I’ve had several opportunities to reflect on 50 years of Apple in the past week. I’ve also been reading my share or recollections by others – many of whom are friends. And I’ve noticed that the loopbacks come in two flavors – stories about bumping up against Apple, the company, in the person of executives or memorable product moments. Or, people have written personal stories about how things that Apple made changed their own lives. I didn’t know this when I wrote about my own beginnings as a Mac user. But I quickly realized that I preferred stories about users,…
Category: New Media and Tech
Quite an Honor
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, New Media and Tech, and Pods and Presos
I got a phone call a couple of months ago letting my know that my audio documentary, 36 Seconds that Changed Everything: How the iPhone Learned to Talk won a Barbara Jordan Media Award. These honors are presented annually to media professionals and students in recognition of positive and inclusive representations of people with disabilities, here in Texas. There was to be an awards ceremony at Texas A&M, last month, but the pandemic put a stop to that. The folks at the Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities had award recipients record messages, which have been assembled into a (very…
Note: These videos, and lots more, have migrated to YouTube. Subscribe to my Cheryl Wheeler Kitchen Songs playlist to be notified about each new video as it arrives. I’ve maintained a mailing list for fans of singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler since 1996! Like a lot of us, Cheryl is at home right now. Since she’s not able to be out doing shows, she’s been recording songs from her kitchen. Well, actually, her wife Cathleen has been recording, but Cheryl does her part by singing the songs! Cheryl asked me to present these videos here, for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want…
I Made A Thing! “36 Seconds that Changed Everything: How the iPhone Learned to Talk”
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, New Media and Tech, and Podcasting
I’m thrilled to announce the release of my audio documentary, “36 Seconds that Changed Everything: How the iPhone Learned to Talk.” It’s the story of how accessibility features came to the iPhone in 2009, how that event rocked some people’s world, and how most didn’t even notice. You can listen to the documentary or read a transcript at the web site I made (it looks remarkably like this one, I know, but an accessible theme is an accessible theme), so I thought that here, I’d write a bit about why I produced it. Oh, you can also hear the documentary…
36 Seconds That Changed Everything
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, and New Media and Tech
I’m excited to announce the release of my audio documentary, “36 Seconds That Changed Everything: How the iPhone Learned to Talk.” “36 Seconds” tells the story of how the iPhone went from being utterly inaccessible to people with disabilities, to the leading mobile device for people who are blind, have a hearing loss, or experience a motor disability. The story is largely told from the point of view of people who were left out when the iPhone debuted in 2007, because they were physically unable to use the device. But two years later, Apple added accessibility features, mostly for people…
Web Heroics, Catching Up, and Doing it Live
Posted in New Media and Tech, and Random Personal Nonsense
This Web site has been under the weather for awhile. I’ll play the hero and tell you that I wrestled t to the ground, pummeled the mySQL database and made it do my bidding. Then I reassembled these pages from the ashes of mixed metaphor, backed it all up and went on about my business. A consequence of the site’s troubles is that I haven’t done many updates here. I’m making Parallel episodes. I went to CSUN and made a load of Blind Bargains content, and I continue to make radio at Texas Standard. As to that last, I’ve now…
New Year, New Shows and a Book!
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, New Media and Tech, and Pods and Presos
When it comes to not keeping my blog updated, I’m in good company around the Internet. And yet, I feel badly about it. The iOS 12 edition of my book, iOS Access for All is out in the world. Please go get one. The ePub and Apple Books editions (which are identical, but for the fact that Apple Books takes 30 percent) are on the virtual shelves. The PDF version, of which I’ve spoken lovingly so many times, will be out soon. Reaction has been kind, and I appreciate it: I love @shelly ‘s ios book! So much useful info…
CMD-D Video Available
Posted in Access and Disability, New Media and Tech, and Pods and Presos
Last summer, I was honored to be invited to speak about automation, publishing and accessibility. Videos of my presentation and others are now available on the CMD-D web site. I was really pleased with the event, and all the great presentations. Enjoy!
Second Place Accessibility Writer
Posted in Access and Disability, New Media and Tech, and Podcasting
On the most recent episode of The Parallel, a few names in the Apple community came up in passing. So last night, I decided to check out the latest episode of The Talk Show. That’s a fairly high-profile podcast by a fairly high-profile Apple writer guy named John Gruber. He and his guest, Serenity Caldwell, were running down some of the news from last week’s Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference. They mentioned the addition of Live Listen to Apple AirPods, and how Steven Aquino got to talk about it with Apple executive Sarah Herrlinger on the third episode of his podcast,…
See What’s in My Non-#WWDC Bag
Posted in Access and Disability, New Media and Tech, Podcasting, and Random Personal Nonsense
I won’t be at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, or WWDC, this week like all the cool Mac kids. I make part of my living doing something other than reporting about Apple, so this is my lot. I’m not complaining, but it’s times like this when I am forcibly reminded how different my day, and often my relationship with technology, is from those developers, writers and podcasters whose bag packing lists I see online. Yes, I said bag packing lists. If you’re not familiar with this subgenre of tech journalism, you can see examples here, here and here. Anyway, the thing I…