This Week in Accessibility

"Explore the acquisition of Userway by Level Access and its impact on the future of digital accessibility. Plus, delve into innovative products from CES 2024 that are pushing the boundaries of tech for all."

Links Discussed on the Show: Segment 1

Level Access Agrees to Acquire UserWay

My Perspective: Digital Accessibility and Overlays by Timothy Springer

Sheri Byrne-Haber’s LinkedIn post

Overlay Fact Sheet

#AudioEye Has Dropped Its Suit Against Me | Adrian Roselli

User Way Will Get You Sued | Adrian Roselli

My Cease and Desist from AudioEye | Adrian Roselli

Millions could lose affordable access to internet service with FCC program set to run out of funds

What’s New in Google Accessibility: Episode 4 

Apple Vision Pro Launches February 2 | The Verge

Millions to lose affordable internet unless Congress extends subsidies | Washington Post

Segment 2

OfficeHours.Global

Displace TV

HoHum

The Verge Demos the WIM by WiRobotics

This AI startup made a $199 gadget that replaces apps with 'rabbits' - and it might just work

The Nimble Device

Clicks for iPhone

Accessibility consultant and Youtube influencer Carrie Morales joins the show to look back at all of 2023’s advances in assistive tech and accessibility policy. From version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to the explosion of AI, there’s no shortage of topics to tackle in this chat.

Subscribe to the Carrie on Accessibility YouTube channel.

Just a note that there will be no show next week, but we’ll return the first week of January to preview the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show.

Links Discussed in This EpisodeSegment 1

The Top Accessibility Errors Found in 2023 | TPGi

Descript Harnesses the Power of AI to Edit audio 

WCAG 2.2 Updates and Resources | Deque University

Biden Administration Announces Rulemaking to Improve the Accessibility of Online Public Services | Inside Global Tech

Oscars: Academy Adds Red Carpet ASL Interpreters, Accessibility Guide and More for 2023 Show | Hollywood Reporter

How the Recording Academy, RAMPD Expanded Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for the Grammys’ | Hollywood Reporter

Netflix now lets TV viewers customize text for subtitles and closed captions | TechCrunch

Segment 2

Orbit Magna Magnifier - Some of the most inexpensive Video Magnifiers... but is it worth it?

Apps for OCR & Object Recognition Comparison: Seeing AI, Google Lookout, Envision AI 

Introducing Be My AI (formerly Virtual Volunteer) 

Be My AI - NEW on the Be My Eyes App!

Seleste Glasses - Your personal AI audio describer | Epic A11y Podcast by Carrie on Accessibility 

Apple’s 2024 Will Be About Moving Beyond the iPhone - Mark Gurman

2023: The Year AI Transformed the World for Blind Individuals

accessiBe Apology

AccessiByeBye Chrome extension that blocks accessibility overlays

The Good and Bad of the Google Pixel Tablet | Accessibility & Review by Carrie on Accessibility

Segment 3

Hearthstone Access (Community version)

Gaming journalist and accessibility consultant Victor Dima joins the show and looks back at 2023 in accessible video games. From adaptive accessories like the PlayStation Access Controller to mainstream titles like Forza Motorsport and Mortal Kombat 1 building accessibility into their games’ infrastructure, this year felt like there are more accessible gaming options for people of all abilities. 

But while some companies are embracing weaving accessibility into their titles, for others disabled players feel like a mere blip on their radar. We’ll dig into some real flops this year for disabled gamers, including Bethesda’s lack of transparency regarding Starfield, and our list of features for the new Nintendo Switch console rumored for 2024.

Links Discussed on the ShowSegment 1

KISS Become the First American Band to Digitally Replace Themselves

Google claims new Gemini AI 'thinks more carefully' | BBC News

Accessibility Update to Marvel’s Spider Man 2 Delayed | CanIPlayThat

Segment 2

Victor Dima reviews Spider-Man 2

Forza Motorsport: the Blind accessibility review

Hardware Review: Playstation Access Controller for PS5

Hardware Review: PlayStation Portal – A Revolutionary Way to Remote Play

Gaming Accessibility Conference 2023 Awards

The Last of Us devs bet big on accessibility — and made a better game

Why Starfield is an Accessibility Embarrassment | IGN

Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer

Segment 3

What’s New with TalkBack 14.1?

 

With the holiday season upon us and so many travel plans in motion, today we’re talking about what it’s like to travel with a disability. From TSA agents to inaccessible hotels, institutional biases make travel much more stressful than it needs to be. Plus, a brief history of U.S. legislation that tries to fix the issue.

Links Discussed on the Show

Hotel website ADA case dismissed by Supreme Court, declared moot - The Washington Post

The Robles v. Domino’s Settlement (And Why It Matters) | Bureau of Internet Accessibility

Be My AI Comes To Android As Open Beta Feature – Double Tap

Seeing AI App Launches on Android – Including new and updated features and new languages. - Microsoft Accessibility Blog

Google Just Launched Gemini, Its Long-Awaited Answer to ChatGPT | WIRED

GEMINI 1.0 Beats GPT-4 | AlphaCode 2 is better than 90% of coders | Gemini Nano on Pixel Phones! - @WesRoth on YouTube

British Airways improves accessibility for deaf passengers - Aero Time

Halo Collar’s Ken Ehrman Talks Pet Tech Study, Making Pet Care Accessible In Interview - Forbes

Segment 2

Air Canada Leaves Nation's Chief Accessibility Officer's Wheelchair Behind On Flight From Toronto - Simple Flying

Traveling While Disabled: Challenges of Accessible Travel - Thrillist

TSA and airlines make air travel a challenge for people with disabilities : NPR

About the Air Carrier Access Act | US Department of Transportation

Segment 3:

Do YouTube's Automatic Captions Improve Accessibility? | Bureau of Internet Accessibility

Workflow for generating full-text transcript and captions with Whisper - API - OpenAI Developer Forum

Could Apple Have Finally Squashed the Longstanding “Safari Not Responding” macOS Bug? | AppleVisWith the holiday season upon us and so many travel plans in motion, today we’re talking about what it’s like to travel with a disability. From TSA agents to inaccessible hotels, institutional biases make travel much more stressful than it needs to be. Plus, a brief history of U.S. legislation that tries to fix the issue.

In the first episode of this new show, accessibility pros Des Delgadillo and Louis Do talk about the big news from the week, and dive deep into the history of hackers abusing Android Accessibility Services.

Links Discussed During the Show:Segment 1: News

Open sourcing Project Guideline: A platform for computer vision accessibility technology

[Work In Progress]: Vosh - a third-party screen-reader for the Macintosh

Taika Waititi's New Apple Film Shows Off the iPhone's Speech Accessibility Tools

Daily Bruin: UCLA launches new Bachelor of Arts degree in disability studies

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora accessibility features revealed

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

As Dusk Falls

Segment 2: Android Security Services

Bleeping Computer: Google Addresses Android's Biggest Security Problem: Accessibility Services

How Android accessibility services can be used to hack your phone

Inside the Android Accessibility clickjacking malware

Android Police: Android 14 Beta 1 has built-in protections against sneaky screen-reading malware

ZDNet: Over 300,000 Android users have downloaded these banking trojan malware apps, say security researchers

Android's Accessibility API: A history of open (mis)use

Forbes: Appdome CEO Tom Tovar Talks His Company’s Mission, Android Accessibility Service Attacks, More In Interview

Segment 3: Accessibility Highlights of the Week

Face in View from the new Jaws 2024

Experimenting with Be My Eyes and Videos