ACO

A recurring thought I've had regard the Accessibility Ontario Act - we need a compliance officer in order for this law to have any teeth.

Under the AODA, the deputy minister has the power to appoint inspectors. The inspector’s job is to see if persons and organizations are meeting the accessibility standards and/or complying with the Act and its regulations.

The AODA lists all of the activities that an inspector can carry out to determine if the organization is complying with a standard. For example, inspectors can make an inspection at any time during regular business or daylight hours. They have the power to ask for anything or speak with anyone about anything that relates to the inspection. They may also ask someone who has expert knowledge on a topic (e.g., an architect) to help with an inspection.

An inspector can also apply to a justice of the peace to issue a search warrant if it is needed.

It is an offence for anyone to try to prevent an inspection in accordance with a search warrant, refuse to answer questions, provide false or misleading information, or deliberately not give information during the course of an inspection [PART IV, sections 18 – 20]. Source Link:

Airpods = Hearing Aids?

 

I certainly am aware of the cost of traditional prescription hearing aids. I applaud Apple for figuring out the software algorithms to allow their 2nd generation AirPods to function similarly to over the counter hearing aids. Having options is always a good thing. Good work, Apple.

You can head over to YouTube to watch this CBS News feature.

Quitting The Smartphone Race?

 

The first "smartphone" I ever owned was the Nokia N8. It had a 12 MP camera - in 2010, that was groundbreaking at the time. This was my real introduction to digital photography. Since then, I have owned phones with progressively more powerful chip sets, and then more capable cameras. The Lumia 1020 blew me away with its 41 MP main camera in 2013. Those were some large strides and my interest was piqued.

A disturbing trend began when Apple decided to charge $1000 for their iPhone X. In my mind, that's when the glass ceiling broke (see what I did, there?) and Samsung & others jumped on the bandwagon marketing "premium" phones. They've now become so commoditized, if you don't have a smartphone, there must be something wrong with you. No, there's something wrong with a mindset of changing something like a phone every couple of years. Perhaps it's FOMO - fear of missing out, status symbol, whatever.

I began thinking about this much more seriously 4 years ago when it came time to purchase a new phone. I ended up choosing a Pixel 5 because I wanted to experience their camera system & software. Likewise, I was impressed, and I've learned more about computational photography since I started with the N8. The time has come again for me to "upgrade" to another phone because of software obsolescence - the Pixel's support was only 3 years. I loved everything about that model - it's pocket-able size, great camera and software experience. The most recent Pixel 9 launch in Canada has every model priced above $1000.00 CAD - these are not cheap phones. Neither are most models from Samsung or Apple. Today’s smartphones are fully capable computers – some are as powerful as laptops and can replace those items for some people. I already have a desktop PC and a tablet – there may be some unnecessary duplication going on here.

I get it! It's convenient, but more than that it's convergence, and Nokia was one of the first to do that with its N75. It was a phone, camera, media player all in one. However, it was a niche device and most folks still got by with point and shoot cameras and dumb phones. I'm thinking of going back to that.

Recently, I switched my SIM into a spare dumb phone to check that it still works. It's got 4G/LTE connectivity, Bluetooth and works with my hearing aids. It cost about $100.00 when new and its small. I'm realizing now that what I was looking for in an upgrade was a better camera - so I think perhaps I'm going to do more research on an excellent camera instead. I enjoy taking pictures more than taking phone calls, anyway.

Disney

There are still Disney movies from when I was a child that I haven't seen, because they didn't have captions.

Can't read cartoon lips.

Pleasant Discovery

Last night I made a pleasant discovery. The Bluetooth antenna in this PC works very well under Linux Mint - as long as I remain within range, of course.

I've been relying on my Xbox wireless headset heavily for the last couple of years & it's begun to deteriorate. Out of curiosity, I tried pairing my hearing aids with the PC and IT WORKED! The signal is much stronger than it ever was under Win10, and it doesn't stutter as much. I will be able to experience a bit more nuance and richness, clarity in sound, even.

Nice to know I have a higher-fidelity fall back. Thanks, Linux.

ASL is not a Foreign Language

 

If you want ASL to be taught in a mainstream way, they need to stop treating it as a "foreign language", which is what most school systems in the United States have it listed as.