Author | Lightnews

Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 1h

The Ally Solos smart glasses by Envision - Unboxing, Set up, and my first impressions. Watch it now on YouTube!

This was all recorded on the same day as I went through the entire process. I'll continue testing for a while before sharing a full review.

youtu.be/2aN7u0mwOjQ

Ally Solos Smart Glasses - Unboxing, Set Up, & First Impressions

The Ally Solos are smart glasses designed specifically for the blind and visually impaired that connects with the Ally AI app on iOS and Android. It is supposed to be able to read text, provide AI…

youtu.be

Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 5h

When you see a product description say, "specifically designed for the blind and visually impaired community ", what does it mean to you? Because I think companies seem to have varying definitions....

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 1d

You know you passed the 10K subscriber milestone when you start getting emails like this... not even a mention of what their product or service is! 😅

#CreatorLife

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 1d

Ally Solos Unboxing, Setup, & First Impressions is now available!

✅ Members get early access to the video: youtu.be/2aN7u0mwOjQ

Insiders can access to CoA Backstage 🔑 where I share updates including a response from the CTO of Envision.

#AllySolos #Envision #Accessibility

Ally Solos Smart Glasses - Unboxing, Set Up, & First Impressions

The ally solos are smart glasses designed specifically for the blind and visually impaired that connects with the ally AI app on iOS and Android. It is supposed to be able to read text, provide AI…

youtu.be

1

Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 3d

Just passed 10,000 on YouTube! 🎉

Screenshot of YouTube analytics, 10,013 subscribers. Shows a graph over time of subscriber growth.

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 4d

This is NOT dark mode. 😣

I'm preparing to setup my ally solos and part of that is updating the app and signing in. And SO much of the app has white text on a white background despite being in dark mode. That's so frustrating!

Screenshot of the ally app by envision. The settings app has headings in dark mode and the rest of the options in light mode.

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 4d

I pre-ordered the Envision Ally Solos smart glasses a few months ago and to get ready for them, I've been treading through their documentation. I'm excited to try it out. Did you pre-order? Would love to hear your experience!

support.letsenvision.com/hc/en-us/art...

Ally Solos Glasses User Guide

We’d love for you to explore the latest updates of our Ally Solos Glasses User Guide.Tap the button below to access the live version, which is always kept up to date and reflects all recent edits a...

support.letsenvision.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 5d

Dark mode should NOT have "light mode" elements!

Whether it's iOS's liquid glass or Android's Material 3... they have their issues when it comes to color contrast, dark mode, and low vision accessibility.

youtube.com/shorts/L2Ab4...

iOS Liquid Glass and Android Material 3 Expressive have terrible dark modes 😭

Seriously though, why is dark mode so difficult to develop and why do designers use light mode buttons for dark mode? It's so frustrating for someone with low vision and who struggles with things…

youtube.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 5d

I haven't personally used shortcuts on iOS or Mac. For those who have, what are the most useful shortcuts you've created for productivity and content creation? I'd be interested to hear. One of these days, I really do need to pull that MacBook air out...

taylorarndt.substack.com/p/apple-we-n...

Apple, We Need to Talk About Shortcuts

Learning Apple Shortcuts with Accessibility in Mind

taylorarndt.substack.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 6d

A list of AI terms. The first time I've heard of "foom". Interesting!

www.cnet.com/tech/service...

ChatGPT Glossary: 59 AI Terms Everyone Should Know

The AI revolution is bringing with it a whole new vocabulary to describe its advances. Use this glossary to stay up-to-date.

www.cnet.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 7d

Agiga is poised to launch their EchoVision Pioneer Editions on October 29th. In this episode, I share an interview with Agiga about this update. What do you think? Was it a good move? If you pre-ordered, did you choose to be a Pioneer or will you wait for the final product?
youtu.be/FN9ixlznNHE

EchoVision Pioneer Edition - Update from Agiga

Agiga is poised to launch their EchoVision Pioneer Editions on October 29th. In this episode, I share an interview with Agiga about this update, why they decided to do this and what their plans for…

youtu.be

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 12d

The Tribit Stormbox Mini+... it's not my cup of coffee for a speaker. More than the app being inaccessible, the default sound profile is not my favorite being too much bass for my taste and the pause and play button just not being as easy as I wish.
youtube.com/shorts/lEMlT...

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · 13d

As someone who is very much low vision, it's always been a struggle to use the keyboard on mobile. It's gotten a lot better with Android using Gboard though! There's an update which increases the text size a good deal which is super helpful! 🌟
youtu.be/7dgrR6kwOq4

#gboard #android #a11y

Make your Phone's Keyboard Easier to See! Android GBoard Update | Quick Accessibility Tips

The new update to Gboard makes it easier to see with the ability to change the font size. What do you think? More ways to make Gboard easier to…

youtu.be

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 25

Voice interactive ad's on smart glasses? Oh, no... oh no, no, no. Who are these people who say they would do this? Why? Sure, I would be open to purchase, but not more advertisements...!
radioink.com/2025/09/23/s...

