WEBVTT - Talking Tech 24th December 2024 0:00:08.090 --> 0:00:11.959 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:16.430 December the 24th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly, great to have 0:00:16.430 --> 0:00:20.329 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:20.329 --> 0:00:24.350 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:24.380 --> 0:00:27.410 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:27.410 --> 0:00:29.870 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:29.900 --> 0:00:32.720 tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.620 Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is 0:00:36.620 --> 0:00:39.379 to ask a Siri device or smart speaker to play. 0:00:39.409 --> 0:00:44.419 Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking 0:00:44.449 --> 0:00:49.849 tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager 0:00:49.849 --> 0:00:52.370 Damien McMorrow. Damo, how's it going? 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:53.390 G'day, Stephen. 0:00:53.390 --> 0:00:55.490 Great time of the year, isn't it, as we move 0:00:55.490 --> 0:00:58.370 into the Christmas break, but we'll be keeping talking tech 0:00:58.370 --> 0:01:03.889 going all through the holiday period and into January. So 0:01:03.890 --> 0:01:06.440 lots to talk about, I guess. So it's a good 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.970 idea to remind people about the availability of Vision Australia 0:01:10.970 --> 0:01:16.370 and Quantum reading learning vision over the next few weeks 0:01:16.399 --> 0:01:19.760 as sort of the main operation powers down a bit. 0:01:19.850 --> 0:01:24.260 That's right. So operations for the most part, shut down 0:01:24.259 --> 0:01:29.539 on the 20th of December and resume normal operation on 0:01:29.539 --> 0:01:33.919 the 6th of January. And that includes the Vision Store. 0:01:33.950 --> 0:01:40.069 The Vision Australia at help desk and quantum reading learning vision, 0:01:40.100 --> 0:01:40.459 of course. 0:01:40.459 --> 0:01:43.100 In the meantime, you can still go to the online 0:01:43.100 --> 0:01:46.610 places shop Vision Australia. Org you can browse, you can 0:01:46.610 --> 0:01:48.889 even order stuff online. It might take a little longer 0:01:48.890 --> 0:01:49.430 to come. 0:01:49.460 --> 0:01:53.840 Yeah, absolutely. And also quantum RV. 0:01:53.870 --> 0:02:01.400 Com.au quantum rv.com dot a U. So we talked last 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:08.300 week about the iOS 18.2 arriving. There were other software 0:02:08.300 --> 0:02:09.650 updates from Apple. 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:14.840 Yes there were. There was an update to the watch OS, 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.690 so that's now up to 11.2 and also an update 0:02:17.690 --> 0:02:21.800 to tvOS for the Apple TV. But probably the biggest 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:26.600 one is the latest version of Sequoia, the operating system 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.440 for the Mac, which now means that we have Apple 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.410 Intelligence available on the Mac as well. We did talk 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.250 a bit about Apple Intelligence last week, and on the 0:02:37.250 --> 0:02:40.370 Mac it does include some similar features. So all of 0:02:40.370 --> 0:02:43.280 those things around being able to summarize content and those 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.160 kinds of things. But there are also all the writing 0:02:46.190 --> 0:02:49.790 tools as well, similar, I suppose, in some ways to, 0:02:49.820 --> 0:02:54.380 you know, co-pilot for windows in that you can have a, 0:02:54.410 --> 0:02:57.020 you know, multiple versions of a document so that you 0:02:57.020 --> 0:03:00.470 can get the the tone right if you like. And 0:03:00.470 --> 0:03:02.420 it does try to sort of learn and give you 0:03:02.450 --> 0:03:07.010 information that's relevant to your personal context. The thing to 0:03:07.010 --> 0:03:11.420 remember about that, though, is it is only available for 0:03:11.420 --> 0:03:15.710 the Apple silicon type chips. So you have to have 0:03:15.710 --> 0:03:19.820 either an M1 Mac or so M1, M2, M3, or 0:03:19.820 --> 0:03:24.590 M4 if you have one of the older Intel based Macs. Unfortunately, 0:03:24.590 --> 0:03:28.310 you do miss out on the Apple Intelligence feature. 