Access on Main Street

The Swing Pro Solo Auto concept basically does away with the steering wheel. Instead, you make the car turn simply by leaning in the direction you want to go. This has obvious benefits for upper-limb amputees and anyone who has difficulty with grasping or turning a wheel. We can also see elimination of the wheel as improving driving comfort for people who are obese or pregnant. Finally, for people with cognitive conditions such as left/right dyslexia, leaning is probably going to require less effort and allow faster reaction times than steering.

Yanko Design: Swing Pro Solo Auto

ShapeWriter is a mainstream iPhone/Pod/Pad app that lets users perform data entry by gliding a finger (or a capacitive-friendly stylus?) across a virtual keyboard, which is likely to be accommodating for a range of people with dexterity disabilities who find standard keyboards problematic. As a bonus, ShapeWriter includes word prediction, so that even the gliding is kept to a minimum.

AT Mac: ShapeWriter – iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad Typing Without Lifting Your Finger

As usual, a proposed “thought-controlled technology” will probably be run in practice via other physical capabilities. That doesn’t mean we’re not looking forward to some of the hands-free environmental control strategies being developed by Japanese researchers, including the ability to have heaters and air conditioners automatically respond to changes in an individual’s body temperature. Cognito, ergo summer?

New Launches: The Japanese think therefore they are developing mind technology that will be thought controlled

Looks like the iCade cabinet for the iPad is this year’s Tauntaun sleeping bag–a product originally designed as a joke that stirred up real interest. The theoretical iCade would allow control via buttons and joystick as well as touchscreen. Proposed for games, but certainly of interest to anyone looking for a range of input options. In addition, Apple seems to be working on this in earnest.

CNN: How the fake ‘iCade’ could become real

People who don’t have or use fingers for controlling touchscreens have problems with capacitive models like the iPhone.  You can’t use it with most metal or plastic styli because the touchscreen is expecting a certain amount of capacitive charge found on typical extremities.  But have no fear (except around mealtime) — it seems that sausages work well.  Some may skewer such a solution, thinking it the wurst idea they’ve ever heard.  But let’s be frank — it’s certainly in the ball park.

South Korean iPhone users turn to sausages as a cold weather ‘meat stylus’ — Engadget

There are two observations from a New York Times report on the Las Vegas Market furniture show that have potential implications for people with mobility/dexterity disabilities. One is that the public at large is choosing to do more computing in the bedroom, which may well result in more design options and greater comfort becoming available to computer users who have to work from bed. The other is a promising solution to an often pressing problem: how do you get your partner to stop snoring if you don’t have enough gross motor function to nudge them? The answer is the button on a remote that temporarily inclines their side of the bed, tilting them so the cacophony goes away. If the button can be activated with minimal pressure, it could be a relationship saver.

New York Times: More than a place to rest

We’ve commented before on a few hardware-based strategies for finding lost keys, remotes, etc. “Where Is My Phone,” however, is an iPhone app that lets you find your…iPhone. It responds to your whistle (so it’s hands-free) with either one of its preprogrammed noises or with your sound recording. Since it’s response is user-specific, we’re hoping you can substitute a different sound if you’re whistle-impaired. We also assume it’s designed to run all the time in the background, unless you plan in advance to lose your phone. All this for a buck; not bad.

ShinyShiny: Whistle and your phone will respond: the Where is My Phone App