VoiceOver

At a time when so many Facebook posts comprise a photo and a brief comment, there’s one group of people who get rather left out of the picture: those who are blind and partially sighted. That’s a problem Facebook is fixing, starting from today. The iOS app now uses artificial intelligence to figure out the content of photos, and Apple’s VoiceOver feature to read aloud a description of them.

The Verge got a demo of the feature, which Facebook calls ‘automatic alt text.’

Automatic alt text, which is coming to iOS today and later to Android and the web, recognizes objects in photos using machine learning […] While still in its early stages, the technology can reliably identify concepts in categories including transportation (“car,” “boat,” “airplane”), nature (“snow,” “ocean,” “sunset”), sports (“basketball court”), and food (“sushi”). The technology can also describe people (“baby,” “smiling,” beard”), and identify a selfie.

Facebook said that there were two approaches it could have taken to the problem, and it chose the one it believed would be most successful …

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Hearing aids are pretty sophisticated pieces of technology these days, capable of adjusting the sound they pick up to suit a range of different environments, from a noisy restaurant to a windy day outside. A button allows users to cycle between modes, but some go further, an app allowing the user to fine-tune things like the arc of sound captured, letting them hear what is being said by companions while blocking out extraneous sound.

In a video on CNN Money, a man whose hearing was badly affected by a brain tumor demonstrates how an app on his Apple Watch allows him to control his ReSound hearing-aid … 
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The American Foundation for the Blind today announced four honorees for the upcoming Helen Keller Achievement Awards, highlighting Apple’s VoiceOver and Accessibility efforts alongside actor Charlie Cox, musician Ward Marston, and biopharmaceutical company Vanda Pharmaceuticals.

The foundation says that it gives this award to “accomplished individuals and companies for their success in improving quality of life for people with vision loss either through groundbreaking innovation or inspirational achievement that changes perceptions about what it means to be visually impaired.”

Apple is specifically being awarded for VoiceOver Accessibility technology across its products, per the announcement:

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Apple has seeded a new build of pre-release OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 highlighting focus ares including WiFi, Mail, and VoiceOver. The third tester preview of OS X 10.10.2 brings the build number up to 14C81f following build 14C78c released earlier this month. We’ll update with any notable changes spotted in the new release for testers.
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Apple has released OS X 10.9.1 for Mac via the Mac App Store today. The update includes a number of Mail related fixes including improved support for Gmail as well as numerous bug fixes. The update also fixes a VoiceOver issue that prevented sentences with emoji characters from being read…

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Skype has updated its iPhone app to give a “refreshed look and feel for iOS 7” as well as a number of accessibility improvements and bug fixes.

Although the UI is clearly iOS 7 focused, Skype for iPhone 4.13 is compatible with iOS 5 and 6 too. Full details of the update below the fold … 
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VideoLAN has released version 2.1 of its popular open source video player, VLC. The update — codenamed “Ricewind” — brings new audio processing to the app, to improve both processing performance and audio fidelity. There is full support for surround sound outputs in addition to new effects and many new supported metadata formats for audio.

On the video side, the app has ported the OpenGL output to OpenGL ES, making ports to iOS and Android much easier. Notably, VideoLAN says that VLC is now ready for Ultra-HD content (otherwise known as 4K). The app update has also focused heavily on improving MKV compatibility, including better seek performance and subtitle metadata support.

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Previously, I discussed how to have your iOS device read text for you in iOS 6, and in iOS 7 it works pretty much the same way – but with some little differences.

As in iOS 6, there are two different ways to make text speakable on an iOS device. But before we do that and discuss how to do it, let’s first set up our iOS device so we can do it:

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News:

Temple Run 2: After launching the follow up in its popular Temple Run series late last week, developer Imangi Studios announced today Temple Run 2 hit over 20 million downloads in just four days on the App Store.

The game rocketed to #1 Free App just eight hours after release, and is currently the #3 Top Grossing App. Free to download, Temple Run 2 is the sequel to the mega-hit original endless runner, Temple Run, which has been download over 170 million times across the App Store, Google Play and the Amazon Marketplace.

New apps:

Cubase iC Pro: Released on the App Store today, Steinberg Media have launched “The most advanced Cubase remote control app” for controlling Cubase 7/6.5 from your iPhone or iPad. The app syncs with Cubase on your Mac or PC, provides a project overview, a mixer with up to a 4 independent cue-mix, and the ability to customize macros and key commands.

Connecting deeper to Cubase than any other app, Cubase iC Pro is the most advanced Cubase control app with a clear focus on recording, making it your very personal recording assistant. The project overview page and the mixer allow you to see your project as you know it from Cubase, while the key command page gives you a powerful tool to set up your most-used keyboard shortcuts and macros.

Updates:

Twitterrific for Twitter version 5.0.2: A big update today goes to one of the runner-ups in our Twitter app showdown. Twitterrific for iOS was updated today with a simplified reading mode, image previews in the timeline, and images without frames in the photo viewer. The update also included a ton of improvements and bug fixes:
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We already had a number of updates to Apple’s own apps today, including iWork for iOS, Apple Remote Desktop, iTunes U, Xcode 4.4, Safari 6, and OS X Server, but below is our usual list of popular apps and updates hitting the store today:

Update: Apple has now updated its Podcasts app with the expected bug fixes. Release notes below:

What’s New in Version 1.0.1

Podcasts 1.0.1 provides a number of improvements, including:

• Significant improvements to performance and stability
• Podcasts in your library now show the number of unplayed episodes
• Top Stations now show the podcast title if artwork is missing
• Playback speed is now remembered when playing the next episode
• Fix for a problem where the Subscribe button is inactive
• Resolution of an issue where Top Stations artwork may not appear

Podcasts: If you have experienced issues with Apple’s Podcasts iOS app that released last month, as many have, you will be happy to know Apple plans to release an update today that brings a number of fixes to common bugs. According to a report from AllThingsD, “Apple has been hard at work tweaking the app to fix the problems that currently plague it” and the update expected today should “vastly improve it.” 

AutoCAD WS version 1.5: Autodesk’s app for viewing, editing, and sharing AutoCAD drawings on iOS devices was updated today with two new “powerful collaboration tools that transform design creation, review, and approval into a social experience.” The two features include:

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Earlier this week, we reported that Apple was planning changes to its One to One program, which offers setup and training assistance to iOS and Mac users. The majority of the changes we reported included in-store changes like new, shorter half-hour sessions, and the renaming of “workshops” to “group sessions.” However, we also told you that the One to One members website would get a redesign scheduled to roll out as early as May 15. Today, we get a look at the new One to One site that features a redesigned interface for selecting and viewing tutorials and tips based on specific topics. It also offers an interface for creating and adding sticky notes, quick links to user guides and video content, and it is fully VoiceOver compatible.

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