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The Remarkable Tech Bringing the Deaf and Hearing Worlds Together

9/25/2016

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The pizzeria's phone rings, but it doesn't make a sound.

Instead, on the shelf below, green lights flash. Waiters scurry by. A few paces away, a cook with a big wooden paddle shoves pizzas into a bulbous oven. The lights flash again, and Melody Stein picks up.

"Hi, this is Melody from Mozzeria," she says. "OK, sure thing. What would you like to order?"

Melody is deaf. As are the waiters and the cooks. Any one of them can communicate with a hearing person over the phone.

Through a video relay service, deaf and hearing people can communicate seamlessly.

Call Mozzeria and the system will route you, the hearing person, to an interpreter at a "video relay service." The interpreter listens to what you say and signs it to Melody, who's watching on the restaurant's iPad. Then the interpreter speaks Melody's response back to you. This continues, back and forth, until you've placed your order or made your reservation. And if you don't find that to be marvelous, then, don't read the rest of this article.

The impact of video relay services, or VRS, has been titanic for businesses owned and operated by the deaf. VRS has grown into a half-billion-dollar-a-year industry as more and more deaf Americans gain access to fast mobile data and sophisticated phones. It's changed forever not only the way that Mozzeria and other deaf-run restaurants do business but how the deaf navigate a world made for the hearing. In fact, VRS ranks among the biggest-ever leaps in deaf communication with the hearing. And it's all free, thanks to you.

Two Worlds Become One. Way back when, before smartphones or the internet, deaf-run businesses relied on fax machines to take orders. (Consider how much you loathe fax machines. Now imagine that being your way of life.) The deaf could also use a teletypewriter, or TTY, which transmitted text as a printout or on a screen—a good way for them to communicate with each other, but not exactly widely adopted among the hearing, and the process was slow and laborious.

Then along come smartphones and tablets, forever transforming the way the deaf communicate. Through a video relay service, the deaf and hearing can communicate seamlessly with only a slight delay between replies. "Now I have the ability to sign completely with an interpreter who's able to speak what I'm saying and voice for me," says Russ Stein, who co-owns Mozzeria with wife Melody. "It feels like I'm in the same room with another person."

The system is so efficient that it can fool customers into thinking they're making a reservation with a hearing person. Until that is, they show up, when they meet the host and get a response in sign language. "They say, ‘How do you talk to us on the phone if you're deaf?'" Melody says.

And this isn't just a business-hours service. The FCC mandates that video relay services make themselves available to the deaf community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And they have to work efficiently: the services must answer at least 80 percent of calls within 120 seconds. That kind of reach doesn't come cheap, so the FCC requires that telecoms pay into a fund to finance companies that provide VRS (check your phone bill and you might see a small charge).

Convo is the company that provides VRS to Mozzeria. Wayne Betts, Jr., founder of Convo and a member of the deaf community himself, says that sometimes it isn't just the signing but how good the interpreter is with signing emotion to the deaf. If a caller has a problem, the better interpreters can convey the tone of the message as well as its actual word content. That's why only 2 in 10 applicants make it as Convo interpreters. It's hard to realize how many simple communication elements are embodied in audible speech. "With video relay service, I feel that I am on equal footing," says Betts.
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This new VRS technology has helped Russ and Melody Stein's little pizzeria get a foothold in the crowded San Francisco restaurant scene. Two worlds are coming together, one pie at a time.

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How to Ensure Your Mobile Site Is Lightning FastĀ 

9/18/2016

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Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a promising new technology that loads your web pages in lightning-fast time for visitors on a smartphone, tablet, or phablet.

More importantly: Google loves AMP.

That means if you want to rank well for mobile users, you'd better adopt AMP technology. Otherwise, your competitors are likely to top you in the search engine results pages.

A Brief Background. AMP is an open-source project that any web developer can use to create a rich experience for mobile users.

It's an enhancement to the Internet's primary display language, HTML. Developers just add one simple JavaScript library and a few new tags in their existing web pages to fully implement AMP.

In the beginning, AMP started off as a technology designed primarily for "news" sites. If you go to your mobile device right now and Google any search term related to current events (the name of one of the presidential candidates, for example), you'll see AMP results at the very top of the results.

Although AMP still supports news articles, it's expanding to support other types of content. E-commerce sites and other non-news pages are working their way into the AMP scene.

Adding AMP to Your Site. Are you using WordPress? If so, then adding AMP to your site is as easy as installing a plugin.

One of the most popular plug-ins is offered by Automattic. That's the same company that manages WordPress itself, so it's a good first option if you're looking to implement AMP technology.

Best of all: the plugin is free.

As of this writing, the AMP plugin has been installed more than 80,000 times and has a 3.8/5 rating on the WordPress plugin site.

If you have a website that doesn't use any content management system, and you still want AMP support, then you're going to have to get your hands dirty with some coding. Either that or you'll need to outsource the job to a professional developer.
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Get Started Now. It's the Mobile Era of the Information Age. That means you should do everything you can to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly. One way to do that is with the use of AMP technology. If you would like to learn more about AMP, you can watch a video covering everything you need to know on YouTube.

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Make Your Apple Watch Completely Waterproof

9/11/2016

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It may be hard to believe, but the Apple Watch has been available for nearly a year and a half now, and while it has not been the runaway success that some expected, it has still easily become the best selling smartwatch. Those of us who own one love the Watch's ability to track our fitness and exercise routines, provide text and notification alerts, pay for lunch at McDonald’s, and put a wealth of other information right on our wrists. But, Apple's tiny little device wasn't necessarily made for the outdoors, which sometimes means we have to leave it behind when we set out on an adventure lest disaster strike. But thanks to the Apple Watch Case from Catalyst, we can now take our Apple Watches with us anywhere we go, including out on the water.

