S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition, available from
S1: May the 14th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio associated
S1: stations of RPA Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network.
S1: There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you
S1: need to do is search for the two words. Talking
S1: tech and Dan O'Connor 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 back again. After a bit of a break.
S1: Vision Australia's national advisor on access Technology, David Woodbridge. David
S1: welcome back.
S2: It's nice to be back. And if my voice sounds different,
S2: it's because I'm actually still sick, so hopefully I won't
S2: sound too bad.
S1: Let's start with a product from the vision store of
S1: Vision Australia. You've got some pretty exciting news actually about
S1: an old one returning.
S2: I do this one has not been away for that long.
S2: It's only been about 2 or 3 years. And the device,
S2: when it came out in the early 90s, it was
S2: called the Mountbatten. And then it went through different variations
S2: of being called different things. And now the new version,
S2: which is now available from both the Vision Store and
S2: Quantum technology, are l've reading learning vision is the Mountbatten tutor.
S2: This device to me is like the Swiss Army knife
S2: of Braille slash print. Because what you have is. Yes,
S2: you've got a Braille device and yes, it is electronic.
S2: You've got a detachable Braille keyboard in the new one. Um,
S2: so it's like a little wireless keyboard. You can browse
S2: slash type on that. So your Braille into the Mountbatten.
S2: It comes out on Braille on the, the piece of paper.
S2: You're sticking to it. That's number one. Number two you
S2: can also stick in a Qwerty keyboard via USB and
S2: whatever you type on that Qwerty keyboard. So you're doing
S2: standard typing comes out in Braille number three, which is
S2: amazing for me, is that if you're a parent, you're
S2: a support person, you're an itinerant teacher, a teacher in
S2: a classroom, etc. the Mountbatten tutor has a built in
S2: screen so you can see whatever's being done on the Mountbatten,
S2: either via the Braille input keyboard or via the Qwerty keyboard.
S2: What's being done on the Mountbatten in Braille? So that's three.
S2: Number four is that you can what's called back translate
S2: from Braille back to print. So the reason why you'd
S2: want to do that is because you can connect the
S2: Mountbatten to your personal computer, primarily. Windows also does work
S2: on the Mac, but you can also link it up
S2: to your Android or your iPhone or iOS device via
S2: Bluetooth with the mimic app. And it's also got things
S2: like built in games. You can compose music on it,
S2: and because you're dealing with your bit of braille paper,
S2: of course you can do Braille mathematics on it. And
S2: the thing I used to always love, even back in
S2: the early 90s, is that you can do graphics on it.
S2: When you put it in graphics mode, it makes the
S2: dots very close together and you can draw all these little,
S2: you know, embossed, all these really cool drawings. So it's
S2: just an incredibly flexible device. Um, because it's got built
S2: in translation. You can also code into your document about
S2: what stuff you might want in contracted braille, uncontracted braille,
S2: mathematical braille, and so on. So if you want more
S2: information about it, um, have a chat to quantum because
S2: it is really their device in the beginning, and they're
S2: very well known to support the Mountbatten. Absolutely, fantastically well. Um,
S2: but you can also, as I said before, you can
S2: also buy it from the vision store. But if you
S2: wanted to really dig into the nitty gritty of it, uh,
S2: have a chat to the people at quantum, and they
S2: can certainly take you through the whole stuff to do
S2: with the Mountbatten. But like I said, an absolutely brilliant,
S2: fantastic device and it's great to see it up and
S2: running again.
S1: So this is really a student tool, is that right?
S2: Yeah. Look, it's a student tool because even though it embosses,
S2: it actually doesn't really emboss that fast. So I'd say
S2: if you're doing short bursts of Braille so, you know,
S2: 1015 pages or whatever else, um, it's fine, but if
S2: you're going to be expecting it to do, you know,
S2: very rapid Braille embossing. Um, it's not so it's it's
S2: meant to be a personal braille device. But again, the
S2: reason why I like it so much is not so
S2: much how fast it does all the Braille and everything else.
S2: It's that the interactivity between the person using braille and
S2: then a print abled person being able to also access
S2: that same information as well.
S1: Tell us about it physically, the size, weight, etc..
