Intel this week released its Reader, a new e-book device aimed at the visually impaired. Like the latest Kindle, the $1,499 device can read aloud from digital book files. Unlike Amazon's device, however, the Reader can capture digital images with a high-res camera and read aloud from those as well. The device can also capture text from Web sites.

"We want people to experience the independence of being able to read on their own in a public place or anywhere they want to," the device's developer told Venture Beat. "A metaphor for this are the ramps that make buildings wheelchair accessible. This reader is like a ramp."

The Reader is roughly the size of a paperback. It can read DAISY formatted text and plain text and can play MP3 files.