Largesse
Intel has come up with a pretty cool wireless capability. Hook a small box up to a TV, press a button on your laptop, and voila: a large computer display. This has terrific implications for accommodating students with low vision in classrooms and elders in their homes in particular, especially in future product generations when higher resolutions will be supported.
Anandtech: The Best Thing at CES - Intel’s Wireless HD Technology
Caption crunch
Onstage LED displays that provide redundant text have been an opera staple for some time, but to the best of our knowledge there hasn’t been a widespread equivalent for other types of theatrical performances. That might change with Airscript, a wireless device currently being tested in London that furnishes simultaneous translation of what’s going on; it has a channel for eight languages, and we were pleased to see that one was English for the benefit of Deaf/hard of hearing people, or just those with lousy seats. It shows multiple lines, so that you don’t have to spend all your time staring at it and away from the stage.
Engadget: AirScript translator beams live theater subtitles over the air
The beat goes on
The 3M Littman Electronic Stethoscope, like other stethoscopes we’ve covered before, has obvious advantages for doctors who are hard-of-hearing–including ambient noise reduction, acoustic seal earpieces, and amplification options. But we’re also interested in its recording and Bluetooth capabilities, which allow body noises to be captured and transferred hands-free to a nearby computer for later analysis, accommodating at least medical professionals with dexterity impairments, and possibly other disabilities as well.
Sometimes you Felica nut…
Another cool only-in-Japan technology: Felica has been around for awhile as a touchless smartcard and phone-based payment system, but it’s now being expanded to provide contact-free interactions with websites or software. The example cited is for communicating health-related information, but the possibilities are much wider–how do you see this being used?
Crunchgear: Sony’s FeliCa Launcher lets you use smartcards and phones on your PC to launch websites
Tubal location
If your wireless device has GPS and a compass, this new soon-to-be-an-iPhone-app projects info onto the camera image, showing you how to find the nearest underground station. If you’re in London, that is. Location-aware augmented reality apps like this will open up a new world of guided navigation for people who are blind or disoriented. If they’re in London.
Field of Near-Field Communication is … near
Near-Field Communication — we’ve been telling you about it for years — is about to enter the real retail world, letting consumers pay for purchases without swiping a card or signing. Just having your NFC-equipped mobile device near the store’s point-of-sale terminal will complete the transaction. Nokia built the first device; now Visa rolls out the first version of the payment part of the service.
Aside from eviscerating the “Close only counts in horseshoes” aphorism, NFC offers fumble-free, keyless shopping for those with limited dexterity and/or vision. Let’s hope the retailers preserve that when they implement NFC.
Gaze in the millinery
We’ve reached the point where a camera-based gesture interface, a pico-projector, and wireless computing has come together in SixthSense, a wearable prototype that lets the user grab information about anything in the vicinity. Aim at a package on a supermarket shelf to see its environmental information; aim at a building to take its picture or see its layout in a map view; project a telephone keypad onto your hand and dial away. Information that’s rich and relevant.
Right now, of course, you have to be able to see pretty well, be able to point your head at a target without shaking, and be able to move your hands and fingers accurately and consistently. But we’re gonna fix that at today’s meeting, right, gang? OK, everybody push on the big steel lab door!
There’s a video of this prototype in operation. (Forget our negativity — this thing is bangin’.)