And it doesn’t require users to wear a crazy-looking glove. MobileASL incorporates compressed video signals, increased image quality around the face and hands, and motion detection to make it a better option than other mobile video conferencing services. More »
Designed for children ages two and up, Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy is an illustrated, narrated storybook that reads to children on its own. Even better is that deaf children won’t be left out, thanks to built-in sign language video. More »
Two facts: The iPhone’s microphone is fairly decent as far as mobile phones go; there are lots of people who can’t hear very well. Hence SoundAMP, an iPhone app that amplifies and filters noises for ears that need a little help. More »
This 2005 Wired feature by Mike Chorost, edited by Jeff O’Brien, is one of the best. It’s about a deaf man’s quest to be able to hear the song Boléro again through robot ears. Read:
The B&D messenger, designed by Okada Noriaki, bills itself as a way for both blind and deaf people to communicate via text message. Though there are several Braille phone products already in the market, Noriaki device is much smaller in size and pretty inexpensive. On one side of the gadget is twelve points that rise and fall in braille lettering; on the other side is a small LCD screen and a regular numerical touch pad. Users must connect the B&D messenger to a computer for it to receive and translate texts.
The iPhone 3G’s data plan for the deaf will be US$10 higher than the original, just like it is for everyone else. It comes with unlimited texting, email and web browsing for US$50 a month, or US$65 for the enterprise flavour (basically if you use Exchange). You have to sign up for a voice plan when you buy the phone initially, and then you send in the eligibility form to get the plan. [AT&T]
The “near future” for the impending iPhone data plan for the deaf was apparently four months. Dubbed the Text Accessibility Plan for iPhone, it comes with unlimited text messaging, browsing and email. It’s now available for new and current iPhone users for US$40 a month, though you’ve gotta clear an eligibility application to get it. Full details below.
