WEBVTT - Talking Tech 4th March 2025 0:00:07.790 --> 0:00:11.570 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.570 --> 0:00:15.410 March the 4th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:15.410 --> 0:00:18.710 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:18.710 --> 0:00:22.310 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:22.340 --> 0:00:25.310 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:25.310 --> 0:00:28.070 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:28.100 --> 0:00:30.530 tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a 0:00:30.530 --> 0:00:33.979 Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is 0:00:33.979 --> 0:00:36.800 to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play. 0:00:36.830 --> 0:00:41.900 Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking 0:00:41.930 --> 0:00:47.180 tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. 0:00:47.180 --> 0:00:49.460 Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo. 0:00:49.489 --> 0:00:50.599 G'day, Stephen. 0:00:50.659 --> 0:00:53.000 Alexa, it's been around for a while. It's going to 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:54.620 have a bit of a facelift soon. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:01:00.499 That's right. Amazon have announced Alexa Plus. This is sort 0:01:00.500 --> 0:01:06.320 of the AI powered version of the Alexa virtual assistant. 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.650 They're saying that it will be rolled out sort of 0:01:09.679 --> 0:01:14.209 to in terms of early access this month, but that 0:01:14.539 --> 0:01:18.140 it will be rolled out progressively over the coming months 0:01:18.140 --> 0:01:23.719 to varying devices, they'll say. They're saying that it's more conversational. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.020 It will, for example, remember the context. So it'll remember 0:01:27.020 --> 0:01:30.080 the last few things you asked it, that kind of thing, 0:01:30.110 --> 0:01:32.419 and be able to sort of link those together to 0:01:32.450 --> 0:01:36.470 to sort of have a more conversational interaction. Um, and 0:01:36.500 --> 0:01:40.459 obviously all of the other benefits that we've, we're already 0:01:40.459 --> 0:01:44.990 seeing with things like, uh, ChatGPT and, you know, other 0:01:44.990 --> 0:01:47.090 other AI platforms like it. 0:01:47.119 --> 0:01:50.960 It's interesting. I'm one of those users who uses Alexa 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:55.639 on my standalone device, Alexa devices, but I've also got 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.690 it with my Sonos system, and it'll be interesting to 0:01:59.690 --> 0:02:02.180 see how it integrates with that. I guess it won't 0:02:02.180 --> 0:02:03.920 be the first application of it, though. 0:02:03.950 --> 0:02:06.620 No, at this point, they're saying that it'll work on 0:02:06.620 --> 0:02:10.770 the Echo show eight. Echo show ten. And I think 0:02:10.770 --> 0:02:14.550 the Echo Show 15. At this stage, it won't be 0:02:14.550 --> 0:02:18.210 available on your sort of echo Dot Echo Pop type speakers, 0:02:18.210 --> 0:02:22.770 but it will be later on, I believe. Um, one 0:02:22.770 --> 0:02:25.680 thing to note is that there is a cost associated 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.800 with it, unless you're an Amazon Prime member. So if 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.990 you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll get it for free. 0:02:31.020 --> 0:02:34.290 If you're not an Amazon Prime member, um, it'll cost 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.410 you $20 a month. So Amazon Prime is a much 0:02:37.410 --> 0:02:39.120 cheaper way to get it, because then you get all 0:02:39.150 --> 0:02:41.220 of the other benefits of like, you know, next day 0:02:41.220 --> 0:02:44.370 delivery and all of those things. So, um, if you're 0:02:44.370 --> 0:02:47.670 not an Amazon Prime member now and you're likely to 0:02:47.700 --> 0:02:50.100 want it, it might be a cheaper way to get 0:02:50.100 --> 0:02:52.950 it than just paying for the Alexa Plus as a standalone. 0:02:52.980 --> 0:02:56.340 And we apologize to all those people whose devices have 0:02:56.340 --> 0:02:58.260 come on and off in the last two minutes or 0:02:58.260 --> 0:03:00.300 so when we've been talking about it. 0:03:00.330 --> 0:03:02.550 Yes. Including mine incidentally. