Welcome to the fifty-third episode of Access On, the National Federation of the Blind's Technology podcast.
Episode
Listen to the fifty-third episode of the Access On podcast (Browser).
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Timestamps
As peak shopping season arrives, this episode is all about online shopping. Here is what you can hear and when.
- Introduction 0:00
- Blind Owned and Operated Marketplace 1:58
- The NFB Independence market 3:38
- Innosearch 5:03
- Copilot Vision 38:30
- Amazon's Rufus 51:21
- Sparky from Walmart 57:57
- Closing and contact info 1:09:09
Transcript
Speaker 1:
Live the life you want.
Speaker 2:
Access On.
Jonathan Mosen:
Welcome to Access On the Technology podcast of the National Federation of the Blind. With Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holidays approaching, let's focus on online shopping. We'll demonstrate shopping on the web and via the telephone, using Innosearch AI.
We'll demonstrate the innovative copilot, vision feature built in to Microsoft Edge and how to shop with the assistance of AI, using Rufus for Amazon and Sparky from Walmart. It's Jonathan Mosen coming to you from the Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, welcoming you to episode 53 of the podcast. If you enjoy this podcast, please support us with a contribution.
Thanks to HumanWare, anyone who contributes in November will be placed in a drawing to win a pair of Ray-Ban Meta glasses. To give, you can visit nfb.org/donate, that's nfb.org/donate. You can call 410-659-9314 extension 2430, that's 410-659-9314, extension 2430, or, mail a check to 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230.
And since we are so close at time of publication, to Thanksgiving and Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there's no better time to bring on to Access On the boutique that we did some months ago on the subject of online shopping and various tools you can use to take advantage of those bargains.
Before we hear highlights of a webinar on this subject, I’d like to mention a couple other online options for your holiday shopping consideration.
When you shop, we want to make it easy for you to buy from a blind owned and operated business, so we’ve set up the Blind Owned and Operated Marketplace. The Marketplace is a powerful initiative of the National Federation of the Blind—connecting blind-owned businesses with one another, with the broader community, and with opportunities to grow and thrive.
As the transformative membership and advocacy organization of the blind in America, the NFB is uniquely positioned to build a trusted space that amplifies blind entrepreneurship and drives innovation. This directory is built in coordination with our National Association of Blind Merchants.
We want to concentrate the innovation and quality work of blind businesses so more people can use their dollars to support authentically blind owned businesses.
This central hub for blind-owned businesses promotes visibility, fosters connection, and delivers real opportunity - all within the authentic, empowering ecosystem of the National Federation of the Blind.
A blind-owned business is any for-profit or nonprofit venture that is:
At least 51% owned and controlled by one or more blind individuals, and
Led and operated by those individuals on a daily basis, with authority over major decisions.
To explore the marketplace and support blind operated businesses, you can visit nfb.org/boom. That’s NFB.org/boom. If you own a business that qualifies to be listed in the marketplace, you’ll find a link on that page to submit your business for consideration.
And if you’re buying a gift for yourself or another blind person in your life, remember that the NFB’s Independence market is here to help you, either over the phone or online. As we mentioned on Access On earlier this year, our e-commerce platform for the Independence market is now live. It’s an extensive store that offers hundreds of products and literature created by and for the blind community.
We carry many products, including Long white canes, talking watches and clocks, print and Braille writing aids, magnifiers, medical devices, household and kitchen tools, NFB literature and multimedia
To shop online, visit catalog.nfb.org. That’s catalog.nfb.org. We’re also here to help you by email. That email address is [email protected]. That’s independencemarket, all joined together, @nfb.org.
You can also call 410-659-9314, extension 2216. That’s 410-659-9314, extension 2216.
If you’re dropping by the Jernigan Institute, you can also shop at the Independence Market by appointment, so be sure to call in advance.
Now let’s look at some other online shopping tools.
Let's start with Innosearch AI because it's arguably one of the most groundbreaking developments in accessible online shopping for quite some time. Innosearch is an online shopping platform, created specifically to make shopping easier for blind people. It's not a store. Instead, it is an aggregator and an interface that pulls together products from many retailers. At the moment, they've got over 500,000 retailers and counting, including big names like Amazon, Walmart, Target, even specialized vendors.
The idea with this is that instead of struggling with multiple websites, many of which can have accessibility issues, you can do all your shopping across these websites through Innosearch's Unified Clean Interface. Innosearch uses AI to take the content from other shopping sites and reformat it into a simplified, accessible layout. All that clutter that you often get, the ads, the visual fluff that can slow us down, it's all stripped away and instead you get just the essential information, product names, clear descriptions, prices, the retailer that the item would come from and so on.
And it's all arranged neatly and consistently. For navigation, Innosearch's site is structured with headings and landmarks that make sense so you can jump through results easily. Many blind users report that browsing products on Innosearch feels much less confusing than on Amazon or other retailer sites because you don't get lost in a sea of extraneous links or unlabeled graphics. A particularly innovative feature of Innosearch is the use of AI technology to extract and generate detailed descriptions from product images so it goes well beyond conventional alt text.
Now they also use this technology to incorporate information from various sources like product manuals and even general Google searches. So if you're really wanting to drill down deep into a product, you can get comprehensive understanding of what it is that you might be buying.
Now in a balanced look at the service, it is important to acknowledge that some blind people do have concerns about it at a philosophical level, and I want to address this. Some are concerned that sites like Innosearch let retailers off the hook and lessen the pressure for them to fix accessibility problems with their site.
And we absolutely understand this concern. At the National Federation of the Blind, we fervently believe that blind people must be able to participate in all parts of society on terms of equality. We want every website to be accessible. At the moment though, that is a work in progress. On top of this, some people using screen reading technology find it less intuitive than do others and less tech-savvy people are also entitled to the benefits of online shopping.
Additionally, whether you're blind or not, it's cool to have a site that searches across many retailers and gives you the best results. Like a lot of technology invented for blind people to use, I suspect the wider world will soon catch on to the convenience of Innosearch. There is another downside to Innosearch. Even if you do subscribe to the belief that using the service is the pragmatic thing to do right now. At the moment, your loyalty programs like Amazon Prime aren't integrated with Innosearch. I know how much I appreciate my Amazon Prime membership, as well as subscribe and save for products that we need regularly.
And for now at least those features aren't on Innosearch. You'd have to go to Amazon and similar sites to access those loyalty benefits or any special programs like that. After you order from Innosearch, you can go to an orders page on their website to track your purchases.
You can make purchases without having an account or logging into an account, but keeping track of your stuff is a good reason to set up an account. It's straightforward. This page is again designed for clarity. Each order shows the items, the status, and the tracking number if it's available.
Our members have shared positive experiences with returns. You can apparently email or contact Innosearch support if you need to return something and they will facilitate it often sending you a return shipping label and instructions.
