iPhone = Guide Dog?

Maybe. Someday. I don't need a guide dog, but sometimes I wish I had one anyway. Dogs are awesome.

Anyway, my friend Amy drew my attention to a great New York Times article about T. V. Raman. I had never heard of Mr. Raman (as the Times so politely refers to him), but I've heard of most of his innovations in accessibility. I had no idea the same person was responsible for all of them.

For the Blind, Technology Does What a Guide Dog Can't

I'm particularly grateful for my computer's ability to read PDF files aloud. It comes in handy all the time.

As for the iPhone that can tell you which direction to walk in, it's probably not that useful to me; I don't have any problems getting around. I do like that my new iPod talks to me. It tells me what songs it has, what's playing, and what menu is up on the screen. It's awesome. I named it Hal.

Point of Focus

I just found another legally blind blogger with a LOT to say. He's a photographer and a judo expert with a different condition than mine but a bunch of similar issues. You should check it out:

The Perfect Focus

The current post (dated Nov. 23, 2008) has a great update about iPod accessibility, which answers a few of the questions I had last month. Apparently, Mac has finally given into the throngs of us not-perfect-seers and has decided to include talking menus in the new Nano. Hooray! MacWorld put out a great video, which you can also find at the link above.

I should take this moment to point out that my blog's spell checker doesn't recognize iPod or Nano as actual words. Huh.