Category Archives: Editorials/Guest Blogs

Who Can You Call with Your iPhone, iPod Touch and Epic?-(Smartphone Update #7)

Dr. Z in his travels gets this question all the time, so he is hoping this information will be useful. It tells you which mobile phones can communicate with other phones. This is only for the 3 phones that ZVRS supports with their app as well as Tango.

Apple iPhone 4

iPhone 4 (using FaceTime)
iPod Touch (using FaceTime)
Apple Mac (using FaceTime)
Samsung Epic (using downloaded Tango software)
ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded ZVRS app)

Apple iPod Touch

iPhone 4 (using FaceTime)
iPod Touch (using FaceTime)
Apple Mac (using FaceTime)
ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded ZVRS app)

Samsung Epic

iPhone 4 (using downloaded Tango software)
Apple Mac (using Z4 software downloaded to a Mac and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
any PC with a webcam (using Z4 software downloaded to a PC and downloaded Z4 Mobile to an Epic)
any videophone (Z150, Z340, ZOjo, VP200, P3) (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)
ZVRS interpreter for relay calls (using downloaded Z4 Mobile app)

Note: The Z4 Mobile app for the Samsung Epic should be released in a few weeks.

It is expected that over time the Apple products (iPhone4, iPod Touch) will be able to call other videophones. Apple has not yet released the specifications for their FaceTime software to make it possible to call other videophones.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Interesting Stories on Using Mobile Devices (#2)

Dr. Z has been on the road and while on the road he picks up interesting stories on how people use mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone, the iPod Touch or the Samsung Epic.

Here’s another one…

An husband went shopping with a shopping list provided by his wife. The problem—his wife wrote “bread” on the shopping list and when the husband went to the store–there were 25 varieties of bread on the shelf and he wasn’t sure which one was the one his wife wanted–so he pulled out his videophone and signed to his wife via video–his wife tried to explain what she wanted but the husband couldn’t figure it out–the solution was to use the videophone to show his wife which loaf was the right kind to buy by using the videophone to video the loaves….after several loaves, the wife said “yes, that’s the one!” End of dilemma–a husband and wife lived happily ever after—we husbands know sometimes we bring the wrong loaf, the wrong container home– a videophone can come to your rescue!

Thanks to a mobile phone!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

At the Seattle Airport with Samsung Epic

Dr. Z is now on his road tour conducting town halls all over the country–everyone continues to be awed by the mobile offerings from ZVRS!

While waiting to check in at the Seattle Airport yesterday for a flight to Portland, Dr. Z pulled out his Samsung Epic which had a beta version of Z4 Mobile to call his wife while standing up.

Lo and behold, his wife answered the call on her Z4 and they had a great chat. There were people around the terminal looking out the corner of their eyes seeing someone signing on video in the middle of a terminal. What a sight! The feeling of being able to connect with my wife while standing up in a strange place was an astounding one!

Go mobile go!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Video Mobilizing America–Dr. Z Goes On Tour!

With so many choices for mobile video today–Dr. Z is on his way to share information with you so you can make your choices by going on a nationwide tour.

At each stop, Dr. Z will demonstrate the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Samsung Epic along with Mobile Z4, FaceTime and Tango software. When Dr. Z demonstrates–all of these will be live video calls to allow you all to appreciate and understand what the latest in video communication brings to us–MOBILE VIDEO COMMUNICATION! To give you an appreciation of how technology is changing our lives along with mobile video, Dr. Z will demonstrate Apple TV as well.

At each event, there will be a drawing for a FREE iPod Touch along with some refreshments.

Dr. Z has already visited 4 cities with over 20 lined up in the weeks to come–look for it in your city/state. For his schedule, look at “Dr. Z Mobile Tour” at the following link. At the present time, he is scheduled to be in Washington, DC, Washington State, Idaho, California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Look forward to seeing you at those events!

Dr. Z will explain what is meant by “It’s time to cut the leash.”

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Mobile Z4 for the Samsung Epic-(Smartphone Update #6)

Time is drawing near…the launch of Mobile Z4 for the Samsung Epic!

There will be a sneak preview (tweetup) on November 4th in Schaumburg, Il (link) and again at the Deaf Nation Expo at Harper College in the metro Chicago area on Saturday, November 6th (link).

Dr. Z has had a beta copy of the Mobile Z4 app for just a day and he is in LOVE with it. It can do what a videophone can do–and more. It even has the capability to do MCU calls (link to video of multipoint control unit), meaning several people at the same time.. It can call a Z-Phone, even a VP-200, receive video calls–and yet it is MOBILE! There are more features which will be revealed in the next few days and at launch.

As part of the ZVRS team, Dr. Z is proud of the efforts our people in Clearwater did and will do in making this possible. Way to GO!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

What is an Eco-System–Apple and Google?

Many people wonder what the term “eco-system” refers to?

