http://www.woai.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=A1D581E7-F2D9-475B-9F5D -4788E680A1CE
LAST UPDATE: 7/7/2006 5:31:04 AM DALLAS (AP) - Several times a day, David DeNotaris gets up-to-date news by using a service for the legally blind that allows him to hear stories ranging from what's going on in his home state of New Jersey to what's happening on the other side of the world. Using a phone keypad, subscribers can choose the newspaper, section and article they want to read. And this year, the service provided by the National Federation of the Blind called the NFB-Newsline, added stories from The Associated Press, allowing participants to hear news from around the world. "To be able to access what you want when you want it - it's really tremendous," said DeNotaris, 36, who works for New Jersey's Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. "It's the world at our fingertips." The toll-free service was discussed Thursday at the federation's convention in Dallas. A federation official told the group of about 3,000 people that a new feature will allow Newsline users to also receive news reports by e-mail. That information can be downloaded to machines that convert the print to audio or braille, said John Pare, the federation's director of sponsored technology programs. In the United States, there are about 1.3 million legally blind people, according to the federation. It's estimated that as many as 10 million Americans are blind or visually impaired. Newsline was started in 1995 to provide stories to the legally blind in Baton Rouge, La., area with stories from USA Today. Since then, it has expanded to 51,000 subscribers in 39 states and Washington, D.C., with stories from more than 200 newspapers, including the Washington Post, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and several Spanish-language publications. Pare said Newsline fits with several new developments that offer blind people access to information. Those developments include a handheld reader, which takes a picture of such items as menus or receipts, and converts the text to audio. Developed by the federation and inventor Ray Kurzweil, the device dubbed the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader, combines a personal data assistant and a digital camera. - Information about the NFB-Newsline: 866-504-7300 Gregory S. Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
