For once, living in the Future lives up to all the hype

This starts out like all posts from new iPhone fanbois:

Last Wednesday, my life changed forever. I got an iPhone.

This post is different.  The blogger is blind:

I consider it the greatest thing to happen to the blind for a very long time, possibly ever. It offers unparalleled access to properly made applications, and changed my life in twenty-four hours. ...

When I first heard that Apple would release a touchpad cell phone with VoiceOver, the screen reading software used by Macs, I scoffed. The blind have gotten so used to lofty promises of a dream platform, only to receive some slapped together set of software with a minimally functional screen reader running on overpriced hardware which can’t take a beating. I figured that Apple just wanted to get some good PR – after all, how could a blind person even use a touchpad? I laughed at the trendies, both sighted and blind, buying iPhones and enthusing about them.

But a blind friend went nuts over how good VoiceOver (Apple's text-to-speech software) was, and so off he went to the Apple store to "see" it.  And found himself living in the future:

I continued to excitedly ask questions, as did my Mom. “Can he get text messages on this?” she asked. “Well, yes, but it doesn’t read the message.” the salesman said. Mom’s hopes sunk, but mine didn’t, since I understood the software enough. “Well, let’s see, try it.” I suggested. She pulled out her phone, and sent me a text message. Within seconds, my phone alerted me, and said her name. I simply swiped my finger and it read her message: Hi Austin. She almost cried.

As someone who works in high tech, and hangs out with the Marketing guys, for once it seems that the reality is even better than the hype.  RTWT for a window on a whole group of people who have been on the outside, and how the Future is better than we'd thought.