The BITS Bulletin – Summer, 2026

Download in Word format

Summer, 2026 Edition

Editor: Jason Castonguay

newsletter@bits-acb.org

Website:

https://bits-acb.org

Table of Contents

Editor’s Nook

by Jason Castonguay

Welcome, BITS Bulletin readers, to this summer, 2026 edition of our publication!

This season calls many of us to be outdoors, plan to travel or go on excursions, start or finish up projects, hang out with friends – the list goes on. Oh, and let’s not forget the ACB National Conference and Convention! BITS had an outstanding set of informative workshops and activities laid out for us. While I didn’t attend in person, I tuned in virtually and appreciated the many topics covered.

My point in mentioning this is that it seems a lot of us get busy doing things in the warmer weather that keep us away from our computers for extended periods of time. Who wants to be at a desk indoors when we can be out in nature or on vacation?

These factors could be playing a part in why the bulletin is a little shorter this month. 😊 And while I love receiving your notes and articles, I understand and whole-heartedly support your being otherwise occupied.

I enjoyed a couple of getaways, but part of my summer was spent considering a move to a new home. While we ended up deciding to stay put, it did get us started in the big task of decluttering.

In spite of a shorter bulletin, I think you’ll find we have a well-rounded issue for you. You’ll read about the BITS ACB Convention report, principals we want to shine throughout BITS, new computer experiences including the purchase of a BrailleNote Evolve, instruction on the Amazon Fire TV Stick, and more.

Please enjoy these last days of summer soaking up the sun. And while you’re relaxing in your favorite spot, you can peruse our articles and begin considering what you might want to contribute for our autumn release.

President’s Message: Celebrating BITS – and Building and Even Bigger Table

by Jeff Bishop, President

Dear BITS Members, Friends, and Supporters,

What an extraordinary week we shared at the ACB Conference and Convention!

Together, we celebrated education, innovation, software development, meaningful partnerships, and—most importantly—the friendship, laughter, and fun that make BITS such a special community. We taught, learned, demonstrated new possibilities, strengthened relationships, welcomed new people, and showed what we can accomplish when we bring our talents and enthusiasm together.

We also took time to listen and learn.

Our message of “meeting people where they are” resonated throughout the convention. People embraced that vision, but they also reminded us—loudly and clearly—that we must continue working to make it real for everyone. We must keep people first. We must create opportunities for advanced learners while also standing beside those who need foundational instruction, patient encouragement, practical guidance, and a helping hand.

BITS must remain a place where every question matters, every learner belongs, and every person can participate without feeling left behind.

We returned home with another reason to celebrate: BITS earned yet another membership growth award!

Each of you made that achievement possible. You spread the word about BITS. You invited friends and colleagues. You shared your experiences, told your stories, and described the impact that BITS has made in your life, your affiliate, and your community. Your energy, trust, and belief in our mission continue to extend our reach and strengthen our ability to serve.

In the coming months, we will invite members to share more stories and testimonials. These experiences will help us shape our future and demonstrate the value of BITS as we build relationships with partners, agencies, technology companies, community organizations, and others who share our commitment to access, independence, education, and opportunity.

During August and beyond, our leadership teams will reflect on what we heard, examine where we can improve, and develop new opportunities for everyone. We will place special focus on people who need an introduction to technology, help with everyday tasks, greater confidence, or a supportive person willing to walk beside them.

We can raise the bar while widening the gate.
We can celebrate advanced innovation while teaching essential skills.
We can build new technology while helping people confidently use the technology they already have.

We can grow only when we grow together.

Thank you for supporting BITS. Thank you for believing in our work. Most importantly, thank you for inspiring us to listen more carefully, reach further, teach more effectively, and do better for every person we serve.

Your passion expands our reach. Your participation strengthens our abilities. Your stories give purpose to our work. Together, we can learn, grow, innovate, and make a tremendous difference in the lives of people everywhere.

I want to leave you with a powerful poem written by Karen Hughes. Her words capture both the celebration and the responsibility we carry forward. They remind us to set a bigger table, serve another slice, and make room for everyone.

Everyone Deserves a Slice

by Karen Hughes

They call it BITS, a promise so bright,

A path through technology, knowledge, and light.

“Take everyone where they are,” the welcome would say,

A beautiful vision that lights up the way.

The leaders are caring.

The teachers mean well.

They give of their knowledge with stories to tell.

They listen with purpose; they serve with good hearts,

Yet sometimes the journey leaves people apart.

For some climb mountains of coding each day,

Creating new tools in remarkable ways.

Their talents are gifts, and their work has great worth,

Helping shape technology’s future on Earth.

But many are still standing where beginners begin,

Still waiting for someone to simply step in.

They long to learn practical things every day:

How to shop on Amazon, find groceries their way.

How Instacart opens a pantry with ease,

How Zoom joins families across land and seas.

How Facebook connects them with old friends once more,

How Be My Eyes opens another kind of door.

How Seeing AI reads a label or sign,

Helping transform everyday moments through time.

These lessons may seem ordinary to some,

But to someone just learning, they’re where freedom comes from.

Technology is the cake we all share:

Computer Access, Knowledge, Exposure with care.

Each layer grows stronger when everyone learns,

When every new question is welcomed in turn.

But every good cake needs icing as well:

Invite those who wonder.

Create room to grow.

Share Information freely,

So confidence can flow.

Learn what people Need.

Offer Guidance each day.

That’s how independence

Finds its own way.

And perhaps Solutions are simpler than they seem:

Step beside someone.

Reach Out with a smile.

Lend encouragement,

Walking each mile.

Show Understanding without rushing ahead.

Teach Technology where confidence is fed.

Give Instruction that builds, not overwhelms.

Open Opportunities in everyday realms.

Grow a Network where everyone belongs.

Celebrate Success in a thousand songs.

Maybe BITS can mean even more:

Build Independence.

Inspire Teaching.

Strengthen Technology together.

