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(Credit: Intel)

Intel is doing its part to help people with sight or reading disabilities enjoy the written word.

The company announced on Tuesday the debut of the Intel Reader, a handheld text-to-speech device that can read any printed text aloud to those who are blind or have difficulties seeing or reading.

The Atom-powered device uses a high-resolution camera to capture images of any printed text, which it then converts into digital format to read out loud. The Reader can be used as a standalone device to snap pictures of text. But paired with Intel's Portable Capture Station, which can hold the Reader in place, the device can grab huge amounts of text, such as an entire book, according to Intel.

"We are proud to offer the Intel Reader as a tool for people who have trouble reading standard print so they can more easily access the information many of us take for granted every day, such as reading a job offer letter or even the menu at a restaurant," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Health Group, in a statement.

A check at some of the retailers selling the Intel Reader revealed its base price to be $1,499, with the Portable Capture Station an additional $399.

Weighing one pound, the Reader is the size of a paperback book. The tactile buttons and voice-operated menus that control the device have been designed so sightless people can use it, Intel said. Individuals with poor vision can also zoom in or out of the display and increase the font size of its text.... Read More

(Credit: Caltech)

Researchers at Caltech have developed a mobile, four-wheeled robot that could help refine artificial retinas and other prostheses used by the visually impaired.

At first glance, Cyclops resembles a bot you might find on the battlefield, and it's hard to imagine what connection it could have to restoring sight. But dig a little deeper and it starts to make sense that a remote-controlled robot with an onboard camera could deliver some very useful data.

The digital camera can emulate left-to-right and up-and-down head movements. The idea is that as artificial vision prostheses increasingly become a reality, scientists could use the mobile robotic platform to mimic those devices--and more importantly, to get a better sense of how well they work for people who wear them.

The researchers might do that by asking the robot outfitted with an artificial vision aid to navigate obstacles in a corridor or follow a black line down a white-tiled hallway to see if it can find--and enter--a darkened doorway. All the while, they could try out different pixel arrays (say 50 pixels vs. 16 pixels), as well as image filters (for factors such as contrast, brightness enhancement, and grayscale equalization) to venture an educated guess as to what settings maximize a subject's sight.

Wolfgang Fink

(Credit: Caltech)

But "we're not quite at that stage yet," researcher Wolfgang Fink says of such independent maneuvering. Fink is a visiting associate in physics at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., and founder of the school's Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory, where where he and Caltech visiting scientist Mark Tarbell are collaborating on Cyclops with the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation.

The pair designed and built the body of the battery-operated rover using off-the-shelf parts, then furnished it with an onboard computing platform that allows for processing and manipulating images in real time using software they created called "Artificial Vision Support System."

Cyclops, so named because it's monocular, is about 12 inches wide by 12 inches long and 10 inches tall (the camera can be mounted on a mast to make Cyclops the height of an average person). It weighs about 15 pounds, Fink estimates, and can move at an "expedited walking speed" of about 2 to 3 feet per second.

For now, the platform itself is controlled remotely, via a joystick, and can be operated through a wireless Internet connection. "We have the image-processing algorithms running locally on the robot's platform," Fink says, "but we have to get it to the point where it has complete control of its own responses."

Once that's done, he adds, "we can run many, many tests without bothering the blind prosthesis carriers." ... Read More

Those who walk while talking on cell phones are less likely than those listening to their iPods to see this clown unicycling pass, and they even struggle walking in straight lines, new research finds.

(Credit: Western Washington University)

Most research on cell phone distraction has revolved around driving, and has led to laws against using handheld phones when behind the wheel. But it turns out that walkers using cell phones are also distracted, more so than individuals walking alone, or in pairs, or even those listening to music. In fact, so much so that only 25 percent of them even noticed a clown unicycling past. (The clown was not a lovely coincidence but rather a study prop.)

Researchers at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., set out to study inattentional blindness using the unicycling clown test, the results of which will be published in the December issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology.

It turns out that those walking alone, in pairs, or while listening to music noticed the unicycling clown more than 50 percent of the time, while those walking while talking into their cell phones noticed him only 25 percent of the time.

Cell phone walkers also had difficulties with the task of walking itself, and walked on average more slowly (at least they won't hurt the clown when they bowl him over), tended to weave, and rarely acknowledged nearby individuals (which may or may not be the result of distraction).

So what happens after 2 a.m.?

