Raymond Kurzweil, author and inventor, in conjunction with the National Federation of the Blind has completed work on a camera based knfbReader Mobile system designed to help those individuals who have difficulty seeing or reading print.
The system relies on the 5 megapixel camera of the Nokia N82 smartphone to capture the image of the desired text and even guides the user to an optimal framing point to ensure the greatest amount of text will be available before converting it to ?clear synthetic speech?. Others who may have difficulty reading fine print or have learning disabilities can use the system to enlarge, read, track and highlight the content for easier viewing on the phone's display.
By integrating the software into such a common device as a cell phone will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on millions of lives.
Source: Gizmodo / Business Wire
Knfb Reading Technology Inc press release here