S1: Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: November 28th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have you
S1: with us. Listening may be through Vision Australia Radio, Associated
S1: Stations of Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There
S1: is also the podcast to catch that. What you need
S1: to do is search for the two words talking tech
S1: and down can Canal come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
S1: just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
S1: your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia
S1: Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking Tech podcast
S1: with me, someone who can explain all this tech stuff
S1: really well written. Australia's national advisor on access Technology, David Woodbridge. David,
S1: let's talk today about some of the apps that have
S1: come to your attention and some of them to mine
S1: throughout the year.
S2: Yeah, because looking back in the year, I've suddenly realised
S2: that I've gone far beyond in some ways, just using
S2: sort of apps on my iPhone or even my Android
S2: phone to, to be exact. And I've gone into more
S2: getting more information around what's happening with our planet for
S2: general news, technology and everything else.
S1: So talking of getting information, let's talk about information around you.
S1: The Environment Obstacle Detector came to your attention recently.
S2: It did. And this uses your camera on your iPhone
S2: because that's what I tested it on. I'm not sure
S2: if there's an Android version and what it does. It vibrates, speaks,
S2: and makes sounds when you get close to an object.
S2: So it's very similar to sort of other handheld devices.
S2: Now I've tried it out with a chest harness. I
S2: think I might have said it a few weeks ago
S2: and it worked beautifully. Well, oddly, it doesn't work with
S2: overhanging trees, so tree branches or leaves and so on.
S2: And I think that's because it's not quite solid enough
S2: for the signal to bounce back. So I've currently ordered
S2: a head mount for my iPhone and I'm going to
S2: see if that makes any difference.
S1: So how is it giving you the information. What are
S1: you actually hearing?
S2: I can hear speech. So it's going to say like
S2: 1.5 1.5m away or 0.5m away, which drives me crazy.
S2: The vibration actually gets a lot more solid if you like,
S2: but the one that I use is the beeping sound.
S2: So when you're two meters away, it's like a click.
S2: When it's 1.5m away, it's like a beep. And then
S2: when it's one meter away. So almost within arm's distance away,
S2: it's a very fast, rapid, solid beep.
S1: Very interesting. Now of course, our smart device is a
S1: source of great news content. And you use an RSS reader.
S1: You better tell us about what an RSS reader is
S1: and then the particular app that you use.
S2: RSS readers are basically a hyperlink or a feed link
S2: that goes to different websites. So when they update information
S2: on the website, it goes to that feed. So it's
S2: very much like you subscribing to a podcast feed, except
S2: this time you're actually subscribing to Attacks Feed if you like,
S2: where news stories pump. So things like in Australia, Sydney
S2: Morning Herald, The Age or those sort of major ones,
S2: and the RSS reader that I use, which I've searched
S2: for all different types of RSS feeds around the world,
S2: is leary l I r e RSS reader. And what
S2: I do every morning when I'm having my cup of
S2: coffee or cup of tea, I started up. It. Does
S2: a screen refresh or application refresh of all the RSS
S2: feeds that are following, which is, like I said, about 40,
S2: and then I simply read the ones that I want.
S2: I then asterisk the ones that I then want to
S2: post out to social media. And that's literally what I
S2: do for every single day, including getting stuff for talking tech.
S1: What's your way of getting access to X? What used
S1: to be Twitter.
S2: Oddly, I use an app called spring, which supposedly is
S2: not supposed to work anymore due to the lovely person
S2: at x slash Twitter. But it still does work and
S2: it's very accessible. So that's the one that I still use.
S2: So rather than using the quote X app, I use
S2: this spring app because it's just a lot more accessible
S2: than what Twitter app or accepts ever been.
S1: There's been a competitor to X over the last year
S1: or so. Mastodon. How do you access that?
S2: Yep. So Mastodon it does have its own app, but
S2: I use another app from the same developer that does spring.
S2: It's called Mona. Mona. And again, the developers spent a
S2: lot of time doing accessibility. Now the reasons why I
S2: in particular don't use any other clients or spend time
S2: really on Mona or the spring app is mainly because
S2: like every social media, everybody sort of sometimes. Post stuff
S2: that are not really relevant to what I'm looking at,
S2: so I tend to read and then share my information
S2: out to Mona and Spring. So i.e. Mastodon and Twitter,
S2: rather than reading those particular social websites.
