This Italian invention will enable blind and sight-impaired people to surf the web and enjoy Internet games.

The invention combines touch-screen surfing and stereo sound systems to offer both tactile and audio stimuli. These signals are fed to the brain via a ‘contact transducer’ that can be slipped over a fingertip.

The device is an invention by scientists at Milan’s Politecnico University (Italy). It is designed to make all Web-based multimedia accessible to the blind people, explained scientists at the Politecnico.

U.3.keys are often called smart keys because they can hold software programmmes and settings, as well as data files.

Since software remains on the U.3. key and is not downloaded to a P.C., a user get an open access to any computer. Above all, it ensures privacy. The host computer remains completely unaltered and the user has the full assurance that no personal information will be left behind.

In what can be considered as a break-through, Sandia National Laboratories (U.S.A.) has released a prototype eye-chip that may eventually help to restore sight to blind people.

The chip will be inserted onto the retina and linked to nerves that will send electrical impulses to the brain for processing. The module will receive data from a tiny camera lodged in the frame of a pair of glasses. The current technology should produce 1000 points of light (as compared to millions in the biological eye) and will deliver a yellowish image.

Visual impairment can lead to isolation and lack of social contact. Sport has been found to be the ideal antidote to this. Ten-pin bowling enthusiast Jo Dixon, a member of a blind ten-pin bowling team, claims that the sport has turned her life around.

Dixon, along with other members of a bowling team from British Blind Sports, joined hands with, U.K. charity, The Cambridgeshire Society for the blind and partially sighted (Cam Sight) to organise ten-pin bowling sessions for visually impaired people in Cambridge, in January.

The Braille notebook could make life much easier for visually impaired people in Thailand. The Braille notebook consists of a portable computer on which visually impaired users can key in information in Braille. The information can then be printed either in Braille or in text format.

It provides them with what listeners like Maureen describe: "I have JAWS screen reader and a computer at home, and I can go on a newspaper website to read but it’s not the same thing. Reading something that is written from text is different from listening to somebody giving you a little personal touch as these volunteer readers do."

A not-for-profit organisation, Cris Radio (Chicagoland Radio Information Service), has been bringing news from newspapers and magazines since 1977.