A smarter phone for use by the visually impaired

For the visually impaired, the empowerment offered by suitably equipped smartphones provides more than convenience -- it represents independence!

Today's smartphones offer the computational power of yesterday's desktop computers, coupled with intuitive, easy-to use interfaces, all small enough to fit in our pockets.

For the visually impaired, however, it's been another story. The visual design of such devices has largely rendered them useless to those who can't see. Taking up the challenge of making mobile devices useful for the vision impaired, Project Ray has launched the "world's only multi-purpose assistive tools with integrated Internet services."

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Smartphones for the Blind

3D printing brings the stars to the blind

Discussions of big data often touch on the challenge of visualization. An even greater challenge, though, is rendering the data into something that is comprehensible to people who have to use senses other than sight.

3D printing brings the stars to the visually impaired by rendering Hubble's images into tactile form.
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Reaching for the Stars With 3D Printing