In one case, a customer ordered clothing in the wrong size and was able to get a return label emailed and drop off the package easily with confirmation and a refund coming very quickly. I purchased an item that took a very long time to be delivered, and Innosearch was proactive and reached out to me to say that they had noticed delivery time was taking a while and that they had initiated inquiries with the retailer.
I was impressed by that degree of proactivity. When you shop with Innosearch, your relationship for every part of the transaction is handled by Innosearch and you never get handed over to the retailer. The Innosearch team has come to understand the expectations the blind community have of being consulted about product evolution. They've turned up to our national convention where they were engaged. I meet with them regularly here at the Jernigan Institute and they have made positive changes as a result of feedback from the blind community.
As well as shopping for general items, you can book flights with Innosearch. That's something we won't demonstrate today, but you might like to check that out if you do some travel. They also plan to incorporate things like grocery and food delivery in the future and importantly, it's free to use. There's no subscription or fee. Innosearch told us that they earn revenue via affiliate partnerships or commissions from retailers. There's no markup. You're just paying the retail price of the item.
So as they say, let's go shopping and I want to go shopping for some items that might be quite difficult to gain sufficient information about from other websites. Let's do some shopping for men's long-sleeved business shirts.
When you shop for something like this direct on a retailer website, the product titles might not fully describe the shirt, so I could easily pick something with a design I don't want. Perhaps it's a bit too flamboyant and I also prefer shirts with pockets so I can carry my smartphone in them. I'm on the Innosearch website now. I'll verify that by checking my window title.
JAWS:
Home Innosearch AI, your ultimate shopping assistant. Find best deals and top products, Microsoft Edge personal. Maximized on display one.
Jonathan Mosen:
I'm going to press the letter B.
JAWS:
Open CoBrowse AI button.
Jonathan Mosen:
CoBrowse AI is a very interesting feature and we'll cover this a little later.
JAWS:
Start dictation mode button.
Jonathan Mosen:
You can also dictate which is simply typing into an edit field by voice, really.
JAWS:
Search button.
Jonathan Mosen:
And there's a search button-
JAWS:
User menu button collapsed, country United States button Collapse, Shop now button.
Jonathan Mosen:
I'm going to go to shop now because you can also do flights. So I'll press the space bar on the Shop Now button.
JAWS:
Main region.
Jonathan Mosen:
Just to narrow the search. And now I'm going to go to the edit field On this page.
JAWS:
Search edit combo, blank placeholder, search for a prodo-
Jonathan Mosen:
We'll go into forms mode.
JAWS:
Banner region.
Jonathan Mosen:
And I'm going to type men's long sleeved business shirts with pockets. Let's just verify that.
JAWS:
Men's long sleeved business shirts with pockets.
Jonathan Mosen:
And I'm going to press enter to activate the search.
JAWS:
Results for men's long sleeve business shirts with pockets, Innosearch AI, your ultimate shopping assistant, find best deals and top products. Searching for men's long sleeve business shirts with pockets. Found 83 results for men's long sleeve business shirts with pockets.
Jonathan Mosen:
JAWS hasn't spoken how many headings and things there are on the page, but if I go to the top, I should now be able to navigate each result by heading.
JAWS:
83 results for men's long sleeve business shirts with pockets, page one, heading level one.
Jonathan Mosen:
We’re at the heading level one. This has actually got good semantic structure.
JAWS:
Men's dress shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts heading level two link.
Jonathan Mosen:
And each result is a heading level two. If I want to find out more about this result, I can just down arrow from here.
JAWS:
Free delivery Fri. Aug. 22. Discount, 21% off. Retailer, Amazon. Rating 4.5 out of five stars over 2233 reviews. Price, 14.99 dollars. View price history for men's dress shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts button, collapsed has pop-up dialog.
View price history for- reduced by over 21% compared to the original price of 18.99 dollars. Free 30 day return. Chat within a search for men's stretch shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts button.
Jonathan Mosen:
We can chat right from the search screen about this product and if I down arrow.
JAWS:
Add the cart, men's dress shirt regular-
Jonathan Mosen:
We can just add it to the cart.
JAWS:
Buy now men's dress shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down.
Jonathan Mosen:
Or if this is the only thing we want, we can just buy it right now.
JAWS:
Bookmark men's dress shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve-
Jonathan Mosen:
You can bookmark products to come back to.
JAWS:
Heading level two link 5.11 tactical long sleeve button up shirt w/ pockets style 72157 sizes ITS- 3XL.
Jonathan Mosen:
Now, that result is actually really good because right in the title there, it tells you that there are multiple sizes. It tells you that there are pockets.
JAWS:
Free delivery retailer, eBay.
Jonathan Mosen:
And that comes from eBay. We can now press H.
JAWS:
Men's long sleeve dress shirts, regular fit, stretch, wrinkle, free, business casual, button down shirts with front pocket heading level two link.
Jonathan Mosen:
There you go. Wrinkle free and with pocket. Where's this coming from?
JAWS:
Free delivery Fri. Aug. 22. Discount, 40% off. Retailer, Amazon. Rating 4-
Jonathan Mosen:
And that's another one from Amazon. I want to go back to my first result because that one didn't explicitly say if there were pockets in that one.
JAWS:
Men’s- 5.11 tactic- Men's dress shirt, regular fit, stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts heading level two link.
Jonathan Mosen:
And I'm going to press enter to open the page for this and let's see what happens when we drill down.
JAWS:
Results for men's long sleeve business shirts with pockets Innosearch AI, your ultimate shopping assistant. Find best deals and top products. Main region. Heading level two link men's dress shirt, regular fit stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts.
Results for men's long sleeve, business shirts with pockets, Innosearch AI, your ultimate shopping assistant. Find best deals and top products. Navigated to Alimens and Gentle men's dress shirt, regular fit stretch, stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts.
Jonathan Mosen:
I'll navigate by heading.
JAWS:
Alimens and Gentle men's stretch shirt, regular fit stretch stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts heading level one. Rating 4.5 out of five stars over 2235 reviews.
Jonathan Mosen:
So we are getting some repetition from the main search screen here, but we are now on the page for this product.
JAWS:
Price, 14.99 dollars. View price history for Alimens and Gentle- reduced by over 21%. Heading level two product description.
Jonathan Mosen:
Now, we've got the product description. I'm just going to do a say all so we hear this.
JAWS:
Product description, stain shield are regular fit shirts, suitable for a variety of formal/casual/business/wedding/party/club/dating. The men's dress shirts are made of 70% cotton material. Soft, skin friendly and breathable. Special process makes the shirt waterproof. Blocking stains still maintain good breathability, waterproof and stain resistant and keep you look- Expand product description, button. Shipping and return free to-
Jonathan Mosen:
So there is more. Now I'm going to navigate by button on this page.
JAWS:
Open co-browse AI button. Start dictation mode button. Search button. User menu button collapsed. Country, united- Show image, 1 of 5 button. Ask Inosearch to describe image 1 of 5 button.
