No braille? No problem! This FingerReader by the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab is a high-tech way to help visually impaired people read; it actually scans printed text and narrates it aloud. This short vid shows how it works from a few different angles, but basically: as a fingertip follows along in a book (or Kindle), a camera in the oversized ring records and analyzes the words, which are then said in a Stephen Hawking-like voice. Haptic clues—like vibrations—are given to the user when she nears the end of a line and to note where a new one begins, as well as if she begins to drift off track. Plus, apparently it’s also a freaking translator! Imagine just running your hand along a page written in another language and being able to understand the whole thing.
Read the full story — and see the ring in action — at Gizmodo.