Engineers from Google have commandeered a booth at this year's CSUN accessibility conference and they're keen to talk up their latest efforts. For the visually impaired, there's now a beta version of a Chrome screen reader called ChromeVox (demo'd after the break), plus improved shortcuts and screen reader support in Google Docs, Sites and Calendar. Meanwhile, YouTube boasts expanded caption support for the hard of hearing, with automatic captions enabled for 135 million video clips -- a healthy tripling of last year's total. Check the source link for full details or, if you're anywhere near San Diego, go and hassle those engineers the old-fashioned way.
Here's a little secret Whole Foods doesn't like to advertise: they want, nay, demand, that a rather large percentage of residents near its highfalutin grocery stores have a college degree. Apparently you've gotta be smart to navigate its aisles crowded with over-priced organic wares and exotic condiments. Perhaps, though, the company has realized the error of its ways and wants to move in to new markets. That doesn't mean it trusts you and your high school diploma to decipher all those labels with difficult to pronounce words on them. A new experimental shopping cart is being tested by the market that puts a tablet and a Kinect in the driver's seat -- literally. Because you can't be expected to multi-task, the cart drives itself, monitors your shopping list and can even warn you if you grab the wrong item, thus protecting you from your own inability to avoid aggravating your peanut allergy. Check it out in action after the break.
