Hosted by Shelly Brisbin.
Why don’t the worlds of mainstream tech and accessibility tech ever seem to collide? Shelly Brisbin, who keeps one foot in each, wants to know. She and her guests from both worlds chew over the news and trends of the day, mixing in an accessibility perspective.
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Latest Episodes
#49: Voices in the Cloud
May 11th, 2021 · 40 minutes
In its second-larges acquisition ever, Microsoft is buying Nuance Communications. Variously identified as a cloud AI company and a purveyor of speech-to-text tools like Dragon, Nuance is a leader in voices for screen readers. So. What does it all mean?
#48: The Trouble with Accessibility Overlays
April 29th, 2021 · 45 minutes
Traditionally, making web sites accessible to all began with coding pages to follow established standards from the W3C. Developers can also go further to support screen reader users, people with low vision, cognitive disabilities, ADHD and more. Now, AI has been applied to this task in the form of server-side software called accessibility overlays…
#47: It All Comes Down to Cats
March 20th, 2021 · 85 minutes
A platform that first entered many people's consciousness as the social network for teens and younger has become a place many creators and viewers find joy, and respite from some of the more toxic aspects of social media. We're talking TikTok.
#46: Welcome to the Clubhouse
February 27th, 2021 · 88 minutes
Clubhouse is the buzzy, audio-only social network with lots of venture funding and problematic privacy policies. Some call it "talk radio," – not a compliment – some say it could replace podcasts, and some are just trying to have an accessible experience. This episode was recorded inside Clubhouse with a few guests you've heard before on Parallel,…
#45: Like a Friend Sitting on My Shoulder
February 17th, 2021 · 33 minutes
Seeing AI, an app for iOS that provides AI-driven information to users with blindness and visual impairments, debuted to rapturous reviews in 2017. Born during a hacking competition at Microsoft, Seeing AI has been features on the main stage at Build, and is now maintained by a dedicated team within the company. The latest version takes advantage …
#44: CES: In These Virtual Times
January 27th, 2021 · 33 minutes
What's it like to cover the biggest tech trade show of the year when it's virtual? We talk with Daily Tech News Show's Tom Merritt about how he did it, what he saw, and what he hopes for the next time CES rolls around. How big were the TVs, how many phones folded and was the accessibility buzz any louder than usual?
#43: What Do Jazz Hands Look Like?
January 23rd, 2021 · 44 minutes
Audio description – the process of explaining aspects of the visual world for the benefit of people with blindness or visual impairments, is usually a one-directional process, where the describer explains and the listener consumes. But a pair of podcasters wanted to make the process more dynamic, giving the AD consumer a way to ask questions about…
#42: Getting Productivity Done
December 29th, 2020 · 67 minutes
What does it mean to have a productivity system? For many, Getting Things Done provides structure and a method. Your host is a stranger in this land of systems, having used her own methods and digital tools to manage time and projects, but never taken up a system. On this episode, two guests explain how a systematic approach has improved their liv…
#41: A Tech Year in Review
December 15th, 2020 · 88 minutes
From the technology impacts of COVID-19 to the ways Apple succeeded and didn't, here's Parallel's sendoff of 2020.
#40: iPhone 12/12 Pro Review part 2: Why LIDAR Matters
November 16th, 2020 · 41 minutes
In the second installment of my review of the new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, I take some new accessibility features for a spin, including people detection, screen recognition, image description and text recognition.