Accessible digital technology gift ideas for the 2014 holiday season

Transcript

21 December 2014

Roberta: With Christmas around the corner, knowing what to buy when filling up your Christmas stockings for friends and family is essential, especially with regard to technology. Media Access Australia's Dr Scott Hollier joins us today to provide some useful tips and accessible gift ideas for the 2014 holiday season. Welcome, Scott.

Scott: Thanks, Roberta. It's great to be back again for possibly the last time this year.

Roberta: It probably will be too but there'll be lots of it next year, so here we go. Can you provide, Scott, our listeners with an overview of interesting accessible technologies and devices that were released this year?

Scott: I'm happy to report there is a number of accessibility-related things that have happened through 2014 and just to cover a few we've seen across all the major operating systems great improvements in accessibility. So on the Windows side of things, Windows 8.1 really picked up in its use this year, so we see good built-in magnifier and narrator got a polish up in Windows 8 for screen reader uses. Cloud accessibility has played a big role there too, so if you have multiple Windows computers running Windows 8.1 you can set up your accessibility preferences on one and they'll carry over to the others, which is really exciting. We've also seen a number of products being developed on the IOS side of things, being the Apple iPhone and iPad with the release of the iPhone 6 and 6-plus, a nice big-screen iPhone. That's certainly got a lot of traction and has proved a very popular gift with lots of accessibility features built in. On the Android side we've seen 5.0 Lollipop released, so the Google Nexus 6 is a good example of a product, and the Nexus 9. They include Lollipop and a lot of the other phones are getting a Lollipop upgrade. What that means is that we see new accessibility features like inverted colour scheme, the ability to improve the contrast and things along those lines. So it's fantastic that, yeah, I'm happy to report that there have been a number of developments and, yes, an iPhone 6 or Android Lollipop tablet might just be in order for Christmas.

Roberta: Well, I was just going to ask you that, which useful products will be ready to buy in time for Christmas this week.

Scott: The new Nexus have only just come out, so it could be a good finish for those. Certainly the iPhone 6 and 6-plus have been available for several months now and they've got things like an improved magnifier. It's got all the usual accessibility features we've come to know and love in Apple products, like the voice over screen reader and high contrast and inverted themes. Yeah, I think if you're looking at, say, a Surface Pro tablet on the Windows side or that new iPhone or a budget phone or tablet running a fairly up-to-date version of Google Android then, yeah, there's something for everyone's budget.

Roberta: Are there any products with accessibility support slated for release in, dare I say it, 2015?

Scott: It's interesting that all eyes do point to 2015 and I think the most hotly anticipated product will be the Apple Watch. We have seen smart watches in 2014 but they haven't really had the capturing of the consumer imagination and they also haven't been that accessible. We're looking to the Apple Watch to see if that does prove accessible in the first quarter of next year but the other really big thing is that there's an electronic show in Las Vegas called the Consumer Electronic Show, CES, that happens at the very start of January and that's when all the big companies announce their new TVs and new tablets and anything in consumer electronics. Yeah, the first consumer hit we get in the coming year is to find out what those new products are and in early January we'll have some idea about what the year may hold.

Roberta: Well, I think we talked about this last December as well and you were talking about all the stuff that was going to be released in January. Well, it's all here. Isn't that wonderful?

Scott: It is and it's amazing that we're at that time again. Yes, the Consumer Electronic Show really sets the tone for the coming year and all eyes will be on Las Vegas for that. Yeah, it will be really interesting to see what the new trends are.

Roberta: Scott, where can we learn more about accessible digital technology?

Scott: I'd recommend people come and visit our website, www.mediaaccess.org.au. We have a digital technology section which goes through all the major accessibility features or Windows, Apple products, Android devices and a whole stack of other things. Yeah, I'd encourage people to check it out and made good choices this Christmas.

Roberta: Now, for more information you can call Media Access Australia on 02 9212 6242 or email info@mediaaccess.org.au. Thank you for all of that, Scott, and I want to wish you a very, very happy Christmas.

Scott: Thank you, Roberta. It's always a pleasure.

Roberta: I've been speaking with Dr Scott Hollier, who joined us today to talk about these wonderful things that are happening via Media Access Australia. A reminder that you can go to the website, www.mediaaccess.org.au. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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