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• Post #4386704

  I know that people are deeply distraught by the fact that even though we expected a new iOS beta yesterday, we still didn't get one today. But never fear. I feel sure that the reason is good. I have hope in my heart, and I am confident that the delay is due to the fact that every single bug ever to have been introduced into iOS will be fixed. It's going to be bug free like no operating system has ever been bug free before. It'll be so bug free, you'll be wishing for bugs just fo...

• Post #4360436

  I'm concerned about the growing over-the-top rhetoric around smart glasses. I fear it's only a matter of time before a blind person, using these as a genuinely helpful and legitimate accommodation, finds themselves the victim of a serious incident. ‘Antizuck’ iOS app that claims to detect nearby smart glasses tops App Store chart https://9to5mac.com/2026/07/31/antizuck-ios-app-that-claims-to-detect-nearby-smart-glasses-tops-app-store-chart/

• Post #4357439

  Heart warming story time. Recently, I was unsupervised for the evening because Bonnie was at a work function, so I decided to get Uber Eats delivered. I chose a place I hadn’t tried before, and eventually I got the notification that my driver was arriving. I went outside the house and stood there ready to receive the delivery, but nobody showed up. Eventually I gave the driver a call to find out if he was lost. He told me what street he was in, and then I realized that the Uber Eats app had uni...

• Post #4097631

  I’m glad this is public at last. Obviously, we made it clear to Meta that putting an accommodation behind a subscription was something we took a very dim view of. They quickly let us know they would retract, and here is the pulbic story. After backlash, Meta pauses plan to ‘rate limit’ its smart glasses https://www.theverge.com/tech/970970/after-backlash-meta-pauses-plan-to-rate-limit-its-smart-glasses

• Post #3947271

  The biggest challenge the new Siri AI has is to have people actually believe in it! I just got a text from someone I have been in touch with in person previously. They told me their name, obviously I had their phone number because they were texting me, and the text contained their email. I just said to Siri, "create a new contact with all these details" and it did it perfectly. Mate!

• Post #3939891

  I have been putting Leasey 11.5 through its paces for the last day or so and am very impressed, even amazed. Not everyone will want every feature as is the case with any application or suite of applications. For example, I know Microsoft Word like the back of my hand and use its increasingly capable Copilot features. But others will appreciate a word processor with a good old menu bar, ChatGPT, and comprehensive features. Hartgen Consultancy has published here comprehensive summaries of all the...

• Post #3848942

  With gratitude and appreciation, remembering access technology great Jonathan Sharp. https://mosen.org/jonathansharp/

• Post #3773005

  I do wish Mastodon would transmit the client people are tooting from between instances.

• Post #3766211

  I must admit, I feel a little shy posting this because it is not the kind of thing that people would typically associate with me. At a more typical me level, this shows the kind of thing that is possible with extremely precise Suno prompt engineering, many refinements, bringing it into Reaper, mixing it up and making it nice. I have a very regular listener to the Mosen Explosion whose name is Grace. She literally never misses a show. She lives alone following the loss of her husband recently, a...

• Post #3745054

  I note that my Mastodon timeline is once again being overrun with anti-AI fundamentalism. Now when this happens, I will not stay silent, but will instead post a link to an article I took a long time to write, which acknowledges the many real ethical, societal, and technological challenges, while also highlighting the tremendous good it is doing for blind people like me. I refuse to remain silent and have these benefits excluded from the conversation. https://mosen.org/ai/

• Post #3740109

  I haven’t had the pleasure of eating a lemon drizzle cake, but I feel I must make/find one in her honor. Hers is a voice I have been listening to for over 50 years. What an incredible contribution. Condolences to her family. #TheArchers Longest-serving Archers star Patricia Greene dies aged 95 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy04erw9y42o

• Post #3638242

  Totally unexpected things that can happen in our Federation family. I’m sitting here in general session and just got handed a note in Braille from someone, saying “thank you for all you do”. How really kind. #nfb26

• Post #3561515

  If you’re new to Mastodon, you may not be aware that it’s possible to actually follow, not just search on, a hashtag. If you follow a hashtag, it means that posts using that hashtag will appear in your Mastodon timeline even if you don’t follow someone who posts with that hashtag. The official hashtag for the National Federation of the Blind’s national convention in Austin is #NFB26. How you perform the initial setup varies depending on which of the many accessible Mastodon clients you’re using...

• Post #3487931

  RE: https://mastodon.social/@atow/116836299225679121 I haven’t checked this out for #accessibility but it sounds like an impactful project. Wish we had something like this when our family was caring for my Mum, who had dementia.

• Post #2752583

  This is a cool restaurant with lots of clocks, in the place I get my haircut.

