WEBVTT - Talking Tech 5th December 2023 0:00:08.178 --> 0:00:12.168 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:12.168 --> 0:00:16.308 December the 5th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:16.308 --> 0:00:19.848 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, Associated 0:00:19.848 --> 0:00:24.138 Stations of Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There 0:00:24.138 --> 0:00:27.138 is also the podcast. To catch that, all you need 0:00:27.138 --> 0:00:30.108 to do is search for the two words talking tech 0:00:30.108 --> 0:00:33.138 and downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:00:33.138 --> 0:00:36.108 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:00:36.108 --> 0:00:39.708 your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia 0:00:39.708 --> 0:00:45.108 Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast 0:00:45.108 --> 0:00:47.718 with me, someone who can explain all the tech stuff 0:00:47.718 --> 0:00:52.968 really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology David 0:00:52.968 --> 0:00:57.828 Woodbridge David, we have a guest this week returning after 0:00:57.828 --> 0:01:02.088 the period in May teaming up with you, and it's 0:01:02.088 --> 0:01:03.738 good to have Michael Hart back again. 0:01:04.038 --> 0:01:05.538 Yep. Hi, David. Hi, Stephen. 0:01:05.808 --> 0:01:09.138 Indeed. What I may have mentioned, in fact, I did 0:01:09.138 --> 0:01:12.318 mention probably about which I want to say maybe over 0:01:12.318 --> 0:01:18.558 a month ago was the Forza motorsports 2023 the new 0:01:18.558 --> 0:01:21.948 accessible version of that game. And when I talked about it, 0:01:21.948 --> 0:01:23.658 they were talking about the fact that, you know, it 0:01:23.658 --> 0:01:27.108 was all accessible, you know, blind and low vision, and 0:01:27.108 --> 0:01:30.108 other people could play it. It had all these audio 0:01:30.108 --> 0:01:32.628 type functions to let you play the game. It had 0:01:32.628 --> 0:01:36.018 these different options to allow you to sort of better 0:01:36.018 --> 0:01:39.168 control your car, all that sort of stuff. And, you know, 0:01:39.168 --> 0:01:41.388 I listened to a few YouTube videos on it, but 0:01:41.388 --> 0:01:43.398 I thought, wouldn't it be nice to actually really talk 0:01:43.398 --> 0:01:48.198 to somebody in reality that's actually been playing with the game? 0:01:48.198 --> 0:01:51.918 So what I thought, well, when I spoke to Michael 0:01:51.918 --> 0:01:54.648 a couple of weeks ago, I said, you know, when 0:01:54.648 --> 0:01:57.078 you're comfortable with using the game, I'll get you on 0:01:57.078 --> 0:02:00.048 talking tech to have a chat about it. So Mark, 0:02:00.058 --> 0:02:02.748 welcome to the program again. And my question for you 0:02:02.898 --> 0:02:07.578 up front is when you install the actual game, is 0:02:07.578 --> 0:02:10.278 it sort of up front where you've got the accessibility options, 0:02:10.278 --> 0:02:12.348 and what are the main ones that you think you 0:02:12.348 --> 0:02:13.788 need to turn on to play the game? 0:02:14.358 --> 0:02:17.178 Yeah, it's straight up. As soon as you boot it 0:02:17.178 --> 0:02:19.308 up on the Xbox, the first thing that comes up 0:02:19.308 --> 0:02:22.968 is an audio menu asking you what you want to do, 0:02:22.968 --> 0:02:26.208 if you want to turn on screen reader things like that, 0:02:26.208 --> 0:02:29.058 which is very quick and easy to do. So I 0:02:29.058 --> 0:02:32.808 found that really good, which that also works on the 0:02:32.808 --> 0:02:37.758 Xbox Cloud gaming. So if you have an Xbox Game Pass, 0:02:37.758 --> 0:02:41.058 you can also cloud game this. You don't have to 0:02:41.058 --> 0:02:45.888 actually install it. So but it it then quickly gives 0:02:45.888 --> 0:02:50.748 you a quick menu of turning on heavy assists, which 0:02:50.748 --> 0:02:54.528 is used for blind gaming, which turns on a lot 0:02:54.528 --> 0:02:59.358 of a lot of assists like steering assist, braking assist. 