Jonathan Mosen:
There are five images of the shirt and we can ask Innosearch to use AI to describe any or all of those images. So I'll press space on the button to describe image 1.
JAWS:
CoBrowse AI is typing. Heading level one. CoBrowse AI chat. Describe the first image of the product. The following suggestions are available. Tell me about this shirt. What are the available sizes? What do user reviews say? What is the return policy? Message is: Describe the first image of the product. CoBrowse AI is typing.
Jonathan Mosen:
So this is where it can ...
JAWS:
I see the first image shows a classic white men's dress shirt. It's a full ... I see the first image shows a classic white men's dress shirt. It's a full length shot, neatly pressed and wrinkle free, displayed as if on an invisible mannequin.
Alimens and Gentle men's dress shirt, regular fit stretch, stain shield, long sleeved, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts. Innosearch AI, your ultimate shopping assistant, find best deals and top products. CoBrowse AI chat modal dialogue. Connected. Chat input edit, placeholder type, or click mic to talk, dot, dot, dot.
I see the first image shows a classic white men's dress shirt. It's a full length shot, neatly pressed and wrinkle free, displayed as if on an invisible mannequin? The shirt has a structured pointed collar with a visible Alimens and Gentle brand tag, a central placket with six white buttons, and neatly rolled up. CoBrowse AI says, I see the first image shows a classic white men's-
Jonathan Mosen:
So what we’re hearing is that Innosearch is, sort of, repeating itself and I think the reason why it's doing that is that new texts is scrolling into that window all the time, but it does make it a little tough. So what I've found helps out to work around, just let it do its thing and then, you can review by using the arrow keys or you can also talk to CoBrowse AI and this is where sometimes things can take a while, but let's see if we can make this work.
JAWS:
Send message button, toggle voice mode button, O.
Jonathan Mosen:
I'm going to toggle voice mode and what I'm going to do to avoid any duplication is when I toggle voice mode on, I'm going to toggle my screen reader speech off.
JAWS:
Voice mode is-
CoBrowse AI:
Voice mode is now on.
JAWS:
Toggle voice mode ... speech mute.
Jonathan Mosen:
Can you tell me if this shirt has pockets?
CoBrowse AI:
No problem at all. I've taken a closer look at the images of the shirt. Based on what I see, this particular Alimens and Gentle men's dress shirt does not appear to have any pockets. The front of the shirt is smooth and clean with no visible chest pockets or any other type of pockets.
Jonathan Mosen:
Is it a plain white shirt or is there some sort of pattern design on it of any kind?
CoBrowse AI:
I've checked the images of the shirt and I can tell you that it's a plain white shirt. There isn't any pattern or design on the fabric itself.
Jonathan Mosen:
And the collar, does it have buttons or does the collar not have buttons?
CoBrowse AI:
This Alimens and Gentle men's dress shirt has a classic pointed collar that does not have buttons. The collar points are designed to lie flat and are not secured with buttons. The only visible buttons are on the front of the shirt, along the placket.
I've checked the image again and I can confirm that the collar on this Alimens and Gentle men's dress shirt does not have buttons. It's a classic pointed collar that lies flat and there are no buttons on the collar points themselves. The buttons you see are only on the front placket of the shirt.
JAWS:
Full speech, chat input, edit. Chat input. Virtual- send message button- toggle voice- wrapping to- wrapping to bottom. Toggle voice mode button, voice ... Cobrowse-
CoBrowse AI:
Voice mode is now off.
Jonathan Mosen:
Right. I've stopped it from listening to me. So as you can hear, that is a little slow to respond, but it is also quite informative even though I typed that I wanted a men's dress shirt with pockets. Actually, the first result that it delivered is a pretty nice sounding men's dress shirt, but it doesn't have pockets. Some of the other results explicitly say that they do have pockets. So I'm going to go back.
JAWS:
Going back. Searching for men's long sleeve-
Jonathan Mosen:
And let's see.
JAWS:
83 results. Alim- five- long sleeve dress shirts, regular fit stretch, wrinkle-free, business casual, button down shirts with front pocket. Adding level two link. Found- add the cart, Alimens- Buy now, Alimens. Bookmark, Alimens. Heading level two link men's long sleeve dress shirts, regular fit, stretch, wrinkle-free, business casual, button down shirts with front pocket.
Jonathan Mosen:
I like the idea of the wrinkle-free and it does have pockets. So let’s go in here.
JAWS:
Navigated to 5.11 tactical men's peak long sleeve shirt, 100% peach cotton style 72469.
Jonathan Mosen:
And let's see if we can talk to Innosearch again.
JAWS:
Open coB- ... start dictation. Open co-browse AI button.
Jonathan Mosen:
CoBrowse AI is what we want.
JAWS:
CoBrowse AI is typing. CoBrowse AI chat modal dialogue.
Jonathan Mosen:
Let's see if we can-
JAWS:
The following suggestions ... Virtual-
Jonathan Mosen:
Get the voice mode back.
JAWS:
Send message button ... toggle voice mode button. Voice mode is off, click to turn on. Voice mode is on.
CoBrowse AI:
Voice is now on
JAWS:
Speech mute.
Jonathan Mosen:
How deep are the pockets on this shirt?
CoBrowse AI:
I looked at the product description for the 5.11 tactical men's peak long sleeve shirt. And while it mentions a roomy button down chest pocket, it doesn't specify the exact depth of the pockets. I don't see that information anywhere else on the page either.
Jonathan Mosen:
Do you think it'd be big enough to hold an iPhone 16 Pro Max?
CoBrowse AI:
That's a good question. I'm looking at the product description for the 5.11 tactical men's peak long sleeve shirt again and it only mentions a roomy button down chest pocket without giving specific dimensions like length, width or depth. Because of that, I can't tell you for sure if an iPhone 16 Pro Max would fit in it.
Jonathan Mosen:
What are the reviews like of this product?
CoBrowse AI:
I see a section on the page for top user reviews and it says, no reviews yet, be the first to review this product. So it looks like there aren't any reviews for this shirt yet.
Jonathan Mosen:
I'm not going to bring up the checkout screen because if I do that you'll get my personal address details on screen and all that kind of good stuff, so we don't necessarily want that, but it is all filled in there. If you are on a device, that lets you pay with Apple Pay, you can do that. They have other technology as well including just paying with a credit card and it really is a pretty straightforward checkout process which is powered by Stripe. I want to go back to the previous page.
JAWS:
Going back, navigated to home. Searching for men's long sleeve-
Jonathan Mosen:
Now, we have all of these results on the one page. We can also talk to CoBrowse AI from here and do a little bit of comparison shopping in terms of the different shirt options that are on display. So let's try that.
JAWS:
Open CoBrowse AI button. CoBrowse AI is typing. Results for men's long-
Jonathan Mosen:
Let's see if we can get the voice mode back.
JAWS:
Close chat- How can I sort what filtering- show ... can I search for ... Send message but- toggle voice mode button. Voice mode is off. Click ... Toggle voice mode button-
CoBrowse AI:
Voice mode is now on.
