Latest Overcast Beta Adds support for transcripts

In an exciting development for podcast fiends like yours truly, Marco Arment’s Overcast player soon will be getting support for transcripts of episodes. The announcement of the functionality was made earlier this week in the app’s Reddit, with Arment noting it’s currently a TestFlight beta and is “the first phase” of the work.

The functionality will support “most podcasts,” according to Arment’s post, with users able to swipe on the show artwork to access the text. Moreover, he noted there’s also support for live scrolling, a “tap to seek” feature, as well as music detection. Moreover, as Zac Hall reports for 9to5 Mac, Overcast’s transcripts will apply even to privatized podcast feeds—feeds like Arment’s venerable Accidental Tech Podcast members feed.

(Note to self: Absolutely resubscribe to ATP membership posthaste.)

Overcast has a special place in my heart, as has Arment himself. I’ve interviewed him about Overcast and accessibility in the past, and was part of the first beta-testing group prior to its 2014 debut. More broadly, Arment’s long been an ardent supporter of supporting disability inclusion, in principle and in practice, and I’ve shot the breeze with him several times over the years at Apple events like WWDC. He also played a seminal role in easing my transition into tech journalism in 2013, as it was he who green-lighted my first-ever byline for his Overcast predecessor in The Magazine. Nonetheless, I switched to Apple Podcasts once it gained support for transcripts because it was such as great accessibility feature that gave an audio-centric medium a bimodal dimensionality, sensory-wise. As I wrote on Mastodon earlier today, that Arment is (finally) adding transcripts to Overcast is going to woo me back to the app.

Arment also noted in his announcement post the impending transcripts will provide “the foundation of lots of great feature ideas” which include things like search, AI-powered analysis, and—in another nod to accessibility—clip-sharing with captions.

“For now, I can’t wait to get transcripts in everyone’s hands,” he said.

AppleVis Posts ‘Vision Accessibility Report Card’

My friend and fellow accessibility aesthete Shelly Brisbin reports today for Six Colors AppleVis has shared the 2025 edition of its Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card. The scorecard is, of course, a riff on the annual, canonical Six Colors Apple Report Card.

I’m not involved with AppleVis, but am a longtime contributor to the Six Colors one.

“A primary goal of our Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card is to provide blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users a platform where they can speak openly and honestly about their experience using Apple products and services. Each rating included a question that invited participants to provide written comments on the aspect being evaluated; included is an expansive and wide-ranging selection of the responses we received. Participants were given the option to have their comments be quoted anonymously or attributed to their AppleVis display name,” AppleVis said of its fourth annual survey. “Selected comments are presented in the order in which they were submitted. To ensure accurate and authentic representation of user voices, AppleVis did not edit the content (diction, grammar, spelling, etc.) of participant comments. Comments were lightly formatted to ensure readability and content accessibility.”

The so-called “executive summary” AppleVis provides at the outset is a cogent, and I think, highly instructive read. AppleVis notes, amongst other things, “dissatisfaction with software quality” among Braille and VoiceOver users, adding low vision users—a lot I’m rightly included in by association—felt strongly Liquid Glass “had a significant negative impact on the user experience for many.” Such a comment raised an eyebrow for me in context of Mark Gurman reporting for Bloomberg this past weekend the UI design language “isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” Depending on your feelings, Gurman’s story may be seen as Apple essentially putting lipstick on the proverbial pig.

(For the record, it’s my unbiased opinion pigs can be pretty damn adorable.)

Back to the AppleVis report card. The grades are interesting, but I find the commentary even more intriguing. I’ve been covering Apple at extremely close range for close to 13 years now, and I’ve definitely heard from readers who bemoan Apple’s software quality vis-a-vis accessibility. I’m not a VoiceOver user, so I can’t speak to the bugs that apparently continue to infest the screen reader, but I believe those users who speak their own truth. If nothing else, this quip from participant “Young” speaks volumes when they say “accessibility QA is becoming worse… [there are] too many bugs whenever [an] OS gets upgraded.” Their statement speaks in a tone eerily similar to those macOS diehards in the community who’ve perpetually lamented a perceived, and precipitous, decline in the quality of their beloved desktop operating system.

AppleVis, by the way, is owned by Be My Eyes, who I wrote about this morning.

Be My Eyes Announces New Accessibility Features for Meta Smart Glasses

Last week, San Francisco-based Be My Eyes (BME) announced it’s working alongside Meta to develop new accessibility features for Meta’s ever-popular Ray-Bans and Oakley smart glasses. Be My Eyes said wearers now are able to “connect hands-free to trusted friends and family groups and corporate service centers through voice.”

“The announcement builds on BME’s integration of its ‘Call a Volunteer’ capability on AI glasses at Meta Connect in September 2024,” the company wrote of the news in its press release published last Wednesday. “Since then the two companies have continued to evolve the wearable experience. Now for the first time, blind and low-vision consumers will be able to connect hands-free to trained service representatives who can see and describe what is in front of the customer and guide them step by step—whether configuring broadband equipment, navigating a hotel room, troubleshooting a device, or locating products in-store.”

The features will make tapping “trusted groups” more accessible, Be My Eyes said.

“Be My Eyes users have long been able to create private ‘Groups’—curated lists of trusted individuals such as friends, family members, or colleagues. When initiating a group call, the connection is made to the first available member rather than to an anonymous volunteer. This feature is particularly valuable for sensitive conversations, ongoing personal support, or situations requiring specialized expertise.”

In practice, Be My Eyes explained users are able to use their voice to convey a command such as “Hey Meta, Be My Eyes with [name of group or company].” The prompt then triggers the software to “recognize the request, search the user’s private groups or the public Service Directory, and initiate the appropriate connection—delivering seamless, hands-free access to human support when it’s needed most.”

As you’d expect, executives at both companies are excited by the new capabilities.

