Blind/vision impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news

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Mozilla’s Firefox OS: accessibility to be included

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The not-for-profit technology organisation Mozilla is releasing its first operating system for mobile devices, Firefox OS, and its accessibility features could soon rival those offered by Apple and Android.

Since announcement of Mozilla’s intention to develop its own operating system for smartphones and tablets, many have speculated on the access potential for people with disabilities. Mozilla is a not-for profit community and software company that works to develop products that use open-source web technologies. This means many different developers can contribute to and improve the accessibility of Mozilla’s software, which can be updated to work with different assistive technologies such a screen readers.

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Research to make white canes smarter

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A new device is being developed by Curtin University researchers which uses sensors to enhance the white canes used by people who are blind and vision impaired. The device creates a map of the immediate environment within a room and communicates this to the user’s smartphone.

Attached to the tip of a standard white cane, the device uses an accelerometer, three axis magnetic field meter, three axis gyroscope, camera, microphone and a barometer for floor level detection. The information gathered by each of these technologies will be used to calculate the position of an obstacle surrounding the white cane and navigate the user around it.

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Review of the Panasonic Smart Viera TH-L42E6A, a ‘talking TV’ with Voice Guidance

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Panasonic’s 2013 range of Viera ‘smart TVs’ are the first in Australia to have a text-to-speech function which will be of great benefit to blind and vision impaired consumers. The function, called ‘Voice Guidance’, was developed in the by Panasonic in the UK, in conjunction with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Media Access Australia’s project manager Ally Woodford gave it a test.

I connected the television simply with the aerial cable and power cable. The TV can be connected to a range of external equipment to record or play video.

When I turned on the power there was no sound and no text instruction to suggest how to activate the Voice Guidance. The on-screen option was to select your viewing environment of ‘Home’ or ‘Shop’. I selected Home.

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Greens crowdsource map of physical access barriers

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A new app has been developed by the Australian Greens which gathers information on physical accessibility barriers from the public. The app allows people to identify access trouble spots, such as a building without ramps, or a traffic light without audible signals. The information collected by the app will be used by government to inform future policy.

Led by Australian Greens disability issues spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert, the app creates a direct line between people with disability and the people in parliament who can help improve physical access policy. When a user submits an access issue, an email is sent to Senator Siewert, who will then compile a report for other disability policy makers.

The app, available in iPhone, iPad and Android versions, was tested by our digital media team, with pleasing results. Both the versions are accessible to people using their devices with assistive technology.

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