I just realized a very cruel joke someone could play on a blind person- Buy them an ipod touch. How the hell would they be able to use it? Beats me.

Sam_Zebian

@unkpku is think that new comments are like iPhone 3G pre 2....: Hehehe :D

Good one, it slipped past me until you mentioned it.

Mikael

This is clearly to help the "blind follower's" of the almighty Apple.

ho ho ho, puns...

(I do love my mac very much)

Rattierevolution

"White Overlords"

Seriously.

Did you think about that?

unkpku is think that new comments are like iPhone 3G pre 2.1, yeah it sucks

good job apple

bagellord

That's pretty sweet. Event though the program is meant to benefit blind customers, I wouldn't mind using it to call commands across a room instead of touching a remote.

"iTunes, play disco fever volume four please."

evangelistc01

@MadColombian:
Damn straight! How far are people willing to go just for market share? Damn those evil greedy bastards for wanting to actually put out a product the handicapped can use!

DisposableInterloper

Um. Dont buy into the evilness. This is obviously to increase their marketshare.

MadColombian

Where's the closed captioning? I'd love that for shows so I could watch without headphones while I wait for stuff. There's nothing in any of the show or movie details that indicate closed caption availability though.

ShadowBottle

It wouldn't surprise me to see Apple make a iPod that works for the Deaf.

Emiat

@MadColombian: So cynical! Though this was mandated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Apple has attempted "Universal Access" from their start.

nocar

An iPod for the deaf, now that would be a challenge.

BasicBlack

@ShadowBottle: Close captioning would be a very nice feature especially for in school and such where head phones are obvious and speakers are to loud.

Avizzv92

@unkpku is think that new comments are like iPhone 3G pre 2....: Comment of the week

chorx

@MadColombian: Compared to the mongers in Wall-Street, I think the folks at Apple Inc. are the last people you'd want to call evil. I mean, think about all the Senators filling their pockets with taxpayer money!

evangelistc01

@Sam_Zebian:

Easy, each icon would have haptic feedback of the different materials jobs use on this turtlenecks.

wetworker

@Sam_Zebian: But doesn't the 2nd Gen iPod Touch support the mic? Apple could make include a voice driven command interface as with the nano.

evangelistc01

@ShadowBottle: on my iPod Touch, I just went to settings --> video and there is a slide-select for closed captioning.

SkipBlue

@Avizzv92: Good to see people going to school to learn.

SgtToastie

@evangelistc01: Designing for accessibility usually provides rewards for all, not just those who have impairments.

brutek

someone over at apple saw those blindness previews and want market share in case it really happens

purple-pillows

@Emiat:

I was thinking the same thing as I read the headline!

bosspants

Wouldn't that be like taking the eyes away from a non-blind person? I mean...iPods are for 'on the go' music. When a blind person is 'on the go', shouldn't they be dedicating their remaining senses to being 'on the go'?

TriZz

iBlind.

takashimiike 7

@Daniel: [www.instantrimshot.com]

Seinosuke

@Daniel: But of course! The Voice will say...

"Ohh pretty colors, pretty colors, pretty colors."

:P

Jon B.

Even the visualizer? =P

Daniel

This is good news. Apple was always ahead in accessibility. OS X is great with voice over and other cool things you can make programs do just by talking.

vgart

This is gonna be interesting, even though I'm not blind I think I might want to try this.

thefutureisnow

@SgtToastie: Learn? At school? What the heck is lifehacker for if we're learning at school?

@SkipBlue: Awesome as it is that it's in there, there's no closed captioning in videos that anyone can be aware of for some reason. It's an option in iTunes as well, but it doesn't seem to do anything for any of the movies or TV shows I've bought...

The Amazing Ant

@BasicBlack: Once your iPod stops working you'll have one.

Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude

EXCELLENT. While we get caught up with useless stuff, disability-helpers always end up neglected. Hopefully they will bring a ton more voice commands for their products and finally get rid of keyboards.

