I have recently gotten AirPlay working to prepare for a move. As I wrote, I got an Airport Express and an Apple TV. At the time of writing I had to wait to get the Apple TV working. Now I have, and I love it. The whole model of content distribution needs to mature, and Apple will lead the way.

I ordered my Apple TV and it arrived within twenty-four hours. I felt amazed just examining the box and its contents. The Apple TV looks like a little square with a few ports on the back and rounded edges. The remote looks like the coolest remote I’ve ever seen, just a thin rectangle with convex surfaces and round corners. The remote has a button with the four arrows and enter in the center, plus a Menu/Back button and a Play/Pause button below it. It reflects a zen minimalism perfectly.

I couldn’t wait to get it working. Things worked out very nicely actually. For Christmas my Mom gave me a little lightweight TV to bring with me on the move, as compared with the bulky one I bought when I bought the house in 2002. It amazed me how in ten years media and the technology around it has totally changed. The old one didn’t even have an HDMI port, something Apple TV needs. I had a friend come over and haul the old one outside with a FREE sign on it. In my excitement I had tried hooking up the Apple TV to the new TV, but hit the wrong button on the new TV’s remote, putting it in a perpetual menu and making it silent and useless. I really hope APple really does come out with a full TV which talks! Imagine that, no more inaccessible menus.

My friend got the new TV working with Apple TV just fine. Hitting the lower right button (Play/Pause) three times during the initial setup will enable VoiceOver. Once we got it off the ground I could operate everything with Apple TV’s remote, plus a few buttons on the other remote my friend taught me. I could now try to evaluate this thing.

Apple TV has a simple menu structure. Going left and right goes through the different categories of things (movies, TV shows, etc.) and going up and down goes through the options in that category. In this way you can rent movies, watch TV shows, listen to music in your iTunes library, subscribe to podcasts, watch Youtube videos, and lots of other fascinating things. For the first time I can lounge in my recliner with a remote and browse on-demand content and have it talk to me, something sighted people have enjoyed for years. I love it!

First I looked at hot movies. Apple has a notorious anti-pornography stance, so it seemed interesting to see the fascinating documentary DMT: The Spirit Molecule in the top ten independent films. You can’t have sex, but smoke all the DMT you want! I also saw a documentary about Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, one of my heroes. I plan to rent both.

Next I looked at TV shows. I added some favorites to my list. I watched the latest episode of the Simpsons just to try it. The episode parodied Glen Beck and the tea party movement, and I enjoyed it. It felt cool to see all the different networks and shows. It just has on-demand content, nothing live. As soon as they start streaming live content we can cut the cable forever, and I look forward to that day.

Then I wandered over to the internet category. I watched a Ron Paul video on YouTube, and subscribed to a few podcasts, including the very funny Radio Free Oz. I really like listening to podcasts on my Apple TV from the comfort of my living room. I could really get more into podcasts this way. I also browsed my iTunes library, very cool. And of course, Apple TV acts as an AirPlay device, so I can hear anything I want over it as long as I can stream it.

All and all, I love Apple TV, but the current generation represents a stepping stone. I think that things need to mature so we can enjoy live TV. People have become tired of paying insane amounts of money to watch their favorite two or three channels on cable. In his biography, Steve Jobs said that he has cracked the secret to an easy high definition television. I hope he has, because I welcome a full Apple TV. Should you get one? If you like watching on-demand content or have a large iTunes library then I would say yes. If you don’t know then you might want to wait to see how the rumors play out. Either way, I have found my Zen TV.

Twitter has had an official app for a while. Now it has become less accessible, and it has also become integrated into iOS. Twitter must make the same commitment to accessibility which Apple has.

Accessibility refers to making something usable by everyone. In this case it refers to making an application work well with VoiceOver so that the blind can use it. Sites like Applevis post accessibility ratings for different apps. If an app does not play nicely with VoiceOver then the blind cannot use it and it may as well not exist for us.

This can seem very annoying, as you can imagine. For example, several friends have asked me to play Words with Friends. As you can read, everything works except for the game board, a rather important feature. I played a lot of Scrabble as a kid and would really enjoy playing again. The official Facebook app also sucks, and many have found alternatives. App developers can choose to improve accessibility, and many do. Many apps also work with little or no modification. All well and good, and normally I wouldn’t write a blog post about this.

The Twitter app falls into a special category however. Apple has chosen to integrate it very heavily into iOS 5. The Twitter settings has a link to easily download the official app, and iOS accesses it if using its built-in Twitter integration. This puts the app in a special circumstance. If a blind person wants to use iOS’s Twitter integration, they have to use the app. Because of its unique position, Twitter must care about accessibility.

