Opinion

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In this post I would like to open-up the discussion on conducting research, VoiceOver and general accessibility of researching platforms. I will focus on SurveyMonkey as the research platform in this post, but that is only because it is the platform which I have the most experience of using.

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If you have read any of my previous posts about the Apple Watch, you will know that itā€™s been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride.

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Nine months after its launch in the United States, Apple Pay has today finally arrived in the UK. So, geek and early-adopter that I am, I found an excuse first thing this morning to visit my local convenience store to find out if they are among the reported 250,000 UK locations which will support Apple Pay from launch.

The good news is that they are. Even better news is that setting up and using Apple Pay on my Apple Watch really couldnā€™t have been any easier.

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If you have read any of my previous posts on the Apple Watch, you might be excused for wondering at this point what else I have left to say on the topic ā€¦ or, at least anything left to say thatā€™s based upon personal experience. Before its release, I gave my reasons for not buying one.

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When I first saw mention of the Apple Watch having a ā€˜Speak On Wrist Raiseā€™ option for VoiceOver users, my immediate reaction was that this would be one of those ā€˜set it and forget itā€™ settings. However, this is not turning out to be the case.

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When I made it to the twelfth grade, I had already taken a couple different music classes (piano and choir), and was looking for something new to try my hand in. I ended up in a class that taught audio production and music technology. It was quite a small class, and there was only one other person in it besides myself.

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Intro

Since 2005, I have used a variety of Macs, and have regularly used every version of macOS from Tiger to Monterey since then. Over that time, Iā€™ve witnessed the various changes to VoiceOver, both major and minor, as well as how VoiceOver on macOS helped usher in a whole new world of mobile accessibility on iOS and iPadOS.

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Itā€™s that time of year. With WWDC just one week away, Apple is getting ready to announce new versions of iOS and OS X, as well as possible tvOS and watchOS updates. While concrete information about these future releases is scarce, speculation and feature wish lists have begun popping up on mainstream tech websites.

Here are my top wishes for VoiceOver improvements in the next iteration of the Mac operating system, presumably OS X 10.12.

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In case there was any doubt I'm a nerd, I recently set up WordPress v4.9.5 on my web server. WordPress is a free open source Content Management System (CMS) commonly used for blogging.

I know, the average AppleVis reader doesn't run their own web server or configure their own local WordPress site. Most use WordPress.com. Pros and cons to both approaches are described in this article comparing WordPress.com to DIY WordPress.

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The sun was warm and bright that Friday morning in Southern California. From our fourth grade classroom, my friends and I were already anticipating lunch and recess. An adult walked in, whispered to our teacher, and we immediately lined up and were on our way out the door. As we walked, we saw children pouring out of every classroom, all heading in the same direction. Something was odd. Everyone squeezed into the school auditorium and quickly found seats. I took my place on the right side, in one of the first rows. Up front, on a heavy institutional wooden chair, sat an old Philco radio.

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Some folks regard me as a tad eccentric. Although I have been retired for many years, I still wake up every morning, put on a nice pair of slacks, a long sleeved dress shirt, and hard soled leather shoes. Basically, I dress for work, but I don't leave for the office and no one writes me a check. Other fellow retirees around my neighborhood would likely sport tennis shoes or slippers, shorts or blue jeans, and they would almost certainly don a comfy shirt without a pocket.

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Today is the sixth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD); when people are encouraged to talk, think and learn about digital access and inclusion. Our own message today for everybody involved in designing and developing software for Apple platforms, is a simple one: Make accessible design a core part of your development philosophy and practice - not just because it is the right thing to do, but because accessible design is synonymous with good design.

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I have a love-hate relationship with Siri.

When I tell Siri to set my alarm just before I go to bed, I appreciate the convenience of being able to simply tell my phone something and it get done. Iā€™m the type of person who might possibly sleep through my first alarm, so I set several as an extra precaution. When I wake up and am sure Iā€™m out of bed, I tell Siri, ā€œTurn off all of my alarms,ā€ and go on with my day. The same goes for setting my monthly hair cut appointments; almost always, it just works.

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I was a late adopter of the iPhone technology. I thought I didn't need ANOTHER gadget to keep track of. It wasn't until I heard some friends discussing their iPhones that I realized that an iPhone could replace many of the gadgets I used. Not only did the iPhone cut down on the number of gadgets I needed to carry, but it saved me money too!

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Life is grand. I am content, happy with my home and neighborhood and live a relaxing and rewarding life. I'm just your average blind, retired and elderly fellow who wears hearing aids. The blindness is here to stay, as is my retirement status and I suspect I will continue to age. The only thing I really aspire to change is how well I hear and how well my hearing aids work with my iPhone.

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In her latest song, "Shake it Off," the country/pop artist Taylor Swift wrote, "...the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." While I am sure that Ms. Swift was not referring to some peoplesā€™ recent comments about Apple's commitment to accessibility when she wrote the song, the basic idea behind that particular phrase still applies.

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Intro

I've had my Apple Watch for about ten months as of the time of this writing. I got it for a few reasons, but a major one was fitness. I wanted my movements and exercise to be tracked, I wanted calorie burn estimates, I wanted heart tracking, and I wanted to be reminded to move every so often. Plus, I wanted a simple way to log and track my workouts so I would have the data and so I could look back at trends.

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The Big Deal

For a while now, rumors have been piling up that suggest the venerable, reliable, universal 3.5mm headphone jack could vanish from future Apple products as soon as the iPhone 7. While we don't know whether this will definitely happen, there is mounting evidence that it might; a prominent Android phone maker released a phone sans headphone jack, and Apple's audio supplier just released tools for developing Lightning-based audio accessories.

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May 16, 2019 is the eighth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD); when people are encouraged to talk, think and learn about digital access and inclusion. This year, we ask both users and developers to get involved. Here's how you can participate.

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I would rather walk face first through a giant spider web than go shopping. I truly hate walking into large cavernous spaces with grumblings, rumblings, and piercing screeches resounding, rebounding, and reflecting from every surface. I tire of unbridled children pawing at my guide dog, and I could really do without the adults who treat shopping as a contact sport. Make that three giant spider webs that I'd be willing to walk through. If I cannot escape to the parking lot, I mentally retreat and perform my primary function as the designated guardian of the shopping cart and purse.