Author Archives: pbravin

Crazy Weather and Twitter? Try this…

Dr. Z is continuing to try to make everyone realize and appreciate the power of Twitter….

Those days, the weather is crazy for everyone except Dr. Z–Vermonters are used to the changes in weather–we are usually well equipped–actually, we usually have a lot of snow and swings in temperature every year–it changes from year to year..this year we have seen a bit more snow and felt a bit more colder than usual…

To get weather info on twitter, here’s a recommendation for starters…Weather Link on Twitter

If you have a Twitter account, type “Weather (name of your city)” in the search bar

You will see many different tweets regarding the weather….

Enjoy!

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Valentine’s Day and Twitter? Try this…

Dr. Z is trying to make everyone realize and appreciate the power of Twitter….

Here’s a way…if you do not have a Twitter account, click this link.

If you have a Twitter account, type “Valentine’s Day” in the search bar

You will see how many different views of Valentine will show up!

Enjoy!

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

How to Watch the Super Bowl with Twitter and Facebook? Try It!

You can enhance your TV viewing experience while watching the Super Bowl with your mobile phone or iPad in your hand.

You can experience Twitter for the first time and get an idea of how this works.

Download Twitter from the Apple App store (for iOS) or Google Play (for Android).

After you set your account up, at the top of your screen, you will see a bar “Search Twitter”. Type the following hashtag “#SB49”

You will see a Twitter feed of news, comments and facts related to the Super Bowl. Swipe down on the screen to see new feeds as they will appear frequently.

Facebook also created a live news feed for the Super Bowl.

Type “superbowl” in your Facebook search bar. Then scroll down to “Live Feed” with a green icon.

No need for the game to begin to use Twitter or Facebook. The feed is already live so you can start “practicing.”

Enjoy!

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Twitter! It’s a Text Radio for Dr. Z! Dr. Z Will Teach You How!

Dr. Z sees a trend. Many people are using Facebook but not enough people are using Twitter. Twitter is a very nice tool to keep yourselves up to date. The problem is it doesn’t make sense at first until you use it for a while. Dr. Z spent several hours on the internet trying to find a good tutorial on Twitter, but he feels most of them missed the concept or getting too complicated in the beginning.

So Dr. Z gave up and put together a tutorial for those of you who could benefit. The slide show is below and you can download this as a PDF file using the link at the bottom.

Dr. Z-Twitter 101 (pdf file available for downloading)

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #147: VRS Providers Agree on New Interoperability Standards Using SIP! Waiting for FCC to Agree to Changes!

Over the past year or so the following VRS providers (ASL/Global, CAAG, Convo, Purple, Sorenson, CSDVRS (ZVRS)) have been meeting on a regular basis to draw up interoperability standards using SIP. SIP is a newer method for video communication to talk to each other. The old method was called H.323 and H.323 is in the process of being phased out and everyone is moving to SIP.

The providers have put together a working proposal and have met with the FCC on January 6th. The FCC has to agree to make some changes to its rules. When this happens, we can begin to see an environment where all videophones can talk to each other. There is one other hurdle to jump over. The SIP standard is handled by a “mother” group which also has to agree to what the VRS providers have put together. They also have to be sure that those still using H.323 will not be left out.

In 2015, we will begin to see some testing, and it is everyone’s hope that everything will be rolled out in 2016.

It is a commendable effort for everyone to come together voluntarily, and Dr. Z looks forward to the day when there will be no fuzzy pictures, black screens and unexpected disconnections.

You can see the filing at this link.

By the way, for more information on the NEW Z5 MAX, click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

CES? What’s That? A Great Show for Technology!

Every January, there’s a huge trade show in Las Vegas called the Consumer Electronics Show or “CES” for short.

The newest TV’s, newest gadgets, newest add-ons for your car, new trends are usually introduced at CES and this year it is no different.

How about this? A printer to make cookies that you can eat! An alarm clock that will wake you up in different ways. A remote control from your iPhone to start your car in cold weather. The list goes on and on.

Here’s a link for you to enjoy. Some of the topics may be too geeky, while others make sense.

But some of these will be making our lives more accessible, while others are not because they either depend on voice to trigger something or use voice to say something automatically.

Dr. Z being a geek, enjoys those whiz-bang topics.

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Happy New Year, Simply Stated from Dr. Z!

Got a new smartphone, PC or Mac for the Holidays? Some Tips Here!

Dr. Z came across a cool blog for those of you who got a new device for the holidays and after the excitement of plugging it in, you now realize what’s next or there are some things that you don’t get…here’s a guide to help you!

For those of you who got a new iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, here’s the link…

For those of you who got a new Android device, here’s the link…

For those of you who got a new Mac or iMac, here’s the link…

For those of you who got a new Windows PC, here’s the link…

And for all of the above, you can make a VP call!

Here are the links to download apps from ZVRS!

iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (link for Z5 Mobile)

Android (link for Z5 Mobile)

Mac or iMac (link for Z5 Desktop)

Windows PC (link for Z5 Desktop)

Enjoy!

If you need help, write to Dr. Z using the form at the upper left side of this blog–he will direct you to a resource to help you!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Holiday Shopping? What to Get? Tech Stuff!

Shopping for the holidays over time has changed. The stuff we are looking for has changed dramatically. A lot of the stuff we get now goes with us–it is mobile, like our old telephone. It used to be wired to your home and you couldn’t pull it out. Now, it fits in your pocket.

Dr. Z subscribes to a great website called recode.net. It was put together by two former Wall Street Journal (WSJ) tech journalists. They no longer are part of WSJ. Their site is for geeks like Dr. Z, but some topics are very readable and user-friendly. Some of their reviews are very clear and useful.

They have put together a web page for us to browse for holiday shopping. It’s a useful and a great read. Enjoy!

Here’s the link (link no longer working)! (some of the videos are not captioned, sorry!)(Dr. Z does not get any commission for referring you to those shopping sites.)

By the way, if you want something for your desktop, why not get Z5 MAX? Click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development

Editorial #146: Hearing People Have it Good with Voice Plans, Not Us Deaf and Hard of Hearing Folks with Data Plans!

Most of us are beginning to realize that 4G LTE is better than wifi for video calls from a smartphone away from your home. The problem is 4G LTE is not always free, but let Dr. Z outline his case. The information below does not apply to wifi, it applies to calls using 4G LTE.

All the major carriers offer unlimited talk time as part of their monthly plans. Voice does not use any “data.”
For video calls, it takes up to 500mb of data for every hour or 1GB of data for a 2 hour conversation. Video calls use “data” not like voice.
ATT and Verizon have “capped” data plans while give you a cap of 3GB, or 4GB and so forth at different pricing tiers.
When you go over the “capped” data plans in a month, you will be asked to pay more for that month.
Sprint and T-Mobile have unlimited data plans.
If hearing people can have unlimited chat, deaf people who have ATT and Verizon do not. That is not functionally equivalent, nor is it fair?
Is this something for the FCC to look into? It makes it look like ATT and Verizon are penalizing us for being deaf or hard of hearing.
You can switch from ATT or Verizon to Sprint or T-Mobile, but you need to be mindful of coverage. ATT and Verizon have better coverage in most part of the United States than Sprint or T-Mobile.

By the way, for more information on the NEW Z5 MAX, click this link.Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z (Philip W. Bravin) is associated with CSDVRS, currently its Vice-President of Business Development