Category: accessible Devices
Okay, I just found this so I'm not exactly how new it really is, but it's new to me. Below is the description and it sounds similar to a VR-Stream or a Book-Sense and I haven't found a price for this thing yet.
... Inclusive Technology Announces the New Intel® Reader
Transforms printed text into speech, anytime, anywhere!
The Intel® Reader
Inclusive Technology today announced the
Intel® Reader
, a portable, handheld device designed to help those with reading-based difficulties, such as dyslexia or impaired vision, to access printed material.
The Intel Reader's built-in camera means the user can simply point, shoot, and quickly listen to books, handouts, worksheets, test papers and other printed
materials. The Intel Reader converts printed text to speech in seconds.
The Intel® Reader
About the size of a paperback book, the Intel Reader provides all the power of a bulky PC plus scanner in a convenient size for school, home, or on the
move. It fits easily into a schoolbag or backpack and has a sturdy magnesium case and generous battery life of four hours continuous use. In the classroom,
students can use the Intel Reader to access printed course material and lesson content as it is handed out. The earphones allow private listening, clearly
and discreetly, without disturbing others.
The Intel Reader can read back text in a variety of voices and speeds. Text is highlighted as it is read aloud, and users can have the Intel Reader pause
and spell out highlighted words. It all helps students become independent learners.
The Intel Reader helps students organize and access their captured documents efficiently. With over 2Gb of storage space, pupils can store up to 600 pages
of captured text or over 500,000 pages of text-only documents. The library feature lets students bookmark favourite documents for fast access. They can
navigate within a document by word, sentence, or by page, and go to a specific page or jump to the beginning or the end.
The Intel® Reader
The Intel Reader can store and play back a wide range of content as well as printed text entered using the camera. This includes DAISY books and text transferred
from a PC as well as MP3 or WAV music files.
It can also generate audio versions of printed materials, as MP3s, that can be played on most digital music players or computers. A USB connection makes
it easy to transfer files to or from a personal computer.
The Intel® Portable Capture Station
An optional accessory, the Intel® Portable Capture Station is a sturdy stand that holds the camera in position to enable quick and convenient capture of
large amounts of text. A transparent film holds books flat and the large, easy-to-find 'capture' button on the base helps users quickly capture lots of
pages. The stand folds into a convenient briefcase size with built-in carry handle. The Intel Reader will also work without the Capture Station.
The concept for the Intel Reader came from Ben Foss, a researcher at Intel. In school he showed symptoms of dyslexia and had to depend on others to read
to him or work through the slow process of getting words off of a page himself. Ben said, "As someone who is part of this dyslexic community, I am thrilled
to be able to help level the playing field for people who, like me, do not have easy access to the printed word.”
Thanks for posting this. I'm off to Google it.
If it works as advertised, it's on my wish list! A scanner and reader in one. How great!
Yeah. It sounds awesome. I think Handytech also made something similar but I forget the name of it right now. It's very modern too.
ah, compotition for the knfb readers...
This thing looks interesting but a little bulky.
Well this sounds promising and I'll have to look into it ... not making any expenses for myself right now as the teenage daughter's got plenty ... but seriously, two things: This is perfect, in that getting this sort of technology into the mainstream is what we need. Second: Bulky? Come on guys, and here I go playing 'retro' as my daughter calls it, but I vividly remember carrying large notebooks of Braille, a portable typewriter and other things to school. So even my PAC Mate (I heard you yelp ... <g>) isn't that heavy. A baby's bigger when it's in a front pack.
One problem with constantly reducing size on technology is the interfacer: the human involved. Anyone remember the Razor phones? I didn't buy my daughter one even though she and her friends wanted them; because their delicacy meant breakage and resources are far from limitless. So she has a slightly bulkier Samsung touch phone and, most importantly, can use it; if it drops it doesn't die. Now so long as this device is lightweight enough, uses can lift it up and point it at street signage, etc. there's no reason why they can't get access to that.
If it's book-sized, then it probably looks a lot like the Kindle in dimensions anyway; I wouldn't hesitate to buy my daughter something like that because it's big enough to be useful.
Perhaps it's because I use Braille and like 40 cells; same as some sighted people not wanting certain devices because it's too little screen real estate.
