Audio Books - New York Times

According to the New York Times today, Audio Books are becoming both more popular and more acceptable to the reading purist. I hope this trend continues as I rely on audio books for all of my non-professional reading. As the demand grows, so will the supply and variety of good quality audiobooks.

Accessibility Switch

The technology guy for the NY Times posted some thought about an issue that had not crossed my mind, "But What About the Color Blind?". I think that browsers should come with some default accessibility option. I do not mean the complicated range of options available now, but a simple on/off switch. This switch would automatically reformat all websites in some easy to read, high contrast and nice looking style, something that uniformly addresses the widest range of accessibility issues. For more advanced users, they could leave all the tweaks available now. For those who prefer simplicity, this accessibility switch could make a huge difference in the quality of internet life. Such a feature on publicly available machines, at kiosks or in computer labs for example, would allow anyone to make the web accessible with the touch of a single button. I suspect that the technology exists already. There is something called a style sheet that controls the look and feel of a web site. All it would take is a web designer could develop a style sheet with the characteristics listed above and the browser designers incorporated a single button that strained all web content through that style sheet.

A Site for Sore Ears: A Review and Tour of Audible.Com - AccessWorld - March 2005

AccessWorld has an updated review, A Site for Sore Ears: A Review and Tour of Audible.Com, of Audible.com. I know I have posted about the virtues of Audibble.com before, but this update is worth looking st.

Talking Pages - An Audio Book Lending Library for the Visually Impaired

Someone in New Jersey has launched a web-based lending library for audio books, Talking Pages - An Audio Book Lending Library for the Visually Impaired. The aunt of Talking Page's creator is visually impaired, which isnpired him to start this website to make expensive audiobooks more widely available. Check it out. Don't forget to check out your local library as well.

What do you think?

Since I began this blog several months ago, I have gotten very little feedback from you, the visitors. If you have the time and the inclination, leave me a comment. Do you have any ideas to add? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Slashdot | Artificial Retinas Bring Vision Back To The Blind

Slshdot has a story, Artificial Retinas Bring Vision Back To The Blind, that offers some hope for treating vision disorders. Maybe not for me and maybe not for a while yet, but the hope is there.