WEBVTT - Talking Tech 26th March 2024 0:00:21.348 --> 0:00:24.918 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:24.918 --> 0:00:29.298 March 26th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you 0:00:29.298 --> 0:00:33.138 with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations 0:00:33.138 --> 0:00:37.038 of Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There is 0:00:37.038 --> 0:00:39.918 also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to 0:00:39.918 --> 0:00:42.978 do is search for the two words talking tech and 0:00:42.978 --> 0:00:45.648 downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just 0:00:45.648 --> 0:00:48.858 after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your 0:00:48.858 --> 0:00:52.908 Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio 0:00:52.908 --> 0:00:58.758 talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking Tech podcast with me, 0:00:58.758 --> 0:01:02.058 someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well. 0:01:02.058 --> 0:01:08.058 Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David, 0:01:08.058 --> 0:01:11.868 let's start with our Product Minute, an item from the 0:01:11.868 --> 0:01:16.518 vision store of Vision Australia. And this week it's the 0:01:16.518 --> 0:01:20.058 zoom max. No 12 inch video magnifier. 0:01:20.298 --> 0:01:23.748 Indeed. So if you can imagine a 12 inch tablet 0:01:23.748 --> 0:01:26.958 that you carry around with you and it's number one, 0:01:26.958 --> 0:01:30.228 the video magnifier. So you point the camera at the 0:01:30.228 --> 0:01:33.048 back of the unit at anything you want to read 0:01:33.048 --> 0:01:35.778 in large print. And of course, the number up on 0:01:35.778 --> 0:01:38.568 the screen. You've got control over that screen about brightness 0:01:38.568 --> 0:01:40.968 and contrast and that sort of stuff. But it's also 0:01:40.968 --> 0:01:43.278 got a speech mode. And what the speech mode is, 0:01:43.278 --> 0:01:46.818 is optical character recognition or what people say is OCR. 0:01:46.818 --> 0:01:51.108 So that means if you're looking at a restaurant menu 0:01:51.108 --> 0:01:54.168 and you can't quite read it, uh, even with the 0:01:54.168 --> 0:01:56.928 large print on the screen, you can get the optical 0:01:56.928 --> 0:02:00.498 character recognition to recognize the print and read it out 0:02:00.498 --> 0:02:03.318 to you through speech. So you really do have the 0:02:03.318 --> 0:02:06.228 best of both worlds. And it's also got a little 0:02:06.228 --> 0:02:09.228 detachable writing stand. So if you want to fill something 0:02:09.228 --> 0:02:12.048 in like a form, you can actually pop this thing 0:02:12.048 --> 0:02:15.348 on a stand right underneath the camera, and then you 0:02:15.348 --> 0:02:19.398 can see exactly what you're signing or filling out. So 0:02:19.398 --> 0:02:23.238 it really does have quite a few different uses. And 0:02:23.238 --> 0:02:26.778 the fact that it's a nice, lightweight little tablet means 0:02:26.778 --> 0:02:27.858 it's very portable. 0:02:27.858 --> 0:02:29.658 What sort of money are we talking about? 0:02:29.658 --> 0:02:33.738 It normally retails for around about $2,600. At the moment 0:02:33.738 --> 0:02:39.048 it's around about $1,100. So if you were after a 0:02:39.048 --> 0:02:45.258 very cheap but good low vision speech output for character 0:02:45.258 --> 0:02:50.088 recognition handwriting type device, then this one's pretty good, I 0:02:50.088 --> 0:02:51.828 might say. Also just in morning with a lot of 0:02:51.828 --> 0:02:54.768 these things that are for low vision people, it's always 0:02:54.768 --> 0:02:57.828 best that you try before you buy because it really 0:02:57.828 --> 0:03:01.278 is dependent on your your vision, what your fields are like, 0:03:01.278 --> 0:03:03.618 all that sort of stuff. So if you can pop 0:03:03.618 --> 0:03:05.898 into a local vision store and have a look, that's 0:03:05.898 --> 0:03:07.458 always your best way to go. 0:03:07.578 --> 0:03:10.308 And the world changes quickly, doesn't it? There can be 0:03:10.308 --> 0:03:13.518 products come out that supersede previous ones that were looking 0:03:13.518 --> 0:03:14.658 pretty good indeed. 