WEBVTT - Talking Tech 26th September 2023 0:00:44.109 --> 0:00:47.769 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:47.769 --> 0:00:51.999 the 26th of September 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to 0:00:51.999 --> 0:00:54.429 have you with us wherever you're listening, perhaps through Vision 0:00:54.429 --> 0:00:58.749 Australia Radio, associated Stations of Australia or maybe the Community 0:00:58.749 --> 0:01:02.409 Radio Network, there is also the podcast. If you haven't 0:01:02.409 --> 0:01:04.449 caught up with that yet, all you need to do 0:01:04.449 --> 0:01:07.539 is search for the two words talking tech, and then 0:01:07.539 --> 0:01:10.389 it can come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after 0:01:10.389 --> 0:01:13.569 it's been produced. Another option is to ask your Siri 0:01:13.569 --> 0:01:17.799 device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio Talking 0:01:17.829 --> 0:01:22.689 Tech Podcast. Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast. With me 0:01:22.689 --> 0:01:25.719 someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well. 0:01:25.719 --> 0:01:31.629 Vision Australia's National Advisor on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. David, 0:01:31.629 --> 0:01:36.429 the new Apple devices iPhones and Apple watches are now 0:01:36.429 --> 0:01:37.779 available for purchase. 0:01:38.199 --> 0:01:41.289 They are indeed. So we've got the iPhone 15, the 0:01:41.289 --> 0:01:45.939 15 plus the iPhone Pro and the iPhone Pro max. 0:01:45.939 --> 0:01:48.969 And so basically the smaller ones, the 15 and the 0:01:48.969 --> 0:01:52.539 15 pro with the 6.1 and the plus and the 0:01:52.539 --> 0:01:57.099 max one is your 6.7 diagonal inch screen. So they're 0:01:57.099 --> 0:02:00.549 now available to purchase. And of course, the Apple Watch 0:02:00.549 --> 0:02:05.259 Series nine and the Apple Watch Ultra two. And what 0:02:05.259 --> 0:02:07.279 I noticed on the Web, they were saying that particularly 0:02:07.279 --> 0:02:09.669 for the Apple Watch Ultra two, if you've already got 0:02:09.669 --> 0:02:13.509 an ultra one, there's really no point update to the 0:02:13.509 --> 0:02:18.939 Apple Watch Ultra two. But if you have a series 0:02:18.939 --> 0:02:22.479 four watch, which is going back a fair way, they 0:02:22.479 --> 0:02:24.369 are suggesting that you might want to update to the 0:02:24.369 --> 0:02:28.839 Series nine. If you have a series six, 7 or 8, 0:02:29.439 --> 0:02:32.439 They reckon the extra functionality in the Series nine is 0:02:32.439 --> 0:02:35.889 not dramatically besides the, you know, the being able to 0:02:36.219 --> 0:02:38.619 see it in very bright light. The screen is very, 0:02:38.619 --> 0:02:41.889 very bright now. But besides that, yeah, there just a 0:02:41.889 --> 0:02:44.229 few things to think about before you rush out and 0:02:44.229 --> 0:02:46.449 spend your good, well-earned money. 0:02:46.959 --> 0:02:50.559 And iOS 17 hit our devices last week. 0:02:51.279 --> 0:02:54.429 Yeah. Now, look, I've got very complacent because I remember we, 0:02:54.429 --> 0:02:58.219 we talked off air. I mentioned one thing about the, 0:02:58.219 --> 0:03:00.249 the side switch on the side of the iPhone and 0:03:00.249 --> 0:03:02.739 I called it a different name. And I suddenly realized 0:03:02.739 --> 0:03:06.219 that for you, iOS 17 is a completely new experience. 0:03:06.219 --> 0:03:08.829 I've been beta testing it since, what's it been, June 0:03:08.829 --> 0:03:12.129 this year. So how have you found iOS 17 overall 0:03:12.129 --> 0:03:15.429 as a sort of a brand new user, so to speak? Well, it. 0:03:15.429 --> 0:03:18.339 Reminded me of other times when I download new versions 0:03:18.339 --> 0:03:22.479 of iOS, it appears snappier at the start. That's nice. 0:03:22.479 --> 0:03:26.619 Some of the sounds are a little bit different. I 0:03:26.619 --> 0:03:31.689 noticed that notifications behaves a little differently, but that's all 0:03:31.689 --> 0:03:35.319 resolvable when you go to the settings and you've got 0:03:35.319 --> 0:03:38.889 to keep that in mind that sometimes things haven't actually 0:03:38.889 --> 0:03:41.499 been taken