K-NFB Reading Technology, a joint venture of the National Federation of the Blind and Kurzweil Technologies, this week introduced the knfbREADER Mobile, a solution to give blind users access to SMS text messaging - as well as everything from GPS to mobile e-mail.

Designed for the Nokia N82, the solution is, according to the company, "the smallest text-to-speech reading device in history."

And it's not just for SMS. "The software turns the phone into a pocket-sized reader, enabling users to take a picture of most printed material and have it read back to them," writes VNUnet's Ian Williams.

"Those with vision problems are not the only ones expected to benefit from the technology," adds the AP's Alex Dominguez. "Dyslexics, for example, are expected to be among the users of the current device because of its ability to highlight each word as it's read aloud, helping them cope with their disability, which affects the ability to read."

More here from InformationWeek ... more here from Geek.com ... more here from gizmag ... more here from TMCnet ... more here from Switched ... more here from Digital Trends ... and the press release is here.