Cool tech at Walk4Hearing

Technology on communication access continues to improve especially for people with hearing loss. At all of the Walk4Hearing events this year you can get streaming live captioning on your smart phone.

Attention Walkers! Remember to bring your smart phones with you to the Walk because we will be streaming live CART to web-enabled smart phones. All pre-Walk speeches will be captioned on your iPhone, BlackBerry*, or Droid. So don’t leave your smart phone at home!

On Walk day all walkers who have their smart phone can go to www.quickcaption.com. There on the website homepage will be a large purple Walk4Hearing icon. Simply click the icon, click the "CC" icon next to your Walk location, real time captioning will be enabled and displayed on your smart phone. This great service is provided by Quick Caption.

*To view the captions on the BlackBerry, you will need to be running the BlackBerry OS version 4.6 or higher, enable JavaScript, and set the browser type to BlackBerry. Then open the live event with the BlackBerry browser.

This is truly an example of diversity and understanding the needs of people with hearing loss when it comes to communication access.

How the iPhone 4 and iZ could cost more money for Deaf users

Let's look a little closer on this iPhone 4 and the recent iZ news on Video Relay Service (VRS) for iPhone 4 along with the reality of real time video bandwidth it can consume each minute. Let's see how this could put Deaf people at a financial disadvantage using the two technological wonders. Instead of getting overly excited, people should be concerned on how this could hurt their wallets if they're not careful.

With the recent AT&T change on how it would charge cell phone users on data download and upload it reverted to a capped usage amount for their tiered pricing plan which began last month.

For $15 a month, the DataPlus plan offers smartphone customers 200 megabytes of data. If customers exceed 200MB in a monthly billing cycle, they receive an additional 200MB of data for $15 until the end of that billing cycle. For $25 a month, consumers sign up for the DataPro plan and get 2 gigabytes of data. If subscribers exceed 2GB during a billing cycle, they will be charged $10 for an additional 1GB of data.

So, 2GB a month sounds alot doesn't it? When it comes to video downloading or uploading like real time video chat, real time video VRS, or uploading video shots to your Facebook page that 2GB limit could go fast before the end of the month is up in a non-WiFi scenario here.

Here are some numbers :

The front-facing camera resolution is 640×480. At 30 frames per second, with H.264 encoding, this would result in 5 MB per minute video.

The back-facing camera resolution is 1280×780. At 30 fps and H.264 encoding, this would be 12.8 MB per minute video (note that H.264 is generally more efficient at higher bitrates).

Netflix streaming onto an iphone would be about 2.8 MB per minute video.

Let's assume a 5 MB per minute through iZ VRS relay using the iPhone 4. Let's use the 30 frames per second (fps) standard since at a minimum for clarity sake in seeing clearly the signing a 15 fps would be required. And let's assume you only make one VRS call a day for 5 minutes which equates to 25 MB used for one day VRS call. All done on non-WiFi calls. Do that each day for 30 days you would then have used up 750 MB already, almost half of the 2 GB capped limit. But add the constant real time video chatting with your friends and any videos uploaded for email, on social networking sites, or even YouTube. Do all this along with checking your emails and surfing the internet would certainly and easily push you over the capped limit of 2 GB per month with AT&T's new tiered pricing plan for smartphones. But I think the additional use of the VRS with your smartphone streaming video could turn out to be the potential hidden killer here. And how it could help take a hit on your wallet and get slapped with overusage charges by going over your capped data limit.

Looking back now and into the future one will need to develop a strategy to prevent any possibility of going over the capped limit if you plan on getting the iPhone 4 and use iZ VRS. The key is to recognize and understand these things that could end up costing you an expensive monthly telephone bill. There are other ways to keep in contact and communicate like texting, email, or IM. After all, not everybody will use the video phone to communicate all the time. Especially not when you have AT&T and other telecommunication companies coming up with their tiered pricing plans. This marks the begining of the end of unlimited download on your smartphone. Watch your wallet.

4G and the upcoming era of tiered pricing for data usage and how it could impact Deaf people

In my previous blog article on "Why some deaf people don't like using the video phone" I discussed how people's own preferences will determine how valuable a product or service is in the communication technology sector even when others deem it as worthless. It's like this wise saying,"One man's junk, another man's treasure." Which is why there is a huge ongoing growth of apps and services for smartphones in the age of rapidly improving telecommunication infrastructure that will increasingly handle faster and larger data loads such as video streaming as we ease into the 4G era that will easily surpass the 3G network system on speed and data load that most smartphones currently route through. Perhaps this "all you can eat buffet" will not last much longer and the amount of data used will determine the price you will have to pay, a tiered pricing data plan for smartphone users.

In other words, video streaming will eventually be limited in terms of how much people are willing to pay on the amount of video data you want. And we all know that video streaming or downloads can eat huge amount of megabytes of data every month. This could easily impact the wallets of Deaf people soon enough who recently got excited with the recent news of iPhone smartphone video capability (see video demo here) for its signing communication potential.

