Before there was an iPod or an iPhone, and even before Microsoft had Windows 95, there was the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. In those early years, I was a regular attendee at the WWDC. I was extremely fortunate to make great connections with many Apple employees and other Macintosh developers. I also established very close ties with the event organizers. Instead of sitting in one of the thousands of tightly packed stackable chairs in the main hall, where I would never see the slide shows, the WWDC team kindly offered me a backstage comfy chair, monitor and sound system.
Opinion
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Back in June of this year, ill-advised as it is, I was walking out of my apartment complex while typing a text message at the same time. Into and over a large flower pot I went, picking up a few cuts and bruises to my shins, but much worse than that, to my horror, realizing my iPhone X had gone flying through the air, lending heavily on the concrete ground. For a few moments, as the phone lay on the ground, I owned what a friend later dubbed “Schrödinger's iPhone”, it's fate as yet unknown.
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Update 2 February: Although not specifically mentioned in the release notes, it’s great to see that version 3.0.1 addresses many of the issues mentioned in the original post below. For example, the Share button is now accessible and you can add topics of interest to your custom feed (although you currently need to use a combination of the 3-finger swipe up/down and exploring by touch to access all available topics, as swiping is not reliable).
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I really like to pretend that I have much more control over my personal circumstances than I actually do. I'm probably not alone.
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Introduction
There has been quite a bit of discussion and debate of late around the merits of iOS and Android, and this has coincided with my own journey into using Android. In February this year, after thirteen years using iPhones, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S23. I had long been curious about Android and had dabbled with it over the years, primarily as my work phone. I had never really picked it up and used it as my primary day to day phone though, at least not since I spent a month with a Nexus 4 way back in 2016. This time, I genuinely planned to give it a real go.
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It was more than thirty years ago. My professional feelings were hurt. I had worked very hard for a long time and I was being passed over on something that felt important to me. The more I thought about it, the more it just didn't sit right. I trudged up the hill to my boss's office. No one had been nasty to me. No one had tampered with my budget, and no one had cut my salary. I walked in and shut the door. My boss could tell I was not a happy camper. He asked me what was the matter. I started my long-winded whine.
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Update 29 October 2019: the macOS 10.15.1 release appears to have resolved the problem of not being able to interact with the preference windows of Catalyst apps when running VoiceOver.
In my early tests I have been able to access and configure settings in all three Catalyst apps which previously exhibited the problematic behaviour described in the post below.
It's great news that Apple appears to be making changes to the underlying app conversion process that should address some accessibility issues without developers needing to do anything.
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The odd behavior started more than seventy years ago when my Dad placed Mom's engagement ring on a small porcelain mouse that nestled in a piece of porcelain cheese.
My parents were married in 1952. They didn't yet own a television and no one had game consoles or iPads. Nothing to do. So, my mom began to collect mice. Lots of mice. Not hyperactive rodents that required the cleaning of cages, or a hungry cat, but the kinds of inanimate mice you might find at a gift shop. Or a jewelry store. Or at Woolworth's.
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The day has finally arrived. iOS 11 is here. But should you install it now, or would it be better to wait for the next update? To help you decide, I've tested some of the main new features and changes in this release.
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This time last year, those potentially in the market for a new iPhone were probably caught up in the hand-wringing that followed Apple's decision to drop the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
12 months on, and most of us would probably look back and wonder what all of the fuss was about.
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For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the nights have started to draw in and temperatures drop. This can mean only one thing - we're now in what is traditionally Apple's main season for new product launches.
Last week saw the releases of iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and Apple Watch Series 4. The iPhone XR will begin shipping next month, and it's likely that at the very least there will also be an update to iPad Pro before the season ends. Beyond this, there might be new MacBooks; refreshes for iMac and Mac Mini; and possibly even a second generation of AirPods.
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A One-Port Mac?
Yes, the latest rumor to come out of the mill is that Apple is going to introduce a radically re-designed, one-port Macbook Air sometime this year. It will have a 12-inch screen, a keyboard, a trackpad… and a single USB C port, along with the usual 3.5mm headphone jack. That's just one lonely little port for power, printers, external drives or card readers, USB audio peripherals, connecting your iOS devices, and any other wired connections you might need to do. Crazy, right?
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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.
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Introduction
This post will offer you an account of my experience with conducting the job search on iOS. I will begin with a little information concerning the pre-requisites to beginning the job search, and the changing trends regarding how businesses advertise vacant positions.
The current post will then consider the 3 primary iOS applications which I used during my job search, and I will also inform you as to the services offered by recruitment agencies and the possibility of other iOS applications specific to your location.
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Sometimes, I suffer from a serious case of the "Stupids." When I was 16, the year when NASA engineers were preparing a lunar rover for the next moon landing, I had enough remaining vision to legally obtain my own Texas Drivers License. Although I knew I was going blind and could no longer see at night, my day vision was still reasonably intact. There were some caveats. Seeing clearly in shadows cast by buildings and trees might prove problematic. Getting stuck in traffic at dusk could be dangerous.
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It was a Thursday morning, and I was teaching a seminar to first year undergraduate students. I divided the students into three groups, then sent each group into a separate room to spend fifteen minutes discussing the material. Ten minutes later, I was still in the main room. My usual practice was to visit each room in turn, to listen to the students' discussion, answer any questions, and prompt them if everyone was a little too quiet. On this occasion, however, I couldn't find the entrance to the rooms. I'd never had this problem before.
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The ChatGPT app has found a place in my iPhone's dock. I use it for many things, both serious and fun. Part of me is convinced that it's going to turn into Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. There it is, brain the size of a planet, and I'm constantly asking it to answer very simple or repetitive queries. Yet, it always remains eager to assist with any question.
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Since owning my iPhone I have found a world of apps, information and services which I thought that I would never have access to. I am sure any one reading this who is familiar with the accessibility of iOS and Mac will know exactly what I mean, but if you are new to AppleVis or the accessibility of such devices, having a built-in screen reader which gives me access to anything including news, travel, cloud-storage, sat-nav services and audio books to name a few is simply life changing.
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The first contractions started around 2am, early that morning in late January. My wife gently nudged me into a semi-conscious state to share the news that our first child was actively on the way. In my stupor, I thoughtfully suggested that since the contractions would likely take a few hours to pick up steam, we could go back to sleep. I did just that. She did not.
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Introduction
Until 3 or 4 years ago, I did most of my financial dealings over the phone or using my bank’s website. Although more recently I have used the app for 99 percent of my dealings involving finances (in fact, I prefer the app more than the website), the app has some problems. Due to the world population going more mobile than ever before, financial institutions as well as other industries are forced to embrace the digital age or get left behind. But what is the result for blind iOS users, and how can things change for the better?