Tech tips: Three for the price of one

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

Top Tech Tidbits, an e-mail e-newssletter, is Dean Martineau's compendium of interesting developments in the tech world. 

Condensed, the following items from the newsletter  should be of interest. 

• The KNFB cell phone, which reads seemingly anything.  The link to the NPR story was interesting as you could hear the phone determining the correct currency by scanning a bill.  This is not a standalone scanner but a high-end Nokia cell phone with MP3 capability and high-speed Internet capabilities, too.  I do hope we don't end up with a digital divide of haves and have-nots in the blindness community, but it  seems to be happening.  Perhaps, the price will continue to come down as the original  hand-held scanner was, if memory serves, about $1,000.00 more than this Nokia phone with software.
• The impending release of the new version of the KNFB Reader, expected to ship around February 15. The Reader software will run on a Nokia N-82 phone, making it a very portable and convenient way for those on the go to scan print material. The Reader software will cost $1,500, with the phone costing around $550. Here's an audio link to the NPR news story on the topic, and here is the official page.
• DailyLit, a collection of books which they will send in installments using RSS or e-mail. Public domain books are free; others carry a small charge.
• Storyline Online, a site containing children's stories read by Screen Actors Guild members. Along with the story, a video of the actor reading it and its illustrations is available, and there are downloadable activity guides.
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Visit the Tidbits page where you can subscribe to the RSS feed and grab back issues. Information for future issues, much welcome, should to dean@topdotenterprises.com.

IMAGINE That!