Guten ’nuff
Project Gutenberg is a long-standing project that transfers out-of-copyright books into electronic text formats–usually classic fiction, but there are some oddball gems scattered in as well. Now comes word that some fraction of these titles will be available through the iBooks store for iPad users from the get-go, presumably compatible with the built-in VoiceOver screen reader. So for the first time, people who are blind or have learning disabilities will be able to access The Story of Crisco at the same time as everyone else.
Wired: iBooks Store Loaded with Project Gutenberg Titles at Launch
Cool for school
Some prestigious universities are starting to accept short videos as part of their admissions applications. This has great implications, particularly for kids with learning disabilities who may need non-written means to show their genuine worthiness.
No iPad jokes from us, no sir
We were going to wait until some of the hype died down before considering the accessibility side of the iPad–but fortunately our friend Ricky Buchanan has already started the process. Looks promising!
Blio us away
The latest developer to enter the e-book fray is Ray Kurzweil, who this week will be revealing Blio. Instead of taking a hardware approach, though, Blio is platform-independent, free software that will present books in a consistent format–rather like PDF–that also supports use of color and video. People with learning disabilities will be particularly happy to hear that this format supports use of text-to-speech synchronized with text highlighting, and that markup such as bookmarks will be imported when the file is shared among devices. Not clear what the implications will be for blind individuals; we’ll probably learn more when Blio is formally announced at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.
Wired: Singularity Proponent Ray Kurzweil Reinvents the Book, Again
Eee-reader–only for ghost stories?
Asus is making its own jump into the e-reader market with its Eee-reader, due out in two models by the end of the year. We like that the higher-end model opens like a book and has its own stand, making it more manageable for folks who might have difficulty holding, say, a Kindle while reading or selecting options. Any other thoughts on how this design could be an accessibility boon?
Magic touch?
Researchers at the University of Tokyo are working on an interface that uses Wiimotes and ultrasound to create interactive holograms that provide the illusion of touchability. This has obvious gaming implications for blind individuals, who could use it to manipulate objects and controls. But what if it could be extended further–say, to create tactile maps on the fly, or to provide an interface for simulating scientific experimentation?
Engadget: Touchable Holography uses Wiimotes to add touch to holograms
Camera with training wheels?
Nikon has a new model camera aimed at novices, so they did a smartie and added educational menus to their large LCD. These don’t only describe the settings, they tell you what the settings are for, how to use them, and how they’ll affect your shot. A great feature for people with cognitive disabilities, like the 90% of us who take pictures infrequently enough not to remember the meanings of those tiny, obscure flower-runner-mountain-moon icons. Will we see this feature duplicated on copy machines? Diffused to humidifiers? Adopted for baby monitors?
Gizmodo: Nikon D3000: Beginner’s 10MP DSLR With Educational Menus for $600