AI Generated Transcript
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Basics with Bits for Saturday, May 10, 2025. My name is Marci and I serve on the Presentations Committee and I want to welcome you today to the Open Forum. So what we want to do is hear from you. If you want more information about BITS, find them on the web at bits-acb.org. So that’s where you can find out more about Blind Information Technology Specialists. If you’d like to know about events that are happening, being sponsored by BITS, you can find that at bits-announce+subscribe@groups.io. That’s bits-announce+subscribe@groups.io. You’ll get announcements about like the weekend chats that happen on Friday and Saturday nights or any other chats, plus any presentations that we have coming up. But today what we want to do is hear from you. So I’m here with Melissa. Melissa, please say hello. Hi everybody. And we want to hear from you about the presentations you would like to be presented by us at Basics with Bits. So what Melissa and I were talking about and I am glad to see hands going up because that is really awesome, what Melissa and I were talking about was if you suggest a presentation and we actually do it so we’re going to give you probably from now until the end of May to suggest a presentation. you can actually suggest a presentation by email to us at basicswithbits@gmail.com. So we want to hear from you as to what you want to learn about the computer. If we do consider your presentation and actually make it a presentation, we want to enter you into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. We at Bits like our Amazon gift cards because we can use gift cards to buy technology, right? But we actually want to know what you want to hear about and what you want to learn so that we can present it for you. So please, Cindy, thank you so much for hosting for us today. And Brad, thank you for streaming for us today. So please let us know what you want to learn, and we will do our best to present it for you. We have Scott. Hello, Scott. Hello, Scott. Nice to be first. Hey, I wouldn’t mind hearing more about, number one, consumer electronics, i.e. home appliances, audio and video equipment. And also, number two, content providers for those of us who might at some point be interested in cord cutting, the basics of cord cutting and maybe how to choose a content streaming provider for television, just to use a streaming device or your smart TV as just an Internet streaming to watch content via the Internet without a full cable package, just internet. Okay. So those are the things I’m… Would you like to see, like, how the programs work? Like, how the Netflix program works on the phone or on the computer? Well, possibly, or, you know, yeah, that would probably be good. Or maybe if, I don’t know if anyone knows, but if there’s, like, particular services that are good for certain types of programming, like, for example, I’m more into nostalgia and old classics and things like that. Not so much the current stuff, unless it’s documentary that involves a true story or just more like information type things. But as far as entertainment, I’m more into the old nostalgia. I don’t know if there are certain ones that provide that. Things like that, yeah. And with the consumer electronics, would you like to see something like, for example, a toaster oven or air fryer that is controlled by your smart speakers? That’s an example, yeah. Or your iPhone, controlled by an iPhone. Or anything that’s, or anyone, any particular one that’s particularly accessible out of the box. Right. Because I know you mentioned televisions, and I know with a lot of televisions, you can turn on the accessibility option. Right. And they actually speak to you already. Right, exactly. You know, like, things like that. Yeah, I’d like to hear more about that. Appreciate the suggestion. Thank you very much. You have three hands up. Okay, Julie, go ahead. Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I’m on a new device. So my suggestion was maybe to talk about the SensePlayer a bit. I own one and have a pretty good understanding of the basic workings of it. But as far as being able to do some of the more advanced features, like maybe using the BARD mobile with it or getting other apps to work with it, that would be something that would be really helpful for me. Okay, appreciate that. So the Sense Player from Cellvis, which one do you have, Julie? The one that’s got the scanner capability, it’s got the camera. Julie, if you would like to be entered in the drawing for the gift card, if we choose your presentation, can you give me your last name? I’m taking notes. Thank you. Hey, Jamaica. Hello. I have two topics to think about. Number one is I would like to see if we could get a little bit of working on how to make Google Gmail work a little better. And number two, I’d like to see about a presentation about Club Deck on the computer. Okay. And those are my two. I appreciate it. Thank you. Carla? This is really timely, but I think that we need a presentation on the switch from Windows 10 to 11 because come October, they’re going to stop supporting 10, and some of us haven’t migrated yet. In fact, I have to get a new computer I’m not happy about because I love my computer. And, you know, the differences between the two, advice about the two, and that one we’d have to do soon. And another one that I’d like to know, well, I could go on forever, but I’m thinking that somebody had said the Sense Player. I think that’s great, but also the Braille Sense, too. That would be some things about the Braille Sense and how to get beyond the basics with that. And another, finally, I’m going