Join BVA’s VetTech Team this Wednesday, September 20, at 2:00pm Eastern Time as the Weekly Wednesday Webinar focuses on the newly available and much anticipated Apple iOS 17, compatible with iPhones purchased after 2017. The official release date for the iOS update is this Monday, September 18. Apple leaders initially intended iOS 17 as a “tune-up release” but several major features, worthy of discussion via VetTech, were added later in the development cycle.
Updates important to the blind and low vision include Siri improvements, a function allowing users to create anew their own voice as a text-to-speech model, and then read what is written on the push-button panels of household appliances.
Do not miss this VetTech session! Participants will become familiar with several significant updates using mobile applications such as FaceTime, Safari, and Apple Music. Specific goals for the session will be elaborated in next Tuesday’s session reminder.
In a more informal setting and discussion format than the webinar, VetTech Talk is held weekly on Thursdays at 2:00pm Eastern Time. The sessions generally consist of a recap, review, and additional discussion of the previous day’s webinar. Thursday’s session (September 21) of VetTech Talk will follow that same format, opening the discussion to participants wishing to ask questions, share information, and offer opinions.
Not a BVA member? No problem! All VetTech webinars and talk sessions are currently open to everyone—blind and low vision veterans and nonveterans, family members, caregivers, blind rehabilitation specialists, and all other parties interested in assistive, adaptive, and accessible technology that can result in greater independence. Membership in BVA or attendance at previous sessions is not a pre-requisite to join the VetTech webinars or VetTech Talk sessions.
Did you miss the most recent virtual sessions for some reason? No problem! VetTech is now available as a podcast on major platforms. Interested parties can listen on demand to missed Weekly Wednesday Webinars as well as original content published solely on the podcast by asking their Smart speaker, Siri, or Alexa, to “play the latest episode of the Blinded Veterans Association VetTech Podcast.” They can also follow the channel via Apple Podcast, Google Play, and Amazon Music.
The VetTech Weekly Wednesday Webinar this past week welcomed Liz Whitaker, Product Manager for User and Education for Vispero. Liz explained Freedom Scientific’s simplified recent updates to JAWS and Fusion that allow users to successfully interact with the changed core elements of Windows, including the Start Menu, Explorer, Notification Center, and several more.
To enter next week’s VetTech sessions using the customary Zoom meeting credentials and link, click here. For additional information about the VetTech initiative following a year of experimentation and growth, click here.