Grow Networking that lasts forever.

Celebrate Success—not just for a few,

But for every person discovering something new.

Raise the bar but widen the gate.

Set a bigger table.

Serve another slice.

Some may enjoy the richest layers,

While others are still tasting their very first bite.

No one should leave hungry for knowledge

Or wondering if there is room at the table tonight.

If every member reached just one or two—

Their chapter, a friend, a neighbor, someone new;

A family member, a coworker, a peer—

Imagine the difference from year to year.

One lesson shared becomes another light.

One helping hand makes someone’s future bright.

One hour of patience, one question well heard,

Can change a life more than the cleverest word.

Today’s beginner may write tomorrow’s novel.

Start a new career.

Attend college classes.

Pay bills with confidence.

Shop independently.

Volunteer.

Travel.

Build a business.

Help another person discover what they can do.

Because the greatest achievement isn’t simply creating the next advancedprogram.

It is helping another person discover they can use the one they already have.

That’s how confidence grows.

That’s how independence grows.

That’s how communities grow.

So let us raise the bar, but also build the stairs.

Let us set the table wide enough for everyone.

Cut another slice of cake.

Spread on a little more icing.

Share both generously.

For when every learner becomes a teacher,

Every teacher remains a learner,

And every member has a place at the table,

Then the light will truly glow.

People will learn.

People will live.

People will lend a helping hand.

And no one will be left behind.

That is more than technology.

That is more than BITS.

That is building a future where every person belongs.

The Evolution of Braille Computing

My Review of the New BrailleNote Evolve from Humanware

by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Have you ever wanted an all-in-one computer with Braille display running the latest Windows operating system? Well, thanks to Humanware, there is now such a thing, the BrailleNote Evolve. This device runs Windows 11 Pro and has all the specs of most modern PCs.

It comes with NVDA already installed, but JAWS and other screen readers can be used, as well as other Windows applications. Humanware has integrated KeySoft with the NVDA screen reader to make working in Word, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 applications easier. The current units have Perkins-style keyboards, but qwerty models will be released eventually.

For years, I’ve been using a BrailleNote Touch Plus. But this device runs Android 8, an antiquated operating system, and many apps no longer work with it. Realizing I needed a change despite the BrailleNote Evolve’s humungous price tag, I traded in my BrailleNote Touch Plus for this unit.

The concept of an all-in-one Braille computer is great. But I found some downsides, at least with the BrailleNote Evolve.

First, the set-up process, for me, evolved into a nightmare. Before you can even enter your Wifi password, it’s necessary to change your input Braille table in the NVDA settings to your desired computer Braille grade. I got my output and input tables mixed up, and for the longest time, no matter what I did, my Wifi password wasn’t accepted. But once I realized my mistake and changed my input table to 8-dot computer Braille, the unit took my password on the first try.

Then came the Microsoft account screen. At first, I couldn’t find a way to enter my password. The only options were to use a pass key or pin, neither of which I had. I called Humanware and was told the problem was with my Microsoft account. After an hour on the phone with a Microsoft Disability Answer Desk agent, I could imagine her rolling her eyes as she told me she’d investigate this and call me the next day, which she never did.

Finally, someone on the BrailleNote Evolve email list suggested I log out of my account on the Microsoft website on my laptop, then try logging in on the Evolve. That worked, and the rest of the set-up process, for me, was smooth. However, others on the Evolve list weren’t so lucky. Someone commented that setting up a regular Windows computer isn’t as challenging. If this is the case, I hope Humanware will make the set-up process easier on future units.

I’ve been having a few issues with writing Braille on the Evolve. I dealt with the first two on previous BrailleNote models.

If I type too fast on the Perkins keyboard, I inadvertently press keystrokes that take me to other places in my document, unbeknownst to me. I’d hoped this wouldn’t be an issue on the Evolve. I can work around it by typing slowly and checking my display more often, but this isn’t as fast or efficient.

When writing on any Braille device, words occasionally show up as Braille symbols. I developed a hypothesis as to why this is happening while working on this review on both the BrailleNote Evolve and my laptop. The misspelled words I’ve corrected on the Evolve appear as Braille symbols. When I usually correct these words on my laptop, I add or remove letters. When correcting misspelled words on a Braille device’s Perkins keyboard, it’s better to delete and retype the word, pressing the spacebar to ensure proper translation from Braille to print. Since I’ve adopted this practice, no words are showing up as symbols.

The other issue is specific to the Evolve and NVDA. To ensure proper Braille translation, it’s necessary to switch the keyboard language to United States Braille IME. Though this is easily done with a Windows keystroke, it’s not something you can set and forget. Every time you start or reboot the unit and open an application where you plan to write, you need to change the keyboard language. If you neglect to do this, speech sometimes gets wonky when typing, and status cells rear their ugly heads, making editing difficult. It sometimes switches out of the Braille IME keyboard language, and I must press the keystroke again to change the language back. Because others on the Evolve list don’t have this issue with JAWS, I’m hoping Humanware can correct this with NVDA.

Like the BrailleNote Touch models, the Evolve comes with free Acapela voices. After about a week, the voice I was using quit working, and I got a dialog saying my trial period expired and I needed to register the software. I contacted Humanware, and after assuring me this shouldn’t be happening, they said they’d investigate. Fortunately, NVDA has other speech engines including Windows OneCore, Microsoft Speech API, and eSpeak NG. Subsequent speech engines and voices can be added.

As of this writing, I’ve had the Evolve for a couple of weeks now, and I’m slowly but surely getting the hang of it. Because the keyboard is laid out differently from my laptop, it takes me a little longer to execute Windows keystrokes that don’t have KeySoft equivalents I’ve used on other BrailleNote devices. But I’m getting better as I keep working with it.

I love being able to access email and documents on both the Evolve and my laptop. I can even access favorite documents in Word across devices. Of course, this has more to do with Microsoft 365 and OneDrive than the Evolve, but it’s one more reason to love this device, other than the fact that I enjoy writing and editing in Braille.