away, but they might have had their default 0:03:41.499 --> 0:03:44.919 settings changed. In the case of notifications, you just go 0:03:44.919 --> 0:03:51.129 to settings accessibility, then within accessibility, voiceover and then verbosity, 0:03:51.399 --> 0:03:56.109 and that deals with punctuation and also notifications, whether they 0:03:56.109 --> 0:03:59.789 be for the lock screen or the banner notifications, you know, 0:03:59.799 --> 0:04:02.169 where those big ones come over the top of an 0:04:02.169 --> 0:04:05.139 article you might be reading. ET cetera. So there's little 0:04:05.139 --> 0:04:10.029 things like that that that change, it's well worth digging 0:04:10.029 --> 0:04:12.039 a little bit deeper. And you see that it's not 0:04:12.039 --> 0:04:15.069 actually sort of very much the same, like it's basically 0:04:15.069 --> 0:04:18.729 as it was, but with new enhancements and tweaks and 0:04:18.729 --> 0:04:21.549 there's quite a few of those. David There's a very 0:04:21.549 --> 0:04:27.879 nice coverage of this from Jonathan Mohsin with his current 0:04:27.879 --> 0:04:33.579 Living Blind Fully podcast Edition 250, where he spends a 0:04:33.579 --> 0:04:36.729 lot of time going through not just the iPhone 15 0:04:36.729 --> 0:04:40.569 Pro and some of the physical features and functionality of that, 0:04:40.569 --> 0:04:43.839 but also a lot of time with iOS 17 and 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.479 there's some useful little tips you can pick up from that. 0:04:47.139 --> 0:04:48.969 There's actually a huge amount of some of the extra 0:04:48.969 --> 0:04:51.339 stuff that I've been using. I've been using it for 0:04:51.339 --> 0:04:53.529 such a long time now. I just take it for 0:04:53.529 --> 0:04:55.689 granted the way it works. So things like the fact 0:04:55.689 --> 0:04:59.679 that you don't have to use the magic words, he says, 0:04:59.679 --> 0:05:02.199 I try anymore and the reason why I'm spelling is 0:05:02.199 --> 0:05:04.929 that because you can actually use the the second word 0:05:04.929 --> 0:05:09.099 now to activate our beloved personal assistants. And we've also 0:05:09.099 --> 0:05:13.029 got extra voices for the Apple's personal assistants, plus the 0:05:13.029 --> 0:05:15.199 fact that this is what I like. You can speed 0:05:15.199 --> 0:05:17.739 it up a bit faster or he up a bit faster, 0:05:17.739 --> 0:05:20.109 depending on what voice you use as well. And the 0:05:20.109 --> 0:05:22.299 other thing that somebody reminded me the other day, too, 0:05:22.329 --> 0:05:25.749 we've actually got new ringtones for the iPhone and some 0:05:25.749 --> 0:05:27.429 of them are really, really cool. So if you go 0:05:27.429 --> 0:05:30.309 and check out your sound settings on your iPhone, some 0:05:30.309 --> 0:05:32.889 of the new ringtones are actually very, very nice indeed. 0:05:32.889 --> 0:05:35.619 So that might be something else that people might want 0:05:35.619 --> 0:05:36.729 to play with as well. 0:05:36.879 --> 0:05:39.159 macOS out this week, Sonoma. 0:05:40.149 --> 0:05:42.489 So this again is a lot of stuff under the 0:05:42.489 --> 0:05:44.949 hood and all up it makes it a you know, 0:05:45.039 --> 0:05:48.099 a good update. But can I ask people to pay 0:05:48.099 --> 0:05:51.609 particular attention to preview, which is the app that we 0:05:51.609 --> 0:05:56.409 use traditionally to read PDF files on the Mac And 0:05:56.409 --> 0:05:58.629 Apple supposedly has done a lot of work behind the 0:05:58.629 --> 0:06:03.459 scenes about trying to allow you to navigate structured tagged 0:06:03.459 --> 0:06:08.529 PDF files such as headings, links, tables, and one of 0:06:08.529 --> 0:06:12.519 the major issues with PDF files was if you tried 0:06:12.519 --> 0:06:15.969 to read by say header one and then header two 0:06:15.969 --> 0:06:18.069 and then jump down and say the next heading level 0:06:18.069 --> 0:06:21.879 two trying to navigate past all the sub subheading ones, 0:06:21.879 --> 0:06:25.479 it never worked properly. So if you're a PDF user 0:06:25.479 --> 0:06:27.849 and you want to check out preview on the next 0:06:27.849 --> 0:06:30.399 version of the Mac OS, let me know and just 0:06:30.399 --> 0:06:32.889 email me at David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org 0:06:32.889 --> 0:06:34.749 And I'll be very interested to see what you think 0:06:34.749 --> 0:06:35.979 about the new improvements. 