“Our collaboration with Meta goes from strength to strength, and we are proud to work alongside a partner that shares our vision of a more accessible world,” said Mike Buckley, Be My Eyes’ chief executive. “By bringing expanded group and enterprise capabilities to Meta AI glasses, we are delivering even greater independence and confidence to our community, and importantly, new strategic opportunities for global brands wanting to connect with their blind and low-vision customers”

For Meta’s part, vice president of accessibility Maxine Williams said in a statement included in the announcement “inclusive innovation guides how we build and design our products” while adding that Meta is working hand-in-hand with Buckley and his team “reflects our commitment to ensuring that emerging technologies are accessible and representative of the diversity of our more than three billion global users.”

In a similar vein, Be My Eyes also recently announced a similar project with Amtrak.

Relatedly, my friend Scott Stein wrote this week for CNET about being “still worried” about Meta’s privacy stance as it pertains to the aforementioned smart glasses. He reached out to Meta PR for more information, writing in his story the company commented in part by saying, specific to using AI, “unless users choose to share media they’ve captured with Meta or others, that media stays on the user’s device.”

“I still like the camera and audio features of smart glasses and am intrigued by the AI features coming. But I’m also very concerned by the uncertainty about where the line is drawn between what gets annotated by a third party, potentially, and what stays private. Meta’s using those third parties to help train AI, or to possibly moderate content. It’s a reminder of how cloud-based and out of our control so many AI services are,” Stein wrote this past Monday. “I get even more worried thinking about reports of Meta wanting to add facial recognition and more to its smart glasses.”

Beats Announces ‘Beats × nike’ Powerbeats Pro

Beats on Tuesday unveiled its newest collab: the $249 Beats × Nike Powerbeats Pro 2.

The earbuds will be out Friday, March 20. There’s a video with LeBron wearing them.

“Keep your head in the game (and everyone else out) with the ultimate earbuds for athletes,” Beats said of the Powerbeats in its brief product description. “The first official collaboration between two powerhouses in sport, these special-edition Nike Powerbeats Pro 2 comfortably lock onto your ears for ultimate stability and focus.”

Functionally, there’s nothing “special edition” about these earbuds apart from some obvious external visual flourishes. For all intents and purposes, they’re the exact same Powerbeats Pro 2 that came out a little over a year ago. Like the AirPods Pro 3 and refreshed AirPods Max, the Nike Powerbeats Pro feature the exact same H2 chip, USB-C and Qi charging, built-in heart rate monitoring, and sweat and water resistance.

As a journalist and avowed gadget nerd who’s also a big Nike fan, I really want to get my ears on these special Powerbeats Pro. I’ve long been intrigued by the Powerbeats Pro’s ear-hook design from an accessibility standpoint, as I’ve never used such a style of earbuds. Broadly speaking, I make it a point to somewhat keep my finger on the pulse of Apple’s subsidiary, most recently with the Beats Studio Buds+. I find Beats to be a compelling, more “sporty” alternative to AirPods and, as it turns out, iPhone cases and charging cables. In particular, the Beats-branded cables are interesting from an accessibility perspective insofar as the various colors (and braided cord) can make for more accessible use in terms of identification and grip for visual and motor acuities.

New AirPods Max Includes ‘Useful New Feature’

In more AirPods Max news, Joe Rossignol reports today for MacRumors the newly-announced headphones has a clever new feature up its proverbial sleeve. The Digital Crown on the AirPods Max 2 supports “a new Camera Remote [which] allows you to press the Digital Crown to take a photo and start or stop video recording while using Apple’s Camera app or compatible third-party camera apps on an iPhone or iPad.”

The forthcoming functionality requires iOS and iPadOS 26.4, according to Apple, of which Rossignol’s colleague in Juli Clover says today ought to be out very soon.

According to Rossignol’s story, the Digital Crown also supports the following controls:

• Turn for volume control

• Press once to play or pause media

• Press once to answer a call or mute or unmute

• Press once for camera remote

• Press twice to end a call

• Press twice to skip forward

• Press three times to skip back

• Press and hold for Siri

As to the camera shutter function, it’s interesting from an accessibility perspective. It’s reminiscent of the similarly-scoped feature of Apple’s old Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 11 line, which I wrote about back in 2020 insofar as, because Apple builds both hardware and software, it can map buttons to do what it wants in software. In the Smart Battery Case’s case, not to mention the new AirPods Max, that someone can lean on a button to take a picture or record video can be far more accessible than relying on the virtual counterpart. Especially when trying to capture a fleeting moment like a photo, a misplaced tap and/or physical tic can sometimes cause the system not to register the action—thus, you’ve missed your opportunity for preserving what may be a golden moment. By contrast, what the Digital Crown does is give users an “anchor” in the form of a tactile button to deliberately press to snap a photo or begin recording. It’s more margin, which has the byproduct of lessening cognitive load and concentration by letting the person frame the moment, etc. Is this feature worth $549? In isolation, absolutely not. But if you are someone with a disability who does like AirPods Max, that its Digital Crown can now be a shutter button simply serves adds a nice bit of extra polish to an otherwise highly accessible user experience for lots of people like me.

The more cynical lot may roll their eyes at company officials like CEO Tim Cook claiming this type of vertical integration as “something only Apple can do,” but the thing is—he’s not wrong! Apple’s almost obsessive-compulsive insistence on controlling everything it possibly can actually reaps not-insignificant benefits for accessibility. Because the company does famously control both hardware and software, it can do things like turn the AirPods Max’s Digital Crown into a shutter button—which becomes an invaluable de-facto accessibility feature in the process.

Apple Announces Next-Generation AirPods Max

In a surprise bit of news, Apple on Monday announced the AirPods Max 2. The high-end headphones, which cost $549 and will be available for purchase beginning March 25, is powered by the very same custom H2 chip found in the AirPods Pro 3, with Apple boasting the new silicon enables “more effective ANC [active noise cancellation], enhanced sound quality, and new features like Adaptive Audio and Live Translation.”

