WEBVTT - Talking Tech 12th November 2024 0:00:08.090 --> 0:00:11.900 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.899 --> 0:00:16.009 November the 12th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:16.010 --> 0:00:19.640 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.780 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:23.780 --> 0:00:26.960 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.450 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.000 tech and Dan. It can all come usually on a 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.870 Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is 0:00:35.870 --> 0:00:38.839 to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play 0:00:38.870 --> 0:00:43.940 Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking 0:00:43.970 --> 0:00:49.940 tech podcast with me Vision Australia's national access technology manager 0:00:49.940 --> 0:00:51.919 Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo. 0:00:51.949 --> 0:00:52.970 Hi Stephen. 0:00:52.970 --> 0:00:58.070 Let's talk about BT speak again because things keep happening there. 0:00:58.100 --> 0:01:02.900 Let's start with reminding people what the BT speak is 0:01:02.900 --> 0:01:04.369 marvelous little machine. 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:09.260 Yes. So this is a device produced by Blazie Technologies 0:01:09.259 --> 0:01:13.160 in the US. It is a device that has Braille 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:18.470 input and speech output. It is a modern version of 0:01:18.470 --> 0:01:21.350 the old Braille and speak. So it just essentially has 0:01:21.350 --> 0:01:26.509 a Perkins style keyboard and it has a suite of applications, 0:01:26.690 --> 0:01:30.170 but can also, because it runs Linux at its core, 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.539 has a desktop mode as well, where you can run 0:01:32.569 --> 0:01:35.809 things like Google Chrome and a whole range of other 0:01:35.810 --> 0:01:39.020 apps Thunderbird, email client, that kind of thing. 0:01:39.289 --> 0:01:43.220 Every six weeks to two months, they bring out a 0:01:43.220 --> 0:01:46.280 new update and one dropped last week. 0:01:46.580 --> 0:01:50.180 Yes it did, and it's a big one. Um, so 0:01:50.210 --> 0:01:55.190 there's quite a few exciting changes in this update. The 0:01:55.190 --> 0:01:58.130 one that I was most excited about was the ability 0:01:58.130 --> 0:02:03.200 to stream YouTube content from the device, um, without having 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.380 to go into desktop mode and do it through Google 0:02:06.380 --> 0:02:10.580 Chrome or Firefox. So it does have a YouTube streaming 0:02:10.610 --> 0:02:13.370 app now in the what they call the traditional mode, 0:02:13.370 --> 0:02:16.160 which is sort of the menu driven mode, if you like, 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.820 where you can search for YouTube videos, you can view 0:02:19.850 --> 0:02:24.050 channels that you are subscribed to, um, and you can 0:02:24.050 --> 0:02:27.919 also get details or go to a particular YouTube channel 0:02:27.920 --> 0:02:29.270 if you want to have a look at the videos 0:02:29.270 --> 0:02:32.690 from a particular channel. So that's a nice update and 0:02:32.690 --> 0:02:35.389 it works quite well. You do have to sign in 0:02:35.420 --> 0:02:38.600 to your Google account the first time you use it. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:40.970 And one of the things that a couple of people 0:02:40.970 --> 0:02:43.130 have sort of raised and struggled with a little bit 0:02:43.130 --> 0:02:46.010 is the, uh, remembering how to do the At sign 0:02:46.010 --> 0:02:48.500 when you put in your Gmail address. So it uses 0:02:48.500 --> 0:02:52.520 the computer Braille or grade zero form, which is dot 0:02:52.550 --> 0:02:56.660 seven together with dot four to to do your at sign. 0:02:57.110 --> 0:03:01.730 So that's that one. There's also a Google Drive client 0:03:01.730 --> 0:03:04.660 as well. so you can now save files and open 0:03:04.660 --> 0:03:09.910 files from Google Drive. There is some updates to the 0:03:09.910 --> 0:03:14.920 AI chat function. So that's the built in ChatGPT client. 