mastodon - Link to source

"Screen readers do not need to be saved by AI"

TetraLogical's @craigabbott has written a post on his own blog exploring why we shouldn’t expect screen readers to be augmented with AI to fix problems with bad content.

The real problem is producing inaccessible content from the start, such as misusing emojis, poor descriptions, or unclear writing.

craigabbott.co.uk/blog/screen-…

#Accessibility #ScreenReaders #InclusiveDesign


Screen readers do not need to be saved by AI

Why LLMs should not be integrated with screen readers
Craig Abbott (craigabbott.co.uk)
#Accessibility #screenreaders #inclusivedesign @Craig Abbott

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in reply to TetraLogical

mastodon - Link to source

Matt Campbell

As a former screen reader developer myself, I mostly agree with this article. But, for the specific exzample of the clapping hands emoji, I think it would be easy enough to add a special case to the screen reader -- not "AI", but just a good old hand-coded heuristic -- to filter the text and then play a clapping-hands sound effect synchronized with each of the words. I just wonder if there's broad consistency on whether the emoji comes before or after the word.

Matt Campbell reshared this.

in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Glyph

@matt I really feel like this insistence that people not add "fun" expressions to their language is never, ever going to be a viable strategy for addressing accessibility more broadly. Gen alpha slackers attempting to use indecipherable emoji algospeak to impress their friends or evade algorithmic filters in their Instagram posts are not going to be persuaded to read a 216-page $30 book before they write anything.
@Matt Campbell
in reply to Glyph

mastodon - Link to source

Craig Abbott

@glyph @matt you’re right, people aren’t going to randomly just pick up a book and read about it. But, I think education is a key part to all of this. I just think it needs to be taught it earlier, in things like key skills communications, and computer science curriculums. Accessibility doesn’t get taught during those formative years, where it would likely have the most impact. We’re trying to re-teach every new generation retrospectively.
@Matt Campbell @Glyph
in reply to Glyph

mastodon - Link to source

Glyph

@matt Like, Know Your Meme added a "clap emoji" entry 9 years ago. Why are we carrying water for NV Access for failing to implement anything to detect that pattern for nearly a decade? Does *Apple* not have the resources to code the ability for VoiceOver to interpret the 10 or so most popular unicode & emoji idioms at the rate of one per year? Saying we need to train kids to avoid fun rather than demand more from these companies seems backwards.
@Matt Campbell
in reply to Glyph

mastodon - Link to source

Matt Campbell

@glyph You're definitely right about Apple. I'm much more sympathetic toward NV Access, because they're a tiny non-profit working on an open-source project. And if I remember correctly, NVDA only gained an internal TTS API rich enough to support sound effects synchronized to individual words in like 2019 or 2020. (I had written that feature in 2003, for the purpose of indicating links with a tone, but I can understand having different priorities.)

@craigabbott @TetraLogical

@Glyph @Craig Abbott @TetraLogical
in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Matt Campbell

@glyph The company that I _really_ think we shouldn't carry any water for is Vispero, the current owner of JAWS. Clearly at this point the company is mainly trying to squeeze more money out of what IMO can justifiably be described as the WinZip of screen readers. I make that comparison deliberately; WinZip was at one point owned by the same private equity group that invested in Vispero. And both products now have high-quality free counterparts.

@craigabbott @TetraLogical

@Glyph @Craig Abbott @TetraLogical
in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Matt Campbell

@glyph To clarify, when I said "I wrote that feature in 2003", I meant I implemented sound effects synchronized with TTS _in my company's own product_. And I was still entirely new to developing a screen reader, or more precisely, a talking web browser, back then. I was also quite new to _using_ a GUi screen reader, so I brought my own ideas about how they should work. Maybe the current screen readers are getting long in the tooth and it's time for a new generation.
@Glyph
in reply to Glyph

mastodon - Link to source

Glyph

@matt I am just frustrated with the way that a lot of the way accessibility breaks through as a topic into broader conversations is "look at this common mode of communication. look at this hilarious failure mode that a screen reader has when it's used. now that you know that, everyone stop doing it". It's practically a meme template at this point. I'm sure that you've done tons of other great stuff on the subject that I've never seen because it didn't break through.
@Matt Campbell
in reply to Glyph

