Handheld device will help the blind read
682493
A whole new world opened up for Tommy Craig as he tested a new handheld device for the blind that converts print to audio.
740840
A new cellular application promises to help vision-impaired people who can't read the screen of a mobile phone. It responds to spoken commands with voice recognition technology and reads back menu options, text messages, and other information to the user...
11949
As director of Web operations at the American Foundation for the Blind, Crista Earl knows more than most about how visually impaired people can access the Internet. Still, when she browses the Web, Earl, 48 and blind, finds it time-consuming and difficult to use.
713687
IBM have developed an audio interface so that blind people can take part in online gaming.
295031
We can rebuild you, see AAAS A new version of an electronic implant which restores visual capabilities in blind people holds untold promise, those gathered at a meeting in San Francisco heard today, as the technology behind the device is taken to the next level.â¦
415331
Prototypes People suffering from loss of peripheral vision may soon be able to replace the canes they use to sweep the sidewalk for obstacles with eyeglasses that show them what lies beyond the limits of their vision. The glasses may also lead to technologies that enable the legally blind to return to driving their cars.
373117
Blog: Support for Acrobat and Reader has arrived for Microsoft Vista and Office 2007.
363534
Blog: Adobe Digital Editions may entice you to read more on screen
574283
Sony has officially launched its portable Reader device, which offers a high-resolution electronic paper display for reading eBooks and other documents. It's designed to give a printed look that's easy on the eyes. The company has also opened an eBook store.
648077
Crossing the road may soon be as straightforward -- and safe -- for blind and visually impaired people as it is for someone with good eyesight, thanks to a new device that acts as an &quot;electronic eye.
259402
Forget about temperature taking and blood pressure checking. In the bright, near future, the first step for people seeking medical care may be to have their bicep read by an electronic scanner seeking data stored on an implanted chip.
265647
The brain can learn to see in later life even if it has been deprived of visual input early on, work with blind children suggests.
278712
An &quot;electronic eye&quot; that can be fitted to a pair of glasses could help the blind cross roads more safely, scientists said on Friday.
638880
Don't expect this gadget to turn attention away from the iPhone.
596414
Device allows viewers to operate on/off switch, change channels or volume by simple hand gestures.
660968
(National-NBC) Sept. 3, 2004 - An experimental implantable contact lens is showing promise in helping nearsighted people see without glasses.
346370
(InfoWorld) - When Massachusetts' government decided to use Open Document Format (ODF) as the default document file format throughout its agencies, a key concern was that ODF would not allow the visually impaired to use assistive computer technologies. On Wednesday, IBM Corp. said it has helped solve that problem by developing technology that will allow applications based on ODF to better communicate with products used by the blind to access visual information on computer screens. Through Project Missouri, IBM developed application programming interfaces, (APIs) collectively called iAccessible2. These APIs will make it easy for visuals in applications based on ODF and other Web technologies to be interpreted by screen readers that reproduce that information verbally, IBM said. IBM spokesman Ari Fishkind said that in the past it has been hard for screen-reading technology to keep up with the advent of cutting-edge development and file formats such as ODF, AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML) and DHTML (dynamic hypertext markup language). The latter two technologies allow increasingly complex visuals to be rendered in Web browsers, and those are difficult to translate for screen readers, he said. iAccessible2 not only will help ODF communicate better with screen readers that assist blind computer users, but it will also allow charts, pictures and other visuals based on AJAX and DHTML to be discerned by the visually impaired through those readers. "It's like a universal decoder ring," he said of iAccessible2. The technology is based on interfaces IBM originally developed with Sun Microsystems Inc. to make programs on Java and Linux platforms accessible to the blind. IBM has donated its work in Project Missouri -- so named because Missouri is called the "Show Me" state -- to the Free Standards Group, a nonprofit group that promotes open-source software. That organization will work on the technology and maintain it as an open standard so anyone can use it, IBM said. Other companies working on the development of iAccessible2 include Sun, Oracle Corp. and SAP AG. Mozilla Corp. also intends to integrate iAccessible2 into its open-source Firefox Web browser, Fishkind added. ODF has been approved as an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and is currently in competition with Microsoft's Open XML file format to become the industry's default file format for documents. Open XML is the basis of Microsoft's proprietary Office 2007 productivity suite that also recently was approved by the ISO as a standard. Companies such as IBM, Sun and others are promoting the use of ODF against Microsoft's technology, while others will support both ODF and Open XML just to be on the safe side, in case both are widely adopted. The rivalry between ODF and Open XML heated up last year when Massachusetts put forth a proposal to change its default file format to ODF for all of its state agencies, which would mean they would have to stop using Microsoft Office. This eventually led Microsoft to submit Open XML as a standard as ODF was already going through that process. Increasingly, government agencies are moving their IT platforms to technologies that are considered standard throughout the industry, forgoing some technologies that are seen as proprietary.