to say tips for connecting devices to hotel Wi-Fi. When we go to these conventions and things, I just got a call that I got warned that I better put email on my blind shell because it’s going to be difficult to get the Braille sense to connect it, to get email again at the convention. And I think that it might be helpful to figure out the whys and wherefores. And I don’t even know if this is possible because maybe hotels are all different. But the whys and wherefores of connectivity when you go to a hotel and how to get your access technology to work and tips for that. So those are my suggestions. Rosanna. I have two suggestions. And one of them is that, you know, Zoom changes constantly. And a lot of us are having issues with the back end of Zoom, not the meeting side of it. Because I do that all the time. It’s not a big deal. But now they have this workplace thing. And I know that there are other ways like you can do it through Outlook and rather than have to go through workplace. But it would be good to do a presentation on how to do it through Outlook or workplace if you choose to do it that way. I mean, I find it extremely confusing and I’ve had issues where my Zoom link came up, two different Zoom links, and I was in one Zoom link and the other people were in another. So and that was just the complication of working with that workplace thing. So are you saying how to schedule meetings through Zoom? Well, yeah, kind of like that would be like the back end part of it. you know, scheduling a meeting and trying to figure out, you know, how to get it on the calendar and stuff, because Zoom just keeps changing. So, and a lot of people are struggling with that. And so I think that would be, you know, a good presentation to do and have people walk through it. The other thing that I, I know I struggle with, those of us who are working struggle with it. We did one, I know you guys did one presentation on Microsoft Teams. And it was, but it was just one presentation. It was very basic. And some questions could not be answered by the presenter. I think it would be good to do another presentation on Teams and how to access the channels and different things of that nature within Teams because that’s what we kind of have every day. How to do a phone call in Teams, how to send a message in Teams, how to read a message with JAWS in Teams, and then go back to your edit area so that you could send a message. So unfortunately, Teams has just changed. So I found out this week that some of the commands that were working now do not work either. That’s another issue. So I’m not sure what they did there. But I think that would be a good presentation. And maybe as part of that presentation, maybe they could run it through Teams so that people could practice using Teams during the presentation. That’s just a thought that I had. And those are basically, you know, two thoughts. Oh, the other third one that I had was a simple one. I know Kingsbury, David Kingsbury, did this in his book, but some of it he did not. And I would like to see there be a presentation using Outlook and setting up folders in Outlook, but also being able to set up a signature, you know, a signature in Outlook, which he did not cover. Set up meetings in Outlook and also, you know, your out messages. Like, I’m going to be out of the office for three days. Please, you know, contact so-and-so while I’m out or whatever. That was something that David Kingsbury did not cover. And again, those of us that are working do need to use those tools. So I think that would be a great presentation. Thanks. I agree. I completely agree. Are you wanting it done with the new Outlook or the classic Outlook? What are your thoughts? Well, right now they’re telling us not to use the new one. We’re just doing classic right now because there’s too many quirks with the new Outlook. So they’re like, no, don’t do it right now. And I don’t think it runs very well with JAWS either right now. So I don’t suggest it. This is Brad. If I could break in for a second. I want to remind everyone, basics with bits, these are all great ideas. But some of them aren’t within the scope of basics with bits. For Basics with Bits, we focus on Windows computers, operating environment, using your Windows applications like Outlook. It’s great. So if we could, for Basics with Bits, let’s try and focus our ideas in that area. I’m sorry. We should have made that clear at the beginning. But these are all good ideas and will probably make their way to a regular Bits. And weeknight presentation as well. It’s good stuff. But media and other things, a sense player, those are good ideas. But they’re not within the scope of basics with bits. But believe me, they’re on the list for other stuff. So anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. Penny, penny, penny. I have a suggestion, and I feel sure that it will qualify as a bits, basic with bits. And that is, I would like us to do some work with Microsoft Edge, especially like the searching and also with, because I’ve noticed I recently updated Windows. I’m using Windows 11 and I have the most updated JAWS until they come out with their, you know, new update in the next week or two. But it’s kind of confusing when you see all this Copilot stuff to the side. And I just would like some help with that and for searching Microsoft Edge. So have y’all done a presentation on that yet? I know that we have done a presentation on web browsers and the different ways that we can open different sites in web browsers, different tabs, things like that. But searching, that’s a really good idea. So how do we look at our search results? Yeah, that would be helpful. Sure. Okay, so I should