OrCam, a company that makes products to aid accessibility for the visually impaired, has won a CES innovation award for its glasses-mounted MyEye Pro device. It aids the blind and visually impaired by reading out printed and digital text, recognizing people, identifying products, and more. OrCam took the prize in both the CES innovation accessibility and health and wellness categories. "We are living in uncertain times, yet... our users' challenges related to access have not stopped during the pandemic. If anything, they have intensified," said OrCam co-founder and co-chairman Prof. Amnon Shashua in OrCam's blog post.

An AI vision company is launching a wearable camera for tracking your relationships. If that sounds creepy… well, it sort of is. And if it sounds useful, it might be that, too. It's a device that seems almost custom-built to tap into our fears about how technology will change relationships. And it almost certainly won't be the last of its kind.

A demo of the Orcam MyEye 2.0 was one of the highlights at the AbilityNet/RNIB TechShare Pro event in November. This small device, an update to the MyEye released in 2013, clips onto any pair of glasses and provides discrete audio feedback about the world around the wearer. It uses state-of-the-art image recognition to read signs and documents as well as recognise people and does not require internet connection. It's just one of many apps and devices that are using the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the lives of people who are blind or have sight loss. Last week, we took a look Microsoft's updated free app Seeing AI and its amazing new features for people who are blind or have sight loss, including colour recognition and handwriting recognition.

Who's going to be the next Mobileye? Computer vision is a hot topic for the tech industry, and especially in Israel. It seems like Israeli entrepreneurs are one step ahead when it comes to developing computer vision technology. That's why we're excited to announce that three computer vision experts are going to join us on stage to share their knowledge about this space. First up, Inon Beracha has become a well-known name in Israel.

When Sarah Matthews was left completely blind three years ago after suffering a head injury in an accident, she feared she would never lead a normal life again. The mum of one was struggling to do basic tasks, such as getting things out of a cupboard. But even more agonising was the fact that she could no longer recognise her family and friends. The injury damaged the optic nerve in both eyes, leaving her unable to know when her five-year-old son Evan was coming over for a hug. But thanks to advances in science, artificial intelligence has transformed her life.

Over 21 million adults in the United States suffer from impaired vision. Several companies are have been racing to develop wearables and implants that can improve or restore eyesight in these patients. One such wearable vision device, made by Israeli startup OrCam, just got an enthusiastic thumbs up from eye doctors who tested the gadget on 12 legally blind patients. OrCam's little camera device, which clips on to eyeglasses, reads aloud words on labels and signs, and names objects and faces for the wearer. Opthalmologists at the University of California Davis Eye Center published results of their study in the journal JAMA Opthalmology.