E91 Beginning a smart home project, why Jonathan tried and returned a Surfacebook 2, many screen reader users negatively impacted by latest Realtek drivers, listener comments

It's a rather geeky Blind Side this week. Jonathan Mosen discusses his latest home improvement project, creating a smart home compatible with Apple's HomeKit and Amazon's Alexa. It turns out there are some challenges doing this in New Zealand.

Jonathan explains what led him to give a Microsoft Surfacebook 2 a try, some things you might find helpful if you do the same, and why it got returned. If your screen reader seems to take a while to respond to a key press after you've left it alone for a while, you're not alone. A characteristic of some Realtek sound drivers impacting screen reader performance is present in the Surface line, as well as some Dell, HP, Lenovo and possibly other computers. Jonathan describes the symptoms and states why he believes it's so serious.

Listener comments include discussion about whether it's right to blindfold partially sighted people during rehab, iOS and WWDC thoughts, and should special libraries for the blind have a long-term future?

We welcome your feedback. Send email to TheBlindSide at Mosen dot org or call the feedback line in the United States on (719) 270-5114.