JAWS:
Speech mute.
Jonathan Mosen:
Of the items that you can see on the screen. Are there any plain white shirts?
Jonathan Mosen voice over:
And this is one occasion where I'm going to come in and do a voice over dub because the answer to this question takes a very long time to come. And I think the reason for that is that we have all of these products on the one page, there's a good number. I've asked it a reasonably complex question where it has to go and search a whole number of options to get the answer that it wants, but it's definitely time-consuming.
And sometimes it can take so long that you think something has broken. But typically as long as you're confident that you have voice mode on, it'll get there.
CoBrowse AI:
Yes, I can see a couple of plain white shirts on the page.
Jonathan Mosen:
Could you tell me about those shirts?
CoBrowse AI:
Certainly, I can tell you more about those plain white shirts. First, there's the Alimens and Gentle men's long sleeve collared, button-up shirt. Retailer, Walmart. Price, it's currently priced at 16.99 dollars, which is 15% off its original price of 19.99 dollars.
Rating, it has a rating of 4.6 out of five stars based on 35 reviews. Shipping and returns. It offers free delivery and a free 30-day return policy. Second, there's the men's dress shirt, regular fit stretch, Stain shield, long sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button down shirts.
Retailer, Amazon. Price, this one is 14.99 dollars, which is 21% off its original price of 18.99 dollars. Rating, it has a rating of 4.5 out of five stars based on 2,233 reviews, shipping and returns. This shirt also offers free delivery arriving by Friday, August 22nd and has a free 30-day return policy. Both shirts are long-sleeved, collared and have a regular fit. The Amazon option specifically mentions being Stain shield and wrinkle-free, which might be helpful.
Jonathan Mosen:
Do either of them have a pocket?
Jonathan Mosen Voice Ogher:
And I'm overdubbing my voice again to say, it's gone to search for that and I feel like my life is just hanging in the balance here with this answer because if one of these plain white shirts has a pocket, then I've probably found the thing that I'm purchasing. So we just hang in here and hope for an affirmative response from Innosearch, which has gone a way to think about it. So this can be a little disconcerting that it takes so long.
But I imagine the technology will speed up over time, but would hope so. So let's go and see if we can get that answer.
CoBrowse AI:
That's a great question.
Jonathan Mosen:
I know.
CoBrowse AI:
I've checked the images for those two shirts. The Alimens and Gentle men's long-sleeve, collared, button-up shirt from Walmart does have a chest pocket. The men's dress shirt, regular fit stretch Stain shield, long-sleeve, solid, business, wedding, button-down shirts from Amazon does not have a chest pocket. So if you're looking for a pocket, the Alimens and Gentle shirt would be the one.
Jonathan Mosen:
So it took us a while to get there, but we did get there and we found that there is a plain white shirt, it has a pocket, it's at a pretty good price and it's from a retailer that I consider reputable and that I trust and that's the kind of description that might have taken me quite a while, if I was drilling down and looking at things manually. So, the combination of the fact that Innosearch is aggregating these retailers and that you have the CoBrowse AI feature is pretty nice.
It does seem to be a little bit of extra verbiage when you are typing into the chat at the moment and I suspect that's something that is a timing issue that could be tightened up in time. Just to talk a little more about the checkout process, obviously, if I hadn't pressed the buy now button and I had added items to the cart, you would be able to review what was in your cart and delete items, change quantities, et cetera, before you got to checkout. When you do make the purchase, you will get an email from Innosearch very quickly and it will include the details of the purchase.
And interestingly, it might also consolidate items if you've bought from multiple stores and as the order is processed and shipped, you'll receive notification emails. On the Innosearch website, in your account, you can check your orders and see the status.
I made reference earlier to the fact that Innosearch is multimodal and we've already seen this actually on the website. You can type to it. You can dictate to it. You can use this CoBrowse AI feature as well. But there's more modes than that because aside from the web interface, Innosearch has another very innovative feature that deserves its own discussion and demonstration.
And this is shopping by a standard phone call. This is particularly useful for blind people who may not be comfortable with computers or smartphones or perhaps for anybody in situations where using a phone is just more convenient.
Sometimes older individuals or those with certain motor impairments find a simple telephone call to be the easiest interface. There's no need for a device with a screen at all and I have stopped screen sharing for the moment because we're not concerned with the website. I have my phone here. Call 855-746-7478.
Phone:
Calling 855-746-7478.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
Hi, I'm Innosearch, your personal shopping assistant here to simplify your shopping experience. Just let me know what you need and I'll handle product search, finding past orders, cart management and payment. Your cart and shipping address are linked to your phone number. So if you're disconnected, simply redial to continue. How can I help you today?
Jonathan Mosen:
I'm looking for Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
Please hold on while I search for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for you. This may take a moment.
Jonathan Mosen Voice Over::
And indeed it does take a moment. I'm overdubbing my voice again to say that when I made this call there is quite a delay and what you'll find is that even though I asked for the correct product, it is called Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. When these results eventually come back, it's not what I want and I have to ask for them in a different way. I'll get the product that I'm after.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
I found 72 products for Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. The top three are: one, Revo ray shiny gold, polarized green glass sunglasses, 124404 SG50 208.70 dollars by eBay. Two, get Smart Blue Ray new 9.44 dollars by eBay; Two Pieces rear window lift, gas struts for smart 4220052016 33.59 dollars by eBay. Would you like to add any of them to your cart? Two pieces rear window-
Jonathan Mosen:
Search for Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. Jonathan Mosen Voice Over:
Now that's not officially what the product is called, but this should bring the results back and you'll hear it say Ray-Ban Meta, even though I searched for Meta Ray-Ban so that's curious.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
Please hold on while I search for Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses for you.
Jonathan Mosen:
Yeah. W-w-w-we’ll wait.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
This may take a moment. I found 52 products for Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses. The top three are: one Ray-Ban Meta Headliner 329 dollars by Best Buy; Two, Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer square AI glasses, 329 dollars by Bloomingdale’s; Ray-Ban Wayfarer glasses with Meta AI audio, photo, video compatibility 329.99 dollars by Walmart. Would you like to add any to your cart?
Jonathan Mosen:
Can you compare the first two? How do they differ visually?
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
Please wait while I look for details. Please wait while I look for details. The Ray-Ban Meta headliner features classic Ray-Ban style with tech, like a twelve-inch camera, five-mic array, open-ear speakers, customizable lenses and polarized G-15 lenses.
The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Square AI glasses offer a matte black look with AI features. Photo, video capture, music and calls. It requires Meta AI app and account both cost around 329 dollars with free 30-day returns. Would you like to see images or add either to your cart?
Jonathan Mosen:
Which do you think looks more fashionable?
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
The Meta headliner has a classic stylish Ray-Ban look with iconic frame design, the Meta Wayfarer has a modern matte black square style. Headliner is more classic fashionable.