S1: One of the video assistance apps that people use is
S1: Be My Eyes. It's been around for quite a few years.
S1: A major development with my eyes this year wasn't there?
S2: Oh, this was a huge explosion when they developed the
S2: virtual AI assistant to help you identify what was around you,
S2: and they were even mentioned at the open AI conference
S2: as being an absolute great example of how artificial intelligence
S2: can help people that are particularly blind or low vision.
S2: So I never used to use bias before, because I
S2: had no need to quote ring people for assistance. But
S2: since I'm very interested in finding what's around me when
S2: I'm out and about myself independently, I'm always using the
S2: virtual assistant in my eyes.
S1: So be my eye. How do you use it?
S2: Simply going to be my eyes. You choose the AI
S2: assistance tab and then you effectively take a picture, and
S2: then it comes back and tells you what's in that photo.
S2: And then you can interrogate that photo more if you
S2: wish to do so. So it's actually very well done.
S2: And of course, if it doesn't get right the first time,
S2: you can always ask it again and again and again
S2: just to double check your information. That's what I do
S2: with all AI systems. I always double check. I don't
S2: take the first thing that comes out with as the
S2: the whole and solely truth.
S1: And you don't have to take the photo from within
S1: the app. You can actually have photos already on your
S1: device and share those to be my AI, and it'll
S1: describe them, which is terrific.
S2: That's also true. So if you've taken photos from like
S2: from the camera app, for example, then you can do
S2: exactly the same thing. Yeah.
S1: Well, photos that somebody else has sent you all sorts of. Absolutely.
S2: Which is really great perplexity.
S1: That's another AI app that people use.
S2: Now you've spent more time with this one than I have.
S2: I must admit, I haven't spent that much time, and
S2: I find it a little bit messy to get information
S2: out of it, because it feels like I've got a
S2: sort of like go all over the screen to find
S2: the information. I'm assuming you've got the next using that
S2: app now?
S1: Yes, I use it quite regularly a couple of times.
S1: I've used it this year that immediately jump out. We
S1: were upgrading our NBN and I was wanting to find
S1: out about fibre to the home and what it was
S1: going to mean. I just asked perplexity about it and
S1: it explained it to me. Explained the modems that were available.
S1: ET cetera. The different kinds of cable that you can
S1: use then to carry the signal around, around your home.
S1: So I became an expert on what the difference was
S1: between cat five, cat six, cat seven. ET cetera. Something
S1: completely different is when listening to cricket on the radio.
S1: Sometimes I might wonder about a particular batsman and I
S1: can just ask perplexity, which hand is Hayley Matthews bat?
S1: And it'll come back and tell me about Haley Matthews.
S1: A lot more about her if I want it. Terrific.
S1: All sorts of stuff.
S2: That's really cool.
S1: So that's perplexity. Another one that people use, the Microsoft one. Bing.
S2: I like being in a few ways. One of the
S2: main reasons is because it's if you're quite live on
S2: the web, so it's not just coming off a large
S2: language model that hasn't been updated for a while, like
S2: it's voice feedback. The only thing I don't like and
S2: I know I can wear headphones is the the stop
S2: speaking button. If voiceover reads it out to me, then
S2: Bing thinks it's myself or whatever else talking to it,
S2: so it stops talking. So that's really irritating. And the
S2: other thing about being I find sometimes is if I'm
S2: not using the speech output bit, it has information on
S2: the screen, but I find it's not very friendly to
S2: try and find it quickly. And that's what I like
S2: about some of the newer systems, that it's very quick
S2: to find the information on the screen or have it
S2: spoken out to you, which Bing does do, but sometimes
S2: it just feels a bit too fiddly.
S1: Tell me about Call Any.
S2: Call any is an application for both iOS and the Mac,
S2: and I use core any on the Mac, and this
S2: is purely and you can use the keyboard, but this
S2: is purely voice input and voice output. So I can
S2: just simply sit here. I can run the call any
S2: application press on the button that says call any. And
S2: she knows my name now. So she says, Hi David,
S2: what can I do for today? I ask her questions,
S2: so she speaks back to me and we have a
S2: conversation now that is really, really amazing. So I find
S2: when I want to get straight information or query information
S2: I always tend to use Call Annie on my Mac.
