PDA for the Visually Impaired

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader/' target='_blank'>http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Combining a state-of-the-art digital camera with a powerful personal data assistant, the "camera that talks" puts the best available character recognition software together with text-to-speech conversion technology--all in a single, handheld device. The Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader has the ability to dramatically enhance the lives of millions of people who have difficulty seeing or reading print by providing access like never before. Users need only hold the Reader over print-a restaurant menu, an airline ticket, a business card, a school assignment, an office memo-and in seconds they hear the contents of the printed document played back in clear synthetic speech. The National Federation of the Blind helped fund the development and production of the Reader and helped plan and design it, especially with respect to the user interface. As many as 500 NFB "Pioneers" have tested and influenced the design of the Reader."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060719-KNFBReader.jpg" /><br /><br />It costs $3,495, but this modified Asus MyPal A730/A730W (an assumption made based on the image above) sports an <a href="http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader/">impressive list of features</a>. The Kurzweil-National Federation think it's revolutionary and life-changing. Your thoughts?

[Patrick Y.]

Hmm.. According to this (http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader/KNFB_brochure.pdf), I think the device is n560. The device is indeed awsome despite the price.

[Darius Wey]

Hmm.. According to this (http://www.nfb.org/knfbreader/KNFB_brochure.pdf), I think the device is n560. The device is indeed awsome despite the price.

Interesting. Perhaps they have more than one type of device in use.

[Timothy Rapson]

It's UGLY. Don't they think that blind people care how their PDA looks? Oh...Sorry. I guess they wouldn't.
Actually, I hope a lot of people find these useful. I would really need one if I lost my sight. I would be really lost without my PDA.
If my father had learned how to use a PDA before losing his sight, he might have still been able to do all the computer stuff he would like to do but can't.

[Jason Lee]

Cool, this is basically the portable version of the Sara (http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/scanners_SARA.asp).
My boss is blind and i have often wondered how he might use the camera in his cell phone for something like this. :)

Also having 4 visually impaired people in my department i have had lots of experiance with the PAC Mate (http://www.freedomscientific.com/PACMATE-HQ/PACMate-hq.asp) pocket pc. Very cool devices as well.

Assistive tech hardware and software is always soooooo expensive though. The relatively low sales make it hard to recover your R&amp;D costs. :(

[Patrick Y.]

It's UGLY. Don't they think that blind people care how their PDA looks? Oh...Sorry. I guess they wouldn't.
Actually, I hope a lot of people find these useful. I would really need one if I lost my sight. I would be really lost without my PDA.
If my father had learned how to use a PDA before losing his sight, he might have still been able to do all the computer stuff he would like to do but can't.

What's ugly? It looks cool to me. Btw, the product targets normal people as well. After all, all these functions will be handy for people like me.

[Steve Jordan]

Bravo for this device. The more that can be done to help the visually impaired (and otherwise disabled) to be functional and happy in society, the better. I certainly hope there's an effort in the works to bring the costs down and/or subsidize those things for people who need them.