S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: November the 12th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
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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: Hi Stephen.
S1: Let's talk about BT speak again because things keep happening there.
S1: Let's start with reminding people what the BT speak is
S1: marvelous little machine.
S2: Yes. So this is a device produced by Blazie Technologies
S2: in the US. It is a device that has Braille
S2: input and speech output. It is a modern version of
S2: the old Braille and speak. So it just essentially has
S2: a Perkins style keyboard and it has a suite of applications,
S2: but can also, because it runs Linux at its core,
S2: has a desktop mode as well, where you can run
S2: things like Google Chrome and a whole range of other
S2: apps Thunderbird, email client, that kind of thing.
S1: Every six weeks to two months, they bring out a
S1: new update and one dropped last week.
S2: Yes it did, and it's a big one. Um, so
S2: there's quite a few exciting changes in this update. The
S2: one that I was most excited about was the ability
S2: to stream YouTube content from the device, um, without having
S2: to go into desktop mode and do it through Google
S2: Chrome or Firefox. So it does have a YouTube streaming
S2: app now in the what they call the traditional mode,
S2: which is sort of the menu driven mode, if you like,
S2: where you can search for YouTube videos, you can view
S2: channels that you are subscribed to, um, and you can
S2: also get details or go to a particular YouTube channel
S2: if you want to have a look at the videos
S2: from a particular channel. So that's a nice update and
S2: it works quite well. You do have to sign in
S2: to your Google account the first time you use it.
S2: And one of the things that a couple of people
S2: have sort of raised and struggled with a little bit
S2: is the, uh, remembering how to do the At sign
S2: when you put in your Gmail address. So it uses
S2: the computer Braille or grade zero form, which is dot
S2: seven together with dot four to to do your at sign.
S2: So that's that one. There's also a Google Drive client
S2: as well. so you can now save files and open
S2: files from Google Drive. There is some updates to the
S2: AI chat function. So that's the built in ChatGPT client.
S2: And there's also a new version of that. It's sort
S2: of its little brother called. I ask what that does
S2: is it allows you to ask a single question and
S2: have the output dropped into your current file, so that
S2: if you were working on a file and you wanted
S2: to drop the search results straight into that file, you
S2: can do that.
S1: So to do those AI activities, do you have an
S1: account and if so, who's it with and how does
S1: that work?
S2: Yes, yes. So you need a ChatGPT account which is
S2: OpenAI are the is the organization that runs the ChatGPT service.
S2: Now you can either get sort of a premium account
S2: where you pay. I think it's something like $30 a
S2: month or something like that. Or you can do what
S2: I've done and do a pay as you go. It's
S2: like a prepaid account. So you put a balance in
S2: of $20 or $50 or something, and it deducts a
S2: couple of cents per 750 words. That can be a
S2: cheaper way to run it than the monthly subscription option.
S2: If you're not sure how much you're going to use it.
S1: Sounds good. All right, I interrupted. You know, you're right.
S2: So there's a few other things, too. There's, um, some
S2: improvements to the phone book and calendar app. And of course,
S2: the calendar app also can sync with Google Calendar. And
S2: there's also a bunch of just changes. There's some updates
S2: to some of the speech settings. There's now the ability
S2: to alter how punctuation is spoken, which is sort of
S2: fairly common to a lot of devices that use a
S2: screen reader or use speech in some form, and a
S2: bunch of just, you know, fixes and updates and that
S2: kind of thing. But the YouTube one and the updated
S2: AI chat functionality are really quite significant, and the Google
S2: Drive integration as well. It's a definitely a significant update
S2: this time around, and it's a product that is just
S2: improving at a rapid rate of knots. I mean, when
S2: I first got mine back in, I think it was
S2: February or March. Um, you know, we were limited to
S2: the either the Espeak voice or the Dectalk voice, which
S2: didn't hugely worry me because I kind of grew up
S2: on those sorts of text to speech engines. But you
S2: can now get vocalizer voices and so on as well.
S2: So if you like Australia and you want the same
S2: voice as you have on your iPhone, then that's something
S2: that you can do.
S1: Now that's the BT speak from Blazie technologies. We'll put
S1: the link of course in in the show notes. IRA,
S1: some interesting experience you've had with that. We better remind
S1: people what IRA is. It's been around for maybe six
S1: years or so now it has.
S2: So IRA is one of those visual interpretation services where
S2: you can be put through to a trained agent, and
S2: they can assist you with visual tasks, whether it's navigation,
S2: checking the expiry date on your milk, really whatever other
S2: information you need. And until recently that's been done predominantly
S2: through your phone's camera. But we mentioned a few weeks
S2: ago on the show that they had in beta a
S2: way of accessing IRA through the meta smart glasses so
S2: that you can access IRA hands free. It was initially
S2: sort of a controlled rollout so that you had to
S2: apply to to test that feature. But then a couple
S2: of weeks ago, they opened it up to all of
S2: their IRA users. And I had a practical reason for
S2: testing it out last weekend. And it's always nice to
S2: test something in practical terms rather than, you know, in
S2: a sort of a contrived or a controlled way.
S1: Certainly is.
S2: So my situation was I was in Melbourne once again
S2: for the weekend, and I've only done this a couple
S2: of times in the last few months, but we couldn't
S2: stay at the hotel we'd stayed at last time, which
S2: meant we needed to find a different spot for toileting
S2: our seeing eye dogs, and I couldn't work out whether
S2: there were any rubbish bins nearby. And so I thought, well,
S2: I've got the glasses here, let's just try it. And
S2: it did actually work quite well. So the way it
S2: works is, um, you use the IRA explorer app on
S2: your phone the way you normally do, you then instead
S2: of just initiating a call, there's an option that says
S2: customised call. And one of the options there is Ray-Ban
S2: meta glasses. You tap on that and then the call
S2: is answered through the app as it normally is. And
S2: then they send you a link to join a WhatsApp chat.