• Post #2752582

  All these stations are still going, and there's a link to them in the article. AI radio hosts demonstrate why AI can’t be trusted alone https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/931479/andon-labs-ai-radio-companies

• Post #2752581

  Whew! Just managed to dodge a meteorological/aviation bullet. I am here in Redmond for the Microsoft Ability Summit, and I flew here with a connecting flight in Denver. Not too long after we left Denver, with plenty of turbulence, they began a ground stop due to lightning at Denver. That sort of thing creates major havoc with the flight schedules, so I got very lucky. It’s nice to be back in the great state of Washington.

• Post #2752580

  Great to be here in Redmond participating on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind in conversations that can make a difference. And looking forward to being a part of the keynote this morning at the Microsoft Ability Summit. It is possible, and in fact necessary, to continue to advocate for much needed improvements while also acknowledging the progress that has been made thanks to the ongoing dialogue.

• Post #2752579

  I've been in a few meetings this week where having quality notes is essential. Despite its UI quirks, the Plaud Note Pro does such an incredible job. Huge battery life, speaker identification, and templates for any occasion. Such a useful little gadget. Oh, and it now shows up in my Find My app as well.

• Post #2263580

  RE: https://dragonscave.space/@J_D_X/116470268624341123 This is very well said. Blind mentors are important, because we are so often held back by low expectations. We can be lifted up by those who’ve blazed a trail ahead of us. As for Gary, he is an absolute legend who I am honored to call a friend. Most of the time, Gary just gets on with his job, and is exceptional at it, regularly appearing on TV and radio in Britain and beyond. But he doesn’t seek to hide his blindness. He talks about it op...

• Post #1896528

  It is with truly giddy excitement that I invite you to join me for a Mosen Explosion done the way we used to do it, live, interactive and unpredictable. So hark! Hark I say! As we harken back to days of yore. And you might say, “days of my what”? To which I reply, “not your, mate! Yore!” See, as a former US President used to famously, or infamously, say, “here’s the deal”. With a wonderful and busy job that occupies me during the day, I produce the Mosen Explosion using a technology called voice...

• Post #1867843

  Today, Bonnie and I made the kind of memories we'll talk about for the rest of our lives. I've always been fascinated by space since I was very young. And while I dreamed of going to the Kennedy Space Center one day, America was such a long way away that I thought it would remain a dream. So finally, I made it, and Bonnie returned for a second visit. It was very special. We got to talk with an astronaut, Ken Cameron. He is a retired NASA astronaut, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, and engineer...

• Post #1857174

  Thanks to @SteveSawczyn for the inspiration, now that I’m living the Tailscale dream, I purchased a GL.iNet GL-MT3600BE (Beryl 7) Portable Travel Router, which has Tailscale built in, including the ability to connect to specific exit nodes. So, it has all the usual benefits of travel routers like only connecting one device to hotel Internet, the ability to repeat w Wi-Fi signal, and a mode that lets you plug in a device that has Internet access into its USB port, but it has Tailscale as well. Wh...

• Post #1767957

  As has been often said, “so many podcasts, so little time”. Since Gemini started being able to summarize audio files, I have been sending some longer podcasts to it when I just need a succinct summary of the key points. I’m on vacation this week, so I thought I might dig into creating a shortcut that would automate this process. Before I did all that, I decided to see if someone has already done what I wanted to do. They have. It’s called Snipcast, it’s accessible, and the developer is incredibl...

• Post #1682351

  RE: https://mastodon.social/@freedomscientific/116455940015759667 I disagree with this post. I have been testing the new Outlook extensively recently, and in my opinion it is simply not a tool that any blind person can use to get work done efficiently at present. I have communicated this view clearly to Microsoft, and to their credit, we’re working with them on it, but popping in and out of the virtual cursor, working out when to do it and what mode to be in, is not an acceptable or intuitive s...

• Post #1669532

  Artemis II pilot talks about what it was really like to fly and land in Orion https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/artemis-ii-pilot-describes-landing-in-orion-from-intense-to-pure-elation/

• Post #1669530

  Cool marketing I guess. This pasta sauce wants to record your family https://www.theverge.com/tech/913874/prego-connection-keeper-bundle-voice-recorder-storycorps

• Post #1007632

  Love this audio radar on @jakobrosin’s #artemis2 tracker. You can really hear how close they are to the moon now. Just 77,000 miles at time of writing.

• Post #1007631

  NASA Answers Your Most Pressing Artemis II Questions https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-answers-your-most-pressing-artemis-ii-questions/

• Post #1007630

  This year, I will have been podcasting for 22 years, since the very beginning of this form of content delivery. I love it, and I enjoy sharing what I know about the process of making podcasts, as well as learning from others. Some time ago, I started an email list for blind people creating podcasts, or for those who would like advice about getting into podcasting. I’ve been hosting this on its own domain, but in recent times, increasingly, self-hosted Mailman solutions are being hit with deliver...