April 2026 BT Speak Update Release Notes
Introduction
Blazie Technologies is proud to introduce a new update for BT Speak, featuring powerful AI capabilities built on Google’s revolutionary Vertex AI platform. This direct integration brings advanced intelligence into the Editor, enabling tools such as spell check, grammar refinement, document summarization, and more, seamlessly accessible in your writing workflow. In addition, this update introduces new Speech Repeat and History commands. Read on to explore all of the newest features, refinements and improvements included in this release.
These AI features are provided to all customers with an active maintenance contract without the need for a key or a personal AI account. Simply use the tools when you need them.
Quick Instructions for Updating Your BT Speak
Ensure that your BT Speak is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Your battery level should be 40% or higher.
Type O-Chord for the Options menu.
Type M for the BT Speak Management menu.
Type U to Check for Software Updates.
Your BT Speak should tell you that a new update is available and will ask if you’d like to install it. Press the letter Y to begin the installation.
The BT Speak will download and install the update. The installation may take as long as ten minutes to complete. Once BT Speak restarts, you will be able to start enjoying the new update.
AI-powered tools in the Editor
A new suite of AI-powered tools is now available in the Editor, built on the Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite model. These tools can be used across any file to perform tasks such as spell checking, grammar correction, language translation, word lookup, and more. These features are entirely optional and only run when you choose to use them. The core editing experience remains unchanged, and your documents are not processed unless you explicitly invoke an AI tool. To access AI Tools, press E-Chord from the Editor menu, then choose AI Tools (shortcut: I). To view help for any AI feature, press H-Chord within the AI Tools menu. AI tools and their respective shortcut keys are:
Ask Question: a
Use this tool to have AI answer a question directly from your document.
If your cursor is on a line, that line is sent as the question. If you have text selected, the selection is used instead. Note: This tool answers only the text you provide. It does not automatically analyze your full document unless you include that content in your question.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Spell Check: s
Checks the spelling on the current line or selection.
If corrections are found, the updated text replaces the original selection.
Grammar Check: G
Reviews the current line or selected text for grammar and spelling.
If corrections are made, the updated text replaces the original selection.
Translate: T
Translates the current line or selected text into another language.
Invoking this option will show a list of languages to choose.
The translated text replaces the original selection.
Summarize: S
Generates a summary of the current line or selected text.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Define Word: D
Provides a definition for the current word or selected text.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Etymology: E
Provides details about the origin and evolution of the current word or selected text.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Synonyms of Word: Y
Provides similar words for the current word or selected text.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Antonyms of Word: n
Provides opposite words for the current word or selected text.
The AI response opens in the file viewer. Press Z-Chord to return to your document.
Most of these commands use the contents of the current line or a marked block of text as their input. The define word commands default to the word under your cursor, unless you have made a marked block. As an example, if you wanted to spell check a multi-line paragraph of text, move to the beginning of the paragraph and press m-chord, which places a temporary mark at that spot. Next, move to the end of the block of text and press E-chord for the Editor menu, I for AI Tools and S for Spell Check. The text of the block that you marked will be spell-checked and any incorrect words will be replaced appropriately. If you don’t like the AI replacement, or you are unsure about it, you can use the undo command by pressing Control+Z (z with dots 7 and 8) to restore the original version of your document. These AI Tools are powered by the Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite model by default. See the AI Tools menu help for details on using other large language models. However, at present, if you have an Open AI key in place for AI Chat, this will be used for AI Tools requests. In that instance, AI Tools will use Open AI’s GPT-5.3 model.
Repeat the Last Spoken Announcement (R-chord)
Press R-chord to repeat the last spoken item that you heard on your BT Speak. Pressing R-chord with dot 8 copies the last spoken message to the clipboard. Note: The Review mode key has been moved from r-chord to v-chord. However, due to recent improvements in the way that BT Speak announces information, review mode is only relevant in the Blazie mode command prompt shell and when updating packages.