0:03:14.658 --> 0:03:16.518 Yeah, it's like buying a car one week and they 0:03:16.518 --> 0:03:17.658 bring out one the following week. 0:03:17.748 --> 0:03:22.218 Let's talk about the season event now, California State University, 0:03:22.218 --> 0:03:27.078 the big gathering, the international gathering of technologists relating to 0:03:27.078 --> 0:03:31.938 disability and accessibility. What are your reflections on the 2024 event? 0:03:31.938 --> 0:03:33.978 Well, I think we sort of as we thought we 0:03:33.978 --> 0:03:36.468 sort of predicted a little bit a lot of stuff 0:03:36.468 --> 0:03:41.088 to do with artificial intelligence. So I and quite a 0:03:41.088 --> 0:03:45.078 few of other things were also announced, as well as some, 0:03:45.078 --> 0:03:48.468 you know, robot orientation, mobility stuff as well. So there's 0:03:48.468 --> 0:03:51.258 lots of stuff coming out. Um, quite a few things 0:03:51.258 --> 0:03:54.228 that we might talk about today, but there's a lots 0:03:54.228 --> 0:03:55.908 and lots of stuff to talk about. So I have 0:03:55.908 --> 0:03:57.618 a funny feeling we're probably going to be talking about 0:03:57.618 --> 0:04:00.378 Sea Sun a little bit this weekend, next week. 0:04:00.888 --> 0:04:03.918 So you have in your hands the BT Speak Pro 0:04:03.918 --> 0:04:06.288 very interesting little device. There were two of them, the 0:04:06.318 --> 0:04:09.108 BT speaker and the BT Speak Pro that were released 0:04:09.108 --> 0:04:12.348 just recently. Tell us about them and what your experience 0:04:12.348 --> 0:04:12.888 has been. 0:04:13.128 --> 0:04:18.288 So for people that are in their mature years that 0:04:18.288 --> 0:04:20.898 were around in the 1990s might remember a thing called 0:04:20.898 --> 0:04:24.078 the Braille and speak. It was simply a back then 0:04:24.078 --> 0:04:26.868 it was a six dot braille input keyboard and a spacebar. 0:04:27.588 --> 0:04:29.538 It spoke out to you and it was mainly all 0:04:29.538 --> 0:04:33.258 designed around a document. So that was the original Braille 0:04:33.258 --> 0:04:36.288 and speak. So the new version of the BT speak, 0:04:36.288 --> 0:04:38.478 it works about the same premise. So you've got your 0:04:38.478 --> 0:04:42.048 main editor and then you can access files and copy 0:04:42.048 --> 0:04:44.538 things around. You can have multiple files open and so on. 0:04:44.538 --> 0:04:50.298 Plus it also has other applications such as scientific calculator. Um, 0:04:50.298 --> 0:04:52.008 if you link it up to the internet you've got 0:04:52.008 --> 0:04:55.278 weather and so on. Connects to Bluetooth. You can plug 0:04:55.278 --> 0:04:57.438 it into a monitor, and you can also plug in 0:04:57.438 --> 0:05:02.448 a query keyboard. And it actually takes a micro memory card. 0:05:02.838 --> 0:05:06.348 It's very tiny. It's got eight keys because we've got 0:05:06.558 --> 0:05:09.888 seven and eight and the spacebar, it's speech output. People 0:05:09.888 --> 0:05:11.898 might remember the old dick talk. So we've got dick 0:05:11.898 --> 0:05:15.888 talk speech back. So that's the that's the basic version, 0:05:16.278 --> 0:05:19.788 the pro version. Because this thing's based on Linux which 0:05:19.788 --> 0:05:22.948 is a Unix. Type of operating system. You've got a 0:05:22.948 --> 0:05:25.678 full desktop version in the Pro version, which is basically 0:05:25.678 --> 0:05:30.898 a full graphical user interface with all the associated applications 0:05:30.898 --> 0:05:35.068 like Chrome and Thunderbird and so on. Plus, you are 0:05:35.068 --> 0:05:37.468 using the Orca screen reader, which is a full blown 0:05:37.468 --> 0:05:43.168 screen reader for Linux, so it's pretty amazing. At the moment, 0:05:43.168 --> 0:05:46.828 it's still a little bit under development, especially with the 0:05:46.828 --> 0:05:49.978 