Access on Main Street

We’ve written before about automated Twitter messages as a communication strategy, but most examples were either hacks or left little leeway for consciously choosing a desired message. Enter Buddy Radio, a simple device currently being tested with elders by the UK’s National Health Service. Turning the dial sends one of several messages indicating the user’s mood–not clear whether this is preprogrammed or personalizable. Apparently it works not only with Twitter, but also with Facebook, email, and so on. It’s currently being evaluated as a signaling system; off-site family, friends, and other message recipients would presumably be able to interpret when a user needs some type of intervention services. But we have cause to wish it were commercially available now so that people in hospice, recovering from serious injury, etc., would have a nearly effortless way to just provide brief but treasured messages to their circles.

Fast Company: Could oversharing save the lives of seniors?

Ping is a newly proposed fabric with built-in sensors and conductors that has all kinds of accessibility implications. It could be used to automatically send messages upon execution of a particular gesture (interesting for some people with speech, dexterity, or cognitive disabilities) and to provide tactile indication of incoming messages, potentially including information about who’s sending them (with particular implications for people with hearing, visual, or dexterity disabilities). Apparently in future fashion, it won’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that Ping.

Engadget: With ‘Ping’ clothing, status updates literally tap you on the shoulder

Coding kvetch: A perusal of the Apple Developer notes for designing websites to be compatible with the iPad shows that one of the guidelines discourages exclusive use of mouse-specific event handlers such as mouseover and mouseout. Instead, they encourage use of Safari-specific DOM Touch events. Would it be possible for us to all get along on a universal scale by using hardware- and browser-independent event handlers such as onfocus and onblur?

Apple Developer: Preparing Your Web Content for iPad

Among the many things AoMS believes in is fresh produce, so we’re pleased to see the Fresh Code barcode system being proposed. As the fruit or veggie deteriorates, so does the code; if it’s past its edibility date, the barcode won’t work at checkout. Could be a great help to people who can’t thump a melon or effectively interpret the color of a banana, as well as those who don’t remember or never learned that some cauliflower is supposed to be purple.

Ubergizmo: Fresh Code ensures that you’ll get your veggies fresh

Here’s an interesting use for QR codes: Fandango, the movie ticket service, now has a mobile service that will send a code to your mobile phone. When you get to the theater, a scanner reads the code. No more paper to manipulate or remember, letting everyone get to the popcorn line that much faster. If the scanners are self-service, let’s hope some attention is given to accessibility in terms of height, providing guidance as to where to place the phone, etc. And if it’s a success, we’ll look forward to seeing similar implementations for other types of tickets.

Ubergizmo: Fandango now offers mobile tickets for movies

We’re mulling over the news that Virgin America has decided to remove Flash from its site (well, from some of the site, anyway…as noted on the TUAW comments, it’s still on the Route Map page at least) because it won’t run on iPhones. Is this a good thing for accessibility? Would it be better to keep Flash but also follow the guidelines for providing accessible Flash alternatives? And while we’re at it, could Virgin address some of their other issues, such as the inaccessible navigation bar?

TUAW: Virgin America dumps Flash over lack of iPhone support

Not content to ban suggestive iPhone apps from their store, Apple has decided they can also ban apps based on “minimal user functionality.” So the quirky utility that might just solve an access problem–like the air blower–won’t be available?  Not good.

Gizmodo: Apple rejects app for containing minimal user functionality