Jonathan Mosen:
Okay, give me a full description of the headliners.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
The Ray-Ban Meta Headliner combines style and tech with iconic Ray-Ban aesthetics, audio clarity by a five-mic array, dual open-ear speakers, 12 empty camera customizable lenses, polarized G-15 lenses and Meta AI voice control. It's perfect for hands-free calls, capturing high-res photos, videos, Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity and UV protection. Free 30-day return included. Want me to add it to your cart?
Jonathan Mosen:
Yes.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
I've successfully added one of Ray-Ban Unisex Meta Headliner Sunglasses Black Green to your cart.
Jonathan Mosen:
Check out.
Inosearch Shopping Assistant:
To summarize, you have one item in your cart totaling 329 dollars, not including taxes. I'm now transferring you to Stripe for payment. Please redial if you need to reach me again. To summarize, you have one item in your cart totaling 329 dollars, not including taxes. I'm now transferring you to Stripe for payments. Please redial if you need to reach me again.
Stripe Checkout:
You are now on Stripe Checkout. Your name on the order is Jonathan Mosen. Press one, to confirm. Press two to provide a different name.
Voiceover:
One.
Stripe Checkout:
Please state your full shipping address. For example, 1 Main Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11201. You can also hang up, text the address to 855-746-7478 and re-dial to continue.
Jonathan Mosen:
I am going to bail out at this point because I don't want to buy another pair of Ray-Ban glasses, but some interesting points to note there. So we did have to search for Meta Ray-Ban and it came up, even though the product is called Ray-Ban Meta, so that was an interesting little glitch.
But the process is very simple, straightforward and then, it will talk you through the checkout process. So that is how you do your shopping over the phone with Innosearch.
Innosearch is also one of numerous ways that membership of the National Federation of the Blind brings you practical benefits for. And regardless of whether you're currently an NFB member, you can support the work of the National Federation of the Blind by choosing to round up the cost of your purchase to the nearest dollar. A little change can deliver great change. So when you check out and you're at that screen for making your purchase, there is a button that you can switch on that says do you want to round up for the NFB?
So for example, if your purchase price was 13.49 dollars and you round up, then the NFB would get 51 cents. And believe me, that all adds up over time and once that switch is on, it stays on until you choose to disable it again.
Hopefully, you will not choose to do that. We certainly appreciate your support. If you are an NFB member, then you should log in to your NFB profile and you'll find the details of how to get a credit on your Innosearch account and when you set it up, just for being an NFB member.
Now, that we've thoroughly covered Innosearch and its features, let's shift gears to another innovation in this space, something on the browser side of things, this time. Specifically, Microsoft's new Copilot vision feature in their edge browser that can help you make sense of any website including shopping sites that are cluttered or confusing.
And this could complement services like Innosearch by helping with those occasions when you do venture onto a regular retail website. Copilot Vision is an accessibility-oriented feature that uses AI to analyze the content of whatever app or browser window you have open.
And then, it answers questions about that content or gives you an overview. In the context of Edge, the web browser. It means you can effectively ask the AI, what does this website contain or how do I use this site? And it will respond with a detailed description in speech and optionally, highlight areas on the screen that can be helpful, if you have some usable vision. It can guide you by telling you where certain elements are and suggesting actions that you can take. It's important to note that Copilot Vision doesn't automatically fix or rearrange the site.
Instead, it acts as a dynamic narrator, if you will, and a guide. You still use your screen reader or your keyboard to interact, but Copilot can supplement that by giving you info that you might otherwise miss or that's hard to find.
So think of it as calling over a sighted assistant for a quick overview of what's on the page or where something is, except the assistant is an AI built into the browser. Currently, Copilot vision is available in the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows 11 and it's rolling out likely to everyone by now, at least here in the United States.
You may need to ensure that you are signed in with a Microsoft personal account, it does not work with corporate accounts and that you have the latest version of Edge and that your windows is up-to-date. To launch Copilot Vision, there is a shortcut, which is Control-Shift-Period, and that opens the Copilot sidebar in edge. So I'll press that now.
JAWS:
Copilot. Copilot. Copilot frame. Main region. Copilot.
Jonathan Mosen:
And we'll press Tab.
JAWS:
Open, chat mode, menu button, menu. Open button collapsed, talk to Copilot button.
Jonathan Mosen:
And talk to Copilot is the one that we want. So I'm going to press enter.
JAWS:
Anker 20,000 MAH Power Bank built in USB-C cable 87W2 USB-C-
Copilot Vision:
This Anker 20,000 MAH Power Bank with a built-in USB-C cable, an 87 watt output is going for 73.49 dollars. If you're looking for a reliable portable charger, this could be a great choice. The price even comes with an 11% discount from its original 83 dollars. It's available in various colors too. Want to add it to your cart?
Jonathan Mosen:
Not yet. Tell me about the colors.
Copilot Vision:
This power bank comes in three colors, black, violet and white. It's always nice to have options to match your personal style. Which color catches your eye?
Jonathan Mosen:
I think I'd like the white one. Does it have USB-A support? Can you confirm that for me?
Copilot Vision:
Absolutely. The Anker 20,000 MAH Power Bank with a built-in USB-C cable also supports USB-A connections. It's a versatile charger that can handle multiple devices. The white one sounds like a sleek choice.
Jonathan Mosen:
All right, I'm going to head over to Amazon now and the browser, that was the Innosearch feature that we were last using. So we'll go to Amazon now.
JAWS:
Address and Search bar ... This page is accessing your microphone. Change the setting into the address bar. Amazon.com, Spend less, smile more ...
Jonathan Mosen:
Search for laptops under 1,500 dollars
JAWS:
Opening. New tab. Amazon.com. Amazon.com. Seven regions 123 headings and 478 links. Speech mute.
Copilot Vision:
I found some laptops on Amazon under 1,500 dollars. One option is the Microsurface Surface laptop with a 15-inch touch screen, 32 gigabyte RAM and one terabyte SSD for 1,599 dollars. There's also the Apple 2025 MacBook Air with a 15.3 inch liquid retina display priced at 1,578 dollars. There's also a Lenovo Canvas Pro at 1,699 dollars. Any of these catch your eye?
Jonathan Mosen:
Which of those three has the highest rating?
Copilot Vision:
The Microsoft Surface laptop has the highest rating among the three. It's got some great reviews.
Jonathan Mosen:
Are you enthusiastic about that because you are Microsoft too?
Copilot Vision:
I don't have personal preferences, but it's pretty cool that we get to talk about Microsoft Tech together. What's got you interested in the Surface laptop?
Jonathan Mosen:
Well you actually, because you seem to be pushing it on me. So tell me about its specs. How many USB ports does it have?
Copilot Vision:
It can vary depending on the specific model, but generally the Microsoft Surface laptop has a couple of USB ports, likely a combination of USB-A and USB-C. It's a good idea to double check the product details on the Amazon page.
