The Ability Hacks

The Ability Hacks is the story of two Microsoft hackathon teams, one in the summer of 2014 and one the following summer of 2015. The first would pioneer new software to revolutionize the mobility of tens of thousands of people who live with severe paralysis caused by ALS, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy and traumatic neurological injuries. The second team would pioneer software to help kids with dyslexia read and love learning for the first time in their lives. This is the story of two small groups of driven, focused and passionate software engineers, program managers, marketers and advocates. It's the story of realizing the transformative power of technology for people with disabilities, not just for traditional consumer and industrial markets. It's the story of doing something truly great -- improving outcomes for everyone, discovering a design ethos and blazing a new trail for accessibility. Read more:More than one billion people around the world live with a disability of some kind, and it's estimated two-thirds of us know someone with a disability. Almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life, and those who survive to old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning, according to the World Health Organization. This book explores an optimistic belief that computer software and hardware can empower people with disabilities in a multitude of scenarios. As one engineer interviewed for The Ability Hacks said, "It's not about the technology. It's about the people."

Want to take real control of your Mac? The hacks in this book help you dig below the surface to tweak system preferences, mount drives and devices, and generally do things with your system that Apple doesn’t expect you to do. With a little effort, you can make your Mac and its applications perform exactly the way you want them to. There are more than 50 hacks in this book that show you how to fine-tune the interface, work with multimedia, set up your network, boost security, and perform a few tricks with Unix. Go beyond Preferences: change the way OS X Mountain Lion behaves Customize your experience by taming browsers and making apps full screen Get information delivered right to your desktop, and automate mundane tasks Use the command line and install various Unix apps to unlock your Mac’s Unix power Increase security, monitor network traffic, and remain anonymous Play Wii games and host a Minecraft server on your Mac Modify your WiFi, move iTunes, and record TV shows Turn your MacBook into a tablet and give it a custom dye job

Subtitle on cover: Tips and tools for wrangling your data.

Targeted to gamers between the ages of eight and twelve, this full-color, unofficial, ninety-six-page strategy guide will cover the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC editions of Blizzard Entertainment’s mega-popular game Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition. Each section of the book will feature detailed, yet easy-to-understand tips and strategies, along with screenshots that will help readers quickly master the game when experiencing the Competitive Play (multiplayer) mode. Overwatch Hacks will offer details about each of the game’s 26 core heroes, and describe each hero’s unique strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and ultimate abilities. Since Overwatch is all about multi-player team play, an emphasis on what each hero’s abilities are best suited for—related to offense, defense, tank, or support—will be covered, as will how a player should adapt their overall gameplay strategy based on which hero they choose to control, and what role they’ll be playing as a member of their team. This game is very much about team collaboration, communication, and coordination, and the tips and strategies outlined in this book will focus heavily on these elements of the game. Readers will also discover what they need to know about the maps and locations where battles occur, and learn how to adapt their strategy based on their location within the game in order to complete location-specific objectives. Finally, this guide will offer tips for best utilizing customization options and loot. Whether a gamer is playing with AI controlled team members, random online players, or their best friends, the reader will go into each battle and adventure with the knowledge and strategies needed to achieve victory. As a team-based shooter set in the near future, Overwatch was one of the fastest games in history to attract more than 30 million active players. It continues to win awards and be among the most popular multiplayer games available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC platforms.

With 90 detailed hacks, expert web developers Jesse Cravens and Jeff Burtoft demonstrate intriguing uses of HTML5-related technologies. Each recipe provides a clear explanation, screenshots, and complete code examples for specifications that include Canvas, SVG, CSS3, multimedia, data storage, web workers, WebSockets, and geolocation. You’ll also find hacks for HTML5 markup elements and attributes that will give you a solid foundation for creative recipes that follow. The last chapter walks you through everything you need to know to get your HTML5 app off the ground, from Node.js to deploying your server to the cloud. Here are just a few of the hacks you’ll find in this book: Make iOS-style card flips with CSS transforms and transitions Replace the background of your video with the Canvas tag Use Canvas to create high-res Retina Display-ready media Make elements on your page user-customizable with editable content Cache media resources locally with the filesystem API Reverse-geocode the location of your web app user Process image data with pixel manipulation in a dedicated web worker Push notifications to the browser with Server-Sent Events

TiVo Hacks helps you get the most out of your TiVo personal video recorder. Armed with just a screwdriver and basic understanding of PC hardware (or willingness to learn), preeminent hackability awaits. This book includes hacks for changing the order of recorded programs, activating the 30-second skip to blaze through commercials, upgrading TiVo's hard drive for more hours of recording, use of TiVo's Home Media Option to remotely schedule a recording via the Web, log in to the serial port for command-line access to programming data, log files, closed-captioning data, display graphics on the TiVo screen, and even play MP3s.Readers who use advanced hacks to put TiVo on their home network via the serial port, Ethernet, USB, or wireless (with 802.11b WiFi) will watch a whole new world open up. By installing various open source software packages, you can use TiVo for mail, instant messaging, caller-ID, and more. It's also easy to run a web server on TiVo to schedule recordings, access lists of recorded shows, and even display them on a web site. While TiVo gives viewers personalized control of their TVs, TiVo Hacks gives users personalized control of TiVo.Note: Not all TiVos are the same. The original TiVo, the Series 1, is the most hackable TiVo out there; it's a box thrown together with commodity parts and the TiVo code is running on open hardware. The Series 2 TiVo, the most commonly sold TiVo today, is not open. You won't see hacks in this book that involve modifying Series 2 software.

The authors bring readers more of the practical tips and tricks that made the first edition a runaway hit. Completely revised and updated, this version includes over 30 new hacks, major overhauls of over 30 more, and timely adjustments and touch-ups to dozens of other hacks.

A car PC or carputer is a car tricked-out with electronics for playing radio, music and DVD movies, connecting to the Internet, navigating and tracking with satellite, taking photos, and any electronic gadget a person wants in a car. All these devices are managed and controlled through a single screen or interface. The only place car PC enthusiasts can go for advice, tips and tools is a handful of hard-to-find Web sites--until now. Car PC Hacks is your guide into the car PC revolution. Packing MP3 players, handheld devices, computers and video-on-demand systems gives you a pile too heavy to carry. But add a car and put them together, you've got a powerful and mobile multimedia center requiring no lifting. The next time you give kids a lift, you won't hear, "Are we there yet?" Instead, expect "We're there already?" as they won't want to leave the car while playing video games from multiple consoles. Car PC Hacks is the first book available to introduce and entrench you into this hot new market. You can count on the book because it hails from O'Reilly, a trusted resource for technical books. Expect innovation, useful tools, and fun experiments that you've come to expect from O'Reilly's Hacks Series. Maybe you've hacked computers and gadgets, and now you're ready to take it to your car. If hacking is new and you would like to mix cars and computers, this book gets you started with its introduction to the basics of car electrical systems. Even when you're unclear on the difference between amps and watts, expect a clear explanation along with real-life examples to get on track. Whether you're venturing into car PC for the first time or an experienced hobbyist, hop in the book for a joy ride.