be able to find the one on browsing the different. You had one on all three of them, like in one session. I could look for that. And then, you know, and go over some of the key commands, because I’m like I’m trying to do a test online right now. And it doesn’t have headings for each question. And I’m really having trouble. You know, I figured out a way to get it to read the questions, but I’m having to copy them on my note taker because I can’t see the choices. And, you know, I think it’s just not accessible. But anyway, that’s my suggestion. Hey, Miss Marsha. So, BITS is not for iPhones. It’s only for computers and that. So, BITS is for anything technology. BITS is for, you know, anything technology related. So, basics with Windows computers, iPhones. I’m so spoke-minded that, you know, I’m way behind all these advanced things. And I’m just learning JAWS. And I have so much trouble remembering all the strokes. I know that there’s something that you can find keystrokes. I can give you a quick hint about finding keystrokes. So if you’re in a program like Zoom and Freedom Scientific has made these keystrokes available, these Zoom commands, you can press JAWS key W in any application that Freedom has made the keystrokes available for and they will give you the application keystrokes. So JAWS key W inside zoom will give you the zoom commands. JAWS key W inside Word will give you the Word commands. JAWS key W in the Windows environment, if you’re on your desktop, will give you the Windows keystrokes. And it puts them in a virtual list where you can just up and down arrow through them. Or if you want to, you could select them all like Lisa taught us to do with control A. Then you could press control C and put them in a document. But there’s no reason to put them in a document if you just hit JAWS key W in the application. So if I can just remember JAWS key W. W, yes, ma’am. No matter what application, if Freedom has that available, you have the application hotkeys for that particular application. Okay, so I’ve got keystrokes and website navigation. Does KW. Does KW will be your hero friend. Right, Lynn, you’re up. I have a couple ideas. Okay. I am trying to have a little bit of a healthier lifestyle. I think it might be a good idea to have a presentation on how to use technology to maybe track your health. For example, one of the things I’m struggling with right now is getting nutritional information about things. I guess it could be divided into maybe technology to track here or just websites that you can go to to get nutritional information about the foods that you’re eating. Another thing I would like to do is I want to play games on the Windows side. Fun things to do in Windows because right now it’s all work and no play. I’m on my Windows computer and I would love to have some fun like word games or something I could play on my Windows computer. Great one. Guy from the Harbolt company has on his resources websites, all of the older games from Jim Kitchen, the kitchen sink, and they work on Windows 11. So I recently downloaded them and was playing with them. But yeah, that’s a great one. This might be a little bit too broad or whatever, but maybe how to sell your stuff online. You know, if you want, you have stuff you want to sell, like what, what are the resources and how, and how accessible they are. And some things to think about when you’re trying to sell something, you know, from a, from a visual point of view. Hey, Vicky. Mine pertained to Zoom. I was wondering if I could learn things like how to put in a chat question, then how to find an answer that might be to that chat question. And then also, how do you get into break rooms? I don’t know how one gets into them and how you make sure you get into the right break room. Stephanie. I know that at the convention, they’re going to do a whole, you know, series on AI. But for basics, for bits, and for those who can’t be at the convention or don’t intend to stay that long, and I know we’ve addressed it a little bit, but what is AI and how to utilize it on Windows? That might be one session. What is AI and how to utilize it on iOS? What is AI and how to utilize it on a Mac? I work at the VA. I work with the blind. I do know some about AI. and I do know some of these things, but the questions that I get quite frequently is, I want to learn AI. Well, what do you want to learn? I want to learn AI. They don’t know what it is or how to utilize it. What is AI and how do we use it responsibly? How do we know if we can trust the answers AI gives us? Patty. I have about three things to say. I think this is wonderful. To the person who got the instructions on how to find Jaws keystrokes, Tonight at 8, there is a Zoom program, and all you’ve got to do is get into the program and into the main room. And if you want to go into a breakout room, there are people who will go through all this with you privately in a private breakout room. You don’t have to do a thing. They’ll just put you in the breakout room, and you can ask all your questions and get started on that. I’m in Windows 11, and I found a window was minimized, that I needed to have maximized. And the previous command for maximizing brings up Copilot. So this is not a comment about MITS or about Microsoft. I sought help, was refused help, was told to call Microsoft. The keystroke is the Windows key and the up arrow. But it made me very angry that I had to lose two hours of time when somebody could have just given me the answer. Can you give us some suggestions of presentations you’d like done by us at Basics with Bits? If there are new keystrokes in 11 that people in Windows 10 would not have. Also, I want to make a comment