visual

Philips patent reveals smart specs for visually impaired

A future product from electronics maker Philips could make it easier for the visually impaired to detect moving objects in daily life.

According to New Scientist, Philips has filed a patent for a movement-detection system, including a pair of glasses that will use a camera and accelerometers to distinguish between stationary and mobile objects.

The smart specs would work with a computer to spot obstacles, while an orientation sensor worn on the body would tell the computer about the wearer's movement. To help the user navigate, the device would also provide audio signals notifying them of moving objects.

The … Read more

Verizon now offering visual voice mail, for real

Even though we reported Verizon would bring visual voice mail to the LG Voyager a couple of weeks ago, apparently we jumped the gun because the application went missing from Verizon's Web site shortly after we posted about it. Well today, Verizon has finally made it official that it will indeed be implementing visual voice mail for the LG Voyager, but it won't be for free. It is available for $2.99 a month per line. This is disappointing, to say the least, since the visual voice mail option for the Samsung Instinct and the Apple iPhone do … Read more

Visual voice mail comes to the Voyager

The Apple iPhone was the first to get it, then the Samsung Instinct, and now it's the LG Voyager's turn to get visual voice mail. Yes, as of Friday, all LG Voyager customers can get a free download to their phone that will add visual voice mail capability.

As with the other visual voice mail systems, the Voyager's version will allow customers to listen to voice mail messages in any order; plus you'll have the ability to erase and archive messages directly from the Voyager's touch-screen interface. You will also be able to access the … Read more

For the sight-impaired, a phone that talks back

In the best circumstances, there are some social benefits from the technology industry's hypercompetitive nature. When companies try to find new markets, for example, they sometimes create products aimed specifically at consumers with physical disabilities-- occasionally with some bold innovation as well.

Nowhere is that truer than in the overcrowded mobile phone business, as we saw last week with a Nokia device that can turn a hearing aid into a Bluetooth headset. And now a London-based designer has developed a new concept phone for the visually impaired: Takumi Yoshida's SENS handset would "talk" when buttons are … Read more

Fast track your design with the Web color visualizer

Adobe's Kuler (coverage) is neat for finding color schemes that are aesthetically pleasing, but what about when you want to figure out what colored text will look like on a colored background? You can either spend time trying each combination in something like Dreamweaver, or by using this handy tool, which lets you select a background then the secondary color (for something like text) by just hovering over each color hash with your mouse.

Even if you're not a cutting edge Web designer it's pretty fun. Plus, once you've found your colors you can match them … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 747: Get Firefox (if you can)

It's Firefox Download Day! In bummer news, Mozilla's site was down by at least 10:12 a.m. (about the time we started our show). So, that's a bad start, then. In other news, AT&T customers using phones other than iPhone will, indeed, have to pay full price for a new iPhone. That's just how the cell phone world works. And the blogosphere takes a legitimately outrageous situation and wildly exaggerates the outrageousness by repeating old information over and over. Sigh. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 747

Firefox Download Day To Start … Read more

Apple settles patent suit over iPhone visual voice mail

Apple has settled a patent-infringement lawsuit over the visual voice mail system used in the iPhone by signing a license for the technology in question.

Klausner Technologies sued Apple and AT&T last December over the visual voice mail feature inside the iPhone, which lets you select and listen to voice mail from a list of messages, just like an e-mail in-box. Reuters reports that Apple, AT&T, and eBay are all now licensees to Klausner's technology, although financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

AOL and Vonage had already signed deals with Klausner before it came … Read more

Intel launches visual content, game site

Intel has launched a Web site to help game and visual content developers create software for its graphics silicon and processors. Intel's next-generation Larrabee graphics chip is also slated to become part of the focus.

"Supporting the new Intel 4 Series chipset family introduced at Computex, Intel has launched the Intel Visual Computing Developer Community, a technical resource to enable developers...to create innovative graphics and video applications," Intel said in a statement.

The Intel 4 Series includes the G45 Express chipset and GMA X4500HD graphics media accelerator, which has built-in support for Blu-ray 1080p high-definition video … Read more

YouMail puts voice messages on the mobile screen

YouMail, a free visual voice mail solution to organize cell phone messages like e-mail for online playback and response, announced on Thursday that customers can start viewing those same voice mail messages from their mobile phones.

By pointing the mobile browser to YouMail's home page, fans of the service can access their account with the usual login and pin to view contact's images, play back messages in any order, and forward or reply to voice messages in a form factor tailored from YouMail's servers to many high-end smartphones.

YouMail certainly isn't the first visual voice mail … Read more