Hi, society
Hate leaving your social networking sites when you have to meet people in the flesh? Now you can have both; aka-aki, a new service from Germany, lets you send and receive information about commonalities with other subscribers within the same brick-and-mortar space, and then use Bluetooth to actually find them. This could be a great means of icebreaking for people with communication disabilities, or for anyone who’d rather put who they are ahead of what they look like.
Times Online: The future of social networking: mobile phones
Thinking a head
Given that the Internet is the most powerful information tool ever devised, it’s good that someone would come up with a website to let you easily find…a local bathroom. Locations can be added and identified by whether a purchase is required, whether there are baby changing capabilities–and whether they’re wheelchair accessible!
Teen talk
Since teens theoretically spend all day text messaging anyway, why not take advantage of the technology to remind them to take medications? A pilot program in Cincinnati has volunteers typing reminder messages at set times of the day–with all words spelled out so they won’t be mistaken for BAU from BFFs. Given the rise in conditions such as asthma that are affecting kids, we say :)
A whirled of the map
Schmap, which has already established a web presence with interactive maps and guides, has developed an iPhone-savvy version of its site. What we really like is that it takes advantage of the iPhone’s built-in gyro sensors; hold your phone one way to see just the local points of interest, then just tilt it 90 degrees to see these points plotted on a map. Easy for anyone, and likely to be especially welcome by those whose fine motor impairments make them prefer not to fumble with links whenever possible; we’d love to see this implemented for other types of applications.
More CAPTCHA follies
We’ve posted a good bit about CAPTCHAs, the automated techniques that try to distinguish humans from vile software bots when visiting websites or registering for accounts, such as the blurry letters you have to type into a box. It’s an arms race between CAPTCHA designers and bot designers, with visually impaired users as collateral damage.
The latest design calls for users to click near the geometric center of any image in a composite set of wall-to-wall images drawn from a database. That’s only step one; step two shows you another image, which you must identify from a list of options. They’re gonna have to get really creative to figure out a non-visual approach to this task. And hey, webmaster, is your site’s porn late medieval Italian poetry really worth all this effort?
Ars Technica: Researchers stay step ahead of bots with image-based CAPTCHA
What it sees is what you get
Evolution Robotics has announced that its ViPR visual search engine will arrive on the iPhone this June. What’s a visual search engine? Take a picture of any book, CD, or DVD, and information about it comes back to your mobile phone. Sounds amazing, no? It even works when the object is upside down or partially hidden.
Consider the implications for blind, low vision, and cognitively disabled users, especially once it can recognize other objects, places, people….
Microsoft Surfaces at AT&T Stores
We heard about AT&T’s plans to use Microsoft’s Surface touch-and-show table in its retail locations; now 5 stores have it, with 50 more expected. Early reviews are positive: many people can use it at once, and the display is easy to read and highly effective. We understand it can be read when seated.
The interface is intuitive: put two phones down on it and immediately a comparison chart appears. You can get plan information, and see models with colors, options, and accessories. Lots of cognitive benefit there, and some people with communication disabilities may prefer the automated info service over interacting with sales staff. (Hey, that’s us!)
No word on getting the info in audio form (table readers?); we’re doubtful but love surprises.
Multi-grope: Interacting with Microsoft Surface at the AT&T Store