Web Development Live

Speaking at the annual Thinking Digital IT conference in Gateshead, representatives from handset manufacturers and mobile operators argued that flat rate tariffs, greater interoperability and new technologies like GPS have accelerated usage and spurred the a new dawn for the mobile web

“This is the second chance for everyone to deliver on the promise of the late 90s,” said mobile strategist and ex-O2 executive, Bradley de Souza.

“Then, it was premature from a technology perspective, the marketing didn’t line up with what was being delivered and although there was collaboration from the developer community, the stars didn’t align.”

Mark Selby, vice president of sales and industry collaboration at Nokia, argued that the operators’ walled garden approach to browsing is also collapsing, leading to greater take-up of the mobile web. Some Nokia figures point to data usage on smart phones nearing 90 percent of total usage, he added.

“Our research shows that the amount of time people are browsing, accessing and uploading content is incredible,” said Selby.

Others commented that good content holds the key to the success of the mobile web. Vikesh Patel, European general manager for products at Motorola, said that uptake will rocket “if you get the content right and people want it”.

“There are a lot of people [in the industry] with different opinions,” he added. “The network operators don’t want to be just bit pipes but it really needs developers to feed the ecosystem to grow it.”

De Souza argued that mobile platform providers and other stakeholders need to be more open in order to facilitate and encourage the developer community.

“On the Symbian platform the developers can’t even get their test apps onto users’ phones to gauge their usability,” he added. “Microsoft has done well to [encourage openness] but it’s not well structured.”

Gerhard Grech, director of strategy and business development at Orange, agreed that content is king on the mobile, but argued that simplifying the presentation and accessibility to that content will be key to its popularity.

“You need to do something completely different in the way you present that content,” he explained. “Widgets are a good hybrid [technology] to catch people’s imagination – it’s where the interface, browser and service all comes together in a very compelling way.”

Motorola’s Patel added that widgets are a “great way to cut through the layers of menu” and open up the mobile web to users.

LAS VEGAS Sprint Nextel Corp. on Tuesday said it is betting heavily on a touch-screen phone that appears to be the closest thing the U.S. market has seen to Apple Inc.’s vaunted iPhone.The Samsung Instinct will be available in June for a yet undetermined price, Sprint announced at CTIA Wireless, a cell-phone industry trade show in Las Vegas. Executives hinted that the price would be substantially lower than the $399 for the cheapest iPhone.Sprint, which has been losing subscribers, will spend $150 million to advertise the Instinct when it launches, compared with $30 million for a typical product introduction, according to David Owens, the company’s director of devices.Like the iPhone, the Instinct lacks a keypad and has just a few buttons. Most of the functions are accessed by touching the screen.A few touch-screen phones appeared on the U.S. market last holiday season, after the iPhone’s debut in June.Verizon Wireless launched the LG Voyager, which has an exterior touch screen and folds out to reveal a non-touch screen paired with a keyboard. Sprint introduced the Touch by HTC, a slim pad with only a touch screen.Both phones were hampered by the lack of software designed specifically for a touch screen. The Voyager dealt with that by adding a keyboard. The Touch grafted some touch-friendly features on to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system, which is designed for smart phones that either lack a touch screen or are intended for use with a stylus. Some functions on the Touch are hard or impossible to use by tapping with the fingers alone.The Instinct is based on a Samsung phone that’s already available under different names, and with different software, in South Korea and Europe. Sprint commissioned its own software from European design house Icon Mobile.”We took a more active part than we ever have” in a phone’s development, Owens said. “This was designed from the ground up to be a touch-screen phone.”The software is based on Java, a commonly used programming language that should make it easy to develop applications for the phone.The Instinct will have a few features the iPhone lacks. For one, it will be the first consumer phone in the U.S. to use EV-DO Rev. A, the fastest cellular broadband technology available on the Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks.AT%26T Inc. has phones that use a competing technology with equivalent speeds, but the iPhone is not one of them: It runs on a comparatively slow network, supplemented by Wi-Fi access.The Instinct also contains a Global Positioning System chip, for location applications. The iPhone lacks one, but it can use cellular and Wi-Fi signals to determine an approximate position.The Instinct’s screen measures 3.1 inches diagonally, compared with the iPhone’s 3.5 inches.The Instinct won’t be able to take input from more than one finger at a time: The iPhone’s characteristic “pinch to zoom out, spread to zoom in” feature won’t work. Sprint compensates for this by using the phone’s motion sensor. In a demonstration of a prototype, tilting the phone while holding a button made a Web page scroll.

