Welcome to the July 2021 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly Newsletter which highlights what’s new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you’ll find a selection of content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
New and Noteworthy App Entries
Adventure to Fate Future Arena (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Battle, Explore, Loot and Craft your way through the Dungeon Arenas!
Adventure To Fate : Future Arena - is an JRPG style arena based dungeon crawler game
- Tons of character creation possibles (12 Classes, 30+ Pets, 6 Professions)
- 500+ items to loot, craft, buy and find.
- 200+ unique monsters to fight.
- -Fully accessible to the blind using Voiceover!
Current Version: 1.3 (July 25, 2021)
Read Adventure to Fate Future Arena’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Adventure to Fate Future Arena’s App Store page
Colibri (macOS, US$9.99)
A native Mac audio and music player that supports crystal-clear bit-perfect gapless playback of all popular lossless and lossy audio formats, uses only a tiny amount of computing power and offers a clean and intuitive user experience – it only ‘does what it says on the can’.
Current Version: 2.0.3 (June 23, 2021)
Read Colibri’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Colibri’s App Store page
Merriam-Webster Dictionary (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Get America’s most useful and respected dictionary, optimized for your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. This is the best iOS app for English language reference, education, and vocabulary building.
And now we’ve added new word games! It’s never been more fun to learn new words and test your vocabulary for everyone from English learners to total word nerds. Hundreds of words to test your skills.
Offline access: You’ll have complete access to definitions whether or not you’re connected.
Current Version: 5.5.1 (July 26, 2021)
Read Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s App Store page
See also: Merriam-Webster Dictionary+
NVDARemote (iOS/iPadOS, Free)
NVDARemote is an app to remote control a NVDA screen reader. This app is the client software, you have to setup a separate NVDARemote server in your network.
To use this app, you’ll need an external keyboard. After the connection is established, all inputs made on the external keyboard will be forwarded to the NVDARemote server, including the special keys Strg, Alt, Windows, Esc, F1–12 and so on.
Current Version: 1.0 (July 12, 2021)
Read NVDARemote’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit NVDARemote’s App Store page
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
iOS/iPadOS
Mac
Apple Watch
Apple TV
Notable App Updates
Galactic Colonies (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
Galactic Colonies is a game about exploring space and building colonies. Explore a procedurally generated universe with thousands of planets.
Every colony starts small. Start by providing housing and food for your colonists before you exploit a planet’s natural resources. Set up factories and create advanced high-tech products to make your colony grow even bigger.
Discover tropical, desert and ice planets and help your colonists survive on harsh, alien worlds.
Current Version: 1.31 (July 30, 2021)
Changes in Version 1.31
- Various fixes for accessibility mode
- Connectivity issues fixes
- Fixes for offline time calculations
Read Galactic Colonies’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Galactic Colonies’s App Store page
LetSeeApp (iOS/iPadOS, Free With In-App Purchases)
LetSee is an app for vision. It integrates different visual recognition and detection functions for visually impaired people. The basic operating principle for most functions is super easy: just point the camera towards the target and wait until you hear the result.
- Money reader: It recognizes banknotes of several currencies: Australian dollar, Argentine peso, Brazilian reis, British pound, Canadian dollar, Chinese yuan, Croatian kuna, Euro, Hungarian forint, Indian rupee, Japanese yen, Mexican pesos, New Zealand dollar, Polish zloty, Romanian leu, Russian ruble, Saudi riyal, Serbian dinar, South African rand, South Korean won, Thai baht, Ukrainian hryvnia, US dollar.
- Plastic card recognizer: You have to register your own cards through the menu. Thereafter it works the same way as the money reader does. Card images are not stored and no sensitive information is saved, only the general design of the card is recognized.
- Light measurement tool: This is not a recognizer function. Instead it measures the light level to let you find light sources, such as spotlights, screens, or even windows. The stronger the light the higher the pitch of the tone you hear. You may also get a percentage value by tapping the screen. Different sound scales can be selected in the menu. On iPhone light measurement is based on your back camera.
Current Version: 6.1.0 (July 21, 2021)
Changes in Version 6.1.0
- Greatly improved recognition speed (especially on older devices)
- Shortcut button in banknote recognizer for setting active currencies
- New currencies: Argentine peso, Thai baht, Saudi riyal
- Updated banknote sets: Australian, Brazilian, British, Canadian, Chinese, Mexican, Ukrainien currencies (new banknotes added)
- Spanish interface fully updated
- Bug fixes
Read LetSeeApp’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit LetSeeApp’s App Store page
Letter Rooms (iOS/iPadOS, US$1.99)
Letter Rooms is simply a good anagram from the award-winning creator of Subwords, Asymmetric, and Elementary Minute.
- Straight forward gameplay without any fuss: Launch the game and you’re right in the next puzzle
- Solve 270 puzzles from 12 different topics, like animals, pop culture, sports, or culinary. If you ever get stuck, you can skip the level without any consequences
- Master the three game mechanics: Moveable characters, On-Off Characters, and Multi-Characters
- Make use of the accessibility features like the dyslexic font and support for VoiceOver and VoiceControl.
- Plus: Widget, GameCenter, …
Current Version: 1.1.1 (July 13, 2021)
Changes in Version 1.1
The first big update is here, which adds 50 new puzzles and a better visible skip button! Learn something new, like the name of the only woman who won 2 nobel prices!