mastodon - Link to source

Glyph

@matt To keep things on the topic of your actual words, I do disagree with the sentence from your article: "The responsibility for accessibility lies with the person creating the content". This is individualizing a systemic problem. It's applying scaling leverage at the most inefficient point. Fix ~100 screen readers or train a billion or so sighted people? One of Those numbers is much smaller than the other.
@Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Waiting until THIS week to patch all the potholes that have existed since the March/April thaw!

Montréal ‘patches’ potholes ahead of weekend marathon... just to make sure people don't break legs and sue the city, I guess, eh.

ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/mo…

#polMTL #MTLpoli #montreal


Montreal ‘patches’ potholes ahead of weekend marathon

City spokesperson Philippe Sabourin says roads have already been patched to ensure the Marathon Beneva de Montréal unfolds safely.
Anastasia Dextrene (CTVNews)
#polmtl #montreal #mtlpoli
This entry was edited (4 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

This week's bumper In-Process is out! Featuring:
- NVDA 2025.3 Released
- Using Chromium with the mouse issue
- We've been to WBU AND Something Digital
- and using Single Letter Navigation with web apps.

All that and more at: nvaccess.org/post/in-process-1…

And don't forget to subscribe to receive future posts by email: nvaccess.org/newsletter

#NVDA #NVDAsr #News #Blog #Newsletter #NewVersion #Chrome #Chromium #WBU #WBU25 #SomethingDigital #Tips #FOSS

NV Access

NV Access Email Forms
nvaccess.org
#foss #blog #chromium #chrome #nvdasr #News #newsletter #nvda #tips #newversion #somethingdigital #wbu #wbu25

mastodon - Link to source

The movie "Hackers" was released 30 years ago today. It still stands as my favorite hacker movie. What is your favorite "Hackers" movie quote?

Here are some reasons why it remains my favorite:

- The hacker handles suggested by Joey were aliases of real hackers (at the time)
- The books passed around at the club were all real
- The soundtrack
- The Emanuel Goldstein reference (And many other references to hacker people)
- The Ginsberg quote is relevant to Hacker culture

mastodon - Link to source

Ken Thompson, 1984: Whenever you use other people's software, you should think about why you trust it.

npm, 2010: LEEEEROY JENKINNNNNSSSSSSS!

krebsonsecurity.com/2025/09/se…


Self-Replicating Worm Hits 180+ Software Packages

At least 187 code packages made available through the JavaScript repository NPM have been infected with a self-replicating worm that steals credentials from developers and publishes those secrets on GitHub, experts warn.
krebsonsecurity.com

mastodon - Link to source

Gajim 2.3.5 has been released! 🥳

This release brings reorganized account settings 🔧, a brand new shortcuts manager ⌨️, more contact infos ℹ️, video previews 📺 , performance improvements 🚀, and many bugfixes.

Thank you for all your contributions ❤️ Let us know what you think!

Support Gajim's development: liberapay.com/Gajim

#gajim #xmpp #chat

gajim.org/posts/2025-09-11-gaj…

Gajim 2.3.5 main window

Gajim 2.3.5

What’s New Gajim 2.3 comes with a new design featuring Adwaita, a user interface library which provides building blocks for modern adaptive applications.
gajim.org
#xmpp #chat #gajim

Nicoco reshared this.

mastodon - Link to source
For those of you who like the nerdy Geekbench stuff, here's the Nucbox K11 (the GMKTec one) tested: 2467 Single-Core Score, 12499 multi. Not bad at all, an M4Pro would still beat it by 60-70% faster, but still, for X86 it's actually faster than my Intel CPU was.
browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1…

GMKtec NucBox K11 - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a GMKtec NucBox K11 with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor.
browser.geekbench.com
in reply to Jakub Steiner ⭐

friendica - Link to source

Schmaker

Ono to imho nebude špatný ani v tý světlý, jen to nebude tak výrazný. 420 je myšlený jako česká volačka? :)

Musim s @Archos zkusit domluvit nějakou sandbox instanci, kde bychom to zkusili nasadit a poladit, než to dáme na hlavní.

