It’s been a little while since the last App Watch, or any blog post for that matter here on Tech for TBI, but finally here is App Watch #4. There are some major updates to some old favorites, and a new(er) third party keyboard that I might just use. Hopefully, over the next couple of months, blog posts and App Watches will be published at a consistent pace, that is till the Fall semester starts…
If you have been in a high school math class in recent years, you probably have used a graphing calculator. Most likely the venerable Ti-83 or 84 series. While these might have been cutting edge computing devices in the early 2000’s with their 128KB of memory and 3 AAA batteries, today they are NOT. (For comparison the iPhone 6s has 2GB of RAM and a lithium ion battery) They also present an accessibility issue for users with low vision, small buttons, small screens, little to no contrast on the screen, the quality of the screen is poor…. The point is I could write a small paper on how bad they are.
Being an engineering major and someone who is almost always engaged in some type of math operation, I have to deal with my lovely Ti-84 Plus every single day. I have come to hate the screen.
But all hope is not lost, there are a couple of apps out there to supplement your Ti and make your calculations more accessible. Sadly, it is hard to get away from using the Ti, as in many cases you can’t use your tablet or smartphone on test…
Mind mapping is a great method for visually displaying your thoughts and ideas. And for people with TBIs, anyway in which we can free up space in our heads or not have to think really hard to visualize something- is awesome! Mind mapping is also very useful as there is no set way to do it- you can modify it for whatever task or workflow your working on!
There are numerous methods and approaches to going about mind mapping and diagraming… So chances are you can google it and find an explanation that is 10 times better than mine!
(Also what I call mind mapping is also probably called diagramming or flowcharting by other people.)
Here are some good examples (albeit slightly academically skewed..) of how mind mapping can be beneficial. Continue reading
With finals and the fall 2016 semester now officially over, I can take a break! (And I am really looking forward to that… ) That also means I can get back to working on my blog and doing some much-needed updating. And I plan on doing just that during winter break!
And with my first college semester under my belt, I’ve learned some interesting things. And as such, I have some good stuff to write up, which hopefully other TBI folks in a similar place will find helpful.
One of those things (and probably one of the most important) is that you have to give yourself credit and be proud of yourself and your accomplishments! This is one of the most difficult things for me, as its so easy to lose sight of just how far you have come and what you have done. In my case, completing my first semester and also getting A’s. Even if it was only 2 classes, the fact that I was there was a huge accomplishment worth celebrating. (Even 2 years ago I would not have been able to complete a full semester let alone at a high level.) Doing well is icing on the cake. Moral of the story, take a minute to reflect on what you have done, don’t lose sight of how far you’ve come, and be proud of it!!
Anyway, be on the lookout for some new post and updated content starting the first week of the new year.
Till then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a great, brain injury free New Year! See you in 2017!
Quick fun fact: the third Friday in September is National Concussion Awareness Day! This year is the 1st ever national event and is an awesome way in which we can increase the community’s awareness of concussions and post-concussion in a positive and constructive manner! (Which is a win-win for us all.) Below are some of the things that I have learned over the past 5 years, and more importantly, I wish others had known about concussions.
With the Apple Fall event a week removed and the iPhone 7 shipping soon, iOS 10 will be launching tomorrow and then MacOS Sierra following shortly after on the 20th. (it’s going to take a bit getting used to not saying, OS X!) There are certainly a lot of features to look forward to with iOS 10, including a good dose of new accessibility centered ones! I am particularly looking forward to magnifier and enhanced speak screen.
So, the question then is- do you download right away or do you wait a bit and see how the mass release goes? Nobody asked me, but here’s my advice:
I love new shiny features and I love them, even more, when I can use them on the release day… But, I also use my device for both accessibility purposes and school work. And in the event my device was to crap out or get bricked (remember iOS 9.3 and 9.3.2) I would be in a very bad place. As a result, I usually wait till the first iOS update or two comes out before I will upgrade my device.
Note: iOS 10 is the first major iOS release to be launched in combination with Apple’s public beta testing program. Hopefully, most of the software related bugs or mishaps of the past will not be present…
Please backup your device. You should already be backing up your device regularly, regardless. But make sure you backup especially if you plan on doing a major upgrade. I can tell you from personal experience that losing your data is an absolute pain. (My school iPad was restricted from syncing with my computer, as a result I was not able to do a backup…)
If there are any apps that are 100% mission critical to you, you might want to make sure that they are iOS 10 compatible. I can remember one app in particular that was very buggy upon updating to iOS 9 on my iPhone, while not a major issue- if it had been on my iPad it could have been.