I'd love to see it tested in the real world, and you guys who either get it yourselves or if young enough - do the dishes or whatever long enough to get Mom or Dad to buy it - maybe you all won't get confused so often in college hallways, as you can read the numbers on doors, or signs that are up, etc.
These sorts of things are a lot like Science fiction in the 1980s. I'm hoping that if it works as advertised, all you students get access to one ...
lol Wow! You actually found something retro that I don't like! Carrying around bulky braille books and typewriters? No thanks. I do own a typewriter from 1908 and an electric from the 70's that looks like a manual with the inside keys and all. But I sure wouldn't wanna carry them around with me, especially the electric. It weighs a ton! And I remember, in high school, I literally had filing cabinets full of volumes of textbooks where everyone else just had a few books. Sometimes, I had to bring several volumes of a single book to class because I never knew which page the teacher wanted us to read. Anyway, this thing does sound neat and is near the same size as the one I was mentioning. My only concern is that this will probably be similar in price to the KNFB Reader. Tthere, you get alot more features while here you only get a reader. If that happens, and if the mainstream doesn't buy it, this little gadget may have a bit of trouble in the marketing department. Still, it's going on my list for the holidays. And I hate tiny electronics most of the time too, my Zenstone, 8.9 inch netbook and Language Master being the exceptions.
If it's the size of a book, that's *small*! But I also grew up in the era of lugging braille volumes and a perkins around every day (good thing I drank my milk!), not to mention using clunky record players to read books. It wasn't very long ago, yet things have changed so drastically!
Since the knfb reader has been mentioned, has anyone here used one? How well do they work?
Tiffanitsa, wow, a 1908 typewriter! I wish I could see that! Where did you get it?
Well, I didn't use a braillewriter in high school school, only for maths. The rest of the time, I used my Braille Lite 2000. But I used a braillewriter in elementary school with a Braille Emprint. I still think those are cool. I never got to see the records, which sucks cause I love vinyl. I wonder if the NLS still has some? I'm not sure where we got the typewriter but Mom gave it to me several years ago cause she knows how much I love old things. It's in pretty good condition for it's age. It's still in it's original case, it's only got a few scratches on it and works like a dream. I just need to oil one or two keys cause they stick. I'm sure if I polished it I could get it all nice and shiney. I bought a ribbon for it a few years ago. I think the brand is Royal.
I hope this new device does work as then you can scan signs and things and have it speak to you what they say as well as it being able to connect to a computer via an USB port to download daisy files and stuff. As for bulky? Your crazy as I, too, lugged several braile textbooks around as well as a portable typewriter that I got on loan for school. Thankfully, by that time the slate had been introduced so I did my notes with that instead of the standard brailler.
Anyway, This isn't put out by a mainstream company, but one that specially makes accessible products, though most of their stock seems geared towards those with motion impairments, they do have a few things for the blind.
I'll see if I can find the price and put up the link here to the site.
not too sure if it does work like daisy player does though, it seems to me more like a knfb reader with k1000 function on it where you can scann something and safe it as mp3 player. but i doubt it if work like a daisy player.
definitely a good competition for the existing market...
the main different with this and KNFB reader i guess is KNFB reader come with a phone, but this is standalone. if it is good price, it is worth to consider, but if it is anyware near KNFB reader, its kind of a dream, price wise.
This first one is the reader that I talked about earlier.
Taken from
http://www.handytech.us/video.html
"Eye-Pal
Please call 651-636-5184 for prices, options, and accessories for this product.
Eye-Pal for Blind and Deaf-Blind
Get up to speed with sighted people: use Eye-Pal to instantly convert printed material to refreshable Braille, speech, or text file. Eye-Pal is a one-pound foldable USB device that is faster than flatbed scanners – it takes only a few seconds from a single keystroke to speech or Braille output. At home or away, even in the dark, Eye-Pal allows you to browse through pile of letters and organize them either as paper or computer files, read bound books, newspapers, or professional magazines and save as text or sound with one click.
