WEBVTT - Talking Tech 9th April 2024 0:00:21.368 --> 0:00:24.878 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:24.878 --> 0:00:28.568 April the 9th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have 0:00:28.568 --> 0:00:32.108 you with us listening maybe through Virgin Australia Radio, Associated 0:00:32.108 --> 0:00:36.788 Stations of Australia or the Community Radio Network. There is 0:00:36.788 --> 0:00:39.218 also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to 0:00:39.218 --> 0:00:42.218 do is search for the two words talking tech and 0:00:42.218 --> 0:00:45.038 downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just 0:00:45.038 --> 0:00:48.278 after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your 0:00:48.278 --> 0:00:52.148 Siri device or smart speaker to play Virgin Australia Radio 0:00:52.148 --> 0:00:58.088 talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast with me, 0:00:58.088 --> 0:01:00.998 someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well. 0:01:00.998 --> 0:01:06.908 Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David, 0:01:06.908 --> 0:01:11.168 let's start with our product Minute. And it's a headset, 0:01:11.168 --> 0:01:15.578 very popular headset from the vision store of Vision Australia. 0:01:15.758 --> 0:01:19.838 Correct. So this is called the shocks. And remember this 0:01:19.838 --> 0:01:23.228 was renamed a couple of years ago from aftershocks. This 0:01:23.228 --> 0:01:27.248 is the shocks open move bone conduction headset. So it's 0:01:27.248 --> 0:01:30.158 one of those ones where these little pads sit in 0:01:30.158 --> 0:01:32.018 front of your ears, on your cheekbones, and the sound 0:01:32.018 --> 0:01:35.468 gets transmitted through the bones into your inner ear. That's 0:01:35.468 --> 0:01:39.248 why they're called bone conduction headphones. And besides the fact 0:01:39.248 --> 0:01:41.768 that I love bone conduction headphones because they'll leave your 0:01:41.768 --> 0:01:45.848 ears open to your surrounding environment, particularly when you're walking 0:01:45.848 --> 0:01:48.968 around and crossing roads and listen to the traffic. The 0:01:48.968 --> 0:01:51.308 other thing I like about them, which is only occurred 0:01:51.308 --> 0:01:54.338 to me probably this year, is number one, I love 0:01:54.338 --> 0:02:00.308 devices that use standard usb-C cables because some of the 0:02:00.308 --> 0:02:03.608 shocks that have come out a bit more recently, uh, 0:02:03.608 --> 0:02:09.188 like the open. Com, they use usb-C, I believe, but 0:02:09.188 --> 0:02:12.308 it's a dedicated little cable that plugs sort of into 0:02:12.308 --> 0:02:15.578 the back of the surrounding part of the headset, just 0:02:15.578 --> 0:02:17.318 below where you've got your volume up and volume down, 0:02:17.318 --> 0:02:20.468 which sort of irritates me. The nice thing about the 0:02:20.468 --> 0:02:24.488 open move is that it's a standard usb-C port, which 0:02:24.488 --> 0:02:29.378 means all my plethora of cables that I've got can 0:02:29.378 --> 0:02:33.068 plug in to my open move headset. It's a couple 0:02:33.068 --> 0:02:35.558 of years old, but it's still working exactly the way 0:02:35.558 --> 0:02:38.318 it used to. It goes with my all over the 0:02:38.348 --> 0:02:42.578 headset now it goes with my multiple other usb-C devices, 0:02:42.578 --> 0:02:44.738 so I just love it. Number one, because it's bone 0:02:44.738 --> 0:02:48.728 conduction and number two because it uses a standard usb-C port. 0:02:48.728 --> 0:02:53.318 We have some news from Blasi Technologies about their BT 0:02:53.318 --> 0:02:57.098 speak products. The BT speak is the nice little braille 0:02:57.098 --> 0:03:00.758 oriented device that you can explain more clearly and tell 0:03:00.758 --> 0:03:01.928 us about the change. 