The makers of the Looktel Money Reader bring you their latest app, the LookTel Recognizer. Where the Money Reader allows you to wave your iDevice in front of any currency and it will read aloud the denomination, this app extends the usefulness to ANY item in your home, whether it’s a cereal box in your pantry, a CD in your music collection, or a jug of juice in your fridge.
Unfortunately, the app doesn’t come with an existing library of images so there is some setup work involved. The company does recommend that users get some sighted assistance to initially create their image library, which is not ideal. That said, once a library is built, users can simply point the iDevice’s camera at an object and the phone will recognize and describe the item instantly. I saw it at CSUN and it truly does recognize things in a split second.
To counteract the need for sighted assistance, the app does permit users to share their libraries – just imagine if you and your friends each labeled 50 items and then shared them! You’d have quite the library to work with. Of course you’d have to be sure these were friends you trusted and not someone who would label shampoo as conditioner 
You don’t need an internet connection to use the app which means it can be used at any location, anytime. It does also come with a barcode scanner so if you’re in the grocery store looking at something you haven’t yet programmed into your library, all you need to do is find that (pesky) barcode and it will read aloud what the item is.
Looktel Recognizer sells for $9.99 on the iTunes Store and can be used on an iPod, iPad, or iPhone – provided it’s running iOS 4.3 or later. Check it out for yourself!
