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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 23 2009, 9:28 AM EDT | invisiblebloke | 7 words added, 1 widget added |
| Oct 23 2009, 8:51 AM EDT | invisiblebloke |
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Proloquo2Go - AAC on an iPhone or iPod Touch
The Huetility Colourblind Simulator app is intended for people who know someone who is colourblind and want to better understand how he or she perceives colour. It's ideal for parents with children who are colourblind or people who have friends who are colourblind. It's also useful for designers, content creators and developers who want to check that colours they have used are colourblind friendly.
The app has three important views: 1) normal colour vision, 2) colourblind view (including severe red-green, blue-yellow and complete colour loss) and 3) an error view which highlights, using a grayscale intensity image, the regions of the colour image that change colour the most and hence are likely to cause a colourblind viewer the greatest problems. When you rotate the device (left) it shows you the comparison of the original and simulated colourblind viewers. When you rotate the device (right) it shows you a view of all the different types of colourblindness for the loaded image. Other options include: save image, view image histogram.
The images can be loaded directly from the camera, your photo album or from the samples folder included in the application; the samples folder contains 28 images selected to highlight the accessibility barriers colourblindness presents.
Background
Luke Jefferson (29) completed a PhD in computer science at the University of East Anglia in 2008, where he developed computer software to improve accessibility for colourblind computer users. Luke Walsh (26) completed a MEng in electronics engineering at the University of York in 2008. The two met whilst studying in the United States via the prestigious NCGE/Kauffman Global Scholars Program at Harvard and Stanford; they formed a company called Scratchface in 2007 (based in Liverpool). They won HSBC Unipreneurs in 2008 which allowed them to focus full-time on their business after they finished university. More recently, they won a Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Award in February and an UnLtd award in May.
Why spend hundreds of pounds on an electronic magnifier, when the chances are, you already have one in your pocket !
The iCanSee on-screen magnification controls even adapt to varied environmental situations including low-light. Once the application is launched, iPhone then magnifies anything held in front of it by as much as four times the original size, helping users read the fine print on labels, menus, contracts, books or other materials discreetly without the need for separate reading glasses.
New accessibility features in the new iPhone 3GS
| TOUCH-SCREEN TECH. VoiceOver is already built into the Mac and iPod Shuffle, but for iPhone this screen reader is a whole new ball game. Calling it the world’s first gesture-based screen reader, VoiceOver for iPhone reads aloud what is touched on the screen. Users can then gesture with a double-tap, drag, or flick to control the phone. According to Apple, users can “interact directly with objects on the screen to more naturally understand their location and context.” Touching the upper-left corner of the screen, for example, will prompt the spoken voice to announce what’s there; as users drag their finger around the screen, they’ll learn what’s nearby, providing “a true sense of how things appear on screen, not just descriptions of what they are.” WILL THE BLIND LIKE IT? While it sounds complicated, like any new technology it can be learned over time. While the blind community is “cautiously optimistic” until they can try out the device, according to Blind Access Journal, the new iPhone marks a huge leap by Apple to bring accessibility to blind and visually impaired users. That’s because VoiceOver for iPhone is built-in, finger-and-touch-based and fully integrated with other apps like Phone, iPod, iTunes, Mail, Safari, and Maps. Another unexpected new feature is a hands-free, voice-control interface. By loading an app, users will be able to dictate commands to perform various tasks, such as calling a friend or playing a song in the phone’s iTunes library. Many tech experts predicted the new iPhone would include voice control, which holds obvious potential for the visually impaired as well as for sighted users, who relish being able to have hands-free, eyes-free control over their phones while driving or exercising. …AND FOR THE DEAF. Additionally, the iPhone 3G S (the S stands for speed) includes a new universal Zoom function that magnifies the entire screen, and the White on Black feature, which reverses the colors on screen to provide higher contrast for people with low vision. iPhone 3G S also supports Mono Audio, which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear. Overall, the iPhone 3G S (the S stands for speed) will be faster, with better graphics and longer battery life. It will come with an a video recording and editing tool and a three-megapixel camera with an autofocus feature called “tap to focus.” It also features Compass, a digital compass for instant navigation. EASY ACTIVATION. VoiceOver for iPhone comes in 12 languages. It alerts visually impaired users to status information such as battery level, Wi-Fi and cellular network signal levels, the cellular network provider, and time of day. It can be activated through iTunes using a compatible screen reader or in the Accessibility menu. Apple is also working with iPhone software developers so they can make their applications VoiceOver compatible. Source: AbleBody.com | iPhone3GS Accessibility FeaturesIn addition to the many features that make iPhone easy to use for everyone, the accessibility features available on iPhone3GS are designed to make it easier for users with visual, auditory, or other physical disabilities to use iPhone. The iPhone3GS accessibility features include:
Turn accessibility features on or off in iTunes:
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Using the iPhone or iPod Touch as a communication aid
Proloquo2Go - AAC on an iPhone or iPod Touch
| Proloquo2Go™ is a new product from AssistiveWare that provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone and iPod touch. If you know how to use an iPhone or iPod touch you know how to use Proloquo2Go. While Proloquo2Go has a lot of advanced features the basics are extremely simple and easy. Proloquo2Go is now available for purchase on the App Store |  | |
How Proloquo2Go works
| Introduction to Proloquo2Go | |
| Proloquo2Go appearance settings Part 1 | Proloquo2Go appearance settings Part 2 | |
| Proloquo2Go appearance settings Part 3 | Proloquo2Go appearance settings Part 4 |
Use the Grid or List view to quickly tap items that optionally speak as they get inserted into the Message window. New Product - Huetility ColourBlindness Simulator App for the iPhone
The Huetility Colourblind Simulator app is intended for people who know someone who is colourblind and want to better understand how he or she perceives colour. It's ideal for parents with children who are colourblind or people who have friends who are colourblind. It's also useful for designers, content creators and developers who want to check that colours they have used are colourblind friendly.
