S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: March the 4th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
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S1: Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking
S1: tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager.
S1: Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo.
S2: G'day, Stephen.
S1: Alexa, it's been around for a while. It's going to
S1: have a bit of a facelift soon.
S2: That's right. Amazon have announced Alexa Plus. This is sort
S2: of the AI powered version of the Alexa virtual assistant.
S2: They're saying that it will be rolled out sort of
S2: to in terms of early access this month, but that
S2: it will be rolled out progressively over the coming months
S2: to varying devices, they'll say. They're saying that it's more conversational.
S2: It will, for example, remember the context. So it'll remember
S2: the last few things you asked it, that kind of thing,
S2: and be able to sort of link those together to
S2: to sort of have a more conversational interaction. Um, and
S2: obviously all of the other benefits that we've, we're already
S2: seeing with things like, uh, ChatGPT and, you know, other
S2: other AI platforms like it.
S1: It's interesting. I'm one of those users who uses Alexa
S1: on my standalone device, Alexa devices, but I've also got
S1: it with my Sonos system, and it'll be interesting to
S1: see how it integrates with that. I guess it won't
S1: be the first application of it, though.
S2: No, at this point, they're saying that it'll work on
S2: the Echo show eight. Echo show ten. And I think
S2: the Echo Show 15. At this stage, it won't be
S2: available on your sort of echo Dot Echo Pop type speakers,
S2: but it will be later on, I believe. Um, one
S2: thing to note is that there is a cost associated
S2: with it, unless you're an Amazon Prime member. So if
S2: you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll get it for free.
S2: If you're not an Amazon Prime member, um, it'll cost
S2: you $20 a month. So Amazon Prime is a much
S2: cheaper way to get it, because then you get all
S2: of the other benefits of like, you know, next day
S2: delivery and all of those things. So, um, if you're
S2: not an Amazon Prime member now and you're likely to
S2: want it, it might be a cheaper way to get
S2: it than just paying for the Alexa Plus as a standalone.
S1: And we apologize to all those people whose devices have
S1: come on and off in the last two minutes or
S1: so when we've been talking about it.
S2: Yes. Including mine incidentally.
S1: So yes, a lady plus a facelift coming there, and
S1: it'll hit your device before you realize.
S2: Probably, probably. Um, it's an interesting thing, though, isn't it,
S2: when you think I'm sort of wondering whether they've missed
S2: the boat or whether a little bit too late to
S2: the party, because we've already got things like conversational mode
S2: with ChatGPT, we've got things like our meta glasses that
S2: do that, and I'm not particularly interested in having a
S2: conversation with the device as, as such. But, you know,
S2: the fact that it does remember what you've already asked,
S2: it is quite useful. But I do sort of think,
S2: given that, you know, these things a couple of years
S2: ago were really leading the way in sort of voice interaction.
S2: It seems to me that it's perhaps a little bit, um,
S2: a little bit later than I would have liked. You know,
S2: I would have expected them to jump on the bandwagon
S2: a little earlier. So I guess we'll see when it
S2: comes out how good it is and whether it's something
S2: that people decide to adopt.
S1: And we'll see more with Siri, the Apple Intelligence feature,
S1: as the year goes on, too.
S2: Yes, I think so. I think we'll see some developments
S2: with it. Definitely. And probably some of the other platforms
S2: that are around as well.
S1: Yeah. Okay. Now it's been interesting that over the last
S1: 12 months or so, amongst particularly the blindness community and
S1: Braille users, there's been a bit of an uptake in
S1: the interest of Linux. And that's because people have equipped
S1: themselves with a BT speak, which is the device from
S1: Blazie Technologies, which has the Braille keyboard input and speech output,
S1: works on the Linux platform. And we've been talking about
S1: it over the last year or so. You've found an
S1: interesting resource.
S2: Yes, I have. And you and I have both sort
S2: of been tinkering a little bit with Linux over the
S2: last little while for me, not just the BT speak,
S2: but I've also got some other Raspberry Pi type devices,
S2: which is the sort of the underlying hardware that the
S2: BT speak runs on. But I also have half a
S2: dozen of them on the desk here running various other, uh,
S2: ham radio applications and things. And it's one of those
S2: things that with Linux, it's always been a sort of
S2: associated with geekery, if you like. And it always felt
S2: like you had to have a, you know, a pilot
S2: pilot's license and a degree in microelectronics to use it.
