Category Archives: Ask Dr. Z

Editorial #142: #VRSinteroperabilityNOW! Town Hall-September 19, 2014

Sheri Farinha, CEO of NorCal Services for Deaf & Hard of Hearing will moderate a LIVE Town Hall meeting on VRS interoperability on Friday, September 19th from 5-8 PM Pacific Time (or 8-11 PM Eastern Time). This event will be live streamed.

For more information go to this link: #VRSInteroperabiltyNOW

Representatives who are engineers from VRS providers will be on hand to discuss interoperability issues and how the industry is working together to address them. The town hall will be live streamed and the instructions to view it will be posted a few days before the event.

The purpose of this is to highlight issues related to interoperability. When interoperability issues are resolved, we will achieve functional equivalence.

Thanks Sheri!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

A Great Resource!-50 Best Websites of 2014 from TIME Magazine

Dr. Z came across a great article. TIME Magazine publishes a list of their best websites annually. They just came out with a list–some of the sites Dr. Z uses, some of them are great and clever uses of the World Wide Web.

Here’s the link.

Dr. Z can assure you it makes for fun reading and you can try some of those websites.

Enjoy!!

So easy and so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE Z5 MAX or a Z-20 with a tablet!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Back to School Time! Great iPhone/iPad/Android Gadgets for Your Kids or Friends!

Oftentimes, we focus on apps and forgetting the gadgets that make your smartphone or tablets extra useful.

Dr., Z has some gadgets that he has talked about in the past and he has come across a great post for such gadgets. While its for school, it is as good for those who work or stay at home.

Here’s the link.

Enjoy and if you are going to school–have a great school year!

So easy and so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE Z5 MAX or a Z-20 with a tablet!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Traveling This Summer? Don’t Forget to Use Z5 Mobile for Roadside Assistance!

Dr. Z and many of you are traveling by car this summer.

If you get a flat tire or experience something wrong with your car while on the road, use Z5 Mobile–it works great in 4G LTE coverage areas.

How do you know if you have 4G LTE coverage? Just look at the upper left corner of your smartphone screen–if it says LTE, you can initiate a VRS call to your Emergency Roadside Provider such as AAA, Allstate, AARP and GEICO.

Remember that wifi is not available while you are on the road.

For more information on emergency roadside services, use this link.

If this is a true emergency, dial 911 on your phone.

If your state provides 911 coverage via text, you can text to “911”. Not all states have that, but the FCC is exerting pressure on states to start implementing this.

Safe travels from Dr. Z!

So easy and so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE Z5 MAX or a Z-20 with a tablet!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

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 4th of July–ZVRS Has New Stuff to Make You Independent!

As Dr. Z told you a week ago, we would be announcing some cool and neat stuff to enhance your video communication experience!

Here’s the list….

1) Firefly – a bluetooth enabled flasher that will flash a strobe light when a call comes in to your iPhone and iPad! (here’s the link to the video!)

2) Z5 MAX – a 21.5″ touchscreen videophone that has a built-in browser (here’s the link to the video!)

3) Number Lookup – your Z5 app on your iPhone and iPad will have a search feature that brings up a map and a list of phone numbers for you to click to make a call!

To view this info on our website–here’s the link!

So easy and so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE Z5 MAX or a Z-20 with a tablet!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Coming Soon! ZVRS at the NAD Conference in Atlanta! What’s Up?

ZVRS continues to live up to its mission in making a personal connection through technology. We will be at the NAD Conference July 1-5, 2014 in Atlanta and roll out some stuff that will open your eyes!

Here are 2 videos that offer a sneak peek–it won’t say much. Dr. Z is very tempted to spill the beans….

Hint #1

Hint #2

To give you an idea of who is using Z5, here’s another video…

Who Uses Z5? #1

Who Uses Z5? #2

To take a look at our interpreters commemorating the 50th Anniversary of RID, here’s the video…

ZVRS Interpreters

To take a look at the marketing team putting stuff together for the NAD…

ZVRS Marketing Team

It is a big family….ZVRS and YOU! See you at the NAD! If you are not attending the NAD Conference–check www.zvrs.com on July 3rd!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Most Popular Websites for News? Sports? – Get Info Here!

Sometimes we tend to look at the same websites for the info we have become comfortable with, but we might miss out on other sites that are popular. So Dr. Z dug deep and he found a good website which tells us which websites for different categories are most popular based on the number of hits for each.

www.ebizmba.com is the name of this website

For news-here’s the link

For sports-here’s the link

For celebrity gossip-here’s the link

For technology-here’s the link

For recipes-here’s the link

For a listing of all other subjects-here’s the link (look to the right box for the list on that website)

Enjoy!

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Deaf and Hard of Hearing People Have a Tower of Babel with Video Communication Today!

“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
—Genesis 11:4–9[2]

There is a petition going around circulated by Jon Ziev that urges the FCC to deal with the lack of interoperability in video communication. Here’s the link.

Dr. Z wants to commend Jon for taking this initiative. As of today, 832 people have signed on. We need to do more! Sign UP as Dr. Z just did just now! (link)

Ironically, in the United States today, hearing people can pick up their phone and call anyone without having to worry which software they need to use.

Deaf and hard of hearing people are stuck, we have to identify the software first before we make a call. If our friend or relative doesn’t have that software, we have to download it to make the call possible.

In the VRS world, we are pretty good at interoperability among the major players, with the possible exception of Sorenson. As the Gallaudet study indicates, there are still issues with interoperability today. Here’s the link to the Gallaudet study. More info can be found on this link as well.

We can’t use Facetime (Apple) to talk to Hangouts (Google). We can’t use Skype (Microsoft) to talk to Z5 (ZVRS). We can’t leave messages on the nTouch (Sorenson) videophones. That’s what the petition tries to point out. That is a Tower of Babel for us deaf and hard of hearing people.

Let us hope that the FCC takes up this issue and make us a unified community. This is starting to divide us as the Biblical verse indicates.

Thank you for listening.

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Getting Ready for Summer–2 Weather Apps that Dr. Z Likes

Summer is around the corner. School will be out in a few weeks and everyone starts traveling. When we all travel, weather is always a concern. Dr. Z has been using 2 weather apps made by the same company. One is a downloadable app called Dark Sky which is a bit pricey – at last look it costs $3.99. (link)

The other app is a FREE web app which means you don’t have to download it, but use the Safari browser on your iPhone, iPad or Chrome on Android and enter “forecast.io”. It comes back with a weather summary of where you are at the time you enter the link. You can also enter a different place and it will tell you of the weather at that place. (link)

It also makes creative use of images and maps showing what the weather is like at a specific time. Interesting!

Enjoy the coming summer and safe travels!

So easy so simple!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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

Have a Hearing Relative or Friend Who Can Sign? No Problem! Z5H is Here!

Know what? One of the most common requests from our customers is the ability to chat with their hearing friends and relatives using Z5 Mobile or Z5 Desktop. It is a common request from schools and universities where there are many hearing people who can sign.

Z5H allows a deaf person to call a hearing person directly without going through a video interpreter. The deaf person does not have to do anything. The hearing person has to download Z5H using this link. When they download and register which is a simple process–communication takes place!

By the way, if you need video communication (VP or VRS), why not try Z5, you will like it! Click here to get it! (See if you qualify to get a FREE tablet with a stand!)

Dr. Z is proud to be part of the team that understands and listens to the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

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