A word to the whys
In the middle of a long discussion about Office 2007, we were delighted to note that Microsoft has finally included a homonym checker–something that can help users distinguish between sound-alikes such as “there,” “they’re”, and “their.” It’s apparently part of the spell check function. A lifesaver for people with some types of cognitive disabilities, and just darned helpful to everyone.
Podzinger
Podzinger is a new type of search engine: plug in a term, and it quickly browses through podcasts (audio and video, English and Spanish), presents a snippet of text containing the term, and lets you start hearing the podcast from the point where the term appears. Cool enough on its own; if it could also do text transcription of the entire podcast, that would be a real help for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
A sound stethoscope
The Noise-Immune Stethoscope was designed for doctors on battlefields and other ultra-loud situations. It should also be a boon for doctors with hearing impairments.
Noise-Immune Stethoscope helps medics hear vital signs in loud environments
Blink recognition
Mercedes is working on a system that can recognize when drivers are starting to blink sleepily, and sends an audible warning. This opens interesting possibilities for using the same technology to recognize when users are intentionally blinking in a given pattern, and translate this to computer input or environmental control.
Wake up! Mercedes developing systems to combat microsleep behind the wheel
The mouse that soared
There’s a round mouse from Japan that works by interpreting the angle to which it’s tilted, meaning it can be operated in the air–of interest to people who have physical difficulty moving the mouse with their wrist pronated, or cognitive difficulty associating back/forth mouse movement on a table with up/down cursor movement on the screen. It appears to be covered in rhinestones, which should not only provide a good grip, but addresses the ever-important bling factor. Not clear where the buttons are, though–might be the Martian-looking things on top, which might not be the most accessible location.
A peculiar mouse running on sand, clay, rocks and even in the air
A-door-able
The RF Remote allows up to 15 users to lock or unlock doors via radio frequency, so “no aiming is required.” We also like the fact that the two buttons are slightly recessed and are different shapes and sizes, so they’d be easy to find and distinguish for users with visual or cognitive disabilities.
SmartHome: RF Remote unlocks doorknobs and deadbolts with the press of a button
Computer functions via cellphone
David Pogue’s article cites a variety of services that can be accessed via cellphone at little or no charge, including simple Google searches, comparison shopping, and a voice-recognition system for finding local businesses. Good news for people who find cell phones easier than computers to use for whatever reason.