0:03:14.920 --> 0:03:17.530 And there's also a new version of that. It's sort 0:03:17.530 --> 0:03:21.340 of its little brother called. I ask what that does 0:03:21.340 --> 0:03:24.580 is it allows you to ask a single question and 0:03:24.580 --> 0:03:28.180 have the output dropped into your current file, so that 0:03:28.180 --> 0:03:30.070 if you were working on a file and you wanted 0:03:30.070 --> 0:03:34.120 to drop the search results straight into that file, you 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:35.470 can do that. 0:03:35.500 --> 0:03:38.650 So to do those AI activities, do you have an 0:03:38.650 --> 0:03:41.020 account and if so, who's it with and how does 0:03:41.020 --> 0:03:41.260 that work? 0:03:41.290 --> 0:03:45.490 Yes, yes. So you need a ChatGPT account which is 0:03:45.490 --> 0:03:50.710 OpenAI are the is the organization that runs the ChatGPT service. 0:03:50.740 --> 0:03:54.010 Now you can either get sort of a premium account 0:03:54.010 --> 0:03:57.310 where you pay. I think it's something like $30 a 0:03:57.310 --> 0:04:00.520 month or something like that. Or you can do what 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.010 I've done and do a pay as you go. It's 0:04:03.010 --> 0:04:05.500 like a prepaid account. So you put a balance in 0:04:05.530 --> 0:04:09.400 of $20 or $50 or something, and it deducts a 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.780 couple of cents per 750 words. That can be a 0:04:13.780 --> 0:04:17.650 cheaper way to run it than the monthly subscription option. 0:04:17.650 --> 0:04:19.810 If you're not sure how much you're going to use it. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.860 Sounds good. All right, I interrupted. You know, you're right. 0:04:24.550 --> 0:04:27.310 So there's a few other things, too. There's, um, some 0:04:27.310 --> 0:04:31.360 improvements to the phone book and calendar app. And of course, 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:36.100 the calendar app also can sync with Google Calendar. And 0:04:36.100 --> 0:04:39.820 there's also a bunch of just changes. There's some updates 0:04:39.820 --> 0:04:43.540 to some of the speech settings. There's now the ability 0:04:43.540 --> 0:04:47.710 to alter how punctuation is spoken, which is sort of 0:04:47.740 --> 0:04:51.520 fairly common to a lot of devices that use a 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.460 screen reader or use speech in some form, and a 0:04:54.460 --> 0:04:57.520 bunch of just, you know, fixes and updates and that 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:02.200 kind of thing. But the YouTube one and the updated 0:05:02.230 --> 0:05:06.190 AI chat functionality are really quite significant, and the Google 0:05:06.190 --> 0:05:10.330 Drive integration as well. It's a definitely a significant update 0:05:10.330 --> 0:05:13.300 this time around, and it's a product that is just 0:05:13.330 --> 0:05:16.000 improving at a rapid rate of knots. I mean, when 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.430 I first got mine back in, I think it was 0:05:18.430 --> 0:05:22.479 February or March. Um, you know, we were limited to 0:05:22.510 --> 0:05:25.600 the either the Espeak voice or the Dectalk voice, which 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.440 didn't hugely worry me because I kind of grew up 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.260 on those sorts of text to speech engines. But you 0:05:32.260 --> 0:05:35.529 can now get vocalizer voices and so on as well. 0:05:35.530 --> 0:05:38.080 So if you like Australia and you want the same 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.230 voice as you have on your iPhone, then that's something 0:05:41.230 --> 0:05:42.130 that you can do. 0:05:42.130 --> 0:05:47.710 Now that's the BT speak from Blazie technologies. We'll put 0:05:47.710 --> 0:05:51.789 the link of course in in the show notes. IRA, 0:05:51.850 --> 0:05:55.420 some interesting experience you've had with that. We better remind 0:05:55.450 --> 0:05:58.690 people what IRA is. It's been around for maybe six 0:05:58.690 --> 0:06:00.460 years or so now it has. 0:06:00.460 --> 0:06:05.110 So IRA is one of those visual interpretation services where 0:06:05.110 --> 0:06:08.050 you can be put through to a trained agent, and 0:06:08.050 --> 0:06:11.560 they can assist