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Microsoft Teams makes it easier to host meetings using sign language
Microsoft Teams now has a sign language view that helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
E3 failed its deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers today
If you were relying on the ESA's closed captions to make sense of what’s being unveiled at E3 today, you might have been very confused.
Chrome can now caption all audio playing through the browser
Google is bringing one of its most useful Android accessibility features to Chrome. The company announced today that its browser can now caption any audio and video you play in it.
Uber's driver app now serves the hearing impaired
More often than not, most features released by Uber are designed for its customers, not drivers. Today, though, the ridesharing firm is making some changes to help a specific group of people behind the wheel: those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. These updates, planned in tandem with the National Association of the Deaf, lets drivers access an Uber Partner app that offers tools created particularly for the hearing impaired. For example, contractors are now able to modify their app to have the flashlight turn on when a trip's being requested, along with the existing audio notification. They can also set it so that riders receive a message directly on the Uber app, prompting them to enter a destination or to provide special instructions for a pick-up.
Netflix Watch Instantly's life after Starz includes Academy Award winners, more captions
In a change of conversation that would make Don Draper proud, Netflix has picked up its blogging pen and accentuated the positive, even as hundreds of titles provided by Starz Play blinked away this week. The first bit of good news? Content that's coming instead of going includes several movies that scored trophies at last weekend's Academy Awards,including Best Picture winner The Artist, and Best Documentary winner Undefeated that will arrive "later this year, plus Best Animated Feature Rango that goes live on the service March 31st. That extends to movies in theaters too, as last weekend's top two, Act of Valor and Good Deeds, are pay-TV window exclusives for Netflix. The other positive note is that it achieved a goal of offering closed captioning on 80 percent of the hours streamed by the end of last year, and notes 90 percent of streaming is now done on devices that have been updated to support optional captions. The bad news there is that some embedded TV and Blu-ray player software might not be able to be updated for captions, and progress on adding captions for that last twenty percent of content may be slower since it's content that isn't viewed as often. So, is the red envelope company doing enough to keep you hanging around, or are you going to blow through the last few eps of Lillyhammer and pull the eject button?
Google aids accessibility with ChromeVox reader, better YouTube captions and more
Engineers from Google have commandeered a booth at this year's CSUN accessibility conference and they're keen to talk up their latest efforts. For the visually impaired, there's now a beta version of a Chrome screen reader called ChromeVox (demo'd after the break), plus improved shortcuts and screen reader support in Google Docs, Sites and Calendar. Meanwhile, YouTube boasts expanded caption support for the hard of hearing, with automatic captions enabled for 135 million video clips -- a healthy tripling of last year's total. Check the source link for full details or, if you're anywhere near San Diego, go and hassle those engineers the old-fashioned way.
Netflix's day: Sony movies pulled, new bandwidth options, no more DVD API access and a lawsuit
In an apparent ode to Rebecca Black, Ice Cube and any number of body switch movies, Netflix has had an incredibly active Friday, so sit back while we get you up to speed. Sony Pictures movies from Starz Play are no longer available (on any device, not just the Xbox 360 this time) due to a "temporary contract issue" according to the official blog. According to NewTeeVee, the problem is an "IP distribution cap" that was reached due to Netflix's explosive growth, but with no word on when the movies will be back, you'll be missing The Other Guys. Up next was the National Association of the Deaf, which has filed a lawsuit in Springfield, MA against Netflix, claiming that its failure to provide closed captions on all streaming content puts it in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Netflix last claimed 30 percent of titles were subbed with plans to reach 80 percent by the end of the year, but the press release (and captioned YouTube video) make the case that as a leader in streaming video, it should do better. Netflix also quietly gave US subscribers access to the same bandwidth management options provided to Canadians a few months ago. The new Manage Video Quality settings (shown above) can be found in the Your Account section, and if you're trying to stay under bandwidth caps or just keep seeing buffering, they should help you out at the cost of a few pixels. As if that wasn't enough, the Netflix Tech Blog squeezed in news that it was ending access to "DVD-related features" for apps using its Open API later this year. The move is apparently preparation for expanded international streaming, so if you're trying to manage discs through a third party things may change soon.