Finally, if you have an older gen device, make sure your expectations are reasonable. If you expect your 4th gen iPad to work as fast on iOS 10 as it did on iOS 9, it may or may not happen. But chances are it won’t. If that is a major issue for you, take that into consideration.
iOS 10 and MacOS Sierra will be a slightly sad update for me, as it will be the first time that both my 24″ iMac and iPad 3 will not be able to receive a major software update. But, iOS 10 has some really great features and some that are sure to make our lives easier!
MindNode is a visual mind mapping tool. It allows you to create visually appealing maps while also giving you control over key elements including the text (font, styling, and alignment), background, and node styling and location. Viewing and exporting your maps is also super easy as you can choose from a list of different formats and options. The app is $9.99 on the App Store (App Store Link) and has a companion Mac app.
Mind mapping is a great tool for anyone, but particularly for people with TBIs. It allows you to visually organize a large amount of information and to display data in a more natural and organic way. I personally have come to rely on mind mapping quite a bit, and it really helps me get a large amount of information out of my brain and onto paper. In the context of MindNode, it does an amazing job at creating mind maps. It is easy to use, flexible and better yet, made with accessibility features in mind. I personally have found it to be my favorite mind mapping app for iOS, especially as it lets you adjust both the font size and type! (That is a big deal for me…)
None really! My biggest wish for the app is cross-platform support, like Mindmiester.
Look for a full review soon!
Simplenote is a cross-platform text-based note taking service. The app is focused on providing a snappy and efficient writing experience while being easy to use. It achieves this by only including a few core features, such as markdown support, tags, list support, and collaboration abilities. Your notes will be saved and synced automatically, and can be accessed via Simplenote’s web app, iOS and Android app, and their Mac/Window/Linux desktop editors. The service is free to use: App Store Link , SimpleNote Web Site
My main draw to this app is the cross-platform support and its truly simple interface. I really appreciate it’s simplistic design as it makes the app more responsive and ultimately more intuitive to use. By being snappier, it also lets me get my thoughts to paper quicker, which is never a bad thing!
I wish the app would support larger text sizes (it does support dynamic type, but only to a certain size) and would support more robust list management.
Grammarly is an online grammar and spell checker. Off the bat, Grammarly does NOT exist or work on the iOS ecosystem- you have to use a desktop browser or its native macOS app to access it services. Once you do, though, you will find a very competent and powerful writing tool. The free version of Grammarly will check your work for grammar errors, contextual spelling mistakes and suggest possible vocabulary improvements. It is essentially spell checker for Word on steroids… Grammarly is available as a browser extension for Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. They also have native apps for macOS and Windows.
My spelling is TERRIBLE, and my grammar is even worse- and that’s before my brain injury! None the less, I need all the help I can get, and Grammarly has been a great aid to add to my toolbox. I have found that it does a great job at spotting errors that I would have missed if I were visually reading, and at spotting misspelled words that looked similar but were in the wrong context. (The best example is choose and choice.) In combination with listening to my work with text-to-speech , Grammarly has become an essential part of my proofreading and writing workflow.
I really wish that I could use Grammarly on my iPad or iPhone. In addition, the pricing for the premium plan is a little too high for me personally.
Look for a full review soon.
Purchasing textbooks for college can be a frustrating ordeal, you have to figure out which edition and ISBN you need, find the retailer with the cheapest price and then hope everything goes according to plan.
And for people with a print disability, there is a further step: what type of textbook do I buy? Do I get the paper edition or the etextbook? There are also alternative sources for textbooks from sources like Bookshare, Learning Ally, and your campus disabilities office. It is a little more complicated then it needs to be, and it’s not like textbooks are cheap….
Here is my take on the textbook options:
The Rio Olympics have come to a close, my garden is starting to slow down and there are a ton of ads on TV for school supplies. That can only mean one thing- the end of summer is near and the start of school is upon us!
For me, that means I will be embarking on the start of my college career in mechanical engineering, and I imagine many other TBI survivors will also be starting secondary or college level classes. As a result, here is my school specific tech checklist/suggestions for the upcoming semester!
Homework Planner
Time Management
Text-to-Speech
Audio Recorder
Document Manager
Note Taking (handwriting or text)
Microsoft 365 and/or Google Apps
Text-to-Speech (TTS) is a godsend for me. I have come to rely heavily upon it over the past few years and my reading workflow now revolves around it. However, I have found that straight TTS is not particularly effective… Especially if I am reading for comprehension, as I have found that it is really hard to both listen for content and for context.
Below are some of the methods I use to make my TTS experience more efficient and effective! Continue reading
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