WEBVTT - Talking Tech 25th June 2024 0:00:46.788 --> 0:00:50.628 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:50.628 --> 0:00:55.098 June the 25th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly, great to have 0:00:55.098 --> 0:00:58.728 you with us listening through Vision Australia Radio associated stations 0:00:58.728 --> 0:01:02.478 of RPA Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There 0:01:02.478 --> 0:01:05.088 is also the podcast. To catch that all you need 0:01:05.088 --> 0:01:08.118 to do is search for the two words talking tech. 0:01:08.118 --> 0:01:10.518 And then it can all come, usually on a Tuesday 0:01:10.518 --> 0:01:13.908 afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to 0:01:13.908 --> 0:01:17.208 ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision 0:01:17.208 --> 0:01:22.218 Australia Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking Tech 0:01:22.218 --> 0:01:25.758 podcast with me, someone who can explain all this tech 0:01:25.758 --> 0:01:30.708 stuff really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, 0:01:30.708 --> 0:01:36.108 David Woodbridge. David, let's start with the product minute from 0:01:36.108 --> 0:01:39.708 the vision store of Vision Australia. It's not really high 0:01:39.708 --> 0:01:41.718 tech this one, but pretty useful. 0:01:41.928 --> 0:01:46.518 What this product is is called the mesh gloves. And 0:01:46.518 --> 0:01:48.258 you can buy them for both your left and your 0:01:48.258 --> 0:01:52.218 right hand. You can buy them for small, medium and 0:01:52.218 --> 0:01:56.058 large hands. What caught my attention about this? And by 0:01:56.058 --> 0:01:59.148 the way, when we say mesh gloves, we're not thinking 0:01:59.148 --> 0:02:01.908 about sort of like gauntlet type stuff that you'd wear 0:02:01.908 --> 0:02:04.908 in the medieval days. Um, when we say mesh, it's 0:02:04.908 --> 0:02:08.508 very fine mesh the same way that steel wool feels. 0:02:08.508 --> 0:02:11.148 That's the the type of mesh that's on this glove. 0:02:11.148 --> 0:02:14.238 And they've got like an inner glove. Um, because you 0:02:14.238 --> 0:02:17.748 don't want sort of the scratchy surface scratching your hand. 0:02:18.168 --> 0:02:20.448 But as I said, what caught my attention was the 0:02:20.448 --> 0:02:25.338 fact that it prevents your hand getting things like cut 0:02:25.338 --> 0:02:28.158 when you're using a very sharp knife. So the trick is, 0:02:28.158 --> 0:02:30.858 normally you normally would just buy one glove to have 0:02:30.858 --> 0:02:34.128 on your non-dominant hand, because that's normally the hand that's 0:02:34.128 --> 0:02:37.278 holding something like a, like an apple or a banana 0:02:37.278 --> 0:02:40.218 that you're cutting up with a knife. So the mesh 0:02:40.218 --> 0:02:42.198 gloves on that hand, and then you've got the knife 0:02:42.198 --> 0:02:45.678 in your dominant hand and you're cutting. And the thing 0:02:45.678 --> 0:02:48.708 is that if that knife then slips onto your, your 0:02:48.708 --> 0:02:50.538 finger or the palm of your hand or the back 0:02:50.538 --> 0:02:53.748 of your hand because you're wearing the, quote, mesh glove, um, 0:02:53.748 --> 0:02:56.388 you're not going to slice or cut yourself. But the 0:02:56.388 --> 0:02:58.968 other thing that I realized, what I can do with it, 0:02:58.968 --> 0:03:02.118 which is also recommended as well, is you can use 0:03:02.118 --> 0:03:05.688 it for gardening, because when I use my pruning shears, 0:03:05.688 --> 0:03:09.978 which are quite sharp, my pruning saw, which is even sharper, 0:03:10.188 --> 0:03:15.408 I sometimes slip and I'll just sort of gradually, like 0:03:15.408 --> 0:03:18.468 almost nick the side of my fingernail, which I've done 0:03:18.468 --> 0:03:20.418 quite a few times, or I'll get my knuckle on 0:03:20.418 --> 0:03:23.388 my hand and that sort of stuff. And that's the 0:03:23.388 --> 0:03:27.528 type of stuff that this mesh glove would certainly protect against. 0:03:27.528 --> 0:03:31.608 So again, really, really, really good. And price wise they're 0:03:31.608 --> 0:03:34.308 $15 from the Vision store. 