Finish-wise, the AirPods Max come in blue, midnight, orange, purple, and starlight.

“With the incredible performance of H2, AirPods Max are upgraded with up to 1.5x more effective ANC for the ultimate all-day listening experience,” Eric Treski, Apple’s director of audio product marketing, said in a statement included in the company’s Newsroom announcement. “The sound quality is remarkably clean, rich, and acoustically detailed—and when combined with capabilities like Personalized Spatial Audio, AirPods Max 2 deliver a profoundly immersive experience.”

The H2 chip, while ostensibly a minor “spec bump,” is in actuality a big deal. For one thing, AirPods Max have never been capable of driving features like Adaptive Audio and Live Translation; that they do now brings them to feature parity with their earbud siblings. Moreover, the advent of Live Translation in AirPods Max is a de-facto accessibility feature insofar as wearers can now accessibly communicate with other people in situations where a language barrier may prove insurmountable. Sometime last year, Apple sent me a pair of the then-“new” AirPods Max—in midnight, no less—so I could try out the Personalized Spatial Audio functionality. Alas, I never got around to writing about it, but I do use those AirPods Max all the time at my desk and like them better than the OG AirPods Max (in blue) I received as a birthday present back in 2022.

My quibbles with the headphones involve accessibility. Ergonomically, AirPods Max are decidedly not for the weak—literally so as they’re extremely heavy on my head. And yes, the USB-C port is a nightmare in terms of hand-eye coordination despite the nerdy drumbeat of One Cable To Rule Them All across one’s expanse of Apple products and beyond. I’m telling you, industry-wide standardization be damned, true innovation would be Apple designing a proprietary USB-C spec wherein the company somehow fuses MagSafe and USB-C. As a person with disabilities, actual practical benefits in everyday usage matter exponentially more to me than some pseudo-political interoperability standard. As it stands today, although there is a cromulent case for USB-C everywhere being a bonafide accessibility boon in terms of cognition, the usability sucks major ass unless you have typical visual acuity and fine-motor skills.

Yes, I said “sucks ass”—sometimes a well-placed curse word conveys the effect.

Anyway, AirPods Max obviously aren’t for everyone. They’re pricey, and sensory-wise, could be out for weightiness alone; regardless, I can confirm AirPods Max sound terrific and are worth the investment. Anecdotally, I see them everywhere on the heads of normal people, in the real world and on social media. To me, they can’t be that exorbitantly expensive if they’ve managed to somewhat pervade the cultural zeitgeist.

Recalling The Mac Pro Wheels’ Accessibility Story

My friend Stephen Hackett posted a linked item to 512 Pixels today about the Mac Pro Wheels Kit, which Apple sells for $699, costing just $199 on Woot today. Reading his post instantly reminded me of a story I wrote for iMore (RIP) back in June 2019 about the Mac Pro to which the wheels attach, as well as the accompanying Pro Display XDR.

“While the new Mac Pro and accompanying Pro Display XDR seemingly don’t scream ‘accessibility’ at first blush, the truth is they can prove accessible in some interesting ways,” I wrote shortly after covering WWDC—in San Jose, no less—nearly 7 years ago.

Specific to the Mac Pro’s wheels, I wrote, in part, “these wheels just may be perfect from a disability point of view” because professionals with disabilities who work in a studio environment may find the wheels make moving the computer more accessible than lifting it. As I noted, you theoretically could ask for help, but the wheels’ presence offer agency and independence—which makes $700 feel like a veritable bargain, not to mention they’re affixed to a still-for-sale $6999 machine running Apple silicon that’s almost four generations old with the M5 family shipping and the M6 on the horizon.

I continued in my iMore piece: “It sounds trivial, but wheels have the potential to be a serious assistive tool for a certain type of user. Instead of lifting, someone could just push their computer around when it’s necessary to move it. And of course, the convenience for people without disabilities stands too. The wheel is arguably the greatest invention in human history, after all.”

As to the Pro Display, what I wrote in 2019 holds up in 2026 given my experience.

“Suppose you’re visually impaired and working at Pixar or some other high-end production shop. With the release of the Mac Pro and the Pro Display XDR, you could theoretically request one of the displays as a reasonable accommodation in order for you to do your job,” I proffered presciently, as it turned out. “(Budgets will vary from company to company, but I doubt Pixar needs to pinch pennies.) The monitor’s super high resolution, contrast, and colors—combined with the Mac’s accessibility software—would make doing video work or other types of visual work much more accessible.”

The Pro Display’s resolution, contrast, colors, and size all help me do better journalism.

On the Studio Display and accessibility

Jason Snell posted his review of the refreshed Studio Display. His overall take on the “new” $1599 monitor is right there in the headline: It’s “the smallest of upgrades.”

Apple announced the second-generation Studio Display back on March 3.

What particularly caught my eye about Snell’s review is his mention of accessibility.

“Apple claims it’s a champion of accessibility,” Snell wrote this week. “But in my opinion, part of accessibility is ergonomics. Different people need displays at different heights, and we are all shaped differently. Apple’s continued insistence on shipping displays and iMacs that aren’t height-adjustable by default is frustrating. You spend all this money on a pricey Apple display and then, what, put it on an old dictionary? Meanwhile, even the cut-rate competition offers height adjustments.”

I’d argue Apple’s commitment to accessibility isn’t sheerly about offering practicality—sure, make your computers easier to use in absolute terms—but rather about offering dignity. It’s certainly laudable how Apple sells phones and laptops and earbuds and headsets that can be used by people with disabilities like myself, but it’s more laudable Apple has chosen to allocate significant resources in this way in the first place. The Americans with Disabilities Act regulates a lot, but it does not compel technology companies to make accessible products. The salient point is simply accessibility features aren’t soulless means to an end; they’re a direct reflection of a company’s value system and priorities. In Apple’s case, they’re recognizing those in the disability community as human beings who use technology like anyone else. That’s dignifying in a way, for all its warts operating as a for-profit, money-making machine, that’s absolutely non-trivial for people who already exist on the margin’s margin societally.