It means devices in a family of products work together in many more ways than one. To use the Apple eco-system as an example–you have the Mac (computer), iPhone 4 ( mobile device), iPod Touch (mobile system) and the Apple TV (TV interface). All of these units work to exchange information. You can have the Mac taking information from the iPod, and then show it on a TV using Apple TV. Or you can use Facetime on the Mac to communicate with an iPod or an iPhone.

Dr. Z on his tour has demonstrated the Apple eco-system and people walk away awed at the possibility of how technology can change our lives in so short a time. Apple has thought everything out and this is only the beginning.

This is not to ignore Google. Google has their Android system– the Android mobile phones, their Chrome browser, their Google TV. They are still putting the pieces together to communicate seamlessly. Dr. Z had the opportunity to sit down with a knowledgeable Google TV person at a Best Buy store recently and he walked away awed at the possibilities it will bring. The major difference is that you can do a videochat on a Google TV device. Dr. Z needs to do more research on how interoperable it is with the current crop of videophones.

We have begun to scratch the surface of how everything ties together. In a year, we will have a better idea and then enjoy what technology has to offer, The age of set-top videophones with a single purpose (video conferencing) will still have a place but with very defined settings, such as a workplace.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access (and is excited about what the future has to offer.)

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Interesting Stories on Using Mobile Devices (#1)

Dr. Z has been on the road and while on the road he picks up interesting stories on how people use mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone or the iPod Touch.

One story he picked up the other day is as follows:

A deaf couple went on vacation and asked their oldest daughter to house sit and dog sit their dog.

One night, the daughter came home and found out that she misplaced the key to the house and she called her parents via video (she had an iPhone 4.)

The parents explained where the key was hidden but the daughter couldn’t locate the key so the parents asked the daughter to use her phone to show the parents where she was in the garage and with more guidance and the daughter moving the camera phone all over the garage and that led her to a drawer. The parents then told her to have the camera view the drawer and they explained where the key was hidden.

Lo and behold–the key was found and the daughter went in the house and the dog, the parents and the daughter lived happily ever after.

Thanks to a mobile phone!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

FaceTime for the Mac-(Smartphone Update #5)

Yoo Hoo!

Now there is another way to communicate with the iPhone 4 and the iPod Touch using video?

How?

Apple has just announced FaceTime for the Mac. This means you can use your Mac (and its built-in webcam) to communicate via video with another Mac, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch (4th generation).

The video quality is so clear and astounding–you have to see it to believe it!

The Mac can either be connected via Ethernet (blue wire) or wireless–the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch can be used wirelessly (but not 3G or 4G).

This means when you are traveling and in a wifi hotspot, you can call your family and friends who have a Mac via video!

For ZVRS relay calls, you can use the Z4 downloaded to the Mac and the ZVRS app downloaded to the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch.

Every week, we are getting more communication choices.

We are getting more independent in communication.

For a video demostrating FaceTime for the Mac, click this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Editorial #67-3 Things the Hearing People Have the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community to Thank For

Dr. Z did some research and looking back on technological developments the past 100 years, he has identified 3 things that hearing people have the deaf and hard of hearing people to thank for.

The first is the telephone-which supposedly came about while Alexander Graham Bell was working on an hearing aid for his deaf wife, Mabel. Out of that work, he came up with the telephone, which the deaf people didn’t have full benefit until almost 75 years later with the development of the TTY modem by Robert Weitbrecht.

The second thing is closed captioning. When the concept was first brought to the public in the 1970’s, the hearing community found it distracting and they went back to the drawing boards and made captioning “closed” instead of “open”. Today, we see captioning in bars and gyms and well-used by hearing people. Without captioning, they would be “deaf” in those environments to enjoy TV.

The deaf people were quick to pick up video communication when it was first commercialized in 1999. For the past 11 years, the hearing community used video only in business environments to cut down on travel costs, and they did not think it would be useful in the consumer community–preferring voice communication instead. With the introduction of the Apple iPhone with FaceTime, the HTC EVO, the Apple iPod Touch and the Samsung Epic so far this year with front-facing cameras–the concept of video communication has been well received by the hearing community. The video app “Tango” for smartphones was downloaded a million times in just 10 days.

The bottom line–with a diverse community worldwide–each segment of the community has values and developments that benefit the rest of the community–this is true with those 3 developments Dr. Z just mentioned.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

Editorial #66-132 Years of the Videophone: From Futuristic Fantasy to Flops to FaceTime-A Guest Article by Technologizer (A Blog)

Is a videophone a new invention? This link will link you to a slide show on a well-known blog (Technologizer) which shows 14 slides of 132 years of the videophone.

Dr. Z remembers seeing his first videophone at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and he had a videophone for his computer with a webcam in the late 1990’s. Now we have the videophone reduced to a small size like the Apple iPhone 4, the iPod Touch and the Samsung Epic.

Enjoy this link.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.