Dear AccessWorld readers,
Happy holidays from everyone here at AccessWorld. At the time of writing, we have just concluded the AFB Leadership Conference for 2025. Stay tuned to the AccessWorld podcast, as we have several episodes coming soon from the conference.
This month, we have a full issue for you as we head into the holidays. One of our sponsors from this year’s conference, AARP, was kind enough to provide us with a piece detailing their new AgeTech Collaborative and the companies taking part in it that are developing technologies to support people who are blind or have low vision.
Next, I bring you an article on the accessible game New Horizons, a sci-fi title in which you pilot a starship. The game is an excellent example of how a visually two-dimensional interface can use a rich audio soundscape to create an immersive three-dimensional experience.
Janet Ingber then brings us our annual AccessWorld shopping guide, featuring four different websites that offer food-based holiday gifts: Harry and David, Hickory Farms, Nuts.com, and See’s Candies.
Following Janet’s piece, I present a review of the AI tool Viewpoint from Nibble Nerds. Viewpoint is a utility that works alongside your screen reader to instantly provide information about on-screen content through Google’s Gemini AI, and it can also attempt to make inaccessible programs usable through its innovative UI recognition mode.
Next, I update you on the latest developments in accessibility for large appliances. This article also demonstrates how you can use AI to conduct content searches while confirming the accuracy of the results you receive.
Finally, Dr. Michele McDonnall from the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University brings us a piece exploring how the workplace use of assistive technology has changed over the course of their study, spanning 2021 through 2024.
Again, Happy Holidays, and thank you for being a reader of AccessWorld.
Sincerely,
Aaron Preece, Editor-in-Chief, AccessWorld, American Foundation for the Blind