S2: Whereas I think it's moved from sort of being a
S2: command line based thing to having a graphical interface as well. Now,
S2: so similar to what you would have on windows or
S2: the Mac. We've got things like the orca screen reader
S2: to make that accessible. But the problem is, because it's
S2: open source, there's a lot of different things out there
S2: and a lot of lot of different websites, and it's
S2: sort of where do you go to get your information?
S2: So there's a gentleman by the name of Chris Egeland,
S2: who has been a Linux user on and off since
S2: about 2002, I believe. And he has put together a
S2: website called Blind Linux. It's just blind Linux linux.com. And
S2: he's sort of trying to pull together a bunch of
S2: resources to allow someone who is blind or has low
S2: vision to kind of get up and running with Linux.
S2: So there's for example, instructions on how to make a
S2: bootable USB drive so that you don't necessarily have to
S2: dedicate your computer to it or, you know, even a
S2: part of your hard disk. You can set your computer
S2: up and just boot up Linux from a USB stick
S2: and run it that way. Or if you've got a,
S2: you know, an older computer, perhaps you can use that.
S2: Or there's even things that you can do now with
S2: virtual machines using something like VMware player, which is an
S2: app that almost allows you to run an operating system
S2: within an operating system. So you could have your computer
S2: running Windows or Mac OS, and you could run another
S2: operating system like Linux or an earlier version of windows
S2: or something like that. Inside that environment. That sort of
S2: method is quite useful for testing and those sorts of things. Or,
S2: you know, you might have an old program that only
S2: ran on windows XP. You could have a virtual windows
S2: XP machine that you could you could have running on
S2: your Windows 11 PC or your Mac or whatever you've got.
S2: So there's a number of different ways of doing it,
S2: and there's some quite good resources there. And I believe
S2: he's sort of trying to build it and increase the
S2: available resources over time and sort of welcomes, you know,
S2: contributions from people. He's trying to make it a friendly
S2: place to get started with Linux. If people want to
S2: have a bit of a tinker with Linux and maybe
S2: experiment with it, um, it sounds to me like it
S2: would be a good place to start. I suppose. I
S2: am a bit of a geek at heart, and I've
S2: enjoyed messing about with it over the last little while
S2: and figuring out what it can do.
S1: It's an interesting concept that one of the virtual machine,
S1: which has been around since the 60s and 70s, actually.
S2: Yeah. And it's actually quite interesting because a lot of
S2: large data centers, that's how they work now. They don't
S2: have a sort of a one box, one operating system arrangement.
S2: They'll have one physical piece of hardware that might host
S2: 20 or 30 different servers, you know, for 20 or
S2: 30 different companies, you know, with websites on or the
S2: mail servers or whatever they might happen to be. So
S2: it's a fairly prevalent sort of technology in the, in
S2: the corporate world in terms of data centers and things
S2: as well now. Mhm.
S1: Damo, we're going to lose your company for a week
S1: or two as you go across the Pacific to California.
S2: Don't cheer too loudly. We'll be back. But yes, I
S2: am off to see son. Uh, which is the, uh,
S2: California State University's, uh, Assistive Technology Conference. It's one of
S2: the premier assistive technology events on the calendar each year. And, uh, so, yes,
S2: I'm headed there, uh, to meet with some suppliers and
S2: check out some products. It's my first time, uh, attending
S2: that particular conference, so I'm quite excited about it.
S1: Anything special that you're looking at?
S2: I am looking forward to meeting with some of the
S2: suppliers that we already work with, people that I've corresponded
S2: with on email for years. I'm interested in whether there'll
S2: be some new products that I haven't seen. You know,
S2: I'm thinking perhaps the BT Braille might be there and
S2: they might have a prototype that we can look at or.
S2: But research often have devices to show, you know, they
S2: were there was a lot of excitement a couple of
S2: years ago about their Braille laptop, the Optima, which hasn't
S2: sort of made it to market yet, but keen to
S2: have a look at what they have. And there's lots
S2: of other bits and pieces. I've got quite a list
S2: from colleagues around the organisation saying while you're there, have
S2: a look and see if these people are here and
S2: check them out and let us know what you think.
