Stevo

I still very strongly believe that AT device software should be open source in certain cases, such as, again, something like a book player.

1. You still get everyone buying it who normally would.
2. You get to cut down on labor costs because it's not just a single team working on the software for the device.
3. You get expertise from within the community you aim to serve... Imagine that?
4. You don't inadvertently patronize software developers by having them shell out hundreds on your device so they can run buggy software, have ideas on how to fix that buggy software, but be kneecapped by arbitrary limits you set in place.

Oh, and then lord the fact that you drive the ship over people's heads by gatekeeping whichever bug fixes or suggestions get implemented.

Must it be that you ship community contributions with the stock version on devices you sell? Hell no, and that's the beautiful part! You still get to dictate the OOBE! You get to decide which, if any, community contributions get shipped from the factory. People can fork the software and users get to choose if they want to risk flashing said forks! Hell, void the warranty if they do so.

There's probably some legal red tape BS that, when applied, invalidates my arguments for reasons completely unrelated to them and because someone somewhere decided they were good ideas. I don't know much about that. I also understand that I'm kicking the skeleton of a long-dead horse at this point because so many devices work like this, and that alone could be the perfect dismissal for my entire premise, individual points notwithstanding.

@randomfelix@dragonscave.space Nah just send them back. I'm pretty sure they'll ask and you're well within your right to explain it was misleading advertising. Don't sacrifice your income for what a trillion dollar company might think of you, that's my opinion.

@BlindGordon@dragonscave.space I don't know but I also saw an update to Gemini that made it so the AI was convinced that it could not make phone calls because it's an LLM. I don't feel as though replacing voice control tasks with AI is the objective step forward everyone wants to believe it is.

Last year on July 14 I had what I thought was gonna be a dream come true, but it ended in disappointment. This year on July 15 and 16, I've potentially had 2 more huge ones, I hope these work out. One of them looks almost like a certainty, but time will tell. :)

Lol. This is very specific.
Tonight. A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8pm, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 3am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 3am and 5am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy. Low around 86, with temperatures rising to around 89 overnight. North northwest wind 0 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

I've lived here for 4 years and I finally saw a storm in early July in Phoenix. Apparently that's what the monsoon does when it exists. That storm produced more than the 2023 and 2024 seasons combined in terms of rain: 0.15in and 0.16in respectively. While I apparently have to remind myself that I'm not in Austin when I leave for work in the morning because it's so damn humid now, I hope there are many more to come.

I tried to get back into @ramblio@tweesecake.social but it doesn't let me sign in because I'm using Tailscail. I won't shut off Tailscail just to use an app. rip.

Willow popped up. This occurred at 3:39 PM MST, 07/10/2026.

Earlier last month, I made it a goal of mine to do an at least 30 minute stationary bike ride every single day. I wanted to treat this not as a get ripped program, but as though it were a commute I have to take. (I'm blind and can't go riding out in the neighborhood, and use a lot of rideshare when going to work). I have officially hit a 25 day streak! It went from feeling like "ug I don't know if I can do this" at day 1, to feeling like a regular part of my day. I'm proud of myself for not giving into the first week 'What's the point of this?' And now because the streak is locked in, on to 50 days!

@JustinMac84@mastodon.social Cheers dude. I think definitely the way you get people to start thinking like this is encouragement.

@JustinMac84@mastodon.social There's also this. Is my $20 Claude subscription generating Anthropic boatloads of revenue? Is the Amazon order I placed last week the thing those managing Amazon look at and go oh thank God, he saved us? No. It's pretty well known that, for example, Claude subscriptions are not economically sustainable in the long term. I'm dragging them down if anything. Amazon doesn't make most of its money from orders like mine. I usually dismiss people for the "Don't use this it's bad you're wrong for doing it" takes. Rarely do they ever offer a better alternative. Meanwhile your employer wants you to use AI. Everyone from kids to grandparents orders from Amazon. If I quit either one of those today, nobody's gonna care or notice. Finally, and this is my favorite. I doubt the majority of folks who criticize are using custom built computers assembled from components built by small businesses using only green energy to power their operations. I doubt that all the electricity in most of said individuals' houses is all solar or hydro. I'm sure most of them also use air conditioning. They either commute or order delivery that is driven to them in gas powered vehicles. So I guess I'd think twice about telling off a random individual on the internet for ruining the planet while my post and... lifestyle, are powered by fossil fuels and natural gas. That is not to dismiss the genuine warnings against these things. There is a way to tell people about the disadvantages of the things they use every day. Shaming them is not it, though. I can't take that shit seriously.

RE: @cartertemm@az.social

Oh brother, here comes trouble. :D

@Kaliah@dragonscave.space Kitten pawawawawped uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhp

Athena popped up. Oh and you better be careful. It's gonna start squeaking and purring and bonking you on the leg with its tiny cotton ball head.

@pvagner Theoretically, if you press the "jump to current location" option in the menu, Audiom will tune itself to your exact GPS location. Then it updates that like every 200ft (~ 70m ).

