A Braillewriter app for iPad

It may sound impossible, but a Stanford engineer has developed an app that allows the blind to write in the tactile language Braille using an iPad.

To locate keys on the keyboard of iBrailler Notes, users hold their fingertips -- but not their their thumbs -- anywhere on the screen of their iPad and the software draws the keys around their fingers.

Relocating the eight keys is easy and can be done at any time, so if the user gets distracted or wants to change positions, they will follow him wherever he places his fingertips.

The app's advanced features include an undo/redo function that kicks into gear with either a clockwise or a counterclockwise fingertip twist on the screen.

It embodies most Brailler formats, including scientific and mathematic Braille and Braille in other languages, which gets complex due to nuances, according to inventor Sohan Dharmaraja.

The iBrailler Notes app also offers one-click Google access and it provides search results by speech.

What's more, it's free, eliminating the need to buy a conventional Braille reader, most of which cost several thousand dollars and whose functions are limited in comparison to iBrailler Notes.