[Njtechdiv] {Spam?} app for the blind info

[Janie Degenshein]

Got this by way of Liz and thought I would share it here as requested. . .
Hey Jane,

I received this and thought it would be something interesting to share
with the Tech division.

Smiles :)
LizSubject: FW: Microsoft demonstrates app that helps see for the blind
To:LizSubject: FW: Microsoft demonstrates app that helps see for the blind

For your information

From: Jeanne Fike [mailto:jfike636 at charter.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 9:05 PM
Subject: Fw: Microsoft demonstrates app that helps see for the blind

See below link
http://secure-web.cisco.com/1Ph4xpZKFdovuMaime_wooI8B1o4gdH6mtSqDFCPwgyXuHsQoOWxXEHxhF8a_kRH3xsZpj65JHxOCENNR0DBSlfxCO7EdTcprpO5H1uwa912EYnfAqvF5zxpbAiCL9PC07mbUJEQSGBtn3eGENOFnYscGZfMxZqPerhG-GyJOh-Y8kJlP_Th3nDIVHZAz9WvBQkP6LjWBMpAifcdPOk2t3XWLS9veXM7wU6EXu7eMOQ6f9b4jD0Gy1aZveYxCMMqv_-LEGS9Bs-1D17FzVQ3b-Q/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fmicrosoft-build-2016-developer-conference-cognitive-seeing-app

Microsoft demonstrates app that helps see for the blind
Microsoft
developer Saqib Shaikh lost his sight when he was only 7 years old.
Flash forward to now, and Shaikh is building Seeing AI, a
cognitive app
that aims to help those who are visually impaired or blind have a
better understanding of the world around them.

The app was demonstrated in a video shown at the Microsoft Build 2016
Developer Conference in San Francisco Wednesday. In it, Shaikh
demonstrates how the
app could help serve as something of a digital seeing eye dog. For
instance, in a restaurant, he can take a photo of the menu on his
phone -- a voice in
the app guides him until he's got the image centered -- and the
artificial intelligence will read for him the contents of the menu.

The app is designed to run on
smartphones
and also works with special smart glasses that have a tiny camera
built in. The camera can "see" people or things in their path, the app
recognizes who
or what they are, and a digital voice relays the information to the
user in real time.

In the video demo, the system helped Shaikh know what was going on
around him as he walked down the street, and even described who was
sitting around the
table at business meeting.

The project is part of Microsoft's larger push to advance
artificial intelligence
and incorporate it into more aspects of life in the near future. The
software used to develop Seeing AI is part of the larger
Cortana
Intelligence Suite, which makes "big data,
machine learning,
perception, analytics, and intelligent bots" available to developers,
according to a Microsoft press release.

(c) 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
________________________________



-- 
Elizabeth Morgan
brlerliz at gmail.com
Keep Smiling,
Janie Degenshein
"Happiness isn't having what you want, but wanting what you already have"
Facilitator of ECHO
(Eyes Closed Hearts Open)
President, National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey Senior Division
President, National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey Technology Division
NFBNJ newsline coordinator
jdegen16 at comcast.net