Officially, it's known as the Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, but to most, it's simply referred to as CSUN. Each March, roughly 5,000 researchers, teachers, accessibility experts, exhibitor representatives, and technology enthusiasts gather in San Diego to share new products, learn from others, or simply do a whole lot of networking.
To continue an AccessWorld tradition, in this article I highlight several of the new and noteworthy products exhibited at this year's conference. Once again this year, AFB sponsored exhibit hall interview coverage on Blind Bargains; visit the CSUN15 audio page for lots of interviews from the conference.
KNFB Reader App Gets More Features, Coming to Android
The KNFB Reader app for the iPhone was released last September, and Sensotec NV along with KNFB, LLC seized the opportunity to demonstrate the app at its booth alongside an early Android version. In its first few months, KNFB Reader consistently appeared on some of the App Store's top app lists, including a stint as the top ranked app for productivity based on sales. The app is now also being translated into several languages including Spanish, French, German, and Turkish.
Jim Gashel, KNFB Chief Technology Officer, hinted at some of the forthcoming improvements for KNFB Reader, including the ability to translate documents in real time and an improved automatic mode for continuous reading using a stand. As for Android, Gashel expects a release within the next couple months. Hear from Jim in this Blind Bargains podcast.
iYomube OCR App
A Japanese company called Amedia demonstrated a contrasting app in the booth right next to Sensotec's. iYomube offers what the company refers to as "real-time OCR," with text being spoken immediately after it appears in the camera's viewfinder. The phone could be pointed at anything from a nearby brochure to a far away sign, with results spoken almost immediately. The Amedia booth was filled with potential text targets, which also lead to some confusion as text from several nearby items was often read along with the target text. While it may be possible to use this app with some training, the results we experienced were often garbled, as heard in this example. iYomube also recognizes traditional and simplified Chinese characters as well as Japanese and Korean, and it's quite possible it may do a better job with these languages. It's available now for $29.99 from the iTunes App Store, and it is accessible using VoiceOver.
Google's Big-Time Presence at CSUN
Just three short years ago, Google attended CSUN with just a few research staff. This year, Google was represented by approximately 60 employees, including representatives from many Google services. Whether it was Google Docs or Android, Google Wallet or Chrome, someone from just about every major Google service made an appearance at CSUN. Google demonstrated improvements to Docs on mobile devices as well as with screen readers like NVDA. Guests could use Google Glass to get real-time feedback while wandering the exhibit hall. While the company certainly has more work to do to improve the accessibility of some of its websites and apps, it seemed evident that this wasn't the same old Google when it comes to accessibility.
Math Accessibility, and a Nemeth Tutorial from APH
A lot of focus has been placed on accessible math notation and equations in recent years. Notetakers from HumanWare and HIMS now include support for Nemeth Code, and Duxbury has improved its translation engine to include support for Nemeth input.
At this year's CSUN conference, attention turned to the latest version of MathPlayer, a plug-in that allows for the display of mathematical symbols and equations embedded in webpages and documents. In last year's CSUN recap article, we mentioned that support was emerging, with Window-Eyes as the first screen reader to support in-line math equations. Since that time, expanded support has emerged in both Window-Eyes and NVDA in Microsoft Word and in popular Web browsers, while JAWS 16 includes some initial support in Internet Explorer. It's a lot to digest, but Sina Bahram, David MacDonald, and CB Averitt broke it all down into bite-sized pieces that help explain the current state of things. Check out this presentation summary to learn more. In short, access to math tutorials, lessons, and equations is becoming much more widespread and these improvements will help both math students in school and professionals who wish to enter science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
The American Printing House (APH) recently released a Nemeth tutorial that teaches the sometimes confusing math code using lessons and exercises. The lessons are organized by grade level, ranging from first grade where basics like the numeric indicator and equal sign are described, to later lessons that cover algebra, geometry, and other advanced mathematical concepts.
The tutorial uses MathML, which is made accessible by the MathPlayer program discussed above. If MathML is not an option with your screen reader, a backup method for displaying braille characters is also available. Instructions for working with various screen readers are clearly described on the page. You can view the free tutorial on the APH website.