Philosophy aside, Snell’s critique about ergonomics is well taken. It’s true “different people need displays at different heights, and we are all shaped differently,” and as such, paying a premium for what ostensibly should be basic functionality feels needlessly punitive. Ask someone at Apple and they’d probably say the markup is due to component costs or something, but Snell is spot-on when he says height adjustability should be standard. For my usage with the discontinued Pro Display XDR, the ($5999) peripheral came with the tilt- and height-adjustable stand out of the box, and I use the feature literally every single day. In fact, I have the height at the lowest possible setting, while the display itself is ever-so-slightly tilted backwards. This setup makes the screen more accessible to me given my short-statured nature and visual tolerances. Granted, my Pro Display was an (extremely generous) Christmas gift, but even Snell’s “normal” Studio Display would be a financial stretch were I in the market and wanted the tilt-and-height customizability—and I would. Ergo, the monitor could be inaccessible both literally and practically; these are facts which, to Snell’s larger point here, sorta belie Apple’s oft-cited claim it makes its stuff accessible to everyone.

“The review unit Studio Display Apple sent me came with the height-adjustable display, and it’s glorious. That thing is a smooth, pivoting marvel of mechanical engineering, and Apple should be proud of how nice it feels to use. But it’s essentially a failure, because it adds $400 to the price of the already-expensive display. Apple should be working to engineer affordable ergonomic features on its displays and iMacs, not building luxury stands that make a $800 display cost $2000,” Snell said. “If Apple wants to charge users more for a smooth, luxury display stand, who am I to stop them? But basic height adjustment should be built in, period.”

Snell’s piece, as usual, is well worth a read in its entirety.

‘50 Years of Thinking Different’

Apple on Thursday posted a letter written by Tim Cook in which the company’s chief executive waxes romantic about Apple tuning 50 soon. As he says, the milestone birthday will come on April 1; it’s a significant event for a company that prides itself not on retrospecting the past, but instead focuses on pioneering the future above all else.

“Every invention we bring into the world is just the beginning of a story. The most meaningful chapters are written by all of you—the people who use our technology to work, learn, dream, and discover. You’ve made breakthroughs and launched businesses. You’ve cheered up loved ones in the hospital and captured your toddler’s first steps. You’ve run marathons, written books, and rekindled friendships. You’ve chased your curiosity, found your new favorite song, and shared stories that connect us all,” Cook said in his brief essay. “In your hands, the tools we make have improved lives, and sometimes even saved them. And that is what inspires us—not what technology can do alone, but everything you can do with it.”

As a lifelong disabled person and longtime Apple fan, never mind an objective technology journalist, improved lives obviously resonates deeply with me.

Apple’s accessibility efforts is an exemplar of its “make the world better” ethos.

In related news, Ryan Christoffel reports today for 9to5 Mac Apple has a new Instagram account. The @helloapple account is described as showcasing “our stories and yours,” with the account already amassing nearly 50,000 followers. As Christoffel notes, @helloapple joins the canonical @apple space and its over 36 million followers.

“The new ‘Hello Apple’ account currently has just six posts, all of which started appearing today,” Christoffel writes. “They range from a reel showing various Apple logo designs to a MacBook Neo promo, a repost of an Apple TV-F1 video, and more.”

Apple Updates Corporate Leadership Page

Marcus Mendes reported last week for 9to5 Mac Apple updated its leadership page to include Steve Lemay and Molly Anderson as vice presidents of human interface design and industrial design, respectively. (Also, Joe Rossignol reported for MacRumors SVP of services and health Eddy Cue got a new headshot to boot.) The additions of Lemay and Anderson come not long after former design boss Alan Dye departed for Meta.

At first blush, any adjustments to Apple’s corporate leadership page have ostensibly zero pertinence to accessibility. In my particular case, however, there are layers of relevance. For one thing, longtime environmental and social programs boss Lisa Jackson—whose purview included accessibility—resigned due to retirement. Jackson is someone I’d interacted with several times over the years, on social media and in person whilst at various Apple events. Perhaps the zenith of my almost 13-year journalistic career involves CEO Tim Cook, whom I interviewed for TechCrunch in 2018 for a few brief but utterly exhilarating minutes about the natural confluence of the company’s—and to this day, ongoing—accessibility and educational initiatives.

Lemay and Anderson’s ascension to Apple’s leadership ranks reminded me how, for a while, I used to stoke a feather in my cap I knew, or talked to on- and off-the-record, most everyone listed on that webpage. Besides Cook and Jackson, they include:

• Craig Federighi

• Greg Joswiak

• Phil Schiller

Not bad for someone who, to my extremely humbled knowledge, virtually pioneered covering accessibility in the technology industry as a credibly newsworthy beat.

Relatedly, Cook recently sat down at Apple Park with journalist David Pogue—whose book on Apple came out this week—to discuss, amongst other things, Apple turning 50 next month and, pertinently here, accessibility vis-a-vis technology. Say what you will about Cook’s obsequious choice to gift President Trump a gold bauble, but his comments about empowering me, as well as others in the disability community, is no empty bromide. Apple truly does see accessibility as one of its core values. As I’ve noted here and there over time, it’s long been my understanding from sources that previewing and shipping new and improved accessibility software ranks right up there with the obvious internal imperative to ship a new flagship iPhone each and every year.

Anyway, Pogue’s full conversation with Cook is well worth a watch.

Eulogizing the Pro Display XDR

I missed it last week, but my pal Chance Miller at 9to5 Mac published a eulogy of sorts for the Pro Display XDR. His piece resonated because (a) I have a Pro Display XDR; and (b) the reviews for its successor, the Studio Display XDR, dropped earlier this week.

