S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: December the 24th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly, great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
S1: stations of the Radio Reading Network or 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. It can all come usually on a
S1: Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is
S1: to ask a Siri device or smart speaker to play.
S1: Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking
S1: tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager
S1: Damien McMorrow. Damo, how's it going?
S2: G'day, Stephen.
S1: Great time of the year, isn't it, as we move
S1: into the Christmas break, but we'll be keeping talking tech
S1: going all through the holiday period and into January. So
S1: lots to talk about, I guess. So it's a good
S1: idea to remind people about the availability of Vision Australia
S1: and Quantum reading learning vision over the next few weeks
S1: as sort of the main operation powers down a bit.
S2: That's right. So operations for the most part, shut down
S2: on the 20th of December and resume normal operation on
S2: the 6th of January. And that includes the Vision Store.
S2: The Vision Australia at help desk and quantum reading learning vision,
S2: of course.
S1: In the meantime, you can still go to the online
S1: places shop Vision Australia. Org you can browse, you can
S1: even order stuff online. It might take a little longer
S1: to come.
S2: Yeah, absolutely. And also quantum RV.
S1: Com.au quantum rv.com dot a U. So we talked last
S1: week about the iOS 18.2 arriving. There were other software
S1: updates from Apple.
S2: Yes there were. There was an update to the watch OS,
S2: so that's now up to 11.2 and also an update
S2: to tvOS for the Apple TV. But probably the biggest
S2: one is the latest version of Sequoia, the operating system
S2: for the Mac, which now means that we have Apple
S2: Intelligence available on the Mac as well. We did talk
S2: a bit about Apple Intelligence last week, and on the
S2: Mac it does include some similar features. So all of
S2: those things around being able to summarize content and those
S2: kinds of things. But there are also all the writing
S2: tools as well, similar, I suppose, in some ways to,
S2: you know, co-pilot for windows in that you can have a,
S2: you know, multiple versions of a document so that you
S2: can get the the tone right if you like. And
S2: it does try to sort of learn and give you
S2: information that's relevant to your personal context. The thing to
S2: remember about that, though, is it is only available for
S2: the Apple silicon type chips. So you have to have
S2: either an M1 Mac or so M1, M2, M3, or
S2: M4 if you have one of the older Intel based Macs. Unfortunately,
S2: you do miss out on the Apple Intelligence feature.
S1: That's where you'll start to feel the pressure of not
S1: having come to silicon chips yet, which started about four
S1: years ago now the M1. It's going to show itself
S1: as a difference more and more into the future, isn't it?
S2: I think it is, Stephen. Yeah, I think they're definitely
S2: keen for people to move off those old platforms, you know,
S2: to to be able to take advantage of all of
S2: the new features.
S1: So that's the Apple software updates, the usual time they come,
S1: which is in December. Lots to play with. Talking of
S1: playing with things. Now your life is very much consumed
S1: by technology. For work, for your radio work. And we
S1: should give a shout out to your weekly radio program,
S1: by the way, on mushroom FM. Tell us quickly about that.
S2: Yeah, sure. So I do a show on mushroom FM
S2: on a Saturday morning called Demos All Day Breakfast. So
S2: it's Saturday morning, 7 a.m. if you're in Queensland, 8 a.m.
S2: if you're in the the southern states for a couple
S2: of hours, play a lot of Aussie and Kiwi music
S2: and also do a cooking segment and things like that
S2: as well. It's really just a bit of fun and
S2: I'm generally live with that too, so it can be
S2: interactive if people want to.
S1: Yeah, a good way to wake up on a Saturday
S1: morning in this part of the world. But you do
S1: often just sit down and I guess play with your technology,
S1: do something that satisfies a curiosity. Tell us what you've
S1: been doing recently.
S2: Yeah, sure. So I am, I suppose a little bit
S2: of a petrolhead at heart. I love my cars and
S2: trains and aeroplanes and things like that. And you know,
S2: sometimes you do randomly hear of something, you know, or you'll,
S2: you'll hear something, a plane go overhead and think, oh,
S2: what's that? It sounds a bit unusual. And so I've
S2: been messing around a little bit with ChatGPT in voice
S2: mode or conversation mode. And this has been around for
S2: a little while, but I've only just sort of recently
S2: started playing with it. So what it does, it actually
S2: allows you to have a voice conversation with ChatGPT, and
S2: it is very much like talking to someone on the phone.