S2: It looks like a musical device because it's sort of
S2: like this little rectangular thing. I think it's about like
S2: 45cm across, about 15cm from front to back and about
S2: the same height. It's not that heavy when you pick
S2: this thing up, um, you can pop it in a backpack. And,
S2: you know, I mean, you wouldn't want to use it
S2: all the time with other your other stuff in your backpack,
S2: but it's certainly portable. Um, it's also very quiet. So
S2: we know the amount of horrendous noise that Braille embossers can,
S2: can do. This one's actually fairly quiet. And you can
S2: actually change the impact of the embossing head on the paper.
S2: So if you can think about things like, you know,
S2: the clack clack clack of the actual embossing head, if
S2: it's thick paper, it's going to hit it harder. If
S2: it's thin paper like printer paper, it's going to hit
S2: it very softly. If you adjust the. And so for
S2: years in schools it's very, very good because you're not
S2: going to get the enormous amount of noise. It's even,
S2: I'd probably say about two thirds as quiet as using
S2: a Perkins Brailler. So just an all around great device.
S2: But you're quite right, Stephen. It's it's a great school device. Um,
S2: I'd also have to maybe doing short notes, uh, for,
S2: you know, TAFE or university study. Fine. But you wouldn't
S2: want to do, you know, 50 to 100 pages each
S2: time you had to emboss something out.
S1: And you're going to have to find somebody to pay
S1: the money for it, though, aren't you? It's not cheap.
S2: It's around about $8,000. So it's one of those things that, um,
S2: you would have to go and get funding for to
S2: be able to afford it. Um, but anybody that wants
S2: to look at it, I'd say go, go and get
S2: a proper demonstration of it. You would absolutely have to
S2: get assessed for it to, to get any sort of
S2: funding for it. As I said, have a chat to
S2: quantum and they can certainly fill you in with it.
S1: The Mountbatten tutor a few other points to whip through now.
S1: There was an Apple event last week, May the 7th.
S2: Simply put, the Apple event, which went for 42 minutes, um,
S2: could be actually resolved down to about, I guess about
S2: four minutes if you really wanted to. Apple announced two iPads,
S2: the iPad air and the iPad Pro, both of them
S2: coming in a 11 inch and a 13 inch version.
S2: The Pro version actually comes with the M4 chip, so
S2: Apple's sort of jumped in the deep end with announcing
S2: the M4 chip and the iPad Pro. So of course
S2: everybody's now speculating what's going to happen with the Worldwide
S2: Developers Conference coming up in June with, you know, Siri
S2: and iPad OS 18 and so on. So that's going
S2: to be interesting to do if all the generative AI
S2: type stuff. They also announced an Apple Pencil Pro. Um,
S2: what's confusing now, Stephen, is that we've now got several
S2: versions of the Apple Pencil, which will only work with
S2: certain iPads. They've dropped the iPad nine. We've still got
S2: the iPad ten, which is the entry level. We've still
S2: got the iPad mini. Um, and it's just getting more
S2: and more confusing which iPad to actually go for. My
S2: feeling over the last couple of years is that the
S2: iPad air is always been the really good thing to
S2: look forward to about having a really solid tablet to use. Um,
S2: but as with everything, it's really up to you to
S2: decide what functionality you want out of either of or
S2: all of those different types of iPads. So when in doubt, um, again,
S2: go and have a play, have a look, have a
S2: chat to people and then try and make up your
S2: own mind. But there are available from this week. So
S2: if you want to go and have a look in
S2: the the Apple Store physically, or you want to go
S2: to the App Store app on your iOS device, it'll
S2: be all in there and have a look at the
S2: technical specifications because they're getting very close together. Um, besides
S2: the fact that the air's got M2 and the Pro's
S2: got an M4, uh, all the other specs about cores
S2: and that sort of stuff are getting very, very close together.
S1: Now. Robert Carter's Tech Doctor podcast has had two recent editions.
S1: You've been on both of them. One of them was
S1: about this Apple event, and also there was one a
S1: couple of weeks earlier about the BT speak from Blaze Technologies.
S2: I did, yeah, look, I sort of waxed lyrical on the, um,
S2: the BT speak and I think I reminisced a bit
S2: about the old Braille and speak, and I think I
S2: even started calling it the Braille and speak halfway through
S2: the podcast. So, um, if you're interested in our take
S2: on the recent Apple event last week and my runaway
S2: mouth to do with the the BT speak, I'm actually
S2: still enjoying the BT speak. So have a listen to
S2: it and see what you think.
