WEBVTT - Talking Tech 28th January 2025 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:11.760 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:16.280 January the 28th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly, great to have 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.079 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.880 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.680 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.800 need to do is search for the two words talking tech. 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:32.679 And it can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.160 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.879 your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia 0:00:39.879 --> 0:00:45.319 radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:50.039 And guess what day Moz back Damo McMorrow, Vision Australia's 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.079 national access technology manager. How was your holiday? 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.120 It was great, but, um, it's always nice to be 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.080 back and good to be with you once again doing 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:00.200 talking tech for the year. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.680 We had some very good alternatives over the last three weeks, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.600 but you've still got a job with talking. 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.919 Well, that's good to know. And thank you to the 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.119 folks who, uh, who, you know, covered, um, some of 0:01:11.119 --> 0:01:12.880 the shows while I was away as well. I hope 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.560 you enjoyed the content. I'd like to. 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.360 Talk to you now about one of Vision Australia's many 0:01:17.399 --> 0:01:22.240 innovative programs, the Alexa smart home program. Tell us about that. 0:01:22.399 --> 0:01:26.199 This program is really, as the name suggests, designed to 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:32.000 get people comfortable with using the Amazon Alexa smart speakers. 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.959 It is open to people who are over 65, and 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.440 it's funded through the Commonwealth Home Support or TSP program, 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.319 or people who are on a home care package can 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.200 also access it. Essentially, what we do is we provide 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:52.680 an Amazon Echo Dot or echo speaker, depending on what's 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.680 available at the time. We have an install partner who 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.040 comes out and sets the speaker up for you, gets 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.440 it connected to your internet, and sets you up with 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:07.240 an Amazon account. And then we run eight sessions, generally 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.200 about an hour each over an eight week period, and 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.040 you're in a small group of usually three other people. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.440 So a group of four working with one of our facilitators, 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:19.760 and we go through everything from sort of just the 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.800 basics getting the time, setting alarms, timers, news and weather, 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:28.720 you know, right through to listening to Audible or Kindle books, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.440 listening to podcasts such as this one, and then also 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.440 doing things like setting up routines, you know, so that 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:37.919 when you speak to the device in the morning, it 0:02:37.920 --> 0:02:40.760 turns something on or plays the latest news for you 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.680 or that kind of thing. So because it's a group situation, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.400 it enables people to learn from one another's questions and 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:48.160 that kind of thing. