If you're visually impaired, there's no affordable technology in the marketplace to support you.  However, the enabling technology does exist!

Nancy's Pantry is about bringing low cost access to common, everyday printed materials:  menus, soup cans, utility bills, bus schedules, clothing -- the list really is nearly endless.

Key Requirements:  Low cost production and low cost use.  If the costs of printing readable material to producers (restaurant owners, canned or boxed goods producers or printed materials producers) are high, they will reject any proposed solutions.  If the cost of technology to scan and process specially printed matter is high, intended users will not be able to afford it.

The proposed technology: We're exploring a two-part technology.  Our production technology of choice is a 2D (two dimensional) barcode.  Currently we're using pdf417 (Check the back of your US driver's license.  Chances are there's a pdf417 bar code on it.) and a web technology called XML. Using a laser or optical scanner similar to what you encounter by the checkout at most any retailer, we can scan the barcodes and convert them to a computer processable form.

Our user technology of choice is a low cost flexible processor, such as a PDA.  Any device capable of general purpose processing, and generation of audio, is sufficient.  There are some PDAs for under $300 that can do the job.

Ultimately we envision a single PDA-like device that incorporates either laser or optical scanning, and general purpose processing.  Such devices exist in a limited part of the commercial sector.  We aim to bring them into the consumer sector.