Apple Execs Kate Adams, Lisa Jackson to Depart

The times, they keep a-changin’ for Apple.

Following the news earlier this week that John Giannandrea and Alan Dye would be moving on, Apple on Thursday announced two more members of its leadership group would be leaving in the not-too-distant future. Kate Adams, Apple’s top lawyer, and Lisa Jackson, who leads the company’s environmental and social initiative programs, both will be retiring in 2026. In Adams’ case, she’ll be replaced by Jennifer Newstead; Newstead previously worked as Meta’s chief legal officer and joins Apple next month.

Curb Cuts typically isn’t the place to read hot executive turnover news and analysis, but this week’s moves by Apple warrant exceptions for accessibility’s sake. Indeed, the exception game certainly applies in Jackson’s case, as her purview of social initiatives obviously includes accessibility. In journalistic terms, covering accessibility as I have for close to 13 years is decidedly unglamorous and non-conducive to scoops or “sources said” reporting—although I’ve had my moments in my career. That said, I can dutifully report my understanding from various sources over time during Jackson’s tenure in Cupertino is that she has long been an ardent supporter of Apple’s accessibility efforts, both in engineering and in inclusivity. Moreover, I’ve interacted with Jackson on more than one occasion, before and after media events, to exchange pleasantries and the like. During those times, Jackson has herself been emphatic about empowering the disability community and just the technical marvels so many of the actual accessibility features truly are. While Sarah Herrlinger is Apple’s public “face” when it comes to accessibility, akin to Craig Federighi with software writ large and, externally, to Jenny Lay-Flurrie at Microsoft, Jackson, from everything I’ve been told, is very much an internal champion of the cause as the proverbial sausage is being made.

Apple can be rightly criticized for lots of things—including, yes, in the accessibility space (see: Liquid Glass). But Apple’s work in accessibility is the furthest thing from performative or an empty bromide. Top to bottom, Apple truly does care about this shit.

“Apple is a remarkable company and it has been a true honor to lead such important work here,” Jackson said in a statement for Apple’s press release. “I have been lucky to work with leaders who understand that reducing our environmental impact is not just good for the environment, but good for business, and that we can do well by doing good. And I am incredibly grateful to the teams I’ve had the privilege to lead at Apple, for the innovations they’ve helped create and inspire, and for the advocacy they’ve led on behalf of our users with governments around the world. I have every confidence that Apple will continue to have a profoundly positive impact on the planet and its people.”

COO Sabih Khan will oversee Jackson’s charges following her departure, Apple said.

Google Announces Latest Android Accessibility Enhancements in new blog post

Google commemorated this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities earlier this week by publishing a blog post in which the company detailed “7 ways we’re making Android more accessible.” The post was written by Julie Cattiau, Google’s product manager for Android accessibility.

“In celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities tomorrow, we’re excited to share several new accessibility features on Android that make it easier to see your screen, communicate with others and interact with the world,” Cattiau wrote.

The marquee feature mentioned in Google’s post is what Cattiau calls “an expanded dark mode.” The system will use dark mode even in apps that don’t support it natively, with Cattiau touting the expansive effect “creates a more consistent and comfortable viewing experience, especially for people with low vision or light sensitivity.”

(This expanded dark mode is something I wish Apple adds to iOS sooner than later.)

Elsewhere, Google’s post walks through improvements to Expressive Captions, which can now “detect and display the emotional tone of speech,” which notably includes videos uploaded to YouTube after October. There’s also better voice dictation for the TalkBack screen readers, as well as more accessible pairing and setup of hearing aids, and a much more robust, Gemini-powered Guided Frame in the Pixel camera app.

The enhanced accessibility features coincide with Google’s December Pixel Drop.

Apple Design Chief Alan Dye Leaves for Meta

Mark Gurman at Bloomberg shared a blockbuster scoop today: Alan Dye has left Apple.

"Meta Platforms Inc. has poached Apple Inc.’s most prominent design executive in a major coup that underscores a push by the social networking giant into AI-equipped consumer devices,” Gurman reported earlier on Wednesday. “The company is hiring Alan Dye, who has served as the head of Apple’s user interface design team since 2015, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple is replacing Dye with longtime designer Stephen Lemay, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the personnel changes haven’t been announced.”

When reached for comment, Apple gave Bloomberg a statement from CEO Tim Cook.

“Steve Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” Cook said in the statement. “He has always set an extraordinarily high bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s culture of collaboration and creativity.”

Dye’s departure—he starts his gig as Meta’s chief design officer on New Year’s Eve—marks the second time this week a senior Apple executive is making an exodus. On Monday, the company announced AI boss John Giannandrea would be leaving his post while naming Amar Subramanya, who left Microsoft for Apple, as his replacement.

