Getting online is not always easy when you are visually impaired. Font sizes can be too small, images hard to see and colors hard to make out. But there are ways to minimize these problems. I have been tinkering with my web browsers ever since I used my first one many years ago. I...
Read More »

I have something to confess. I am one of god’s most pathetic creatures. I am a Boston Red Sox fan. Even though I had to quit little league after getting hit in the face trying to play catch on sidelines, I still love the game. My one season of little league involved a total...
Read More »

According to Slashdot,Aussie Government Offers $40M To Build a Bionic Eye. “The Australian Government is keen to replicate the success of the Cochlear Implant (bionic ear) by throwing AU$50M (US$40M) of funding at the development of a bionic eye. Bionic eyes have been trialed with some success in the UK — with recipients able...
Read More »

The new iPhone update has moved the audio book playback speed controls. In the earlier versions, these controls were hidden away in the Music panel of the Settings App. This was terribly unintuitive as I noted in this post, Variable Speed Playback on the iPhone. Whenever I shared my iPod Touch with my wife,...
Read More »

I love new gadgets, virtual as well as physical. So, I can’t help liking Google Labs. Google rolls out experimental features, both fun ones and useful ones, for Gmail through Labs. I have always wanted a simple taks manager that integrated right into my email. Now Google offers Gmail Tasks. While still rough around...
Read More »

Spotted on Twtter, Talking lamp-posts will help blind people find their way. IF YOU heard a lamp-post talking, you might think you were going mad. But speaking signs have been springing up to help blind and partially-sighted people. Newcastle is one of the first places in the UK to pilot the RNIB React Talking...
Read More »

Apparently, Apple has been listening. I have blogged much over the past six months on the iPhone’s missing accessibility features; more zoom, more color contrast and more voice. Today, Apply announced the next iteration of the iPhone, the 3G S, and it has taken a giant step in the right direction. Apple introduces these...
Read More »

More and more, I am finding myself using my iPod Touch as a pocket watch. For those times my watch is not handy, but my iPod is (which is surprisingly often), I find that I turn to it to check to the time. The font is just large enough that I do not need...
Read More »

As I noted when I Bought My First iPhone App, there is no built-in way to totate images on the iPhone. Apple probably never thought of it because rotating images on the iPhone makes them quite small. It is both better and simpler just to swivel the iPhone itself depending on whether the image...
Read More »

Apparently, some one, as usual, has beaten me to it.  Not long ago, I posted about talking lamp posts. These talking lamp posts would give nearby visitors an audio description of their location. I thought it would be a better idea to build that capability into GPS-capable devices. They can build the ‘guides’ into...
Read More »

On every digital device, some piece of the screen is almost always lost to toolbars. Windows has its Task Bar. Each individual software has its title bar up top, usually following by the main menu bar. The iPhone’s browser has the same issues. As you can see on the right, a portion of the...
Read More »

Wikipanion is a feature-rich access point Wikipedia on the iPhone. it has an intelligent, well thought out interface. Besides support for multiple languages, Wikipanion has smart search and bookmarking features. you can also e-mail your search results to disbelieving friends. Wikipanion is also quite accessible. Not only is the font size adjustable, but you...
Read More »

I have another video to encourage you to support me and the fight against blindness by helping me at this year’s VisionWalk. VisionWalk is the fundraiser for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which, as its name suggests, funds research to cure retinal degenerative diseases (like mine). First watch a video from VisionWalk supporter, Nancy Kerrigan....
Read More »

A website, arc90 lab, offers an amazing tool, Readability, that makes web sites easier to use. Officially an experiment, Readability is a bookmarklet that strips away clutter and reformats the main content of a website so that it is easy to read. Readability is a browser bookmarklet (sort of like a bookmark on steroids)....
Read More »

There are some good organizations and bloggers on Twitter. I have an abridged, disorganized and incomplete list. I am biased towards vision related ones, but I think I have most of the good feeds here: fightblindness / F Fighting Blindness blindperspectiv / Alena Roberts BlindPhotogs / Blind Photographers lionsclubsorg / Lions Clubs visionaware /...
Read More »