S1: ChatGPT has been around a while now.
S2: It has been, and I'm looking forward to spending more
S2: time with ChatGPT. In fact, this weekend I had a
S2: whole conversation with the AI. Out. I and I literally
S2: spoke between 35 to 45 minutes asking it all about
S2: computer vision, computer enhancement, AI, VR, R, blah, blah, blah.
S2: And it was just absolutely incredible because you're speaking to
S2: it and it's speaking back to you. It really feels
S2: like you're using a human being. And I wasn't using headphones,
S2: but the stop speaking button is called Speak now, which
S2: means that it doesn't activate anything because it's just the
S2: Speak Now button. So I'm thinking I might even just
S2: apply for the full version of ChatGPT. So I get
S2: the latest database and internet access, then just using the
S2: free version now.
S1: So let's just explain this one to people that the
S1: app is called ChatGPT. It uses GPT 3.5 for the
S1: free version. The paid one is GPT four, but this feature,
S1: the speech feature in it that's just come out in
S1: the last few days, hasn't it?
S2: It has. And because you don't have to try and
S2: find information on the screen and it's all done by
S2: your voice and then the voice feedback, I think it's
S2: just updated my access to the app and the AI
S2: system for OpenAI and chat, GPT itself, the application is
S2: just 100% improvement.
S1: There's a lot more we could talk about with apps
S1: during the year. We'll get some more opportunity to do
S1: that in future weeks. The vision store taking Christmas orders
S1: now and in the final days, the vision store of
S1: Vision Australia.
S2: Indeed. So if you're listening to this program this week,
S2: then as of December 1st, that's the last date you
S2: can get your orders in before Christmas for Western Australia.
S2: And then Friday week, which should be December 8th for
S2: the rest of Australia, is the time to get your
S2: orders in. So it's guaranteed before the Christmas shutdown period
S2: for business rate, which we have every year and just
S2: has a bit of a sort of a bonus thing.
S2: What I did last week is I went out and about,
S2: so I went onto a main road, I went into
S2: a park, I went into a quite shady street. I
S2: did some stuff in my backyard and also one finishing off,
S2: one inside, and I just called it the sounds of
S2: Summer vision Store ideas, just that you can see that
S2: this stuff really does work, and you can really have
S2: lots of fun when you use this stuff out and about,
S2: particularly in summer.
S1: So for people, particularly in Australia and in New Zealand,
S1: who can access the Vision Australia Vision store, they haven't
S1: been there before. What are the sorts of things that
S1: they can get from there that will make a difference
S1: and would be good for Christmas presents?
S2: We do have a lot of gift ideas under $100.
S2: Quite a few things between 100 to say 5 or $600.
S2: And then then of course, you've got the big ticket
S2: items like video, desktop magnifiers and braille displays and that
S2: sort of stuff, but particularly things for the kitchen, such
S2: as cooking, preparation, checking how hot your meat is inside,
S2: whether it's cooked properly, checking what jars are actually in
S2: the pantry, and all that sort of cool stuff. Vision
S2: Australia has all the stuff to be fully independent, not
S2: only in the kitchen, but you think of different rooms
S2: in your house such as your bathroom, lounge room, bedroom
S2: and so on. Then we have stuff for practically every
S2: single room in your house. And like I just said
S2: in the podcast, when you're out and about as well,
S2: not just inside your own home.
S1: So for people struggling with their vision, it's a good
S1: way to open the door to all those possibilities with
S1: devices and things, isn't it?
S2: Indeed.
S1: Shop Dot Vision australia.org shop dot Vision australia.org. Before we go,
S1: a reminder of whether a details of what you've been
S1: talking about in this and previous editions of the program.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog
S2: site which is David would be Dot pod bad Pencom.
S1: David would be dot podbean pod a n and to
S1: write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at Business Real where I work,
S2: which is David Dot Woodbridge. It sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has
S1: been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national
S1: advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.