S1: We did talk on this program last week about the
S1: new versions of the Sonos apps, and they're not very good,
S1: is what we thought. And we were right. And the
S1: feeling about this has spread. It's gone to the Mac
S1: 9 to 5 publication that a lot of people read.
S2: It has. And I guess from a positive point of view,
S2: it's great when this sort of stuff reaches mainstream media,
S2: because then it seems to be taking a little bit
S2: more seriously rather than sort of being in our little
S2: realm of influence. And I think it's really good on
S2: a couple of points, the one that they talked about
S2: it and number two, that Sonos has come back to,
S2: particularly Jonathan Mason, who started the, um, chat about making
S2: it the Sonos app accessible because it wasn't when it
S2: came out and got updated. Um, and they're going to
S2: be linking up and having discussion with them to see
S2: what things can be done to work on accessibility. But
S2: as we all know, and speaking about Global Accessibility Awareness
S2: Day this week, guard, um, which is really a day,
S2: but I always say it's the whole week this week. Um,
S2: everybody knows that when you build accessibility, you build accessibility
S2: from the start. You don't add in accessibility at the
S2: end because then it becomes horrendously expensive. It's time consuming,
S2: it's tricky and so on. So I think what mistakes
S2: Sonos has obviously made is that they've produced this fantastic
S2: new app, which they said they were very courageous about doing. Um,
S2: so besides doing a courageous app which apparently nobody likes anyway, um,
S2: they also completely broke accessibility. So hopefully there'll be just
S2: as courageous about now having to go back and retrofit,
S2: which is always harder and more expensive and time consuming,
S2: and an inaccessible app that, of course, lots of blind
S2: and low vision folks use around the world.
S1: And just quickly, for the Sonos leadership team who will
S1: be listening. And for everybody else, tell us about Global
S1: Accessibility Awareness Day guard.
S2: Yep. So Global Accessibility Awareness Day, it's on the 16th
S2: 16th of May. It's really aimed at accessibility to the web,
S2: digital accessibility to do with applications and document access. But
S2: what I also like to tell people about is think
S2: about everything you do in your life that is digital,
S2: and then how you access that digital information. And can
S2: you get access to it easily? Can you be independent
S2: in doing it? Everything else. So look at, you know,
S2: can you get access to the kiosk system in a shop?
S2: Can you use the self checkout? Can you access or
S2: have other ways of accessing information at public railway stations
S2: that don't have staff anymore? Because it's all electronic and
S2: things like that. So and with those sort of things,
S2: give positive feedback because as soon as you start being negative,
S2: people will just shut down and you know they don't
S2: want to listen anymore. So you say, um, you know,
S2: I just want to bring to your attention the fact
S2: that I can't access this. I'm wondering if some general
S2: things could have actually be done to make this more accessible.
S2: And then you start a conversation and hopefully then both
S2: parties get something out of it.
S1: Telstra moving to get away from 3G, which served us
S1: well for a long time.
S2: It has, particularly in rural areas. So what they've done
S2: is that they've extended the shutdown period to the 31st
S2: of August. Uh, so now they're asking people to check
S2: their SIM cards in their devices to make sure they're
S2: compatible with the current 4G or 5G network. Uh, and
S2: the advice I've got for people is contact your supplier,
S2: whether it's Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, etc. and just double check.
S2: But also remember, it's not just mobile phone SIM cards,
S2: it's all the SIM cards that you have in other
S2: devices like alarm systems, um, CPAp machines and other monitoring devices.
S2: They also need to be checked as well. So if
S2: you're not sure, contact your supplier. I've been getting a
S2: few queries about the Blind Shaw Classic two, which I'm
S2: fairly sure will be fine, but again, I would contact
S2: Quantum Technology reading learning vision and just double check with
S2: them that the wireless cellular stuff in the Blind Shaw
S2: Classic two is compatible.
S1: Just before we go, a reminder of where there are
S1: details of what we've been talking about in this and
S1: previous editions of the program.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can actually check out my
S2: blog site, which is David Woodbridge Dot Podbean pad Bn.com.
S1: David Wood Byatt Podbean podbean.com. To write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work,
S2: which is David Dot Woodbridge how 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 Jolly stay safe.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.