Indeed, Apple has officially put the Pro Display XDR out to pasture.

“The Pro Display XDR has officially been discontinued. Apple’s high-end external display was first introduced in 2019 alongside a new Mac Pro, but has now been replaced by the cheaper (but better in many ways) Studio Display XDR,” Miller wrote. “The Pro Display XDR sold for a whopping $5,999 in its standard configuration. The adjustable ‘Pro Stand’ was sold separately for an additional $1,000. Until the first Studio Display launched in 2022, it was the only external display Apple made.”

Although you could perhaps argue the standard Studio Display, of either generation, would be “good enough” for my needs, I love my Pro Display so much. As I wrote in my first impressions story, I compared both while in Apple Stores many, many times over the years; for my visual needs, the Pro Display’s brightness, size, and resolution all literally looked better to me. Granted, the monitor was a (belated) Christmas gift, but that doesn’t change the core of my assessment—the Pro Display is simply more accessible. I’ve used the Pro Display for two months now, spanning two cities and two desk setups, and there’s nothing about the device I find substandard or would change.

For my needs, the circa 2019 Pro Display remains an elite screen in 2026.

Relatedly, Miller reports today the Studio Display XDR, which goes on sale tomorrow for $3299, is purportedly going to receive a software update which adds support for the monitor to be fully calibrated. The news comes from The Verge’s John Higgins, who unearthed a white paper detailing the product’s calibration options and color system. There’s no timeline for exactly when the update will be released by Apple, Miller said.

In his review posted on Monday, Higgins wrote, in part, “[users will be] able to calibrate the Studio Display XDR, which I fully expect every professional or studio to do,” adding full calibration via the forthcoming software update will enable more granular control over visual elements such as white point, color primaries, luminance, and gamma.

Fun Fact: 🇨🇦 Has a chief Accessibility Officer

One delightful factoid I recently learned is Canada has a chief accessibility officer.

According to the country’s official website, the Office of the Chief Accessibility Officer exists to “support the efforts of the CAO to monitor and report on accessibility outcomes.” The site further explains the role of CAO was established by the Canadian federal government by way of the 2019 Accessible Canada Act; Stephanie Cadieux is the first-ever CAO, having taken office in May 2022 to serve a 4-year term. Her office is under the country’s Employment and Social Development Canada agency, with her purview identified as “[acting] as a special, independent advisor to the Minister.”

The CAO will report on progress made under the Act, as well as any challenges or impediments to success, and any emerging issues with regards to accessibility. Thousands of federal departments and federally-regulated industries share responsibility for implementing the Act. The CAO will work to bring cohesion and oversight to their efforts. She will also act as a convener, collaborator, challenger, and champion for accessibility,” the government writes. “The CAO and her office will be the focal point for monitoring and reporting on progress and outcomes achieved under the Act. The office will also report on issues as they emerge or grow in scope.”

It continues: “Importantly, the CAO will also work to raise public awareness about the importance of accessibility and to change public perceptions of disability. Attitudinal barriers and unconscious biases remain some of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of an accessible future. For this reason, the CAO will frequently speak publicly and candidly about the importance of accessibility throughout society.”

Meanwhile, the United States has a Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas.

Given the current administration, it makes sense accessibility would be a low priority.

Back to our northerly neighbors. Last month, Cadieux’s office released a statement regarding the country’s third report on greater accessibility for all Canadians. In particular, Cadieux said in part maintaining accessible transport is “critical” for the 27% of citizens who cope with disabilities. Without suitable accessible transit, she added, “they are excluded from participating fully in society.”

“Being able to get where you need and want to go is key to quality of life, but for too many people with disabilities, reliable, accessible transportation remains unavailable, resulting in continuous anxiety and uncertainty in their day-to-day lives,” Cadieux said in her fuller remarks. “If people can’t even get out the door, if just getting to work safely requires extreme effort and planning around factors and barriers beyond their control, then we are missing the mark.”

Pittsburgh International Airport Nabs Universal Design Certification for Accessibility Efforts

Last month, AirportImprovement reported Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) “made history” as the first-ever airport to be awarded with a Universal Design Certification from the University of Buffalo’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, or IDEA Center. The honor “[underscores] its global leadership in accessibility, inclusivity, and human-centered design.”

“This recognition establishes PIT as a benchmark for universal design and family-friendly travel in the airport sector. It reinforces PIT’s position as not just a transportation hub, but a model for universal access and inclusive design worldwide. The certification recognizes the airport’s unwavering commitment to creating an environment that is functional, flexible, and welcoming for all travelers—regardless of age, size, ability or circumstance,” the announcement reads. “This certification also directly aligns with the airport’s newly reimagined Kids Play Area, which sets a new standard for inclusive public spaces in airports. Improvements such as the Kids Play Area reflect PIT’s dedication to making travel happier, healthier and more seamless for all.”

As you’d imagine, PIT was understandably psyched by the recognition.

“Receiving Universal Design Certification from the IDEA Center is a tremendous honor,” Siri Betts-Sonstegard, PIT’s senior vice president of experience and design, said of the news. “Our goal has always been to make Pittsburgh International Airport a place where everyone feels comfortable and capable of traveling independently. This recognition validates years of thoughtful planning, collaboration and innovation.”

As noted, PIT’s commitment to inclusivity vis-a-vis accessibility extends beyond the physical realm. The airport, through partnerships with advocacy groups, technology companies, and travelers themselves, “continues to pioneer initiatives that make flying more accessible and comfortable for families and travelers of all abilities.”

“We continue to partner with organizations that will help us uphold PIT’s mission to redefine the airport experience for everyone,” Betts-Sonstegard said.

