By Michael Barber
Contributing Writer
For many years, money identification for many of us was done by folding money in many different ways for each denomination. I fold my fives in half, my 10s get folded once lengthways, etc. I used to have to ask a sighted person what the bills were if I got them confused. 
Various electronic note-teller devices came on the scene, which were at considerable cost. They did the job, but they were a little larger than I liked to carry around.
The iBill, from Orbit Research came on the scene early last year, and I thought it was the perfect answer. It was very small, ran on batteries and the identification of currency was relatively speedy. Plus, it had the added advantage of vibrating in different ways for each denomination of bill so deaf-blind people could use it.
Recently, however, the LookTel Money Reader from LookTel Products became available as an app for the iPhone (4), 3GS and the iPod (4th Generation). Available from the App Store, this new app makes it possible to turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into an instant money identification system.
You simply start the app and literally hover your device over the bill and you have instant identification. You can lay several bills side by side and move your device over them and each is identified instantly. The cost for the app is $1.98, a far cry less expensive than anything else on the market today.
Stay tuned, because according to LookTel, this is just the beginning! The company is considering other apps for object identification, document scanning and more!
Pingback: How I crossed over to the ‘Dark Side’ (I mean iPhone) | Technology for the Blind