How To: Use Accessibility Options

These settings and features are all designed to make it easier to use iOS devices. Have you found any that make using your device better, or have helped other people use their devices? Let us know in the comments below.

how to use iOS' helpful accessibility features, which may help you or someone you know use their iOS device more effectively.

 Using Google products: How to use accessibility features. In this section, we go over the accessibility features of our products for 2 groups of people

How To: Use Accessibility Options

What makes iOS great for users with disabilities is that there’s a selection of options to make using an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad much easier. Many of these features are designed for the visually-impaired, the hard of hearing, or those with motor skills issues, to open up their devices to them in a way that most people take for granted. However, there are a few features here that even able users can take advantage of – custom vibration settings started out as an Accessibility option before becoming standard in iOS 6. Here’s a rundown of what the Accessibility features in iOS are.
To find and configure ACcessibility options, open up Settings, tap on General, then scroll down to Accessibility. All the iOS Accessibility options are here.

VoiceOver is primarily designed for visually-impaired users, as it makes it easier to select specific items, which the device will then speak what that feature is, and double-taps are used to then select the item, making it harder to accidentally tap on certain items. Various other settings for devices like Bluetooth-enabled Braille machines, and typing feedback, can be configured here.

Zoom makes it possible to use 3-finger gestures to zoom in and out of the screen, making it easier for visually-impaired users to see certain items when necessary.

Large Text increases the font size in certain Apple apps.

Invert Colors will invert the device’s colors, which can help users with different vision issues.

Speak Selection and Speak Auto-text make it possible to have text-to-speech enabled on selected text.

Hearing Aids is the settings section for Bluetooth hearing aids. Once connected, the options will be made available.
LED Flash for Alerts makes it possible for the LED flash on the iPhone to go off when new alerts come in. This can be handy for any user that wants a way to see that they have new notifications, even when they’re not looking at the screen.
Mono Audio sets the device’s audio to be only in monaural, making it possible for users who only hear out of one ear (or for users who use mono headsets) to hear both channels in one ear. The audio balance can also be set here.
Guided Access makes it possible to restrict a device to one app, with certain screen sections able to be configured as untouchable. This makes it possible to use a device in a demo mode, or to let a child use an app without leaving it or changing any settings.

AssistiveTouch enables a gray button that can be dragged around the screen. This calls up several system functions, that make it possible to do things like multitouch gestures, take screenshots, and more. For users who have a broken home button, AssistiveTouch can make the device still usable.

Home-click Speed makes it easier to double-click the home button, by not requiring it to be double-clicked so quickly.

Incoming Calls can force the audio from incoming calls to either go to a headset or to the speaker.
Triple-click Home allows for VoiceOver, Invert Colors, Zoom, and AssistiveTouch to be toggled by triple-clicking the Home button.

Apple Case Design in 2013- On Protection + Priorities

Apple Case Design in 2013
- On Protection + Priorities


According to internal Apple research that was publicized last year, roughly 80% of iPhone owners use cases to protect their devices, and obviously iPod and iPad cases are popular, too. iLounge recently reached out to some of the biggest case designers in the industry to gather their thoughts on various aspects of case design. Here’s part one of our three-part series on the state of Apple case design in 2013.

iLounge: Do you reach a point in case protectiveness when it feels like overkill?

Bryan Hynecek, VP of Design, Speck: It’s not overkill, but there is a real trade-off. You reach a point where you are compromising the daily performance and usability of your device.

Barry Sween, Design Director, Belkin: Well, there is “perception of protection” and there is “actual protection.” Some of our cases actually protect the iPhone for typical real-world experience as well, or better, than bulky so-called “protective” cases in the market today without intruding on a good user experience. That’s where we strive to go. There may be a perception that bulkier is better. But we believe that bulky things are awkward to live with. A case for a slim, elegant device should not make the device chunky and inelegant. We strive to balance protectiveness with functionality in everyday situations; so even a case expressly designed for protection should still be as slim and elegant as possible.


Chris Robinette, Senior VP of Product, Incase: We work to create protective solutions that highlight rather than detract from the form of a device. Even with our SYSTM line, which shows our most protective options, we’ve taken care to upgrade protection by using innovative materials, like Poron XRD foam, to provide added protection with minimal bulk. Clearly, there is a market for hyper-protective products, but we’ll work to meet this market need in our own way.

