Podcast on the history of Apple accessibility features

By Just Another B…, 3 April, 2025

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories
This podcast showcases how Apple addresses accessibility https://www.20k.org/episodes/sonic-accessibility

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Comments

By SeasonKing on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 04:25

They deserve respect, but, they also deserve a reality check may be.
It would be very appropriate and funny if in the demo for Mac VO, it announced Safari busy or whatever the current issue is.

By Dennis Long on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 05:11

They are still the best. Can they do better? Of course so can every other company out there. I have 0 plans of ever leaving iOS.

By Levi Gobin on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 13:02

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

I’ve been listening to this podcast for years, and they are the best podcast I have ever found.

By Michael Hansen on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 13:13

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

In addition to being an interesting interview, I loved hearing the retro Samantha voice from iOS 3/iOS 4 in that demo. It was Compact, and there wasn't much inflection, but that's actually why I like it. The newer variants of Vocalizer just do not compare.

By Levi Gobin on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 13:32

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

The old version of Samantha brings back so much nostalgia. The latest product it was ever used on was the iPod nano seventh GEN.

By Chris on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 17:40

This is decent, but as usual, it's nothing but positive scripted PR from Apple. Apple is doing wonderful things, they never do anything wrong and/or make mistakes, blah, blah, blah. Having said that, I love this podcast in general.

By Sebby on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 18:36

It's inspiration porn, when you come right down to it, because that's what the normies want to hear. I don't think we should expect much better when the people who build and market this stuff don't represent us.

Still, even as a feel-good piece, it's pretty comprehensive and a nice introduction to some accessibility features.

By TheBlindGuy07 on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 18:49

Similarely I think double tap had an interview with the chief of the original VoiceOver project.

By Brian on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 18:56

Man, if I could have Samantha from iOS 4/5, including Siri’s variant from back then. I could die happy. 😁

By Sebby on Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 19:09

It's true, I really did prefer those, even when using Windows screen readers. I get that the newer voices are more "human", but of course that's not always the point; I've listened happily to many novels being read to me by pre-Expressive Daniel and loved it. It's a shame. Now I'm back to Eloquence and, when the atmosphere is right, Alex or Macintalk.