Zuzanka is an app made by Zatoichi, a Warsaw-based startup with one of my blind friends as a tester and head consultant. It reads out the expiry dates on products so it's perfect to run through everything in your fridge before Christmas to see whether your supplies are still safe to be consumed. Once you start it, it will beep continuously to tell you it is ready. Then, once something that it may consider to be a date is found in the camera, it will start beeping faster until it finally recognizes and speaks the date outloud. There is a handy tutorial added telling you where expiry dates are commonly found on different products. The app gives you a 24-hour trial period and a handful of subscription options which I believe should be affordable. There is a lifetime license option too capped at around 30 €.
The AI models for this app have been predominantly trained on products found in Polish supermarkets and I was successful using it on a pack of German Balsen chocolate biscuits so it is interesting to see whether this could work in other countries.
apps.apple.com/pl/app/zuzanka/…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Poland #Mobile #Startup #Shopping
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All good things come in threes and as it happens, one of the things I did yesterday was taking part in the Clubhouse meeting of the Czech blind community where 2022 was summed up and different good things that happened in terms of assistive technology were named.
One of the solutions somebody pointed out was the ability to operate an ATM using the banking app of Ceska Sporitelna, one of the leading Czech banks.
Developed with the Covid pandemic in mind, the feature happened to also benefit blind users. The way it works is, every ATM supporting the feature displays a QR code on its screen by default. The user scans it using the dedicated feature in the Sporitelna app, confirms whether the ATM number detected is the same as the one written on the machine itself and once the connection is made, all of the operation: defining the amount of money to be withdrawn, confirmation, authorization etc. is being handled using the app. The money comes out, the operation is successful and everyone is happy.
The number of the machine can be verified either through the list of nearby machines in the app or via an accessible spreadsheet that either the bank or the community have put together, I'm not sure.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #CzechRepublic #Banking
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Playing with Phanpy, a fancy new Mastodon web client by @cheeaun.
Sooo much better than the default web app, let's please all copy this layout as the new model for native apps 🙏
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It is a bit of shameless promo as yours truely is one of the hosts so I hope you don't mind me and we look forward to the feedback.
In our pilot, we go over the current campaigns and initiatives the EBU is involved in, we find out about the expectations and fears of blind people regarding Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and we finish off with our correspondent's section where we go to Italy to check what is new for blind people there.
If you have suggestions of topics that should be brought up in future episodes, feel free to share.
euroblind.org/publications-and…
#Accessibility #Blind #Podcast #Europe #CAVs #AutonomousVehicles #Disability #Inclusion
The EBU Podcasts | European Blind Union
Ebu has created podcasts on topics related to our communitywww.euroblind.org
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494175 - Make and controls keyboard navigable
RESOLVED (jteh) in Toolkit - Video/Audio Controls. Last updated 2021-10-06.bugzilla.mozilla.org
FYI, I just found this out and maybe it will interest others -
You can get "A Christmas Carol" narrated by LeVar Burton for free on Apple Books at the moment. 
He does an excellent job! 🎄
books.apple.com/us/audiobook/a…
#levarburton #christmas #audiobooks #startrek #readingrainbow
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NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2022.3.3 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. For more info & to download this patch release, please go to: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2022-3-…
And while I'm here - 2022.4 Beta 4 is also now available which includes the same fixes: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2022-4b…
NVDA 2022.3.3 Released
NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2022.3.3 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. Pleas…NV Access
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40% #Linux usage in 2022‽ Up from 25% in previous years.
Impressive stat for "primary OS" among developers in the #StackOverflow survey for 2022.
Sources in @jgarr's blog: justingarrison.com/blog/year-o…
🧵 Some elements of analysis in this thread.
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Cache the World: Turbo Charging Firefox #A11y Performance and Maintainability: jantrid.net/2022/12/22/Cache-t…
Cache the World: Turbo Charging Firefox Accessibility Performance and Maintainability | Jantrid
The Firefox accessibility engine is responsible for providing assistive technologies like screen readers with the information they need to access web page co...www.jantrid.net
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How we’re making Firefox accessible and delightful for everyone: blog.mozilla.org/en/products/f…
How we’re making Firefox accessible and delightful for everyone
This International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I want to share how Mozilla is working to make Firefox accessible for everyone.Kristina Bravo (The Mozilla Blog)
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Clickup
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👉️ mariushosting.com/how-to-insta…
How to Install Castopod on Your Synology NAS
Trustworthy expert guide to your Synology NAS.Marius Hosting
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Join the LibreOffice Team as a Developer focusing on RTL/CTL languages, full-time, remote (m/f/d) - The Document Foundation Blog
Note: this is one of two Developer positions currently available – the other focuses on accessibility The Document Foundation (TDF) is the non-profit entity behind the world’s leading free and open-source office suite, LibreOffice.Mike Saunders (The Document Foundation)
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Spent the last few days upgrading my game to #Bevy 0.9. Also put together "official" releases of a few of my custom plugins:
- bevy_tts: Easily add text-to-speech. Works just about everywhere, though mobile testing has been a bit lacking.
