Crista Earl

At a conference recently, I received a free money identifier. What is this? How did it happen? The saga is long and complicated. And, your real questions might be: How do I get in on this? But wait, what happened to the accessible money? If you are reading this from another civilized country, you might be puzzled. Accessible money? What is inaccessible about money? In the United States, the bills are all the same size and have no (OK, don't quibble, no practical) tactually discernable…

Ike Presley, wearing a bioptic device, at the driver's wheel of a 1929 Model A Ford Roadster replica There was a recent NPR story (one of the many lately) on self-driving cars, and some of the profound impact this imagination-captivating technology might have on people's lives: Is There A Driverless Car In Your Future? As in most of these stories, the expert made no mention of the impact these cars will have on the current non-driver. Why? Maybe because non-drivers are invisible. On…

Everybody who works with people who are blind or visually impaired knows those reluctant technology adopters, or complete non-technology adopters. When the Pew Research Center says 15% of Americans are not connected, who are these people? They're in my singing group. Since I love technology more than singing, I at first found this puzzling. Technology is a tool to let me do things. I can listen to the songs I want to learn, record lessons and practice sessions, and listen to the key parts…

For today, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, I'll try to answer a question I get a lot: "What can I send this webmaster to give examples of how to fix a broken site?" Here's what happens. You are a user of assistive technology, or a person who has low vision and benefits from well-designed, well-executed websites (have I described everybody? Who doesn't benefit from things being done right?). You visit a site that is important to you—your banking site, an e-commerce site where you want to…

I like to talk about technology...but sometimes the outdoors just takes over. Last Sunday was the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, a fabulous event here in NYC, in which about 32,000 people ride bicycles through the city. I rode on the back of a tandem bicycle. See this great VisionAware article about tandem cycling to get inspired. So, what technology comes into play when cycling? Let's start with the bike. I rode with a new group in town, InTandem, which provided about twenty of us with bikes,…

Big news today in Vermont and Indiana, and all points elsewhere: GW Micro and Ai Squared are merging into one, now Ai Squared. You can read all about it from the official Ai Squared/GW Micro press release and, of course, AccessWorld® Magazine will have much more very soon. Quick Background: Who Are These Companies? GW Micro is the maker of Window-Eyes, a major Windows screen reader, and has been around since the early 90s. Ai Squared is well-known for ZoomText, a screen magnification program…

I often discover new and useful apps for my iPhone or iPad by just randomly poking around in the app store. I really found an awesome gem this week. It needs some accessibility improvement, but I think you'll find it useful, even in its current version. It's called Canine Translator 2020, and it claims to be the first interspecies automatic translator for home use. It's still in beta, and the makers caution that everything doesn't translate smoothly between humans and canines. Of course, dog…

Marcus Roberts was on 60 Minutes last night! Take a look, if you didn't get a chance to see it. He plays piano, he talks about music, and, my favorite part, they talked a little bit (too little to suit me) about the fact that he uses technology. No question, Marcus Roberts' most important piece of technology is the piano. He is first and foremost a talented musician, composer, and entertainer (this is my blog, I'm allowed to have three foremosts). But like any successful blind person, he uses…

Stopping at booths in the CSUN exhibit hall last week, I saw a lot of innovative problem-solving. One of the problems I saw companies trying to solve was, simply put, how to make smart phones more usable for people who are not really users of technology, and who are blind or visually impaired. These solutions, in the exhibit hall this year at least, mainly centered around the use of the Android, with suites of applications "on top" of the usual operating system. Some of these solutions…