Yay for Acrobat

Maybe I'm behind the times but I had no idea that Adobe Acrobat will read files out loud for you. I was reading "Free Culture" tonight and I wanted to highlight certain passages so I was just looking around the program's toolbar to see if there was any way for me to do that. When I was looking under the "View" tab, I came across an option for "Read Out Loud". So, of course, I had it read the page I was on. It came out in a computerized voice but it still sounded pretty good, I didn't have any trouble understanding it.

If this is old news for you, then man, you've been holding out on me. I had no idea that the program even had that option, I think it's really cool, and its making my reading a lot more fun now that I have my computerized friend reading along with me. Does anyone know when they developed that/how long it's been a feature of Acrobat? It makes me think about the difficulties that blind people face with the internet and other new media and technology, although I know that more technology, such as computers that make use of Braille or operate using voice recognition, is being developed to deal with this. And for deaf or hearing-impaired people, there are things like AT&T's relay service. The service allows people to use type text online that will then be read by an operator who will call the person of your choice. Although prank phone callers may also find it useful. AT&T's service also has a video relay option where people can use sign language to chat online instead of typing. Perhaps looking at ability provides us with another way of thinking about the digital divide. Hmmm, anyone still need a thesis topic?