if this can be downloaded in updates and he confirmed that to be the case. On firing up the machine I set it up using the Cotana voice which was friendly and clear and was able to connect to my Microsoft Account easily.

Going to updates I had about 15 updates to do which were necessary. I switched on Windows Insiders Preview in order to get his faster and found that happened by the final updates on Windows 10. I had to switch off Windows 10 S becuase it wouldn’t let me install the Windows PC health check to see if my laptop was compatible with Windows 11. Once checked and gained a successful response I started the Windows 11 update. It took an hour to download and then 35 minutes to install. But then I was up and running. Please note no Windows 10 everything is docked on the taskbar and away you go.

I would allow 5 hours to do this depending on updates, etc, .

One final thing I checked whether it was Activated under System and Activation and it showed “Active” on the Windows Insider Preview. I check updates and there were about 9 to do which happened very quickly and didn’t need to restart. Then how do you shutdown? Go to the 4 squares and next to your account is the switch icon and left click that. To fire up it was all up and running in less than a minute!

A colleague pointed this out to me and when I looked at I was really impressed how easy it was to set up and run. The Narrator feature is very simple and what dyslexics want and need. The exam setup and prompts would help those with organization problemous. Maybe the constant prompting would be a little distracting so I would have toned it down.

It’s free to download so I don’t know how this package attracts funding to improve and develop as there is no source information of who has produced this. This is a downside as I feel we should know the author.

Smart phones are very much part of all our lives. So much can be done on them and without them we would find our lives less connected and less available to do the jobs we need to do in life e.g. give covid results or show a covid pass.

A useful page that has been sent to me is on the link below. You can find useful information about what is the best phones to shop for in 2021 as well as apps you might want to use. Not particularly AT but accessible information is always welcome at AAS!

https://www.cellphonedeal.com/blog?msID=aed8544b-b16d-4b00-aea3-f6ab50837166

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas and a COVID free New Year!

The screen reader Supernova is a great tool for the blind and enables the operations of the computer to be navigable by the use of key combinations that are simple and straightforward to use. A client of mine had a strange issue which we puzzled with for an hour in that he couldn’t get the content of pages to read back to him as before.

After logically working through the relevant top menu of SuperNova and trying various things it was the Speech menu that gave the answer. Under Speech> Advanced Options there was an unselected box ” Dolphin cursor to speak automatically.” When this was ticked all the page content came to life and read back line by line.

If this happens to a SuperNova user this is the fix to use.

How this occurred is a mystery . We actually reloaded SuperNova to see if that would correct the issue but it didn’t. We think a shortcut key press may have done this but we don’t know. The user was having problems with other software at the time so it’s difficult to say what happened without going into Event Viewer but I don’t think that show what happeend either!

This morning I was helping a client to change over his mobile phone provider (1p mobile) which involves the following:-

1. Creating a login with username and password and then validate it on your chosen email address
2. Taking the account details provided by the new company and add more details to your profile
3. Sending a request to keep the same telephone number. This is done via a PAC request code from your old user.
4. Confirmation of request with a set day for transfer which usually involves a couple of hours downtime.
5. On the day of transfer – SWITCH OFF YOUR PHONE – take out old sim and replace with new SIM card your provider has sent you.
6. Switch the phone on again
7. Phone gets activated. Your new network is shown and you are able to make calls and surf the internet

As regards how good 1p mobile is it depends on the following

1. How good is the network coverage?
2. Is the data cost too much (1p per MB)

I will be monitoring an answer with my client to those questions via this blog. Watch this space.

I have been using Otter.ai for conferences , events and meetings and it’s proved to be a useful tool. Especially in the meeting where on Google Meet combined with captions it says who is speaking and gives the hearing impaired user who is speaking in real-time.

Is it 100% accurate? The answer is no, but it is getting close. I am sure in time we will have more accurate ai. At the moment it doesn’t replace the stenotypist. But if human help is not available this is a stand in for those with hearing impairment.

Otter live notes records the meeting and gives a transcript with audio. Unfortunately, not the google aspect of telling who is speaking in a group call. Nevertheless useful. It’s just whether it’s worth £21.00 a month($30) .

Just been reading an interesting article about “Whoop” which is a wearable device that measures and monitors your bodies vital signs. In our health and wellbeing focus we are more than ever conscious of our bodies. Amplified by the Coronovirus we welcome tools that monitor such things as elevated respiratory rate which could be an indication of Covid19. My gut reaction is to compare and authenticate with traditional methods.

Are wearables going to be good as doctors?

I suspect the answer at the moment would be no. Wearables at the moment can collect data, Doctors interpret the data. There is no doubt that it will aide doctors in their diagnosis and with a system that Wyvern Systems are developing could be a valuable tool in monitoring patients with a variety of medical conditions from asthma to heart conditions to diabetes. The implications are enormous as we move into more remote working. So alongside remote working we have remote medical monitoring. Just like driveless cars we have an ethical consideration to make. There is a feeling of unease and trustworthiness about the introduction of automatic systems. But as I use the docklands railway as an example. That has been running for years without a serious incident and I am sure we don’t think about it any longer. I predict we will have the same reaction to wearables for medical useage. It will just be another tool to add to our biological kit of aids we use such as Blood pressure and Oxygen kits both of which can be incorporated into a wearable.

Another trend is in self-diagnosis via Smart Speakers. Amazon in the states is looking into this and have devised an expert system that can help with diagnosis and suggest treatments. It can’t administer them but it could inform. The danger there is the problem we can identify with being the human trait of reading medical dictionaries or websites and thinking we have all the symptoms in the world!

For both types of devices – wearables and smart speakers – they are going to be of immense value to the disabled. Those suffering with MS, Parkinsons, Stroke where hand function has gone. Medical professionals can be alerted to any changes of state even before the patient knows! Calling for help is the biggest problem for those with these conditions. If systems can alert to potential dangers that takes the pressure of the patient. The problem often seen in care homes is – will anyone come? The infrastructure to make this work is significant and if the UK governments extra money for the NHS to cover backlog is anything to go by will it look at infrastructure of data protection, data access and integrated systems. There have been a few problems when this has been attempted in the past. Look at Track and Trace for instance!

As the UK and the western world’s population gets older we are going to need more automotive systems to cope. The old traditional ways can’t manage the demand and so we have to turn to technology to help us. I am not a medical practitioner just an Assistive Technologist who happens to have medical needs. I use wearables myself as I have shared on this blog in the past. At the moment the technology is evolving and as it does so the questions of accuracy of measurement will be a key issue alongside the ethical issue of do I trust the tech. Increasingly we shall see the demand rise and so too will be our capacity to change.