I received an email about this a few days ago:
Combining a state-of-the-art digital camera with a powerful personal data assistant, the "camera that talks" puts the best available character recognition software together with text-to-speech conversion technology–all in a single, handheld device. The Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader has the ability to dramatically enhance the lives of millions of people who have difficulty seeing or reading print by providing access like never before. Users need only hold the Reader over print-a restaurant menu, an airline ticket, a business card, a school assignment, an office memo-and in seconds they hear the contents of the printed document played back in clear synthetic speech.
Now this is what I call a life changing device. The price is a little up there ($3,600 US) but the doors it could open for a blind person are endless. If your ever in want of a place to donate your extra money to, there are few places that are better than National Federation of the Blind. Buy one of these and donate it to a local charity and you will be sure to change the lives of many people.