you with visual tasks, whether it's navigation, 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:15.070 checking the expiry date on your milk, really whatever other 0:06:15.070 --> 0:06:19.660 information you need. And until recently that's been done predominantly 0:06:19.660 --> 0:06:24.219 through your phone's camera. But we mentioned a few weeks 0:06:24.220 --> 0:06:28.750 ago on the show that they had in beta a 0:06:28.750 --> 0:06:32.680 way of accessing IRA through the meta smart glasses so 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:37.719 that you can access IRA hands free. It was initially 0:06:37.750 --> 0:06:40.210 sort of a controlled rollout so that you had to 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.150 apply to to test that feature. But then a couple 0:06:43.180 --> 0:06:45.400 of weeks ago, they opened it up to all of 0:06:45.430 --> 0:06:50.200 their IRA users. And I had a practical reason for 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.920 testing it out last weekend. And it's always nice to 0:06:53.950 --> 0:06:57.460 test something in practical terms rather than, you know, in 0:06:57.490 --> 0:06:59.710 a sort of a contrived or a controlled way. 0:06:59.740 --> 0:07:00.670 Certainly is. 0:07:00.670 --> 0:07:04.570 So my situation was I was in Melbourne once again 0:07:04.570 --> 0:07:08.020 for the weekend, and I've only done this a couple 0:07:08.050 --> 0:07:12.670 of times in the last few months, but we couldn't 0:07:12.670 --> 0:07:14.980 stay at the hotel we'd stayed at last time, which 0:07:14.980 --> 0:07:20.080 meant we needed to find a different spot for toileting 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:24.970 our seeing eye dogs, and I couldn't work out whether 0:07:24.970 --> 0:07:28.660 there were any rubbish bins nearby. And so I thought, well, 0:07:28.660 --> 0:07:31.390 I've got the glasses here, let's just try it. And 0:07:31.390 --> 0:07:34.270 it did actually work quite well. So the way it 0:07:34.270 --> 0:07:38.290 works is, um, you use the IRA explorer app on 0:07:38.290 --> 0:07:42.340 your phone the way you normally do, you then instead 0:07:42.340 --> 0:07:44.740 of just initiating a call, there's an option that says 0:07:44.740 --> 0:07:47.830 customised call. And one of the options there is Ray-Ban 0:07:47.830 --> 0:07:51.640 meta glasses. You tap on that and then the call 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.370 is answered through the app as it normally is. And 0:07:54.370 --> 0:07:58.290 then they send you a link to join a WhatsApp chat. 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.300 It's one thing you have to click on, which is 0:08:00.300 --> 0:08:04.560 the join button. It initiates the WhatsApp call. You double 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.830 tap the button on the right hand arm of the 0:08:07.830 --> 0:08:10.770 glasses and then you've got a video call. So the 0:08:10.770 --> 0:08:13.980 audio then comes through the glasses and it's using the 0:08:13.980 --> 0:08:17.130 camera on the glasses. And it was quite handy because 0:08:17.130 --> 0:08:20.430 it meant, you know, I had a backpack on my back. 0:08:20.460 --> 0:08:23.640 I had the output from my Seeing Eye dog as 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.580 it were. So trying to hold a phone and wave 0:08:26.580 --> 0:08:28.350 it around would have been a bit of a problem. 0:08:28.350 --> 0:08:30.570 And it worked out well because I was just able 0:08:30.570 --> 0:08:33.420 to sort of stand on the spot and turn slowly, 0:08:33.420 --> 0:08:35.609 and he said, yes, I believe there's a bin a 0:08:35.610 --> 0:08:37.829 few meters in this direction. If you can just walk 0:08:37.829 --> 0:08:40.470 in the direction that you're facing. And I did. And 0:08:40.469 --> 0:08:43.500 he said, yes, it's definitely a bin and the hull 0:08:43.500 --> 0:08:45.300 is on the right hand side of the bin and 0:08:45.300 --> 0:08:48.900 so on. And then he was able to get me 0:08:48.900 --> 0:08:52.530 back onto the street front because the bin was in. Um, 0:08:52.620 --> 0:08:54.809 it was sort of off the street a little bit. 0:08:54.809 --> 0:08:57.720 So it was actually really good to to try it 0:08:57.719 --> 0:09:01.170 in a practical situation. And yes, there's a couple of 0:09:01.170 --> 0:09:04.769 steps at this stage to go through, but just to 0:09:04.770 --> 0:09:08.130 be able to do that in a situation where you, 0:09:08.130 --> 0:09:10.860 you just quickly need some visual assistance and you need 0:09:10.859 --> 0:09:13.800 it hands free. Um, I was quite impressed with it. 