Phoneless phone booth
The Cell Zone is an empty, sound-resistant kiosk for cell phone users who want/need quiet space in public places; it can be plastered with advertising so that it also serves as a marketing tool. People with anything less than 20/20 hearing are going to love it. Plus it has a ramp, although we’d like to see evidence that it’s possible for wheelchair users to actually get in, close the door, and then get back out.
Hands-free flight
A new set of video games uses a hands-free, head-mounted controller to fly Doraemon, a popular Japanese cartoon character, through the air. Moving the head back-forward or left-right causes Doraemon to move in the corresponding directions. Definitely fulfills our minimum daily AOMS requirement of accessibility AND cuteness. Only available in Japan for now, though.
3-D display; 2-edged sword
No special glasses required; this LCD uses tiny lenses for each pixel to send light on nine different angles. The result is a three dimensional image. Great, but we’ve got to worry about all the 3-D visual interfaces this display will inspire, which may require depth perception as well as good general vision.
Online speed reading application
Spreeder is a free online speed reading trainer. Enter the text you want to have displayed, and it shows up one word at a time. Both text size and speed are adjustable. Other controls are available. Good for those learning or re-learning to read, especially if there are vision problems.
Cursors FOLED again
FOLED–flexible OLED display–promises to be a lightweight alternative to LCD displays that could be used in all types of gadgets. Seems to be monochrome for now, but we could see this as an eventual solution to the size vs. weight tradeoff that many low-vision users (and others) need to deal with when evaluating technologies such as laptop monitors.
Beyond buttons
The prototype Onyx phone seems to include a number of flexible options that could accommodate people with various physical and/or cognitive disabilities. For example, you can touch it to a specific body part to answer a call, or blow it a kiss to initiate a call to your honey. Supposedly these features will be included in a bona fide marketed product by year’s end.
Synaptics and Pilotfish Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept
New voices
Motorola has patented a system that analyzes the voice of each speaker at the beginning of a conference call. If two voices are judged to be too similar, software slightly adjusts the pitch of one so that it becomes more distinct. This could be great for people with mild hearing impairments, as well as for transcriptionists.