AppleVis Extra 104: In conversation with the creators of Seeing AI, Winner of Best App in the 2024 Golden Apples

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Karthik Kannan, co-founder of Envision Technologies, winner of the inaugural AppleVis David Goodwin Award. This award recognises developers who have excelled in providing great apps and experiences for the blind and low vision community over a sustained period of time. They discuss the background of the company, key milestones, and the exciting Ally app which is due to launch soon.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis this extra podcast this is episode one hundred and five my name is david nason.Today we are talking about the AppleVis end of twenty twenty four awards again but this is a particular special one today because it's the inaugural david goodwin award david as you most likely know.Founded AppleVisway back in twenty ten and after fourteen years of real dedication he stepped away in the middle of last year.Thankfully we have been able to go on and it's really fitting that this award in particular has been named in david's honor.The david goodwin award rewards a developer who has shown a lasting and enduring dedication to the community with significant apps and really made an impact and they need to have been.Active with an at least one app for over three years and our winner has been many more years than that and so it's a really special awards and we're delighted to have started up this year and really excited to talk to the winner.Today before I get into that conversation I will give a quick overview of the nominees we had a lot of nominees for this award and which is a great sign in of itself really.Nineteen nominated on the panel so let us have a quick run through just to get that acknowledgement to those nominees we had a sharp LLC who make king of dragon pass.We had american printing house for the blind to make good maps at doors agile tortoise who make drafts era tech corporation who make era explorer cash reader sro who make that cash reader app dolphin computer access limited to of course make dolphin easy reader.Envision technologies bv who make the envision app flexi bits incorporated who make the fantastical calendar app junew quang who makes.Mona for mastodon and also spring for twitter canoe suit who makes the leer rss feeder app library of congress who make bird mobile.MIP soft who makes the blind square up national federation the blind to make nfp newsline oreo gomez makes round logic and accessible hangman accessible twenty forty eight and many more great games that we enjoy.Sneaky crab incorporated who make time crest twisted wave limited to make the twisted weight audio app.Ulysses gmbh to make the ulysses writing app and weather god's LLC who make of course the weather gods weather app a very popular app over the years as well.And finally would you juice limited to make hockey side and fright recording apps so big list congratulations to everybody who was nominated it's.Great to see so many developers who have shown that long term dedication to making great apps for our community.So the runners up…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Saqib Shaikh, a key member of the team behind Microsoft's Seeing AI, winner of Best App in the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple awards.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there, and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis Extra Podcast.My name is David Nason and I am delighted to be joining you again to talk about the 2024 Golden Apple Awards.Today's focus is the best app category.We had 10 brilliant nominees in this category and they were One Password, Anytime Podcast Player, Drafts, Mona from Astadon, OKO, Cross Street and Maps, PixieBot, Seeing AI, Tapit Pro Audio Recorder, Todoist, To Do List and Calendar, and Voice Vista.So a great list of nominees there, very strong.Our runners up getting special mention are PixieBot and Voice Vista.So again, huge well done to them for being runners up.Our winner and a very familiar winner, I think it's their fourth Golden Apple, which is amazing, is Microsoft's Seeing AI.So huge well done to them.It's an app that's been around a long time and is still available in the App Store.If you search for Seeing AI from Microsoft.So yes, huge well done to Seeing AI for winning the best app, Golden Apple 2024.And to chat about it, I am delighted to be joined from the Microsoft Seeing AI team by Saqib Shaikh.Hello Saqib, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.Hi, thank you so much for having me.It's a pleasure to be here.And you're here because Seeing AI, I don't think for the first time won a Golden Apple Award for 2024 in the best app category, which is fantastic.So congratulations on that, first of all.Thank you.A great honor and actually a surprise.And it means so much because it's from the community.You know, there are so many awards from either the government or industry, but I think the ones from the community just mean that much more.Absolutely.You know, to be voted by the people who are using apps and there's, you know, a great range of apps nominated this year.So to top the pole is absolutely brilliant.And actually, before we jump into too much detail, maybe for the uninitiated, if there are any in our community, can you give us a quick rundown of what Seeing AI is?Good point.Seeing AI, we talked about it as a talking camera app or a visual assistant.It's a mobile app where you open it up and it uses the camera to tell you what it can see.And it has different modes for different tasks in your daily life from reading things to you, whether that's immediately or more slightly with formatting through to describing photos that you take or from your camera roll or from other apps, all the way through to very task-specific channels, as we call them, like finding something or exploring the world around you or knowing if the lights are on.Amazing.What do you do yourself on the team out of interest and are you there long?Have you been there, you know, part of Seeing AI from the start or can you…

