Earlier today, Apple released iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch devices.  According to Apple, the major features in this update include:

• Game center,
• iTunes TV show rentals,
• iTunes Ping,
• HDR Photography,
• HD Video uploads.

Nothing is mentioned about VoiceOver and accessibility, but that doesn’t mean Apple hasn’t focused on it as well.  Indeed, Apple *has* focused on VoiceOver and the results are mixed.  On the plus side, there are now two more audible cues, one indicating when a folder is opened and another indicating when a folder is closed.  Personally, I like these new sounds and think they’re a nice touch.  On the negative side, VoiceOver now cuts out certain syllables, such as the ending of certain characters when entering text, or when navigating the home screen.  The letter ‘e’ is hardly spoken at all and without the automatic phonetic pronunciation, it might be difficult to distinguish it from other characters.  Sadly, this particular bug presented itself a few updates back and was corrected; it’s a shame Apple has managed to reintroduce it yet again.

iOS4.1 has only been out for a few hours, so I’m sure more enhancements/bugs will be discovered in the next few days.  if you notice anything different in terms of accessibility, please leave it in the comments and I’ll revise this post.  For those wanting to see the official Apple announcement of iOS4.1 new features, it can be found here.

If you’ve ever seen a MacBook Air, the iPad case is very similar in design. The back is a smooth aluminum and the front is the same plastic-like material used on the iPhone and iPod touch screens. In terms of thickness, the device is, well, like the Air. The device has three speakers located on the bottom edge of the unit facing the user. I was surprised at the quality of these speakers, better than the one in my Air and definitely better than the ones in the iPhone/iPod touch.

Using the device was much easier than even i had anticipated. Admittedly, it would take practice to become used to the newly-implemented touch typing system and to build up efficiency in general. Having said that however, I was able to type full sentences with a fair degree of speed and accuracy before leaving the Apple store.

I did not get a chance to try iBooks, but found that other applications behaved as expected which means if you’ve used an iPhone or iPod touch, they behave about the same all-be-it on a bigger screen. One really neat feature found in the iPad is a switch that disables the unit from switching to landscape mode when tilted, I could see this very handy in many situations.

I realize that this is a very very brief look at the iPad, but I left suitably impressed. Admittedly the iPad has a bit of weight behind it, but it’s not so heavy that it would prove awkward to cary around. Although it would take a bit of practice, I think the device could be used in *certain* note taking situations and this, coupled with Apple’s iBook store really excites me.

So, am I geting an iPad? Well, I’m still somewhat on the fence, but now that I’ve seen it, do think it a device which I could use to be more productive. Although similar to the iPhone in functionality, the larger screen area and much improved battery life make it a better note taking solution than the iPhone even with a bluetooth keyboard. Also, the larger screen would make it easier for me to get a better conceptual overview of an application or web page, something which for me, is essential. So when am I getting this shiny new iPad? Well of course there’s still that pesky little issue of cost and at $499 for the entry model, that’s not exactly pocket change. Still, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to possibly read a blog post from me generated on the iPad in the hopefully not so distant future.

Steve

Tactile Access to the iPhone Is Here: “”

(Via .)

Dan Zingaro has been a developer of accessible games for a number of years. In addition to Super Geekout, Dan Z has developed Search Party, a word search game, ChainLink, a word association game and a number of additional free games. Unfortunately, due to other time commitments, Dan Z games will be closing sometime in June. Dan has, however, very graciously made his games available to the public as freeware.

Whether you’re a expert gamer, one who likes to play games as time allows, or someone who didn’t know accessible games exist, Dan Z games are worth a look. As the “sometime in June” reference is a bit vague, however, I’d recommend downloading the games as soon as possible.

So, where to go? What to do? Dan Z games can be found, read about and of course downloaded from www.danzgames.com. For the paid games, you first need to download and install the demonstration versions and then an additional small program which turns the demo into the fully registered version. On the Dan Z games page, Dan provides step by step instructions on how to get these files and get them installed.