LAS VEGAS Sprint Nextel Corp. on Tuesday said it is betting heavily on a touch-screen phone that appears to be the closest thing the U.S. market has seen to Apple Inc.’s vaunted iPhone.The Samsung Instinct will be available in June for a yet undetermined price, Sprint announced at CTIA Wireless, a cell-phone industry trade show in Las Vegas. Executives hinted that the price would be substantially lower than the $399 for the cheapest iPhone.Sprint, which has been losing subscribers, will spend $150 million to advertise the Instinct when it launches, compared with $30 million for a typical product introduction, according to David Owens, the company’s director of devices.Like the iPhone, the Instinct lacks a keypad and has just a few buttons. Most of the functions are accessed by touching the screen.A few touch-screen phones appeared on the U.S. market last holiday season, after the iPhone’s debut in June.Verizon Wireless launched the LG Voyager, which has an exterior touch screen and folds out to reveal a non-touch screen paired with a keyboard. Sprint introduced the Touch by HTC, a slim pad with only a touch screen.Both phones were hampered by the lack of software designed specifically for a touch screen. The Voyager dealt with that by adding a keyboard. The Touch grafted some touch-friendly features on to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system, which is designed for smart phones that either lack a touch screen or are intended for use with a stylus. Some functions on the Touch are hard or impossible to use by tapping with the fingers alone.The Instinct is based on a Samsung phone that’s already available under different names, and with different software, in South Korea and Europe. Sprint commissioned its own software from European design house Icon Mobile.”We took a more active part than we ever have” in a phone’s development, Owens said. “This was designed from the ground up to be a touch-screen phone.”The software is based on Java, a commonly used programming language that should make it easy to develop applications for the phone.The Instinct will have a few features the iPhone lacks. For one, it will be the first consumer phone in the U.S. to use EV-DO Rev. A, the fastest cellular broadband technology available on the Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks.AT%26T Inc. has phones that use a competing technology with equivalent speeds, but the iPhone is not one of them: It runs on a comparatively slow network, supplemented by Wi-Fi access.The Instinct also contains a Global Positioning System chip, for location applications. The iPhone lacks one, but it can use cellular and Wi-Fi signals to determine an approximate position.The Instinct’s screen measures 3.1 inches diagonally, compared with the iPhone’s 3.5 inches.The Instinct won’t be able to take input from more than one finger at a time: The iPhone’s characteristic “pinch to zoom out, spread to zoom in” feature won’t work. Sprint compensates for this by using the phone’s motion sensor. In a demonstration of a prototype, tilting the phone while holding a button made a Web page scroll.

LAS VEGAS Sprint Nextel Corp. on Tuesday said it is betting heavily on a touch-screen phone that appears to be the closest thing the U.S. market has seen to Apple Inc.’s vaunted iPhone.The Samsung Instinct will be available in June for a yet undetermined price, Sprint announced at CTIA Wireless, a cell-phone industry trade show in Las Vegas. Executives hinted that the price would be substantially lower than the $399 for the cheapest iPhone.Sprint, which has been losing subscribers, will spend $150 million to advertise the Instinct when it launches, compared with $30 million for a typical product introduction, according to David Owens, the company’s director of devices.Like the iPhone, the Instinct lacks a keypad and has just a few buttons. Most of the functions are accessed by touching the screen.A few touch-screen phones appeared on the U.S. market last holiday season, after the iPhone’s debut in June.Verizon Wireless launched the LG Voyager, which has an exterior touch screen and folds out to reveal a non-touch screen paired with a keyboard. Sprint introduced the Touch by HTC, a slim pad with only a touch screen.Both phones were hampered by the lack of software designed specifically for a touch screen. The Voyager dealt with that by adding a keyboard. The Touch grafted some touch-friendly features on to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile operating system, which is designed for smart phones that either lack a touch screen or are intended for use with a stylus. Some functions on the Touch are hard or impossible to use by tapping with the fingers alone.The Instinct is based on a Samsung phone that’s already available under different names, and with different software, in South Korea and Europe. Sprint commissioned its own software from European design house Icon Mobile.”We took a more active part than we ever have” in a phone’s development, Owens said. “This was designed from the ground up to be a touch-screen phone.”The software is based on Java, a commonly used programming language that should make it easy to develop applications for the phone.The Instinct will have a few features the iPhone lacks. For one, it will be the first consumer phone in the U.S. to use EV-DO Rev. A, the fastest cellular broadband technology available on the Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks.AT%26T Inc. has phones that use a competing technology with equivalent speeds, but the iPhone is not one of them: It runs on a comparatively slow network, supplemented by Wi-Fi access.The Instinct also contains a Global Positioning System chip, for location applications. The iPhone lacks one, but it can use cellular and Wi-Fi signals to determine an approximate position.The Instinct’s screen measures 3.1 inches diagonally, compared with the iPhone’s 3.5 inches.The Instinct won’t be able to take input from more than one finger at a time: The iPhone’s characteristic “pinch to zoom out, spread to zoom in” feature won’t work. Sprint compensates for this by using the phone’s motion sensor. In a demonstration of a prototype, tilting the phone while holding a button made a Web page scroll.