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:09.000 So yes, a lady plus a facelift coming there, and 0:03:09.060 --> 0:03:10.710 it'll hit your device before you realize. 0:03:10.710 --> 0:03:15.180 Probably, probably. Um, it's an interesting thing, though, isn't it, 0:03:15.180 --> 0:03:18.120 when you think I'm sort of wondering whether they've missed 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:19.620 the boat or whether a little bit too late to 0:03:19.650 --> 0:03:22.530 the party, because we've already got things like conversational mode 0:03:22.530 --> 0:03:26.190 with ChatGPT, we've got things like our meta glasses that 0:03:26.190 --> 0:03:29.700 do that, and I'm not particularly interested in having a 0:03:29.700 --> 0:03:33.120 conversation with the device as, as such. But, you know, 0:03:33.150 --> 0:03:35.220 the fact that it does remember what you've already asked, 0:03:35.370 --> 0:03:37.830 it is quite useful. But I do sort of think, 0:03:38.010 --> 0:03:40.770 given that, you know, these things a couple of years 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.580 ago were really leading the way in sort of voice interaction. 0:03:44.790 --> 0:03:47.760 It seems to me that it's perhaps a little bit, um, 0:03:47.790 --> 0:03:50.640 a little bit later than I would have liked. You know, 0:03:50.670 --> 0:03:53.400 I would have expected them to jump on the bandwagon 0:03:53.430 --> 0:03:56.220 a little earlier. So I guess we'll see when it 0:03:56.220 --> 0:03:59.130 comes out how good it is and whether it's something 0:03:59.130 --> 0:04:01.620 that people decide to adopt. 0:04:01.620 --> 0:04:06.510 And we'll see more with Siri, the Apple Intelligence feature, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:08.460 as the year goes on, too. 0:04:08.490 --> 0:04:11.290 Yes, I think so. I think we'll see some developments 0:04:11.290 --> 0:04:14.740 with it. Definitely. And probably some of the other platforms 0:04:14.740 --> 0:04:16.000 that are around as well. 0:04:16.029 --> 0:04:21.430 Yeah. Okay. Now it's been interesting that over the last 0:04:21.430 --> 0:04:25.360 12 months or so, amongst particularly the blindness community and 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.060 Braille users, there's been a bit of an uptake in 0:04:28.060 --> 0:04:31.870 the interest of Linux. And that's because people have equipped 0:04:31.870 --> 0:04:35.980 themselves with a BT speak, which is the device from 0:04:35.980 --> 0:04:40.810 Blazie Technologies, which has the Braille keyboard input and speech output, 0:04:40.810 --> 0:04:44.260 works on the Linux platform. And we've been talking about 0:04:44.260 --> 0:04:47.800 it over the last year or so. You've found an 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:49.060 interesting resource. 0:04:49.090 --> 0:04:51.190 Yes, I have. And you and I have both sort 0:04:51.190 --> 0:04:53.529 of been tinkering a little bit with Linux over the 0:04:53.530 --> 0:04:55.960 last little while for me, not just the BT speak, 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:00.130 but I've also got some other Raspberry Pi type devices, 0:05:00.130 --> 0:05:02.349 which is the sort of the underlying hardware that the 0:05:02.350 --> 0:05:04.479 BT speak runs on. But I also have half a 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.570 dozen of them on the desk here running various other, uh, 0:05:07.570 --> 0:05:11.680 ham radio applications and things. And it's one of those 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.560 things that with Linux, it's always been a sort of 0:05:14.590 --> 0:05:18.700 associated with geekery, if you like. And it always felt 0:05:18.700 --> 0:05:21.130 like you had to have a, you know, a pilot 0:05:21.130 --> 0:05:24.730 pilot's license and a degree in microelectronics to use it. 0:05:24.940 --> 0:05:27.729 Whereas I think it's moved from sort of being a 0:05:27.730 --> 0:05:33.130 command line based thing to having a graphical interface as well. Now, 0:05:33.130 --> 0:05:35.080 so similar to what you would have on windows or 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:39.160 the Mac. We've got things like the orca screen reader 0:05:39.190 --> 0:05:42.430 to make that accessible. But the problem is, because it's 0:05:42.430 --> 0:05:45.190 open source, there's a lot of different things out there 0:05:45.190 --> 0:05:47.170 and a lot of lot of different websites, and it's 0:05:47.170 --> 0:05:48.880 sort of where do you go to get your information? 