0:02:59.358 --> 0:03:02.748 I don't think it sets up throttle assist to start with, 0:03:02.748 --> 0:03:05.928 but then it also turns on all the audio cues 0:03:05.928 --> 0:03:10.968 for the edge of the road brake zones, things like that. 0:03:11.718 --> 0:03:15.648 Okay. Yeah. So with this heavy assist stuff on initially, 0:03:16.098 --> 0:03:19.188 do you still feel like you're driving the car or 0:03:19.188 --> 0:03:20.688 is it a bit too automatic? 0:03:21.378 --> 0:03:25.608 Well, from the start, I suggest you if you are 0:03:25.608 --> 0:03:28.908 a blind gamer or even really, really low vision like 0:03:28.908 --> 0:03:32.388 I am, I definitely suggest turning it all on and 0:03:32.388 --> 0:03:35.178 just playing around with it to start with, because you 0:03:35.178 --> 0:03:38.778 definitely need it right? Until you get used to the 0:03:38.778 --> 0:03:43.728 audio cues to understand what they're all doing. So basically 0:03:43.728 --> 0:03:46.398 I left them on for a good while. I'd like 0:03:46.398 --> 0:03:48.858 to say two weeks before I even thought about turning 0:03:48.858 --> 0:03:51.978 them off. And it's still fun to play. It's really 0:03:51.978 --> 0:03:55.368 enjoyable because you're doing the full acceleration and you can 0:03:55.368 --> 0:03:58.518 still over accelerate on corners and things like that, and 0:03:58.518 --> 0:04:02.148 still you can still, unless you've got all the stability 0:04:02.148 --> 0:04:06.018 control and traction control on which I'm now that far 0:04:06.018 --> 0:04:08.958 into the game, I've turned all that off, all the 0:04:08.958 --> 0:04:12.048 traction control and things like that. So I can spin 0:04:12.048 --> 0:04:16.128 the car, I can do donuts on the straight, but 0:04:17.238 --> 0:04:19.998 once you get more used to it, what I really 0:04:19.998 --> 0:04:23.208 suggest is just turning off the I have it on 0:04:23.208 --> 0:04:26.718 partial assist for the braking, which will basically you can 0:04:26.718 --> 0:04:29.088 just hold your finger flat on the throttle and and 0:04:29.088 --> 0:04:31.158 for the most part it'll go all the way around 0:04:31.158 --> 0:04:31.938 the track. 0:04:32.748 --> 0:04:36.798 But okay, so when you turn these functions off, I mean, 0:04:36.858 --> 0:04:39.438 that was all partially off. It sounds really good. The 0:04:39.438 --> 0:04:44.028 audio cues are there sort of 1001 audio cues to remember, 0:04:44.028 --> 0:04:46.758 or are there sort of like several main ones if 0:04:46.758 --> 0:04:48.948 you like that you can remember, like going close to 0:04:48.948 --> 0:04:50.598 the edge of the road, all that sort of stuff. 