I have nothing substantively to add towards the analysis of Dye’s tenure in Cupertino. I can say, however, Jason Snell’s story on today’s news is well worth a read. What I will share, though, is I had a chance to speak with Dye once in the recent past, albeit off the record. Back in September 2022, at the iPhone 14 launch event at Apple Park, I got to spend maybe 5–10 minutes in the hands-on area conversing with Dye all about the then-new Dynamic Island. I remember feeling excited about the accessibility prospects of the new feature during its reveal, and I told Dye exactly that. His eyes were locked onto mine as I explained to him how and why I thought the Dynamic Island would be beneficial to me as a person with disabilities, and he seemed genuinely moved and fascinated by my first take thoughts. Like every other Apple executive I’ve spoken to, on or off the record—Cook included—Dye responded by telling me accessibility is a company-wide value, adding his team works closely with its comrades in Accessibility.

From an accessibility point of view, I can’t help but wonder if the aforementioned Lemay will step into his role and similarly embrace accessibility’s vital part in good product design—much in the same vein to how I think about how Cook’s eventual successor will sustain, and possibly evolve, Apple’s pledge of support to the disability community.

Maybe Dye’s exit (and Lemay’s ascension) will be a “coup” for disabled people?

‘MLB: The Show’ Coming to Phones

In other video game news, my pal Zac Hall reports today for 9to5 Mac the long-running popular baseball simulation title, MLB: The Show, is soon coming to mobile devices.

“With the 20th anniversary of the game’s first release approaching, MLB: The Show is coming to iPhone for the first time… the team calls it ‘a new standalone experience built from the ground up to deliver realistic baseball gameplay on mobile devices,’” Hall said.

Hall also notes the game’s developer, San Diego Studios, posted on X with the big news and announced MLB: The Show is launching first in the Philippines, adding “this is step one [and] we’re testing, learning, and building toward broader availability.”

MLB: The Show on mobile requires iOS 26, with San Diego Studios noting gamers get to enjoy “enhanced graphics, increased frame rates, and higher resolutions” on iPhone 16 and later,” according to Hall. Neither an iPad version nor cross-platform play is planned.

San Diego Studios has posted a trailer video to YouTube, which I’ve embedded below.

As a diehard baseball fan—the sport is my first love—I have a couple recent versions of MLB: The Show for my PlayStation 5. It’s incredible how realistic the gameplay is, particularly the unique batting stances and pitching motions for each player. Likewise, the ballparks also are incredibly detailed. As someone who grew up playing myriad sports titles on the Sega Genesis—now the Mega Sg—I’m continually awestruck by how far graphic-rendering technology has progressed over the last 30–35 years. They make MLB: The Show a great franchise and a ton of fun to play. No word on accessibility features for the phone version of MLB: The Show, but it’d be cool for them to be there.

Electronic Arts Announces More Accessibility Patents Join Patent Pledge Commitment

Redwood City-based Electronic Arts (EA) announced on Wednesday the addition of eight new patents to its ongoing Patent Pledge for Accessibility. The additions bring the total number of patents to 46, and coincides with the 5-year anniversary of the Pledge.

“Through the Pledge, we share our accessibility-centered technology with the wider industry so that together we can meet the needs of our diverse gaming community,” EA says of the Patent Pledge. “It covers some of our most innovative technologies designed to break down barriers for players with disabilities. This includes those with vision, hearing, speaking or cognitive conditions. Better yet, all this IP has been shared royalty-free, which means you won’t need to pay royalties or license fees to use it.”

According to EA, there are four foundational technologies covered in the aforementioned eight new patents. The technologies are: (1) intent-based models for select actions; (2) expressive speech audio generation; (3) robust speech audio generation; and (4) speech prosody audio generation. In particular, the intent-based model technology is the underpinning for the Grapple Assist feature in EA Sports UFC.

Elsewhere, the company also noted enhancements to its open-source Fonttik accessibility tool. There are “new colorblindness simulation filters to the existing text size and contrast analysis technology,” according to Electronic Arts.

EA said today marks “another advancement in [the company’s] mission to inspire the world to play through a commitment to making video games accessible to everyone.”

“Our aim over the past five years has been to create more accessible gameplay experiences for everyone, no matter how or where they play, and open up video games to as wide an audience as possible,” Kerry Hopkins, EA’s head of global affairs, said in a statement. “The accessibility patent pledge is a valuable, whole-industry resource with royalty-free solutions for various use cases, including speech recognition and generation, photosensitivity analysis, and color blindness adjustments. We are proud to enable developers to reach more players with these technologies.”

Apple Releases ‘I’m not remarkable’ short film

Apple on Tuesday released a new film, called I’m Not Remarkable (embedded below).

The short film, brought to life by the same creative team behind another Apple accessibility film in 2022’s The Greatest, is a music video of sorts for the song “I’m Not Remarkable” by Kittyy & The Class. As the film is from Apple and thus partly a vehicle for product marketing, the film shows off things like iPhone and Apple Watch running accessibility features such as VoiceOver on iOS and AssistiveTouch on watchOS, respectively. Additionally, Apple has a new webpage which complements the video.

