U.K. firm Molins , a tobacco industry supplier, has filed a patent to connect the hinged lid of a pack of smokes with a microchip and a tiny speaker at the base of the box. Open the lid, and you hear a health warning or a funeral dirge. For millions of people with visual impairments, the Internet is off limits. WeMedia's browser makes surfing possible by reading aloud on-screen text in a computer voice that sounds like famed physicist Steven Hawking. Oversized buttons and keyboard shortcuts make it easier to operate the program.
Computers usually gab by tapping a storehouse of pre-programmed responses.
A programmer corrects the computer's responses like a parent would a child. His creators hope that if they can raise that to five years, HAL could find myriad uses in industry and the home. You can't keep a good plumber down. Plus, it has smoother graphics and a 32,000-color display, up from a mere 56 colors. Four players can link cables and play together.