A new Google Doodle might cause you to appreciate what’s under your feet.
In a neat illustration on Monday, the search giant honoured Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake, who invented tactile paving, used worldwide to make public space more accessible t…
Category: Blind
‘F*ck ethics. Money is everything’: Facebook employees react to scandal on gossip app
It’s been a wild 24 hours at Facebook HQ, and employees are not handling it well.
Following a blockbuster Jan. 29 report from TechCrunch detailing how Facebook paid teens to spy on their smartphones, and the subsequent backlash from Apple, employees of the social media giant have taken to the anonymous workplace discussion app Blind to vent. And oh boy, is it ugly.
For those unfamiliar with Blind, the app is designed to allow employees of major companies to semi-anonymously discuss the ins and outs of their workplaces. An employee of, say, Facebook, uses their corporate email address to confirm that they do in fact work there, and then is allowed to post on app message boards — but the app doesn’t force them to confirm their title or other job details. Each post from a Facebook employee is marked as such. Likewise, any post from an Apple employee is clearly labeled as coming from an Apple employee. Read more…
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View More ‘F*ck ethics. Money is everything’: Facebook employees react to scandal on gossip appIs Blind still safe for Silicon Valley secrets?
It’s a bad day for would-be tech watchdogs and gossips.
The tech industry whistleblower and survey site Blind temporarily exposed user data when it left a server functioning without password protection. That’s according to TechCrunch, whose new repor…
This ‘blind’ robot can jump on your table and chase you in the dark even when its leg is broken
MIT researchers have built a “blind” robot that can navigate its surroundings without the help of camera vision or external environmental sensors. Its creators hope it is going to be useful in situations that are too dangerous for humans, such as powe…
View More This ‘blind’ robot can jump on your table and chase you in the dark even when its leg is broken5 things Pinterest changed to make its app better for people who are blind
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It may be playing catch-up, but Pinterest is finally making its platform more accessible to people who are blind or have low vision.
On Wednesday, Pinterest announced a handful of updates across the company’s app and website, particularly aimed at being more inclusive.
Steered by lead designer Long Cheng, Pinterest partnered with San Francisco non-profit Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to develop the updates.
“After talking to Pinners and finding out how Pinterest was (and wasn’t) working for them, we did an accessibility audit and created a list of areas to improve,” says Pinterest’s press statement. Read more…
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View More 5 things Pinterest changed to make its app better for people who are blindGet the latest TC stories read to you over the phone with BrailleVoice
It can be a pain for the visually impaired to keep up with your favorite publications the way sighted app users do. BrailleVoice is a project that puts the news in a touch-tone phone interface, reading you the latest news from your favorite publications (like this one) easily from anywhere you get signal.
View More Get the latest TC stories read to you over the phone with BrailleVoiceMicrosoft Soundscape helps the visually impaired navigate cities
Microsoft today launched Soundscape, a new iOS app that aims to give people who are blind or visually impaired a greater awareness of their surrounding by using 3D cues. It’s worth stressing that the app isn’t about replacing guide dogs or canes. Instead, it’s all about enriching people’s perception of their surroundings. A guide dog can’t tell you that your… Read More
HR has lost the trust of employees. Here is who has it now
Human resources has to be one of the greatest bait-and-switch professions one can join today. HR departments position themselves with a forward-facing fluffy image, whether improving the productivity of workers through training and development programs or perhaps righting the yawning inequality gap in America by encouraging diverse hiring standards. Unsurprisingly, the field often attracts… Read More
The BecDot is a toy that helps teach vision-impaired kids to read braille
Learning braille is a skill that, like most, is best learned at an early age by those who need it. But toddlers with vision impairment often have few or no options to do so, leaving them behind their peers academically and socially. Becdot is a t…
View More The BecDot is a toy that helps teach vision-impaired kids to read brailleDisney researchers are working on fireworks you can ‘feel’
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If you’re visually impaired or blind, fireworks can feel a little exclusive to those with full sight.
“Feeling Fireworks” is a new project attempting to make fireworks more inclusive for people with low or limited vision, or who are blind — yep, they’re fireworks you can “feel.”
A new project by Disney Research and ETH Zurich’s Dorothea Reusser, Espen Knoop, Roland Siegwart and Paul Beardsley, it’s a large-scale tactile firework show in which water jets are directed onto a flexible screen.
Users put their hands up against the other side of the screen, a rear-mounted Kinect detects the user, and they will be able to feel “tactile fireworks that are directly analogous to physical fireworks happening in the sky.” Read more…
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View More Disney researchers are working on fireworks you can ‘feel’