S2: So for example, the other day I asked it about
S2: a particular type of aircraft and it did the sort
S2: of very friendly hi, what can I help with? And
S2: I asked it about this particular plane and it gave
S2: me a fairly detailed answer, but I was then able
S2: to just sit there and ask questions. So I said, okay,
S2: so how many engines or what type of engines does
S2: this aeroplane have? And it said, you know, there are
S2: two engine configurations of Pratt and Whitney engine and something else.
S2: And then I said, how many passengers can it hold,
S2: what's its range? And then I said, are any Australian
S2: airlines using them? And they said, yes, Qantas has ordered some.
S2: And you know, I don't know how many, how many
S2: of these do Qantas have. So it was great just
S2: to be able to do it in voice mode. You know,
S2: we've talked a lot about AI and ChatGPT in particular
S2: in terms of being able to feed it documents and
S2: manuals and those kinds of things, but to just be
S2: able to have a fairly natural conversation and ask questions
S2: was actually really interesting. I mean, I know that you
S2: can do it to some degree with your smart speaker,
S2: you know, your Amazon devices and so on. But this
S2: is a whole new level in terms of the level
S2: of information that it gives you. And you don't get
S2: that frustrating. Sorry, I don't know that type of answer.
S2: So definitely quite impressive in terms of the information that
S2: you can easily get. And I'm actually starting to find
S2: now that I'm gravitating more towards these AI powered things
S2: for those random questions, rather than using my smart speaker,
S2: because the, the, the level of detail that I'm getting
S2: is is better. There are still some inaccuracies in it,
S2: I think, but it does definitely give you more information
S2: than your normal sort of, you know, Google or Amazon
S2: device or even the older variants of Siri. And also
S2: the fact that, you know, you can you can take
S2: the conversation wherever you want it go. So if it
S2: says something that then sparks your interest, you can ask
S2: a sort of a different question depending on what results
S2: it gives you. So I do find these things are
S2: quite good as a research tool, but the voice mode
S2: and the voice interactivity is actually really quite impressive. The
S2: other thing that I just wanted to quickly mention, too,
S2: that I have been experimenting with a little bit, is
S2: using AI tools for generating sort of little snippets of code,
S2: you know, so scripts for doing particular things. Other little
S2: bits of of random code. Um, you know, sometimes if I'm,
S2: if I'm trying to program a radio because as I said,
S2: being a ham, I kind of tinker with that stuff
S2: as well. But I found ChatGPT quite good for generating
S2: little code snippets. So for the programmers among you, you
S2: might enjoy playing around with that as well.
S1: For some of the time over the next few weeks,
S1: you're going to be taking it easy and travelling a bit.
S1: Tell us about the tech involved in that.
S2: Yeah, sure. So my wife and I have a caravan
S2: and we are both blind. And there are a few
S2: things that we've been using quite a bit for our travels,
S2: even simple things like levelling the caravan. I either use
S2: the measure app on the iPhone or my Tape King
S2: talking tape measure, which has a levelling device in it
S2: when we're moving around the campground, we tend to use
S2: things like the stellar track or even something like Soundscape
S2: or Voice Vista to put a beacon on our caravan,
S2: and we've actually stuck some air tags on the caravan
S2: as well, so that we can actually be sure we're
S2: at the right site. So they're the little apple things
S2: that are about the size of a 50 cent piece,
S2: and I've just stuck one on the inside of the van,
S2: and then I can use the Find My app on
S2: the phone to make sure that I'm not walking into
S2: someone else's campsite.
S1: You're very proactive.
S2: Great stuff. Try to be try to be. Um. The
S2: other thing that we did do, just quickly, we actually
S2: installed a remote van mover on our van. And what
S2: it does, it has some rollers that grip onto the tires,
S2: and you can then move your caravan around as though
S2: it's a giant remote control car. The nice thing about
S2: that is if the van's not properly positioned on the
S2: site or something like that, and we need to just
S2: jockey it forward or backward, it moves slowly enough that
S2: I can actually walk beside it or even in front
S2: of it and know that I'm, you know, I'm not
S2: going to hit anything. So that's that's been really handy
S2: as well, because it allows us to move the van
S2: after it's unhooked from the car.
