Techwire

A feature in Apple's iTunes 11 allows you to scan a gift card code using your computer's camera. The feature is particularly intriguing for the blind, visually impaired and for dyslexics. While it may be inconvenient for most people to type the 16 digit code, it is impossible for users who are blind or visually impaired, and can be a struggle for some dyslexics. To use the feature position the gift card in front of the computer's camera. For people with visual impairments VoiceOver , Apple's built in screen reader on your Mac will help you frame the card in the picture. Then iTunes recognizes the code and credits the money to your iTunes account. This feature makes it possible for the blind and visually impaired to easily and independently redeem iTunes gift cards. Maybe this cool scanning feature will make its way to iOS  in the near future. Click read more below to view pictures of the scanning feature in action.

Great news, the Nook app for iPhone , iPad , and iPod Touch is now accessible to the blind, visually impaired and people with print disabilities. The updated app now supports VoiceOver and Zoom . VoiceOver and Zoom are built in accessibility features in iOS . To learn more about VoiceOver click here. With VoiceOver you can have the book read aloud using text-to-speech. Oddly enough the update makes the Nook app more accessible than current Nooks. Serious kudos to Barns & Noble's for making their app accessible. To download the app for free click here . Click read more below to view more screenshots.

I mentioned in my post Online Systems for Behavior Change that I'm working on a very interesting project that is designed to lead to some important changes in behavior that has already had dramatic impacts.  But we want to do even better and so we are studying some parallel offerings and what they are doing relative to promoting specific behavior in their systems.  Ultimately, we are trying to design something that will motivate users to take action that we know will have positive impact.  However, there's often this gap between what people know they should do and getting them to actually do it (and that's not just with online systems).  I'm reviewing: Khan Academy , Nike Training Club and SparkPeople .  I've included lots of screen shots of what I'm seeing and some thoughts as I'm going through them.  I'm not claiming this is scientific in any real way.  Rather, I'm collecting some thoughts in terms of design concepts. I would very much welcome f...