Messaging-wise, I’m Not Remarkable is, in fact, rather remarkable as it pushes back on long-held societal stereotypes about people with disabilities. It puts forth the idea that those in the disability community—yours truly included—are first and foremost human beings like anyone else who happen to use (Apple’s) technology to access a world unbuilt for us. We’re just people trying to live our lives like everyone else on this planet.

Moreover, a cogent argument could be made, again, that Apple’s accessibility software is technically remarkable unto itself. Armchair analysts and Wall Street types love to flog the company for a perceived lack of innovation, especially lately regarding artificial intelligence, but the reality is a big driver of Apple innovation lies in accessibility. It’s truly an incubator of innovation, what with features like the iPadOS pointer and Apple Intelligence’s Type to Siri tracing its origins back to ostensibly esoteric, niche assistive technologies. In both cases, they were “handed off” internally by the Accessibility group to the wider OS team so to be further massaged for more mainstream use cases.

the action button Makes ChatGPT More Accessible

Tim Hardwick reported last week for MacRumors the ChatGPT app on iOS can be opened by the Action Button on iPhone. This means, Hardwick wrote, users can “use it to jump straight into a spoken conversation, giving you quick, hands-free access to a far more capable assistant.” Apple added the Action Button with iPhone 15 Pro in 2023.

“A long press of the Action button will now open ChatGPT’s voice mode. The first time you activate it, the app may request microphone access. Tap Allow to proceed. After that, you can begin speaking immediately,” Hardwick said in his piece last Friday. “A recent update means voice conversations now take place inside the same chat window as text-based prompts, instead of switching to a separate voice-only interface. Responses appear in real time, combining spoken output with on-screen text and any visuals the model generates. This keeps your conversation’s context intact and makes switching between typing and speaking smoother.”

I decided to cover this piece because of accessibility, of course. Although I’ve sung the praises of Google’s Gemini numerous times in the past, I recently put the aforementioned ChatGPT app on my iPhone Air’s Home Screen and have been really liking it. It feels “smarter” than Gemini, and I like how there’s a certain symmetry to using ChatGPT for my AI wonts since OpenAI is for now the sole backend provider for Apple Intelligence. From an accessibility perspective specifically, that it is possible to map ChatGPT to the Action Button can make it an eminently more accessible way to launch the app—even more than my current setup of the Home Screen app and widget. (I prefer to use the Action Button to launch Magnifier.) If you’re someone with a disability who relies on ChatGPT for general knowledge or performing tasks such as note-taking, tying it to the Action Button makes sense for accessibility and expediency.

Relatedly: Allen Pike’s blog post on the greatness of the ChatGPT app for Mac.

OLED iPad mini Announcement Could Come In ‘Third or Fourth Quarter’ of 2026, Report Says

Ryan Christoffel reported for 9to5 Mac this week Apple’s likely to launch an OLED-equipped iPad mini during the third or fourth quarter of 2026 “at the earliest.” The speculative release timing comes from a series of posts on Weibo by a leaker in China.

Mark Gurman has said the OLED iPad mini could come “as early as next year.”

“The last couple of iPad mini models have been released in October and September, respectively,” Christoffel wrote on Wednesday. “So a fall launch for the new OLED model would be consistent with [the purported release timeframe].”

As someone who’s (a) used to OLED on nearly every screen sans my Retina 4K iMac; and (b) who’s itching to downsize from my current M4 13” iPad Pro, news of an OLED iPad mini is damn exciting. I still have the A17 Pro iPad mini that I reviewed last year, which I’ve been dallying with again recently as my “couch computer” and have enjoyed the rekindled experience very much. To reiterate a sentiment I shared a little over a year ago in my aforementioned review, the mini, in my mind, “represents the purest expression of Jobs’ original conceit for the tablet,” adding “the reality is iPad mini truly is a nigh-perfect device for doing the things Jobs said tablets excelled at.” Since an OLED iPad mini doesn’t exist right now, the next best thing would be an 11” M5 iPad Pro, which is tempting too—but the fact remains, as I also said last year, an iPad mini with an OLED screen is the Platonic ideal for me when it comes to my day-to-day tablet usage.

Walmart Now Selling M1 MacBook Air for $549

Joe Rossignol reported this week for MacRumors Walmart is selling the M1 MacBook Air, brand-new, for $549 as part of its Black Friday sales. The laptop was amongst the first Mac machines fitted with Apple’s homemade silicon, announced in November 2020.

Walmart’s M1 MacBook Air is the base configuration, featuring 8GB RAM and 256GB solid-state storage, in silver and space gray. Gold is sold out as of this writing.

“Apple discontinued the MacBook Air with the M1 chip last year, after it launched models with the M3 chip, and it has since updated the MacBook Air with the M4 chip,” Rossignol wrote on Tuesday. “Prior to being discontinued, the model with the M1 chip was being sold for a starting price of $999 brand new, but Amazon sometimes offered it on sale for $899 or less.”

