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Posts with tag sight

Former professor creates vibrating Braille handset

Braille phones in and of themselves aren't all that unique, but a former professor (who just so happens to be completely blind) from Tsukuba University of Technology has crafted a variant that jumps and jives. Dubbed the world's first vibrating Braille cellphone, the device is programmed to emit pulses depending on which key is pressed; more specifically, a pair of terminals attached to the handset "vibrate at a specific rate to create a message." Those currently involved with the project are now toiling to make the keypad-to-vibration converters smaller, but there's no word just yet on whether the technology will be picked up commercially.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

Are portables killing our eyes?

As if we weren't already worried enough about our cellphone causing Blackberry thumb, certain indecisiveness, and, of course, brain cancer, the WSJ is now reporting that according to some leading opticians, portables, especially with small screens and smaller fonts, could be causing irreversible eye strain and damage to our vision. Apparently the action of focusing for long periods of time on small spacial areas held relatively closely to the body -- especially displays with poor contrast ratios, and bad glare -- tends to overwork the eye's ciliary muscles, and might be causing deteriorated vision in the same young group of patients now visiting doctors for other technologically related ailments, like portable audio related hearing loss -- a group far too young to be coming in for their annual eyes, ears, and artificial hip-bone checkup.

[Via TechDirt]




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