Audio Tutorial Series Updates
It’s been a while since my last post, so I wanted to mention a few things here before the Christmas holiday week gets here and I will be taking a short break.
The Audio Tutorial Series is going a lot better than I could have ever imagined. I sincerely thank those who have kindly purchased them and who have continued to support me through recommendations to others and general kind words. I have created, with the kind assistance of Derek Lane, over 20 different tutorials now on both Mac and iOS. Of course, more will be added as time passes, and your continued support will surely encourage this project to expand and diversify in the future.
For a limited time, you can take advantage of a 10 percent discount by using the coupon code, HOL2015, when you checkout. This will expire January 22nd of 2016. I also offer bulk discounts if there is an interest in purchasing the entire Mac, iOS or both series. In the future, I will also make other coupons and discounts available, so please check back here often.
Additionally in regard to the Audio Tutorial Series, Jamie Pauls wrote a review of the series in the latest addition of AFB’s Access World. I very much appreciate Jamie taking the time to do such a thorough job in his review, and if you are interested in reading what he had to say, please
go here.I am always open to recommendations or suggestions for future topics to cover and specific applications. Pages and Numbers have been a big interest, as well as Time Machine on the Mac, while I’ve had plenty of various requests for the iOS series.
I’ve been asked this question by a few people, but as far as pricing goes, I have attempted to be as reasonable as possible. The blind population, as we all know, are generally under employed or unemployed, and being blind myself, I fully understand and appreciate that reality. I’ve based the pricing on the length of the lesson combined with the costs of production and the quality of the content itself. I believe the structure is quite fair compared to other tutorials being sold on the market, and with the kind research of my marketing Director, Bob Morgenier of
New Option Studios,
I think this is an accurate assessment. Of course, there are plenty of free resources out there, and I always recommend that a user reference as many different sources as possible. I feel that my tutorials approach the topics from a very systematic and easy to follow manner and I do offer all of my experience over the last six years as a Mac and iOS trainer, as well as someone who has taught in the assistive technology world for more than 20 years.
Finally, to get more details about the tutorial series themselves,
see here for the Mac Lessons,
and go here for the iOS lessons.
Updates
Throughout the last few months, I have been updating the site with little odds and ends. So please do take a look around as I have been doing my best to add additional resources to the various pages. It isn’t always easy, as my time is limited, but I will continue to do my best here.
In regard to Apple products, in case it has gone under the radar, there have been recent updates to all Apple products. This includes Mac OS X 10.11.2 El Capitan, iOS 9.2 and an update to Watch OS 2. So, if you have Apple products, in all cases, these are worth the updates.
Applevis, as usual,
covers all of the bug fixes, so if you have been holding out, now is the time to update your iPhone, iPod or iPad to iOS 9.
There has been, in some places, debate over the El Capitan upgrade and accessibility questions related to that debate. I think that one of the dangers and negatives of the internet is the speed in which rumors and misinformation can spread. I’m not going to bother digging into specifics, but the point here is don’t believe all of the negativity and disparaging comments made about VoiceOver and El Capitan. For those who are having really odd issues with VoiceOver, I’m going to make a suggestion. When I reset my VoiceOver preferences to factory defaults, all of the odd VoiceOver issues I was having went away. So, please try the following:
- Open VoiceOver Utility by pressing control-option-F8
- Press control-option-m to open the menu
- Navigate right to the file menu
- Navigate down to, “Reset Basic VoiceOver Preferences”, and press control-option-spacebar
Note that this action will restore All VoiceOver preferences to factory defaults, so if you have customized preferences, you will need to do so again. However, when you update over time, files do get corrupted and it is my personal belief that VoiceOver preferences, like any Apple application’s preferences, can become damaged in some way. By resetting them, the system starts fresh and you have a brand new set of preferences to work with.
Final Thoughts
I am not sure if I will be able to write again before the end of the year, so let me take the opportunity to thank everyone who visits this site, uses the resources available and who has spread the word about the resources and my services. As I have often said here, this site would not be possible without your presence and feedback, and I appreciate your visits and the frequent kind words that have been sent to me by emails and telephone calls. Also, I am still seeking help from the community as far as people willing to contribute material to add to the resources, whether that be articles or simple tips or links to other resources I can add here.
I also want to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Have a happy Hanukkah, a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. Be safe, and I look forward to an even better 2016 for us all.