Though, as I said earlier, the idea of an all-in-one Braille computer is a great one, Humanware may have released the BrailleNote Evolve prematurely. Many improvements need to be made, especially as far as writing Braille with NVDA is concerned. However, I’m optimistic that this BrailleNote product will evolve into something better.

Little BITS, Big Possibilities: A New Vision for BITS

by Karen Hughes

Over the past several months, a number of BITS leaders have been hearing and observing some common concerns among our members.

We’ve heard from people who sometimes feel lost, discouraged, or intimidated by technology. We’ve heard that BITS can sometimes seem too advanced, that people aren’t sure where to begin, or that they may be hesitant to ask questions.

And we’ve heard concerns that some people may be wondering whether BITS is really the place for them or whether they should join or remain a part of BITS at all.

Those observations and conversations have caused us to stop and ask an important question:

What can we do differently?

How can we create a BITS community where members feel welcomed, supported, valued, and confident regardless of where they are in their technology journey?

That question is what led Debbie Hazelton and I to begin developing the concepts and vision for two new BITS initiatives:

BITS Buddies and BITS Cares.

Rosanna Beaudrie will be joining me as co-chair and team lead as we move these initiatives forward. Together with Rosanna and the many BITS members and leaders who will help bring this vision to life, we hope to build something that truly reflects the needs and voices of our membership.
These programs are still in the early stages.

We have not developed the programs or their implementation plans yet. What we have developed is the beginning of a vision, a philosophy, and a commitment to helping create a different kind of BITS experience.

We recently had the opportunity to share these concepts with BITS leaders, along with my poem, “Everyone Deserves a Slice,” which captures the heart of what we’re hoping to build.

And now, we’d like to share that vision with all of you.

Start With the People , Not the Technology

Before we talk about technology, we need to talk about people.

Within BITS, there are members who are already comfortable and confident with technology. They know their devices, understand accessibility tools, and are often the people others turn to when they need help.

There are members who feel intimidated by technology and may be afraid or embarrassed to ask questions because they think,

“Everyone else knows this. Why don’t I?”

There are members who are newer to technology. They’re willing to learn and explore, but when something goes wrong, they may not know how to troubleshoot it or where to turn.

And there are members who are experiencing a transition in their vision. Technology they once used comfortably may suddenly become difficult or unfamiliar, requiring them to learn new ways of doing things.

Many of us have experienced some part of this journey.

The important thing is this:

Wherever you are on that journey, you belong in BITS.

Our goal isn’t simply to meet people where they are.

We want to meet people where they are and help them get where they want and need to be.

We want to help members build skills, increase their technology literacy, develop confidence and competence, become more independent, and ultimately have opportunities to help someone else.

That’s the culture shift we’re hoping to create.

BITS Buddies: Learn. Grow. Give Back.

BITS Buddies is the technology side of this vision.

The concept is to connect members with people who can help them learn, practice, troubleshoot, and become more comfortable and confident with technology.

But there’s an important difference between simply fixing someone’s problem and helping someone learn.

We don’t want to simply do something for a member.

We want to help them learn how to do it themselves.

Instead of simply asking, “What’s wrong?” we want to begin by asking,

“What do you want or need to be able to do?”

Then we can help members move from where they are now toward where they want to be.

A Buddy walks beside a member. They listen, encourage, explain, practice, and celebrate progress.

The goal is for a member to eventually say,

“I can do this.”

And perhaps, someday,

“I can help someone else.”

BITS Buddies is about building skills, confidence, and independence and creating a culture where knowledge is shared from one member to another.

BITS Cares: One Person. One Connection. One Kindness at a Time.

While BITS Buddies focuses primarily on technology, BITS Cares is about something just as important:

People caring about people.

BITS Cares is about reminding our members that they matter, that they are valued, and that they belong.

Life brings difficult moments. A member may be hospitalized, grieving the loss of someone they love, facing a difficult family situation, losing a job, saying goodbye to a beloved pet, or going through another challenging transition.

Sometimes a person doesn’t need us to solve anything.

Sometimes they simply need someone to say,

“We’re thinking about you.”

That might be a card, a phone call, a text, an email, or another personal connection.

But caring isn’t only about being there when something goes wrong.

We also want to celebrate when things go right.

A birthday. A new job. A promotion. A personal accomplishment. A technology milestone. Learning something new. Reaching a goal. A special occasion. Or simply something good that happened in someone’s life.

Those moments matter, too.

BITS Cares is about creating a culture where we celebrate one another’s successes, recognize important milestones, offer encouragement during difficult times, and simply let people know,

“We see you. We hear you. We care about you.”

It is about connection, kindness, appreciation, celebration, and belonging.

This Is More Than Two New Programs

BITS Buddies and BITS Cares are not simply two new programs we’re adding to a list of BITS activities.

They represent a larger vision for our BITS community.

If we are hearing that some members feel BITS is too advanced, intimidating, or difficult to navigate, then we have an opportunity to change that experience.

We want to create a BITS where it’s okay to say,

“I don’t know how to do this.”

Where asking for help isn’t embarrassing.

Where learning is encouraged.

Where progress is celebrated.

Where members feel comfortable saying what they need.

Where their voices are heard and their ideas matter.

Where people can build confidence and competence.

Where members can find their way to the technology they want and need.

And where everyone feels that they truly belong.

Everyone Deserves a Seat at the Table

At the heart of this vision is an idea that we hope will become part of the culture of BITS:

Everyone deserves a seat at the table.

Not everyone comes to the table with the same experience.

Not everyone has the same skills.

Not everyone needs the same kind of help.

And that’s okay.

What matters is that everyone has a place.

We want to help members get to the table not simply watch from the sidelines.

And once they’re at the table, we want them to have their slice.

Take Your Slice.
Build Your Skills.
Share the Cake.