VakeroRokero

@Emiat: The iPod touch can work for the deaf. Just use it for the internet and close caption video.

Kaiser-Machead

Excellent news! Blind people must be so excited. Imagine not being to listen to your music/audiobooks/movies (which I would think would be important to a blind person, and yes, some blind people listen to movies) while at work, or on a plane, or on a long car ride...but everyone else gets to...

redkamel

While their at it, why not made deaf compatible headphones?

Stacky Botrus

But what about their dogs?

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

@takashimiike 7: inotlaughing

Beta @ Random

This is cool. Just thinking aloud though: wouldn't blind people need some help, perhaps, setting it up? Even to know these features exist.. even their relatives might not be so tech-savvy. Or read Gizmodo.

It would be a cool thing to volunteer for- to assist blind people in learning how to set up their playlists and audiobooks, and learn how to use them. It would take some training for the sighted even- we don't think much about it I guess. But I do know If ever I was to go blind, i'd be hugely motivated to find some enjoyment in music and audiobooks. Hm..

Baroness

I know a blind family friend (macular degeneration) who has had an iPod since '01. It will be nice for him to know what is playing. His ipod classic has been a glorified shuffle for too long.

tommo

It's too bad blind people can't read this...

Pwnage

@Pwnage: yes they can, if they the right equipment.

sos10

This is why Apple doesn't need ads to make them appear to be more human. They just are.

direi

Now if only itunes was semi usable, and didn't fight vista for control of my system.

QuiterieMullimbimby

@Stacky Botrus:

Headphones ARE pretty much "deaf-compatible"... they function the same way as hearing aids, just turn up the volume a little bit higher than what would be normal for hearing people. There are also headphones out there that you can plug in your own hearing aids as well.

Deaf people are more concerned about having every single movie and tv show closed captioned on iTunes!

iananthony

@BasicBlack:

That's a common misconception that deaf people can't use iPods. Actually, think about it... you use headphones to listen to your music on the iPod, right? Headphones function pretty much the same way as hearing aids. You just need to bring up the volume higher than what would be necessary for a hearing person and perhaps raise the bass a bit.

iananthony

Ian - Wow, I thought deaf meant like, you can't hear a damn thing. No matter how high the volume is. Correct me if I'm wrong here.....

SadiquaQuincy

the dub group at the Univ. of Washington is doing some AMAZING work on this: they actually have software that lets you "read the screen with the finger" as you scroll down an email list (which is not even visible on the screen in the prototype) you hear the messages read to you, it's incredibly efficient (at least the video i saw) and can totally imagine it becoming the "VoiceOver" option for iPhone. I saw a presentation at seattle infocamp by Jacob O. Wobbrock and the only bad news is that apparently such revolutionary advances take on average 15 years to make it to the mainstream

AldisOpossum

@Pwnage: You'd be amazed as to what blind people can do these days with technology. One of my friends in school had a blind TA for her intro to computer programming class. He was actually fairly helpful, as he helped me on one of my assignments.

dangster

Loads of blind people are tech-savvy and are able to utelise most of the functionality of iTunes. There are some blind people though who haven't been so lucky who as you explain don't have an understanding of even the basics of music software. Often due to becoming blind in later life, not having access to speshalist computer training or other reasons . Helping out these people is incredibly worth while and would make a massive impact to someones life.@tommo:

willthoms

Seriously, this is an absolutely token move from Apple. Have you seen the application compatibility list from them? IT DOES NOT EVEN INCLUDE iWork! It does not include MS Office. It does not include OpenOffice or ANY mainstream office software. It supports Mariner, but I have Mariner Write, and it lacks significant features. How are blind users supposed to get anything done? OH WAIT - Remote Desktop Connection works, so you can connect to a PC with a screen reader software package installed on it! Yay!

ALL THIS DOES is allow blind people to buy music from the iTunes store. I hate to say it, but Windows XP/Vista along with one of several screen readers is still much more accessible than OSX with VoiceOver. They also need to add speech menus to the ipod nano.

coryhamma