We are pleased to announce the winners of the seventh annual AppleVis Golden
Apple Awards.
Since their launch in 2012, the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards have afforded
blind and low vision users of Apple products the opportunity to recognize
and acknowledge the hard work and dedication which developers have put into
making and maintaining great and accessible applications over the given
year. The response of past nominees and winners to this recognition from
blind and low vision users shows how winning an AppleVis Golden Apple has
become a tremendous honor.
Voting for the 2018 AppleVis Golden Apple Awards was held between December 8
and December 14, 2018. Voting was open to all blind and low vision users who
are not employed by any of the shortlisted companies.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the developers who
were shortlisted for an award. Without exception, all of the shortlisted
apps were worthy nominees - as demonstrated by the significant number of
votes each received. All of the developers showed a strong commitment to
improving the lives of blind and low vision users in 2018, and our
appreciation for their efforts cannot be overstated.
Below are the winners of the AppleVis Golden Apple Awards of 2018:
Best App: Weather Gods
This weather app for iOS takes a unique approach to presenting weather
information, and VoiceOver accessibility is a major consideration of the
app's design with its developer constantly engaging with blind and low
vision users to seek feedback and suggestions on how to enhance the user
experience.
From the App Store:
Meet the Gods: Fire, Ice, Water, Air & Moon delivering you the Weather as
you have never experienced it before. Weather Gods redefines the weather app
with painstakingly crafted data visualizations, procedural graphics and
audio that enable you to literally see, hear and feel the weather. With no
more weather icons to decode, the Weather Gods is simply the quickest, most
engaging, most enjoyable way to get the accurate weather information you
need.
The Weather Gods skillfully integrates premium weather data into an elegant,
iOS Exclusive, easy-to-use interface that will delight casual users and
weather enthusiasts alike.
With a wealth of rich weather data from the world's most respected
providers, the Weather Gods provide detailed site-based forecasts for over a
million locations worldwide. Our advanced, next-generation notifications are
easy to setup and bring you exactly the information you want right when you
need it.
With 24 hour charts, observed weather, built in moon phase, widget, world
clock and much, much more, the Weather Gods is a powerful personal time
machine that lets you travel the world and visit the future. Please come
join us on this exciting journey as we begin our mission to bring you the
finest, most practical, most enjoyable weather app experience ever. We can't
wait to hear what you think!
Read the AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for Weather Gods
<https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/weather/weather-gods>
Best Game: FEER
Designed with VoiceOver users in mind, FEER is the first endless runner for
iOS that enables vision impaired and sighted gamers to compete equally.
The developer of FEER is another who has proactively engaged with the
AppleVis community in an effort to optimize the user experience and gameplay
for VoiceOver users.
From the App Store:
Dense fog will make it hard to see the Zombies. Slide underneath the Ravens
and jump over the Zombies, trying to grasp your feet. But save the fairies
or you will run blind and have to run in the dark. Only those with the best
ears survive in this dark world and can save the fairies' light.
Use the Weapon to shoot the Zombies into pieces. Take the Boost to travel
fast forward in high speed. Collect twice the lights with the Light Doubler
or use the Shield to protect you from your enemies.
Post your score to the global Leader board or share it via social media.
Invite and add friends to your personal list for group competitions.
Read the AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for FEER
<https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/feer>
Best Assistive App: Seeing AI; Developer of the Year: Microsoft
Beginning life as a research project to explore ways in which artificial
intelligence (AI) could be used to enhance the lives of people who are blind
or visually impaired, Seeing AI harnesses the power of AI to describe text,
objects and people.
Since its launch in 2017, the tools offered by Seeing AI have evolved and
expanded - enabling many blind and low vision users to replace a number of
standalone apps with this single app capable of performing multiple tasks.
If there is a 'must have' iOS app for blind or low vision users, Seeing AI
claims that title for 2018. This has also earned Seeing AI the award as the
AppleVis community's Best Assistive App, and Microsoft the award for
Developer of the Year.
From the App Store:
Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed for the
blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the
power of AI to open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text and
objects.
Optimized for use with VoiceOver, the app enables you to recognize:
* Short Text - Speaks text as soon as it appears in front of the
camera.
* Documents - Provides audio guidance to capture a printed page, and
recognizes the text, along with its original formatting.
* Products - Scans barcodes, using audio beeps to guide you; hear
the name, and package information when available. (works with iPhone 6 and
later)
* People - Saves people's faces so you can recognize them, and get
an estimate of their age, gender, and emotions.
* Scenes (early preview) - Hear an overall description of the scene
captured.
* Currency - Recognizes currency notes. (Requires iOS 11)
* Color - Identifies color.
* Handwriting - Reads handwritten text like in greeting cards
* Light - Generates an audible tone corresponding to the brightness
in the surroundings.
* Images in other apps - Just tap "Share" and "Recognize with Seeing
AI" to describe images from Mail, Photos, Twitter, and more.
* Photo browsing experience - Describes photos on your phone
Seeing AI is built to help you achieve more by leveraging the power of the
cloud and artificial intelligence. As the research progresses, more channels
may be added.
Read the AppleVis iOS App Directory entry for Seeing AI
<https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/utilities/seeing-ai>
We would like to extend our congratulations to the winners of the 2018
AppleVis Golden Apple Awards. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday
season and a prosperous 2019.
The complete list of all apps and developers shortlisted for the 2018
AppleVis Golden Apple Awards is available here
<https://www.applevis.com/blog/applevis-assistive-technology-gaming-ios-apps
-news/cast-your-vote-now-applevis-golden-apple> .
===========================================================
The fb-exchange mailing list
Manage account, subscribe or unsubscribe:
//www.freelists.org/list/fb-exchange
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/fb-exchange ;
Administrative contact: insight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
===========================================================
