Apple, Blind Cool Tech Lead 2009 Blind Bargains Access Award Winners
Media Contact: J.J. Meddaugh
Phone: (269) 216-4798
Email: jj@blindbargains.com
Apple, Blind Cool Tech Lead 2009 Blind Bargains Access Award Winners
Kalamazoo, Mi, January 29, 2010 - Apple's dedication in increasing accessibility to their products for those who are blind or visually impaired has been recognized. In their first year of being nominated, Apple has received two of this year's Blind Bargains Access Awards: best new product or innovation, and best hardware product. Apple has caught the attention of many by including a screen reader on the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch, two of the most popular and ubiquitous devices on the market.
"I believe our readers have realized the impact that Apple has made on the assistive technology world by opening up access to mainstream devices," said J.J. Meddaugh, cofounder of Blind Bargains, the site who administers the annual awards.
The 3rd Annual Blind Bargains Access Awards recognizes the best products, websites, stores, and people in the blind community. Open nominations are held at the beginning of January. Visitors then vote from the top nominees in each category. This year, nearly 500 people participated in the nomination and voting rounds.
For the first time, Serotek has taken the honor for best company. In 2009, Serotek introduced Accessible Event, an online meeting and presentation platform providing equal access to online events, and declared "death to the SMA". Serotek is also well-known for their innovative ideas and outside-the-box mentality.
Popular Twitter app Qwitter took the award for best software. Qwitter is a Windows-based Twitter client based primarily on global hotkeys which can be pressed from anywhere in Windows. Qwitter is also the first open-source software program to win this award.
Winning in both the best website and best podcast category, Blind Cool Tech continues to keep a large following. The popular podcast series includes submissions from all over the world, and covers both high-tech and low-tech topics.
For the second year in a row, a version of Monopoly has won the best accessible game category. This time around, RS Games takes the award for their multiplayer, Internet adaptation which allows people to play from all over the world.
Independent Living Aids once again won for best store serving the blind community. They join Freedom Scientific's Jaws for Windows and the Fred's Head Companion Blog as repeat winners as best screen reader and best blindness-related blog, respectively.
Finally, Louis Braille has posthumously been awarded person of the year. Braille received much attention in 2009, 200 years after his birth. Honors included a coin produced by the U.S. Mint in his honor, of which over 200,000 were sold.
For a complete list of winners and nominees, visit http://www.blindbargains.com/awardlist09.php
BlindBargains.com is one of the most popular media and information portals for the Blind and visually impaired. Users can follow the site for the latest assistive technology news, search for deals on millions of products, and listen to audio podcasts and interviews.