Google Working on Add-on for the Blind

Google researcher T. V. Raman, who has been blind since the age of 14, has suggested a new system which will help blind users define the keypad, anywhere in the display.

The system does not focus on a preset keypad, but one where the user touches the display, and sets the point which was touched, as the number '5'. From that, all the other usual keys surround it. When the user wishes to start again, he, or she, needs to shake the device, and the built-in accelerometer (motion sensor), reveals to the phone, what the command means.

"The thing I am most interested in is all of the stuff moving to the mobile world, because it is a big life-changer," Raman told The New York Times. "If I can get another 10 engineers motivated to work on accessibility, it is a huge win".

The researcher is also working on a GPS system that would help blind and sighted users to navigate with the help of spoken directions.

"If you have the technology that can recognise a street sign as you drive by it, that is helpful for everyone," he said. "In a foreign country, it will translate it."

[via vnunet.com, Phones Review]