Catalyst is probably best known for making durable cases for smartphones and tablets. But now the company has leveraged its considerable experience in that field and applied it to the Apple Watch as well. The result is a case, which completley enshrouds the watch in a suit of protective armor designed to keep it safe from any number of dangers, including being completely immersed in water.

Once inside the case, the Apple Watch suddenly becomes a lot more rugged. That's because Catalyst built its product to be IP68 certified waterproof, allowing it to dive to a depth of 165 feet and yet remain completely impervious to moisture. It is also MIL-SPEC 810G rated against drops as well, which means the smartwatch can now take a lot more abuse while out in the field. With the case in place, the watch feels like it has been actually designed for use in the outdoors, taking away the worry that you might otherwise feel when wearing it on a backcountry hike or paddling excursion.

Despite being incredibly tough and durable, the case doesn't interfere in any way with the Apple Watch's regular functionality. You can still touch its screen to interact with messages and alerts; the heart rate sensor still works properly, as does both the microphone and speaker. Even Apple's quirky magnetic charging cable and docks work just fine. Catalyst has cleverly designed the case with a button and digital crown that mimic those already found on the watch, allowing you to continue to operate the device just as you always have. In fact, within minutes of installing the case on my watch I had almost completely forgotten that I had done so simply because everything still worked so seamlessly.

This past week, I had the chance to put the Apple Watch Case to the test during a cruise. It worked in the swimming pools, the hot tubs and showers. It also looked good enough to keep it on my wrist for evening dinners. Catalyst even claims that it can be used in salt water without doing any harm to the device, which is nice to know the next time I'm headed to the beach. After a day or two with the case installed, I stopped worrying about whether or not my watch would survive the trip, and moved forward with the confidence of knowing it was just fine.
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If you're like me, and worry about damaging your Apple Watch while taking part in your favorite outdoor activities, then the Apple Watch Case, priced at $60, is a wise investment.

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Microsoft Surface Phone: The Latest Rumors

9/4/2016

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Microsoft has a less than stellar track record when it comes to mobile. Whether or not the forthcoming Surface-branded phones signal an end for the Lumia line remains to be seen, but Microsoft has at least had some success with Surface, which the company will hope to replicate.
Kevin Gallo, director of Windows Developer Platform at Microsoft, alluded to the handset's existence in June when he spoke of plans to develop smartphones targeting the business sector. What follows is everything we know about the Surface Phone so far.

Design Specs. We're told to expect an aluminum and magnesium unibody. The image above is from prolific tipster ‘Nokiabar', who has a reliable record when it comes to leaks. He has previously spilled the beans on the Lumia 650 and the canceled Lumia 850.
The rumored specifications are impressive, to say the least, so we'll take them with a pinch of salt. Microsoft will offer three Surface Phone variants, the lesser of which will come with 3GB or 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

The other two models will scale up to 6GB/256GB and 8GB/512GB. MicroSD expansion might also bolster the already generous storage options.

The rumors also indicate that the Surface Phone will support the Continuum software used in Microsoft's Lumia 950/950 XL. Continuum turns the phone into a big-screen projector, allowing it to connect to an external display such as a TV or monitor.

The new phones are expected to have USB Type-C ports, a fingerprint scanner, and Microsoft's Surface Pen peripheral. The top-end model might incorporate a 20MP Carl Zeiss lens in the rear camera.

Release Date. Early reports suggested that Microsoft's next smartphone will break cover before the year is out, but there are also rumors that production was halted to accommodate Intel's Kaby Lake processors.
There are arguments for both. An end of year release would capture the holiday market and serve as a counterpoint to big hardware releases from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

However, waiting until next year would allow Microsoft to tie the handset into the rumored Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book 2 launch.

We hope to see Windows 10 Redstone 2 around that time too. If the 2016 launch is chosen, we'd expect Microsoft to hold a hardware event in October to announce the release.
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Price. If Microsoft wants any chance at success, the upcoming Surface Phone(s) need to be priced competitively. We've heard that prices might start at $699 for the lesser model, reaching as much as a whopping $1,099 for the top-spec version.

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    Author

    Rick Richardson, CPA, CITP, CGMA

    Rick is the editor of the weekly newsletter, Technology This Week. You can subscribe to it by visiting the website.

    Rick is also the Managing Partner of Richardson Media & Technologies, LLC. Prior to forming his current company, he had a 28-year career in technology with Ernst & Young, the last twelve years of which he served as National Director of Technology.

    Mr. Richardson has been named to the "Technology 100"- the annual honors list of the 100 key achievers in technology in America. He has also been honored by the American Institute of CPAs with two Lifetime Achievement awards and a Special Career Recognition Award for his contributions to the profession in the field of technology.

    In 2012, Rick was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame by CPA Practice Advisor Magazine. He has also been named to the 100 most influential individuals in the accounting profession in America by Accounting Today magazine.

    In 2017, Rick was inducted as a Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achiever, a registry of professionals who have excelled in their fields for many years and achieved greatness in their industry.

    He is a sought after speaker around the world, providing his annual forecast of future technology trends to thousands of business executives, professionals, community leaders, educators and students.

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