Today, Microsoft announced a new book that it"s producing called The Ability Hacks. The book tells the story of two projects that won the company"s One Week Hackathon in 2014 and 2015.
The first project is called EyeGaze, and it was designed to help people drive a wheelchair with their eyes. It was made for former NFL player Steve Gleason, who has ALS, and although the solution was complete with duct tape, it inspired the creation of Microsoft Research"s NExT Enable group, which eventually led to the Eye Control feature in Windows 10.
The other project that the book focuses on is Learning Tools, which won the hackathon in 2015. With a team consisting of "developers, a reading team and a speech pathologist", it worked with students and educators to create a solution for people with dyslexia. The end result helps emerging readers, people with ADHD, and more. Today, Learning Tools is integrated into most versions of Office.
The good news is that Microsoft is offering The Ability Hacks for free in PDF and EPUB formats. If free is too low of a price for you, you can also buy the Kindle version for $7.99 or the paperback for $21.99.