Posted on December 1 2018 Two years ago, I wrote about how I use Textedit instead of vi, vim, or nano when editing files in my macOS terminal. It's still working well for me, but then I wanted it when remotely logged into other computers. Textmate can do that, but you need ruby on the … Continue reading How I can edit files on a remote server using Textedit on my Mac through SSH
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How I discovered that the audio in Live Photos can help blind people identify and organize them
Posted on May 17, 2018 When Apple announced live photos along with their iPhone 6s in 2015 almost everyone I know or read thought they were nothing more than a stupid gimmick, and promptly turned them off. It took 2 plus years before advantages of Live Photos started to show up as mentioned by Allison … Continue reading How I discovered that the audio in Live Photos can help blind people identify and organize them
My thoughts about looking at the sun last Friday with the BrainPort, preparing for the solar eclipse
Posted on August 3, 2017 North America had its last total solar eclipse of the 20th century on February 26, 1979. My 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Love, told the class the next one would be in 2017. My 9 year-old brain almost had a meltdown trying to imagine how far in the future that would … Continue reading My thoughts about looking at the sun last Friday with the BrainPort, preparing for the solar eclipse
Why blind people should care about social media and contact photos, facial recognition
Posted July 29, 2017 I have observed in the blind community over the years that many of us seem to care little, if at all, about pictures. In the past, I admit, they didn’t do much for us most of the time, but times are changing.Starting with TaptapSee, KNFB Reader, and other less known apps … Continue reading Why blind people should care about social media and contact photos, facial recognition
My realization that blind users of VoiceOver have had touch screen macs since 2009
In the early 1990s , Neal Stephenson released his now well known book "Snow Crash". Then in 1999 he wrote the even more famous book Cryptonomicon. He also wrote a lesser known and much smaller essay entitled "In the Beginning was the Command Line". In this essay Neal Stephenson talks about interfaces; not just of … Continue reading My realization that blind users of VoiceOver have had touch screen macs since 2009
Thoughts on how I keep remembering Beethoven’s birthday, music and technology
It is possible that if it hadn't been for Charles Schultz, and through his Peanuts cartoons , December 16th being the birthday of Ludwig Van Beethoven would have been as unknown to most of us today as the birthdays of the other great composers. In the Charlie Brown Christmas special recorded in 1965, one of … Continue reading Thoughts on how I keep remembering Beethoven’s birthday, music and technology
Thoughts about my experiences with a new iPhone 7 without a headphone jack
Early this year the tech world exploded over that there wouldn't be a headphone jack in the new iPhone, there are still blind people who say they won't buy another one because of that; and Although I wasn't happy about it, i thought boycotting them altogether was a bit too far. When Belkin announced their … Continue reading Thoughts about my experiences with a new iPhone 7 without a headphone jack
how to make ping audible, and equally more useful for both blind and sighted users
Ping is a little network troubleshooting command on operating systems that have any command line capability. Ping sends an ICMP packet to tell you if a specific network connection is up if the device pinged is configured to send back a reply. Back during my Cisco networking days I was annoyed that I couldn't see … Continue reading how to make ping audible, and equally more useful for both blind and sighted users
My rant on how many online videos and podcasts have way too much cognitive load, like music beds
In an attempt not to just only complain, I'd like to mention a significant frustration I have with many videos I often find on the internet. I get that they are "videos" but often the authors don't find the audio aspect important at all. Many videos, like this one only have music as the audio … Continue reading My rant on how many online videos and podcasts have way too much cognitive load, like music beds
A virtually unknown iOS VoiceOver feature, automatically announcing the time every minute
As an iOS VoiceOver user, several years ago I discovered that if I touched the clock status bar item VoiceOver would continue to automatically announce the time until interrupted by touch or certain incoming notifications. I can't remember exactly when this became a feature, but it was more than 3 years ago, and I've never … Continue reading A virtually unknown iOS VoiceOver feature, automatically announcing the time every minute
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