0:06:36.639 --> 0:06:40.749 I want to go back to iOS now, the Magnifier 0:06:40.749 --> 0:06:43.539 app and some interesting stuff in there now. 0:06:44.229 --> 0:06:47.979 Yes, just remember now and this is particularly with the 0:06:47.979 --> 0:06:50.769 pro versions of the phone. So this is the 12 pro, 0:06:50.799 --> 0:06:54.099 the 13 pro, the 14 pro, and the 15 pro, 0:06:54.459 --> 0:06:56.799 as well as the max versions of those in the 0:06:56.799 --> 0:07:01.089 magnifier app. We now have five detection modes now. So 0:07:01.089 --> 0:07:03.099 we've got people detection, which is what we used a 0:07:03.099 --> 0:07:06.669 lot in Covid to find out how close the person 0:07:06.669 --> 0:07:10.659 was to you. We have door detection and that door 0:07:10.659 --> 0:07:13.329 detection also supposedly also tells you, I haven't tried this 0:07:13.329 --> 0:07:15.879 out for a while about which way the door opens 0:07:15.879 --> 0:07:19.839 and where the handle is. We've got image. So it 0:07:19.839 --> 0:07:22.419 will actually look at an image and tell you what's 0:07:22.419 --> 0:07:27.039 actually in the image text. So that's basically optical character recognition. 0:07:27.039 --> 0:07:29.559 So if you point your phone at a sign or 0:07:29.559 --> 0:07:32.229 anything else for that matter in your pantry, it'll add 0:07:32.249 --> 0:07:36.429 to you. And of course the new one quite dramatically, 0:07:36.429 --> 0:07:40.779 along with door detection in iOS 17 is point and speak. 0:07:40.779 --> 0:07:43.479 And that's where you've got a touch screen surface. You 0:07:43.479 --> 0:07:45.189 point your finger at a button and it tells you 0:07:45.189 --> 0:07:49.089 what the button is based on, again, the camera. So 0:07:49.089 --> 0:07:51.139 if you've been avoiding that app. For a while. Go 0:07:51.139 --> 0:07:52.729 and have a look at it again, because now you've 0:07:52.729 --> 0:07:55.429 got those five interesting things to have a play with. 0:07:55.579 --> 0:08:00.229 Magnifier. Easy to find. Now, there are still a number 0:08:00.229 --> 0:08:03.739 of devices you buy through Apple that use the lightning connector, 0:08:03.739 --> 0:08:04.249 aren't there? 0:08:04.699 --> 0:08:07.429 There are. So whilst, you know, we've got all excited 0:08:07.429 --> 0:08:12.109 about the iPhone with its new Usb-c and the iPhone 0:08:12.109 --> 0:08:18.289 15 line up my 14 pro max still uses lightning 0:08:18.289 --> 0:08:21.829 so does the 13 and the 12 and the. If 0:08:22.129 --> 0:08:25.309 you've still got those phones around the place. I've got 0:08:25.309 --> 0:08:28.909 three magic keyboards in front of me that use lightning. 0:08:28.909 --> 0:08:33.469 My trackpad external trackpad for the Mac uses Lightning. My 0:08:33.469 --> 0:08:36.799 version one and two of my AirPods Pro uses lightning 0:08:36.799 --> 0:08:40.249 for the charging case, my AirPods Max, which costs $1,000. 0:08:40.429 --> 0:08:44.719 They still use lightning and a few other things as well. 0:08:44.719 --> 0:08:48.379 So if you're like me and you've gone very much 0:08:48.379 --> 0:08:53.599 into the Apple universe, particularly before they're different types of hardware, 0:08:53.929 --> 0:08:56.959 then just have a think about what you're doing and 0:08:56.959 --> 0:09:00.199 what cables you might need. I'm still going to hang 0:09:00.199 --> 0:09:03.019 off a little bit until Apple starts to update some 0:09:03.019 --> 0:09:05.599 of their other stuff, so that's when I'll start to update. 0:09:05.599 --> 0:09:07.639 But at the moment I've got too many gadgets still 0:09:07.639 --> 0:09:11.059 on lightning to justify, you know, even thinking about updating 0:09:11.089 --> 0:09:13.249 to another usb-c only device. 0:09:13.699 --> 0:09:18.979 Tell us about the integration of FaceTime and Apple TV 0:09:18.979 --> 0:09:21.979 or Apple TV, 4K, whatever that means. 