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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Qualcomm and Project RAY announce eye-free smartphone for blind and visually-impaired people

Project RAY, which designs accessibility tools for blind and visually-impaired people, has announced a new mobile interface that’s designed to be used without sight. It’s been designed in partnership with the Qualcomm Wireless Reach initiative and uses a standard Android smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor.

The new UI supports phone calls, text messaging, navigation, object recognition, social networking, remote assistance, audio-book reading and other leisure & entertainment features. It combines touch-screen controls with vibration and spoken prompts.

Boaz Zilberman, chief executive officer of Project RAY, said “The breakthrough UI defines a new language for human-device interaction that is built ground-up for eye-free operation. The user touches any position on the screen and that position becomes the starting point for selecting an audio-book, messaging or other activity. Navigation is enabled by a few simple finger movements in different directions. The phone’s built-in vibration capabilities and voice prompts provide user feedback and the UI learns to adapt its behavior based on users’ preferences and usage patterns.”

A trial project in Israel is currently testing the new RAY mobile device with 100 people.

According to the World Health Organization, 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide; 39 million are blind while 246 have low vision.

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Opinion Articles

Using technology to improve healthcare

The 4th mHealth Summit brings over 4,000 participants from 50 countries to Washington, D.C. area.

Joe DeCapua of voanews.com writes:

This week (3rd-5th December), over 4,000 people from 50 countries have gathered near Washington, D.C. to discuss how mobile technology is affecting healthcare. Organizers of the mHealth Summit say some of the biggest advances and initiatives are taking place in low and middle income countries.

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Will the networks' transformation into dumb pipes be followed by handsets becoming dumb phones?

Mark Bridge writes:

Dumb pipes. The phrase infuriates many people involved with mobile phone networks. But what does it mean – and could it be the prelude to phones becoming dumber, too?

Author: The Fonecast
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Article rating: 3.5

Last week at The Fonecast: 3rd December 2012

Innovation, legislation and anticipation

Mark Bridge writes:

As the end of the year approaches, so the volume of ‘real news’ tends to reduce as it’s replaced by annual reviews and seasonal surveys. We’ll be joining in with our predictions for 2013 in a few weeks’ time... but first, here’s a look back at the biggest stories from the past seven days.

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7 top retail tips for mobile phone salespeople

Mark Bridge writes:

As Christmas approaches, I thought I’d offer a few tips for anyone who’s working in mobile retailing and wants to get a little more out of their job. If you’re new to the mobile industry - or to selling mobile phones - they’ll provide a useful starting point.

Author: The Fonecast
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Article rating: 3.6

Last week at The Fonecast: 26th November 2012

HP says Autonomy deal was spiced up

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s time to ‘ketchup’ with last week’s biggest mobile industry news stories - and where better to start than with HP’s claims of ‘saucy’ behaviour?  It’s launched an investigation into last year’s acquisition of UK company Autonomy, claiming the software company had ‘spiced up’ its valuation. Condiment-based puns aside, it’s a serious matter that could see key players from the deal charged with cooking the books.

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Recent Podcasts

Reviewing our 2015 mobile industry predictions... and looking forward to 2016

Podcast - 15th January 2016

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

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Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Podcast - 6th March 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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Looking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

Podcast - 27th February 2015

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

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Interview with Chris Millington of Doro about mobile retailing, wearables and technology for older consumers

Podcast - 24th February 2015

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

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