BALTIMORE Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it over a $20 bill.”Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image,” the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later, the phone says, “Twenty dollars.”Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually impaired.The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a bill is worth $1, $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed, whether it’s a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software’s developer say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.”We’ve had reading devices before,” Danielsen said, noting similar software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal digital assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows the blind to use cell phones and PDAs.Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.’s SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even translate from other languages.However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.”It is the next step, but this is a huge leap,” Gashel, who is blind, said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking to you on the device I also use to read things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading something I need to read in print.”Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only the first step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell phone is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.”We don’t anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we’re not quite to the release yet,” said Doermann, who is also co-director of the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready in the next 12 to 18 months.Kurzweil’s device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more powerful server-side computers.”As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility and options to the way you solve these type of problems,” Strammiello said.There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it’s read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them improve their reading skills, he said.”What’s new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device that fits in their shirt pocket,” Kurzweil said.Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the device and its PDA predecessor are a “form of hand-held vision” that will make the visual environment “much more readily available to the blind.”—National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.orgK-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: http://www.knfbreader.comKurzweil Technologies Inc.: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.htmlApplied Media Analysis: http://appliedmediaanalysis.com

BALTIMORE Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it over a $20 bill.”Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image,” the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later, the phone says, “Twenty dollars.”Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually impaired.The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a bill is worth $1, $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed, whether it’s a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software’s developer say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.”We’ve had reading devices before,” Danielsen said, noting similar software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal digital assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows the blind to use cell phones and PDAs.Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.’s SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even translate from other languages.However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.”It is the next step, but this is a huge leap,” Gashel, who is blind, said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking to you on the device I also use to read things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading something I need to read in print.”Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only the first step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell phone is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.”We don’t anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we’re not quite to the release yet,” said Doermann, who is also co-director of the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready in the next 12 to 18 months.Kurzweil’s device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more powerful server-side computers.”As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility and options to the way you solve these type of problems,” Strammiello said.There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it’s read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them improve their reading skills, he said.”What’s new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device that fits in their shirt pocket,” Kurzweil said.Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the device and its PDA predecessor are a “form of hand-held vision” that will make the visual environment “much more readily available to the blind.”—National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.orgK-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: http://www.knfbreader.comKurzweil Technologies Inc.: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.htmlApplied Media Analysis: http://appliedmediaanalysis.com

BALTIMORE Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it over a $20 bill.”Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image,” the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later, the phone says, “Twenty dollars.”Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually impaired.The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a bill is worth $1, $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed, whether it’s a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software’s developer say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.”We’ve had reading devices before,” Danielsen said, noting similar software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal digital assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows the blind to use cell phones and PDAs.Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.’s SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even translate from other languages.However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.”It is the next step, but this is a huge leap,” Gashel, who is blind, said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking to you on the device I also use to read things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading something I need to read in print.”Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only the first step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell phone is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.”We don’t anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we’re not quite to the release yet,” said Doermann, who is also co-director of the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready in the next 12 to 18 months.Kurzweil’s device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more powerful server-side computers.”As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility and options to the way you solve these type of problems,” Strammiello said.There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it’s read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them improve their reading skills, he said.”What’s new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device that fits in their shirt pocket,” Kurzweil said.Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the device and its PDA predecessor are a “form of hand-held vision” that will make the visual environment “much more readily available to the blind.”—National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.orgK-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: http://www.knfbreader.comKurzweil Technologies Inc.: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.htmlApplied Media Analysis: http://appliedmediaanalysis.com