According to Nielsen Company a typical smartphone user consumes about 300MB of data a month which is more than doubled compared to last year's figure. And with the coming advent of video streaming of all types (Hulu, video relay, Mobisode, YouTube, Facetime, Fring, etc) with the effort to include captioning in all videos.

For Video Relay Service (VRS) for deaf people through Apple's iPhone Facetime it could add even more video streaming data to your bill until it reaches a cap, say, 2 gb. That cap could come quickly before the end of the month along with your watching captioned television shows ("mobisodes"), movies (e.g. Hulu, Netflix) and the recent on-demand captioning attempt of YouTube videos making it increasingly attractive for Deaf smartphone users to access streaming videos. But would VRS through smartphones eventually put Deaf people at a financial disadvantage because such a service could easily push over a download cap of 2 gb a month, for example, when combined with other video downloads? Although there is no doubt that Apple's Facetime through VRS there have obvious advantages for hearing, hard of hearing, deaf and Deaf people when it comes to communicating with other people.

"Having FaceTime on iPhone 4 is a huge thing in the deaf community, because its the very first time any deaf individual can make a phone call to another deaf individual on their phones," she wrote in an email. "Before, we only could communicate with each other using email, text or IM."

It's been a long desired hope to be able to use the phone and be able to communicate freely and fluidly like everybody else. Not only just the visual aspect of signing but soon through Real Time Texting (RTT) over the smartphone without the need to hit the "send" button everytime you want to respond whether it's voice, visual signing or RTT. That exactly what your phone should do for you - unencumbered, unimpeded, and without waiting.

People will soon have their own communication preferences in choosing between using voice, real time video for signing or speaking, or Real Time Texting (RTT) where UbiVia would satisfy the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 requirements on texting.

The "21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009" (H.R. 3101) plans to modernize disability standards by making such accessibility features as closed captioning, video description and real-time texting a standard for Internet technologies.

Although the H.R. 3101 bill is good overall except for the fact that it'd be impossible for Assistive Technology (AT) companies to conform to the language requirement in the bill that all AT companies must include an "all in one" functionality with their devices. The language of the bill need to change and clarified as to not impose undue burden to AT companies on technology innovation.

Shapiro agreed on the value of a centralized database of all products and services for disabled Americans. He explained CEA’s concern that H.R. 3101, by requiring all Internet connected products and services be accessible by Americans with all disabilities, would freeze technology and deter innovation and entrepreneurs. Shapiro suggested several alternatives to the end goal of providing Americans access to information, education and entertainment. “The legislation before us – H.R. 3101 – is extremely broad in its scope; chilling innovation and the entry of new products. More, it ignores the increasing number of products on the market which serve the needs of many in the disability community.”

Shapiro noted that the current legislation does not take into account the ever changing dynamic of Internet-based services and devices. “We are no longer living in a world of single function devices…The legislation’s attempt to adapt old regulations established to apply to primary function services and devices …to new multi-function devices will not produce the desired result, and will only impede the advancement of new technologies and accessible features.”

Rather we should allow technology be the innovator and creator of voluntary standards much like what Research in Motion (maker of BlackBerry smartphones) has been doing by incorporating their philosophy on increasing accessibility for smartphone users. A philosophy and guideline on addressing people who are either deaf, hard of hearing, color blind, blind, speech impairment, motor impairment, visual impairment, or people with cognitive or learning disabilities. In this case, ignoring some 30 million people in the United States with hearing loss as potential smartphone users is not good marketing sense. But there seems to be an unseen caveat here with the increasing smartphone's video capability where Deaf people could unwittingly find themselves paying more than the average hearing person simply because of the VRS availability for smartphone users in the very near future. Have the telecommunication carriers even thought of this potential problem and avoid discriminating against those who require the use of VRS through smartphones when the days of "unlimited data" download comes to a screeching halt? Tiered pricing is coming. And a potential wallet buster for Deaf smartphone users.

Closed Captioning support for Blackberry Phones

Just like the iPhone, Blackberry fans can access a new version of a "do-it-yourself caption-authoring" tool for digital media. ow buy phones that have captioning support for uploaded videos that come with captioning.

which can be used to create closed-captioned videos formatted for playback on BlackBerry® smartphones. As before, authors can continue to write captions once and export them to formats compatible with QuickTime, Windows Media, RealPlayer and Flash.
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Support for closed-captioned content playback is available on BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software version 5.0 and newer, including the BlackBerry Storm2™ smartphone, BlackBerry Bold 9700™ smartphone and BlackBerry Curve™ 8530 smartphone models.

Very cool, and very savvy in the marketing sense that takes aim at a potential market of 30+ million people with hearing loss in the U.S. (and even more outside). And if you have a Blackberry Storm2 9520/9550 smartphones then you're in luck since they already come with captioning support.

I'm sure from now on all newer BB phones will have closed captioning support just like the Blackberry Storm2 phones.