note taker function on both the basic and the Pro. 0:05:50.278 --> 0:05:54.838 Not all the documentation is completed, and I understand they're 0:05:54.838 --> 0:05:58.738 still looking at how they're producing the physical casing for 0:05:58.738 --> 0:06:02.938 the unit. So if you're a pro type person and 0:06:02.938 --> 0:06:07.108 you wanted one of these now, then that's fine. But 0:06:07.108 --> 0:06:10.828 if you wanted a good general solid note taker that 0:06:10.828 --> 0:06:14.008 you didn't have to worry about, maybe some documentation missing 0:06:14.008 --> 0:06:18.658 or some features not quite finished, I would probably wait three, 0:06:18.658 --> 0:06:21.328 maybe six months until the dust settles a bit more. 0:06:21.808 --> 0:06:25.888 Yes, we talked over the last few weeks about the 0:06:25.888 --> 0:06:30.358 new range of zoom digital recorders, the zoom H1, the 0:06:30.358 --> 0:06:36.208 zoom H4, and the zoom H6 essential recorders. You've had 0:06:36.208 --> 0:06:38.908 a zoom H1 for a little while. You now have 0:06:38.908 --> 0:06:42.808 a zoom H4. What are your first impressions? 0:06:43.108 --> 0:06:49.768 I think I personally fell into the accessibility trap of 0:06:49.768 --> 0:06:52.798 thinking that, and we did talk about this, about the 0:06:52.798 --> 0:06:57.358 the zoom H1. Just because something is accessible doesn't mean 0:06:57.358 --> 0:06:59.998 it's actually easy to use. So you do have to 0:06:59.998 --> 0:07:02.548 read the manual to really get the best out of 0:07:02.548 --> 0:07:05.398 it or listen to tutorials. But the second thing that 0:07:05.398 --> 0:07:07.888 caught me up because I knew about the first one, 0:07:07.888 --> 0:07:11.698 is I thought it was going to offer exactly the 0:07:11.698 --> 0:07:15.238 same functionality that I'm already using in my zoom pod 0:07:15.238 --> 0:07:20.128 track P4, and unfortunately, at the moment it seems to 0:07:20.128 --> 0:07:22.408 be a bit of a work in progress because I'm 0:07:22.408 --> 0:07:27.478 not getting the same level of functionality that I am 0:07:27.478 --> 0:07:31.438 with my P4. So I think what I've learnt out 0:07:31.438 --> 0:07:34.618 of this process at the moment is I really have 0:07:34.618 --> 0:07:39.298 to look at not only the accessibility stuff, but the functionality. 0:07:39.388 --> 0:07:41.848 I think in the future, what I'm really going to 0:07:41.848 --> 0:07:45.628 focus on about new stuff coming out is does this 0:07:45.628 --> 0:07:50.818 really change my current work pattern? Will it add more 0:07:50.818 --> 0:07:54.868 to my current process, and what does the accessibility on 0:07:54.868 --> 0:07:58.468 top of all that functionality then add rather than going 0:07:58.468 --> 0:08:03.688 accessibility first and functionality? I should have really gone functionality accessibility, 0:08:03.688 --> 0:08:05.998 put them both together and have a really good workflow. 0:08:06.628 --> 0:08:09.118 It'll be interesting to know what you're telling us about 0:08:09.118 --> 0:08:12.388 this in about 3 to 6 months time. Indeed, yeah. 0:08:12.868 --> 0:08:18.148 Human wear announced last week some updates to its Mantis 0:08:18.148 --> 0:08:23.158 and Brilliant products. The Brilliant Box series 20 and 40. 0:08:23.188 --> 0:08:24.358 Tell us about those. 0:08:24.568 --> 0:08:27.718 So the update was basically aimed at two things. One 0:08:27.718 --> 0:08:30.748 was power management, which I think is really good because 0:08:30.748 --> 0:08:33.478 particularly when you're using a broad display all day, which 0:08:33.478 --> 0:08:36.388 the Bryant is, you don't want to drain your battery 0:08:36.388 --> 0:08:39.178 too much. So this is a way of being able 0:08:39.178 --> 0:08:41.908 to manage the power management in your battery on your 0:08:41.908 --> 0:08:45.298 Bryant 20 or 40. So that's really cool. Plus your 0:08:45.298 --> 0:08:48.568 mantis of course. The other function, which I thought was 0:08:48.568 --> 0:08:53.248 interesting was a new mode for terminal mode and terminal mode. 0:08:53.248 --> 0:08:57.268 That's a function where it's used to connect to a 0:08:57.268 --> 0:09:01.708 host device, whether that's your your PC or your mobile device. 