visually impaired
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How Arturia made its music-making software more accessible
Arturia talked to Engadget about how it developed the new Accessibility Mode it's launching in Analog Lab V today.
HBO Max gets more accessible with audio-described content rollout
The changes coming this week include "nearly 1,500 hours of audio described content on web and mobile platforms." Some of these titles include His Dark Materials, Dunkirk, Euphoria and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Facebook improves AI photo descriptions for the visually impaired
Facebook has detailed how its AI describes photos for the visually impaired, including new tech that offers detailed labels.
Google Docs is now easier for visually impaired users to navigate
Google is making it easier for visually impaired people to use its Microsoft Office alternatives. The biggest change is a new shortcut — Ctrl+Alt+H on Windows, and CMD+Option+H on Mac — to instantly toggle Braille support in Docs, Sheets and Slides. Finally, Google has changed its software so that images, misspelling and grammatical errors are verbalized “directly by assistive technology,” such as refreshable braille displays.
Google's app for the visually impaired adds food and document scanning
Google launched its Lookout app in 2019 for people who are blind or have low-vision to navigate the world with their phones, but it was only available on Pixel phones with languages set to English. The first of the new modes is Food Label, which helps users identify packaged foods by pointing their cameras at the label. According to Scott Adams, product manager for Google’s Accessibility Engineering, this would let Lookout “distinguish between a can of corn and a can of green beans,” for example.
Alexa’s Show and Tell feature IDs objects for blind and low-vision users
For people with vision impairments, figuring out what's in a can or jar of food without opening it can be difficult or impossible. Amazon thinks it has a solution to that and other daily challenges that its blind and low-vision users face. Today, the company unveiled a new Show and Tell feature that allows users to hold an item in front of an Echo Show and ask "Alexa, what am I holding?" Using computer vision and machine learning for object recognition, the Alexa-powered device will respond with its best guess.
The band X Ambassadors created a music video for the visually impaired
For people who are blind or visually impaired, listening to a music video is often just like listening to the track. The band X Ambassadors wants to change that. They've teamed up with Microsoft to create an "audio-only music video" that's meant to allow blind, low-vision and sighted fans to enjoy the single "Boom" in a new way.
Google Docs 'live edits' feature helps the visually impaired
Google has launched a number of accessibility features this year, designed to make its products useable by everyone. Sound Amplifier, for example, makes conversations in loud places easier to hear, while Live Transcribe gives deaf and hard of hearing users context about the environment around them. Its latest offering is for Live Edits in Google Docs, designed to help users keep tabs on real-time updates made by document collaborators.
Alexa now speaks as slowly (or quickly) as you need
As of today, users in the US can ask their Alexa devices to speak slower or faster. The change is meant to make Alexa more accessible. Asking the voice assistant to speak slower could help people with hearing impairment better understand their device. And people who are blind or have visual impairments reportedly asked Amazon to speed up Alexa's responses.
Gett tweaks its UK taxi app to help visually-impaired users
Thanks to smartphone apps, hailing a taxi no longer requires memorising the phone number of the local cab company or gesturing at a passing driver in the street. However, none of these options are particularly useful if someone is visually impaired. Gett, the black taxi app formerly known as GetTaxi, agreed more could be done to help its blind or partially-sighted users, so it acted on a suggestion by an Israeli teenager to overhaul its iOS and Android apps.
Students design a facial recognition cane for blind people
Facial recognition technology has many use cases, but none nearly as significant as this next one might be. A group of students at Birmingham City University are developing a smart cane, dubbed XploR, which uses a combination of hardware and software to help the visually impaired easily identity family and friends. The device is powered by a smartphone's face recognition features, GPS and Bluetooth, allowing blind people who use it to detect faces up to roughly 33ft away. If the cane does recognize someone, it then sends a vibrating signal to the person and guides them via an ear piece -- for reference, the images of loved ones can be stored on an SD card.
Bluetooth beacons are helping the blind navigate London's Tube
London's Underground network can feel like a maze for even the most seasoned traveller, especially at rush hour when you're packed in with hordes of disgruntled commuters. The problem is only amplified for blind and partially sighted people, but a combination of Bluetooth beacons and smartphone app could make the experience less stressful. Wayfindr has been developed by Ustwo (yep, the folks behind the video game Monument Valley) and the Royal London Society for Blind People's (RLSB) Youth Forum to offer travellers audio-based directions and advice. A month-long trial at Pimlico station is now underway with 16 beacons tracking users' smartphones and activating descriptive notes. The information is basic, but could offer valuable guidance and, hopefully, confidence to blind and partially sighted people navigating the Underground independently.
