My sister-in-law recently became blind after many years of declining sight. It is heartbreaking to see how difficult even the most seemingly simple journeys ha

My sister-in-law recently became blind after many years of declining sight. It is heartbreaking to see how difficult even the most seemingly simple journeys have become for her. (And I'm quite impressed by the way that she has been pushing herself, even though it's clearly quite difficult for her.) I think that the video is a bit too optimistic about how easy it can be for blind people to walk around. But I also think that the idea -- using a combination of smart phones, Bluetooth and Wifi markers, and headphones -- is a very clever one, and is a very good start. It is going to take decades for such a technology to become stable and mature. But I'm impressed and pleased to see Microsoft investing in such technologies. Oh, and are they hinting that there might be ads aimed at blind people? Yes. I don't know how that is any different from Google offering "free" e-mail and search in exchange for ads. My metric for whether this is worthwhile isn't whether Microsoft puts up ads, but rather whether blind people benefit.