(Credit: Unplggd)

Usually a blight is something you'd want to avoid, but according to Unplggd, if designer Vincent Gerkens has his way, the more blight out there, the better.

Fortunately he's referring to Blight, a concept that involves attaching solar panels onto venetian blinds. As the Unplggd article points out, Blight is a word play on "blinds" and "light," which I probably would not have figured out on my own. The panels soak up the sun during the day, and at night they light up your life. Or room. Or whatever you need illuminated, I suppose.

Basically, sunlight charges a battery cell on the top of the blinds. Then when you're ready to do some reading or conduct your weekly game of Canasta, you now have the power of light (!), at night, using no extra power.

Hopefully this will hit the mass market soon, as I'm sure many YouTube videos will follow showing just how well these can illuminate a room. This is a start, but other than the obvious OCD nature of the guy in the video, it doesn't tell me much.

Feeling a little blasé about how ordinary your blinds look from day to night? OK. Fine, so you don't care. How about if they did something more than just open and close?

Designed by Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim, the Solar Vertical Lamp takes an average vertical blind and embeds it with special mini photovoltaics and LED pixels. Close the blinds during the day and the miniature solar pads on the back of the blinds start to soak up the sun's energy. Once the sun goes down, artfully placed lighting pixels illuminate in certain parts of the blinds.

(Credit: Inhabitant)

The two-dimensional lamps come in table lamp, floor lamp, and chandelier forms. Besides being completely energy-efficient and saving you tons of money on your monthly bill, they create a sexy and dramatic ambiance for any part of the home.

(Credit: Inhabitat)

Apple will be making iTunes more accessible to blind consumers, under an agreement reached with the Massachusetts attorney general's office and the National Federation of the Blind.

Under the agreement, Apple will make iTunes U--a portion of the iTunes Store dedicated to educational content provided by colleges and universities--fully accessible to the blind by December 31, 2008. It will then work to provide full accessibility of the iTunes application and the remainder of the iTunes Store by June 30, 2009.

The blind and visually impaired will get fuller accessibility to the Apple application and Web site for downloading and purchasing music by means of screen access software that converts on-screen information into Braille or speech.

Apple will also contribute $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind to help the agency buy assistive technology that can make the Internet and computer programs more approachable for the blind.

Future versions of iTunes at the time of their release will have to be fully accessible to the blind, according to the Friday announcements on the agreement.

Apple released iTunes 8 earlier this month, along with a revamped iPod Nano and updated iPod Touch.

In August, retailer Target and the National Federation of the Blind settled a class action lawsuit over the accessibility of the Target.com Web site.

Nissan brakes may soon be stopping and steering vehicles.

(Credit: Nissan)

It looks like Nissan drivers of the future will have another electronic nanny nudging their vehicles toward safer driving. Nissan has recently demonstrated to Reuters a brake-resistance device that would attempt to keep drivers from changing lanes if another vehicle is detected in the motorist's blind spot.

Blind spot and lane departure warning systems aren't new--many vehicles we've tested include lights that illuminate or warning beeps to notify the driver of danger. The Audi A8 L W12, tested earlier in the month, vibrated the steering wheel if you drifted out of your lane without intentionally signaling. Nissan's system will go a step further and actively vibrate the brakes to pull the vehicle back into its lane. For example, the computer would pulse the right brakes to pull the vehicle in that direction if a vehicle were on the driver's left blind spot. According to Nissan, drivers will be able to override the system and push through the resistance in the event of an emergency.

As a feature to correct careless drivers, this brake-resistance device is a welcome addition to Nissan's cache of safety equipment. However, we can't shake the feeling that somewhere between gas pedals that push and brakes that pull is a future where our cars are driving us.

Members of the National Federation of the Blind leave a hearing in Maryland's capital, where leaders lobbied for legislation aimed at addressing the perils of near-silent hybrid cars to blind pedestrians.

(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET News.com)

ANNAPOLIS, Md.--Hybrid cars may be on every environmentalist-cum-trend setter's hot list, but their surging popularity is raising alarms among the blind and their advocates, who fear the near-silent vehicles could endanger lives.

In recent months, the National Federation of the Blind has launched what is becoming an international lobbying campaign for legislation that encourages--or flat-out requires--automakers to install noisemaking technology to address those potential perils.