S2: So there's, um, you know, some other electronic travel aids.
S2: There's all sorts of things. I'm told it can take
S2: more than a day just to get through the exhibit hall,
S2: and that's without attending any of the actual conference presentations,
S2: which I'm looking forward to as well.
S1: We're going to have a lot to ask you about
S1: when you get back. Now, one of the things that
S1: occurs to me is that being a very organised person,
S1: and you use a lot of tech in your daily
S1: life at home, you won't want to set all that
S1: aside for the time that you're away. How do you
S1: prepare yourself with your personal technology for an adventure like this?
S2: Sometimes it's actually a bit of a challenge because you
S2: don't want to end up like the travelling road show.
S2: But we do as you say. We do use technology
S2: so much in our daily lives that it will be
S2: a question of what do I take and what can
S2: I do without for a week or so? Obviously, a
S2: couple of things that are given are my my iPhone,
S2: some good noise cancelling headphones for the plane flight. I've
S2: got a set of Apple AirPods Pro, which I'll be
S2: using probably the meta glasses because I may need to
S2: find out about my my surroundings. I may or may
S2: not take a stellar trek with me. If it arrives
S2: in time, I will take a wee walk because I
S2: won't have my seeing eye dog Jenner with me. Um,
S2: so it'll be a good opportunity to sort of put
S2: that through its paces. And so I may use that
S2: and its navigation capability rather than the stellar I don't know.
S2: I also like to take a Braille device of some
S2: sort so that I can note take, and so that
S2: I've got access to my email on the go. So
S2: I do use a Braillesense six mini, so I'll be
S2: using that probably as my note taking device, because I
S2: can turn the speech off and, you know, still have
S2: Braille access and that kind of thing. And I can
S2: respond to work emails, you know, ten meetings remotely if
S2: I have to while I'm on the go, that kind
S2: of thing. So that's still quite a list. The other
S2: thing that I do like to take when I travel
S2: is a couple of those USB type power banks at
S2: guys in the US actually sell one that's, um, accessible
S2: in that it has haptic feedback to tell you how
S2: charged the battery is and whether it's on or off,
S2: that kind of thing. So they're quite good because it
S2: means you can charge your phone a number of times
S2: without having to mess about with power converters and those
S2: kinds of things. So I'll probably take 1 or 2
S2: of those little power banks. They're just a sort of
S2: a rectangular block, if you like, with, um, uh, a
S2: USB-A and USB-C connector on them.
S1: What's your go to recording device these days?
S2: Oh, yes. I'll definitely be taking that. Good. Good point.
S2: These days I'm using a zoom H1 essentials because of
S2: the fact that it has a bunch of accessible menus.
S2: All of the features and functions talk. It's very small
S2: and very light. The only thing it's a little bit
S2: limited in that you can't plug external microphones into it.
S2: And I have been considering getting an H4 just because
S2: it's a slightly higher quality recorder, but because of everything
S2: else I take, I'm trying to travel light, so it'll
S2: either be the zoom H1 essentials or the H4 essentials,
S2: which will give me a nice, accessible recording solution. And
S2: because both of those use 32 bit float as their
S2: recording format, you don't have to mess around setting levels.
S2: It won't clip. Um, so that's always nice. It saves
S2: you having to come back and mess around with things
S2: because it's either distorted or way too quiet.
S1: Very nice. Well, we look forward to hearing what you
S1: might pick up over there on your recording device, and
S1: certainly to chatting with you about what you've discovered as
S1: you go to see sun. And we'll talk about that
S1: in a couple of weeks time here on Talking Tech. Now,
S1: before we go, a reminder to everyone that you can
S1: always catch up with the details of this and previous
S1: editions of the program by going to VA radio.org/talking tech,
S1: VA radio, dot org slash talking tech and to write
S1: to the program.
S2: Damo Damo dot McMorrow mkmo r o w at Vision Australia.
S1: Org Damo dot McMorrow at Vision australia.org. This has been
S1: talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national access
S1: technology manager Damo McMorrow I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll
S1: talk more tech next week. See you.