As Rossignol rightly notes, the M1 Air is extraordinarily competent despite being 5 years old now. I covered a similar price drop of the computer back in August, and the points I made in that story are worth reiterating here. In terms of literal accessibility, buying power-wise, the $549 price tag on the M1 Air has a stratospherically high value proposition. For a disabled person who must pinch their pennies, the M1 Air may well be the best, least expensive option to upgrade their laptop. While it admittedly isn’t as svelte and “modern” as the redesign ushered in with the M2 generation—the version I have, by the way—the industrial design still smokes any PC laptop, and importantly retains its hallmark thinness and lightness. Moreover, from a software perspective, the M1 chip is performant and affords amenities like iPhone Mirroring in addition to the typical cavalcade of macOS accessibility features. And although Rossignol also rightly caveats next year’s macOS 27 release theoretically could drop support for the M1 chip, I’d say chances are pretty good it’ll stay supported for some time. This means a person buying this discounted M1 Air at Walmart right now could take comfort in the notion their (relatively) minimal investment won’t reach end-of-life for several years yet.

Waymo, Epilepsy Foundation Partner on Commemorating Epilepsy Awareness Month

Earlier this month, Waymo announced it was working with the Epilepsy Foundation in celebrating Epilepsy Awareness Month. The autonomous vehicle company notes 1 in 26 people cope with the neurological condition and its characteristic recurring seizures.

“Epilepsy Foundation and Waymo have teamed up this November to raise awareness during Epilepsy Awareness Month. The Epilepsy Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that works to improve the lives of those affected by epilepsy, including caregivers,” Waymo wrote in its announcement on November 1. “Throughout November, one in 26 Waymo vehicles in LA, Phoenix and San Francisco will feature an Epilepsy Foundation decal to recognize the one in 26 people who have been or will be diagnosed with epilepsy in their lifetimes.”

Waymo’s blog post features an interview with former NBA player Tristan Thompson, as well as Epilepsy Foundation CEO Bernice “Bee” Martin Lee, who knew of her diagnosis long before she went public with it. She noted Waymo’s mission aligns with the nonprofit’s, saying in part Waymo’s vehicles are “game-changers” for the disability community—especially epileptics who can’t drive. “That lack of access to transportation can feel so burdensome and can lead to that [social] isolation,” Lee said.

My adoration of Waymo is well-documented, but epilepsy is close to my heart as well. My mother, who died of cancer in 1998 when I was only 16, was an epileptic; I spent much of my formative years helping her manage her daily medications. In addition, my partner’s own mom, who died in 2019 after a fall, also had epilepsy. Likewise, I spent a lot of time over the past decade helping her manage her medication as well as escorting her to and fro her neurology appointments—albeit in pre-Waymo times.

The cynical (yet correct) take on posts like this is they’re thin foils for marketing and feel-good messaging—to which I say: Duh. Of course there’s something in these stories for Waymo in terms of self-interest. I’d contend, however, the more salient, more important point is how Waymo is literally driving accessibility forward. The company’s self-driving technology is, while admittedly nascent, already providing disabled people an avenue for accessible transit that they can control with the utmost agency and autonomy. Too many in the anti-robotaxi brigade undervalue these points in the name of safety and, in my view, a view askew of artificial intelligence. Their myopia in this regard precludes them from seeing the genuine good companies like Waymo are providing people for whom mobility is compromised in one way or another. Of course Waymo ought to be safe, but so too should their strengths be recognized accordingly.

how One disabled boy Inspired a Video Game Studio and altered attitudes

Take a look at the Stumble Guys website and the game, built by American development studio Scopely and playable on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, is described as “a massive multiplayer party knockout game with up to 32 players online [featuring] round after round of escalating chaos to stumble through different levels until one victor is crowned!” The title happens to be a favorite of a 9-year-old French boy named Fayçal, who’s disabled and relies on a wheelchair for everyday mobility.

The problem was, until recently, no one in Stumble Guys actually looked like Fayçal.

He complained about this lack of representation during a visit to Scopely’s offices in Barcelona, asking the team quite pointedly why none of the characters in his beloved Stumble Guys have a wheelchair. Faced with the challenge, the team got to work on making Fayçal’s dream a reality and bringing true disability inclusion to Stumble Guys.

“Meeting Fayçal was one of the most moving and meaningful moments of my time at Scopely,” Antonio Do Souto, the global creator program manager for Stumble Guys, said recently in a brief email interview with me. “I feel deeply honored and grateful to have been the one to welcome him to the office on behalf of the entire team.”

Do Souto explained Fayçal was in Spain on a medical trip and dreamt of seeing where the proverbial Stumble Guys sausage is made. When Fayçal arrived at Scopely’s offices, his enthusiasm was “contagious,” Do Souto said, and “you could see the spark in his eyes the moment he realized he was actually there.” Meeting Fayçal was a deeply emotional experience for Do Souto, as he said a big part of his duties involve “[bringing] people together” from all walks of life in an effort to create “a creative and inclusive space where players constantly inspire us with their stories, energy, and imagination.”

