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And the winner is...
We have a winner in our NEAT Receipts Advance Release giveaway!Grant B. (full name withheld on request) from Colorado was the lucky TUAW reader chosen by NEAT Receipts to get his very own NEAT Receipts Advance Release package. Here is Grant's winning comment: "This is a fantastic idea for me. I'm a self-employed sole-proprietor, so I often have to take extra measures to ensure I keep my business and personal life separate. Neat Receipts would make that so much easier."Grant also told us that "I recently switched back to Mac after an 8 year PC phase, and I'm so happy I'm back in the Apple fold -- and able to enjoy TUAW everyday. It's my first iPhone visit every morning."Congratulations to Grant on all counts -- coming back to Mac, being a faithful TUAW reader, and winning the NEAT Receipts Advance Release giveaway.UPDATE - We actually have two winners as NEAT Receipts has graciously provided another unit. Daniel D. (full name withheld on request) is also going to be scanning his way into organizational nerdvana. Daniel's comment was short and to the point -- "I need it to scan receipts. YAY!" Congratulations, Daniel, and here's to a receipt-free life with your new scanner.Many thanks to NEAT Receipts for contributing to this special TUAW giveaway.
Kurzweil set to unveil portable reader for the blind
Even though we've seen a ton of products designed to aid the visually-impaired in their daily lives, technology still has a long way to go before disabled folks are able to enjoy a completely unrestricted lifestyle, which is why inventor/visionary Ray Kurzweil has spent the last quarter-century building devices that make reading easier for the blind. His latest invention, called the K-NFB, is basically a five megapixel digital camera attached to the back of a Windows Mobile 5.0-powered PDA, which is loaded with software that uses optical character recognition and text-to-speech technology to read aloud the words contained in user-captured photos. Once it's called into action, the $4,860 device supplies the operator with an initial "situation report" that attempts to describe whatever's in the camera's field of vision; if the report indicates that the desired text is within range, owners can then choose to snap a photo and listen to the resulting translation. Although the K-NFB is scheduled to be released soon by the UK's Sight & Sound, several technical issues -- most importantly, the software's difficulty in understanding inverted (white-on-black) text -- still have to be ironed out before it's available to the public.[Thanks, Megan]
