Handheld reading machine that might actually work

In recent years, there have been several attempts by some mainstream and some adaptive companies to develop a hand held reading machine, or at least a hand held scanner, where you can transfer the information from the machine to your computer. Below is a press release about a collaborative effort between the National Federation of the Blind and Ray Kurzweil, to develop such a reading machine for the blind. Thing is, this one really sounds promising and might actually work better than some things I've heard of previously. Besides, it's being made by the two entities I trust the most to work on such things: the NFB and Ray Kurzweil, the creator of the world's first reading machine for the blind back in the 70's. I received this from an NFB email list that I subscribe to, so please excuse any formatting errors. Here it is:

Kurzweil Technologies and National Federation of the Blind premiere the
world's first portable reading machine for the blind

KurzweilAI.net, July
11, 2005 Kurzweil Technologies , Inc. ( KTI ) and the National Federation of
the Blind ( NFB ) introduced the world's first portable reading machine for
the blind last week at the NFB's

2005 National Convention in Louisville, KY.

The portable reading machine , which can fit in a user's shirt pocket, can
read print and text materials as users go through their normal daily
routine. It converts print into human

-sounding speech and can read handouts at meetings, signs on a wall, text on
packages, and electronic displays. The hardware consists of a consumer
digital camera with a standard PocketPC, so the hardware cost is expected to
benefit from the rapid improvement of price-performance of consumer
electronic s. The camera and pocket computer are held together by a snap-in
case.

The technology was developed by Ray Kurzweil and his colleagues at KTI in
close collaboration with the NFB, which is organizing a comprehensive
testing program with blind users. Ray Kurzweil was the principal developer
of the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, also developed
in close collaboration with the NFB. Ray Kurzweil noted that "The new unit
is 10,000 times smaller than the original 1976 reading machine , yet the
computer it's using is 2,000 times more powerful." This new portable unit is
expected to be available for sale in 2006.

NFB Director of Strategic Projects Jim Gashel demonstrated the reading
machine to an enthusiastic audience of more than 2,000 blind delegates.
"There was cheering for several minutes while the machine read the
document," said Kurzweil, who followed the demo with a talk explaining the
machine , KTI's collaboration with NFB on the project, and the future of
this technology .

The portable reader provides feedback to the user on what it sees, guiding
the user to properly frame reading material. It can report, for example, if
one of the edges of a document is out of view. It is also capable of
stitching together portions of a document from multiple pictures taken by
the camera. It can detect and correct any degree of document rotation and is
insensitive to three degrees of freedom of image tilt or rotation. The
software also includes image-enhancement techniques to compensate for uneven
illumination and the low quality optics of inexpensive consumer cameras.

Future version will include scene-recognition capabilities to locate objects
such as chairs, lamps and people.