Steve Bau, Managing Director, SwitchEasy: As our communication devices are getting thinner and more fragile, we believe that there is a greater need of better protection on these products. But our parents always taught us that too much of anything is not good. So we like to create scenarios that help us decide what the level of protectiveness should be applied. This way, we eliminate the use of unneeded design features, the misuse of recourses and excessive use of materials. We believe this results in hitting our targets without overkill.

Jay Jun, Marketing Associate, Spigen: At Spigen, we focus on keeping our cases simple, smart, and sleek. After continuous testing, we discovered a plateau in efficiency when balancing protection and bulk. Although some people might need destruction-proof cases, a majority of consumers do not require that level of protection. We focus on offering protection from everyday accidents because not everyone works at a construction site.

iLounge: What is your most important priority when designing a case?

Speck: During the design process and when we are developing concepts to solve a specific problem, we try hard to poke holes in it. We ask ourselves, if we were another team looking at the same situation would we come up with the same solution? If the answer is yes, we scrap it, start over and keep going until we all agree on a totally unique and clever solution. Speck cases have an element of surprise in them for customers, something they wouldn’t think about or expect. The springy way the kickstand in the SmartFlex View retracts is a great example of this. It’s fun.

Brian Thomas, President and CEO, Otterbox: For OtterBox, it’s a combination of protection and functionality. All of our cases are designed to offer varying levels of protection while still allowing users to experience the device the way it was intended. We have an in-house team of engineers that design all of our cases with these two elements top of mind.


SwitchEasy: Our most important focus for designing cases is to make sure that all the features of the device are fully operational and accessible after our product is installed onto it. The big challenge here is to make sure that all buttons are reachable and that there is no loss in tactile feel of the buttons. Out of experience, we can say that this is a lot harder than it seems and therefore you see many others fail at this. However for us at SwitchEasy, a case will only be introduced to the market when it complies to these conditions: offering protection and the same user experience as if nothing was put on.

Belkin: Smartphones, like the iPhone, have become such an integral part of our daily life experience that people have developed an incredibly personal relationship with it. Designing a great case means to honor that intimate relationship and to find a true balance of function and fashion, as well as being true to the incredible detail that Apple puts into the design of their products. Our primary aim is to create a line of products that will fit the needs of the various users. So, once we have established the intended user, we first need to understand their needs, and predict what they would enjoy living with. Then we go to work to create a case that best works for them. We will look at creating the appropriate level of protection and tune the aesthetic to fit their lifestyles. Because there are so many personalities in the world we offer a wide range of cases to match them with colors and patterns that appeal to a wide variety of tastes.

Incase: We are always trying to achieve a balance between form and function. At its essence, a case is inherently designed to protect the device it’s attached to, so naturally protection is key. What is unique about Incase is that we bring a very specific design aesthetic that places emphasis on simplicity, intuitive functionality and innovation, which is reflected across the board in our product offering.

Coming tomorrow, part two looks at the role Apple design specifications play in case designs, and part three looks at the decline of the iPod, as well as design innovation, and the future.

Alleged Google Now for iOS video leaks on YouTube, is promptly pulled

Alleged Google Now for iOS video leaks on YouTube, is promptly pulled

iOS fans jealous of Jelly Bean's creepy Google Now might finally have something to get excited about. An October update to the Google Search app finally delivered anupdated voice recognition experience to Apple's platform, but sadly alerts and contextual cards of data were nowhere to be seen. Of course, Mountain View has never been one to keep its wares to a single platform, and many expect that it's only a matter of time before Now makes its proper debut on iOS. Those that like to dip their toes in both ponds might be interested in a video brought to our attention by a tipster earlier today.

The clip, embedded after the break, is allegedly a low resolution version of a promotional video for Google Now on iPhone and iPad. The video has since been pulled from YouTube and appears to feature the same voice actress as the original Now announcement (which you'll also find after the break for comparison). Supposedly, Now will be accessible in an upcoming iOS app update simply by swiping up from the main screen. Of course, there's always the chance that is an impressive fake or even a canceled project that's only being leaked now. We've reached out to Google for comment, but even if the search giant remains silent, we're confident the truth will be known soon enough.