Ease of Use for the Blind
Blind users know exactly where to place the material to be scanned because they can touch and feel L-shaped edges. The foldable stand designed for the blind holds a digital camera over the printed matter. The camera is always at the exact distance needed to create a clear image. Eye-Pal’s patented motion detector allows scanning a bound book at 20 pages per minute. You turn a page over; wait half a second for the shutter sound, turn again and again, it’s that easy. With a single keystroke you can easily start and stop scanning or reading or get the description of the page layout spoken as a sighted reader sees it. The saved text can be carried anywhere and used with iPod, key chain memory, CDs and more.
Features
Instant Scanning.
Output available as: Speech, Page layout description, Refreshable Braille display, Saved text file.
Bound books scanning and saving.
Screen reader.
Voice support while scanning.
Specification
Weight: 1 lb.
Portability/foldability: Yes.
Size while folded: 4 inches x 17 inches."
It appears that the one above requires a computer but with netbooks being as cheap as they are, that shouldn't be a problem. This next one is a bit more portable but does need to be plugged in, so it's still not as good as the new one that's the original topic of this thread. Taken from the same page.
"Eye-Pal SOLO
Please call 651-636-5184 for prices, options, and accessories for this product.
Eye-Pal SOLO for all who need assistance with reading
Eye-Pal Solo will read for you on it's own – no other equipment or additional lights are needed, no buttons to push, no manuals to read. Eye-Pal Solo comes ready to use right out of the box. It is a self-contained motion activated reading device that instantly reads from any book or printed material. Just plug it in, place down a book or newspaper and it reads to you! If it is not the page you wanted to read, remove it. Reading will stop immediately - in a fraction of a second. If the phone or doorbell rings, wave your hand near the reading material and it will pause, pass your hand again and it resumes. Can reading be easier than this?
Want to read text on a monitor along with the Eye-Pal Solo? Simply connect the monitor and magnified text will be automatically displayed for you, the spoken words are highlighted.
Need more than just reading? The custom keypad allows saving and restoring pages, reading by word or by sentence, changing voices, customizing how text looks on the monitor, and a lot more."
They also have an Eye-Pal SOLO LV, which is a reader and magnifier all in one. So these are possible alternatives, even if you just want to replace that large and slow flatbed scanner.
Just to add some controversy: here is an interesting article from the Serotek blog about the Intel Reader.
I forgot about the I-Pals and that company is based in my state, though the phone number never got changed when they moved to Moundsview instead of St. Paul.
As for the reader I listed? Well, people, keep dreaming as I got the price and its from the site based in the U.K., though their U.S. site can special order it.
Anyone got 900 pounds and 95 pense?
Damn! It's a really good idea and maybe it'll still give the KNFB reader some sort of competition.
I saw the origional announcement for this and thought it ok and mildely interesting afew weeks back, then I started resurching and compareing devices that can doo the same things this can, in comparison this is a wrip. Don't buy this, there truely is better out there.
lol Well, guess that won't be going on my list any time soon. Nice try. I don't see why it would need to have wi-fi or be able to read html. It's a scanner. I actually know of someone who is an engineer and literally a genius. I bet he can design something like this at a far cheaper price. The idea is to do what the creators of the New Hall braillewriter did and use existing off-the-shelf tech to make something that's affordable. My hunch is that these groups supported Intel because they're so used to things for the blind having an astronomical price tag that they didn't even question it. Plus, it means more money in their pockets. That poster who made the comment quoted in the article sounds like a complete idiot. Just because most tech for the blind is expensive, that doesn't mean that if something cheaper should come along that its quality will suffer. What I'd like to know is if it's possible to make a program that can use the camera inside of a netbook as a scanner. That way, you can have a whole system with you that'll be very cheap, weigh very little and be small and portable.
you'd need a verry good camera in a netbook, I'm not sure that moste have one good enough
yeah most netbooks camera's aren't that great. Thats why KNFB reader only works with certain phones, or works well with certain phones. Also there seems to be something with the OCR scanning engine that KNFB reader uses. as there is other similiar software for the mobile phones but they all fail in comparrison to knfb reader as far as there accuracy and recognition rate. So unfortunately in this case i guess you get what you pay for.
Well, then I suppose simply buying a small camera could hurt. It's still portable and better than a flat bed scanner. I wonder if there's some open source, freeware or abandonedware ocr software out there that's accessible? Maybe, it could be used on a machine if we were to design it. Working with preexisting software would save alot of money and time. The only thing would be to create or find drivers for the camera being used.