The interface in version 6.0 has changed to resemble the one used in the iOS version of the software. It is completely accessible with VoiceOver. When a VoiceOver user navigates to the image for your router, it even indicates if it is working properly and which color light is being shown on the device.

Thanks to John Panarese of MacForTheBlind for the heads up.

Apple has released iBooks version 2.0, which includes support for interactive textbooks. In an effort to improve the learning experience, Apple is providing textbooks through its iBooks platform. To start with, there will be a focus on high school level texts. Apple touts the portability, durability, and instant updating nature of electronic textbooks, and has already gotten the top three textbook publishers in the United States onboard with the program.

Interactive textbooks for iBooks can include images, videos, links, and other media and learning tools for the student to interact with. However, the obvious advantage for students using VoiceOver is that iBooks are accessible in the vast majority of cases, and we see no reason why textbooks would be an exception. Given the difficulties for visually impaired students to obtain current textbooks in an accessible format and in a timely manner, this has the potential to dramatically improve the learning experience for them. Additionally, images can be enlarged on the screen, making it easier for low-vision students to see illustrations, diagrams, etc, without having to resort to CCTV monitors, scanners, or photo-copiers.

Next, Apple took the wraps off of iBooks Author, a content-creation and publishing tool for Mac OS X, which radically simplifies the creation of books suitable for the iBooks platform, including allowing authors to create interactive components for their books. The application is available from the Mac AppStore today, is free, and our initial examination of the product indicates that is in fact accessible with VoiceOver as well. With the book, you can export to PDF or iBooks formats, or publish directly to the iBooks store, if you are registered with the iTunes Connect program for publishing books.

Finally, Apple announced a new iTunesU application for iOS. The app provides online courses from a variety of universities, complete with course materials, quizzes, assignments, and more. The courses are available for free. Our first-look at the iTunesU app also indicates that it is fully accessible with Voiceover. iTunesU is available now from the iOS AppStore.

All in all, these were impressive announcements, and have the potential to have a significant impact on blind and visually impaired users of Apple’s products. By providing textbooks and other education tools to students in an accessible format, we might be at the beginning of a new renaissance for visually impaired students and their technology.

It is wonderful to see how Apple’s technologies have continued to enrich the lives of those with a range of disabilities. The article is a great read for anyone interested in accessibility in general, and how iPads can be used to improve election participation for disabled citizens in particular.

The update leverages new VoiceOver features that were added in iOS 5.0 last month. Most notably VoiceOver‘s DirectTouch feature, which allows users to interact with specific UI elements as if VoiceOver is inactive. This is used to great effect with the on-screen music keyboards in GarageBand.

GarageBand for iOS is available from the iOS AppStore.

Also, on 29/October/2011, the knights will be recording a special Q&A episode of the podcast. You can send your questions into ask at maccessibility.net, or interact with us live at 1:00 PM ET, 10:00 AM PT on Twitter using the hashtag #VOLive. Further details are forthcoming.

This functionality only works during the AppleTV setup phase. During setup, it will say, "Triple-click Play button to activate VoiceOver". Once the AppleTV is setup, this functionality is no longer available.

In general, Apple has taken an approach to Xcode which mirrors that which they employed in making GarageBand accessible. Due to the complex nature of the user interface, the app has been divided into major sections which VoiceOver calls "groups". This makes understanding and navigating the myriad of controls, settings, and features with VoiceOver a vastly improved experience.

While more workable now than in the past, the Interface Builder portion of Xcode still provides some challenges. However, thanks to recent improvements, it is now possible to construct a UI with VoiceOver, though it is still not an ideal workflow. It should be noted, though, that with the increased popularity of both Mac OS X and the iOS operating systems, more information is readily available for building UI’s via code, which may prove to be the more efficient method for some visually impaired developers.

Additionally, when used in conjunction with an iOS device such as an iPhone, iPod, or iPad running iOS 5.0, AirPlay no longer directs VoiceOver speech to the AppleTV, making it a much better experience for visually impaired users. Previously, the delay between VoiceOver actions on the device and the feedback from the AppleTV or other AirPlay enabled device made use extremely problematic.

Those of us who work to provide content for Mac-cessibility are only a small number of those visually impaired users who have had their lives profoundly changed by Apple, it’s products, and the vision with which they were realized. Steve Jobs has touched the lives of millions of people, disabled or not, and few have ever, or will ever, change the world as he did for us.

We’d like to offer our most heartfelt condolences Do Steve’s wife, children, and family, and to all those whom he knew, loved, and worked with. The world has lost a great man.

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: ‘If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.’ It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."–Steve Jobs

We’ll miss you, Steve.

If you’d like to interact with us during the stream, the best way to do it is by using the #VOLive hash tag on twitter.

If you can’t join us live, then look for a Maccessibility Round Table podcast later on in the week summing up today’s announcements.

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Steve Jobs has been named Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Tim Cook has already been elected CEO of Apple Inc.

On behalf of all of us here at Mac-cessibility, I’d like to offer Mr. Jobs our heartfelt thanks for his years of service to Apple and its customers, and wish him the very best.

While the vast majority of iTunes releases have worked well with VoiceOver, there have occasionally been issues. In these cases, Apple has always responded very quickly to issue a patch which includes fixes for these bugs. There continues to be a small minority of users who jump to wild conclusions, declaring that Apple is abandoning VoiceOver and the customers who rely on it. ONce again, reports of VoiceOver‘s death are greatly exaggerated.

• RoaringApps.com – A site to check the Lion compatibility of your applications
• Tunesify Lite – A Mac app for converting FLAC files to a more useful format
• Hanging with Friends Free – A Hangman game that is mostly accessible with VoiceOver

This is a fantastic development for visually impaired book lovers, providing unparalleled access to published works to them at the same time as said works are available to their sighted counterparts.

Many Random House titles have already begun appearing in the iBooks store, including those by such bestselling authors as Anne Rice, Dan Brown, and others.

For visually impaired readers, this news is spectacular, particularly given the poor accessibility efforts thus far from the Amazon Kindle and Adobe Digital Editions platforms.

This new vision of journalism is a blend of multiple traditional news mediums into an iPad app, incorporating textual, video, audio, and interactive content.

Unfortunately, though the Daily’s web site appears to be largely accessible, no effort to make use of Apple’s accessibility API’s is particularly discernible within the application. Outside of a few unlabeled buttons and the major section categories, nothing else in the app is available to VoiceOver users.

Some of the publications material will be available via its web site in presumably accessible form, but much was made at today’s launch of the fact that the iPad app was intended to be the primary vehicle for consumption, and that much of the content would not be available on the web.