Since it came out, Twitter has provided a clutter-free social network which the blind have enjoyed. I know many of us prefer it to Facebook for that reason. And don’t even get me started about Google+! Twitter must recognize this and continue along these lines.

Apple has become the leader in accessibility. Every Apple device talks out of the box. This includes the iPhone, iTouch, iPad, Apple TV, and Macs. No other company has done this. The blind have come to expect that anything Apple does will have accessibility in mind. Turning over their Twitter integration to a third party means that third party must have the same commitment. If they don’t it makes Apple look bad. Apple must recognize this and demand appropriate action.

In summary, the blind have come to know Apple as the leader of accessibility. Steve Jobs insisted that Apple’s devices should have universal accessibility. Having a Twitter app with less than full accessibility goes against this philosophy. Twitter must fix their official Twitter app as long as iOS depends on it. The Me tab has serious issues and unlabeled buttons. Oh well, back to using Tweetlist Pro!

In an episode of the Simpsons, Carl quips: “Have you ever noticed how oldies stations always play the same songs? Like, how about some new oldies, geniuses?” It would seem that corporate America would agree, though perhaps not in the way intended by the consumer. The homely and humble oldies station has become just another monolith. This artificial acceleration of culture damages us all.

Radio stations change from time to time. I learned this at a young age. I will never forget the day when WCAU FM changed its format from top forty to oldies, and their call to WOGL. I thought my radio had broken, but soon learned the truth about the radio station and about life. Over the last few years, WOGL has slowly changed from oldies to the hits of the sixties, seventies, and eighties. They don’t even play real oldies anymore. Now they play Michael Jackson and Abba. Now Philadelphia does not have an oldies station.

As a kid I vividly remember sitting in my grandparent’s car, listening to the kind of music their generation listens to. Stations played that music well into my childhood, letting them enjoy their music into their older years. Eventually their music went away and we began seeing more oldies stations. I don’t feel like the boomers have reached that point. A lot of them still work and drive and listen to the radio. A lot of them don’t know how to use technology like the iPhone, so don’t realize that easy ways exist to still hear the oldies they miss. Because of this, a lot of them have just given up on the idea of hearing their favorite music. That makes me sad.

I have to get my Mom to take me to karate, since it resides way out in the middle of fields and things. Today, she couldn’t handle the wussified Christmas music burbling out of the radio, so asked me to find something. I could hardly figure out how to work the digital tuner, which I loathe. Analog things like radios and tapes should have analog controls. Just give me a dial! I put it into scan mode but it didn’t matter, all crap on a Sunday afternoon, and Christmas didn’t help. I finally just switched it off and got out my iPhone.

“What kind of music do you want to hear?” I asked, starting to consider my options to find her something. “I don’t know, as long as it’s not Christmas music.” I opened Pocket Tunes Radio and looked for an oldies station. This only took two taps.

I quickly found Oldies .977. She knew all the artists and titles and around when they came out. The station also displays this information. Giving her access to this music made me feel really good. Some songs she hadn’t heard for years. I knew she needed this music.

I offered to give her my iPhone 4, but she said the whole thing seemed too complicated, and she didn’t want to pay for the data plan. I still think parents could figure something out which would only take a few taps. Those who don’t want to consume precious data could always load songs onto an iPhone, iPod, or iPad. I just did it this way because I didn’t know what else to do, and it worked.

Parents have some other options as well. Satellite receivers such as XM Radio offer oldies stations, though require a subscription. Most modern car CD players can play MP3 cd’s, meaning you can get your kid to put a bunch of oldies onto cd’s, then play them in your car. An mp3 cd means it holds compressed files, so it can hold much more music than a standard playable CD. Some car stereos also have a line-in jack, a small jack which looks like a headphone jack and works in the opposite way, allowing you to pipe audio into your stereo. They also make small FM transmitters so you can play audio and pick it up with your car’s radio. You could then get a simple inexpensive MP3 player and load it (or have it loaded for you) with your beloved oldies, charging it from your car’s cigarette lighter. No matter what you choose, you don’t have to remain bound to corporate radio.

While listening to her oldies, Mom went down memory lane as she put it. She liked every song she heard – Diana Ross, The Supremes, The Turtles, Cher, what she called obscure Beatles, and her favorite, Smokey Robinson. She told me that she and her friend saw him many times, and they saw the Beatles when they came to America for the first time and sat in the first row. Many songs reminded her of going to the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) dances in a church basement or gymnasium. During a slow song, she said: “This is the kind of song you would have to wait for a boy to ask you to dance.” She couldn’t picture today’s kids holding each other and dancing in this way. Neither could I.

One song by Frankie Avalon reminded her of the summer time, and the dance hall at the boardwalk in Ocean City. She explained how dances provided a safe space for teen-agers to socialize. At home this meant meeting kids from her school and the local area. At the shore this meant socializing with different kids. I remembered going to the skating rink, but that seemed fading even then. Mom agreed, and wondered what kids do now. I don’t know, probably meet on Facebook, then get together and get high in a basement.

