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In what could soon be coming as the first of its kind, Humanware appears to be developing a new braille display and app for synchronizing notes with iDevices. In late April, an app hit the App Store called Brailliant Sync. According to the description by Harpo, the app is designed "for synchronizing notes between Gmail, IMAP and similar servers and Brailliant 14 Braille…

Welcome to the April 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Accessible MasterMind (…

update 8 May

Apple has issued a clarification statement in which it says that its original announcement was misinterpreted and the changes to affiliate commission rates for App Store purchases aren’t as drastic as people have widely believed and reported. It now appears that only the commission rate for in-app purchases is being cut.

At this point, it is unclear as to whether…

I started taking piano lessons for the first time in the so-called days of yore -- that is, when I was 12 years old and, like many teenagers, didn't appreciate the value of getting my feet wet in the field at that opportune age. I was simultaneously attending English classes and, given the fact that I didn't have a piano at home to practice, I even came to the conclusion that the time I might spend at, or on, the piano can be devoted to English. As an Iranian I knew how mastering English…

We are pleased to announce the launch of community accessibility ratings, giving members of the AppleVis community an opportunity to submit their own accessibility ratings for all apps listed in one of our App Directories.

When viewing an App Directory entry, logged-in users will now be presented with the option to add their own accessibility rating of the app. By submitting your own ratings, you help to ensure that our information regarding what is likely to be the first thing that…

Yo, human! - Proofreading Mac, a VoiceOver Activity: Accessing Life with Adaptive Technology

Before my VoiceOver adventures began I was able to proofread my creative and technical writings quickly and easily. My constant struggle with grammar aside, I could find misspellings and punctuation errors, even capitalization and formatting issues with ease. I could quickly blast through multi-page documents in a matter of minutes. Then my longtime visual orientation completely evolved…

Apple has today released iOS 10.3.1 to the public, one week after the release of iOS 10.3.

While full release notes for iOS 10.3.1 are not yet available, the iOS 10.3.1 update screen says the following about the update:

iOS 10.3.1 includes bug fixes and improves the security of your iPhone or iPad.

…

Many years ago, my family and I went to the pet store to do a little shopping for my guide dog. My twelve year old son and my wife wandered off into some other part of the store while Fantom, my Golden Retriever guide, and I went on our own little adventure.

As Fantom and I explored the toy aisle, I felt a hand brush against mine and it made me smile. I reached out, took the proffered hand, and kept walking. One of the great joys of being a blind father is that it remains socially…

Welcome to the March 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Adblock Mobile — Block…

Today has seen another round of software updates from Apple. In addition to the release of iOS 10.3, there have also been updates for the Mac, Apple Watch and fourth-generation Apple TV.

At the time of posting, full release notes for these updates are not yet available; however, it is safe to assume that there will be the standard mix of bug fixes,…

Apple has today released iOS 10.3 to the public.

At the time of posting, release notes are not yet available; however, this release brings a number of new features to iOS in addition to the usual mix of under-the-hood improvements and fixes.

For blind and low vision users, our testing indicates that Apple has made some progress towards addressing the accessibility bugs present in iOS 10.2.1.

As we always stress, it…

Today has seen a round of product announcements from Apple, including the launch of a new iPad; a special PRODUCT(RED) iPhone; changes to storage sizes; some new accessories; and a new iOS app.

iPad

The iPad Air 2 has been discontinued and replaced with a new 9.7-inch iPad equipped with an A9 chip and a brighter Retina display. This new model is simply called "iPad," and is Apple's new entry-level model at the 9.7-inch size.

The new iPad includes FaceTime cameras on…

The influx of new notetakers at the last couple of CSUN conferences is great to see. More choice is always a good thing, as is having fewer, and lighter, devices to cary around to get things done. But what about iOS? Apple positions its iPad Pros as a way to take better notes and a great way to get rid of things on your desk in…

Brought to you by the letter "Control-Option-A".

Before my VoiceOver adventures began, I would tutor my clients on the use of standard shortcut keys and how to discover new keys by looking at the menus. The key-combinations are listed to the right of each menu item. Most of the often-used keys involved the use of the Command key on Mac, or the Control key on Windows. On the Mac, hold down Command with your thumb and press "s" and the current document will be saved. Look at the…

Welcome to the February 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest podcasts. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

There have been fewer notable and accessible additions to our app…

Welcome to the January 2017 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what's new and noteworthy on the AppleVis website. Below, you'll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to podcasts and blogs. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.

New and Noteworthy App Entries

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (macOS,…

Today has seen another round of software updates from Apple. In addition to the release of iOS 10.2.1, there have also been updates for the Mac, Apple Watch and fourth-generation Apple TV.

At the time of posting, full release notes for these updates are not yet available; however, it is safe to assume that there will be the standard mix of bug fixes, security patches, and…

Apple has today released iOS 10.2.1 to the public.

At the time of posting, release notes are not yet available; however, it’s likely that this release will mostly bring under-the-hood improvements with no major changes in regard to features and operation. We will update this post if this proves not to be the case and there are outward-facing changes of note.

For blind and low vision users, our testing indicates that Apple has made some progress towards addressing…

A little background

It's not often that I find the privilege of blogging about an application which is not only feature-rich and revolutionary in its feature set, but takes accessibility to an entirely new level. Of course, if you ask David Goodwin, the awesome guy behind AppleVis, he'll tell you that my inspiration for blogging has subsided recently despite what creative app developers are doing... David, do you hear me?! :)

Anyhow, here I've blogged a few times about…

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.

The Watch has done all that, and done it well. But at the…