On a personal note, I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment out of Dan Z’s games and am sorry to see him leave the accessible gaming arena. Certainly, I wish Dan Z the very best in whatever direction life is taking him and want to say thank you, for making technology a great deal more fun.

Steve

Uploading files can be accomplished via a web interface, or by using the “Sendspace wizard“, an application that allows you to easily upload and download multiple files and folders. On the windows side of things, this Sendspace wizard is very accessible, however, I was incredibly disappointed with the Mac version which worked horribly with VoiceOver. I submitted feedback concerning the accessibility issues I was facing and was surprised to receive a positive reply within an hour. According to the reply, the fine folks at Sendspace were aware of the accessibility issues, consider accessibility a priority and hope to have a VO compatible version out relatively soon. I replied indicating that I’d be willing to help beta test and was offered a beta version for testing. Furthermore, they indicated that I could freely share the beta with anyone interested in testing with the understanding that it’s a beta and as such, they know things are broken. They’re hoping to have an official version released soon, so we may have to move pretty quick on this one. That having been said, I’m very impressed with Sendspaces commitment to accessibility on both the Windows and Mac versions of their software.

before providing the links, let me explain how the wizard seems to be working as although it’s about 90% more accessible than the current releaseversion, it’s not totally there yet. On the program’s main screen, you’ll find two “unknown” areas in addition to a standard toolbar and menu bar. The second, or bottom of these “unknown” areas just dings at me when I try to interact with it. I suspect it’s a transfer window or something, but don’t know for sure. Now we get to the top “unknown” area and this is where things get a bit confusing. Interacting with the top unknown area results in two additional unknown areas. The first of these is the local browsing pane and the other is the remote pane. Both of these areas are very similar and for the most part very accessible. The file lists, both local and remote are displayed in tables. Unfortunately, the only way I’ve found to navigate to parent folder is to use the “move to parent button” cmd+up arrow doesn’t do anything. You can tab somewhat around the wizard — tab brings you through all the buttons and table of the local file pane, then the buttons and table of the remote pane and finally a third table which shows on-going transfers. Occasionally, I’ve noticed that keyboard focus seems to get messed up — switching out and back into the wizard window seems to fix this for whatever reason. In the options dialog, things are pretty accessible — there are a few “unknown” areas but these can be interacted with.

OK, now for the links. In order to use the wizard, you’ll need to have a sendspace account — a free account works with the wizard I believe, but with a paid account, you can of course do more i.e. multiple transfers and that sort of thing. You can sign up one of two ways — either go directly to www.sendspace.com or if you want to be nice to me, use my referral link
http://www.sendspace.com/invite/puhj8v which which allows me to earn points regardless of what kind of account you choose. The wizard itself can be downloaded at
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wq0g65 .

Finally, I’d just like to say that I think we have a great opportunity here to make a good product even better. It’s wonderful that they are not only interested in improving accessibility, but are actually doing something about it. My hope is that with constructive feedback, they’ll go a long way and make this app work.

Steve

In order to join this evening’s program, you will need to install and configure the Ventrilo client. Below, you will find directions on how to do this. In addition, I have created an audio tutorial which will walk you through the process. You can access the audio tutorial at http://atmaine.libsyn.org/index.php?post_id=331964 .

So, here’s how to get up and running. First, download Ventrilo. Clicking the above link will take you to Ventrilo’s download page. Choose the first Ventrilo client which is the Windows version. A Macintosh client also exists and directions for getting it up and running are similar to those written here. After choosing your version, you’ll be presented with an agreement page basically warning you that it’s illegal to export the software to Iran, Cuba, etc… Simply hit agree and the download finally starts. You can choose to either save, or run the downloaded file — I chose to run it as I didn’t think I’d be needing to reinstall it again. Either way, you’ll be presented with a standard installation wizard, the same one you’ve probably seen countless times when installing other software. Simply “next” your way through the wizard and choose finish when prompted. Ventrilo will have placed an icon on your desktop, simply choose it to run the program.

