I’m just back from the CSUN International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego. That moniker is a mouthful. Just think of it as the largest annual gathering of accessibility geeks and experts, and you’ll have some idea what it’s all about. Spent three days promoting the book, larding more about accessible tech, meeting folks I’ve been following on Twitter, and handling a products that either incorporate support for accessibility, or are designed…
Category: General Store
I Can’t Use this POS!
Posted in Access and Disability, and General Store
Forgive the sensational headline. I did it on purpose. There! I feel better. Confession is good for the soul. It seems someone has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple on behalf of visually impaired customers who are unable to use the company’s touch-screen point of sale (POS) devices to enter a debit card PIN number. What I’ve seen of the commentary on this subject today leads me to offer some clarifications for those of…
For the past few years, I’ve been posting links to music samplers associated with the extravaganza that is the SXSW Music festival, here in Austin. These samplers come from record companies plugging their showcasing bands, NPR stations, and most awesomely, from the nice folks at The (Unofficial) SXSW Torrents site, who scoop up the tracks made available by SXSW itself, and package them in several juicy torrent files. In fact, downloading these torrents has been…
Books, iOS 7, and Podcasting
Posted in Announcements, General Store, and Pods and Presos
I have been busy working on my book, iOS Access for All: Your Comprehensive Guide to Accessibility for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Apple has decided to make my life interesting by releasing a new version of iOS. You may have heard about this. I have spent this week committing my thoughts about the new release into words, both written and spoken. You can read my reaction to the new OS, and its implications for…
Inaccessibility by Example
Posted in Access and Disability, and General Store
What does it mean that an app is “partially” or “mostly” inaccessible? It usually means that VoiceOver reads some of the buttons, menus, or contents of the app, but not all. And not enough so that the a VoiceOver user can work with the app. I downloaded a recipe app that features some guy’s mug all over it (Strike 1 for the presence of a “celebrity” chef) and discovered that VoiceOver only reads the _amounts_…
Kindle Accessibility: So What?
Posted in Access and Disability, General Store, and New Media and Tech
Amazon announced yesterday that its Kindle app for iOS had been updated to provide “more accessibility.” In fact, the update (with the inauspicious version number, 3.7) turns a largely inaccessible app into one that VoiceOver screen reader users can rely upon to read, navigate, and manage the contents of a Kindle library. And they did a great job, not merely making the app usable, but opening all Kindle iOS features up to VO. The fact…
Accessible Kindling
Posted in Access and Disability, General Store, and New Media and Tech
It’s an exciting day in accessible publishing. Amazon has finally released an accessible version of its Kindle app for iOS. Frankly, Kindle’s inaccessibility has made that platform easy to ignore, in the community of VoiceOver users. iBooks, Nook, and plenty of other ebook readers offer access via text-to-speech, but neither the Kindle devices, nor Amazon’s apps have done so. Where to buy books then? Anywhere but Amazon. And where to publish books about accessibility? Anywhere…
The Three Cs of Reading the News
Posted in General Store, New Media and Tech, and Politics and Public Affairs
When Google announced this week that it would be shutting down Reader, I took it as another indignity to be borne. I’ve seen services I like shut down, sold, and screwed up beyond recognition. And that’s just the Google stuff! Reader occupies a default tab in my Web browser. I check it first thing in the morning, and return to it all day. I have created something over 20 folders to sort my reading matter,…
Your SXSW 2013 Sampler Links
Posted in General Store, and Random Personal Nonsense
Each year’s SXSW conference turns my hometown into a giant carnival of music, food, and strangers from strange lands. You can’t turn a corner, or order a cup of coffee without tripping over a guitar player. Which is only a bad thing if the guitar player and his band are in line in front of you. My contribution to SXSW coverage is a listing of free music downloads and samplers, featuring bands who will be…
Stepping into the New Macworld
Posted in General Store
Day 1 of Macworld/iworld is history. I haven’t been hear in several years, and the first thing that must be said is that many things have changed. The ginormous event that used to fill two sections of the Moscone Convention Center has settled into the smaller, and newer third section. Sessions focus more on personal productivity and hobbyist topics than they once did. The show floor, which was beginning its transition from large companies selling…