-----Original Message-----
From: msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
On Behalf Of fred wurtzel
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 9:27 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] GE's $99 'Talking Laundry' box was built for the blind
Engadget - Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 8:05 PM
GE's $99 'Talking Laundry' box was built for the blind
Scott Olson via Getty Images
Doing laundry might be dead simple for most people, but the visually impaired
don't have it so easy. To make that easier, GE Appliance's skunkworks division
FirstBuild <https://www.engadget.com/2016/04/21/pique-cold-brew/> -- along
with the help of a 14 year-old -- has designed
<http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170720006214/en/Finding-Home-Laundry-Talks>
a system called Talking Laundry. With a name like that, the invention is
pretty self-explanatory: it's a metal box (below) that audibly tells you how
much time is left in a given wash cycle, and simplifies controls to one knob
each for a washer and dryer.
Using a board computer and FirstBuild's Green Bean tools that convert code to
machine language, teenage Jack DuPlessis (his dad works for GE and gave him the
task) put a prototype together in the span of a weekend. Talking Laundry can
even be retrofitted onto existing laundry machines; its sales page
<https://market.firstbuild.com/products/talking-laundry-module> states that
the module will connect to "most" current and all future laundry units.
Maybe best of all, these are available to buy right now and they won't break
the bank. One unit will control both a washer and a dryer and will only set you
back $99 -- a far cry from that $16,000 voice-controlled laundry folder
<https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/30/laundroid-voice-control-cerevo/> .
https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/20/ges-99-talking-laundry-box-was-built-for-the-blind/
Fred Wurtzel
Blind Scientists Live the Lives We Want
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