0:03:28.370 --> 0:03:32.330 That's where you'll start to feel the pressure of not 0:03:32.330 --> 0:03:36.680 having come to silicon chips yet, which started about four 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:41.030 years ago now the M1. It's going to show itself 0:03:41.030 --> 0:03:43.760 as a difference more and more into the future, isn't it? 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.400 I think it is, Stephen. Yeah, I think they're definitely 0:03:46.430 --> 0:03:49.850 keen for people to move off those old platforms, you know, 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:51.860 to to be able to take advantage of all of 0:03:51.860 --> 0:03:52.880 the new features. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:57.980 So that's the Apple software updates, the usual time they come, 0:03:57.980 --> 0:04:02.460 which is in December. Lots to play with. Talking of 0:04:02.460 --> 0:04:06.000 playing with things. Now your life is very much consumed 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:10.800 by technology. For work, for your radio work. And we 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.650 should give a shout out to your weekly radio program, 0:04:13.650 --> 0:04:16.919 by the way, on mushroom FM. Tell us quickly about that. 0:04:16.950 --> 0:04:20.730 Yeah, sure. So I do a show on mushroom FM 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.089 on a Saturday morning called Demos All Day Breakfast. So 0:04:24.090 --> 0:04:28.230 it's Saturday morning, 7 a.m. if you're in Queensland, 8 a.m. 0:04:28.230 --> 0:04:31.050 if you're in the the southern states for a couple 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.300 of hours, play a lot of Aussie and Kiwi music 0:04:33.300 --> 0:04:35.610 and also do a cooking segment and things like that 0:04:35.610 --> 0:04:37.320 as well. It's really just a bit of fun and 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.170 I'm generally live with that too, so it can be 0:04:40.170 --> 0:04:41.790 interactive if people want to. 0:04:41.820 --> 0:04:43.500 Yeah, a good way to wake up on a Saturday 0:04:43.500 --> 0:04:47.040 morning in this part of the world. But you do 0:04:47.070 --> 0:04:50.610 often just sit down and I guess play with your technology, 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:54.360 do something that satisfies a curiosity. Tell us what you've 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:55.440 been doing recently. 0:04:55.470 --> 0:04:59.850 Yeah, sure. So I am, I suppose a little bit 0:04:59.850 --> 0:05:03.360 of a petrolhead at heart. I love my cars and 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:06.840 trains and aeroplanes and things like that. And you know, 0:05:06.870 --> 0:05:11.279 sometimes you do randomly hear of something, you know, or you'll, 0:05:11.280 --> 0:05:13.770 you'll hear something, a plane go overhead and think, oh, 0:05:13.770 --> 0:05:16.620 what's that? It sounds a bit unusual. And so I've 0:05:16.620 --> 0:05:21.210 been messing around a little bit with ChatGPT in voice 0:05:21.210 --> 0:05:23.760 mode or conversation mode. And this has been around for 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.560 a little while, but I've only just sort of recently 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.860 started playing with it. So what it does, it actually 0:05:28.860 --> 0:05:32.039 allows you to have a voice conversation with ChatGPT, and 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.190 it is very much like talking to someone on the phone. 0:05:35.190 --> 0:05:38.070 So for example, the other day I asked it about 0:05:38.070 --> 0:05:41.310 a particular type of aircraft and it did the sort 0:05:41.310 --> 0:05:43.890 of very friendly hi, what can I help with? And 0:05:43.890 --> 0:05:46.380 I asked it about this particular plane and it gave 0:05:46.380 --> 0:05:49.950 me a fairly detailed answer, but I was then able 0:05:49.950 --> 0:05:53.820 to just sit there and ask questions. So I said, okay, 0:05:53.850 --> 0:05:56.490 so how many engines or what type of engines does 0:05:56.490 --> 0:05:58.800 this aeroplane have? And it said, you know, there are 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:02.610 two engine configurations of Pratt and Whitney engine and something else. 0:06:02.610 --> 0:06:05.250 And then I said, how many passengers can it hold, 0:06:05.250 --> 0:06:08.790 what's its range? And then I said, are