Hi Glen, OK, I didn't realise it has a screen reader too. Interesting. All the best Steve -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Glenn Tookey Sent: Monday 26 April 2010 06:49 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software Hi Alistair, Yes, it will have its own screen reader which also drives the other phone functions. OCR should be up to KNFB standard, Symbian platform after 6 months i'm told. Not sure about GPS detail yet. The idea is to have a high quality all in one package that does not need the user to buy other products to make it work, such as a screen reader. The functionality is still taking shape. Regards Glenn -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alistair Sent: 25 April 2010 21:24 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software Hi Glen, some questions: Will this be self-voicing? will the gprs be similar to wayfinder? Will the OCR be like bayo or KNFB? will it be ever available on the Symbian platform? I can see the benifit of purchasing one all-in-one package but only if the quality and performance is compatible. Alistair ----- Original Message ----- From: "Glenn Tookey" <Glenn.Tookey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 8:48 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software I guess it has to be put into perspective. Products in this market tend to be one off payments of £750 or more, so you can have 30 months at £25 a month, and you do not have to pay up front. Often people buy upgrades in that sort of timeframe so the outlay for this type of product could be lower across the lifetime of the user and it is easier to actually get into as you do not have to find a large sum to start with. As with everything, it does not suit everybody. Some people would happily pay thousands for technology, others do not want or need it. There are many ways to find out what is in your larder, LookTel is just one way. There are many ways to find out where you are when you are out, LookTel is just another method. When I came into the industry I wanted to find ways of using technology to benefit this group of people, we search high and low for the best technologies then offer them to the market, the market will decide if it is good value or not. We also wanted to introduce subscription models so that people on limited incomes can pay as they go for products. LookTel will be priced at around the level of a mobile phones service and less than Sky. So, when it is ready, we will bring it to market and let the market decide if it is good value or not. We will certainly do all we can to drive the price down as far as we can. Regards Glenn -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Leake Sent: 25 April 2010 18:31 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software Glen, i'd be interested in what current blind and visually impaired employees of sight and sound make of this product rather than the manufacturers' perspective! £25 a month sounds overpriced too I think. Cheers Paul paul.leake@xxxxxxxxxxxx ----- Original Message ----- From: "Glenn Tookey" <Glenn.Tookey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 12:45 PM Subject: [access-uk] LookTel smartphone software Hi Sight and Sound Technology will be the exclusive provider of the LookTel service when it launches in the UK, we are hoping that to be in June time - but not confirmed yet. Firstly, it will be a monthly subscription service - around £25 (again not finalised). We are not sure of it will have OCR or GPS at launch. Secondly, it is more than just taking pictures, it is a full object recognition device. It means that once you have trained the mobile to recognise something - say a can of Heinz Baked Beans or Tomato Soup or currency... then whenever it is in recognition mode (live video over the internet) to its base station (normally your home PC) it will announce to you what it has seen when you point it at an object. This will be very useful in the home or outside. It takes a minute or two to snap the images that you want to recognise and then you are away. At a later stage we will have bar code reading on it, so then you will be able to go into a supermarket and find products from bar code. The GPS is coupled with live video / audio feed so that an assistant could guide you if you are lost. You can nominate more than one assistant who can log into your base station and help with recognition, training of object, location etc. We are considering extending this to the Sight and Sound help desk so that you could call us if you need some assistance. It will recognise more than just products, it will also recognise faces and even places ( buildings) if you snap enough images to that they can be recognised later. Like all of these type of products, they are not infallible, but we have been working with the developers for over 6 months (as have 200 blind people in USA)to make it the type of service that really gives independence and mobility to those with low vision. I have one working in the UK, it does not use much of my data package on my mobile, so it will not be expensive - currently on a windows mobile phone, but the range of phones will expand over the first 6 months. Products such as the KNFB reader still have their own place as does Wayfinder, they all do a good job - Looktel is taking advantage of the advances in recognition technology and the increase in computing power of mobile phones. We want to be at the forefront of technology, bringing the best of the best to the UK market. Looktel is the next step. Watch out for more information, I'm hoping that we will be up and running for Sight Village. Regards Glenn Tookey CEO Sight and Sound Technology -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Barry Hill Sent: 25 April 2010 11:04 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: LookTel smartphone software Thanks for this, Peter. Sounnds good, although I can already do all this with my own mobile to a large extent. It's got K-NFB reader on it for the OCR, Wayfinder for the positioning, and a camera phone that I can send photo's to a friend. Not quite the live video feed, but I reckon it could work just as well. Cheers Barry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Beasley" <pjbeasley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 10:46 AM Subject: [access-uk] LookTel smartphone software I got this from an american list I am subscribed to so have no idea if or when it willbe available in this country. We offer the following information, but caution that this is currently in beta. Unfortunately, as with most software of this type, it's quite expensive. This is all the information we currently have available. A Smartphone that Sees For You Software from LookTel on a Windows-based smartphone uses "augmented reality" to help the vision-impaired and elderly By: Sean Gallagher April 23, 2010 Leave a comment Source: LookTel This video shows some of the ways the LookTel application can help people with visual and other handicaps. A new set of software that works with relatively inexpensive smart phones could help visually disabled people and the elderly. Using a technology called "augmented reality", the software can help people by recognizing text, objects and places. Augmented Reality, or AR, uses location and visual information from a camera to supply a smartphone user with extra information about their surroundings. For an introduction to AR, you can take a look at my hands-on with Spyglass , the augmented reality navigation application. LookTel takes AR technology and applies it to a very real problem. It was developed by Ipplex , in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, the National Eye Institute, the Department of Veterans Affairs and a research organization for aides for the blind, to help people who can't see well or may become disoriented. The Windows Mobile application uses character recognition technology and a voice synthesizer to read labels to the smartphone user. All that processing can't be done on the smartphone, so character and object recognition software are part of LookTel's "base station" software, which runs on a Windows-based home computer. You can also add coded labels to objects , as this YouTube demonstration shows, and associate those labels with voice descriptions of objects you put them on. The app also can connect a user to a real person for assistance by connecting back to the application's Windows PC-based "base station" software: For more complicated visual tasks such as locating a specific street corner or bus stop, LookTel enables you to remotely connect to another person for assistance. Not only can you talk to them, but you can also transmit live video from the cell phone's camera so that they can see your surroundings and help you with orientation, recognizing objects and media, and more. Your position will also be shown to them on Google Maps using the GPS services available on smart phones. These services aim to help users to independently go about daily activities with the confidence that they will have the assistance they need anytime, anywhere. LookTel is currently in testing, and is available on pre-configured HTC smartphones and mobile Internet devices. Ipplex hasn't published the pricing for the technology, but is offering it at a discount during testing. Original Article Source http://www.techgoesstrong.com/smartphone-sees-you LookTel Website http://www.looktel.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: < http://accessible-devices.com/pipermail/a-d_accessible-devices.com/attachmen ts/20100424/01348ba6/attachment.html > This is an Announce only list. Subscribers are not able to post to this list. To unsubscribe from the Accessible Devices list copy the line below. Paste it inthe To: line of a blank message and send it. a-d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx You may download our podcasts from this link, http://www.accessible-devices.com/Podcasts.html Or if you're using a podcatcher of some type the subscribe URL is. http://www.accessible-devices.com/feed.xml Visit our website at: www.accessible-devices.com Please feel free to pass this message on to a friend who might like to subscribe. 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