• Guess what? @DHSHolly and @DhsDarcy just added 17 more apps to the accessible iphone apps list http://tinyurl.com/mxlzqf #iphoneaccess # 23 hours ago
• News: Apple Posts iPhone Manual for VoiceOver Users http://www.lioncourt.com/?p=443 # 2009/07/02
• News: The MacCast Podcast Spotlights iPhone Accessibility http://www.lioncourt.com/?p=441 # 2009/07/02
• @grtdane We have not received any info that MacSpeech is no longer accessible with VoiceOver, but do not have a copy to test, either. # 2009/07/01
• News: MacSpeech Dictate Legal Ships http://www.lioncourt.com/?p=439 # 2009/07/01

Apple Inc. announced today that iLife ‘09 will begin shipping tomorrow, 27/January/2009. The suite of multimedia applications such as the popular iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, and others was first announced at MacWOrld Expo earlier this month, and will come pre-installed on all new Macs. For those upgrading to the new iLife on your existing Mac, you can purchase the software for $79 USD for a single user, or $99 for the five user license family pack.

At this time, we have not become aware of any accessibility improvements in this addition of the suite, but given the dramatic improvements we saw earlier this month in Apple’s productivity suite iWork ‘09, we are hopeful. We will of course report back as soon as possible.

Today, Apple announced updates to their iWork and iLife application suites. The new features are certainly impressive, and incremental, but we are uncertain at this time whether or not any accessibility enhancements are part of these updates.

Additionally, iWork.com became a public beta today. This suite of browser-based applications allows users to collaborate on iWork files over the Internet, and appears to be relatively accessible.

We will update further when we know more on the accessibility of these products.

Keith Reedy has provided two new entries to our Guides & Tutorials section. Learn how to use multiple tracks in "GarageBand with VoiceOver 2" or how to use special effects in "GarageBand with VoiceOver 3". If you haven’t already done so, start with general usage of GarageBand in "GarageBand with VoiceOver 1".

Thanks again to Keith Reedy for these guides.

Last week’s update to the iLife ‘08 suite from Apple proved to be a boon for VoiceOver users. Garage Band the suite’s recording-studio software is now radically improved in the area of accessibility. Indeed, virtually all functions and areas of the program are usable with VoiceOver, according to reports from VoiceOver users. Given the high number of visually impaired musicians, this should prove to be very exciting news. Once again, Apple has demonstrated amazing commitment to accessibility. Thank you, Apple.