Jonathan Mosen:
But that's what I want you to do. Check the product details and tell me exactly how many USB ports that particular model has and whether they're both USB-C or whether there's USB-A. I want to know everything you can tell me about the ports.
Copilot Vision:
Sounds like you're diving deep. Let me check the details on Amazon for the exact USB port specs on that surface laptop model. Give me a moment. The Microsoft Surface laptop model has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port. It's a solid mix, giving you options for connecting different devices. Pretty handy, right?
Jonathan Mosen:
Yeah. Does that one also have cellular connectivity? Does it have 5G built in?
Copilot Vision:
It doesn't have cellular connectivity built in, so no 5G. It's more about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for connectivity. Are you looking to use it on the go?
Jonathan Mosen:
Of course. So what's the rating on this?
Copilot Vision:
The Microsoft Surface laptop you're looking at has a solid 4.3 star rating. It's a trustworthy choice, though it doesn't have built-in cellular connectivity, what else can I help you with on this?
Jonathan Mosen:
Can you give me a summary of the reviews? What are the pros? What are the cons?
Copilot Vision:
All right, looking at the reviews, users love the sleek design and vibrant screen performance, especially with the Snapdragon processor is praised as snappy. The most mentioned downside is the lack of built-in cellular connectivity. The battery life gets mixed reviews, but overall, it's solid for the price range. Anything else you're curious about?
Jonathan Mosen:
You mentioned a MacBook before, could you take a look at that deep and tell me about that MacBook you brought up?
Copilot Vision:
Sure. The Apple 2024 MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip is a 14.2 inch model, featuring a liquid retina XDR display. It comes with 24 gigabytes of unified memory-
Jonathan Mosen:
What's the price on that?
Copilot Vision:
The Apple 2024 MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip is a 14.2 inch model-
Jonathan Mosen:
Price, price, how much does it cost?
Copilot Vision:
The Apple 2025 MacBook Air with the M4 chip and 15.3 inch liquid retina display is available for 1,578 on Amazon. Ready to dive into some features?
Jonathan Mosen:
Okay, so we just changed models there. So one minute. We were talking about the pro from 2024 and now, we're talking about the Air from 2025, but yes, okay. Let's have a look at the MacBook Air from 2025. What can you tell me about that?
Copilot Vision:
The 2025 MacBook Air is a 15-inch model with a liquid retina display. It's equipped with the M4 chip, 24 gigabytes of unified memory and 512 gigabytes of SSD storage designed in a sleek midnight finish. It'll make a fashionable statement. It's got a top rating too. What's your main interest in this laptop?
Jonathan Mosen:
What is that rating, specifically?
Copilot Vision:
The Apple 2025 MacBook Air with the M4 chip has a perfect 5.0 star rating. Impressive, right? What's catching your eye about this model?
Jonathan Mosen:
It is interesting that you were putting the surface first, which had a lower rating. But anyway, okay, so can you tell me about the ports on the MacBook Air because you don't get a lot of ports on that one, right?
Copilot Vision:
Right. The MacBook Air is known for its slim design, but that does mean fewer ports. Typically, you'd find two Thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack and maybe a MagSafe charging port, depending on the model year and configuration.
Jonathan Mosen:
Okay. Can you specifically go into the MacBook Air 2025 model we've been talking about and don't speculate, tell me exactly what the ports are on that particular model.
Copilot Vision:
All right, let's get specific. The 2025 MacBook Air that we're checking out here has a few ports. You've got two Thunderbolt ports for speedy data transfer and connecting to external devices, a headphone jack, and depending on the configuration, there may also be a MagSafe charging port. It's a minimalist approach ensuring a sleek and lightweight design. Does that cover what you were curious about?
Jonathan Mosen:
Okay, so there are a few contradictions there, but it does behave particularly well on Amazon. As I said earlier, you won't get that experience everywhere, where it actually looks up for you. It opens new tabs in the browser, which is what it was doing there when I was asking it to drill deeper into those individual products.
It isn't that good on every site, but on sites where they've enabled that kind of agent technology, it really is quite an impressive experience and this is quite a new feature from Microsoft.
And as I mentioned at my address to national Convention, you're going to be hearing a lot more about AI agents in the next year. This is the next big thing where these AI companies are going to try and do more and more for you and with your consent, take control of the computer and that does have some interesting benefits for online shopping.
We'll continue our look at online shopping shortly when we talk Amazon's Rufus here on Access On.
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Announcement Speaker 1:
Episodes are coming out fall of 2025. Subscribe and follow now.
Announcement Speaker 3:
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Jonathan Mosen:
This is the season to be doing online shopping. So let's go back to our look at that subject. And Kennedy Zimnik is going to talk with us about Amazon's Rufus AI tool.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Rufus is Amazon's AI chatbot. It's not nearly as robust as what we were just looking at. It's more of a smaller service that is available to anybody with an Amazon account, that helps you search for things and it also helps you learn more about things you've already searched for on Amazon.
I like to use it by summarizing the customer reviews for whatever you find on Amazon. It gives a good summary of what most of the reviews say. You don't need a Prime account, you just need an Amazon account in order to access Rufus.
I'm using NVDA, but this will work very similarly with other screen readers on other browsers. And I'm in Chrome I should mention. So there are a couple of things with Rufus that I wish were a little bit better.
Mostly, I wish there was an easier shortcut to find Rufus. As it is right now, there is a button in the top row of menu items on Amazon. And then also once you select the product, there is an ask more heading that you can find. So I'm just on the Amazon homepage right now. The Rufus button, the second option in this row of menu items, it is close after the cart button
NVDA:
Deliver to Kennedy, Baltimore ... Search Amazon. Go button. Clickable, choose expand ... Clickable. Hello. Returns and orders link. Zero items in cart link. Play. Replay. Open all categories, menu. Open Rufus panel button.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Okay, then, here’s the open Rufus panel. So if I press Enter on this ...
NVDA:
Close Rufus: Ask Rufus a question, edit multi-line blank.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Now the focus switch to ask Rufus a question. If we didn't know where to start, it does give you some suggestions.
NVDA:
Fragmented speech as Kennedy navigates.
Main landmark. Banner Landmark. Ask Rufus a ... Out of edit button, thumbs up, feed list, button button. Out of region link. Link four points. Link more great temperature. Link four points. Link head, link head, affordable price. Exit link price 4.6. Link, C best. Twist link, link, link. Limited to four. Link heading C premium before keeping out of region with Rufus has completed generating which water bottle.
Kennedy Zimnik:
So before that was just me arrowing up through Rufus. Unfortunately, when it produces a response, it doesn't automatically switch the focus. So I typed in before this, which water bottles are best for keeping drinks cold or hot?
NVDA:
For keeping drinks hot or cold, you'll want vacuum insulated stainless steel bottles. These use double wall insulation to maintain temperatures for hours. Here are the top performers. Region.
