Colin Hughes

iOS 14
1) Better Voice Control and dictation – support for UK English, and a beefed-up Siri speech-to-text engine. Fixing a bug that mangles text dictated into the main Google search text box.

2) Smarter Siri […]

We’re just a few hours away from WWDC 2020 — Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. This year it is a completely online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual keynote is later today where the c […]

Readers of Aestumanda may recall I had my electric door opener automated with Amazon Alexa voice control just before the UK went into Covid 19 lockdown earlier this year. Due to the lockdown I have had few […]

It’s a year since Apple first unveiled its flagship accessibility feature called Voice Control at WWDC 2019. With an inspiring short film the company showed Ian McKay, a disability advocate and outdoor enthusiast, […]

A couple of weeks ago Apple invited select developers to attend an accessibility webinar ahead of WWDC 2020. It is said to not be presaging anything WWDC-related as the company does this kind of thing as part of […]

Last year I wrote about how the release of voice-activated hands-free hey Siri in the second-generation Airpods improved access to the Apple Watch for people with severe physical disabilities.

Where previously […]

Earlier this week I installed a fairly significant update to the iPhone’s operating system iOS 13.4. Whilst it included new features such as iCloud Drive folder sharing, and improvements to the Mail application […]

Aside from the coronavirus threatening me and the rest of the world it has been a very positive start to 2020 as I continue extending my smart home to give me more independence, choice and control of my […]

The customer is king. Everyone takes that old saying as gospel. But is it still true today? Is the customer always right? I am really starting to wonder.

I ordered a new washing machine from Samsung, the old […]

iPhones are eye-wateringly expensive. The latest one, the iPhone 11 Pro, costs from £1,049 but is a product that is unrivalled for its size with a gold standard camera, great screen and 32-hour battery […]

As Labour’s election pledge suggests, digital technology is no longer seen as a luxury. Rolling out broadband for all has been likened to the great Victorian projects to provide clean water, or the building of t […]

In the year Apple has released its most significant accessibility initiative ever it may not be popular to express the idea that in some areas Apple is failing its most severely disabled consumers but it has to be […]

Full, fantastic, life-changing…this was one of the gushing headlines about Apple’s new Voice Control feature after it was announced at the tech giant’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on 7 June. […]

Accessibility doesn’t often get much coverage or attention by tech companies, or the media, but today Apple revealed what could be a big step forward for people with physical and motor disabilities: Voice C […]

Every year Apple uses its Worldwide Developers Conference to showcase its new software and technologies for developers.

The conference opening keynote is where the tech giant’s top executives preview the c […]

I took delivery of Apple’s new second-generation Airpods on release day last week. After months of speculation and rumour about what the new earbuds would include, as I will explain, I had a particularly urgent […]

On 17 May Global Accessibility Awareness Day Apple marked the occasion by highlighting its accessibility credentials on its apple.com homepage. Under the heading it proudly announced, “technology is most powerful […]

I have just added another accessory to my growing Amazon Echo device family, which is cheap and extremely useful for people like me.

With Amazon’s recent release of Echo Connect in the UK, and a landline, yo […]

Please note there has been an update to this article Waking up to Alexa: 2020 follow-up
Whether it’s bolstering your home security, watering your garden, or turning your lights on and off, smart technology is […]