- bevy_synthizer: Binaural/spatial audio via Synthizer.
- bevy_full_throttle: Automatically enable CPU performance profiles so players on battery don't complain. Windows-only, help with other platforms welcome.
Planning on opening another account somewhere for game dev promotion soon, which is where most of this will go. But for now I thought I'd drop it here, particularly as all of these are MIT/Apache-licensed.
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This, for example, is "meowmeow".
And uh... if it sounds rough or like some things don't fit together, that's... because it's unfinished.
But it's been sitting here for years and I don't know what to do with it.
So why not.
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This is...absolutely gorgeous...I accidentally fell asleep listening to this on loop (Tusky automatically loops audio) and had a very nice nap. Having woken up again I am hearing more of the details I missed and very much admiring your work!
You just caused me to dedicate the rest of my day to going through my own musical compositions (many of which are unfinished/fragments) and try to properly catalog them and get more of them finished/written out/typeset! My stuff is a mess between multiple binders and my computer and it needs reorganization badly, not to mention my yet-to-be -realized desire to make myself a website to share my works with others. Thank you so, SO much for kicking me into action. 
As for what you posted, I found that what you already have almost loops as-is! Alternatively, I could imagine some contrasting section following this, that has other chords, maybe dominated by the dominant (i.e. the V chord, or here, B major) and progressions that lead to it. That could also make for a transition that can loop back to the beginning. My only other suggestion is that I feel the A-sharp (around 00:17 and similar instances) doesn't really fit.
Sidenote: I love the key of E major and this reminds me I have a whole neo-Baroque-style suite to finish up that's in this key.
The way it works is by detecting a Bluetooth beacon near a supported elevator using the dedicated app and calling the elevator almost as if we pressed the physical button. We can then choose the floor where we want to go and, once we board the elevator, notify the app about it and wait until we reach the destination. We will be notified about the arrival through a notification in the app. The developers have even thought of Siri support so you can set shortcuts for favourite elevator +floor combinations. The solution is presented within the following session of the Zeroconf conference in Vienna:
youtube.com/watch?v=_PcPk3BcUL…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #BuildEnvironment #Spain
ZeroCon22: Zero Project`s Shark Tank
Welcome to #ZeroCon22 - The Zero Project Conference 2022 on Accessibility!Five high-tech start-ups pitch to experienced investors, who question their potenti...YouTube
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Sistema acústico para invidentes modelo PASBLUE - TACSE
[:es]El modelo PASBLUE es una óptica LED de 200x200 mm que integra, junto a un peatón verde, un sistema acústico de ayuda a invidentes. Esta solución se puede instalar en cualquier modelo de semáforo al ir integrada en la misma óptica.TACSE
Have a recording of a ticket machine that speaks three languages: French, English and German. Upon pressing a dedicated button above the card read we activate the speech component. Everything that is displayed on screen is read back to us. On starting, the machine greets us in the language of our choice, tells us to insert our travel pass if we have one and reads the minimum and maximum amounts for card and cash payments. The upper part of the touchscreen acts as a navi pad with the left corner taking us to the previous option and the right one to the next. In the lower part, the left corner is "Cancel", while the right is "Confirm". This way we can choose our desired ticket, the preferred payment method and complete our transaction.
The recording is a montage of different clips from the machine indicating a chosen ticket in English, through its welcome message in French and German with the latter going through some ticket options, coming back to the full welcome message in English. The recording is peppered with occasional Polish from me as it was originally recorded for our Polish podcast. It was taken using the built-in mikes of my Motorola One smartphone. Now that I listen back, it sounds kinda condensed.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #France #Metz #PublicTransport #Audio #recording #FieldRecording
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Development guides for librsvg and at-spi2-core - viruta.org/development-guides.…
Guías de desarrollo para librsvg y at-spi2-core - viruta.org/development-guides-…
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@hpj Yeah, I'm finding it extremely useful!
I also get a kick out of seeing it auto-published from the CI. Still have scars from doing rsync in janky scripts, I guess.
Accessibility in the Fediverse (and Mastodon) · Eric Eggert
Many people think about moving or at least establishing a presence in the so-called Fediverse. The Fediverse is (and this is probably a very shortened and incorrect) a collection of distributed web applications that can talk to each other.Eric Eggert
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nmcli-examples(7) manual lists other interesting uses of nmcli
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Have you ever been impatiently waiting, until your phone reads through all the information in all sorts of languages about the manufacturer, compounds, source, distributor and finally gets to the name and flavor of the chocolate you're holding in your hand?
