We always look forward to hearing from technology pioneer Ray Kurzweil, and for good reason. In his speech, new and upcoming features of the KNFB Reader Mobile were discussed and demonstrated. There is a new voice and TTS engine used for reading, while the Eloquence voice is still used for the menus and prompts. It also reads in seven languages and can translate between them on the fly. This feature can potentially extend the reach of the reader beyond the blind, especially for anyone traveling in a foreign country. Imagine taking a picture of a menu or brochure written in French and hearing it translated in English within a few seconds. Other hints were dropped including indoor navigation and object recognition,. As for the latter, he is helping to develop technology for untrained recognition, so objects could be described without prior training. Also, in his demonstration, the pause between pressing the down arrow key to take a picture and the actual taking of the picture appeared to be much shorter, which would cut another 2-3 seconds off the reading time. No release dates were given, but we expect the language options to be available soon.
Source: Go to sourceCategory: Software
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