0:09:02.578 --> 0:09:06.778 So rather than having the Bryant and the mantis being 0:09:06.778 --> 0:09:10.558 connected to multiple devices, you can have it just automatically 0:09:10.558 --> 0:09:15.568 connect to one USB or one Bluetooth device, which makes 0:09:15.568 --> 0:09:20.128 it a lot more stable connection to some extent. The 0:09:20.128 --> 0:09:22.078 only problem I've got staying with it is that you 0:09:22.228 --> 0:09:26.188 go into this thing called diagnostic mode to change the settings. Now, 0:09:26.188 --> 0:09:27.748 I don't know if they rush it out a little bit, 0:09:27.748 --> 0:09:31.558 but I would have thought for general users you'd want 0:09:31.558 --> 0:09:34.588 to go into some sort of user setting mode, terminal mode, 0:09:34.588 --> 0:09:39.028 and then maybe change, you know, multi-device support for terminal mode, 0:09:39.028 --> 0:09:43.078 back to single device support for terminal mode. So hopefully 0:09:43.078 --> 0:09:44.908 that might change in the future because yeah, I just 0:09:44.908 --> 0:09:47.398 get worried when you've got to start going to some 0:09:47.398 --> 0:09:49.948 sort of diagnostic mode to change settings on a device. 0:09:49.978 --> 0:09:50.368 Sounds a. 0:09:50.368 --> 0:09:52.048 Bit scary. Sure, it's fine though. 0:09:52.198 --> 0:09:52.708 Indeed. 0:09:53.728 --> 0:10:00.328 Tell us about arks and their wearable device and their 0:10:00.328 --> 0:10:06.658 collaboration with Microsoft. Seeing AI and also the navigation and 0:10:06.658 --> 0:10:09.058 information app Navi Lens. 0:10:09.238 --> 0:10:11.938 This is actually quite interesting. So people that don't know 0:10:11.938 --> 0:10:17.398 what the AR vision is, it's a wearable device that 0:10:17.398 --> 0:10:20.428 literally sits sort of on one side of your face and. 0:10:21.488 --> 0:10:23.108 If you like, because you can also, you know, of 0:10:23.108 --> 0:10:24.698 course you can listen to the sound coming out of it. 0:10:25.058 --> 0:10:28.358 And the camera is designed to look to, of course, 0:10:28.358 --> 0:10:32.738 what's around you. So scene detection, text detection, all the 0:10:32.738 --> 0:10:34.928 stuff you could imagine that you would get out of 0:10:34.928 --> 0:10:41.198 other wearable type artificial intelligence devices. And when you're considering 0:10:41.198 --> 0:10:44.708 that they've just linked up that hardware, with Microsoft seeing 0:10:44.708 --> 0:10:48.818 eye on Android and also Netherlands and Android, what you're 0:10:48.818 --> 0:10:54.428 getting is the power of the camera hardware, then linked 0:10:54.428 --> 0:10:59.048 up to the power of the software running in Microsoft, 0:10:59.348 --> 0:11:01.928 AI and Netherlands. So you're certainly getting the best of 0:11:01.928 --> 0:11:05.618 both worlds. I should also say that this is a 0:11:05.618 --> 0:11:08.978 bit of a trial run. I believe in the States initially, 0:11:09.098 --> 0:11:11.318 and then we're sort of looking for a full release, 0:11:11.318 --> 0:11:14.678 maybe 6 to 12 months down the track. But I 0:11:14.678 --> 0:11:19.268 like it when you see these third party hardware devices 0:11:19.268 --> 0:11:22.208 linking up with established software, because, as I just said, 0:11:22.208 --> 0:11:24.608 you're getting the best of both worlds. So I think 0:11:24.608 --> 0:11:27.608 this is a spot to watch not just for the vision, 0:11:27.608 --> 0:11:31.088 but also for other hardware devices coming out in the future. 0:11:31.478 --> 0:11:36.908 I is coming to IRA. IRA is the system where 0:11:36.908 --> 0:11:41.588 you can get human support via an audio video link. 0:11:41.618 --> 0:11:43.658 That person might be in another part of the world 0:11:43.658 --> 0:11:48.338 or anywhere they're introducing AI into their offerings with access. 0:11:48.338 --> 0:11:51.638 I yeah, I thought this was a really great idea, actually. 