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AccessWorld Reviews the iPhone

Lioncourt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The American Foundation of the Blind (AFB) recently offered a review of the iPhone 3GS’s new accessibility features in their AccessWorld publication. The article is positive and fair, and we are pleased to see the various blindness organizations beginning to offer accurate information on Apple’s accessibility efforts.

In the past, we have been critical of AFB’s attitudes toward Apple and the accessibility of its products. We are very happy that, in the past year or so, AFB seems to have altered its stance, and we commend them for their willingness to fairly evaluate the Mac and iPhone platforms.

The NFB Publishes a Second Look at VoiceOver

Lioncourt — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:31:00 +0000

Last June, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) published a highly flawed and controversial review of VoiceOver and the accessibility of the Mac OS X platform. Shortly thereafter, we published an editorial discussing the article and the NFB’s "response" to criticism of the review.

Steve Sawczyn of ATMaine.com and our very own Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast wrote a rebuttal to the original article, which the NFB agreed to publish. You can read it here.

This is certainly a step in the right direction, although we still have concerns with the NFB’s unwillingness to admit its errors in the original article, but applaud the editor for accepting Steve’s piece and publishing it in the current edition of the Braille Monitor. We sincerely hope that, in future, the NFB will take more care to offer accurate information to its readers.

Serotek Releases iPhone App targeting a Visually Impaired Audience

Lioncourt — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:41:31 +0000

Today, Serotek Corporation, who develop accessibility-related software, announced the availability of I Blink Radio for iPhone and iPod touch. This free application provides easy access to streaming radio, reading services, and podcast produced by, for, and about the visually impaired and accessibility. You can read the full press release here.

We are pleased to see an access technology company embracing Apple’s philosophy of mainstream accessibility, and exploring new ways to service the blind and visually impaired community.

ScreenLess Switchers Podcast – Episode 31

Cara — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:59:05 +0000

In This joint episode of the Screenless Switchers and Maccessibility Podcast we primarily discuss Snow Leopard, the new version of the Mac Operating System. We also discuss the maccessibility.net adobe petition

Petition to Adobe Systems Inc. for a COmmitment to Accessibility

Lioncourt — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:30:00 +0000

One of the most frequently asked questions by VoiceOver users is some variation on, "When will we have access to Flash?" The answer has been, as far as we have been able to determine, that Adobe Systems Inc. has no plans to provide accessibility in Flash, or any of their other products for that matter, on the Mac OS X platform, citing a perceived lack of Mac users who would benefit from such accessibility.

Given the exponentially growing community of blind and visually impaired Mac OS X users, this statement is clearly unfounded. In a constructive attempt to make our voices heard, the Mac-cessibility Network is running its first petition. The ultimate goal of this effort is to obtain a commitment to, and implementation of, accessibility in Adobe’s Flash platform on the Mac OS X operating system, including support for the VoiceOver screen reading solution provided therein.

If you believe mainstream companies like Adobe should be offering accessibility in their products, as we do, we hope you will take just a moment to read and sign our Adobe Petition for Commitment to Action.

We plan on running this petition through the end of December. In January, we will present the petition to Adobe Systems Inc.

We also would encourage you to help spread the word to others, and ask them to sign the petition. For easy reference, the link to the petition is http://maccessibility.net/petition

We thank you for your support in this effort.

The Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast #5 – Now Available in Natural Flavors

Lioncourt — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:14:39 +0000

In the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast #5 – "Now Available in Natural Flavors", our knights of the round table Darcy Burnard, Holly Anderson, Steve Sawczyn, Cara Quinn, and Josh de Lioncourt discuss the recent launch of the Mac-cessibility Network, review the recent minor updates to the Mac OS X and iPhone OS’s, get Steve’s thoughts on his new iPhone 3GS, and explore the pros and cons to MobileMe versus free alternatives.

Show notes:

The Mac-cessibility Network
MobileMe
Steve’s pick – Mail2Web.com
Josh’s picks – The Bean word processor for Mac OS X and MobileMe iDisk for iPhone
Cara’s picks – I-Map-U for iPhone and Shazam
Holly’s pick – Gmail
Darcy’s pick – JoinTogether for Mac

Accessible iPhone Apps List Grows to Over 100

Lioncourt — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:29:22 +0000

In just three weeks, the list of VoiceOver compatible iPhone applications has grown to include over one hundred entries. The rapidly growing community of blind and visually impaired iPhone users have tried these apps and recommended them to others. Don’t forget, you can navigate to the list page on your iPhone, choose the "Utilities" button near the bottom of the Mobile Safari screen, and add this page to your iPhone’s Home screen for quick access. The applications are listed as links to directly browse to the app in question in the AppStore. Thanks to editors Holly Anderson and Darcy Burnard for their efforts in maintaining this list.

The MacCast Podcast Spotlights iPhone Accessibility

Lioncourt — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:24:43 +0000

In the latest episode of the MacCast, a popular mainstream podcast focusing on Apple products, host Adam Christianson invites Shelly Brisbin, Josh de Lioncourt, and Shane Jackson to discuss the new accessibility features of the iPhone 3GS. We’d like to thank Adam for his coverage of accessibility on the show, and highly recommend the MacCast as a stellar podcast series.

New Featured Content – VoiceOver Compatible iPhone Applications

Lioncourt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:35:48 +0000

Lioncourt.com editor Holly Anderson has been compiling a list of third-party iPhone applications that the growing community of visually impaired iPhone users has used in the first week of the iPhone 3GS’s release. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and will doubtless grow as users become more comfortable with the new platform, but it should serve as a great starting point for the new VoiceOver and iPhone user. You can find the page in the "Features" section in the sidebar, or just click here.

Thanks to Holly for her work to compile this list.

Email Listserv for Visually Impaired Users of the iPhone

Lioncourt — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:43:02 +0000

As the excitement builds in many corners of the visually impaired community for Friday’s launch of the iPhone 3G S, which includes a specialized gesture-based version of VoiceOver, some are already preparing to undertake this historic journey together. If you’re interested in discussing the iPhone, its new accessibility features, VoiceOver and related topics, you can join the VIPhone group on GoogleGroups.

We hope to see you there!