AccessaMed Accessible Prescriptions May be Coming to a Major Pharmacy Chain
We've seen a couple different approaches to providing accessible labels for prescription medication. En-Vision America offers ScripTalk, which uses a specialized machine or a mobile app to read the contents of the labels. AccessaMed uses a different approach, affixing small devices with buttons to each prescription bottle. The advantage, according to the company's Chad Hazen, is that no special device is needed to identify labels. The small devices are one-time use, and there is currently no way to reuse or dispose of the components without taking them to a recycling center. AccessaMed expects to announce that a major pharmacy chain will be using its system, but was not ready to give specifics at the conference. Listen to a Blind Bargains podcast with AccessaMed to learn more.
A Musical Braille Display from Handy Tech
While many companies are looking to fill the mobile niche of smaller and smaller braille displays, Handy Tech is going in a different direction with the release of the Active Star, a new 40-cell display update to its desktop Braille Star series. Active Star features 40 hours of battery life, a magnetic keyboard for typing, and an enclosure slot that can hold a mobile phone. The unique feature of this unit is its ability to play braille music. As a user moves his or her finger across a braille display that is displaying music, a polyphonic synthesizer plays the musical note the user is touching. It's the type of feature that may apply to a very specific niche market, but may be hugely appreciated by musicians. Aside from the music support, the display possessed Handy Tech's usual excellent build quality and will be a welcome upgrade to those who are fond of desktop displays. You can hear the display in action on this podcast.
The Year of Advancements in Visual Assistance
Much has been said about Be My Eyes, a recently released free iPhone app that provides remote visual assistance via a network of volunteers. CSUN offered a couple of additional takes on this theme.
The exhibit hall featured a demonstration of OrCam, a wearable appliance with several recognition functions. When a user looks directly at text, such as at a sign or business card, the device will begin to read what it sees. OrCam also recognizes objects, such as items in a grocery store. Many common brands and products will be included in its database, and recorded tags can be added for additional items. A similar feature recognizes people's faces and will announce who it sees. Users need to train the app to recognize specific faces.
The device attaches to a pair of glasses worn on the head, and transmits audio using bone conduction technology. The glasses are required whether one can see or not, as they are used to hold the device and camera in place. For early adopters who are willing to give some feedback, units will be available this spring for $2,500. The retail price upon final release will be $3,500.
Visual Access, a forthcoming app from TCS Associates, works more like Be My Eyes in that it uses remote workers to provide information about your surroundings or objects of interest. The company employs trained professionals such as orientation and mobility specialists and assistive technology trainers who understand how to describe scenes in a way that is useful and efficient. The tradeoff will likely be price, as the app will have a cost for those who wish to use the service.
Comcast X1 Joins the Exhibit Hall
Comcast has been making waves with the introduction of Talking Guide, available on its modern cable boxes. This was the first year Comcast demonstrated the beta version of the system in action in the CSUN exhibit hall, often drawing large and rather enthusiastic crowds.
Mainstream Companies at CSUN
Other mainstream companies had a presence in the CSUN exhibit hall as well. In addition to its high-end business copy machines with voice guidance, Cannon demonstrated some ultraportable scanners that retail for under $300. The imageFORMULA Scan-tini mobile document scanners are as wide as a piece of paper but only 3 inches long. Paper feeds through the back of the machine via an automatic document feeder and then is pushed out the front of the device as it scans. Both sides of the page are scanned at once. A scan speed of up to 15 pages per minute is an impressive rate for this price point. Scanners like this would be ideal for those who need to read documents on the go, or who don't have room for larger units in their office. The Scan-tini cannot scan books or other thicker materials.
Conclusion
This round-up barely scratches the surface when it comes to talking about everything that happened at CSUN. A quick check of the official #CSUN15 Twitter hashtag reveals nearly 8,000 tweets posted around the conference. From the dozens of informative sessions to the jam-packed exhibit hall, CSUN is still the largest and most influential conference of its kind. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the event, which started out as a small gathering on the CSUN campus before moving to Los Angeles and now San Diego. Given the continued emphases on assistive technology by mainstream companies and the growing population of elderly people with disabilities, it's likely the conference will grow even larger in the future. If technology is in your blood, think about attending CSUN in March of 2016. And whether or not you're able to make the trip to southern California, we'll tell you about it in AccessWorld.
