Product and Technology

Braille Mobile Phone rings in awards

Samsung Electronic's 'Braille mobile phone' enables visually impaired users to send and receive massages in Braille.

The mobile phone has a unique ‘Touch Messenger’ system that allows visually impaired users to send and receive Braille text messages. Users will be able to use two Braille keypads on the phone to send messages. Braille display screen on the lower part of the phone will allow them to read incoming messages.

It is anticipated that once the device hits the market it will facilitate about 180 million visually impaired people around the world.

Rex, the talking medicine

Gerry Baze remembers the day he flopped on his couch and popped what he thought was a blood pressure pill. A few minutes after chasing it with a gulp of water, he told his wife, Maudie that he felt sleepy.

The blind couples now joke about the incident. “Now we know that this will never happen again,” said Maudie. “Now we are safe.”

Safety for Gerry and Maudie came in the form of ‘Rex’, a talking prescription bottle with a speaker that lets a pharmacist record the name of the drug, its purpose, when to take it and how much to take.

See with your ears

A new system called ‘vOICe’ (as in ‘oh-I-see’), gives the user an auditory ‘picture’ of what she or he‘s looking at.

vOICe includes a laptop connected to a special pair of sunglasses that are fitted with a small camera in the bridge and stereo headphones near the ear hooks. The camera feeds visual data to the computer, which translates the field of view into audible sounds. For example, louder sounds mean bright colours while a higher pitch means an object is located up high.

Reservation for differently abled

In a State policy and plan of action for differently abled persons submitted to the High Court recently, the Government has committed itself to work for the welfare of differently abled people. In the matter of jobs, the policy envisages equal opportunities apart from 3 per cent reservation provided against identified government jobs.

Smile please

The world of the printed word opened to blind people like never before. With ‘The K - N.F.B.’.

It can take pictures of objects, menus, signs, gadget blogs, etc., and then read aloud the captured text. The portable ‘Reader’ combines the latest state-of-the-art digital camera technology with a powerful ‘personal data assistant’ (P.D.A.). These components are housed in a custom-designed vinyl case that also contains internal circuitry to connect the camera and P.D.A .to operate as a single system.

Vote for blind

The recently concluded assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Pondicherry and West Bengal saw the debut of ‘Braille-enabled Electronic Voting Machine’ (E.V.M.).

Assam’s Barhampur constituency saw as many as 32 visually impaired voters exercise their franchise independently. State Chief Electoral Officer J.P. Prakash said that this is indeed a welcome development and can be seen as a positive pointer towards the polling in three other states.

Study lessons made easier with FSBraille Coach

FSBraille Coach comprises of 51 pre-developed lessons that include basic tests for beginners and more rigorous exercises for more advanced Braille readers.

FSBraille Coach is a free software download. It is created for use with Freedom Scientific's PAC MateT accessible Pocket P.C.

Students need to use their PAC Mate's 20 or 40-cell Braille display to run through a series of lessons and reading exercises. The leaner gets immediate audio help with any Braille symbol, they encounter by simply pressing a button above the symbol.

P.D.A. designed for blind

The ‘Maestro’ consists of a standard Dell P.D.A. with a special tactile overlay, which allows people to enter data via touch, or an optional Bluetooth Braille keyboard. The information flows from the Maestro to the user in audio form thanks to a built-in voice synthesizer.

Easy access to news with Newsline

‘N.F.B.-Newsline’ is a service for legally blind people. It allows users to hear stories ranging from what's going on in their home state - to what's happening around the world.

The National Federation of the Blind (N.F.B.) U.S. has designed this electronic system that receives digital transmissions from publishers on the morning of publication. The system then reformats the data for conversion to synthetic speech, and uploads to the N.F.B-Newsline servers.

Talking signboards

In March 2006, Eyeway had reported the launch of Wayfinder scheme in the U.K. Birmingham City Council. (See eyeway news for March 2006).

Now the system is ready for public use in the city. The Wayfinder system uses a fob to activate audio directions from speakers placed close to pavements around the city centre. 57 speaker units have been put in place, with a further three due to be installed later this year.