The WSJ has an interesting piece looking at how AI and other forms of technology are transforming the lives of blind people.
Microsoft’s Seeing AI app is one particularly dramatic example – able to do things like identify faces, recognize bank notes, read handwriting and so on – but Apple’s tech is also said to be incredibly valuable …
It’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day today, May 17, and Apple is marking the occasion by highlighting its accessibility features on the apple.com homepage …
Apple has announced that its Everyone Can Code curriculum will be living up to its name, by making it accessible to blind and deaf students, as well as those with other disabilities such as issues with motor skills.
A Swift training program which begins in kindergarten schools, Everyone Can Code started out as a free ebook (available here, with teachers’ guide) before being rolled out to colleges around the world, including a huge rollout in Chicago …
Apple will be hosting at least two exclusive events at its retail stores to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day tomorrow. These include one with Paralympian Scout Bassett and Nike+ Head Coach Chris Bennett and another with activist Andrea Dalzell.
In the run-up to Global Accessibility Awareness Day this Thursday, Apple has been highlighting a few of the ways that it has worked to make life easier for people with disabilities …
Apple engineers visited the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired earlier this week where the company leads its Everyone Can Code curriculum. According to Austin Satesman of Open Source, this was the first class Apple has led for blind and low-vision students.
Apple has long been lauded for their dedication to creating accessible products, and Tim Cook has even called accessibility a “core value” of the company. Now, Apple is giving back to their own local community by partnering with the Magical Bridge Foundation to support the development of a new accessible playground in Sunnyvale, CA.
Microsoft is out today with a new app for those with vision impairments. Soundscape for iOS has been in development for about four years and is now available for free. Read on for how this technology works.
Apple’s commitment to accessibility goes beyond UI features in its devices, says one Twitter user who took a trip to the Apple Park visitor’s center.
User @xarph said that the center was an object lesson in how to design for accessibility ‘when cost is no object’ …
The iOS app Be My Eyes announced that it will be offering support for blind or impaired customers through Microsoft’s Disability Answer Desk in the latest release of the app.
As noted on the official schedule website for the 2018 SXSW Conference & Festival held in Austin, TX, Apple’s Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives will make a public appearance at the annual event.
A classical pianist who teaches music at a school in Queens, New York, says that iPads have allowed students with learning disabilities to play music for the first time – and that experience has transformed their lives.
One of the students who had never spoken before not only now speaks, but also sings the solo in a song he helped write …
I was really impressed when Microsoft launched its iPhone-only Seeing AI app designed to ‘narrate the world’ to blind and visually impaired people. The app uses AI to recognize what it is seeing, and turn that into an audio description …
Apple and Cochlear originally announced their partnership back in July, and today the first product out of that partnership is available. As detailed in a report from The Australian, Cochlear has released its Made for iPhone Nucleus 7 Sound Processor in Australia and it will soon come to other countries….
Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple was working with hearing-aid manufacturer Cochlear on Bluetooth and other technologic challenges to offer a direct connection to iPhones. Now, a new piece from Wired offers more detail on the efforts and talks about how “Apple is putting voices in users’ heads” with the technology…
A report on the latest cochlear implants from hearing-aid manufacturer Cochlear has revealed that Apple worked on Bluetooth protocols for direct connection to iPhones – and now licenses it to manufacturers free of charge.
Cochlear implants are used by people who are profoundly deaf, and need to be surgically implanted into the ear. They usually connect to phones via an external device, which are quite obtrusive. What Apple has developed in conjunction with manufacturers of the devices is a protocol which allows that intermediary device to be eliminated, allowing direct connection to an iPhone …
iOS 11 delivered with a ton of highly-requested features— especially for iPad users— but there’s still one feature missing from the release that many were hoping for. A true “dark mode” to change Apple’s mostly light-colored user interface like the option it has for menus and the dock on macOS is still absent. But in iOS 11, we get the next best thing with a new feature called ‘Smart Invert Colors’.
For many, this feature will satisfy their dark mode needs until an official feature is introduced. Here’s how to enable it…
New houses being built with HomeKit-enabled appliances are becoming more accessible to consumers thanks to homebuilders incorporating Apple’s home automation technology, and HomeKit isn’t just a convenience or neat demo. NBC News shares the incredible story of how Todd Stabelfeldt who is a “complete quadriplegic with no movement below his shoulders” has been empowered by HomeKit.
Steven Aquino, a self-proclaimed tech journalist covering Apple accessibility, has taken to Twitter today to share some of Apple’s efforts for April’s Autism Acceptance month. Apple hopes to celebrate the unique experiences of those on the Autistic spectrum with new classes at retail stores and with a dedicated App Store page.
While Siri may not be the perfect companion some wish it was, the personal assistant’s voice can lend itself to our lives in a variety of helpful ways. For the past few months I’ve been using Siri to read all the text I want to read but don’t actually need to read. Having the personal assistant read articles to me means I can focus on other activities while essentially turning my reading lists and emails into a personalized podcast.
As he continues making the rounds in Europe. Tim Cook made an appearance at Apple’s retail location in Glasgow. While Cook has stopped in at multiple Apple Stores over the last week, this visit is especially notable because Cook got the opportunity to talk to Angela Reed, a cerebral palsy sufferer who relies on iPhone for its accessibility features…
Apple kicked off today’s keynote with a video highlighting some of the accessibility features of Apple products, such as spoken alerts letting a blind person know when the camera has detected a face and locked focus on it …
Apple VP of environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson has shared a story via ABC7 News about a nine-year-old boy whose hearing was restored thanks to a new type of bone-conduction hearing aid controlled by a companion iPhone app. Highlighting accessibility and inclusion, Jackson wrote that ‘technology can transform lives [and] 9-year old Joshua is a great example.’
Joshua Gomez started losing his hearing at the age of three, and a succession of surgeries over a five-year period all failed. Conventional hearing-aids couldn’t help with his particular condition, but the Children’s Hearing Center at Stanford finally found a solution …
Apple has always been vocal about its commitment to accessibility features for its products, and now a member of the company’s accessibility design and quality team is speaking up on just how committed Apple is. A new profile from Mashable details Jordyn Castor, a 22-year-old, blind engineer.
