WEBVTT - Talking Tech 18th February 2025 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.119 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:12.120 --> 0:00:16.200 February the 18th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.720 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.800 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.360 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.920 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.080 tech and Denikin will come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.200 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:00:35.199 --> 0:00:38.559 a Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia 0:00:38.559 --> 0:00:44.240 radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:51.240 with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo. G'day, Stephen. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:57.920 Let's talk today firstly about a mobility device. And for 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.160 some time, I guess for several years now we've been 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.280 waiting for a cane or something like it with some 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.350 intelligence in it. and at last one seems to have dropped. 0:01:09.830 --> 0:01:14.510 Yes, this is the walk. Smart cane two. They did 0:01:14.509 --> 0:01:16.870 do a sort of a previous iteration of it, but 0:01:16.869 --> 0:01:21.430 this one is quite impressive for a number of reasons. 0:01:21.750 --> 0:01:25.069 First of all, it looks and feels like a standard 0:01:25.069 --> 0:01:27.070 white cane. Some of the others that I've seen in 0:01:27.069 --> 0:01:30.950 the past have either been insanely heavy and clunky looking, 0:01:30.950 --> 0:01:33.309 or they've been a little bit light and a little 0:01:33.310 --> 0:01:37.389 bit flimsy, whereas this really does feel a lot like 0:01:37.390 --> 0:01:42.149 a conventional long cane. There are a couple of notable differences. 0:01:42.149 --> 0:01:44.309 All of the smarts are kind of built into the 0:01:44.350 --> 0:01:48.310 handle of the cane, but the previous version of the 0:01:48.350 --> 0:01:52.830 walk had a sort of a touch surface, whereas this one, 0:01:52.830 --> 0:01:55.350 they've actually gone with tactile buttons, which I think is 0:01:55.350 --> 0:01:58.590 quite nice given the way that most of us would 0:01:58.630 --> 0:02:02.110 would use a cane. Now, I would stress that I'm 0:02:02.150 --> 0:02:05.630 predominantly a seeing eye dog user, but having said that, 0:02:05.670 --> 0:02:08.389 I am actually quite intrigued by this one myself. 0:02:08.430 --> 0:02:10.150 You've held one in your hand, haven't you? 0:02:10.270 --> 0:02:13.470 I have, yes, yes. I haven't actually had a chance 0:02:13.470 --> 0:02:16.030 to put it through its paces, per se, but I 0:02:16.030 --> 0:02:19.710 have actually had my hands on it. Yes. So we've 0:02:19.750 --> 0:02:23.550 got a series of buttons on the the grip, if 0:02:23.550 --> 0:02:26.030 you like. At the end of the grip, there is 0:02:26.030 --> 0:02:30.230 a Harman Kardon speaker which gives you audio feedback. And 0:02:30.230 --> 0:02:34.830 there is also a sensor for the overhead obstacle detection. 0:02:35.470 --> 0:02:39.350 The device pairs to your phone via the WI Walk app, 0:02:39.350 --> 0:02:43.550 and you can then use it for things like GPS directions. 0:02:43.550 --> 0:02:48.150 And also it has a what they're calling an intelligent assistant. Um, 0:02:48.270 --> 0:02:51.150 so you can ask it, you know, about your surroundings 0:02:51.150 --> 0:02:54.270 and those kinds of things. And you can also get 0:02:54.270 --> 0:02:58.950 public transport information, which utilizes the the Moovit app and 0:02:58.950 --> 0:03:02.190 the information that it has. So it I think it 0:03:02.190 --> 0:03:04.950 has the potential to be quite an impressive and very 0:03:04.950 --> 0:03:06.750 useful travel companion. 0:03:07.190 --> 0:03:08.750 It looks good when you read about it on the 0:03:08.750 --> 0:03:11.340 On the website and there's a few demos available. I 0:03:11.340 --> 0:03:14.100 haven't seen a lot of them yet. The place to 0:03:14.140 --> 0:03:20.740 go to with Dot zero. Zero. And normally when it's 0:03:20.740 --> 0:03:24.980 written down, it's capital W and capital W, but all 0:03:24.980 --> 0:03:27.300 the one word, if you know what I mean. So 0:03:27.340 --> 0:03:31.180 that's worth exploring. Uh, it looks like it's going to 0:03:31.180 --> 0:03:33.900 cost somewhere over $1,000, but not too bad. 0:03:34.180 --> 0:03:36.420 No, not too bad, considering what they've packed into it. 0:03:36.420 --> 0:03:38.420 I think that's probably pretty reasonable. 