The all-seeing ring
From: New Scientist - 05/01/2012

A virtual assistant can help blind people explore their surroundings.
Developed by Suranga Nanayakkara at the MIT's Media Lab, EyeRing consists of
a ring equipped with a camera, and headphones. The user points the ring at an
object they are holding and uses voice commands to say what they need to know
- the color of an item of clothing, say, or the denomination of paper money.
The ring takes a picture of the object, which is transmitted wirelessly to a
cellphone, where software analyses the image. The required information is
then read out by a synthesised voice. It is being presented at the Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Austin, Texas, in May. 

Links:
EyeRing (with video 3:16)
http://fluid.media.mit.edu/people/suranga/current/eyering.html

Suranga Nanayakkara
http://fluid.media.mit.edu/people/suranga/about/suranga.html