Be My Eyes and Microsoft partnership, a good thing... Microsoft recruits accessibility app to make its AI more useful to blind and low-vision users engadget.com/ai/microsoft-recr…
I have no problem with the arrangement between Be My Eyes and Microsoft but I wonder if users have the choice of opting out of having their data used for this as they do with AIRA.
@mfeir I'm glad to hear that. However, I think that @bemyeyes should first have an Opt-in button in the app for those who may not have received the email, along with an Opt-out button. I'm not against the use of AI; I just feel that companies who wish to use our data in this way would make it easy for users to first opt in and later opt out, if they choose to do so.
@DavidGoldfield @bemyeyes I agree that it would have been better to do that and have users defaulted to opt out unless and until they chose to include themselves as I have. However, I understand that such a partnership is far more attractive to Microsoft with an opt in default. (1/2)
To some extent, blind people and companies trying to use AI to improve life for them will have to accept the privacy tradeoffs if these services are to be sustainable and affordable for the majority of blind people. If we can't afford to develop our own AI, we have to pay with something if we want to leverage AI developed by others. (2/2)
Summarizing the state of the last few months of #accessibility work, slowly but surely getting a full stack with no vision support across all layers from CLI shell to window management to cooperative clients to uncooperative clients.
Our reference desktop environment, Durden, rarely gets covered here these days. This is mostly due to the major features are since long in place and that part of the project is biding its time with…
Thanks for working on this. I remember now that you sent me a private message on Lobsters about AccessKit, and I'm sorry I didn't follow up on that. What are you hoping that AccessKit will let you do?
Also, I listened to some of the first audio demo. The gaps between words are stranger, and almost certainly not what most blind people who are accustomed to fast speech would want. Also, are the words spoken with higher pitch capitalized, or something else?
@matt I didn't find any documents for what would be 'beginner' friendly settings for initial pitch/wpm/punctuation controls, so I just took what I mostly been training using and slowed it down.
The default_eng profile used 180wpm, full punctuation, mid dynamic range, only left channel and higher pitch on capitals.
For the default profile, I suggest removing the gap between words, disabling the higher pitch on capitalized words, and reducing the punctuation level (in particular, no end-of-sentence punctuation).
@matt since the TTS engine is already active as that stage I'll probably define a few presets and let the picker just read a reference text with the corresponding settings.
I'm taking a much needed break from hearing 'wnd tit chromium' about 50 times an hour to poke at other parts (audio transcription and low-vision). The best write-up I've seen is w3.org/TR/low-vision-needs -- any other recommendations?
I definitely don't recommend "wnd tit" as a prefix for window titles. If it's literally pronounced like that, including the letter w, then that puts six syllables before the window title. Putting something long and static before the variable text isn't a good idea. You could make it say "Chromium window", or maybe play a sound effect concurrently with reading the window title.
@matt from my reading of accessKit code it would be in the sense of a platform where there's a dynamic check if arcan_shmif_primary(SEGID_ACCESSIBILITY)) gives you a context, and use that to either send per-item updates (MESSAGE events) in response to input events or the full tree wrapped in a file descriptor as BCHUNKSTATE events. The later would leave navigation up to WM, the former closer to what others would do.
What AccessKit would give you, assuming you don't want to implement the existing AT-SPI protocol based on D-Bus (I don't recommend that), is the schema for an accessibility tree, including incremental tree updates. AccessKit doesn't directly support sending direct TTS messages (assuming that's what you meant by MESSAGE events), though your platform adapter could do that; I guess that would amount to implementing a screen reader running inside the application.