0:03:38.460 --> 0:03:42.100 Um, and, uh, you can order it online, but go 0:03:42.100 --> 0:03:46.580 to the website. Well. And good luck. 0:03:46.820 --> 0:03:49.140 Yeah, I'm looking forward to putting one through its paces 0:03:49.180 --> 0:03:51.020 properly and taking it for a walk and seeing what 0:03:51.020 --> 0:03:51.780 I think of it. 0:03:51.820 --> 0:03:58.580 So that's the we walk w. Let's talk YouTube now. 0:03:58.620 --> 0:04:02.780 YouTube's been around for years, and for many of us 0:04:02.780 --> 0:04:05.060 it's a go to place. If you think there might 0:04:05.060 --> 0:04:08.540 be some audio about such and such, maybe even from 0:04:08.540 --> 0:04:11.010 a long time ago. And that's where you go is 0:04:11.010 --> 0:04:14.570 to YouTube. But now people like Damo McMorrow and many 0:04:14.570 --> 0:04:19.650 others are creating their own content for YouTube. Tell us 0:04:19.650 --> 0:04:20.850 about all that, Damo. 0:04:21.250 --> 0:04:24.770 Sure. So you can access YouTube, obviously through a website. 0:04:24.770 --> 0:04:27.490 So you can just go to youtube.com, or you can 0:04:27.490 --> 0:04:31.690 download the YouTube app on your smartphone and access it 0:04:31.690 --> 0:04:36.330 that way. And some of the Braille devices also have 0:04:36.330 --> 0:04:41.090 a dedicated YouTube streaming app. For years it's it's been 0:04:41.090 --> 0:04:44.810 a platform where people could create video content for others 0:04:44.810 --> 0:04:47.970 to watch. And there's all sorts. There's millions and millions 0:04:47.970 --> 0:04:51.050 of videos available there on all manner of things. But 0:04:51.050 --> 0:04:54.770 I sort of got interested in creating content a little 0:04:54.770 --> 0:04:56.210 while ago, and it sort of became a bit of 0:04:56.210 --> 0:04:59.930 a holiday project. What I wanted to do was to 0:04:59.970 --> 0:05:02.290 show some of the things that my wife and I 0:05:02.290 --> 0:05:04.849 do with our caravan and our boat and our meat 0:05:04.850 --> 0:05:07.170 smoker and things like that, because a lot of people 0:05:07.170 --> 0:05:09.490 ask us, you know, how do you as a blind couple, 0:05:09.530 --> 0:05:11.730 how do you manage a caravan and that kind of thing? 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.760 So that's sort of what I wanted to do. But 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.000 there was a bit of a learning curve in terms of, 0:05:17.280 --> 0:05:19.760 first of all, how do you get your content there? 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.000 And you can do that a couple of different ways. 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:26.599 There's a white studio app for your phone. Um, or 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.840 you can do it via the the website as well. Um, 0:05:29.840 --> 0:05:33.000 by going to the there's like a number of tabs, 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.200 there's subscriptions and there's a home tab and whatnot. And 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.160 there's one of those tabs is called you. And you 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.839 can go and set yourself up a YouTube channel and 0:05:40.840 --> 0:05:44.160 add content. And you can also stream live as well 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.920 as showing sort of videos that you've made. So I 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.040 sort of had to figure that out. But then the 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.720 next challenge was sort of filming. As a blind person, 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.120 how do I know what I'm filming? How do I 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:56.480 make it work? And then sort of how do we 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:57.280 put it together? 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.840 Um, so tell us about all that. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.960 Okay, so I've been experimenting with a few different, um, 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:08.440 ways of filming things. The simplest is using my Ray-Ban 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.960 meta glasses. That works extremely well in that the audio 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.599 quality is good and I and I can be reasonably confident. