[real-eyes] Reader going to cel phone

From: "Duyahn Walker" <themusicman1@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:54:35 -0500
>
>> BALTIMORE (AP) - Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it
>> over a $20 bill.  "Detecting orientation, processing United States
>> currency
>> image," the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo.
>> A
>> few seconds later, the phone says, "Twenty dollars."
>>
>> Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is
>> holding
>> the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually
>> impaired.
>>
>> The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on
>> photographed
>> documents into speech.  In addition to telling whether a bill is worth
>> $1,
>> $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is
>> photographed,
>> whether it's a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.
>>
>> While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software's developer say
>> the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.
>>
>> "We've had reading devices before," Danielsen said, noting similar
>> software
>> is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal
>> digital assistant.
>>
>> Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd.  and
>> Nuance
>> Communications Inc.  also provide software that allows the blind to use
>> cell
>> phones and PDAs.
>>
>> Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd's.
>>
>> SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even
>> translate
>> from other languages.
>>
>> However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one
>> smart
>> phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for
>> K-NFB
>> Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture
>> between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.
>>
>> "It is the next step, but this is a huge leap," Gashel, who is blind,
>> said
>> in a telephone interview.
>>
>> "I'm talking to you on the device I also use to read things.  I can put
>> it
>> in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading
>> something I need to read in print."
>>
>> Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into
>> audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only
>> the
>> first step.  Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify
>> rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the
>> sighted.
>>
>> The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through
>> K-NFB Reading Technology.  The software will cost $1,595 and the cell
>> phone
>> is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.
>>
>> Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis
>> said
>> his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be
>> used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.
>>
>> "We don't anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we're
>> not
>> quite to the release yet," said Doermann, who is also co-director of the
>> University of Maryland's Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.
>>
>> Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department
>> of
>> Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready
>> in
>> the next 12 to 18 months.
>>
>> Kurzweil's device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris
>> Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the
>> company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to
>> access more powerful server-side computers.
>>
>> "As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so
>> quickly
>> with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility
>> and
>> options to the way you solve these type of problems," Strammiello said.
>>
>> There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the
>> United
>> States, a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby
>> boomers age.
>>
>> Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected
>> to
>> benefit from the technology.  Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be
>> among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight
>> each word as it's read aloud, helping them cope with their disability,
>> which
>> affects the ability to read.  The highlighting function can also help
>> them
>> improve their reading skills, he said.
>>
>> "What's new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device
>> that fits in their shirt pocket," Kurzweil said.
>>
>> Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the
>> device and its PDA predecessor are a "form of hand-held vision" that will
>> make the visual environment "much more readily available to the blind."

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[real-eyes] Reader going to cel phone

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