Chuck Joiner invited me to join his MacJury panel for a podcast about the iPhone 3G S. Beware, I almost sound like a fangirl.
Shelly Serves on the MacJury
Posted in Announcements, and Pods and Presos
Shelly's Web of Wonder Posts
Random IPhone 3G S Thoughts
Posted in Access and Disability, and New Media and Tech
I’ve had lots of nice linkage since my post about iPhone 3G S accessibility. I don’t have enough new information for another proper post, but here are a couple of things I’ve been thinking about. The iPod Touch, my beloved iPhone substitute, was released, and updated to version 2.0 in conjunction with other iPod announcements, not during iPhone launches. So even if we are to see a hardware-updated iPod Touch, it will most likely be a few months. This makes me sad, but I’m going to check out the iPhone 3.0 software update; hoping against hope that some accessibility features…
I’ll get right to the point: the iPhone 3G S includes several features that should make Apple’s smartphone accessible to many blind and visually impaired people for the first time. And rejoicing was heard in the land? We’ll see what we’ll see. The new phone, debuted at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and due for release on June 19, includes a version of Apple’s VoiceOver, the screen reader built into Mac OS X. Since we learned at its launch two years ago that the iPhone is an OS X-adjacent device, lots of accessibility advocates, including me, have suggested that lighting…
Like My Podcast?
Posted in Pods and Presos
If you’re on Facbeook, please become a fan of Shelly’s Podcast. C’mon, click it. You know you want to. If you don’t know the show, check it out here.
Healthy and Doing Fine
Posted in Access and Disability, and Random Personal Nonsense
Birth announcements almost always end the same way. Baby is healthy and doing fine. That’s what we all hope for, right? And mostly, it’s what parents in the United States can expect to get. But seeing those words once again on a birth announcement made me wonder. What’s the best ending line for the announcement of the birth of a disabled child? Should parents be less giddy and thankful when they learn their new son or daughter can’t see, won’t be able to walk, etc? Should they equate disability with unhealthfulness? I don’t think so. No parent wants their child…
I’m acquainted with a lot of podcasters and writers. Some of my friends are both, and some have used the spoken medium to gain wider distribution for their written work. I love these people. I love that what they are selling is creative work. They are, in a very real sense, also selling themselves. Tools like podcasting, Twitter, Facebook, fan art and the like are the grassiest of grass roots, and the most personal of mass media. There can be no cooler use for what has come to be called social media. Aside from posting links to words, audio, video…
I’ve been following a local story about police shooting a couple of suspects when they surprised them in a car suspected of involvement in some robberies. Neighbors were angry at the cops, and broke out windows in several police cars. Big story, still under investigation. Too early to know exactly what happened. Many details yet to be made clear. I tracked the story on Twitter, where I follow a local TV station and two newspapers. But I wasn’t able to put the timeline together until late in the day when I read a full account, posted on the TV station’s…
Susan Boyle and the Idolatry of Perfection
Posted in Access and Disability, and Politics and Public Affairs
I avoided what’s being called the Susan Boyle Phenomenon as long as I could. I first learned about it from distant acquaintances on Twitter, then from some fellow book club members. More links followed, all pointing to a video of a woman appearing on an American Idol-like TV show called Britain’s Got Talent. Words like “amazing”, “inspiring” and “it gave me chills” accompanied each link, along with an admonition that I “must watch this!” The trouble with “amazing” and “inspiring” is that they are most often applied to disabled people by their non-disabled observers. You’ll have to trust me on…
Take a First Look at Skype for iPhone
Posted in Announcements, and Pods and Presos
Time to give one of my own podcasts a plug. I’ve just recorded a quick overview of the new Skype for iPhone app on the App Store Pundit podcast. Download it or stream it, and let me know what you think of the show and of Skype for iPhone. I’m crowd-sourcing a full-fledged review for the next show.
How to Really Cover Events, Social Media Style
Posted in Cocktails and Spirits, New Media and Tech, and Podcasting
I’m a big ol’ critic of the current frenzy for social media. That is, I’m critical of the “social media can do EVERYTHING, replace ALL mainstream media, CURE CANCER, etc. school of thought. But I am not critical of the tools that make it possible to exchange information, or add deeper meaning to the content of media. Platforms like Twitter, podcasting, uStream, and Facebook, to name just a few, can unleash not only creativity of content-makers, but the imagination and enthusiasm of content consumers. I’m thinking about this today because I’m working on a plan to cover a conference I’ll…