0:03:01.928 --> 0:03:04.328 For people that are sort of in my type of 0:03:04.328 --> 0:03:07.448 age range, you might remember a very light in the 0:03:07.448 --> 0:03:11.408 1980s and early 90s, there was a thing called the 0:03:11.408 --> 0:03:15.548 Braille and speak, which was a six dot braille input 0:03:15.548 --> 0:03:18.338 cable with a spacebar. Well, now this, of course, is 0:03:18.338 --> 0:03:22.118 being redone now as a modern device running a Raspberry 0:03:22.118 --> 0:03:26.918 Pi computer Linux. And what they did was they brought out, 0:03:27.188 --> 0:03:29.828 I think it was about 100 units in March, and 0:03:29.828 --> 0:03:32.378 they were offering two levels. There was the basic version 0:03:32.378 --> 0:03:35.378 and then the Pro version. So the basic version had 0:03:35.588 --> 0:03:39.038 a little tablet mode with basically editing and a few 0:03:39.038 --> 0:03:41.678 other apps in it, and the Pro version was actually 0:03:41.678 --> 0:03:44.468 that particular function, the basic function. And then you could 0:03:44.468 --> 0:03:46.778 switch over to the Pro version, which was literally running 0:03:46.778 --> 0:03:50.228 a full Linux desktop called mate, and then of course, 0:03:50.228 --> 0:03:52.268 the screen reader to allow you to use that desktop, 0:03:52.268 --> 0:03:56.708 which was called orca, orca. And what they discovered after 0:03:56.708 --> 0:04:00.518 about four weeks on the market that nobody was really 0:04:00.518 --> 0:04:04.628 buying the basic version. Everybody wanted the version that allowed 0:04:04.628 --> 0:04:07.328 you to switch between the basic mode or the note 0:04:07.328 --> 0:04:10.388 taker mode, as I call it, and the desktop mode. 0:04:10.388 --> 0:04:14.468 So they decided that rather than wasting all the manufacturing money, 0:04:14.468 --> 0:04:18.158 if you like, on producing two versions, they would just 0:04:18.158 --> 0:04:20.288 offer the one version, which is the Pro. So that 0:04:20.288 --> 0:04:22.928 means if you're in a bit of a hurry, you 0:04:22.928 --> 0:04:25.808 can just use the straight note taking function to take notes, 0:04:26.048 --> 0:04:28.778 and then you can switch over to the full desktop version, 0:04:28.778 --> 0:04:32.468 and you can run basically anything you like on there. Um, 0:04:32.468 --> 0:04:35.708 particularly web based applications. You've got Thunderbird for email, you've 0:04:35.708 --> 0:04:38.558 got Chrome web browsing, for web browsing, lots and lots 0:04:38.558 --> 0:04:41.438 of other things. So I think it's great that they've 0:04:41.438 --> 0:04:45.368 early on made this decision that they're going to produce 0:04:45.368 --> 0:04:49.718 the BT spec Pro. And they did say, of course, 0:04:49.718 --> 0:04:53.228 that people that have bought the basic version that will 0:04:53.228 --> 0:04:57.098 still be supported, but literally to buy one now it'll 0:04:57.128 --> 0:05:00.398 be the BT Speak Pro, not the BT Speak Basic. 0:05:00.878 --> 0:05:04.148 So what's really the market would you say for the 0:05:04.148 --> 0:05:07.808 BT speak products? Braille people might think yes I should 0:05:07.808 --> 0:05:10.058 get that. Are they the people you'd be suggesting it 0:05:10.058 --> 0:05:11.438 to or who would they be? 0:05:11.438 --> 0:05:17.258 People that want very fast, efficient access to notes because 0:05:17.258 --> 0:05:22.878 you can switch lightning quick between the different. Open documents on, 0:05:22.878 --> 0:05:25.998 in this case, the beat speak. It really makes it 0:05:25.998 --> 0:05:28.248 much more efficient. And then when you have to then 0:05:28.758 --> 0:05:32.118 log on to, you know, a major website to access it, 0:05:32.118 --> 0:05:34.758 you can do that with the desktop version. I would 0:05:34.758 --> 0:05:40.608 say it's any competent user of braille, um, that wants 0:05:40.608 --> 0:05:42.438 speech output. By the way, you can link up a 0:05:42.588 --> 0:05:45.108 display to this if you really wanted to. Plus you 0:05:45.108 --> 0:05:47.628 can also add in a monitor, a mouse, and a 0:05:47.628 --> 0:05:50.268 keyboard mouse if you really wanted to as well, uh, 0:05:50.268 --> 0:05:52.758 via a little USB hub thing that you could connect 0:05:52.758 --> 0:05:56.028 to the usb-C port. So I would say it's for 0:05:56.028 --> 0:06:00.618 high end if you like professional people, um, that want 0:06:00.618 --> 0:06:05.178 a really fantastic Braille note taking device with the power 0:06:05.178 --> 0:06:06.408 of a desktop computer. 