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.560 How are all the participants connected? 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.040 At the moment we use either Zoom or Teams. Our 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.280 help desk team can help you get set up with 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.960 that before the program starts, and the help desk can 0:02:59.960 --> 0:03:02.680 also provide you with any sort of one on one 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.920 help during the program that you might need. If you're 0:03:04.920 --> 0:03:08.400 having an issue, getting something to work or whatever we can, 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:09.360 we can do that. 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.400 For those who may not be familiar with the devices 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:15.600 you're talking about. What are these Amazon Echo devices? 0:03:15.920 --> 0:03:20.040 Okay, so these are Amazon's version of a smart speaker. 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.160 So it's a speaker that you can talk to, you know, 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:27.400 so that you can say, um, you know, Alexa, what's 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.800 the time? What's the current weather? What's the current score 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.520 in the cricket, whatever it might be. So it's all 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.400 controlled by voice, which is one of the reasons why, um, 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.320 these are such an enabler for people because you don't 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.320 need a degree in computer science, as it were, to 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.280 be able to drive it. You don't even need to 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.880 know your way around a keyboard, because everything you do 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:53.040 is done using your voice. So they're a really easy 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.200 device to use, and you can get a lot of 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.960 information from them. Um, you know, you can even sort 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.640 of do, you know, video like conference calls with your 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.440 family and all sorts of stuff. So, um, it opens 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.440 up a world of possibilities. And we a lot of 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.840 the people that we speak to who joined the program, 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.130 you know, perhaps they've stopped, uh, bothering with the newspaper. 0:04:14.210 --> 0:04:16.729 They may not even be calling family anymore because that 0:04:16.730 --> 0:04:19.210 stuff becomes a bit of a challenge. They might have 0:04:19.210 --> 0:04:21.130 stopped reading books. They might have been an avid reader. 0:04:21.130 --> 0:04:23.610 And so when they find out that they can read 0:04:23.650 --> 0:04:26.890 their Kindle books again with the device or that they can, 0:04:26.930 --> 0:04:29.010 you know, set up a routine to play the latest 0:04:29.010 --> 0:04:31.610 news every morning, it helps people to, you know, feel 0:04:31.650 --> 0:04:34.050 much more connected again to the world around them. The 0:04:34.050 --> 0:04:35.810 other thing that I should mention, too, is that all 0:04:35.810 --> 0:04:40.690 of our facilitators are themselves blind. So they do use 0:04:40.690 --> 0:04:44.089 this stuff on a daily basis themselves, and they absolutely 0:04:44.210 --> 0:04:47.290 meet you where you're at, as it were. So a 0:04:47.290 --> 0:04:49.170 lot of a lot of people enjoy that aspect of 0:04:49.170 --> 0:04:51.610 it as well, because they can learn from the facilitators, 0:04:51.610 --> 0:04:53.170 but also the other group members. 