I had. And some kinds of goodies are just like fabricated for this, say bottles. I don't even know where the title is in the first place, the fact that the OCR software can have problems with the curvy surface doesn't help much either, when the bottle is full the recognition may be hard to do in air as I struggle to keep it still in one hand, and even if I finally get to the desired info, hoping I would hear also say the bottle's volume is hyperoptimistic at best.
Thus, I developed RScan. Simply point your device to the product, and in few seconds, you will hear the brand, name, type and sometimes also the related metric information like volume, weight etc.
How does it work? RScan is a barcode reader for Android, that is looking for barcodes - an identification mark that every commercial product needs to have. When it finds one, it automatically looks it up on DuckDuckGo, and using a special algorithm, tries to figure out which search result would be most useful for the user.
Designed for speed and convenience, from my experience, it correctly identifies 90% of products and thanks to swift operation, can be used to quickly sort through whole groups of goodies you need to classify.
1/2
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This screen contains a list of suggestions, which are basically DuckDuckGo search results for that barcode.
Double tapping on any of them will fill out the field on the bottom of the screen with that result, it saves typing or copying.
For purposes of debugging the automatic suggestion algorithm, the list of the suggestions present on this screen is a good aid because these are basically the options the automated recognition is choosing from, so we can see if the algorithm has made a good choice or not.
Totupoint is an in-door navigation system created by Jan Szuster, a blind engineer from Warsaw. It revolves around Bluetooth beacons placed at key points in a building or at a points of interests such as bus stops, administrative buildings or other venues that are key infrastructure. Those can be discovered through the Totupoint mobile app or an additional module attached to the user's white cane. As soon as you find yourself within the range of a beacon, it is triggered and plays the assigned recording so that you exactly know where it is located. You can repeat the message as many times as you need to locate the point you're looking for or in case of the mobile app read the attached information such as opening hours or address and phone number of the place you're at.
The system also supports tiny interactive HTML apps that can be operated from within the app so it can be adapted to turn on the traffic lights or request line number on public transport. Many successful installations happen at an increasing number of venues in Poland. You can learn more and see the complete list of active locations at:
totupoint.pl/
In other news: as soon as Apple flicks the verification switch, I will have something to share that potentially all of you might find useful so watch this space.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Poland #UrbanEnvironment
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If you maintain an open source project, even as a solo developer, I highly recommend writing descriptive commit messages. These messages help others understand what changes you're making and why you're making them, and will help you in the future if you return to a codebase after a long time.
I find myself not wanting to contribute to projects that don't have good commit messages, as it's harder for me to get a grasp on the codebase.
If you don't know how to write a good commit message, this guide is a good start: wiki.gnome.org/Git/CommitMessa…
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@andyholmes I usually don't squash commits if they aren't just fixes for previous commits. So if I have the following commits:
- Change set A
- Tweaks to change set A
- Fix for crash in set A
- Change set B
I'd only keep:
- Change set A
- Change set B
at the end (as a very simplified example)
youtube.com/watch?v=DhvXST1Rc3…
Taylor Swift vs. Nine Inch Nails - Shake It Off (The Perfect Drug)
DL: http://audio.isosine.com/Isosine%20-%20Taylor%20Swift%20vs.%20Nine%20Inch%20Nails%20-%20Shake%20It%20Off%20(The%20Perfect%20Drug).mp3FB: http://facebook....YouTube
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The navigational center of the Czech Union of the Blind assists their customers in many ways:
- by delivering help through the user's smartphone's camera via Skype;
- by looking up information on public transport routes and general information on places of interest;
- best of all: by researching routes that the user would like to take bearing in mind everything that is of importance when travelling independently with a white cane or/and a guide dog, including possible hazards or characteristic waypoints and landmarks.
It comes as no surprise that the service is available throughout the entire country. Pricewise, it works in two models: it is possible to buy packages of single uses of the service starting at less than six dollars for ten single uses; or a periodic subscribtion starting at around 13 dollars for three months.
portal-pelion.cz/aplikace-a-sl…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #CzechRepublic #Mobility #PublicTransport
Aplikace a služby využitelné při sebeobsluze a samostatném pohybu zrakově postižených - Pélion
V textu si povíme o aplikaci, která existuje již pár let, ale i tak se stává, že o ní někdo slyší úplně poprvé. Je to aplikace Be My Eyes.Linda Albrechtová (Pélion - Vzdělávací portál pro zrakově postižené)
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Blik is a Polish payment system that is based on six-digit codes entered as a confirmation of payment on the website where you want to make a transaction. The way this is used is the following:
1. You open the app of your bank on your phone and press the Blik button. Sometimes banks will place this feature under the app's shortcuts so starting straight from the homescreen or through a shortcut you yourself created is definitely possible.