“Even though my work centers on creators, it naturally keeps me close to our players. I often get to see firsthand how deeply people connect with the game and with each other through it,” Do Souto said of his work at Scopely. “My role keeps me seated at the heart of that connection: I get to listen, learn, and help transform those real community stories into meaningful actions that reflect who our players are.”

Indeed, Do Souto affirmed Scopely’s users undoubtedly include people like Fayçal.

“That’s why stories like [his] resonates so deeply” he said. “They remind us behind every player is a person who finds meaning, fun, and belonging in what we create.”

Scopely has a short video on Fayçal’s story on its official YouTube channel.

Do Souto’s conversation with Fayçal was so resonant precisely because of his earnest question over why none of the Stumble Guys crew had heretofore looked like him. In that moment, Do Souto said the team was presented with a prime opportunity to “stop and reflect” on their design decisions. “It was such a simple, genuine question—yet it hit all of us deeply… that moment wasn’t just emotional. It was clarifying,” Do Souto said. “It showed us that representation isn’t abstract; it’s personal, it’s human, and it has the power to change how someone feels seen in the worlds we build.”

That meeting Fayçal was such a breakthrough for Scopely is because it crystallized the studio’s thinking on upping its representational game. Prior to that, Do Souto told me, the team “naturally thought about inclusion in a broad sense, through diversity in characters and play experiences,” but conceded disability inclusion was an area they “hadn’t truly examined” before Fayçal came along and pressed the issue with them.

In the end, the work paid off—for Scopely, sure, but mostly for Fayçal.

“It’s hard to describe that moment in words,” Do Souto said of the moment when Fayçal first discovered his sought-after avatar. “We worked quietly behind the scenes to create a special skin for him: a joyful superhero in a wheelchair named Axel. We coordinated with his mom to make it a surprise, ensuring that when he launched the game, Axel was already unlocked and equipped on his account.”

Do Souto continued: "When Fayçal opened Stumble Guys and saw the skin appear on his screen, he froze for a second, then smiled from ear to ear and shouted, ‘They made a skin of me?!’ His whole family gathered around, and there were tears everywhere.”

Do Souto went on in effusively recalling the poignant reveal for Fayçal and family.

“Seeing that pure joy, that disbelief turning into pride, reminded all of us that a small creative gesture can hold enormous emotional power. It wasn’t just a skin. It was a moment of belonging. It was a kid realizing that his world existed inside his favorite game too,” he said of Fayçal’s reaction. “To me personally, this moment reminded me once again why we go to work every morning. Yes, we all have our abstract tasks and metrics. For me, it’s things like how many creators are in the program this trimester, how many videos are out there, what the retention rate looks like, and so on. For others, it might be questions like ‘Is this mechanic balanced?’ or ‘Is there enough rebound in this collision?’ But in the end, what we’re all really aiming for is something simple and powerful: a smile on a kid who’s happy to be part of the Stumble Guys universe.”

Meeting Fayçal and making his digital likeness was transformational for Do Souto and Scopely. The experiences reminded everyone “games have the power to do more than entertain… they can connect, heal, and make people feel seen. Moreover, the chance to meet Fayçal galvanized the Scopely team like never before, according to Do Souto.

“Artists, producers, developers, and everyone in-between came together with open hearts to make one magical moment possible,” he said.

He added: “At Scopely, we have cultural tenets, which act as our code that guides decision-making and serves as our day-to-day compass. My favorite has always been ‘Care Deeply.’ This experience gave that phrase a whole new meaning. Representation isn’t about checking a box, it’s about making sure every player feels they belong. Fayçal reminded us of that truth with his courage, his smile, and his imagination.”

When asked about the future, Do Souto echoed Aisha Amin, the young filmmaker who recently vowed never again will she make another movie without Deaf people in prominence, by telling me Scopely’s time with Fayçal “changed how we think about inclusion in a very real way,” adding “it reminded us that accessibility and representation aren’t add-ons; they’re part of what makes a world feel welcoming and complete.” Since that day with Fayçal, the Stumble Guys team have engaged in growing, “broader” conversations around disability inclusion. The talks have crossed a rubicon of sorts, leading to a shift in mindset that prioritizing accessibility is not a mere technical endeavor; it’s cultural and recognizing the disability community as human.

“It’s about asking who else can we represent, and how can we make them feel celebrated, not just included,” Do Souto said.

Once more, with feeling, from Do Souto and connecting with Fayçal.

“Fayçal’s visit was a catalyst to push us to continue that spirit of representation a lasting part of how we build, test, and imagine every update moving forward… [his] story reaffirmed our commitment to keep learning, listening, and building worlds where everyone can see themselves, not just as players, but as heroes,” Do Souto said.

The video game industry is better off with concerted efforts like Scopely’s.

“Authentic representation and accessibility are what truly move our industry forward,” Do Souto said.

