Ireland, Pottery the iPhone and a new App ~ Glaze

Image 1: Original Image Capture: Camera+

Image 2: Processed in SnapSeed for textures and grunge effect, then Processed in Modern Grunge for the 'ripped" area and more texture.

One of the stops we made on the Peter Cox Photography Tour of  "wild" Ireland, was at the Louis Mulcahy Pottery Craftsman shop. Louis Mulcahy designs and makes his own pottery in this workshop on the R559 road to the west of Ballyferriter. This isolated pottery studio stands between the R559 and a minor road just inside the southern edge of this square.
I had been thinking about making a blog post on a few shots I made there with the iPhone when I became aware, as a result of a post by Donnie Fulks, of a new to me app called "Glaze."  It is not a high res app but can be great for blending back with other files in Image Blender where if you choose the highest res file first for the blend the resulting file will be that size. So essentially the file gets upsized by making the blend in Image Blender. I made a shot of one of the large urns in front of the shop and I thought it would be perfect to work with. The shots below were processed in Glaze from the Image 2 file above, that I had already processed in SnapSeed and Modern Grunge. Glaze can be found in the app store.

Image 3: Filtered with app "Glaze"

Image 4: Filtered with app "Glaze"

 

 

Image 5: Filtered with app "Glaze"

This app has 30 filter presets, which all look very nice, and a randomize feature where you roll the dice and see what happens. Resolution options are Low 382 x 512, Regular 764 x 1024 and Print 1528 x 2048.  The app also has a feature where you can combine filters within the app. This app is quickly becoming one of my favorites for its artistic looks and blend options.

Image 6: Filtered with app "Glaze"

I am also excited to announce my iPhone Photography Course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore this fall. 

For more information and registration: click here.

Voice Dream Reader App For iOS

Voice Dream Reader is a text-to-speech app for people with reading disabilities or people who just prefer to listen to text. The app costs $4.99 in the App Store. Click here to download the app. Voice Dream Reader can extract text from ePub, PDF, Word, Pages, Keynote and web pages and then read them aloud using text-to-speech with synchronized highlighting. Watch the above video to learn more. Voice Dream Reader comes pre-loaded with the Heather voice, but additional voices can be purchased for $0.99. One downside is that all text formatting and all images are extracted and not visible.

While reading a document you can change the speech rate, text size and background color. While reading a document it is easy to skip around in the text and look up words. The app cannot read the definitions so you will need to turn on VoiceOver. It is unfortunate that the app does not read the definition because some people may not be familiar with VoiceOver. Voice Dream Reader can be synced with a number of cloud services including Dropbox to get documents into the app.

In all Voice Dream Reader is a solid app. For some, the built in Speak Selection feature may be good enough. With iOS 6 coming in the fall, Speak Selection will have syncronized highlighting which will make some features of Voice Dream Reader obsolete. If you want the ability to create playlists or read with multiple voices this app is for you.

Click read more below to view screenshots of Voice Dream Reader in action.

Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion With New Accessibility Features

Apple's Mac operating system has been updated. The new update is called OS X Mountain Lion. The new operating system includes over 200 new features including a number of accessibility enhancements. One feature called Dictation allow users to speak their text input instead of typing. Mountain Lion also includes better syncing with iOS devices. OS X Mountain Lion also includes enhancements to VoiceOver. To view a detailed list of all new accessibility in Mountain Lion click here. Apple's website says the following about about OS X accessibility,

"Every Mac comes standard with a wide range of assistive technologies that help people with disabilities enjoy the power and simplicity of the Mac. We call this Universal Access, and it includes many features you won’t find in other operating systems at any price. In OS X, they’re built right in."

To view a detailed list of OS X accessibility features click here. OS X Mountain Lion is available for download from the Mac App Store for $19.99. Click here to download Mountain Lion. Click read more below to view images of Mountain Lion.

First ASL Narrated iBook Hits The iPad

A new iBook called Pointy Three includes built in American Sign Language (ASL) video narrations. Click here to download the iBook. Pointy Three costs $4.99 but you can download a sample for free. It is the first iBook to include ASL video narrations. An iPad is required to read the ebook. These video narrations are great for people learning ASL or parents of deaf children. Hopefully, the selection of ebooks with ASL narration will increase.

Watch the above video to learn more. Click read more below to view screenshots of Pointy Three.

Learning Ally Audio App Now Free

Learning Ally, the audio book service for people with disabilities, has reduced the cost of their iOS app to free. The app previously cost $19.99. In order to use the app you must be a Learning Ally member. Click here to download the app which is compatible with both the iPad and iPhone. The app is the easiest way to listen to Learning Ally books on your iOS device. Now that the app is free it is a no brainer for members.

Unfortunately the app is still missing key features such as background audio play back, background downloads and the ability to browse the Learning Ally catalog directly from your iOS device. When listening to an audio book you cannot follow along with an ebook because the audio book will automatically pause. Also in order to download an audio book you first must add the book to your bookshelf via a web browser. These short comings weaken the user experience, but it is still great to listen to Learning Ally books on your iOS device.  Hopefully in time the app will be updated with these and other features. To learn more about Learning Ally click here. Click read more below to view screen shots of Learning Ally Audio in action.

