Online service lets blind surf the Internet from any computer, anywhere
| June 26, 2008 |  View for printing |
Visions of future technology don't involve being chained to a desktop machine. People move from home computers to work computers to mobile devices; public kiosks pop up in libraries, schools and hotels; and people increasingly store everything from e-mail to spreadsheets on the Web.
But for the roughly 10 million people in the United States who are blind or visually impaired, using a computer has, so far, required special screen-reading software typically installed only on their own machines.
New software, called WebAnywhere http://webinsight.cs.washington.edu/ ... ebanywhere/ , launched today lets blind and visually impaired people surf the Web on the go. The tool developed at the University of Washington turns screen-reading into an Internet service that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or headphone connections.
Hannah Hickey hickeyh@u.washington.edu
Full Story: http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=42563
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