The fifties and sixties seemed like such a carefree time. Hold onto it if you lived through it. Don’t let faceless corporations take it from you. Learn to understand the technology you need to hear the music which made your memories. Ask your kids for help. And if you have a parent in this situation, this makes a great Christmas present.

Steve Jobs has died at age 56. Family said he passed peacefully in his sleep. This has sent shockwaves around the net, and I thought I’d throw in my own little tribute.

I became blind at birth. I always loved technology and done well with math. My parents used computers for their business, and could see their potential. They wanted me to have an advantage, so got an Apple II/e as soon as they learned that a blind person could use one. I think this happened while in the second grade, which would have made me seven years old.

Mom still remembers our trip to the Apple store. They hadn’t even unpacked yet. I remember the smell of boxes and new computers. I’ve always loved the smell of new computers, Apple products especially. I also remember some of the computers had puffy paper apples on top of them. I wanted to buy the computer with the paper apple just because I liked it. I also remembered feeling glad that the computers didn’t make any noise, something Steve Jobs insisted upon.

We took the thing home. I remember the family trying the discs which came with the computer, something called Apple Presents. I think it came with some games too. My brother and I enjoyed playing the simple games. But it couldn’t talk yet.

One Saturday, Mom and our friend Kristen put in the card. This meant opening up the computer, inserting a card, plugging in a speaker, probably connecting some jumpers, and who knows what else. They also had some beer, which seems to go well with hardware work. I didn’t know what to do, so just kept encouraging them. By the end of the day they had done it! They felt exhausted and I felt ecstatic. I knew something awesome had just happened! I could use a computer!

At first, I only knew a few commands. CATALOG gave a catalog of files on the disc. RUN would run a file with an A in front of it. I learned that stood for Applesoft BASIC. BRUN would run a file with a B in front of it, meaning binary, machine language. And with that I began my journey.

For a while I had fun running programs on the games discs, trying various demos, and I may have tried to use a word processor. I remember one or two games would not work. I couldn’t understand why. I thought computers just did things. My parents explained to me that computers don’t actually think, they just follow instructions, a program. I thought I understood, but didn’t know how to fix the problems, so felt frustrated. I wanted to play the games. Why won’t they work?

One day, I remember playing the classic Eliza program. This program has existed for years, and simulates a conversation with a psychiatrist. It does very primitive textual analysis to try to come up with the proper response, and sometimes it does quite well. Other times it doesn’t. Still it intrigued me.

Afterward, I sat and thought. I wondered about commands I might not know. I felt something more. I have no idea where this thought came from, or why I thought of it, but I thought to type the command LIST. I remember thinking it must list something, maybe a short list of files, or who knows. But I figured since computers deal with lists maybe it will do something. Sure enough it did.

The LIST command lists the code of the currently loaded program, Eliza in this case. I saw line numbers and print statements. Suddenly I understood perfectly. You type in these instructions and the computer follows them. I knew then and there exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Since then, I have always loved computers, programming, anything like that. It all started with that moment. I remember feeling so proud when I fixed a problem in one of the games. I wrote tons of little programs of my own. I had endless hours of fun with that machine.

Time passed. The PC became popular and I reluctantly moved over. I felt very sad to say good bye to my Apples, but also excited about the future. Still I will always treasure those first days. MSDOS came and gave way to Windows. I just couldn’t take it so switched to Linux. I loved its open nature. You can explore anything and learn so much. The text shell makes a natural interface for a blind user. Still, I always had to find ways to do the things sighted users enjoyed. I got by as best I could, and had a nicely tweaked netbook as a notetaker.

Then last June I got an iPhone and my universe changed forever. It can do so many things, thanks to the endless selection of apps. I can identify currency and household items, check news, stocks, the weather, Twitter, even listen to the changing colors of a sunset. I cannot imagine life without my iPhone. I upgraded to the iPhone 4 when it came out, and loved the combination of glass and metal. Just so cool! After falling in love, I heard the call of the Apple family once again. I knew I had to get a Mac.

I went to the Apple store and had an exciting adventure. It certainly had changed since the first time we had gone. Now it had become a bustling marketplace. I told everyone there I wanted to buy a Mac, that I started on a II/e (which they probably didn’t understand), and that I felt overjoyed to rejoin the Apple family. The manager of the store told me that the accessibility didn’t start until Steve Jobs had returned. I thanked Steve silently.