The app has three important views: 1) normal colour vision, 2) colourblind view (including severe red-green, blue-yellow and complete colour loss) and 3) an error view which highlights, using a grayscale intensity image, the regions of the colour image that change colour the most and hence are likely to cause a colourblind viewer the greatest problems. When you rotate the device (left) it shows you the comparison of the original and simulated colourblind viewers. When you rotate the device (right) it shows you a view of all the different types of colourblindness for the loaded image. Other options include: save image, view image histogram.
The images can be loaded directly from the camera, your photo album or from the samples folder included in the application; the samples folder contains 28 images selected to highlight the accessibility barriers colourblindness presents.
Background
Luke Jefferson (29) completed a PhD in computer science at the University of East Anglia in 2008, where he developed computer software to improve accessibility for colourblind computer users. Luke Walsh (26) completed a MEng in electronics engineering at the University of York in 2008. The two met whilst studying in the United States via the prestigious NCGE/Kauffman Global Scholars Program at Harvard and Stanford; they formed a company called Scratchface in 2007 (based in Liverpool). They won HSBC Unipreneurs in 2008 which allowed them to focus full-time on their business after they finished university. More recently, they won a Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Award in February and an UnLtd award in May.
 The product will be available on Apple App Store from Saturday 6th June and is priced at £1.79. More information about this colourblindness app at: www.huetility.com | ||
Digital notetaking on iPhone
| VoiceNotes | Jott | |
Use the iPhone as a magnifier
Why spend hundreds of pounds on an electronic magnifier, when the chances are, you already have one in your pocket !
The iCanSee on-screen magnification controls even adapt to varied environmental situations including low-light. Once the application is launched, iPhone then magnifies anything held in front of it by as much as four times the original size, helping users read the fine print on labels, menus, contracts, books or other materials discreetly without the need for separate reading glasses.
| iCanSee - Magnifier App demo | iCanSee - Magnifier App | |
| iMagnify - up to 4x magnification |
Other iPhone Apps
| Voice recognition - web searching | New Voice Memo App with firmware 3.0 | |
| VSearch - web searching by voice command | ||
| Voice Text Pro - Voice activated text messaging | Autism software for the iPhone and iPod Touch | |
| iPrompt for people with Learning Disabilities | iPrompt - Picture based communication | |
What they say about iPrompt: | ||
"My wife and I have both been using iprompts for our son for several months now, I've just been a slacker with the review! He was diagnosed with Autism by our school district last year, and received a medical diagnosis just a couple weeks ago. Life has been hectic since we got a diagnosis, thus my forgetting to leave our review here. Anyhow, we are 100% thrilled with this app. Our son is very "picture dependent" and this app completely replaced our need for the old whiteboard and stickers schedule since my wife and I both have iPhones. We have a schedule and/or picture/choice on demand wherever we are! This app has been of of the best things we've discovered since our son's diagnosis. Thanks to the developers of this app. We look forward to it's continued improvement! ". | "Our child has autism and we've always used printed pictures to help him (from Boardmaker CD's, etc.). iPrompts is so much better than printing and carrying around those binders full of velcro-backed cards! Plus, with the camera, we can immediately use custom pics. Highly recommended! ". (Source: AppStoreHQ) "My son has Asperger's autism and this is wonderful for structuring his day - if he "sees" his schedule he feels like he has more control. We're using ABA and consider this a huge help because it's entirely portable - no notebooks or flash cards that get left behind on the kitchen counter when leaving the house! ". (Source: AppStoreHQ) |
Apps for the hearing impaired
| New assistive hearing app for iPhone & iPod touch soundAMP is the first assistive application that turns your iPhone and iPod touch into an interactive hearing device. It accepts audio input from iPhone’s built-in mic (or wired headset with mic), and provides real-time volume and tone modifications which are delivered instantly to the user’s headphones or earbuds. Simply plug-in your headset with mic, insert your earbuds, launch soundAMP and instantly hear nearby sounds better. Developed by experts in software, sound processing and hearing, soundAMP improves your hearing, whether or not you have hearing loss. For those of you without hearing loss, launch soundAMP and relax, as there is no more straining to hear what is said. For those of you with hearing loss, soundAMP reawakens your sense of hearing; sounds come to life, and you hear better again. soundAMP's advanced sound processor softens loud sounds and amplifies soft sounds to maximize hearing comfort. soundAMP's processor is combined with audio filters designed to help with speech intelligibility, bringing the important sounds around vividly into your life. You get sonic clarity at all volume levels, with limited distortion. It allows you to adjust the tone and to improve the clarity of consonants. It even reduces the ambient and microphone motion-related hissing sound. And feedback or howling is minimized.Learn more on the iTunes App Store!!itunes.com/app/soundAMP To find out more, please visit Ginger Labs |  |
Apps for memory help
| ReQuall reQall is a voice-enabled memory aid that seamlessly integrates your mobile phone, email, text messaging and IM into a powerful organizer, reminder system and productivity assistant. The reQall Memory JoggerTM is the heart and soul of reQall Pro. The proactive memory assistance it provides is based on years of memory research and a thorough understanding of how, why and when people forget. The Memory Jogger constantly watches for opportunities to keep you well-prepared and memory-strong. It analyses your situation—looking at the current time, your current location and the upcoming items on your calendar—predicts when you’ll forget, and automatically delivers timely, relevant memory assistance. It can also predict when you'll forget and send you periodic "memory refreshers" to prevent forgetting. More information about ReQall . . . | ||
| New York Times review of ReQall | ReQall review |
