Here is an article from the New York Times about an inexpensive App that accurately identifies the denominations of United States paper currency from $1 to $100 dollars. The Application is currently available for the iPhone and the iPod Touch with built in camera and according to the developer’s website, “Recognition will happen in real-time and without delay – there's no need to hold the device still or take a photo and wait for a result.” This reduces the need for blind people to rely on sighted folks to help them identify what is in their wallet.
The accompanying video shows a user launching the LookTel Money Reader Application on their iPhone 4, the user then hovers the iPhone over a table with various bills placed about in a grid like pattern; as the iPhone passes over a bill a voice announces the denomination of each bill. In the second part of the video clip, the user holds the iPhone in one hand and a wad of folded bills in the other; after the user launches the LookTel Money Reader App he (or she) hovers the iPhone over the wad of bills and flips through them while a voice announces the denomination of each exposed bill.
This is truly a great app that actually does what it says it does. As the article notes, comparable stand alone products cost $100 at the least.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most interesting were the comments prompted by the NY Times article. Of course many wondered how a blind person could use a touch screen and those were responded to in very good ways by blind people who use that technology. I was most amused and concerned though by the commenter who wanted to know how a blind person could find the camera on the Iphone? A good reminder of the perceptual notions related to disability that even these outstanding improvements in technology don’t seem to mitigate.
--Debbie Cook