This is a video I shot with a great guy, Ben Foss, from Intel’s Digital Health Group. I also edited a shorter version here.
Ben invited me to his and gave me a first-hand look at the The Intel Reader,which takes pictures of text and read it aloud.
It’s designed to provide access to printed text for people with dyslexia, low vision or blindness.
Intel’s Digital Health Group researched and designed the mobile Intel Reader, which is built on the Intel Atom processor and run on the Moblin operating system.
I got to attend the San Francisco briefing today, where I got to see a few great tech writers from sites like VentureBeat, Ubergizmo, TechPulse360 and SiliconValleyWatcher.
During the briefing, Ben showed the first prototype design, so I shot this photo showing the idea evolve into reality – and a set of photos here.
My take: it’s interesting to learn about the blend of people and technology research that went into making the device. It is purpose built and intended to assist people who have trouble reading text. The ability to “on-the-spot” snap a photo of a newspaper, magazine or voter booklet and have the text read back to you slow or super fast is amazing.
And the fact that you can create a collection of documents and mp3 audio files for sharing (appropirately, not for commercial uses) makes this device ripe for our times.
I think it will help bring together young and older people who need help reading text — people with dyslexia, weak eye sight or other forms of blindness.
Movin' Ahead 