I remember reading that you intended to implement support for the Wayland protocol. You may be interested in my prototype Wayland protocol extension for accessibility, code-named Newton, and the reference toolkit-side implementation as an AccessKit platform adapter. That adapter is here: github.com/AccessKit/accesskit… More on the project here: blogs.gnome.org/a11y/2024/06/1…
what is this? I've been using linux for about 5 years already, yet never encountered this. Is this emacs related? it feels like it. Are you making a custom interface on top of the linux kernel? I have no idea what I just listened to. Why are the beeps repeating continuously? do you use your arrow keys to literally move the mouse around, isn't that slow? you have your own window management protocol? can I open gtk apps in it and get similar feedback to what you have there? I'm completely stumped as to what this even is, but imo, it's very interesting. For how long has this whole stack been a thing? I feel like it's something built on top of emacs, as I said before, is it? why did you have to press meta multiple times, and what are the screenreader modifiers, aka, can there be more than one?
@esoteric_programmer How long it's been worked on? since early 2000s. How long it's been in public view? closer to ten years. It's not marketed as much as it is leaving behind a trail of crumbs.
Is it a custom interface on top if the linux kernel? Well anything above kernel level is fair game, though it also works on BSD kernels and, at least last I tested, OSX. It is about as 'different' architecturally as Android is - other IPC system, network protocol, Low level APIs, Mod-level APIs, several WMs..
The beeps are not continuous, they were mapped to the mouse cursor but binned to a timer instead of event driven as well, that triggered my tinnitus something fierce with a 1KHz mouse.
The meta modifier and a11y bindings being forced to be pressed repeatedly was to a. avoid accidental presses, b. cover for running nested (VM, inside another windowing system, ...) where a long press could get cancelled from keyrepeats not being correctly disabled or from hardware keys with contact bounce problems.
GTK applications would run through the arcan-wayland protocol bridge, or the Xarcan one (used in the clip with chromium) but those are so far just pixel soup so feedback comes from OCR and other sight to sound mapping.
I'm not sure if you can use rust, but if so, for now you can just make an at-spi viewer or however you called it there, the same way you'd do one for access kit, if nothing else, because access kit isn't implemented widely enough yet, and access kit translates to at-spi anyway. Here's the atspi crate we use as part of odilia, the same one access kit depends on. I dk how old the crates.io version is, so I'll give you the thing straight from the source
@esoteric_programmer that's why I was chatting with @matt as AccessKit is architecturally more sound (Rust interop issues aside) - AT-SPI is a no-go simply because D-Bus is blacklisted on absolutely everything here.
you know access kit is using dbus as well, no? transpiling to at-spi, or using the newton protocol, it does require some dbus stuff. Also, how could you understand anything from that chromium part via ocr? I got lost from that point, and the fact that the mouse beeps were hurting my ears didn't help either :p
@esoteric_programmer @matt not necessarily, that comes from the AT-SPI compatibility and Unix platform. I'd substitute in another platform for arcan-shmif and avoid that.
This was my first attempt at an aural only demo, and still no idea how to convey the haptic parts -- like moving the mouse around, combined with the wrist mounted piezo I use to feel when the cursor crosses horizontal/vertical edges.
I'm sighted (though this work has been blindfolded), so the audio profile used is what I learned to use with some notes from watching @zersiax 's twitch streams, yet as you hear, different enough from what others might be used to. That's also why I opted to not show any of the HRTF/positional audio or seeing-with-sound bits.
ahh, interesting, so you want to make your own platform for which accesskit builds an adaptor? I wonder, would that help the current situation with chromium and similar? whoe, you have that much support for esoteric devices like those? linux doesn't have them even now, not as advanced as your thing, awesome! Also, I know the name sounded familiar from somewhere, now I found it, this popped up in my articles list when I was researching something about wayland. Reading some of your building clients with arcan articles, especially the part where you apparently have to clone arcan and build your apps into its source tree somewhere to make them found by the thing, I came to the conclusion that you're using wayland in some very, very weird ways, dk if that's awesome or not. Anyway, this is the article I read back then, but as I had no context, I dismissed it because it sounded weird
A commonly held misbelief about one of the possibly negative consequences with migrating from X11 to Wayland is that the system as a whole will become more brittle due to the merger of the display …
🪵 Encima de una mesa tenemos dos palos de diferente longitud. Los vamos a medir con un instrumento que cada vez que lo usamos comete un error de medida aleatorio, de una cierta magnitud que llamaremos Sigma. El instrumento se equivocará más o se equivocará menos aleatoriamente cada vez que lo usemos (con un error diferente en cada caso), pero el error en la medición siempre será en torno a Sigma unidades. Eso sí, el instrumento está INSESGADO, es decir, el error es aleatorio pero centrado en el valor real; no tiene una desviación sistemática que ocurra siempre.
