‘Commentary’ Archives

In the May 2010 issue of AccessWorld, a publication of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), readers are presented with a first look at the Apple iPad. In an article entitled "24 Hours with the iPad", Bradley Hodges discusses his impressions of the iPad in his initial 24 hours with the device. It is [...]

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 [...]

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After our recent editorial where M.J. Phoenix voiced her concerns about the Royal National Institute for the Blind‘s recent review of the Apple iPad and some apparent misconceptions, Shaun Leamon, the author of the original review, took the time to write up a response in the hopes of clarifying the RNIB’s stance on the latest [...]

In our latest editorial, Apple in the "Blind" World, Mac-cessibility contributor M.J. Phoenix voices her frustration with an article from the RNIB regarding the iPad, which includes some blatant mis-statements.

In part 2 of our iPad review, we explore the Mail app which is included on Apple’s new iPad device. We focus primarily on its usage and accessibility with the VoiceOver screen reader. For additional coverage, be sure to read part 1 here.

In this Special Edition episode of the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast, our Knights of the Round Table discuss today’s announcements of features in the iPhone OS 4.0 update, including multi-tasking, iBooks, BlueTooth keyboards, Mail, and much more. (Bloopers included.)

In "A First Look At the iPad – Pt. 1", we take an initial look through the iPad’s accessibility features, including the changes to VoiceOver, iBooks, text navigation and entry, and more. In future installments, we’ll be covering many of the included applications, third-party applications, and other features of the latest innovative technology out of [...]

Today, Adobe Systems announced their intention to support accessibility with their Flash and Flex tools on multiple OS platforms, including Mac OS X. The full statement reads: Adobe understands how important it is for computer users with disabilities to be able to access the entire Internet. In recognition of the needs of computer users with [...]

As Apple began taking pre-orders today for its new iPad device, they released a few more details about the product. Most exciting among these for VoiceOver users is the news that iBooks, the application that doubles as a digital bookstore and electronic book reader, will support VoiceOver. Apple’s iBooks page describes its accessibility thus: Unlike [...]