Šlo by udělat statický logo s "utíkajícím" efektem na písmenech a průhledným pozadím? Ideálně .webp (afaik animace umí, reálně si nejsem jistej :) )? :)

@Archos

mastodon - Link to source

A milé děti, takhle vypadá slovní salát… aneb když někdo píše o něčem, čemu vůbec ale vůbec nerozumí…

lupa.cz/clanky/cesi-jako-jedni…


Češi jako jedni z prvních na světě spustili komerční síť, kterou nejde odposlouchávat. Využívá částice světla

CETIN ve spolupráci s O2 rozjel jedno z prvních komerčních nasazení kvantové distribuce klíče. Může se objevit i v 5G jádře. Uvnitř: GALERIE.
Jan Sedlák (Internet Info, s.r.o.)

mastodon - Link to source

Firefox, I will tell you right now, as a blind person:

Please do not hold accessibility support behind a progressive rollout. You are locking certain people from using it based on effective RNG, and I don't approve.

If you release accessibility support, that's awesome - but please release it for everyone. Please. I beg of you.

firefox.com/en-US/firefox/143.…


Firefox 143.0, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes

Firefox
This entry was edited (4 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

I'm not an expert in infosec, but I do know a few things about cryptography, and I feel fairly confident in saying that this is misinformation.

I don't ascribe or suspect any ill-will, but I will caution that getting us to distrust tools that can help us to stay secure is a kind of propaganda that we can easily fall for. Partly because infosec is, as far as my lay understanding goes, is pretty fucking bleak!

jorts.horse/@AnarchoNinaWrites…

AnarchoNinaWrites (@AnarchoNinaWrites@jorts.horse)

I mean, whatever you think about "quantum computing" the fact is they are absolutely doing things in computing, right now, that are going to render all of your present encryption irrelevant.
jorts.horse
in reply to Cassandra is only carbon now

pleroma - Link to source

feld

I fully believe that you have written a math library which in theory would do amazing work on a Quantum Computer if one was ever invented that did everything the theory thinks it would be able to do.

Q: I have access to a trillion dollar IT budget. Which Quantum CPU should I buy to do my incredibly expensive math calculations on using your library? I don't care if it's an engineering sample and we have to sign NDAs. And which OS can I install on it?

This entry was edited (4 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source
Prodávám svojí #GTX1650, ale nejsem úplně zkušený prodejce :-) Co myslíte, má to takhle šanci? aukro.cz/asus-phoenix-geforce-… #prodej

ASUS Phoenix GeForce GTX 1650 4GB - top stav | Aukro

Výkonná, tichá a úsporná grafická karta ASUS PHOENIX GeForce GTX1650 4GB, ve výborném stavu, kompletní balení od výrobce, nic nechybí. Ventilátor je tichý, graf
aukro.cz
#gtx1650 #prodej

mastodon - Link to source

This is a helpful and frightening perspective on why Americans have such different views of who Charlie Kirk was. Screenshot from FB; original poster's name is in the screenshot but I'm not typing it because she might not want it searchable outside FB:

"One thing that has become really clear since yesterday is that we live in at least two different realities. Talking to a friend who only knew Charlie as a Christian motivational speaker because that's all that ever came across her feed. Showed me videos I've never seen before of him saying perfectly reasonable and empowering things.

"I showed her videos she'd never seen before of his racism, misogyny, homophobia, advocating for violence against specific groups of people. She was horrified by his remarks about Pelosi's husband's attacker being bailed out and celebrated for his violent act. She was horrified by a number of things that he said, but she had never seen or heard them before, the same as I had never seen or heard the generalized clips of him sounding like a perfectly nice loving man and father.

"Neither of us had a whole picture of this man. I mentioned he was a known white supremacist and she thought I was joking. She talked about him giving a speech about finding your purpose and doing good in the world and I thought she was joking.