0:03:34.458 --> 0:03:39.738 The vision store of Vision Australia, the mesh gloves. One 0:03:39.738 --> 0:03:42.348 of the things we didn't cover when we were reviewing 0:03:42.348 --> 0:03:47.598 the Apple event at WWDC worldwide, developers conference a couple 0:03:47.598 --> 0:03:51.498 of weeks ago. TV, the TV app, which of course 0:03:51.498 --> 0:03:54.468 is related to Apple TV. Just tell us how all 0:03:54.468 --> 0:03:56.898 that fits together and what's happened with the TV app 0:03:56.898 --> 0:03:57.558 this year. 0:03:57.558 --> 0:04:01.518 Yes. So the original Apple TV itself is actually the 0:04:01.518 --> 0:04:04.308 little box that you plug in via a HDMI cable 0:04:04.308 --> 0:04:06.978 into your back of your TV. So that actually is 0:04:06.978 --> 0:04:11.148 the Apple TV. Um, it's like plugging your, you know, 0:04:11.148 --> 0:04:15.798 your Foxtel box into your, your big TV screen, but 0:04:15.798 --> 0:04:18.618 where it gets a little bit more interesting for us, 0:04:18.618 --> 0:04:22.938 iOS and Mac and iPad users is there's also an 0:04:22.938 --> 0:04:25.908 app running on those platforms. So like you've got the 0:04:25.908 --> 0:04:30.258 Foxtel Go app that runs on Android and iOS and 0:04:30.258 --> 0:04:34.128 so on. You've also got that TV app that runs 0:04:34.128 --> 0:04:37.968 on iOS, and the reason why you can choose to 0:04:37.968 --> 0:04:40.128 do either one is that, you know, when you're out 0:04:40.128 --> 0:04:42.198 and about and you've got your iPhone or your iPad, 0:04:42.198 --> 0:04:44.748 you can watch it quite nicely on your own little 0:04:44.748 --> 0:04:47.748 screen or your big screen. But then when you're at 0:04:47.748 --> 0:04:50.508 at home, of course, you want to watch it through 0:04:50.508 --> 0:04:53.328 the the Apple TV box plugged into your, as they 0:04:53.328 --> 0:04:57.378 say in the States 80 inch screen, which is huge. Uh, 0:04:57.378 --> 0:05:01.788 to enjoy it. Now, what WWDC was talking about is 0:05:01.788 --> 0:05:05.778 they've done a few things. So the Apple TV box itself, 0:05:05.778 --> 0:05:08.958 so not so much. The app is compatible with projectors. 0:05:08.958 --> 0:05:11.898 And there they're the projectors that can put the whole 0:05:11.898 --> 0:05:15.048 picture up on your whole wall of your lounge room. 0:05:15.048 --> 0:05:18.228 So very, very, very big. The second one is that 0:05:18.228 --> 0:05:22.818 they're making Airplay compatible with more external type speakers, not 0:05:22.818 --> 0:05:26.598 just HomePods. And the third thing that applies to both 0:05:26.598 --> 0:05:30.888 the Apple TV box and the TV app is that 0:05:30.888 --> 0:05:34.878 the dialogue in movies and TV shows, which can be 0:05:34.878 --> 0:05:39.078 quite quiet sometimes, um, compared to what else is going on, 0:05:39.078 --> 0:05:41.208 you can actually set it so it's a lot louder, 0:05:41.208 --> 0:05:44.418 so you can quite easily hear what the actors are 0:05:44.418 --> 0:05:48.568 saying over. You know, the action background type sound. So 0:05:48.568 --> 0:05:52.018 those three things have made a huge improvement to both 0:05:52.018 --> 0:05:55.108 the Apple TV box itself and of course, the TV 0:05:55.108 --> 0:05:56.278 app itself as well. 0:05:56.278 --> 0:06:01.228 And with all the other products announced at the WWDC event, 0:06:01.228 --> 0:06:04.348 we can look forward to that later this year, maybe 0:06:04.348 --> 0:06:10.288 around sometime in spring. Correct. Let's talk about vision technology now, 0:06:10.288 --> 0:06:13.318 and this will probably need a series of conversations to 0:06:13.318 --> 0:06:19.828 cover it thoroughly. It encompasses software or applications as well 0:06:19.828 --> 0:06:24.658 as devices. Should we start talking about devices today, the 0:06:24.658 --> 0:06:27.178 wearables that are available in Australia? 