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: iOS
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!
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…
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…
Here’s Episode 159 of The Maccessibility Roundtable Podcast.
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,…
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 Podcast Smorgasbord
Posted in Pods and Presos
In the course of promoting my book, iOS Access for All, I’ve been invited onto several podcasts. For the most part, these are new opportunities for me, though a few invites came from old friends. I’ll link you to all the shows, but I want to give you reasons to listen to specific ones, since they’re so different. Also, if you just can’t get enough of my yammering, subscribe to the All Shelly, All The Time podcast feed, to hear shows I make, co-host, or visit. Here’s what I did last week: Mac OS Ken: You should know first off…
Is Apple TV Truly Accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired Viewers?
Posted in Announcements, and New Media and Tech
I tackled the question of Apple TV accessibility for AccessWorld, the monthly magazine of the American Federation for the Blind.