Silicone Touch: an iPhone case for the visually impaired

A colleague saw this on Engadget.com recently and thought it was interesting. Basically, it is a sleeve that fits over the iPhone and has tactile buttons for controlling custom iPhone applications. While totally conceptual right now and extremely limited in its actual functionality (i.e., apps would need to be customized), it would be interesting if the basic interface could change by enabling an "access mode" such that the tactile sleeve could be functional.

A similar concept was presented in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager for a computer terminal that adapted to a visually impaired crew member -- "Year of Hell" - season 4 - episodes 8 and 9.

Anyway, the approach seems conceptually similar to the VisuAide Maestro, which is essentially a tactile-button sleeve that slips over a touchscreen PDA, plus accompanying software.

NFB - Access Technology Blog

Another new blog of interest to our readers has come to my attention. The National Federation of the Blind has started The Access Technology Blog. This is produced by the NFB Access Technology Team and is led by Clara Van Gerven.

BBC NEWS | Technology | IBM helps blind 'see' web video

From BBC News - Technology

Big Blue will soon launch a multimedia browser designed to make audio and video content accessible to people with vision impairments. Codenamed the Accessibility Browser, the tool is designed to provide computer users with visual impairments the same control over multimedia content that sighted people have when using a mouse.

The new browser is the creation of Dr. Chieko Asakawa, a blind employee at IBM's research laboratory in Tokyo. Dr Asakawa was becoming increasingly frustrated by the amount of web content that she was unable to access. For the time being, she and her team are concentrating on content that is compatible with Real Player and Windows Media Player.

• WebAIM has good information on the current state of Media Player Accessibility.
• The National Center for Accessible Media [NCAM] has Design Guidelines for Electronic Publications, Multimedia and the WebDesign Guidelines for Electronic Publications, Multimedia and the Web.
• NCAM is also home to MagPIE - an authoring tool for making Web- and CD-ROM-based multimedia materials accessible.
  

YouTube - Eye To Eye: An Online Library For The Blind

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Fruchterman talks with Byron Pitts in a YouTube - Eye To Eye interview. Jim is the CEO of Benetech, an Associate Member of the DAISY Consortium.
In the interview Jim says that his mission is "to use technology to help humanity." And, in the spirit of those who participate in DAISY developments, he announced "It is a badge of honor to be a geek."

This also appears as a story on the CBS Evening News - "Tech Entrepreneur Helps Blind To Read". If you visit the site, be sure to check out the related video.

If you have ever met Jim you know what an approachable down to earth nice guy he is. Don't let the MacArthur genius award get in the way of getting to know him. I especially like that he has taken on the mission of trying to convince the next generation of high-tech entrepreneurs to be socially conscious.

MATILDA ZIEGLER

Press release

NEW YORK--The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, the general-interest monthly that Helen Keller called a "God send," begins its second century of publication next month with a special anniversary issue.

Ms. Keller made that declaration in a letter published in the magazine's March 1907 inaugural issue, in which she also called the Ziegler, as it is known, "one of the most wonderful boons in the history of mankind." This most famous deaf and blind woman gave such high praise to the magazine because she knew how difficult it was for blind people to obtain reading matter 100 years ago.

The early 20th century was a time when neither the government nor private organizations were able to provide much support for the disabled. Of course, radios, telephones, televisions, computers and the Internet were years away. With limited prospects for entertainment and employment, intelligent blind men and women had little to do in the early 1900s.

One thing they could do was read, and the fortunate ones had books in either the braille or New York Point systems of embossed print. But one big obstacle stood between the blind and the books they so enjoyed: money. A book in raised type cost 10 times or more than the same book did in print.

As the mother of a blind son, Matilda Ziegler was aware of this group's great need for reading material, and--as heiress to a baking-powder fortune--she was in a position to help. In one of history's great acts of charity, Mrs. Ziegler decided to use her inheritance to publish a free monthly magazine for every interested blind person.

Upon hearing about plans for the magazine, thousands of blind people wrote for subscriptions. Finally, in March 1907, the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind came into the hands of its eager subscribers, instantly attracting attention from the news media and praise from luminaries. Dozens of newspaper articles were written about the magazine, which Mark Twain described as "one of the noblest benefactions" of his lifetime. Many others agreed with his description, including presidents Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt, who both wrote congratulatory letters that appeared in the inaugural issue.

These former presidents' letters will appear once again in the 2007 centennial issue, along with a selection of 1907 newspaper articles written about the founding of the publication. The 100th anniversary edition also will contain some items of interest reprinted from volume one, number one, of the Ziegler Magazine. In addition to a letter from the eloquent Ms. Keller, there will be "current" events from 1907, and a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, "This, Too, Shall Pass."

Every issue of the Ziegler features a Readers Forum, which usually covers a variety of topics. But the March 2007 Readers Forum letters are about just one thing: appreciation for the magazine from its subscribers throughout the world. (Today the Ziegler goes to 91 countries.)

In the years since its founding, the Ziegler Magazine has become an institution in the blindness field, having touched the lives of tens of thousands of blind and visually impaired people. Thanks to the foresight and kindness of Mrs. William Ziegler, who established and endowed a foundation before her death in 1932, any legally blind person can receive--at no charge--the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, published in contracted braille, on four-track/half-speed cassette, by e-mail, and online at www.matildaziegler.org

Car Rally for the Blind

The premise is simple enough -- it is a standard auto rally where the Navigator navigates and the Driver drives. Certain speeds and directions need to be maintained as checkpoints must be reached and locations marked on a map. The twist is that the Navigator is reading the maps and directions in Braille. Well ... I guess that is better than the driver being the blind teammate.

