Access on Main Street

Here we go again. First the Kindle promised compatibility with speech output, then the Authors Guild objected. Looks like we might be heading into a similar fray with the iPad, which will have VoiceOver, Apple’s proprietary blindness-friendly screen reader, built in. Will it make a difference that VoiceOver, unlike Kindle’s speech technology, works with all apps instead of just e-books? Stay tuned.

Gizmodo: Apple’s iPad Will (Perhaps Controversially) Read E-Books Aloud

ETA: Things are looking up. The Authors Guild has just joined a coalition to “ensure that when the marketplace offers alternative formats to print books, such as audio and electronic books, print-disabled consumers can access the contents of these alternative formats to the same extent as all other consumers.”

Authors Guild: White House Applauds Joint Effort for Print Disabled

PhD candidate Fabian Hemmert is doing a lot of thinking about how cell phones can convey information by changing their weight distribution, width, or “emotional” state. The ability to provide navigational information by shifting the phone’s weight to correspond to the desired direction is very promising as an aid for blind individuals, particularly those who also have limitations to their hearing and/or their fingertip sensitivity.

Ubergizmo: Shape shifting cell phone prototype interacts with you

On the list of major appliances we wish had voice output, a clothes washer is a minor item.  But who can resist one that speaks in English, Hindi, and Tamil, and has such an amusing name?  It seems to have several other features that blind and cognitively disabled users — not its initial targeted market — will benefit from, including step-by-step instructions and automatic cycle selection based on load size and overall filthiness (not the filthiness of your overalls…).

- Electrolux

Hmmm…a headset that bypasses touch screen access problems by enabling both audio output and speech input? Sounds like a product designed for blind (and some learning/cognitively disabled) folks, but it’s actually a mainstream product from Bluetrek that was shown at CES last week.

Ubergizmo: Bluetrek Dial 2DO Bluetooth headset does text to voice to text

Apple’s much-expected mobile tablet gizmo may have tactile feedback — electronic bumps on its touchscreen surface to orient your fingers for typing, for example.  Such a feature could help blind users find on-screen controls, and even provide braille or other tactile output.

Apple Patent Application Reveals a Bumpy Tablet - apple tablet - Gizmodo

Powerzoa is a set of 6 cubes that fit between an electric plug and an outlet. We like that each cube sends information on power usage for the associated device to “a personalized website where you can schedule appliances to turn on and off automatically.” We really like that each cube has a distinct tactile graphic (star, plus sign, etc.), so that if they’re used with multiple items plugged into a power strip, it’d be easy for blind people to know which plug goes to which device.

Powerzoa product page

Blower is a new app that uses a standard iPhone–no hardware add-ons required–to blow enough air to extinguish birthday candles. Obvious accessibility use: extinguishing birthday candles, for people with respiratory disabilities. Not-so-obvious use: inclusion in other apps to provide discrete signals to blind individuals, for example when a reminder pops up. (Discrete, that is, if the leaf-blower audio can be eliminated.)

Krapps: The iPhone Blows! – No Seriously, It Does