Also added a hint for the toggle game mechanic for VoiceOver players. You can disable that hint and all others through the settings.
Read Letter Rooms’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information
Visit Letter Rooms’s App Store page
Recent News and Views
Apple News
- Apple Releases iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1 with Apple Watch TouchID Unlock Fix
- Apple Releases macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 with Important Security Update
- Apple Releases watchOS 7.6.1 with security updates
- Apple Releases iOS 14.7; Bringing Support for Apple’s New MagSafe Battery Pack and Other Minor Enhancements
- Apple Releases iPadOS 14.7 With a Small Number of Bug Fixes and Minor Enhancements
- Apple Releases macOS Big Sur 11.5 with Podcasts App Improvements and Music App Fix
- Apple Releases watchOS 7.6, tvOS 14.7, and HomePod 14.7 Software
Designing a Decent Looking Document in Pages for macOS
ByKevin Shaw | July 13, 2021
Before I lost my sight, the usable low vision I had allowed me to fall in love with typography, design and the Apple aesthetic which I’d describe as clean and simple. I’ve kept this design philosophy throughout my life and have continued to edit and design my documents so they match this aesthetic.
These skills may take some time to master, but are worth the investment especially if you work in an organization that values design. Your documents will not only look better, but you will communicate that you are a student or businessperson who knows how to use your assistive technology well.
This guide is for VoiceOver users on Mac running the powerful Pages word processor, particularly those of us with no usable vision. Your mileage may vary with the iOS version of Pages on an iPad. I’ll assume you know how to use VO keys, interact and move about. This guide is geared towards users who may not know what their text looks like to a sighted reader and how to achieve some decent visual results for a little extra effort.
Read more: “Designing a Decent Looking Document in Pages for macOS”
See also: Using Style Shortcuts and Creating New Styles in Pages
This Month in Podcasts
iFeelit: an introduction to using braille displays on iOS (the 2021 edition)
In this update to his previous podcasts on braille, Scott Davert gives us some general information about braille displays as they relate to their use with iOS devices. He then talks about connecting a braille display using USB and then Bluetooth. Further, the braille menu under VoiceOver Settings, navigational commands, text input, how to set up auto scroll, and how to get additional help are all covered.
Listen to “iFeelit: an introduction to using braille displays on iOS (the 2021 edition)”
AppleVis Unleashed July 2021: Senior Citizens and the Yeats
In this month’s edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Randy Rusnak, and Mike Malarsie discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this podcast include:
- Club AppleVis
- Apple is Allegedly Making Employees Wear Police-Grade Body Cameras to Prevent Leaks
- Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack: Everything You Need to Know
- Apple suppliers gearing up for new AirPods, MacBook Pro releases in late 2021
- Apple to boost ‘iPhone 13’ production to 90M units in 2021
- New ‘iPhone SE 3’ expected in early 2022, says supply chain sources
- Kuo: 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro to Enter into Mass Production in Q3 2021
- More
Listen to “AppleVis Unleashed July 2021: Senior Citizens and the Yeats”
NaadSadhana: Tune, Synthesise and Create Indian Classical Music on iOS With the Assistance of Artificial Intelligence
In this podcast, Kushal Solanki gives us a walk-through and demonstration of NaadSadhana, an artificial Intelligence music app for iOS that helps Indian Classical musicians tune, synthesise and create music.
Key features:
- NaadSadhana will create and play music automatically as you sing or play, on 10 Instruments, 8 Genres, using artificial intelligence.
- NaadSadhana records your music at studio quality, in full multi-track sessions.
- Everything you need for the perfect practice session is absolutely FREE
- NaadSadhana guides your notes and tempo using visual-biofeedback. Tanpuras, Surpeti, Precision Tuner with 3 levels, Score and Statistics, Metronome, Beat Gauge, 5 Octave Keyboard, 136+ Ragas/Scales, and much more.
Quick Tip Podcasts
- Quick Tip: How to Automatically Deny App Tracking Requests in iOS and iPadOS
- Quick Tip: How to Move Files and Folders on the Mac With Finder
This month’s podcasts from Thomas Domville
- How to Take an ECG on the Apple Watch
- How to Change Screen Lock Time on iOS
- Clubhouse on iOS for Beginners
- How to Report Accidents and More in Apple Maps on iOS
Hot AppleVis Content
Here are some of our forum topics which have got people talking in the past month:
- 12 of my top–10 gripes with Windows
- Most powerful OCR currently available for iPhone?
- iOS versus Android; why iOS is better
- has anyone used the soundmojis in Messenger yet?
- Does an iPad bring any value over an iPhone?
- Buying a new Mac also getting rid of this one
- Fury Driver Original Sin, the conclusion to the saga, has been ported to iOs!
- Introducing Solocontutti , Online Jamming/Ensemble
- Your Friends and Family Volunteers needed for new app
Club AppleVis
Club AppleVis offers members and friends of our community a means of directly contributing towards the financial costs of operating AppleVis—thus ensuring that we can continue to deliver the information, help, and support that so many people have come to value and rely on since our launch in 2010.
To learn more about Club AppleVis; the perks of membership; and how you can join, please visit www.applevis.com/club-applevis
We wish you all good health and happiness.
The AppleVis Editorial Team
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