There’s a new movement which is taking hold across many disability communities, one which has existed for about 6 years now. Their main website highlights the background and motive for its creation. Checking the website out is highly recommended as it will provide a good overview and interviews for understanding a present-need for such an event. Although opponents of GAAD would argue that there is no need to create a special day just to place disabilities on a high-horse, with the rapid and transforming state of technology, companies need to know that accessibility has to be a part in every aspect of their design cycle.
NEWS
VPS Could Transform How the Blind Make Their Way Through the World
Google announces it’s working on a service to offer detailed indoor location positioning using its Tango 3D sensing computer vision tech called “visual positioning service” — or VPS.
iOS Users Can Now Take Advantage of Google Assistant on the iPhone
This update to the Google software space for iOS devices makes the iPhone have a another competitor for Siri on the iOS platform. This update does not come to Google Search, but is instead delivered to the iPhone as a separate app.
Apple Updates YouTube with a Series of Accessibility Videos
The videos highlight the various ways the Accessibility features built into the iPhone, Mac and iPad are used to help people accomplish a range of tasks.
Visually Impaired Programmer Creates Chatbot for Women to Report Sexual Abuse
Programmer Sagar Sodah, 26, recently created a chatbot for women to anonymously report incidents of sexual harassment. “I want to use technology to create a social impact,” says the visually impaired Mumbai resident, who launched the bot in February.
BackMap Helps Visually Impaired navigate Cities and Indoor Areas
BackMap, which came out of TechCrunch Disrupt NY’s 2017 hackathon, is a backpack that vibrates to let you know when to turn right and when to turn left.
Breaking: Window-eyes discontinued, in the hands of the VFO Group
Today may be a pretty historic day when it concerns innovation and partnerships. Window-eyes might not be a household name among screen readers, but it’s discontinuation means that many especially within the international blind community may be impacted. For anyone who has used the offer whereby a free copy of Window-eyes could be used with Office licenses, you will now be running an unsupported screen reader, and we know how quickly Microsoft has been changing their framework with newer, more modern Windows 10 releases. I am for one doubtful that Window-eyes users will ever experience the new audio ducking behavior changes which will be coming in releases such as NVDA 2017.2. Alas, updates will come no more.
You Can Now Pre-Order the Chromebook Pro from Amazon
at CES 2017 Samsung announced a pair of Chromebooks, the Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro. The Chromebook Plus is powered by a custom ARM-based OP1 processor, while the Chromebook Pro is equipped with an Intel Core M3 6Y30 chip. The Plus was released back in February, but the Pro was delayed.
South Korean Search Giant to Challenge Alexa as a Better Digital Personal Assistant
South Korea’s biggest search engine Naver launches Clova, the personal assistant to rival Alexa.
Who is Smarter, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant or Siri?
On the heels of the success of the Amazon digital personal assistant Alexa we have seen an explosion in the personal assistant realm with Google, Microsoft, Apple and recently with Samsung introducing Bixby. So which one of these assistants is smarter?
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