Smart Glasses Boom Creates a New Opportunity for Radio - Radio Ink

Smart glasses are on the rise—48% of consumers are interested in buying a pair. Learn how radio is tapping into this wearable tech trend.

radioink.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 24

Say goodbye to Rabbit R1 and say hello to Rabbit OS2! Wonder if it will be just as inaccessible as Rabbit R1. Will it have a screen reader? Text sizing? Hmm. I do wonder.

www.rabbit.tech/newsroom/rab...

#A11y #Accessibiltiy

rabbit overhauls r1 experience with rabbitOS 2, featuring colorful new card-based design and vibe-coding agentic capabilities

rabbit r1 is the first device ever to empower users to generate their own interface, voice, and tools by simply talking to their device

www.rabbit.tech

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 22

Yet another smart glasses for pre-order? The one feature that does stand out to me is that it supports audio memos. Now that is pretty neat. I don't always want to make a video and so this is such a neat idea! I wish the meta glasses supported this.
www.zdnet.com/article/look...

These AI glasses hit $1M in pre-orders in 72 hours and have features missing from Meta Ray-Bans

Rokid Glasses combine the best features of Meta Ray-Bans with next-gen upgrades. And a lot of people are jumping on their $120 pre-order discount on Kickstarter.

www.zdnet.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 19

From the dot lumen website: "Expected something like this to exist, but not during our lifetime." - blind since birth.
Everything the Guide Dog can do, now in Technology
The guide dog pulls your hand, the .lumen Glasses pull your head.
www.dotlumen.com/glasses

Glasses | .lumen

.lumen is the research startup which builds glasses that empower the blind to live a better life.

www.dotlumen.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 17

Perspective AI focuses on assistive technology and queries... It's in beta for iOS and I do wonder if it will become available on Android. Often, when I ask Gemini an NVDA command or concept, it is hit or miss, so this is a very interesting concept.

taylorarndt.substack.com/p/perspectiv...

Perspective AT Beta Now Available

These past two days have been incredibly hard for me.

taylorarndt.substack.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 15

Was the Apple event "awe-dropping"? Well, based on the feedback from the community... snot so much. I'm sticking with my iPhone 16 Pro Max and don't see a need to upgrade unless it's been a while since you've upgraded... Here's more details:
www.applevis.com/podcasts/app...

AppleVis Extra 111: Recapping Apple's 'Awe Dropping' September 2025 Event | AppleVis

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, Michael Hansen, Tyler Stephen, Geo Bahena, and Levi Gobin get together to discuss Apple's 'Awe Dropping' September 2025 event. Transcript Disclaimer: This…

www.applevis.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 13

A few days ago, I received an email from NLS about NC having DA2 players available. About 2 hours after opening, they ran out of devices and put me on a wait list.. I asked them to add my Dad and son on the list as well.. My dad got his yesterday and I'm left waiting. 🥺

www.loc.gov/nls/services...

NLS Digital Advanced Player 2 (DA2) - National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) | Library of Congress

DA2 Setup Guide: Learn how to power on, charge, connect to Wi-Fi, download from BARD, and access the user manual.

www.loc.gov

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 10

Google docs can now use AI to read documents aloud! Now, the only problem is making it easy to navigate to the toolbar once you navigate away from it using a screen reader... and how to activate an embedded button, too. Thoughts?
chromeunboxed.com/google-docs-...

#a11y #accessibility

Google Docs can now read your documents aloud to you with natural-sounding AI voices

For those who prefer to listen to content, or for anyone who wants a new way to proofread their own writing, Google is rolling out a fantastic new feature. You can now create and listen to audio…

chromeunboxed.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 10

"Are audio-only social apps a good idea?"

IMO, if creators don't make it engaging, it will never take off. We already have podcasts... it would be interesting to have an app that limits audio messages to 1-2 minutes or so.

vi.ie/are-audio-on...

Are audio-only social apps a good idea? - Vision Ireland

By: David Redmond Written: 4/9/2025 It’s very easy when talking about audio-only social apps to start considering stereotypes. I’m conscious I’m generalising a bit here, but blind and visually…

vi.ie

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 8

The Ally Solos - the next generation smart glasses from Envision. Here's how it works directly from the developers!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGvR...

#ally #accessibility

Ally Solos Glasses | How it works

In this video, we dive into the world of the Ally Solos glasses, a groundbreaking fusion of elegant design and accessible AI. Join Product Manager Ferkan and Lead Engineer Arman as they reveal how…

www.youtube.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 6

Zoomit Power Toy can zoom up to 400% (not enough for me) and you can use it to annotate during presentations... But what is a power toy? 🤔
Also, the page says "To start using ZoomIt, enable it in the PowerToys Settings"... instructions unclear. 😅
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/window...

ZoomIt Screen Zoom and Annotation Tool by Sysinternals

ZoomIt by Sysinternals is a powerful screen zoom, annotation, and recording tool for technical presentations. Download with PowerToys or standalone. Perfect for demos and screen capture.

learn.microsoft.com

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Carrie on Accessibility @carrieona11y.bsky.social · Sep 5

If you live in the UK, use screen magnification, and are interested in an accessibility/usability testing opportunity, please send me a direct message!

Feel free to pass this along to anyone you know that may be a good fit. ✨

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