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,…
Tag: accessibility
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…
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…
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,…
Podcast: Parallel #13
Posted in Announcements, and Pods and Presos
Episod #13 of my show, The Parallel is a roundup of interesting tidbits from Apple’s WWDC. The show features guest appearances from John Panarese and Ken Ray.
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…
Listen: Apple Brings Everyone Can Code To Some Kids In Austin
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, and New Media and Tech
I had the pleasure of watching as 17 kids who attend Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired learn a bit about Swift Playgrounds, the environment Apple created to teach people how to code in the Swift language. Even better, I made a radio story about it for Texas Standard. I’m really proud of it. I’m less proud that I forgot I had a blog, so I didn’t get around to telling you about all this until now. Apropos of that, I’m planning to restart my “all the podcasts” RSS feed, should you want to hear me behind the…
My book, iOS Access for All, is available now!
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, and General Store
I’m thrilled to announce the availability of my book, iOS Access for All: Your Comprehensive Guide to Accessibility on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. The book guides readers through all accessibility features available on Apple’s mobile devices. Whether you’re just getting started with iOS, or want to learn more about apps and accessibility tools you already use, iOS Access for All has all the bases covered. With information of interest to users who are blind, low-vision, hearing-impaired, or have cognitive or motor disabilities, the book is the most extensive iOS accessibility resource available. I’ve spent more than 25 years writing…
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 accessibility, and you can listen to the Maccessibility Roundtable #44, where I join in a discussion of similar topics.