It was this time last year when I first wrote about Pittsburgh International and interviewed CEO Christina Cassotis. My story profiled PIT employee Jason Rudge, whose son, Presley, is disabled and is namesake of the airport’s Presley’s Place. The Place is described by PIT as a “calming respite for travelers with sensory sensitivities and their families to de-escalate prior to getting on a plane or even after landing.”

Be My Eyes, Amtrak Announce ‘Major Step Forward’ for more accessible Train travel

Last month, Be My Eyes announced it was partnering with Amtrak to expand “live visual support” to more than 50 Amtrak stations nationwide. The supported locations include the two here in my home in the Bay Area—they’re in Emeryville and Oakland.

“When we launched our pilot with Amtrak in August [of last year], the goal was simple,” Be My Eyes wrote of the initiative in its announcement. “[We wanted to] make it easier for Blind and low vision travelers to navigate busy train stations in real time. Stations can be overwhelming: changing tracks, crowded platforms, hard-to-read departure boards, and unfamiliar layouts are all part of the experience.”

According to the company, the Be My Eyes app is able to assist passengers find their correct gate and/or track, decipher departure boards and other signage, and navigate large and/or unfamiliar stations. “The feedback was clear. The service helped reduce stress, supported independent travel, and proved its value in real-world journeys,” Be My Eyes said. “As a result, Amtrak has decided to scale the program nationwide.”

In its post, Be My Eyes highlights the experience of Brian, a New York-based Blind comedian and podcaster who “lost his vision later in life” from retinitis pigmentosa.

“For Blind and low vision passengers, accessibility isn’t optional—it’s essential,” Bryan Bashin, vice president at Be My Eyes, said in a statement for the company’s announcement. “Seeing this partnership grow from a pilot into a nationwide expansion shows what’s possible when accessibility is built into the travel experience.”

For Amtrak’s part, the transit company says on its own website it is steadfastly “committed to ensuring that its facilities are fully accessible and is continually working on accessibility improvements,” also noting “most stations” certainly in major cities, and around the country writ large, “are accessible to passengers with a disability.”

I reported in 2023 on Amtrak’s plans for “soliciting feedback” on its accessibility.

Apple Announces All-New MacBook Neo

Apple on Wednesday announced the star of the week’s bonanza: the MacBook Neo.

The newest member of the Mac family is a “budget,” $599 computer powered by an A18 Pro chip, the very same silicon which powered the flagship iPhone 16 Pro in 2024. MacBook Neo comes in four colors—blue, pink, silver, and yellow—and weighs 2.7 pounds. The display is a 13” Liquid Retina display, replete with 2408×1506 resolution and 500 nits of brightness. In terms of biometrics, Touch ID is a “premium” add-on available only on the $699 version which doubles disk storage from the base 256GB to 512GB. RAM-wise, MacBook Neo ships with 8GB and only 8GB (the Air starts at 16GB).

“We’re incredibly excited to introduce MacBook Neo, which delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price,” John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, said in a statement for the press release. “Built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people, MacBook Neo is a laptop only Apple could create. It features a durable aluminum design in four beautiful colors; a brilliant Liquid Retina display; Apple silicon-powered performance; all-day battery life; a high-quality camera, mics, and speakers; a Magic Keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad; and the intuitive and powerful features of macOS. There is simply no other laptop like it.”

I was not in New York City today for Apple’s hands-on media “experience”—I wasn’t invited this time, but not upset about it one iota given my personal tumult over the last few weeks—but from what I can glean from the company’s website, I think the MacBook Neo is a winner and should prove popular. I’ve gone on the record numerous times in the past about how the Walmart M1 MacBook Air is a tremendous value for budget-conscious buyers—and make no mistake, the majority of disabled people sit firmly in that category—but the MacBook Neo strikes me as, perhaps paradoxically, a premium evolution of the old M1 Air. The Neo has the modern design language of the M5 MacBook Air and Pros, comes in fun colors, and has a high value proposition. Apple obviously left out some stuff in order to meet a price (more on that in a minute), but on the whole, it’s good to see Apple addressing the entry-level market with all the premium panache they can muster whilst retaining the profit margins they adore.

From an accessibility perspective, the MacBook Neo’s (understandable) omissions become much more pronounced for prospective buyers, notably…

• No MagSafe

• No backlit keyboard

• No Force Touch on the trackpad

• No Touch ID (unless you pay up)

Of these four, I’d posit the lack of MagSafe is a backbreaker. Most people, including the journalists at the aforementioned press event, like to say MagSafe is a nicety—an amenity, like getting free breakfast with your stay at Hampton Inn. In a vacuum, MagSafe is an amenity—but it also can be a bonafide necessity. If you, like yours truly, copes with visual and motor conditions which make for lackluster hand-eye coordination, MagSafe on a MacBook Air (or an iPhone, for that matter) suddenly becomes a de-facto accessibility feature. As I’ve written, USB-C ports like on the MacBook Neo may well be ubiquitous and preferred for its One Cable To Rule Them All standardization, a cogent argument could be made that USB-C is terrible for literal usability. Inserting and removing a cable—necessary on MacBook Neo to charge the battery—on one of the USB-C ports isn’t for the faint of fine-motor skills. It takes a relatively good amount of precision and force to make sure the job is done correctly; by contrast, MagSafe removes said friction because physics does all the heavy lifting. That isn’t trivial if, say, your MacBook Neo is about dead and you really need to turn in that term paper by the due date or file that story by deadline. What I’m saying is, knowing MagSafe is there has the added benefit of lessening lots of cognitive load.

In a similar vein, that one must spend another Ben Franklin to get Touch ID may be well worth the cost because the technology makes logging in to the machine, using Apple Pay on the web, and more eminently better experiences, accessibility-wise. You needn’t have to manually type in your admin password to get into your Mac every time, for instance. At a macro level, if you’re a disabled person who needs or wants all the things the MacBook Neo lacks, then it’s probably not for you. It’s better to get the base M5 MacBook Air with the understanding you’re gonna pay more ($1099) to get more.

