Top 10 Posts of 2012

Here are the top 10 posts on the Assistive Technology Blog as rated by number of views. Thanks to everyone who read the blog. Please check back in the new year for more cool posts.

1. iOS 5 Tips: Use Assistive Touch to Replace a Broken Home Button, Lock Button or Volume Button
2. What is Assistive Touch?
3. What does iPhone 5 and iOS 5 Mean for Assistive Technology?
4. Read PDF Files Aloud with vBooks PDF Voice Reader
5. iPhone 4S Accessibility Features
6. iOS 5 Tip: Look Up Any Word
7. Android Becomes More Accessible With 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
8. Assistive Touch Improvements in iOS 6
9. The Kindle Fire Is Not Accessible
10. Prizmo: Fast, Accurate, Full Featured OCR App for iPhone Review

What was your favorite post of 2012 let us know in the comments.

Favorite Assistive Technology Apps & Products of 2012

As 2012 comes to a close I decided to make a run down of my favorite assistive technology apps and products that I have been using this year. This list is in no particular order.

Click read more view the list.

Sky WiFi Smartpen from Livescribe

The Sky WiFi Smartpen is easy to use and seamless. It has a built in recorder and camera that, when used with specialized paper, syncs audio and written notes in the cloud. To read the Sky WiFi Smartpen review click here.

iPad mini

iPad mini is a great tablet because of its size, app selection, and accessibility. The lower price point makes it even more compelling. Most of all iPad mini runs all the apps that the full size iPad does and has accessibility features second to none. Click here to read more about the iPad mini.

iOS 6

While iOS 6 many have been short on mainstream features it has several useful accessibility features including Guided Access, highlighting with Speak Selection, Siri improvements, and VoiceOver improvements. Click here to learn more about iOS 6.

Updated Google Search App

This update included great new voice search feature that I found to be better and faster than Siri. Click here to learn more about the Google Search App for iOS.

Scanner Pro

This app has a really nice interface and good scan quality which made it my favorite scanning app of 2012. Click here to learn more.

Prizmo

Prizmo is hands down the best OCR app for iPhone that I have used. Just take a picture of a document and it will read it to you in a matter of seconds. Click here to download or learn more about Prizmo.

Read2Go

A great reader of Bookshare books that allows you to read your books portably without a computer. Bookshare is an online accessible library avalible to qualified people. Click here to download or learn more about Read2Go.

Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil isn't new to 2012 but it is a program I use everday. It helps me tremendously and it deserves a spot on this list. Click here to learn more about Kurzweil 3000.

Learning Ally

Good app for listening to Learning Ally Audio books. The free app is available for all iOS devices. I would like to see the app include new features such as background audio in 2013. Click here to learn more.

PaperPort Notes App Adds OCR Functionality

Nuance's PaperPort Notes app for iPad received a major update. The highlight of the update is the ability to take a picture of text to add the text to your notes. The Optical Charactor Recongition (OCR) feature is slower than other competing apps but is accurate. The improved cameras on the newest iPads allow OCR to work well. To learn about the other features of the free PaperPort Notes app click here. Click here to download the app.

Click read more below to view screenshots of PaperPort Notes.

Google Play Books Adds Read Aloud Feature

Google Play Books is the Google's ebookstore and companion reader apps. The Android reader app was recently updated to include a text-to-speech read aloud feature. Click here to download the free app for Android. The text-to-speech voice is a little above average but gets the job done. The read aloud feature works with most books in the Google Play store. If you have an Android device be sure to check this app out.

Click read more below to view screenshots of Google Play Books.

Etchings~ Bohemia Ave...

Stumbled upon a new High Resolution App that has interesting possibilities, originally launced in August 2012. Here are a few samples of what it can do straight out of the app. But first a few notes about it's function. When I first opened the app I got a Square crop box to move and scale, and at first I was disappointed because I thought, bummer, all I can get is square, even though the "about info" in the app store said I could get otherwise.  Also when I first saved an image to the camera roll I immediately tested the resolution of the file, with the app ImageSIze, and was disappointed to see it was smaller than expected. So I e-mailed the developer and within a very short period of time got a response! Super. So yes, you can get a high res image file and you can get something other than a square format. When Saving, You have to go into the advanced tab and and make the settings choice.
As I found out later, after an e-mail response to my questions, when you go to save the image you needed to tab on the ADVANCED EXPORT tab to access the menu for high resolution and a 2x3 format image. When you tab on the ADVANCED EXPORT tab another screen appears and you will need to turn off the "Square Crop" button and then tab on the Save to Camera Roll to get the high resolution image into your camera roll. Even if you opened the app with the square crop, when you turn it off before saving, it will deliver the original formatted image.

I like to layer several images when processing and I think this will be a great App to work with in layering. Here are a few more out of the App images...no layers no processing just App results which are fun.

Right now in the app you can adjust, brightness~darkness, line strength and select from several FX. You can also buy in app another set of FX. I would like one more contol and that would be a color picker to adjust the color of the rendered effect. This is not a complete assortment of what the app can do but will give you an idea.

And here is the original shot.

Still Lifes ~ Glaze~ Image Blender~Snapseed~Flypaper Textures

 

The Chair in the Corner (After)

 I love still life images. They represent snippets of life in a certain era. When visiting the Hampton Mansion this past weekend I made a few shots in the kitchen area where there was ample light and a few interesting subjects with uncluttered backgrounds. I am posting the before and after shots as one viewer commented that they enjoyed seeing the difference. The "Chair in the Corner" above was processed using several iterations in an app called Glaze, now a Full Resolution App!!! Yeah! I also used a texture from Flypaper Textures to add some dimension and interest to the image in a very subtle but important way and then I blended the images (original and several versions) in ImageBlender and adjusted the final image with Snapseed.
(Note: In order to use the Flypaper Textures I re-sized the texture first in Photoshop to 72 DPI and matched the resolution of the original image, 2448 x 3264 then transferred the file to my iPhone using PhotoSync.) Also.....Snapseed is now free and available for Android too! Thanks to Google.

I also found the old kitchen ceiling light interesting and representative of colonial times. I processed this in the same manner as the chair.

Kitchen Light (After)

 

 

This image of paper whites was on a shelf in the kitchen and beautifully side lit by the window light. I processed it in the same manner using Glaze, Flypaper Textures, ImageBlender and Snapseed.

After

Before

My next iPhone Photography class is January 5 in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. sponsored by Capital Photography Center. Click here for more info and registration. Hope to see you there!