Because perhaps the person who needs a little help today will be the person helping someone else tomorrow.

That’s the beauty of a community.

We’re Just Getting Started

We want to be clear: BITS Buddies and BITS Cares are still concepts in development.

We have the beginning of the vision and philosophy, but there is still work to do before these programs are ready to launch.

As we move forward, we’ll be listening, learning, developing, and figuring out what will work best for our members and our BITS community.

And our members will be an important part of that process.

So, for now, we invite you to stay tuned.

There is more to come.

Because this isn’t simply about creating two new programs.

It’s about creating a BITS culture where people help people, where kindness and connection matter, where learning is encouraged, where accomplishments are celebrated, and where every member knows:

You belong here.
Your voice matters.
You are heard.
You are valued.
And there is a place for you at the table.

Little BITS. Big Possibilities.

BITS Buddies: Learn. Grow. Give Back.

BITS Cares: One Person. One Connection. One Kindness at a Time.

Take Your Slice. Build Your Skills. Share the Cake.

Printing the Screen, Why and How

by Deborah Armstrong

You’re working away in Windows using some software required in your job. And suddenly, you get an error:

Error 8F4Dc197: Unexpected request. The current action cannot be performed

Don’t you just hate errors like this?

So you email your tech support and they ask you for the error number, but oops, you forgot that long number.

You email them again, and now they want a screen shot. But heck, the error has now disappeared.

This is one reason why you need to know how to take a screen shot as soon as the problem occurs.

Or maybe you are in a zoom meeting where someone is sharing their screen and it is very interesting. You can ask the JAWS Picture smart or an NVDA add-on to describe the screen to you, but if you listen to that, you’re going to miss out on parts of the meeting. It’s another reason to snap a screen shot and review it later using your favorite AI.

Or perhaps you are preparing a tutorial for a sighted learner and you want pictures in your documents. As you perform steps onscreen, you will want to take a screen shot for each step and embed it in your tutorial document.

These are all great reasons to capture the screen instantly. And Windows makes the process very easy.

Your ticket is the print screen (abbreviated PrtScn) key. In the early days of the IBM PC, pressing this key immediately sent the screen content to an attached printer. Today, this doesn’t occur.

Instead, if you simply press the PrtScn key, you are likely to get the Windows snipping tool, a toollbar that lets you capture portions of the screen. You can tab through this toolbar to these choices:

  • rectangular mode
  • freeform mode
  • window mode
  • full screen

Rectangular or freeform modes require you have enough vision to use your mouse to click and drag a box around the section of screen you want to capture. Window and screen modes don’t require a mouse. Only one of these capture modes can be on at a time.

Once you press Space on a mode, press Enter, and the screen will be captured as a graphic to your clipboard.

You can also get the snipping tool with the Windows-Shift-S key combination.

If your laptop keyboard doesn’t dedicate a key to print screen, you can often get the PrtScn key with the FN key held down while you press Windows and S or FN with Windows and the spacebar. This depends on your keyboard as Lenovo, HP and Asus all map their keyboards differently. On my Dell laptops, I need to hold the FN key while I press F10. On an earlier Acer Netbook, it was FN pressed with F7.

On a standard, full-size desktop keyboard, the PrtScn key is to the right of F12, the function key on the top row. If you have trouble finding it on any keyboard, hold your Insert or caps lock key and press 1 on your number row to turn on the key describer for JAWS, NVDA or Narrator.

By default, the PrtScn key opens the snipping tool, but if you don’t want that extra complication, you can go to Settings-Accessibility-Keyboard and look for “use the print screen key to open screen snipping”. The wording changes slightly depending on what build of Windows you are running. For example, on my newest computer, the setting reads “use the print screen key to open screen capture” and it’s no longer under accessibility but instead is under bluetooth and devices, but the next update may change that. On my Windows 11 enterprise it’s actually under Keyboard shortcuts under Keyboard under accessibility.

If this feature is toggled off, pressing the PrtScn key does not trigger the snipping tool and instead, just sends a snapshot of your entire screen as a graphic to your clipboard.
To actually save that graphic from your clipboard, you need to run the Windows Paint program — use the search box to look for Paint, open it and do control+V to paste the clipboard in to the current empty workspace. Then you can use your favorite AI to verify it’s there and save it.

Holding the Alt key while pressing the PrtSCN key will take a graphical snapshot of just your current window. So if that window is a little box with an error message, and you are focused on it, then you will have a graphic of that captured which you can paste in to Paint and save. But if you are not or cannot focus on it, then take a snapshot of the entire screen instead.

Once an image is on your clipboard, you can paste it directly in to an email or a document so you can skip the step with paint if you don’t need to save it. For example, it’s a great way to capture an error message and the surrounding application and paste the graphic in to your email to tech support.

If on the other hand you are crafting a tutorial and want to capture a particular onscreen window, then use the Alt key with the PrtScn key so you are only pasting a picture of items relevant to your tutorial.

But there is an even easier way to grab a picture of your screen, and this is the one I like to use in Zoom.

Hold the Windows keywith the PrtScn key and your screen shot immediately is automatically saved to your pictures folder.
If you use Microsoft One-Drive you can also establish in its settings whether screen shots should go to the pictures folder there. This isn’t a default but it’s easy to toggle on.

If you have some vision and need high contrast on temporarily, Hold Shift and alt while pressing the PrtScn key. This doesn’t actually capture or save anything, but it does toggle high contrast on, which can be useful if you need to draw that box with your mouse. If you need magnifier for drawing the box, hold the Windows key with the plus key to zoom in and press the Windows key with Escape to dismiss the magnifier.

A final use for taking screen shots is to confirm nothing is on your screen you don’t know about. For example, I had an annoying widget that was stuck onscreen while I was giving presentations to sighted audiences. I kept taking screen shots while troubleshooting ways to remove it. I simply asked Picture Smart to describe the screen shots until it could no longer see the widget.