2. A six-digit code is generated and it is read out to you. You can remember or copy it and from that moment you've got 120 seconds to finish the transaction.
3. You enter the code on the website or in the app where you're trying to complete a transaction.
4. You return to your banking app to confirm the amount to be paid through the biometric authorization method of your choice or a PIN code. In my banking app the time limit is counted down with each second being marked with a chaptic feedback of my iPhone.
Note: meanwhile regular payment terminals already support Blik and more and more shop assistants know how to activate it so the phrase "Poproszę Blikiem" ("By Blik, please") is more commonly heard.
Another component of the system are the P2P micropayments to a mobile phone where it is enough to enter the other party's phone number to make or request a payment straight from the banking app.
I believe similar systems function in other countries but are mostly QR-code based and require a separate app. I find this way much handier. Also, it is universal across all major Polish banks.
blik.com/en/how-to-use-blik
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Shopping #Banking #Mobile #Poland
How to use BLIK
BLIK in a blink of an eye! Pay for your purchases, wherever you are, in a few moments, with BLIK`s fast and secure payments!blik.com
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Alan Walker, Emma Steinbakken - Not You (Forgiven Hardstyle Remix) [Free Release]
#euphoric #hardstyle #rawkick...:..::..::: .Upload.Info. :::..::..:....Artist: Alan Walker, Emma Steinbakken.Title: Not You (Forgiven Hardstyle Remix).Labe...YouTube
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Server zive.cz reports, that Twitter does not allow to post links to large mastodon servers like mastodon.social or mastodonczech.cz. Already existing posts are marked as harmful.
Oh wow, what a speech freedom Elon, good job... 👏😁
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(switching to personal account:)
Elonjet is for sure not really ethical and I wouldn't like to see it tracking private jets of some ordinary people ;)
But banning anyone else then the accout itself doesn't make sense to me from his position.
RT @CZ_NIC@twitter.com
Rozšiřujeme tým interních administrátorů! Hledáme kolegu se zkušenostmi s Linuxem a síťováním. Pozice je vhodná pro absolventy. Více informací na webu #karieraCZNIC: nic.cz/page/321/kariera-v-czni… #prace #job
🐦🔗: twitter.com/CZ_NIC/status/1603…
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Well, on the front of the machine, there is a dedicated customer service number embossed in Braille where you can call and tell the representative where you would like to go. They are able to remotely operate the machine, find your connection, choose the right ticket options for you and bring you to the payment screen. Once the payment is complete, the ticket comes out as usual. Kind of makes me wonder: if the railway staff are able to access these machines remotely, why isn't this possibility open to those who might need it for accessibility reasons?
I am not sure whether this works in other Austrian cities, I haven't also heard of this implementation in any other place.
Unfortunately, I have never had a chance to use this so no recordings or first-hand experiences this time.
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Railway #Transport #Trains #Austria #Innsbruck
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
There were many devices invented to make Minitel accessible to the blind, although the system itself wasn't designed with this target group in mind. Mostly, they were external speech synthesizers like in the case of Lectel:
lemonde.fr/archives/article/19…
or the Valentine text-to-speech card for the Apple II:
blog.atalan.fr/valentine-carte…
The history of the Eurobraille company, the makers of the popular Esys, Esytime and B.Note Braille displays, starts also with a speech synthesizer for the Minitel terminals.
eurobraille.fr/notre-histoire/
As I found out, however, most of France's blind community at that time did not have access to this kind of technology and Minitel only became accessible on a global scale in the 90's when regular PC's did but then it was almost the time of the Internet so it never gained the same momentum as it did with the society at large. Pity as this could have been an opportunity to push the inclusion of blind and partially sighted people to whole new levels.
Always design with accessibility from the start!
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #France #Internet #Minitel #Videotex #RetroTech
Les ordinateurs ont la parole
Un Salon vient d'être consacré aux machines parlantes et aux innovations techniques destinées aux aveugles. Le matériel existe, pas encore le marché !CHRISTIAN TORTEL (Le Monde)
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Marian McWilson
in reply to Paweł Masarczyk • • •Paweł Masarczyk
in reply to Marian McWilson • • •Marian McWilson
in reply to Paweł Masarczyk • • •Paweł Masarczyk
in reply to Marian McWilson • • •André Polykanine
in reply to Paweł Masarczyk • • •Paweł Masarczyk
in reply to André Polykanine • • •André Polykanine
in reply to Paweł Masarczyk • • •