As we are now well and truly in to the season of winter and approaching Christmas, I decided to discuss the Hive App and hub. The app is fully accessible for both Apple and Android devices and is relatively easy to navigate and use.

I purchased the Hive Hub back in August of this year and although it is pricy at £300 I have found the benefits to be enormous in terms of giving me more control and access to my heating, lighting, security and everyday appliances in particular.

As I have a busy daily schedule, I wanted to make the process of operating my heating that little bit easier to manage. Until I purchased Hive, I had no way of setting timers or controlling the thermostat when trying to warm my home up effectively. This is now a thing of the past thanks to the Hive app and hub. From controlling heating and hot water, switching lights on and off and even turning everyday appliances such as the kettle on using Smart Plugs, I have total control of my entire home using the Hive app on my iPhone at anytime, anywhere. This has helped make my life much easier and in theory, should help me keep my utility bills affordable.

So how does Hive work?

Firstly, you must have a smart meter and a reliable internet connection through your wifi router before even considering looking into purchasing the Hive Hub. Also important to note is that Hive is exclusive to British Gas customers. Therefore, if you are with an alternative energy supplier you will need to contact them directly to find out if they have a similar option.

You then need to have the hub installed by a qualified engineer. Once this has been achieved, you can manage and setup your smart thermostat, plugs and lights straight from the Hive app on your smart phone. The Hive thermostats allow you to monitor the temperature in your house, set heating timers and even set the thermostat to a target temperature so that if it falls below the set degree, the heating will turn on automatically.

The Hive Smart Plugs can make energy use more efficient by enabling electrical appliances in the home to be turned on and off or by setting schedules. So for example, if I am walking my guide dog and returning home, I can turn the kettle on using my iPhone and it will be ready to pour as soon as I am through the door. The use of smart plugs also gives the added benefit of allowing me to switch off appliances I might have accidentally left on even though I am not actually in the house. So they basically can help take the stress out of my working day because I can monitor everything on the go. The Hive smart light bulbs work in essentially the same way as the plugs meaning you can schedule timers so they will be switched on when you are out of the house which is really good from a security point of view. The additional advantage of being able to connect all of your Hive appliances and heating to a smart speaker such as a Google Home or Amazon Echo means that you have the opportunity to control everything just by using your voice.  

In summary, finally going down the route of making my home “smart” gives me total control of almost every appliance, heating and security, all through the use of an app. It makes my life far easier and definitely gives me peace of mind for the future, both in terms of monitoring my utility bills and also for security reasons. In my personal opinion, for those of you who are smart phone users and are reasonably tech savvy, this kind of technology could be a game changer for you in the future.

Over the last few years it is fair to say that there have been some extremely exciting, innovative and life changing apps which have been developed which increase the independence of people with all kinds of visual impairment. Once again, I am delighted to bring another of these to your attention. This time it’s an indoor navigation app called Clew.

Clew is a free iPhone app that records a user’s path and then guides you back to your starting point. Clew was created to help visually impaired people to remember a location such as returning to a seat in a room. Designed to work indoors, Clew uses the camera on your iPhone to record a video of landmarks along your route. It will then save certain points such as stairs, turns etc and guide you back to your initial starting point.

How to use Clew

Hold your phone upright in front of you with the camera pointing straight ahead. Press the “record path button”, then walk the route you want the app to remember. It is worth stating that at this stage, it is recommended that when recording a route, you ask for sighted guide if possible. Press Stop Recording at the end of the route. When ready to return, Press the “Start Navigation Button” and Wait for Clew to convert the information. Clew will then provide verbal, haptic and visual feedback as you reverse the  route. Visually, the screen shows an image of the next part of the  route with a red pin indicating where to go. If the user veers off the path, the red pin disappears off the edge of the screen. When walking along the desired path, a clicking sound is heard; the clicking sound stops to indicate when the traveler has veered. A whistle tone indicates a turn; the app also verbally announces which way to turn. The route is available until the app is closed from the app switcher. According to the website, Clew works best with short indoor routes and it is not advisable to use the app when outdoors because of varying lighting conditions and possible glare from sunlight which could interfere with the video recording.

First impressions

I have been hoping for an app like Clew for years to assist with travelling independently when an indoor environment. I have mainly tested the app in familiar areas such as our centre  and so far, I am delighted to say that the experience has been fantastic. I recently used it to create a route from my upstairs office to the downstairs kitchen as sometimes I still get confused with this route as I don’t do it very often. The app then guided me almost flawlessly back to my office from the kitchen and only stopped giving me directions when I was back at my chair. It even told me when I was coming up to stairs and where to turn when I had reached the first landing and needed to go up another flight. Sometimes the app does get confused if you have to make a lot of left and right turns in quick succession, but for the most part it is extremely reliable and has really increased my confidence when using it. I think the technology used within the app is also extremely interesting as everything is achieved by video. There is no GPS or internet connection required to use the app which means you can use it in any indoor environment you choose. Please note that this app is still in it’s early stages so it will be a case of trial and error when using. The developers are planning to update the app regularly though and have lots of great ideas for improving it’s capabilities. Also, as always with these apps, please remember that they are not designed to be a replacement for a Cane or Guide Dog. It is designed to work alongside your mobility aid and you will need to depend on your mobility and orientation skills when using this app.

At the beginning of March, Microsoft released a new and extremely innovative app designed to assist people with a visual impairment to navigate and understand their surrounding environment. The app is called Microsoft Soundscape and is free to download and use.

Note: At this stage, the app is only available for iPhone users.