"I saw why this friend was mourning the loss of a person she thought was a good person. My friend, bless her, saw why I feel the way I do about him. We understood each other better. In spite of a multi-billion dollar internet machine specifically focused on keeping us apart. Because we talked to each other with the desire to listen and to learn rather than the desire to change someone else's mind or to be 'right'.

"None of those motivational things he said change my opinion about him because they don't erase the negativity, the subtle calls for violence, the belittling and denigrating of other races religions genders etc. His negative and blaming comments about homeless people, the poor, and victims of domestic violence. His comments about rounding up people who didn't think like him and putting them in camps where their behavior could be corrected. That time he said empathy was a made-up word he didn't believe in. That other time he said the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. The time he said most people are afraid when they get on a plane and see that there's a black pilot. His anti-vaccination rhetoric and his active campaigning against people being allowed to wear masks for their own health. His open support of fascism and white supremacy. To me, all of those are fully unchristian sentiments. Those are undeniable and just one of them would be a deal-breaker for me. All of them together are a picture of a man who was polarizing, enraged a lot of people and rightly so, but even with all of that I would never wish upon him or especially his children the end that he got.

"Oh, and my friend had never heard, and God help me I don't know how she escaped the news, but she had never heard of the Minnesota legislators who were shot in June. The husband and wife and dog who were killed, one after throwing themselves over their child to protect the child. The other couple who somehow survived. Politically motivated attacks specifically because they were democrats. She learned about those shootings that happened months ago because I showed her Charlie Kirk's comments about them. The kidnapping plot against a female Midwestern Democratic governor. The assassination attempt against Pennsylvania's democratic governor. All things Charlie had plenty to say about while supporting the Second Amendment and bashing the Democratic party. She didn't know about any of it because we're all living in two different worlds and none of us have the whole story."

Screenshot. Text in body of post.

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mastodon - Link to source

As the US government sabotages its own climate web site (along with many other science-based or truth-based sites), a new site is the phoenix borne of its ashes. May it thrive. Please consider donating or otherwise supporting their efforts (e.g., by sharing notice of the site).

climate.us

#climate #ClimateDenial #resist #science #truth #media #journalism #ClimateData #ClimateReporting #propaganda #hope #politics #USPolitics #fascism #PostTruth

Here's another URL that might be worth sharing:

dw.com/en/fired-climate-scient…


Experts fired by Trump revive popular climate website

After cuts by US President Donald Trump forced the closure of the popular climate.gov website, experts have launched an independent successor. They say climate literacy is important in Trump's war against science.
Stuart Braun (Deutsche Welle)
#politics #propaganda #science #journalism #climate #media #fascism #uspolitics #truth #hope #resist #ClimateDenial #climatedata #climatereporting #postTruth

mastodon - Link to source

Hello my dear friends, please let me know how you are doing and reassure me about your health and wellbeing.

The situation here is really, really bad.
The Israeli army has ordered a full evacuation of Gaza. They dropped leaflets from planes telling people to move to the south, and they’re preparing for a large-scale ground invasion. It might actually have started now. At the same time, they’re bombing entire residential blocks — destroying entire neighborhoods.

#Gaza #FreePalestine #FreeGaza

Mohammed Shobair, 22 years old, from Gaza City.
Explosions in the distance on the road.
#Gaza #freepalestine #freegaza
in reply to Mohammed Shobair 🍉 from Gaza

mastodon - Link to source

Mohammed Shobair 🍉 from Gaza

Because of the fear and panic, people are rushing to the south in huge crowds. It’s absolute chaos.

As for me — I walked. I walked with my family on foot from northern Gaza all the way to the south. We couldn’t afford the transport costs; they’re extremely high. The roads were packed with people, and even though people were trying to evacuate, the army was still bombing areas along the way.

#Gaza #FreeGaza #FreePalestine #StopGenocide

#Gaza #freepalestine #StopGenocide #freegaza
in reply to Mohammed Shobair 🍉 from Gaza

mastodon - Link to source

Mohammed Shobair 🍉 from Gaza

It’s impossible to explain how heavy this all feels. But thank God, I’m okay now. I was sick and exhausted, but I’m slowly feeling better. My mother gave me an injection last night, and it did wonders. And we’ve saved ourselves from the bombings, for now. Just wanted to update you and thank you for caring.

