In my previous article we looked at the top 4 app picks I have for users of Braille devices in the news category. Browsing the news is a wonderful thing that users, whether blind or deaf-blind, can do via Braille just fine, but another is reading books. Over the past year, many book retailers have made their content accessible. However, some have distinct advantages over one another in terms of Braille access.
Assistive Technology
Post Date:
USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, has today announced a new USB HID (Human Interface Device) industry standard that aims to simplify the development of braille displays and allow for an improved user experience.
In it's press release, USB-IF describes this new standard as:
Post Date:
I was a late adopter of the iPhone technology. I thought I didn't need ANOTHER gadget to keep track of. It wasn't until I heard some friends discussing their iPhones that I realized that an iPhone could replace many of the gadgets I used. Not only did the iPhone cut down on the number of gadgets I needed to carry, but it saved me money too!
Post Date:
Life is grand. I am content, happy with my home and neighborhood and live a relaxing and rewarding life. I'm just your average blind, retired and elderly fellow who wears hearing aids. The blindness is here to stay, as is my retirement status and I suspect I will continue to age. The only thing I really aspire to change is how well I hear and how well my hearing aids work with my iPhone.
Post Date:
In her latest song, "Shake it Off," the country/pop artist Taylor Swift wrote, "...the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." While I am sure that Ms. Swift was not referring to some peoples’ recent comments about Apple's commitment to accessibility when she wrote the song, the basic idea behind that particular phrase still applies.
Post Date:
I've just added a new page to this site that lists iOS apps developed specifically for the blind or people with low vision.
With the benefit of hindsight, this seems like something that we should have done some time ago, but they do say better late than never ... right? <smile>
Post Date:
At the end of each month, members of the AppleVis Editorial Team take a look at all the apps that have been posted to the site during that month—either for the first time, or where there has been a significant update—and decide which of these they think is the most noteworthy.
The AppleVis Editorial Team app picks of the month for July 2014 are as follows:
Post Date:
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and we are asking everybody to use this as an opportunity to reach out to iOS and OS X developers - to either encourage them to make their applications accessible and usable by the vision-impaired; or to show your appreciation for applications which already are.
Post Date:
This post has been updated to include tips for using the image description feature based on feedback received from the Applevis Editorial Team and members of the Applevis community.
Post Date:
Personal note: When I first began to write this blog, I was in the middle of experiencing Hurricane Harvey firsthand. As I tend to approach any adversity with a light-hearted touch, my story below reflects that attitude about my own circumstances. Still, I am sadly aware of the toll on lives that Harvey caused in Texas and of the on-going impact from other storms now ripping across many islands and moving towards the mainland. My heart goes out to all those who have been affected.
Morgan Watkins
September 7, 2017
And now, my story...
Post Date:
When I heard the news of the release of iOS 5, I didn't own an iDevice. However, I was thrilled to know that it'll provide Premium voices as well as the previous ones which are now called Compact voices. So I was looking forward to trying them as soon as I got my iPhone 4S. I used to think that my 4S came with the Premium voices though I didn't have the "Use compact voice" option under Settings->General->Accessibility->VoiceOver -- I was wrong. Honestly, I was mistaken partly because I was pleased with the way the Compact voices were functioning.
Post Date:
A Brief History
I got my first iOS device, an iPod Touch (fourth generation), for Christmas in 2010. I was resistant at first, but eventually warmed up to it and grew to rely on it more than the braille notetaker I had used for over eight years. Given that positive experience with Apple, and all the comments about VoiceOver on the Mac I'd been hearing, I decided to give the Mac a shot. In 2011, I purchased the cheapest Mac I could, a low-end Mac Mini.
Post Date:
I started taking piano lessons for the first time in the so-called days of yore -- that is, when I was 12 years old and, like many teenagers, didn't appreciate the value of getting my feet wet in the field at that opportune age. I was simultaneously attending English classes and, given the fact that I didn't have a piano at home to practice, I even came to the conclusion that the time I might spend at, or on, the piano can be devoted to English. As an Iranian I knew how mastering English could provide me with a whole host of opportunities -- something I don't regret to this day.
Post Date:
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) has released an iOS app that enables RFB&D members to
explore RFB&D’s extensive library of more than 64,000 downloadable DAISY formatted books.
The main features of the new app are:
Post Date:
Don and I met during college Orientation in late July 1972. He was 18 and I was 17. Don was blind and I was heading in that direction. I have retinitis pigmentosa and had already lost my night vision. Don and I saw advantages to becoming roommates. He would teach me essential future blindness skills and, per his request, I would hide his bottle of Southern Comfort.
Post Date:
The Sendero Group, developers of the Seeing Eye GPS app and other accessible GPS products has, in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, just launched a fully-featured turn-by-turn GPS app for users in the United Kingdom.
The app, called RNIB Navigator, was developed in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Sendero’s RNIB Navigator webpage lists the main features of RNIB Navigator as follows:
Post Date:
Noises coming from Sendero suggest that the release of their long-anticipated turn-by-turn GPS iOS app could be edging closer.
According to their website, the Seeing Eye GPS app will include all the normal navigation features that you would expect from a traditional GPS, plus features unique to blind users. These include:
Post Date:
Sendero's long-anticipated turn-by-turn GPS iOS app made a brief appearance in the iTunes App Store overnight.
Unfortunately, by the time that this news started to spread around the Internet, the Seeing Eye GPS App had already disappeared once more.
Although it's still unclear why the app was removed so quickly, a number of people who were able to download it have reported that they were unable to process the in-app purchase.
Post Date:
AppleInsider is reporting on claims coming out of Japan that the Apple Store will begin selling accessibility-related peripherals and accessories for OS X and iOS devices in early 2016.
According to this report, there is no information on what actual products will be featured:
Post Date:
It seems so surreal. I am in an airport. I need to go to the public restroom. I find the serpentine tiled entrance to the enclave and I work my guide dog inside. It is vacuous and sounds reflect from every direction off the hard tile walls and floor. I have no idea where the porcelain fixtures are located. I am not even sure if I am in the right bathroom. I move slowly, reaching out, hoping that I do not touch something wet or, worse, the back of someone's neck. Even if I accomplish my original goal, the nightmare is not over. In dreams of entrapment, there never seems to be an exit.