Kurzweil and the National Federation for the Blind have announced the Kurzweil-National Federation for the Blind Reader, a handheld reader which can take pictures of everyday printed materials and read those items to visually impaired users using a combination of character recognition and speech synthesis software.
Users just hold the reader over the printed materials, and in a few seconds the reader takes a picture of the item and begins reading back the document. The reader can store thousands of printed pages (expandable via SD memory cards) and can transfer files to both computers and Braille notetakers, and read files transferred to it from computers and other devices; the reader also sports a headphone jack so users can more easily hear the reader over background noise, and use the system without disturbing others.
