@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel But making accessible PDFs is possible! All you need is fifty thousand hours of training directly from Adobe, two software packages nobody has ever heard of before, and for making accessible pdfs to be your full time job. Either that or you could just hire one of the people from the thousands of ads I get in my Linkedin messages every day from companies nobody has ever heard of who specialize in pdf remediation.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel And then I take those PDF's and either convert them to something else or run them through AI if they're image ones. Of course if I have to make them accessible PDF's I just use Word to save as PDF or something. I wish the format hadn't been invented and people used EPUB for readonly files. Or HTML. Or something.
@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel The problem PDFs still solve, that no other file format is even trying to do, is that it makes it obvious (if you know where and how to look) if a PDF file was modified after generation. That's why they get used for contracts.
@pixelate@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@quanin@mcourcel The obvious solution is just put every file on the blockchain and then something something cryptography hash mining something something distributed something something free market Yay! Success!
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Yes, I know. This need to connect everything to the internet is going to kill us before anything else does. I mean, what's next? You can't open your fridge unless you can pass Face ID on your phone? Don't even get me started on why my fridge needs internet access anyway. Every appliance I own is dumb and it'll stay that way where possible.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Samsung is putting ads on there $3,000 smart fridges. So yes. But sadly, if you want accessibility, you don't really get that choice. Thermostats with just a couple buttons are pretty much gone, for example. It's a touch screen now, and that means an app for us.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel And you have no idea how much that pisses me off. Same with the people (and yes, I've heard blind people say this) who say "well just connect it to your Alexa and it'll be accessible". No, that's not accessible. That's lazy. And I'm not buying a fucking Alexa.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I have none of those, and absolutely 0 appliances that require them. Yes, I'm aware that won't be a permanent thing and yes it annoys me no end. I mean look. I get the convenience, ish, though I fail to see why I need the ability to adjust the temperature of my house in Ottawa from Toronto. But I just woke up to no internet this morning for about 2 hours. That already delayed me doing a thing that gets me paid. If it also delay me doing a thing that gets me coffee I will slap someone.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I did my lights because it saves me money. As a blindy I keep forgetting to turn them off. So smart switches and home automation ended up being a savings. Similarly, when I'm away, I set the temperature to be different than I'm at home. I couldn't really do that with an inaccessible thermostat, and again, it saves me a few bucks. My smart doorbell lowers my home insurance, so again, savings. The oven and laundry and dishwasher and instantpot being connected didn't save me anything, but they're the only way to get access to the touch screens. So yeah, I live in a smart home these days.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I'm the only person in my apartment 90% of the time, so the lights are almost never on. Not that it would save me any money, as I don't pay for heat/electricity here - that's included in the rent. I prefer a lower temperature when I'm home so I can just set my dumb thermostat to where I want it and forget it. It also prevents my pipes from being frozen. I don't own an Instapot because I have no reason to, my intercom calls me, and even if I wanted a doorbell/camera it'd violate my lease so that's out. I dread the day I need to replace my microwave for exactly this reason, because I also dislike being attached to my phone.
@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I get both sides here. I think once I'll have an actual home/apartment, not just my little room I'll do the Home Assistant aproach. Yes, it's still relying on internet and phone, but I also see the useful sides, even when it might just be lazyness. Say you forgot to turn the light off, you can just do it from away, same for temparature or anything. The advantages have already been named. But I also don't want my stuff to be forced into one eco system/company whatever.
@jonathan859@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I mean, that's the thing right there. There should always be at least two ways to do a thing. Like, there are reports of smart locks that have failed closed when the power goes out, and people have had to call the manufacturer from outside their homes or they don't get in. Like, did we forget house keys exist?
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Yup. I went with switchbot for that exact reason. You don't even replace the key, so you get to use your current housekeys. And they use NFC to unlock, so they're smart devices, but no actual internet connection is required.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel See, those make sense and are something I'd use if I were in a place I could use them. But again, these are things that society wants us to connect to a homepod or an Alexa or something so you can unlock your front door from your bathroom or some shit. Like... why?