S2: It's one thing you have to click on, which is
S2: the join button. It initiates the WhatsApp call. You double
S2: tap the button on the right hand arm of the
S2: glasses and then you've got a video call. So the
S2: audio then comes through the glasses and it's using the
S2: camera on the glasses. And it was quite handy because
S2: it meant, you know, I had a backpack on my back.
S2: I had the output from my Seeing Eye dog as
S2: it were. So trying to hold a phone and wave
S2: it around would have been a bit of a problem.
S2: And it worked out well because I was just able
S2: to sort of stand on the spot and turn slowly,
S2: and he said, yes, I believe there's a bin a
S2: few meters in this direction. If you can just walk
S2: in the direction that you're facing. And I did. And
S2: he said, yes, it's definitely a bin and the hull
S2: is on the right hand side of the bin and
S2: so on. And then he was able to get me
S2: back onto the street front because the bin was in. Um,
S2: it was sort of off the street a little bit.
S2: So it was actually really good to to try it
S2: in a practical situation. And yes, there's a couple of
S2: steps at this stage to go through, but just to
S2: be able to do that in a situation where you,
S2: you just quickly need some visual assistance and you need
S2: it hands free. Um, I was quite impressed with it.
S2: And I'm actually travelling again this week, and I'm hoping
S2: to use it in the airport and see how that works.
S1: And that's very good. Using a mainstream product, the meta glasses,
S1: not a blind person's device that might cost ten times
S1: as much, etc..
S2: That's right. You know, you're talking about a device that's
S2: available from a local sunglass retailer or eyewear retailer, and
S2: you're talking about something that's around about 400. And I
S2: think I paid $459 for mine. And they themselves are improving.
S2: I think Be My Eyes have recently announced a partnership
S2: with meta as well. So I think as time goes on,
S2: that device is going to become more and more useful.
S1: Let's talk about Vespero now. Still affectionately known as Freedom
S1: Scientific for all of us access Technology users. And we've
S1: talked about the 2025 releases of Jaws, zoom Text, and fusion.
S1: Jaws is the screen reader, zoom text is the screen
S1: enhancement product, and fusion is the fusion of those two.
S1: They actually accompany their products with some terrific webinars, don't they?
S2: They do. They cover all kinds of different topics. There's
S2: a fairly recent one on the new PFS companion that
S2: we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks
S2: on the show. That's the facility where you can ask
S2: questions about Jaws features, Microsoft Office features, windows commands, that
S2: kind of thing. I also had a reason to use
S2: one of their webinars during the week. So I'm currently
S2: doing my boss's job as well as my own. He's
S2: on holidays. I'm therefore taking lots of different notes, and
S2: I've sort of got a number of different meetings. I've
S2: got a number of different projects happening. I've got things
S2: that I'm going to need to hand back to him
S2: when he comes back, that I'm sort of keeping a
S2: bit of a running record of. And so I sort
S2: of had what I call the blind person's equivalent of
S2: a whole bunch of post-it notes stuck to my monitor.
S2: I had little text files here and there in different
S2: places with notes. And I thought to myself, you know,
S2: there's got to be an easier way to do this.
S2: I have an office 365 subscription through work, and I
S2: was aware of one note, which is their note taking
S2: sort of utility that comes as part of office. And
S2: when I went into it, it wasn't particularly intuitive or
S2: I couldn't make sense of it. And I found a
S2: particularly good Webinar from Freedom Scientific or Vespero, which sort
S2: of gave me the basics that I needed to be
S2: able to navigate this tool, and I'm actually really liking
S2: it now that I've gotten to grips with how it works,
S2: not only can I type notes into it and divide
S2: them into sections and different pages and things like that,
S2: but I can also copy emails. I can even copy
S2: images and other content and have it all in one spot. Um,
S2: and I can then export sections if I need to,
S2: and I can share different components with other people if
S2: I'm wanting them to be able to see my notes
S2: and that kind of thing. So being able to do that,
S2: being able to sort of copy emails into it and,
S2: you know, other content from other applications is is really
S2: helpful as well because it puts everything in one spot.
S2: But having access to the webinar made the difference between
S2: me being able to use that product comfortably and just deciding, no,
S2: it doesn't make sense. I'll try something else.
S1: And if you like me, you mightn't touch that activity
S1: for another 2 or 3 months, and you might find
S1: you've just about forgotten it all when you go back
S1: to it. But there's the demo still waiting for you online.
S1: That's right. You can go back to first base again
S1: and refresh your brain.
S2: Absolutely. So definitely a handy resource for any Jaws or
S2: zoom text or fusion user. Or even without that, you know,
S2: if you use other things, if you use Nvda, the
S2: principles and things are going to be similar enough that
S2: you probably would get some benefit from it. And those
S2: webinars are all free resources.
S1: And there's heaps of them, and there's some that have
S1: been around for quite a while. And they're still very relevant,
S1: aren't they?
S2: Yes they are, yes. Very much.
S1: So. Yeah. So that's the training facility available through Freedom Scientific. Again,
S1: we'll put the link to that in the show notes
S1: for you so you can check it out for yourself.
S1: You'll actually find there are were features that you thought
S1: you knew enough about, but there's a lot more buried
S1: away that the demonstrators are able to show you through
S1: those podcasts.
S2: Definitely, definitely.
S1: Before we go, a reminder that you can find details
S1: of what we've been talking about in 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: You can email me Damo Damo dot McMorrow m c
S2: m o w r o w at Vision Australia. Org
S2: and thank you to those people who have been writing in.
S2: I do appreciate it.
S1: Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org. That's the one. This has
S1: been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national
S1: access technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.