Here at Gazotto, we often take the time to discuss the cool and neat gadgets that make us “ooh” and “ahh”. Sometimes we forget that technology is really there to help people make their lives easier. Today we will look at one of those gadgets.

Now, I can’t imagine what it is to be blind and I personally don’t know someone who is, but maybe you do. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has some alarming statistics. For example, it’s estimated that 1.3 million people in the U.S. are legally blind, and that 10 million Americans are blind or visually impaired. Those are indeed staggering numbers.

The Kurxweil-National Ferderation of the Blind Reader was created by the famous inventor Ray Kurzweil and the NFB. Together they created a device that allows the blind to “read” text.

The Electronic reader is basically a mix of digital camera and with a data assistant which than is able to electronically read the text and relay that text in audio format to the user.

All users need to do is hold the device over anything that they need to read such as letters, bills, restaurant menus, airline tickets, business cards, office memos, they then press a button, and the contents are read back to them.

The National Federation for the Blind and 500 NFB Pioneers helped to test and design the device.

Other neat features of the Electrionic Reader is that it can read text off of computers and other devices. It also includes ear buds so that others aren’t bothered by the audio being fed.

The data is saved on memory (which can be easily added). Users can also send data, to their computers or Braille notetakers.

Gary Wunder, a computer programmer analyst with the University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics in Columbia, Missouri, stated how the Electronic Reader helped him:

“This little machine has completely changed my awareness about the print around me and has given me access that I never dreamed possible before.

It is amazing to go to a public event and actually read the program, to go to a work meeting and be able to read the handout which someone has forgotten to send to me in advance.

What a thrill it is to take a business card and get the information from it quickly enough to remember why I took the card in the first place.

For the first time in my life I looked at the magazines in the seat pocket of a commercial airliner, and reading a restaurant menu is awesome.”

The sale of the Kurxweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader will begin on July 1st, 2006. To purchase one you can call (877) 708-1724 or visit www.nfb.org. The reader is expected to cost around $3, 495 (US).

I found it so amazing that this gadget would be a valuable asset to those with poor or no vision. It can really open up doors that wouldn’t have been possible without the reader and allow the user to continue to interact with their environment.

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