on when you go through the community chats, I’m using a phone, you have the phone numbers and then the ID and then the passcode. When Bits has its programming on Wednesday, they’re all on one line. And it’s very confusing whether you’re on the last line, whether it’s a phone number or whether it’s a passcode. And could it please be put in the same array as you’ve presented it today, which is logical. And I’m interested in, I figured out part of Copilot, but I’m interested in knowing more about Copilot. Maybe people could submit questions in advance. For example, I noticed I could dictate my question to the co-pilot. I tried it. It didn’t work. How do you get co-pilot to give you the answer back? You know, things like that. Okay, Ms. Janet. What about the, what’s it called, picture detection with JAWS? The Picture Smart feature? Yes, thank you. Okay. Picture Smart, yes. Okay, Ms. Debbie, you’re up. How about something on IntelSearch? search that’s fairly new okay well eric go ahead eric how to navigate with jaws in facebook somebody um because that seems to be the real up-and-coming popular thing right now the other thing is using basic JAWS keyboard commands, I think, would be maybe a good presentation, you know, introducing JAWS and how to navigate basically using JAWS with the JAWS keyboard commands. Hey, Miss Marcia, you’re up. Okay, three things. Number one, if I was going to send $20 to BITS, have my husband do it, how would he do that? brad is it join bits.org you want to go to the bits website um if we do the myths website is bits hyphen acb.org and you should find up at the top there’s a banner and there should be an item where you can join bits. We do have another URL that I believe takes you directly to that link. And I believe if you type join bits, that’s all one character string, J-O-I-N-B-I-T-S dot org forward slash join. I made it more complicated by adding some other things. I think just joinbits.org will do it. And then you’ll find a link to join bits. But you have to go through our website. And then you’ll provide us your information, name, email address, basic stuff like that. And then there’s a way to enter your credit card number and pay. We use Stripe and we use PayPal. So either way, one of those two ways you can pay your dues, $20 a year. Miss Jamaica, go ahead. One other thing that I thought might be a good possibility, maybe next year, how to do the votes for the convention. You know, to be able to go on either a website or if people wanted to do it by iPhone, learn how to do that. Go ahead, Louie. You’re up. Basic trainings on the Google suite of applications, whether it be Google Docs or Google Sheets, simply because many of us that work in the public sector, I work in a utility company, And I sometimes have to deal with stuff that’s sent out, you know, through Google Docs and other Google products. So we need to make sure that it would be good to have a basics with docs or a workshop. Basics with sheets, basics with slides. Gotcha. Yes. Also, of course, I am an Android phone user. I have a pixel, see more visibility done to let people know what’s out there other than just being so focused on iOS. There are certain things that I find much more useful being done on the Android platform. Hey, Miss Carla. Recording on Windows. how to record things like off the internet or how to use the basic recorders that are already in your unit, you know, your Windows operating system. And I don’t know if you’ve already done this. I saw that you were going to. If you did, I couldn’t find it. But did David Kingsbury talk about his new book anywhere on bits or is he going to? He’s scheduled to do so on the 14th of May. Okay. Since you are getting lots of new people joining on these basics calls, How about basics about BITS, you know, going through, you know, where you find the podcasts, what’s on the various website links and, you know, the things that how you can access things that BITS have to offer. Hey, Stephanie. I paid my membership. My question is, does that cover my membership with ACB or do I still need to go pay for an ACB membership? When you join BITS, you also become a member of ACB as well. And part of your BITS dues go towards ACB membership. So you do not have to do it separately. Okay. Deb, go ahead and unmute. Working in forms, I get lost. I can get in the form and start filling it out. And then I get lost when it gets to how do you go to the next page or the next thing in the form. And then if I really get successful, where in the world is a submit? I want to thank everybody for your suggestions because no suggestion was not considered. Because excellent, excellent suggestions. We’re going to have some excellent presentations coming up for you. Some people have been talking about a more advanced presentation of teams because there are some people who actually work with teams on a daily like Rosanna. And, you know, so they are we are considering doing something like that. We just kind of put it together. But the presentation committee is working hard for you guys. So we won’t be having a Basics with Bits in a couple of weeks because of the Memorial Day weekend. And the next time to join us would be on June 14th. And maybe we’ll have one of these presentations set up for you. We really appreciate your joining us today. Thank you so much, Cindy, for hosting and Brad for streaming. This was fabulous. And Brad for answering my questions, the questions that I couldn’t answer. Absolutely appreciate that. So thank you everyone for joining us at Basics with Bits and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Okay. I will take this out. All right. Bye y’all. We’ll be right back. Thank you.