Dog Days of Summer: Zandra, hard at iWork
It's summertime, which means that weekend TUAW readers get a respite from Caturday and get to see what the canine Apple community is up to. Our first woofer is Zandra, a hard-working guide dog who hangs out with Alex Jurgensen up in Vancouver, BC. Zandra's all decked out in an iWork jacket, not only referring to Apple's productivity apps but her status as a working dog. She also has an iPhone 4 on her harness, and appears to be setting up this 2006 education model iMac for better accessibility, since she's opened System Preferences. Zandra, who also goes by "Z", was raised by Ann in Tucson, Arizona. Alex and Z work together on a number of projects. Alex just launched an Indiegogo fundraising campaign for Solo-Dx, a project that is asking business owners to promote their businesses as part of a program to create and distribute audio description files for popular movies. The current crop of audio description files can be found on the reader-friendly Solo-Dx website. Z and Alex also work on a volunteer project together at Camp Bowen, a summer camp program for visually impaired Canadians. Read more about Camp Bowen here and be sure to donate to this worthy cause. If you have a Dog Days nominee to share, let us know via our feedback page (and please remember that the photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple and its products -- don't just send us a photo of your canine buddy). For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Thank you Alex and Z! Description of photo for the visually impaired (since our ALT tags stop at 90 characters): Zandra is lying on the floor, wearing a black jacket. On the side of the jacket, the word "iWork" is written in white writing. This refers both to the Apple productivity apps and her status as a guide dog. On her harness is a black strap with a white Apple logo on it. The strap is holding an iPhone 4. Between her front paws is an Apple bluetooth keyboard and to the left is a Magic Trackpad. In front of her is an education model 2006 iMac CD with System Preferences open on the screen. She is looking left, towards the camera.
'World's first' braille mobile phone goes on sale in the UK
Touchscreens may have kicked-off a mobile computing revolution, but they didn't do much for the visually impaired. OwnFone, which launched a customizable mobile phone for kids and the elderly back in 2012, is now offering its stripped-down handset with braille or raised text contact buttons. The 3D-printed hardware lets you select up to four contacts that can be assigned to the device, making it ideal for emergencies and people who need to stay in touch with family or carers on a regular basis. It's available right now for a base price of £60, plus an additional monthly charge of between £7.50 and £15.00 per month -- depending on how much call time you want or need.
Youtube user Kephas demonstrates how to play WoW blind
Everyone remembers the story of Hexu and Davidian, a completely blind player and his helpful friend who acts as a guide dog of sorts to help Hexu find his way. While Youtube user and avid WoW player Kephas isn't completely blind like Hexu, he has no vision in his left eye at all, limited sight in his right, and no peripheral vision. Despite this, Kephas still manages to play World of Warcraft just fine, and decided to make a video to show everyone just what it's like to play WoW as a visually-impaired player. In the video, Kephas goes over his UI and the addons he uses to make playing possible, even going so far as to provide a demonstration of his dps on a handy target dummy, then following that up with a jaunt to successfully and easily solo Onyxia's Lair. Kephas followed up the first video with a second that details and explains how he plays a variety of classes through the use of clever macros. Paladin, monk, warrior, hunter and death knight all get a play through and some test time on target dummies in the follow up video. While some characters are admittedly better geared than others, Kephas still manages to pull plenty of dps with each.
Kindle iOS app gets a slew of new features for the blind and visually impaired
The latest upgrade to the iPhone and iPad version of Amazon's Kindle reading app brings a bunch of new features aimed at blind and visually impaired users. At the top of the list is the ability to read aloud 1.8 million Kindle Store titles, with help from Apple's VoiceOver technology. The update also brings better library and book navigation and search, as well as features like notes, highlights, bookmarks, font size, background color and brightness. Standard Kindle features like X-Ray, End Actions and sharing via Facebook and Twitter are also made more accessible through the update. Amazon's promised a similar update for non-iOS versions of the app at some point in the future -- in the meantime, a full list of new features can be found in a press release after the break.