0:06:27.178 --> 0:06:31.618 Indeed. And we're specifically talking about Australia, because I don't 0:06:31.618 --> 0:06:33.628 want to talk about ones that you can only get 0:06:33.628 --> 0:06:36.328 from overseas or you can use in Australia if you 0:06:36.328 --> 0:06:38.728 start doing weird and wonderful things with them. So the 0:06:38.728 --> 0:06:41.518 three main ones I want to talk about is the 0:06:41.518 --> 0:06:51.268 AR vision. The vision smart glasses and the Orcam Myeye three. 0:06:51.928 --> 0:06:56.848 So the AR vision is literally a camera with a 0:06:56.848 --> 0:07:02.128 USB-C cable that plugs into at the moment your Android phone, 0:07:02.128 --> 0:07:06.568 your Blind shell classic two, and then hopefully in about 0:07:06.568 --> 0:07:09.448 another couple of weeks or so, your iPhone. And I've 0:07:09.448 --> 0:07:11.338 got a funny feeling it's going to be the iPhone 0:07:11.338 --> 0:07:14.938 50 and above because it needs USB-C. The second one 0:07:14.938 --> 0:07:17.518 is the end vision glasses. Now of course, they're actually 0:07:17.518 --> 0:07:23.428 based on the Google Enterprise Google Glass. They're like wearing 0:07:23.428 --> 0:07:26.998 a sort of a weird pair of frames without any 0:07:26.998 --> 0:07:29.458 glass in them. And you've got a little camera on 0:07:29.458 --> 0:07:31.858 the side that, you know, points forward the same way 0:07:31.858 --> 0:07:35.068 the vision does. And then you've got, of course, different 0:07:35.068 --> 0:07:38.098 software that you can run via touch or voice. And 0:07:38.098 --> 0:07:40.738 then the third one, which is the very famous one 0:07:40.738 --> 0:07:43.138 that lots of people have heard about, is the Orcam 0:07:43.138 --> 0:07:49.108 Myeye three. That's a dedicated little camera that magnetically attaches 0:07:49.108 --> 0:07:52.318 to the side of your glasses, and that can be 0:07:52.318 --> 0:07:54.838 put on any glasses, whether it's, you know, reading glasses 0:07:54.838 --> 0:07:58.348 or whatever else, and the new version of that which 0:07:58.348 --> 0:08:02.278 wasn't available previously, that's also on the internet or access 0:08:02.278 --> 0:08:04.408 to the internet. The same with the other two. 0:08:04.438 --> 0:08:07.378 What sort of money are we talking about for these devices? 0:08:07.378 --> 0:08:09.028 They go into thousands of dollars. 0:08:09.028 --> 0:08:11.818 They do. And these are only very rough figures. The 0:08:11.908 --> 0:08:15.988 RCS vision is probably going to be around about $1,600. Australian. 0:08:16.438 --> 0:08:23.518 The envision glasses is probably around about $5,000. And then 0:08:23.518 --> 0:08:27.628 the my eye, the Orcam one is close to up 0:08:27.628 --> 0:08:32.878 to between 7.5 to $8000. They're not particularly cost effective 0:08:32.878 --> 0:08:35.548 in some ways, except, of course, for the vision one. 0:08:35.968 --> 0:08:39.058 But what it boils down to is, and I've got 0:08:39.058 --> 0:08:41.008 all the pages in the show notes, but it really 0:08:41.008 --> 0:08:43.708 boils down to what type of features you want out 0:08:43.708 --> 0:08:47.158 of these types of hardware technology. 0:08:47.158 --> 0:08:49.288 So let's go through some of these features. Now we'll 0:08:49.288 --> 0:08:50.068 start with the R. 0:08:50.458 --> 0:08:54.418 So the R it's interesting because it's a wired connection 0:08:54.418 --> 0:08:56.698 to both your Android phone. And like I said later 0:08:56.698 --> 0:09:00.958 on your iPhone it's a lot faster in processing information 0:09:00.958 --> 0:09:05.308 because it's directly attached to your smartphone like all the 0:09:05.308 --> 0:09:08.488 other ones. It does instant text reading. So as soon 0:09:08.488 --> 0:09:10.468 as the camera sees some text starts reading it out 0:09:10.468 --> 0:09:14.668 to you, it'll do whole document reading. Uh, it will 0:09:14.668 --> 0:09:20.698 do face recognition. It'll also do QR code detection. And 0:09:20.698 --> 0:09:24.238 then and here's where it gets very interesting. If you 0:09:24.238 --> 0:09:27.148 then team it up with the Seeing Eye app currently 0:09:27.148 --> 0:09:30.568 on Android, then you've got all the functionality of the 0:09:30.568 --> 0:09:33.748 Seeing Eye app from Microsoft. So of course that's things 0:09:33.748 --> 0:09:40.618 like short text again, document reading, barcode reading, handwriting, light detection, 0:09:40.618 --> 0:09:43.468 color detection, all that sort of stuff that you would 0:09:43.468 --> 0:09:47.128 normally get or do get in the Seeing Eye app. Uh, 0:09:47.128 --> 0:09:50.188 it's just the fact that it's using the AR vision camera, 0:09:50.188 --> 0:09:54.208 not the smartphone camera. So that makes it very flexible. 