❗ Podría parecer que la mejor estrategia es medir cada palo individualmente… pero no. Gracias a una investigación desarrollada por Harold Hotelling en 1944 sabemos que hay una manera más eficiente de medir los dos palos sin tener que darle más vueltas de la cuenta y consiguiendo mayor nivel de precisión.
💡 El error de medida aparece en muchos instrumentos de todo tipo que utilizamos en nuestro día a día.
It sounds like an interesting idea, but a bit like the venerable comic book, silent cinema seems beyond me. There's an event in London for those who are interested, though. [Tactile silent cinema](groups.google.com/g/braillists…)
Covid did happen, but the RNIB seemingly haven't touched this sort of research since 2017. I wish they'd move on it. the UK used to lead the way, and now we're so not. NO push for apps to be accessible, no push for live streams to have a feed (that broadcast television already does), and no progress on portable access. [Audio description apps for people with sight loss | RNIB | RNIB](rnib.org.uk/living-with-sight-…)
Honestly, if the idea is to watch a film with no actual diegetic sound at all and read descriptions? I'd prefer a book. I hope i'm misunderstanding the idea. Obviously if you have some eyesight, or used to, or have an interest in the medium, you'll be more interested by default. It souns to me like an interesting idea for a research proposal but an utterly impractical waste of time and energy, especially given people's levels of Braille literacy and reading speed contrasted with the speed of film.
- "There is a significant amount of unaccounted for mass” - Hezbollah noticed the battery was draining faster than expected - Salesperson who conveyed the offer made a very inexpensive proposition for the pagers, and kept bringing the price down until he was pulled in
Table of contents What is MuseScore Studio?Download and installationAbout keyboard navigationFirst runCreating a scoreChoosing your instrumentsSecond pageEntering notesAccidentalsArrow keysSimple chordsTriplets and other irregular groupingCopy and pa…
@treefit Actually the “default” version is in-browser yeah!
Since it’s written in rust ive built the gui using egui, so it can support web+native where native def has better performance but shipping a website is just so much easier so thats the default
If you have worked 15 hours or more as an angel on #37C3 and checked the "Please send me emails" checkbox in your user settings in the angel system, you should receive a voucher on Tuesday next week (October 22nd).
There will also be community vouchers again and the open presale starts on November 12th.
Wir freuen uns, euch den Vorverkauf für den diesjährigen Chaos Communication Congress anzukündigen. Der Vorverkauf wird dieses Jahr etwas anders ablaufen als letztes Jahr:
Wie schon seit vielen Jahren muss unser Vorverkauf sicherstellen, dass der Con…
Join us for a book talk with legal scholar JAMES BOYLE, discussing his book THE LINE: AI and the Future of Personhood, in conversation with KATE DARLING of the MIT […]\n
Whether you need to save, find, or access your sensitive data across your devices, 1Password makes it seamless, simple, and secure.
We’ve heard your feedback and we’re excited to share new and updated 1Password features that you’ve been requesting! 🎁
Each of these enhancements helps streamline the many ways you use 1Password, making it easier than ever to manage your digital life. blog.1password.com/product-upd…
The latest 1Password update improves password manager security and features with simplified authentication, enhanced browser experience, easy autofill and more.