0:04:51.198 --> 0:04:53.718 There are quite a few. You can turn some of 0:04:53.718 --> 0:04:55.878 them off, like I don't have all the gear shifting 0:04:55.878 --> 0:04:58.518 off on or anything like that. I just basically have 0:04:58.518 --> 0:05:02.868 the edge of the road, the braking zone, which tells 0:05:02.868 --> 0:05:04.668 you you're going too fast when you're coming into the 0:05:04.668 --> 0:05:08.108 braking zone and the actual cornering. As you go through 0:05:08.108 --> 0:05:11.678 the corners. There's three sounds and so it'll do the 0:05:11.678 --> 0:05:14.168 first sound, the second sound, and then a higher pitched 0:05:14.168 --> 0:05:16.058 sound to tell you coming out of the corner. So 0:05:16.058 --> 0:05:18.248 you know, to accelerate. Okay. 0:05:18.248 --> 0:05:20.678 So it's really not it's really not overwhelming then in 0:05:20.678 --> 0:05:21.188 a way. 0:05:21.938 --> 0:05:25.688 It is to start with because you're listening. And I 0:05:25.688 --> 0:05:29.048 forgot to mention the engine sounds which will move from 0:05:29.048 --> 0:05:31.388 left to right. So the engine noise will go to 0:05:31.388 --> 0:05:34.118 the left. If you're coming into a left hand corner, 0:05:34.268 --> 0:05:37.118 the idea is to try and center that engine sound 0:05:37.118 --> 0:05:39.938 to to make sure you're cornering at the right speed. 0:05:39.938 --> 0:05:42.158 But it is overwhelming to start because you're listening to 0:05:42.158 --> 0:05:45.668 the engine noise, the road noise and everything. So but 0:05:45.668 --> 0:05:47.708 once you get used to it, it's a lot of fun. 0:05:47.978 --> 0:05:50.318 Okay, and just one final question. Could you play with 0:05:50.318 --> 0:05:51.728 other players online? 0:05:52.418 --> 0:05:56.228 No, no, I haven't tried a private gaming server yet 0:05:56.228 --> 0:05:59.918 because the multiplayer servers to play this, you can't you 0:05:59.918 --> 0:06:03.338 cannot play with cars turned on like you can race 0:06:03.338 --> 0:06:05.468 against other cars, but you have it so you drive 0:06:05.468 --> 0:06:08.528 straight through them because it'd be impossible to overtake them. 0:06:08.528 --> 0:06:11.018 This does not even try to overtake you. Just keep 0:06:11.018 --> 0:06:12.848 ramming into the back of them, okay? 0:06:12.848 --> 0:06:15.758 Yep. Now what we probably should clarify is. So when 0:06:15.758 --> 0:06:18.098 we said you can play it on Xbox Series X 0:06:18.098 --> 0:06:21.908 and Xbox Cloud, so the Xbox console is fine. But 0:06:21.908 --> 0:06:24.758 when you're talking about xCloud, that's really windows. It's not 0:06:24.758 --> 0:06:26.138 on the Mac, I'm assuming. 0:06:26.978 --> 0:06:29.348 Oh, I did actually test that because I thought this 0:06:29.348 --> 0:06:32.438 would be great on a mac. But no, unfortunately there's 0:06:32.438 --> 0:06:36.218 no Xbox app for the Mac, whereas window it comes 0:06:36.218 --> 0:06:41.618 pre-installed with with Windows 10 and Windows 11. And you 0:06:41.618 --> 0:06:43.928 can install the games, but you can you can just 0:06:43.928 --> 0:06:46.958 play it through cloud, which basically streams it like a movie, 0:06:46.958 --> 0:06:49.928 and it's very stable. I play it on my computer 0:06:49.928 --> 0:06:52.898 all the time, but you will need an Xbox controller 0:06:52.898 --> 0:06:54.098 plugged into your computer. 0:06:54.218 --> 0:06:57.488 Yes. Sounds fantastic. So the price of the game, is 0:06:57.488 --> 0:06:58.658 it fairly expensive. 0:06:59.618 --> 0:07:04.808 To purchase the game outright? You're looking at about $115, 0:07:04.808 --> 0:07:09.218 but if you pay for an Xbox game Pass, which 0:07:09.218 --> 0:07:12.788 is about $19 a month for the ultimate you, that 0:07:12.788 --> 0:07:14.348 gets you the game and you can play it as 0:07:14.348 --> 0:07:16.238 much as you like. So when you get bored with 0:07:16.238 --> 0:07:17.528 it or you don't want to play it anymore, you 0:07:17.528 --> 0:07:20.648 just stop the subscription and it may have only cost 0:07:20.648 --> 0:07:21.668 you six months. 