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It's long been our belief at Ouch Central that blind people have all the cool gizmos and gadgets. I mean, lets compare a grip stick to a speaking electronic colour detector? Need I say more?

Anyway, to mark the big tech fest taking place this week in Birmingham, we thought we'd share a few cool blindie innovations we've come across in the last few weeks.

Éù is where you can download a FREE screenreader. It's called Thunder. Not so much freeware as ethicalware, the people behind the project say: "We see the talking computer as
the gateway to literacy, learning, work and financial independence for blind people and our mission is to make the blind-friendly talking software available
worldwide." Check out the site for details.

Éù is satellite navigation for visually impaired people that you load onto your mobile phone. No more getting lost between the station and shopping centre, then?

The bargain here is that it's free! But the downpoint is that it doesn't have map data on it so you can't plot street routes. What it does have is an online points of interest library where you can upload and download routes or markers. For streetmaps, software is available but costs a couple of hundred pounds.

Though it works at its best with a little 40 quid satellite receiver that you can attach to the shoulderstrap of your bag or guide dog harness for instance, it also has some functionality without a satellite receiver. It is not self-voicing so you will need a speech enabled mobile phone. Details on the site.

Éù We're never entirely convinced by self-voiced websites that claim to be the ultimate in accessibility; they may talk but you can barely navigate and it's a time-consuming slog. The latest that has come to our attention, though, is . They're asking for help beta-testing this service now, maybe you could help? If you read their site you'll see they've been working on navigation issues lately. But it's not just blind people who appreciate talking websites so go and have a play.

Éù Ouch highly recommends that you join the Access-UK mailing list if you want help, support or ideas around tech for visually impaired people. Ask your questions and contribute to this medium traffic list with some very highly skilled and knowledgeable blind IT professionals reading it daily. Send a blank mail to access-uk-request@freelists.org with the word 'subscribe' in the subject line.

Éù Finally, we are quite intrigued by the K-NFB scanner launched at Sight Village this week. It's a pocket-sized scanning device that reads stuff out to blind people ... for want of a better description.

"They've tested it on bus tickets and the spines of books in libraries," said In Touch reporter Sunil Peck who was at the event earlier this week. "It costs two and a half grand though." If you've tried the new gizmo, why not tell us about it. And check out Sunil's Sight Village report on this week's In Touch programme for VI people, originally broadcast on Radio 4 Tuesday night's but available to listen to on the web for the next couple of months too.

[update] Renowned New Zealand blind IT commentator Jonathan Mosen mentions the K-NFB on his blog . I gather he rather wants one now he's seen one. You can also listen to an interview he's done with Tre Strovel, a K-NFB Ambassador, from this page.

Got any gizmo talk? Leave a comment under this blog entry.