Digital Media

(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

Supporters of the blind protest the Authors Guild for objecting to the Kindle 2's text-to-speech function.

(Credit: Michael Adolph)

The controversy regarding the text-to-speech function offered by Amazon.com's Kindle 2 digital book reader appears to be heating up again.

Groups advocating for the blind and reading disabled on Tuesday held a protest at the Manhattan offices of the Authors Guild. The guild was very vocal in opposing the text-to-speech technology in the Kindle. The group, which represents 4,000 authors, argued that the Kindle infringes on copyright and could hurt audio book sales.

The whole debate seemed to be over in February when . The Web's largest retailer said it had decided to enable publishers with the power to disable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis.

Text-to-speech enables computers to read text in a lifelike voice.

The protest of 150 and 250 participants, according to reports, was held "in hopes to reverse the Guild's threat to disable text-to-speech from e-books for the Kindle 2," according to a statement from the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said his organization came up with a plan that would have given the blind and visually impaired access to the Kindle's voice function regardless of whether publishers chose to disable the technology.

"Authors want everyone to read their books," Aiken said. "We've been strongly supportive of the rights of the blind and disabled to obtain books...We know how to balance the interests, to make sure there is special access to books for people who need it but still protect markets that authors depend on. Audio-books is one of those markets."

The NFB rejected the guild's proposal calling it "burdensome" for the blind to prove their disability or "pay extra for the text-to-speech version."

Stephan Jenkins, center, says albums aren't for everybody.

(Credit: 3eb.com)

Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of the band Third Eye Blind, digital music fan, and former beau of Charlize Theron, wants to clear up a few things. He wants people to know that contrary to what some have been saying about him, he doesn't hate the album format.

On Monday, Jenkins gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit. He said he was in favor of releasing singles and suggested that this would help avoid "album filler," the term used to describe the placing of so-so tracks on albums in order to meet the required number of songs.

"I don't think (the album) is necessary or useful," Jenkins told the audience. "The album is an arbitrary concept. It's not something that has to exist."

A few days ago, Jenkins said in an e-mail that he wants an opportunity to expand on his comments.

"Albums are the most vital and compelling art form," Jenkins said in his e-mail. "I spent my childhood with headphones and liner notes, finding my identity through albums, and I have invested my adult life making them." But Jenkins didn't back down from his earlier statements. "Albums were also created so that record executives could make cash."

Last week, AC/DC members said iTunes could potentially kill the music industry while explaining why they refused to sell individual songs at such sites. I disagreed and wrote that it was wrong for the music industry to force consumers to buy albums. That was what they did before digital technology armed consumers with the power to buy only the songs they liked. Like Jenkins, I'm not an album hater.

I'm opposed to being forced to buy an album when all I want is one or two songs. When it comes to music, isn't that one of the most important benefits of the digital revolution?

Here's another thing I thought was interesting about what Jenkins said: He believes that an act's Web site can supply the cohesive artistic package that albums once delivered: "All I am saying is the Web site can now be your album," Jenkins wrote, "an ongoing ever-changing one that grows and changes and reflects your creative impulses as you have them. Grab the moment of a song and share it the night you finished it."

Below is Jenkins message in its entirety.

First, to the person putting me down for having a speech impediment: I spent six years in special (education) trying to learn to talk while people like you scalded me. Do you know what a drag it is to be named Stephan when you can't pronounce the letter "S?" You are just mean. I bet you watch Fox News! Onto albums: to me, albums are the most vital and compelling art form. I spent my childhood with headphones and liner notes, finding my identity through albums, and I have invested my adult life making them. My whole identity is invested in the art form of the album.

I still buy albums and I still intend to continue making albums. I prefer them to singles and mix tapes and playlists. I still put vinyl on my turntable and freak out about how good icky thump sounds on 16 track tape heads. However, the album was created by the limitations of vinyl--about 45 minutes and then expanded to the CD--about 80 minutes. Artists like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Pink Floyd made cohesive pieces of art from these limitations. Great! Albums were also created so that record executives could make cash.

