Brian Meersma (@bmeersma.bsky.social)

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

Interested in accessibility, technology, hiking, and college basketball. Proudly dyslexic. Tech PM and Cornell alum. Views are my own.

112 followers 154 following116 posts

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

4 July

@njassemblydems.bsky.social @mikiesherrill.bsky.social you all have the majority and it’s important to this constituent that NJ Transit works reliably including during extreme heat. Passing the buck to Amtrak every time hasn’t worked and you all also don’t control federal transit appropriations.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

4 July

What legislation are you prioritizing to fix this problem?

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

4 July

@customeradvocate.bsky.social is there any hope of improving the infrastructure to withstand extreme heat (which is becoming more common)? People depend on the trains year round so they need to be reliable in the summer. @mikiesherrill.bsky.social @njassemblydems.bsky.social

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

1 July

@brightsaver.bsky.social seems like the “Garden State Balcony Solar Act” passed both houses yesterday based on njleg.gov/bill-search/... @mikiesherrill.bsky.social please sign into law.

legiscan.comNew Jersey S2368 | 2026-2027 | Regular SessionSummary (2026-06-30) "Garden State Balcony Solar Act"; exempts portable solar generation devices from certain requirements, and requires certain entities to allow use and installation of portable sola...

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

31 May

www.nytimes.com/2026/05/24/u...

nytimes.comBlind Waymo Users Revel in the Joy of Riding Alone

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

9 May

Interesting new capability from Spotify. I’m looking forward to trying it out. github.com/spotify/save...

github.comGitHub - spotify/save-to-spotify: Command line interface to save your personal media to Spotify.Command line interface to save your personal media to Spotify. - spotify/save-to-spotify

Brian Meersma reposted

Princeton University

@princeton.edu

8 May

Engineering student athletes at Princeton train and compete at a high level while also designing robots, building computer algorithms, and planning for climate resilience. https://bit.ly/3Psrn8F

bit.lyPrinceton Engineering - SportsA wrestler and roboticist. A track star and urban planner. A rugby captain and filmmaker. These are just a few of Princeton Engineering's more than 180 student athletes.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

24 Feb

@customeradvocate.bsky.social does the quoted part of the service adjustments for 2/23 apply to Trenton bound trains or only NYP bound trains? In other words, will trains originating at NYP heading towards Trenton stop at EWR tomorrow?

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

24 Feb

“Northeast Corridor trains will operate between Trenton and Metropark, then express to Newark Penn Station for travel to Secaucus and Penn Station New York. Trains will not make local stops between Metropark and Newark.”

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

12 Jan

Great opportunity from the American Foundation for the Blind for college students studying CS, design, or a related field to learn about accessibility. www.afb.org/internships/...

afb.orgDigital Accessibility Bootcamp

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

24 Dec 2025

blog.google/products/and...

blog.googleAndroid’s Expressive Captions uses AI to bring emotion to captionsThe new Live Caption feature gives you the full picture of emotion in what’s being said on your device.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

7 Dec 2025

Fascinating NIH funded research showing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring with comparable accuracy to in-market invasive monitoring devices. pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

pubs.acs.orgpubs.acs.org

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

7 Dec 2025

Apple has been rumored to be pursuing non-invasive blood glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch. This research demonstrates a proof of concept of one approach with miniaturization being at least one significant hurdle for wearables. The device in the study was 31 × 27 × 21 cm.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

1 Nov 2025

@princetonyimby.bsky.social there’s a sign at the bus yard near the Princeton Junction train station. Looks to be more of a parking lot than a park.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

14 Sept 2025

According to regulatory information, the overall sensitivity and specificity of Apple Watch hypertension notifications were 41.2% (95% confidence interval [37.2-45.3]) and 92.3% (95% confidence interval [90.6-93.7]), respectively. regulatoryinfo.apple.com/ifu/htnf

regulatoryinfo.apple.comApple Regulatory Information

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

10 Sept 2025

Memory Integrity Enforcement, a hardware and software system to protect against advanced spyware, was one of the most interesting Apple announcements to me yesterday. security.apple.com/blog/memory-...

security.apple.comBlog - Memory Integrity Enforcement: A complete vision for memory safety in Apple devices - Apple Security ResearchMemory Integrity Enforcement (MIE) is the culmination of an unprecedented design and engineering effort spanning half a decade that combines the unique strengths of Apple silicon hardware with our adv...

