S1: Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: April the 9th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Virgin Australia Radio, Associated
S1: Stations of Australia or the Community Radio Network. There is
S1: also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to
S1: do is search for the two words talking tech and
S1: downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just
S1: after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your
S1: Siri device or smart speaker to play Virgin Australia Radio
S1: talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast with me,
S1: someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well.
S1: Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David,
S1: let's start with our product Minute. And it's a headset,
S1: very popular headset from the vision store of Vision Australia.
S2: Correct. So this is called the shocks. And remember this
S2: was renamed a couple of years ago from aftershocks. This
S2: is the shocks open move bone conduction headset. So it's
S2: one of those ones where these little pads sit in
S2: front of your ears, on your cheekbones, and the sound
S2: gets transmitted through the bones into your inner ear. That's
S2: why they're called bone conduction headphones. And besides the fact
S2: that I love bone conduction headphones because they'll leave your
S2: ears open to your surrounding environment, particularly when you're walking
S2: around and crossing roads and listen to the traffic. The
S2: other thing I like about them, which is only occurred
S2: to me probably this year, is number one, I love
S2: devices that use standard usb-C cables because some of the
S2: shocks that have come out a bit more recently, uh,
S2: like the open. Com, they use usb-C, I believe, but
S2: it's a dedicated little cable that plugs sort of into
S2: the back of the surrounding part of the headset, just
S2: below where you've got your volume up and volume down,
S2: which sort of irritates me. The nice thing about the
S2: open move is that it's a standard usb-C port, which
S2: means all my plethora of cables that I've got can
S2: plug in to my open move headset. It's a couple
S2: of years old, but it's still working exactly the way
S2: it used to. It goes with my all over the
S2: headset now it goes with my multiple other usb-C devices,
S2: so I just love it. Number one, because it's bone
S2: conduction and number two because it uses a standard usb-C port.
S1: We have some news from Blasi Technologies about their BT
S1: speak products. The BT speak is the nice little braille
S1: oriented device that you can explain more clearly and tell
S1: us about the change.
S2: For people that are sort of in my type of
S2: age range, you might remember a very light in the
S2: 1980s and early 90s, there was a thing called the
S2: Braille and speak, which was a six dot braille input
S2: cable with a spacebar. Well, now this, of course, is
S2: being redone now as a modern device running a Raspberry
S2: Pi computer Linux. And what they did was they brought out,
S2: I think it was about 100 units in March, and
S2: they were offering two levels. There was the basic version
S2: and then the Pro version. So the basic version had
S2: a little tablet mode with basically editing and a few
S2: other apps in it, and the Pro version was actually
S2: that particular function, the basic function. And then you could
S2: switch over to the Pro version, which was literally running
S2: a full Linux desktop called mate, and then of course,
S2: the screen reader to allow you to use that desktop,
S2: which was called orca, orca. And what they discovered after
S2: about four weeks on the market that nobody was really
S2: buying the basic version. Everybody wanted the version that allowed
S2: you to switch between the basic mode or the note
S2: taker mode, as I call it, and the desktop mode.
S2: So they decided that rather than wasting all the manufacturing money,
S2: if you like, on producing two versions, they would just
S2: offer the one version, which is the Pro. So that
S2: means if you're in a bit of a hurry, you
S2: can just use the straight note taking function to take notes,
S2: and then you can switch over to the full desktop version,
S2: and you can run basically anything you like on there. Um,
S2: particularly web based applications. You've got Thunderbird for email, you've
S2: got Chrome web browsing, for web browsing, lots and lots
S2: of other things. So I think it's great that they've
S2: early on made this decision that they're going to produce
S2: the BT spec Pro. And they did say, of course,
S2: that people that have bought the basic version that will
S2: still be supported, but literally to buy one now it'll
S2: be the BT Speak Pro, not the BT Speak Basic.
S1: So what's really the market would you say for the
S1: BT speak products? Braille people might think yes I should
S1: get that. Are they the people you'd be suggesting it
S1: to or who would they be?
