ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Jeff Bezos will take the stage this coming Wednesday at 10:00 am in NYC and will unveil the latest Kindle offering. From following the bloggers, it looks like we will see a 7 inch back-lit touch screen color Kindle that will be running a customized version of the Android operating system. The color Kindle will be positioned as a ebook reader very much like the Nook Color has for the past couple of years. However, the color Kindle will offer you rich media through the Amazon Store where you can download and play songs, movies and of course download your books. The color Kindle will support WiFi at this time and will come with a Browser giving you access to the web and the full range of Amazon Store services. What is really exciting is the price point that everyone n the web has been has been speculating about. Some have shared that they believe the new Kindle Color Reader will be priced below $250 dollars which will certainly get everyone excited about the potential for this tablet/ereading device. Having access to a color eReader like the Kindle Color with good performance and access to the web could certainly shake up the tablet market. So I know I will stay tuned to the announcement this Wednesday to find out all of the details. We certainly live in exciting times! So check back here next week for the Kindle Color update.

Mock up of possible iPhone 5 design

Apple's next iPhone is rumored to be announced in a couple of weeks. What will the new iPhone mean for assistive technology? The iPhone is a powerful tool for people with a variety of disabilities. It has built in text-to-speech, support for braille displays and much more. How will Apple's announcement effect you? Read on to find out.

At the event Apple will most likely unveil at least one iPhone with a faster processor, more RAM and a better camera. Apple may surprise us with more features as well, but we'll focus on those three. A faster processor means that apps will run faster enabling apps such as Read2Go and ZoomReader to work better and faster. The faster processor will also open the door to exiciting new assistive technology apps. A better camera will benefit people using OCR apps, magnification apps, money reader apps and much more. The new camera will be able to recognize text more accurately and magnify printed text with higher resolution. The new iPhone will run iOS 5 which includes many new accessibility features.

iOS is the most accessible mobile operating system to date and with iOS 5 it will get even better. iOS 5 will run on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Apple has said that iOS 5 will available in the fall. iOS 5 will include many new accessibility features to help make the device easier to use. Hearing aid compatibility will be built into the iPhone allowing people to hear the iPhone better. Another new feature allows users to select text and then have it read back to you using a built in text-to-speech voice. Another rumored feature will convert a users voice into text for easier text input. iOS 5 will also be able to use the iPhone flash as an indicator light which will be helpful to deaf users. Custom vibrations will allow users to set their own vibration patterns to quick identify who is calling. Yet another cool feature called assistive touch will help users with low motor still access their iOS device. To learn more about assistive touch click here. There are even more accessibility features coming in iOS 5. iOS 5 will include a feature for every type of user and will be a free upgrade. To learn more about iOS click here, here and here.

Apple's announcement will be many new exciting bring new assitive technology features to users. Click read more below to see a video about iOS 5. Stay tuned for more information about iOS 5 and the new iPhone.

One of the shortcomings of the Kindle platform is that it does not support the ever popular ePub format which made it next to impossible to borrow ebooks from the public library. But all that has changed and as of today, patrons of the public library can now take out Kindle eBooks which can be delivered over a WiFi connection or via a USB download.

I decided to give it a try and so I  logged into Overdrive and searched for my Public Library which was quickly found. I then logged into the digital library with my Patron Number and clicked in the Kindle books library which allowed me to search for a book. Once I found a book I wanted, I clicked on Add to Cart and when I checked out- I was redirected to the Amazon Kindle page where I could send it to my Kindle. Once I turned on my Kindle the book was automatically delivered over my WiFi connection and I was up and reading in no time. The process was fast and efficient. Having access to the eBooks from my Public Library  library will open up all kinds of possibilities now for reading adventures using my Kindle.