any Australian 0:06:08.790 --> 0:06:11.910 airlines using them? And they said, yes, Qantas has ordered some. 0:06:11.910 --> 0:06:14.310 And you know, I don't know how many, how many 0:06:14.310 --> 0:06:17.400 of these do Qantas have. So it was great just 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.560 to be able to do it in voice mode. You know, 0:06:19.590 --> 0:06:23.610 we've talked a lot about AI and ChatGPT in particular 0:06:23.610 --> 0:06:25.740 in terms of being able to feed it documents and 0:06:25.740 --> 0:06:29.370 manuals and those kinds of things, but to just be 0:06:29.370 --> 0:06:33.089 able to have a fairly natural conversation and ask questions 0:06:33.090 --> 0:06:35.700 was actually really interesting. I mean, I know that you 0:06:35.700 --> 0:06:40.920 can do it to some degree with your smart speaker, 0:06:41.070 --> 0:06:45.390 you know, your Amazon devices and so on. But this 0:06:45.390 --> 0:06:47.760 is a whole new level in terms of the level 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.950 of information that it gives you. And you don't get 0:06:49.950 --> 0:06:53.910 that frustrating. Sorry, I don't know that type of answer. 0:06:53.910 --> 0:06:58.240 So definitely quite impressive in terms of the information that 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.360 you can easily get. And I'm actually starting to find 0:07:01.390 --> 0:07:06.640 now that I'm gravitating more towards these AI powered things 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:11.680 for those random questions, rather than using my smart speaker, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.830 because the, the, the level of detail that I'm getting 0:07:14.830 --> 0:07:18.340 is is better. There are still some inaccuracies in it, 0:07:18.340 --> 0:07:21.580 I think, but it does definitely give you more information 0:07:21.580 --> 0:07:24.850 than your normal sort of, you know, Google or Amazon 0:07:24.850 --> 0:07:28.960 device or even the older variants of Siri. And also 0:07:28.990 --> 0:07:31.600 the fact that, you know, you can you can take 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.060 the conversation wherever you want it go. So if it 0:07:34.060 --> 0:07:37.840 says something that then sparks your interest, you can ask 0:07:37.870 --> 0:07:40.450 a sort of a different question depending on what results 0:07:40.450 --> 0:07:43.390 it gives you. So I do find these things are 0:07:43.390 --> 0:07:46.420 quite good as a research tool, but the voice mode 0:07:46.660 --> 0:07:50.590 and the voice interactivity is actually really quite impressive. The 0:07:50.590 --> 0:07:53.140 other thing that I just wanted to quickly mention, too, 0:07:53.170 --> 0:07:55.090 that I have been experimenting with a little bit, is 0:07:55.090 --> 0:08:00.630 using AI tools for generating sort of little snippets of code, 0:08:00.660 --> 0:08:04.020 you know, so scripts for doing particular things. Other little 0:08:04.050 --> 0:08:08.100 bits of of random code. Um, you know, sometimes if I'm, 0:08:08.100 --> 0:08:11.880 if I'm trying to program a radio because as I said, 0:08:11.910 --> 0:08:14.220 being a ham, I kind of tinker with that stuff 0:08:14.220 --> 0:08:18.300 as well. But I found ChatGPT quite good for generating 0:08:18.300 --> 0:08:20.910 little code snippets. So for the programmers among you, you 0:08:20.910 --> 0:08:23.370 might enjoy playing around with that as well. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.620 For some of the time over the next few weeks, 0:08:25.620 --> 0:08:28.860 you're going to be taking it easy and travelling a bit. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.380 Tell us about the tech involved in that. 0:08:31.410 --> 0:08:34.680 Yeah, sure. So my wife and I have a caravan 0:08:34.710 --> 0:08:38.069 and we are both blind. And there are a few 0:08:38.069 --> 0:08:41.400 things that we've been using quite a bit for our travels, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.939 even simple things like levelling the caravan. I either use 0:08:44.939 --> 0:08:49.079 the measure app on the iPhone or my Tape King 0:08:49.109 --> 0:08:52.890 talking tape measure, which has a levelling device in it 0:08:52.949 --> 0:08:58.260 when we're moving around the campground, we tend to use 0:08:58.439 --> 0:09:02.520 things like the stellar track or even something like Soundscape 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.209 or Voice Vista to put a beacon on our caravan, 0:09:06.209 --> 0:09:09.030 and we've actually stuck some air tags on the caravan 0:09:09.030 --> 0:09:11.039 as well, so that we can actually be sure we're 0:09:11.069 --> 0:09:13.890 at the right site. So they're the little apple things 0:09:13.890 --> 0:09:15.929 that are about the size of a 50 cent piece, 0:09:15.929 --> 0:09:18.690 and I've just stuck one on the inside of the van, 0:09:18.689 --> 0:09:21.599 and then I can use the Find My app on 0:09:21.599 --> 0:09:23.399 the phone to make sure that I'm not walking into 0:09:23.429 --> 0:09:25.379 someone else's campsite. 