Access Your Speech History
Speech History allows you to review the last 500 items spoken by your BT Speak in the file viewer. These items are saved and remain available even after restarting your device. To open Speech History, press R-Chord with Dot 7. You can clear all saved items at any time using the Clear Speech History option by going to Options, Settings, Speech Settings. Note: To keep the history readable, very short or rapid messages are filtered. Messages that occur within 100 milliseconds of each other may be grouped together, and single characters or similar fragments are not stored.
The Now Playing Screen is globally available using ED-chord
The Now Playing feature from our Podcasts app can now be accessed in most places (including Desktop mode) using ED-chord (1-2-4-6-chord). If audio is playing or paused, you can navigate a menu with the following information and controls:
Hear the name of the audio (if available)
Hear the current and total play time, t
Pause or play, p
Volume 50%, v
Rate 1.0, r
Info, i
Skip 10 seconds, 0
Skip 30 seconds, 3
Skip 1 minute, 6
Skip 5 minutes, 5
Updates to YouTube Streaming
We are now updating the tools used to provide YouTube audio output more frequently. We hope this will make the app more reliable, but please let us know if you encounter any issues searching and playing YouTube content.
Special Log Command for Startup with No Speech Situations
To help diagnose cases where BT Speak starts with no speech output, we’ve added a special command that sends diagnostic logs to Blazie Technical Support for analysis. Please use this command only in the situation described below:
Use this command only if your device starts with no speech output.
Run the command only once, as it generates extensive log data.
After running the command, listen for any audio playback. A short spoken message will play through the speakers, which helps determine whether the issue is related to speech or general audio output.
To send the logs, press TH-Chord (dots 1-4-5-6).
Improvements to BT Code
BT Code continues to evolve as a powerful, accessible environment for learning and building with Python. This update introduces several enhancements designed to make coding easier to learn, easier to read, and more efficient to navigate.
Standard Python indentation: The default tab size is now set to four spaces in line with the Python standard. This will help beginners learn proper formatting from the start while keeping code consistent and readable. This setting also applies across all documents in the Blazie Editor.
Enhanced punctuation for coding: When editing a Python file, punctuation is automatically set to “all,” making symbols and structure easier to hear and understand. Your previous punctuation setting is restored when you exit the code editor.
Cursor position memory: Like lesson files, the code editor now remembers your last cursor position, allowing you to return to exactly where you left off when reopening your work.
Quality Improvements and New Additions
The Speak Title command (T-chord) has been updated to work correctly with the new self-voicing changes in the editor, as well as in the file viewer and the speech history.
The Where Am I command (WH-chord) now speaks more context in places such as speech history.
Typing uppercase letters now jumps to items in menus. This is similar to how you can type an uppercase letter in the file browser to jump to a file that begins with that letter.
We have added a “Clear Input History” option in the Reset Device menu. This clears all saved input prompt history.
In Tools/Wi-Fi Monitor, we delayed the announcement of “Wi-Fi added” to prevent potential audio instability during boot.
Bug Fixes
Several TTS voice installers stopped working; this has been fixed.
Single-letter contractions are now correctly spoken in input prompts.
Filenames are once again announced after creating them via New Quick Note or Braille Note.
Multilingual support has been enhanced across several applications and utilities.
Output from Python Help in the Code Editor is now tidier.
The microphone volume is no longer reset after a reboot.
Exiting from Help and other contexts now speaks “exit” for confirmation.
Titles of YouTube videos are now displayed correctly and consistently in the Now Playing dialog.
Package installations are faster during the update process, reducing upgrade time.
In the Weather app, a friendly message is now provided if weather configuration has not been set.
Minor improvements have been made to the Blazie Mode Thunderbird Compose Email application to improve reliability.
Fixed an issue in locale settings where the selected locale was offset by one item.
Locale-based time formatting now correctly uses 12- or 24-hour time. Note: changing locale or clock settings may require a reboot.
Updated sound card parameters to reduce instances of distorted audio.
Improved audio driver stability and performance to address rare cases where BT Speak boots without speech.
Concluding Remarks
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have suggestions or feedback. Email: support@blazie.net Phone: (772) 214-1616