#Gaza #FreeGaza #FreePalestine #StopGenocide

Please support me however you can. Follow, like, share. Protest. Boycott, divest, sanction. Donate.

➡️ chuffed.org/project/mohshbairg…

No shelter, no safety - Help Mohammed survive genocide in Gaza

My name is Thomas and I live in France and in the UK. I'm hosting Mohammed's campaign because Palestinians cannot host their own campaigns. If you've got any questions or if you'd like any proofs, I'm happy to provide you with these.
Chuffed
#Gaza #freepalestine #StopGenocide #freegaza
This entry was edited (4 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

🚨 Aseel ( @aseelfromgz), her family, and her cat Liza are in danger right now in Gaza as Israel’s genocide enters a new phase with a ground offensive targeting a million people.

She desperately needs donations to get to and seek shelter in the South.

I spoke to her today for Gaza Verified.

Listen to her tell you about her situation in her own words.

vimeo.com/1119168482

I cannot reach her at the moment on Signal. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts.

This is a direct link to her fundraiser: gofund.me/2dea0899

#Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified #fediAid #israel #genocide #StopIsrael #StopTheGenocide #FreePalestine


Gaza Verified interview: Aseel is in danger right now in North Gaza

Aseel, her family, and her cat Liza are in danger right now in Gaza as Israel’s genocide enters a new phase with a ground offensive targeting a million people. She…
Vimeo
#israel #palestine #genocide #Gaza #freepalestine #STOPtheGENOCIDE #gazaverified #fediaid #stopisrael @A S E E L

mastodon - Link to source

If anyone could help us get in some easy meals today that would be really helpful, we are in absolute agony.

paypal.me/diffractie
ko-fi.com/brynndraws/goal?g=32


Zaplaťte uživateli Tess Willows pomocí služby PayPal.Me

Přejděte na adresu paypal.me/Diffractie a zadejte částku. Protože jde o PayPal, je to jednoduché a bezpečné. Nemáte účet PayPal? Nevadí.
PayPal.Me

mastodon - Link to source

macOS Tahoe UI has a HUGE new feature for folks like me who have 24/7 Mac Minis running and access them remotely: you can now type the boot password remotely via SSH!

Power on the Mac, then SSH to it. A simple SSH server will handle your request. Typing the password there is equivalent to typing it on the keyboard. The connection then closes and the machine boots normally.

Combine this with "Start up automatically after a power failure" and you can ditch that KVM! #macadmins

#macadmins

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source

OFFS!

"Misconfigured platform used by DHS left national security information—including some related to the surveillance of Americans—accessible to thousands of people

"Now a data leak affecting DHS's intel arm has shed light not just on how DHS gathers/stores that sensitive info—incl about its surveillance of Americans—but on how it once left that data exposed to 1000s of govt, priv sector workers, even foreign natls who were never authorized to see it"

wired.com/story/a-dhs-data-hub…

mastodon - Link to source

New from 404 Media: the DOJ quietly deleted a study that showed domestic terrorists are most often right wing. Unclear why deleted, but comes after Kirk assassination. One of the study's co-authors declined to comment.

404media.co/doj-deletes-study-…


DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing

Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrosim is far-right was disappeared.
Emanuel Maiberg (404 Media)

