on the AppleVis website. Below, you’ll find a selection of the best content posted to AppleVis by members of the community –
from new app entries, to app updates, to the latest news and podcasts.
We are pleased to highlight the newest apps.
…. New and Noteworthy App Entries
- Ballyland Stay Still, Squeaky! (iOS/iPadOS, US$2.99)
Who doesn’t like to play with paint and mud without getting dirty?
An accessible audio story and game that are fun for all. Play with paint and mud without getting dirty! This iPad app is fun for all, while being specifically designed for young children who are blind or visually impaired. A story that responds to touch with audio feedback, while teaching basic iPad skills through cause and effect. Plus the Bonus Game which helps to build spatial awareness on the screen. FIRST: Enjoy the adventure of Squeaky, the bouncy ball from Ballyland, who tries really hard to stay clean for a visit to his grandmother. Two simple, ‘informal’ gestures, touch and swipe, enable interaction with the story, resulting in Squeaky getting dirtier and dirtier… THEN: Play the Bonus Game, directing Squeaky on five routes to collect now familiar types of dirt in a specific order. This is a great way to playfully develop finger drag skills and spatial awareness on the screen. Uses ‘touch and hold’. Note that the grid is only for visual support and is not relevant to the gameplay for children who are blind. Love the sound effects!
Current Version: 1.0.0 (June 16, 2018)
Read Ballyland Stay Still, Squeaky!’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/games/ballyland-stay-still-squeaky
Visit Ballyland Stay Still, Squeaky!’s App Store page https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ballyland-stay-still-squeaky/id1385164168
- Voice Dream Reader for Desktop (macOS, Requires subscription)
Voice Dream Reader lets you listen to PDF documents, Web articles, and eBooks using text-to-speech. Although it is designed for people with visual impairment, dyslexia, ADHD, and other reading challenges, everyone can benefit. Your documents become audiobooks, so you can read while you walk, exercise or do chores. For productivity-minded people, with some practice, you can read at twice your sight-reading speed. Unlike audiobooks, you can highlight, take notes, and see the words as they’re spoken to improve comprehension and retention.
Voice Dream Reader for iOS is a 2021 Apple Design Award Winner, and it’s been featured by Apple as Best New App and App of the Day in 81 countries. Using the award-winning iOS app as building blocks, we wrote Voice Dream Reader Desktop from ground up as a native macOS app with a completely redesigned user interface. The result is a full-featured, desktop-class application fully optimized for the Mac.
FEATURES
Library
- Manage all your reading material in one place.
- Organize in folders. Search, filter and sort.
- Keep a Reading List so you never run out of things to read.
- Synchronize your library, reading locations, bookmarks and notes across all your Apple devices.
- Your library stays private on your device, or in iCloud Drive if you synchronize. No-one else has access.
- 75 text-to-speech voices in 27 languages.
- All voices are offline to protect your privacy.
- Correct pronunciation with your own pronunciation rules.
- PDF, plain text, and Google Docs.
- Text recognition for scanned PDF.
- Skip repeating headers and footers in PDF.
- Web articles via Safari Extension.
- Bookshare books via built-in interface.
- EPUB eBooks. (DRM-free books only. Kindle, iBooks and most commercial eBook platforms are encrypted.)
- DAISY text-based books and audiobooks.
- Audiobooks in MP3, MP4 or zipped MP3 format.
- Native access for Dropbox and Google Drive.
- Highlight spoken word to improve comprehension and retention.
- Change font, colors, character and line spacing, and margins.
- Auto-scrolling and full screen, distraction-free mode to help with focus.
- Two speed-reading modes: Pac-Man and RSVP.
- Optimized for accessibility including VoiceOver.
- High contrast and large font size for low vision readers.
- Bookmark, highlight and take notes.
- Export highlights and notes.
- Full-text search.
- Built-in dictionary.
- Only macOS system voices are supported.
- Acapela voices will be available in a future update.
- Ivona and NeoSpeech voices do not run on macOS.
- Word, PowerPoint and RTF support will come in a future update.
- Pocket and Instapaper support is coming soon.
- Evernote does not support third party access on macOS.
Current Version: 1.0.1 (April 30, 2022)
Visit Voice Dream Reader for Desktop’s App Store page https://apps.apple.com/app/id972112040
- ZenoRadio (iOS/iPadOS, Free) ZenoRadio allows you to listen to your favorite radio stations from around the world. In an easy to use App, find your favorite radio station by country and listen by streaming or dialing a phone number to save data. With an expanding list of stations and new countries being added weekly, the new ZenoRadio app is the best way to listen to your countries home radio stations.
Current Version: 1.8.0 (March 12, 2022)
Read ZenoRadio’s AppleVis App Directory entry for more information https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/music/zenoradio
Visit ZenoRadio’s App Store page https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zenoradio/id1207197757
All recent app entries posted to AppleVis can be found at:
iOS/iPadOS https://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=ios_app_directory
Mac https://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=mac_app_directory
Apple Watch https://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=watch_directory
Apple TV https://www.applevis.com/apps/latest?type=tv_directory