Hikawa Grip & Stand Sells Out, New colors coming

Tim Hardwick reports for MacRumors today the limited edition Hikawa Grip & Stand, which I reported on last Thursday, is now sold out on Apple’s online store in the United States. The good news, however, is there are new colors available for pre-order now.

“Hikawa is offering the MagSafe-compatible Grip and Stand in Cobalt and Blurple Swirl, following the rapid sellout of its Chartreuse and Crater colors,” Hardwick wrote on Monday. “The accessories cost £55 each (about $72 USD) and international shipping is available—but stock is extremely limited, so move quickly if you’re interested.”

The new colors will be released in “early December,” according to Hardwick.

As I wrote in my initial story last week, Apple sent me one of the Hikawa Grips (in Crater) and it arrived not too long after I clicked Publish on the piece in the Squarespace CMS.

Expect my (brief) review to show up on these pages sometime soon.

Relatedly, Jessica Roy at ELLE Decor did a story on the Hikawa Grip, which includes an interview with the designer Bailey Hikawa as well as Apple’s Sarah Herrlinger, who leads the company’s accessibility efforts. For her part, Herrlinger explained to Roy the Hikawa Grip is “one of many accessories that are out there that solves unique problems for some people,” adding Apple itself is “really excited to see different communities start to get access to this, how they are able to use it, and what works best for them.”

“It was a no-brainer to look at,” Herrlinger said of the Hikawa Grip.

Strava, GoFundMe Announce New ‘For a Cause’ Tag

Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Strava put out a press release wherein the company announced it was partnering with fundraising juggernaut GoFundMe on a new “For a Cause” feature. The newfound functionality is described as “[making] it easy for Strava users to raise awareness and funds for meaningful causes through activity.”

The massively popular Strava boasts 180 million users spanning over 185 countries.

According to Strava, the advent of the “For a Cause” activity tag enables users to “find inspiration from thousands of global causes and easily dedicate any workout of their choice to an individual fundraiser or a nonprofit listed on GoFundMe,” adding the tag “makes it easy for individuals to use their passion for movement to create real-world impact.” Notable nonprofit organizations available to support include the American Cancer Society, Achilles International, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

According to Strava, Strava users can go to GoFundMe and start a campaign, then connect their Strava account to it. From that point forward, whenever they log activity and share more about their cause(s), using the “Find a Cause” tag will go towards said beneficiary. Users are even able to ask followers to donate and spread the word as well.

“At GoFundMe, we’re focused on giving people easy and meaningful ways to support the people and causes they care about,” said Tim Cadogan, GoFundMe’s chief executive officer, said in a statement for Strava’s announcement. “Through our collaboration with Strava, we’re giving a global community of active people a simple way to help one another, raise awareness, and support causes that move them—while enabling more giving to nonprofits that are driving positive change in the world.”

Apple Quietly Unveils Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand

Apple on Thursday posted a surprise on its online store and it’s another limited edition thing. It’s the Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand, a $70 MagSage-compatible grip for iPhone.

The “Hikawa” refers to the product’s designer, the Los-Angeles-based Bailey Hikawa. What’s unique about the Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand is it’s built with accessibility top of mind, with Apple saying on the product’s page the Grip was designed with “direct input from individuals with disabilities affecting muscle strength, dexterity, and hand control.” The stand portion supports both landscape and portrait orientations, and the object itself is touted by Apple as “inspired by modern sculpture” as well as “an art object unto itself.” The company also notes the new accessory coincides with the 40th anniversary of Apple’s building of assistive technologies for people with disabilities.

“The grip was designed through an extensive interview process to support varied ways of holding iPhone while reducing the effort needed to keep it steady,” Hikawa said.

Apple is sending me one of the Hikawa Grip, but as of this writing, it hasn’t reached my doorstep just yet. At a high level, however, the accessory strikes me as highly reminiscent, at least conceptually, of PopSockets. In fact, it was this time last year I published an interview with PopSockets chief executive Jaiyu Lin, wherein she spoke with me about the company’s popularity and, coincidentally, a collaboration with Apple. In my story, I editorialized some by talking about the accessibility benefits of using a PopSocket with one’s iPhone; namely, it can assist with having better tactility in terms of grip and standing for those who, very much like yours truly, have lower muscle tone in their hands and/or have fine-motor disabilities. (It’s also reason to prefer a case.)

The Hikawa promises identical benefits, if stylistically and ergonomically distinct.

The advent of the Hikawa Phone Grip comes after Apple announced iPhone Pocket earlier this month, a similarly limited edition iPhone accessory. The product is sold out.

new ‘IT: Welcome to Derry’ Series Has ASL Stream

HBO Max is soldiering on with augmenting much of its content with American Sign Language (ASL) by giving its latest series, IT: Welcome to Derry, the ASL treatment for Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. Notably, the show—a prequel exploring the origins to Stephen King’s frightful Pennywise the Clown character—is the first-ever HBO Max series to showcase not one but four ASL interpreters handling the translation duties.

IT: Welcome to Derry is HBO Max’s third-biggest premiere, with 5.7 million viewers.

