Steven Aquino (he/him)

I talked with @marcoarment@mastodon.social in a brief email Q&A this week about transcripts in Overcast.

Please read and share!

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-4-10-hqs7rmsdifg87dy7ff1xjh4kyuidbs

2026 has been unkind to me thus far, and my mental health is in a precarious place, but today has cause for small celebration: It’s my 13th anniversary as a tech journalist. I know my work doesn’t make headlines or even conversation, but I’m proud of what I built for myself, literally from nothing back in 2013.

Thanks to all who’ve supported me over the years.

I’ve sat on this piece for long enough, so here's my spicy take on the macOS menu icons debate. All the people clutching their pearls over how awful they are, as ever, missing something: accessibility!

cc: @ismh86@eworld.social @stroughtonsmith@mastodon.social @gruber@mastodon.social

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-3-24-in-defense-of-macos-tahoes-menu-icons

Someone on X made Windows’ BSOD into an iPhone wallpaper and it’s kinda amazing.

Big news out of Microsoft: The company has named a new chief accessibility officer in Neil Barnett.

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-4-8-whu6msl23qhtptqqdq01mbwntuhoni

The more I hear/read nerds talk about the MacBook Neo, the more I’m convinced most can’t see past their own navel. These are the same complaints these same people had about the AssistiveTouch pointer when they so desperately wanted a mouse on their iPad. It’s like crying foul when you discover a fork doesn’t do well at knife work when you should be using a knife for your food prep.

In both cases, products that clearly aren’t targeted for you. Enjoy your MacBook Pro.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@daringfireball/116518803371459644

It’s almost impossible to overstate how seminal Markdown has been to my journalistic career. It really is a de-facto accessibility feature for me.

One of my earliest bylines was a piece I did for TidBITS. https://tidbits.com/2013/06/18/with-markdown-even-the-blind-can-write/

PSA: Ken Burns’ THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION is streamable in 4K using the PBS app. It looks amazing on my Apple TV 4K + LG OLED (77”) setup.

I wrote a little bit about “getting” the iPhone Air, riffing off a recent @mattbirchler@threads.net blog post.

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-5-4-tegep6gx14jhxfv5wi1n9146q0c4vf

I wrote my own piece on the Cook-to-Ternus transition, analyzing the news through an accessibility lens (duh).

Here’s an idea for Ternus: Give Apple a chief accessibility officer! If Apple can have a chief hardware officer, and a whole country can have one, no reason Apple couldn’t.

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-4-21-3h7blasrav9ctlfzfhr3rc414vidpo

I don't know who needs to hear this, but the “Report:” part of a news headline goes at the beginning, NOT the end.

I have no idea who even cares or listens to me, but re: the Touch Bar withering on the proverbial vine, my understanding through the years has been a lot of software people inside Apple fell out of love with it. (I still maintain Touch Bar Zoom is/was a masterpiece.)

RE: https://zeppelin.flights/@jsnell/116456568061405282

This is a great idea for accessibility’s sake.

988 has been my best friend lately.

I don't know about anyone else, but I’ve always used Dropbox for archival purposes, not a sync engine. I use iCloud Drive for the majority of the files I need across devices.

Okay fine, I wrote about the Touch Bar (again).

https://www.curbcuts.co/blog/2026-4-28-ho1u9t61m3z2g432r9ww7axeudag3n

I lived in San Francisco proper for 12 years. This story is decidedly not news to residents.

https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/28/apple-paid-1-2m-to-privately-hire-police-to-protect-its-san-francisco-stores-wired/