Phil,

There are two similar apps: TapTapSee which gives you some free pictures, then you pay for the rest per the plan you choose.  Here is info from taptapseeapp.com
TapTapSee is a subscription based service. New users are provided with 100 trial pictures to get started. After those images are exhausted, a message appears requesting the user to select one of the four subscription plans that are offered:

  1.. 50 Picture Pack for $4.99 (no time limit)
  2.. 100 Picture Pack for $7.99 (no time limit)
  3.. One Month of Unlimited Pictures for $9.99
  4.. Three Months of Unlimited Pictures for $24.99
You can purchase subscription packages through your Apple iTunes account. 



The second app is BeMyEyes, which is currently free and relies on volunteers.  



The app that started the whole thing was VizWiz.  It worked, but I think it has slower response time because it had no funding mechanism to pay people.  Without crowd-sourcing, there aren't enough people to make it responsive.



As for Skype, I don't know what screen-reader you are using.  If you are using Jaws, there are Skype scripts at douglee.com, if you are using a newer version (above 7.0 I think), there are scripts in their app store.  



Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Phil Scovell 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2015 1:29 AM
Subject: DX using skype


I have a nephew in his late forties who lives in Kazakhstan.  I think that 
used to be UL7 in the USSR but now is UN through UQ if I read my list 
correctly.  Anyhow, he and his wife in their early twenties moved to China 
and went to a university there so they lived in country for 4 years.  Then 
they moved over the border into Kazakhstan where they work and live with 
their teenage daughters; one of which is now back in the states enrolled in 
college.  Anyhow, he is not a ham so we use skype most of the time to 
communicate.  He's the son of one of my older sisters.  So, tonight, I 
forgot we had a skype schedule.  I was walking through the living room of 
our house when through my bluetooth hearing aids, his name pops up on my 
phone with a text message reminding me of our skype chat time.  They are 14 
hours ahead of mountain time.  So, I tried earlier today firing up skype on 
my computer but for the life of me, I couldn't find out how to access skype 
after logging in.  I could get to my account and all but none of the 
features to chat or to even locate my list of people with whom I have in my 
skype address book.  I gave up because I had an appointment with my hearing 
doctor today because I felt my hearing aids weren't quite up to snuff.  It 
turns out they just needed a good internal cleaning and everything was back 
to normal.  So when I came home, I told my wife I'd just use my iPhone since 
it has skype on it but with my luck as often as both the computer skype 
software and the iPhone skype app are updated, I might have the same problem 
of logging on.  My phone, as it turned out, took me 10 minutes to locate the 
button to skype connect with my nephew and that button was the only one that 
would work was labeled, video call.  So, when my nephews says hello, I 
explained my problem and why it took me so long to log on.  I asked if he 
had his camera on and he said know but he turned it on and there I was on 
his screen.  I was telling him how I got his text notice in my ears and he 
asked me all sorts of questions about my hearing aids.  Finally he said, 
"Uncle Phil, can you hold your phone up to the side of your head so I can 
see what it looks like?"  I did and he commented on how small and hidden it 
was.  So, I pulled out the wire and speaker and held it up to the iPhone. 
He gave me a few instructions and when I got the thing center, he could see 
it clearly.  I showed him which was the almond shaped microphone housing 
with the battery and processor, the thin wire going to the speaker that 
drops down inside my ear and hangs just over my eardrum, which he said he 
saw clearly, and then I held up the antenna for the bluetooth that curls 
around inside the shell of the ear and he could see even that thin little 
wire clearly.  So my point is, that app where you login and some volunteer 
helps identify what your camera is showing, if someone ever answers that is, 
I would think would work and work well.  I haven't used that program yet, I 
forget it's name, something ending with the word "See," but I'm thinking 
someone tried it using a friend he already knew and it worked well.  My 
grown kids never write anything down any more; they just snap a picture of 
it and off they go.

Phil.
K0NX