[Thanks, Jason]

Mobile Accessibility Landscape Update

Mobile Accessibility Landscape Update
Mobile Accessibility Landscape Update Accessible mobile devices increase the ability of people with disabilities to communicate, shop, learn, integrate, and ...
update to the mobile accessibility landscape

Cell phone and other mobile device usage is growing at a fast pace. The way we use mobile devices continues to evolve and increase. Use of mobile retail, financial and other apps continues to increase and open more opportunities to how we use mobile devices in everyday life. The benefits to people with disabilities are potentially more dramatic than those for the general population. Accessible mobile devices increase the ability of people with disabilities to communicate, shop, learn, integrate, and interact with society. Common mobile devices can replace expensive specialized devices that many people with disabilities rely on such as augmentative and alternative communication devices, way finding, and reading. The trend toward mobile use can be seen among the disability community via the most recent WebAim Screen Reader Survey 4 reported that 71.8 percent of respondents indicated that they use a screen reader on a mobile device, a 600 percent increase in mobile screen reader usage since the first survey was conducted just 17 months ago. This also suggests a large shift away from “feature phones” to “smart phones”.

Feature phones are closed devices which run software written by the manufacturer and embedded into the firmware of the phone. They generally do not allow for the development, installation or launching of third-party applications. As with all closed devices, any existing accessibility support is built into the device by the manufacturer or provided by attaching a peripheral device. The number of feature phones on the market which include accessibility features is very small, and none of the feature phones on the market today provide access to all functions of the device for all users. In contrast, smartphones run operating systems which may or may not be developed by the phone manufacturer and allow for the development, installation and launching of third-party applications. This approach has created numerous new opportunities for people with disabilities by allowing them to gain access to a greater number of the device’s features (all features in some instances) and also to a large number of third-party applications. The availability and demand for included and third-party assistive technologies on many smartphones today has allowed users with disabilities to make the shift to smartphone devices along with their peers. As the trend is clearly moving in the direction of smartphones, this post will focus on the accessibility of the major smartphone and mobile platforms.

iPhone Accessibility

The iPhone from Apple revolutionized the cell phone industry and continues to be a market leader today. The iPhone was one of the first to exclusively use a touch screen interface as its sole method of input and control. As such, initial iPhone models posed accessibility challenges for many constituents with disabilities. Apple has listened to the demand from the disability community and, with the release of the iPhone 3GS in 2009, the Voiceover screen reader which is built into the Mac desktop platform was introduced into the iPhone. Apple devised a unique set of gestures to allow a user to nonvisually control the iPhone using Voiceover. As a user’s finger moves over or taps an element, the name of the element is spoken. Double tapping on the screen activates the element which has focus. A user can flick their finger from the left side of the screen to the right side to navigate through the elements in sequence without having to know the element’s onscreen location, and a right-to-left flick gesture sequentially navigates in reverse order. Over the past four years Apple has introduced a number of features to better improve the accessibility of the iPhone. Some of the other available features on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad include:

Alternative input and output modalities available through the support of a number of Bluetooth keyboards and refreshable Braille Displays
The assistive technology Zoom, which enlarges the entire screen up to 500 percent. This feature works across all apps and is similar but different from the pinch zoom features that can be found in some apps such as browsers.
AssistiveTouch, which allows for gesture creation and support for adaptive input devices. This feature allows one touch point access to gestures that might normally require multiple touch points. This feature allows users who may be using a head pointer or mouth stick to operate iOS devices and apps. iOS devices have capacitance based screens – thus, special styli available for a nominal price are needed for alternative touch input.
Invert colors, which inverts the colors on the screen — dark colors become light and light colors become dark. This feature is often used by people with low vision to create a high contrast type view with colors that may be less harsh.
Siri introduced with the iPhone 4s which allows the user to control many features of the device and retrieve information using speech recognition
Hearing aid and TTY compatibility, support for open and closed captioning within iTunes and customizable vibratory alerts for users who are deaf or hard of hearing
For a review of the Apple iPad tablet which runs on the same platform that powers the iPhone, see iPad Accessibility – My Perspective. The introduction of these features and improved accessibility over time demonstrates Apple’s continued commitment to universal access for all. This commitment is further demonstrated by a Siri promotional video which includes a blind iPhone user and a video shown at Apple’s developer conference featuring several iPhone users with disabilities. Apple’s commitment to universal design and the level of accessibility built directly into the iPhone has made it increasingly popular among users with disabilities. As an example, WebAim reported in its Screen Reader Survey 4 results that Apple accounts for 58.5 percent of primary mobile screen reader users, up from 32.6 percent in just 17 months and notably higher than usage for the standard population. Another reason that the iPhone has gained popularity is that many iPhone apps are highly accessible using the Voiceover screen reader without extra effort on the part of the developer as demonstrated by this iPhone app directory.