In this episode, Dennis Long demonstrates Eter: Streaming Internet Radio for iOS. Eter is a versatile internet radio application available across all Apple platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It provides access to over 40,000 global radio stations, encompassing a wide range of genres such as news, sports, and music. citeturn0search8Key Features:Extensive Station Access: Utilizes the publicly available radio-browser.info database to offer a vast selection of free internet radio stations. citeturn0search0Universal Compatibility: Designed for seamless use across various Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It also supports CarPlay and AirPlay for enhanced listening experiences. citeturn0search8User-Friendly Interface: Features a clean and intuitive design, making it easy to navigate and discover new stations. The app includes a hand-crafted list of recommended stations and allows users to search for others. citeturn0search0Recent Updates: The latest version, Eter 2.3, introduced on February 7, 2025, includes Shazam support for automatic song recognition, enabling users to identify tracks even when stream metadata is unavailable. Additional enhancements include customizable preferences for favorite stations and various bug fixes. citeturn0search0Premium Upgrade:While Eter is free to use, a one-time in-app purchase unlocks premium features, including:Saving favorite stations for quick access.Hiding recommended stations to view only personal favorites.Setting a sleep timer to automatically stop playback after a specified duration.Viewing listening history and opening tracks in Apple Music.Supporting the app's ongoing development.Eter is available for download on the App Store and offers a comprehensive internet radio experience tailored for Apple users.Eter: Streaming Internet Radio on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eter-streaming-internet-radio/id1523221566TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello everybody, this is Dennis Long and today's demo is of Eater Radio.Eater is spelled E-T-E-R.Eater is free, but to fully unlock it, it costs you $5, actually $4.99.What do you get for that $4.99?The ability to save favorites, the ability to hide recommended stations, the ability to support ongoing development, and the ability to set a sleep timer to drift off quietly to any station your heart desires.What database does this use, you ask?It uses the radio.browser.The radio browser database is what it uses.Okay, so what makes Eater different?That's what we're going to cover today because they've done some interesting things and we'll get into how to do that here in a moment.Alright, so without any further ado, let's go, shall we?At the top left, you have settings at the very top.Okay, so let's start…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to Jianfeng Wu, also known as Jeff, the creator of Voice Vista, winner of Developer of the Year in the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple awards.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there, and welcome to another episode of the AppleVis Extra Podcast.I am David Nason.I'm delighted to be with you again talking about the 2024 Golden Apple Awards.The awards were held at the end of 2024 on appleviz.com with the AppleViz user community voting and winners announced in December.Today we are talking about and talking to the winner of the Developer of the Year award.So delighted to be having that opportunity.Today we had 12 nominees in this category and they were.We had Act Nun AB who make the Eldrum Untold app or game.Agile Bits Incorporated who make one password.Ben Hills from the Anytime Player podcast player app.Benvision Inc. who makes Speakaboo.Jianfeng Wu who makes Voice Vista.Junyu Quang, the creator of Mona for Mastodon and Spring for Twitter.Seyvan Sukiasyan who makes Asmar Quest, another great game.Sparkling Design who make Pixiebot.Split Atom Labs, great name for a company, and they make the Land of Livia game.Tapit Music GmbH who of course make Tapit.Touchmint LLC who make the Adventure to Fate Lost Island game.And No Stranger to the Golden Apples, we had Weather Gods LLC who of course make the Weather Gods weather app.So great list of nominees there 12 and we have two honorable mentions, two runners up first.And they were Pixiebot and Mona from Mastodon slash Spring for Twitter.So congrats to those two runner up developers.But our winner was Jianfeng Wu who makes as we said the Voice Vista navigation app.And I'm delighted to be joined by Jianfeng today to talk about his app and his work.Hello, Jeff, and welcome to