Apps like TapTapSee are really useful, but you still have to be able to take a good picture of what you need to identify. Imagine wearing a camera on your eye glasses so that all you have to do is look at what you need identified and it does it instantly. If you have $2500, then that dream could be a reality very soon. A company called OrCam has designed a new device that will tell you what you're looking at. The ear piece uses bone conduction, so it does not impact your ability to hear your surroundings. According to their website, here are some of the features of OrCam:
"Faces and places are recognized continuously. OrCam will tell you when it sees a face or a place it recognizes, without you having to do anything.
To teach the device something new is just as simple: for an item shake it, for a place or face wave your hand. When OrCam sees these gestures it will instruct you in real time on how to store the item.
You can read newspapers and books, signs, labels on any product including medication and even text on a computer, phone or television screen.
OrCam comes pre-installed with hundreds of objects it can recognize, and you can personalize it by teaching it to recognize the objects around you.
It can tell you when the light changes from red to green and which bus line is coming. You can use its reading abilities to read signs, and its ability to memorize places you've already been to."
What do you think. Is this something you would purchase, or does this all sound too good to be true?
Category: Portable Devices
After visiting the site, I came away with a question... How is a totally blind person supposed to point at an object for the device to then identify it? i've seen this device being discussed on many lists and on one of them, someone posted a comment from a sighted person who viewed the Youtube video. The sighted person said that the lady in the video was pointing at all the things the device identified, the bus, the packages, the traffic signal, street signs, and I believe even her friend. If the pointing is necessary, then it sounds like a marvelous device for someone who has some vision, enough to locate what one needs to point at, but one has to hope that a totally blind person can use it as well. I think we need to hear more detailed information from this company.
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For the past three years Alena has been a feature writer for the online magazine Matilda Ziegler. She has also been a contractor for the Oregon Commission for the Blind, helping blind adults learn to use adaptive technology. She is studying to be a teacher of the visually impaired at Portland State. You might also recognize her from the Serotalk podcast Triple Click Home.
