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Latest News

July 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
26 July 2012	Google Maps make Sydney public transport directions accessible Google and Transport New South Wales have teamed up to introduce Sydney public transport directions to the Google Maps app. After testing, we can safely say that accessibility has been a key consideration in the feature’s development.
25 July 2012	Any Questions for Ben DVD released without access features Roadshow Entertainment, Australia’s most consistent distributor of accessible DVD and Blu-ray, has informed Media Access Australia of an error with the recent release to DVD of Australian movie, Any Questions for Ben.
25 July 2012	E-inclusion kit helps seniors with disabilities get online A new resource kit that will help seniors with disabilities get online has been launched in a collaborative project between Media Access Australia and the Council of the Ageing (COTA) WA.
23 July 2012	Death of Media Access Australia’s chairman, Graham Jones It’s with great sadness that we announce the death of Media Access Australia’s Chairman, Graham Jones, after a short illness.
23 July 2012	Nine beats FOXTEL in captioned Olympic coverage The Nine network has confirmed that all of its coverage of the London Olympics, consisting of over 300 hours broadcast on Channel 9 and simulcast in high definition on GEM, will be closed captioned.
20 July 2012	Audio description trial dates announced The long-awaited trial of audio description on Australian television will commence on 5 August on ABC1, and run for 13 weeks between 5pm and midnight. A list of which TV and set top-box brands will be able to receive audio description has also been released.
19 July 2012	Introducing Access iQ: helping create a web without limits Access iQ is Media Access Australia's new initiative. Launched today, the website is a hub for anyone who wants to learn how to make websites and applications accessible to users of all abilities. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes joined Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley in unveiling the project in front of media, industry leaders and disability advocates.
17 July 2012	New US access standards for remotes and 3D TVs The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has just released five new standards for electronics equipment manufacturers, including one related to accessibility of remote controls for the blind and vision impaired, and another related to captions for 3D TVs.
17 July 2012	Australians with disabilities pay too much for IT The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has published a report outlining how Australians pay too much for technology and that people with disability are being hit hardest.
16 July 2012	Woolworths refuses to caption its ads Following an investigation by B&T magazine which found that many major Australian brands are not captioning their TV commercials, Coles has commenced captioning with its latest commercial, but Woolworths has announced that it has “no immediate plans” to introduce captioning.
13 July 2012	New invention bridges the signing gap A pair of gloves have been invented which translate sign language into synthetic speech. The project saw its developers, a team of students from Ukraine, take out first place at the Microsoft Imagine Cup in Sydney this week.
10 July 2012	Report on the accessible cinema rollout: January to June 2012 Following on from the successful 2011 rollout of captioned and audio described cinema locations under the Cinema Access Implementation Plan, the first six months of 2012 have delivered more locations but fallen behind the expected schedule.
09 July 2012	See "Ice Age 4" with open audio description A special screening of the movie Ice Age 4: Continental Drift with audio description played openly in the cinema for all patrons has been organised by Blind Citizens Australia and Village Cinema Jam Factory in Melbourne.
06 July 2012	Captions added to Google+ Hangouts Google’s flagship social network, Google+, has made a breakthrough with the launch of Hangout Captions. The app will allow people who are Deaf or hearing impaired to access live transcription services while using the video chat feature on the social network.
05 July 2012	Accessibility you can bank on A bank in Switzerland, Credit Suisse, is calling itself “the barrier-free bank” as it launches its accessibility initiative for the fifth year running. Showcasing its services for those with impaired hearing, vision or mobility, as well as the elderly, the campaign aims to increase awareness amongst customers and staff.
04 July 2012	Audio description now mandatory on US television As of 1 July, audio description is once again mandatory on television in the US, with the top four networks and top five cable TV channels obliged to screen 4 hours of audio described programs each week.
04 July 2012	The Other Film Festival returns for 2012 The biennial Other Film Festival has announced its return in 2012, showing films that are not only accessible, but tell stories of people with disabilities from around the world.

June 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
28 June 2012	Captions included on ABC iView app The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has today launched the ABC iView app for iPhone, with caption functionality included.
28 June 2012	Overstream website for captioning videos experiencing problems Free online captioning software Overstream is currently experiencing problems with its video streaming functions. Videos can be searched for but not played online or uploaded so that captions can be created for them.
27 June 2012	Fleksy app improves texting for blind or vision impaired users A yet-to-be-released iOS iPhone app called Fleksy has stripped down the traditional touchscreen keyboard to make typing text more accessible to people who are blind or vision impaired.