S2: People that want very fast, efficient access to notes because
S2: you can switch lightning quick between the different. Open documents on,
S2: in this case, the beat speak. It really makes it
S2: much more efficient. And then when you have to then
S2: log on to, you know, a major website to access it,
S2: you can do that with the desktop version. I would
S2: say it's any competent user of braille, um, that wants
S2: speech output. By the way, you can link up a
S2: display to this if you really wanted to. Plus you
S2: can also add in a monitor, a mouse, and a
S2: keyboard mouse if you really wanted to as well, uh,
S2: via a little USB hub thing that you could connect
S2: to the usb-C port. So I would say it's for
S2: high end if you like professional people, um, that want
S2: a really fantastic Braille note taking device with the power
S2: of a desktop computer.
S1: So beyond the original Braille and speak days, which we
S1: remember well, it does work very well with email and
S1: the web environment.
S2: It does? Yeah. Um, oddly, on the basic notetaking version
S2: of it, uh, it does have links, which was the
S2: original web browser for text base, which you can still
S2: use with websites these days, but because they're so modern
S2: doesn't really work that well. But certainly the Chrome version
S2: of it, I remember all the Chrome extensions, like for
S2: Spotify and so on. They work beautifully. So even though
S2: people say, ah, you know, it's it's it's Linux and
S2: we know it's a desktop graphics user interface and it's
S2: the orca screen reader. Now this gives you the same
S2: amount of power in most circumstances that using windows would.
S2: So a very serious device. And the Pro version is
S2: certainly worthwhile.
S1: And it's about 2000 Australian.
S2: It retails in the States for about 1350. Uh, so
S2: by the time you sort of work out all the
S2: exchange rates and that sort of stuff, that's about the
S2: right price for it. So, uh, as a as a good,
S2: solid note taker that can be both run as a
S2: completely full blown desktop. I think it's pretty amazing.
S1: We've talked in the past about Braille doodle. You've got
S1: some news there.
S2: So this is the little device that you could get
S2: a stylus and you'd run it across these little holes,
S2: which are basically Braille holes if you like Braille pins.
S2: And it would raise up a little magnetic pins or bore.
S2: So you could do very quick drawings or Braille and
S2: all that sort of tactile type stuff. And it was
S2: it sort of came out in sort of, I want
S2: to say, about the middle of last year. There were
S2: then promising units towards the end of the year, and
S2: then they were promising units to early January and February,
S2: and I was getting a bit worried. So I just
S2: got an email last week and I noticed that they're
S2: now saying it more a couple of months, mainly because
S2: their manufacturing component of it wasn't really giving them reliable hardware.
S2: So some of the pins weren't coming up and other
S2: things were going on. So they now said they've had
S2: a run of a good solid number of units that
S2: are up to the standard. So they're now promising the
S2: next couple of months, people that have paid their money
S2: for the Brough Doodle, uh, will actually get them sooner
S2: than later. So let's hope before the end of June, uh,
S2: we will have them. So as soon as I get mine,
S2: I'll let people know how it goes and what it's like.
S2: And if it may be worthwhile purchasing one or not.
S1: There's a wonderful reading app called Voice Dream Reader. It's
S1: new owners brought in a subscription model. What's the latest?
S2: What's the lots of people that were using Voice stream
S2: Reader that were paying subscriptions to it, uh, got extremely
S2: outraged and contacted the actual new developers of the actual
S2: program and said, this is not fair. You can't do
S2: this to existing users. Existing users should be able to
S2: use their existing what they've paid for and not anything else.
S2: So what the company has actually decided to do after
S2: a fair amount of fairly rapid flashback, uh, is they've
S2: decided that new users will actually pay a subscription model. Um,
S2: and I believe it's not so expensive as it was. Uh,
S2: but at legacy users, i.e. existing users will just keep
S2: going on the way they're going. Um, you may want
S2: to update in the future as they're going to add
S2: more features again in the future. I'm sort of in
S2: two minds about this. I don't like the way that
S2: the company communicated, the fact they were changing their subscription model.
S2: That was definitely not very nice and I think a
S2: little bit unethical and that sort of side of things.