Apple continues to improve the accessibility of the iPhone and further demonstrate its commitment to all users. New accessibility features in version 6 of iOS include:

Guided access, which allows the user to focus on the task at hand by restricting touch input to one app or area of the screen (for more on Guided Access watch this video demonstration of Guided Access
Voiceover support for the redesigned Maps app that will be included with the new iOS release
The ability to run Voiceover concurrently with Zoom and AssistiveTouch (not possible with versions before 6)
Support for upcoming third-party Bluetooth 4.0 hearing aids designed for the iPhone 4s
iOS related accessibility best practices for app development can be found at webaccessibility.com.

Android Accessibility

Android is an open-source operating system for mobile phones created by Google. Android phones currently dominate the standard cell phone market but receive significantly lower usage among some disability user groups. For example, the WebAIM Screen Reader Survey 4 results indicated that only 7.9 percent of respondents use Android as their primary mobile platform. While Google makes phones which run the Android OS such as the Galaxy Nexus, phones which run Android are available from other manufacturers, giving the consumer choice over which Android-powered phone they wish to use. One down side to this approach is that many of the Android-powered phones cannot run the latest version of the Android OS, Android 4.2.1 (also called Jelly bean). One benefit to using the Galaxy Nexus line of phones and tablets such as the Nexus 7 is that they are updated directly by Google whenever new versions of the operating system (OS) are available and accessibility is included by default.

The open source philosophy behind Android has led to the adoption of a more “wild west” model of accessibility where developers are expected to create accessibility solutions rather than having them provided centrally. Still, Google did introduce some accessibility features into previous version starting with Android 1.6, including:

TalkBack – an included service which speaks the results of actions, events and notifications
KickBack – a service which provides haptic (vibratory) feedback for different actions
SoundBack – a service which plays sounds for different actions
Since phone manufacturers have complete control over how Android is provided with their phone, some of these accessibility services have been removed from their Android distribution. If this occurs, users can still often download TalkBack, KickBack and SoundBack from the Android Play market. Manufacturers have also been known to replace default Android apps such as the home screen with their own customized versions. Even within Google’s core Android distribution, Android accessibility solutions often had to be pieced together. For example, the home screen which shipped with Android 2.1 was not compatible with TalkBack, requiring users to replace it with an alternate interface called the eyes-free shell.

Google has continued to improve the accessibility of Android with subsequent versions. For example, in earlier versions of the platform TalkBack only announced components which gained focus via a keyboard or four-way directional pad, limiting its use to phones possessing these functions. Google solved this problem by introducing a “virtual keyboard” into a subsequent version which emulated keyboard entry on phones which only possessed a touch screen. The latest version of the Android platform 4.2.1 contains accessibility improvements such as Explore by Touch which allows a user to touch their screen and hear the name of an object under their finger, and additional accessibility options to modify the font size and sound settings of the phone. The current version also provides a gesture to nonvisually activate TalkBack and Explore by Touch during initial phone setup which previously could only be enabled via the Accessibility Settings menu. Increased support for the default browser including its accessibility when embedded in app’s were also included via an accessibility option. In addition, additional gestures were introduced including a gesture to read the entire screen, move back a screen, and activate the home screen. However, the Android platform still does not include an invert colors accessibility option. While version 4.0 of the Android platform did include the Explore by Touch feature it was not truly usable by a person who is blind until version Android 4.1. With the combined features for default and embedded browser support in Android 4.2 the Android platform finally contains the required elements for independent use by people who are blind or visually impaired.

