Reading 'to go' for blind people (BBC) {scanner/voder}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

A portable scanning device that reads text to visually impaired people will go on sale in the UK next month.

Called the K-NFB, it is the latest product to be developed by American inventor Raymond Kurzweil.
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The K-NFB, which combines a PDA and a digital camera, means that people will be able to read menus, train timetables and product labels in shops.
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The K-NFB 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.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5088464.stm

OK, now the bad news ... the price. 2,625 UK Pounds = 4,840 USD. Sure hope that comes down after the early adopters kick-start the market.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Seeing is believing -- device helps the blind read (AP/CNN)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006; Posted: 1:54 p.m. EDT (17:54 GMT)

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A whole new world opened up for Tommy Craig as he tested a new handheld device for the blind that converts print to audio.

Craig was able to "read" everything from menus to cooking directions by positioning the reader over print and taking a picture. In seconds, the device's synthetic voice read the printed message to him.

"The reader provides access to materials that a lot of times you just didn't read," said Craig, 51, of Austin, Texas, who was one of about 500 blind people who tested the device over the past few months. "It certainly makes you more independent."

The National Federation of the Blind plans to put the device on sale Saturday, when its annual meeting gets under way in Dallas.
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The federation expects that the reader, which costs about $3,500, will be a big hit among the 3,000 participants at the annual meeting. It will be sold though Massachusetts-based Kurzweil Education Systems Inc. and will be available on the Internet and in stores.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/06/27/blind.reader.ap/index.html

One week after BBC story! But not the huge price drop.