Do deaf and hard of hearing people prefer Blackberry smartphones over others?

Blackberry? A better smartphone for deaf and hard of hearing? It would seem so base on my ongoing and current poll result with overwhelming differences compared to other smartphones. I suspect that with the current poll results would be the likely overall picture with Blackberry as an obvious favorite among deaf and hard of hearing users. The question is why? Why choose Blackberry? For a start, RIM (Research in Motion) is known for their addressing accessbility issues as seen on page 2 in the Blackberry Java Application Accessibility guide might be key in their philosophy and view when it comes to increasing accessibility to smartphone users:

Accessibility refers to the extent to which a product or service can be used by as many people as possible. In this context,accessibility means designing applications so that people with disabilities or impairments can use the applications on a BlackBerry® device.

When you design your BlackBerry device application, consider the following users:

• blind people
• visually impaired people
• colorblind people
• deaf people
• hearing impaired people
• speech impaired people
• people with motor impairments
• people with cognitive or learning disabilities

Like any other group of users, people with disabilities or impairments have needs, wants, and expectations about the behavior of applications. Some of the reasons to make your applications accessible to as many users as possible include the following possible benefits:
• Social responsibility: Making it easier for people with disabilities or impairments to benefit from the functionality that your application provides can promote equality and is the right thing to do.
• Market share: Ensuring that your application can be used by people with disabilities or impairments increases the number of people who can purchase and benefit from your application.
• Compliance: Addressing the applicable guidelines and regulatory requirements (such as Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in the United States) that dictate that your application must be accessible by people with disabilities or impairments can allow you to enter certain markets.

Blackberry or other smartphone makers cannot afford to alienate the 30+ million people with hearing loss in the United States by making smartphones not-user-friendly. Though the popularity of Blackberry may be due to issue of reliability and ease of use. There was a clue in a forum back in 2004 with thread titled, "Benefits of BlackBerry for the Deaf & Hard Of Hearing" that may have initially gotten deaf and hard of hearing to consider Blackberry first. The reliability factor came up again in 2007. Though things have changed over the last 6 years since 2004 but that may be changing again in favor of Blackberry once again. Perhaps the changeover was due to a recent snafu from T-Mobile's Sidekick data plan last year. Did the well advertised snafu that affected 800,000 subscribers in 2009 helped shape the perception of Sidekick as unreliable seeing the Blackberry as the better and stable option, not to mention reliable?

Because the Sidekick didn't evolve as fast as other smartphones, many users--deaf and hearing alike--moved to the BlackBerry and other devices. And after their recent experiences, many of the remaining Sidekick users in the deaf community have said they are considering jumping ship, once their T-Mobile contracts end.

"I am going to look into Sprint's BlackBerry, which more and more deaf people are taking up, and have complimented, and (said) that it is a lot more reliable," McCraw said.

Lisa Gault, a deaf Sidekick owner in Katy, Texas, said she in an e-mail interview that she relies on the Sidekick as a means to stay in touch with her family.

"It's a way for the school to get a hold of me, if something were to occur with my son who is (not deaf)," Gault said.

Gault said that even short of an emergency, it is a problem not to get her e-mail for an extended period.

"It's annoying, as my friends think I'm ignoring them, when in reality, I didn't get the e-mails yet," Gault said. "It really put the deaf community at more of a disadvantage--more so than for hearing people, since we're so reliant on e-mail (devices) to keep in touch."

Not only it wasn't about the lack of evolving but about a total failure when the Sidekick was announced by Microsoft with grim news last year, a hard lesson when things do fail catastrophically much to consumers' horrors.

There is no official word on the death of the Sidekick from Microsoft or Tmobile, but it certainly looks bleak for the iconic device.

This week, Microsoft announced that they had lost all Sidekick user data including pictures, contacts, calendars and other information from the Danger's servers. Since the devices sync with the servers, the devices also lost the data. The Sidekick data services had amazingly been out over a week.

From what they say, after a week of investigation, there is no way to retrieve the user data. Customers will have to start over. The word on the street is that it was a Hitachi SAN upgrade failure.

But customers will be happy to know that Tmobile is offering a free month of data (not a free month of service, just the $20 unlimited data plan) for all of their information. I really hope a lot of Sidekick users used the Intellisync software that pushes data to the desktop and would have backed their data up.

T-Mobile has halted the sale of new Sidekicks. All models are now showing "temporarily out of stock" on the company's website.

No back up servers? No built in redundancy to ensure smooth flow of communication and saved data? I may not know much of what transpired but a failure of this magnitude isn't a good thing in anybody's book. Might as well see it as "DOA" and no need to try resurrect an image brand that was mortally wounded. People will jump ship because of that.

I'll continue my investigation about Blackberry among deaf and hard of hearing users and why they use the smartphone. If you're deaf or hard of hearing and use a smartphone, go to my poll and select a phone brand that you are currently using.