0:09:22.429 --> 0:09:25.669 So the 4K is just basically it's the way that 0:09:25.669 --> 0:09:27.679 movies are made these days. You can watch it in 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:32.059 dramatic video, blah, blah, blah, cinema mode and so on. 0:09:32.239 --> 0:09:35.809 But what this really means is that if you run 0:09:35.809 --> 0:09:39.919 your Apple TV 4K, specifically in your lounge room on 0:09:39.919 --> 0:09:43.789 your say, 60 inch or 80 inch television screen, then 0:09:43.789 --> 0:09:46.969 what happens is with iOS 17 running on both the 0:09:46.969 --> 0:09:51.559 Apple TV 4K and your iPhone or iPad, then the 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.469 video that you're looking at. So your grandchildren or your 0:09:54.469 --> 0:09:57.469 family on the screen from overseas is on your big screen. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.649 And then the camera and the audio is coming out 0:10:00.649 --> 0:10:04.789 of your iPhone or your iPad. So it's really Apple saying, 0:10:04.789 --> 0:10:06.919 you know, you can have your family and your lounge 0:10:06.919 --> 0:10:10.069 room because you can imagine, you know, seeing people and 0:10:10.069 --> 0:10:14.839 grandchildren and people's drawings and everything else on this huge 0:10:14.839 --> 0:10:18.739 screen is going to be absolutely amazing. So I think 0:10:18.739 --> 0:10:21.649 that's one really great thing. But just remember, it's definitely 0:10:21.649 --> 0:10:25.759 the Apple TV 4K, It's not the Apple TV HD. 0:10:25.849 --> 0:10:28.549 If you don't have an Apple TV 4K, then you 0:10:28.549 --> 0:10:31.339 won't have FaceTime as an icon on the home screen 0:10:31.339 --> 0:10:32.359 of the Apple TV. 0:10:32.839 --> 0:10:35.209 But it really is a case of getting your loved 0:10:35.209 --> 0:10:38.359 ones into your living room from a long way away. 0:10:38.359 --> 0:10:40.339 It's not just like a little thing. You'll look at 0:10:40.339 --> 0:10:41.719 it on your phone or whatever. 0:10:41.979 --> 0:10:44.149 No, no. And we tried it out with my daughter. 0:10:44.149 --> 0:10:47.749 We were able to see my 20 month year old 0:10:47.749 --> 0:10:52.159 grandson's attempt at doing some crayon drawing and it was 0:10:52.159 --> 0:10:54.139 amazing because Elon said you could see a lot more 0:10:54.139 --> 0:10:57.289 detail on this huge screen that you could on her, 0:10:57.589 --> 0:10:59.899 even her iPhone 14 pro max screen. 0:11:00.439 --> 0:11:03.199 Not only Apple events this month, we've had an Amazon 0:11:03.199 --> 0:11:05.569 one and a Microsoft one. Tell us about the Amazon 0:11:05.569 --> 0:11:06.259 one first. 0:11:06.799 --> 0:11:10.579 The Amazon one was interesting because along with announcing some 0:11:10.579 --> 0:11:12.589 new hardware, so they announced I think it was the 0:11:12.589 --> 0:11:18.709 Amazon show, eight new version and a fire TV soundbar 0:11:18.709 --> 0:11:22.909 and a new fire TV stick. And then as far 0:11:22.909 --> 0:11:26.269 as some stuff to do with the A lady, as 0:11:26.269 --> 0:11:28.789 I like to call it, they also mentioned the fact 0:11:28.789 --> 0:11:32.989 that she or he will be turning into an artificial 0:11:32.989 --> 0:11:36.739 intelligence system, which you won't need to use the magic 0:11:36.739 --> 0:11:39.739 word for, and you'll be able to say something like, 0:11:39.739 --> 0:11:45.049 Let's chat. And like ChatGPT, you can indulge in a 0:11:45.049 --> 0:11:49.249 conversational flow with the artificial intelligence. Now it's coming live 0:11:49.249 --> 0:11:51.829 in the next several weeks or so. I just tried 0:11:51.829 --> 0:11:53.989 it here and it said this feature is not currently 0:11:53.989 --> 0:11:56.449 available in your region. So let's hope that it's not 0:11:56.449 --> 0:11:58.909 only just in the US, but it's worldwide as well. 0:11:58.909 --> 0:12:00.559 So stand by for that. 0:12:00.829 --> 0:12:02.299 Microsoft there event. 