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.160 That sort of where my face is pointing is where 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.880 it's filming. The limitation of using the glasses, though, is 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.560 that you've you can only record a three minute video 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:27.159 at a time, and sometimes you obviously want to do 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.080 a longer video than that. But for for short little clips, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.320 using the Ray-Ban meta glasses works pretty well. And you 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.279 can stitch the video clips together, and I'll talk a 0:06:37.280 --> 0:06:39.960 little bit about that in a moment. The other thing 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.960 I've experimented with is using a gimbal, which is a 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.320 essentially a holder that your iPhone fits into, and it 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.400 clips onto this device, and it has a sort of 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.960 a handle that you can hold onto, or you can 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.480 screw a tripod onto the bottom of it. And the 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.000 idea is that the gimbal keeps the phone level. So 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:02.440 you can do you can use that in a couple 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.680 of different ways. You can walk along and film. The 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:08.120 gimbal itself has little motors, which keep the phone steady 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.640 and keep it level and remove any sort of, you know, 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.280 shake from your hand and that kind of thing. But 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:14.990 the other thing that you can do with it is 0:07:14.990 --> 0:07:17.630 if you want to be in shot, you can set 0:07:17.630 --> 0:07:19.870 the gimbal up so that it follows you. So there's 0:07:19.870 --> 0:07:22.630 a feature in the app you can turn on called 0:07:22.630 --> 0:07:25.750 gesture mode, where you can start it recording by raising 0:07:25.750 --> 0:07:28.710 your hand in like a stop gesture. And then when 0:07:28.710 --> 0:07:30.710 you start it, if you're in shot, you can then 0:07:30.710 --> 0:07:33.550 move around, you know, perhaps walk over and grab something 0:07:33.550 --> 0:07:36.590 off another bench or a shelf and the the phone 0:07:36.590 --> 0:07:39.310 will kind of pivot around on the gimbal and follow you. 0:07:39.350 --> 0:07:41.630 And what about your voice? Will that come through clearly 0:07:41.630 --> 0:07:43.750 enough seeing you're away from the microphone? 0:07:43.790 --> 0:07:46.910 Yes, you can use the phone or you can Bluetooth 0:07:46.910 --> 0:07:49.710 some additional microphones to it. There are a number of 0:07:49.710 --> 0:07:54.550 different lapel mics and different ways of configuring microphones. Um, 0:07:54.550 --> 0:07:57.030 so that that works. There are a couple of funny 0:07:57.030 --> 0:08:00.270 things with the DJI app, which is the one I've got. 0:08:00.310 --> 0:08:03.870 It's a DJI Mimo gimbal. There are a couple of 0:08:03.910 --> 0:08:06.430 gotchas with it that I've had to figure out ways 0:08:06.430 --> 0:08:08.510 of working around where if you tap on the wrong thing, 0:08:08.510 --> 0:08:11.270 you can very quickly end up doing a slo mo 0:08:11.270 --> 0:08:14.390 video or something instead of a normal speed. So you 0:08:14.390 --> 0:08:15.980 do have to be a little bit careful, but it 0:08:15.980 --> 0:08:18.780 does work and I use that for when I want 0:08:18.820 --> 0:08:21.260 to talk to camera and introduce the video and talk 0:08:21.260 --> 0:08:24.220 about what I'm going to be doing. Um, the other 0:08:24.220 --> 0:08:26.900 bit of equipment I'm using is a GoPro, um, which 0:08:26.900 --> 0:08:30.420 is a little action camera. They're they're only quite small. 