0:06:06.408 --> 0:06:10.338 So beyond the original Braille and speak days, which we 0:06:10.338 --> 0:06:13.398 remember well, it does work very well with email and 0:06:13.398 --> 0:06:14.538 the web environment. 0:06:14.628 --> 0:06:18.348 It does? Yeah. Um, oddly, on the basic notetaking version 0:06:18.348 --> 0:06:21.348 of it, uh, it does have links, which was the 0:06:21.348 --> 0:06:23.928 original web browser for text base, which you can still 0:06:23.928 --> 0:06:27.288 use with websites these days, but because they're so modern 0:06:27.798 --> 0:06:31.068 doesn't really work that well. But certainly the Chrome version 0:06:31.068 --> 0:06:34.458 of it, I remember all the Chrome extensions, like for 0:06:34.458 --> 0:06:38.088 Spotify and so on. They work beautifully. So even though 0:06:38.088 --> 0:06:40.548 people say, ah, you know, it's it's it's Linux and 0:06:40.548 --> 0:06:43.068 we know it's a desktop graphics user interface and it's 0:06:43.068 --> 0:06:46.248 the orca screen reader. Now this gives you the same 0:06:46.248 --> 0:06:50.748 amount of power in most circumstances that using windows would. 0:06:50.748 --> 0:06:54.198 So a very serious device. And the Pro version is 0:06:54.198 --> 0:06:55.338 certainly worthwhile. 0:06:55.338 --> 0:06:57.138 And it's about 2000 Australian. 0:06:57.138 --> 0:07:02.448 It retails in the States for about 1350. Uh, so 0:07:02.448 --> 0:07:04.428 by the time you sort of work out all the 0:07:04.428 --> 0:07:06.438 exchange rates and that sort of stuff, that's about the 0:07:06.438 --> 0:07:09.618 right price for it. So, uh, as a as a good, 0:07:09.618 --> 0:07:12.078 solid note taker that can be both run as a 0:07:12.078 --> 0:07:15.078 completely full blown desktop. I think it's pretty amazing. 0:07:15.078 --> 0:07:17.598 We've talked in the past about Braille doodle. You've got 0:07:17.598 --> 0:07:18.438 some news there. 0:07:18.828 --> 0:07:21.378 So this is the little device that you could get 0:07:21.378 --> 0:07:24.828 a stylus and you'd run it across these little holes, 0:07:24.828 --> 0:07:27.588 which are basically Braille holes if you like Braille pins. 0:07:27.588 --> 0:07:30.678 And it would raise up a little magnetic pins or bore. 0:07:30.678 --> 0:07:34.038 So you could do very quick drawings or Braille and 0:07:34.038 --> 0:07:38.598 all that sort of tactile type stuff. And it was 0:07:38.598 --> 0:07:40.368 it sort of came out in sort of, I want 0:07:40.368 --> 0:07:42.918 to say, about the middle of last year. There were 0:07:42.918 --> 0:07:45.498 then promising units towards the end of the year, and 0:07:45.498 --> 0:07:48.828 then they were promising units to early January and February, 0:07:49.158 --> 0:07:50.808 and I was getting a bit worried. So I just 0:07:50.808 --> 0:07:55.158 got an email last week and I noticed that they're 0:07:55.158 --> 0:07:57.918 now saying it more a couple of months, mainly because 0:07:57.918 --> 0:08:03.648 their manufacturing component of it wasn't really giving them reliable hardware. 0:08:03.648 --> 0:08:06.408 So some of the pins weren't coming up and other 0:08:06.408 --> 0:08:08.238 things were going on. So they now said they've had 0:08:08.238 --> 0:08:12.048 a run of a good solid number of units that 0:08:12.048 --> 0:08:14.838 are up to the standard. So they're now promising the 0:08:14.838 --> 0:08:16.848 next couple of months, people that have paid their money 0:08:16.848 --> 0:08:20.118 for the Brough Doodle, uh, will actually get them sooner 0:08:20.118 --> 0:08:24.318 than later. So let's hope before the end of June, uh, 0:08:24.318 --> 0:08:26.688 we will have them. So as soon as I get mine, 0:08:26.688 --> 0:08:30.258 I'll let people know how it goes and what it's like. 0:08:30.258 --> 0:08:33.198 And if it may be worthwhile purchasing one or not. 0:08:33.408 --> 0:08:37.518 There's a wonderful reading app called Voice Dream Reader. It's 0:08:37.518 --> 0:08:42.408 new owners brought in a subscription model. What's the latest? 