
Samsung Touchable Ink - matant
http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2016/samsung-touchable-ink/
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yodon
Smart phone apps for the blind are great and important but from what I've read
they don't seem to be having the impact on blind employment that Braille has
had.

74% of the blind are unemployed [1] (there is another figure you will
occasionally see of 13% unemployment for the blind, that's a US Government
statistic that excludes anyone not considered in the list of potentially
employed people).

Braille literacy is highly correlated with employment among the blind, and
rates of Braille literacy are falling rapidly in the US, from a peak of around
50% in the 1950's to more like 12% today [1].

Hopefully someone here will know of a survey reporting measurable economic
gains for the new generation of Braille-illiterate technologically assisted
blind, thus far what I've heard anecdotally on that front has not been
encouraging.

[1]
[http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/needforbraille.html](http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/needforbraille.html)

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agumonkey
I've always been curious about the impact of smartphones on blinds. A famous
french singer said it was a bliss to be able to ask Siri for informations or
having the phone vibrate to location or other kind of data. That said having a
finer tactile interface is always a plus to me (and I'm not blind yet)

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avian
This is somewhat similar to swell paper that Ben Krasnow showed in one of his
videos recently. The difference is that there the chemical is in the paper,
not the ink.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvudn0skIuI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvudn0skIuI)

~~~
Someone
I think swell paper is physics, not chemistry. The paper expands when heated.

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userbinator
"Touchable Ink, a project in which _laser_ printers are able to print braille-
embossed documents. The Touchable Ink, still in its early days, involves a
chemical process to adding embossing powder to the _laser printing ink_. Users
just replace their _ink cartridge_ "

So is it ink or is it toner? That reminds me, early HP laser printers did put
enough toner on the page that it could be clearly felt, although not as
extreme as this.

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jrockway
Touchable Toner sounds kind of dumb, which is why they called it Touchable
Ink, I'm guessing.

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jay-saint
This is great for the blind, but is their a broader use for simulated letter
press in letterhead or business cards?

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dspillett
That might be its most common use. It can be surprising how few blind people
actually read braille, it is particularly uncommon amongst those who have
developed visual imparements after their youth.

~~~
Someone
It takes lots of effort to learn to read Braille at a later age, and you may
have to do it at a very stressful time ("count on losing your mind for a year
or two when you lose your eyesight", I've heard it described by a psychologist
familiar with the matter)

Reading Braille also requires sensitive fingers. Cut your finger? Read a lot
slower for a few weeks.

Nerve damage in your fingers? You may have to forget about reading Braille.
And that's incredibly common among those losing their eyesight, as they
predominantly are elderly and/or diabetic (neuropathy is a common side-effect
of badly controlled blood sugar levels)

So, let's say you are sixty, diabetic, and losing your eye sight. Are you
going to practice for a few hours a day without guarantee of decent results,
or are you going to focus on all the other tasks to relearn, and try enjoying,
say, the company of your grand children?

~~~
dspillett
Exactly.

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yladiz
I wonder if the next generation of braille will be not just this, but in the
smartphone with a taptic engine like that in the iPhone. I can imagine that
the engine becomes sensitive enough to deliver minute changes as the user runs
their finger across... In any case, it's really cool that things like this
exist, because it makes being blind a little bit less bad; instead of a
$15,000 printer, you can buy this ink for much cheaper.

