bulletin boardaboutthe Kurzweil Library
June 1, 2023
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— contents —
~ about ~ the Kurzweil Library
~ map ~ of the collections.
~ topics ~ in the library.
~ contact ~ e-mail
~ contact ~ address
~ contact ~ team
~ the Kurzweil family of companies | CURRENT
~ the Kurzweil family of companies | LEGACY
~ for education
~ for philanthropy
~ creative projects
~ film projects
~ bulletin on privacy
ABOUT | the Kurzweil Library
Tracking the acceleration of intelligence.
This library catalogs the advances in tech, science, and world progress that are shaping tomorrow.
Our website is published by Ray Kurzweil — the inventor, best-selling author, and futurist. The collections explore themes from his landmark non-fiction books. The concept of accelerating intelligence is from his writings.
the 1st definition is:
As a society we’re ever-increasing our abilities.
the 2nd definition is:
The clock of civilization is speeding-up.
Today we can learn faster than ever before. We have better, easier access to both knowledge + know-how.
Swift changes are happening on our planet. Burgeoning opportunities for abundance promise to solve global problems — but we also have to manage more complex situations.
Sections of the library.
The Kurzweil Library features a hand-picked digest of stories + resources. We follow progress in the science + tech landscape.
This official website is also home to the complete collections of writings and commentary by Ray Kurzweil.
We also present his lifetime of pioneering work in electronics + computing. And we maintain his bibliography of books — and a collection of his press and appearances. Plus historical tours of his inventions and celebrity collaborators.
MAP | of the collections
- the Kurzweil Library
- books — by Ray Kurzweil
- writings — by Ray Kurzweil
- Ray Kurzweil — lifetime of innovation
- Ray Kurzweil — press + appearances
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TOPICS | in the library
We collect noteworthy: trends, breakthroughs, products, discoveries, resources, and projects about
- the marketplace + innovation
- the government + defense
- the city of tomorrow
- the community of tomorrow
- the machines of tomorrow
- the software of tomorrow
- good future
- digital web + communication
- digital arts + entertainment
- digital lifestyle
- digital education
- tech-assisted medicine
- tech-assisted exploration
- tech-assisted manufacturing
- tech-assisted finance
- tech-assisted discovery science
- design in the material world
- design in the organic world
- design in the virtual world
- smart home
- smart devices
- smart mobility
— e-mail —
mail for the library
| fan mail to Ray Kurzweil | mail [ at ] KurzweilTech.com |
mail for Ray Kurzweil
| interview requests | interviews [ at ] KurzweilTech.com |
| writing requests | writing [ at ] KurzweilTech.com |
| speaking requests | speaking [ at ] KurzweilTech.com |
— address —
Kurzweil Technologies co.
935 Great Plain Avenue
no. 111
Needham, Massachusetts
02492 | United States
tele. | 781.263.0000
— team —
- Ray Kurzweil ~ publisher
- Sarah Black ~ library editor
- Nanda Barker-Hook ~ communications
- Kamil Pelka ~ web tech
- Ken Linde ~ web tech
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CURRENT | the Kurzweil family of companies
These companies were founded by Ray Kurzweil — and continue to make products available to the public. If you need purchase or technical support, each company’s website + contact are linked. Today’s status of each company is also shown below. If it achieved a historic breakthrough — that’s indicated by a gold ribbon + description of the innovation.
— contents —
1. Kurzweil Music
2. Transcend Longevity
3. Kurzweil Education
4. the OneStep Reader
1. |
Kurzweil Music co.
owned by ~ Young Chang — a Hyundai Development company.
product: digital keyboards
web: home ~ support
historic achievement |
company: Kurzweil Music co.
founded: circa 1980
Kurzweil Music was co-founded by Ray Kurzweil and legendary singer + song-writer Stevie Wonder. Today it continues to make state-of-the-art electronic music keyboards — called synthesizers.
The company created the world’s first digital keyboard that could accurately re-create the sound of an acoustic grand piano. It’s famous among top musicians for its ability to emulate a full orchestra of instruments.
2. |
Transcend Longevity co.
presented by ~ Ray + Terry’s
product: nutritional supplements
web: home ~ support
3. |
Kurzweil Education co.
owned by ~ Cambium Learning — a Veritas Capital company.
product: educational software for disabilities
web: home ~ support ~ portal
4. |
the OneStep Reader
owned by ~ Sensotec — an Allkind company.
product: text-to-speech app for mobile phones
web: home ~ support
historic achievement |
product: the K-NFB Reader
founded: circa 2000
Formerly known as the K-NFB Reader — which stands for Kurzweil + the National Federation of the Blind. This mobile phone app is now called the OneStep Reader. It uses advanced computer software called optical character recognition.
The reader was one of the first apps installed on a smart-phone that could photograph printed text anywhere, and read it aloud. This historic capability gave the blind and low-vision increased freedom + mobility.
The reader was developed in the early 2000s by the federation + inventor Ray Kurzweil. It won the Golden Apple Award by AppleVis — given to a product that improves the lives of visually disabled people. Over 20 years, the app improved through the collaboration of the federation + Sensotec. In 2022, the OneStep Reader became a product of Sensotec.