Top NFB leaders focused their efforts Tuesday on this quaint state capital on the Chesapeake Bay, where legislation creating a state "Quiet Vehicles and Pedestrian Safety Task Force" is pending. If Maryland passes the bill, it would be the first in the nation to take action on that front, although other states are considering similar proposals.

"As we increase the number of quiet vehicles on our streets, we increase the risk that blind and other pedestrians face," Jim McCarthy, the National Federation of the Blind's director of government affairs, told members of the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee at a hearing about the bill. "We potentially lose our independence if these become ubiquitous."

Ideally, blind advocates would like to see states pass laws that would set minimum sound standards for hybrid and electric vehicles, but they've run into resistance from automakers on that front. McCarthy said his group views the Democratic-sponsored Maryland bill as a good "first step," although he noted that legislatures in Virginia and Hawaii are poised to consider bills that would go further.

The Maryland state bill, which also has a counterpart in the state House of Representatives, would not set any particular rules for cars bought and sold in the state. But, if passed, it would instruct a task force to make recommendations by the end of the year on "a minimum sound level and the nature and characteristics of the minimum sound to be required for all vehicles sold and licensed in the state."

The blind community is also taking its push to Congress--and abroad. On Tuesday, the NFB president was in Geneva, Switzerland, testifying about the dangers of hybrid vehicles to the blind at the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations, a United Nations body, according to NFB spokesman Chris Danielsen.

McCarthy and other NFB leaders sought to dispel any accusation that they're hostile to environmental progress. They said they're as pleased as anyone else about states like Maryland that have passed laws requiring a certain percentage of vehicles sold in the state by 2011 to produce low emissions.

The trouble, from their perspective, is that the growing number of vehicles that cannot be heard while operating in electric-power mode throws a wrench in a blind person's ability to negotiate street traffic confidently and independently. And, in an effort to win broader support, they're emphasizing that this isn't just a problem for blind people: All pedestrians and bicyclists should be concerned for their safety.

Carmakers, not surprisingly, have bristled at the notion of regulations requiring them to adopt a specific technology in their hugely successful hybrid vehicles. The Maryland bill clearly attempts to blunt some of those gripes by specifying that task force members are not "required" to specify a certain technology that car manufacturers must use to meet recommended noise levels.

No car industry representatives were present at Tuesday's hearing here, but in a letter to the state senate committee, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said it supported the bill, albeit not without reservations.

The trade association--which represents BMW, Ford Motor, General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other major carmakers--said it would be pleased to take a seat on the task force but worried the bill puts too much emphasis on noise-generating technology alone.

The car makers encouraged legislators to be open-minded about the range of technologies that could be used to resolve the blind community's concerns and also noted that a committee established within the Society of Automotive Engineers, an industry-sponsored group, is already researching such approaches.

For instance, they pointed to the potential use of a forthcoming wireless warning system that will allow cars to talk to each other and to roadway infrastructure. That system, known as Dedicated Short Range Communications, or DSRC, could be used to warn pedestrians, blind or otherwise, of oncoming cars with "far more specificity, meaning, and context" than a simple noise generator, but the wording of the current Maryland bill seems to preclude the task force from considering that option, the AAM suggested.

It wasn't immediately clear what the bill's chances of passage were. Legislators on the Senate committee had few questions for the bill's advocates and did little to show their leanings. The Maryland Department of Transportation, for its part, said in a statement that it supports the measure because it views quiet vehicles as an "emerging" safety issue that warrants more research. (There was no mention from the various stakeholders of what role that drivers could or should play in ensuring pedestrian safety.)

Michael Gosse, president of the National Federation of Blind of Maryland, said all his group wants is a cost-effective solution based on the sounds that cars are already capable of making.

"I don't know about you," he told the state senate committee, "but I don't want cars going down the street beeping like those little carts do in the airport. I think that would be pretty annoying."

A slient danger?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The benefits of hybrid cars have been outlined and debated exhaustively. However, the National Federation of the Blind will testify next week on the dangers hybrid vehicles in silent mode pose to the blind, and other pedestrians. So called "full hybrid" cars, such as the Toyota Prius, and the Lexus GS450h shut off their combustion engines and rely on propulsion from quiet electric motors under certain low-speed driving conditions. According to the NFB, "hybrid vehicles are virtually silent when accelerating and decelerating, making it impossible for blind individuals to detect their presence". To address the issue, Maryland State Senator Norman Stone is proposing a bill aimed at requiring all vehicles sold and licensed in Maryland to emit a minimum sound level at all times.