All-in-one gizmo for blind people

A multi-purpose gadget for blind people that will enable them to listen to music and identify household items is under development. The TellMate, designed by Singapore company, GaiShan Technology could soon be available in the UK.

It has a one gigabyte memory and can be used as a music player, radio, clock, talking book player, voice recorder and label reader. The Mark 2 version of the TellMate will also be able to read SD cards.

The device is being imported into the UK by a Basingstoke-based fundraiser, Dave Chatten-Smith, but he is looking for another company to distribute it. The TellMate is about the same size as a television remote control but with fewer buttons.

Mr Chatten-Smith believes that it will be of particular use as a scanner and label reader to help vision-impaired people identify items in the house or at work. "You could label up your CDs, your DVDs, paperwork - there are even washable, waterproof labels so that you can identify your clothes," he told the BBC News website.

The TellMate uses RFID tags that can be attached to, for example, different food items in a kitchen cupboard. Each label transmits a low-powered signal to the device which then plays the audio clip that has been recorded and associated with it. The labels can be re-used by recording a new audio clip.

Up to a thousand labels can be read by the TellMate. "As the labels are un powered, you have to be in close proximity to them - about five or six centimetres away," explained Mr Chatten-Smith.

One of the partners of GaiShan Technology - the Singapore based company that developed the TellMate - has a vision impairment himself. The new product has been extensively tested for the past 18 months.

Mr Chatten-Smith says that it will sell for around £250, and the SD card version should be available by the end of the year. Although none of the functions of the TellMate is new, it is the first time that everything has been brought together in a single unit.