As many in the accessibility community will tell you, inclusive design isn’t an endeavor that’s “one and done.” It’s a continuous, ongoing effort to ensure that as new products and services are made, people with different needs or disabilities aren’t left out. Over the last three years, Engadget has produced a report, in addition to our regular coverage, that looks back on the developments in the tech industry that impact the accessibility community, focusing on the largest companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta. Of course, there are plenty of other big companies to consider, like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix and more. But the six we’ve selected have an outsized impact and influence on the industry..Last year, we saw significant developments that could pave the way for more accessible designs in future, such as the opening of Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab. In October, the University of Illinois (UIUC) partnered with Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft on a Speech Accessibility Project to improve voice recognition for those with atypical speech patterns that AI algorithms rarely consider. But there were also major setbacks, such as Elon Musk dismantling the accessibility team at Twitter, amid everything else that happened in that hellhole.All around the industry, we saw pieces of news that showed greater interest overall in accessible products and design. According to LinkedIn’s vice president of engineering, Erran Berger, there has been a 33 percent... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-01-16 15:00:07 UTC ]
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Less than 5% of all published books are available in an accessible format. Several organizations, notably Bookshare, are working to change that woeful statistic. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When the iPad is seemingly tailor-made for books of all kinds, you'd think Audible would leap on the opportunity to produce an optimized audiobook app -- it wasn't quite so eager, as customers have since discovered. Apple tablet owners won't have to perpetually lean on the stock music app for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Guardian called it: "Camilla Long’s comprehensive shredding of Rachel Cusk’s memoir of her divorce, Aftermath has won her the Hatchet Job of the Year award.” Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eleven leading academic associations have written an open letter condemning the government's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Concerns are mounting among publishers, booksellers and authors about the long-term impact of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Forrester Research and DBW presented the findings of their Executive Publishing Survey on ebooks, devices and digital publishing predictions for 2013. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The annual search to find the best publishers, retailers, agents, librarians and supply... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Led by a 44.9% increase in the stock price of Amazon, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index jumped 23.5% in 2012, easily beating the 7.3% gain posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hopes that the US will follow where the UK leads in terms of Open Access for publicly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the Guadalajara Book Fair, Bill McCoy of the IDPF and Pablo Defendini of Safari Books encouraged publishers to abandon DRM, and set their own prices. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi founded the Emirates Publishers Association and pushed for it to become a full member of the IPA. Here, she explains it was so important. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Starnes might not have an extensive background in journalism, but the Alabama newspaper publisher just launched his fourth community newspaper, the Hoover Sun, last month. He also owns The Homewood Star, 280 Living, and Village Living, all of whi ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SourceMedia will now offer clients access to a propriety data portal, allowing users to manipulate data behind the company's regular analytics reports. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There's No Place Like Home The great promise of mobile is that it is… mobile, which is why we hear so much about the potential for reaching audiences anytime and anywhere with stuff like location-based advertising. According to... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2012-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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10 facts about media and content industries 1. Digitization has increased book sales. Expenditure on electronic books almost doubled each year in 2006-2010 but still amounts to only 3% of global book sales. Forecasts however predict that reve ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It was the talk of the London Book Fair. Then it was the talk of the summer. Then it became the book news story of the year. The Fifty Shades series—an originally self-published erotica written as Twilight fan fiction—was too new a phenomenon in April, when the London Book Fair was underway, to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Smartphone Junkies Would you admit not being able to live without your smartphone? Over two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey by the Online Publisher's Association did just that. The survey, conducted online with 2,540... Continue reading at Publishing Executive
[ Publishing Executive | 2012-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘‘It’s an on-demand world,” said Glenn Nano, cofounder of startup AnswerQi. “People have unique needs and you can’t just give them off-the-shelf stuff.” Launched in May 2011, AnswerQi is a Web-based question and answer service that can provide immediate answers or detailed support for a wide... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In explaining the steep drop in Penguin Group USA’s profits for the first six months of 2012, CEO David Shanks said one important factor was the decline in backlist sales. Borders was an important customer for Penguin’s backlist, especially its classics line, so the collapse of the chain hurt... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Total book sales fell 2.5% in 2011, to $27.2 billion, according to the latest figures released by BookStats. Revenue was down in three of the four major segments measured by BookStats—k–12, higher education, and professional/scholarly—and up slightly in trade. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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