0:07:22.358 --> 0:07:25.028 Excellent. Fantastic. All right. So what I'll do in the 0:07:25.028 --> 0:07:27.158 show notes, I'll pop a link into there where people 0:07:27.158 --> 0:07:29.138 can find out more information about it. I've still got 0:07:29.138 --> 0:07:32.648 the YouTube link from a month or so ago. So 0:07:32.648 --> 0:07:36.788 thanks Michael for the very quick but good, concise overview 0:07:36.788 --> 0:07:39.968 of Forza motorsport. My poor little PC is not strong 0:07:39.968 --> 0:07:43.208 enough to probably play the game, so hopefully for my 0:07:43.208 --> 0:07:46.028 Christmas I'll be getting an X-Box X series. So again, 0:07:46.028 --> 0:07:47.468 thanks for coming on the program. 0:07:47.678 --> 0:07:49.838 No problem at all and I hope people enjoy the game, 0:07:49.838 --> 0:07:53.078 because it's great to see all these accessible games coming out. 0:07:54.038 --> 0:08:00.218 Michael Hart from Central Queensland, Gladstone speaking with David Woodbridge 0:08:00.218 --> 0:08:03.218 about one of the amazing games you can play with 0:08:03.218 --> 0:08:06.158 your X-Box. Have a good festive season Michael. 0:08:06.698 --> 0:08:07.568 Thank you Stephen. 0:08:08.578 --> 0:08:11.338 Now, David, we were talking last week about the Object 0:08:11.338 --> 0:08:14.308 Detector app, and you were going to go away and 0:08:14.308 --> 0:08:19.148 play with some way of attaching the phone around head height. 0:08:19.168 --> 0:08:19.888 Tell us. 0:08:20.488 --> 0:08:22.498 I was talking about and I did, and I bought 0:08:22.498 --> 0:08:27.538 this sort of $16 fabric headband. So it goes around 0:08:27.868 --> 0:08:31.018 your head in the band. It's got a clip on 0:08:31.018 --> 0:08:32.818 the front of it that holds your phone in portrait 0:08:32.818 --> 0:08:34.978 landscape mode, and it's got a sort of a band 0:08:34.978 --> 0:08:36.658 that sort of goes from front to back over the 0:08:36.658 --> 0:08:38.668 top of your head to sort of try and hold 0:08:38.668 --> 0:08:41.368 your phone on. Now, I thought this would be a 0:08:41.368 --> 0:08:44.878 great way of using the obstacle detector app to detect 0:08:44.878 --> 0:08:48.448 tree branches and overhanging signs. I didn't get to try 0:08:48.448 --> 0:08:51.208 out signs, but tree branches and so on did not 0:08:51.208 --> 0:08:55.528 work at all because they're not really that massive as in, 0:08:55.528 --> 0:08:57.448 you know, a big wall in front of you or 0:08:57.448 --> 0:09:00.208 a big truck or whatever else. It didn't really work. 0:09:00.208 --> 0:09:03.208 And the second thing I found out about is, depending 0:09:03.208 --> 0:09:06.278 on the weight of your phone, it's really uncomfortable to 0:09:06.318 --> 0:09:10.438 to have basically a phone on your forehead. So my 0:09:10.438 --> 0:09:13.858 14 Pro Max, which is actually quite big, it was 0:09:13.858 --> 0:09:16.468 horrible to use on my head. The back of the 0:09:16.468 --> 0:09:19.588 band kept slipping forward. I know why now. People have 0:09:19.588 --> 0:09:23.338 huge sort of these virtual headsets on their head that 0:09:23.338 --> 0:09:26.308 really hold them tight. So as a bit of a 0:09:26.308 --> 0:09:30.088 test run, this was a bit of a failure. It's 0:09:30.088 --> 0:09:32.488 just the weight. It's really uncomfortable. I've got to try 0:09:32.488 --> 0:09:35.428 it with my 12 pro and we'll see how that 0:09:35.428 --> 0:09:39.268 goes back. Yeah. Initially the the reports and the results 0:09:39.268 --> 0:09:41.158 so far are not favourable. 