S1: Amazing. There's a lot of talk and very sensibly, awareness
S1: of the dangers around the internet, particularly the the scams
S1: that go on and how you can easily get tricked.
S1: Good time to talk about that now, I reckon.
S2: Yes, definitely. Because often, you know, Christmas time, we're busy,
S2: our mind is elsewhere and it's very easy to just
S2: not be concentrating and accidentally get pulled into these things.
S2: So just sort of wanted to remind people around being
S2: vigilant to scammers because they don't seem to take holidays.
S2: There are a few simple things that we can do
S2: to help keep us safe online. Obviously, anything that says
S2: there's a problem with your account, click here to rectify
S2: it or click here to confirm your Information that is
S2: generally a red flag straight away. So it's worth not
S2: clicking here because you don't know where that's going to go. Generally,
S2: you know, banks and things like that will ask you
S2: to verify things in the app. They won't give you
S2: a click here type link. The other thing though to
S2: be aware of is and it as a screen reader user,
S2: you're slightly at an advantage because what you'll find is
S2: that the email that you get will look like it's
S2: from PayPal, but if you look at it, it'll be
S2: something like P, a exclamation mark. Pal or p a
S2: y p for L or something like that.
S1: Something that the eye glosses over.
S2: Yes, that's right, it looks almost right. Having said that,
S2: there are a few that can still trip you up.
S2: I saw one a little while ago which was an
S2: email from Micra soft Micra soft. And if you're not
S2: paying attention even the screen reader will sort of you
S2: know skim over that and you can you can miss
S2: it quite easily. So I think the important message with
S2: all of these things is just to be extremely vigilant.
S2: You know, if something sounds too good to be true,
S2: someone tells you you've won $1 million or you've inherited
S2: $1 million from a, you know, distant relative. You know,
S2: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
S2: Is is always a good sort of line of thinking.
S2: The other dead giveaway is often very poor grammar and
S2: also anything that appears to be particularly threatening. I got
S2: one a few weeks ago that said that if I
S2: didn't respond within 24 hours, they would come and take
S2: me away to jail. Um, you know, so that was
S2: sort of a dead a dead giveaway. The thing is
S2: that anyone who's carrying on a legitimate business doesn't generally
S2: behave that way. So it's always worth being just being
S2: a little bit extra vigilant, I think, and particularly at
S2: this time of year, because there'll be people, you know,
S2: masquerading as, you know, Boxing Day sales and various other things, um, or,
S2: you know, threatening to cut off access to your money
S2: and that kind of thing. And generally, yeah, those sorts
S2: of things you should treat as red flags. We talk
S2: about being safe when we travel and that kind of
S2: thing over the holiday break, but it's so important to
S2: also be safe with what we do online.
S1: Just one other thing, too. It's always important to ignore
S1: stuff that you get online rather than bite back, because
S1: the more you bite back, the more clues they're getting
S1: about your existence. Yeah, and even with the telephone ones,
S1: some people think it's good fun to string the the
S1: person along a little bit when they ask you to
S1: open windows or whatever. It's best just to send it away.
S1: Don't don't get involved.
S2: Yeah. And I must admit, I've been guilty of that
S2: as well. I had someone ask me the other day,
S2: does that Mr. Damien, and I said, let's pretend it
S2: isn't and see what happens. And of course, that wasn't
S2: on the script, but yeah, you're absolutely right. Um, tempting
S2: as it is, you're really better to just hang up
S2: and don't engage with them.
S1: Now, just before we go, a reminder to everyone that
S1: you can find details of what we've been talking about
S1: in this and previous editions of the program by going
S1: to VA radio.org/talking tech. VA radio.org/talking tech. And to right
S1: to the program you.
S2: Can email me Damo McMorrow. That's Damo MC MoU at
S2: Vision australia.org. Thank you all for your emails over the
S2: last few months, and I want to just take the
S2: opportunity to wish everyone a fantastic Christmas and New Year.
S1: And the same to you. Damo. Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org.
S1: This has been talking tech with me has been Vision
S1: Australia's national access technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly.
S1: Stay safe. Have a great Christmas everyone. We'll talk more
S1: tech next week. See you.