I got my iMac last September, just in time for something amazing. My iPhone article went viral. I receive so much awesome feedback and attention from it. My Mac quickly proved itself, functioning beautifully within this chaos. It seemed so stable. Plus, it runs on top of a flavor of BSD, so I consider it two computers for the price of one. I just could not believe this new experience, a graphical user interface I could actually use. For the first time I could actually use a trackpad, something the sighted have enjoyed for years. I knew that Apple had created the cutting edge accessibility experience.

I felt very impressed. So impressed that I bought a MacBook Air as soon as they came out. I love my MacBook Air so much. It makes a perfect notetaker. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Plus, it has a tactile glowing Apple on the back! Sometimes I find myself just feeling the apple and admiring the form of the machine. The same holds true for the stunningly beautiful iPad 2.

Yesterday Apple announced the iPhone 4S. It will have the Siri assistant. As I wrote, this introduces the next paradigm of the artificially intelligent smartphone. Very soon, people will have conversations with their computers, just like on Star Trek! Apple has helped bring that perfect future closer.

Now I sit here surrounded by all of this incredible Apple technology. It amazes me that one man could help bring all this about. I feel especially appreciative. Steve had a vision of a computer which anyone could use. Apple Building accessibility into all of their devices means that a blind person can purchase a device from a store and use it immediately. We have never had this before. For the first time we can use the same devices as our sighted friends, family, and coworkers. Apple’s line of accessibility technology has opened the world up to the blind. No other corporation has done what Apple has done.

Thank you Steve. You have changed my world forever. You have changed the world of the blind forever. You have changed the world forever. May you live forever through your works.

Today, Apple had their “Let’s Talk iPhone” announcement. As usual no one knew what to expect. Many hoped for a redesigned iPhone with a curved surface, much like the beautiful iPad 2. Apple also previewed iOS 5 at their developer’s conference in June, so we knew a lot of the cool software features to expect. I looked forward to the notification center and Twitter integration. We also learned of Apple’s acquisition of Siri, and their plans to integrate voice navigation with the iPhone. As today drew near the rumor sites said that we would not see a new iPhone, but rather an upgraded iPhone 4. I felt a little disappointed. I wanted the sleek and sexy iPhone 5, and I had only used iPhone’s voice navigation by accident once when something else in my pocket pressed the on button for a few seconds. Still, I got psyched for this real life sporting event.

It started with them talking about how the Mac does very well, something I enjoyed hearing. I love my Macs. Then they started talking about greeting cards, and a Find My Friends app. Something about cameras or photographs. They refreshed the iPod Nano. Video games. More with the greeting cards. Everyone felt bored. Then it came to talk iPhone. The whole net suddenly seemed effected. All the major sites went down. So we all sat, gathering what information we could. A blind iPhone friend called me for parts of it as well, reading to me from a live blog. Eventually we pieced it together.

The rumor sites got it right. Apple announced the iPhone 4S with an A5 processor, twice as fast as the one in the iPhone 4. It also has a better camera, an improved antenna system, and for the first time it comes in a 64 GB model. Hopefully the better camera will mean better OCR and image recognition, two things which the blind need. Apple devoted the end of their event to talk all about Siri, demonstrating its impressive voice navigation. It actually lets you have a conversation with your iPhone. It definitely looked cool. Then the event ended and Apple’s stock dipped. Apparently other people wanted the sleek and sexy iPhone 5 as well. I relaxed and thought.

When the iPhone 3 came out, the blind had no interest in it. After all, we couldn’t use it. We had to wait for the upgraded version, the 3GS, with a powerful enough processor that would run VoiceOver, the software which enables the blind to use the iPhone. For us, this upgrade made a world of difference. The same holds true in this case.

Apple has unveiled the new paradigm of conversing with an artificially intelligent computer. The Siri Assistant gives us the type of interface we see on Star Trek, the one we’ve always wanted. You never see them bumbling around their computers unless something goes seriously wrong. They just tell the computer what they want it to do and it does it. I put on an episode of Star Trek and began to get excited. If all goes well, the masses will have this kind of technology in a few weeks!

Accessibility helps everyone. Apple has made it mainstream. The blind have enjoyed text to speech for years. Now the sighted can enjoy eyes-free operation as well. Voice recognition and a wealth of data complete a perfect picture of universal accessibility.

In 1987 I had turned ten. I entered the fifth grade, and got my first PC, sadly saying good bye to my beloved Apple II way of life. Meanwhile, Apple made this video. It presents their concept for Knowledge Navigator, and shows a professor talking to his tablet computer and getting back intelligent responses. Weirdly, his calendar displays the date September 16th, and he references a five-year-old paper written in 2006, making the year 2011.

On October 4, 2011, Apple released the new iPhone with the Siri Assistant. The page features a video. It ends with a blind woman hearing a text message and dictating a reply. Meanwhile, Amazon has released their totally inaccessible Kindle Fire. What a difference! Thank you Apple! We love you!