Accessories

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10 more tips for users of Braille displays on iDevices

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I cut my own hair last week. I purchased the Elite Pro electric hair clippers through Amazon, and unpacked the much anticipated and quickly sanitized cardboard box. My overly long, unruly, very silver hair felt yucky and gross. It was time to shed the extra weight. I plugged in the clippers, stripped off my shirt and sat on a low plastic footstool over the tiled kitchen floor. Now, I was poised and personally empowered to do great damage. This was going to be fun! I drove those clippers across my locks like a 1965 Ford Mustang. What was the worst that could happen?

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In what could soon be coming as the first of its kind, Humanware appears to be developing a new braille display and app for synchronizing notes with iDevices. In late April, an app hit the App Store called Brailliant Sync. According to the description by Harpo, the app is designed "for synchronizing notes between Gmail, IMAP and similar servers and Brailliant 14 Braille devices." This tells us 2 things.

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Intro

For years, I've used bone conduction headphones from [Aftershokz](http://www.aftershokz.com]. A few weeks ago, I got myself an early Christmas present: a set of Apple's AirPods, the wireless earbuds Apple released in late 2016. I'd heard a lot about AirPods, and had held a set some days prior to my purchase, which physical handling finally pushed me over the edge and sent me to the nearest store that had my new toy in stock.

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As the power and versatility of iOS devices sinks in, many users invariably ask veteran iPhone and iPad enthusiasts about Bluetooth keyboards. As someone who's dabbled with Bluetooth keyboards since the addition of external keyboard support hit iOS, I've handled my fair share of these accessories in both my role as an assistive technology instructor and just a tech enthusiast on the internet. Just like with apps and web resources, it's almost impossible to work with or even hear about every example or even every type of Bluetooth keyboard, let alone every model.

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We are proud to announce the winners of the inaugural AppleVis Golden Apple Awards.

These awards were launched to acknowledge and reward the apps, developers and products that the AppleVis community rated the best of 2012.

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We are proud to announce the results of the second annual AppleVis Golden Apple Awards .
 
The AppleVis Golden Apple Awards were launched in 2012 as a way to recognize the best apps, products, and developers of a given year - as voted on by the AppleVis community.
 
The 2013 AppleVis Golden Apples consist of awards in the following categories: Best iOS App, Best iOS Game, Best Mac App, Best Third Party Hardware or Accessory, and Developer of the Year.
 
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After two years of rumour, speculation, and hype, Apple's AirTag has finally arrived; and my early impressions and experience suggest that it might have been worth the wait if you are blind or low vision - most particularly so for those who use an iPhone 11 or iPhone 12.

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Ending months of speculation, Apple today announced the release of its US$549 AirPods Max high-end, over-ear wireless headphones offering Adaptive EQ, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, and spatial audio. AirPods Max come in five colors, and are available to order starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, December 15.

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Apple today announced the launch of the iPad 10, featuring a new all-screen design.

The new iPad offers a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display and is powered by the A14 Bionic chip, which according to Apple “delivers even faster performance with incredible power efficiency for demanding tasks while still providing all-day battery life.”

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In addition to a new MacBook Air and updated Mac Mini, Apple today has also announced a new iPad Pro powered by the A12Z Bionic chip and featuring a new dual-camera, a LiDAR scanner for Augmented Reality, and trackpad support.

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Apple's Beats subsidiary today announced the launch of Powerbeats, an updated version of its Powerbeats 3 wireless earphones.

According to 9to5Mac, the US$149 Powerbeats have been upgraded on multiple fronts over the previous generation Powerbeats 3:

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As we reported in December 2015, Apple was rumored to begin selling accessories related to accessibility in early 2016. Those rumors are now coming to fruition, At the time of posting, the Apple website lists a total of 15 accessories available for purchase.

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Apple has today announced that its HomePod speaker will Launch in the United States, UK and Australia on February 9, with orders beginning Friday, January 26 via Apple's online store or the Apple Store app.

HomePod will also be available from select resellers in each country, such as Best Buy in the United States, John Lewis and Argos in the UK, and Harvey Norman and Telstra in Australia.

In it's press release, Apple had the following to say about HomePod:

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Apple has today launched AirPods Pro, featuring an all new lightweight in-ear design, active noise cancellation, and a transparency mode to keep you in touch with the world around you..

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Apple has today launched the second generation of its popular AirPods, available with the long-promised wireless charging case, a new H1 chip designed specifically for headsets, hands-free “Hey Siri”, longer battery life, and faster connections to devices.

According to Apple, the new H1 chip delivers performance efficiencies, faster connect times, up to 50% more talk time compared to the first generation, and the convenience of hands-free “Hey Siri”.

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Apple has today released iOS 12.1.3 to the public, bringing fixes for multiple bugs affecting iPad Pro, HomePod, CarPlay, and more.

According to [Apple's release notes via MacRumors, iOS 12.1.3 contains

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Apple has today released iOS 14.7. This appears to be a relatively minor update for a single dot release, primarily focusing on security fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements.

According to the release notes from Apple, this update fixes a bug which could cause braille displays to show invalid information while composing Mail messages.

At the time of posting, we are unaware of any additional fixes, enhancements or regressions for blind and low vision users.

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Apple has today released iOS 8.4.1 to the public, bringing fixes and improvements to Apple Music and other areas of the iOS 8 operating system.

For VoiceOver users, iOS 8.4.1 includes fixes for the labeling of a number of buttons in Apple Music--including those for following and unfollowing artists in Connect.

According to Apple's release notes via Mac Rumors, iOS 8.4.1 also contains the following improvements:

This release includes improvements and fixes to Apple Music.

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Apple has released updates for its software platforms today, including iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1, which aim to provide important bug fixes and security updates. These updates address issues such as unresponsive or incorrect iCloud settings display, Siri requests for Find My not working, and crash detection optimizations for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models.