HomeWinBuzzer NewsMicrosoft Garage’s Color Binoculars Help Colorblind Experience the World

Microsoft Garage’s Color Binoculars Help Colorblind Experience the World

The latest project from the Microsoft Garage Division is Color Binoculars. Using a camera filter, the app swaps colors to help colorblind distinguish hues and experience the world like everybody else.

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is at it again. The division has unveiled another interesting and useful application in the form of Color Binoculars. When we say useful, we mean it. This latest creation will help colorblind people experience the world in color.

This fascinating project takes colors and replaces them with other hues that are easier to see for colorblind. For example, there are three different modes: Red/Green/Red, Blue/Yellow, both of which can be used to separate colors.

Garage points out 8 per cent of people are colorblind to some extent. Color Binoculars is an iOS app that uses the camera to make colors distinguishable. To see how this looks in practice, it is worth checking out the gallery below.

The app is the brainchild of Tom Overton, who says:

“It's an app that helps colorblind people distinguish color combinations that they would normally have trouble telling apart. For example, since I have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, our app makes reds brighter and greens darker so that the difference is more obvious. It replaces difficult color combinations, like red and green, with more easily distinguishable combinations, like pink and green.”

“For example, since I have difficulty distinguishing between red and green, our app makes reds brighter and greens darker so that the difference is more obvious. It replaces difficult color combinations, like red and green, with more easily distinguishable combinations, like pink and green.”

Color Binoculars

As is often the case, the solution Microsoft Garage created is very simple. There is a single toggle in the UI which lets users turn the functionality on or off. One enabled, the Color Binoculars use existing iPhone camera filters to distinguish colors differently.

This is why Microsoft created the Garage division. It is an area of the company where employees can work on side projects. These ideas are not typical Microsoft services, but in the Garage they are encouraged and nurtured.

Unfortunately, Microsoft Garage seems to have a love-in going on with iOS. That means there is no word on when or if the Color Binoculars will be coming to Mobile.

SourceMicrosoft
Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.

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