On Sunday 03 September 2006 03:16 pm, Vic Cris wrote:
From: jtd jtd@mtnl.net.in
Use a gprs / cdma cell phone. You can never hope in hell to get a better price, availability and service which would be the exact opposit of any custom 802.11 device which a person has to carry merely to find dirctions that he may require occasionally.
Devilish thought.
I can just see thousands of liberated visually handicapped people roaming free in the city - and becoming totally helpless the next time some babu decides to shut down cell services because some cop discovers there is a village in Maharashtra named Pakistan Pada, and they fear a riot.
HA HA. Agreed. But the local rail is providing information to navigate independent of everything else. What it isn't providing is interactivity or in this case extremely detailed directions to YOUR detination. Wihch is obtainable from the central site. Even if Babu-E-Alam blocks access user can proceed to destination.
The reason i raise the cost bogey all the while is personal. I see two blind vendors on Dadar station selling bag lock chains. Will they afford a handheld - very unlikely. Who subsidises a purchase if at all. There Babu-E-Alam in the shadows again. Do they have cell phones - yes with fm ;-). I had also interacted very closely with an organisation of visually impared persons several yrs ago. 99% of the members would never have afforded a handheld given their educational and work skills.