Japanese Firm builds keyboard for blind
A Japanese firm unveiled a miniature portable keyboard that helps the blind take notes by listening to sounds of the characters they punch in. The battery-operated keyboard — which weighs 500 grams and includes an MP3 player — keeps the data on memory so it can be transferred to a computer. Created by three researchers at the Yazaki electronics company, the keyboard differs from other devices as it does not rely on Braille script and can be used without being attached to a computer. The user presses combinations of buttons to type in characters either in Japanese, Chinese or Roman script, which are spoken by the 50-by10 cm machine.