0:09:25.410 --> 0:09:26.729 You're very proactive. 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.120 Great stuff. Try to be try to be. Um. The 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.059 other thing that we did do, just quickly, we actually 0:09:33.059 --> 0:09:35.969 installed a remote van mover on our van. And what 0:09:35.969 --> 0:09:38.550 it does, it has some rollers that grip onto the tires, 0:09:38.550 --> 0:09:40.620 and you can then move your caravan around as though 0:09:40.620 --> 0:09:43.979 it's a giant remote control car. The nice thing about 0:09:43.979 --> 0:09:46.500 that is if the van's not properly positioned on the 0:09:46.500 --> 0:09:48.239 site or something like that, and we need to just 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:51.929 jockey it forward or backward, it moves slowly enough that 0:09:51.929 --> 0:09:54.929 I can actually walk beside it or even in front 0:09:54.929 --> 0:09:56.550 of it and know that I'm, you know, I'm not 0:09:56.550 --> 0:09:59.760 going to hit anything. So that's that's been really handy 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.890 as well, because it allows us to move the van 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:04.020 after it's unhooked from the car. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:11.609 Amazing. There's a lot of talk and very sensibly, awareness 0:10:11.609 --> 0:10:16.709 of the dangers around the internet, particularly the the scams 0:10:16.709 --> 0:10:19.410 that go on and how you can easily get tricked. 0:10:19.709 --> 0:10:21.719 Good time to talk about that now, I reckon. 0:10:21.750 --> 0:10:26.009 Yes, definitely. Because often, you know, Christmas time, we're busy, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.170 our mind is elsewhere and it's very easy to just 0:10:28.170 --> 0:10:31.199 not be concentrating and accidentally get pulled into these things. 0:10:31.199 --> 0:10:35.790 So just sort of wanted to remind people around being 0:10:35.790 --> 0:10:38.819 vigilant to scammers because they don't seem to take holidays. 0:10:38.849 --> 0:10:41.669 There are a few simple things that we can do 0:10:41.790 --> 0:10:46.350 to help keep us safe online. Obviously, anything that says 0:10:46.349 --> 0:10:48.989 there's a problem with your account, click here to rectify 0:10:48.990 --> 0:10:52.860 it or click here to confirm your Information that is 0:10:52.859 --> 0:10:56.160 generally a red flag straight away. So it's worth not 0:10:56.160 --> 0:11:01.079 clicking here because you don't know where that's going to go. Generally, 0:11:01.109 --> 0:11:03.179 you know, banks and things like that will ask you 0:11:03.179 --> 0:11:05.339 to verify things in the app. They won't give you 0:11:05.339 --> 0:11:08.370 a click here type link. The other thing though to 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.819 be aware of is and it as a screen reader user, 0:11:11.819 --> 0:11:15.239 you're slightly at an advantage because what you'll find is 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.879 that the email that you get will look like it's 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.910 from PayPal, but if you look at it, it'll be 0:11:20.910 --> 0:11:24.330 something like P, a exclamation mark. Pal or p a 0:11:24.359 --> 0:11:27.240 y p for L or something like that. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.400 Something that the eye glosses over. 0:11:29.429 --> 0:11:33.750 Yes, that's right, it looks almost right. Having said that, 0:11:33.750 --> 0:11:36.119 there are a few that can still trip you up. 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.520 I saw one a little while ago which was an 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:43.379 email from Micra soft Micra soft. And if you're not 0:11:43.380 --> 0:11:45.899 paying attention even the screen reader will sort of you 0:11:45.900 --> 0:11:48.720 know skim over that and you can you can miss 0:11:48.750 --> 0:11:52.179 it quite easily. So I think the important message with 0:11:52.179 --> 0:11:56.410 all of these things is just to be extremely vigilant. 