Video Share phone service now available
AT&T has just begun its wireless video phone service, called Video Share. This *may* work for sign language transmission (which they’ve had in Europe for years); but the video can only be sent in one direction at a time.
LG CU500v, first Video Share phone, launches on AT&T - Engadget
I bought the keyboard, now I can’t afford the computer….
The Optimus keyboard promises a high-quality image on every key — that’s right, every key is a small LCD, all programmable, all flexible, all dynamic. What a world of accessibility this thing could open up! We’ve been tracking it for over a year now, through rumor and whisper. Now it’s here! And completely unaffordable! At about a hundred times the price of a typical keyboard, we might just hire someone to take dictation instead.
Things that are heating up
Yanko Design, which we can always rely on for interesting ideas, has come up with a Portable Beverage Heater that clips onto a mug and heats or reheats the liquid therein. When the beverage is hot, a thermographic area on the device changes color. Potentially useful for a range of people with physical or cognitive disabilities–but for cost and ecological reasons, we wish it was more than a single-use item.
Staying in closer touch
LG has filed a patent for a phone touchscreen that helps users who have difficulty with manual precision for multiple reasons (alas, not yet including inability to see the screen). Miss the target, and proximate icons will flock in closer. It also promises to allow users to set up “a set of predefined actions associated with concrete events, like reception of new message, calendar alarm or low battery indication.”
Can from Japan
The Satis Asteo Washlet toilet seems to have a number of accessibility-relevant features, including nighttime illumination and gender recognition–supposedly it automatically lifts the seat when a male approaches, then automatically lowers it when he’s done. In addition, it plays pre-programmed music from Bach and Chopin. We thought it should also play “Water Music,” but since it’s auto-flush, it has no Handel.
Watch up, doc?
The crystal of the IBeam watch doubles as a flip-up 3x magnifier. (What, no accompanying light source?) An interesting model for discretely including assistive vision technology in common objects–aimed straight at presbyopic Boomers!
Mirror, mirror on the camera
The Etsumi mirror attaches to the back of standard digital cameras and is designed to facilitate picture taking when the desired subject is at an unusual angle. How ’bout using it when the photographer is at an “unusual” angle–in bed, reclining in a wheelchair, and so on?
Gizmodo: Etsumi display mirror allows compact camera photos at extreme angles