David's blog

A Word of Warning About the VisionAssist App

A quick word of caution about an app that's just been released called VisionAssist.

The app has been developed specifically for those with low-vision, and claims to offer the same functionality and  performance that you would expect from a handheld electronic magnifier, but with a few extra features and the advantages of being on your phone.

LookTel's New Recognizer App Promises Fast and Accurate Object Recognition for Blind iPhone Users

LookTel have just released a new app that promises fast and accurate recognition of everyday items, such as cans, packages, ID or credit cards and DVDs.

LookTel Recognizer enables you to store images of objects in a library or database. You then simply point your iPhone's camera at an object and the phone will instantly recognize and describe the item. A barcode scanner is also included to provide additional labeling help.

Can Sendero Meet the Challenges and Offer a Full-Featured GPS App That People Will Actually Buy?

It's been reported that Sendero is in the early stages of developing a full-featured GPS application for the iPhone.

Most of you are probably aware of the Sendero Group, and many of you will have used their location-based information and navigation systems for the blind. Considering how highly-regarded these GPS systems are, and the company's near 20 years of experience, it is easy to be excited by news of an iOS application. However, it also raises some questions.

Bidding Farewell to the AppleVis User Groups

For some time I have been monitoring usage of the AppleVis User Groups, and unfortunately I think the time has now come to close them down.

I had high hopes for these when they were first added to the site, as I thought that they would provide a great opportunity for people to create what would effectively be micro-communities or micro-websites. A number of people have created Groups over the past year, and in most cases I have thought them to be great ideas. However, the number of people who have actively participated is very low (certainly in relation to the total number of registered users that we have).

Site Maintenance and Downtime

The number of people visiting the AppleVis website continues to grow each month. Naturally we are thrilled by this, but when combined with the additional features and resources that we've added over the past few months, it has placed an increasing strain on our current web hosting.

We have decided, therefore, to move the AppleVis website to a new server. This will remove some of the problems that we currently experience, and also allow us to ensure the future stability and scalability of the website.

The exact timing is not yet set, and the transition will depend on DNS server propagation. The transfer will likely begin in the next 24 to 36 hours. After the process begins, it could take 24-72 hours for you to see the site on the new server.

Be Sure to Listen to Scott on the Latest Accessible Devices Podcast

Scott, one of our Editorial Team, talks about the AppleVis web site on the latest podcast from Accessible Devices.

This podcast is always entertaining listening, and Scott does an excellent job of adding to the usual mood of irreverence, whilst still managing to talk about some of the things that we are trying to do with this site.

You can subscribe to the podcast here or listen to just the latest episode.

Photogenda: a Visual Quick-Dialler for iPhone Users With Minor Vision Problems

We were recently contacted by the developer of Photogenda, which is described as a visual quick-dialler app for the iPhone.

The idea for the app came when the developer saw his father struggling to read the names of contacts on their iPhone. Its main goal is to simplify and speed-up calling, messaging and FaceTime connections with your contacts. It allows you to create customized groups and see your contact's photos as big as you want.

The Fight Against Spam

Some of you may have noticed a slight increase over the past few weeks in the number of spam posts making it onto the site. In most cases the automated bots responsible for these will try to make just a single post, but earlier this morning we were hit by about 20 spam posts in just a few minutes. Fortunately I was online at the time, so was able to quickly remove these and block the account from posting any more.

In part, this increase in spam is due to the success of the site. The more sites that link to us and the better we perform in search engine rankings, the more likely it is that spambots will target us.

Naturally we have a wide range of mechanisms in place to keep the spambots out, and these are monitored and updated as necessary.

Swiss Federation of the Blind Launches MyWay, a GPS Orientation Aid for iOS

I've just read about a new GPS app that sounds very interesting.

Called MyWay, it's been developed by the Swiss Federation for the Blind, and supposedly works like Loadstone on Nokia phones.

It is described as a GPS orientation aid which provides distance and directional information to a selected point of interest. These might include an address from your address book or a point on a self-defined route.

Making it Easier to Find Relevant Content on the AppleVis Site

When browsing the AppleVis site, be sure to look out for the newly added page element that shows a list of similar content.

This new feature automatically scans the content of the page that you are viewing and creates a list of posts that are similar.

As an example, if you were viewing the entry for a podcast player in the App Directory, the list might contain links to other podcast apps, discussion about the app in the forum, a blog post about podcast apps, and a guide on how to use the particular app.

This should make it a lot easier to find relevant information on this site.