the podcast.How are you?Good, thank you.And firstly, congratulations on winning the Developer of the Year award, which is voted by the Appleviz community.Yeah, it's great news.Yeah, I'm glad too and thank you very much.Thank you all my friends to vote.Thank you.Yeah, it's brilliant.And for those maybe you don't know or haven't used it yet, do you want to start by just telling us a little bit about Voice Vista?Oh, yeah, I can.I like coding as platform on my spare time.There are some side projects for myself in the case, for example, some turn-based games, some traditional chess, card games, or practice tools for the elementary and middle schools.And I have some radio and the television station, but all that's for my side projects.I have some other work.So one of my strategy games I built, a lot of people, we sort of impaired played it because it's lucky it's accessible.So one day, one of my friends, Greg, he sent me an email.He said Microsoft will discontinue the app Starscape.He said I may have interest to continue it.It's about time…

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, David Nason speaks to David Janssen of Wanderlost Games, the creators of Dawncaster: Deckbuilding RPG, winners of Best Game in the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apple awards.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello there and welcome to the AppleVis Extra podcast.My name is David Nason.Really excited to be bringing this episode to you.We are celebrating the winners of our 2024 Golden Apple Awards.So the Golden Apples are a set of awards given out by AppleVis and the AppleVis community every year to mark excellence in apps for blind, low vision, and deafblind people.We nominate a series of apps in four different categories and the community votes on the winner.And today I am delighted to be celebrating the Best Game Award.There were 10 nominees in this category and they were Adventure to Fate, Lost Island, Audio Cat, Asmar Quest, Brailiance, Conjury, Don Castor, Eldrum Untold, Home Quest, Idle Adventure, Land of Livia, and Round Logic.So great list of nominees there and congrats to all of them for being nominated.Absolutely brilliant.And a range of different types of games as well, just puzzle games and RPGs and all different types of games.So absolutely brilliant.The runners up getting an honorable mention were Brailiance and Audio Cat.So congrats to them.But the winner was, as we announced at the end of 2024, Don Castor RPG.And today I am delighted to be joined by David Jensen from the Don Castor team to talk about the win.Hello, David Jensen.Thank you for joining us on the AppleVis podcast.Welcome.Hello.Also David.Yeah.This won't get confusing for people at all.No, definitely not.I mean, I mean, maybe they can tell us apart from our accents.Yes, that is very true.An Irishman and a detriment.So, no, we're absolutely delighted to have you on.You're here to represent Don Castor, which won the AppleVis Golden Apple Award for 2024 in the Best Game category, which is fantastic.So congratulations, first of all.Thank you.Thank you.Yeah.Yeah.And thank you for the invite.Cause I mean, I personally felt very honored, but the rest of the team as well.And that's, it's not something we, we expected.I mean, it sounds kind of generic to say, but it really was like that.It was like, Oh, Oh, wow.Okay.That's very cool.Can you tell us a bit about the game?Yeah.So Don Castor is a, is a tech builder card battling game where you go through a RPG storyline where you like, try to like save the world by defeating the big demon king.And along the way you can talk to NPCs.You can bring them all onto your adventure.You can have a huge variety of RPG like builds from a poison rogue to a raging barbarian.And it just allows for a lot of creativity on how you approach the game.Yeah.Sounds very interesting.And it seems to be a category that's…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to get weather information in your Mac's menu bar, useful if you, for example, want to be able to quickly access such information but don't want to deal with widgets or the Weather app.To add weather information to your Mac's menu bar, go to System Settings > Control Center, and choose "Show in menu bar" from the "Weather" popup menu. The temperature for your current location, if the Weather app has previously been granted access to it, should then appear in the status menus. Clicking the temperature should reveal a dialog with the current temperature, other applicable information about current conditions, an "Hourly forecast" group showing the expected conditions for the next four hours, and a button to open the Weather app.