Before you really need a screen shot, I advise you to practice first. Take a screen shot, save it or paste it somewhere and ask your favorite AI to describe it. For example I take a screen shot of a spreadsheet, then open Word and paste it in to a document where I’ve written the sentence “This is a test”. Then I arrow past “this is a test” and land on the graphic. I select it with the shift and arrow key if it isn’t selected already and use Insert-Space followed by P for picture smart and a shifted C for Control which tells JAWS picture smart to give me a detailed description of the graphic I’ve just pasted.

NVDA has addons to do the same thing, and even Narrator has a limited ability to describe pictures.

One tip: if your screen reader doesn’t think you are positioned on a graphic, select it before attempting to get a description.
If you use Paint to save the graphic as a file, you can focus on that in Windows File explorer and ask Picture Smart to describe the file with Insert-Space followed by p for Picture Smart and Shift with F.

Once you’ve practiced, you are all set. Then when you really need that picture of your screen you will be able to quickly grab it.

If you want to save the text that appears onscreen rather than a graphic of your screen, in JAWS, you can virtualize the current window with the ALT W and JAWS keys held down. Then you select the entire content from the virtual viewer and paste it in to Notepad or Word. All you will get though is the text that JAWS can see in the currently focused window.

With NVDA it’s a bit more complicated. You select text by pressing the NVDA key with F9 at the start of the text and press the NVDA key with F10 twice when you’ve navigated to the end of the ttext, to copy everything selected to your clipboard. Now, you will be able to paste it. But with NVDA, you’ll need to understand the various review modes in order to navigate through the text you want to select.

You can also refer to my article “Saving Results” which appears in the Spring 2024 BITS Bulletin. Find it on the Bulletin menu on the BITS website. This article will explain in detail how to capture text from your screen, your web browser or a document.

PC Panic or Crap, I Need a New Computer

by Ann Chiappetta

I named my Dell XPS laptop Skywalker because it had power beyond my expectations. When I booted it up for the first time, I knew it would outlast every other pc I’d ever had in the 30 years of computing. I did not think about replacing it. Why would I? It was like having a sports car and four-wheel drive.

But nothing lasts forever. After six wonderful years together, our partnership will be ending. Skywalker’s descendant will soon be here.

I am not sure what to feel – on one hand I know this is the best solution and on the other, well, it’s hard to make the transition.

I’ll be required to learn some new software, experiment with the Copilot key thing. Why the engineers thought taking away one of the two most used Control keys and replacing one with a Copilot key is beyond me.

My husband made a good point when I hesitated calling Dell to place my order. He said that I spend more time and require more from my computer than the average person, even someone who works full-time. I think he’s correct. I’m not sure it is because I am a writer or just because I love staying connected with the world, but whatever it is, I hope this new Dell XPS 14 will help me use the Force along the electronic superhighway.

From the BITS Presentations Committee

We want to remind you that Mac Bytes presentations are held most months on the second Tuesday of the month. Also, Apple Bytes with Herbie is held every fourth Wednesday of the month. Topics vary and are sometimes decided at the last minute in order to allow the freedom to cover subjects as they arise.

Here is a list of tentative presentations for September:

  • Sept 9 – Apple Event Wrap-up
  • Sept 16 – Using Your iPhone with a Keyboard with Debee Armstrong
  • Sept 29 – NVDA Coach
  • Sept 30 – Scams and Other Security Concerns – Kim and Chris Nova

Keep an eye out for new presentations announced on the BITS Event list! We look forward to your joining us!

Using the Amazon Fire TV Stick: A Review

by Deborah Armstrong

Reprinted with permission from The Blind Californian

The newest Fire TV sticks as of April 2026 are the Fire TV Stick HD (launched April 29, 2026), designed as a budget-friendly, portable HD option, and the upgraded Fire TV Stick 4K Plus which features improved AI search and Wi-Fi 6. These, along with the 4K Select, are transitioning to Amazon’s new Linux-based Vega OS, replacing the older Android-based Fire OS.

For $24 I pre-ordered the new Fire TV stick HD. Amazon’s link is here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJGDC3BD?ref=amzdv_ucc_dp_lod__B0DJGDC3BD

I have an old 13-inch TV so I don’t need the 4K stick, but if I was sharing it with family members, I might have purchased the more expensive model with much higher picture quality.

I had an early second generation Fire TV stick which was released in 2015 and was the first to feature accessibility. This new one is vastly improved, and like many Amazon devices, the support for blind and visually impaired users is superb.

Unboxing

The device arrived on April 29, the same day Amazon released this model and came in a somewhat flimsy cardboard box. But for $24, nobody expects to be paying for packaging. Inside there was minimal print documentation because onscreen instructions are sufficient for most folks to easily set it up.

Unlike older models, this connects via USB-C, and many modern TVS can also charge USB-C so a spare AC outlet may not be necessary. The device itself is less than five inches long and about an inch wide and half an inch thick. It has an HDMI connector on one end and those who pre-ordered could also purchase a free HDMI extender which I did not need.

I plugged it in to the HDMI port on the side of my TV, put two triple A batteries in the remote and turned on the power strip.

Accessibility

Amazon has pages devoted to accessibility including instructions on how to configure it using VoiceView, the built in screen reader. There are also videos explaining the accessibility features, including magnification and ability to pair with some hearing aids and toggle captions. For low-vision users, there’s a high contrast theme and also a text banner to enable those with only central vision to easily see what’s selected. The magnification automatically zooms to what’s selected and also can display a screen map you can use to easily move between elements.

You can read about the fire TV stick accessibility here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202105050

The accessibility pages also have text descriptions of two remotes, but this new remote is very slightly different.

The Remote

The single button at the top is for power, and can toggle power on some televisions. Below and slightly to the right is the Alexa button, which activates your favorite A-lady.

Below that is the navigation ring, a circular large button which lets you press on its sides for up, down, left and right motions. Pressing in the center of the navigation ring is the select button. I will refer to these sides of the ring as the arrow keys.

