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I tell you if this episode were edible, it would be so packed with nutrients, it would be a superfood! We have plenty to look forward to this week.
Apple made it’s now expected accessibility announcements around Global Accessibility Awareness day. I’ll talk about the actual features announced, but also offer some commentary on Apple’s culture of engagement, or lack thereof, with the wider blind community.
In last week’s episode, I pleaded with Google to give me access to their experimental Music LM service, and they have. Thanks Google for facilitating this. You give Music LM a text description of the kind of music you want to create, and it goes ahead and creates it. How good is it? Tune in for a very fun demo.
Did you know that some versions of Microsoft Word now have very accurate audio transcription built in? It’s easy to use and impressive, and I’ll give you a quick tour.
Last year, we featured an interview with one of the creators of Hable One as well as a comprehensive demo of the product. Hable One is a tiny keyboard and controller for your smartphone. They have improved it since we last checked in, so we’ll find out what’s new.
We talk a lot about tech on Living Blindfully, but it’s not the only thing we talk about. This week, a very important topic. How do we, and how should we, respond to offers of help from sighted people when we don’t actually need their help? Do we have an obligation to try and ensure that if we refuse help, we do so in a way that doesn’t put the sighted person off helping someone else in future? Is there a threshold where someone is just so intrusive that it’s both appropriate and necessary to be rude? It’s a complex subject and I am interested in hearing your stories of people offering help in unusual ways and how you have handled it.
There’s plenty more as well, and I look forward to bringing it to you soon in episode 230. Thank you very much for continuing to listen and for your ongoing support of the show.