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.370 And I'm actually travelling again this week, and I'm hoping 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.699 to use it in the airport and see how that works. 0:09:20.729 --> 0:09:25.050 And that's very good. Using a mainstream product, the meta glasses, 0:09:25.050 --> 0:09:29.490 not a blind person's device that might cost ten times 0:09:29.490 --> 0:09:30.719 as much, etc.. 0:09:30.750 --> 0:09:33.360 That's right. You know, you're talking about a device that's 0:09:33.359 --> 0:09:39.090 available from a local sunglass retailer or eyewear retailer, and 0:09:39.089 --> 0:09:41.910 you're talking about something that's around about 400. And I 0:09:41.910 --> 0:09:46.439 think I paid $459 for mine. And they themselves are improving. 0:09:46.439 --> 0:09:49.020 I think Be My Eyes have recently announced a partnership 0:09:49.020 --> 0:09:51.990 with meta as well. So I think as time goes on, 0:09:51.990 --> 0:09:55.059 that device is going to become more and more useful. 0:09:55.089 --> 0:09:59.860 Let's talk about Vespero now. Still affectionately known as Freedom 0:09:59.859 --> 0:10:04.749 Scientific for all of us access Technology users. And we've 0:10:04.780 --> 0:10:11.770 talked about the 2025 releases of Jaws, zoom Text, and fusion. 0:10:11.890 --> 0:10:16.000 Jaws is the screen reader, zoom text is the screen 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:20.410 enhancement product, and fusion is the fusion of those two. 0:10:21.219 --> 0:10:27.729 They actually accompany their products with some terrific webinars, don't they? 0:10:27.790 --> 0:10:32.889 They do. They cover all kinds of different topics. There's 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.730 a fairly recent one on the new PFS companion that 0:10:36.729 --> 0:10:39.459 we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks 0:10:39.459 --> 0:10:43.660 on the show. That's the facility where you can ask 0:10:43.660 --> 0:10:48.789 questions about Jaws features, Microsoft Office features, windows commands, that 0:10:48.790 --> 0:10:53.280 kind of thing. I also had a reason to use 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.160 one of their webinars during the week. So I'm currently 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.039 doing my boss's job as well as my own. He's 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.910 on holidays. I'm therefore taking lots of different notes, and 0:11:02.910 --> 0:11:04.709 I've sort of got a number of different meetings. I've 0:11:04.709 --> 0:11:08.040 got a number of different projects happening. I've got things 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.170 that I'm going to need to hand back to him 0:11:10.170 --> 0:11:12.480 when he comes back, that I'm sort of keeping a 0:11:12.479 --> 0:11:15.329 bit of a running record of. And so I sort 0:11:15.359 --> 0:11:18.689 of had what I call the blind person's equivalent of 0:11:18.689 --> 0:11:20.999 a whole bunch of post-it notes stuck to my monitor. 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.670 I had little text files here and there in different 0:11:23.670 --> 0:11:26.429 places with notes. And I thought to myself, you know, 0:11:26.459 --> 0:11:29.070 there's got to be an easier way to do this. 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:35.730 I have an office 365 subscription through work, and I 0:11:35.729 --> 0:11:39.390 was aware of one note, which is their note taking 0:11:39.420 --> 0:11:43.650 sort of utility that comes as part of office. And 0:11:43.650 --> 0:11:47.459 when I went into it, it wasn't particularly intuitive or 0:11:47.459 --> 0:11:50.069 I couldn't make sense of it. And I found a 0:11:50.069 --> 0:11:55.529 particularly good Webinar from Freedom Scientific or Vespero, which sort 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.480 of gave me the basics that I needed to be 0:11:57.510 --> 0:12:02.040 able to navigate this tool, and