Kennedy Zimnik:
And then it gives you a list of products on Amazon that fit whatever you just ask. So this will give me some water bottles
NVDA:
Out of region, premium performance leaders. See more. Link heading level two, Yeti Rambler 26 ounces bottle.
Kennedy Zimnik:
And there are some headings here.
NVDA:
Hydro flask, water bottle th raised hand alert, thermo stainless king, vacuum insulated beverage bottle, 40 and 26 ounces insulated water bottle with two-
Kennedy Zimnik:
So why don't we go ahead and ask Rufus a question.
NVDA:
Thumbs up feedback button. Ask Rufus a question. Edit ...
Kennedy Zimnik:
We'll use the T-shirt example that Jonathan used in his ... So I'll say I'm going to a wedding and looking to buy a T-shirt.
NVDA:
I'm going to a wedding and need a dress shirt.
Kennedy Zimnik:
I'm going to a wedding and need a dress shirt.
NVDA:
Heard. Rufus is currently generating a response.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Now it's nice that it says that but it doesn't actually switch the focus. When it does generate the response, you unfortunately have to arrow up to get to the response. And screen reader users also don't know when it's done generating that response.
NVDA:
Out of edit buttons. Key features out of region pre ... linked up, right 4.6 link, link stretch polyesters, link price. Links, link link, 4.6. Link head, link head. See modern w-
Kennedy Zimnik:
Now I'm going up, pressing the up arrow through this list of shirts that it gave me.
NVDA:
More details, stretch cotton link 22 stretch cotton blend. More details.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Here. Let's just select one of them.
NVDA:
Stretch cotton- link 22 dollars and .. Amazon.com, J dot- banner Landmark. Ask Rufus a question, edit, multi line blank. Rufus has completed generating a ...
Kennedy Zimnik:
And I mentioned some pre-populated questions before.
NVDA:
Out of edit button, thumbs up list button. What occasions is this good for? Button,
Does it have a pocket? Button,
Is the shirt machine washable?
Kennedy Zimnik:
So these are all questions that Rufus came up with.
NVDA:
Button, does it have a pocket?
Kennedy Zimnik:
Let's do, does it have a pocket?
NVDA:
Ask Rufus a question. Edit multi-line, blank. Out of region does ... No. The J dot For dress shirt you're looking at does not have a chest pocket. The product attributes specifically ...
Kennedy Zimnik:
If we already know the product we're looking for and we want to find out more about it ...
NVDA:
Search Amazon edit has ...
Kennedy Zimnik:
Let's search for water bottles like I was doing before. We'll do an Nalgene Water bottle.
NVDA:
N-a-l, prefix N-A-L-G-E-N-E-N-A-T-E, water, B-O-T-T. Prefix, Nalgene dialogue table. Amazon.com. Ruf- banner, land H.
Kennedy Zimnik:
Don't want to use Rufus quite yet.
NVDA:
Eight, one two ... list amethyst butter link ... plus 20 water bottle. Lightweight sustain Triton BP
Kennedy Zimnik:
Let's go ahead and select.
NVDA:
Amazon.com, Rufus Main Landmark clickable Sale. Sold by heading level four Returns heading ... Gift off ask Rufus. Heading level five.
Kennedy Zimnik:
So now there's an Ask Rufus heading level
NVDA:
Button, is a dishwasher safe?
Kennedy Zimnik:
And there's-
NVDA:
Does it fit in Cup holder? Link. Button, is it dishwasher safe?
Kennedy Zimnik:
Let's do that.
NVDA:
Ruf- banner, landmark. Ask Rufus a question, edit.
Kennedy Zimnik:
And whenever you select Rufus, it opens up the little chatbot dialogue in the bottom left corner.
NVDA:
Rufus has completed ...
Kennedy Zimnik:
Okay, so it does say Rufus is complete. Instead of just saying that it should switch the focus, you do have to arrow up to get the actual response.
Jonathan Mosen:
And finally, here's Karl Belanger taking a look at Walmart's Sparky AI.
Karl Belanger:
Walmart has recently released their Sparky AI assistant. Right now it is app only. So I have prepared a demo using the iOS app. It's also available in Android. It's not currently available on the Walmart website, but that should be coming.
And similar to the Rufus AI, it can go through and describe reviews, search products, things like that. As I said, I've prepared a demo. It's right around 10 minutes going through a chat and demonstrating a couple accessibility issues With the iOS app.
I will say it is nice that it reads out the messages as they come in and we can roll the demo.
So I'm in the Walmart app,
Voiceover:
Walmart logo. Your cart is empty, button.
Karl Belanger:
And I'm just flicking-
Voiceover:
Navigates to your cart.
Karl Belanger:
The items on the top, at the bottom on the navigation bar in the middle is the Ask Sparky icon.
Voiceover:
Tab bar Ask Sparky. Tab three of five.
Karl Belanger:
I will double tap on that.
Voiceover:
Processing your request. Processing your request. Receive message. Hi Karl, let's get started. How can I help you today? Two new messages. Swipe backwards or explore by touch to read.
Karl Belanger:
And as you heard, we get a generic welcome message and it also gave some other feedback about that I can swipe backward or explore by touch. So I'm just gonna flick through this screen here.
Voiceover:
There are two ... Ask Sparky, heading.
Karl Belanger:
So I just went back to the top.
Voiceover:
Chat history button.
Karl Belanger:
Now we have a chat history where as you've gone through conversations you can go back to previous discussions. I'm going to do that in a minute to demonstrate how a conversation might go and the type of information it can provide, but for now, I'll keep clicking.
Voiceover:
Starkey is powered by AI and can make mistakes. Never share personally sensitive or protected health information.
Karl Belanger:
That's always a good warning no matter what AI you're using.
Voiceover:
Privacy notice, link. Terms of use, link.
Karl Belanger:
And then we have the legal stuff.
Voiceover:
View terms of use, receive message. Hi Karl, let's get started. How can I help you today? Use the action rotors to select.
Karl Belanger:
We heard earlier, I'll keep clicking.
Voiceover:
There are two buttons in the group. One of two. I want to plan a party button. Two of two. Explore easy snack packs for kids, button, Chat, text field. You can type your message here.
Karl Belanger:
Then it gives us two feedback or features of things we could try. And then, we have our chat box.
Voiceover:
Ask me anything
Karl Belanger:
And a line that says "Ask me anything." Now to get started you could type a question about a product you're looking for or comparison shopping or anything relating to products at Walmart, you may want to do. I prepared a chat beforehand so that we don't have to wait around for it to write messages because it can take a few seconds. And to streamline this recording, I'm going to go back to the top.
Voiceover:
Chat. Two of- There are recent term ... Chat, ask, Ask Sparky. Chat history button.
Karl Belanger:
I'm going to go into chat history.
Voiceover:
Chat history. Chat history. Heading close chat. Today, heading. Skull Candy headphones, comparison, button.
Karl Belanger:
And given that I'm a big earbud and headphone fan, I thought we'd do a comparison of some Skull Candy headphones, which is a common popular brand. So I'll double tap on this.
