SAN FRANCISCO: A blind Facebook employee is developing a technology that will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to verbalise the content of an image or video and enable the visually impaired to "see" and determine appropriate content for people and advertisers.

Facebook engineer Matt King is leading a project that is making solutions for visually impaired people on the platform that could eventually be used to identify images and videos that violate Facebook's terms of use or that advertisers want to avoid.

One of the most impressive things I saw at this year's CES was the progress that's been made with technologies to assist people with visual or auditory impairments. As much as I love the display technologies or myriad smart home products, these assistive technology products have the potential to change people's lives in a very profound way.

The word 'Braille' has become synonymous with the cluster of raised dots on a piece of paper which the blind would run their fingers over to read.

But the much revered coded text for the blind actually bears the name of its French inventor, whose birthday organisations and blind individuals across the globe celebrate on January 4.

ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan’s first ever Braille Book Corner named as “Gosha-i-Noor” was inaugurated at National Library of Pakistan (NLP) on Thursday in a ceremony, marking the birthday celebrations week of Louis Braille-the inventor of Braille system for visually impaired persons.

New library to broaden vision of those who cannot see

Samsung has got a lot to offer this New Year. To look back, it had launched its C-Lab (Creative Lab) five years ago in an attempt to pursue innovative tech products. Thus the immense hard work of 5 years has resulted in the three new projects, to be unveiled at the CES this year and is a part of the C-Lab program. The list includes S-Ray (Sound-Ray) that consists of three directional speakers, the second is GoBreath, a breathing exercise app, and the third project is based on smart glasses called Relumino.

For the purpose of developing analytic thought and reducing mistaken alterations in data received by children with sight disabilities, a group of students in Mexico City designed a multi-sensory system that includes stories, jigsaw puzzles and stuffed toys.

“Mati Mati Makes Visible the Invisible”, is a system that reduces the difficulties of learning by developing analytic thought in blind children, said the creators, students at the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM).
 

NEW DELHI: Various technologies at Microsoft that began transforming the lives of individuals and communities in India last year will gain further momentum in 2018, the company's President Anant Maheshwari said on Tuesday.

In a mission statement, Maheshwari said he is proud to play a role in the transformation of India's core pillars of education, health care, agriculture and governance, among others.

Today, about 25 per cent students drop out from grade 10 to grade 11.

Telecom regulator TRAI began a dialogue on making ICT accessible for the disabled,
saying more policy interventions are needed in this area where benefits of technology have not been fully realised.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), releasing its latest consultation paper on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), has also sought industry views on whether handset makers should be mandated to manufacture at least one model for the disabled with assistant technology features such as hearing, visual aids and emergency buttons.

When Matt King first got on Facebook eight years ago, the blind engineer had to weigh whether it was worth spending an entire Saturday morning checking whether a friend of his was actually in his friend list. Such were the tools at the time for the visually impaired — almost nonexistent.
Today, thanks to text-to-audio software, it just takes a few seconds for him to accomplish the same task. And because of a new face recognition service the social network is rolling out Tuesday, he can now learn which friends are in photos, even those who haven’t been tagged by another user.

KATHMANU — Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa signed a grant contract to provide Braille printers and ancillary equipment to the Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind (NAWB) here today. The contract was signed between the Embassy of Japan and the Chairman of NAWB Kumar Thapa.