Stay In Command: Customising Keyboard Shortcuts on Your iPhone or iPad (Extra 85)
Did you know you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard or braille display to any iPhone or iPad? It’s a great way of improving your productivity and efficiency. However, there are some features which don’t have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them by default, and others where the default keyboard shortcut is hard to remember or … Read more
The New Braille Features in iOS and iPad OS 26, Part 2: Braille Access (Extra 84)
Apple released the latest versions of its flagship operating systems, including iOS and iPad 26 for the popular iPhone and iPad product lines, in September 2025. Amongst the many new features are a significant number of improvements for braille users in VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader. In this, the second part of a two-part series, … Read more
The New Braille Features in iOS and iPad OS 26, Part 1 (Extra 83)
Apple released the latest versions of its flagship operating systems, including iOS and iPad 26 for the popular iPhone and iPad product lines, in September 2025. Amongst the many new features are a significant number of improvements for braille users in VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader. In this, the first part of a two-part series, … Read more
Unveiling Canute Scientific from Bristol Braille Technology (Episode 76)
Join Ed Rogers of Bristol Braille Technology as he lifts the lid on Canute Scientific, the next generation of multi-line braille technology designed specifically for blind people working, studying or exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Based on the already popular Canute Console multi-line braille workstation, but with an upgraded system board, new chassis, … Read more
IN Conversation with Scott Erichsen (Episode 75)
Regular Braillecast listeners will know that I visited Australia and New Zealand in 2024, and we featured a number of interviews from that trip in the weeks that followed. One interview that we didn’t feature at the time was with Scott Erichsen, an Australian assistive technology expert, musician and all round braille enthusiast. As a … Read more
Irrelevant or Irreplaceable: Is the Perkins Brailler Really so Old-Fashioned? (Episode 74)
The “old-fashioned Perkins” is a term we hear (and perhaps use) a lot. Whilst it is true that it was invented over fifty years ago, the evolution in braille writing in the period leading up to the first Perkins Brailler being sold was immense, with dozens of braille writers coming to market. Some of them … Read more
A History of Tactile Literacy: In Conversation with Tilly Guthrie (Episode 73)
Victorian Britain was a heavily visual era. Sighted people gained access to the Penny Post, and the ability to communicate with friends across the nation with relative ease in an alphabet which was already well-established. On the other hand, for the blind community, many different tactile alphabets were invented simultaneously to address their exclusion from this culture, … Read more
World Braille Day 2025: HumanWare (Episode 72)
Most of us by now have heard of the BrailleNote, Brailliant and Mantis, three of the leading braille products manufactured by HumanWare. Last year, they also launched Monarch, their brand new Dynamic Tactile Device, allowing multi-line braille and tactile graphics to be rendered on the same refreshable surface. In this episode, we catch up with … Read more
World Braille Day 2025: Aspire Consultancy (Episode 71)
Many listeners to this podcast will already be familiar with the Orbit Reader, which has been available in the UK since around 2018. Orbit Research have since expanded their product portfolio to include a range of other braille input and output devices. However, RNIB recently took the decision to discontinue Orbit products, leaving many customers … Read more
World Braille Day 2025: Bristol Braille Technology CIC (Episode 70)
Bristol Braille Technology CIC is a not-for-profit organisation and the inventor of the Canute 360, designed in close collaboration with the Braillists’ community as the original affordable multi-line Braille display. Their latest product, the Canute Console Premium, is a tactile workstation for viewing and editing text, tables, charts, vectors, maps and code over nine lines—or … Read more