Other stories of a similar nature come out of Bangalore (there has to be a 'World is Flat' joke in there somewhere!), Ahmedabad (both in India) and Nevada, USA.

A & E's Designing Blind -- is this for real?

Yes -- it is for real.

"On DESIGNING BLIND, A&E Network's new home-makeover-series-with-a-twist, couples relinquish control to acclaimed designer Eric Brun-Sanglard, known for his breathtaking renovations of prime properties in Los Angeles. Added to the precarious but always entertaining process of seeing a space transformed amidst the owners' reactions to each other's strong and sometimes opposing tastes is one additional condition that the homeowners must accept - Eric B. is blind."

Google Labs Accessible Search Engine

From the FAQ page:

Accessible Search is an early Google Labs product designed to identify and prioritize search results that are more easily usable by blind and visually impaired users. Regular Google search helps you find a set of documents that is most relevant to your tasks. Accessible Search goes one step further by helping you find the most accessible pages in that result set.

Developed by T.V. Raman, a Google research scientist who is himself blind, this is yet another example of how Google is changing the face of the web. Here is a link from ars-technica.

Braille Mobile Phone from Samsung

SAMSUNG’s Braille Mobile Phone Wins Gold Award at the IDEA 2006 Awards -- that's the Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) and not the other IDEA that those of us in disability and education are familiar with.

Ai2 ZoomText Keyboard

Here's a product I am hoping will be in the vendor area at the AHEAD conference. From the promotional eMail:

In just a few short weeks, Ai Squared will begin shipping the new ZoomText Large-Print Keyboard (US English version), featuring easy-to-read keycaps and fast "one-touch" access to essential ZoomText 9.0 features. Designed for the ZoomText user, the new ZoomText keyboard will make typing and using ZoomText faster and easier than ever before.With the ZoomText Large-Print Keyboard, each key and button label is easy to see, even in low light, thanks to its 36-point text and high-contrast black on yellow color scheme. The ZoomText keyboard also provides quick access to ZoomText 9.0 features. Sixteen dedicated buttons will allow you to instantly start ZoomText, change magnification levels, toggle screen enhancements, launch AppReader and DocReader, and more, all without having to memorize hotkeys. You can even reassign each feature key to your choice of ZoomText commands, Internet and multimedia commands, or to open an application, document or web page.

From Walkman to Talkman

The next iteration of the iPod may talk users through the menus instead of relying on text only. Good news for blind and low-visioned ... but such populations apparently did not factor significantly into Apple's patent application - from the linked article:

The patent reveals the idea is driven largely by safety considerations. It states: 'A user will have difficulty navigating the interface in "eyes-busy" situations. Such activities include, for example, driving an automobile, exercising and crossing the street. The patent also makes clear that text-to-speech technology is likely to spread to other hand-held electronic devices such as mobile phones and palm-top computers.

Thank goodness for cars that talk, multi-tasking cell phone users, and band names with obscure pronunciations being the accidental impetus for advances in technology for the disabled - otherwise nothing would ever get accomplished!

New Blogs to Check-Out

Poet and writer Steve Kuusisto has launched a blog called "Planet of the Blind" which he hopes will be of general interest to those who share his interest in literary nonfiction and disability. The Harmony Books blog boldtype has a writeup and interview for his memoir "Planet of the Blind".

Next up is a blog that has been around for some time but appears to be under new management that may update it more often. All About Access is the tech blog of the Carroll center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts. Personally I think they should just call it CarrollTech, but apparently the dot-com version belongs to a company that manufactures & repairs tracks for heavy equipment [and whether the white cane hits the armored personnel carrier or vice-versa ... it's gonna be bad for the white cane!].

Handheld device will help the blind read

Kurzweil National Federation of the Blind Reader has gotten quite a bit of ink on the listservs. Though a bit pricey at $3,500 - the price is sure to come down as popularity grows. Several ATHEN members and others on the listservs are doing some Beta testing on this and other products.

Progress in the Captcha Department - AFB's Blog

To the left are Captcha's - those distorted and scrambled boxes of letters and numbers used by websites to tell friend (human) from foe (other computers). Top to bottom we have examples from PayPal, Yahoo, Hotmail, TicketMaster and AOL. CAPTCHA is a trademarked name belonging to Carnegie Mellon University and stands for completely automated public turing-test to tell computers and humans apart. If you want to know what a "turing test" is check out the Wikipedia posting.

We in the AT field do not like Captcha's for the simple reasons that they are inaccessible for the visually impaired (in particular) and a general pain in the butt for everyone else (especially those with mobility issues that make excessive typing difficult). Heck, even with eyesight and ambulation I sometimes have trouble figuring out these darn things.

MIT's "seeing machine" for the legally blind

From Engadget:

MIT's got a new machine in the works that will offer some discrete seeing abilities to the 1.3 million legally blind in the US without the need for invasive retinal implants. Though it's not portable and doesn't (yet) support video feeds, the 12 x 6 x 6-inch "seeing machine" developed by Elizabeth Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, enables users to control virtual 3D environments, view images, or read documents by way of an LED eyepiece that projects images directly onto the retinas of those with limited vision. We assume the consumer application of such a device is only eventual, but for now it remains with at MIT for development, so, um, keep an eye out.

Rubik's Cube For the Blind - Gizmodo

All work and no play makes visually impaired boys and girls dull ... I guess. I'm gonna get one of these and add it to my toy-arsenal at work. I have noticed that most of my B/LV students tend to fiddle with things [canes, stress stones, loose change] when they visit. I'd like to offer an option and know of couple of my students who would love this!