0:08:43.278 --> 0:08:46.038 What's the lots of people that were using Voice stream 0:08:46.038 --> 0:08:49.488 Reader that were paying subscriptions to it, uh, got extremely 0:08:49.488 --> 0:08:55.068 outraged and contacted the actual new developers of the actual 0:08:55.068 --> 0:08:58.488 program and said, this is not fair. You can't do 0:08:58.488 --> 0:09:01.398 this to existing users. Existing users should be able to 0:09:01.398 --> 0:09:04.668 use their existing what they've paid for and not anything else. 0:09:05.328 --> 0:09:07.608 So what the company has actually decided to do after 0:09:07.608 --> 0:09:12.198 a fair amount of fairly rapid flashback, uh, is they've 0:09:12.198 --> 0:09:16.608 decided that new users will actually pay a subscription model. Um, 0:09:16.608 --> 0:09:19.368 and I believe it's not so expensive as it was. Uh, 0:09:19.368 --> 0:09:22.218 but at legacy users, i.e. existing users will just keep 0:09:22.218 --> 0:09:24.708 going on the way they're going. Um, you may want 0:09:24.708 --> 0:09:26.628 to update in the future as they're going to add 0:09:26.628 --> 0:09:30.528 more features again in the future. I'm sort of in 0:09:30.528 --> 0:09:32.868 two minds about this. I don't like the way that 0:09:32.868 --> 0:09:36.708 the company communicated, the fact they were changing their subscription model. 0:09:36.708 --> 0:09:40.098 That was definitely not very nice and I think a 0:09:40.098 --> 0:09:41.808 little bit unethical and that sort of side of things. 0:09:41.808 --> 0:09:44.328 But on the other side of things, uh, apps have 0:09:44.328 --> 0:09:48.318 to be paid for because developers have to live. But 0:09:48.798 --> 0:09:51.978 I think this is a clear message that if you're 0:09:51.978 --> 0:09:55.098 going to change the way you pay for an app 0:09:55.098 --> 0:09:59.328 via subscription models, you really have to communicate this far 0:09:59.328 --> 0:10:01.758 in advance of what you're going to be doing so 0:10:01.758 --> 0:10:05.028 that you don't leave your dedicated users gnashing their teeth 0:10:05.028 --> 0:10:06.888 and thinking that they've been hard done by. 0:10:07.488 --> 0:10:12.588 There's a program on Vision Australia Radio Studio one. Listeners 0:10:12.588 --> 0:10:15.348 got a surprise the other day. You turned up on it. 0:10:15.618 --> 0:10:17.478 I did turn up on it. Yeah, I said, I 0:10:17.478 --> 0:10:20.298 want to pass the studio and fell in. Um, it 0:10:20.298 --> 0:10:23.578 was all about. That my opinions of how I is 0:10:23.578 --> 0:10:26.248 assisting blind and low vision people. So I talked about 0:10:26.248 --> 0:10:29.128 all sort of the major characters such as, you know, 0:10:29.128 --> 0:10:33.988 envision and be my eyes, I and the picture smart 0:10:33.988 --> 0:10:37.288 from jaws. And I also talked about, you know, how 0:10:37.288 --> 0:10:39.628 smart speakers need to improve and all that sort of stuff. 0:10:39.628 --> 0:10:43.078 So it was a really good chit chat about how 0:10:43.078 --> 0:10:45.928 I thought I was going this year and into the future. 0:10:45.928 --> 0:10:48.958 So if you want to listen to a about a 0:10:48.958 --> 0:10:51.418 50 minute chat on AI, you can pick up that 0:10:51.418 --> 0:10:54.268 Studio One show from your favorite podcasting application. 0:10:54.418 --> 0:10:59.608 There's a wearable device from Metta, the Facebook people. It's 0:10:59.608 --> 0:11:03.898 called the Ray-Ban glasses. You've seen a review of it. 0:11:04.138 --> 0:11:07.528 We used to say that assistive technology is catching up 0:11:07.528 --> 0:11:11.008 with commercial. I think it's commercial technology is now catching 0:11:11.008 --> 0:11:15.358 up with assistive technology because what the Ray-Ban meta sunglasses 0:11:15.358 --> 0:11:18.928 do is very close to what things like Envision and 0:11:18.928 --> 0:11:22.768 Orcam and other products do as well. So the guy 0:11:22.768 --> 0:11:26.368 that did the demo via the Apple wiz website, he 0:11:26.368 --> 0:11:29.518 was able to do scene detection. He could ask it 0:11:29.518 --> 0:11:33.808 to identify an object, he could do optical character recognition, 0:11:34.438 --> 0:11:37.378 he could do video calls, he could send text messages 0:11:37.378 --> 0:11:41.368 via his phone and so