Overview

Soundscape uses 3D audio sound to give you a full audio map of what’s around you when you are out and about. It is designed to help you navigate independently and encourage you to be more confident in exploring streets and getting to destinations. The app announces streets and points of interest such as shops, cafes etc. in 3D so that you actually hear the exact direction in which the place is located. To use Soundscape accurately, you need to use a pair of either bone conducting headphones or Apple AirPods. As soon as you put the headphones in your ears and start walking, the app will begin telling you what is in your surrounding area.

Example:

As you walk along a street, you may suddenly hear directly in your right ear, “McDonalds, twenty five metres.” This means that there is a McDonalds restaurant not too far away from you, immediately to your right. Then if you wish, you can actually tell the app to direct you to McDonalds by setting a beacon. This will then give you constant audio information and feedback to let you know if you are heading in the direction of McDonalds or if you are going off course.

Operating the app

Soundscape offers three modes – ‘My Location’ tells you the direction you are facing and the streets and intersections which are closest to you, ‘Around Me’ gives you places of interest which are near you in all four cardinal directions, and ‘Ahead of Me’ provides the names of five places of interest which are nearest to you and directly ahead of you. It is also worth mentioning that the app is fully accessible and that VoiceOver does not have to be enabled in order to use the app. So basically, anyone with a visual impairment can use this app.

First impressions

I was actually a tester for this app when it was under development and have been impressed with it from the very start. I find the app extremely easy to use and another great feature of the app I haven’t mentioned yet is that it is compatible with Apple Watch. This means that I don’t have to keep stopping in the street and taking my iPhone out of my pocket when I want to use the app. I can just tap the relevant button from my Apple Watch which is constantly on my left wrist.

I think my favourite feature of the app is definitely the beacon feature. I used the beacon feature once when it was snowing very heavily and I wanted to get to my local Co-op. I became disorientated, but once I had told the app to direct me to the Co-op, it kept me on track the whole way and always kept me heading in the right direction. In fact, the app only stopped giving me information when I was outside the door of the store. I felt very reassured after this experience I now actually use Soundscape almost every day when I am walking with my guide dog.

Important additional note!!
The app is designed to be used in tandem with your usual mobility aid, such as a cane or guide dog. Do not use this app on its own when you are travelling outside. Also, to use this app, a constant internet connection is required, so a 3 or 4G mobile data plan is essential.

Seeing AI is a Microsoft research project that uses Artificial Intelligence features to deliver an intelligent app, designed to assist visually impaired people with performing everyday tasks such as reading text, recognising people’s faces, identifying products, and identifying your surroundings. This app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and magnification features on iPhones.

How it works:

The app has nine different ‘channels’, which you can use for performing a specific task. Below is a brief description of each of the channels.

Short text:

Simply point the camera at text and it will be read aloud. Very useful for reading signs, text on noticeboards or even on food tins etc.

Document:

Hold the phone camera over a document such as a magazine, newspaper or letter and the app will automatically take a picture of the document and read it aloud to you. It will also try to format the document for you as well, so you have an idea of how the page is laid out.

Product:

Hold the camera over the barcode of a product and the app will scan it and then tell you the name of the product. You can also find additional information about the product such as cooking instructions or ingredients. Barcodes are sometimes difficult to locate on certain products, but a really cool feature of the app is that audible beeps are given to help with the locating and scanning of barcodes.

Person:

This channel allows you to take a picture of a person’s face and the app will then attempt to work out the age of the person and tell you what they look like. Note that you can also train the app to recognise people’s faces as well, so if you point the camera towards them, the app will actually tell you who they are.

Currency preview:

Point the camera at different types of currency such as Euro, Dollar and Pound to hear their values.

Scene preview:

Simply point the camera in front of you and take a picture. The app will attempt to describe everything in the view of the camera. Note that the Scene channel is still being developed, so is not always accurate in describing certain things. Hopefully it will improve over the next few months though.

Colour preview:

Just point the camera of your phone at any object and its colour will be announced. Note: lighting conditions are a factor.

Handwriting preview:

This experimental channel allows you to take a picture of handwriting and the app will attempt to recognise it and read it to you. Note: the text has to be the right way up for this channel to work.

Light detector:

The camera on the phone will detect the amount of light around you. This works by using pitch sounds. The higher the pitch, the more light there is.

First impressions

I have used this app for around two months and am really enjoying most of its features. The barcode and text reading facilities along with the facial recognition features are extremely accurate most of the time. The colour, handwriting and light detecting features also have huge potential, as does the scene preview mode. To be honest though, I am a little unsure about the currency feature, as now that plastic notes are being printed, all £10 notes have Braille in the top left corner. On the whole though, I really feel that this app has made a big difference in terms of increasing my independence on a daily basis. Now I don’t need to depend on friends or family to read my mail or find products in my freezer for me. The fact that all these features are available in one easy to use app is fantastic!

Price:

Seeing AI is free to download and use.

Note: This app is currently only available for Apple products and requires a constant internet connection.

• Our rolling programme of free webinars to deliver training and answer questions on Dolphin accessibility products.
• SuperNova Case Study Assistive Technology Levels the Playing Field
• GuideConnect Case Studies:
  • GuideConnect helps seniors with sight loss enjoy their computer – and life!
  • Senior reconnects with his family and regains his independence with GuideConnect

If you look at this page you can see information on all Your Dolphin products for education including SuperNova: https://yourdolphin.com/en-gb/products/education

In respect of GuideConnect, this page gives all the information available, including how to get it on a suitable device: https://yourdolphin.com/en-gb/products/individuals/guide-connect

Here is our latest news:

• SuperNova Magnifier & Screen Reader 13.02 – Braille: Plug and Play-type Connectivity for USB Braille Displays
• GuideConnect via the TV – Now with Voice Input & new Remote Control

We hope you enjoy reading about our products – Your Dolphin Team