0:04:53.650 --> 0:04:56.529 For those who want to express an interest in enrolling 0:04:56.530 --> 0:04:57.930 in the program. 0:04:57.930 --> 0:05:02.890 The easiest way is to email voice assist. That's all. 0:05:02.890 --> 0:05:07.530 One word voice assist at Vision australia.org. Or they can 0:05:07.530 --> 0:05:13.210 ring our contact centre on one 300 8474. Double six. 0:05:13.210 --> 0:05:18.570 That's one 308 474. Double six and ask to be 0:05:18.570 --> 0:05:23.130 registered for the Alexa Smart Home program. We are aiming 0:05:23.170 --> 0:05:26.170 to start the next run at the end of February. 0:05:26.410 --> 0:05:28.890 So if you are interested in being part of the 0:05:28.890 --> 0:05:33.210 next program, please get in touch with us and we will. 0:05:33.250 --> 0:05:35.289 We'll get you enrolled and up and running. 0:05:35.530 --> 0:05:41.410 Excellent voice assist at Vision Australia. For nearly 12 months now, 0:05:41.410 --> 0:05:44.610 we've been raving from time to time about the tiny 0:05:44.610 --> 0:05:49.010 little pocket computer, the BT speak. Remind everybody about that 0:05:49.010 --> 0:05:51.130 and then we'll talk about some recent updates. 0:05:51.850 --> 0:05:56.690 Yes. So the BT speak from Blazie Technologies is a 0:05:57.170 --> 0:06:01.370 small pocket sized computer with a Perkins style Braille keyboard 0:06:01.370 --> 0:06:05.050 and speech output. So there's no no braille out. It's 0:06:05.050 --> 0:06:09.090 braille in speech out. It has a bunch of different 0:06:09.090 --> 0:06:13.810 applications a text editor and a address book, and a 0:06:13.810 --> 0:06:16.650 calendar and a bunch of other things. But it can 0:06:16.650 --> 0:06:20.810 also run desktop applications. So things like Google Chrome or 0:06:20.810 --> 0:06:25.530 the Thunderbird email client. The founder of Blaze Tech, Dean blaze, 0:06:26.330 --> 0:06:29.930 also many years ago founded a company called Blaze Engineering 0:06:29.930 --> 0:06:32.090 and they had a product called the Braille and Speak. 0:06:32.290 --> 0:06:35.810 And the BT speak is really the the modern equivalent 0:06:35.810 --> 0:06:36.409 of that. 0:06:36.890 --> 0:06:41.690 There's a gentleman named Robert Carter who runs a podcast, 0:06:41.850 --> 0:06:45.890 the Tech Doctor Podcast. It's been going for over ten 0:06:45.890 --> 0:06:49.890 years now. A really good podcast. And he ran a 0:06:49.890 --> 0:06:56.050 webinar last week at which the Blaze family was introduced. 0:06:56.050 --> 0:06:59.170 And then they talked about some of the updates and 0:06:59.170 --> 0:07:04.690 then took questions from people. I commend this podcast to anyone. 0:07:04.730 --> 0:07:07.010 All you have to do is look for the tech 0:07:07.050 --> 0:07:11.610 doctor and you'll find it. He gave a very good 0:07:12.010 --> 0:07:17.770 introduction speaking with Dean Blasi, the founder of the Blasi 0:07:17.810 --> 0:07:22.050 Technology Company, and with key members of the organization, a 0:07:22.050 --> 0:07:25.330 very small family company, plus a few other people, his 0:07:25.330 --> 0:07:28.450 three sons very much involved. They talk about the philosophy 0:07:28.450 --> 0:07:33.650 of the company, the concentration on meeting the aspirations of 0:07:33.770 --> 0:07:37.970 users in their changes to their their product. Well worth 0:07:37.970 --> 0:07:42.530 listening to. So that's the Tech Doctor blog. And podcast 0:07:42.530 --> 0:07:44.330 is the sort of the name of the web page. 0:07:44.330 --> 0:07:46.850 But if you look for the tech doctor, you'll find him. 0:07:46.850 --> 0:07:48.970 And there were some updates announced. Do you want to 0:07:48.970 --> 0:07:50.650 take us through some of those updates? 