Category Archives: tech

Accessibility Apps — iPad

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I’ve been catching up on my podcast listening while laying low and I came across this from the folks at the the TWIT Network — a partial review of some of the apps that are used to enable usage and assist people with disabilities on the iPad.

They covered (but didn’t really demonstrate) the in built features within the iPad and the operating system in general. Then they had a discussion about the use of the terms “special needs” and accessible. Unfortunately, although agreeing that the term accessible was preferable and more inclusive the younger Sarah Lane persisted with using the “special needs” terminology. They also make the point that these apps for people with a disability tend to cost a lot and a lot more than your average application. This will hardly been news to anyone that has a disability, but I’m grateful that they noticed and commented.

The focus then seemed to be on Autism spectrum education apps– which is great and applaudable but these I would see as education apps even though they are for people with disabilities. I understand they got a lot of input but share the love across impairment types

My best pick for an accessibility app on the iDevices — dragon dictate for iDevice. Not quite as precise as the desktop version (which is trained specifically for an individual user, but still very accurate.

The first 20 mins of the podcast by Leo and Sarah is still great though and worth the listen, even if the terminology might grate. I appreciate the fact they did it.

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Confession — iTunes

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I’ve got a nasty habit of downloading movies and TV shows that either aren’t good for me, or I’ve seen them before, or even worse I already own them – in hard or soft copy. That was the case with Julie and Julia last night, which I had already rented and enjoyed and now own.

 

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Another Monday Micro: New iPhone, iPad app for tracking sins

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This.might be useful especially to a new convert unsure of the process. But remember:

The (US) $1.99 “Confession: A Roman Catholic App” can’t grant forgiveness — you still need to receive the sacrament from a real, live priest like always. The app’s designers and some believers see it as a way to spur Catholics back into the habit of repenting.

Indeed — I can’t complain about the use of technology.

The news video of it is here

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new technology part two–umm and ahh continued

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In light of this post from FWD– feminists with disabilities, I thought it would be good to update everybody on my continuing experience with Dragon Dictate for Mac, which I have been using sporadically since my birthday.

By and large it’s great. I certainly use it for most of my blog posts, which is why they can be quite a bit longer. I also use the software for e-mail although that is still a bit harder than I’d like it to be, mostly user error I’m sure.

My biggest issue is knowing the terminology that it expects. It’s certainly a lot less random in its “actions” then earlier versions were and I think it’s still learning how I speak. But, when I’m on a roll it’s good. It is still very tempting to use my hands to move the cursor which I know is bad. When I do that the program starts to act out and add random letters to the end of my dictation. Also, my voice is fairly inconsistent and I need to be self-aware enough to know when it’s a good dictation day and when it isn’t.

It’s a long slow curve but it is worth the investment already.

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I’ve wondered this myself

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iPhones and other smart devices – do they make us stupid?.

WE COULD blithely drive into a lake if instructed by a GPS device.

We leap from one website link to another, scanning instead of reading. We can barely add a few numbers without a calculator.

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BBC News – Queen launches British Monarchy page on Facebook

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BBC News – Queen launches British Monarchy page on Facebook.

Welcome — but it seems like an increasing number of users it is largely an “announcement/advertising” platform.

Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can “like” the service and receive updates on their news feed.

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Apple sued for turning iPhone 3G into ‘virtually useless iBrick’

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Update: I now have an iPhone 4

I can understand why this woman is suing. After having great longevity from most Apple products and seeing that as one of the great selling points, I have been disappointed relativity speaking with the decreasing reliability and speed of my iPhone 3.

I suspect it is explainable at least in part by the connection with a single telephone company exclusively initially and their  contracts and the desire on their part to want people to “feel a need” to upgrade their phone and therefore their contracts, within two years. I think without the initial relationship with AT & T, the phones might have been built differently.

Now, the justifications may well be affordability as the prices of the new MacBook Air and the iPad do not seem to have long term ownership in mind.

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