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Techshare: day two

Emma Emma | 16:52 UK time, Friday, 18 September 2009


I've just come back from the Techshare conference and must say that it has been a busy 24 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, I attended a session by on accessible set-top boxes. Basically, they have two products in development, software which can go on many of the mainstream boxes, and a specialised box, which they hope to bring to the market in early 2010. They say it shouldn't cost any more than the price of a good quality mainstream version. All the menus talk on this baby, as does the electronic programme guide and it also has the ability to record TV. The voice is a bit of a nightmare to listen to though, so I hope they change that before it arrives in shops.

Next, I headed to a session about mobile web. Henny Swan from Opera spoke eloquently about whether this is enabled or disabled by design and when it isn't, what can be done. To be honest, it was a fairly technical presentation and mostly about making text bigger and the page as a whole easier to see, so a lot of it went over my head. I'm fairly sure though that the main thrust was that, contrary to some theories, a website should avoid making a mobile version of it's sight where possible. This is all well and good, but I use Facebook mobile and the Guardian's mobile sight on my PC because the main websites are more difficult to use. I'm hoping they both improve the accessibility of their main sites before getting rid of the mobile version.

Later on in the evening we had the conference dinner. Talking GPS pioneer and blind man turned VI Mike May was the main speaker. He told us about how he wangled his way on to mainstream football teams as a kid, how he was the first blind person to ski at the Olympics and about what it was like to gain some sight having been blind from the age of 3. I reckoned he deserved a shot at 13 Questions for his trouble, the interview will follow soon, including news of a bit of rivalry between him and Myles Hilton-Barber.

Today, I interviewed accessibility champion, Cynthia Waddell. As Damon mentioned, she spoke at the opening of the event yesterday. Cynthia is hearing impaired and her life's work is to ensure that disability rights laws are kept and changed where necessary, and in her words, "to improve the lives of disabled people by fighting for systemic change". She's a fascinating woman. Her 13 Questions will also follow shortly.

One more thing before I sign off. Have you heard of the Kapsys Kapten? It's a talking GPS system which was developed for joggers and cyclists and is controlled through voice activation. I Didn't get to feel or test the product, because someone had run off with it to try it out, but I want it. The Captain only costs around £150, so I really, really hope that it does the job well. We won't know until it goes on the market properly in a couple of weeks time.

Right I'm off. Have a lovely weekend.

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