0:07:50.770 --> 0:07:54.810 Yeah, the most significant are the fact that they've introduced 0:07:54.850 --> 0:07:59.570 a better way of file sharing between your BT speak 0:07:59.570 --> 0:08:03.810 and your computer and doing that wirelessly, much more seamless 0:08:03.810 --> 0:08:06.610 process than it used to be. So if you're needing 0:08:06.610 --> 0:08:10.010 to transfer files to and from your BT speak, um, 0:08:10.010 --> 0:08:14.050 there's a better process for doing that. They've also introduced 0:08:14.050 --> 0:08:18.010 a feature called markdown in the BT speak editor. And 0:08:18.010 --> 0:08:21.290 what that does is it allows you to navigate to 0:08:21.330 --> 0:08:24.690 insert things like headings, bullets, those sorts of things in 0:08:24.690 --> 0:08:28.170 your documents, but then also to navigate easily through your 0:08:28.170 --> 0:08:32.650 document using those elements much the same as you might 0:08:32.650 --> 0:08:37.009 in something like Microsoft Word. That one's definitely handy if 0:08:37.010 --> 0:08:39.129 you're working with long documents to be able to jump 0:08:39.130 --> 0:08:41.569 through them heading by heading, and I think that'll be 0:08:41.569 --> 0:08:47.489 a very welcome feature. They've also introduced enhancements to their 0:08:47.490 --> 0:08:51.609 media player or audio player, where you can now adjust 0:08:51.650 --> 0:08:54.810 the playback speed. So for those who listen to audio 0:08:54.809 --> 0:08:56.850 books and like to do it on one and a 0:08:56.849 --> 0:08:58.809 half speeds so that they can power through it more 0:08:58.809 --> 0:09:02.489 quickly or whatever. You do have that option to adjust 0:09:02.490 --> 0:09:05.689 the playback speed on the fly. So there are a 0:09:05.689 --> 0:09:09.050 number of other little fixes and improvements. If you're doing 0:09:09.050 --> 0:09:12.050 a continuous read and you stop at reading, it'll put 0:09:12.050 --> 0:09:15.089 your cursor where where the reading stopped so that you 0:09:15.089 --> 0:09:17.729 can resume again. Things like that. So there's a number 0:09:17.729 --> 0:09:20.449 of other little bug fixes as well, which I think 0:09:20.449 --> 0:09:22.850 will will make the device nicer to use. 0:09:23.130 --> 0:09:28.449 A fantastic little device. The BT speak from Blazie technologies, 0:09:28.449 --> 0:09:30.969 the stellar trek from Humanware. It's been around a few 0:09:30.969 --> 0:09:33.890 years now. It's had some recent updates. 0:09:33.890 --> 0:09:38.609 The stellar Trek is the standalone GPS device from Humanware. 0:09:38.650 --> 0:09:41.530 It's something I tend to carry everywhere, particularly when I'm traveling. 0:09:41.650 --> 0:09:44.890 It allows you to get turn by turn directions, record 0:09:44.890 --> 0:09:48.890 your travel routes, put place markers on places that you 0:09:48.929 --> 0:09:51.329 need to be able to find. Again, all of those 0:09:51.329 --> 0:09:53.890 sorts of things. You can virtually browse the map with 0:09:53.890 --> 0:09:56.569 it as well. So they've made a few changes. They 0:09:56.569 --> 0:10:00.809 have done some improvements to Bluetooth audio. So if you 0:10:00.849 --> 0:10:06.209 use the device with something like a pair of aftershocks headphones, 0:10:06.290 --> 0:10:10.530 Bluetooth hearing aids, a pair of Ray-Ban meta glasses, for example, 0:10:10.929 --> 0:10:14.089 the Bluetooth connection is now quite a bit more stable. 0:10:14.689 --> 0:10:17.090 They've also gone through and cleaned up some of the 0:10:17.250 --> 0:10:20.730 points of points of interest. So they're the preloaded places, 0:10:20.729 --> 0:10:24.569 things like restaurants, service stations, shopping centers, banks, churches, those 0:10:24.569 --> 0:10:27.849 sorts of things. Those businesses come and go. Obviously, you 0:10:27.849 --> 0:10:30.610 don't want a point of interest for a business that's 0:10:30.609 --> 0:10:32.209 not there anymore. You can put. 0:10:32.209 --> 0:10:34.290 Your own points of interest in there too, can't you? 0:10:34.449 --> 0:10:37.250 Yes, you can. And you record those using your own voice. 0:10:38.130 --> 0:10:40.290 This device does have a camera on the back of it. 0:10:40.290 --> 0:10:42.769 There's a number of camera based apps. So we've got 0:10:42.809 --> 0:10:48.329 a couple of text reading modes. We have a barcode 0:10:48.329 --> 0:10:52.770 reader and also things like door detection. And so they've 0:10:52.809 --> 0:10:56.050 made some changes to those so that they perform better 0:10:56.050 --> 0:10:59.370 in low light conditions. So if you're trying to read 0:10:59.370 --> 0:11:01.370 a barcode label and you've forgotten to put the kitchen 0:11:01.370 --> 0:11:05.170 light on, um, you know, it'll perform better than, than 0:11:05.170 --> 0:11:08.129 it did previously in those sort of low light situations. 0:11:08.530 --> 0:11:13.770 That's the stellar trick from Humanware and some interesting little 0:11:13.770 --> 0:11:17.530 updates to that one. Updates continue. You mentioned the Ray-Ban 0:11:17.530 --> 0:11:20.220 meta smart glasses. They continue to evolve. 