Despite Apple’s leading efforts in accessibility technology, I have always found iTunes extremely hard to use. Apple’s major focus has been on VoiceOver and screen reader software compatibility. There are many visually impaired computer users out there (and right here) who have not made the switch to a non-visual interface, preferring to rely...
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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...
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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 can...
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Facebook, despite its ubiquity, has naver been very accessible. The pages are densely cluttered with an overload of information. Since the company is not doing much about it, there is now a Facebook Accessibility project going on at the volunteer developer group, Project Possibility. But I digress. Facebook has developed a free app, Facebook for...
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WritePad is a handwriting recognition engine for the iPhone from Phatware. WritePad is the free basic app that powers Phatware’s more functional suite of apps, WritePad Affairs, WritePad Events and WritePad Notes. WritePad Supports iPhone and iPod Touch 2.0 or later WritePad is a new custom editor for iPhone that utilizes handwriting recognition input...
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There is hope! A few days ago, an email popped into my inbox about a new iPhone App. BigNames has been developed with accessibility in mnd. This is a first. BigNames is a contact app for the iPhone.  “BigNames displays your iPhone contacts extra-large and easy to read. Perfect for when you’re on the move...
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The iPhone Mail app offers an adjustable minimum font size. It is not obvious how to access this setting. Apple buried this feature in the Settings app and can not be accessed from the Mail app itself. From the home screen, tap on the Settings app. Then tap on the Mail, Contacts & Calendars...
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Lst week, the Gadgetwise Blogat the NY Times offered this Tip of the Week: Desktop Magnifying Glass. Tired of squinting at tiny type the screen all day? In Windows Vista, you can bump up the font size — right-click on the desktop, select Personalize and click on “Adjust font size.” Once the “DPI Scaling” window...
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Google Maps is a great thing. There is no question about it. But it is not perfect. Surprisingly, it suffers from the same gripe I have with map books and atlases. I can not read the print. It is simply too small, no matter how much you zoom in. This is true both...
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Earlier today, I reviewed several ways to access Twitter on the iPhone, Accessing Twitter from the iPhone. I compared the TwitterFon and Twitteriffic apps with Twitter’s mobile web site. How accessible is Twitter on the iPhone? Besides receiving tweets as expensive text messages, there are multiple iPhone apps that access your Twitter stream as well...
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Twitter calls itself a a microbloogging service. What the heck is a microblog? Basically, it is a mix of blogging, text messaging and emailing. The New York Times’ David Pogue offere his take on Twitter in Twitter? It’s What You Make It. Pogue is right. Twitter is in the eye of the beholder,...
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A peeition to Make the Kindle 2 Fully Accessible has been started. We, the undersigned, ask Amazon Technologies, Inc., and its affiliates, to modify the new Kindle 2, and add the ability to have all menu choices spoken with voice prompts, so that all blind and sighted individuals may purchase, and make full use of...
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A few days ago, I had begun to despair that my attempt to bring about more iPhone accessibility would be a long, lonely waste of time. Apple has been unresponsive to my campaign. Few contacted developers responded to my suggestions. I turned to a few iPhone developer forums. At rirst, I had little luck...
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As you can tell, I am a big fan of WordPress, which I use to publish this blog. But I am not always at my desk when a good idea for a post strikes. I have been looking into ways to blog on the go, so to speak, even if that just means while...
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As seen on the Talking Books Librarian, the American Foundation for the Blind’ is conducting a Survey on Small Screen Visual Displays at http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?Mode=Survey&SurveyID=101. Taken from the website: AFB TECH, the technology arm of the American Foundation for the Blind, is currently working to establish standards to improve the readability of small screen visual displays, and...
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