mastodon - Link to source
🇩🇪👍Auch Estland wird der #Chatkontrolle nicht zustimmen.
👎Aber wie Deutschland am 14.10. abstimmt, ist offen. Es droht ein fauler Kompromiss zwischen CSU-Innenminister und SPD-Justizministerin.
💪Noch 28 Tage, um Druck zu machen! chatkontrolle.de
Eine Europakarte mit dem Titel „Help Stop #ChatControl!“ zeigt die Länder farblich nach der Haltung ihrer Regierung zur Chatkontrolle im Jahr 2025. Die Legende erklärt: Grün steht für „Dagegen/Neutral“, Blau für „Unentschieden/Unklar“ und Rot für „Dafür“. Folgende Länder sind dafür (rot): Bulgarien, Kroatien, Zypern, Dänemark, Frankreich, Ungarn, Irland, Italien, Lettland, Litauen, Malta, Portugal, Schweden und Spanien. Folgende Länder wollen nicht zustimmen (grün): Belgien, Estland, Finnland, Österreich, Luxemburg, Niederlande, Polen, Slowakei, Tschechien. Folgende Länder sind unentschieden/unklar (blau): Deutschland, Griechenland, Slowenien und Rumänien. Am unteren Rand steht der Aufruf: „Act now! www.chatcontrol.eu“.

Chatkontrolle

🇫🇷 Französisch: Traduction du dossier Chat Control 2.0 🇸🇪 Schwedisch: Chat Control 2.0🇳🇱 Niederländisch: Chatcontrole Inhalt der Seite: Die Abschaffung des Digitalen Briefgeheimnisses Hilf jetzt mit die Chatkontrolle zu stoppen…
Patrick Breyer
#Chatkontrolle
in reply to Patrick Breyer

mastodon - Link to source

Patrick Breyer

🇬🇧👍Estonia won't be approving #ChatControl either.
👎But Germany's vote on Oct. 14th is still up in the air, risk of a dangerous coalition compromise.
💪28 days left to increase the pressure on your government and defend digital privacy and security: chatcontrol.eu
A map of Europe titled "Help Stop #ChatControl!" shows countries color-coded by their government's stance on Chat Control in 2025. The legend indicates: green for "Not in favour," blue for "Undecided/Unclear," and red for "In favour." Countries in favour (red) are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Countries not in favour (green) are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia. Countries undecided or unclear (blue) are: Germany, Greece, Slovenia, Romania. The map includes the text "Is your government opposing it yet?" and a call to action at the bottom: "Act now! www.chatcontrol.eu".

Chat Control: The EU's CSAM scanner proposal

🇫🇷 French: Traduction du dossier Chat Control 2.0 🇸🇪 Swedish: Chat Control 2.0🇳🇱 Dutch: Chatcontrole The End of the Privacy of Digital Correspondence Take action to stop Chat Control now! The Chat Control 2.
Patrick Breyer
#chatcontrol
This entry was edited (4 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

Как в России ломали Интернет, по шагам.
Не все шаги упомянуты, конечно, но всё же.

youtu.be/KcfNoq2QiLA

#россия #интернет


Как Роскомнадзор ломает интернет для Путина. От VK до мессенджера MAX

Интернет в России прошёл путь от пространства абсолютной свободы до тотального контроля. За последние 10–15 лет шаг за шагом выстраивалась система цензуры. Б...
YouTube
#россия #интернет

mastodon - Link to source
If you are interested in helping out with PipeWire development the Rust based Helvum pipeline viewer is looking for a new maintainer. gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewir…
#linux #pipewire #opensource #rust

New maintainers needed (#137) · Issues · PipeWire / Helvum · GitLab

Unfortunately, I've mostly lost interest and motivation to work on Helvum, so the project has already been inactive for over a year. I am now marking...
GitLab
#linux #opensource #rust #pipewire

mastodon - Link to source

Do you use Speech History? Speech History in JAWS is a feature that lets you review what JAWS has recently spoken. If you miss something, you can quickly bring up a list of the last announcements and read them in a window.

To access Speech History:
Press INSERT + SPACE BAR, then press H on a desktop keyboard or CAPS LOCK + SPACE BAR on a laptop, then press H.

This will open a window showing up to the last 500 spoken messages.

Check out this training lesson: support.freedomscientific.com/…

Sharky's Shortcuts! Sharky pictured on right with speech bubble, text reads; Speech History: Press INSERT + SPACEBAR then press H on a desktop keyboard or CAPS LOCK + SPACEBAR then press H on a laptop keyboard.

5.5.1 Speech History

support.freedomscientific.com
⇧