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

10 Sept 2025

“Passengers are facing blocked wheelchair space, getting stuck in doors and suffering other indignities 35 years after the Americans With Disabilities Act became law.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/t...

nytimes.comDisabled Amtrak Riders See Progress, but Still ‘Feel Like Freight’

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

27 Aug 2025

Microsoft announces VibeVoice, an open source AI model that can produce realistic multi-speaker audio of up to 90 minutes long. github.com/microsoft/Vi...

github.comGitHub - microsoft/VibeVoice: Frontier Open-Source Text-to-SpeechFrontier Open-Source Text-to-Speech. Contribute to microsoft/VibeVoice development by creating an account on GitHub.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

26 Aug 2025

“The Virginia and Maryland laws both require emergency plans to be considered as part of the process of developing Individualized Education Programs” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...

nytimes.com‘I Could Literally Be Left Behind to Die’: How a Student With a Disability Changed the Law

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

19 July 2025

Appeals court rules that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires Wisconsin township to provide at least one accessible voting machine for voters with disabilities. www.wpr.org/news/us-appe...

wpr.orgUS Appeals Court rules against town that removed voting machines last yearA northern Wisconsin town sued by the U.S. Department of Justice last year for not providing electronic voting machines to people with disabilities has lost its federal appeal.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

19 July 2025

Thankfully the court found the township’s argument that people with disabilities preferred assistance rather than independently casting a private ballot unpersuasive.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

15 July 2025

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.comHow the low-vision community embraced AI smart glassesPodcast Episode · The Vergecast · 07/15/2025 · 1h 17m

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

21 June 2025

@meredithmeredith.bsky.social @signal.org are you considering any WiFi Aware enabled features for Signal? developer.apple.com/videos/play/...

developer.apple.comSupercharge device connectivity with Wi-Fi Aware - WWDC25 - Videos - Apple DeveloperLearn how to create peer-to-peer network connections with Wi-Fi Aware. We'll also cover how to share videos in real time, transfer large...

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

7 July 2025

🤔 bsky.app/profile/tech...

Techmeme@techmeme.com

Jack Dorsey shares TestFlight and GitHub links to his "weekend project", Bitchat, a decentralized P2P messaging iOS app that relies on Bluetooth mesh networks (MacKenzie Sigalos/CNBC) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

1 July 2025

These look awful. Gift link: economist.com/graphic-deta...

economist.comTen charts to explain Trump’s big, beautiful billThe overhaul of taxation and spending would spell trouble for America

The Economist@economist.com

America’s Senate has passed the most consequential legislation of Donald Trump’s second term. Here are ten charts to show what impact it could have on the country https://econ.trib.al/hayaIlf

econ.trib.alTen charts to explain Trump’s big, beautiful billThe overhaul of taxation and spending would spell trouble for America

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

1 July 2025

“Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich…” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/b...

nytimes.comPoorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

1 July 2025

“…expected to add more than $3 trillion to the federal debt by 2034.”

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

25 May 2025

Using AI to create audio descriptions for videos. youtu.be/1bZVJMQ0uMs?...

youtu.beViddyScribe - Gemini powered accessibility for VideoYouTube video by Google for Developers

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

19 May 2025

I’m very interested to try Accessibility Reader. Speak screen just doesn’t work too frequently which has been a big pain for me as someone with dyslexia. www.apple.com/newsroom/202...

apple.comApple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this yearApple today announced new accessibility features coming later this year, including Accessibility Nutrition Labels.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

16 May 2025

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...

nytimes.com9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

17 Jan 2025

AI generated podcasts might be my latest favorite way to learn new things. I’d love for dialog between multiple people in books to adopt a similar style when reading a book with text-speech.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

2 Jan 2025

The Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard is my favorite so I’m happy to see it back on sale. www.incase.com/collections/...

incase.comSculpt Ergonomic DesktopThe Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop, Designed by Microsoft, is made for productivity. Ergonomically designed, it intentionally enhances comfort while reducing the stress, strain, and tension created by tra...