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET Networks)

Albums require huge time commitments and budgets and then lots of promotion and album cycles and of course key tracks and hit singles, and payola, and getting signed and getting dropped, and 360 deals, and a very few people at the top of corporations who are interested in quarterly statements and ameliorate risk and who know what's best for your band. All I am saying is the Web site can now be your album, an ongoing ever-changing one that grows and changes and reflects your creative impulses as you have them. Grab the moment of a song and share it the night you finished it. Make art that you have for it and post it, then go play some shows and record some more.

How fluid and creatively freeing? And the best part is, you don't have to get permission form a boss in order to do it. Yay! This all seems so much more democratic to me. Fewer people will become billionaires this way, but more people will make a living making music. The good old days are here.

And while we are at it I think the hit single is arcane as well. The songs that have resonated the longest with 3EB's audience sometimes haven't even been on our albums (see "slow motion"). Oil paintings require oil paint in order to exist, it's true. Music can exist and thrive in all kinds of formats--not just albums or singles. Maybe your best canvas is a Web site. Maybe an album, per se, is not necessary or even useful for you. Just a thought. Still friends?

Finally, this is not an us against them argument. Majors continue to support hugely entertaining albums and I have worked with a lot of people at majors (like WEA) who care passionately about music. They are not going away and neither is the album. I'm saying that choices are exploding. Albums are not the only way and perhaps not even the most creative and effective way. Then again, they may be the way for you. I hope you have the choice and I hope you continue to find yourselves and each other through music.

Stephan Jenkins, Third Eye Blind's lead singer wants to release individual songs first and albums later.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET Networks)

SAN FRANCISCO--Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of alternative band Third Eye Blind, is the latest person to agree that the album format is better off dead.

Jenkins, whose band is known for such hits as "Semi-Charmed Life," "Jumper" and "How's it Going to Be," gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit on Monday.

"I don't think it's necessary or useful," Jenkins told several hundred conference attendees. "The album is an arbitrary concept. It's not something that has to exist."

It's important to note that Jenkins wasn't speaking at all about the controversy triggered by remarks made last week by AC/DC. The Australian rockers slammed iTunes in several interviews and suggested that selling individual songs was bad for artists, music, and fans.

I disagreed and wrote the album was, at least in its CD stage, anticonsumer. The album boosted individual transactions and forced consumers to pay a premium for songs they didn't want. A lot of people, mostly music industry insiders and AC/DC fans, e-mailed me to dispute this. They argued that bands couldn't know which songs were hits in advance and it was preposterous to suggest that.

Well if I'm misinformed, so was Kurt Cobain and so is Jenkins. In his speech, he mentioned that he disliked "album filler." This is a term used to describe the practice of loading albums with so-so quality in order to meet the required number of songs for an album. "Everything I do, I mean it," Jenkins said.

Jenkins made another point when said he believes it's better for creative purposes to release individual songs online and then bundle them later if you want.

"Here's what's really attractive to me," Jenkins told the crowd, "we live in the excitement of that song. Let's go record it. And then we upload it and it's for sale for $1 the next day."

Jenkins is putting his money where his mouth is. He said Third Eye Blind plans to release three songs on November 18.

Target and an advocacy group for the blind announced Wednesday that they've settled a class action lawsuit regarding the accessibility of Target.com for the visually impaired.

The retail giant will establish a $6 million fund for settlement claims and promised to make its site fully accessible to blind visitors as part of a deal ending a class action lawsuit filed two and a half years ago.

The suit against Target was first filed in early 2006 by the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind, which claimed Target.com contained thousands of access barriers making it difficult, if not impossible, for blind customers to use.

Bruce Sexton, one of the original named plaintiffs who we talked to in February 2006, expressed frustration with the lack of alt-text on the site that screen-reading software detects in order to vocalize a description of an image. Without such features, the site violates federal and state laws that entitle the disabled equal access to business and government services, the lawsuit claimed.

Specifically, the settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, requires that blind guests using screen-reader software on Target.com "may acquire the same information and engage in the same transactions as are available to sighted guests with substantially equivalent ease of us." The NFB will certify the Target Web site through its Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification program once the agreed upon improvements are completed in early 2009.

Sexton, in a statement, said the settlement "marks a new chapter in making Web sites accessible to the blind," and commended Target for its efforts. Likewise, NFB President Marc Maurer said he hopes "other businesses providing goods and services over the Internet will follow Target's example."