Handheld Device Reads Printed Words to the Blind

geekotourist writes "3,000 people in Dallas this week for the National Federation of the Blind convention are getting a demonstration of what life is like when you can read printed menus, mail, business cards and memos," reports the Dallas Morning News. The NFB spent two million dollars developing the $3,495 Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader, which weighs 15 ounces and combines text-to-speech with sophisticated OCR. The device 'gives the user an initial "situation report," describing what it can see. The user then makes a decision about whether to take a picture. After a few seconds to process the image, the contents of the document are read aloud.' Beta testers describe the joys of reading receipts, CDs, food labels, bulletin boards, conference printouts, or of simply reading books with privacy, without another person's help."

Real-world Zork:

[Capt'n Hector]

>You are driving on I-80. You are surrounded by cars.
>*turn wheel right*
>You have crashed your car. It is on fire.
>*Run away*
>I don't understand "away." ...

Awkward!

[andrewman327]

This has just made your commute to work that much more awkward when the blind gentleman next to you pulls out a Playboy.

National Federation of the Blind Reader?

[Solra Bizna]

I wasn't aware that one blind reader constituted a federation.

</sarcasm>

I seriously had to read that two or three times before it came out right.

-:sigma.SB

Re:Awkward!

[Anonymous Coward]

so thats who reads the articles

Re:Real-world Zork:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, when I read the blurb stating "3,000 people in Dallas this week for the National Federation of the Blind convention," I was thinking, gee, those guys were just in Seattle last weekend, driving up and down I-5...

Now the blind can play text adventures.

[Anonymous Coward]

The device "gives the user an initial 'situation report', describing what it can see.

"You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike."

Re:Nice phone

[Dis*abstraction]

Great! Then you, too, can sell these for $3,495 a pop. Or maybe it's not quite the same thing, hmm? What's more likely?

It looks stupid

[s-twig]

Wait a minute, it doesn't matter.

Re:Awkward!

[Soko]

That may also indicate why he went blind in the first place...

Soko

Re:why not braile output?

[Nuffsaid]

What about buying a dishwasher machine? They are much cheaper than $2500.