on. So and not to 0:11:41.368 --> 0:11:44.668 mention the fact that he could also use basic eye 0:11:44.668 --> 0:11:48.508 functions as well. So I just think when you look 0:11:48.508 --> 0:11:51.118 at something like the end vision glasses and all cams 0:11:51.118 --> 0:11:53.998 that are being up around about that 6 or $7000 mark, 0:11:54.508 --> 0:11:58.678 I priced the Ray-Ban Metis sunglasses here in Australia and 0:11:58.678 --> 0:12:02.788 there are 550 Australian, which is actually very cheap. So 0:12:02.998 --> 0:12:06.298 what I'm concerned about is that the functionality between the 0:12:06.298 --> 0:12:12.208 Ray-Ban glasses and Invision or Cam doesn't reflect in the 0:12:12.208 --> 0:12:15.148 actual price of the product. So I think it's going 0:12:15.148 --> 0:12:18.268 to be interesting days to see what happens is you. 0:12:18.598 --> 0:12:24.358 Ray hyphen ban ban from meta. You've had your new 0:12:24.358 --> 0:12:28.078 zoom devices for a while, an H1 and an H4, 0:12:28.078 --> 0:12:30.148 which is sort of the middle one in the family 0:12:30.148 --> 0:12:33.028 of three, the other one, the H6, and you've been 0:12:33.028 --> 0:12:35.158 using your H4 remotely? 0:12:35.248 --> 0:12:37.888 I have, and just for your people's information, I'm actually 0:12:37.888 --> 0:12:41.278 using my H4 at the moment. But what I've investigated 0:12:41.278 --> 0:12:46.858 into or purchased is the BT, a one Bluetooth connection 0:12:46.858 --> 0:12:50.458 from the H4, so it allows my iPhone or my 0:12:50.458 --> 0:12:54.178 Android phone to connect to it via the H4, a 0:12:54.178 --> 0:12:56.668 central app. Remember, there's a H6 essential app as well, 0:12:56.938 --> 0:12:58.858 and the primary reason why I got it was for 0:12:58.858 --> 0:13:02.728 two things I can control the H4 remotely. So if 0:13:02.728 --> 0:13:05.368 I was in a lecture or a meeting, I could 0:13:05.368 --> 0:13:07.198 put the H4 at the front of the room and 0:13:07.198 --> 0:13:10.198 control the recording of it and monitoring of it via 0:13:10.198 --> 0:13:13.768 my headset on my phone. But number two is because 0:13:13.768 --> 0:13:17.638 the file list in the H4 and the H6 doesn't 0:13:17.638 --> 0:13:20.668 actually speak when you go through the files. When you 0:13:20.668 --> 0:13:23.278 use the app, you've got full access to the file list, 0:13:23.278 --> 0:13:25.948 and of course you can trash them, replay them and 0:13:25.948 --> 0:13:28.258 all that sort of stuff. So they're they're sort of 0:13:28.258 --> 0:13:30.598 the two main reasons why I got it. And probably 0:13:30.598 --> 0:13:34.978 the third one is because I don't have my H4 0:13:34.978 --> 0:13:37.738 on a stand. It means when I touch it, when 0:13:37.738 --> 0:13:40.378 I'm recording, you get a bit of feedback from me 0:13:40.378 --> 0:13:43.138 touching the device, whereas I can turn it on and 0:13:43.138 --> 0:13:44.908 off from my iPhone. So I've got none of that 0:13:44.908 --> 0:13:48.658 noise that's going to go through the main unit to 0:13:48.658 --> 0:13:51.448 disturb the recording. So pretty good and it works out 0:13:51.448 --> 0:13:52.288 extremely well. 0:13:52.288 --> 0:13:54.838 Good stuff. Before we go, a reminder of where there 0:13:54.838 --> 0:13:58.018 are details of what we've been talking about in this 0:13:58.018 --> 0:13:59.698 and previous editions of the programme. 0:13:59.818 --> 0:14:01.918 Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:01.918 --> 0:14:06.418 which is David would be a Podbean pod band comm. 0:14:06.418 --> 0:14:12.208 David would be supporting podbean.com to write to the program. 0:14:12.328 --> 0:14:14.368 You can write to me at Visit Nitro where I work, 0:14:14.368 --> 0:14:18.058 which is David Woodbridge. How it sounds at Vision Australia. 0:14:18.268 --> 0:14:23.458 Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia, org this has been 0:14:23.458 --> 0:14:26.758 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor 0:14:26.758 --> 0:14:30.958 on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley. Take care. 0:14:30.958 --> 0:14:32.668 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.