In 1990 I had a conversation with my friend Aaron Levinthal about phones and we thought it would be cool if we could just take our phone put it on our belts and go out into public. Neither of us had seen a cell phone at that point yet. On a college trip the assistant … Continue reading How for blind people, the iPhone significantly changed the world of cell phones even more than for the sighted
Tag: accessibility
How the abacus, though low tech, became and still remains a very useful tool for those who are blind doing math
The abacus has had a rich history lasting over two thousand years. Ancient merchants needed a way to count things and make calculations. The Asian abaci are the most well known today, both Chinese and Japanese models still exist. The Japanese model has one row of beads with a separation bar and then four more … Continue reading How the abacus, though low tech, became and still remains a very useful tool for those who are blind doing math
Challenges and frustrations I experience being totally blind, dealing with statuses of devices with LEDs
Because most devices are designed by sighted people, for other sighted people, lights are used to tell the person statuses like on/off etc. For those who can see, it's super easy, quick and efficient. For those who are totally blind, it's only frustrating at best. The device most frustrating for blind users are the … Continue reading Challenges and frustrations I experience being totally blind, dealing with statuses of devices with LEDs
How setting up iOS devices with a wired USB keyboard is way more efficient for me
When I bought my first iPhone, an iPhone 3GS the first text message I tried to send got a response from a friend saying they couldn't read it because of so many mistakes in it. It took me 3 weeks before I could type anything mostly legible. I have never liked or been fast at … Continue reading How setting up iOS devices with a wired USB keyboard is way more efficient for me
My thoughts on how productivity is way more portable than in the past, but how annoyingly some non-visual features only appear on products with larger screens
Posted on December 13, 2019 Johan Sebastian Bach probably wished he'd had a better way to work on his "Musikalisches Opfer", "A Musical Offering" when he traveled back home to Leipzig from visiting King Frederick the great of Prussia near Berlin in 1747. Ok, he probably instead really wished for something faster and more comfortable than a … Continue reading My thoughts on how productivity is way more portable than in the past, but how annoyingly some non-visual features only appear on products with larger screens
My journey to the cool Amazon “Show and Tell” feature discovering along the way that the Echos Show 5 and 8 won’t ever be able to support it.
Posted Tuesday, December 3, 2019One of the bigger challenges for a blind person is quickly identifying things that aren't physically unique or labeled in braille. This is one of the frustrations technology has helped in a big way. The first device that made a significant breakthrough in this area, was the I.D. Mate. A talking … Continue reading My journey to the cool Amazon “Show and Tell” feature discovering along the way that the Echos Show 5 and 8 won’t ever be able to support it.
My beginning explorations about less visual alternatives to spreadsheets for screen reader users
Posted on December 12, 2018 Almost 2 weeks ago I was listening to the Mac Power Users podcast with David Sparks and Katie Floyd, the episode had one of the best titles I'd ever seen, "My Life Is a Subscription" this could be a blog rant all by itself, but what they wanted the listener … Continue reading My beginning explorations about less visual alternatives to spreadsheets for screen reader users
A much improved way to spell check documents using VoiceOver on iOS beginning with iOS 12.1
Posted on November 6, 2018 There was a way, reproducible though not very convenient to spellcheck documents in iOS 11 using VoiceOver and at the time I thought it was cool though somewhat difficult to remember, but wrote a blog post about it anyway. A big thank you to Scott Davert, who discovered that in … Continue reading A much improved way to spell check documents using VoiceOver on iOS beginning with iOS 12.1
Another post I wrote with additional thoughts about Apple’s Face ID
Posted on October 1, 2018 Two weeks ago, I wrote about how I strongly dislike Apple's Face ID; and although some in the blind community have agreed with my thoughts, there are also some who do not. They say "oh Face ID is just fine and it's accessible," etc. Accessible for sure, but not efficient; … Continue reading Another post I wrote with additional thoughts about Apple’s Face ID
My thoughts about how as a VoiceOver user, Face ID although accessible is not very efficient
Posted on September 13, 2018On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, but I wasn't sucked into his reality distortion field quite yet. My friend Nathan Klapoetke was ecstatic about it though and told me later that day when reinstalling Windows for me that he couldn't wait to buy one; that was a … Continue reading My thoughts about how as a VoiceOver user, Face ID although accessible is not very efficient
Accessibility Insights 