0:09:54.208 --> 0:09:57.088 So I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that. Um, 0:09:57.088 --> 0:09:58.438 hopefully in a month or two. 0:09:58.528 --> 0:10:02.068 The Navy Lens app also interacts with this. 0:10:02.068 --> 0:10:05.188 It does. And that's sort of like a fancy, uh, 0:10:05.188 --> 0:10:08.458 QR code that can be detected from quite a long 0:10:08.458 --> 0:10:11.638 way away. I believe it's up to about 4 or 5m, 0:10:11.638 --> 0:10:14.488 because normally with QR codes you've got to be very close. 0:10:14.488 --> 0:10:16.918 This one will guide you in or let you know 0:10:16.918 --> 0:10:19.258 what QR codes are around you for the Navy lens. 0:10:19.258 --> 0:10:24.388 So particularly for shops and public places, they're really, really useful. 0:10:24.388 --> 0:10:26.998 So I might have some news on that for the 0:10:26.998 --> 0:10:29.428 vision store later on or next year. 0:10:29.428 --> 0:10:32.308 The Envision Eye smart glasses. 0:10:32.608 --> 0:10:35.158 I won't go through the items that I've just read 0:10:35.158 --> 0:10:38.308 out for the AR vision, because it's exactly the same. 0:10:38.308 --> 0:10:42.118 But what the envision glasses do, which is the AR 0:10:42.238 --> 0:10:47.308 vision doesn't do, is that it's also got artificial. Intelligence. So, um, 0:10:47.308 --> 0:10:50.518 you can get it to interrogate documents that it's read 0:10:50.518 --> 0:10:52.528 so you can say, you know, what's the price of 0:10:52.528 --> 0:10:55.708 my electricity bill? Um, you can get it to ask 0:10:55.708 --> 0:10:59.398 general questions for AI itself. And of course, it's also 0:10:59.398 --> 0:11:02.968 got a thing called smart reading, where it will try and, 0:11:02.998 --> 0:11:07.198 you know, smartly summarize a document for you. So it's 0:11:07.198 --> 0:11:11.128 a lot more advanced than the IR vision, precisely because 0:11:11.128 --> 0:11:14.668 the fact it does use the AI, which is actually ChatGPT. 0:11:14.968 --> 0:11:17.908 Tell us about Orcam Myeye three. 0:11:18.088 --> 0:11:21.838 Again, it sort of builds upon what ARX and what 0:11:21.838 --> 0:11:24.628 envision does. So for example, we've still got all that 0:11:24.628 --> 0:11:28.558 text reading, but we've also got, um, besides the AI, 0:11:28.558 --> 0:11:32.878 artificial intelligence, we've also got a few other features. One 0:11:32.878 --> 0:11:36.508 of which is, um, you can link it up via 0:11:36.508 --> 0:11:42.478 a browser to a basically an electronic video magnifier. So 0:11:42.478 --> 0:11:45.448 whatever the camera is looking at is going to come 0:11:45.448 --> 0:11:48.238 up in the browser, on your Mac, on your windows, 0:11:48.238 --> 0:11:51.298 or on your your other iPhone or your iPad or 0:11:51.298 --> 0:11:53.548 your Android tablet, because it's just a it's just a 0:11:53.548 --> 0:11:59.488 web browser magnification. So that's looking extremely interesting. And the 0:11:59.488 --> 0:12:02.938 other thing that I found with the orcam itself in particular, 0:12:02.938 --> 0:12:06.238 it's very good at barcode reading. So the other ones 0:12:06.238 --> 0:12:10.348 I mentioned, QR code reading. Um, Kiap also does barcode reading, 0:12:10.348 --> 0:12:13.618 of course, but with the Orcam it's very good on 0:12:13.618 --> 0:12:17.638 barcode identification. It's also very good on face recognition. So 0:12:17.638 --> 0:12:20.128 if you tell it to recognize a person's particular face, 0:12:20.128 --> 0:12:25.078 it works extremely well. So as you can tell each 0:12:25.078 --> 0:12:29.308 one of these, the AR vision, the envision and the 0:12:29.308 --> 0:12:32.518 Orcam all do slightly different things. And as I said 