Yet another telephone voice portal
Ifbyphone will offer news, email, blogs, games, and interactive fiction by text-to-speech over the phone, starting December 2005. Their target market is not people with disabilities, but those are some high profile potential users. Blind and low vision folks will be able to access productivity tools and entertainment; people who cannot use their keypads will be able to control the service by speech alone.
Michigan seeks accessible voting system
Michigan is reviewing bids in search of a statewide voting system that delivers “equal access, opportunity and privacy… equipment manufacturers will be required to prove that they have demonstrated their equipment to a variety of disability community groups, and have received written evaluations from such groups.”
Michigan Looks for Voting System for the Disabled - Nov 28, 2005
Vodafone to offer “Mobile Wallet 3G handset with Motion Control Sensor”
Two cool things in one mobile phone:
- designed to act as a transaction device, so you can use it to buy transit tickets, get cash from ATMs, etc.
- can be controlled by movements and gestures instead of keypad. (although this feature is designed for gaming, it could be re-programmed for phone control)
Home Automation via SMS
A new channel for “environmental control” / “electronic aids to independent living”? This device sends and receives wireless messages that report on or activate appliances, lights, temperature sensors, etc. This could turn your wireless phone into a complete home control system.
Slashphone.com - Home Automation SMS Control with Compulogics LinkTx
Talkman for Sony PSP
Sony has released a new “game” called Talkman for its Portable PlayStation (PSP). Talkman turns the PSP into a speech input and output device, although it’s pretty limited. It can speak and listen in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean to a few hundred key phrases. But imagine the possibilities for live transcription and pronunciation of customized vocabularies, for either deaf or speech-impaired users….
Cell phone browsing
Article touching on the need for web pages that work well on cell phones:
“Mobile consumers have little patience for confusing menus….Customers don’t want to spend a lot of time on their mobile browsers but ‘want things you can grab quickly.’” Hmmm…sounds familiar!
It will be interesting to see if this drives better website design overall, or if companies are going to start creating separate-but-equal? sites for computers and cell phones (and if the latter will work well with assistive tech when used on computers).
New Motion-Recognition Phone?
Holy alternate input device, Batman! This phone is the first of a new wave of wireless devices that are controlled by simple gestures such as shaking, rotating, and tossing. Right now those movements are directly connected to specific functions (e.g. shaking the phone fast-forwards its MP3 player). But imagine if it were possible to program them and add subtlety — a dexterity impaired person could use it as an input device for all kinds of functions.
Note that this phone has an electronic compass and a pedometer, so it’s pretty set up for assistance with navigation. Note also that’s it’s only available in Korea for now.