Ireland~ Textures~ WIndows and Doors~ Snapseed~ ImageBlender~PicGrunger

While continuing to work my way through some iPhone images I made in Ireland........I noticed a common thread of window and doorway images. The little town of Dingle, our first stop, had interesting colorful windows and doorways to capture. In almost every window in Ireland there is some type of lace curtain. I was curious about the origins of this style of window decor and could not find in a quick search, anything on the internet relating to the historical use of lace at windows in Ireland. I did find a little history on Irish lace making on this site. History of Irish Lace. Maybe it has become just a decorating tradition but I also think it serves a purpose other than its beauty. Many windows in the houses I saw had no "screens" maybe the lace acts as screen, although I doubt it would keep the "Midges" out...
I snapped a shot of some lace that adorned a table in Dingle's Benner Hotel where we stayed. Walking the town for about an hour in the afternoon I captured a few shots of doors and windows that interested me for their colors or design. I used the single image of the lace from the hotel as a texture and overlaid it on the straight shots in ImageBlender. Then I used a grunge filter in PicGrunger or SnapSeed to finish off the look I had in my  mind.

 I also loved this window shot straight out of the app ClassicPan, no lace needed!

Eyes Free Typing With Fleksy For iPhone

Fleksy is an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows visually impaired users to type without needing to see the keyboard perfectly. Users press on the screen approximately where they think the correct letter is located on the keyboard. Fleksy is designed only for people with visual impairments. To use the typing feature in the app VoiceOver must be off, and then when you want to share the text you have typed you must turn VoiceOver back on by tripple-clicking the home button.

As the above video shows the taps on the keyboard can be fairly far from the correct letter without effecting the accuracy. If there are multiple possible words based on your taps. Fleksy will allow you to choose other likely words by flicking up and down on the screen.

After each word you must flick right to tell Fleksy that you are done typing that word. After each word, Fleksy will speak the word aloud using text-to-speech. To add punctuation you can flick to the right twice and the select the correct punctuation. If you have to enter a name, you can hold down on the keyboard and the letters will be spoken as your finger touches them, then you can release your finger to type the letter. To enter numbers and symbols rotate two fingers to switch between text, numbers and symbols. When you have typed your text, tripple-click the home button to turn on VoiceOver. Turning on VoiceOver automatically brings up the sharing menu which gives you the option to copy, email, text and tweet your text. Fleksy does not replace the standard iOS keyboard. I tested the app by closing my eyes while typing and found that the type was accurate and surprisingly fast. Fleksy claims that users can type up to 25 words per minute with practice. Fleksy is definately faster than typing with VoiceOver and the standard keyboard for visually impaired users. 

Fleksy sells for $14.99 on the App Store. Click here to download the app. Click read more below to view another video about Fleksy and to view screenshots.

EnableTalk Coverts Signs Language Into Spoken Words

For the millions of deaf people communicating is a large challenge. EnableTalk is attempting to solve this problem with a pair of computerized gloves that recognizes sign language and uses text-to-speech to convert the signs to spoken language. Watch the above video to learn more. The prototype gloves link with a smart phone and use a variety of sensors to recognized the signs. An app on the users smart phone then speaks the signs using text-to-speech so people who do not know sign language can communicate with the deaf user. The gloves could end the need for a sign language user to pass notes to non-sign language user, but the non-sign language user would still need to pass notes back to the hearing impaired person. The EnableTalk seem promising and will hopefully be available to consumers in the near future. Click read more below to view a picture of the prototype gloves.

iPhone Impressions in Ireland~ AutoPainter3~Snapseed~ ImageBlender

Captured with Camera+; Processed with AutoPainter3: Snapseed and ImageBlender

My first impressions of Ireland were on the bus ride from Shannon to Dingle with the photography tour group lead and organized by Peter Cox, John Barclay and Dan Sniffin. I was shooting out the bus window and captured these shots. I processed them as I went along with ImageBlender and AutoPainter3.
The day started out just beautifully with blue skies and high clouds, but quickly became overcast. This I began to know about the Irish weather...If its sunny its going to rain! I can say that one extra benefit of shooting with the iPhone was that it was a good record keeping tool of my locations traveled...I tried to make at least one iPhone shot in each location just for my records...more to come...

Apple Configurator: Perfect Tool for Schools With iPads

More and more schools are providing iPads to all or some of their students. Setting up dozens of iPads manually can be time consuming and monotonous. Apple's free Mac app called Apple Configurator solves this problem by allowing schools to set up multiple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch all on once. Click here to download the app from the Mac app store. Once the you have downloaded the app you can change settings and install apps on multiple iOS devices. Apple Configurator is a time saving app for anyone that needs to set up multiple iOS devices. Click read more below to view screen shots of Apple Configurator in action.