As our monitors eat away more at our retinas every day, we’re increasingly interested in computers for the blind. “Siafu” is a concept by Jonathan Lucas that combines a dynamic Braille surface with tactile control. Aside from clicking on the words that your hands read, photos could also be displayed on the same surface, protruding like 3D sculptures.
Apple’s latest patent filing is for a tactile touchscreen. It’s not a new idea, but while companies LG and Alpine use vibration technology to make you feel like you are touching something distinct, the Apple patent suggests that you actually will touch something physical. One idea is for Braille-like bumps to emerge from the screen. Another, cooler technique, is for keys to reveal themselves by pushing up through a flexible screen. A third base covered by the patent is for keys with concave depressions to be hidden just under the surface, so that you push down on the screen, you feel the keys but still won’t see them. [Unwired View]
A German art student has developed a way to create tattoos for the blind, by implanting surgical steel, titanium, or medical plastic balls just under the skin in formations that spell out words in Braille.
Not just for loved ones, designer Klara Jirkova says the implants could be placed in the fleshy part of your hand between forefinger and thumb, so that blind people could identify one another while shaking hands.
I am down with the tattoo concept, though I imagine it can really only be appreciated by bona fide blind people, as Johnny Depp’s famous “Winona Forever” tat would just look like a rash in need of some serious cortisone cream. [Underwire]
We’re not sure how unorganized blind people were able to keep track of their CDs before (other than sticking them into a computer and playing it back), but this Braille CD-R from Mitsubishi is a fantastic idea.
They have two layers of high viscosity ink that creates 0.1mm Braille bumps in order to easily identify a disc just by feel. Since they’ve perfected it on CDs, it should be pretty easy to port to DVDs, Blu-rays and HD DVD as well. The Braille is pre-written, so you can’t label your Boner Jams ’08 discs yourself, but you can correlate whatever’s written on there to whatever you’ve burned.
Why they didn’t think of this sooner is anyone’s guess. [M-Kagaku via Cool Hunting via Sci Fi]
Swatch develops some awesome concepts and this is no exception. Designed by Arnaud Lapierre, it is a high fashion clock for the blind called Sens Time by Touch. Though there are many solutions for time keeping for the visually impaired, this concept goes a long way to push for style and functionality.galleryPost('Sens', 3, 'Sens');