0:12:32.518 --> 0:12:35.128 in the beginning of our chat about this, it really 0:12:35.128 --> 0:12:38.128 depends on what you want to do. Now, the thing 0:12:38.128 --> 0:12:42.508 that concerns me, though, uh, with all three of these 0:12:42.508 --> 0:12:47.188 is this seam detection. And I purposely didn't mention this 0:12:47.188 --> 0:12:48.928 when I was talking about them, because this is the 0:12:48.928 --> 0:12:51.808 one that I've got concerns about because all of them 0:12:51.808 --> 0:12:54.058 do scene detection. So when you walking down the street, 0:12:54.058 --> 0:12:56.488 it'll say, you know, there's a tree to our left 0:12:56.758 --> 0:12:59.188 in front of you, there's a pole, there's a red 0:12:59.188 --> 0:13:03.778 postbox coming up, um, there's a shop, etc., etc.. The 0:13:03.778 --> 0:13:08.518 problem with scene detection, because it's actually generated through artificial 0:13:08.518 --> 0:13:14.308 intelligence and machine learning, it's comparing what that image is, 0:13:14.308 --> 0:13:18.928 is to lots of other trained images. And if the 0:13:18.928 --> 0:13:22.828 camera can't get the image nice and clear, it's going 0:13:22.828 --> 0:13:24.958 to give you the wrong information back. So I'll give 0:13:24.958 --> 0:13:29.548 you an example. My wife drives a red Subaru Forester 0:13:29.548 --> 0:13:33.178 now in certain conditions, because it's looking at the back 0:13:33.178 --> 0:13:35.758 of the car, it thinks it's the back of a 0:13:35.758 --> 0:13:40.288 red bus. Other times it thinks that my red bin 0:13:40.288 --> 0:13:44.248 is a fire hydrant. So I guess what I'm concerned 0:13:44.248 --> 0:13:48.838 about is if you want these things for object recognition 0:13:48.838 --> 0:13:52.378 and scene detection and be able to rely upon it, 0:13:52.468 --> 0:13:55.738 I would still say at the moment, and this includes 0:13:55.738 --> 0:13:58.708 all three of them. The answer is do not depend 0:13:58.708 --> 0:14:02.158 upon them because it's not accurate enough to be that safe. 0:14:02.158 --> 0:14:06.448 Now, one interesting area of application for these devices is 0:14:06.448 --> 0:14:09.928 for people with low vision, isn't it? Because we tend 0:14:09.928 --> 0:14:12.298 to think of them as for people who are totally blind, 0:14:12.298 --> 0:14:15.358 but if you're out there having trouble reading the signage 0:14:15.358 --> 0:14:18.238 or the packaging in the stores, etc., but you do 0:14:18.238 --> 0:14:21.928 have some vision, these devices could offer the solution. 0:14:21.928 --> 0:14:25.168 That's right. And they're also effectively hands free. So you 0:14:25.168 --> 0:14:27.988 can point the camera at whatever you want to have 0:14:27.988 --> 0:14:30.958 a look at. Um, or pick up something and just quote, 0:14:30.958 --> 0:14:33.238 look at the actual item and it'll tell you what 0:14:33.238 --> 0:14:35.308 it is. So from a low vision point of view, 0:14:35.308 --> 0:14:36.238 it's great. 0:14:36.238 --> 0:14:39.148 I know of people using these devices at museums and 0:14:39.148 --> 0:14:44.578 exhibitions to read signage. Hmm. Very interesting. Now, before we go, 0:14:44.578 --> 0:14:46.618 a reminder of where there are details of what we've 0:14:46.618 --> 0:14:49.978 been talking about in this and previous editions of the program. Indeed. 0:14:49.978 --> 0:14:51.778 So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:51.778 --> 0:14:56.788 which is David Woodburn, Dot Podbean pod Cbn.com David. 0:14:56.788 --> 0:15:02.668 Woodburn Podbean podbean.com. To write to the program you can. 0:15:02.668 --> 0:15:04.528 Write to me at Vision Australia where I work, which 0:15:04.528 --> 0:15:08.698 is David Woodbridge, how it sounds at Vision Australia. 0:15:08.908 --> 0:15:13.498 Org David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has 0:15:13.498 --> 0:15:16.288 been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national 0:15:16.288 --> 0:15:21.148 advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolly take care. 0:15:21.148 --> 0:15:22.918 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.