I'm actually really liking 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.380 it now that I've gotten to grips with how it works, 0:12:04.380 --> 0:12:08.280 not only can I type notes into it and divide 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.579 them into sections and different pages and things like that, 0:12:11.579 --> 0:12:15.000 but I can also copy emails. I can even copy 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:19.679 images and other content and have it all in one spot. Um, 0:12:19.709 --> 0:12:22.950 and I can then export sections if I need to, 0:12:22.979 --> 0:12:26.400 and I can share different components with other people if 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.230 I'm wanting them to be able to see my notes 0:12:28.229 --> 0:12:30.869 and that kind of thing. So being able to do that, 0:12:30.870 --> 0:12:33.839 being able to sort of copy emails into it and, 0:12:33.990 --> 0:12:37.529 you know, other content from other applications is is really 0:12:37.530 --> 0:12:40.170 helpful as well because it puts everything in one spot. 0:12:40.170 --> 0:12:44.849 But having access to the webinar made the difference between 0:12:44.849 --> 0:12:49.079 me being able to use that product comfortably and just deciding, no, 0:12:49.079 --> 0:12:51.150 it doesn't make sense. I'll try something else. 0:12:51.179 --> 0:12:54.780 And if you like me, you mightn't touch that activity 0:12:54.809 --> 0:12:58.140 for another 2 or 3 months, and you might find 0:12:58.140 --> 0:13:00.450 you've just about forgotten it all when you go back 0:13:00.449 --> 0:13:04.079 to it. But there's the demo still waiting for you online. 0:13:04.109 --> 0:13:06.689 That's right. You can go back to first base again 0:13:06.689 --> 0:13:08.610 and refresh your brain. 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:13.109 Absolutely. So definitely a handy resource for any Jaws or 0:13:13.109 --> 0:13:16.319 zoom text or fusion user. Or even without that, you know, 0:13:16.349 --> 0:13:19.349 if you use other things, if you use Nvda, the 0:13:19.349 --> 0:13:21.929 principles and things are going to be similar enough that 0:13:21.929 --> 0:13:24.360 you probably would get some benefit from it. And those 0:13:24.359 --> 0:13:26.250 webinars are all free resources. 0:13:26.250 --> 0:13:28.260 And there's heaps of them, and there's some that have 0:13:28.260 --> 0:13:30.809 been around for quite a while. And they're still very relevant, 0:13:30.809 --> 0:13:31.319 aren't they? 0:13:31.349 --> 0:13:33.030 Yes they are, yes. Very much. 0:13:33.030 --> 0:13:39.660 So. Yeah. So that's the training facility available through Freedom Scientific. Again, 0:13:39.660 --> 0:13:43.559 we'll put the link to that in the show notes 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.140 for you so you can check it out for yourself. 0:13:46.290 --> 0:13:50.569 You'll actually find there are were features that you thought 0:13:50.569 --> 0:13:52.729 you knew enough about, but there's a lot more buried 0:13:52.729 --> 0:13:55.729 away that the demonstrators are able to show you through 0:13:55.729 --> 0:13:57.229 those podcasts. 0:13:57.260 --> 0:13:58.819 Definitely, definitely. 0:13:58.849 --> 0:14:01.640 Before we go, a reminder that you can find details 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.339 of what we've been talking about in this and previous 0:14:04.339 --> 0:14:10.249 editions of the program by going to VA radio.org/talking tech. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.729 VA radio, dot org slash talking tech. And to write 0:14:13.729 --> 0:14:14.689 to the program. 0:14:14.750 --> 0:14:20.359 You can email me Damo Damo dot McMorrow m c 0:14:20.390 --> 0:14:25.100 m o w r o w at Vision Australia. Org 0:14:25.100 --> 0:14:27.290 and thank you to those people who have been writing in. 0:14:27.290 --> 0:14:28.220 I do appreciate it. 0:14:28.250 --> 0:14:34.940 Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org. That's the one. This has 0:14:34.940 --> 0:14:37.910 been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national 0:14:37.910 --> 0:14:42.710 access technology manager Damo McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe. 0:14:42.740 --> 0:14:44.480 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.