Mark is the new director of AFB's Technology and Employment Center at Huntington, West Virginia. This new center will evaluate technologies for the blind and publish consumer reports about their reliability, their benefits and drawbacks. "Access World" will be AFB's consumer reports magazine.

Mark's presentation was a comparison of GPS systems that had potential use for blind and especially for visually impaired individuals. Off the shelf technologies contain voice recognition and voice activation, but there is great variability in applicability. None of the products were free of drawbacks, and almost all fell short of being usable for the blind traveler.

The medical field is driving the creation of emergency and monitoring technologies, many of which have immediate or potential benefits for blind individuals. One of the GPS emergency systems had a large red button on the face of the hand held unit. This "big red button" idea might be helpful as a module on canes or other devices for the visually impaired. In wayfinding terms it would be a "where am I" button, with layers of information, each more complex than the last.