0:11:56.439 --> 0:11:58.629 You know, if something sounds too good to be true, 0:11:58.630 --> 0:12:02.230 someone tells you you've won $1 million or you've inherited 0:12:02.260 --> 0:12:06.880 $1 million from a, you know, distant relative. You know, 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.040 if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 0:12:09.069 --> 0:12:11.829 Is is always a good sort of line of thinking. 0:12:11.859 --> 0:12:16.630 The other dead giveaway is often very poor grammar and 0:12:16.630 --> 0:12:19.689 also anything that appears to be particularly threatening. I got 0:12:19.719 --> 0:12:21.429 one a few weeks ago that said that if I 0:12:21.429 --> 0:12:24.939 didn't respond within 24 hours, they would come and take 0:12:24.939 --> 0:12:28.089 me away to jail. Um, you know, so that was 0:12:28.089 --> 0:12:30.520 sort of a dead a dead giveaway. The thing is 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.239 that anyone who's carrying on a legitimate business doesn't generally 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.019 behave that way. So it's always worth being just being 0:12:38.020 --> 0:12:40.360 a little bit extra vigilant, I think, and particularly at 0:12:40.359 --> 0:12:43.209 this time of year, because there'll be people, you know, 0:12:43.270 --> 0:12:48.099 masquerading as, you know, Boxing Day sales and various other things, um, or, 0:12:48.130 --> 0:12:50.439 you know, threatening to cut off access to your money 0:12:50.439 --> 0:12:53.529 and that kind of thing. And generally, yeah, those sorts 0:12:53.530 --> 0:12:55.569 of things you should treat as red flags. We talk 0:12:55.599 --> 0:12:58.599 about being safe when we travel and that kind of 0:12:58.630 --> 0:13:00.880 thing over the holiday break, but it's so important to 0:13:00.910 --> 0:13:03.550 also be safe with what we do online. 0:13:03.849 --> 0:13:08.289 Just one other thing, too. It's always important to ignore 0:13:08.319 --> 0:13:12.519 stuff that you get online rather than bite back, because 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.309 the more you bite back, the more clues they're getting 0:13:15.309 --> 0:13:19.660 about your existence. Yeah, and even with the telephone ones, 0:13:19.660 --> 0:13:22.959 some people think it's good fun to string the the 0:13:22.959 --> 0:13:25.870 person along a little bit when they ask you to 0:13:25.900 --> 0:13:30.579 open windows or whatever. It's best just to send it away. 0:13:30.609 --> 0:13:32.050 Don't don't get involved. 0:13:32.079 --> 0:13:34.239 Yeah. And I must admit, I've been guilty of that 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.670 as well. I had someone ask me the other day, 0:13:36.699 --> 0:13:39.339 does that Mr. Damien, and I said, let's pretend it 0:13:39.339 --> 0:13:41.379 isn't and see what happens. And of course, that wasn't 0:13:41.410 --> 0:13:46.270 on the script, but yeah, you're absolutely right. Um, tempting 0:13:46.270 --> 0:13:49.000 as it is, you're really better to just hang up 0:13:49.030 --> 0:13:51.160 and don't engage with them. 0:13:51.910 --> 0:13:55.449 Now, just before we go, a reminder to everyone that 0:13:55.449 --> 0:13:57.790 you can find details of what we've been talking about 0:13:57.790 --> 0:14:00.579 in this and previous editions of the program by going 0:14:00.609 --> 0:14:07.809 to VA radio.org/talking tech. VA radio.org/talking tech. And to right 0:14:07.809 --> 0:14:08.979 to the program you. 0:14:08.979 --> 0:14:15.910 Can email me Damo McMorrow. That's Damo MC MoU at 0:14:15.910 --> 0:14:19.780 Vision australia.org. Thank you all for your emails over the 0:14:19.780 --> 0:14:21.340 last few months, and I want to just take the 0:14:21.340 --> 0:14:25.120 opportunity to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas and New Year. 0:14:25.150 --> 0:14:30.850 And the same to you. Damo. Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org. 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.370 This has been talking tech with me has been Vision 0:14:33.370 --> 0:14:38.290 Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.350 Stay safe. Have a great Christmas everyone. We'll talk more 0:14:41.350 --> 0:14:42.610 tech next week. See you.