Episode 9 – Amazon Cube Fire TV

Episode 9 – Amazon Cube Fire TV

Now it is reported that the Amazon cube has voice navigation this is what I would love to explore when I receive my Amazon cube in the next few days .

For a demonstration of what could be possible using the fire stick TV as I have at the moment then please listen to the podcast as this has a demonstration of how voice view and the use of the remote pressing left and right and how it gives all the feedback necessary for a blind person to use this this . It has the potential to be a game changer .

Hands-free control on the Amazon cube

www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire-tv-cube-gains-hands-free-voice-navigation-in-netflix-and-other-3rd-party-apps/

Voice Navigation on the Amazon Fire Cube TV

Check out this video on YouTube:

This seems to be what I am looking for

Wonder if this works on the fire stick tv?

Amazon Alexa FAQ’s

Those of you wanting to know what the various Amazon Devices these FAQ’s help:-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=mobile-search-result-item-1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201602230&qid=1578145196&sr=1-1

Unfortunately, still doesn’t tell me what I want to know . Will it give voice navigation on there devices ?

The Studying with Dyslexia Blog

I came across this useful blog The Studying with Dyslexia Blog run by John Hicks, a parent and an assistive technologist with the express aim of improving people with dyslexia’s self-esteem. He runs a series of webinars which look informative an useful as well as articles that will help parents and professionals get the very best outcomes for children with dyslexia. Take a look now at:-

https://studyingwithdyslexiablog.co.uk/

Google Analytics

I have long considered using Google Analytics but frankly became very confused on how to set it up until now. You have to go to Admin and :-

  • Create an account – which website you are analysing
  • Create a property – setup the ID and tracking code that has to be copied the page you are tracking on your website
  • Create a view – how much and what type of information you want to know.

Once you have done this you can then copy the code into your heading. This varies according to style of your chosen web building package eg Wix, WordPress,etc. You can create as many websites as you wish to track using the above method. The main point is to copy that tracking code onto your website.

There is a free Google Analytics app for you to observe the traffic to your website(s). Simple to see at a glance or create reports to view specific information. This is really a beginners approach I don’t claim to be an expert here.

There are stats built into WordPress which makes it very easy to see who and where your audience are looking at your website content

The Smyles Podcast

You may have noticed I have been doing a series of Podcasts on Assistive Technology called The Smyles Podcast. If you want to see the whole series then click below. I have not decided how many more I will do . I will stop when I run out of ideas.

https://smyles.podbean.com

Episode 8 – Voice View

This episode is looking at how to make your Smart TV accessible using a screen reader option on the Amazon Fire TV stick and it might be voice controlled ( not tried yet!)

You can find it also as part of a series in The Smyles Podcast . Enjoy and Happy new Year!

Apps for Accessibility

From the App Store some good suggestions of apps

https://apps.apple.com/gb/story/id1266441335

Voice View on the Amazon Fire TV Stick

Screenreaders are necessary for the blind and partially sighted to access information. On the Amazon Fire TV Stick under Settings then Accessibility lies Voice View which is a screen reader for the Fire TV Stick. It will allow the user using the remote to navigate through the menu’s and tell you what is listed. Under Accessibility you can also activate audio description on Prime. Obviously, you have to have a Prime account to make this work but you can access movies and have audio description.

Finally, the new kid on the Amazon block is The Cube. This gives voice control to the TV as well as having a screenreader. According to the blurb it can access use Voice View which is great news as the two components of text to speech (screenreader) and speech recognition (Alexa). I previosly tried this with the echo dot but it was limited to commands “Play” and “Pause” and didn’t appear to navigate the menu. So when I purchase one, as I have client who might like this, I will tell you how we got on.

The alternative would be a Samsung TV with text and voice control but it might require button pressing to navigate the system. If voice control is possible with The Cube then this is a viable system for the blind and partially-sighted.