iOS 7 Accessibility Overview: What We Know Now

This year iOS accessibility did not get the prime-time attention that it did during last year's WWDC Keynote, but iOS 7 still includes many new accessibility features. When iOS 7 launches in the fall, users of all abilities will find beneficial features. iOS 7 is still in beta so Apple can always add or remove features before the final release to the public. Through the Apple Keynote and other sources a number of accessibility features have been detailed. These new features will improve on current accessibility features such as VoiceOver, Guided Access, Speech Selection, Assistive Touch, and Zoom. This post will be updated as new information becomes available on iOS 7 accessibility.

Click read more to learn about iOS 7 accessibility.

Customize Captioning

iOS 7 will also allow users customization the font and size of subtitles. Currently the subtitles are small and can be hard to read particularly on the iPhone and iPod touch. In iOS 7 the font, size, and color of subtitles can be changed.

Use Camera to Redeem iTunes Gift Card

One of the coolest features for the blind and visually impaired in iOS 7 is the ability to redeem iTunes gift cards using the devices camera. This will allow users who cannot read the small codes printed on the back of iTunes gift cards to redeem their gift cards easily without assistance. This feature originally debut on iTunes 11 on the Mac.

Siri Improvements

Along with updated Siri functionality Apple has added multiple high quality text-to-speech voices. The voices are both male and female and sound much better than the previous Siri voice. It is not clear is these new voices will be available for VoiceOver and Speak Selection or exclusive to Siri.

Switch Control

According to AppAdvice iOS 7 beta 2 also includes Switch Control. Little is known about the feature but the name suggests that iOS 7 will allow a user to control their device through switches. These switches are designed for people with physical disabilities who may only be able to activate one or two large switches. A separate post on MacRumors say that iOS 7 will allow users to control their device with head movements. From the screenshot it appears that head movement could be part of Switch Control and be used to activate a switch but it is unclear at this time. Below is a video of Switch Control.

New APIs to Help Developers Build More Accessible Apps

Last year in iOS 6 Apple included Guided Access which could put the device in a single app mode. Guided Access was targeted for users with autism. This year iOS 7 will add a Guided Access API for developers. This feature will allow developers to build apps that integrate deeply with Guided Access to give users more control of Guided Access.

iOS 7 is also reported to include new APIs to allow developers to detect blinking and smiling which could help disabled users control their device. It has also been reported on 9to5mac that Apple will include a text-to-speech API which would allow developers to easily integrate text-to-speech into their app.

iOS 7 is looking like a great release for all iOS users including users with disabilities. Apple is likely to change feature until iOS 7 is released to the public in the fall.

Emergent Cloud Computing Business Models

The last year I wrote quite a few posts on the business models around SaaS and cloud computing including SaaS 2.0 , disruptive early stage cloud computing start-ups , and branding on the cloud . This year people have started asking me – well, we have seen PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS but what do you think are some of the emergent cloud computing business models that are likely to go mainstream in coming years. I spent some time thinking about it and here they are: Computing arbitrage: I have seen quite a few impressive business models around broadband bandwidth arbitrage where companies such as broadband.com buys bandwidth at Costco-style wholesale rate and resells it to the companies to meet their specific needs. PeekFon solved the problem of expensive roaming for the consumers in Eurpoe by buying data bandwidth in bulk and slice-it-and-dice-it to sell it to the customers. They could negotiate with the operators to buy data bandwidth in bulk because they made a conscious decision not to st...

Reveiw: Celluon Epic Laser Keyboard

The Celluon Epic is a Bluetooth laser keyboard. The compact device projects a QWERTY keyboard onto most flat surfaces. (Glass tabletops being the exception) You can connect the Epic to vertically any device that supports Bluetooth keyboards including devices running iOS , Android , Windows Phone, and Blackberry 10. On the back of the device there is a charging port and pairing button. Once you have the Epic paired with your device it acts the same as any other keyboard. For any keyboard the most important consideration is the typing experience that it provides. The virtual keyboard brightness is adjustable and is easy to see in most lighting conditions. Unfortunately the brightness does not automatically adjust based on ambient light. With each keystroke a beeping sound is played which can be turned down. The typing experience on the Epic is mediocre at best. Inadvertently activating the wrong key can make typing frustrating and tiring. Even if you are a touch typist you'll still ...

Rise Of Big Data On Cloud

Growing up as an engineer and as a programmer I was reminded every step along the way that resources—computing as well as memory—are scarce. The programs were designed on these constraints. Then the cloud revolution happened and we told people not to worry about scarce computing. We saw rise of MapReduce, Hadoop, and countless other NoSQL technology. Software was the new hardware. We owe it to all the software development, especially computing frameworks, that allowed developers to leverage the cloud—computational elasticity—without having to understand the complexity underneath it. What has changed in the last two to three years is a) the underlying file systems and computational frameworks have matured b) adoption of Big Data is driving the demand for scale out and responsive I/Os in the cloud. Three years back, I wrote a post, The Future Of The BI In Cloud where I had highlighted two challenges of using cloud as a natural platform for Big Data. The first one was to create a lar...

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