We're all back from the #LibreOffice Conference 2024, and will start uploading videos of the talks soon! In the meantime, here's a report of September activities in the QA and development projects: qa.blog.documentfoundation.org…
This is what Be My Eyes was foreshadowing at #NFB24. Microsoft recruits accessibility app to make its AI more useful to blind and low-vision users engadget.com/ai/microsoft-recr…
I decided to record the forest in autumn during one of my regular walks a couple of days ago. The weather was nice. A few birds, wind, the gravel under my feet. When I got home I recorded some piano, pads, bells, and put it all together.
It's wonderful. I'd love to play the real instrument they sampled. There's a few videos of it on YouTube. My favourite piano VIs are that and Alecia's Keys.
Zadní světlo s radarem na kole chcete. Garmin Varia RTL515 je teď v druhé nejlepší akci historie. Jedno z nejlepších zařízení od Garminu. m.mobilmania.zive.cz/clanky/ne…
Cyklistický radar Garmin Varia RTL515 teď prodává T.S.Bohemia jen za za 3591 Kč, když v košíku použijete slevový kód GARMIN-10. Jde o historicky druhou nejnižší cenu na českém trhu, v červenci jsme jej doporučovali, když stál 3499 Kč, ale
MiroTalk je výborná platforma pro týmovou spolupráci a komunikaci, ideální jako moderní alternativa ke službám, jako je TeamSpeak. Umožňuje snadné videohovory přímo z prohlížeče, bez potřeby instalovat další aplikace. hedgedoc.arch-linux.cz/be3PqVx…
🛡️ Máte rádi soukromí a #opensource? 👉 talk.oscloud.cz: Umožňuje snadné videohovory přímo z prohlížeče 👉 mxchat.cz: Založený na Matrixu pro bezpečnou, decentralizovanou komunikaci. 👉 bitwarden.archoslinux.cz Spolehlivý správce hesel 👉 cryptpad.arch-linux.cz/ Vaše soukromá kancelář v cloudu. Bezpečně vytvářejte a sdílejte dokumenty s důrazem na ochranu soukromí. 👉 privatebin.arch-linux.cz/ Sdílejte texty a dokumenty bezpečně a anonymně 🔐Věříme v soukromí a bezpečnost. #privace
@knezi Divný, já zatím neměl problém. Ono je toho více na Oscloud, už se to nevešlo do tootu. Dva roky používám i hedgedoc.arch-linux.cz/ Synchronizace pro Joplin poznámky, Nextcloud.... Možnost hostování webu, diskuzního fóra, email na vlastní doméně.
Proton Pass is an open source, end-to-end encrypted password manager app. Create and store passwords, email aliases, 2FA codes, and notes on all your devices
Yeah, Ableton Move does really sound cool, but unfortunately, I don’t think I will have the time to play with this. It’s way too cool and, I know, will require a lot of fun time! youtube.com/watch?v=0Ra1nhrt6v…
Ableton came down to show us their brand new hardware - Ableton Move - a four track standalone music system with essentially Ableton Note on board. Johannes ...
I haven’t had this much fun with music in a long time. If you ever can find the time, I think you will find yourself doing things you’re never would otherwise. Certainly was the case for me.
@BorrisInABox That’s exactly my concern. I already have to divide the time between work, composing, recording, playing guitar, etc. And I am not too successful there! :)
20 hudebních alb, které ovlivnily to, kým jste. Jedno album denně po dobu 20 dnů. Žádné vysvětlivky, žádné recenze, jen obaly alb. 10/20 #20albums20days
We talk sometimes about the TCA (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No_A…), especially in leadership, but have we considered the total cost of _men_ in leadership?
Between Rick Berman, Leonard Maizlish, Maurice Hurley, etc.
The latest 1Password update improves password manager security and features with simplified authentication, enhanced browser experience, easy autofill and more.
Newswire: Tek Talk of 10/21/24 at 8pm Eastern welcomes Don Olson and Zhi Huang of NLS to discuss the My Talking Books for smart speaker skill groups.io/g/tech-vi/message/79…
Discover the expertise of Sina Bahram, a renowned expert in inclusive design and blind accessibility. Learn how Sina's work promotes sustainability and equity.
David Goldfield
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