If you follow my blog or my projects, you know I’ve been working on image description for a while. It started with my Image Description Toolkit (IDT), which has been around for about a year and a half and is a full range of tools for working with AI models and descriptions. Earlier this week I released My Photo Library Described (MPLD), which uses the on-device AI on the Mac and Windows to describe your…
Leave a CommentThe Idea Place Posts
Since I started working on my Image Description Toolkit (IDT) back around January of 2025, I’ve had a goal: open my photo library on Windows or the Mac and have descriptions read automatically as I move through my pictures. No exporting, no batch jobs, no copying images somewhere else first. Just arrow to a photo and hear what’s in it. With recent developments in on-device AI on both Windows and the Mac, I’m pleased to…
One CommentIs it acceptable for me to say that I think something I created through vibe coding with Claude is pretty cool? I hope so, because as much as I appreciate all the apps I’ve put out there, a new app I’m calling The Chat Place has so far been just a joy for me to use. I hope others find it helpful. If you use Claude Code, The Chat Place gives you one window for…
2 CommentsI’m pleased to announce that version 4.8 of my Image Description Toolkit (IDT) is now available. If you have what Microsoft has been branding as a Copilot+ PC, IDT can now use the AI hardware built into these devices to describe your images. What this means in the real world is quality image descriptions generated on your own device in about four to six seconds per image. Nothing is uploaded, and there’s no API key,…
Leave a CommentI recently created Hyper-V Manage, a screen-reader-first tool for managing Hyper-V virtual machines. Part of what drove that was a real problem I run into every day: Claude choosing to run UI tests on my own PC. With Hyper-V Manage in place, I took the next step and had Claude create a way to run that UI testing in a VM instead. Here’s what it does and how you can use it. The Problem When…
2 CommentsThe App RSSQuick is a vibe coded basic RSS reader I created more than a year ago. I think of it a bit like turning on the radio but for RSS feeds. It is aimed at giving you a quick way to catch up on whatever’s the latest from the feeds you want to follow. It started as a Windows app but is now available on the Mac and in public testing on iPhone and…
Leave a CommentRevisiting MLB Opening Day Pennant races are heating up for MLB but I want to step back to opening day for the 2026 season for a minute. For the last several years I’ve made last-minute purchases for tickets to the opening day game for the Brewers. Not so this year. When I went to search for tickets, I discovered that the Brewers, like a lot of MLB teams as far as I can tell, made…
Leave a CommentI have been doing a lot of development work with Claude Code, and the thing that slowed me down most was not the AI. It was reading the output. In my experience both the Claude desktop app and the terminal have challenges with screen readers. The desktop app often requires scrolling around in a screen reader’s view of the text, using scroll to bottom, and generally fishing around too much to find what was just…
Leave a CommentI’ve been sitting on this project for a couple weeks, and it’s time to write about it. Windows has had a Live Captions feature for a couple of years now. Turn it on and a small bar appears at the bottom of the screen, showing whatever it’s currently hearing — your microphone, a meeting, a video, anything the system is playing. For a sighted person who just wants a quick visual backup while they half-listen…
One CommentI recently gave a talk to some staff from the University of Wisconsin’s ophthalmology clinic. Although it wasn’t the main focus of my talk, I had an opportunity to show a little bit about two of the iOS apps I’ve been working on. To do so, I made a short video and thought I would share it here. A video transcript is also available. The video shows a bit about my WeatherFast and Sports Scores…
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