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Welcome to the May 2020 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which highlights what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis by members of the community - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Amaroq…

Today is the Eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). This day has been set aside "to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) access/inclusion and people with different disabilities." This according to the above linked web page on GAAD. In recent years on AppleVis, we have supported this day, with posts about…

Like most folks, I have always been a bit of a social animal. I delighted in dining with friends at our local Periodic Table Supper Club. I liked walking around the block with a neighbor friend and talking to others in their front yards. I enjoyed traveling with my wife wherever and whenever we wanted. And, we absolutely loved it when our kids dropped by the house. That was then, this is now.

A new abnormal has descended upon all of us. An unwanted virus has invaded our lives. It was…

I am totally blind and wear Made For iPhone (MFI) hearing aids, in my case the Oticon OPN S 1. My primary method of input on iPhone is Braille Screen Input, but when working on more complex documents, I use my Apple Magic Keyboard.

Until last Friday, I was running an iPhone 10S Max, but I have now upgraded to an iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Users of MFI hearing aids are well aware that there has been an ongoing issue using Bluetooth keyboards, VoiceOver, and the aids together. This…

introduction

It's September, and that means a lot of things. For users of iOS devices, it's time for a new major iOS update.

Just like other releases, this latest build brings a lot of new features and enhancements to supported iOS Devices. Major changes include a system-wide Dark Mode, QuickPath keyboard, support for thumb drives and other USB external memory devices, call blocking features for spam callers, and much more. Many blogs will be highlighting these new…

Don and I met during college Orientation in late July 1972. He was 18 and I was 17. Don was blind and I was heading in that direction. I have retinitis pigmentosa and had already lost my night vision. Don and I saw advantages to becoming roommates. He would teach me essential future blindness skills and, per his request, I would hide his bottle of Southern Comfort.

I started my university career with a serious problem. After the sun set, I could not find my way from my dorm in the…

I flick around the screen, double-tapping when I want to select something. As I do so, VoiceOver's speech comes through my Aftershokz headset, which I wear most of the time. That makes me a cyborg, or so I'm told. Nothing is showing on my screen. "Is your phone on?" One of the students on my course at university once asked me, as I called a taxi. "The screen is black." Or as one train manager once remarked, as I was searching for my E-ticket to show him, "…

In the latest versions of iOS and macOS, Apple introduced a new setting called “Accessibility Events” for users of assistive technology.

This new feature tells websites when an assistive technology, such as a screen reader, is being used by the site visitor, enabling developers to customize the behavior of the website accordingly. One example would be to ensure that any custom controls such as custom web sliders are accessible by users.

For blind web users, this should…

A new feature for VoiceOver users called "Accessibility Events" was introduced in iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4 without any announcement or documentation. I cannot find any info about this feature on Apple's website. Even the installed Help files say nothing about it, so far. The only information given is a short description label in the Mac Preferences and IOS settings, shown below. To the best of my knowledge, which is quite limited at this time, leaving it turned on allows webmasters and…

Apple has today launched a partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) that will bring its accessible coding programme to blind and low vision students in the United Kingdom.

The program was initially launched in May 2018, when Apple announced…

To the tune of Twelve Days of Christmas

On my first time with VoiceOver, VO gave to me,
a way to pause, with Control key.
On my second time with VoiceOver, VO gave to me,
two modifiers, and a way to pause, with Control key.
On my third time with VoiceOver, VO gave to me,
three tab keys waiting, two modifiers, and a way to pause, with Control key.
On my fourth time with VoiceOver, VO gave to me,
four fun Commanders, three tab keys waiting, two…

We are pleased to announce the winners of the seventh annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.

Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded blind and low vision users of Apple products the opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making and maintaining great and accessible applications over the given year. The response of past nominees and winners to this recognition from blind and low vision users…

We are pleased to announce that voting for the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards of 2018 is now open; read on to find out which apps and developers have been shortlisted and how to cast your vote.

First launched in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apples is an opportunity for blind and low vision users of Apple products to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into making and maintaining great and accessible applications over the last twelve months.…

I may have sporadic internet use for the next several months. My wife and I are moving back to our little cabin in the woods, on a remote island in the middle of Lake Michigan. Its a place we both love, in a cabin we rebuilt ourselves. After living there for thirteen years, we had moved down to lower Michigan hoping for a better economy. We also had moved closer to family from both sides. However, after pursuing plans in the fast-paced world of a "better economy" and our cost of living…

USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), the support organization for the advancement and adoption of USB technology, has today announced a new USB HID (Human Interface Device) industry standard that aims to simplify the development of braille displays and allow for an improved user experience.

In it's press release, USB-IF describes this new standard as:

a collaborative step toward greater…

We are pleased to announce that voting for the 2018 inductees into the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame is now open.

Now in its seventh year, the AppleVis iOS App Hall of Fame is one of the ways in which the AppleVis community seeks to recognize developers of accessible iOS applications. Apps in the Hall of Fame can be liberating; empowering; life-changing; provide access to information that sighted users take for granted; or, in…

Welcome to the February 2018 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Accessible flash cards…

Be My Eyes, the popular iOS and Android app that connects blind and low vision users with sighted volunteers for assistance via live video chat, has today launched an exciting new feature for users needing specialized or technical help.

Following today's update to the Be My Eyes app, users will find a new menu option on the app's main screen titled “Specialized Help”.

In its announcement of this new…

Previously.

In my previous post, "Mac Scripting, Hello World", we looked at 'tell blocks' where indented commands could be sent to specific applications. The commands were indented one tab spot, while the blocks were finished off with an 'end tell' command. There are several types of blocks, tell blocks, if blocks and repeat blocks to name a few…

When you think of audio games, the Blindfold series of iOS games from Kid Friendly Software probably come to mind. Certainly, the Blindfold Series of games have been a huge hit within the blindness community. With over 80 titles now available, it makes sense that blind and low vision users around the world would flock to these games.

As a speech user, the Blindfold Games are completely accessible and easy to learn. The consistent menu…