[access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software
- From: "Peter Beasley" <pjbeasley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:14:39 +0100
That is a lot of money.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Tookey" <Glenn.Tookey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 12:45 PM
Subject: [access-uk] LookTel smartphone software
Hi
Sight and Sound Technology will be the exclusive provider of the LookTel
service when it launches in the UK, we are hoping that to be in June time -
but not confirmed yet.
Firstly, it will be a monthly subscription service - around £25 (again not
finalised). We are not sure of it will have OCR or GPS at launch.
Secondly, it is more than just taking pictures, it is a full object
recognition device. It means that once you have trained the mobile to
recognise something - say a can of Heinz Baked Beans or Tomato Soup or
currency... then whenever it is in recognition mode (live video over the
internet) to its base station (normally your home PC) it will announce to
you what it has seen when you point it at an object. This will be very
useful in the home or outside. It takes a minute or two to snap the images
that you want to recognise and then you are away. At a later stage we will
have bar code reading on it, so then you will be able to go into a
supermarket and find products from bar code.
The GPS is coupled with live video / audio feed so that an assistant could
guide you if you are lost. You can nominate more than one assistant who can
log into your base station and help with recognition, training of object,
location etc. We are considering extending this to the Sight and Sound help
desk so that you could call us if you need some assistance.
It will recognise more than just products, it will also recognise faces and
even places ( buildings) if you snap enough images to that they can be
recognised later.
Like all of these type of products, they are not infallible, but we have
been working with the developers for over 6 months (as have 200 blind people
in USA)to make it the type of service that really gives independence and
mobility to those with low vision. I have one working in the UK, it does not
use much of my data package on my mobile, so it will not be expensive -
currently on a windows mobile phone, but the range of phones will expand
over the first 6 months.
Products such as the KNFB reader still have their own place as does
Wayfinder, they all do a good job - Looktel is taking advantage of the
advances in recognition technology and the increase in computing power of
mobile phones. We want to be at the forefront of technology, bringing the
best of the best to the UK market. Looktel is the next step.
Watch out for more information, I'm hoping that we will be up and running
for Sight Village.
Regards
Glenn Tookey
CEO
Sight and Sound Technology
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Barry Hill
Sent: 25 April 2010 11:04
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software
Thanks for this, Peter.
Sounnds good, although I can already do all this with my own mobile to a
large extent. It's got K-NFB reader on it for the OCR, Wayfinder for the
positioning, and a camera phone that I can send photo's to a friend. Not
quite the live video feed, but I reckon it could work just as well.
Cheers
Barry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Beasley" <pjbeasley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 10:46 AM
Subject: [access-uk] LookTel smartphone software
I got this from an american list I am subscribed to so have no idea if or
when it willbe available in this country.
We offer the following information, but caution that this is currently in
beta. Unfortunately,
as with most software of this type, it's quite expensive. This is all the
information
we currently have available.
A Smartphone that Sees For You
Software from LookTel on a Windows-based smartphone uses "augmented reality"
to help
the vision-impaired and elderly
By:
Sean Gallagher
April 23, 2010
Leave a comment
Source: LookTel
This video
shows some of the ways the LookTel application can help people with visual
and other
handicaps.
A new set of software that works with relatively inexpensive smart phones
could help
visually disabled people and the elderly. Using a technology called
"augmented reality",
the software can help people by recognizing text, objects and places.
Augmented Reality, or AR, uses location and visual information from a camera
to supply
a smartphone user with extra information about their surroundings. For an
introduction
to AR, you can take a look at
my hands-on with Spyglass
, the augmented reality navigation application.
LookTel
takes AR technology and applies it to a very real problem. It was developed
by
Ipplex
, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the National Eye
Institute,
the Department of Veterans Affairs and a research organization for aides for
the
blind, to help people who can't see well or may become disoriented.
The Windows Mobile application uses character recognition technology and a
voice
synthesizer to read labels to the smartphone user. All that processing can't
be
done on the smartphone, so character and object recognition software are
part of
LookTel's "base station" software, which runs on a Windows-based home
computer. You
can also add coded labels to objects , as this
YouTube demonstration
shows, and associate those labels with voice descriptions of objects you put
them
on.
The app also can connect a user to a real person for assistance by
connecting back
to the application's Windows PC-based "base station" software:
For more complicated visual tasks such as locating a specific street corner
or bus
stop, LookTel enables you to remotely connect to another person for
assistance. Not
only can you talk to them, but you can also transmit live video from the
cell phone's
camera so that they can see your surroundings and help you with orientation,
recognizing
objects and media, and more. Your position will also be shown to them on
Google Maps
using the GPS services available on smart phones. These services aim to help
users
to independently go about daily activities with the confidence that they
will have
the assistance they need anytime, anywhere.
LookTel is currently in testing, and is available on pre-configured HTC
smartphones
and mobile Internet devices. Ipplex hasn't published the pricing for the
technology,
but is offering it at a discount during testing.
Original Article Source
http://www.techgoesstrong.com/smartphone-sees-you
LookTel Website
http://www.looktel.com/
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