0:05:48.910 --> 0:05:51.100 So there's a gentleman by the name of Chris Egeland, 0:05:51.130 --> 0:05:54.280 who has been a Linux user on and off since 0:05:54.280 --> 0:05:57.700 about 2002, I believe. And he has put together a 0:05:57.700 --> 0:06:04.480 website called Blind Linux. It's just blind Linux linux.com. And 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.030 he's sort of trying to pull together a bunch of 0:06:07.030 --> 0:06:10.690 resources to allow someone who is blind or has low 0:06:10.690 --> 0:06:14.170 vision to kind of get up and running with Linux. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:18.130 So there's for example, instructions on how to make a 0:06:18.130 --> 0:06:22.390 bootable USB drive so that you don't necessarily have to 0:06:22.420 --> 0:06:25.990 dedicate your computer to it or, you know, even a 0:06:25.990 --> 0:06:29.110 part of your hard disk. You can set your computer 0:06:29.140 --> 0:06:31.900 up and just boot up Linux from a USB stick 0:06:31.900 --> 0:06:34.120 and run it that way. Or if you've got a, 0:06:34.150 --> 0:06:36.730 you know, an older computer, perhaps you can use that. 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.760 Or there's even things that you can do now with 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.900 virtual machines using something like VMware player, which is an 0:06:43.900 --> 0:06:46.480 app that almost allows you to run an operating system 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.600 within an operating system. So you could have your computer 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.080 running Windows or Mac OS, and you could run another 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.260 operating system like Linux or an earlier version of windows 0:06:56.260 --> 0:07:00.070 or something like that. Inside that environment. That sort of 0:07:00.070 --> 0:07:03.820 method is quite useful for testing and those sorts of things. Or, 0:07:03.850 --> 0:07:06.970 you know, you might have an old program that only 0:07:06.970 --> 0:07:10.390 ran on windows XP. You could have a virtual windows 0:07:10.390 --> 0:07:13.300 XP machine that you could you could have running on 0:07:13.340 --> 0:07:16.940 your Windows 11 PC or your Mac or whatever you've got. 0:07:16.940 --> 0:07:18.770 So there's a number of different ways of doing it, 0:07:18.770 --> 0:07:21.110 and there's some quite good resources there. And I believe 0:07:21.140 --> 0:07:25.430 he's sort of trying to build it and increase the 0:07:25.430 --> 0:07:29.240 available resources over time and sort of welcomes, you know, 0:07:29.270 --> 0:07:32.210 contributions from people. He's trying to make it a friendly 0:07:32.210 --> 0:07:35.060 place to get started with Linux. If people want to 0:07:35.060 --> 0:07:37.520 have a bit of a tinker with Linux and maybe 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.370 experiment with it, um, it sounds to me like it 0:07:40.370 --> 0:07:43.040 would be a good place to start. I suppose. I 0:07:43.070 --> 0:07:44.270 am a bit of a geek at heart, and I've 0:07:44.300 --> 0:07:47.270 enjoyed messing about with it over the last little while 0:07:47.270 --> 0:07:49.370 and figuring out what it can do. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.580 It's an interesting concept that one of the virtual machine, 0:07:52.580 --> 0:07:56.210 which has been around since the 60s and 70s, actually. 0:07:56.210 --> 0:07:59.030 Yeah. And it's actually quite interesting because a lot of 0:07:59.030 --> 0:08:02.300 large data centers, that's how they work now. They don't 0:08:02.300 --> 0:08:06.380 have a sort of a one box, one operating system arrangement. 0:08:06.380 --> 0:08:10.250 They'll have one physical piece of hardware that might host 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.410 20 or 30 different servers, you know, for 20 or 0:08:13.410 --> 0:08:15.960 30 different companies, you know, with websites on or the 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.570 mail servers or whatever they might happen to be. So 0:08:18.870 --> 0:08:21.990 it's a fairly prevalent sort of technology in the, in 0:08:22.020 --> 0:08:24.810 the corporate world in terms of data centers and things 0:08:24.810 --> 0:08:26.070 as well now. Mhm. 0:08:26.310 --> 0:08:29.370 Damo, we're going to lose your company for a week 0:08:29.370 --> 0:08:33.179 or two as you go across the Pacific to California. 