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hey, Apple Vissers, Tyler here, with a quick tip for how to get weather information in your Mac's menu bar.This is something that you've been able to do with third-party apps for a number of years now, but with the release of macOS Sequoia 15.2, this functionality has been integrated directly into the operating system.This may be useful if you want to get quick weather information such as the current temperature or hourly forecast for the next few hours without needing to deal with the weather app, a third-party app, or a notification center or desktop widgets.I find the menu bar I can use with far fewer keystrokes than the weather app or widgets.So to set this up, all I have to do is go into system settings, control center, and choose menu bar under the weather pop-up menu.So to demonstrate that, I'm going to go to system settings on my Mac.C for control center, control center, and interact with the scroll area.And because weather is near the bottom, I'm going to jump to the bottom with V-O-globe-right arrow.Weather, show in menu bar.If it's off for you, just choose that from this pop-up menu.So now I'm going to close out of this, and I'm going to press V-O-M twice to access the status menus.Okay, and here I am on 29 degrees Fahrenheit.To access more information, I'll just V-O space.Okay, so this is the top of the dialog, V-O-R-A, we have hourly forecast.Depending on the current conditions, there may be other information here too, such as a severe weather warning if one's in effect, or if the feels like temperature is significantly different from the actual temp.But I'm going to interact with the hourly forecast group now.And we have a few hours, so 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., and that's it.So not the full 24-hour forecast that you get in the weather app, but if you want to get hourly forecast for the next four hours, this is quite useful.So I'm going to stop interacting, and V-R-A, open weather, and that's the only things you have in this dialog.The temperature, any other information as relevant, the hourly forecast group, and the open weather button.If I hit that, it'll just take me into the weather app.Now to get out of this dialog, at the time of recording, January 2025,…

In this episode, Jessica Dale demonstrates how to send Messenger messages using Siri on iOS and iPadOS.To set this up, go to Settings > Apps > Messenger > Apple Intelligence & Siri, and toggle the "Use with Siri requests" switch on. To send a message, engage Siri and say something like "Use Messenger to message [person]." Siri should then prompt you for the contents of the message and then offer to send it, as it does when sending a message using the built-in Messages app.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.My name is Jessica Dale.I'm going to show you how to use Messenger with Siri.Yesterday they came out with a brand new update and it's really cool.So I'm on my iPad Pro. I have the 2021 version and I am running iOS 18, which is a requirement for this.I'll go to Settings, all the way down to the bottom of the screen to Apps.There it is.I'll double tap.Now on the right hand side, I'll click on Messenger.There we go.Double tap, I'll click on Apple Intelligence and Siri.Use with Siri requests.That's what we want.I'll double tap and there we go.Now let's test it.Use Messenger to message Vicky Wright.I hope you have fun on your vacation, period.I can't wait to hear all about it, period.Your Messenger message says, I hope you have fun on your vacation.I can't wait to hear all about it.Send it?Yes.Done.And there we go.I've now sent a message with Siri.Let's now go confirm that it actually went through.And yes it did.It's right there at the top.Perfect.I would like to thank you all for listening to this demonstration.You can reach me via email at jldail13 at Outlook.com.You can also reach me on Mastodon at ke8upe at mastodon.hams.sofa.Or using the information found in my AppleViz profile.Thank you and have a great day.This podcast was b

In this edition of Apple Crunch, Thomas Domville, John Gassman, and Marty Sobo discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest.Chapters:IntroductionResults of the AppleVis Golden Apples Award for 2024Apple iOS 18.2 Goes PublicLet's Talk Apple Hardware Rumors for SpringLet's Talk Apple Hardware Rumors for FallClosingResources:Announcing the Winners of the 2024 AppleVis Golden Apples and David Goodwin AwardiOS 18.2: Everything You Can Do With ChatGPT IntegrationApple to Maintain iPhone Compatibility for iOS 19, But Drop Older iPads from iPadOS 19 [Rumor]Gurman: iOS 19 delays will cause more spread out, slow software rolloutiOS 18's delayed feature rollout impacts iOS 19 developmentNew MacBook Air Models With M4 Chip Expected to Launch 'Earlier' Than iPhone SE 4 and iPad 11Apple preparing iPhone SE 4 with all-screen design and Face ID, Gurman reportsiPhone SE 4 may lack an Action button, but that's OKApple reportedly releasing AirTag 2 next year with these 3 improvementsWhat to Expect From Apple in 2025PiccyBotIntroducing ally (public beta)TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello and welcome to Apple Crunch for December of 2024.This is our last podcast of the year before we head into the new year of 2025.My name is Thomas Tomville, also known as Anonymous.And along with me today to tie up the end of the year with the Apple Crunch, I have John Gasman.How are you, John?Doing fine.How are you?You know, I'm doing great.I'm doing great.I had a wonderful Christmas time, got lots of wonderful gifts and goodies and things like that.And right over here we have Marty.Marty, how are you doing?Dude, thanks.How are you?I'm fine.You guys have a good Christmas?Oh, yeah.…

