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: apple
On the anniversary of Apple’s founding, I wrote for Six Colors about my Mac nerd origin story. I soon discovered I was far from the only one moved to do so. I’ve told versions of it on podcasts over the years, but it was good to write it out with a bit more detail. Actually, I left out a few things that I later threaded up for social media. In case you missed those bits, I offer them below: I wanted to aim higher with my brand-new journalism degree, but most starting-out reporter jobs in those days would have sent…
Updating iOS Access for All
Posted in Access and Disability, and Announcements
It’s fall tech season again. Even before the calendar confirms the season’s change, Apple has given us one of the traditional markers – new hardware and a date on which we’ll all be downloading the new versions of its software. And I’m working on the update to my book, iOS Access for All, like I do each autumn. Anyone who buys the current (iOS 14 edition) from now until the update is released will receive the brand-new iOS 15 edition when it’s ready. Such a deal!
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…
Radio: One Triiiilion Dollars
Posted in Pods and Presos
I talked about Apple’s $1 trillion market value on today’s Texas Standard.
Here’s Episode 159 of The Maccessibility Roundtable Podcast.
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…