We will answer as many questions as we can in the time we have. Not all questions are guaranteed to be answered, but we will keep unanswered questions on hand for future Q&A shows, and will produce more Q&A shows if our listeners find them useful.

We extend our deepest condolences to Steve’s family, friends, and colleagues.

On behalf of all of us here at Mac-cessibility, thank you, Steve Jobs, for all that you gave the world…and us.

Apple’s event today is expected to focus primarily on iPods, iTunes, and the AppleTV.

We will be covering the event live via this live stream, and listeners may interact with one another and with the hosts of our stream on Twitter by using the hash tag #VOLive in their tweets.

Our coverage will begin streaming shortly before the keynote begins at 10:00 AM PDT, 1:00 PM EDT. We hope to see you there!

Note: We will not be providing audio from the event itself, only announcements and discussion as we collect information from the keynote.

We hope to see you tomorrow!

iBooks will be available for other iPhone OS devices later this summer.

We’d like to thank Shaun for taking hte time to address M.J.’s concerns, and hope that the Mac-cessibility Network can continue to encourage constructive discussions like this one.

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.

• In the upper left corner of all pages, there is now a link to toggle the site in and out of "High Contrast" mode. This new mode should be of use to low vision visitors who might have difficulty reading our content with the site’s standard color scheme.
• If you register with Lioncourt.com, the Mac-cessibility Network’s online news publication, you will find a new option in your user profile called "Subscriptions". With this feature, you can select news categories and have updates emailed directly to you as news is posted, or in periodic batches.
• When logging in, you will be automatically returned to the page you were reading. This makes posting comments quicker and easier than previously.
• Some tweaks to the layout of pages throughout the site should improve the visual organization for fully sighted users.

More features and content are under development, and we’ll keep you posted as they become available. As always, all of us here at the Mac-cessibility Network and Lioncourt.com thank you for your ongoing support.

Thanks to Holly for her work to compile this list.

We’ve published a new editorial piece on the new third-generation iPod Shuffle, its VoiceOver implementation, and what all this could potentially mean for the future of other Apple products. You can read the editorial here.

Today, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) announced a cooperative agreement with Apple Inc. to make Apple’s iTunes software more accessible to the blind and visually impaired. Earlier this month, Apple released iTunes 8 with substantial improvements to accessibility for both Mac and Windows users. Under the agreement between Apple and the NFB, Apple will make iTunes U accessible by 31/December, 2008, and will provide full access to the iTunes application by 30/June, 2009.

Over a span of three years, Apple will continue to work with the NFB to maintain accessibility in iTunes for the visually impaired. Apple will donate $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind to assist the agency in providing adaptive technology to blind residents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It is interesting to note the timing of this announcement. It comes just one day after Freedom Scientific announced iTunes support in its Jaws for Windows screen reading software. The NFB made no such fanfare when GW Micro announced its work with Apple on iTunes accessibility with Window-Eyes earlier this year, when that accessibility came to fruition earlier this month, or when the vast majority of the iTunes application became accessible with Apple’s VoiceOver screen reading technology for Mac OS X in early 2007.

Nevertheless, Apple has shown tremendous commitment to blind and visually impaired computer users over the last several years with the development and release of VoiceOver, Braille display support in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, access to iTunes under both Mac and WIndows operating systems, iPods with speaking menus, and countless updates to their own OS and software to improve accessibility. It’s about time that an organization like the NFB took notice.