Below that are three buttons: from left to right they are back, home and menu. Home sports a tactile dot.

If you hold back and menu for two seconds, they very reliably toggle VoiceView on and off, so it’s easy to share the remote with sighted family. You can turn off the voice, and hand the remote to someone and when they return it to you, simply hold the menu and back button for two seconds and the voice returns as well.

Below the first row of three buttons a second row of three buttons features rewind, play and fast forward.

If you hold play and press the select button you go in to a key explorer mode where pressing buttons on the remote voices their function. This is a toggle and works only if Voice View is on.

Below this row there is a mute button to the far left with a tactile circular indicator. To its right is a long skinny volume control, pressing up turns up the volume and pressing toward the bottom of the button lowers the volume. To the right is a guide button.

Below that are two rows comprising four buttons: from left to right they are  prime video and netflix in the first row and disney plus and youtube in the second row. These are all external apps installed in the Fire TV stick and this configuration can be changed. For example, you might want to replace disney plus with the Roku channel and Netflix with Pluto TV.

The last thing you need to do is ensure your TV is set for the correct HDMI output, and usually there’s a button on your TV remote to do this. For example, my little TV has only two inputs so I only have to press that button once to get to the first input where my Fire TV stick is attached. But our big family-room TV has four HDMI input ports, so more presses would be required to rotor between them. If things fail, you can always power everything off and try again. The Fire TV stick is very forgiving. Even my old Fire stick when it crashed during setup easily returned to where I was last.

Configuration

The first thing setup requires is to have the Fire TV stick pair with its remote. Unlike using a remote on a TV, this doesn’t happen automatically. You hear a tone telling you the device is booted but not paired. Then you hold the Home button for about two seconds and that pairs the remote with your TV. Another tone which sounds different lets you know it has indeed paired. One advantage of having pairing is unlike an infrared remote, it need not be pointed at the TV. You can curl up in bed with the remote near your pillow and still channel surf.

You could now easily move your Fire TV stick to another TV such as one in a hotel room, and it will stay paired with this remote. This was mentioned as part of Amazon’s advertising.

Next, a voice will prompt you to press a button if you want the screen reader, but you can also choose to not have it on. There are several settings, too, for a low-vision user, a magnifier, and a text banner which you can read about on Amazon’s accessibility help site. There are also videos demonstrating and describing all the accessibility features. If needed, you can also use VoiceView and magnification together.

Features for the hearing impaired besides captions are the ability to pair with some hearing aids including the low energy variety. However, I don’t believe these other access features are available until it’s fully set up. If you don’t hear a voice after a minute, you can always hold back and menu to toggle it on. In my experiments I found sometimes there’s a voice prompt on first boot and sometimes not. But the voice always wants to play the tutorial if you have not yet listened to it, so you won’t miss out if it is off at first.

The tutorial has you  pressing up to hear the previous tip or down to hear the next tip. Each tip is short and easy to recall, and you can take your time and move through the tips at your own pace. When you’re done, hold the select button to end the tutorial. You can get it back if needed by finding it in settings.

When the tutorial exits, VoiceView reminds you that if Dolby sound is enabled, it cannot speak when a show is playing, but it can if you press pause. It offers you the chance to turn off Dolby but you can arrow to the choice to leave it on. As I don’t have fancy speakers, I turned it off.

You are next asked for your language, but I’ve heard the screen reader only supports English, the selected choice, so I pressed the select button.

After that, it wanted to connect to Wi-Fi and to register itself with my account. If I’d waited to buy it, Amazon could have automatically registered it with my account before shipping, but that wasn’t available with the discount price.

With my first Fire TV stick, I had to enter both my Wi-Fi password and Amazon passwords to accomplish these tasks, but it can also be done with the Fire TV app on a smartphone. That app is also accessible and runs on iOS, Android and of course Fire OS on the Fire tablets. A QR code displays onscreen so you can download that app with your phone. Because I’d told Amazon to save my passwords with the old Fire TV Stick, I didn’t need to type a thing.

On the phone, since I had the app already, I went to My account and chose “set up a new Fire TV”. Because I had a previous stick, the phone app tried repeatedly refreshing the screen with movies it was promoting, but that wouldn’t happen to a new user. Once the “my account” screen finished loading, the refresh process stopped and the setup was completely accessible.

If you do not have a smartphone, you can type all that in with the remote, and the screen reader accurately reads everything you need to know to work with the onscreen keyboard. You repeatedly press arrows and select to slowly enter each character and you can choose to have the passwords display or stay hidden.

Next, it updates its firmware, which with my fast connection, took about five minutes. My old stick needed fifteen minutes but its processor was much slower, though my internet was equally speedy. A percentage is shown onscreen, but you need to read it with review mode.

Reviewing The Screen

The review mode is very easy to use. Hold the menu button to toggle it on or off. When on, you can navigate by element, sentence, word or character, and to change the navigation unit, called granularity, you use the up and down arrows. To actually move by unit, use the left and right arrows.

When review mode is off, items that are selected are read so you know where you are focused, and hitting the menu button twice will provide more information about the selected item. But review mode lets you read text that does not gain focus. For example, if you want to read the full description of a show or Fire TV Stick feature, you can review all that text on the screen.

After the update completes, the device reboots. You are prompted to enter a PIN for purchases and parental controls. You can choose to not enable either of these features, or just one of them.

Next, you can set up other profiles, for example if others want their own preferences and watchlists, but you can also skip that step.

Next Steps

The device is now set up and ready to start exploring content, of which there is an overwhelming amount, both free, pay to own and pay to rent. Categories include news, sports, reality, kids, crime, drama, TV series and movies.

To turn on audio description, go to settings, select accessibility and audio description is a toggle there. When it is on, apps built by Amazon know to make it the default but apps from other vendors may not respect this setting. Since there’s so much described content on prime, you may decide that’s enough for now.

