Access on Main Street

Hooking up a usable world, one mainstream product at a time.

Monitoring diabetes with your mobile phone

Posted by Jim Tobias 31 July 2005

A new service uses your mobile phone to relay your glucose monitoring results to your health care provider. If your mobile could talk, it could read the results to you.

Mobile phone diabetes monitor

Yet another dynamic display keyboard

Posted by Jim Tobias 31 July 2005

The action is heating up on keys with built-in LCDs that can display customized animated icons. This one is monochrome (black on green), and is expected to show up by the end of this year. The last one we noticed was full color, but the wait was longer. There are rumors of patent issues with a third company!

United Keys

Accessibility in Iowa

Posted by Jim Tobias 28 July 2005

Iowa just overhauled its state websites to make it easier for citizens to find disability-oriented services, and “will partner with individuals with diverse disabilities” to make the websites more accessible.

Improved Accessibility for Iowans With Disabilities

Whenever I see announcements like this, I wish they gave more details about the partnering, so the whole public sector accessibility community could easily collect “best practices”.

BBC: Mobile phone ‘ear tumours risk’

Posted by Jim Tobias 28 July 2005

The BBC is reporting that cell phone radiation may cause benign ear tumors that may affect the auditory nerve and brain. (I’m looking for that new definition of ‘benign’….)

BBC NEWS | Health | Mobile phone ‘ear tumours risk’

OK, a previous story linked cell phones to eye damage. The brain tumor link, true or not, has been out there for years. Lucky for me, I spend my whole life driving or flying.

Cell phones cause eye damage?

Posted by Jim Tobias 28 July 2005

Here’s a report on some research that points to a relationship between cell phone use and eye damage.

CELL PHONE RADIATION MAY CAUSE VISUAL DAMAGE

So let’s get this straight: if you’re blind you may have trouble using cell phones, and if you’re not, you will be?

‘Designer’ hearing aids in UK

Posted by Jim Tobias 26 July 2005

A consortium of design firms and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) has an exhibit of truly innovative hearing enhancement devices: a mute button for loud noises in the environment, eyeglass frames that help you focus on sounds coming from the direction you’re facing, and hearing aids that look like flowers. Really great ideas — wake up, industry!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Call for ‘designer’ hearing aids

Accessible Skype by summer 2006

Posted by Jim Tobias 24 July 2005

Phil Wolfe posts a challenge to the Skype community. He has received some interesting comments. Stay tuned! I will be presenting these issues to the Fall 2005 VON Conference.

Skype Journal: Accessible Skype by Summer 2006

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