Even the most rudimentary automobiles displayed potential advantages over using horses -- longer range, higher payload capacity, higher sustained speeds, and so on. In all of the descriptions of this Kinect hack, I don't hear any description of the potential advantages over using a cane. The only advantage I can think of is it avoids the strong negative social stigma attached to using a cane. If the only problem with canes is social stigma, a social remedy would be much more appropriate and effective than a technological remedy.

There already is a device in common use which is very useful to "help alert the blind to obstacles that lie in their path." Better yet, it only costs about $40, has unlimited power supply, weighs under a pound, and is completely portable. Here is a photo.

Piracy is exactly why Microsoft became the dominant PC operating system in the world. When I was in college, none of the students were buying Microsoft Windows. We were all piecing together generic beige boxes and copying someone else's Windows floppy disks to install in on our computers. Heck, there were even some people selling computer parts out of their garage that would throw in pirated Windows disks for free. If memory serves me, this was possible to do throughout the 90's. Pirating Windows onto cheap hardware was the only computer most students could afford. Many software developers and business people today got into Microsoft software precisely for this reason. Rovio is smart to learn from Microsoft's example.

North Dakota has the fourth largest oil production of all of the Unites States. It is very large contributer to the U.S. economy.

I agree that audio is probably a better long-term solution for someone with MD. But to the extent that magnification and enhanced contrast help, the devices you've found can be useful as well. To help you understand the sticker shock of $3000 for a combination of what is basically off-the-shelf consumer technology, you have to understand that these devices are developed and sold as medical devices, and this is how our medical economy operates.

Detailing how simple consumer technology can cost $3000 when packaged and sold as a medical device would require a Master's thesis on Economics. I'm sure it has something to do with the relatively high unit cost for research, development, marketing and support in such a small and specialized market. That, together with how medical reimbursement is handled in our country.

But at the end of the day, if a person is over 65 or disabled (your grandfather is both), that person qualifies for Medicare and possibly for Medicaid, which will often cover all or part of the the cost of a medical device like this. Rather than spending hours figuring out how to patch together a low-cost, half-assed replacement to these already-existing devices, your grandfather would be better served by you helping him go through the hoops needed to acquire a reliable device through some kind of medical insurance.

Start with a call to your local State services for the Blind (every state has one) and then go from there. Very few people buy these devices out-of-pocket; most people acquire them through their medical insurance. Your grandfather would be best served by doing the same.

Tests are supposed to fine failures. That's what they are for.

Among his requests to Obama were an 11-month school schedule, school days that last until 6 p.m...

And how would this be paid for? Every teacher I've met agrees we need a full-year school calendar and more hours per day. But name me one industry where workers are willing to increase their work hours 30% with the same pay they currently receive. School reform like this is pie-in-the-sky dreaming until we get serious about how we are going to pay for it.

Every discount store in the country has at least a half-dozen non-apple MP3 players for under $50.

How stupid do you think we are? Everybody knows exactly what happened to Clinton. So edit the statement to read "Clinton got impeached for lying about getting a bj from a fat chick" and it still carries the same meaning. Clinton was impeached for an act that was of no consequence to the nation. Yet we have leaders destroy cities and nations through lies and incompetence and yet they face no consequences.

web browsers
TCP/IP
I'm pretty sure these are used outside of universities.