The home button takes you to the main screen where from left to right you have menu, Search and Home, which is where you are focused. If you down arrow you move through Featured Content which is advertising if Home is focused. If you move left to Search,  pressing down arrow lets you do just that. If you move all the way left to menu, pressing down arrow opens a menu for TV, Movies, My Stuff, App Store and Settings. My Stuff shows your watch lists and Amazon purchases.

There are many apps you can install on the device, and many you might wish to remove. Some, like Amazon Kids, cannot be deleted but Luna Games and some other Amazon installed apps, like Disney Plus and YouTube TV can. I removed all the subscription apps and replaced them with Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hoopla and Kanopy, all which offer only free content. I used the Amazon website to add apps, because it’s easier to type there, but you can also pair a Bluetooth keyboard with the Fire TV stick.

Settings is where you can adjust most everything you did during installation plus you can change the speech rate and volume for VoiceView. You however are stuck with the single A-lady voice. You can also control other devices with the remote, update the operating system, learn how much storage remains for apps, adjust personal preferences, switch profiles, register it with another Amazon account, restart the Fire TV stick and reset it to factory defaults.

You can also use the Fire TV app on your phone to control many of the device’s features and use the phone as a remote too.

The Alexa button lets you communicate with the A-Lady by holding it down while you speak. It does not respond to a “wake word”;  you must hold the button down. not only can you do usual things but you can ask her to locate any show the device can play, including content inside apps.

It is worth knowing that I also have the discontinued Fire TV Recast device which tunes, plays and records live TV broadcasts. They can still be purchased on eBay and work well with the Fire TV stick though as an early DVR, they have many limitations. However, they are fully accessible tuners, which makes finding live broadcasts easy and they do pass the audio description track through if one exists. In fact the Fire TV recast has no screen; it has to be controlled with either a smartphone app or an Echo Show or the Fire TV stick, all of which are accessible.

If I have any complaints about the Fire TV sticks , it is that the ubiquitous advertising is also always accessible!

In summary, the Amazon Fire TV stick HD is a fully accessible device and ever so tiny and affordable.

Is This Thing On? – A Blind Homeowner’s Adventures in Smart Climate Control

by Jason Castonguay

The new system is commissioned. The technician points the remote control at the unit in our office and hits the power button. I hear a little “beep beep” and then, nothing. A few more seconds pass and still nothing. I’m thinking, “What?”

Then I start to hear it: a slight hissing sound as the refrigerant begins circulating through the blower. I’m still wondering what’s going on, but the technician is waiting calmly as if this is normal behavior.

Finally, it happens. The blower comes to life and I am stunned. “It’s so quiet!” I exclaim as it evenly blows refreshing, cool air into the room.

For years, we’ve been dealing with window air conditioning units and their loud, droning sound while they run. In comparison, this was a heavenly, unobtrusive breeze that came right in and blew those old window units to shame with their modern superiority. But I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?

How We Got Here

A few months ago, we were speaking with our neighbor across the street. She had apparently been talking with another neighbor further up the street about their newly-installed Fujitsu mini-split air conditioning and heating system and was impressed with what she heard. We were impressed, as well, as the price sounded good and the company doing the work is local.

What made this even better is that our neighbor took the plunge and had an installation date scheduled for her home. I couldn’t wait until everything was up and running at her house so I could come over and have a look.

The time finally came and we walked across the street and into her kitchen.

“Wow,” I thought as we stood talking and I could feel the cool air filtering down from above. I learned the blowers were mounted near the ceiling and that the air blew out horizontally from the bottom and out into the room. I appreciated how quiet they were as she explained how the remote worked and showed us how easy it is to adjust the temperature and other settings. I made note that the power button had a tactile marking on it and that several other buttons were readily identifiable.

As we chit-chatted in her living room for a while, I knew that it was time to upgrade our home with this system. It was modern, energy-efficient, and it sounded like this local company was professional and highly rated.

Talk about an Inclusive Installation

Once we had our consultation and agreed upon an installation date, we were sent electronic documents describing the work to be done and presented with some payment options. To my delight, this was a completely accessible experience. Documents were sent in both PDF and online versions, but it was clearly indicated that I needed to go to the online version to confirm my agreement with the plan and select the payment option we wanted. The three blower units (or heads, as they called them) and where they would be installed were listed along with the outdoor compressor and where it would be mounted to the house. My detail-oriented mind was pleased.

On August 5, the first of a two-day installation process, they arrived bright and early and began working. The crew consisted of three men – two regulars and an apprentice.

As they began unpacking parts, I could not hold back my curiosity. I wanted to know what everything looked like before it got mounted up on the wall and out of my reach. I asked if I could examine parts as they went and without hesitation, pieces were laid out for me to explore.

I felt the blower unit before it had all its casing snapped onto it. The two refrigerant line and electrical line connectors were neatly tucked in the rear corner and I could feel the heating/cooling coil which went around the entire unit. It was at this point that I realized the needed wall penetrations were going to be smaller than I realized. I liked that.

As I asked questions, they answered them, showing no signs of irritation as I undoubtedly held up their work a little.

As they unpacked the remote, I got a good look at that. Then came the Wi-Fi modules that install in each wall unit and the outer covers to the wall units. It felt perfectly like some kind of unboxing party.

Finally, I got to see the copper refrigerant lines that run from each of the units to the outdoor compressor. I also saw the insulation sheath that keeps those lines safe from the elements and the way they use plastic conduits on the outside of the house to cover up all this fancy work.

The compressor was smaller than I expected, looking like a kind of box fan with an extra bit on one side where all the wiring and refrigerant lines connected. All the while, I kept appreciating how patient and “OK” the workers were with my questions and explorations.

On the second day of installation, an electrician came to run wiring and electrify the unit. I learned that the electricity went to the compressor and that the compressor, which communicates with the three blower units inside, governs the electricity fed to them. Very neat.