S2: But on the other side of things, uh, apps have
S2: to be paid for because developers have to live. But
S2: I think this is a clear message that if you're
S2: going to change the way you pay for an app
S2: via subscription models, you really have to communicate this far
S2: in advance of what you're going to be doing so
S2: that you don't leave your dedicated users gnashing their teeth
S2: and thinking that they've been hard done by.
S1: There's a program on Vision Australia Radio Studio one. Listeners
S1: got a surprise the other day. You turned up on it.
S2: I did turn up on it. Yeah, I said, I
S2: want to pass the studio and fell in. Um, it
S2: was all about. That my opinions of how I is
S2: assisting blind and low vision people. So I talked about
S2: all sort of the major characters such as, you know,
S2: envision and be my eyes, I and the picture smart
S2: from jaws. And I also talked about, you know, how
S2: smart speakers need to improve and all that sort of stuff.
S2: So it was a really good chit chat about how
S2: I thought I was going this year and into the future.
S2: So if you want to listen to a about a
S2: 50 minute chat on AI, you can pick up that
S2: Studio One show from your favorite podcasting application.
S1: There's a wearable device from Metta, the Facebook people. It's
S1: called the Ray-Ban glasses. You've seen a review of it.
S2: We used to say that assistive technology is catching up
S2: with commercial. I think it's commercial technology is now catching
S2: up with assistive technology because what the Ray-Ban meta sunglasses
S2: do is very close to what things like Envision and
S2: Orcam and other products do as well. So the guy
S2: that did the demo via the Apple wiz website, he
S2: was able to do scene detection. He could ask it
S2: to identify an object, he could do optical character recognition,
S2: he could do video calls, he could send text messages
S2: via his phone and so on. So and not to
S2: mention the fact that he could also use basic eye
S2: functions as well. So I just think when you look
S2: at something like the end vision glasses and all cams
S2: that are being up around about that 6 or $7000 mark,
S2: I priced the Ray-Ban Metis sunglasses here in Australia and
S2: there are 550 Australian, which is actually very cheap. So
S2: what I'm concerned about is that the functionality between the
S2: Ray-Ban glasses and Invision or Cam doesn't reflect in the
S2: actual price of the product. So I think it's going
S2: to be interesting days to see what happens is you.
S1: Ray hyphen ban ban from meta. You've had your new
S1: zoom devices for a while, an H1 and an H4,
S1: which is sort of the middle one in the family
S1: of three, the other one, the H6, and you've been
S1: using your H4 remotely?
S2: I have, and just for your people's information, I'm actually
S2: using my H4 at the moment. But what I've investigated
S2: into or purchased is the BT, a one Bluetooth connection
S2: from the H4, so it allows my iPhone or my
S2: Android phone to connect to it via the H4, a
S2: central app. Remember, there's a H6 essential app as well,
S2: and the primary reason why I got it was for
S2: two things I can control the H4 remotely. So if
S2: I was in a lecture or a meeting, I could
S2: put the H4 at the front of the room and
S2: control the recording of it and monitoring of it via
S2: my headset on my phone. But number two is because
S2: the file list in the H4 and the H6 doesn't
S2: actually speak when you go through the files. When you
S2: use the app, you've got full access to the file list,
S2: and of course you can trash them, replay them and
S2: all that sort of stuff. So they're they're sort of
S2: the two main reasons why I got it. And probably
S2: the third one is because I don't have my H4
S2: on a stand. It means when I touch it, when
S2: I'm recording, you get a bit of feedback from me
S2: touching the device, whereas I can turn it on and
S2: off from my iPhone. So I've got none of that
S2: noise that's going to go through the main unit to
S2: disturb the recording. So pretty good and it works out
S2: extremely well.
S1: Good stuff. Before we go, a reminder of where there
S1: are details of what we've been talking about in this
S1: and previous editions of the programme.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site,
S2: which is David would be a Podbean pod band comm.
S1: David would be supporting podbean.com to write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at Visit Nitro where I work,
S2: which is David Woodbridge. How it sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia, org this has been
S1: talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor
S1: on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley. Take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.