01/10/2014

Technology innovation

I've just wrapped up my second visit to the mega Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. There's been tons of coverage of all the exciting new products, especially wearable technology, health and body monitoring technologies, devices to enhance our autos and, of course, more and more 3-D printing.

I want to again give a special thank you and shout-out to our friends at the Consumer Electronics Association (the trade association that hosting the conference), for inviting disability advocates out to the show. More than just making this opportunity available, CEA also helped ensure that we got to meet companies with emerging technology as well as some of the big names in technology who are delivering accessibility in the home and on the go.

Highlights included a visit to Panasonic to see their new bone conductivity headphones (the headphones play through the cheekbone rather than in the ear!), and the advances they've made in accessible television. We also met up with Fleksy (a company that continues to deliver a great keyboard app for smart phones). We saw a number of companies offering technologies that put sensors in the home to provide protection and information about the home environment. And, we had the opportunity to meet with leaders from many of the large technology players like Samsung, LG, Sony, and Satellite TV providers Dish and DirectTV.

Darren Burton and William Reuschel from AFB Tech accompanied me and were able to impress upon many technology developers the importance of accessibility and the best strategies for achieving it.

All in all, a fruitful experience at a wonderful conference!

Technology innovation photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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