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.469 Don't cheer too loudly. We'll be back. But yes, I 0:08:37.500 --> 0:08:40.679 am off to see son. Uh, which is the, uh, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.479 California State University's, uh, Assistive Technology Conference. It's one of 0:08:45.479 --> 0:08:52.020 the premier assistive technology events on the calendar each year. And, uh, so, yes, 0:08:52.020 --> 0:08:55.260 I'm headed there, uh, to meet with some suppliers and 0:08:55.260 --> 0:08:58.350 check out some products. It's my first time, uh, attending 0:08:58.349 --> 0:09:00.660 that particular conference, so I'm quite excited about it. 0:09:00.689 --> 0:09:04.440 Anything special that you're looking at? 0:09:05.250 --> 0:09:08.009 I am looking forward to meeting with some of the 0:09:08.010 --> 0:09:11.460 suppliers that we already work with, people that I've corresponded 0:09:11.459 --> 0:09:16.429 with on email for years. I'm interested in whether there'll 0:09:16.459 --> 0:09:19.640 be some new products that I haven't seen. You know, 0:09:19.670 --> 0:09:23.479 I'm thinking perhaps the BT Braille might be there and 0:09:23.479 --> 0:09:26.150 they might have a prototype that we can look at or. 0:09:26.150 --> 0:09:29.300 But research often have devices to show, you know, they 0:09:29.329 --> 0:09:32.059 were there was a lot of excitement a couple of 0:09:32.059 --> 0:09:35.570 years ago about their Braille laptop, the Optima, which hasn't 0:09:35.599 --> 0:09:38.059 sort of made it to market yet, but keen to 0:09:38.089 --> 0:09:40.909 have a look at what they have. And there's lots 0:09:40.910 --> 0:09:43.519 of other bits and pieces. I've got quite a list 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.370 from colleagues around the organisation saying while you're there, have 0:09:46.370 --> 0:09:47.780 a look and see if these people are here and 0:09:47.780 --> 0:09:49.280 check them out and let us know what you think. 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.220 So there's, um, you know, some other electronic travel aids. 0:09:52.219 --> 0:09:54.379 There's all sorts of things. I'm told it can take 0:09:54.380 --> 0:09:56.870 more than a day just to get through the exhibit hall, 0:09:56.870 --> 0:09:59.809 and that's without attending any of the actual conference presentations, 0:09:59.809 --> 0:10:02.570 which I'm looking forward to as well. 0:10:02.569 --> 0:10:04.130 We're going to have a lot to ask you about 0:10:04.130 --> 0:10:07.099 when you get back. Now, one of the things that 0:10:07.099 --> 0:10:11.720 occurs to me is that being a very organised person, 0:10:11.719 --> 0:10:14.390 and you use a lot of tech in your daily 0:10:14.390 --> 0:10:17.219 life at home, you won't want to set all that 0:10:17.219 --> 0:10:20.249 aside for the time that you're away. How do you 0:10:20.250 --> 0:10:26.040 prepare yourself with your personal technology for an adventure like this? 0:10:26.189 --> 0:10:29.460 Sometimes it's actually a bit of a challenge because you 0:10:29.459 --> 0:10:31.980 don't want to end up like the travelling road show. 0:10:31.979 --> 0:10:35.099 But we do as you say. We do use technology 0:10:35.099 --> 0:10:38.040 so much in our daily lives that it will be 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:39.629 a question of what do I take and what can 0:10:39.630 --> 0:10:43.770 I do without for a week or so? Obviously, a 0:10:43.770 --> 0:10:46.590 couple of things that are given are my my iPhone, 0:10:46.620 --> 0:10:51.360 some good noise cancelling headphones for the plane flight. I've 0:10:51.359 --> 0:10:53.879 got a set of Apple AirPods Pro, which I'll be 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.830 using probably the meta glasses because I may need to 0:10:58.859 --> 0:11:02.279 find out about my my surroundings. I may or may 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:06.510 not take a stellar trek with me. If it arrives 0:11:06.510 --> 0:11:09.030 in time, I will take a wee walk because I 0:11:09.030 --> 0:11:13.199 won't have my seeing eye dog Jenner with me. Um, 0:11:13.199 --> 0:11:15.300 so it'll be a good opportunity to sort of put 0:11:15.300 --> 0:11:18.449 that through its paces. And so I may use that 0:11:18.449 --> 0:11:22.110 and its navigation capability rather than the stellar I don't know. 0:11:22.229 --> 0:11:25.290 I also like to take a Braille device of some 0:11:25.290 --> 0:11:26.969 sort so that I can note take, and so that 