The open architecture design of the Android platform allows for the easy development of third-party assistive technologies and accessibility solutions. As an example, alternatives to the TalkBack screen reader are available. One such alternative is an open-source screen reader called Spiel which provides a JavaScript-compatible scripting interface to control or limit the presentation of poorly-behaving widgets. Code Factory, manufacturers of screen reading software for several mobile platforms, makes a commercial screen access package for the Android platform called Mobile Accessibility. It consists of a screen reader which offers output through speech synthesis and supported refreshable Braille displays, and input via a keyboard and trackball, touch screen gestures, and speech recognition. The full product also comes with a suite of 12 apps to provide alternate access to the Android-included apps for features of the phone and the operating system, including an alternate web browser and music player. (The web browser and music player are also available as separate purchases independent of the screen reader and apps suite.) Several carriers make branded versions of Mobile Accessibility available to their customers with disabilities free of charge. In the United States, AT&T makes the suite of accessible apps available free to customers under the name Mobile Accessibility Lite. Sprint, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA make the apps available free to their customers under the name Wireless Accessibility.

In spite of the limitations and fragmentation of Android accessibility, the Android platform has a loyal user base with disabilities. This Android app directory as of this writing contains submissions for 253 apps which were reviewed for compatibility with Android screen access software.

Like Apple, Google continues to make accessibility improvements in Android as new versions of the platform are released. In 2012 Google released Android Jellybean (4.2) Additional enhancements included:

Speech recognition is now local to the device, no longer requiring the device to be connected to the Internet in order to use it
Gesture support allowing for greater nonvisual control of the device using the touch screen
Native support for refreshable Bluetooth Braille displays
For more on accessibility developments and implementing accessibility in Android apps, check out this Android accessibility video presentation from Google I/O 2012. Android related app development best practices are also provided on webaccessibility.com.

Blackberry OS Accessibility

The Blackberry is a device manufactured by Blackberry (formerly Research in Motion (RIM)). Like the iPhone, Blackberry exclusively makes the hardware which is powered by the Blackberry operating system (Blackberry OS). The Blackberry was one of the first convergent devices on the market to offer a phone with access to corporate E-mail, web browsing functionality and connectivity to corporate networks. Blackberry devices receive wide popularity among the government and corporate industries because of their ability to meet organizational security requirements and interface with internal networks.

Many Blackberry devices provide features to support users with disabilities. The accessibility support however has not consistently been brought to new versions of the phone and to the Playbook tablet. Some available features include

hearing aid compatibility
support for captioned multimedia content
compatibility with TTY and TDD terminals
customizable vibratory alerts
single-handed operation
inverted color contrast support
customizable fonts
browser zoom
In addition, Blackberry recently released the Blackberry screen reader that formerly was Oratio as a free, downloadable assistive technology for the Blackberry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. It provides nonvisual access to core applications such as the phone, E-mail, calendar and text messaging.

Recently Blackberry announce version 10 of its operating system and included mention of several accessibility features that will be provided. These features include a magnification option, font size adjustment, and TTY support, however, no screen reader support for Blackberry OS version 10 is provided. Little information was also provided on accessibility applications programming interface (API) information for version 10 of the OS.

Windows 8 Surface RT Accessibility

Windows Phone 8 introduces some new accessibility features. Previously Windows Phone 7 did not provide accessibility support for third party assistive technology. This was a step back from the prior version of Windows Mobile which allowed third party assistive technologies such as the Mobile Speak products from Code Factory. Windows 8 phone includes support for screen magnification, high contrast, and large fonts. Currently, there is no support for screen readers and no screen reader API available to attract third party screen reader creation.

Windows 8 Surface RT tablets provide accessibility features that are also found in Windows 8. Surface RT is a touchscreen tablet that work exclusively with apps from the Windows store — but otherwise functions just like Windows 8. These features include the Narrator screen reader in addition to the magnification, high contrast, and similar large font features found in Windows Phone 8. Touch support is provided in addition to keyboard based support for the Narrator screen reader. Additionally, support for the web browser and many included apps is provided with Narrator — this is a great improvement from the support Narrator provided on older versions of desktop operating systems such as Windows 7.