Voiceover:
Decorative image sources, but receive message, screen recording, Ask Sparky, Heading. Chat ... Sparky is powered by ... Privacy, terms of use, link.
Karl Belanger:
And that notice about Powered by AI always stays at the top no matter what you're doing.
Voiceover:
Received message. Hi Karl, let's get started. How can I help you today? Use the action rotors to select-
Karl Belanger:
Also, the first message in every chat. I'll flick to the right.
Voiceover:
Sent message. Please compare the different Skull Candy headphones sold by Walmart.
Karl Belanger:
So I just did it with something fairly broad. Compare the Skull Candy headphones that Walmart sells. Let's see what it gave me.
Voiceover:
Received message: to help you compare Skull Candy headphones, I've listed several models with key features. Consider factors like sound quality, bass emphasis, noise cancellation, style: over ear, on ear, in ear, and features water resistance, battery life.
To find the best fit for your needs, the table below summarizes these key aspects for easier comparison. Use the action rotor ... Skull Candy Smokin Buds XT, true wireless earbuds was 19.73 dollars, now 14.88 dollars, link. Double tap-
Skull Crusher ANC XT-2 over-ear noise-canceling headphones, black, sponsored. Rated 4.7 out of five stars, 1,500 reviews. Was 199 dollars now 178.89 dollars, link.
Skull Candy Jib-XT in-ear earbud. Skull Candy Crusher wireless headphones. Rated 4.4. Skull Candy Crusher ANC-2 wireless headphones. Rated 4.6 out of five stars, 205 reviews. Was 229.99 dollars. Now 169.99 dollars, link.
Received message: do any of these features stand out to you? Knowing your preferences will help me narrow down the options further. Use the action rotors to select.
Karl Belanger:
It said there was a table with features, but all it shows to voiceover is the links to the products, which is a bit of an issue. There's a couple of other issues I'll get to in a minute. One, which is very big. But so we have a few models here. Unfortunately it gave me three of the same models. I could have asked it to try again or give some info, but I decided to just run with this. So my next question was ...
Voiceover:
Sent message. Please summarize the customer reviews for each of the Crusher models.
Karl Belanger:
All right.
Voiceover:
Use the action rotors to select.
Karl Belanger:
The three different models were all part of their Crusher, which is their extra baseline up. So let's see what it says about the customer reviews.
Voiceover:
Received message. The Skull Candy Crusher, ANC XT2 and Crusher ANC 2 are essentially the same product, offering a fun listening experience with powerful, skull rattling bass that can be adjusted. Users appreciate the comfortable fit, tactile control buttons and excellent battery life. Up to 50 hours with ANC off.
The Skullike app allows for customization and updates while the noise cancellation is present, it’s not considered class-leading and may not completely block out all ambient sounds. The sound quality is generally good, with clear mids and highs, though some users note that the bass can be overwhelming if not adjusted.
The build quality is often praised with a comfortable design and a good quality carry and case. Some users have experienced issues with multipoint pairing. The Skull Candy Crusher Wireless headphones are known for their strong bass response and long battery life. They are generally considered comfortable due to ample padding, though some users with glasses might find the clamping force:
Karl Belanger:
And it goes on a little bit longer to talk about the features of the Crusher, but it gives a decent summary of the customer reviews, both the good and the bad, which I felt it did a good job of calling out some of the features, highlighting different points and not just fixating on one thing. I decided to give it one more question and compare it to something that wasn't part of the chat so far, to see if it can do comparisons to other things.
Voiceover:
Decorative image sources, button.
Karl Belanger:
And apparently there's some decorative images in there and this is where I can see the sources it used.
Voiceover:
Sent message. How do the Skull Candy Crushers compare to other bass forward headphones like the Sony ULT Wear? Use the-
Received message: both Skull Candy Crusher and Sony ULT Wear headphones cater to bass loving users, but they achieve this in different ways and have varying strengths and weaknesses.
Skull Candy Crusher, known for its adjustable bass slider, offering a customizable base experience. Reviews highlight powerful base response as a key feature, but some find it overwhelming without adjustment.
Sound quality is generally considered good, with clear mids and highs, though the bass can dominate. Comfort is generally good, but the clamping force might be too strong for some.
Build quality is decent, but primarily plastic. Battery life is a strong point.
Sony ULT Wear emphasizes powerful bass, often described as boomy or thunderous.
Karl Belanger:
So again, we get a nice, straightforward, concise comparison, talking about the main features of each going through and highlighting key similarities and differences that we have there.
Voiceover:
Decorative image sources, button.
Karl Belanger:
We have the image sources button, again,
Voiceover:
Vertical scroll, bar, chat, text field.
Karl Belanger:
And now we have-
Voiceover:
You can type your message here.
Karl Belanger:
Our chat box here so I could ask you other questions, compare it to other headphones, things like that. I will note, when you send a chat, you'll get a voiceover rule speak a message saying “processing, please wait,” and after four or five seconds, the chat message will come in and it will read out whatever the response is automatically without you having to go find it, which is a nice feature. One big issue is that I'm going to scroll past the chat box.
Voiceover:
Ask me anything, ask me anything.
Karl Belanger:
And that just ask me anything line, that always appears when the chat box is empty is there. I'm going to go back to the top.
Voiceover:
Ask Sparky, heading.
Karl Belanger:
There's the Ask Sparky. If I flick to the left:
Voiceover:
Ask Sparky, heading.
Karl Belanger:
Nothing there.
Voiceover:
Chat history, button. Sparky is powered by AI and can make privacy terms of ... Received message: Hi.
Karl Belanger:
There is no current way with voiceover running to exit the Ask Sparky window. Once you get into it in the Walmart app, the only way to get out of the Ask Sparky window is to close the Walmart app through the app switcher and go back in, unless you go to a product detail page and that you may be able to get out of it that way as well.
But if you just want to get back to the main screen, there really is no close button or anything in the Ask Sparky app or feature, which is a big accessibility concern right now. Some other things I've noticed, if you try to ask it about availability or store pickup, it's going to need you to specify the exact store name and even then my experience was hit or miss, but for product recommendations or advice or comparison shopping, it seems to do a pretty good job.
It can also show up in search results. It will sometimes prompt you to ask Sparky about the search results or on a product detail page, it may prompt you to ask the AI questions you may have about the products and things like that.
So overall, it's a fairly straightforward, not overly feature rich AI. It's still fairly new. It only rolled out in the app in this Ask Sparky format a couple of months ago, and I know they're still heavily developing it, so I would not be surprised to see more features come about in the future.
Jonathan Mosen:
Thank you, Karl. And a couple of points to note. That was produced in August of 2025. Since then, Innosearch has indeed rolled out its food delivery service. This is an alternative to using apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash and Grubhub. You can do food delivery from Innosearch itself if you wish, and the experience seems to be very accessible, Innosearch AI and then choose food delivery from there. We'll be back next week. Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
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