Personally, I’m highly intrigued by the MacBook Neo. Although my M2 MacBook Air is ostensibly better, what with its three times more RAM and MagSafe port in effectively the same body, a part of me wonders if the Neo would be good enough as a “coffee shop Mac”—something modest yet powerful that would suffice for working on stories like this one, but not as fancy as the M2 Pro MacBook Pro that powers my desk setup. At the very least, I think the silver Neo with the white keys looks clean as hell, and I’d be damned proud to carry it with me in my messenger bag to and fro said coffee shop.

Maybe Apple will send me a review unit? The MacBook Neo sure seems compelling.

Apple Unveils New M5 MacBooks, Studio Displays

Apple on Tuesday announced refreshed M5 MacBooks, as well as two Studio Displays.

First, the laptops. The MacBook Air is “supercharged,” according to Apple, by the base M5 chip and, perhaps most notably, has a higher starting price of $1099. For that extra $100, however, buyers get 512GB of storage to start, with the ability to max it out at 4TB “for the first time,” Apple said in its press release. (RAM starts at 16GB, maxing out at 32GB.) The MacBook Air, hailed by the company as “the world’s most popular laptop,” is touted as having an even stronger value proposition with its next-generation silicon.

The MacBook Pro, the 14” variant of which received the base M5 back in October, now come equipped with the souped-up M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The higher-end processors “supercharge the most demanding pro workflows,” Apple says, and notably are built using an all-new, Apple-designed “Fusion Architecture” which “combines two dies into a single system on a chip (SoC), which includes a powerful CPU, scalable GPU, Media Engine, unified memory controller, Neural Engine, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities.” Like the Air, the Pros have a higher starting price: $2199.

As for the Studio Displays… my “new” Pro Display XDR is no longer. The 32” 6K, $4999 monitor has been replaced by the $3299 Studio Display XDR, which Apple calls “the world’s best pro display.” It’s essentially identical to the base Studio Display with its 27” screen and 5K resolution, but ups the ante by using a mini-LED backlight, 2000 nits of peak brightness, and variable refresh rate of 120Hz. It also comes with the tilt- and height-adjustable stand out of the box. As my pal John Gruber writes, the standard Studio Display isn’t much different other than a better 12MP Center Stage camera.

From an accessibility perspective, the Studio Display XDR’s 120Hz panel cuts both ways. While it’s a welcome addition in terms of technological advancement, its practicality is dubious because the benefits are dependent on one’s vision. If you, like me, have low enough vision that you literally can’t tell a meaningful difference between, say, 60Hz and 120Hz, then the “advancement” is mostly academic. The gadget reviewers and YouTubers who prattle on about “120Hz or bust” on Apple devices aren’t wrong, per se, in banging their drum, but nonetheless over-emphasize the benefits in day-to-day usage because they’re not visually impaired. In other words, it hardly occurs to most that literally not everyone will, or can, notice smoother scrolling on the Studio Display XDR—not to mention ProMotion on an iPhone or iPad.

Anyway, it goes without saying I’ll be sticking with my Pro Display XDR for a while.

My MacBook Air is the M2 model from 2022. I got it as a belated Christmas gift; it has maxed-out RAM (24GB) and a 512GB SSD. It’s a great machine, updated to macOS Tahoe even, that I should really use more often—if only as an excuse to get me out of the house. The industrial design remains unchanged in the “better” M5 model, and performance-wise, plain text files and videoconferencing don’t exactly push the M2’s envelope in terms of compute power. (On my desk, my 2023 14” M2 Pro MacBook Pro is running with aplomb, however behind three generations. So it goes with technology.)

Apple Announces New iPhone 17e, M4 iPad Air

Ahead of this week’s “experience” events, Apple on Monday announced the new iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air via press releases posted to its Newsroom website.

The iPhone 17e, Apple’s successor to the iPhone SE, is hailed by the company as “[delivering] incredible value” with its A19 chip, better durability, MagSafe, and higher base storage. The $599 device, available for pre-order this Wednesday, March 4, and going on sale next Wednesday, on the 11th, comes in black, white, and pink finishes.

As I quipped on Mastodon this morning, if the 17e included the Dynamic Island, I might’ve given the phone serious consideration to be my new everyday phone—even from my awesome-in-itself iPhone Air. The 17e strikes me as giving me all the elemental things that make an iPhone an iPhone without the techie, nerdy fluff; I love tech and nerdy, to be sure, but there’s something very elegant and “premium enough” that the 17e—or the standard 17, for that matter—has (almost) everything I really and truly need to enjoy a top-tier iPhone experience. While I still nerd out over advanced camera systems, vapor chamber cooling, and more RAM of the 17 Pro, the truth of the matter is I’m not automatically inclined to chase spec sheets any longer. The iPhone Air’s single camera system is good enough. The 17e likely would be good enough were it featuring the Dynamic Island. The 17 Pro is not bad… just superfluous for my daily life, I suppose.

From an accessibility standpoint, the 17e obvious has the economic advantage of being cheaper. In terms of usability, however, the biggest win with the new phone is the inclusion of MagSafe. MagSafe instantly will make charging the phone eminently more accessible, as a person who, like me, copes with visual and motor conditions, no longer must fiddle with the tactile USB-C port to charge the battery. It’s one point of friction removed from the user experience. What’s more, the advent of MagSafe on the 17e gives buyers access to the wider MagSafe ecosystem like Apple’s MagSafe wallets.