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LEGACY | the Kurzweil family of companies
These companies were founded by Ray Kurzweil — and have been sold or integrated into other businesses + projects. Today’s status of each company is also shown below. If it achieved a historic breakthrough — that’s indicated by a gold ribbon + description of the innovation.
— contents —
1. Blio
2. Kurzweil Computer Products
3. Kurzweil Applied Intelligence
4. Financial Accelerating Transactions
5. Medical Learning
1. |
Blio co.
presented by ~ Kurzweil + the National Federation of the Blind
product: e-reader software + e-book library
currently: in transition
2. |
Kurzweil Computer Products co.
owned by ~ Nuance — a Microsoft company.
product: text-to-speech software
currently: integrated into products at Nuance
historic achievement |
company: Kurzweil Computer Products co.
founded: 1974
The company Kurzweil Computer Products engineered the world’s first electronic text-to-speech reading machine. The product consisted of smart software + a customized flat-bed paper scanner — that could read aloud the text printed on any document put through the scanner. This was a super-tool for blind + low vision people.
To achieve the reading machine’s capability, the team developed the world’s first omni-font optical character recognition software. This is software that’s able to visually detect any printed text on paper — and recognize the letters + symbols in any typeface, style, or size. The software then converts the scanned text into data that the computer can understand — making it ready to be spoken aloud with computerized speech.
At that time, acoustic engineers and computer scientists were just beginning to experiment with software + hardware systems that could mimic human-sounding speech. This is called synthetic speech.
Making the speech sound natural and understandable was a daunting challenge. The team at Kurzweil Computer Products innovated the world’s first text-to-speech.
for reference
How OCR works | home
tag line: A complete guide.
from: Wikipedia
profile ~ optical character recognition
profile ~
profile ~ reading machine
3. |
Kurzweil Applied Intelligence co.
owned by ~ Nuance — a Microsoft company.
product: speech-to-text software
currently: integrated into products at Nuance
historic achievement |
company: Kurzweil Applied Intelligence co.
founded: founded 1982
The company Kurzweil Applied Intelligence created the 1st commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition computer software system in 1987. The product was called Kurzweil Voice Report — it contained a 100,000 word vocabulary.
The company broke new ground in voice recognition with software products that enabled physicians to dictate medical reports. In the field of computer science, speech recognition is software that translates spoken language into text.
4. |
Financial Accelerating Transactions co.
presented by ~ Kurzweil Adaptive Technologies
product: financial investment software service
currently: fund for select investors
5. |
the Medical Learning co.
presented by ~ the American Board of Family Practice
product: continuing health-care education + virtual patient simulator
currently: in transition
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for education | Singularity grp.
— about —
Singularity grp. was co-founded in 2008 by Peter Diamandis MD + Ray Kurzweil. Our mission is to educate, inspire, and empower today’s leaders. The path to an abundant future is exponential tech, science, knowledge, and know-how.
We’ve hosted entrepreneurs, policy-makers, industry executives, and government officials — from 85+ countries. We prepare individuals + organizations for tomorrow through our line-up of: group events, consulting, annual summits, and educational programs. Discover our leadership development — designed to help you think like a futurist.
web: home ~ channel
tag line: Own the future.
bio | Ray Kurzweil ~ co-founder
bio | Peter Diamandis MD ~ co-founder
— featurette —
for philanthropy | the Kurzweil Foundation
— about —
This foundation awards scholarships to people with blindness + low vision. It was founded + funded by Ray Kurzweil in year 1985. Today, it continues his life-long support of the disabled community through innovation, advocacy, and financial aid.
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— creative projects —
1. |
project: cyber-art technologies — by Ray Kurzweil
tool: Two software programs that use AI to craft human-like pieces.
makes: digital art + poetry
2. |
project: virtual girl Ramona — by Ray Kurzweil
creation: She’s a digital avatar + clever chat-bot.
makes: automated dialogue
— film projects —
1. |
film title: the Singularity Is Near
deck: A true story about the future.
film-maker: by Ray Kurzweil
year: 2010
2. |
film title: Transcendent Man
deck: A documentary on the life + ideas of Ray Kurzweil.
film-maker: by Ptolemaic Productions
year: 2009
BULLETIN | on privacy
Hello,
Please be assured that our newsletter + website comply with the data protection + privacy act from the European Union — called the General Data Protection Regulation.
What we collect for our newsletter subscription is: e-mail address. We never share your data — and we don’t sell our lists. We sometimes send notes about projects within our family of companies.
If you signed-up for our newsletter, you agreed to receive our e-mails. And to un-subscribe please see instructions here.
We hope you enjoy the library.
— library editor
from platform: Wikipedia
profile ~ the European Union
profile ~ the European Commission
profile ~ the General Data Protection Regulation
note: the European Commission | data protection
— notes —
omni = all
AI = artificial intelligence
OCR = optical character recognition
HDC = Hyundai Development co.
NFB = the National Federation of the Blind
US = United States
EU = European Union
co. = company
grp. = group