ATMac

Articles about pieces of hardware such as laptops, screens, iPods, keyboards, mice, joysticks, etc.

An Air Mouse is one you can hold in your hand and move around. This type of mouse moves the mouse cursor in response to the left/right and up/down movement of your hand holding the mouse. The Air Mouse application for the iPhone and iPod Touch turns your gadget into one of these types of mice.

Accenda, makers of the popular voice controlled universal remote control, has now brought that same technology to the iPod with a voice activated controller for your iPod.

Reading seems like a simple activity. One that is so simple that it’s probably taken for granted by most people. But if you’re somebody with severe physical limitations reading can become a chore. I’ve unexpectedly stumbled onto a device that I think is the best solution. Would you believe it’s the iPod touch?

Something as simple as tapping the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch can be a big problem for people with physical disabilities. Here are some suggestions and alternative solutions that may help.

David Niemeijer of AssistiveWare has put together some videos demonstrating the “Spoken Menus” facility in the new iPod Nano 4G in both French and British English.

The iPhone and iPod touch come with very accurate accelerometers - the programs which are running can know when the device is being moved, and how much/how far/which direction it’s being moved. Game developers have taken advantage of this capability to develop some games which just rely on the device being moved or shaken!

RJ Cooper has made available a very affordable switch adapted MP3 player which can be operated with 1 or 2 switches. It also functions as a thumb drive for moving files between computers, and is compatible with OS X.

pearPad is a two-part application that lets you use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a wireless trackpad or keyboard for your Mac. There is a program you run on the Mac - available for Tiger or Leopard - and a program from the iTunes App Store which is run on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Peter Abrams over at Bloor Research has written a good article about the accessibility - and lack thereof - of the iPhone to various groups of users. He also mentions some third-party products which might help, and his own ideas on how to make the iPhone more accessible.

Nate Sharpe is investigating possible assistive technology adaptions to improve iPod usability. Do you use assistive technology with the iPod, or would you use it if it were available?