@Lynn@mastodon.stickbear.me Yep, totally makes sense. I tend to rant about difficulties I have with technology, but that doesn't make them universal or applicable to everyone. On principle using the phone for things is a lot more convenient in the sense that you get a card-sized device that you can just whip out and go. I just find that even having used VoiceOver for like 15 years, knowing all the little tricks and shortcuts, I can still get things done far more quickly and personally with less hastle on a keyboard and a Windows machine.

I'm happy to say that I was promoted from Quality Assurance Tester for XRNavigation, to Junior Software Engineer. This happened on Tuesday. I am beyond excited about this! I am honored that they've given me further opportunities to improve Audiom and grow as part of the team! I can't wait to see what the future holds. It's long been a dream of mine to develop for a project like this, one that actively works to solve challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired. In this case, it's exploring maps on any platform - the same ability sighted people have when they open Google Maps, or look at any website that contains a map "region" or "graphic" that those of us who are blind can't access.
https://audiom.net
https://xrnavigation.io

I seriously don't get how many blind people manage to do 90 something percent of their online/logistical tasks on their phone. If I did that, with all the random screen reader bugs and "something went wrongs" and buttons that clicked yesterday but repeat their titles today and on and on, I'd be a quivvering jibbering gelatinous blob of insanity. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I love how if I wait 5 or 10 minutes to cancel a Lyft/Uber, I get charged a fee for their precious "time and effort." If a driver has me waiting for 10 minutes and cancels when they're 2 minutes away, of course nothing happens to them. I guess the paying customer's time isn't a big deal.

@NatalyaD@disabled.social Thanks for sharing that, I truly appreciate it. I work with individuals who are deaf or deafblind, but admittedly I don't know nearly all the unique struggles you face day to day. You have a point though - even with my work experience, I'd still be inclined to believe I learned something from a book I read about someone who is deaf even if it wasn't true, because perhaps that book was the only place I'd heard a story of how they dealt with a certain situation. That's what makes these bad portrayals so dangerous.

@quixoticgeek@social.v.st @NatalyaD@disabled.social Well, first of all I really appreciate you asking - thank you so much! :) In answer to your question, it comes down to research. If you write books about say, astronomy, you'll likely read articles on the subject and ask some experts. In this case, if you don't know what it's like being a blind person, you can research how does a blind person do X? Or far better, find a community of blind folks to ask. You may get some blind folks not willing to answer questions, or who seem standoffish, but I imagine that's a general rule amongst a lot of communities and you can just filter out the a-holes because a lot of us would be willing to answer your questions. I for one would find it an honor that you'd ask rather than assume things about my capabilities, and I am not nearly the only one who thinks that way. This is generally the case with other groups of disabled folks. That said, please feel free to ask me any questions you do have. The door's always open. I hope this helped. Have a great day! :)

@jscholes@dragonscave.space @TheQuinbox@dragonscave.space Yup, and that's my exact problem with things like this. It's depressing to think about. Here we have another book that's several hundred pages about this incapable blind person that thousands or millions of people will read. Then you have me, for example, I might tell a couple hundred people about being blind in a year. They see me in one specific circumstance though, not a chronicle of my life.

Sometimes I'm frustrated at the general world for how they view blind people, but then other times I read books... about blind people.

Like the one I was reading today. This lady drops her keys near the front door. She feels around in a potted plant for a bit, but then gives up and starts crying until... this knight in shining armor comes to save the day. He grabs those keys and sets them gently in her palm.

Then she's got some broken glass because she drops groceries on the front step. It's okay, her sister who she obviously lives with will take care of it. Then her sister will scold her for being so independent.

She works part time... but as someone who answers phones for a blind charity.

Her sister picks out her clothes, and she only wears 2 colors.

People read these kinds of books never having met a blind person before. Then they meet a blind person... and what are they supposed to think?

I want to read a real cool book with a blind character in it. This blind character cleans up the broken glass with gloves, a vacuum, some wet paper towels or something. They fan their hands around looking for the dropped key. They scan the clothes with seeing AI or maybe they put some Way Around tags or something on them. They live independently alone or with a roomate, or an equally contributing family member. They work an office job or something.

Books are one of the ways we learn about things or people we've never encountered before. They'd be such a good opportunity to teach sighted individual how it is possible for a blind person to exist. Instead, that was another one where the blind lady was a family dependent emotionally fragile flight risk. It evoked feelings of pity and stress for that character.

I'm sure such books as I'm talking about exist, I just felt it necessary to rant about that one.

Athena got to eat at the kitchen table for her birthday. I squirted out one of those squeezable treats onto a plate, and put it on the table right in front of a kitchen chair. So, she stood on her heind legs in the chair and ate at the table. :D

@sapphireangel@mastodon.online It used to be every day at 8 PM they'd get a giant bowl. Now it's at 8 and 2 AM and PM every day, a third of a cup. So it is a big adjustment I suppose, and all things considered they are coping well.