As to the M4 iPad Air, it’s obviously a strong middle ground between the entry-level iPad and the top-tier iPad Pro. Apple describes the tablet as offering “blazing performance, more memory, enhanced connectivity, and game-changing iPadOS 26 features” to, like the iPhone 17e, give customers good value. The Air is not for me—the Pro’s OLED display clinches it for me—but it occurred to me while reading Apple’s press release the Air is a great choice, accessibility-wise, if you’re someone with low vision who needs the cheapest but biggest screen. Indeed, $799 for the 13” version with M4 and accessories like Apple Pencil and the Magic Keyboard, gives that much more credence to the notion that an iPad running iPadOS 26 could realistically serve as a highly capable “MacBook replacement” for a not-insignificant swath of people.

Instagram TV App Expands to Google TV

Ben Schoon reported last week for 9to5 Google Instagram announced its TV app has launched on Google TV. The software, focused on displaying the ever-popular Reels, arriving on Google TV was announced on Threads by Instagram leader Adam Mosseri.

“The Instagram app is available for Google TV via the Play Store now, freely available for download for anyone who wishes to install it,” Schoon wrote last Wednesday. “The app even supports sign-in without a password by approving sign-in through a phone connected to the same network.”

As I wrote in December when Instagram TV launched on Fire TV, that Reels are available on the big screen is a big deal for accessibility. Even on an ostensibly “large” phone screen, such as the one on my iPhone Air, a television’s screen is orders of magnitude larger than a smartphone’s. If you, like me, lose all sense of time and space by watching umpteenth Reels in the canonical Instagram app on the phone, having it available on a TV at least makes the time-sucking experience more visually accessible.

As a devout Apple TV 4K user, I don’t have access to Instagram TV right now; it’s curious to me, especially since, as Schoon notes, Instagram TV is exclusive to the United States, that Instagram chose Fire TV (!) and then Google TV as its gradual rollout strategy without tvOS in the mix. By contrast, it feels as though upstart streaming services always have a presence on tvOS upon their initial launch. In any case, Reels on my iPhone is not necessarily a worse experience—I’m merely pointing out how the old adage that “bigger is better” absolutely applies here, and aptly so. Whenever in the future Instagram does release the tvOS app, I’ll surely be downloading it posthaste.

Instagram TV is now available on the Google Play Store.

Xcode Update Adds support for Agentic Coding

Marcus Mendes reported for 9to5 Mac this week Apple released a significant update to Xcode. The new version, 26.3, notably adds support for agentic coding agents such as Anthropic’s Claude Agent and OpenAI’s Codex, and more. The newfound functionality is intended to “speed up all aspects of app development,” according to Mendes.

“As promised, Apple is rolling out Xcode 26.3 today, with support for agentic coding,” he wrote on Thursday. “In practice, this means developers can now plug AI tools such as OpenAI’s Codex or Anthropic’s Claude Agent directly into Xcode to help with tasks ranging from writing boilerplate code to updating the entire project based on its own documentation, file structure, and more.”

For Apple’s part, the company says tools like Claude Agent and Codex has the ability to work collaboratively with developers by giving them “the power to streamline workflows, iterate faster, and bring ideas to life like never before” [as well as] “search documentation, explore file structures, update project settings, and verify their work visually by capturing Xcode Previews and iterating through builds and fixes.”

Apple has posted a video to YouTube all about Xcode 26.3.

From an accessibility standpoint, this week’s news is a big deal. If you’re a developer with, say, visual and motor disabilities, the fact Xcode now supports integration with these AI models means software development could become eminently more accessible. You don’t always have to manually search for an API’s documentation. You don’t have to manually write dozens of lines of code at once. These are not trivial considerations, and serve as a prime example of artificial intelligence being used for genuine good. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve leaned heavily onto ChatGPT in recent months to help generate custom CSS and JavaScript code to enhance Curb Cuts. I’m not a professional programmer, so not only did I outsource the knowledge, the accessibility win was I literally used the “Copy code” button in the chat window and literally just copy-and-pasted the code into my Squarespace backend. In practical terms, it saved me from rubbing up against a lot of cognitive/motor/visual friction in trying to Google search everything and cobble together everything I needed all by myself. Ergo, ChatGPT was a bonafide assistive technology for my design project.

Xcode 26.3 comes after OpenAI released its Codex app for macOS early this month.

New iOS, tvOS 26.4 Betas Add Accessibility Options

Apple has added a couple noteworthy accessibility-minded features to the forthcoming iOS and tvOS 26.4 software updates, according to recent reports.

Jeff Benjamin writes for 9to5 Mac this week iOS 26.4 Beta 2 includes a new Reduce Highlighting Effects option (in Accessibility → Display & Text Size) which Benjamin posits “will tweak the spectral highlights of the Liquid Glass display aspects.” I’m not running betas any longer—bless the people on social media who ride or die on the beta train—but his speculation feels right to me; Liquid Glass gives interface elements a glossy, shiny quality in various instances, which can make for tougher determination for people with certain visual disabilities. At a macro level, Reduce Highlighting Effects perfectly aligns with the other customization options Apple has introduced for Liquid Glass since last year. As I quipped in Jason Snell’s Apple Report Card, these aforementioned display tweaks serves as tacit acknowledgment from the company that the “idealized” Liquid Glass shown off at WWDC last June went too far, so the new options are signs of correction. Liquid Glass notwithstanding, that iOS 26.4 does include a new accessibility setting also is a telltale sign that Apple’s work on assistive technologies decidedly isn’t contained to one day a year, on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. To quote my pal (and GAAD co-founder) Joe Devon, accessibility should matter the other 364 days of the year—a sentiment Apple surely understands.

As to Apple TV 4K, Ryan Christoffel reports for 9to5 Mac this week tvOS 26.4 adds a new feature which makes editing the visual styles of subtitles—ahem, captions—easier and more accessible. What historically was “buried” under Accessibility, as Christoffel wrote, is now available right from the system’s native video player. Crucially, he rightly motes “any app that uses the default tvOS video player will benefit from the feature.” I don’t mind the stock styling, but this enhancement seems like a good one. A person can edit text styles without necessarily leaving the program they’re currently watching.