‘Third-Party Products’ Archives

Skype, the popular VOIP client used by a vast number of visually impaired computer users, has been available on the iPhone and iPod touch for quite some time, but contained an inaccessible contacts list, rendering the app virtually useless. Skype has recently addressed this problem, and the application is now very accessible for both [...]

Today, MacSpeech, Inc. announced the release of MacSpeech Dictate version 1.5.6, an update to their popular speech recognition solution for Mac OS X.
The update introduces a new "Dictation Preferences" pane which allows users to enable or disable the Auto Cache Document feature for TextEdit and Microsoft Word, in addition to fixing reported issues.
MacSpeech Dictate v1.5.6 [...]

In this special edition episode of the Mac-cessibility Podcast, we interview Slau Halatyn who spearheaded the ProTools Petition, which requested that Digidesign implement Apple’s accessibility standards into its ProTools product, an application for professional-level audio production.
Slau had a chance to visit Digidesign in San Francisco, and got to experience first hand the tremendous progress being [...]

Yesterday, the Web Accessibility in Mind organization, (WebAIM), a group focusing on improving accessibility of web content for persons with disabilities, published the results of their Screen Reader User Survey, a follow up to a similar survey conducted earlier this year.
VoiceOver was shown in the survey to have a fifty percent increase in users reporting [...]

When the iPhone 3GS began offering VoiceOver support in June, visually impaired users were impressed by the number of applications which were already accessible on the platform.
Unfortunately, a few apps have received substantial updates in the interim which have made them inaccessible. Some developers have begun addressing accessibility issues, like FaceBook, while others such as [...]

Yesterday, VMWare Fusion version 3 was released for Mac OS X. This version of the popular desktop virtualization software, which allows Mac users to simultaneously run other operating systems alongside OS X, boasts a variety of new features, including Windows 7 support, and has been optimized for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Unlike its competition, [...]

Recently, Fring, a popular service for consolidating various chat and social networking services, updated their iPhone/iPod touch application to version 2, which proved to have some accessibility problems with VoiceOver. In a blog post, they acknowledge the problem and are now offering the previous version as a separate app in the AppStore, meant to service [...]

Proloquo2Go is an iPhone/iPod touch application designed to transform an iPhone or iPod touch into an augmentative and alternative communication device for persons with speech disabilities. The software has been developed by Assistiveware.com, makers of the popular InfoVox iVox products. Despite its $189.9 price tag, it is a quite affordable alternative to hardware solutions which [...]

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 [...]

Today, VMWare

This week, Adobe Systems Inc. announced a feature of Flash Professional CS5 which compiles Flash applications into native iPhone ones. According to their FAQ, applications developed in this way are "native" iPhone executables, which would suggest a high likelihood of accessibility in apps which do not rely heavily on graphical interaction. Video games, for instance, [...]

An update has been posted at ProToolsPetition.org regarding Digidesign’s continuing efforts to provide accessibility in its ProTools professional recording software to VOiceOver users. Slau Halatyn was invited to see their progress first-hand, and below is a copy of his report on the experience.

At the end of August, I received an email message from David [...]