49 episodes listed below
Assistive tech makers, asked the questions a buyer would.
Blind Bargains Audio is built on interviews with the people behind assistive technology products, including a string recorded at CSUN 2024 in Anaheim. The questions stay practical, covering which equipment a tactile image will work with, what separates two braille notetakers and what a device costs.
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Blind Bargains Audio is an assistive technology interview feed, and its substance comes from product makers talking through what they built. JJ hosts, and episode numbers run under a BBQ prefix. A string of interviews comes from CSUN 2024 in Anaheim. One episode also brings out a CSUN 2022 conversation that had been recorded but never released. That one concerns BTactile, a website that indexes tactile graphics created and curated elsewhere rather than making them itself. The images cover braille embossers, 3D printers, cutting machines such as a Cricut, and swell paper, and the interview asks whether results can be filtered to match equipment a person already owns. One embosser-ready image is credited to Nicole Johnson, a PhD student at the University of Colorado at Boulder who interned with the project. Braille hardware recurs. At the HIMS booth, the Braille eMotion is set against the BrailleSense 6. A guest mentions a list of about 25 differences and makes the case that some people want only basic notetaking, without a Play Store, math input or podcasts. The BT Speak episode with Brian Blasey leans on history as much as specs. The BT Speak Basic has an introductory price of $795, chosen to honor the introductory price of the original Braille and Speak in 1987, and the device's open architecture lets advanced users drop to a shell and install programs. A newHaptics multiline braille display prompts a different line of thought: touch-driven interaction that could stand in for a long list of memorized commands. The talk even wishes for a scrub gesture to erase text, recalling how mistakes were handled on an old Perkins. Mobility comes through Glide. JJ introduces it with a knowing nod to smart cane fatigue, and the guest describes indoor tracking precise enough to measure every millimeter of movement. The stated plan is to work with navigation apps like Google Maps, WeWalk and Soundscape, not to build a rival. The episode titled 'Blind Bargains Virtual Exhibit Hall Audio: Feel The Things That Are Too Small Or Tall To Touch With See3d' features Caroline Karbowsky, founder and CEO of See3d, and Ian Maddy, co-founder and manager of Mountain Lakes Public Library Makerspace. Caroline's route in is specific: she taught herself braille in middle school so she could read in the car without getting dizzy, then put it to use 3D printing models for blind people. Around all this, the openings go for laughs. Joe Steinkamp's studio stays under construction across several openings, an AI co-host named Gigi comes and goes, and one opening mistakes a pile of pizza boxes for a missing pal. JJ invites feedback by email and on Mastodon. The payoff is concrete: what a device does, what it costs, what it skips, and how its makers expect people to use it.
Made for: Suits a listener who uses or is weighing braille displays, notetakers, mobility aids or tactile graphics and wants the makers themselves to explain features, trade-offs and prices.
What sets it apart: The interviews stay close to the device itself, with makers spelling out trade-offs such as which features a basic braille notetaker leaves out or which apps a mobility aid is built to work with. Jokey openings about an unfinished studio and a short-lived AI co-host keep it from sounding like a spec sheet.
The biggest names, the latest news, and leading insights from the field. Weekly Podcasts, interviews, technology demonstrations, and commentary from industry experts. Get more at blindbargains.com.
A tactile comic sounds great; JJ asks if your own embosser can print it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at BTactile's effort to make tactile graphics easier to find and match with real-world tools.
Blind Bargains uses an unreleased CSUN 2022 interview to frame BTactile as a practical answer to a real access problem: tactile graphics can be hard to find, even when the right materials or equipment are already available.
A clear CSUN 2024 comparison of the Braille eMotion and the fuller BrailleSense 6.
JJ's CSUN 2024 stop at the HIMS booth gives the Braille eMotion a clear place in the lineup: a Braille display for users who want familiar notetaker basics, but with stronger reading and media support.
A CSUN interview about giving Braille more room to work spatially.
Blind Bargains Audio's penultimate CSUN 2024 interview turns to New Haptics and its developing multi-line Braille display, focusing on how touch-based navigation and editing might change the feel of working in Braille. Joe Steinkamp introduces the segment, while J.J.
A grounded look at Glide's attempt to pair indoor mobility assistance with the navigation tools people already use.
Blind Bargains Audio 227 gives Glide a more substantial hearing than the phrase smart cane might suggest. In JJ's CSUN 2024 interview with Amos Miller, the discussion stays focused on what the device is trying to be: a mobility aid for indoor navigation that can work alongside…
A practical BT Speak interview on open architecture, accessible software, and a product lineup already changing.
Blind Bargains 226 follows JJ's CSUN 2024 conversation with Brian Blasey about the BT Speak, keeping the focus on open architecture, accessible software, and the differences between models.
Accessible tech, tested in real life.
Step-by-step screen reader training that stays practical.
Blindness and low vision, grounded in daily access.
Practical screen-reader news with community context.
Assistive tech talk from the field.
Assistive tech explained, plus honest talk about living blind.
BTactile indexes more than 6,400 tactile graphics from 24 repositories for free search.
Blind Bargains episode 229 features Earl Harrison and Jenny Axler explaining HIMS's Braille Emotion, a 40-cell display with one USB connection, five Bluetooth connections, stereo speakers, text-to-speech, and a microphone.
New Haptics says its multi-line Braille display uses touch gestures so users can double-tap to route the cursor.
Amos Miller, CEO of Glidance, describes Glide at CSUN 2024 as a new mobility aid that sits alongside the cane and guide dog.
Blind Bargains 226 features Brian Blasey of Blazie Technologies discussing the BT Speak at CSUN 2024 in Anaheim.
An interview about using 3D printing to create Braille labels and models for blind individuals.
Interview with Judy Dixon about her 40-year career in accessibility technology and her new book on audio description.
An interview with the CEO of GoodMaps about their indoor/outdoor navigation app for blind users.
An interview with an Envision AI representative discussing updates to the Envision app and glasses for visually impaired users.