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Showing posts from June, 2012

Proloquo2Go 2.0 Released With Many New Features

Earlier this week Proloquo2Go 2.0 was released. To view the video on its original site click here.   Proloquo2Go is one of the best augmentative alternative communication ( AAC ) apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Some of the new features include the ability have multiple users, new text-to-speech voice and new page layout options To review a full review of Proloquo2Go click here. To download Proloquo2Go click here. Click read more below to view screenshots of Proloquo2Go.

Apple Releases New Podcasts App

Today, Apple released a new app called Podcasts. Click here to download the free app. The app has a number of improvements including the ability to subscribe  to Podcasts from your device. Podcasts are a great way for people with reading disabilities or visual impairments to keep current with the news. Click read more below to see screen shots of Podcasts in action.

iOS 6: Guided Access Accessibility Feature

Apple's upcoming iOS  6 software update for iPhone , iPad and iPod Touch will include a great accessibility feature called Guided Access . Guided Access will allow teachers and parents to control their children's device usage. For example, you will be able to lock app controls such as settings. This will ensure that children will not change settings or use distracting features. This feature will benefit people with autism. Guided Access will also allow teachers to give tests on the iPad or iPhone and ensure that the students will not be able to search for the answers or exit the test app. Guided Access will allow museums to use iPads as displays without worrying about people changing to another app. iOS  6 will be released in the fall. To learn more about iOS  6 click here.

With Yammer, Microsoft Begins Its Journey From Collaborative To Social

Confirming what we already knew, today Microsoft announced they are acquiring Yammer for $1.2 billion in cold cash. Here's a blog post by David Sacks , the CEO of Yammer. Microsoft doesn't report a revenue breakdown for their individual products but SharePoint is believed to be one of the fastest growing products with annual revenue of more than $1 billion. Regardless of how Microsoft markets and positions SharePoint, it has always been collaboration software and not really social software. Microsoft does seem to understand the challenges it faces in moving their portfolio of products to the cloud, including SharePoint. Microsoft also understands value of having end users on their side even though SharePoint is sold as enterprise software. Microsoft's challenges in transitioning to the cloud are similar to the ones faced by other on-premise enterprise software vendors. But, I really admire Microsoft's commitment by not giving up on any of these things. Skype's acq

Proxies Are As Useful As Real Data

Last year I ran a highly unscientific experiment. I would regularly put a DVD in an open mail bin in my office to mail it back to Netflix, every late Monday afternoon. I would also count the total number of Netflix DVDs put inside that bin by other people. Over a period of time I observed a continuous and consistent decline in the number of DVDs. I compared my results with the numbers released by Netflix. They matched. I'm not surprised. Even though this was an unscientific experiment on a very small sample size with a high degree of variables, it still gave me insights into the overall real data, that I otherwise had no access to. Proxies are as useful as real data. When Uber decides to launch a service in a new city or when they are assessing demand in an existing city they use crime data as surrogate to measure neighborhood activity . This measurement is a basic input in calculating the demand. There are many scenarios and applications where access to a real dataset is either pr