Bitcoin for the Blind

[Phinnaeus Gage]

While conducting some more research on QR-codes for a project I'm current working on, I stumbled upon this video: Mobile Visual Search

The speaker first mentions, then goes into greater detail on how MVS is a great tool for the blind, solving their how-much-money-do-I-have-on-me problem.

Surely, Bitcoin is a more viable solution then having blind people snap a picture of their fiat bills prior to leaving their homes to go shopping, as the speaker suggests. BTW, do you see the fallacy in his approach? With B.F.T.B. (you're welcome, Matthew), the blind will be able to hear (privately, somehow) how much they have, coupled with not having to carry any cash with them.

This is probably just another brainfart from OLD Phin because, quite frankly, there ain't enough blind people in the world that would merit providing such a valuable service. Or are there? (Note to self: Count blind people in the world or see if that figure is available online)

~Bruno~



Interesting image! I was going to post one of a blind guy with sunglasses, but this one got more creative juices a flowin'. Imagine if some blind kid started a site/app/movement/whatever that aids in helping other youths the ability to conduct commerce without ever worrying about cash (fiat). And for you nonbelievers that think kids wouldn't have a big enough voice to pull this off, take a gander at the following site: http://cainesarcade.com/

EDIT: Fuck me! I forgot about mentioning the elderly.

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[Xenland]

When the pipboy is released Anyone can build an open source Braille system to facilitate its use(which btw my pipboy will have Bitcoin client on it )

[kjlimo]

Google told me that 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.

Source: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/index.html

[bitlizard]

A voice controlled bitcoin app for the blind would be really cool.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Google told me that 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.

Source: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/index.html

Key facts

• 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.
• About 90% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries.
• Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle- and low-income countries.
• The number of people visually impaired from infectious diseases has greatly reduced in the last 20 years.
• 80% of all visual impairment can be avoided or cured.

And another fact: 99.99% of them conduct commerce and need a viable money source to do so. Enter the Ellet?

~Bruno~

[MoonShadow]

Android's built-in text-to-speech functions could be leveraged in order to develop a bitcoin app similar to BitcoinSpinner to do what is needed here, and the user could easily control how he hears it by buying a bluetooth earpiece.  Wouldn't do much for developing nations, though.  Braille sucks, BTW.  My wife has a number of visually impaired relatives that would benefit greatly from such an app, and they tend to agree that Braille is broken in many ways.  Tactile Morse would be better for the blind in America to learn, if every single elevator built didn't already have Braille markers.  And tactile Morse has the additional advantage that it's nearly identical to regular Morse code, so once learned the user could hear his dumber electronic devices using regular Morse code.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Android's built-in text-to-speech functions could be leveraged in order to develop a bitcoin app similar to BitcoinSpinner to do what is needed here, and the user could easily control how he hears it by buying a bluetooth earpiece.  Wouldn't do much for developing nations, though.  Braille sucks, BTW.  My wife has a number of visually impaired relatives that would benefit greatly from such an app, and they tend to agree that Braille is broken in many ways.  Tactile Morse would be better for the blind in America to learn, if every single elevator built didn't already have Braille markers.  And tactile Morse has the additional advantage that it's nearly identical to regular Morse code, so once learned the user could hear his dumber electronic devices using regular Morse code.

To be clear, are you advocating that Ellet should use Morse Code? If that's the case, Matthew should have no problem getting funding. 

[Foxpup]

A voice controlled bitcoin app for the blind would be really cool.

That's so cool! It'll be just like Star Trek! Except in Star Trek people had to say their passwords in a loud clear voice. Granted, the computers had voice recognition, but that didn't stop anyone with a tape recorder from taking over the ship. Okay, maybe it shouldn't be completely voice controlled...

[Xenland]

PIPBOY + Braile Keyboard WIN

[MoonShadow]

Android's built-in text-to-speech functions could be leveraged in order to develop a bitcoin app similar to BitcoinSpinner to do what is needed here, and the user could easily control how he hears it by buying a bluetooth earpiece.  Wouldn't do much for developing nations, though.  Braille sucks, BTW.  My wife has a number of visually impaired relatives that would benefit greatly from such an app, and they tend to agree that Braille is broken in many ways.  Tactile Morse would be better for the blind in America to learn, if every single elevator built didn't already have Braille markers.  And tactile Morse has the additional advantage that it's nearly identical to regular Morse code, so once learned the user could hear his dumber electronic devices using regular Morse code.

To be clear, are you advocating that Ellet should use Morse Code? If that's the case, Matthew should have no problem getting funding. 

No, I'm advocating that a dumber device, such as a version of the Bitcoincard, could be used using a piezo speaker & morse.  I don't consider this likely, since it's much more likely that a future bitcoin hardware device will be quite modern.  Morse would work, but be a bit of a cheap hack, much more likely to occur in a developing nation if Bitcoin takes off before today's smartphone tech trickles down to the rest of the world.  Considering that a single rooted & flashed Kindle 2 off craigslist can hold the entire 12 year curriculum of a remote villiage school and do it for far less than that same set of books in print, it's only a matter of time before smartphone tech is common enough that the common man in developing nations can communicate using a several year old (working) smartphone.