The Intel Reader: as big a boon as Braille?
Intel's device for the blind or visually impaired combines a digital camera, OCR, and speech synthesis, with impressive results. Great advances in digital technology shower all kinds of benefits on society—among them, life-altering opportunities for people with disabilities. Innovations of this order range from digital hearing aids and cochlear implants to computerized prosthetic limbs. Unfortunately, such products are often relegated to a ghetto known as "assistive technology," where high prices and limited distribution place them beyond the reach of many people who might benefit. Intel is trying to change that as part of a major corporate push into health care. Its new Digital Health Group has just come out with a remarkable product, the Intel Reader, designed to make printed matter accessible to millions of people who find reading difficult or impossible, either because of vision problems or learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
Dec 03, 2009 12:00 AM
BusinessWeek