UN adopt disability convention – BBC
Carbon offsetting: not such a quick fix
Future for Orange Google in your pocket? – Observer
Jeremy Bowen: The man in the middle – Independent
Anyone who watches BBC TV news will recognise Bowen. I am sure I remember something about my sister going to school with his sister. anyway, that aside, he is a well respected journalist, and even if the Independent are plugging his book, this piece provides some food for thought on the subject of war reporting and is definitely worth a read.
Ouch Podcast Goes On – BBC
Beer for the Blind – Ananova
Hardly the most substantive blindness story of the year. But the headline makes it all worth while. Now all remains is for one of my readers in Germany to arrange to have a few bottles shipped over so I can see if this beer is any good. Purely in the interests of market research and quality control you understand.
Google Heading in the Right Direction
I recently noticed that the Google web search is now marking up results using the HTML Heading tag. This is great news for people who access their web browser using modern screen reading software, as we can now quickly and easily navigate to the next and previous matches on a Google web search results page. Most screen readers include commands to move to the next heading, previous heading, or list all headings on a web page, and by implementing the Heading tag, many screen reader users will find it more efficient to find the information they are looking for using Google. And just as importantly, for those who cannot take advantage of Headings, this change should not have a negative impact on their Google experience.
Hopefully this simple improvement is just the first of many steps along the road to greater accessibility and enhanced usability for the world’s most popular search engine. Hopefully Google can extend the heading tag to Google’s other searches such as: news, blog search, groups, etc.