Blind and visually-impaired people can often tell that there is something in front of them, but not be able to see all the details they need. With this service, they can take a cellphone picture of whatever it is, and send it to an interpreter, who calls them back and tells them what they wish to know about it.
"It's a sign that says 'Closed for repairs.'" "The marquee says La Travolta will open on the 21st." [I wrote Traviata, but my spell checker suggested Travolta.] "It's a barbershop, Bob." "Yes, ma'am, your hair is a lovely shade of blue." "Bill, I wouldn't do her." "Yes, sir, that tie is in your old school colours." "Take another picture, please, but aim up and to the left a little." "You are on the corner of Polk and Castro, Bruce. Good night and good luck."
Current technology is ready for such a service, although high-speed connections would be better. The blind person would have to memorize the process for taking photos and sending them to the service, but my phone can do it in four steps, and beeps could be switched on. An application could be made to do it in one touch, Shirley.
"That site is called the Halfbakery, ma'am, and it is definitely not appropriate for your grandson."-- baconbrain, Dec 14 2010 Related idea A_20Picture_20Is_20..._20Thousand_20Honks [theircompetitor, Dec 15 2010] Google goggles http://www.google.c...hl=en&answer=166331 [xaviergisz, Dec 17 2010] nice - see this bun [+]-- xandram, Dec 14 2010 Exercise care in hiring people for your interpreters - try to avoid sarcastic people and/or halfbakers.-- lurch, Dec 14 2010 So is La Travolta the original cast of Grease doing opera, or an opera company doing Grease? (+ by the way)-- MechE, Dec 14 2010 "Bill, I wouldn't do her." You've calmed my biggest fear of ever becoming blind. [+]-- Capt Skinny, Dec 15 2010 I liked this idea originally. Upon reflection, I like it even more - working for this service would be a perfect telecommute job for people with physical disabilities, especially elderly people who are interested in keeping their brains sharp.-- gisho, Dec 17 2010 Wonderful idea [+]. Since it's extremely bakable, perhaps I can be forgiven for raising a practical difficulty: legal liability. In fact, I think drafting a contract that would cover the service's a(r)s(s)(e) might be the single most difficult part of the project.-- mouseposture, Dec 17 2010 Thank you. Good points, [21 quest], [gisho] and [mouseposture], and good advice. The technology has advanced considerably since I thought of this idea--those are good additions.
Legal liability is a factor to be frightened of. Maybe a "friends helping friends" thing would be better. The company sells the software, disclaims all responsibility for its use, and the blind person's family does the monitoring and advising.
Which kind of shoots the service idea out the window, and removes any possible profit, as most folks could figure out how to this on their own.
Maybe a head-mounted vid-cam set-up could be sold.-- baconbrain, Dec 17 2010 random, halfbakery