0:11:51.638 --> 0:11:54.278 So you can take a photo and you can get 0:11:54.278 --> 0:12:00.188 the AI engine to describe the photo to you, but 0:12:00.188 --> 0:12:02.888 then if you're not 100% sure that the photo is 0:12:02.888 --> 0:12:05.408 accurate based on what AI is telling you, because we 0:12:05.408 --> 0:12:08.288 always know it can get a little bit extravagant, you 0:12:08.288 --> 0:12:12.488 can get your IRA agent to then further describe the 0:12:12.488 --> 0:12:14.738 photo to you. So if you have taken a beautiful 0:12:14.738 --> 0:12:18.878 snapshot of your grandchildren, for example, um, you know, maybe 0:12:18.878 --> 0:12:21.878 their first time jumping into a pool, um, then you 0:12:21.878 --> 0:12:24.488 can ask the, the IRA agent, did it get the 0:12:24.488 --> 0:12:26.858 the photo description correct? And then you can store it 0:12:26.858 --> 0:12:29.048 or take the photo again. So I think this is 0:12:29.048 --> 0:12:34.658 a great combination of artificial intelligence. Plus using a quote human. 0:12:34.658 --> 0:12:38.168 Then to double check and verify that the photo is correct. 0:12:38.558 --> 0:12:41.378 There's a lot happening since we first started hearing of 0:12:41.378 --> 0:12:44.978 the possibility of be my eyes AI about a year 0:12:44.978 --> 0:12:48.128 or so ago, and now of course, Freedom Scientific with 0:12:48.128 --> 0:12:54.098 its jaws and zoom picture. Smart. Um, also doing very well. Absolutely. 0:12:54.098 --> 0:12:56.978 Yeah. It's getting more and more amazing. And I still 0:12:56.978 --> 0:12:59.288 keep saying, you know, I think we've also barely scratched 0:12:59.288 --> 0:13:02.228 the surface of this. Let's see what happens in 2025 0:13:02.228 --> 0:13:02.948 and beyond. 0:13:03.218 --> 0:13:05.618 There's a new braille device coming from Hims. 0:13:05.918 --> 0:13:09.368 That's correct. It's basically, uh, in pre-order state at the moment. 0:13:09.368 --> 0:13:13.658 It's called the Brow Emotion. Basically, it's an updated version 0:13:13.658 --> 0:13:16.688 of all the range of what I like to call 0:13:16.688 --> 0:13:19.808 the brow sense line of note takers. So you've got 0:13:19.808 --> 0:13:22.388 speech output, you've got a brow display, you've got all 0:13:22.388 --> 0:13:26.858 these wonderful built in applications such as a daisy reader, uh, 0:13:26.858 --> 0:13:29.648 note taker, all that sort of cool stuff. You can 0:13:29.648 --> 0:13:32.408 also link up to multiple devices. So it really is 0:13:32.408 --> 0:13:35.618 a full on blown note taker that you can use 0:13:35.618 --> 0:13:37.808 as a quote note taker, or link it up to 0:13:37.808 --> 0:13:42.008 your mobile or desktop device online. I saw it was 0:13:42.008 --> 0:13:45.128 for us 3595. So I guess by the time it 0:13:45.128 --> 0:13:47.348 comes into Australia and everything else, it should be around 0:13:47.348 --> 0:13:48.758 about the $6,000 mark. 0:13:48.848 --> 0:13:51.608 All the additional features that come with those now indeed 0:13:51.608 --> 0:13:54.548 quite amazing. Before we go, a reminder of where there 0:13:54.548 --> 0:13:57.128 are details of what we've been talking about in this 0:13:57.128 --> 0:13:59.258 and previous editions of the program. 0:13:59.498 --> 0:14:01.748 Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:01.748 --> 0:14:05.738 which is David would be AirPod Bean Pod Barn Comm. 0:14:05.948 --> 0:14:11.648 David would be our podbean podbean. Com to write to 0:14:11.648 --> 0:14:12.308 the program. 0:14:12.308 --> 0:14:14.318 You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, 0:14:14.318 --> 0:14:18.008 which is David Woodbridge how it sounds at Vision Australia. 0:14:18.248 --> 0:14:23.228 Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has been 0:14:23.228 --> 0:14:26.228 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor 0:14:26.228 --> 0:14:30.248 on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolly stay safe. 0:14:30.248 --> 0:14:31.808 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.