0:11:21.099 --> 0:11:25.020 Yes. One of the common complaints with them was that 0:11:25.380 --> 0:11:28.380 you couldn't get it to read a full document, insisted 0:11:28.380 --> 0:11:31.900 on summarizing it for you. But in version 11 of 0:11:31.900 --> 0:11:36.059 the software, you can get it to read the entire document. 0:11:36.740 --> 0:11:39.260 And in the event that it it doesn't for some 0:11:39.260 --> 0:11:43.099 reason that it truncates, which apparently it still sometimes does. 0:11:43.099 --> 0:11:47.620 You can just say, hey, keep reading. But yes, you can. 0:11:47.620 --> 0:11:51.579 If you say read entire document or read the whole document, 0:11:51.699 --> 0:11:55.420 it will do that rather than giving you a summary 0:11:55.420 --> 0:11:58.219 or a cut down version. I have tried it with 0:11:58.219 --> 0:12:00.580 a couple of things, including a menu, and it did 0:12:00.579 --> 0:12:04.699 work quite well. So version 11, that's a welcome improvement 0:12:04.699 --> 0:12:07.420 because it was one of the biggest frustrations, I think, 0:12:07.420 --> 0:12:10.580 with the meta glasses was the inability to have an 0:12:10.579 --> 0:12:12.619 entire page read to you. 0:12:12.620 --> 0:12:15.059 Such a versatile device. I was listening to a podcast 0:12:15.059 --> 0:12:19.339 over Christmas. Some bloke out camping did a video and 0:12:19.339 --> 0:12:23.300 put it up on up on YouTube of, uh, barbecuing. Yeah. 0:12:23.300 --> 0:12:27.780 I don't know who that would have been. Uh, we 0:12:27.780 --> 0:12:31.460 might actually talk about, uh, in a future episode, my, uh, 0:12:31.459 --> 0:12:34.500 YouTube exploits, because I've been trying to learn how to 0:12:34.500 --> 0:12:37.179 film and find accessible, you know, tools for that and 0:12:37.179 --> 0:12:40.579 learning all about camera angles as a blind person. So, um, 0:12:40.579 --> 0:12:43.059 we might share that in sometime in the next couple 0:12:43.099 --> 0:12:43.939 of episodes. 0:12:44.099 --> 0:12:46.020 We'll tell people now where they can find it, because 0:12:46.020 --> 0:12:47.860 it's very naughty of me to mention it and not 0:12:47.859 --> 0:12:50.300 say where it is, but it was very interesting. You're 0:12:50.300 --> 0:12:52.140 supposed to get out into the bush and forget about 0:12:52.140 --> 0:12:54.620 all your technologies and stuff, but you had it with 0:12:54.620 --> 0:12:56.059 you and it was making a difference. 0:12:56.740 --> 0:12:59.979 Yes. So I've called the channel the Blind Test Drive 0:13:00.020 --> 0:13:04.339 so you can get to it. Uh, youtube.com slash then 0:13:04.339 --> 0:13:08.060 the At sign and then blind test drive. I'm staying 0:13:08.099 --> 0:13:12.499 away from tech on the channel itself and mostly covering just, 0:13:12.620 --> 0:13:14.700 you know, how I do the things we do because 0:13:14.699 --> 0:13:16.860 Marian and I often get questions. How do you caravan. 0:13:16.859 --> 0:13:19.340 How do you handle your boat? How do you manage 0:13:19.339 --> 0:13:22.259 a smoker? So it's more about some of those things 0:13:22.260 --> 0:13:25.020 that we we do and the modifications and things that 0:13:25.020 --> 0:13:27.980 we adapt in order to make them work for us. 0:13:28.020 --> 0:13:30.820 So there'll be some cooking adventures, some camping, some fishing, 0:13:31.260 --> 0:13:34.780 maybe some kayaking. I've got a waterproof camera, so we'll 0:13:34.780 --> 0:13:36.740 see what we what we come up with over the 0:13:36.740 --> 0:13:37.579 next few months. 0:13:37.699 --> 0:13:41.500 That'll be very interesting to browse. Well, before we go, 0:13:42.179 --> 0:13:45.059 a reminder that you can find details of this and 0:13:45.059 --> 0:13:48.059 previous editions of the program by going to VA radio, 0:13:49.420 --> 0:13:54.259 talking to VA radio, Talking Tech, and to write to 0:13:54.260 --> 0:13:55.179 the program. 0:13:55.179 --> 0:14:01.619 Email me Damo Damo MC m o double r o 0:14:01.620 --> 0:14:04.859 w at Vision australia.org. 0:14:05.099 --> 0:14:10.179 Damo McMorrow at Vision Australia. Org. This has been talking 0:14:10.219 --> 0:14:13.740 tech with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology 0:14:13.740 --> 0:14:17.540 manager Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. Stay safe and we'll 0:14:17.540 --> 0:14:19.100 talk more tech next week. See you.