Learning from experience
Intel says it will also be offering an accompanying device called the Portable Capture Station, a sort of shrunken overhead projector, designed to make capturing images quicker and easier.
The chip firm says it originally got the idea for a read-aloud device from one of its researchers, Ben Foss, who is himself a dyslexic. Foss says he he had to depend on others to read to him throughout high school, college and graduate school and that his adult life has also been plagued with the frustrations of not finding the content he wanted in audio form.
In a statement, Foss notes that "Feelings of loneliness are often the experience of not being able to read easily," adding his hope that the new device will "open the doors for people in these communities."
Unfortunately for lonely dyslexics, however, Intel's Reader does not come cheap. The device has a list price of $1500, with the PCS listed at $399 through US and Canadian resellers including CTL, Don Johnston Incorporated, GTSI, Howard Technology Solutions and HumanWare.
Intel says sales partners in the UK will be announced later this month, with other countries and languages to follow.