When running Ventrilo for the first time, you’ll be asked if you want to read the beginner tutorial. If you’re curious, choose yes, otherwise, choose no to just get started. This is now where things get a wee bit tricky. Fear not, you’ll only have to do this once. You’ll be on a user name field, actually it’s a combo box. Hitting tab once will take you to an unlabeled button. Press space to activate this button. Basically, what we’re doing here is creating a new user profile. The users, once created, appear in that combo box, but in order to create them, we need to use the user manager i.e. the unlabeled button. Choose new to create a new user and type in your name. Tab to ok to creat create the user. You can now set options for your newly created user, although the defaults are perfectly fine. Tab to OK, unless there’s something you really do want to change. After choosing OK, you’ll be placed back on that unlabeled button, press tab. You’ll now be on a server field, yet another empty combo box. Pressing tab again will take you to yet another unlabeled button, this is the server manager. Choose this unlabeled button and as before, choose new to create a new server entry. Once created, the server entries will appear in the combo we just skipped over. Although this may seem complicated, the advantage is that you can define multiple servers and simply choose the one you want to connect to. Anyway, after hitting new, you’ll be asked for a name. call the server whatever you wish — I called mine A T Maine, but you can put whatever you’d like here. Press ok to create the entry. You will then be able to define settings for the newly entered server profile. The first attribute we need to define is the server’s host name, or address. In the case of my server, the address needed is: v45.darkstarllc.com . I have my Ventrilo server hosted which is why we have a darkstarllc address and not an atmaine one. Pressing tab will take us to the “port” value. By default, 3684 will be filled in, we need to change this in my case to 5881. Although 3784 is the standard Ventrilo port, mine is different because it’s hosted by another company. Pressing tab will move us between additional options — the defaults are fine. Press ok to finish adding the server. Whew, wasn’t that fun? Look at the bright side, you only have to do it once.

OK, now that we’ve got our user profile created and our server added, we can simply tab to connect and hit space. That’s it! You’ll be connected, you’ll hear a really cool sounding connect sound and you’re in. From then on, in order to use the server, you need only start Ventrilo from the desk top, tab to connect and hit space… You don’t even have to go back to the web site.

In order to talk, simply use your left control key. You can change this hotkey, but I think I’ve caused enough confusion for one day .

As always, if you have any questions, pleas feel free to Email me, or call me at (207) 512-2387. Also, tonight’s program will be archived, so if you’re not up to installing Ventrilo, or need additional assistance, feel free to listen to the archives.

As always, I look forward to seeing everyone tonight, on the Assistive Technology Show!

Regards,

Steve

So, what is a blog anyway? I’ll explain what a blog is, but you may want to click here to read a more advanced definition of blogs and their various components. Basically, you can think of a blog as a journal. It consists of entries, otherwise known as posts that discuss something of interest to the blog author. In the case of this blog, I will write posts on a number of topics, also known as categories. New categories may be added at any time, so check back frequently. For now, I’ll start off by writing, or blogging about assistive technologies and my experiences with various software applications, etc… As a reader, you have the ability to comment on anything I post. Feel free to do this as your comments may be the basis for additional discussion i.e. someone else might comment on your comment, etc…. Also, just because I have a certain view point, or have had certain experiences, doesn’t mean you have to agree with me. In deed, posting comments is a great way to disagree with my views and to make the blog a more diverse resource. Coming soon, I will be creating some tutorials providing step-by-step instructions for posting comments, but for now, just give it a try — it’s easier than you think. Finally, blog entries are organized from newest to oldest, just keep that in mind as you read this blog. Also, if you find a specific category of particular interest, feel free to click that category to see all posts in that specific category. In short, I’d love to think you’ll read everything posted here, but by clicking specific categories, you can more easily read posts of interest to you.

Thanks again for visiting the Assistive Technology Services of Maine blog, welcome aboard.