Apps

On September 6-7, the FCC hosted a free workshop for developers, “Developing with Accessibility" (DevAcc), at its headquarters in Washington, DC.  Jim Mueller, Wireless RERC project director, demonstrated "BrailleTouch" and "ReadMore," two of the apps being developed by the RERC's App Factory. 

September 19, 2012— Google claims to have worked to improve accessibility in Google Docs, Sites, Calendar and mobile apps over the past year. In Google Calendar, there were enhancements in focus handling, keyboard access and navigation. Optical Character Recognition technology was added to Google Drive, which allowed screen readers to read the text in scanned PDFs and images. Related to the Google Apps (Gmail for mobile and Google Drive on iOS and Android), improvements were made to explore-by-touch capabilities and keyboard/trackpad navigability.

September 4, 2012 – The 2013 International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) general session call for presentations was announced.  Topics of interest include emerging assistive technologies; web accessibility; aging and disability; technologies designed for people with specific disabilities such as blind or low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, cognitive, and learning; technology applications for employment and education; and legal ramifications, among a multitude of other topics.  Submissions are due Friday, October 12, 2012.

July 12, 2012 –The American Foundation for the Blind and FloCo Apps, LLC have collaborated to produce AccessNote, a note-taker app for any iOS tablet or smartphone. AccessNote is compatible with the built-in accessibility features of iOS such as Voice Over and the iOS screen reader. It is also compatible with Apple’s wireless keyboard and wireless braille keyboards and displays.  AccessNote is scheduled for release this summer at a price point below $30.    [Source: American Foundation for the Blind]

06.04.2012 – NFB-NEWSLINE, a service sponsored in part by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), launched a free Apple app allowing users to access the NFB-NEWSLINE free audible newspaper service for the blind and print-disabled.  The app grants NFB-Newsline subscribers access to over three hundred newspapers, forty magazines, and television listings on their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.  Director of the NFB-NEWSLINE program Scott White stated, “We are proud to offer our subscribers this new exciting mobile iOS application that allows them access to their favorite publications at home,