The Daily Grind: Are /follow commands taboo?
Earlier this week, World of Warcraft patched out a surprising mechanic present in the game for a very long time: the /follow command in battlegrounds. Blizzard community guru Bashiok explained that the primary goal was to curb botting in PvP, although apparently the team isn't too sad about the detrimental effect the change will have on at-the-keyboard multiboxing, either. What Blizzard doesn't appear to have anticipated was the effect the tweak would have on visually impaired players who rely on /follow commands to kick butt. World of Warcraft isn't alone in shunning the /follow command; Guild Wars 1 famously limits following, and Guild Wars 2, to the delight of some players, omits it entirely, which is sort of a pain in the butt when I need to go AFK and can't just follow on my guildies for 30 seconds as we run to the next orangie. I'm annoyed at that, so I can only imagine how upset people awesome enough to PvP blind feel at having their lifeline to fun stripped away after so many years. So what do you guys think? Is this a good change for WoW and other MMOs? Do you think the potential for harm to blind players or legitimate AFKers should outweigh the potential for harm by botters and multiboxers? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Blind player Ben Shaw on raiding and WoW for the sightless
It was World of Warcraft's feel-good people story of last year: Ben Shaw, the energetic young British serviceman who, astonishingly, continues to perform at peak efficiency in endgame raiding with the help of a "guide dog" guildmate. Our interview with Davidian, Ben's in-game guide, went viral and was seen on gaming websites and general news publications across the globe. Blizzard took notice, commemorating the duo's partnership with a set of in-game helms. But after attacking Mists with a new pandaren rogue, Ben said he found himself craving more WoW than ever. By the end of the year, he was ready to reach out for a new guild home, where he's now Shadowstepping into heroics with the best of them. How does a blind WoW player maintain competitive DPS and utility in endgame content? In an era when making a jump to a new raiding guild can be a challenging proposition for any player, how does a guy who can't see bump to the front of the line? (Hint: It's not PR power.) Ben and I pulled up a virtual chair in a phone conversation across the ocean to talk about the challenges of playing a video game when you're completely blind. Visually impaired gamers: Check the end of this interview to learn how to connect with Ben's new initiative to share his experience and resources with other blind players.
Qualcomm develops eyes-free smartphone for the blind and visually impaired, calls it Ray
Smartphones have made juggling multiple single-purpose gadgets a thing of the past for many, but the blind and visually impaired often use a raft of devices built with eyes-free use in mind. Qualcomm and Project Ray, however, are aiming to consolidate phone calls, text messaging with voice read-out, navigation, object recognition, audio book reading and more for the visually impaired in a system built on an off-the-shelf Android phone. To navigate the smartphone, users leverage a handful of simple finger movements that can be started at any point on the handset's touch screen. Voice prompts and vibration provide feedback to users, and the UI adapts to usage patterns and preferences. Currently, Ray devices have access to Israel's Central Library for the Blind and are being tested by 100 folks in the country. For the full lowdown, head past the break for the press release.
Fleksy is an alternate text input tool for the visually impaired
Fleksy is an interesting take on alternate text input for the iPhone. Designed for those whose eyesight is bad or nonexistent, Fleksy records the taps on the screen and makes a guess based on your patterns. It then says the word, enabling you to quickly construct sentences without even looking at the screen. Does it work? Absolutely it does, and as proof I found it was far more accurate when I didn't look at the screen than when I tried to type quickly while looking at the "keys." Fleksy is simple enough, with a text area up top and modified keyboard below. As you type, it guesses what you're trying to type. When you go to the next word by swiping right, Fleksy reads the word it guessed, allowing you to delete it (swipe left to delete), ask for another suggestion (swipe down), or continue by typing again. What's incredible is the speed and accuracy of the app while not looking at the screen. If you're familiar with the basic QWERTY layout on an iPhone's screen, you can tappity-tap on the screen, pretending you're seeing the keys, when Fleksy is actually making several educated guesses about what you're wanting to write. Fleksy is free to test, and I highly recommend you do so to understand what's going on. My video below is but a tiny sample of how good Fleksy is at guessing your keystrokes. To unlock the ability to use this text outside of the app, it'll cost you $9.99. If you are visually impaired, it's a decent bargain, even though Apple continues to make iOS more accessible.
