[gui-talk] Amazon's Kindle to get audible menus, bigger font

[James Pepper]

Well the reason they are doing this is not so much for the US market as it
is for the UK and European markets where they are about to be banned for not
being accessible.  The accessibility laws are about to be enforced and
e-book technologies are going to fall.  I would recommend not buying an
e-book reader until all of this gets sorted out because a ban of an e-book
format is not only for the blind it is for everyone.  And so who sells what
where is going to be a big question in the coming year.

Will people and companies that bought into certain e-book formats be stuck
with betamax instead of cassette?

James Pepper

On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 6:59 AM, David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com> wrote:

>
>
> Amazon's Kindle to get audible menus, bigger font
>
> By Jessica Mintz
>
> Associated Press
> Posted: 12/07/2009 01:55:11 PM PST
> Updated: 12/07/2009 03:47:24 PM PST
>
>
> SEATTLE ­ <http://Amazon.com <http://amazon.com/>>Amazon.com will add two
> features to the Kindle e-book reader to make the gadget more accessible to
> blind and vision-impaired users.
>
> Monday's announcement comes a month after Syracuse University in Syracuse,
> N.Y., and the University of Wisconsin-Madison said they would not consider
> widely deploying the device as an alternative to paper textbooks until
> Amazon makes it easier for blind students to use. Both universities bought
> some Kindles to test this fall.
>
> The Kindle has a read-aloud feature that could be a boon to blind students
> and those with other disabilities including dyslexia, but turning it on
> requires navigating through screens of text menus.
>
> Amazon said Monday it is working on audible menus, which would let the
> Kindle speak menu options out loud. It's also working on an extra-large font
> for people with impaired vision. The additions should reach the Kindle next
> summer, Amazon said.
>
> Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, said
> Monday that the organization doesn't know enough about the new features to
> say whether they adequately address concerns of the blind community. But, he
> said, it's a good sign Amazon is expressing commitment to improve the
> Kindle.
>
> Amazon released this year the $489 Kindle DX, a large-screen model aimed at
> textbook and newspaper readers. Several colleges including Arizona State
> University are testing the gadget this academic year and sending feedback to
> the company.
>
> The federation for the blind, which is based in Baltimore, teamed up with
> another advocacy group, the American Council of the Blind, to sue Arizona
> State in an attempt to block it from using the Kindle as a way to distribute
> electronic textbooks because the devices can't be used by      blind
> students.
>
> It also filed complaints with the Justice Department against five other
> schools participating in the Kindle trial with Amazon: Case Western Reserve
> University in Cleveland, the Darden School of Business at the University of
> Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., Pace University in New York, Princeton
> University in Princeton, N.J., and Reed College in Portland, Ore.
>
> Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin were not among the
> pilot-test schools.
>
> Danielsen declined to comment when asked if Amazon's proposed changes would
> lead the federation to abandon its complaints.
>
> _______________________________________________
> gui-talk mailing list
> gui-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> gui-talk:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/gui-talk_nfbnet.org/b75205%40gmail.com
>