Additionally, Windows 8 Surface RT provides many of the other accessibility features found in Windows 8 such as Speech Recognition, various forms of input found on other mobile tablets like on-screen keyboards, blue tooth support, however, braille support is not provided by Narrator. Because the Surface RT only works with apps from the Windows store it is not possible to install third party assistive technologies on it — unless they meet the requirements for the Windows Store. The Windows Surface Pro however allows for the installation of third party applications like assistive technologies that were designed for Windows 7 and higher.

Making Accessible Mobile Content and Interfaces

Many fundamental accessibility best practices will apply to mobile interfaces and content. Text and images must meet relevant requirements for sufficient color contrast, screens must be laid out in an order that permits intuitive sequential navigation, controls must respond to multiple modalities of input, and components must communicate correct information about the name, state, role and value of each component. Visit the best practices library at webaccessibility.com for iOS and Android development best practices.

This entry was posted by Jonathan Avila on February 11th, 2013 and is filed under SSB BART Group. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How to enable Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad

How to enable Speak Selection on iPhone 

and iPad

There are lots of accessibility options available in iOS that a lot of people overlook. One of those is Speak Selection which adds the ability for your iPhone or iPad to read back text to you. Opposed to voice over functionality which speaks everything you tap, Speak Selection can be activated but is only triggered when you choose to activate it.

Here's how to set it up and use it.

• How to enable Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad
• How to use Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad

How to enable Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Now tap on General.
3. Scroll down and towards the bottom, tap on Accessibility.
4. Tap on the Speak Selection option and turn it to On.
5. You can further customize the speed at which your iPhone or iPad reads the text and the dialect it uses. Once you're done, just tap the Home button to return to the Home screen.

How to use Speak Selection on iPhone and iPad

1. Launch the app containing the text you'd like your iPhone or iPad to speak back to you.
2. Hold your finger down on the text you'd like it to read to pull up the copy/paste menu.
3. Highlight the text and in the text edit popup, select Speak.
4. Your iPhone or iPad will now speak the text back to you.

Doctor Who iPhone app WhoNews donates all profits to Compaid for a week

Doctor Who iPhone app WhoNews donates all profits to Compaid for a week

Paul Gee has announced that from Saturday March 16th to 23rd all profits from the Doctor Who iPhone news app WhoNews with be donated to Compaid, the leading charity providing services to disabled people in the South East of England. WhoNews is a multi platform app which collates the latest news on Doctor Who from over 140 of the top Doctor Who websites, blogs, podcasts and artists every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day.

Paul Gee said, "Following last year's successful fund raising for charity, I've decided to run the event again and have chosen Compaid, the leading charity providing services to disabled people in the South East of England. For over 25 years Compaid have been supporting thousands of people to achieve their aspirations and get more out of life. Through computer skills training, accessible transport, and work experience opportunities, Compaid is providing disabled people with a springboard to realise their talents and abilities.

I am donating 100% of the profits from the sale of WhoNews for a week from the 16th to 23rd March, to coincide with the Big Blue Box 2, the popular one day convention (16th March) for fans of Doctor Who which rematerialises at Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, Kent to mark the 50th anniversary of everyone's favourite time traveller. All proceeds from the event will go to Compaid.

The event will include panel discussions with audience Q&As, a live debate, charity auction, special screenings, signings and stalls."

Stephen Elsden, Chief Executive of Compaid, said,"Compaid is delighted to be receiving this support from Paul Gee and his WhoNews app. The money raised from this campaign will help to train many disabled people in computer skills, not least how to access apps and tablet technology to improve their daily lives."

For more details on Compaid and for details of the Big Blue Box 2 convention visit http://www.compaid.org.uk/get-involved/big-blue-box-2/

Just by purchasing WhoNews on an iPhone, iPad or iPod, Android or BlackBerry during the week you will be supporting Compaid, so everybody can make a donation and keep in touch with the latest news on Doctor Who in return.

WhoNews keeps the fans up to speed with latest news on the Doctor's adventures in time and space. With WhoNews the user is guaranteed to know the latest news and gossip on the world's oldest science fiction TV series. WhoNews checks the top news sites including Kasterborous (http://www.kasterborous.com) and the hugely popular DT Forum for David Tennant fan news (http://www.dt-forum.com) every 15 minutes for new articles.

