Hapware's Aleye is trying to unlock new levels of communication for people who are blind. The Aleye wristband (left) is a bit chunkier than a standard Apple Watch. It's only been a few months since Meta announced that it would open its smart glasses platform to third-party developers . But one startup at CES is already showing off how the glasses can help power an intriguing set of accessibility features. Hapware has created Aleye, a haptic wristband that, when paired with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, can help people understand the facial expressions and other nonverbal cues of the people they are talking to.

Console makers and game developers like Microsoft, Nintendo and Electronic Arts have created a new initiative, managed by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), that aims to make it easier to know what accessibility features games have. The new Accessible Games Initiative has defined a set of 24 accessibility tags that will appear in participating game storefronts and product pages so players can know what features a game has before they buy it. The tags have easy to understand definitions and cover a range of accessibility features games offer, like subtitles, input remapping for controls, text-to-speech and speech-to-text in chat and narrated menus. All of the tags and definitions are available to view on the Accessible Games Initiative's website. The ESA also says it will provide developers with criteria for the tags so they can develop accessibility features with them in mind.

The upgraded Magnifier app stands out with iOS 18. Technology can be wonderfully convenient and provide a great deal of entertainment, but it can also be a great way to improve your everyday life, too. For those who experience visual challenges, a variety of apps and features can help you. That's why we love this question about apps and features that can help visually challenged loved ones: "I am not tech savvy. I need to know if there is an app that I can download on a phone, that will allow my mother to tell the app, without needing internet services, who she wants to make a phone call to? She's losing her eyesight and can no longer see the numbers on her phone. She's 88 years old and doesn't own a computer and has limited income," writes "Sheryl" of Westminster, Colorado.

Jan-Bart van Beek, Guerilla Games' art and animation director, has officially announced that a remastered version of Horizon Zero Dawn is arriving on October 31. The game will feature over 10 hours of re-recorded audio, mocap, as well as improved character models, animation, lighting and textures that he said will bring it "to the same visual fidelity" as Horizon Forbidden West. That means it has been upgraded for the PlayStation 5 and compatible PCs, and it even supports the PS5 Pro, which will be available on November 7. In his announcement, van Beek explained that seven years is a long time when it comes to computer graphics and that a lot of technological improvements have become available since the game's original release. Nixxes, a Dutch video game developer, worked on the remaster, which will also feature improved audio and Atmos rendering that will make it more immersive. The remastered version will come with The Frozen Wilds expansion and all its additional lands, machines and skills, as well.

Developers and quality assurance testers often rely on manual testing to test accessibility features throughout the product lifecycle. Unfortunately, manual testing can be tedious, often has an overwhelming scope, and can be difficult to schedule amongst other development milestones. Recently, Large Language Models (LLMs) have been used for a variety of tasks including automation of UIs, however to our knowledge no one has yet explored their use in controlling assistive technologies for the purposes of supporting accessibility testing. In this paper, we explore the requirements of a natural language based accessibility testing workflow, starting with a formative study. From this we build a system that takes as input a manual accessibility test (e.g., ``Search for a show in VoiceOver'') and uses an LLM combined with pixel-based UI Understanding models to execute the test and produce a chaptered, navigable video. In each video, to help QA testers we apply heuristics to detect and flag accessibility issues (e.g., Text size not increasing with Large Text enabled, VoiceOver navigation loops). We evaluate this system through a 10 participant user study with accessibility QA professionals who indicated that the tool would be very useful in their current work and performed tests similarly to how they would manually test the features. The study also reveals insights for future work on using LLMs for accessibility testing.

Imagine this chilling possibility: as you sleep peacefully, someone in your home picks up your iPhone. It's shocking to think that anyone can unlock your phone without your knowledge when you're sleeping. As anyone with a relatively modern iPhone knows, it's possible using Apple's Face ID to open your phone just by looking at it A common fear is that someone could hold your phone to your face while you're sleeping to unlock it As anyone with a relatively modern iPhone knows, it's possible using Apple's Face ID to open your phone just by looking at it. It maps all your curves and wrinkles and stores that data as a key to unlock your phone. If there's a more significant change in your appearance, like shaving your beard, Face ID confirms your identity by using your passcode prior to updating your face data.

Airbnb is making it easier for international travelers to book their stays just as the U.S. reopens its borders to foreign travelers. The short-term rental platform is introducing a translation engine that will automatically translate reviews and listing descriptions in over 60 languages. The feature is set to launch before the end of the year. "Translation Engine improves the quality of more than 99% of Airbnb listings," the company said in a Tuesday news release. "Translation Engine uses millions of Airbnb data points to improve translations, so it will get even smarter over time as it learns from new content that's submitted."

US tech giants Amazon and Apple have announced new accessibility features for their technology aimed to help people with impaired vision. Amazon's new feature, called Show and Tell, helps blind and partially sighted people identify common household grocery items. The feature, which launches in the UK today, works with Amazon's Echo Show range – devices that combine a camera and a screen with a smart speaker that's powered by its digital assistant Alexa. Apple, meanwhile, has redesigned its dedicated accessibility site to make it easier for iPhone and iPad owners to find vision, hearing and mobility tools for everyday life. These include People Detection, which uses the iPhone's built-in LiDAR scanner to prevent blind users colliding with other people or objects.

An MIT report estimates truly autonomous vehicles might not hit the streets for a decade. And when they do, it's difficult to say whether they will fully accommodate all riders, including those with disabilities. Driverless car technology promises to remove barriers to personal transportation, but few self-driving operators have made headway on solutions for customers with mobility, vision, and hearing impairments, including seniors and those with chronic health conditions. Some companies are further along than others. Alphabet's Waymo is engaged with collaborators -- including the Foundation for Senior Living in Phoenix and the Foundation for Blind Children -- in an effort to ensure its vehicles remain accessible.

From electric wheelchairs to hearing aids, assistive technology is key to enhancing the social participation of persons with disabilities. As image recognition technology continues to advance, mobile devices have the potential to help users with visual impairments overcome barriers in daily life. By working with users and listening to their feedback, Samsung has developed accessibility features to empower individuals with visual impairments for Galaxy devices.1,2 To mark this year's Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the company is putting a spotlight on the three features which have enabled many Galaxy users to live more freely. The idea behind Bixby Vision is a simple one. It's designed to give people the ability to gain more information about their surroundings by using a smartphone's camera.