“When it became clear that multiple Deaf talents were needed to represent the show’s diverse perspectives, HBO Max and Warner Bros. fully supported that vision,” Leila Hanaumi, the show’s sign language director, said in a statement provided to me. “The result is an ASL experience that raises the bar for storytelling and accessibility, which I’m so proud to be part of.”

Justin Jackerson, another interpreter, wrote in a post on Instagram ahead of the show’s premiere that he was “so proud” to be a Deaf artist who helped bring IT: Welcome to Derry to life so inclusively. “Who says horror doesn’t deserve access?” Jackerson said.

“It has been a wonderful experience bringing access to Welcome to Derry through my native language and acting,” Jackerson said in a statement sent to me. “Having a Deaf director at the helm was key to achieving an authentic ASL translation that reflects Deaf linguistic and cultural nuances, a result only possible with Deaf leadership.”

News of IT: Welcome to Derry in ASL comes after I reported in mid-September HBO Max was providing a dedicated ASL stream for this summer’s blockbuster in Superman.

‘FC26’ Amongst Game Awards Finalists for Innovation in Accessibility category

In other accessibility-and-awards news, the Game Awards have announced the nominees for this year’s “Innovation in Accessibility” category. As a diehard sports fan, the title that caught my attention was EA Sports’ FC26. The game is on virtually every possible platform—PlayStation, Xbox, Windows—and cloud-based like Amazon’s Luna.

Back in late July, I wrote about FC26 including several new accessibility features for players with disabilities. Perhaps most impressively is the game’s high-contrast mode, which the development team (EA Canada) touted as “one of the first-ever sports titles” to have such functionality. In addition, FC26 has a setup screen devoted to accessibility upon first boot, akin to the screens Apple shows users during the device setup process.

Besides FC26, the other titles up for Innovation in Accessibility are Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Rebellion’s Atomfall, id Software and Bethesda Softworks’ Doom: The Dark Ages, and Compulsion Games and Xbox Game Studios’ South of Midnight.

The 2025 Game Awards are scheduled for December 11 at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater.

Be My Eyes Amongst App Store Awards Finalists

In a post on its Newsroom site, Apple on Wednesday announced the 45 finalists for this year’s App Store Awards. The honorees span a slew of categories, as well as Apple’s panoply of platforms, and accessibility is recognized in the Cultural Impact section.

“Each year, the App Store Awards celebrate developers from around the world whose apps are improving people’s lives, and exemplify the very best in technical innovation, user experience, and design,” Apple said. “In the coming weeks, App Store Award winners will be announced, selected from this year’s distinguished group of finalists.”

Amongst the finalists in the aforementioned Cultural Impact category include accessible puzzle game Art of Fauna, Is This Seat Taken? for engendering empathy and inclusivity, and, most notably to me, Be My Eyes. I’ve covered Be My Eyes extensively over the last few years, writing stories on the company’s partnerships with the likes of Meta and Microsoft as well as interviews with Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley, who’s based here in San Francisco. The app connects Blind and low vision people to sighted volunteers, the latter of which assists users in identifying real world information such as expiration dates on food labels, printed instructions, signage, and much more. I last interviewed Buckley in August of last year following Be My Eyes’ acquisition of popular Apple community website AppleVis, telling me the two entities hold “shared values” and a shared mission, emphasizing the notion that there was “too much value and utility” of AppleVis to the Blind and low vision community to simply go away forever.

The App Store winners will be announced “in the coming weeks,” according to Apple.

Report: Zoox Opens Rides to Public in San francisco

Andrew J. Hawkins reports for The Verge on Tuesday Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company, is beginning to invite people on its public waitlist—those whom Zoox calls “Zoox Explorers”—to start hailing its robotaxis in select San Francisco neighborhoods. The announcement comes after the company last month began allowing select passengers to take rides in the vehicles. Rides will be free of charge.

Zoox, per a company spokesperson, currently has a fleet of approximately 50 vehicles operating in San Francisco and Las Vegas, according to Hawkins’ story.

“The experience sounds like it will be similar to Waymo: customers are able to hail a ride anywhere within Zoox’s service area, which includes most of the SoMa, Mission, and Design District neighborhoods,” Hawkins wrote of Zoox’s plans. “As a point-to-point service, riders can select their own destination, enter a street address, drop a pin, or select from a list of suggested points of interest. Walking directions to their final destination will be provided if needed.”

As Hawkins noted, Zoox vehicles are unique not only for their rectangular, toaster-like body, they, unlike Waymo, lack characteristics of human-driven vehicles like a steering wheel, sideview mirrors, or pedals. Hawkins described Zoox as “one of the few companies to offer rides in a fully driverless, purpose-built autonomous vehicle.”