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

28 Dec 2024

Voice Dream Reader update includes new AI enhanced text-to-speech voices from Acapela for subscribers. In my opinion, these are incrementally better voices and not a massive upgrade like OpenAI’s unreleased Voice Engine.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

28 Dec 2024

Creating a text-to-speech voice based on a short clip of someone’s voice presents huge potential for abuse, but also huge opportunities for accessibility. I hope the safety challenge can be addressed and the benefits unlocked. www.theverge.com/2024/3/29/24...

theverge.comOpenAI’s voice cloning AI model only needs a 15-second sample to workAbout ten developers have access to Voice Generation.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

28 Dec 2024

Interesting looking AI enabled navigation device for people who are blind or low vision. glidance.io

glidance.ioGlidance: Self-Guided Mobility Device for Blind and Low VisionGlide, a groundbreaking leap in assistive technology, is the first self-guided mobility assistant designed for individuals with sight loss.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

21 Dec 2024

Analysis of AirPod Pro 2 hearing aid features. www.hearadvisor.com/products/app...

hearadvisor.comApple AirPods Pro 2 Hearing Aids Expert ReviewThe Apple AirPods Pro 2 is a budget OTC hearing aid that fits in the ear and uses rechargeable batteries. It achieved a SoundGrade of B and sits in the top 50% of devices in the OTC category and in th...

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

19 Dec 2024

Congestion pricing would fund badly needed accessibility improvements for NYC subways. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/n...

nytimes.comCongestion Pricing Settlement Stalls Between New York and New Jersey (Gift Article)Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York offered New Jersey “generous” incentives to settle its lawsuit against the tolling plan. A judge could soon determine the program’s fate.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

19 Dec 2024

I’m surprised there aren’t ChatGPT Plus gift cards all over for the holidays.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

18 Dec 2024

More accessibility news from Amazon today. www.theverge.com/2024/12/18/2...

theverge.comAmazon’s bringing meaningful accessibility improvements to Fire TVDual Audio lets everyone enjoy content together.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

18 Dec 2024

Amazon unveils new packaging that is both more sustainable and more accessible with tactile QR codes. www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices...

aboutamazon.comIntroducing Amazon’s all-new device packagingEcho, Kindle, and Fire TV product packaging gets an all-new look using more recycled fiber and less ink.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

18 Dec 2024

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/t...

nytimes.comNew Travel Protections For Passengers Flying With Wheelchairs (Gift Article)The Transportation Department has expanded the rights of airline passengers with mobility disabilities. The first changes will go into effect next month.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

17 Dec 2024

www.cnn.com/2024/12/16/t...

cnn.comDOT announces new protections for air travelers with disabilities | CNNThe US Department of Transportation has issued a new rule requiring airlines to follow more rigorous standards when it comes to airline passengers with disabilities.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

15 Dec 2024

Podcast recommendation. The host is the head of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund which seems to help with landing interesting guests. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

podcasts.apple.comIn Good Company with Nicolai TangenBusiness Podcast · 109 Episodes · Updated Biweekly

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

15 Dec 2024

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/b...

nytimes.comU.S. Moves to End a Minimum Wage Waiver for Disabled Workers (Gift Article)A plan by the Biden administration would phase out a provision that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage.

Brian Meersma

@bmeersma.bsky.social

13 Dec 2024

I was just testing Phi-3-mini today. Very fast and cost effective for certain applications. Excited to try Phi-4.

Techmeme@techmeme.com

Microsoft launches Phi-4, a 14B-parameter language model that it says outperforms comparable and larger models, like Gemini Pro 1.5, on mathematical reasoning (Michael Nuñez/VentureBeat) Main Link | Techmeme Permalink