Activity – Colin Hughes

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Laughing Man on Apple WWDC 2020 4 years, 10 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, WWDC 2020: Ultimate accessibility wish list 4 years, 10 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Hey Siri open sesame: controlling a smart home with Apple’s assistant 4 years, 10 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, 4 ways Apple can improve Voice Control 4 years, 11 months ago

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, […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, macOS 10.16 Wishlist: 3 ways Apple can improve accessibility 5 years ago

Please note: when Apple unveiled the latest version of macOS at WWDC 2020 in June it bumped the version number up to macOS 11.0
A couple of weeks ago Apple invited select developers to attend an accessibility […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, watchOS 7 Wishlist: 3 ways Apple can improve accessibility 5 years, 1 month ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, iOS 14 Wishlist: 5 ways Apple can improve accessibility 5 years, 1 month ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Waking up to Alexa: 2020 follow-up 5 years, 2 months ago

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 […]

Asif Alibhai replied 2 years, 5 months ago

Colin, I was so glad to have found this just minutes before ordering a Broadlink box to achieve the same goal as you! Your article saved me wasting a lot of time, so thank you! Would you mind sharing perhaps some more detail on how I could replicate the same setup myself, please? I am familiar with SBCs etc but have never worked with Arduino before…

Any guidance you could share would be Ace!

Thanks,
Asif
Steve replied 1 year, 9 months ago

Hi, are you able to share the code and the circuit diagram made the Bose connection work please ??

Thanks,

Steve

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, The King is dead: why the customer is no longer always right 5 years, 3 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Access denied: Apple and the iPhone Upgrade Programme 5 years, 3 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Time to tax the tech giants 5 years, 5 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, A letter to Apple from a lone voice in the wilderness 5 years, 6 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, What’s up with Apple’s new Voice Control? 5 years, 9 months ago

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. […]

Sue Kearney replied 2 years, 5 months ago

I understand this article is old, but I’m asking anyway…. I’m having such a hard time finding much at all about my question.
I’ve used Voice Control on my macbook pro, and find that it runs really really slow, noisy, and hot when I do so.
I’m about to buy my next (and last, I think) Mac. And I want to figure out what I need in terms of processing speed and memory to allow me to use Mac accessibility features and still have nimble response time from the computer.
Apple sales reps haven’t really been able to answer my questions.
Any suggestions for me?
Thanks!

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Apple is listening: Voice Control widens access 5 years, 11 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Best features from Apple WWDC that will never come 5 years, 11 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Airpods 2 review: how Apple’s new wireless earbuds have set me free 6 years, 1 month ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Apple’s trillion dollar amnesia 6 years, 5 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Review: Amazon Echo Connect 6 years, 6 months ago

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 […]

Colin Hughes wrote a new post, Waking up to Alexa 6 years, 10 months ago

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 […]

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