And speaking of neat, I also noticed how conscientious and tidy they were, vacuuming when necessary as they worked and running all the wires and lines cleanly. After a bunch of testing, the system was ready to go!

Cool. Now what?

We are back where I started, describing how it felt when the office unit came on for the first time. In fact, we’ve had the system going for a few weeks now and it amazes me how evenly the air quietly circulates through the home, keeping it so comfortable. But let me take you on my accessibility adventure now that the installation is complete.

The Remote

Earlier, I mentioned my neighbor’s remote. This was exactly like it with the recognizable power button and an obvious temperature up/down rocker button below it. There are buttons to change the mode, fan speed, and one of my favorites, a “powerful” button which tells the unit to blast the air on high for a short time.

Each time I hit a button, the unit would respond with the “beep beep” I referenced at the beginning. This gives me a clue that the command reached the unit. If I hear nothing, then I know I need to get closer or aim differently. The units are infrared rather than pairing via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Because of this, any of the three remotes works with any unit.

The only part of the remote I can’t use is the LCD display. It shows the set temperature along with the mode of operation and fan speed. It also shows the current time, which we haven’t bothered setting.

While it’s nice to have the remote, I think you’ll discover why I have moved onto other things.

I Knew Those Wi-Fi Modules Would Come in Handy

Because we opted to have the Wi-Fi modules installed for each unit, there was more to explore and I was all about that. Having grabbed the necessary AIRSTAGE Mobile app before installation, I’d created my AIRSTAGE Mobile account and it stood by, waiting for me to add devices.

While the crew were finishing up, one of them helped me get all the units connected. We needed to scan the QR code from each unit into the app to initiate adding the device. I don’t normally have a problem scanning QR codes, but these were located on an inside part of the unit. Because they were so familiar with this process, I turned off VoiceOver, handed him my phone, and let the worker scan the QR codes.

He explained each step of the process as we told the app which Wi-Fi network to use and we labeled each of the units so we could easily identify them on the network. I felt happy with this because it allowed me to visualize the screens he was seeing. Besides, you know I did all sorts of exploration afterward. 😊

Once he was finished and we verified that commands were being received from the blowers by the app, we thanked them and they departed.

Exploring the app, it became obvious that there were lots of unlabeled buttons and icons. Some icons spoke nothing at all. But I could see each unit’s label and when double-tapping, some information was easily readable.

What fascinated me is that it showed the outdoor temperature, indoor temperature, set temperature, mode of operation and fan speed. I didn’t realize that I would have the outdoor temperature as a reference point to compare with indoor temperature. While I found the app was usable, it definitely wasn’t properly accessible. I needed to fix these unlabeled buttons.

It is important to note that I am using the iOS27 Developer Beta as I write this. There is a feature available with VoiceOver in this Beta that will intelligently describe an image. One can even ask further questions about that image. In addition, the entire screen can be described with the ability to ask more questions.

As you might imagine, this was a huge help for me in using VoiceOver to label and understand all the icons.

Patiently and methodically, I asked about each icon, even though I could guess what some of them were, and applied appropriate labels to them. Some icons change depending on their status, such as an on/off switch. It isn’t always apparent if the switch is on/off, unfortunately, so even with the switch properly labeled, I need to use the “ask about image” feature to determine its status if I am unsure.

While I’m happy I was able to make the app much friendlier to use, I will definitely be providing a comprehensive note to the developer to help them improve their app properly.

It has been a lot of fun being able to monitor the system through the app, set desired temperatures or change modes. The app even notifies me if there are firmware updates for the system or when I need to clean air filters, etc. But the fun is not over yet!

Alexa is Cool with This

Yes! I discovered that the AIRSTAGE Mobile app has an Alexa skill! Setting it up was a breeze. I went into the Alexa app, found the AIRSTAGE skill, and connected it with my AIRSTAGE Mobile account. Once I granted permission for Alexa to be able to control my devices, it was ready to go.

Using natural language, I can enquire as to the status of the unit, set the desired temperature, and probably a lot more that I just haven’t learned yet because I haven’t needed it.

For instance, I can say, “Alexa, what is the status of Dining Room Air?” The response goes something like this, “Dining Room Air is showing a temperature of 72 degrees with a set temperature of 70 degrees, set to cool mode.”

How easy is that? If I need to adjust the temperature, I simply say, “Alexa, set Bedroom Air to 70 degrees.” A couple of seconds later, it says, “I’ve set the AC to 70 degrees.”

It’s worth mentioning that when using the app or Alexa, the units respond to commands without beeping.

Final Thoughts

Accessibility doesn’t stop with our computers, mobile devices, software and websites. More and more, it extends into our homes and the appliances we use every day. As those appliances become smarter and more connected, they can present new accessibility barriers—but sometimes, they can also provide new ways around old ones.

I wasn’t sure what kind of barriers I’d experience with this system. When I saw my neighbor’s, I didn’t know about the Wi-Fi modules. As far as I knew, the remotes were the only way to toggle the power and set the temperature. I was ready to settle for that.

But as I researched the units, I learned Wi-Fi was available. With the smart home ecosystem becoming more and more prevalent, I knew I wanted those modules and the additional access to features and settings that such a connection might provide.

Now that we’ve been living with the system for a few weeks, I’m amazed we went so long without it. It’s practically a “set it and forget it” system and it works so quietly in the background that I’m hardly thinking of it.

Except, I am thinking about it. I find myself fascinated with all of its computerized operation and wondering how it calculates when to lower the fan speed as the desired temperature is approached.

Outside where the compressor sits, I’m amazed at how hushed its operation is as compared to those old window units and other compressors I’ve seen. Even more interesting is that this system regulates the power as demand increases and decreases. My musical mind readily hears the change in pitch as these changes in power consumption occur. Yep, my inner geek is eating up all of this.

And every now and then, when the house is comfortable and everything is running so quietly that I can barely hear it, I still find myself wondering, “Is this thing on?”

And now, all I have to do is ask.

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