Features for version 2.10 on iPhone/iPad include:
* One universal app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch buy once and use on all your devices
* Full iPad mode - WhoNews takes advantage of the full screen of the iPad for an enhanced browsing experience
* Most recent news view - time ordered news from over 120 websites including news, blogs, podcasts and special content
* Push notifications of the latest news
* Off-line browsing - read the latest news at your leisure
* Super fast search of all news articles by using a keyword or phrase
* News is downloaded in bulk from over 140 sites. A resilient server compiles the latest news every 15 minutes ready to be downloaded by WhoNews
* Bookmark your favourite news for rapid access
* Email and post articles or DVDs, Games, Books, CDs on Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, Delicious, Tumbler, Pinboard, Read It Later
* Merchandise Search, the cheapest Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures DVD/Blu ray prices in the UK & US from all your favourite internet stores
* Search for Doctor Who/Torchwood/SJA Games, Books and CDs using the built-in price comparison engine. Order by release date, search on actor
* Over 30 UK retailers compared including Amazon, Tesco, Zavvi, The Hut, SendIt, LoveFilm, Asda, Woolworths, HMV, Play, BBC Shop, DVD Source, MovieMail, Game, Waterstones, Book Depository, Game Station, Foyles plus many more
* US price comparison from Amazon US, Betam Online, Deep Discount, DVD Magnet, CD Universe, Music Import, DVD Empire and Yes Asia
* Use the in-built browser to visit a news site or buy a DVD, Games, CDs and Books direct

WhoNews 2.10 is only $1.99 (USD) or 1.49(GBP) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the News categories. For more information visit their website, or follow on twitter @Who_News.

All about Accessibility: Accessibility features of iPad / iPhone and iPod

All about Accessibility: Accessibility features of iPad / iPhone and iPod

Accessibility is an important issue. One group of people that is especially affected by lack of accessibility is people with disabilities. It is important that people with disabilities (sensory or physical) can effectively use iPad or other iOS devices. iOS devices have important accessibility features to enable people with disabilities to use the device. In fact, iPad/iPhone/iPod are flexible enough to meet different user needs, preferences, and situations.

The accessibility settings for iOS devices can be found in the Settings app (Settings > General > Accessibility).

These settings include these settings:

Vision:

VoiceOver: Read the contents of the screen so that a person with visual impairment disability can understand and navigate. VoiceOver can read in 36 languages. You can also connect Braille via Bluetooth.

Zoom: will zoom / magnify the contents of the screen to enable people with vision impairment to see the screen.

Large Text: makes the text bigger in some built-in applications such as Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Messages and Notes.

White on Black: reverses the colors on the screen to create contrast.

Speak Selection: Speak Selection will read you texts out loud in websites, email, messages that you highlighted.

Speak Auto-text: This will type the spoken word and offer corrections on words that were not understood as clearly.

Hearing:

Mono Audio: You can route both right and left audio into both earbuds at the same time. This feature can be helpful to people with unilateral hearing loss.

Physical and Motor

Assistive Touch: Assistive touch lets you use your device if you are having difficulties touching the screen by creating custom gestures.

Triple-click home: Triple-click Home is an easy way to turn some Accessibility features on or off by quickly press the Home button three times.

Accessibility hardware for iPad, iPhone and iPod

 TecEar Music Link T-coil inductive ear loop: This offers people who suffer from hearing loss to have loud, clear audio without feedback or distraction background noise.

Soft-Touch Stylus : This tool lets you type, tap and scroll effortlessly on a finger-touch screen without worrying about scratching display on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Accessibility apps for iPad, iPhone and iPod

You can easily find variety of products in the App store. Here are just a few of them:

soundAMP R ($4.99 – iTunes). This app amplifies the world around you discreetly with iPhone and iPod touch to help improve hearing ability.

Sign 4 Me – A Signed English Translator ($9.99 – iTunes): This app teaches American Sign Language (ASL) in 3D.

Eye Glasses ($2.99 – iTunes): This app offers 2X, 4X, 6X or 8X magnification levels using your iOS device.

Lack of Accessibility in Apps

Although, iOS includes a number of accessibility features designed to make iPad, iPod or iPhone easier to use for people with disabilities, some apps may not comply with certain design / development principles to make them accessible, thus they may not be compatible with features built into iOS such as VoiceOver.