0:08:30.460 --> 0:08:32.859 They're sort of a little square box. And you can 0:08:32.860 --> 0:08:35.100 mount them on a number of different things. I use 0:08:35.100 --> 0:08:36.940 mine on a head mount, so it sort of sits 0:08:36.939 --> 0:08:39.699 on my forehead. But you can also use them in 0:08:39.699 --> 0:08:42.699 a chest harness. You can use them on a, you know, 0:08:42.740 --> 0:08:45.620 a bike helmet, um, or you can attach them to 0:08:45.660 --> 0:08:48.100 the front of your boat or your jetski or your car. 0:08:48.660 --> 0:08:50.939 They work quite well because they're a one touch sort 0:08:50.939 --> 0:08:54.340 of thing to turn them on and off, and they 0:08:54.339 --> 0:08:57.019 are very good at sort of capturing stuff where you're 0:08:57.020 --> 0:08:59.339 moving around and that kind of thing. And there's hundreds 0:08:59.339 --> 0:09:02.580 of different ways of, of mounting those so you can 0:09:02.579 --> 0:09:04.699 start them recording and then forget about them. And I 0:09:04.699 --> 0:09:07.300 use that if I'm recording a video where I'm cooking 0:09:07.300 --> 0:09:10.459 or I'm walking around the caravan demonstrating something, you know, 0:09:10.459 --> 0:09:13.339 that kind of thing. Um, so that's the technology that 0:09:13.339 --> 0:09:16.099 I've been playing with so far. The challenge has been 0:09:16.099 --> 0:09:19.660 just in in learning how to position things so that 0:09:19.660 --> 0:09:22.059 I know that what I think is in shot is 0:09:22.059 --> 0:09:24.140 actually in shot. And that's just been a little bit 0:09:24.140 --> 0:09:26.660 of practice and getting some feedback from people on what 0:09:26.660 --> 0:09:29.099 I'm filming and whether it's worked or not, but I 0:09:29.099 --> 0:09:30.539 feel like I'm getting more confident. 0:09:31.099 --> 0:09:33.300 That was going to be. My question, too, is how 0:09:33.300 --> 0:09:35.780 do you get that feedback from people quickly? If you're 0:09:35.819 --> 0:09:38.579 out on your own with your wife, who's also blind, 0:09:38.819 --> 0:09:40.179 how do you get that feedback? 0:09:40.420 --> 0:09:42.860 Um, well, my brother is also a YouTuber, and he's 0:09:42.859 --> 0:09:45.179 been very helpful and actually got me the gimbal for 0:09:45.179 --> 0:09:47.620 Christmas and helped me sort of set things up. So 0:09:47.780 --> 0:09:50.219 I've kind of been sending him a link before I 0:09:50.219 --> 0:09:52.379 publish the content and saying, can you just check this 0:09:52.380 --> 0:09:54.500 and make sure I haven't done anything silly? I'm finding 0:09:54.579 --> 0:09:56.420 as I get used to it and I understand the 0:09:56.420 --> 0:09:59.300 camera angles, I need to ask him less and less. 0:09:59.459 --> 0:10:02.540 Um, any other software you want to tell us about? 0:10:02.740 --> 0:10:05.699 Yes. So obviously, once you've recorded your video clips, the 0:10:05.699 --> 0:10:07.739 thing is being able to put them all together and 0:10:07.740 --> 0:10:10.300 there are a couple of really accessible options for us. 0:10:10.579 --> 0:10:13.540 One is iMovie, which is available on the Mac and 0:10:13.579 --> 0:10:16.900 on the iPhone. If you're using the GoPro or the 0:10:16.900 --> 0:10:20.089 gimbal Bull or the meta glasses. Everything gets sort of 0:10:20.130 --> 0:10:22.130 sent to your phone so you can grab all your 0:10:22.130 --> 0:10:24.210 different clips and put them in the order you want, 0:10:25.130 --> 0:10:27.530 and then export it out to YouTube or export it 0:10:27.530 --> 0:10:29.690 out to a file, depending on what you want to do. 0:10:30.449 --> 0:10:32.689 The other one I've been using quite a bit and 0:10:32.689 --> 0:10:36.210 it's very nice as well, is Clipchamp for windows, which 0:10:36.209 --> 0:10:39.490 is a free Microsoft app, and I've only just sort 0:10:39.490 --> 0:10:41.689 of tapped into a couple of the things that it 0:10:41.689 --> 0:10:44.569 can do, but it works really well as well for 0:10:44.569 --> 0:10:47.889 stitching your content together, your clips together. It works very 0:10:47.890 --> 0:10:51.209 nicely with jaws and Nvda and even. Narrator if you're 0:10:51.209 --> 0:10:54.410 a screen reader user. So yeah, it's nice that there 0:10:54.410 --> 0:10:57.530 are some accessible tools out there and you can set 0:10:57.530 --> 0:11:00.329 it up now using AI. There are features where you 0:11:00.329 --> 0:11:03.730 can get it to transition nicely from one clip to another, 0:11:03.729 --> 0:11:05.809 so that all the transitions are nice and smooth and 0:11:05.809 --> 0:11:06.770 that sort of thing. 