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Sticking with Posterous for now, I've given Tumblr enough time.
I’ve gone back and forth about whether to use Posterous or Tumblr. I’ve decided, for now, to stick with Posterous. OK, it’s not as stylistic as Tumblr, but it does offer an accessible way to play audio and other media content and that’s something Tumblr doesn’t seem willing to do. If you follow my blog via Twitter, or Facebook, there’s nothing you need to do as Posterous is posting to both services. If, however, you’re subscribed to the RSS feed, please subscribe to the new blog. For those who access via a favorite, or bookmarked link, please update to reflect the new blog.
I really like Tumblr, it’s a great blogging platform and offers a wonderful sense of community. Unfortunately, until they make their media player more accessible, it’s just not an option for me.
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Big River by Johnny Cash
I absolutely love this song.
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Apple releases iOS 4.1 and in terms of accessibility, it ain't all good
Earlier today, Apple released iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod touch devices. According to Apple, the major features in this update include:
- Game center,
- iTunes TV show rentals,
- iTunes Ping,
- HDR Photography,
- HD Video uploads.
Nothing is mentioned about VoiceOver and accessibility, but that doesn’t mean Apple hasn’t focused on it as well. Indeed, Apple *has* focused on VoiceOver and the results are mixed. On the plus side, there are now two more audible cues, one indicating when a folder is opened and another indicating when a folder is closed. Personally, I like these new sounds and think they’re a nice touch. On the negative side, VoiceOver now cuts out certain syllables, such as the ending of certain characters when entering text, or when navigating the home screen. The letter ‘e’ is hardly spoken at all and without the automatic phonetic pronunciation, it might be difficult to distinguish it from other characters. Sadly, this particular bug presented itself a few updates back and was corrected; it’s a shame Apple has managed to reintroduce it yet again.
iOS4.1 has only been out for a few hours, so I’m sure more enhancements/bugs will be discovered in the next few days. if you notice anything different in terms of accessibility, please leave it in the comments and I’ll revise this post. For those wanting to see the official Apple announcement of iOS4.1 new features, it can be found here.
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And the school year is off to a great start
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What exactly was a 'Telex' number? [
What exactly was a ‘Telex’ number? [
I used to have a telex number and was wondering what had become of the network and the many phone numbers reserved for it. I came across the above article which, if you’re interested in telex or communications in general, makes for some real interesting reading.
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BNO News to discontinue iPhone app
BNO News to discontinue iPhone app
A real shame as this was one of my favorite apps. Pity they didn’t opt to offer a subscription based service to end users, I, and I’m sure many others would have definitely paid up.
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Top 10 Facebook Fixes
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OREO & Fudge Ice Cream Cake recipe
OREO & Fudge Ice Cream Cake recipe
Yep, this would be mighty tasty right about now.
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10 Useful iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts,
via mashable.comUnfortunately, many of these do not seem to be accessible. Good to know they exist though as they’re not discussed in Apple’s manual, time to start bugging the Apple accessibility folks.
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Whistling Languages in Kuskoy, Turkey
Whistling Languages in Kuskoy, Turkey
Absolutely fascinating, I had no idea such languages existed.
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Pandora and screen reader support
Pandora and screen reader support
Pandora leaves a lot to be desired in terms of accessibility. Indeed, I can’t even log into the service from my Mac and am not sure if Windows users can interact with their vast Flash content. Interestingly enough though, Pandora does address accessibility in this FAQ page providing hot links to pages that allow a user to create new stations and change the currently playing station. Pandora also offers keyboard shortcuts which could certainly come in handy.
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7 ways to listen to Pandora without a web browser
7 ways to listen to Pandora without a web browser
Since discovering that the Pandora music service is very accessible on the iStuff earlier today, I’m now curious how to bring an accessible experience to both the Mac and Windows. Sadly, my understanding is that the Pandora web site leaves a lot to be desired in terms of accessibility. So, just what is Pandora anyway? Well, in a nutshell, you can create a station based on an artist, group of artists or song. Pandora plays something by that artist and then starts looking for tracks that are similar. As a song plays, you can give it a “thumbs up,” or a “thumbs down” essentially letting the service know how good it’s choice was. Over time, the service perfects its suggestions meaning that in the end, you hear the type of music you want to hear. And with it available via the web, via the iThings and possibly other platforms as well, you can hear what you want, virtually where you want.
For more info, check out Pandora’s web site.
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Papers, Please!
An absolutely fascinating blog discussing privacy issues and legislation.
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Angry JetBlue attendant exits plane on slide « WBBM Newsradio 780
Angry JetBlue attendant exits plane on slide « WBBM Newsradio 780
I think this would have been pretty funny to see. OK, maybe a bit scary, but wow, talk about a serious and dramatic way to leave a job.
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What do you find to be the most difficult thing in life?
The misconceptions of others concerning what I, as a blind person, am capable of. I encounter such misconceptions in just about all aspects of life.
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how mini kids do you have, and what are there ages?
I have two, Markus is 10 and Gabby is 7.
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A foreigner’s guide to traditional Hindu weddings
A foreigner’s guide to traditional Hindu weddings
I love guides like this, informative, yet very humorous.
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Digital Mail Survey
A service to scan and digitize mail could be fantastic for many of us who depend on others to read our mail. In many respects, this service reminds me of Paytrust which can scan forwarded invoices. Even if the service isn’t of interest to you, please check out the survey.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4
The iPhone 4 Antenna Song
I get a chuckle every time I hear this. Eventually, I’ll probably find myself humming it while out in public.
Song A Day #561: The iPhone Antenna Song (via therockcookiebottom)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
Senator: 6000 graves at Arlington could be wrong
Senator: 6000 graves at Arlington could be wrong
I’ve heard of messing up, but seriously?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIcaejkpD4
What a nice little tune to sum up the situation with the iPhone 4 antenna issue.
Song A Day #561: The iPhone Antenna Song (via therockcookiebottom)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-r5cKzjwB0
I’ve been taking some videos of my time here in Germany, however, some of them are too large to Email to posterous/Tumblr. While pondering how to solve this problem, I remembered there’s this Youtube thing that everyone’s been talking about and surely, they must not have upload limits. Anyway, this lead to my trying to figure out how to actually upload content to Youtube. I came across this video and although I can’t see the actual video portion, thought the dialog humorous enough to post here.
how to put a video on youtube (via ellaskins)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ctjxlcM2Yw
Although this castle was originally destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt and now serves as .. yes, a shopping mall.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSs1rjExO_I
Pieces of the Berlin wall have found their way all over the world, this particular large piece found its way to Braunschweig.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lVZzG85Q00
There are many lion statues throughout Germany, this video is of one in Braunschweig. I believe there’s some other stuff as well in the video, but heck, what do I know? :)
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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