A week from this wednesday I’ll be speaking at the 29th International Technology and people with Disabilities conference in San Diego. The talk will focus on the limitations of traditional screen readers, and how we can start to move beyond them. Screen Readers are amazing tools for making computers
There is a lot to be said about the possibilities for always on, always listening ear buds (see my previous post on Her). This Kckstarter is the first potential product that gives us a hint about we may experience in the next generation of consumer gadgets. More thoughts on this
In Spike Jonze’ Her, before we ever meet OS One(Scarlett Johansson), we are introduced to Joaquin Phoenix’ unnamed, dumb non-sentient operating system. Using the same hardware piece, Phoenix issues voice commands to the near future version of Siri. Less annoying and more useful, this interface is much more likely
There is a phenomenal series of essays from Venkatesh Rao over at Forbes.com which discusses the domestication of the tech entrepreneur: Entrepreneurs are the new labor The articles are over a year and a half old, but they are still exceedingly relevant. As the economy continues to to produce
New studies suggest low-income people are less likely to leave transitioning communities, not more. This is such a relevant topic given current events. I wonder how much gentrification is uniform across cities? I’d imagine that what is currently going on in San Francisco is different than what has happened
I’m excited to announce that my latest project, ConversantLabs.com has been accepted into an accelerator program. The program includes office space, mentorship and funding, and will help us to develop our first product: a voice enabled iPhone app for the blind. Stay tuned for more updates.
Android really isn’t an option as an accessible mobile device. Chris Hofstadter has a great article breaking down all of the reasons why: In comparison to an iOS 7 device, with zero out-of-the-box accessibility failures and only a few accessibility bugs, a Nexus/7 comes shipped with zero built-in
I don’t think I’ve ever read as much as I have this past year, even when I was being bribed with stickers and personal pan pizza’s from Pizza Hut. I didn’t have some New Year’s resolution last year to read more. The reason I read
We finally had out first Accessibility meetup last week, and it was an amazing event. We had representatives from many of the key organizations in the city and had a great conversation about what needs to be done moving forward. Below are a few notes and ideas for future events:
My first Hanukkah with Meredith.
A lot has been said about the terrible impact of the DMCA on the disabled’s access to technology, but it bears repeating. The DMCA makes it extremely difficult for the blind and hearing impaired to gain access to copy-righted content in formats that they can consume. You think that
We’re excited to announce our first event at Google’s offices in Bakery Square on Wednesday December 11th at 5:30pm. The schedule for the evening will be: 5:30 -6pm - Networking 6-6:30 - Accessible technology and innovation in Pittsburgh: presentation and discussion 6:30-7:30 -