Thursday, January 8, 2009

iPhone = Guide Dog?

Maybe. Someday. I don't need a guide dog, but sometimes I wish I had one anyway. Dogs are awesome.

Anyway, my friend Amy drew my attention to a great New York Times article about T. V. Raman. I had never heard of Mr. Raman (as the Times so politely refers to him), but I've heard of most of his innovations in accessibility. I had no idea the same person was responsible for all of them.

For the Blind, Technology Does What a Guide Dog Can't

I'm particularly grateful for my computer's ability to read PDF files aloud. It comes in handy all the time.

As for the iPhone that can tell you which direction to walk in, it's probably not that useful to me; I don't have any problems getting around. I do like that my new iPod talks to me. It tells me what songs it has, what's playing, and what menu is up on the screen. It's awesome. I named it Hal.

1 comment:

Rich said...

Tech may assist in navigation. But your iPhone is not going to stop you from walking in front of a car you didn't see.