Hardware & Accessory Reviews

A post on security cameras for the blind? Next up, a goldfish's review of mountain bikes. Right? I do not plan to argue that a camera system is as useful for a blind or low vision person as for someone sighted. In fact, I argue that it may be even more important, thanks to two factors. First, most units include microphones that deliver fair-quality audio for live feeds and recorded clips. Second is the ability to share access to the cameras with a trusted sighted person who can access…

Hello everyone. I'm back with another review. You're probably thinking to yourself, my God Holden, how many headphones do you have? After I got this last week, I'll tell you all that I've gotten the headphones I use on a daily basis down to two, this one we're going to talk about today and my Sennheiser Ambeo Smart headset, which is still an excellent headset that I would recommend to anyone who wants to record in high-quality binaural audio and listen to music…

The Sensi Wi-Fi Thermostat, made by HVAC veteran Emerson, is one of the more basic and affordable smart thermostats commonly available today and offers integration with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home (no IFTTT or Cortana at present). Like all smart thermostats, the Sensi allows control both on the unit itself and via smartphones or smart speakers, including flexible schedules and geofencing (which can change thermostat settings when one or more people move outside a 3-mile…

Hello Applevis readers. Today I would like to review for you a product called the Subpac m2X, hereafter referred to as the Subpac. This device is one of the greatest audio accessories I have ever found. I watch a lot of Youtube channels specifically about different products, and I love headphone and speaker reviews. It gives me something interesting to do while I come up with the cash to get whatever that item is to experiment with it and see if it will fit into my life in any shape, way or…

Have you ever thought about transforming your unused cassette player into a modern day Bluetooth speaker? If so, you're in luck! Introducing the Ion Audio Bluetooth Cassette Adapter. Although its main purpose is to be used in a car stereo with a cassette deck, you can use this adapter in a home cassette player as well. Even if your cassette player cannot play audio cassettes properly or at all, this nifty little adapter will still work.

What's In the Box

Inside you will…

Searching for new ideas from technology world, I have encountered a German startup called Lofelt, with a very interesting project: it's called The Basslet, a wearable bracelet made "for feeling music" through vibrations and haptics. It's called, subwoofer for your body. Of course, it is no promise for allowing completely deaf people to hear music, but it can be helpful in certain contexts: during gymnastic, you can feel the rhythm better, or you'll get a more immersive atmosphere while…

I've been using a remote control for a few months and others might find this useful as well.

The ckeyin (spelled c k e y i n) remote easily fits in the palm of the hand and is about the size of the Creative audio MP3 device and about the same shape.  Most folks will likely never have seen the creative offering which died out about 10 years ago.  Anyway, the Ckeyin remote is quite small and has real feel appeal.  For purposes of clarity, I will define the top as being the end…

Intro

What if I told you that you could have a tiny device you can use to control the music, audio books, or podcasts on your iPhone or iPad? Nice, right? No fumbling with on-screen buttons, no limited AirPod controls, no missing the rewind function on your Aftershokz headset. But what if I then told you that this same device can be a remote control for VoiceOver itself? That, without having to touch your screen, you can open and navigate apps, double tap, change the volume, even…

Introduction:

In our ever-expanding world of technology, we have also experienced an ever-expanding need for more cables and, more specifically, USB powered charging devices. And while we're at it, also more of those power bricks that go with our technology to charge it through AC power. Unless, you have something which can charge multiple USB powered devices at once, while also connecting to the wall. The Rock Wall 5-Port USB Charger being sold by …

Intro

I hope to set up my first home brew extracter kit this weekend. It took some time to get my tilt up and running, but it is now water calibrated and ready to go. This is huge for me. Tilt is one of two smart hydrometers that I know of and it's the cheeper of the two. I've got a regular hydrometer here as well. It's just a glass tube like a standard thermometer. Utterly useless to a person who is blind. The tilt sits directly in the fermenter and takes constant readings…

The KMASHI 20000 Portable Charger is a battery pack which supports a standard Developed by Qualcomm called Quick Charge 3.0, explained very well in <a href="http://pocketnow.com/2015/09/22/qualcomm-quick-charge-3-0"&gt; this article</a> This is a new type of technology, first brought out last fall. There are claims that compatible devices can be charged up to 80% capacity in just 30…

Tired of carrying multiple bulky chargers? Tired of bringing the wrong power brick?

The Zolt charger, voted a Consumer Electronics Product of the year, will solve this for you.

Rather than copying Zolt's info here, you can go to www.gozolt.com to read it all and to buy this great product.

But let me explain, the Zolt is about 3.5 inches long and just over an inch in diameter, but octagonal rather than round. On one end are flip-…

This is a review of the Kingston mobile lite wireless g3, this is a wireless card reader which can be used to backup and restore information from both ios and android devices, though Obviously I only have experience of use with ios.
So, to describe the device its about the size of a box of matches, very pocketable, it has only one button on it for turning it on and off, on the unit itself there is a slot for a card, it can take both standard and micro sd cards with an adapter included…

Over the past couple of years, I've had to do a fair amount of traveling for work, and I've also done quite a bit for pleasure. When you travel to more than 15 states a year, it's quite inevitable that you will stay in multiple hotels with multiple kinds of lay-outs. And as I work in a job where technology is one of my primary focuses, I have to take a lot of technology with me from place to place. Not only must I transport it, but I also must keep things either plugged in or…

I've recently seen some forum topics about the accessibility of some of the Fitbit devices. Here is a review from my blog. This is for the flex including the app. Enjoy.

Back when i was looking in to getting the apple watch, i hmmed and hawed about getting a fitbit. I figured i wouldn't as at the time, i wanted something that would tell me my pace and all, and not just my steps. However since i can use
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<h3> Introduction</h3>

Ever since the last significant drop in my hearing, I've found it more and more challenging to rely on said hearing to carry out such tasks as using a screen reader, knowing when water is boiling, and the topic of this review: waking up in the morning. As many of the adaptations made for the blind are addressed through the use of hearing, and many of the adaptations made for the deaf are done through vision, this complicates matters for someone…

QardioArm is a blood pressure monitor compatible with iOS, and driven by Qardio app, available on the app store for free.

Preliminary operations and app accessibility considerations

Just download and install the qardio app and create a user profile, setting it up fitting your needs, including importing and exporting data to Apple Health system.

You can have multiple…

This is a handy little gadget that plugs in to the earphone jack of a phone.

<h1>What's in the box</h1>
The Ice phone comes with a stand for the phone to sit on which makes it look like an old style phone. There is a space on the stand to put your iphone. It also comes with the handset in a choice of colours, and an instructions booklet.

The ice phone is perfect for sitting at home or whereever you happen to be and you want clearer quality with calls.…

There are all sorts of battery packs on the market these days, some are very small and compact, and offer a capacity of just 4000 MAH(milliamp hours), while others offer as much as 24000 MAH. As a general rule, the larger the MAH rating, the more expensive the device and the larger the size and weight. For heavy duty users, they may wish to consider something of a higher capacity than 6000 MAH, as they probably carry several other devices in a bag of some sort anyway, so a…