NHK's automated, animated sign language translator adds gestures to subtitles (video)
We've seen quite a few devices designed to help hearing impaired users communicate via phone or computer, but Japan's NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories has just announced a new animated translation system to help get important news to deaf viewers . While televised subtitles may work for those who understand the language, people who were born deaf and learned sign language from an early age can have significantly more difficulty. NHK's system, unveiled at Technology Open House 2011, bypasses this problem by automatically comparing Japanese text to sign language, converting equivalent words into animated onscreen gestures, and replacing differing words with appropriate synonyms. There are, however, a few kinks to work out. While comprehensible, the translations aren't exactly fluent and researchers have been forced to manually adjust some awkward transitions between words. The ultimate goal is to create a system that could be used during emergencies or natural disasters, allowing deaf citizens to receive urgent broadcasts as instantly as their hearing compatriots. You can see it in action, after the break.
Telecommunications device for the deaf gets hitched to a rotary phone, hacked to run Zork
In today's episode of "But will it run Zork?" a chap named Ulysses got the vintage game to run on a TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) -- a project he built to show off at the Bay Area Maker Faire last weekend. In a move we truly respect, he hunted down a rotary phone lifted straight out of the era when Zork was conceived (that would be the late '70s / early '80s). Then, he modified a modem so that the acoustically coupled TDD could be interfaced -- transmitting at a slow 45.5 baud to make it easy for even ponderous readers to keep up, one line at a time on the TDD's narrow display. Once this was sorted, things weren't exactly smooth sailing when Ulysses started fitting the compressed Zork story file into the system. At first, he tried using an Arduino Pro and an Arduino Mega, but found that neither had enough memory to accommodate the compressed Zork story file. Ultimately, he took a different tack and settled on an embeddable FitPC. We'd love nothing more than to see this thing in action, but in lieu of a video we highly suggest carving out a few minutes and perusing Ulysses' photo blog at the source link.
ZVRS to support live sign language translation via iPhone 4's FaceTime for calls between deaf and hearing users
While SMS and mobile email are great, they still can't match the emotion, interaction, and intonation of a live conversation with someone -- that's why our phones still ship with microphones and speakers, apparently. Of course, this is much more difficult when one of the parties is deaf or hard of hearing, which is where video relay services come in. With the help of a videophone or your computer's webcam, you can make a call with a live translator, who speaks your signed ramblings out loud to the hearing person on the other end. Of course you're usually stuck at a desk when doing this, but now ZVRS is going to be supporting calls made from the iPhone 4 over FaceTime. It might not be quite as sexy as Apple's goosebump-raising iPhone 4 commercial, since the phone obviously makes two-way sign language calls possible, but if the person on the other end doesn't have an iPhone 4 or doesn't know sign language, ZVRS seems like the next best thing. The new service will launch on July 26th. Check out a video of it in action after the break, the actual call starts at 2:25.
Ubisoft in-house titles to receive subtitles
Ubisoft has announced plans to add subtitles to all of the company's internally developed games and thus make them more accessible. The first games to include the subtitles are Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding (most of which will be covered by various iterations of "Woah!"). With any luck, the subtitles will extend to a game's sound effects and other audio cues.The first title to boast this feature will be Far Cry 2, due on Oct. 21.
New Sprint service transcribes conversation to web in real time
Sprint is rolling out WebCapTel, an extension of its existing CapTel service that shows hard-of-hearing callers what the person on the other end is saying in real time -- but this time around, special equipment isn't needed. As its name implies, WebCapTel works through any web browser using any phone, turning the call into text quickly enough so that callers are able to respond naturally and with their own voice. Pretty darned cool; in fact, we think we're going to give it a try ourselves to see how it does. It's available now for calls within the US, and even better, it's free.
Deaf gamer seeks subtitles support
Kotaku has reprinted an interesting letter from a deaf gamer asking the ESA to support subtitling in video games. The lack of subtitling means a game's story is often incomprehensible to roughly one percent of the population. Not only that, but audio-only cues are sometimes important to the gameplay itself, such as the beeping bomb-detection device in Metal Gear Solid 2.What's worse, deaf and hard of hearing gamers often have no idea whether a game will cater to them going into a purchase. Game packaging rarely notes the availability of subtitles, and game reviews rarely mention audio accessibility (GameCritics is a notable exception, including a deaf and hard of hearing section in its consumer guides).Game accessibility doesn't stop at hearing loss. Developers are working on audio-only games for the blind and The Switch Project supports simple, one-button games that "can be played by anyone, no matter the disability."
