by David Zax, Technology Review
An innovative app developed at Stanford University over the summer shows how tablet computing has the potential to transform the ways the blind interact with the world. During a two-month summer course, an undergraduate and two mentors developed a Braille writer for a touchscreen. Braille, the alphabet for the blind built out of patterns of bumps, is the way the blind navigate the world of text. But how do blind people write Braille themselves? There exist specialized mechanical devices for the purpose, that look something like little typewriters, only with just a handful of keys. (There’s a wealth of information on the panoply of Braille writers here.) Such devices are pricey, though–$3,000 to $6,000, often. A tablet, obviously, is an order of magnitude less expensive, and has greater capabilities.
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27248/?p1=blogs
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