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Yup. It's like everything home related: if you don't know what you're buying, you're going to be sold something that sucks. I'm a computer expert, so I buy smart home tech. But I would never purchase, say, my own windows or flooring. I have a trusted guy to buy that stuff for me.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel I'm a computer expert as well, and I won't touch most of this stuff because it's a fucking privacy nightmare waiting to happen. I mean at least Apple is somewhat better about it than most, but less bad is not the same as good.
@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Well, again. I'm by far no computer expert. I'm a more or less competent teenager. But that's why I'd go the Home Assistant/local route. Like, yeah, not going to connect my shit to Amazon or Google or stuff. Ok tbf, I have my 2 RGB lights and Tower FAN in a Google Home right now, but that's literally all. And it's just my room so... Also my parents apparently started using Apple Home for dishwasher and dryer, but ok, no idea about that, not involved.
@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel I think I've already lost that debate. Have ust recently gotten myself a Pixel Watch, so there's the next spy mic. Seriously though, and by no means do I mean that in a bad way. To each their own. I completely get why you wouldn't want to do that. But for me the practical, and also lazy side wins.
@pixelate@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@mcourcel Acceptable enough for what the Pixel Watch is, I also side loaded eloquence on there, as the sterio type blindy I am. If we continue on that matter though maybe in a seperate thread.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Right, but it can still hear everything you're saying when you're in the room. And it still knows everywhere you go, because you take it with you. Once you have a powered on phone in the room with you, at this point you just have to assume that the manufacturer of the phone is listening or looking. It doesn't even need to be your phone.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Eh. I just assume everything's tracking me, even if I forget my phone at home. But that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easier for them. I explicitly disable the webcam on my desktop for that reason. I mean, physically disable.
@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Yeah well, I don't have a webcam on my desktop. But yeah. I do that at my work place too, but just because there was a little clip thing provided in the cams box. Would probably not tape anything over cam or mics or something like that.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel I'm also not exactly sure what it gets you, unless you have your laptop in your bedroom. If someone wants to watch me typing all day, sure! What I say is where all the private info is. And you can't disable the microphone the same way.
@quanin@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@mcourcel Yeah na, that's a bit over the top for my taste. I did it since I had the clipper thing here at work but otherwise, meh whatever. I don't assume I'm beeing recorded (at least with the camera).
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Whereas I have an autofocusing camera with automatic tracking. But I do hear when it's recording, because the motor makes a sound as it moves on the gimble. And I could unplug the USBC port. I don't actually own a desktop. Just laptops and a server that lives in the furnace room.
@fastfinge@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Yup, unplugging the USBC port is all I do. My camera's not quite as involved as yours - it sits on top of my monitor and AI handles the autofocus, but yeah... when I'm not using it, it's a paperweight.
@quanin@dhamlinmusic@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Wow, you have a monitor? That's actually on a desk, where you could see it if you were sighted? Sorry! Your blind person card has been revoked! My laptop lids stay closed and I have no monitor. Even though that meant getting a tripod with an arm to mount the camera. ROFL
@quanin@fastfinge@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel no, I need her to see the screen, I just have a dummy plug in it right now. If one of the things did not require going into the BIOS I would have just shared my screen and had her operate it that way to fiddle with the one piece of software that is entirely invisible to screen readers.
@quanin@fastfinge@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel Exactly, so instead of needing to relocate it and connect it to the TV every time I have something that needs sight, I just got a $40 monitor that I can stash in a drawer when I do not need it.
@dhamlinmusic@fastfinge@lynessence@pixelate@jonathan859@mcourcel I was invited to take an online screening interview for a job a couple months back. No video, no audio, just answer a bunch of questions in text. Not generated by AI, just a form you fill in. The thing saw I had no webcam and told me to connect or enable it. Hells no.