0:09:41.518 --> 0:09:45.238 Let's talk Vision Australia's vision store now. The cut off 0:09:45.238 --> 0:09:49.618 date for ordering for the West was last Friday the 0:09:49.618 --> 0:09:54.298 1st of December, still this Friday the 8th of December. 0:09:54.298 --> 0:09:56.608 But you can visit a store and still buy stuff, 0:09:56.608 --> 0:09:58.078 can't you, right up to Christmas. 0:09:58.378 --> 0:10:00.448 That's right. Because we've really been saying, you know, if 0:10:00.448 --> 0:10:03.058 you order stuff that's not in stock in the shop 0:10:03.058 --> 0:10:05.638 or in the warehouse, then you're going to wait for it. 0:10:05.638 --> 0:10:08.248 So that's that was before the, you know, the the 0:10:08.248 --> 0:10:12.658 shutdown date before Christmas to make sure you get it. Otherwise, yes, 0:10:12.658 --> 0:10:16.018 you can walk into any Vision Australia office where the 0:10:16.018 --> 0:10:19.348 vision stores are. And as long as something in stock 0:10:19.528 --> 0:10:22.468 on the shelves, you can buy it. So I lost 0:10:22.468 --> 0:10:24.958 my audio liquid level indicator a couple of weeks ago 0:10:24.958 --> 0:10:26.098 and I thought, well, I better go and get a 0:10:26.098 --> 0:10:28.738 new one. So I popped into the vision store last 0:10:28.738 --> 0:10:31.828 week and grab one, and now it's up and running again, 0:10:31.828 --> 0:10:35.398 so to speak. So yes, you can definitely pop in 0:10:35.398 --> 0:10:39.658 the vision. Australia is open until the 22nd of December, 0:10:39.658 --> 0:10:43.198 which is the Friday. So yes, the the shop as 0:10:43.198 --> 0:10:45.568 they say will be opened for business. 0:10:46.348 --> 0:10:50.428 Now this one reminds me of Lost Super. But it's 0:10:50.428 --> 0:10:54.088 not quite like that. It's about Gmail accounts that you 0:10:54.088 --> 0:10:57.298 may have had over the years. There's things to talk 0:10:57.298 --> 0:10:58.288 about with those. 0:10:58.618 --> 0:11:01.888 What Google said back in May this year was that 0:11:01.888 --> 0:11:05.548 any unused accounts that have not been used for two 0:11:05.548 --> 0:11:09.478 years at all will start to be deleted. Now that 0:11:09.478 --> 0:11:12.388 didn't say they'd all go at once as of December 1st. 0:11:12.388 --> 0:11:15.298 They said they're going to start looking at the accounts 0:11:15.298 --> 0:11:18.448 and deleting them, and you will get a warning if 0:11:18.448 --> 0:11:21.448 you've got a recovery email or a phone number attached 0:11:21.448 --> 0:11:24.688 to those old accounts, which it may not have. But 0:11:24.688 --> 0:11:27.268 the best way to find out that if you've got 0:11:27.268 --> 0:11:29.638 an old account that's been wandering around that you don't 0:11:29.638 --> 0:11:33.718 even know about, if you go to accounts dot google.com 0:11:33.718 --> 0:11:38.638 in there, you can actually search for your old email accounts. 0:11:38.638 --> 0:11:40.498 And I've had a few floating around that I've only 0:11:40.498 --> 0:11:43.558 used for testing. So if they go, I don't really 0:11:43.558 --> 0:11:45.508 care about it. But as long as you use the 0:11:45.508 --> 0:11:50.338 account for, you know, sending and receiving an email or 0:11:50.338 --> 0:11:54.958 you sign up to a third party subscriber service, they're 0:11:54.958 --> 0:12:00.388 also classified as active email addresses. So have a look. 0:12:00.388 --> 0:12:01.978 If you don't need them, then, you know don't worry 0:12:01.978 --> 0:12:05.278 about them. But definitely two years and this will be 0:12:05.278 --> 0:12:07.648 a policy from now on. So if you don't use 0:12:07.648 --> 0:12:11.368 an email account for two years, even moving forward, now 0:12:12.418 --> 0:12:15.208 you'll get a notification saying, well, if you don't do anything, 0:12:15.208 --> 0:12:17.008 the account will be deleted. 