0:12:02.629 --> 0:12:05.119 They announced some new hardware, so they answered announced the 0:12:05.119 --> 0:12:09.679 new surface, Studio two and the new surface go Now 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:13.189 the surface go apparently is primarily for business. It's not 0:12:13.189 --> 0:12:17.329 for the normal consumer, but the studio one was, again, 0:12:17.329 --> 0:12:19.789 lots of up to good internal updates as far as 0:12:19.789 --> 0:12:22.399 the processor and memory and everything else was concerned. But 0:12:22.399 --> 0:12:24.859 the exciting thing and yes, you probably guessed what I'm 0:12:24.859 --> 0:12:27.799 going to say is they also talked about copilot, which 0:12:27.949 --> 0:12:31.609 is another fancy way of saying artificial intelligence and what 0:12:31.609 --> 0:12:34.249 the co-pilot will do. It will suggest things for you 0:12:34.249 --> 0:12:36.859 to do. So when you're writing an email, it might 0:12:36.859 --> 0:12:39.949 suggest different ways of writing that email or when you're 0:12:39.949 --> 0:12:44.269 looking at a chart in an Excel spreadsheet, you can 0:12:44.269 --> 0:12:48.379 ask it to perhaps extrapolate some particular some data under 0:12:48.379 --> 0:12:51.159 that chart and so on. So that looks really interesting 0:12:51.159 --> 0:12:54.429 because basically there's a new Windows update coming out this week. 0:12:54.699 --> 0:12:57.759 And I'm not 100% sure whether the copilot was going 0:12:57.759 --> 0:13:00.579 to be this week or coming out in October. But 0:13:00.759 --> 0:13:02.799 stand by for that. And it's going to be really, 0:13:02.799 --> 0:13:07.449 really interesting, particularly for us. Narrator Screen reader users and 0:13:07.449 --> 0:13:09.669 of course draws and other screen readers as well. 0:13:10.119 --> 0:13:14.079 Gutenberg and a lot more books available. 0:13:14.829 --> 0:13:18.759 Normally on Gutenberg, you've got a whole range of electronic books. 0:13:18.759 --> 0:13:21.309 When I'm in electronic, I mean like text only books 0:13:21.429 --> 0:13:25.509 that were traditionally use your screen reader or other system 0:13:25.509 --> 0:13:29.349 to read. And what they've done, they've used a really 0:13:29.349 --> 0:13:33.999 nice sounding speech synthesizer, which you could almost not tell 0:13:33.999 --> 0:13:38.019 it wasn't a human to read these books out. And 0:13:38.019 --> 0:13:41.019 I've tried a few online and they were quite interesting. 0:13:41.019 --> 0:13:45.009 So if I didn't know any better, I'd say it's 0:13:45.009 --> 0:13:48.369 a person reading a book with a very formal way 0:13:48.369 --> 0:13:53.139 of pronouncing words. But no, it's extremely doable. It's not awful. 0:13:53.139 --> 0:13:55.629 And you can definitely listen to them. Remember, with Gutenberg, 0:13:55.629 --> 0:13:59.559 they're all books out of copyright, so they're not recent ones, 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.479 but there's some really, really good books in there as 0:14:01.479 --> 0:14:02.109 well to read. 0:14:02.439 --> 0:14:04.299 Explain how you get access to them. 0:14:04.599 --> 0:14:07.839 You log on to the Gutenberg website, particularly for the 0:14:07.839 --> 0:14:10.509 audio files, and I've got the link in the show 0:14:10.509 --> 0:14:13.779 notes because I find sometimes Gutenberg websites a bit hard 0:14:13.779 --> 0:14:16.359 to navigate. So the link in the show notes will 0:14:16.359 --> 0:14:17.709 take you straight to the web page. 0:14:18.309 --> 0:14:22.389 Terrific. Just before we go, a reminder of where everyone 0:14:22.389 --> 0:14:24.879 can find details of what we've been talking about in 0:14:24.879 --> 0:14:27.279 this and previous editions of the program. 0:14:27.489 --> 0:14:29.709 Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:29.709 --> 0:14:33.069 which is David, would it be a dot podbean pad 0:14:33.109 --> 0:14:34.269 B com. 0:14:34.569 --> 0:14:40.959 David would be dot podbean podbean to write to the program. 0:14:40.959 --> 0:14:42.849 You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, 0:14:42.849 --> 0:14:47.109 which is David Woodbridge, how it sounds to Vision Australia. Org. 0:14:47.259 --> 0:14:51.699 David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org This has been 0:14:51.699 --> 0:14:55.059 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's National Advisor 0:14:55.059 --> 0:14:58.989 on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley. Take care. 0:14:58.989 --> 0:15:00.549 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.