Archive for April, 2010

If you’ve been waiting for the release of the Apple iPad with 3G connectivity, your wait is over. Starting this evening, Apple stores will be briefly closed from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM local time to roll out the new iPad 3G models thereafter. If you had pre-ordered an iPad with 3G connectivity from the [...]

Today, Apple posted its thoughts on Adobe Flash, and the reasons why it has not been included on the company’s line of mobile de ices, such as the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The piece is well reasoned and clearly presented, although it is interesting that the biggest reason to VoiceOver users not wanting Flash [...]

29/April/2010 marks the fifth anniversary of the release of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and the VoiceOver screen reader. The Screenless Switchers podcast offers a retrospective in episode 36, looking back at the last five years of Apple accessibility with a couple of the earliest Mac converts, and ahead to the future.

On 29/April/2005, Apple Inc. released Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the first commercial operating system with a built-in screen reader: VoiceOver. A lot has changed since the introduction of VoiceOver. Here are some highlights: The creation of the Mac Visionaries community of visually impaired Mac users The birth of the Screenless Switchers podcast The introduction [...]

Today, Panic Software released version 4.0 of their popular Transmit FTP client. Transmit v3.X has been a longstanding favorite among VoiceOver users, given its high level of accessibility. Version 4.0 offers better accessibility, most notably in the identification of controls via labels and help tags. New features include the ability to mount servers in the [...]

Today, Apple released iTunes version 9.1.1. The release notes for the latest version of the popular media management and playback software is dominated by fixes for its compatibility with VoiceOver, among other enhancements. The release notes read: Addresses several stability issues with VoiceOver Addresses a usability issue with VoiceOver and Genius Mixes Addresses issues with [...]

According to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB)’s Access Technology Blog, a session focussing on Apple products will be taking place during their National Convention this summer in Dallas Texas. This appears to be part of a continuing about face by the NFB where regards Apple products. Here’s the session scheduling and registration information, [...]

Electronista reports that the iPad Camera Connection Kit, designed for importing photos from a camera or memory card to Apple’s iPad device, has a number of other unadvertised capabilities. Among these are support for USB microphones and headsets, ideally suited for use with the Skype application, as well as support for standard USB keyboards. This [...]

Shortly after we noted the reports of Google’s plans for turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone, the search giant told PCWorld.com that there are no specific plans for such support on the iPhone at this time. The source of the confusion is unclear. Google has clarified its stance that the technology will likely come to other [...]

Yesterday, both MacUser UK and Mashable reported that Google has confirmed at a London press conference that it will be integrating turn by turn navigation on the iPhone. The web giant has already made this possible on the android platform and have now confirmed that the same free turn by turn will soon be available [...]

Many visually impaired users of Facebook.com had begun using Facebook Lite, a slimmed down version of the popular social networking site which offered most of the features of the full site, but a cleaner interface and better accessibility, regardless of the platform or screen reader being used to access the service. Earlier this week, Facebook [...]

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