@sapphireangel@mastodon.online Yep. The hardest part of this is getting them used to the new schedule. They've been giving me the "feed me because I love you" treatment all day.

RE: @EdenLinnea@caneandable.social

Fully agreed.

I ended up having to replace my automatic cat feeder after 3 years because I needed to make some changes to the servings, and realized it's not possible even with glasses/phone/AI/live agent, unless they also have the same one. So I got a Petlibro feeder to replace it. That was only like $80, and the app is kind of annoying and requires screen recognission about half the time. The good thing is though I can adjust it without any assistance.

Apparently this was VoiceAccess, and could be turned off in I believe it was the notification shade. Turning that off fixed the problem.

@J_D_X@dragonscave.space Well, Thank you so much! I'll start off with a couple short questions then. 1. How do you roll the chair in a straight line while also moving the cane? Hers is pushed forward by hand rolling the wheels. 2. How do you come to a quick stop if you find something like a dropoff/curb in the way, and then can you explore the depth of that dropoff?

@J_D_X@dragonscave.space I appreciate that! So do you have a manual, or an electric? If you have electric, have you had manual and done this with one of those before?

@KingZombie@dragonscave.space Have a nice trip. See you next fall!

@J_D_X@dragonscave.space Hey. I know this is not related to your original post, but you said that you are a wheelchair user who also uses a cane. My gf is a totally blind wheelchair user who has not had adequate mobility training, and therefore I have questions. If you are willing, may I please pick your brain about some stuff? If not I completely understand, and feel free to pass this one on by. Have a great weekend!

@jstark@tweesecake.social @TheQuinbox@dragonscave.space Yep, that too.

@KanawhaCountyWX@mastodon.social Yeah. When I turned on Hey Google, it also had some thing about advanced features, and some blurb about having Gemini respond to simple commands even without saying "Hey Google."

@TheQuinbox@dragonscave.space Thanks, I'll check that out on Monday!

Pixel users: I'm a bit inexperienced with this particular phone, so this is tripping me up. I enabled "Hey Google" for someone. Now their phone displays a small strip at the top of the screen, evidently not accessible using TalkBack. This strip displays whatever anyone around them is saying, and Gemini's response to it. How do I stop this? That seems rather... weird.

@jakobrosin Oo! Nice! I had a very brief passing thought that creating something like this would be cool. I'm glad you did this!

Sure. There are lots of horrible things going on in the world right now. Many of them controlled by powerful people that most of us will never get anywhere close to speaking to. But I agree with some people, let's catagorically shit on everyday ordinary people and dictate their political views and their views on human rights... for reading a fucking book. Oh by the way, all of you are fundamentally against me because you give money to services that aren't screen reader accessible.

@MostlyBlindGamer Interesting. I use my pinky on my left hand. Thumb is number 5. Thumb of right hand is 6, and 10 is pinky on my right hand. It makes sense to me to do it like that since it's straight left to right.

@Kaliah@dragonscave.space I'm trying to figure that one out. It hasn't lagged in the other browsers, just that one.

@Kaliah@dragonscave.space are you using Firefox?

@musicalman@dragonscave.space Well thanks and I'm glad you're enjoying it!

@BTyson@dragonscave.space No, just that that particular timer will calculate its delta when you come back online just as the balls accumulation would.

@Jage@mas.to You should, though I never gave it too much thought. This is now fixed and so you'll likely see that after your next prestige. Any time a change like that is made, you'll have to refresh the page at least once to insure you get the change.

@Jage@mas.to Of course; I've never seen a game like this where you couldn't. Plus, imagine having to collect 50k balls, 19 at a time, by doing space space space space space space space space

I honestly thought hey, it would be fun to have another one of these, and I wanted to see how far it could go. I figured I'd post it on gh and then share it here in the event that people not only wanted to play it, but add on/tweak it. It takes a village, after all. :D So have fun. I can't guarantee I'll review a pr right away, but knowing what I just did I'll check for them at least a couple times a day. Happy bouncing!

For those who appear to be bored and into incrementals, here you go. Also, I'm accepting contributions (of the code kind of course) - this was a little boredom project I thought I'd throw together. There's definitely more balancing that could be done.
So here's first the link to the game, then the link to the repo.
Game: http://bounce.stevend.net/
repo: https://github.com/stevo399/bounce/

@Kaliah@dragonscave.space Completely agreed. Then when you have a stack of mail, which takes several minutes to go through while you figure out how to aim a camera to get enough info out of it, only to realize you wasted 10 minutes reading about capital 1 and progressive...

I feel like important notices such as jury duty summons for example should be sent in both braille and print automatically regardless of whether a person indicated they needed braille. I don't check printed mail super often and when I do, 95% of it is junk/ads (why are we cutting down trees to send so much of that shit anyway)? The fact that we are though convinces me that resources for that aren't a problem.