0:12:17.458 --> 0:12:19.828 One of the nice things you can do these days, 0:12:19.828 --> 0:12:22.618 if you've got a smart device, a phone or a 0:12:22.618 --> 0:12:26.458 tablet that's got a camera in it, even a computer actually. 0:12:26.458 --> 0:12:29.068 But I'm thinking of more the mobile device, so you 0:12:29.068 --> 0:12:32.578 can link up with somebody in a video way, and 0:12:32.578 --> 0:12:35.638 that can be a great help to people to find 0:12:35.638 --> 0:12:37.918 things out or have things read to you or explain 0:12:37.918 --> 0:12:40.528 or whatever. But there's different ways you can do it, 0:12:40.528 --> 0:12:41.188 isn't there? 0:12:41.368 --> 0:12:43.618 There is. And if you want to find out something, 0:12:43.618 --> 0:12:45.808 or you want to just double check something with a person, 0:12:45.808 --> 0:12:48.268 I'm always amazed that you can just pop your hand 0:12:48.268 --> 0:12:50.998 in your pocket, grab out your phone and have a 0:12:50.998 --> 0:12:55.618 quote video link with a friend or somebody else through 0:12:55.618 --> 0:12:58.708 video link. Now, because I'm an iPhone user, I use 0:12:59.068 --> 0:13:03.328 FaceTime on my iPhone. But of course, if you're using Android, 0:13:03.328 --> 0:13:07.018 you can use the WhatsApp service. And of course you 0:13:07.018 --> 0:13:10.718 can also use the. Of audio and other services as well. 0:13:11.078 --> 0:13:14.708 It's just amazing because back in the old days before 0:13:14.708 --> 0:13:17.408 video link, you'd have to ring up somebody and say, look, 0:13:17.408 --> 0:13:19.838 I think I'm near the shop. Can you sort of 0:13:19.838 --> 0:13:22.028 like try and talk me through where I am? Whereas 0:13:22.028 --> 0:13:24.678 now you've can't quite find the door of the shop. 0:13:24.698 --> 0:13:27.278 You just ring up the video chat with the person, 0:13:27.278 --> 0:13:29.558 point the camera around and they go, yep, go left, 0:13:29.558 --> 0:13:31.898 go right or you're in front of the wrong shop. 0:13:31.898 --> 0:13:34.288 Just go to your right about ten meters and so on. 0:13:34.298 --> 0:13:37.358 It's basically instant assistance, as I say. 0:13:37.688 --> 0:13:41.558 Absolutely amazing. Before we go, a reminder of where people 0:13:41.558 --> 0:13:43.868 can find details of what we've been talking about in 0:13:43.868 --> 0:13:45.968 this and previous editions of the programme. 0:13:46.148 --> 0:13:48.368 Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:13:48.368 --> 0:13:53.108 which is David would be r dot podbean pod b com. 0:13:53.318 --> 0:13:58.988 David would be dot podbean pod b e a n.com. 0:13:58.988 --> 0:14:00.278 To write to the programme. 0:14:00.428 --> 0:14:02.228 You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, 0:14:02.228 --> 0:14:06.998 which is David Woodbridge how it sounds at Vision australia.org. 0:14:07.298 --> 0:14:11.648 David dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has been 0:14:11.648 --> 0:14:14.978 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor 0:14:14.978 --> 0:14:19.238 on access technology, David Woodbridge. We also heard from Michael 0:14:19.238 --> 0:14:24.068 Hart telling us about that amazing motorsport game. I'm Stephen Jolley. 0:14:24.068 --> 0:14:26.378 Stay safe. We'll talk more tech next week. See you.