0:11:26.969 --> 0:11:29.520 I've got access to my email on the go. So 0:11:29.550 --> 0:11:33.689 I do use a Braillesense six mini, so I'll be 0:11:33.689 --> 0:11:35.999 using that probably as my note taking device, because I 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.429 can turn the speech off and, you know, still have 0:11:38.459 --> 0:11:40.679 Braille access and that kind of thing. And I can 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.369 respond to work emails, you know, ten meetings remotely if 0:11:44.370 --> 0:11:45.990 I have to while I'm on the go, that kind 0:11:46.020 --> 0:11:49.829 of thing. So that's still quite a list. The other 0:11:49.829 --> 0:11:52.200 thing that I do like to take when I travel 0:11:52.199 --> 0:11:57.210 is a couple of those USB type power banks at 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.929 guys in the US actually sell one that's, um, accessible 0:12:00.929 --> 0:12:03.840 in that it has haptic feedback to tell you how 0:12:03.870 --> 0:12:06.390 charged the battery is and whether it's on or off, 0:12:06.420 --> 0:12:09.179 that kind of thing. So they're quite good because it 0:12:09.179 --> 0:12:11.400 means you can charge your phone a number of times 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:15.119 without having to mess about with power converters and those 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.089 kinds of things. So I'll probably take 1 or 2 0:12:18.089 --> 0:12:20.159 of those little power banks. They're just a sort of 0:12:20.189 --> 0:12:23.280 a rectangular block, if you like, with, um, uh, a 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.040 USB-A and USB-C connector on them. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.740 What's your go to recording device these days? 0:12:29.250 --> 0:12:32.429 Oh, yes. I'll definitely be taking that. Good. Good point. 0:12:32.459 --> 0:12:37.050 These days I'm using a zoom H1 essentials because of 0:12:37.050 --> 0:12:39.989 the fact that it has a bunch of accessible menus. 0:12:39.990 --> 0:12:44.009 All of the features and functions talk. It's very small 0:12:44.010 --> 0:12:45.929 and very light. The only thing it's a little bit 0:12:45.929 --> 0:12:50.399 limited in that you can't plug external microphones into it. 0:12:50.429 --> 0:12:53.640 And I have been considering getting an H4 just because 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.640 it's a slightly higher quality recorder, but because of everything 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.130 else I take, I'm trying to travel light, so it'll 0:12:59.130 --> 0:13:02.880 either be the zoom H1 essentials or the H4 essentials, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.359 which will give me a nice, accessible recording solution. And 0:13:06.390 --> 0:13:09.750 because both of those use 32 bit float as their 0:13:09.750 --> 0:13:13.410 recording format, you don't have to mess around setting levels. 0:13:13.410 --> 0:13:16.620 It won't clip. Um, so that's always nice. It saves 0:13:16.620 --> 0:13:18.780 you having to come back and mess around with things 0:13:18.780 --> 0:13:21.309 because it's either distorted or way too quiet. 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.770 Very nice. Well, we look forward to hearing what you 0:13:23.770 --> 0:13:27.130 might pick up over there on your recording device, and 0:13:27.130 --> 0:13:31.300 certainly to chatting with you about what you've discovered as 0:13:31.300 --> 0:13:34.479 you go to see sun. And we'll talk about that 0:13:34.479 --> 0:13:38.439 in a couple of weeks time here on Talking Tech. Now, 0:13:38.439 --> 0:13:41.829 before we go, a reminder to everyone that you can 0:13:41.829 --> 0:13:45.129 always catch up with the details of this and previous 0:13:45.130 --> 0:13:50.860 editions of the program by going to VA radio.org/talking tech, 0:13:50.890 --> 0:13:54.670 VA radio, dot org slash talking tech and to write 0:13:54.670 --> 0:13:55.569 to the program. 0:13:55.569 --> 0:14:02.739 Damo Damo dot McMorrow mkmo r o w at Vision Australia. 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:08.650 Org Damo dot McMorrow at Vision australia.org. This has been 0:14:08.650 --> 0:14:11.890 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national access 0:14:11.890 --> 0:14:16.030 technology manager Damo McMorrow I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll 0:14:16.030 --> 0:14:17.739 talk more tech next week. See you.