BALTIMORE Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it over a $20 bill.”Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image,” the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later, the phone says, “Twenty dollars.”Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually impaired.The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a bill is worth $1, $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed, whether it’s a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software’s developer say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.”We’ve had reading devices before,” Danielsen said, noting similar software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal digital assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows the blind to use cell phones and PDAs.Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.’s SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even translate from other languages.However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.”It is the next step, but this is a huge leap,” Gashel, who is blind, said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking to you on the device I also use to read things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading something I need to read in print.”Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only the first step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell phone is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.”We don’t anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we’re not quite to the release yet,” said Doermann, who is also co-director of the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready in the next 12 to 18 months.Kurzweil’s device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more powerful server-side computers.”As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility and options to the way you solve these type of problems,” Strammiello said.There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it’s read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them improve their reading skills, he said.”What’s new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device that fits in their shirt pocket,” Kurzweil said.Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the device and its PDA predecessor are a “form of hand-held vision” that will make the visual environment “much more readily available to the blind.”—National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.orgK-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: http://www.knfbreader.comKurzweil Technologies Inc.: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.htmlApplied Media Analysis: http://appliedmediaanalysis.com

BALTIMORE Chris Danielsen fidgets with the cell phone, holding it over a $20 bill.”Detecting orientation, processing U.S. currency image,” the phone says in a flat monotone before Danielsen snaps a photo. A few seconds later, the phone says, “Twenty dollars.”Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, is holding the next generation of computerized aids for the blind and visually impaired.The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech. In addition to telling whether a bill is worth $1, $5, $10 or $20, it also allows users to read anything that is photographed, whether it’s a restaurant menu, a phone book or a fax.While the technology is not new, the NFB and the software’s developer say the cell phone is the first to incorporate the text-to-speech ability.”We’ve had reading devices before,” Danielsen said, noting similar software is already available in a larger handheld reader housed in a personal digital assistant. Companies such as Code Factory SL, Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. and Nuance Communications Inc. also provide software that allows the blind to use cell phones and PDAs.Inexpensive hand-held scanners such as WizCom Technologies Ltd.’s SuperPen can scan limited amounts of text, read it aloud and even translate from other languages.However, the $2,100 NFB device combines all of those functions in one smart phone, said James Gashel, vice president of business development for K-NFB Reading Technology Inc., which is marketing the phone as a joint venture between the federation and software developer Ray Kurzweil.”It is the next step, but this is a huge leap,” Gashel, who is blind, said in a telephone interview. “I’m talking to you on the device I also use to read things. I can put it in my pocket and at the touch of a button, in 20 seconds, be reading something I need to read in print.”Ray Kurzweil, who developed the first device that could convert text into audio in the 1970s and the current NFB device, said portability is only the first step. Future versions of the device will recognize faces, identify rooms and translate text from other languages for the blind and the sighted.The inventor plans to begin marketing the cell phone in February through K-NFB Reading Technology. The software will cost $1,595 and the cell phone is expected to cost about $500, Kurzweil said.Dave Doermann, president of College Park-based Applied Media Analysis said his company is working on similar software for smart phones that could be used by the military for translation and by the visually impaired.”We don’t anticipate ours being that expensive, but unfortunately we’re not quite to the release yet,” said Doermann, who is also co-director of the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Language and Media Processing.Doermann said the company, which has received funding from the Department of Defense and the National Eye Institute, hopes to have its software ready in the next 12 to 18 months.Kurzweil’s device uses speech software provided by Nuance, said Chris Strammiello, the director of product management at Nuance, who said the company has also developed a prototype reader that uses the Internet to access more powerful server-side computers.”As you can harness the power of remote environments and do that so quickly with the Web technologies, it gives a lot more capability, flexibility and options to the way you solve these type of problems,” Strammiello said.There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S., a number that is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.Kurzweil said those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology. Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it’s read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read. The highlighting function can also help them improve their reading skills, he said.”What’s new here is both blind people and kids can do this with a device that fits in their shirt pocket,” Kurzweil said.Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said the device and its PDA predecessor are a “form of hand-held vision” that will make the visual environment “much more readily available to the blind.”—National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.orgK-NFB Reading Technology Inc.: http://www.knfbreader.comKurzweil Technologies Inc.: http://www.kurzweiltech.com/ktihome.htmlApplied Media Analysis: http://appliedmediaanalysis.com