0:11:06.809 --> 0:11:09.690 People will be curious to find out how all this 0:11:09.689 --> 0:11:12.770 comes out. So where can they go to catch up 0:11:12.770 --> 0:11:13.250 with it? 0:11:13.809 --> 0:11:19.959 You can go to youtube.com and then the At sign 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:24.319 and the blind test drive. All one word. So that's 0:11:24.359 --> 0:11:27.240 at the blind test drive. Or you can just search 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.280 for at the blind test drive in the YouTube app. 0:11:30.319 --> 0:11:33.040 And then when the channel comes up, there's an option 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.119 there to subscribe. And that way whenever I put new 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.959 content up, you'll be able to find it easily. 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.160 Thanks for telling us about that, and we will keep 0:11:41.199 --> 0:11:43.439 watching out for what you're doing, and perhaps have another 0:11:43.439 --> 0:11:46.080 chat sometime about what you're up to with your YouTube 0:11:46.079 --> 0:11:49.800 creation amongst the thousands, if not millions of others out 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:50.840 there who are doing it. 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:52.920 It's been a real learning curve for me though, so 0:11:52.959 --> 0:11:55.679 I'm happy to sort of share what I'm learning, you know, 0:11:55.719 --> 0:11:58.760 in the hope that it might inspire other blind or 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.920 low vision content creators out there. So as I learn 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:04.720 more about what to do and what works and what doesn't, um, 0:12:04.719 --> 0:12:06.960 I'm happy to check back in, you know, from time 0:12:06.959 --> 0:12:09.079 to time and share that information around. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:12.800 We were talking last week about keeping in touch with 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.160 apps that have been around for a little while. Be 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.479 My Eyes has had a facelift. 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.120 It has, and I haven't had a chance to have 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.030 a really good look at that yet. But one of 0:12:22.030 --> 0:12:25.469 the quite interesting features is that it now has a 0:12:25.589 --> 0:12:29.069 read aloud feature, which means that if you don't use 0:12:29.469 --> 0:12:33.110 a screen reader, you know, perhaps you use your phone, 0:12:33.109 --> 0:12:35.550 but you use things like speak selection, or you might 0:12:35.550 --> 0:12:37.510 use zoom or that kind of thing. Some of the 0:12:37.510 --> 0:12:41.030 other accessibility features. There is a read aloud feature to 0:12:41.069 --> 0:12:44.830 speak out, descriptions and and those sorts of things now. 0:12:44.829 --> 0:12:48.110 So it does make the app potentially more useful to 0:12:48.109 --> 0:12:50.589 someone who maybe doesn't want to turn VoiceOver on in 0:12:50.589 --> 0:12:51.950 order to be able to use it. 0:12:51.990 --> 0:12:55.550 It won me over with the Be My Eye feature 0:12:55.550 --> 0:12:58.910 when that came out, or about 18 months or so ago. 0:12:59.349 --> 0:13:02.950 Yeah, I really love that too. Um, and of course, 0:13:02.949 --> 0:13:06.469 now you can also access the Be My Eyes caller 0:13:06.469 --> 0:13:09.590 volunteer feature through. If you've got a set of Ray-Ban 0:13:09.630 --> 0:13:13.069 meta glasses, you can access that hands free rather than 0:13:13.069 --> 0:13:15.470 just through the camera on your phone, which is nice 0:13:15.469 --> 0:13:17.910 if you're navigating airports and those sorts of things. 0:13:17.949 --> 0:13:21.589 And we should explain be my eye is where you 0:13:21.589 --> 0:13:24.750 can submit a photograph, or it can even take the 0:13:24.750 --> 0:13:28.550 photograph for you, and then it'll give you a very 0:13:28.550 --> 0:13:31.910 detailed AI description of that photograph. 0:13:31.910 --> 0:13:34.110 And you can also ask questions so you can say 0:13:34.109 --> 0:13:37.269 things like, is this photo straight? Is the is the 0:13:37.270 --> 0:13:39.309 cat in this photo clearly in shot? 0:13:39.349 --> 0:13:42.069 That's been my eyes. Go and have another look at 0:13:42.069 --> 0:13:45.709 it before we go. A reminder that there are details 0:13:45.709 --> 0:13:47.950 of what we've been talking about in this program and 0:13:47.949 --> 0:13:57.630 in previous editions on VA. VA. And to write to us. 0:13:57.870 --> 0:14:03.829 Damo. At. 0:14:06.069 --> 0:14:11.389 Damo at this has been talking tech with me has 0:14:11.390 --> 0:14:15.870 been vision Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow I'm 0:14:15.870 --> 0:14:18.790 Stephen Jolly. Stay safe. We'll talk more tech next week. 0:14:18.829 --> 0:14:19.350 See you.