David Ward

"Alexa, buy that coffee maker when it hits $100!" Sound crazy! Maybe, but with Deal Alerts you can effectively do, just that. Have Alexa alert you to items you monitor that drop in price or even just buy them when they hit your price point! Yeah, its awesome! Have a listen as we demo Shopping and Deal Alerts on Alexa Plus! https://open.spotify.com/episode/1iLWd7T6vxGpKXwSpk7kdO?si=Mn-hoR4rQSaErPaDd1vUtQ

Question: Does anyone know, when using OOrion on my Meta 2 Smart Glasses, does the activity light signal to others that the camera was active? Was thinking of using the obstacle avoidance feature in a medical environment, where I do pastorial visits, and didn't want a strobe light going off saying I was actively using the camera.

New Echo Tips Podcast Drop! Learn about how features from Alexa for Shopping is coming to 3rd Party Vendors and Websites. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IX5USJCvHhW1TBiWoEG9n?si=tw2q4LFGRKK9Yy_L8NN4Dg

Tech News Round Up: In this month's Blind Level Tech Podcast, Evan and Dave, yours truly, talk all about various GAAD Day Announcements, from Apple, Google, and Samsung, and a whole lot more! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snu8UrYMuFE&list=PLqzRgI9I2-RrVUYr755_m8TJqZYY8xh6u&index=1

Meta Ray-Ban Tip: Last week got my brand new Meta Ray-Ban's 2, noticed the case wasn't charging the glasses, and no battery tab, was still stuck in the unit. My Old Meta 1 case charged the Glasses fine. The new Meta 2 Case, was blinking appropriately and reported 100% Charged, but wouldn't charge. Asked Alexa, how to hard reset the Case and was told to hold down the tiny button at the back of the case near the USB port, for like 5-10 seconds, until the light blinked twice. After that the Case worked fine. Whew! Thank goodness I don't have to call tech support and mess around with that!

New Alexa Feature: You can now have Alexa Plus create a custom podcast episode for you about a topic of your choice! Want to get a 10 briefing about GAAD Announcements from May 2026, from Apple, Facebook, and Google. Not a problem! And much more. Have a listen as we kick the tires of this new feature. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EcOTxbC6YonRq6RqbQ3L4?si=ZDp3EdgFRa-8DH6y8ep9Jw #Alexa

Breaking News! Alexa for Shopping comes to other Retailers like Kate Spade. Could a Conversational Agentic Alexa help with accessibility on specialty stores? I think so! Read more here, by the way its pretty B2B specific, with lots of AWS this, and ASA that! https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/aws-agentic-shopping-assistant-retailers #Alexa

Breaking News!😲 Alexa Plus, can now generate a custom podcast just for you! Looks like its USA only for now, but check out the Press Release, and Sample Audio Files. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/alexa-podcasts-ai-generated-audio-episodes #Alexa

Help: I've been applying for some IT Training Jobs, and realized, for some of these I might have to dip back into Linux Server stuff, and haven't ever done that as a 100% Screen Reader user? Is there a Primer out there anyone can recommend for Screen Readers on Linux/Unix platforms, I'm mostly assuming the CLI is what I need to work with, but if there's a GUI screen Reader for the GUI's like GNOME or KDE etc.? Ideally, if I could walk up to any Linux CLI and type something like npm Screen-Reader and install a screen reader package and be off to the races that would be great!

Amazon says Buying Stuff with Alexa Plus is up 3x on Echo Shows! We discuss the impact of Alexa for Shopping on Echo Shows & a native Ambient Sound Feature, in this episode. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Wqzqpz5icoglwgO2qk5O4?si=xHx4N-YyQe2KajFNBlkOJw

On this episode of Blind level tech, me and Evan talk about my background in technology certifications and starting the echo tips podcast. And my experiences with a lady plus. Have a listen! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blind-level-tech/id1675094936?i=1000768764448

"Alexa add this sunscreen to my cart if the price drops to 10 dollars and I haven't purchased it in the last 2 months.” Is an example of a new command possible with the Alexa for Shopping, which is slowly being rolled out now. Learn more. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Q0QcDvPPQfQ9tNQTT0qEr?si=8h7zAUXFTxague1m_cEfDQ #Alexa

Let's learn about the all-new Alexa for Shopping! We take a look at the Amazon Press Release from May 13th, and take a look at how natural language via Alexa Plus will be changing the way we use Amazon.com and the Amazon Shopping Apps. Have a listen. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Q0QcDvPPQfQ9tNQTT0qEr?si=8h7zAUXFTxague1m_cEfDQ #Alexa

Vibe Coding:😲 My Braille Sonar Web App, has been broken for years, because some of my PHP Database code was outdated, and HostGator finally said no more. After installing Codex CLI, that's the command line tool that I can invoke in powershell or command prompt I bleeive, I dropped all my php files in to the folfer, an ask Codex, to update the broken MYSQL commands. About a dozen files. 5 minutes later they were on the website and my app was about 95% restored to where it needed to be. Gave it another tweak and with in 15 minutes, Codex, and had fixed code I hadn't had time or expertise to fix in years! That's not to say I don't think there some additonal polish and ARIA twekas needed, things that worked 10 years ago or duct-tape fixes need modern tweaks. But I think I'm mostly there. Oh, and it didn't cost me more than $20, because that's about all I had on my API key, an so far there is money left over because Leasey is still working!

Otherless-Goat!😲 Years ago, were talking like 10 to 12 years, I wrote Braille Sonar for the iPHone, I didn't even own a Mac at that time, but got one with the help of friends and used PhoneGap / Cordova to place a webapp in the Apple Store. I gave up on selling the app years ago, when I started AT Traiing, my regular day job. I intern, made Braille Sonar a Free, WebApp, off my website. Its been broken for years, because PHP keeps moving forward, and at some point my SQL commands were deprecated in the PHP Engine and the App broke. 15 Minutes ago I SSH into my server opened the PHP SQL scripts in question, ran the code threw a ChatGPT Window in Leasey and asked it to simply update the MySQL commands to the modern syntax. Pasted and Saved the result. Hit F5 on the webpage, and Bob's Your Uncle, it worked the first time! Dang! At this rate I'll have Braille Sonar up and running again, by the end of the day!