Although I’m very much a driverless car truther due to my myriad positive experiences with Waymo, I’m keen on trying out Zoox someday hopefully soon. I’ve seen their vehicles a few times while out and about in the city, although the company’s service area—SoMa, the Mission—are areas completely across town from my haunts in the Inner Richmond. It would be quite the meta journey for me to take a Waymo to the South of Market area only to hail a Zoox over there. In any case, I think it’s good to see autonomous vehicles gain more of a foothold in San Francisco; using Waymo has been utterly life-changing in terms of accessibility as a Blind person who’s precluded from driving due to my low vision. From a journalistic standpoint, it’ll be fascinating to compare and contrast the experiences of Waymo and Zoox whenever I can try the latter.

News of Zoox’s gradual expansion of its service comes days after Waymo announced its cars are now able to traverse freeways here in the Bay Area, as well as in Los Angeles and Phoenix. I put my name on the “freeway waitlist” in the Waymo app, but have yet to have the functionality unlocked for me. I’m excited because, as one example, that Waymo does go on the freeway now means I could potentially travel more accessibly to media events in the South Bay at Apple Park in Cupertino and Google in Mountain View.

Alice Wong, Writer and disability activist, Dies

Chloe Veltman reported Saturday for NPR Alice Wong, 51, died of an infection at a San Francisco hospital. Her death was confirmed by friend and fellow activist, Sandy Ho.

Wong enjoyed a sizable online presence with a number of followers, as she was a co-founder of the #CripTheVote movement in 2016, which Veltman describes as “a nonpartisan online movement [that] facilitates discussions about disability issues between voters and politicians.” Moreover, Wong started the Disability Visibility Project and published her best-selling memoir, titled Year of the Tiger in September 2022.

“Alice Wong was a hysterical friend, writer, activist and disability justice luminary whose influence was outsized,” Veltman reported Ho said of Wong in her email message. “Her media empire, the Disability Visibility Project, left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of our country. The legacy of her work will carry on.”

I was saddened to hear the news Wong had died. As I said on X, we knew each other through social media—in fact, Wong told me a couple times in the past she “loved” my work—but, despite residing in the same city, never had the opportunity to meet in person and converse with more depth. I follow her on social media and found myself nodding my head in agreement with many of her opinions, particularly the plastic straw bans around the country. Advocating for disability justice—whether it be Wong’s work or my own brand of tech journalism—is a an oftentimes frustrating, lonesome, downright Sisyphean task—but Wong’s legacy reverberated for so many, and the rest of us in the disability community will surely miss her wise words. Wong’s last post on X was itself mournful, as she commented on last week’s news that Teen Vogue was shuttering its political coverage and, thusly, Wong’s popular Disability Visibility column.

Latest Mac Beta Adds New ‘Edge Light’ Feature

Apple this week released new 26.2 betas for its panoply of platforms, with Wednesday bringing word of a new feature addition to macOS Tahoe. The new function is called Edge Light; what it does is create a virtual light ring surrounding the border of your Mac’s display. The controls are accessible via the menubar, with the idea being Edge Light helps people better illuminate themselves during videoconferencing sessions.

John Voorhees has posted a good first look at Edge Light for MacStories.

News of Edge Light’s advent piqued my interest because my little corner of the dining room where my makeshift “office” is located doesn’t get the best lighting. My desk is nearest a window, and that helps—as does my desk lamp—but the ceiling light isn’t very bright—especially at nighttime. I don’t do a ton of calls with video enabled for these reasons, not to mention my general social anxiety, but nonetheless Edge Light remains a cool (and clever) piece of software. It’s one of those “only Apple can do it” features.

Broadly, learning of Edge Light also serves as a sobering reminder of what I’m missing out on with not using an Apple silicon Mac as my everyday machine. I’m continuing to ride it out with my 2019 Retina 4K iMac for as long as possible—and I’m lucky my workflows aren’t more computationally demanding—but alas, this Intel iMac is starting to show its age. While it remains performant at what I need it to do day-to-day, the processor is definitely pokey, the fans blast, and, more pointedly, I’m irked by the nagging feeling that the aforementioned macOS Tahoe doesn’t support my machine and I’m feeling “behind.” I’m missing out on good-for-accessibility Apple silicon niceties like iPhone Mirroring and more—including the forthcoming Edge Light. But, life has been somewhat of a bear this year due to life stuff that I’m still working through, so revamping my desk setup has necessarily—understandably so—fallen by the proverbial wayside. What I’m saying is, I’m trying to give myself grace for not being on top of my game as usual; I do have two Apple silicon laptops available to me—one is an M2 MacBook Air, the other an M2 Pro 14” MacBook Pro—to “plug and play”—but that would mean redoing my desk setup, and I still lack the required mental/emotional bandwidth to tackle it. Moreover, from an accessibility perspective, I’d much prefer to dock one of those MacBooks with an external display. After 6 years of using a (still perfectly lovely) high-resolution, 21.5” screen, it’d be an adjustment for my low vision to shrink to 13–14”.

Things will happen when they’re supposed to—Edge Light just gave me more FOMO.

Rumors suggest Apple’s 26.2 software updates will ship sometime next month.