Slashdot Mirror

It reminds me of a lawsuit that the BBC got into once back in the 1980's. One of their consumer programs performed a comparison between "officially recommended" telephone units for the disabled and off-the-shelf novelty telephones over the cost/usability ratio. The officially recommended handsets were large, clunky, came in only one color and hand to be wall mounted or bolted to a table.

The best comparison that could be made today would be between this type of phone and a novelty phone with high contrast black/white and a loudspeaker for hand-free calling.

The company that actually made the clunky type threatened to sue because they had to go through all sorts of usability studies for each of the different categories of disability, then get approval to market their product as a disability aid. Because they were intended for use in hospitals, they also had to withstand the wear and tear of being in a public place.

They have pocket money reading machines that speak the value, like feeding a bill into a vending machine, the little gizmo knows that it is...

http://www.tiresias.org/equipment/eb17.htm
at the top of this link are a couple of the devices. I like how the euro one is simply a ruler.

Ding. We have a winner. Then again you could always use a braille reader for this as well. http://www.tiresias.org/equipment/eb7_b.htm But the robot hand would be more fun than a Braille Monitor.

Found this when I Googled for vision replacement systems. See if that helps.

They have readers like this. (Though my goodness, how do you live with yourself if you're ripping off a blind person?)

I'm not visually-impaired, but I've always liked the European way of issuing differently-sized bills for the various denominations (do they do this in Japan or China too, I wonder?). On occasion, I've handed over a US $20 and gotten change back that suggests I've only given the teller a $10 (not that I think they're ripping me off, but same-size money is easy to confuse).

It's definitely time for a good smart-card based cash system. We need a good incentive for people to get smart card readers on their computers and then someone can start up a Paypal-esque system to use them...

Such as these for example?

I live in Brussels, and we have "Proton" (PDF link) here. It's electronic cash, and I can charge it at my bank, and if I get an appropriate telephone terminal, then I can charge the card with money at home!

As a result, I can leave home in the morning, buy a newspaper, go to work, buy a Coke from a vending machine, buy my lunch, and then do my grocery shopping on the way home, all without handling even a single cent of physical cash.

Electronic cash is the true way forward - I'm just waiting for bars and cafes to adopt Proton, then I'll almost never need to carry real metal or paper money around at all.

-- Pete.

Who needs eyes?

http://www.tiresias.org/equipment/eb2.htm