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…
Category: Access and Disability
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…
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…
Roku added a spoken interface to its video streaming devices. This is good news for blind and print-disabled folks who like the idea of an inexpensive, easy-to-use, full-featured streamer. In this audio demo, I roll through the Audio Guide interface, and show you where it shines, and where it fails. If you have feedback or questions after listening, please hit me up on Twitter at @shelly. Direct Download Link
iOS Access for All Update Released
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, General Store, and New Media and Tech
I’m thrilled to announce that the new edition of my book, iOS Access for All, is ready and waiting for you right here. There you’ll find buy links, the table of contents, and many more words you can read. Get the ePub for $20. I’m really proud of this one, and there’s a bit more new material this time than last. That’s partly due to Apple’s interface changes, and partly because I added depth to several…
Less Than or Equal Guest Shot: My Beef with Tech Journalism
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, and Pods and Presos
I was honored to join Aleen Sims on episode #89 of her podcast, Less Than or Equal. It’s a great show, where you will meet a wide range of people, many of whom are not among the usual suspects of podcast guests (present company excepted, I guess.) We talked about the reasons accessibility is often invisible in the mainstream tech world, and why I get grumpy when I read (or don’t read) about accessibility in…
Hey, I’m Writing for AccessWorld
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, and New Media and Tech
I’m very excited to let you know that I’ve signed on as a contributor to the American Foundation for the Blind’s highly-regarded technology magazine, AccessWorld. My beats include tech products for low-vision users, and mobile stuff for both Android and iOS. My first piece is a review of the Revolution 22’, a hybrid consisting of a video magnifier and an Android tablet. It’s so much fun to be doing product reviews again!
Back in the Saddle: Check Out My New Podcast
Posted in Access and Disability, Announcements, New Media and Tech, and Pods and Presos
Lately, I’ve been rediscovering my love of podcasting. For those of you who don’t know, and that includes a surprising number of friends and colleagues, I produced my first podcast in 2004, and continued to make shows on the regular for the better part of the next nine years. I have guested on many podcasts, and was active in the first wave podcasting community; the enthusiasts and semi-pros who congregated at the first few New…
The Face We Show the World
Posted in Access and Disability, and New Media and Tech
This morning, I retweeted a USA Today column by James Alan Fox, a legally blind professor. Because low-vision! Mainstream media outlet! Yay! He writes about the experience of using airports as a visually impaired person. As I read, I ticked off each point he made, recognizing them as my own travel frustrations. I felt much more connected to this guy’s experience than I do to the usual gripes about flight delays and TSA policies. The…
Apple’s Trust Dividend
Posted in Access and Disability
If I were asked to summarize the attitude of enthusiasts toward Apple Watch accessibility, this would be my pull-quote: “It was kind of weird for awhile, and I’m still not 100 percent sure what to expect, but everything will be awesome!” (By the way, that’s less than 140 characters, leaving plenty of room for breathless hashtags.) The chain of events leading to next week’s delivery of the first Apple Watches has not been without twists…