Nailed it!
We’ve been thinking a lot lately about designs that would help a couple of clients who have arthritis but are adamant about not giving up their long fingernails. So we’re thrilled to see the TAD, which slips over any finger and provides a pointer that at least makes accessing cellphone buttons and touch screens easier. Comes with three interchangeable tips, available in your choice of three sizes and six fashion colors, and will only set you back about $6.
Thinking a head
Given that the Internet is the most powerful information tool ever devised, it’s good that someone would come up with a website to let you easily find…a local bathroom. Locations can be added and identified by whether a purchase is required, whether there are baby changing capabilities–and whether they’re wheelchair accessible!
A whirled of the map
Schmap, which has already established a web presence with interactive maps and guides, has developed an iPhone-savvy version of its site. What we really like is that it takes advantage of the iPhone’s built-in gyro sensors; hold your phone one way to see just the local points of interest, then just tilt it 90 degrees to see these points plotted on a map. Easy for anyone, and likely to be especially welcome by those whose fine motor impairments make them prefer not to fumble with links whenever possible; we’d love to see this implemented for other types of applications.
I don’t see what you’re saying
One of the problems for some would-be speech output users is that most speech output strategies require tricky or intense use of the keyboard, mouse, or both; this can be a particular problem for seniors. Some German researchers have come up with a pretty cool solution involving use of facial recognition technology: just close your eyes, and Microsoft Word reads back the “current” sentence (presumably the one where the cursor is located). Ein guter Start; we’d love to see additional features, such as the ability to blink slowly to have the speech output move to and read the next line.
ACM Digital Library: Spoken words: activating text-to-speech through eye closure (summary)
The way the ball bounces
We don’t usually cover one-off devices here, but this one’s too cool not to mention: an audio-only version of Ping Pong. You tilt your head to “center” the sound of an approaching ball; if you’re successful, game play continues at an increasingly faster rate. Of obvious interest to blind individuals, it’s also totally hands-free so it could be playable by folks with dexterity disabilities, too.
What it sees is what you get
Evolution Robotics has announced that its ViPR visual search engine will arrive on the iPhone this June. What’s a visual search engine? Take a picture of any book, CD, or DVD, and information about it comes back to your mobile phone. Sounds amazing, no? It even works when the object is upside down or partially hidden.
Consider the implications for blind, low vision, and cognitively disabled users, especially once it can recognize other objects, places, people….
Yet another Optimus Maximus Keyboard update
We’ve been posting about this keyboard-with-OLED-keys for quite a while now, and it’s finally gotten a review, with good pointers (like, wait for version 1.0 and a price drop). It seems that this thing is not really made for everyday typing, and you have to program it all yourself, but the display-keys really do work, and can even show movies (”Now playing on Backspace, Groundhog Day“)!
So consider how cool a nonvocal communication aid you could make, with animated inputs. And cognitive support galore.
Review: Ten Things You Need to Know About the Optimus Maximus Keyboard Hardware