In this podcast, Dennis Long showcases the Broadcasts app for iOS, a lightweight and user-friendly tool for streaming internet radio and organizing stations into a personalized library. Broadcasts supports a variety of online radio formats, enabling users to explore and enjoy their favorite stations from around the globe.Key features of the app include: - Custom Libraries: Easily curate and organize your favorite stations for quick access. - Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works seamlessly on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and CarPlay. - Background Playback: Listen to stations while multitasking or with your device locked. - iCloud Sync: Automatically syncs your library across all Apple devices. - Siri and Shortcuts Integration: Control playback and automate tasks using Siri or custom shortcuts. - Minimalist Design: A clean, clutter-free interface focused on simplicity.Broadcasts is the perfect app for radio enthusiasts looking for a sleek and customizable streaming experience.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello everybody, this is Dennis Long and I am here with a demo of Broadcast.Broadcast is spelled B-R-O-A-D-C-A-S-T-S. Broadcast is a radio app.It is available on the following platforms, iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, tvOS, MacOS, and Vision Pro. So it is available on everything.It uses the radio browser directory as its source for the stations, which means you could add a station to the radio browser directory and then use Broadcast to find it.Keep in mind it would take time for the radio browser directory to update or you can add a station manually and I'll show you how to do that here in a second.Broadcast is free with a one-time purchase of ten dollars.That's ten US dollars of course.The ten dollars unlocks unlimited collections.Collections are what we would typically refer to as favorites.You are allowed to save five collections or favorites if you don't pay for it.So without further ado let's get into Broadcast.Okay now that read a station that is down in my collection.So let's go to the top of the screen.Okay toggle view.Add station.All stations and of course it's going to put me on my collections because that's where I last was.You can search in your collections here.My collection is where I'm at now so let's go down and explore the settings.Let's check out the settings.Now that is the last tab so let's go left to right.Okay all stations is the first tab you have.Browse tab to five.Browse collections tab three or five.Collections search tab four or five.Search settings tab and buy that.So here we go we're going to check settings out.Settings heading view heading appearance dark list item size large button.Okay so it's a large item button.Now we can change that.Let's tap on that here regular button dismiss context menu but selected large regular button.Okay so we're going to dismiss…

In this episode, Thomas Domville demonstrates how to use Genmoji on iOS. Genmoji, introduced in iOS 18.2, is an AI-powered feature that allows users to create custom emojis simply by describing them in text. This innovative tool enables personalized and unique emojis, going beyond the standard set to enhance self-expression in messaging and other apps.How to Create a Genmoji:Update Your iPhone:Make sure your device is running iOS 18.2.Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for updates.Enable Apple Intelligence:Open Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, and turn on Apple Intelligence.Access Genmoji:Open the Messages app.Start a new message or choose an existing conversation.Double-tap the emoji icon on the keyboard.Select "New Genmoji" in the top-right corner of the emoji keyboard.Create Your Genmoji:In the text field, type a description of your desired emoji (e.g., "a pink flamingo wearing tap-dancing shoes").Double tap Submit.Browse the generated options, then choose your favorite.Double tap Add to include it in your message.Device Compatibility: Genmoji is available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 lineup and newer.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.Hello and welcome.My name is Thomas Domville, also known as AnonyMouse.I'm going to be talking to you today about a feature called Gemmoji.I know, I know.There's so many different emoji, Memoji, Gemmoji.Thanks to Apple.I know.I hear you.But that's what I'm here for.I'm going to explain what Gemmoji is and how that's different from other emojis that you find throughout your iOS.Now this is a really kind of a nifty kind of feature that I'm starting to like quite a bit.So all of you probably are familiar with emoji, right?So emojis are little characters, little design, this little artwork is very small and that you can put into your messages and to your WhatsApp and all sorts of different variety of ways of communication.So you can send a little picture of something.So usually they're kind of basic stuff like cows and food things like tomatoes.And you probably know more the popular ones like a smiley face emoji or something or heart eyes emoji and things like that, red heart.Those are emojis and I know there's plenty of those emojis, right?There's like a thousand of these things, right?However, sometimes you're going to find that there isn't quite the emoji that you want.Let's just say I want a mouse wearing sunglasses, giving a thumbs up.You probably not going to find that emoji, but now we are able to design and customize your own emoji called Gemmoji.That allows you to create any emojis that you want to your heart consent.The sky is the limit and what you can create, but I'll show you some quirks and some setbacks that you're not…